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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Metro Detroit is growing – but its suburbs are telling a more complicated story

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Grigoris Argeros, Professor of Sociology, Eastern Michigan University

    Detroit is still a majority Black city, but the share of white, Asian and Hispanic residents is growing. DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

    Following decades of population loss, Detroit may finally be turning a corner.

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent estimates, the city saw an increase in population for both 2023 and 2024.

    An additional 11,000 people moved into the city in the years 2023 and 2024, a small gain in a city with a population of 645,705 – but one which marked a symbolic shift.

    The census data shows just over 1% growth in the past year alone and 0.7% the year before compared with a nearly 25% loss between 2000 and 2010.

    As an urban sociologist studying issues related to race and ethnicity, I am interested in how Detroit’s population is changing, and where different groups live in both the city and its suburbs.

    Analyzing population trends in the metro Detroit area using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, I wanted to understand how racial, ethnic and socioeconomic trends are unfolding, and what those changes can tell us about the evolution and vitality of Detroit.

    Black Detroiters relocate, city diversifies

    From 2010 to 2023, Detroit’s racial and ethnic makeup continued to gradually diversify even as the city was declining in population.

    While Black residents are still the majority, their proportion of the total number fell from around 84% to 79%.

    Other groups, in contrast, increased their share of the city’s population. Between 2010 and 2023, the percentage of Hispanic residents grew from 6.6% to 8.3%, the percentage of white residents grew from 8.2% to 10.7%, and the percentage of Asian residents grew from 1.3% to 1.7%.

    These shifts reflect a steady and ongoing diversification of Detroit’s population, indicative of new migration trends and shifting neighborhood dynamics.

    Suburbs in flux

    In addition to Detroit’s recent population growth, a broader story is unfolding in the city’s suburbs.

    The population of the suburban area as a whole increased 0.73% from 2023 to 2024, but growth was not evenly spread. Collectively, the outer-ring suburbs gained almost 20,000 people, increasing by 1%. Communities such as the city of Troy and Macomb Township accounted for a significant share of that growth.

    A map of Detroit and the surrounding suburbs, with shading to indicate which areas are considered to be the ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ suburbs.
    Grigoris Argeros, CC BY

    Inner-ring suburbs, such as Southfield, Warren and others, grew less vigorously – gaining just 4,000 people, or 0.31%.

    These differences highlight the necessity of complicating the conventional city-versus-suburb narrative to acknowledge the many economic and racial divisions across the metropolitan region.

    The socioeconomic statuses of residents of the inner- and outer-ring suburbs diverged between 2000 and 2020.

    My analysis of census data shows that although both subregions witnessed increases in median household incomes, the rates of change were significantly higher in the outer-ring suburbs, with a 37.7% increase versus a 16.8% increase in the inner rings.

    The data shows a similar trend in higher education attainment. Outer ring suburbs gained 7.1% more residents with college degrees or higher during this period, while the inner suburbs lost 7.5%.

    Homeownership patterns in the two suburban regions also diverged over those two decades, increasing 18% in the outer rings and decreasing 10% in the inner rings.

    The data on poverty and immigration also reveal contrasting results.

    According to my calculations of census data, inner-ring suburbs experienced a 77% increase in poverty, while the outer ring experienced a lesser, though considerable, 50.8% bump in poverty during the 2000-2020 period.

    Meanwhile, during the same time period, the foreign-born populations in the outer suburbs expanded by 24.9%, with increases of at least 10,000 in places such as Sterling Heights, Novi and Canton. In contrast, the inner suburbs saw more modest gains — around 5,000 in cities such as Dearborn Heights and Warren — while their overall foreign-born share declined by nearly 20%.

    Together, the above trends highlight the necessity of not viewing the suburban area as a monolith. These patterns reflect national trends, in which many older, inner-ring suburbs are experiencing socioeconomic stagnation or decline while newer, outer-ring suburbs continue to attract more people who have higher incomes.

    Mixed neighborhoods grow

    Residential segregation also differentiates inner and outer suburban rings.

    Segregation levels remain high in the inner suburbs, especially between white and Black residents. While outer suburbs tend to be more integrated today, the rate of change there has been more modest over the past two decades.

    Social scientists measure segregation using a tool called the “dissimilarity index.” The index represents the proportion of one group that would need to move to establish an equal distribution of the population based on their relative numbers. It ranges from 0 to 100. A score of 0 means equal distribution across neighborhoods, while a score of 100 means the two groups live in completely separate areas.

    From 2000 to 2020, white-Black segregation across the region decreased from 84.4% to 68.3% on the index, while white-Hispanic segregation decreased from 47.6% to 39.9%. Together, these numbers indicate a broader trend toward more integrated living patterns.

    In the inner-ring suburbs, segregation fell across the board. White-Black segregation went down by 15.6%; white-Asian and white-Hispanic segregation dropped even more, by 43.2% and 30.7%, respectively.

    These trends suggest that while the outer suburbs currently have lower levels of segregation, the inner suburbs are integrating more rapidly, reflecting shifting patterns of neighborhood change and increasing racial and ethnic diversity.

    Detroit has come a long way since exiting bankruptcy in 2014. Its recent population growth and increasing diversity show important signs of renewal.

    Grigoris Argeros 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. Metro Detroit is growing – but its suburbs are telling a more complicated story – https://theconversation.com/metro-detroit-is-growing-but-its-suburbs-are-telling-a-more-complicated-story-257875

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: US bombs Iran’s nuclear sites: What led to Trump pulling the trigger – and what happens next?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Javed Ali, Associate Professor of Practice of Public Policy, University of Michigan

    US President Donald Trump addresses the nation on Iran strikes on June 21, 2025 Carlos Barria/AFP via Getty Images

    In the early hours of June 22, 2025, local time, the United States attacked three nuclear facilities in Iran with “bunker buster” bombs and Tomahawk missiles.

    Following more than a week of Israeli strikes on various targets in Iran – which had prompted retaliatory strikes from Tehran – the U.S. move marks a possible inflection point in the conflict. In initial comments on the strikes at the Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz facilities, President Donald Trump said that Iran’s nuclear program had been “completely and fully obliterated.” In response, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the U.S. had “crossed a very big red line.”

    The Conversation U.S. turned to Javed Ali, an expert on Middle East affairs at the University of Michigan and a former senior official at the National Security Council during the first Trump administration, to talk through why Trump chose now to act and what the potential repercussions could be.

    What do we know about the nature and timing of US involvement?

    President Trump has been forcefully hinting for days days that such a strike could happen, while at the same time opening up a window of negotiation by suggesting as late as June 20 that he would make a decision “within the next two weeks.” We know Trump can be very unpredictable, but he must have assessed that the current conditions presented an opportunity for U.S. action.

    Trump met with the National Security Council twice in the days leading up to the strike. Typically at such meetings the president is presented with a menu of military options, which usually boil down to three: a narrow option, a middle ground and a “if you really want to go big” strike.

    The one he picked, I would argue, is somewhere between the narrow option and the middle ground one.

    The “go big” options would have been an attack on nuclear sites and Iranian leadership – be that senior members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, or possibly the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The more narrow approach would have been just one facility, likely to have been Fordo – a deeply fortified uranium enrichment site buried within a mountain.

    What did occur was a strike there, but also at two other sites – Isfahan and Natanz.

    U.S. military chiefs confirmed that that 12 GBU-57s – the so-called 30,000-pound bunker busters – were dropped by B-2 bombers on Fordo, and two on Isfahan.

    That suggests to me that the military goal of the operation was to destroy Iran’s ability to produce and or store highly enriched uranium in a one-time strike rather than drag the U.S. into a more prolonged conflict.

    Has the strike achieved Trump’s objectives?

    It will take some time to properly assess the extent to which Iran’s ability to produce or store highly enriched uranium has been damaged.

    Certainly we know that the bombs hit their targets, and they have been damaged – but to what extent is not immediately clear. General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that all three target sites had suffered “extremely severe damage and destruction” – possibly rolling back from Trump’s “fully obliterated” assessment. Perhaps most tellingly, Iran has not commented yet on the extent of the damage.

    But to Trump, the objective was not just military but political, too. Trump has long said “no” to a nuclear Iran while at the same time has expressed that he has no desire to drag the U.S. into another war.

    And this strike may allow Trump to achieve those seemingly contradictory goals. If U.S. initial assessments are correct, Iran’s nuclear program will have been severely compromised. But the strikes won’t necessarily pull U.S. into the conflict fully – unless Iran retaliates in such a way that necessitates further U.S. action.

    And that is what Iran’s supreme leader and his military generals will need to work out: Should Iran retaliate and, if so, is it prepared to deal with a heavier U.S. military response – especially when there is no end in sight to its current conflict with Israel.

    An operational timeline of a strike on Iran is displayed during a news conference with U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on June 22, 2025.
    Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

    What options does Iran have to retaliate against US?

    Iran has in the past tried to respond proportionately to any attack. But here is the problem for Iran’s leaders: There is no feasible proportionate response to the United States. Iran has no capability to hit nuclear plants in the U.S. – either conventionally or through unconventional warfare.

    But there are tens of thousands of U.S. troops in the region, stationed in Iraq, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Jordan. All are in range of Iran’s ballistic, drones or cruise missiles.

    But that military inventory has been depleted – both by using ballistic missiles in waves of attacks against Israel and by Israel hitting missile launch and storage sites in Iran.

    Similarly, Tehran’s capacity to respond through one of its proxy or aligned groups in the region has been degraded. Hezbollah in Lebanon and Gaza’s Hamas – both of whom have ties to Iran – are in survival mode following damaging attacks from Israel over the past 18 months.

    The Houthis in Yemen are in many ways the “last man standing” in Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance.” But the Houthis have limited capability and know that if they do attack U.S. assets, they will likely get hit hard. During Operation Rough Rider from March to May this year, the Trump administration launched over 1,000 strikes against the Houthis.

    Meanwhile Shia militias in Iraq and Syria that could be encouraged to attack U.S. bases haven’t been active in months.

    Of course, Iran could look outside the region. In the past the country has been involved in assassinations, kidnappings and terror attacks abroad that were organized through its Quds Force or via operatives of MOIS, its intelligence service.

    But for Iran’s leaders, it is increasingly looking like a lose-lose proposition. If they don’t respond in a meaningful way, they look weak and more vulnerable. But if they do hit U.S. targets in any meaningful way, they will invite a stronger U.S. involvement in the conflict, as Trump has warned.

    The parallel I see here is with the killing of Iranian general and commander of the Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, in January 2020 by a U.S. drone strike.

    On that occasion, Iran promised a strong retaliation. Its retaliatory attack against the U.S. Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq involved 27 ballistic missiles and caused the physical destruction of some of the facilities on base as well as traumatic brain injury-type symptoms to dozens of troops and personnel, but no deaths. Nevertheless, after this both the U.S. and Iran then backed off from deepening the conflict.

    The circumstances now are very different. Iran is already at war with Israel. Moreover, the U.S. went after Iran’s crown jewels – its nuclear program – and it was on Iranian territory. Nonetheless, Khameini knows that if he retaliates, he risks provoking a larger response.

    Trump suggested ‘further attacks’ could occur. What could that entail?

    The U.S. has suggested that it has the intelligence and ability to hit senior leadership in Iran. And any “go big option” would have likely involved strikes on key personnel. Similarly there could be plans to hit the Iranian economy by attacking oil and gas targets.

    A satellite image of the Fordo nuclear facility in Iran prior to the U.S. strike on June 22, 2025.
    Maxar/Getty

    But such actions risk either damaging the global economy or drawing the U.S. deeper into the conflict – it would evolve from a “one and done” strike to a cycle of attacks and responses. And that could widen political cracks between hawks in the administration and parts of Trump’s MAGA faithful who are against the U.S. being involved in overseas wars.

    Is there any opportunity of a return to diplomacy?

    Trump has not closed his “two weeks” window for talks – theoretically it is still open.

    But will Iran come to table? Leaders there had already said they were not willing to entertain any deal while under attack from Israel. Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said after the U.S. strikes that the time for diplomacy had now passed.

    In any event, you have to ask, what can Iran come to the table with? Do they have much of a nuclear program anymore? And if not, what would they try to negotiate? It would seem, using one of Trump’s phrases, they “don’t have the cards” to make much of a deal.

    Javed Ali 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. US bombs Iran’s nuclear sites: What led to Trump pulling the trigger – and what happens next? – https://theconversation.com/us-bombs-irans-nuclear-sites-what-led-to-trump-pulling-the-trigger-and-what-happens-next-259519

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: The sleeper Supreme Court decision that could have profound impacts on the Trump administration agenda – and restore faith in the high court

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ray Brescia, Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life, Albany Law School

    The Trump administration has tried to punish or suppress speech and opposition to administration policies. Baac3nes/Getty Images

    The American public’s trust in the Supreme Court has fallen precipitously over the past decade. Many across the political spectrum see the court as too political.

    This view is only strengthened when Americans see most of the justices of the court dividing along ideological lines on decisions related to some of the most hot-button issues the court handles. Those include reproductive rights, voting rights, corporate power, environmental protection, student loan policy, worker rights and LGBTQ+ rights.

    But there is one recent decision where the court was unanimous in its ruling, perhaps because its holding should not be controversial: National Rifle Association v. Vullo. In that 2024 case, the court said that it’s a clear violation of the First Amendment’s free speech provisions for government to force people to speak and act in ways that are aligned with its policies.

    The second Trump administration has tried to wield executive branch power in ways that appear to punish or suppress speech and opposition to administration policy priorities. Many of those attempts have been legally challenged and will likely make their way to the Supreme Court.

    The somewhat under-the-radar – yet incredibly important – decision in National Rifle Association v. Vullo is likely to figure prominently in Supreme Court rulings in a slew of those cases in the coming months and years, including those involving law firms, universities and the Public Broadcasting Service.

    That’s because, in my view as a legal scholar, they are all First Amendment cases.

    Will the Supreme Court continue to protect free speech rights, as it did unanimously in 2024?
    Geoff Livingston/Getty Images

    Why the NRA sued a New York state official

    In May 2024, in an opinion written by reliably liberal Sonia Sotomayor, a unanimous court ruled that the efforts of New York state government officials to punish companies doing business with the NRA constituted clear violations of the First Amendment.

    Following its own precedent from the 1960s, Bantam Books v. Sullivan, the court found that government officials “cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors.”

    Many of the current targets of the Trump administration’s actions have claimed similar suppression of their First Amendment rights by the government. They have fought back, filing lawsuits that often cite the National Rifle Association v. Vullo decision in their efforts.

    To date, the most egregious examples of actions that violate the principles announced by the court – the executive orders against law firms – have largely been halted in the lower courts, with those decisions often citing what’s now known as the Vullo decision.

    While these cases may still be working their way through the lower courts, it is likely that the Supreme Court will ultimately consider legal challenges to the Trump administration’s efforts in a range of areas.

    These would include the executive orders against law firms, attempts to cut government grants and research funding from universities, potential moves to strip nonprofits of their tax-exempt status, and regulatory actions punishing media companies for what the White House believes to be unfavorable coverage.

    The court could also hear disputes over the government terminating contracts with a family of companies that provides satellite and communications support to the U.S. government generally and the military in particular.

    Despite the variety of organizations and government actions involved in these lawsuits, they all can be seen as struggles over free speech and expression, like Vullo.

    Whether it is private law firms, multinational corporations, universities or members of the media, all have one thing in common: They have all been targeted by the Trump administration for the same reason – they are engaged in actions or speech that is disfavored by President Donald Trump.

    Protecting speech, regardless of politics

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, front, took leave to help prosecute war criminals at the Nuremberg trials at the end of World War II.
    Bettman/Getty Images

    The NRA, an often-controversial gun-rights advocacy organization, was the plaintiff in the Vullo decision.

    But just because the groups that have been targeted by the Trump administration are across the political divide from the NRA does not mean the outcome in decisions relying on the court’s opinion will be different. In fact, these groups can rely on the same arguments advanced by the NRA, and are, I believe, likely to win.

    Vullo isn’t the only decision on which the court can rely when considering challenges to the Trump administration’s efforts targeting these groups.

    In 1943, Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson wrote the majority opinion in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, where the court found that students who refused to salute the American flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance at school could not be expelled.

    Jackson’s opinion is a forceful rejection of government attempts to control what people say: “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”

    In the wake of World War II, Jackson took a leave from the court and served as a prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders. Prosecuting them for their atrocities, Jackson saw how the Nuremberg defendants wielded government authority to punish enemies who resisted their rise and later opposed their rule.

    If some of the cases testing the state’s power to force fidelity to the executive branch reach the Supreme Court, the cases could offer the justices the opportunity to, once again, speak with one voice as they did in NRA v. Vullo, to demonstrate it can be evenhanded and will not play politics with the First Amendment.

    This story has been updated with the correct year for the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette.

    Ray Brescia 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. The sleeper Supreme Court decision that could have profound impacts on the Trump administration agenda – and restore faith in the high court – https://theconversation.com/the-sleeper-supreme-court-decision-that-could-have-profound-impacts-on-the-trump-administration-agenda-and-restore-faith-in-the-high-court-258216

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Presidents of both parties have launched military action without Congress declaring war − Trump’s bombing of Iran is just the latest

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sarah Burns, Associate Professor of Political Science, Rochester Institute of Technology

    President Donald Trump is seen on a monitor in the White House press briefing room on June 21, 2025, after the U.S. military strike on three sites in Iran. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

    In the wake of the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22, 2025, many congressional Democrats and a few Republicans have objected to President Donald Trump’s failure to seek congressional approval before conducting military operations.

    They note that Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war and say that section required Trump to seek prior authorization for military action.

    The Trump administration disagrees. “This is not a war against Iran,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, implying that the action did not require approval by Congress. That’s the same view held by most modern presidents and their lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel: Article 2 of the Constitution allows the president to use the military in certain situations without prior approval from Congress.

    By this reading of the text, presidents, as commander in chief, claim the power to unilaterally order the military to initiate small-scale operations for a short duration. Members of Congress may object to that claim, but they have done little to limit presidents’ unilateralism. What little they have done has not been effective.

    As I’ve demonstrated in my research, even though the 1973 War Powers Resolution attempted to constrain presidential power after the disasters of the Vietnam War, it contains many loopholes that presidents have exploited to act unilaterally. For example, it allows presidents to engage in military operations without congressional approval for up to 90 days. And more recent congressional resolutions have broadened executive control even further.

    President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the U.S. declaration of war against Japan on Dec. 8, 1941.
    U.S. National Archives

    A long tradition of executive authority

    Presidents can even overcome the loopholes in the War Powers Resolution if the operation lasts longer than 90 days. In 2011, a State Department lawyer argued that airstrikes in Libya could continue beyond the War Powers Resolution’s 90-day time limit because there were no ground troops involved. By that logic, any future president could carry out an indefinite bombing campaign with no congressional oversight.

    While every president has bristled at congressional restraints on their actions, presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt have successfully circumvented them by citing vague concerns like “national security,” “regional security” or the need to “prevent a humanitarian disaster” when launching military operations. While members of Congress always take issue with these actions, they never hold presidents accountable by passing legislation restraining him.

    President Trump’s decision to bomb Iranian nuclear sites without consulting Congress falls in line with precedent from both Democratic and Republican leaders for decades.

    Much like his predecessors, Trump did not, and likely will not, provide Congress with more concrete information about the legality of his actions. Nor are congressional lawmakers effectively holding him accountable.

    The push-and-pull between Congress and the president over military operations dates back to the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, which led Congress to declare war on Japan. Before then, Congress had prevented the U.S. from joining World War II by enforcing an arms embargo and refusing to help the Allies prior to the attack on Hawaii. But afterward, Congress began allowing the president to take more control over the military.

    During the Cold War, rather than returning to a balanced debate between the branches, Congress continued to relinquish those powers.

    Congress never authorized the war in Korea; Harry Truman used a U.N. Security Council resolution as legal justification. Congress’ vote explicitly opposing the invasion of Cambodia didn’t stop Richard Nixon from doing it anyway. Even after the Cold War, Bill Clinton regularly acted unilaterally to address humanitarian crises or the continued threat from leaders like Saddam Hussein. He sent the military to Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo, among other places.

    After 9/11, Congress quickly gave up more of its power. A week after those attacks, Congress passed a sweeping Authorization for Use of Military Force, giving the president permission to “use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.”

    In a follow-up 2002 authorization, Congress went even further, allowing the president to “use the Armed Forces … as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to defend national security … against the continuing threat posed by Iraq.” This approach provides few, if any, congressional checks on the control of military affairs exercised by the president.

    In the two decades since those authorizations, four presidents have used them to justify all manner of military action, from targeted killings of terrorists to the years long fight against the Islamic State group.

    Congress regularly discusses terminating those authorizations, but has yet to do so. If Congress did, the loopholes in the original War Powers Resolution would still exist.

    While President Biden claimed he supported the repeal of the authorizations, and supported more congressional oversight of military actions, Trump has made no such claims. Instead, he has claimed even more sweeping authority to act without any permission from Congress.

    As recently as 2024, Biden used the 2002 authorization as a legal rationale for the targeted killing of Iranian-backed militiamen in Iraq, a strike condemned by Iraqi leaders.

    Those actions may have ruffled congressional feathers, but they were in keeping with a long U.S. tradition of targeting members of terrorist groups and protecting members of the military serving in a conflict zone.

    Demonstrators outside the U.S. Capitol in January 2020 call on Congress to limit the president’s powers to use the military.
    AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

    Threats of war

    During his first presidential term in 2020, Trump ordered a lethal drone strike against a respected member of the Iranian government, Major General Qassim Soleimani, the head of Iran’s equivalent of the CIA, without consulting Congress or publicly providing proof of why the attack was necessary, even to this day.

    Tensions – and fears of war – spiked but then slowly faded when Iran responded with missile attacks on two U.S. bases in Iraq.

    Now, the U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites have revived both fears of war and renewed questions about the president’s authority to unilaterally engage in military action. Presidents since the 1970s, however, have effectively managed to dodge definitive answers to those questions – demonstrating both the power inherent in their position and the unwillingness among members of the legislative branch to reclaim their coequal status.

    This article is an updated version of a story published on Jan. 24, 2024.

    Sarah Burns 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. Presidents of both parties have launched military action without Congress declaring war − Trump’s bombing of Iran is just the latest – https://theconversation.com/presidents-of-both-parties-have-launched-military-action-without-congress-declaring-war-trumps-bombing-of-iran-is-just-the-latest-259636

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Rethinking engineering education: Why focusing on learning preferences matters for diversity

    Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Sharon Tettegah, Professor of Creative Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

    Retention and recruitment efforts designed to boost diversity in engineering programs often fall short of their goals. gorodenkoff/Getty Images

    For decades, colleges, government agencies and foundations have experimented with recruitment and retention efforts designed to increase diversity in engineering programs.

    However, the efforts have not significantly boosted the number of women, students of color, individuals with disabilities and other underrepresented groups studying and earning degrees in STEM and engineering fields.

    Latino, Black, Native American and Alaska Native students are underrepresented among science and engineering degree recipients at the bachelor’s degree level and above. The groups are also underrepresented among STEM workers with at least a bachelor’s degree.

    Women are also underrepresented in the STEM workforce and among degree recipients in engineering and computer and information sciences.

    I study equity and social justice in STEM learning. In my recent study, I found that more students from diverse backgrounds could excel in engineering programs if course content were tailored to a wider variety of learning preferences.

    Why it matters

    Focusing on learning preferences could boost diversity in engineering courses and careers.
    Morsa Images/Getty Images

    During my time as a program officer at the National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency that supports science and engineering, I reviewed plenty of research focused on broadening participation and diversifying student enrollment in STEM fields.

    Progress can stall on efforts to boost diversity because college instructors do not consider the synergistic relationship between the content and the learner.

    Teachers are the mediators, and it is students’ experiences with the curriculum that matter.

    It was long a common belief that students have different learning styles. These included kinesthetic, learning through hands-on experiences and physical activity; auditory, learning by listening to information; and visual, learning by seeing information.

    More recent research does not support the idea that teaching students according to their learning style leads to improved learning.

    That’s why I prefer the term “learning preferences” rather than learning styles. We all have preferences – whether for ice cream flavors, home decor or how we receive information, including how we learn.

    Learning preferences are broader and more flexible, allowing multiple ways of engaging with content.

    For example, let’s say a teacher always presented equations in a classroom and the student just could not get it. However, it was the only way the information was presented. To the individual learner, they have failed. Some people would say, “These kids can’t learn,” and subsequently counsel the student out of the class.

    Then, years are spent repeating the same cycle.

    Students should have opportunities to connect with engineering content in multiple ways.
    10’000 hours/Getty Images

    However, educators can broaden their viewpoints if they look at the students as customers. If a customer is shopping for a shirt, they look for one that catches their eye. Ultimately, they find one they like.

    Instructors need to take the same approach when trying to help students understand what is happening in class. For instance, if I have trouble with equations, I should be provided with options to engage with the lesson in ways that align with my learning preferences.

    What’s next?

    Learning styles have been heavily researched. However, content preferences have not been well explored.

    In a truly democratic education system, curriculum design should reflect the voices of all stakeholders and not just those in positions of power, namely instructors.

    Using data mining and artificial intelligence, educators have a variety of options for creating content for the various preferences a learner may want or need. For example, if a student prefers other representational content, such as word problems, graphics or simulations, AI can create diverse representations so that the learner is exposed to a variety of representations.

    I argue that future studies need to consider the use of technologies such as adaptive learning applications to understand students’ learning preferences.

    Prioritizing diverse learning perspectives in STEM could help create a more inclusive and responsive learning environment.

    The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

    Sharon Tettegah received funding from the National Science Foundation for this work. Award Abstract # 1826632
    Coordinating Curricula and User Preferences to Increase the Participation of Women and Students of Color in Engineering

    – ref. Rethinking engineering education: Why focusing on learning preferences matters for diversity – https://theconversation.com/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity-251095

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Harvard fights to keep enrolling international students – 4 essential reads about their broader impact

    Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Corey Mitchell, Education Editor

    Graduates of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government celebrate during commencement exercises in Cambridge, Mass. AP Photo/Steven Senne, File

    A federal judge in Boston on May 23, 2025, temporarily blocked a Trump administration order that would have revoked Harvard University’s authorization to enroll international students.

    The directive from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and resulting lawsuit from Harvard have escalated the ongoing conflict between the Trump administration and the Ivy League institution.

    It’s also the latest step in a White House campaign to ramp up vetting and screening of foreign nationals, including students.

    Homeland Security officials accused Harvard of creating a hostile campus climate by accommodating “anti-American” and “pro-terrorist agitators.” The accusation stems from the university’s alleged support for certain political groups and their activities on campus.

    In early April, the Trump administration terminated the immigration statuses of thousands of international students listed in a government database, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. The database includes country of citizenship, which U.S. school they attend and what they study.

    Barring Harvard from enrolling international students could have significant implications for the campus’s climate and the local economy. International students account for 27% of the university’s enrollment.

    Here are four stories from The Conversation’s archive about the Trump administration’s battle with Harvard and the economic impact of international students.

    1. A target on Harvard

    This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has targeted the university.

    The White House has threatened to end the university’s tax-exempt status, and some media outlets have reported that the Internal Revenue Service is taking steps in that direction.

    But it is illegal to revoke an entity’s tax-emempt status “on a whim,” according to Philip Hackney, a University of Pittsburgh law professor, and Brian Mittendorf, an accounting professor at Ohio State University.

    “Before the IRS can do that, tax law requires that it first audit that charity,” they wrote. “And it’s illegal for U.S. presidents or other officials to force the IRS to conduct an audit or stop one that’s already begun.”

    Several U.S. senators, all Democrats, have urged the IRS inspector general to see whether the IRS has begun auditing Harvard or any nonprofits in response to the administration’s requests or whether Trump has violated any laws with his pressure campaign.

    Hackney and Mittendorf wrote that the Trump administration’s moves are part of a larger push to exert control over Harvard, including its efforts to increase its diversity and its response to claims of discrimination on campus.



    Read more:
    Can Trump strip Harvard of its charitable status? Scholars of nonprofit law and accounting describe the obstacles in his way

    University of Michigan students on campus on April 3, 2025, in Ann Arbor, Mich.
    Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

    2. International students help keep ‘America First’

    The U.S. has long been the global leader in attracting international students. But competition for these students is increasing as other countries vie to attract the scholars.

    In a recent story for The Conversation, David L. Di Maria, vice provost for global engagement at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, wrote that stepped-up screening and vetting of students could make the U.S. a less attractive study destination.

    Di Maria wrote that such efforts could hamper the Trump administration’s ability to achieve its “America First” priorities related to the economy, science and technology, and national security.

    Trump administration officials have emphasized the importance of recruiting top global talent. And Trump has said that international students who graduate from U.S. colleges should be awarded a green card with their degree.

    Research shows that international students launch successful startups at a rate that is eight to nine times higher than their U.S.-born peers. Roughly 25% of billion-dollar companies in the U.S. were founded by former international students, Di Maria noted.



    Read more:
    Deporting international students risks making the US a less attractive destination, putting its economic engine at risk

    3. A boost to local economies

    Indeed, international students have a tremendous economic impact on local communities.

    If these global scholars stay home or go elsewhere, that’s bad economic news for cities and towns across the United States, wrote Barnet Sherman, a professor of multinational finance and trade at Boston University.

    With the money they spend on tuition, food, housing and other other items, international students pump money into the local economy, but there are additional benefits.

    On average, a new job is created for every three international students enrolled in a U.S. college or university. In the 2023-24 academic year, about 378,175 jobs were created, Sherman wrote.

    In Greater Boston, where Harvard is located, there are about 63,000 international students who contribute to the economy. The gains are huge – about US$3 billion.



    Read more:
    International students infuse tens of millions of dollars into local economies across the US. What happens if they stay home?

    4. Rising number of international students

    The rising number of foreign students studying in the U.S. has long led to concerns about U.S. students being displaced by international peers.

    The unease is often fueled by the assumption that financial interests are driving the trend, Cynthia Miller-Idriss of American University and Bernhard Streitwieser of George Washington University wrote in a 2015 story for The Conversation.

    A common claim, they wrote, is the flawed assumption that “cash-strapped public universities” aggressively recruit more affluent students from abroad who can afford to pay rising tuition costs. The pair wrote that, historically, shifting demographics on college campuses result from social and economic changes.

    In today’s context, Miller-Idriss and Streitwieser maintain that the argument that colleges prioritize international students fails to account for the global role of U.S. universities, which help support national security, foster international development projects and accelerate the pace of globalization.



    Read more:
    Foreign students not a threat, but an advantage

    This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.

    – ref. Harvard fights to keep enrolling international students – 4 essential reads about their broader impact – https://theconversation.com/harvard-fights-to-keep-enrolling-international-students-4-essential-reads-about-their-broader-impact-257506

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Air traffic controller shortages in Newark and other airports partly reflect long, intense training − but university-based training programs are becoming part of the solution

    Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Melanie Dickman, Lecturer in Aviation Studies, The Ohio State University

    Air traffic controllers observe a plane taking off from San Francisco International Airport in 2017. AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

    Air traffic controllers have been in the news a lot lately.

    A spate of airplane crashes and near misses have highlighted the ongoing shortage of air traffic workers, leading more Americans to question the safety of air travel.

    The shortage, as well as aging computer systems, have also led to massive flight disruptions at airports across the country, particularly at Newark Liberty International Airport. The staffing shortage is also likely at the center of an investigation of a deadly crash between a commercial plane and an Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., in January 2025.

    One reason for the air traffic controller shortage relates to the demands of the job: The training to become a controller is extremely intense, and the Federal Aviation Administration wants only highly qualified personnel to fill those seats, which has made it difficult for what has been the sole training center in the U.S., located in Oklahoma City, to churn out enough qualified graduates each year.

    As scholars who study and teach tomorrow’s aviation professionals, we are working to be part of the solution. Our program at Ohio State University is applying to join over two dozen other schools in an effort to train air traffic controllers and help alleviate the shortage.

    Air traffic controller school

    Air traffic control training today – overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration – remains as intense as it’s ever been.

    In fact, about 30% of students fail to make it from their first day of training at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City to the status of a certified professional air traffic controller. The academy currently trains the majority of the air traffic controllers in the U.S.

    Before someone is accepted into the training program, they must meet several qualifications. That includes being a U.S. citizen under the age of 31 and speaking English clearly enough to be understood over the radio. The low recruitment age is because controllers currently have a mandatory retirement age of 56 – with some exceptions – and the FAA wants them to work for at least 25 years in the job.

    They must also pass a medical exam and security investigation. And they must pass the air traffic controller specialists skills assessment battery, which measures an applicant’s spatial awareness and decision-making abilities.

    Candidates, additionally, must have three years of general work experience, or a combination of postsecondary education and work experience totaling at least three years.

    This alone is no easy feat. Fewer than 10% of applicants meet those initial requirements and are accepted into training.

    An air traffic controller monitors a runway in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
    AP Photo/Seth Wenig

    Intense training

    Once applicants meet the initial qualifications, they begin a strenuous training process.

    This begins with several weeks of classroom instruction and several months of simulator training. There are several types of simulators, and a student is assigned to a simulator based on the type of facility for which they will be hired – which depends on a trainee’s preference and where controllers are needed.

    There are two main types of air traffic facilities: control towers and radar. Anyone who has flown on a plane has likely seen a control tower near the runways, with 360 degrees of tall glass windows to monitor the skies nearby. Controllers there mainly look outside to direct aircraft but also use radar to monitor the airspace and assist aircraft in taking off and landing safely.

    Radar facilities, on the other hand, monitor aircraft solely through the use of information depicted on a screen. This includes aircraft flying just outside the vicinity of a major airport or when they’re at higher altitudes and crisscrossing the skies above the U.S. The controllers ensure they don’t fly too close to one another as they follow their flight paths between airports.

    If the candidates make it through the first stage, which takes about six months and extensive testing to meet standards, they will be sent to their respective facilities.

    Once there, they again go to the classroom, learning the details of the airspace they will be working in. There are more assessments and chances to “wash out” and have to leave the program.

    Finally, the candidates are paired with an experienced controller who conducts on-the-job training to control real aircraft. This process may take an additional year or more. It depends on the complexity of the airspace and the amount of aircraft traffic at the site.

    Two control towers watch over Newark Liberty International Airport, where a shortage of air traffic controllers has led to blackouts and other problems lately.
    AP Photo/Seth Wenig

    Increasing the employment pipeline

    But no matter how good the training is, if there aren’t enough graduates, that’s a problem for managing the increasingly crowded skies.

    The FAA is currently facing a deficit of about 3,000 controllers and has unveiled a plan in May 2025 to increase hiring and boost retention. In addition, Congress is mulling spending billions of dollars to update the FAA’s aging systems and hire more air traffic controllers.

    Other plans include paying retention bonuses and allowing more controllers to work beyond the age of 56. That retirement age was put in place in the 1970s on the assumption that cognition for most people begins to decline around then, although research shows that age alone is not necessarily a predictor of cognitive abilities.

    But we believe that aviation programs and universities can play an important role fixing the shortage by providing FAA Academy-level training.

    Currently, 32 universities including the Florida Institute of Technology and Arizona State University partner with the FAA in its collegiate training initiative to provide basic air traffic control training, which gives graduates automatic entry into the FAA Academy and allows them to skip five weeks of coursework.

    The institution where we work, Ohio State University, is currently working on becoming the 33rd this summer and plans to offer an undergraduate major in aviation with specialization in air traffic control.

    This helps, but an enhanced version of this program, announced in October 2024, allows graduates of a select few of those universities to skip the FAA Academy altogether and go straight to a control tower or radar facility once they’ve passed all the extensive tests. These schools must match or exceed the level of rigor in their training with the FAA Academy itself.

    At the end of the program, students are required to pass an evaluation by an FAA-approved evaluator to ensure that the student graduating from the program meets the same standards as all FAA Academy graduates and is prepared to go to their assigned facility for further training. So far, five schools, such as the University of North Dakota, have joined this program and are currently training air traffic controllers. We intend to join this group in the near future.

    Allowing colleges and universities to start the training process while students are still in school should accelerate the pace at which new controllers enter the workforce, alleviate the shortage and make the skies over the U.S. as safe as they can be.

    Melanie Dickman is a member at large of the Air Traffic Controllers Association

    Brian Strzempkowski 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. Air traffic controller shortages in Newark and other airports partly reflect long, intense training − but university-based training programs are becoming part of the solution – https://theconversation.com/air-traffic-controller-shortages-in-newark-and-other-airports-partly-reflect-long-intense-training-but-university-based-training-programs-are-becoming-part-of-the-solution-249715

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Texas’ annual reading test adjusted its difficulty every year, masking whether students are improving

    Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Jeanne Sinclair, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland

    Millions of Americans take high-stakes exams every year. Caiaimage/Chris Ryan/iStock via Getty Images

    Texas children’s performance on an annual reading test was basically flat from 2012 to 2021, even as the state spent billions of additional dollars on K-12 education.

    I recently did a peer-reviewed deep dive into the test design documentation to figure out why the reported results weren’t showing improvement. I found the flat scores were at least in part by design. According to policies buried in the documentation, the agency administering the tests adjusted their difficulty level every year. As a result, roughly the same share of students failed the test over that decade regardless of how objectively better they performed relative to previous years.

    From 2008 to 2014, I was a bilingual teacher in Texas. Most of my students’ families hailed from Mexico and Central America and were learning English as a new language. I loved seeing my students’ progress.

    Yet, no matter how much they learned, many failed the end-of-year tests in reading, writing and math. My hunch was that these tests were unfair, but I could not explain why. This, among other things, prompted me to pursue a Ph.D. in education to better understand large-scale educational assessment.

    Ten years later, in 2024, I completed a detailed exploration of Texas’s exam, currently known as the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR. I found an unexpected trend: The share of students who correctly answered each test question was extraordinarily steady across years. Where we would expect to see fluctuation from year to year, performance instead appears artificially flat.

    The STAAR’s technical documents suggest that the test is designed much like a norm-referenced test – that is, assessing students relative to their peers, rather than if they meet a fixed standard. In other words, a norm-referenced test cannot tell us if students meet key, fixed criteria or grade-level standards set by the state.

    In addition, norm-referenced tests are designed so that a certain share of students always fail, because success is gauged by one’s position on the “bell curve” in relation to other students. Following this logic, STAAR developers use practices like omitting easier questions and adjusting scores to cancel out gains due to better teaching.

    Ultimately, the STAAR tests over this time frame – taken by students every year from grade 3 to grade 8 in language arts and math, and less frequently in science and social studies – were not designed to show improvement. Since the test seems designed to keep scores flat, it’s impossible to know for sure if a lack of expected learning gains following big increases in per-student spending was because the extra funds failed to improve teaching and learning, or simply because the test hid the improvements.

    Why it matters

    Ever since the federal education policy known as No Child Left Behind went into effect in 2002 and tied students’ test performance to rewards and sanctions for schools, achievement testing has been a primary driver of public education in the United States.

    Texas’ educational accountability system has been in place since 1980, and it is well known in the state that the stakes and difficulty of Texas’ academic readiness tests increase with each new version, which typically come out every five to 10 years. What the Texas public may not know is that the tests have been adjusted each and every year – at the expense of really knowing who should “pass” or “fail.”

    The test’s design affects not just students but also schools and communities. High-stakes test scores determine school resources, the state’s takeover of school districts and accreditation of teacher education programs. Home values are even driven by local schools’ performance on high-stakes tests.

    Students who are marginalized by racism, poverty or language have historically tended to underperform on standardized tests. I believe STAAR’s design makes this problem worse.

    On May 28, 2025, the Texas Senate passed a bill that would eliminate the STAAR test and replace it with a different, shorter test or a norm-referenced test. As best as I can tell, this wouldn’t address the problems I uncovered in my research.

    What still isn’t known

    I plan to investigate if other states or the federal government use similarly designed tests to evaluate students.

    My deep dive into Texas’ test focused on STAAR before its 2022 redevelopment. The latest iteration has changed the test format and question types, but there appears to be little change to the way the test is scored. Without substantive revisions to the scoring calculations “under the hood” of the STAAR test, it is likely Texas will continue to see flat performance.

    This article was updated on May 31, 2025, to clarify some language and the type of data used in the chart, replace a link and add a comment from the Texas Education Agency.

    The Texas Education Agency responded to a pre-publication request for comment after the piece was published. A spokesman refuted several of the scholar’s research conclusions, including that it behaved like a norm-referenced test. However, the scholar stands by them.

    The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

    Jeanne Sinclair receives funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada.

    – ref. Texas’ annual reading test adjusted its difficulty every year, masking whether students are improving – https://theconversation.com/texas-annual-reading-test-adjusted-its-difficulty-every-year-masking-whether-students-are-improving-244159

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Our trans health study was terminated by the government – the effects of abrupt NIH grant cuts ripple across science and society

    Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Jae A. Puckett, Associate Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University

    Funding cuts to trans health research are part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to medically and legally restrict trans rights. AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson

    Given the Trump administration’s systematic attempts to medically and legally disenfranchise trans people, and its abrupt termination of grants focused on LGBTQ+ health, we can’t say that the notice of termination we received regarding our federally funded research on transgender and nonbinary people’s health was unexpected.

    As researchers who study the experiences of trans and nonbinary people, we have collectively dedicated nearly 50 years of our scientific careers to developing ways to address the health disparities negatively affecting these communities. The National Institutes of Health had placed a call for projects on this topic, and we had successfully applied for their support for our four-year study on resilience in trans communities.

    However, our project on trans health became one of the hundreds of grants that have been terminated on ideological grounds. The termination notice stated that the grant no longer fit agency priorities and claimed that this work was not based on scientific research.

    Termination notice sent to the authors from the National Institutes of Health.
    Jae A. Puckett and Paz Galupo, CC BY-ND

    These grant terminations undermine decades of science on gender diversity by dismissing research findings and purging data. During Trump’s current term, the NIH’s Sexual and Gender Minority Research Office was dismantled, references to LGBTQ+ people were removed from health-related websites, and datasets were removed from public access.

    The effects of ending research on trans health ripple throughout the scientific community, the communities served by this work and the U.S. economy.

    Studying resilience

    Research focused on the mental health of trans and nonbinary people has grown substantially in recent years. Over time, this work has expanded beyond understanding the hardships these communities face to also study their resilience and positive life experiences.

    Resilience is often understood as an ability to bounce back from challenges. For trans and nonbinary people experiencing gender-based stigma and discrimination, resilience can take several forms. This might look like simply continuing to survive in a transphobic climate, or it might take the form of being a role model for other trans and nonbinary people.

    As a result of gender-based stigma and discrimination, trans and nonbinary people experience a range of health disparities, from elevated rates of psychological distress to heightened risk for chronic health conditions and poor physical health. In the face of these challenges and growing anti-trans legislation in the U.S., we believe that studying resilience in these communities can provide insights into how to offset the harms of these stresses.

    Studies show anti-trans legislation is harming the mental health of LGBTQ+ youth.

    With the support of the NIH, we began our work in earnest in 2022. The project was built on many years of research from our teams preceding the grant. From the beginning, we collaborated with trans and nonbinary community members to ensure our research would be attuned to the needs of the community.

    At the time our grant was terminated, we were nearing completion of Year 3 of our four-year project. We had collected data from over 600 trans and nonbinary participants across the U.S. and started to follow their progress over time. We had developed a new way to measure resilience among trans and nonbinary people and were about to publish a second measure specifically tailored to people of color.

    The termination of our grant and others like it harms our immediate research team, the communities we worked with and the field more broadly.

    Loss of scientific workforce

    For many researchers in trans health, the losses from these cuts go beyond employment.

    Our project had served as a training opportunity for the students and early career professionals involved in the study, providing them with the research experience and mentorship necessary to advance their careers. But with the termination of our funding, two full-time researchers and at least three students will lose their positions. The three lead scientists have lost parts of their salaries and dedicated research time.

    These NIH cuts will likely result in the loss of much of the next generation of trans researchers and the contributions they would have made to science and society. Our team and other labs in similar situations will be less likely to work with graduate students due to a lack of available funding to pay and support them. This changes the landscape for future scientists, as it means there will be fewer opportunities for individuals interested in these areas of research to enter graduate training programs.

    The Trump administration has directly penalized universities across the country for ‘ideological overreach.’
    Zhu Ziyu/VCG via Getty Images

    As universities struggle to address federal funding cuts, junior academics will be less likely to gain tenure, and faculty in grant-funded positions may lose their jobs. Universities may also become hesitant to hire people who work in these areas because their research has essentially been banned from federal funding options.

    Loss of community trust

    Trans and nonbinary people have often been studied under opportunistic and demeaning circumstances. This includes when researchers collect data for their own gains but return little to the communities they work with, or when they do research that perpetuates theories that pathologize those communities. As a result, many are often reluctant to participate in research.

    To overcome this reluctance, we grounded our study on community input. We involved an advisory board composed of local trans and nonbinary community members who helped to inform how we conducted our study and measured our findings.

    Our work on resilience has been inspired by feedback we received from previous research participants who said that “[trans people] matter even when not in pain.”

    Abruptly terminating projects like these can break down trust between researchers and the populations they study.

    Loss of scientific knowledge

    Research that focuses on the strengths of trans and nonbinary communities is in its infancy. The termination of our grant has led to the loss of the insights our study would have provided on ways to improve health among trans and nonbinary people and future work that would have built off our findings. Resilience is a process that takes time to unfold, and we had not finished the longitudinal data collection in our study – nor will we have the protected time to publish and share other findings from this work.

    Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services released a May 2025 report stating that there is not enough evidence to support gender-affirming care for young people, contradicting decades of scientific research. Scientists, researchers and medical professional organizations have widely criticized the report as misrepresenting study findings, dismissing research showing benefits to gender-affirming care, and promoting misinformation rejected by major medical associations. Instead, the report recommends “exploratory therapy,” which experts have likened to discredited conversion therapy.

    Transgender and nonbinary people continue to exist, regardless of legislation.
    Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

    Despite claims that there is insufficient research on gender-affirming care and more data is needed on the health of trans and nonbinary people, the government has chosen to divest from actual scientific research about trans and nonbinary people’s lives.

    Loss of taxpayer dollars

    The termination of our grant means we are no longer able to achieve the aims of the project, which depended on the collection and analysis of data over time. This wastes the three years of NIH funding already spent on the project.

    Scientists and experts who participated in the review of our NIH grant proposal rated our project more highly than 96% of the projects we competed against. Even so, the government made the unscientific choice to override these decisions and terminate our work.

    Millions of taxpayer dollars have already been invested in these grants to improve the health of not only trans and nonbinary people, but also American society as a whole. With the termination of these grants, few will get to see the benefits of this investment.

    Jae A. Puckett has received funding from the National Institutes of Health.

    Paz Galupo has received funding from the National Institutes of Health.

    – ref. Our trans health study was terminated by the government – the effects of abrupt NIH grant cuts ripple across science and society – https://theconversation.com/our-trans-health-study-was-terminated-by-the-government-the-effects-of-abrupt-nih-grant-cuts-ripple-across-science-and-society-254021

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Teens say they can access firearms at home, even when parents lock them up, new research shows

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Katherine G. Hastings, PhD Candidate in Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia

    Most households that own firearms have more than one − and owners often don’t secure all of them. StockPlanets/E+ via Getty Images

    More than half of U.S. teens living in households with firearms believe they can access and load a firearm at home. Even when their parents report storing all firearms locked and unloaded, more than one-third of teens still believe they could access and load one. These are the main findings of our new study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

    We are behavioral scientists investigating youth injury prevention and youth safety. In this study, we analyzed national survey data from nearly 500 parents who owned firearms and their teens. One survey asked the parents to report how many firearms they had in the home and how they stored each one. Another asked their teens to estimate how quickly they could access and load a firearm at home.

    While the presence of unlocked and loaded firearms in the home was weakly linked to perceived access among teens, we found that parents’ storage practices alone were a poor predictor of whether teens believed they could access a firearm. What’s more, in households with more than one firearm, locking up more firearms was not at all linked to perceived access among teens if at least one remained unsecured.

    In short, just one unlocked firearm can undo the protective benefit of securing all other firearms in the home, our results showed.

    Why it matters

    In the U.S., firearms are now the leading cause of death among children and teens. In most of these cases, the firearm used belonged to a parent, relative or friend.

    Our study focused on teens’ beliefs about firearm access, not their actual access. However, these perceptions may provide important clues around firearm access and use. Prior research shows that teens who believe they can access a firearm are more likely to access and carry one. This is particularly concerning for teens who already have a higher risk for dying by suicide.

    One of the most widely supported ways to reduce teen injuries and deaths by firearms is to encourage owners to keep firearms locked and unloaded. However, most firearm-owning households in the U.S. have multiple firearms, and owners often store some firearms securely but not all.

    Firearms are the leading cause of death among children and teens.
    Kypros/Stock Photos Gun Safe via Getty Images

    Despite evidence that securely storing firearms saves lives, efforts to promote that messaging may be less effective when it is not universally applied to all firearms in the home or when teens still know how to access them.

    Our study also points to the need for messaging and safety strategies that consider teen behavior amid household firearm dynamics. For example, teens may observe where firearms are stored or know where keys or combinations are kept and unlock firearms in moments of impulsivity or emotional distress. Beyond securely storing firearms, encouraging parents to treat every firearm in the household as a potential source of risk and talking with teens about how to address conflicts and promote mental and emotional well-being may also be protective.

    Additionally, our study adds support for universal laws that require securely storing all firearms in homes in which children live and mandating routine assessments of teen firearm access by pediatricians.

    What still isn’t known

    It is still unclear how teens’ beliefs about their access to firearms affects whether they actually seek them out – or how the variability of parents’ practices on storing firearms affects teen access.

    Another important question is how teens’ perceptions of their access to firearms at home may vary depending on cultural backgrounds, geography and different households’ attitudes and beliefs around firearm use.

    Additionally, our study looked only at teens ages 14 to 18. Further research is needed to explore these associations among younger children in firearm-owning households.

    The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

    Rebeccah Sokol receives funding from the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Katherine G. Hastings 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. Teens say they can access firearms at home, even when parents lock them up, new research shows – https://theconversation.com/teens-say-they-can-access-firearms-at-home-even-when-parents-lock-them-up-new-research-shows-256550

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Adolescents who smoke or vape may believe tobacco’s perceived coping benefits outweigh accepted health risks

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Adriana Espinosa, Associate Professor of Psychology, City College of New York

    Many parents are unaware of their adolescents’ tobacco use. Naveen Asaithambi/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    Tobacco use in a variety of forms is common in adolescent life today, with over 2.25 million youth using.

    Huge progress has been made over the past few decades in reducing cigarette use among young people. But tobacco use – primarily through e-cigarettes, also known as vapes – remains a complex problem for public health and policy.

    In 2024, just over 8% of U.S. middle and high school students reported having used a tobacco product. Among tobacco users, nearly 6% used e-cigarettes, more than a quarter of whom used an e-cigarette product daily.

    We are behavioral health researchers. Our team’s ongoing research examines the factors associated with adolescent tobacco product use in the U.S.

    According to our research, many adolescents who smoke and use vapes are aware of the health risks associated with tobacco use, which demonstrates the effectiveness of public health education campaigns.

    But our research has also found that some adolescents also view tobacco use as helpful in relieving emotional distress. These perceived benefits increase the likelihood of initiating and continuing tobacco use.

    When combined with factors such as easy access to tobacco products or living with someone who uses them, the risk of adolescent use more than doubles, which sets the stage for harmful physical and mental health effects.

    Parental awareness and adolescents’ motivations to use tobacco

    As a mother of a teenager, one of us, Adriana, has experienced this firsthand. For months, my 14-year-old son was vaping in his room, and I had no idea. When he finally told me that he turned to vaping whenever he felt upset, it was like coming face-to-face with the very issues we study.

    This scenario illustrates both the compelling reasons why adolescents may use tobacco and nicotine products and the reality that many parents don’t realize their kids are smoking or vaping.

    Since 2022, our team has been examining the factors associated with tobacco use among more than 8,000 adolescents ages 12 to 17 from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health, or PATH, study – the largest multiyear, nationally representative study of tobacco use in the U.S. We looked at the use of cigarettes, electronic products, traditional or filtered cigars, cigarillos, pipes, hookahs, smokeless or dissolvable tobacco and more.

    We found that emotional distress, along with the belief that tobacco products help manage negative emotions, are significant factors driving adolescent tobacco use.

    This highlights the complexity of the issue – that even when teens recognize the health risks of tobacco use, vaping and other forms of tobacco use may function as a coping strategy, albeit an unhealthy one, for the wide range of emotional challenges that come with adolescence.

    Teachers and school administrators are struggling to control vaping among students because many devices are small, odorless and easy to conceal.
    Peter Dazeley/Photodisc via Getty Images

    Harmful effects of adolescent tobacco use

    Research has shown that adolescents may perceive e-cigarettes as a more appealing and less harmful alternative to traditional cigarettes.

    The availability of flavored options further increases the appeal of these products and can contribute to the progression from occasional to regular use and ultimately the development of nicotine dependence.

    A growing body of research continues to reveal the harmful effects of tobacco use, including vaping, on developing brains and lungs. Exposure to nicotine during adolescence can interfere with brain development, impair attention and learning, and increase the risk of use and dependence on other substances later in life.

    What makes vaping especially difficult to manage is its stealth. Unlike combustible products, many vaping devices are small, odorless and very easy to conceal. As a result, parents, teachers and school administrators are struggling to detect and curb vaping among teens.

    Strategies for addressing why teens use tobacco

    In our view, policy efforts that focus primarily on raising awareness about health risks, restricting access to tobacco products or reducing the appeal of e-cigarettes or vapes will reach only a subset of youth who use them, and not those who may use for emotional reasons.

    And while such bans may limit access to tobacco products in formal settings, the availability of these products from friends and social networks, online platforms or unregulated markets will not likely be reduced solely through that type of health messaging.

    As our findings show, these efforts may miss a stronger, even more enduring driver of youth tobacco use: the pervasive belief that tobacco use helps manage stress, anger and other difficult emotions. Our research highlights that emotional distress and the perception that tobacco use can help them cope with stress are central to why many adolescents begin and continue using these products, even when they are aware of the health risks.

    In this context, simply limiting access to tobacco products or repeating well-known health warnings will do little to address the underlying emotional motivations to use.

    We believe that to make meaningful progress, policy and prevention interventions will need to address the underlying motives for use, and not just focus on the harmful health effects of nicotine or means of access.

    This includes integrating emotional and behavioral health support into tobacco prevention strategies and expanding school-based and community mental health services. And while public health education campaigns such as The Real Cost have been successful in reducing the number of adolescents who begin using e-cigarettes, our findings suggest more emphasis on the emotional drivers of tobacco use is warranted.

    Adriana Espinosa receives funding from the National Institutes of Health (NCI and NIMHD).

    Lesia M. Ruglass receives funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIGMS, NIDA, NCI, and NIMHD).

    – ref. Adolescents who smoke or vape may believe tobacco’s perceived coping benefits outweigh accepted health risks – https://theconversation.com/adolescents-who-smoke-or-vape-may-believe-tobaccos-perceived-coping-benefits-outweigh-accepted-health-risks-254294

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Older adults with dementia misjudge their financial skills – which may make them more vulnerable to fraud, new research finds

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ian McDonough, Associate Professor of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York

    Older adults generally have a good sense of their own financial abilities – unless they have dementia. shapecharge/E+ via Getty Images

    Older adults diagnosed with dementia lose their ability to assess how well they manage their finances, according to a recent study I co-authored in The Gerontologist. In comparison, people of the same age who don’t have dementia are aware of their financial abilities – and this awareness improves over time.

    For our study, we used data from over 2,000 adults in the U.S. age 65 and older, collected during a long-term study on aging.
    We focused on how participants’ financial skills changed over time. The study began in 1998 and is still running, but we probed data collected between 1998 and 2009.

    Participants were assessed at one year, two years, five years and 10 years for their ability to carry out everyday tasks, including ones that required handling money. For example, they had to calculate the cost of a gym membership and a store discount rate, fill out part of a tax return and assess the cost of medical services. They also rated how well they thought they could do everyday financial tasks. Initially, none of the participants were diagnosed with dementia, but over the course of the decade, 87 participants, or 3.1%, received a dementia diagnosis.

    We found that even though participants’ performance on financial tasks declined as they aged, older adults who did not have dementia and older adults who had mild cognitive impairment were appropriately aware of their financial abilities. What’s more, that awareness increased over time. However, participants who were diagnosed with dementia during the study and experienced severe cognitive decline often misjudged how well they performed financial tasks.

    Financial scams targeting older adults are on the rise.

    The lack of insight into one’s cognitive abilities is called anosognosia. This study reveals a new type called financial anosognosia.

    Why it matters

    As people get older, their financial management skills start to deteriorate. The combination of a lifelong accumulation of wealth, declining financial abilities and a lack of awareness of those declines puts older adults at serious risk for financial scams.

    Few tools are available that can support families in helping cognitively impaired adults manage their finances. Our research suggests that there is a critical window of time after people begin to experience cognitive decline during which they are still aware of their financial abilities. We believe that this is when people can take action to secure their finances and develop systems to protect themselves from fraud.

    What still isn’t known

    Close friends or family members are often tempted to take away the financial autonomy of an older adult who is mismanaging their finances. However, that may not be the best solution, particularly for people who feel that handling their finances is a core part of their identity. More research is needed to identify how best to balance personal autonomy and the need to protect a person’s finances.

    What’s next

    This study used paper-and-pencil tasks to assess financial performance. But increasingly, many older adults are using online banking.

    E-banking simplifies many calculations, which may be helpful for older adults with declining cognition. However, e-banking can also make finances more of a black box, which may decrease a person’s awareness of their financial abilities. Furthermore, e-banking is constantly advancing, putting older adults at a disadvantage because they are more likely to be less cognitively flexible and to learn more slowly.

    We hope to explore whether older adults with and without cognitive decline have similar awareness of their ability to appropriately manage their finances online and identify potential financial scams.

    The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

    Ian McDonough receives funding from The National Institutes of Health.

    – ref. Older adults with dementia misjudge their financial skills – which may make them more vulnerable to fraud, new research finds – https://theconversation.com/older-adults-with-dementia-misjudge-their-financial-skills-which-may-make-them-more-vulnerable-to-fraud-new-research-finds-256973

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: RFK Jr’s shakeup of vaccine advisory committee raises worries about scientific integrity of health recommendations

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Santosh Kumar Gautam, Associate Professor of Development and Global Health Economics, University of Notre Dame

    The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices played a key role in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images

    On June 11, 2025, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a slate of eight new members to serve on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on national vaccine policy.

    The announcement, made on the social media platform X, comes two days after Kennedy removed all 17 of the serving committee members. Kennedy called their replacements “a bold step in restoring public trust” rooted in “radical transparency and gold standard science.”

    However, public health experts decried the removals, pointing to Kennedy’s promise not to change the committee and warning that the move politicizes its work and undermines its scientific integrity. Health experts have also noted that multiple new committee members appointed on June 11 have voiced anti-vaccine views that are not evidence-based.

    The Conversation U.S. asked Santosh Kumar Gautam, an expert in global health policy at the University of Notre Dame, to explain how the vaccine committee’s guidance has shaped vaccine recommendations for the public, and what the changes might mean for peoples’ ability to access vaccines in the future.

    What is the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices?

    The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, is a panel of experts appointed to advise the CDC on how to use vaccines to protect the health of people in the U.S. The committee’s job is to review multiple strands of scientific evidence to recommend which vaccines should be used, who should get them and when they should be given. Its guidance affects vaccine schedules for both children and adults, insurance coverage and public health policy across the country.

    The committee was formed in 1964 to establish national vaccine policy as federal immunization programs began to expand. It can have up to 19 voting members, who are appointed by the secretary of Health and Human Services. Members are experts in areas such as medicine, public health and immunology. Member usually serve overlapping four-year terms to ensure continuity. All 17 previous members were appointed at different times during the Biden administration. Removing all members of the committee at once is unprecedented.

    The group also includes nonvoting members from government health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. There are also representatives from more than 30 medical and public health organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physicians.

    These nonvoting members share useful information and real-world experience such as practical issues in administering vaccines in hospitals, management of vaccine side effects and insights into adverse events. Their input helps the committee make recommendations that reflect both science and practical needs.

    The committee meets three times a year to review new data on vaccine safety and effectiveness. Its next meeting is scheduled for June 25-27 and is expected to include discussions on COVID-19 and HPV vaccines, with recommendation votes planned for COVID-19 boosters, human papilloma virus and influenza vaccines. The meeting is open to the public and will be telecast live online.

    What is the committee’s role in vaccine policy?

    The committee makes its recommendations to the CDC by reviewing scientific evidence about a vaccine’s safety and efficacy, as well as practical issues, such as how easy a vaccine is to use, how it affects different groups, its side-effects and how it fits into the health system. The recommendations don’t just consider whether a vaccine works, but how it can be most effectively deployed to protect the American public from disease outbreaks.

    The new lineup of the vaccine advisory committee may lead to changes in children’s vaccine schedules.
    SementsovaLesia/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    The committee looks at data from clinical trials and other research to examine the most recent data on a vaccine’s safety, efficacy and use in everyday settings. When new vaccines come out or a change occurs in the way a disease spreads or behaves, the committee often revises its advice. It also responds to public health emergencies such as recent measles outbreaks in the U.S.

    The committee has made many updates over time. It changed flu shot guidance when new strains appeared. It lowered the recommended age for the HPV vaccine based on new research. And it adjusted vaccine plans for meningitis to better protect people at higher risk.

    What was the committee’s role during the COVID-19 pandemic?

    The committee played a vital role in evaluating vaccine safety and effectiveness and authorizing the use of vaccines for different age groups by reviewing clinical trial data, from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and other vaccine manufacturers.

    The committee also developed step-by-step guidelines for who should get vaccinated first, based on how likely people were to catch the virus, their risk of serious disease, the type of work they did and whether they came from a population that was historically underserved or at higher risk. It also issued tailored guidance for pregnant and breastfeeding women, immunocompromised people and children and adolescents as more trial data became available.

    These recommendations shaped vaccine rollout strategies at both national and state levels, guided insurance coverage and influenced COVID-19 vaccination policies in other countries around the world.

    Public health experts have expressed concern that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to replace all 17 members of the vaccine advisory committee will erode its ability to provide evidence-based guidance.

    Who are the new members that Kennedy appointed?

    Although Kennedy promised more transparency, he handpicked the advisory committee’s new members without revealing how they were selected. Historically, the body’s members are selected after an extensive vetting process that can take two years.

    The newly appointed members have expertise in psychiatry, neuroscience, epidemiology, biostatistics and operations management. However, several have been linked to vaccine-related misinformation, particularly relating to COVID-19 vaccines, raising concerns about the scientific neutrality of the committee moving forward.

    For example, Retsef Levi, a professor of operations management at MIT Sloan School of Management, has publicly called for suspension of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, claiming they cause serious harm and death in young people – a statement not supported by evidence.

    Another member, physician and biochemist Robert Malone, made scientifically inaccurate statements about the dangers of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic.

    A third member, epidemiologist and biostatistician Martin Kulldorff helped write the Great Barrington Declaration, which opposed lockdowns and argued that people at low risk of severe illness or death should be allowed to contract COVID-19 to build natural immunity – a stance that was heavily debated among health experts.

    What happens now?

    The committee’s new makeup and Kennedy’s decades-long anti-vaccine stance threaten to erode the integrity of scientific decision-making and commitment to ethical standards in vaccine recommendations.

    Kennedy’s overhaul of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will likely affect how insurers, doctors and the public make decisions about vaccines – and vaccine policy generally. For example, the advisory committee’s decisions directly affect which vaccines are covered by health insurance. If a vaccine is not recommended by the committee, many insurance plans, including those under the Affordable Care Act, are not required to cover it. This means families could face out-of-pocket costs, making it harder for children to access routine immunizations.

    The advisory committee also plays a key role in shaping the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule. Given Kennedy’s long-held skepticism about childhood vaccines — including those for measles and polio — some public health experts worry that the newly appointed members could push to revisit or revise vaccine recommendations, especially for newer and more debated vaccines like those for COVID-19 or HPV.

    States usually base their school entry vaccine requirements on the committee’s guidelines, and insurers often use them to determine which vaccines are covered. As a result, shifts in policy to childhood vaccinations could influence both school vaccination mandates and access to vaccines for millions of children.

    Santosh Kumar Gautam 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. RFK Jr’s shakeup of vaccine advisory committee raises worries about scientific integrity of health recommendations – https://theconversation.com/rfk-jrs-shakeup-of-vaccine-advisory-committee-raises-worries-about-scientific-integrity-of-health-recommendations-258674

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: People you may not know attended an ACT public school

    Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

    In brief

    • Over the years, many well-known people have attended a Canberra public school.
    • Some attended for a short time, for university or alongside training at the Australian Institute of Sport.
    • This article lists some of these people.

    It’s no secret Canberra is a great place to live. It’s also, unsurprisingly, a great place to go to school.

    We’ve pulled together a list of well-known people who have attended an ACT public school or university.

    From actors to authors and artists to activists, plenty of impressive Aussies were educated right here in Canberra.

    Some may have stayed only a while. Some came just for uni or a sporting scholarship. Regardless, we’re happy to claim them.

    While this is not an exhaustive list, you’re bound to discover something new as you scroll.

    SCREEN AND STAGE

    Alan Alder – Ballet dancer and teacher

    Canberra High School

    Wil Anderson – Comedian and TV presenter

    University of Canberra

    Imogen Bailey – Model, actress, singer

    Melrose High School, Phillip College (now Canberra College)

    Jon Casimir – TV producer and executive

    Hawker College

    Jackie Chan – Actor

    Dickson College

    Ronny Chieng – Comedian

    Australian National University

    Gary Eck – Comedian and TV presenter

    Latham Primary School, Belconnen High School, Hawker College

    Tim Ferguson – Comedian and TV presenter

    School Without Walls (now closed), Narrabundah College

    Leon Ford – Director and screenwriter

    Telopea Park School, Narrabundah College

    Hannah Gadsby – Comedian

    Australian National University

    Richard Glover – Writer and radio presenter

    Australian National University

    Alister Grierson – Director and screenwriter

    Australian National University

    Liv Hewson – Actor and playwright

    Alfred Deakin High School, Canberra College

    Matthew Le Nevez – Actor

    Telopea Park School

    Paul McDermott – Comedian and TV presenter

    Dickson College, Australian National University

    Rhys Muldoon – Actor

    Scullin Primary School (closed, now Southern Cross Early Childhood School), Belconnen High School, Hawker College

    Alex O’Loughlin – Actor

    Macquarie Primary School

    Felicity Packard – Screenwriter and academic

    Lyneham High School, University of Canberra, Australian National University

    Rachel Perkins – Director, producer and screenwriter

    Melrose Primary School (now closed)

    Tanzeal Rahim – Director and writer

    University of Canberra

    Helen Razer – Radio presenter and writer

    Weston Creek High School (closed, now part of Mount Stromlo High School), Narrabundah College

    Richard Roxburgh – Actor

    Australian National University

    Ben Snow – Visual Effects, Writer, Director

    Narrabundah College, University of Canberra

    James Wan – Director

    Lake Tuggeranong College

    Mia Wasikowska – Actor

    Cook Primary School (now closed), Ainslie Primary School, Canberra High School

    Kirsty Webeck – Comedian

    Mt Stromlo High School, Narrabundah College, University of Canberra

    Sara Zwangobani – Actor

    Cook Primary School (now closed), Hawker College

    BOOKS AND NEWS

    Bettina Arndt – Journalist

    Australian National University

    Cynthia Banham – Journalist and academic

    Australian National University

    Rosemary Church – International news anchor

    University of Canberra

    Morris Gleitzman – Author

    Canberra College of Advanced Education (now the University of Canberra)

    Irma Gold – Author and podcaster

    University of Canberra

    Stan Grant – Journalist and author

    Australian National University

    Emma Grey – Author

    Garran Primary School, University of Canberra, Australian National University, Canberra Institute of Technology

    Marion Halligan – Author

    Australian National University. Marian also taught English at Canberra High School.

    Sonya Heaney – Author

    Melrose High School, University of Canberra

    Jack Heath – Author

    Lyneham High School, Narrabundah College

    Ingrid Jonach – Author

    University of Canberra

    Emma Macdonald – Journalist

    North Ainslie Primary School, University of Canberra

    Andrew Marlton aka First Dog on the Moon – Cartoonist

    Yarralumla Primary School

    Karen Middleton – Journalist

    Belconnen High School, Hawker College

    Garth Nix – Author

    Turner Primary School, Lyneham High School, Dickson College

    Dan O’Malley – Author

    Garran Primary School

    Sarah Oakes – Editor and Journalist

    University of Canberra

    Debra Oswald – Screenwriter and author

    Australian National University

    Stephanie Owen Reeder – Author

    University of Canberra

    Jamila Rizvi – Author and journalist

    Lyneham High School, Hawker College

    Brendan Shanahan – Author and journalist

    Narrabundah College, Australian National University

    Kimberley Starr – Author

    Garran Primary School

    Gabrielle Tozer – Author and Journalist

    University of Canberra

    Karen Viggers – Author and vet

    Australian National University

    Sam Vincent – Author and journalist

    University of Canberra

    Amanda Whitley – HerCanberra founder

    University of Canberra

    SPORTS

    Suzy Batkovic – Basketballer

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Darren Beadman – Jockey

    Garran Primary School, Lyneham High School

    Michael Bevan – Cricketer

    Stirling College (became part of Canberra College)

    Abby Bishop – Basketballer

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Justin Blumfield – AFL player

    Melrose High School

    Andrew Bogut – Basketballer

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Edwina Bone – Hockey player

    University of Canberra

    Caroline Buchanan – BMX and mountain bike rider

    Duffy Primary School, Lanyon High School, Erindale College

    Liz Cambage – Basketballer

    UC SSC Lake Ginninderra (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Bradley Clyde – Rugby league player

    Hawker College

    Matthew Dellavedova – Basketballer

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Brennon Dowrick – Gymnast

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra), University of Canberra

    Danté Exum – Basketballer

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Linley Frame – Swimmer

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    George Gregan – Rugby union player

    University of Canberra

    Aaron Hamill – AFL player

    Fadden Primary School, Melrose High School, Phillip College (became part of Canberra College)

    Lincoln Hall – Mountain climber

    Telopea Park School, Australian National University

    Shane Heal – Basketballer

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    James Hird – AFL player

    Ainslie Primary School

    Andrew Illie – Tennis player

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Joe Ingles – Basketballer

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Lauren Jackson – Basketballer

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Stephen Larkham – Rugby Union player and coach

    Australian National University

    Scott Miller – Swimmer

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Patty Mills – Basketballer

    Lanyon High School, UC SSC Lake Ginninderra

    Joanne Morgan – Netballer and coach

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Cameron Myers – Athlete

    UC SSC Lake Ginninderra

    Lucas Neill – Soccer player

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Rennae Stubbs – Tennis player

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Petria Thomas – Swimmer and Commonwealth Games Chef de Mission

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra), University of Canberra

    Marianna Tolo – Basketballer

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Emily Van Egmond – Soccer player

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Mark Viduka – Soccer player

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Todd Woodbridge – Tennis player and commentator

    Lyneham High School, Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Ned Zelic – Soccer player

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    MUSIC

    Peter Blakeley – Singer and songwriter

    Hughes Primary School

    Peter Casey – Musical director

    Cook Primary School (now closed)

    Matt Cooper, Matt Parkitny, Alex Pearson, Joel Tyrrell, Trenton Woodley – Hands Like Houses band members

    Melba High School and Copland College (amalgamated to become Melba Copland Secondary School) and Canberra High School between them

    Martin Craft – Sidewinder band member

    Narrabundah College

    Cameron Emerson-Elliott, Toby Martin – Youth Group band members

    Narrabundah College

    Frank Gambale – Guitarist

    Canberra High School

    Peter Garrett – Midnight Oil band member and former politician

    Australian National University

    Adam Hyde, Reuben Styles – Peking Duk band members

    Lyneham High School and Dickson College between them

    Hayley Jensen – Singer and songwriter

    Australian National University, University of Canberra

    Steven Kilbey – The Church band member

    Lyneham High School

    Lisa Moore – Pianist

    Telopea Park School

    Tim Omaji aka Timomatic – Singer, songwriter and dancer

    Narrabundah College

    Tim Rogers – Musician, You Am I band member

    Australian National University

    Sally Whitwell – Classical pianist and composer

    Australian National University

    AND STILL MORE

    Jess Cochrane – Artist

    Mt Stromlo High School

    Stefania Ferrario – Activist and model

    Telopea Park School, Narrabundah College

    Rosalie Gascoigne – Artist

    Australian National University

    Bob Hawke – Former Prime Minister of Australia

    Australian National University

    Tziporah Malkah (formerly Kate Fischer) – Model and actress

    Narrabundah College

    Sam Mostyn – Current Governor General of Australia

    South Curtin Primary School (became Curtin Primary School), Woden Valley High School (became part of Alfred Deakin High School), Narrabundah College

    Hetti Perkins – Art curator, writer and activist

    Melrose Primary School (now closed)

    Patricia Piccinini – Artist

    Narrabundah College

    Sam Prince – Zambreros founder, entrepreneur and doctor

    Lake Ginninderra College (now UC SSC Lake Ginninderra)

    Kevin Rudd – former Prime Minister of Australia

    Australian National University

    Gough Whitlam – Former Prime Minister of Australia

    Telopea Park School

    A COUPLE OF NOTABLE MENTIONS FROM OVER THE BORDER

    David Campese – Rugby Union player and commentator

    Queanbeyan High School

    Mark Webber – Formula One driver and commentator

    Isabella Street Primary School, Karabar High School

    ENROL YOUR CHILD IN AN ACT SCHOOL

    Today, more than 50,000 students are enrolled across the ACT’s 92 public schools.

    To find a school or enrol your child, visit the ACT Education website.

    To apply for university in Canberra, you’ll typically apply through the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) or directly to the university.

    Read more like this

    Get ACT news and events delivered straight to your inbox, sign up to our email newsletter:


    MIL OSI News –

  • Massive turnout for Amarnath Yatra ticket collection in Jammu amid tight security

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Devotees gathered in large numbers at Saraswati Dham in Jammu on Monday to collect tickets for the Amarnath Yatra, slated to begin on July 3. 

    Speaking to IANS, many people expressed unwavering faith in India’s security forces and emphasized that fear would not deter them from fulfilling their spiritual aspirations.

    Shakshdeep Jha, who arrived from Mumbai with a group of 15 pilgrims, shared his excitement, saying, “I am very happy to be here. We will carry on the Yatra through the Pahalgam route.”

    When asked about any apprehensions following the recent Pahalgam attack, he replied firmly, “We do not fear anything. Our forces are there to protect us. As long as we have our forces, we can go anywhere without fear. People should come here in large numbers without any fear.”

    Another pilgrim, Deepak Sharma from Uttar Pradesh, spoke of his determination despite the rainy weather. “Even though it’s raining, we are very excited to be here. Right now, we will collect our tickets and proceed for the Yatra through the Pahalgam route,” he said.

    He added that the large turnout of pilgrims would send a message of unity and resilience — “a slap in the face of terrorists.”

    Maya Kaul, another devotee, echoed similar sentiments. “We are six people and will go through the Pahalgam route. We have full confidence in our forces, and there is no need to be afraid. I urge people to come in large numbers to the Amarnath Yatra.”

    Among those standing in long queues amid the heavy rain was a group of 120 people from Bihar.

    A devotee from Darbhanga said, “We are so excited to be here. We cannot express our joy. All the arrangements are excellent. We have complete faith in the Indian Army and are confident they will ensure the Yatra proceeds smoothly.”

    Kajal Wangmare from Maharashtra said she had been standing in line since 3 a.m. “It’s raining, but we are just happy to be here. We know we will have a memorable pilgrimage and return with happy memories,” she told IANS.

    Vikramjeet from Delhi also shared his thoughts, saying, “We are very excited. I also want to send a message to everyone: there is no need to be afraid. The arrangements here are very good, and we are not facing any problems. We believe in our Army, and we are not afraid of anything.”

    Meanwhile, security forces on Monday carried out an extensive joint mock drill along the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway as part of the final preparations for the annual Yatra.

    The exercise aimed to ensure the safety and readiness of the security forces and civil administration ahead of the pilgrimage. Buses were escorted under full security cover during the drill to test the coordination and preparedness of various security units.

    The exercise simulated emergency scenarios such as landslides and other natural disasters, focusing on rapid response, evacuation, and medical aid for stranded pilgrims.

    The simulation involved rescuing trapped vehicles, administering immediate first aid to the injured, and coordinating swift relief efforts through integrated disaster response and security teams.

    The first batch of pilgrims will be flagged off from the Jammu base camp on July 2. The Yatra will commence the following day via both the Pahalgam and Baltal routes.

    —IANS

  • 88 pc global firms now have dedicated AI budgets; focus shifts to intelligent agents: Report

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Nearly 88 per cent of global enterprises now have dedicated budgets for Artificial Intelligence (AI), with nearly two-thirds of them spending over 15 per cent of their overall tech budgets on AI projects, a new report said on Monday.

    This major investment push marks a clear shift from early experimentation with Generative AI to building intelligent, goal-oriented systems known as AI agents, according to data compiled by Nasscom.

    Titled ‘Enterprise Experiments with AI Agents – 2025 Global Trends,’ the report provides a comprehensive look at how companies across the globe are preparing for the next phase of AI adoption.

    Sangeeta Gupta, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Nasscom, said that enterprises are at a crucial turning point.

    “AI agents represent the next evolution of enterprise AI — one that requires philosophical shifts in how we view work, intelligence, and autonomy,” she said.

    However, she also emphasised that scaling AI systems responsibly would require strong trust, data readiness, and continuous human oversight.

    Based on responses from over 100 companies across 8–9 global regions and more than 10 industries, the study shows how enterprises are moving beyond passive data analysis to more active AI systems that can perform tasks and make decisions with human oversight.

    The report shows that businesses are strengthening their AI foundation through investments in GenAI tools, data infrastructure, and flexible processes.

    Many companies have already formed specialised AI teams and are working with advanced platforms, upgrading their tech setups to support the deployment of AI agents.

    However, despite high awareness of Generative AI, only half of the surveyed companies are fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) or foundation models for their own needs.

    One of the biggest highlights of the report is the growing interest in Agentic AI — systems designed to act independently while still being monitored by humans.

    About 62 per cent of companies are experimenting with such AI agents, mainly for internal tasks such as IT operations, HR, and finance.

    External uses, like customer service, are still limited, with only 31 per cent of enterprises using Agentic AI in those areas.

    However, looking ahead, 88 per cent of companies plan to set aside budgets specifically for Agentic AI systems in 2025.

    The report also reveals that most companies are being cautious. Around 77 per cent are designing Agentic AI systems with a ‘human-in-the-loop’ model to ensure oversight and adaptability.

    Only 46 per cent are testing fully autonomous agents. Manufacturing companies appear to be ahead in adoption, using AI for robotics, quality control, and other operational areas.

    When it comes to benefits, companies believe AI agents can help in making faster decisions and responding better to market changes, the report said.

    (IANS)

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Government welcomes publication of annual report of Process Review Panel for the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    Government welcomes publication of annual report of Process Review Panel for the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority 
         A spokesman for the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said, “The PRP has conducted a thorough review of the internal procedures and operational guidelines relating to the MPFA’s performance of its core regulatory activities, including the approval and registration of Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) trustees, schemes and funds, regulation of MPF trustees and intermediaries, regulation of occupational retirement schemes, and handling of complaints. The Report’s observations and suggestions will help ensure the fair and consistent exercise of regulatory powers by the MPFA, thereby strengthening public confidence and contributing to the continuous improvement of Hong Kong’s retirement protection system.
     
         “We would like to express sincere gratitude to the PRP Chairman, Mr Eugene Fung, SC, and members of the PRP for their dedication in providing comprehensive and insightful comments and recommendations to enhance the work of the MPFA and the operation of the MPF System,” the spokesman added.
     
         The PRP is an independent panel established by the Chief Executive to review and advise the MPFA on the adequacy and consistency of its internal procedures and operational guidelines relating to the MPFA’s regulation of MPF intermediaries. Since November 2021, the PRP has been renamed and taken on an expanded role to review the internal procedures of all the MPFA’s core regulatory activities.
     
    Issued at HKT 17:10

    NNNN

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Holy See Press Office Press Release: Audience with the President of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe

    Source: The Holy See

    Holy See Press Office Press Release: Audience with the President of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, 30.06.2025

    Today, 30 June 2025, the Holy Father Leo XIV received in audience, in the Apostolic Palace, the President of the Democratic Republic of São Tome and Príncipe, His Excellency Mr. Carlos Manuel Vila Nova, who subsequently met with His Excellency Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations.
    During the cordial talks held at the Secretariat of State, the good relations between the Holy See and São Tome and Príncipe were evoked, and several aspects of the country’s political and socio-economic situation were discussed, especially the collaboration with the local Church in the fields of healthcare and education, with particular attention to the formation of young people in the archipelago.
    The conversation continued with an exchange of opinions on matters of a regional and international nature, highlighting the importance of promoting dialogue and cooperation between nations.
    From the Vatican, 30 June 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: INTERPOL releases new information on globalization of scam centres

    Source: Interpol (news and events)

    • Victims have been trafficked into criminality from more than 60 countries around the world
    • West Africa is emerging as a potential regional hub for online scam centres

    LYON, France: Human trafficking-fueled scam centres have expanded their global footprint, according to a new crime trend update released by INTERPOL.

    As of March 2025, victims from 66 countries were trafficked into online scam centres, with no continent left untouched.

    Seventy-four percent of human trafficking victims were brought to centres in the original ‘hub’ region of Southeast Asia, according to analysis of the crime trend using data from relevant INTERPOL Notices issued in the past five years.

    However, online scam centres have increasingly been observed in other regions, including the Middle East, West Africa – which could be developing into a new regional hub – and Central America.

    While approximately 90 percent of human trafficking facilitators were from Asia, 11 per cent were from South America or Africa.

    Eighty per cent of facilitators were men, and 61 per cent were aged between 20 and 39 years old.

    Global crisis

    Initially concentrated in a handful of Southeast Asian countries, the centres are estimated to have drawn in hundreds of thousands of human trafficking victims, typically through false job ads, detaining them in compounds and forcing them to carry out online social engineering scams.

    While not every person committing fraud in a scam centre is a victim of human trafficking, those held against their will are often subject to extortion through debt bondage, as well as beatings, sexual exploitation, torture and rape.

    Online scams engineered by the centres target a second set of globally-dispersed victims, who often suffer debilitating financial and emotional damage.

    Since 2023, INTERPOL has documented how this double-edged crime trend has evolved from a regional threat in Southeast Asia to a global crisis, issuing an Orange Notice to signal its serious and imminent threat to public safety.

    In 2024, a global operation coordinated by INTERPOL uncovered dozens of cases in which trafficking victims were deceived and coerced into committing fraud, with national police officers raiding an industrial-scale scam centre in the Philippines.

    In the same year, an INTERPOL operation saw police dismantle a scam centre in Namibia, where 88 youths were forced to conduct scams.

    Growing use of AI

    The INTERPOL update also highlights how emerging technologies and convergence with other major crime areas could transform human trafficking-fueled scam centres as the crime trend continues to evolve.

    The use of artificial intelligence has been observed in a growing number of scamming cases.

    AI has been used to develop convincing fake job ads that attract human trafficking victims as well as generate online photos or profiles through ‘deepfake’ technology for sextortion and romance scams, among other social engineering schemes.

    Moreover, reports analysed by INTERPOL show that the same routes used to traffic victims to scam centres can be used to traffic drugs, firearms and protected wildlife species.

    The areas where scam centres have emerged in Southeast Asia are also key hubs for the trafficking of endangered species such as tigers or pangolins, making criminal diversification likely.

    Cyril Gout, Acting Executive Director of Police Services at INTERPOL, said:

    “The reach of online scam centres spans the globe and represents a dynamic and persistent global challenge.”

    “Tackling this rapidly globalizing threat requires a coordinated international response. We must increase the exchange of information between law enforcement in the growing number of countries affected and strengthen partnerships with NGOs that help victims and technology companies whose platforms are being exploited.”

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: INTERPOL launches our new external newsletter, INTERPOL Spotlight!

    Source: Interpol (news and events)

    Issue 1 is out now and focuses on how we are fighting back against organized crime.

    INTERPOL Spotlight breaks down how transnational law enforcement forms the bedrock of global security, safeguarding people and the planet we live on, and supporting economic development. In it, we showcase how INTERPOL is uniquely placed to coordinate the global law enforcement response to meeting these challenges, through real-life examples of how we and our partners are working to make it a reality.

    INTERPOL Spotlight highlights INTERPOL’s work through feature articles and news, with an Editorial from Secretary General, Valdecy Urquiza

    INTERPOL Spotlight highlights INTERPOL’s work through feature articles and news, with an Editorial from Secretary General, Valdecy Urquiza

    INTERPOL Spotlight highlights INTERPOL’s work through feature articles and news, with an Editorial from Secretary General, Valdecy Urquiza

    INTERPOL Spotlight highlights INTERPOL’s work through feature articles and news, with an Editorial from Secretary General, Valdecy Urquiza

    The June edition puts the spotlight on our fight against organized crime, with articles on how we are disrupting the criminal networks that increasingly threaten our shared future by plundering our planet, how we work hand in hand with our member countries to stop organized crime groups from exploiting new illicit markets, or how our new Silver Notice targets their illegal financial gains across borders.

    If you’d like to learn more about that and more, sign up to INTERPOL Spotlight here and access our expertise from your inbox.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Help us future-proof city play areas

    Source: City of Norwich

    Families across Norwich are being called on to help shape the future of their local play spaces.

    With many play areas showing their age and traditional funding sources coming to an end, Norwich City Council is launching a consultation to gather ideas, spark creativity, and set priorities for future investment.

    Norwich has 74 play areas, 17 multi-use games areas (MUGAs), 5 skate parks and 1 BMX track, all managed by the city council

    Whether you’re a parent, a child, a teacher, or a local resident, your voice matters. From drawing dream playgrounds to sharing thoughts in a quick survey or coming to a pop-up event, there are several fun and easy ways to get involved.

    Cllr Emma Hampton, cabinet member for parks and open spaces, said:

    “Norwich is fortunate to have so many play areas which we know are an important part of resident’s wellbeing, and we need to plan their future – help us shape what comes next.

     “We’re inviting everyone to be part of the conversation and help us build spaces that children love, and communities are proud of.”

    Play area pop-up events schedule – come and see us in the summer holidays

    (All events run from 10am to 2pm)

    • Wednesday 23 July – Eaton Green and Enfield Road
    • Monday 28 July – Harford Park and Chapelbreak
    • Tuesday 29 July – Heigham Park and West End Street
    • Wednesday 30 July – Chapelfield Park and Sewell Park
    • Thursday 31 July – Jenny Lind and Peterson Road
    • Monday 4 August – Pilling Park and Greenfields
    • Wednesday 6 August – Heartsease Rec and Marion Road
    • Friday 8 August – Eaton Park and Waterloo Park

    The consultation will also be taken directly into some local schools, through a partnership with Norwich Youth Advisory Board.

    Work to review the play areas is already underway, looking at things like accessibility, equipment, age suitability and where they’re located. Everything residents share will help:

    • Shape the play strategy
    • Prioritise improvements
    • Create inclusive spaces
    • Plan for future needs

    A draft plan is set to be shared later this year. The consultation is open from Monday 30 June until Sunday 10 August 2025. Take part at gettalkingnorwich.gov.uk/play

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Video: UK Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod explains the role of the mace

    Source: United Kingdom UK House of Lords (video statements)

    A mace is carried into the House of Lords chamber in a procession at the beginning of each sitting day.

    Hear from Neil, Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod, as he explains what happens during the procession and his role.

    Catch-up on House of Lords business:

    Watch live events: https://parliamentlive.tv/Lords
    Read the latest news: https://www.parliament.uk/lords/

    Stay up to date with the House of Lords on social media:

    • X: https://twitter.com/UKHouseofLords
    • Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/houseoflords.parliament.uk
    • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/UKHouseofLords/
    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UKHouseofLords
    • Flickr: https://flickr.com/photos/ukhouseoflords/albums
    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-house-of-lords
    • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@UKHouseOfLords

    #HouseOfLords #UKParliament

    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/movdnaGjzxs

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Vessel operators must pass medical

    Source: Hong Kong Information Services

    The Marine Department today announced a new requirement in applications for local certificates of competency (CoC), or their revalidation, whereby a medical fitness certificate issued by a recognised medical practitioner must be submitted.

     

    To enhance marine safety, the department has revised the eligibility criteria for local CoCs. Introducing a medical fitness certificate requirement will ensure certificate holders are physically fit to operate vessels.

     

    The new requirement involves two categories of people. Category I covers all applicants for initial issuance or revalidation of any grade of local CoC. Category II only covers coxswains and engine operators in charge of passenger vessels and “high-risk vessels” carrying substances such as gases, noxious liquid substances or oil.

     

    All applicants for issuance or revalidation of local CoCs must submit a medical fitness certificate issued by a registered medical practitioner recognised by the department together with their application form.

     

    Once issued, the local certificates will remain valid until the holder reaches the age of 65. Holders of local certificates who wish to revalidate their CoCs after reaching 65 will have to pass a medical assessment every three years.

     

    After reaching the age of 71, a holder must pass a medical assessment every year to revalidate the CoC.

     

    Considering the higher marine safety risks involved, all coxswains and engine operators of high-risk vessels need to undergo a medical assessment every five years to ensure they are physically fit to operate the relevant vessels.

     

    Operators of high-risk vessels must submit a copy of their medical fitness certificate to the Marine Department for record after obtaining the certificate. This requirement will be implemented with the addition of a new licensing condition to the Operating Licences of high-risk vessels.

     

    The department conducted extensive consultations with the industry regarding the new arrangements, and received support from stakeholders including the Legislative Council Economic Development Panel, the Local Vessels Advisory Committee, trade associations, trade unions and fishermen’s associations.

     

    Click here for details concerning the latest requirements for local CoCs.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Establishing a new model of integrity and green energy, “Green Energy Transparency, Integrity in Action” seminar series launches in Taichung.

    Source: Republic of China Taiwan

    To promote low-carbon industrial transformation and corporate integrity governance simultaneously, the Bureau of Industrial Parks (BIP) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has held four “Green Energy Transparency, Integrity in Action” seminars across the Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung-Pingtung branches. The first session was held on May 22 at the Taichung Branch, focusing on the challenges and opportunities of SMEs in energy transformation. The seminar was hosted by Ji Shih-Tsung, Director of the Taichung Branch, and gathered representatives from government, industry, and academia to explore how to implement transparency and integrity in the process of green energy development and work together to establish a corporate model that combines integrity and sustainability.
    In his opening remarks, Ji Shih-Tsung, director of the Taichung Branch, stated that promoting integrity and green energy development in tandem has been a key objective of the BIP. By integrating the forces of industry, government, and academia through the practical sharing platform, BIP could not only assist companies in strengthening their ESG concepts, but also guide the park towards a green development path with greater international competitiveness.
    The Bureau of Industrial Parks pointed out that enterprises in the parks are increasingly focused on carbon fees, green electricity procurement, and carbon neutrality models. In response to this trend, the seminar spotlighted how SMEs can effectively implement low-carbon transformation while ensuring transparency and integrity in corporate governance. Through diverse case studies and expert insights, the event offered participants actionable strategies for achieving sustainable development.
    The seminar invited many heavyweight speakers and benchmark companies in the green energy industry to participate in the event, including Transparency International Chinese Taipei (TICT), which has long been deeply involved in promoting corporate integrity, as well as Sunny Founder and TCC Green Energy Corporation, which have outstanding performance in the field of solar energy and renewable energy. These corporate representatives shared their achievements in green power trading, integrity governance, and corporate social responsibility practices, covering practical experience from development process transparency to supply chain ESG management. Through experience exchange, participants were able to gain a deeper understanding of how green power introduction and ethical management reinforce one another to create a win-win development model for businesses and society.
    The topics discussed at the seminar also align closely with Taiwan’s recent sustainable policies. As global supply chains impose stricter requirements on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) standards, companies are placing greater emphasis on the integrity and transparency of their suppliers when making decisions on green electricity procurement and energy usage. The ability of green energy companies to disclose openly sustainability data has now become a crucial factor in corporate partnerships and procurement strategies.
    In addition, TICT delivered an in-depth analysis of monitoring mechanisms in the green energy sector, helping attending companies better understand current regulations and potential risks while enhancing their institutional resilience. This cross-sector collaboration and knowledge sharing also contribute to the industry’s deeper grasp of sustainable governance practices.
    Looking ahead, the Bureau of Industrial Parks stated that BIP would continue to uphold principles of integrity and efficiency, actively building cross-disciplinary exchange platforms. By doing so, it seeks to support enterprises in parks in meeting the challenges of international sustainability and equip them for a stable and successful transition.

    Spokesman: Mr. Liu Chi-Chuan (Deputy Director General, BIP)
    Contact Number: 886-7-3613349, 0911363680
    Email: lcc12@bip.gov.tw

    Contact Person: Hsu, Chen-Hsiung (Government Ethics Office, BIP)
    Contact Number: 886-7-3611212 ext. 631
    Email: logan521018@bip.gov.tw

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: World Chambers Federation announces new leadership for 2025–2028

    Source: International Chamber of Commerce

    Headline: World Chambers Federation announces new leadership for 2025–2028

    Mr. Marcelo Elizondo Secretary and Member of the Board, Argentine Chamber of Commerce and Services (Argentina) Mr. Andrew McKellar CEO, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Australia) Mr. Atef Al Khaja CEO, Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Bahrain)   Mr. Tom Laveren CEO, Voka Chamber of Commerce Mechelen-Kempen (Belgium)   Mr. Jean Pierre Antelo President, CAINCO (Bolivia) Ms. Maria Bustamante President, FIESC Chamber of Foreign Trade (Brazil)  Mr. Daniel Campos Caramori Vice-President, Canadian Chamber of Commerce (Canada)  Mr. José Ovidio Claros Polanco President, Bogota Chamber of Commerce (Colombia)  Ms. Rim Siam President of the Economic Business Women Council, Alexandria Chamber of Commerce (Egypt)   Ms. Leticia Escobar President, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of El Salvador (El Salvador)  Mr. Giorgi Pertaia President, Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Georgia)  Mr. Volker Treier Chief Executive of Foreign Trade and Board Member, German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Germany)   Mr. Ashish Vaid Past President, IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (India)  Mr. Mohammad Khazaee Torshizi Senior Advisor to the President, Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (Iran) Ms. Gilit Rubinstein CEO, Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce (Israel)  Mr. Dario Gallina Past President, Torino Chamber of Commerce (Italy)  Mr. Aigars Rostovskis President, Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Latvia)   Mr. Katsuya Igarashi Executive Director, Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Japan)  Dr. Erick Rutto President, Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kenya)  Mr. Rabih Sabra Director General, Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Beirut and Mount Lebanon (Lebanon)   Ms. Charlotte Parkhill Chair, Auckland Business Chamber (New Zealand)   Mr. Gabriel Idahosa President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nigeria)  Mr. Trajan Angeloski President, Macedonian Chamber of Commerce (North Macedonia)  Ms. Tamader Al Thani Director of International Relations and Chamber Affairs, Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Qatar)  Mr. Ovidiu Ioan Silaghi Secretary General, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (Romania)  Mr. Marko Cadez President, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia (Serbia)   Ms. Melanie Veness CEO and Chairperson, PMCB and Association of South African Chambers (South Africa)  Mr. Seong Woo Lee Vice-President, Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (South Korea)  Mr. Adolfo Díaz-Ambrona Secretary General, Spain Chamber of Commerce (Spain)  Mr. Izzet Volkan Chairman of the Board, Corlu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Türkiye)  Mr. Salem Al Shamsi Vice-President for International Relations, Dubai Chambers (United Arab Emirates)   Mr. Gennadiy Chyzhykov President, Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce (Ukraine)  Mr. Ahmed M. El Wakil President, Association of the Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASCAME) (Transnational)  Mr. Yousef Khalawi Secretary General, Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Development (Transnational)  Mr. Natalio Mario Grinman President, Ibero-American Association of Chambers of Commerce (AICO) (Transnational)  Mr. Peter McMullin President, Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) (Transnational)  Mr. Ben Butters CEO, Eurochambres (Transnational)  Dr. Khaled Hanafy Secretary General, Union of Arab Chambers (Transnational) 

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Media release: East coast gas market review an opportunity to strengthen investment and increase supply – Australian Energy Producers

    Source: Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association

    Headline: Media release: East coast gas market review an opportunity to strengthen investment and increase supply – Australian Energy Producers

    Australian Energy Producers welcomes the Federal Government’s review of the east coast gas market to deliver the natural gas needed to power the economy, put downward pressure on prices, and remain a reliable export partner. 

    Australian Energy Producers Chief Executive Samantha McCulloch said industry supported the Government’s commitment to consolidating and streamlining regulations and creating a long-term stable regulatory environment to facilitate investment in new supply. 

    “The review is an opportunity to future-proof the east coast gas market and ensure reliable and affordable gas supply for Australian households and manufacturers,” Ms McCulloch said.

    “Natural gas will play a critical role in Australia’s energy mix for decades to come. The east coast gas market needs to be fit-for-purpose to support continued investment in our abundant gas resources and avoid projected shortfalls.  

    Ms McCulloch said the review should focus on delivering new gas supply by streamlining regulation, restoring market signals, and eliminating duplicative and onerous reporting requirements. 

    “The Government’s Future Gas Strategy makes clear that natural gas will remain critical to Australia’s energy security through to 2050 and beyond. This requires a strong, stable and competitive east coast gas market that encourages investment and timely supply.” 

    The ACCC’s latest report on the east coast gas market released today underscores the urgent need to remove barriers to new gas supply to avoid forecast gas shortfalls. It found “the east coast has sufficient gas reserves and resources to meet projected domestic demand for at least the next decade”, but “a combination of policy, technical and commercial factors over the past 15 years has impeded their development”. 

    “Australian gas producers are committed to delivering the reliable and affordable gas supply Australians need, and we look forward to working constructively with government, gas users and stakeholders throughout the review,” Ms McCulloch said. 

    Media Contact: 0434 631 511

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Vacancy for a Branch Support Officer based in Derby

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    Vacancy for a Branch Support Officer based in Derby

    We’re looking for an enthusiastic and motivated individual, willing to learn new skills, to join our team based in Derby.

    For more information about the role and how to apply, visit civilservicejobs or search ‘civilservicejobs’ and ‘Derby’

    Please be aware the deadline for applications is 11:55pm, Wednesday 9 July 2025.

    Updates to this page

    Published 30 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Fuel margins remain high despite lower fuel prices, CMA finds

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    Fuel margins remain high despite lower fuel prices, CMA finds

    Today’s monitoring report sets out the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) observations on developments in the UK’s road fuel retail market since the previous update in March 2025.

    Dan Turnbull, Senior Director of Markets at the CMA, said:   

    While there is uncertainty over how global events will impact the price of oil, our report shows fuel margins remain high compared to historic levels despite lower prices at the pump in recent months. 

    The government committed to launching a ‘fuel finder’ scheme following our recommendation to help drivers compare real time prices and boost competition. Once launched, it will make it easier than ever to shop around and find the best deals.

    Fuel prices 

    Fuel prices across the UK decreased for both petrol and diesel from end of February 2025 to end of May 2025. These movements reflect in part changing crude oil prices and refining spreads, both of which are driven by global factors. 

    The average petrol and diesel prices at the end of May 2025 were 132.0 and 138.4 pence per litre (ppl) respectively. This represents a decrease of 7.6 ppl and 8.4 ppl in petrol and diesel prices compared to the end of February 2025.  

    Fuel margins 

    A retailer’s fuel margin is the difference between what it pays for fuel and what it sells it at. The CMA found that fuel margins were similar to the high levels seen during its road fuel market study – a review of the market to understand the factors influencing fuel prices undertaken in 2023 – which suggests overall competition in the UK’s road fuel retail market remains weak. 

    Supermarket fuel margins fell from 8.9% in December 2024 to 7.9% in February 2025, before rising to 8.3% in March 2025. Non-supermarket fuel margins fell from 9.9% in December 2024 to 8.9% in January 2025, before rising to 10.4% in March 2025. 

    This report does not consider developments in operating costs since the road fuel market study. The CMA will undertake a review of fuel retailer operating costs in its first annual road fuel monitoring report later this year to assess whether operating cost changes are impacting fuel margins for large retailers. 

    Retail spreads 

    The CMA also looked at the retail spread – the average price that drivers pay at the pump compared to the benchmarked price that retailers buy fuel at – across the UK from March 2025 to May 2025. 

    Petrol retail spreads averaged 15.4 ppl, which was 1.5 ppl higher than the previous 4 months period – and still more than double the average of 6.5 ppl over 2015-19. Diesel retail spreads averaged 18.8 ppl, which was 4.6 ppl higher than the previous 4 months period and more than double the average of 8.6 ppl in 2015 – 2019. 

    While spread analysis can give a quick overview of trends in the sector, it is a less reliable indicator of competitive intensity than individual retailers’ fuel margins. Retail spreads increase and decrease in response to the volatility of wholesale prices but should return to a normal range over time, if the market is working well. 

    Road fuel market study 

    At the end of its road fuel market study, the CMA recommended a new monitoring function and fuel finder scheme to government. 

    The CMA has taken on the new statutory monitoring function, which will provide ongoing scrutiny of prices to encourage effective competition between retailers and help keep prices low for drivers. This update is based on data provided to the CMA by fuel retailers using its new information gathering powers granted under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act. 

    The ‘fuel finder’ scheme will allow drivers to compare real-time fuel prices, via navigation apps, in-car devices and comparison websites. The government’s aim is to launch the scheme by the end of this year, subject to legislation and parliamentary time.  

    Further details about the CMA’s road fuel monitoring function, including previous reports and guidance, can be found on the collection page. 

    Notes to editors 

    1. The CMA issued section 311 Information Notices to the following retailers: Applegreen PLC; Arthur Foodstores Limited, Asda Express Limited, and Asda Stores Limited (Asda); BP Oil UK Limited; Esso Petroleum Company Limited; Moto Hospitality Limited; Motor Fuel Group; Rontec Roadside Retail Limited; J Sainsbury PLC; Shell PLC; Tesco PLC; and Welcome Break Group Limited. 

    2. Motor Fuel Group announced the completed acquisition of Morrisons PFSs in the UK on 30 April 2024. 

    3. All enquiries from journalists should be directed to the CMA press office by email on press@cma.gov.uk or by phone on 020 3738 6460.

    Updates to this page

    Published 30 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Proposed updates to how the starting point for profit rates for vital single source defence contracts are calculated

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    Proposed updates to how the starting point for profit rates for vital single source defence contracts are calculated

    We are consulting on updates to the way that profit rates for defence-related single source contracts are calculated.

    Each year, the SSRO undertakes a robust process to assess the appropriate baseline profit rate (BPR) for single source defence contracts using the published BPR methodology. The BPR is the first step of the four-step process in determining the contract profit rate that applies in determining the price of Ministry of Defence (MOD) contracts let without competition, known as Qualifying Defence Contracts (QDCs) and Qualifying Sub-Contracts (QSCs). It is a vital building block to delivering fast paced defence procurement of some of the most strategically significant capabilities for the nation.

    The BPR is only the starting point for agreeing contract profit rates, and contractors can, and do, earn significantly higher rates when they take on risk and perform well throughout the contract duration, but they can also earn less when they fail to perform.

    We are proposing amendments to the criteria used in the BPR methodology to select comparable companies in response to two external changes:

    1. The methodology relies on selecting comparable companies to benchmark their profits using codes from a classification system called NACE (Nomenclature of Economic Activities), which categorises businesses based on their economic activities. The NACE database has been updated, meaning the BPR methodology must be updated accordingly.

    2. The methodology has a company size threshold which filters out small companies and it is proposed that this aspect of the BPR methodology is updated to remain consistent with the new UK regulations which revise company size thresholds.

    We are also looking to conclude on the two remaining proposals from the previous BPR activities review phase 2 consultation from 2024.

    We are consulting on these changes to keep the BPR methodology accurate, up to date and reflective of appropriate comparators. This will help us to produce a baseline profit rate which supports our aims of ensuring value for money for the taxpayer and fair and reasonable prices for contractors in support of the delivery of essential defence capabilities in the UK.

    The consultation will run until 5pm on 11 August 2025.  For more information, and details of how to respond, please see the consultation webpage.

    Updates to this page

    Published 30 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Appointment of Lord-Lieutenant for Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale: 30 June 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Prime Minister’s Office 10 Downing Street

    Press release

    Appointment of Lord-Lieutenant for Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale: 30 June 2025

    The King has been pleased to appoint Mr John Jeffrey JP, DL as His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale.

    The King has been pleased to appoint Mr John Jeffrey JP, DL as His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale, to succeed Richard Scott, The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry KT, KBE, CVO, DL, FSA, FRSE following his retirement on 4th July 2025.

    Background

    Mr Jeffrey was educated at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh and then at Newcastle University where he graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Agriculture. He is a fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society, a Justice of the Peace, and Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Roxburghshire. Mr Jeffrey runs his own farm estates business and has played Rugby nationally and internationally including on the Scotland Men’s national team and for the British Lions. John was a founding member and Vice-Chair of the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation which works to find a cure for MND. He has held a number of Board and Governance roles including the Moredun Foundation for Animal Health & Welfare, Border Union Agricultural Society and the British Lions Trust. John is also the former Chairman of Scottish Rugby and vice-chair of World Rugby.

    Updates to this page

    Published 30 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –