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Category: Education

  • MIL-OSI Global: No country for old business owners: Economic shifts create a growing challenge for America’s aging entrepreneurs

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Nancy Forster-Holt, Clinical Associate Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Rhode Island

    Americans love small businesses. We dedicate a week each year to applauding them, and spend Small Business Saturday shopping locally. Yet hiding in plain sight is an enormous challenge facing small business owners as they age: retiring with dignity and foresight. The current economic climate is making this even more difficult.

    As a professor who studies aging and business, I’ve long viewed small business owners’ retirement challenges as a looming crisis. The issue is now front and center for millions of entrepreneurs approaching retirement. Small enterprises make up more than half of all privately held U.S. companies, and for many of their owners, the business is their retirement plan.

    But while owners often hope to finance their golden years by selling their companies, only 20% of small businesses are ready for sale even in good times, according to the Exit Planning Institute. And right now, conditions are far from ideal. An economic stew of inflation, supply chain instability and high borrowing costs means that interest from potential buyers is cooling.

    For many business owners, retirement isn’t a distant concern. In the U.S., baby boomers – who are currently 61 to 79 years old – own about 2.3 million businesses. Altogether, they generate about US$5 billion in revenue and employ almost 25 million people. These entrepreneurs have spent decades building businesses that often are deeply rooted in their communities. They don’t have time to ride out economic chaos, and their optimism is at a 50-year low.

    New policies, new challenges

    You can’t blame them for being gloomy. Recent policy shifts have only made life harder for business owners nearing retirement. Trade instability, whipsawing tariff announcements and disrupted supply chains have eroded already thin margins. Some businesses – generally larger ones with more negotiating power – are absorbing extra costs rather than passing them on to shoppers. Others have no choice but to raise prices, to customers’ dismay. Inflation has further squeezed profits.

    At the same time, with a few notable exceptions, buyers and capital have grown scarce. Acquirers and liquidity have dried up across many sectors. The secondary market – a barometer of broader investor appetite – now sees more sellers than buyers. These are textbook symptoms of a “flight to safety,” a market shift that drags out sale timelines and depresses valuations – all while Main Street business owners age out. These entrepreneurs typically have one shot at retirement – if any.

    Adding to these woes, many small businesses are part of what economists call regional “clusters,” providing services to nearby universities, hospitals and local governments. When those anchor institutions face budget cuts – as is happening now – small business vendors are often the first to feel the impact.

    Research shows that many aging owners actually double down in weak economic times, sinking increasing amounts of time and money in a psychological pattern known as “escalating commitment.” The result is a troubling phenomenon scholars refer to as “benign entrapment.” Aging entrepreneurs can remain attached to their businesses not because they want to, but because they see no viable exit.

    This growing crisis isn’t about bad personal planning — it’s a systemic failure.

    Rewriting the playbook on small business policy

    A key mistake that policymakers make is to lump all small business owners together into one group. That causes them to overlook important differences. After all, a 68-year-old carpenter trying to retire doesn’t have much in common with a 28-year-old tech founder pitching a startup. Policymakers may cheer for high-growth “unicorns,” but they often overlook the “cows and horses” that keep local economies running.

    Even among older business owners, circumstances vary based on local conditions. Two retiring carpenters in different towns may face vastly different prospects based on the strength of their local economies. No business, and no business owner, exists in a vacuum.

    A small business owner in Rochester, Vt., discusses the challenges of retirement in a news segment from WCAX-TV.

    Relatedly, when small businesses fail to transition, it can have consequences for the local economy. Without a buyer, many enterprises will simply shut down. And while closures can be long-planned and thoughtful, when a business closes suddenly, it’s not just the owner who loses. Employees are left scrambling for work. Suppliers lose contracts. Communities lose essential services.

    Four ways to help aging entrepreneurs

    That’s why I think policymakers should reimagine how they support small businesses, especially owners nearing the end of their careers.

    First, small business policy should be tailored to age. A retirement-ready business shouldn’t be judged solely by its growth potential. Rather, policies should recognize stability and community value as markers of success. The U.S. Small Business Administration and regional agencies can provide resources specifically for retirement planning that starts early in a business’s life, to include how to increase the value of the business and a plan to attract acquirers in later stages.

    Second, exit infrastructure should be built into local entrepreneurial ecosystems. Entrepreneurial ecosystems are built to support business entry – think incubators and accelerators – but not for exit. In other words, just like there are accelerators for launching businesses, there should be programs to support winding them down. These could include confidential peer forums, retirement-readiness clinics, succession matchmaking platforms and flexible financing options for acquisition.

    Third, chaos isn’t good for anybody. Fluctuations in capital gains taxes, estate tax thresholds and tariffs make planning difficult and reduce business value in the eyes of potential buyers. Stability encourages confidence on both sides of a transaction.

    And finally, policymakers should include ripple-effect analysis in budget decisions. When universities, hospitals or governments cut spending, small business vendors often absorb much of the shock. Policymakers should account for these downstream impacts when shaping local and federal budgets.

    If we want to truly support small businesses and their owners, it’s important to honor the lifetime arc of entrepreneurship – not just the launch and growth, but the retirement, too.

    Nancy Forster-Holt 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. No country for old business owners: Economic shifts create a growing challenge for America’s aging entrepreneurs – https://theconversation.com/no-country-for-old-business-owners-economic-shifts-create-a-growing-challenge-for-americas-aging-entrepreneurs-254537

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How the end of carbon capture could spark a new industrial revolution

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Andres Clarens, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Virginia

    Steelmaking uses a lot of energy, making it one of the highest greenhouse gas-emitting industries.
     David McNew/Getty Images

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s decision to claw back US$3.7 billion in grants from industrial demonstration projects may create an unexpected opening for American manufacturing.

    Many of the grant recipients were deploying carbon capture and storage – technologies that are designed to prevent industrial carbon pollution from entering the atmosphere by capturing it and injecting it deep underground. The approach has long been considered critical for reducing the contributions chemicals, cement production and other heavy industries make to climate change.

    However, the U.S. policy reversal could paradoxically accelerate emissions cuts from the industrial sector.

    An emissions reality check

    Heavy industry is widely viewed as the toughest part of the economy to clean up.

    The U.S. power sector has made progress, cutting emissions 35% since 2005 as coal-fired power plants were replaced with cheaper natural gas, solar and wind energy. More than 93% of new grid capacity installed in the U.S. in 2025 was forecast to be solar, wind and batteries. In transportation, electric vehicles are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. automotive market and will lead to meaningful reductions in pollution.

    But U.S. industrial emissions have been mostly unchanged, in part because of the massive amount of coal, gas and oil required to make steel, concrete, aluminum, glass and chemicals. Together these materials account for about 22% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

    The global industrial landscape is changing, though, and U.S. industries cannot, in isolation, expect that yesterday’s means of production will be able to compete in a global marketplace.

    Even without domestic mandates to reduce their emissions, U.S. industries face powerful economic pressures. The EU’s new Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism imposes a tax on the emissions associated with imported steel, chemicals, cement and aluminum entering European markets. Similar policies are being considered by Canada, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the United Kingdom, and were even floated in the United States.

    The false promise of carbon capture

    The appeal of carbon capture and storage, in theory, was that it could be bolted on to an existing factory with minimal changes to the core process and the carbon pollution would go away.

    Government incentives for carbon capture allow producers to keep using polluting technologies and prop up gas-powered chemical production or coal-powered concrete production.

    The Trump administration’s pullback of carbon capture and storage grants now removes some of these artificial supports.

    Without the expectation that carbon capture will help them meet regulations, this may create space to focus on materials breakthroughs that could revolutionize manufacturing while solving industries’ emissions problems.

    The materials innovation opportunity

    So, what might emissions-lowering innovation look like for industries such as cement, steel and chemicals? As a civil and environmental engineer who has worked on federal industrial policy, I study the ways these industries intersect with U.S. economic competitiveness and our built environment.

    There are many examples of U.S. innovation to be excited about. Consider just a few industries:

    Cement: Cement is one of the most widely used materials on Earth, but the technology has changed little over the past 150 years. Today, its production generates roughly 8% of total global carbon pollution. If cement production were a country, it would rank third globally after China and the United States.

    Researchers are looking at ways to make concrete that can shed heat or be lighter in weight to significantly reduce the cost of building and cooling a home. Sublime Systems developed a way to produce cement with electricity instead of coal or gas. The company lost its IDP grant in May 2025, but it has a new agreement with Microsoft.

    Making concrete do more could accelerate the transition. Researchers at Stanford and separately at MIT are developing concrete that can act as a capacitor and store over 10 kilowatt-hours of energy per cubic meter. Such materials could potentially store electricity from your solar roof or allow for roadways that can charge cars in motion.

    How concrete could be used as a capacitor. MIT.

    Technologies like these could give U.S. companies a competitive advantage while lowering emissions. Heat-shedding concrete cuts air conditioning demand, lighter formulations require less material per structure, and energy-storing concrete could potentially replace carbon-intensive battery manufacturing.

    Steel and iron: Steel and iron production generate about 7% of global emissions with centuries-old blast furnace processes that use intense heat to melt iron ore and burn off impurities. A hydrogen-based steelmaking alternative exists today that emits only water vapor, but it requires new supply chains, infrastructure and production techniques.

    U.S. Steel has been developing techniques to create stronger microstructures within steel for constructing structures with 50% less material and more strength than conventional designs. When a skyscraper needs that much less steel to achieve the same structural integrity, that eliminates millions of tons of iron ore mining, coal-fired blast furnace operations and transportation emissions.

    Chemicals: Chemical manufacturing has created simultaneous crises over the past 50 years: PFAS “forever chemicals” and microplastics have been showing up in human blood and across ecosystems, and the industry generates a large share of U.S. industrial emissions.

    Companies are developing ways to produce chemicals using engineered enzymes instead of traditional petrochemical processes, achieving 90% lower emissions in a way that could reduce production costs. These bio-based chemicals can naturally biodegrade, and the chemical processes operate at room temperature instead of requiring high heat that uses a lot of energy.

    Is there a silver bullet without carbon capture?

    While carbon capture and storage might not be the silver bullet for reducing emissions that many people thought it would be, new technologies for managing industrial heat might turn out to be the closest thing to one.

    Most industrial processes require temperatures between 300 and 1830 degrees Fahrenheit (150 and 1000 degrees Celsisus for everything from food processing to steel production. Currently, industries burn fossil fuels directly to generate this heat, creating emissions that electric alternatives cannot easily replace. Heat batteries may offer a breakthrough solution by storing renewable electricity as thermal energy, then releasing that heat on demand for industrial processes.

    How thermal batteries work. CNBC.

    Companies such as Rondo Energy are developing systems that store wind and solar power in bricklike materials heated to extreme temperatures. Essentially, they convert electricity into heat during times when electricity is abundant, usually at night. A manufacturing facility can later use that heat, which allows it to reduce energy costs and improve grid reliability by not drawing power at the busiest times. The Trump administration cut funding for projects working with Rondo’s technology, but the company’s products are being tested in other countries.

    Industrial heat pumps provide another pathway by amplifying waste heat to reach the high temperatures manufacturing requires, without using as much fossil fuel.

    The path forward

    The Department of Energy’s decision forces industrial America into a defining moment. One path leads backward toward pollution-intensive business as usual propping up obsolete processes. The other path drives forward through innovation.

    Carbon capture offered an expensive Band-Aid on old technology. Investing in materials innovation and new techniques for making them promises fundamental transformation for the future.

    Andres Clarens receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P Sloan Foundation.

    – ref. How the end of carbon capture could spark a new industrial revolution – https://theconversation.com/how-the-end-of-carbon-capture-could-spark-a-new-industrial-revolution-257894

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: I’m an expert in crafting public health messages: Here are 3 marketing strategies I use to make Philadelphia healthier

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sarah Bauerle Bass, Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Temple University

    A comic book produced for Black transgender women in Philadelphia explains the benefits of using PrEP to prevent HIV infection. Wriply Bennet for the Risk Communication Laboratory, Temple University

    In Philadelphia, the leading causes of death are heart disease, cancer and unintentional drug overdose. While some of these deaths are caused by things out of our control – like genetics – many are largely preventable.

    Preventable deaths are the result of a series of decisions. Whether a person decides to smoke, eat lots of fried foods or be a couch potato, their decisions – sometimes unconsciously – can affect their health.

    I’m a health communication expert and public health researcher at Temple University in North Philadelphia. I began working in public health in the late 1980s at the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and before that I worked in marketing and public relations. I have spent my career thinking about how health decisions are like many of the decisions consumers make each day around which products to buy.

    One key difference with health decisions is the inherent risks involved. There isn’t much risk in trying a new brand of cereal, but there is risk in riding a motorcycle without a helmet.

    Many people have a “that won’t happen to me” attitude when making a decision that involves risk. This element of “risk perception” has guided my interest in health decisions and how to use commercial marketing techniques – the same ones companies use to sell products – to encourage people to get vaccinated, get a colonoscopy or get treated for a medical condition.

    Temple students involved in the RapidVax project talk to Kensington residents about COVID-19 vaccinations during the pandemic.
    Temple University College of Public Health

    Breaking demographics into psychographics

    One strategy I use is segmentation analysis.

    Segmentation analysis is the process of looking at groups of people who may look like they are all similar on the surface – such as Black women from North Philadelphia – and then breaking them into smaller groups based on differences in their attitudes, beliefs or behaviors.

    Looking at these “psychographics” instead of demographics like age or sex can help public health communication researchers better understand how to communicate effectively.

    For example, I led a study in 2021 that looked at how connected transgender women living in Philadelphia and the San Francisco Bay Area felt to other members of the trans community. We wanted to see if messaging about PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, the medication used to prevent HIV infection, would need to be different depending on how connected they felt.

    We found that participants who were more engaged with the trans community were not only more knowledgeable about PrEP, but they were also more likely to see the benefits of using it compared with those who were less engaged.

    This indicates that strategies to reach those not as connected may need to include, for example, providing more basic information about what PrEP is and how it works.

    An example of perceptual mapping that shows different attitudes and beliefs around the HIV prevention medication PrEP.
    Temple University College of Public Health

    Mathematical models and 3D maps

    Another powerful marketing tool that I use is a process known as perceptual mapping and vector message modeling.

    Using simple survey answers, we can mathematically model how people are thinking about a health decision and present it in a three-dimensional map.

    Similar to how someone might think about the relationship between where cities or countries are in relation to each other – such as where Philadelphia is in relation to New York or Chicago – we can take answers from a survey and convert them into distances. We ask people to agree or disagree to statements about the benefits or barriers to a decision and enter their responses into a computer program to create the map.

    We can then do vector message modeling, which shows how to move the group toward the desired decision.

    Think back to high school physics when you may have learned about the amount of force, or pushing and pulling, needed to move one object toward another. Vector message modeling helps us figure out which beliefs to push or pull against to get the group to move toward a particular decision, and it helps us create the most persuasive messages for that group.

    When we use vector modeling along with segmentation analysis, we can also compare how messaging may need to be similar or different for different groups.

    For example, I used segmentation analysis and then perceptual mapping and vector message modeling to understand how medical mistrust might affect the decision to get vaccinated for COVID-19 among a group of Philadelphians who had not yet been vaccinated.

    Education materials created after using commercial marketing techniques to identify persuasive messages about COVID-19 booster shots.
    Temple University College of Public Health

    Our team then looked at perceptual maps and vector message modeling by levels of mistrust. The vectors showed that those with high levels of medical mistrust would be more likely to respond to messages that addressed concerns about the pandemic being a hoax, or the worry that minorities wouldn’t get the same treatment as others.

    This allowed us to think about how to build in messages around those issues in public media campaigns or other communication strategies that encourage vaccination.

    Decision-making tools

    I have used these methods to create and test a number of different communication strategies to influence health decisions.

    For example, I’ve developed web-based tools that have been used in hospitals and clinics in Philadelphia to encourage methadone patients with hepatitis C to receive antiviral treatment for their infection, Black cancer patients to take part in a clinical trial or to get genetic testing, and patients with low literacy and higher risk of colorectal cancer to have a colonoscopy.

    Staff members from the Risk Communication Laboratory organize materials to educate North Philadelphia residents about COVID-19 booster shots.
    Temple University College of Public Health

    My colleagues and I have also developed posters, booklets and social media posts that encourage low-income and vaccine-hesitant Philadelphians in Kensington to get COVID-19 booster shots; educational slides for low-literacy Philadelphia adults on dirty bombs and how the radioactive weapons might be used in a terror attack; and a comic book for trans women to learn about the benefits of PrEP use.

    Getting people to make better decisions about their health can be an uphill battle. We all have our reasons for not doing things that are good for us. For example, what did you eat for lunch today? Was it healthy? If not, why did you eat it?

    My job is to figure out what makes people do what they do, and then help them make decisions that keep them healthy.

    Read more of our stories about Philadelphia.

    Sarah Bauerle Bass has received funding from a number of organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Departments of Health, and independent pharma research grants from Gilead and Merck.

    – ref. I’m an expert in crafting public health messages: Here are 3 marketing strategies I use to make Philadelphia healthier – https://theconversation.com/im-an-expert-in-crafting-public-health-messages-here-are-3-marketing-strategies-i-use-to-make-philadelphia-healthier-254905

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: 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 the wake of World War II, Supreme Court Justice Robert 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.

    Once he returned to the court, 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.”

    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.

    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

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How do atoms form? A physicist explains where the atoms that make up everything around come from

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Stephen L. Levy, Associate Professor of Physics and Applied Physics and Astronomy, Binghamton University, State University of New York

    Many heavy atoms form from a supernova explosion, the remnants of which are shown in this image. NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team

    Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.

    How do atoms form? – Joshua, age 7, Shoreview, Minnesota

    Richard Feynman, a famous theoretical physicist who won the Nobel Prize, said that if he could pass on only one piece of scientific information to future generations, it would be that all things are made of atoms.

    Understanding how atoms form is a fundamental and important question, since they make up everything with mass.

    The question of where atoms comes from requires a lot of physics to be answered completely – and even then, physicists like me only have good guesses to explain how some atoms are formed.

    What is an atom?

    An atom consists of a heavy center, called the nucleus, made of particles called protons and neutrons. An atom has lighter particles called electrons that you can think of as orbiting around the nucleus.

    The electrons each carry one unit of negative charge, the protons each carry one unit of positive charge, and the neutrons have no charge. An atom has the same number of protons as electrons, so it is neutral − it has no overall charge.

    An atom consists of positively charged protons, neutrally charged neutrons and negatively charged electrons.
    AG Caesar/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    Now, most of the atoms in the universe are the two simplest kinds: hydrogen, which has one proton, zero neutrons and one electron; and helium, which has two protons, two neutrons and two electrons. Of course, on Earth there are lots of atoms besides these that are just as common, such as carbon and oxygen, but I’ll talk about those soon.

    An element is what scientists call a group of atoms that are all the same, because they all have the same number of protons.

    When did the first atoms form?

    Most of the universe’s hydrogen and helium atoms formed around 400,000 years after the Big Bang, which is the name for when scientists think the universe began, about 14 billion years ago.

    Why did they form at that time? Astronomers know from observing distant exploding stars that the size of the universe has been getting bigger since the Big Bang. When the hydrogen and helium atoms first formed, the universe was about 1,000 times smaller than it is now.

    And based on their understanding of physics, scientists believe that the universe was much hotter when it was smaller.

    Before this time, the electrons had too much energy to settle into orbits around the hydrogen and helium nuclei. So, the hydrogen and helium atoms could form only once the universe cooled down to something like 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius). For historical reasons, this process is misleadingly called recombination − combination would be more descriptive.

    The helium and deuterium − a heavier form of hydrogen − nuclei formed even earlier, just a few minutes after the Big Bang, when the temperature was above 1 billion F (556 million C). Protons and neutrons can collide and form nuclei like these only at very high temperatures.

    Scientists believe that almost all the ordinary matter in the universe is made of about 90% hydrogen atoms and 8% helium atoms.

    How do more massive atoms form?

    So, the hydrogen and helium atoms formed during recombination, when the cooler temperature allowed electrons to fall into orbits. But you, I and almost everything on Earth is made of many more massive atoms than just hydrogen and helium. How were these atoms made?

    The surprising answer is that more massive atoms are made in stars. To make atoms with several protons and neutrons stuck together in the nucleus requires the type of high-energy collisions that occur in very hot places. The energy needed to form a heavier nucleus needs to be large enough to overcome the repulsive electric force that positive charges, like two protons, feel with each other.

    The immense heat and pressure in stars can form atoms through a process called fusion.
    NASA/SDO

    Protons and neutrons also have another property – kind of like a different type of charge – that is strong enough to bind them together once they are able to get very close together. This property is called the strong force, and the process that sticks these particles together is called fusion.

    Scientists believe that most of the elements from carbon up to iron are fused in stars heavier than our Sun, where the temperature can exceed 1 billion F (556 million C) – the same temperature that the universe was when it was just a few minutes old.

    This periodic table shows which astronomical processes scientists believe are responsible for forming each of the elements.
    Cmglee/Wikimedia Commons (image) and Jennifer Johnson/OSU (data), CC BY-SA

    But even in hot stars, elements heavier than iron and nickel won’t form. These require extra energy, because the heavier elements can more easily break into pieces.

    In a dramatic event called a supernova, the inner core of a heavy star suddenly collapses after it runs out of fuel to burn. During the powerful explosion this collapse triggers, elements that are heavier than iron can form and get ejected out into the universe.

    Astronomers are still figuring out the details of other fantastic stellar events that form larger atoms. For example, colliding neutron stars can release enormous amounts of energy – and elements such as gold – on their way to forming black holes.

    Understanding how atoms are made just requires learning a little general relativity, plus some nuclear, particle and atomic physics. But to complicate matters, there is other stuff in the universe that doesn’t appear to be made from normal atoms at all, called dark matter. Scientists are investigating what dark matter is and how it might form.

    Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

    And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

    Stephen L. Levy receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. He is affiliated with CyteQuest, Inc.

    – ref. How do atoms form? A physicist explains where the atoms that make up everything around come from – https://theconversation.com/how-do-atoms-form-a-physicist-explains-where-the-atoms-that-make-up-everything-around-come-from-256172

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Astronomy has a major data problem – simulating realistic images of the sky can help train algorithms

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By John Peterson, Assoc. Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University

    A simulation of a set of synthetic galaxies. Photons are sampled from these galaxies and have been simulated through the Earth’s atmosphere, a telescope and a sensor using a code called PhoSim. John Peterson/Purdue

    Professional astronomers don’t make discoveries by looking through an eyepiece like you might with a backyard telescope. Instead, they collect digital images in massive cameras attached to large telescopes.

    Just as you might have an endless library of digital photos stored in your cellphone, many astronomers collect more photos than they would ever have the time to look at. Instead, astronomers like me look at some of the images, then build algorithms and later use computers to combine and analyze the rest.

    But how can we know that the algorithms we write will work, when we don’t even have time to look at all the images? We can practice on some of the images, but one new way to build the best algorithms is to simulate some fake images as accurately as possible.

    With fake images, we can customize the exact properties of the objects in the image. That way, we can see if the algorithms we’re training can uncover those properties correctly.

    My research group and collaborators have found that the best way to create fake but realistic astronomical images is to painstakingly simulate light and its interaction with everything it encounters. Light is composed of particles called photons, and we can simulate each photon. We wrote a publicly available code to do this called the photon simulator, or PhoSim.

    The goal of the PhoSim project is to create realistic fake images that help us understand where distortions in images from real telescopes come from. The fake images help us train programs that sort through images from real telescopes. And the results from studies using PhoSim can also help astronomers correct distortions and defects in their real telescope images.

    The data deluge

    But first, why is there so much astronomy data in the first place? This is primarily due to the rise of dedicated survey telescopes. A survey telescope maps out a region on the sky rather than just pointing at specific objects.

    These observatories all have a large collecting area, a large field of view and a dedicated survey mode to collect as much light over a period of time as possible. Major surveys from the past two decades include the SDSS, Kepler, Blanco-DECam, Subaru HSC, TESS, ZTF and Euclid.

    The Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile has recently finished construction and will soon join those. Its survey begins soon after its official “first look” event on June 23, 2025. It will have a particularly strong set of survey capabilities.

    The Rubin observatory can look at a region of the sky all at once that is several times larger than the full Moon, and it can survey the entire southern celestial hemisphere every few nights.

    The Vera Rubin Observatory will take in lots of light to construct maps of the sky.
    Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA/B. Quint, CC BY-SA

    A survey can shed light on practically every topic in astronomy.

    Some of the ambitious research questions include: making measurements about dark matter and dark energy, mapping the Milky Way’s distribution of stars, finding asteroids in the solar system, building a three-dimensional map of galaxies in the universe, finding new planets outside the solar system and tracking millions of objects that change over time, including supernovas.

    All of these surveys create a massive data deluge. They generate tens of terabytes every night – that’s millions to billions of pixels collected in seconds. In the extreme case of the Rubin observatory, if you spent all day long looking at images equivalent to the size of a 4K television screen for about one second each, you’d be looking at them 25 times too slow and you’d never keep up.

    At this rate, no individual human could ever look at all the images. But automated programs can process the data.

    Astronomers don’t just survey an astronomical object like a planet, galaxy or supernova once, either. Often we measure the same object’s size, shape, brightness and position in many different ways under many different conditions.

    But more measurements do come with more complications. For example, measurements taken under certain weather conditions or on one part of the camera may disagree with others at different locations or under different conditions. Astronomers can correct these errors – called systematics – with careful calibration or algorithms, but only if we understand the reason for the inconsistency between different measurements. That’s where PhoSim comes in. Once corrected, we can use all the images and make more detailed measurements.

    Simulations: One photon at a time

    To understand the origin of these systematics, we built PhoSim, which can simulate the propagation of light particles – photons – through the Earth’s atmosphere and then into the telescope and camera.

    A simulation of photons traveling from a single star to the Vera Rubin Observatory, made using PhoSim. The layers of turbulence in the atmosphere move according to wind patterns (top middle), and the mirrors deform (top right) depending on the temperature and forces exerted on them. The photons with different wavelengths (colors) are sampled from a star, refract through the atmosphere and then interact with the telescope’s mirrors, filter and lenses. Finally, the photons eject electrons in the sensor (bottom middle) that are counted in pixels to make an image (bottom right). John Peterson/Purdue

    PhoSim simulates the atmosphere, including air turbulence, as well as distortions from the shape of the telescope’s mirrors and the electrical properties of the sensors. The photons are propagated using a variety of physics that predict what photons do when they encounter the air and the telescope’s mirrors and lenses.

    The simulation ends by collecting electrons that have been ejected by photons into a grid of pixels, to make an image.

    Representing the light as trillions of photons is computationally efficient and an application of the Monte Carlo method, which uses random sampling. Researchers used PhoSim to verify some aspects of the Rubin observatory’s design and estimate how its images would look.

    A simulations of a series of exposures of stars, galaxies and background light through the Rubin observatory using PhoSim. Photons are sampled from the objects and then interact with the Earth’s atmosphere and Rubin’s telescope and camera.
    John Peterson/Purdue

    The results are complex, but so far we’ve connected the variation in temperature across telescope mirrors directly to astigmatism – angular blurring – in the images. We’ve also studied how high-altitude turbulence in the atmosphere that can disturb light on its way to the telescope shifts the positions of stars and galaxies in the image and causes blurring patterns that correlate with the wind. We’ve demonstrated how the electric fields in telescope sensors – which are intended to be vertical – can get distorted and warp the images.

    Researchers can use these new results to correct their measurements and better take advantage of all the data that telescopes collect.

    Traditionally, astronomical analyses haven’t worried about this level of detail, but the meticulous measurements with the current and future surveys will have to. Astronomers can make the most out of this deluge of data by using simulations to achieve a deeper level of understanding.

    John Peterson 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. Astronomy has a major data problem – simulating realistic images of the sky can help train algorithms – https://theconversation.com/astronomy-has-a-major-data-problem-simulating-realistic-images-of-the-sky-can-help-train-algorithms-258786

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Neuropathic pain has no immediate cause – research on a brain receptor may help stop this hard-to-treat condition

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Pooja Shree Chettiar, Ph.D. Candidate in Medical Sciences, Texas A&M University

    Neuropathic pain is experienced both physically and emotionally. Salim Hanzaz/iStock via Getty Images

    Pain is easy to understand until it isn’t. A stubbed toe or sprained ankle hurts, but it makes sense because the cause is clear and the pain fades as you heal.

    But what if the pain didn’t go away? What if even a breeze felt like fire, or your leg burned for no reason at all? When pain lingers without a clear cause, that’s neuropathic pain.

    We are neuroscientists who study how pain circuits in the brain and spinal cord change over time. Our work focuses on the molecules that quietly reshape how pain is felt and remembered.

    We didn’t fully grasp how different neuropathic pain was from injury-related pain until we began working in a lab studying it. Patients spoke of a phantom pain that haunted them daily – unseen, unexplained and life-altering.

    These conversations shifted our focus from symptoms to mechanisms. What causes this ghost pain to persist, and how can we intervene at the molecular level to change it?

    More than just physical pain

    Neuropathic pain stems from damage to or dysfunction in the nervous system itself. The system that was meant to detect pain becomes the source of it, like a fire alarm going off without a fire. Even a soft touch or breeze can feel unbearable.

    Neuropathic pain doesn’t just affect the body – it also alters the brain. Chronic pain of this nature often leads to depression, anxiety, social isolation and a deep sense of helplessness. It can make even the most routine tasks feel unbearable.

    About 10% of the U.S. population – tens of millions of people – experience neuropathic pain, and cases are rising as the population ages. Complications from diabetes, cancer treatments or spinal cord injuries can lead to this condition. Despite its prevalence, doctors often overlook neuropathic pain because its underlying biology is poorly understood.

    Neuropathic pain can be debilitating.
    Kate Wieser/Moment via Getty Images

    There’s also an economic cost to neuropathic pain. This condition contributes to billions of dollars in health care spending, missed workdays and lost productivity. In the search for relief, many turn to opioids, a path that, as seen from the opioid epidemic, can carry its own devastating consequences through addiction.

    GluD1: A quiet but crucial player

    Finding treatments for neuropathic pain requires answering several questions. Why does the nervous system misfire in this way? What exactly causes it to rewire in ways that increase pain sensitivity or create phantom sensations? And most urgently: Is there a way to reset the system?

    This is where our lab’s work and the story of a receptor called GluD1 comes in. Short for glutamate delta-1 receptor, this protein doesn’t usually make headlines. Scientists have long considered GluD1 a biochemical curiosity, part of the glutamate receptor family, but not known to function like its relatives that typically transmit electrical signals in the brain.

    Instead, GluD1 plays a different role. It helps organize synapses, the junctions where neurons connect. Think of it as a construction foreman: It doesn’t send messages itself, but directs where connections form and how strong they become.

    This organizing role is critical in shaping the way neural circuits develop and adapt, especially in regions involved in pain and emotion. Our lab’s research suggests that GluD1 acts as a molecular architect of pain circuits, particularly in conditions like neuropathic pain where those circuits misfire or rewire abnormally. In parts of the nervous system crucial for pain processing like the spinal cord and amygdala, GluD1 may shape how people experience pain physically and emotionally.

    Fixing the misfire

    Across our work, we found that disruptions to GluD1 activity is linked to persistent pain. Restoring GluD1 activity can reduce pain. The question is, how exactly does GluD1 reshape the pain experience?

    In our first study, we discovered that GluD1 doesn’t operate solo. It teams up with a protein called cerebellin-1 to form a structure that maintains constant communication between brain cells. This structure, called a trans-synaptic bridge, can be compared to a strong handshake between two neurons. It makes sure that pain signals are appropriately processed and filtered.

    But in chronic pain, the bridge between these proteins becomes unstable and starts to fall apart. The result is chaotic. Like a group chat where everyone is talking at once and nobody can be heard clearly, neurons start to misfire and overreact. This synaptic noise turns up the brain’s pain sensitivity, both physically and emotionally. It suggests that GluD1 isn’t just managing pain signals, but also may be shaping how those signals feel.

    What if we could restore that broken connection?

    This image highlights the presence of GluD1, in green and yellow, in a neuron of the central amygdala, in red.
    Pooja Shree Chettiar and Siddhesh Sabnis/Dravid Lab at Texas A&M University, CC BY-SA

    In our second study, we injected mice with cerebellin-1 and saw that it reactivated GluD1 activity, easing their chronic pain without producing any side effects. It helped the pain processing system work again without the sedative effects or disruptions to other nerve signals that are common with opioids. Rather than just numbing the body, reactivating GluD1 activity recalibrated how the brain processes pain.

    Of course, this research is still in the early stages, far from clinical trials. But the implications are exciting: GluD1 may offer a way to repair the pain processing network itself, with fewer side effects and less risk of addiction than current treatments.

    For millions living with chronic pain, this small, peculiar receptor may open the door to a new kind of relief: one that heals the system, not just masks its symptoms.

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

    – ref. Neuropathic pain has no immediate cause – research on a brain receptor may help stop this hard-to-treat condition – https://theconversation.com/neuropathic-pain-has-no-immediate-cause-research-on-a-brain-receptor-may-help-stop-this-hard-to-treat-condition-256982

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: SHU and Shandong Institute of Technology and Business agreed on cooperation

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    On June 23, a delegation from Shandong Institute of Technology and Business (SIITB) visited the National University of Management to sign a cooperation agreement.

    Rector of the State University of Management Vladimir Stroev, vice-rectors Maria Karelina and Dmitry Bryukhanov and director of the Institute of Marketing Gennady Azoev introduced the guests to the history of the university and the main areas in which cooperation is possible.

    “Our university has been training management personnel for various areas of the economy for over 100 years. We have both a humanitarian and a technical component of training. In addition, many students independently study Chinese, as they see more prospects in it than in English. GUU is actively developing cooperation with the People’s Republic of China: our university has a center for social, political and economic research in China, and last year we conducted an internship for 50 graduates of the presidential program for training management personnel in China,” Vladimir Stroyev noted.

    Rector of SHITB Tao Hu spoke about the history and capabilities of his university, noting the presence of similar positions and interests:

    “Thank you for the invitation, you have a very beautiful university. We are pleased that the interaction between our countries and our universities is developing. Since 1985, the Shandong Institute has been training personnel, primarily in the field of economics. And we really value international cooperation. I am sure that we will be able to work well on joint projects.”

    The parties discussed the possibility of admitting GUU graduates to master’s programs at SHITiB: “Business Management and Entrepreneurship”, “Applied Economics”, “Computer Science”, as well as admitting SHITiB graduates to the GUU master’s program “International Marketing and Brand Management”.

    Another area of cooperation will be the exchange of teachers for teaching language and special courses and the implementation of scientific cooperation programs.

    At the end of the meeting, a ceremonial signing of a cooperation agreement on the issues outlined took place.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: War commemorations discussed

    Source: Hong Kong Information Services

    The Working Group on Patriotic Education under the Constitution & Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee (CBLPSC) held its third meeting today to discuss a work plan for activities to commemorate the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and in the World Anti-Fascist War.

     

    The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government said it places great importance on planning for such commemorations. As stated in last year’s Policy Address, it will host a series of events to enhance the public’s patriotism and sense of national belonging.

     

    CBLPSC Chairman and Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki stated that over the past few months various bureaus and departments have been formulating proposals and making preparations for the commemorations.

     

    In today’s meeting, the working group discussed the content of various activities that are being planned, and the core spirits and principles that should be upheld.

     

    An official ceremony will be held at the Hong Kong City Hall Memorial Garden on September 3, Victory Day in the War of Resistance, to honour the occasion.

     

    Thematic exhibitions co-organised by the Hong Kong Museum of History and the National Museum of China, as well as the Hong Kong Museum of the War of Resistance & Coastal Defence and the Guangdong Museum of Revolutionary History, will be staged.

     

    Various educational activities and screenings of war-related films will also be organised.

     

    In relation to commemorative activities organised by community groups, the Government will announce more details in due course.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI: New Data Presented at ADA 2025 Highlights Burden and Risk Associations of Cardiac Arrhythmias in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN FRANCISCO, June 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — iRhythm Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRTC) announced the results from two large-scale real-world studies presented at the American Diabetes Association’s 85th Scientific Sessions (ADA 2025). The analyses reveal that cardiac arrhythmias are common and often occur early in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D)—especially those who also have chronic kidney disease (CKD). These findings suggest a critical opportunity to enhance early detection strategies in at-risk cardiometabolic populations.

    The studies examined longitudinal claims data from over 30 million U.S. adults, providing new insights into how arrhythmias—often asymptomatic—cluster around major disease inflection points. In T2D patients, arrhythmias were frequently identified prior to or shortly after diagnoses of CKD or major adverse cardiovascular events such as stroke or heart failure.

    Cardiac arrhythmias—conditions in which the heart beats too fast, too slow, or irregularly1—are a serious public health concern. In the general U.S. population, they affect roughly 1 in 20 adults2. But in people with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease—already at elevated cardiovascular risk3—new data reveal that arrhythmias occur more frequently, and often much earlier, than previously recognized.

    Left undetected, certain arrhythmias can lead to stroke, heart failure, hospitalization, or even death4-6. That’s why early detection is critical—giving clinicians a chance to act before complications arise. Yet in most diabetes care pathways, arrhythmias are not routinely screened for7, and many patients experience no symptoms at all8.

    “These findings support a growing body of evidence that heart rhythm disorders are not just late-stage complications—they often emerge much earlier, silently, and in ways that may help us better identify patients at rising risk,” said Mintu Turakhia, MD, iRhythm’s Chief Medical Officer, Chief Scientific Officer, and EVP of Product Innovation. “For patients living with diabetes and kidney disease, earlier detection of these arrhythmias may offer a window to take action before more serious events occur.”

    Cardiac Arrhythmias — Early and Frequent

    In the “Incidence of Cardiac Arrhythmias in Patients with Diabetes: A Real-World Study” (T2D-only analysis):

    • In a T2D cohort of 8.8 million individuals, over 1.1 million individuals were diagnosed with major arrhythmias.
    • 47% of arrhythmias occurred after diabetes diagnosis, with a median time of 496 days.
    • Among patients who experienced a MACE, 25% did so on or after arrhythmia detection, while 45% of MACE occurred beforehand—pointing to a complex but tightly linked risk timeline.

    In the “Incidence and Timing of Major Arrhythmias in T2D and CKD: A Real-World Analysis” (T2D + CKD population):

    • Among 3.2 million T2D patients who then received a CKD diagnosis, 670,003 (21%) developed a major arrhythmia, of which 397,359 (59%) occurred before CKD diagnosis.
    • Median time from T2D to arrhythmia was 488 days; median time from arrhythmia to MACE was 800 days.
    • Notably, 17% of patients who experienced a MACE did so within three days of their arrhythmia event.

    These findings suggest that arrhythmias are not only common in people with diabetes and kidney disease, but are often detected for the first time in close proximity to major cardiovascular events.

    Building on Prior Findings: A Broader Pattern Emerging

    These new results build upon findings presented by iRhythm at the American Heart Association’s (AHA) 2024 scientific sessions, which demonstrated that patients with diabetes and COPD who developed arrhythmias had:

    • Twice the hospitalization rate of those without arrhythmias
    • 35–50% higher emergency care costs
    • Hospital stays up to 5 days longer

    Additionally, real-world data presented at ACC.25 demonstrated that fewer than one in five patients experience a symptom coinciding with an arrhythmic episode. This reinforces the need to monitor patients based upon unique risk factors instead of symptoms.

    Across both ADA and AHA datasets, the real-world evidence shows a consistent signal: undiagnosed arrhythmias are clinically consequential and economically burdensome—and early rhythm detection could help change that trajectory.

    About the studies presented at ADA 2025

    Incidence of Cardiac Arrhythmias in Patients with Diabetes: A Real-World Study

    Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) contributes to development of arrhythmias through autonomic dysfunction, electrical remodeling, oxidative stress, and inflammation. This real-world evidence study examined the burden of arrhythmias in T2D and their temporal relationship with major cardiovascular events (MACE). Using a national claims database (Symphony Integrated Dataverse), study investigators identified adults with T2D (2014–2024) experiencing arrhythmias, their timing relative to T2D onset, and associations with cardiometabolic comorbidities. Among 8.8 million adults with T2D (median age: 60 years; 46% male, 54% female), a total of 1.14 million individuals developed a major arrhythmia (Table 1). Of these, 43% occurred prior to T2D; 57% developed on or after T2D. The median time to arrhythmia post T2D was 496 days (range: 1–2,007 days). Hypertension was present in 20%; 38% had at least one metabolic risk factor (chronic kidney disease, dyslipidemia, liver dysfunction, or obesity); 25% experienced a MACE either at the time of or following arrhythmias (median time:1 day; range: 0–1,925 days). MACE occurred in 45% of patients preceding the diagnosis of arrhythmia (median time: 542 days; range: 1–2,373 days). The findings highlight the burden of arrhythmias in T2D and the association between arrhythmias and MACE. Further investigations are warranted to elucidate the potential strategies for early diagnosis, risk stratification and intervention.

    Incidence and Timing of Major Arrhythmias in T2D and CKD: A Real-World Analysis

    Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a leading cause of chronic renal disease (CKD). Despite strong links between T2D, CKD, and cardiovascular disease (CV), the incidence and timing of major arrhythmias in this high-risk population remains unclear. This study examined the incidence, timing, and risk associations of major arrhythmias in T2D-CKD patients. Study investigators analyzed Symphony Integrated Dataverse (2018-2024) claims data on adults with CKD (stages 1-4) following T2D, assessing arrhythmia occurrence, timing, and metabolic/CV risk factors. Among 3.2 million T2D patients subsequent CKD diagnosis (51% females, median age 73; 49% males, median age 72), 670,003 (21%) developed major arrhythmias, mainly atrial fibrillation (AF). In 59%, arrhythmias preceded CKD (56% males, median age 73; 44% females, median age 74). Median time from T2D to arrhythmia: 488 days (1-2,362); arrhythmia to CKD: 462 days (1-2,368); arrhythmia to MACE: 800 days (2-2,348). When arrhythmias followed CKD (54% males, median age 75; 46% females, median age 76), CKD-to-arrhythmia median time: 355 days (1-2,003). MACE occurred in 17% (54% males, 46% females; median age 76) within three days of arrhythmia, CKD-to-MACE median time: 461 days (1-1,998). Findings reveal that arrhythmias are common in T2D-CKD and strongly linked to MACE, suggesting that identifying shared mechanisms between T2D, CKD, and arrhythmias requires innovative diagnostic approaches, including continuous ambulatory EKG monitoring to drive early intervention and precision therapies.

    About iRhythm Technologies
    iRhythm is a leading digital health care company that creates trusted solutions that detect, predict, and prevent disease. Combining wearable biosensors and cloud-based data analytics with powerful proprietary algorithms, iRhythm distills data from millions of heartbeats into clinically actionable information. Through a relentless focus on patient care, iRhythm’s vision is to deliver better data, better insights, and better health for all.

    Media Contact
    Kassandra Perry
    irhythm@highwirepr.com

    Investor Contact
    Stephanie Zhadkevich
    investors@irhythmtech.com

    1. What is an arrhythmia? National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, 2022. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/arrhythmias
    2. Desai et al. Arrhythmias. StatPearls [Internet], 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK558923/
    3. Swamy S, Noor SM, Mathew RO. Cardiovascular Disease in Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease. J Clin Med, 2023. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10672715/
    4. Ataklte et al. Meta-analysis of ventricular premature complexes and their relation to cardiac mortality in general populations. The American Journal of Cardiology, 2013.
    5. Lin et al. Long-Term Outcome of Non-Sustained Ventricular Tachycardia in Structurally Normal Hearts. PLOS ONE, 2016.
    6. Wolf et al. Atrial fibrillation as an independent risk factor for stroke: the Framingham Study. Stroke, 1991.
    7. Bhave, P. D., & Soliman, E. Z. (2024). Should patients with diabetes be routinely screened for atrial fibrillation? Expert Review of Cardiovascular Therapy, 22(1–3), 5–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/14779072.2024.2328645
    8. mSToPS Clinical Trial Demonstrates Zio by iRhythm Significantly Improves Health Outcomes for At-Risk Patient Populations, iRhythm Technologies, 2021. www.irhythmtech.com/company/news/irhythm-technologies-and-the-national-association-of-managed-care-physicians-partner-to-study-the-value-of-ambulatory-cardiac-monitoring-solutions-0.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: 51Talk Online Education Group to Present at the Small Cap Growth Virtual Investor Conference June 26th, 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SINGAPORE, June 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — 51Talk Online Education Group (NYSE American: COE), based in Singapore, focused on global online education, today announced that David Chung, the Company’s investor relations vice president, will present live at the Small Cap Growth Virtual Investor Conference hosted by VirtualInvestorConferences.com, on June 26th, 2025.

    DATE: June 26th, 2025
    TIME: 9:30 a.m. EDT
    LINK: REGISTER HERE

    Available for 1×1 meetings: June 26th, 2025

    This will be a live, interactive online event where investors are invited to ask the company questions in real-time. If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an archived webcast will also be made available after the event.

    It is recommended that online investors pre-register and run the online system check to expedite participation and receive event updates.

    Learn more about the event at www.virtualinvestorconferences.com.

    Recent Company Highlights

    • Gross billings for the first quarter of 2025 were US$21.9 million, a 74.6% growth from the first quarter of 2024.
    • Net revenues were US$18.2 million for the first quarter of 2025, a 93.1% increase from US$9.4 million for the first quarter of 2024.
    • The number of active students with attended lesson consumption was approximately 81,100 in the first quarter of 2025, representing a 75.5% increase from approximately 46,200 for the first quarter of 2024.

    About 51Talk Online Education Group

    51Talk Online Education Group (NYSE American: COE) is a global online education platform with core expertise in English education. The Company’s mission is to make quality education accessible and affordable. The Company’s online and mobile education platforms enable students to take live interactive English lessons, on demand. The Company connects its students with a large pool of highly qualified teachers that it assembled using a shared economy approach, and employs student and teacher feedback and data analytics to deliver a personalized learning experience to its students.

    About Virtual Investor Conferences®
    Virtual Investor Conferences (VIC) is the leading proprietary investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for publicly traded companies to seamlessly present directly to investors.

    Providing a real-time investor engagement solution, VIC is specifically designed to offer companies more efficient investor access. Replicating the components of an on-site investor conference, VIC offers companies enhanced capabilities to connect with investors, schedule targeted one-on-one meetings and enhance their presentations with dynamic video content. Accelerating the next level of investor engagement, Virtual Investor Conferences delivers leading investor communications to a global network of retail and institutional investors.

    CONTACTS:
    51Talk Online Education Group
    David Chung
    Investor Relations Vice President
    davidchung@51talk.com
    Jinling Wang
    Investor Relations Manager
    wangjinling@51talk.com

    Virtual Investor Conferences
    John M. Viglotti
    SVP Corporate Services, Investor Access
    OTC Markets Group
    (212) 220-2221
    johnv@otcmarkets.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Enforcement car to tackle dangerous parking near schools and bus stops after hi-tech makeover

    Source: City of Wolverhampton

    The Mobile Enforcement Vehicle (MEV) has been fitted with high definition cameras and will patrol problem areas blighted by illegal parking such as school keep clear zones and bus stops.

    It will help boost safety for pupils and pedestrians; cut traffic congestion, improve bus journey times and passenger boarding safety and act as a visible deterrent to car related crime.

    The MEV has been equipped with an intelligent enforcement system using GPS to recognise where parking restrictions begin and end.

    It will capture video footage of potential parking violations, which will be reviewed by an independent officer. If a contravention is confirmed, a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), along with photographic evidence, will be issued by post within 28 days.

    Councillor Qaiser Azeem, Cabinet Member for Transport at City of Wolverhampton Council, said: “The council has a duty to tackle dangerous parking, and this backs up our work through initiatives like Safer Routes to School to ensuring streets are kept free from vehicles parking dangerously.

    “Creating a safer environment will in turn encourage more families to leave the car at home and walk or cycle to school, improving healthy lifestyles, cutting carbon emissions and improving air quality.

    “By tackling inconsiderate parking obstructing bus stops, it will also make it safer for passengers when they are getting on and off.”

    You can report problem parking in school zones and at bus stops or appeal notices via Contact Parking Services | City Of Wolverhampton Council.
     

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Student entrepreneurs are flourishing at ARU

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    The Helmore building at ARU’s East Road campus in Cambridge

    Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is one of the leading institutions for student start-up companies in the country, according to new data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

    A total of 123 ventures were formed by ARU students in the latest reporting period of 2023/24, placing Anglia Ruskin seventh in the UK and top across all universities in the East of England.

    ARU’s Anglia Ruskin Enterprise Academy helps entrepreneurial students and recent graduates through a diverse range of support programmes, activities, opportunities, and events.

    Last year, ARU became the first UK university to receive the prestigious Entrepreneurial University Award from the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE).

    “At ARU we make every effort to help all our students discover and explore entrepreneurship, regardless of their background or what or where they might be studying. We aim to help them develop the mindset and skills to get them started on their own personal entrepreneurial journeys and career paths.

    “Starting your own business can seem daunting, but we are fortunate to have students full of ideas and ambitions. In return, we offer them the support and guidance they need to help turn their dreams into reality and make a difference.”

    Professor Gary Packham, Pro Vice Chancellor for Student Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at ARU

    Among the recent start-ups is The Community Classroom CIC, founded by Nirvana Yarger, a graduate from the Distance Learning MA Education with Montessori course. The social enterprise offers accessible and inclusive educational opportunities for home-educated children, helping families who need an alternative to mainstream education.

    “While teaching in a mainstream primary school, I always felt that the National Curriculum and mainstream school approach did not provide the best outcomes for many children.

    “I never lost my desire to be an educator. While completing my MA at ARU, I gained a deeper understanding of home education and the reasons families choose to deregister their children from school.

    “I was fortunate to be chosen for the ARU Social Value Fund and I learned the fundamentals of business planning, including forecasting and market research. I was eventually awarded a £5,000 grant to launch The Community Classroom. We would not be where we are today without ARU’s support.”

    Nirvana Yarger, who is a former teacher

    Cosmin Diaconu, based in Cambridge, founded sustainable fashion company RetroGusto after graduating from ARU, and has built a collaborative network, involving ARU graduates from various disciplines, including graphic design, interior design, and marketing, all united by their passion for sustainability and independent businesses.

    Cosmin’s participation in ARU’s ThinkBigARU pitching competition last year helped him secure valuable partnerships, and his work has since featured in publications such as Varsity, Velvet Magazine, and GAY45, reflecting his commitment to diverse representation in fashion.

    “The Anglia Ruskin Enterprise Academy gave me the support and tools to grow my business with more clarity and confidence.

    “The feedback from the pitch competition was invaluable, and their seminars offered practical insights from successful entrepreneurs that continue to shape how I develop my brand and practice.”

    BA (Hons) Fashion Design graduate Cosmin Diaconu

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: CERo Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. Announces First Patient Completes Dose-Limiting Toxicity Observation Period with No Reported DLTs in Phase 1 Trial of CER-1236

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SOUTH SAN FRANSCISCO, Calif., June 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CERo Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CERO) (“CERo” or the “Company”), an immunotherapy company developing the next generation of engineered T cell therapeutics targeting TIM4L with phagocytic mechanisms, today announces the completion of the initial evaluation of the first patient in its Phase 1 clinical trial of lead compound CER-1236. Following an evaluation from the trial’s Dose Escalation Safety Committee, preliminary results show that the patient demonstrated no dose limiting toxicity. The Company anticipates dosing the second patient in the cohort shortly.

    CERo CMO Robert Sikorski MD., PhD. noted, “The first patient experienced no dose-limiting toxicities during the planned 28-day observation period following the successful manufacturing of CER-1236 from an AML patient. A second AML patient has been identified and has provided informed consent for participation in the trial.”

    CERo CEO Chris Ehrlich added, “Given that CER-1236 is a first-in-class biologic targeting a previously unexplored pathway, each milestone reached is significant. We remain focused on progressing methodically through each phase of this trial and are preparing to initiate our second trial of CER-1236 in solid tumors later this year. We continue to believe CER-1236 holds significant potential as a novel approach in cancer therapy and look forward to providing future updates.”

    CER-1236 is currently in Phase 1 clinical trials for AML. The first-in-human, multi-center, open label, Phase 1/1b study, titled, “Phase 1/1b First-in-human Study of Autologous Chimeric Engulfment Receptor T-Cell CER-1236 in Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia (CertainT-1),” is designed to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of CER-1236 in patients with acute myeloid leukemia that is either relapsed/refractory, or in remission with measurable residual disease, or newly diagnosed patients with TP53 mutated MDS/AML or AML. The two-part study has begun with dose escalation to determine highest tolerated dose and recommended dose for Phase 2, followed by an expansion phase to evaluate safety and efficacy. Primary outcome measures include incidence of adverse events (AEs) and serious adverse events (SAEs), incidence of dose limited toxicities and estimation of overall response rate (ORR), complete response (CR), composite complete response (cCR), and measurable residual disease (MRD). Secondary outcome measures include pharmacokinetics (PK).

    About CERo Therapeutics Holdings, Inc.

    CERo is an innovative immunotherapy company advancing the development of next generation engineered T cell therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Its proprietary approach to T cell engineering, which enables it to integrate certain desirable characteristics of both innate and adaptive immunity into a single therapeutic construct, is designed to engage the body’s full immune repertoire to achieve optimized cancer therapy. This novel cellular immunotherapy platform is expected to redirect patient-derived T cells to eliminate tumors by building in engulfment pathways that employ phagocytic mechanisms to destroy cancer cells, creating what CERo refers to as Chimeric Engulfment Receptor T cells (“CER-T”). CERo believes that this differentiated activity of CER-T cells could afford greater therapeutic application than currently approved chimeric antigen receptor (“CAR-T”) cell therapy. In April 2025, CERo initiated clinical trials for its lead product candidate, CER-1236, targeting TIM4L in both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This communication contains statements that are forward-looking and as such are not historical facts. This includes, without limitation, statements regarding the financial position, business strategy and the plans and objectives of management for future operations of CERo and CERo’s ability to regain compliance with Nasdaq continued listing standards. These statements constitute projections, forecasts and forward-looking statements, and are not guarantees of performance. Such statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. When used in this communication, words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “strive,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. When CERo discusses its strategies or plans, it is making projections, forecasts or forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on the beliefs of, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to, CERo’s management.

    Actual results could differ from those implied by the forward-looking statements in this communication. Certain risks that could cause actual results to differ are set forth in CERo’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed on April 15, 2025 and its subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and the documents incorporated by reference therein. The risks described in CERo’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission are not exhaustive. New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible to predict all such risk factors, nor can CERo assess the impact of all such risk factors on its business, or the extent to which any factor or combination of factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. You should not put undue reliance on these statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. All forward-looking statements made by CERo or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. CERo undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

    Contact:
    Chris Ehrlich
    Chief Executive Officer
    cehrlich@cero.bio

    Investors:
    CORE IR
    investors@cero.bio

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: School children discuss peace and security at closing of ‘NATO and the Netherlands: a Journey’

    Source: Government of the Netherlands

    News item | 23-06-2025 | 14:11

    On Sunday 22 June, ‘NATO and the Netherlands: a Journey’ celebrated its conclusion at the World Forum in The Hague. On this final day, under the guidance of the political engagement organisation De Kiesmannen, around 150 primary and secondary school children discussed peace, security and the role of NATO. Minister of Foreign Affairs Caspar Veldkamp and Chief of Defence General Onno Eichelsheim were present for the event. Several members of the municipal executive of Madurodam, which consists entirely of young people, were also there.

    Enlarge image
    Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Phil Nijhuis

    ‘NAVO and the Netherlands: a Journey’ started in January 2025 in The Hague and travelled to nine cities across the country. At each location, local residents were engaged in discussions about NATO and the importance of international cooperation to our security. This was done through theatre and educational programmes, a travelling photo exhibition, debates and serious gaming.

    The goal was to encourage people to think about NATO and current security topics in an accessible way. The event was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence, with cooperation from the Netherlands Atlantic Association, the Clingendael Institute and The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies.

    Enlarge image
    Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Caspar Veldkamp. | Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Phil Nijhuis

    Raising awareness about peace and security

    During the closing session at the World Forum, De Kiesmannen used interviews and dilemmas to get young people thinking about war, peace, fake news and cyber threats. The focus of the day was on raising awareness – what does security mean today and what role can young people play in it? As one school child put it: ‘It’s bad that there’s so much insecurity in the world today. I hope that we can still have peace in the Netherlands for a long time.’

    In his welcome address, foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp emphasised the importance of being alert and working together:
    ‘We’ve enjoyed a long period of peace, but the reality is that peace and security in Europe can no longer be taken for granted. And it’s going to be a challenge to keep our country and Europe secure.’

    Enlarge image
    General Eichelsheim | Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Phil Nijhuis

    Interview with General Eichelsheim

    General Onno Eichelsheim talked with the young people present and answered questions about NATO and ongoing conflicts in the world. He stressed the importance of the alliance for the Netherlands:

    ‘It’s concerning that military interventions increasingly appear to pay off. Throughout the world boundaries are being pushed and overstepped. That’s why it’s more important than ever to work together in NATO to become stronger. By doing so, not only can we protect the international legal order, but our own security as well.’

    Growing awareness about NATO

    Dylan Ahern, from De Kiesmannen, has noticed an increase in awareness about NATO since the start of their programme in April:
    ‘What stands out is that a lot of young people support strengthening our armed forces. They follow the news with a critical eye and ask questions. The conversation about freedom and security is more relevant than ever.’

    The closing programme marks the end of a series of meetings across the country. The 2025 NATO Summit will take place in The Hague on 24 and 25 June.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Students of SPbGASU took part in the festival “T-Dvor”

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Participants from SPbGASU

    Students of the Faculty of Forensic Science and Law in Construction and Transport together with representatives of the Center for Student Entrepreneurship and Career of SPbGASU visited the youth festival “T-Dvor” organized by T-Bank on June 20. The event took place in the cultural space “Nikolskie Ryady” and was dedicated to career and educational opportunities for young people.

    The goal of the festival is to create an open platform for communication between students, young professionals and employers, where they can learn about labor market trends, new formats of training and personal growth.

    During the panel discussion, the participants discussed what modern education should be like and came to the conclusion that the main requirements for it are flexibility, accessibility and practice-orientedness. In their opinion, for successful career growth it is important to have the opportunity to improve professionally without interruption from work, for which it is necessary to develop distance learning in master’s programs and other digital educational platforms.

    The lecture “Professions of the Future: Where Are You in a World That Has Not Been Built Yet” attracted great interest. The speakers talked about combining technical thinking and a humanitarian approach – the ability to work with data, understand technology and at the same time think critically and creatively. According to experts, it is precisely these specialists who will be especially in demand in the coming years.

    At the session “University vs. Work: How to Do It All,” participants learned how to effectively combine studies, part-time work, and personal life. Students especially remembered three pieces of advice from experts: it is necessary to plan not only tasks, but also rest; do not be afraid to ask for help – this is also part of professional growth; discipline is the basis of sustainable development, it can be “pumped up” just like muscles.

    “The T-Dvor festival has become an excellent opportunity for our students not only to get acquainted with new educational formats, but also to think about their professional future and the path to it,” noted Margarita Sapozhnikova, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Forensic Expertise and Law in Construction and Transport for Career Guidance.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Working Group on Patriotic Education holds third meeting (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    Working Group on Patriotic Education holds third meeting  
         This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression as well as the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War (80A). The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government places great importance on planning 80A commemorative activities. The Chief Executive clearly stated in last year’s Policy Address that the Government will host a series of commemorative activities to further enhance the public’s spirit of patriotism and sense of national belonging. The Working Group is responsible for co-ordinating the relevant bureaux and departments in organising various commemorative activities.
     
         The Chairman of the CBLPSC and Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, said that over the past few months, various bureaux and departments have been formulating proposals and making preparations for different types of commemorative activities. At today’s meeting, the Working Group discussed the content of various commemorative activities and the four core spirits and principles that should be upheld in planning these activities. First, activities should be guided by the core spirit of “remembering history, honouring martyrs, cherishing peace, and creating a great future” and based on correct historical perspectives, so that members of the public can thoroughly understand the history of the War of Resistance and work together to cherish and safeguard peace. Second, Hong Kong’s contributions to the victory in the War of Resistance should be highlighted, along with in-depth research into historical materials about Hong Kong’s wartime history as well as proper restoration and protection of war-related sites. Third, the activities should have a focus on young people, with a view to helping them learn about the history of the War of Resistance and the arduous journey towards national prosperity and strength, thereby fostering their sense of national identity and spirit. Fourth, people from all walks of life should be engaged, including motivating and supporting different community groups to organise commemorative events, and encouraging the public to actively participate in such events.
     
         The Convenor of the Working Group, Dr Starry Lee, said that the four sub-groups under the Working Group had separately held meetings, focusing on putting forward plans and proposals on related commemorative activities across four aspects, namely education; local community; history, politics, economics and culture; and media publicity. The Working Group will continue to work closely with relevant bureaux and departments of the HKSAR Government, aiming to deepen public understanding of the history of the War of Resistance through commemorative activities that are diverse in type and rich in content, and thus make the patriotic spirit take root in Hong Kong.
     
         Currently, preparations for various activities to commemorate the victory in the War of Resistance are progressing steadily. These include an official ceremony at the Hong Kong City Hall Memorial Garden on September 3, the Victory Day of the War of Resistance, to honour the occasion; thematic exhibitions co-organised by the Hong Kong Museum of History and the National Museum of China, as well as the Hong Kong Museum of the War of Resistance and Coastal Defence and the Guangdong Museum of Revolutionary History; educational activities for members of the public, young people and students; and screenings of war-related films. In addition, different community groups have been organising commemorative activities in various forms. The HKSAR Government will announce more details in due course and release information on commemorative events, exhibitions and educational activities through a dedicated webpage to facilitate public viewing and participation.
    Issued at HKT 19:42

    NNNN

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: 23 June 2025 One optometrist’s mission to transform eye care in Somalia

    Source: World Health Organisation

    Based in Mogadishu, Dr Kalif leads a life of tireless dedication. Each afternoon, he treats patients in his private clinic, offering essential eye care in a setting where such services are scarce. He also teaches at the only optometry faculty in southern and central Somalia—home to the majority of the country’s population.  

    In addition, he is the Project Manager of Charity Vision Somalia, overseeing the country’s first free comprehensive vision eye care center. And every Friday, he travels 30 kilometers outside the capital to run eye camps, providing checkups for villages who, in many cases, have never had their eyes examined in their lives. 

    Dr Kalif’s commitment is deeply personal. In the early 2000s, his grandmother was left aphakic (the condition of having no lens in the eye) after undergoing cataract surgeryand forced to rely on thick  +10.00 diopter that left bruises on her face. “Her glasses were so heavy they left painful marks on her nose,” Mohamed recalls. “I used to tell her that one day, I’d become an eye doctor and make things better for her.” Although she passed away before he could finish his education, her struggle remains a powerful source of inspiration behind his misión to make eye care more accessible for everyone. 

    Somalia lacks resources, and eye care does not receive much attention. But Mohamed refuses to let these challenges hold him back. Using simple tools and a single donated room in a voluntary hospital, he and his team treat over 100 patients every month for free. He focuses on creating solutions with what is on hand. “You don’t need magic,you just need a system.”  

    Technology is helping him build that system. After discovering the WHOeyes app through LinkedIn—a free vision screening tool developed by the World Health Organization (WHO)— Dr Kalif contacted WHO to translate the tool into Somali.   

    Today, he encourages families to check their eyesight and identify early signs of vision impairment. He also collaborates with local health platforms to spread awareness and plans to promote the app through social media videos. “It is easy to use and very effective,” he explains. “In a country like Somalia where awareness is lacking, this app could change lives.” 

    One of the biggest obstacles, he says, is a widespread lack of knowledge. Many parents and teachers don’t realize that children might be struggling with their vision. Over the years, Dr Kalif has screened hundreds of schoolchildren and discovered preventable conditions going unnoticed. He recalls a 17-year-old girl who lived with blurred vision in one eye her whole life. “She told me, ‘I thought everyone’s left eye was like this,’” he says. “When she smiled after getting her glasses, that’s the moment that keeps me motivated.” 

    But Dr. Kalif’s ambition reaches beyond individuals—he is focused on transforming the entire system.  He played a key role in setting up Somalia’s first optometry training program, which celebrated its first group of graduates in 2024. He is also teaming up with the National eye health coordinator of the Ministry of Health and the WHO country office in Somalia to complete the first ECSAT (Eye care situation analysis tool) and prepare a national eye health strategy. His goal is to link Somali professionals with global training programs to gain expertise without always needing help from outside specialists. 

    In a country where healthcare is often limited and vision care is rarely prioritized,  Dr Kalif stays optimistic. “Vision changes lives,” he explains. “I’ve watched people go from being jobless to providing for their families all because they could see again.” 

    His vision for the future is simple. “Eye care everywhere in Somalia. That’s my life’s mission”. 

     

     

    Note: 

    About optometry 
    Optometry is a healthcare profession that is autonomous, educated, and regulated (licensed/registered), and optometrists are the primary healthcare practitioners of the eye and visual system who provide comprehensive eye and vision care, which includes refraction and dispensing, detection/diagnosis and management of disease in the eye, and the rehabilitation of conditions of the visual system. According to the World Council of Optometry, an optometries holds a bachelor’s degree or higher from a tertiary-level educational institution.  

    About WHOeyes 

    WHOeyes is a free, population-facing mobile software application to check near and distance visual acuity. Regular visual acuity checks can ensure that vision impairment is identified at the earliest so that you can take action to continue enjoying your sight. You can learn more and download it here. 

    “,”datePublished”:”2025-06-23T11:14:46.0000000+00:00″,”image”:”https://cdn.who.int/media/images/default-source/topics/health-and-well-being/disability/blindness-and-vision-impairment/mohamed-optometrist-have-vision.png?sfvrsn=7e3681c0_3″,”publisher”:{“@type”:”Organization”,”name”:”World Health Organization: WHO”,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”url”:”https://www.who.int/Images/SchemaOrg/schemaOrgLogo.jpg”,”width”:250,”height”:60}},”dateModified”:”2025-06-23T11:14:46.0000000+00:00″,”mainEntityOfPage”:”https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/one-optometrist-s-mission-to-transform-eye-care-in-somalia”,”@context”:”http://schema.org”,”@type”:”Article”};
    ]]>

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: 95 dead in Eastern Cape floods, as search and recovery efforts continue

    Source: South Africa News Agency

    The Eastern Cape Provincial Government has announced that a total of 95 bodies have been recovered across various districts, following the recent floods, including the bodies of two teenage males discovered yesterday afternoon.

    This as the search and recovery efforts continue.

    “Out of the recovered bodies, 86 have been identified and have been collected by their families and processes are underway for the identification of the remaining bodies,” the provincial government said in a statement on Monday.

    The provincial government said it was coordinating the provision of burial support for the victims of the disaster. This includes the storage of the bodies, burial services and transportation of the remains to the area identified by the families for burial. 

    “The provision of this support has been made possible through support from AVBOB and government is also engaging with other funeral parlours with a view to mobilise support in line with the needs of the family.

    “Government has provided support to 26 deceased persons that were buried from Thursday to this weekend,” the provincial government said. 

    In addition to the burial services, government has provided the following support to the bereaved families:

    • The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has extended the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, and this includes the provision of financial support towards funeral preparations.

    • Grocery hampers donated by Interlink Express.

    • The Department of Education has provided financial support of R5000 per deceased learners.

    • Various local municipalities are assisting with grave preparation where required.

    • Home Affairs emergency and mobile services for bereaved and displaced families.

    • The Department of Home Affairs has deployed three mobile offices each in Butterworth and Mthatha. 

    “Through this intervention, 311 in Mthatha and 145 in Butterworth affected individuals are being assisted to replace their birth certificates and IDs that were lost as a result of the disaster. All six mobile offices will remain on site this week to continue to provide support to the survivors as they rebuild their lives,” the statement said.

    Search and recovery efforts 

    The integrated search and recovery teams have been assisted by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members who continue to work tirelessly to locate and recover any remaining bodies.

    From Monday, the search and recovery teams will be joined by a team from the North West Provincial Government, increasing the number of teams to four.

    The provincial government has welcomed the support of government institutions and non-governmental organisations who have been part of rescue and recovery efforts, including the provision of humanitarian support.

    Eastern Cape Acting Premier, Mlungisi Mvoko, has acknowledged the role played by ordinary citizens in continuously cooperating with authorities and providing the necessary assistance during this challenging time.

    “The provincial government is committed to speeding up efforts of ensuring that affected communities are supported to rebuild their lives,” the provincial government said. – SAnews.gov.za

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Presentation of Russian-language documentary prose “Chinese Seeds” held in China

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, June 23 (Xinhua) — The presentation of the Russian-language documentary prose “Chinese Seeds or How I Grew Wheat in Kazakhstan” took place in Beijing last week.

    The event was held as part of the 31st Beijing International Book Fair, which ended on Sunday in the Chinese capital, the Keji Ribao/Science and Technology Daily newspaper reported.

    The authors of the new book are Jin Min, chief correspondent of the Nongye Kejibao (Agricultural Science and Technology Newspaper), and Zhang Zhengmao, a leading researcher at the Northwest University of Agriculture and Forestry.

    The documentary prose “Chinese Seeds” details the cultivation of high-quality wheat varieties and the results of cooperation between scientific researchers from both sides, which served as a vivid example of the mutual convergence of the aspirations of the peoples of the two countries within the framework of the joint construction of the “Belt and Road”.

    “Chinese Seeds or How I Grew Wheat in Kazakhstan” was published in Chinese in March 2023. According to the plan, this book will also be published in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Korean.

    The author of the book, Zhang Zhengmao, who was in Astana, presented to the participants of the presentation via video link the development of the Chinese-Kazakhstani project of the Research Center for Analysis and Testing of Grain Quality.

    The new book was published by Guangxi Kesuejishu Chubanshe (Guangxi Science and Technology) Publishing House. Its director, Cen Gang, said the publication of the book will further promote exchanges between China and Kazakhstan. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Exclusive: China and Kazakhstan open a new chapter in cooperation in the field of sustainable development technologies – President of the NAS of the Republic of Kazakhstan

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    Astana, June 23 (Xinhua) — China and Kazakhstan are opening a new chapter in cooperation in the field of sustainable development technologies, Akhilbek Kurishbayev, President of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NAS RK) and Rector of the Kazakh National Agrarian Research University (KazNAIU), said in an interview with Xinhua.

    The Kazakhstan-China Center for Science and Technology Transfer, established in February 2025 at the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan jointly with the Zhejiang University of Technology and leading Chinese high-tech companies, opens a new page in the development of innovative partnership. Within its structure, the International Joint Laboratory of Spatio-Temporal Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Sustainable Development is being formed, which has already outlined priority areas at the launch stage.

    “A stable platform will be formed on the basis of the center, on which scientists from Kazakhstan, China and other countries of the Central Asian region will work according to a single program, with clearly defined goals and objectives, concentrating resources on conducting research and obtaining effective results, including adapting Chinese technologies to national conditions,” noted A. Kurishbayev.

    According to him, organizational and technical preparatory work is in full swing, and the laboratory will begin full-scale operations in the near future.

    “We have high hopes for the work of this center and its laboratory. I am sure that these hopes will be justified,” shared A. Kurishbaev. “The basis for this is our common desire for cooperation and the concentration of common scientific potential to solve a single problem,” he added.

    Speaking about his own contribution to the development of bilateral scientific cooperation, A. Kurishbayev recalled that since 2007, as Vice Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, he took the most active part in establishing and developing mutually beneficial cooperation with China. The first steps in developing cooperation in the field of science and trade in agriculture were agreements on phytosanitary and veterinary safety.

    According to him, a lot of work has been done since then: joint laboratories have been created, internships have been organized, and the Alliance for Agricultural Education, Science, and Innovation in the Field of Great Silk Road Technologies has been formed.

    “I have been to China many times, visited leading research institutes and universities,” he shared. “The scale of development of artificial intelligence, smart cities, green technologies, genetics, as well as approaches to modeling natural disasters are impressive.”

    Kazakhstan, according to him, has prospects in such areas as digitalization of the agricultural sector, water technologies, natural resource management and sustainable development of rural areas – it is in these areas that deep and practice-oriented cooperation with Chinese scientific schools is possible.

    He also emphasized the importance of environmental partnership: “Our countries are located in a single ecosystem of the Central Asian region, and we are doomed not only to live here together, but also to bear responsibility for its preservation and improvement. Therefore, it is extremely important for us to search for new environmentally friendly technologies that allow us to move away from “dirty” production and take the path of “green” development and, on this basis, create conditions for a more comfortable life not only for the present, but also for future generations. This is our sacred duty, and we have no other way. We all understand this very well.”

    A. Kurishbaev also noted the deteriorating environmental situation in the world. According to him, the negative consequences will be felt especially strongly by the fragile ecosystem of Central Asia. “This process can only be stopped by joint efforts, based on the results of research by our scientific organizations. All this is in our hands. This requires not only our joint desires, but also our determination to implement them in practice,” concluded A. Kurishbaev. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Nguyen’s Injectable Piezoelectric Gel Could Treat Osteoarthritis without Surgery

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Millions of Americans suffer from osteoarthritis, a painful joint disease that wears down cartilage and can severely impact mobility. Pain medications only mask symptoms, and surgical option carry risks of infection and immune rejection.

    Thanh Nyugen examines a sample of piezoelectric nanofibers which will be used for the injectable hydrogel for cartilage regeneration. (Contributed photo)

    At the University of Connecticut, a research team led by Thanh Nguyen, associate professor of mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering, believes the future of joint repair might lie in a tiny electrical spark—and a simple injection.

    Backed by a $2.3M grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), Nguyen and his team are developing an injectable hydrogel designed to stimulate cartilage regeneration in large animal models.

    “With current treatments, we’re managing the pain, not healing the tissue,” says Nguyen. “We’re hoping that the body’s own mechanical movements—like walking—can generate tiny electrical signals that encourage cartilage to grow back.”

    The innovation harnesses the body’s natural bioelectric signals to promote healing. The injectable gel contains a piezoelectric scaffold—a composite made from biodegradable poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) nanofibers and magnesium oxide nanoparticles. When subjected to mechanical stress—such as joint movement or ultrasound—this scaffold generates small electrical charges.

    “By delivering [electrical] signals directly to damaged areas, the scaffold can stimulate cell activity and encourage the regeneration of strong, durable cartilage, particularly in high-load joints like the knees and hips.” — Thanh Nguyen, College of Engineering

    These mimic the body’s natural electrical cues that guide tissue development and repair.

    “By delivering these signals directly to damaged areas, the scaffold can stimulate cell activity and encourage the regeneration of strong, durable cartilage, particularly in high-load joints like the knees and hips,” Nguyen says. “This method also is cell-free and drug-free, a major advantage over traditional regenerative therapies that often require lab-grown stem cells.”

    The new grant-funded study, titled “Injectable Cell-Free Piezoelectric Scaffold to Treat Osteoarthritis in Large Animal Models,” will run through 2029. It’s based on two previous studies by Nguyen, his former postdoctoral fellow Yang Liu (now a professor at Peking University, China) and his former student Tra Vinikoor ’24 Ph.D. (now an advisor at the federal Food and Drug Administration). In these studies, the team injected the gel into the knees of rabbits with damaged cartilage, and within two months, saw re-formed, functional cartilage in the animals’ knees.

    Their work was published in the top medical journals of Science Translational Medicine and Nature Communication. (See previous UConn Today articles: Regrowing Cartilage in a Damaged Knee Gets Closer to Fixing Arthritis and Gel Repairs Cartilage Without Surgery, With Electricity)

    Nguyen’s team will spend the next four years testing the injectable gel’s effectiveness in large animal models. This is a key step before human clinical trials. (contributed photo)

    Over the next four years, Nguyen’s team will test the gel’s effectiveness in large animal models, a key step before human clinical trials. Along with four other active NIH Research Project (RO1) grants funding Nguyen’s work with piezoelectric biomaterials, the group hopes that the result of this project will successfully demonstrate that a single injection, followed by brief external ultrasound sessions, can significantly restore cartilage function in severe osteoarthritis cases.

    Nguyen’s research is highly interdisciplinary and at the interface of biomaterials, nano/micro-technology, and medicine. He credits the project’s progress to a “deeply collaborative” environment at UConn, where engineering and biomedical science intersect in innovative ways.

    The NIH/NIBIB grant is the fourth grant Nguyen received in FY25. Others include: “MAP Technology for Single-Admin and Co-Delivery of Polio and Other Vxs,” supported by a $4M grant from the Gates Foundation; “Bionic Self-Charged Bone Composite Scaffold,” supported by a $2.1 award from NIH/NIBIB; and “Advancing Multi-bNAbs Microneedle Patch Technology For HIV-1 Prevention in Breastfeeding Infants,” supported by a $1.5M grant from NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

    In addition, Nguyen served as the Materials Research Society’s Early Career Distinguished Presenter at the organization’s meeting in 2025. He spoke about his work on “Current Advances of Biodegradable and Biocompatible nanofiber-based materials for tissue engineering and drug delivery.”

    “We’re building hope for people who’ve been told their only option is a joint replacement,” he says.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Gift Brings UConn’s Immersive Holocaust and Bias Awareness Program to High School Students

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Students in some Greater Hartford schools will get the chance to learn about reducing bias and antisemitism through a new UConn program that uses powerful, interactive experiences. Organizers hope to eventually expand the program statewide.

    The Morris and Judy Sarna Breaking Bias & Creating Community Program in UConn’s Neag School of Education enables students to ask Holocaust survivors questions through a high-tech, immersive program from the USC Shoah Foundation.

    Students also engage with “The Journey Back” from the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. “The Journey Back” is a virtual reality experience where survivors take students on a journey that mirrors their experiences during the Holocaust, including visits to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

    Students also learn through a customized photo exhibit in their school that depicts the various perspectives and identities representing their schools and communities. For example, the West Hartford program will feature several photos of a local man who is a World War II veteran. The images show him variously playing cards, standing with a life-size photo of himself in his military uniform, and holding a Jewish star badge given to him by a French family he helped rescue during the war.

    The idea behind the Breaking Bias & Creating Community Program is to reduce hatred and build awareness, empathy, and community by understanding different perspectives and by studying past examples of antisemitism and racism.

    The cutting-edge program piloted last year at E.O. Smith High School in Storrs and will be launched in West Hartford middle and high schools in September. Glastonbury schools will host the program the following year. The program is expected to reach tens of thousands of students in multiple Connecticut school districts over the next decade.

    The program was made possible by a generous gift to the Neag School of Education from Judy Sarna and her late husband, Morris, who was a Holocaust survivor.

    “In essence, the goal is about reducing bias and building community,” explains Alan Marcus, the UConn Curriculum and Instruction professor who developed and directs the program. “The program is designed to help students develop empathy by seeing other people’s perspectives and being able to have conversations with them.”

    The program is designed to help students develop empathy by seeing other people’s perspectives and being able to have conversations with them. &#8212 Alan Marcus, Curriculum and Instruction professor

    The program also involves UConn students majoring in teacher education and graduate students. The UConn students help teach the programs in the schools, gaining hands-on, experiential learning. The gift from the Sarnas supports one of the University’s key campaign goals to invest in academic and innovation excellence.

    Judy Sarna says she and her husband, Morris, became involved in the program because they were increasingly worried about the rise in antisemitism and racism they were seeing around the world.

    Morris Sarna, who passed away Jan. 17 at age 97, was imprisoned in a series of Nazi concentration camps for four years starting at age 12. He and his brothers, Jack and Charles, survived and were liberated from the Czestochowa camp. Another brother, Joseph, survived the Mauthausen camp. But their parents and two youngest brothers were murdered in the Belzec extermination camp.

    Judy Sarna explains how they first got involved with the UConn program.

    “One day, my husband said, the world is getting like 1938 Germany,” Sarna says. “What can we do? There’s so much antisemitism.”

    Soon after, her niece told her about UConn’s program. The niece had learned about it through a friend, Carmen Effron ’72 (ED), ’81 MBA, who serves on the Neag Dean’s Board of Advocates. Judy immediately knew that she wanted to support the program.

    “I said, ‘Morris, I found the project for us. This is something we can do,” she says.

    One day, my husband said, ‘the world is getting like 1938 Germany. What can we do? There’s so much antisemitism.’ … I said, ‘Morris, I found the project for us. This is something we can do.’ &#8212 Judy Sarna

    Judy Sarna says it is important for new generations to learn about the Holocaust to make sure it is never repeated. She hopes the program will help foster more of a sense of understanding and community.

    “I think the Holocaust is an important piece of history. It shows how governments and people can be swayed and taken for a ride in a direction that generations will be sorry for,” she says. “It’s not impossible for the right person at the right time, who’s a great speaker, to really turn the world upside down.”

    She believes the innovative technology behind the program is more engaging for younger generations than more traditional methods, such as reading “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

    “This is a wonderful opportunity to take a pilot project, created by someone with great credentials and backed by a university, and watch it flower into something bigger,” she says.

    “The Sarnas’ donation is the largest gift from a single, private donor that the Neag School has received in the past 25 years,” Neag School Dean Jason G. Irizarry says. “We are grateful to Morris and Judy for their amazing generosity and their recognition of this groundbreaking program’s enormous potential. Using cutting-edge technology to build community and empathy among middle and high school students is the kind of innovative excellence that UConn and the Neag School are known for. I am excited to see the program reach students throughout Connecticut and the nation, thanks to the Sarnas’ support.”

    Sarna hopes the program continues to expand, perhaps someday becoming part of a statewide or even national curriculum. She urges others to consider supporting the program.

    “This is a place where even a small amount of money can go a long way,” she says. “You’re educating teachers and students and that goes on and on generationally well beyond the program.”

    Support the Morris and Judy Sarna Breaking Bias & Creating Community Program fund through the UConn Foundation. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How emotions rule every stage of the entrepreneurial process

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Florencio Portocarrero, Assistant Professor of Management, Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science

    tsyhun/Shutterstock

    Governments often see entrepreneurs as the engines of innovation, job creation and economic growth. In the UK alone, small and medium enterprises account for 99.8% of the business population and employ more than 16 million people.

    However, entrepreneurship is not just a strategic or financial undertaking. It’s primarily an emotional journey. From the spark of an idea to the triumphs and failures of running a business, emotions constantly shape how entrepreneurs think, decide, act and relate to others.

    Recent research I led draws on 276 studies to show that emotions don’t just accompany entrepreneurship – they drive it. Far from being distractions, emotions – like passion, fear, anxiety and compassion – and emotional intelligence can make or break a venture. Here are four ways they shape the entrepreneurial journey.

    1. The double edge of passion

    Ask any entrepreneur what keeps them going through long hours, tight budgets and personal sacrifice, and you’ll probably hear the word “passion”. Passion is one of the most studied emotions in entrepreneurship – for good reason. It fuels creativity, motivates persistence and can inspire others.

    Investors are more likely to back passionate founders and employees feel more engaged when their leaders show authentic enthusiasm. Passionate storytelling resonates with customers.

    Most of the benefits linked to passion emerge when entrepreneurs choose to pursue ventures that align with their identity and values. This aspect of the emotion is called “harmonious passion”, and it leads to greater wellbeing, better work-life balance and sustained motivation.

    But passion also has a darker side, called obsessive passion. This is a type of emotional experience driven by internal pressures (self-worth, for example) or external expectations (status or validation). Entrepreneurs with high levels of obsessive passion often become workaholics, suffer burnout and cannot walk away from their enterprises. This is even the case when their ventures are experiencing sustained failures.

    Passion can be a superpower. But like any power, it needs to be wielded with care.

    2. Fear and anxiety: not always the enemy

    Starting a business is inherently risky. Founders often deal with uncertain markets, fluctuating cash flow and high personal stakes. Unsurprisingly, fear and anxiety are common companions in this journey.

    These emotions are often framed negatively, but our research shows that they serve vital functions. Fear can make entrepreneurs more vigilant and help them anticipate challenges. Anxiety can enhance performance under pressure, such as during investor pitches or public launches. These can act like emotional smoke alarms, warning entrepreneurs about potential problems before they spiral.

    However, problems arise when these emotions become overwhelming. Chronic fear of failure can prevent entrepreneurs from taking calculated risks. It can lead to perfectionism, decision paralysis or the premature abandonment of promising ideas.

    The key is not to suppress fear or anxiety but to manage these emotions. Practices like journaling, peer mentorship and mindfulness training are valuable tools. They can help entrepreneurs reflect and use fear and anxiety constructively rather than letting it control them.

    Journaling can be an effective way for entrepreneurs to manage fear – and channel it positively.
    Daniel Hoz/Shutterstock

    3. Compassion as fuel for social enterprise

    Entrepreneurship isn’t always about chasing profits. Many founders launch ventures to address urgent social issues, from poverty and inequality to environmental degradation. These social entrepreneurs are often driven not just by vision but also by compassion.

    Our review found that compassion is a defining emotional characteristic of social entrepreneurs. It motivates them to act when others turn away. It helps them connect with communities, earn trust and stay resilient in the face of adversity. Their emotional connection to a mission creates a deep sense of purpose that can carry them through setbacks that might paralyse other entrepreneurs.

    This emotional resilience is often overlooked in traditional entrepreneurship education, which tends to emphasise strategy and metrics. But for many mission-driven founders, compassion is the emotional backbone of the business.

    4. Emotional intelligence as a business strategy

    Emotions don’t just shape how entrepreneurs feel, they affect how others respond to them. Our research points to emotional intelligence, the ability to recognise, understand and regulate emotions, as a critical skill for entrepreneurs.

    Founders who demonstrate high emotional intelligence motivate teams better, manage conflict and build trust with stakeholders. They’re more likely to retain talent, adapt under pressure and sustain long-term ventures. Investors, too, respond to emotional cues. A confident and passionate pitch can be more persuasive than a technically perfect but emotionally flat one.

    However, there’s a fine line. Too much emotional expression can backfire. Investors may question the founder’s judgement, and teams may interpret it as instability.

    The most effective entrepreneurs aren’t the ones who suppress their emotions but those who deploy them strategically. In a world where startups rise and fall on relationships, emotional intelligence is not a soft skill. It’s a core business strategy.

    Entrepreneurship is an emotional endeavour. The highs are exhilarating, but the lows can be crushing. While grit and skill matter, our review shows that founders’ emotional agility often determines whether they thrive or burn out.

    Innovation should be celebrated and it’s vital to recognise and support entrepreneurs’ emotional experiences. That means building programmes that teach emotional management, creating networks that offer psychological safety and reframing failure not as weakness but as part of the emotional terrain of entrepreneurship.

    This article was co-published with LSE Blogs at the London School of Economics.

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

    – ref. How emotions rule every stage of the entrepreneurial process – https://theconversation.com/how-emotions-rule-every-stage-of-the-entrepreneurial-process-258439

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • Bridging Gaps, Building Futures: 11 Years of inclusive growth for minorities in India

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Over the past eleven years, the central government has made substantial progress in promoting inclusive development among the six centrally notified minority communities—Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, and Jains. Through a multi-dimensional approach involving education, employment, cultural preservation, digital transformation, and legislative reform, the Ministry of Minority Affairs has worked toward narrowing socio-economic disparities and empowering marginalized sections of society.

    Economic Empowerment and Skills Development

    At the heart of this transformative agenda is the Pradhan Mantri Virasat Ka Samvardhan (PM VIKAS), a flagship scheme launched by the Ministry of Minority Affairs. This comprehensive initiative merges five earlier schemes—Seekho Aur Kamao, Nai Manzil, Nai Roshni, Hamari Dharohar, and USTTAD—into one. PM VIKAS focuses on upskilling youth, promoting entrepreneurship, and empowering minority women through leadership and training programs. It operates in conjunction with the Skill India Mission and integrates with the Skill India Portal for wider outreach and impact.

    The National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) continues to play a pivotal role in economic empowerment. Offering concessional loans for self-employment, the NMDFC has disbursed ₹752.23 crore to over 1.74 lakh beneficiaries as of March 10, 2025, a significant rise from ₹431.20 crore in 2014-15.

    Infrastructure Development for Community Welfare

    Infrastructure growth has been spearheaded by the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK), a centrally sponsored scheme aimed at holistic development in minority-concentrated areas. Since 2014-15, projects worth ₹18,416 crore have been sanctioned, covering approximately 5.63 lakh infrastructure units across sectors like health, education, sanitation, renewable energy, and women and child development. The scheme has now been digitized for better monitoring and transparency, with 1,300 Minority Concentration Areas identified across 308 districts in 32 states and UTs.

    Education and Scholarships

    While some schemes like the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) and Padho Pardesh have been discontinued due to overlaps with other government initiatives, others like the Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship for girls in classes IX to XII, and Naya Savera (Free Coaching and Allied scheme) continue to support educational aspirations of minority youth. Naya Savera provides coaching for competitive exams and admissions into technical and professional courses.

    Cultural and Heritage Preservation

    Schemes like Hamari Dharohar and USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) focus on preserving the cultural legacy of minority communities. These schemes support exhibitions, documentation, and skill development among traditional artisans while creating market linkages for their products.

    In further efforts to promote cultural heritage, ₹25 crore has been sanctioned for a Centre for Gurumukhi Script at Khalsa College, Delhi University, while ₹11.17 crore has been approved for a Centre for Avesta Pahlavi Studies at Mumbai University. Projects worth ₹65 crore are in progress for Jain Studies and Manuscriptology at institutions in Indore and Gujarat.

    Special Initiatives for Community Support

    The Jiyo Parsi scheme, launched in 2013-14 to address the declining Parsi population, has aided the birth of over 400 Parsi children. In FY 2023-24, ₹3 crore was released, with a proposed budget of ₹6 crore for 2024-25.

    Under the Buddhist Development Plan (BDP), ₹300.17 crore worth of projects have been approved to support Buddhist communities, especially in the Himalayan belt. Key institutions like the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies (CIBS) and Central Institute of Himalayan Culture Studies (CIHCS) are implementing these initiatives through a hub-and-spoke model.

    The Government has also focused on easing the Haj pilgrimage, transferring its administration from the Ministry of External Affairs to the Ministry of Minority Affairs in 2016. Expenditures have increased from ₹47.37 crore in 2014-15 to ₹83.51 crore in 2023-24. Digital support has been introduced through the Haj Suvidha App, providing pilgrims access to essential services like travel details, emergency help, and training materials.

    Legislative Reforms and Digital Transformation

    A significant development came with the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 notified on April 8, 2025. This amendment strengthens governance and transparency in the management of Waqf properties. It is complemented by the launch of the UMEED Portalon June 6, 2025—a centralized digital platform for uploading, verifying, and monitoring Waqf properties. These measures aim to modernize asset management and ensure properties are used for their intended religious and charitable purposes.

    Further modernization efforts include the Qaumi Waqf Board Taraqqiati Scheme (QWBTS) and Shahari Waqf Sampatti Vikas Yojana (SWSVY), which focus on computerization and commercial development of waqf properties. From 2019-20 to 2023-24, ₹23.87 crore and ₹7.16 crore were spent under QWBTS and SWSVY respectively.

    Promoting Indigenous Arts and Entrepreneurship

    The Ministry also organizes Lok Samvardhan Parv, a cultural event to showcase minority arts and crafts while fostering entrepreneurship. Three editions have been held—in July 2024 at Dilli Haat, January 2025 at Baba Kharak Singh Marg, and April 2025 at Kashmir University in Srinagar. These events feature workshops on design, marketing, GST, and digital commerce in partnership with the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH).

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Free school meals expansion

    Source: Scottish Government

    Thousands more young people to benefit from August.

    More than 6,000 high school pupils will be eligible for free school meals from the beginning of the next school year, further supporting the Scottish Government’s national mission to eradicate child poverty.

    This trial phase of the free school meals programme will see S1 to S3 pupils in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment, who attend selected schools in eight local authority areas, receive a nutritious and healthy meal. This takes the number of pupils being offered free school meals in Scotland to over 360,000.

    An investment of £3 million will support almost 60 schools across eight proposed areas of Aberdeen, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Fife, Glasgow, Moray, North Ayrshire, Shetland and South Lanarkshire from August 2025.

    First Minister John Swinney made the announcement during a visit to Springburn Academy in Glasgow, where 140 more pupils could benefit.

    The First Minister said:

    “The free school meals programme is key in our national mission to eradicate child poverty, which saves families who take up the offer around £450 per eligible child per year. This next phase of the rollout will ensure that this offer is available to more families across the country.

    “We know the positive impact that access to a healthy and nutritious meal can have on a pupil’s learning and achievement in school. This demonstrates how important the programme is in our efforts to close the poverty-related attainment gap in Scotland, ensuring that every child is given an opportunity to succeed in education regardless of their background.

    “The Scottish Government will also continue its broader support to tackle the cost of the school day, including our £14.2 million School Uniform Clothing Grant and our investment in the £1 billion Scottish Attainment Challenge.”

    Background

    Local authorities put forward schools that already have the capacity in place to deliver additional meals to take part in the trial. The Scottish Government will continue to work with them in the coming weeks to establish the trial approach.

    The trial phase will be independently reviewed and will aid future development of any further phases of the free school meal programme.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: TransUnion Appoints Alicia Zuiker Chief Human Resources Officer

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CHICAGO, June 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Alicia Zuiker has joined TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) as Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), effective June 23, 2025.

    Zuiker is an accomplished CHRO with deep experience leading global talent strategies across a range of relevant industries including financial services, digital enablement and technology. Her leadership has helped both mature and entrepreneurial companies achieve transformation and growth. In her new role at TransUnion, she will oversee TransUnion’s Human Resources and Communications functions, reporting to TransUnion President and CEO Chris Cartwright and serving on the executive leadership team.

    “We have bold aspirations for growth and innovation at TransUnion, and our success starts with our people,” said Cartwright. “Alicia is a powerful addition to our leadership team and our ongoing work to build a Workforce for Good that enables our customers, consumers and company to thrive.”

    “TransUnion leverages data and insights to create positive impact for consumers, businesses and economies worldwide,” said Zuiker. “I’m thrilled to join the team and contribute to our culture of innovation and continued business growth.” 

    Most recently, Zuiker served as Chief People Officer for Lyft. Prior to that, she served as Chief People Officer for Visby Medical and helped Google evolve the people function for Google Cloud. She began her career with 14 years at GE in a series of HR leadership roles. She holds a master’s degree in human resource management from Purdue University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration and psychology from Alma College.

    About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)
    TransUnion is a global information and insights company with over 13,000 associates operating in more than 30 countries. We make trust possible by ensuring each person is reliably represented in the marketplace. We do this with a Tru™ picture of each person: an actionable view of consumers, stewarded with care. Through our acquisitions and technology investments we have developed innovative solutions that extend beyond our strong foundation in core credit into areas such as marketing, fraud, risk and advanced analytics. As a result, consumers and businesses can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good® — and it leads to economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for millions of people around the world. http://www.transunion.com/business.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: TransUnion Appoints Alicia Zuiker Chief Human Resources Officer

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CHICAGO, June 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Alicia Zuiker has joined TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) as Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), effective June 23, 2025.

    Zuiker is an accomplished CHRO with deep experience leading global talent strategies across a range of relevant industries including financial services, digital enablement and technology. Her leadership has helped both mature and entrepreneurial companies achieve transformation and growth. In her new role at TransUnion, she will oversee TransUnion’s Human Resources and Communications functions, reporting to TransUnion President and CEO Chris Cartwright and serving on the executive leadership team.

    “We have bold aspirations for growth and innovation at TransUnion, and our success starts with our people,” said Cartwright. “Alicia is a powerful addition to our leadership team and our ongoing work to build a Workforce for Good that enables our customers, consumers and company to thrive.”

    “TransUnion leverages data and insights to create positive impact for consumers, businesses and economies worldwide,” said Zuiker. “I’m thrilled to join the team and contribute to our culture of innovation and continued business growth.” 

    Most recently, Zuiker served as Chief People Officer for Lyft. Prior to that, she served as Chief People Officer for Visby Medical and helped Google evolve the people function for Google Cloud. She began her career with 14 years at GE in a series of HR leadership roles. She holds a master’s degree in human resource management from Purdue University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration and psychology from Alma College.

    About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)
    TransUnion is a global information and insights company with over 13,000 associates operating in more than 30 countries. We make trust possible by ensuring each person is reliably represented in the marketplace. We do this with a Tru™ picture of each person: an actionable view of consumers, stewarded with care. Through our acquisitions and technology investments we have developed innovative solutions that extend beyond our strong foundation in core credit into areas such as marketing, fraud, risk and advanced analytics. As a result, consumers and businesses can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good® — and it leads to economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for millions of people around the world. http://www.transunion.com/business.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Churchill Reports High-Grade Silver Results up to 395 g/t Silver at the Black Raven Property, Central Newfoundland

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, June 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Churchill Resources Inc. (“Churchill” or the “Company”) (TSXV: CRI) is pleased to announce that due-diligence sampling on its Black Raven property returned silver assays of up to 395 g/t silver from grab samples, confirming that high-grade Ag, Sb, and Au are present at several prospects. Five grab samples returned silver assays over 150 g/t (4.69 opt), along with high-grade gold, lead and zinc, emphasizing the polymetallic metal assemblage of critical minerals present in the Black Raven vein system, per the summary table and figure below.

    Sample #   300   304   305   315   321
    Silver grade (g/t)   153   329   321   251   395
    Gold grade (g/t)   3.07   7.70   7.79   5.09   2.16
    Lead grade (%)   3.10   6.47   5.80   8.83   7.34
    Zinc grade (%)   2.85   4.97   >5.0   >5.0   >5.0
    Copper grade (%)   nil   0.37   0.50   0.39   0.40
                         

    These samples exceeded the laboratory’s original upper detection limit for silver (100 g/t – see release of May 28th 2025), and the results reported herein are from the overage assay protocols. The Black Raven vein systems have never been drilled.

    “These silver results confirm our belief that the Black Raven system can carry high grade metals in multiple locations,” commented Paul Sobie, CEO of Churchill, “Churchill’s geological team are on site carrying out a summer surface exploration program, with trenching and drilling commencing as soon as permits are received. Work is presently focused on property mapping and extending the sampled strike extent of the high-grade Frost Cove (antimony), Stewart (gold), and Taylor’s Room (silver-gold) prospects as well as defining several other prospects including Moreton’s Harbour 1 (gold-silver) and Moreton’s Harbour Head (antimony-gold-silver). This work is going well and continues to encounter well-mineralized samples in all locales, confirming and expanding upon historical work.”

    The Black Raven Property hosts two past-producing mines dating back to the late 1800’s, the Frost Cove Antimony Mine, and the Stewart Gold Mine which returned antimony grades of 35.1% and gold grades of 14.4 g/t, respectively (see release of 12th June 2025). The silver results reported herein are from different locations on the property (see attached map). Black Raven is located approximately 60km northwest of Gander, and approximately 100km north of the Beaver Brook Antimony Mine, currently on care and maintenance.

    Antimony: A Critical Mineral in High Demand

    Antimony is a critical mineral essential for national security and modern technology, with over 90% of global production controlled by China, Russia, and other non-Western jurisdictions. The metal is a vital component in military applications, while also being crucial for certain flame retardants, strengthening alloys in batteries, and emerging energy storage technologies. Recent Chinese export restrictions have driven prices to record levels exceeding $50,000 per tonne, highlighting antimony’s strategic importance to a “Fortress North America” approach to critical mineral supply chains and making domestic North American sources increasingly important for economic and national security.

    Due-Diligence Sampling Program

    Antimony, gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper and molybdenum samples were selected by Dr. Derek Wilton, independent QP to Churchill, during field visits on April 24th and 25th. All samples were labelled and securely bound and delivered to the prep laboratory of SGS Canada Inc. in Grand Falls-Windsor, for crushing and pulverizing. Splits were couriered to Burnaby, B.C. by SGS for GE_AAS33E50 silver assays and overlimit samples by the GO_FAG37V analytical method. All due-diligence samples described in this news release were grab samples and are selective by nature and are unlikely to represent average grades of the property.

    The technical and scientific information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Derek H.C Wilton, P.Geo., FGC, who is a “qualified person” as defined under National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”). Dr. Wilton is an honorary research professor of Economic Geology at Memorial University in St. John’s and is independent of the Company for the purposes of NI 43-101.

    Black Raven Antimony-Gold Property

    The Black Raven Property comprises nine map-staked licenses constituting a single contiguous block of 125 claims that in total cover 3,125ha or 31.25km2. Churchill and the vendors have agreed to a 4km wide area of interest around the property boundaries as part of their agreement.

    The past sampling data reported in this News Release is historic in nature and does not meet NI43-101 standards. Churchill has relied on the information supplied in the Government of Newfoundland field assessment reports and from information found in the Mineral Occurrence Database System operated by the Newfoundland Department of Industry, Energy and, Technology. Natural Resources.

    The technical and scientific information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Derek H.C Wilton, P.Geo., FGC, who is a “qualified person” as defined under National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”). Dr. Wilton is an honorary research professor of Economic Geology at Memorial University in St. John’s and is independent of the Company for the purposes of NI 43-101.

    References:

    Heyl, George R., 1936. Geology and Mineral Deposits of the Bay of Exploits Area. Newfoundland Department of Natural Resources, Geological Section, Bulletin No 3. 65 pages.

    Fogwill, W.D., 1968. Report on a copper prospect at Western Head, Moreton’s Harbour in the Notre Dame Bay Area, Newfoundland. Newfoundland and Labrador Geological Survey, Assessment File 2E/10/0350, 1968, 48 pages

    Kay, E.A. 1981. A geochemical and fluid inclusion study of the arsenopyrite-stibnite-gold mineralization, Moreton’s Harbour, Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland. Master Thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Canada, 1981. Newfoundland and Labrador Geological Survey, Assessment File 002E/10/1075, 1981, 209 pages.

    Quinlan E, 2013. First Year Assessment Report for 019872M, Ninth Year Assessment Report for 015553M, and Third Year Assessment Report for 017787M for Exploration within the Black Raven Property, NTS Map Sheet 2E/10. Newfoundland and Labrador Geological Survey Assessment Report, 69 pages

    Quinlan, E. 2025. 21st, 8th & 4th Year Assessment Report of Diamond Drilling & Prospecting On Black Raven Property, License 023212M (21st Year), License 02840m (8th Year), License 35674m (4th Year) NTS 02E/10, North-Central Newfoundland. Property centered at approximately 49°57’N, 54°87’ W. 34 pages.

    About Churchill Resources

    Churchill Resources Inc. is a Canadian exploration company focused on strategic, critical minerals in Canada, principally at its prospective Black Raven, Taylor Brook and Florence Lake properties in Newfoundland & Labrador. The Churchill management team, board, and advisors have decades of combined experience in mineral exploration and in the establishment of successful publicly listed mining companies, both in Canada and around the world. Churchill’s Newfoundland and Labrador projects have the potential to benefit from the province’s large and diversified minerals industry, which includes world class nickel mines and processing facilities, and a well-developed mineral exploration sector with locally based drilling and geological expertise.

    Churchill’s Taylor Brook Nickel-Copper-Cobalt-Vanadium-Titanium Property, and Florence Lake Nickel Property, are both in good standing for a number of years, such that further exploration and development can await improved market conditions sentiment while the Company focuses on high-grade antimony-gold and other critical minerals.

    Further Information

    For further information regarding Churchill, please contact:

    Churchill Resources Inc.
    Paul Sobie, Chief Executive Officer
    psobie@churchillresources.com
    Tel. 416.365.0930 (o)
          647.988.0930 (m)

    Alec Rowlands, Business Development & IR
    Alec.rowlands1@gmail.com
    Tel. 416.721.4732 (m)

    FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

    This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements about Churchill’s objectives, goals and exploration activities proposed to be conducted on its properties; future growth potential of Churchill, including whether any proposed exploration programs at any of its properties will be successful; exploration results; and future exploration plans and costs. Wherever possible, words such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “predict” or “potential” or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the Company’s goals and objectives, and future exploration work to be conducted on the Company’s Black Raven Antimony Property. These statements reflect management’s current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.

    Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: exploration results on the Black Raven Antimony Property; the expected benefits to Churchill relating to the exploration proposed to be conducted on its properties; receipt of all regulatory approvals in connection with the transaction contemplated herein; failure to identify any additional mineral resources or significant mineralization; the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, including to fund any exploration programs on the Churchill’s properties, if required; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; fluctuations in spot and forward prices of gold, silver, base metals or certain other commodities; change in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations pressures, cave-ins and flooding); inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining and mineral exploration; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability of increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development (including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities); the unlikelihood that properties that are explored are ultimately developed into producing mines; geological factors; actual results of current and future exploration; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated; soil sampling results being preliminary in nature and are not conclusive evidence of the likelihood of a mineral deposit; and title to properties. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Churchill cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Churchill assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1f527078-103d-4201-8e35-585d165deaef

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: African finance ministers shouldn’t be making bond deals: how to hand over the job to experts

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

    Eurobonds, debts owed in a foreign currency, have become a quick and attractive way for African countries to borrow money. They are behind a sharp rise in commercial borrowing as a percentage of total external debt: it has nearly doubled from 27% in 2011 to 52% in 2020. This has increased the debt vulnerability of most African countries.

    Recent developments, however, show that most of the bonds have not been structured properly. As a result, African countries are paying way over the odds relative to their sovereign risks.

    Based on my bond price modelling expertise, it is my view that there are two major drivers of the mispricing of African government bonds. They are interlinked.

    Firstly, a lack of expertise in debt management offices, whose job it is to negotiate the terms of any debt deals and to oversee their execution. This is a topic I explored in a recent article.



    Read more:
    African countries are bad at issuing bonds, so debt costs more than it should: what needs to change

    The second factor, which I address here, is that in many African countries, finance ministers have assumed primary responsibility for Eurobond issuance. They engage directly with investment bankers, legal advisors and credit rating agencies.

    In my view they shouldn’t.

    Finance ministers should stay away from debt negotiations because they are political appointees. They operate under incentives tied to electoral cycles, not fiscal sustainability. Their short tenures and desire to fund visible projects often conflict with the long-term nature of sovereign debt obligations.

    They don’t have the necessary expertise to handle the technical complexity required to get the best possible deal, either.

    Simply calling for ministers to step aside would ignore the institutional realities in most African countries. In particular, debt management offices have severe capacity constraints.

    Nevertheless, as global financial conditions tighten and African countries seek to refinance maturing Eurobonds or issue new instruments, the risks of politicised borrowing must be minimised. Ministers should spend their energies on ensuring their debt management offices are well staffed with top quality teams. They should then leave it up to these technical staff to prepare and arrange the financing.

    This would leave room for ministers to manage any disagreements between technical staff and the banks when necessary. And to close the final deal.

    Ministers versus the experts

    Eurobond issuance involves advanced financial engineering – pricing models, investor engagement, covenant structuring and legal compliance across jurisdictions. It takes a deep understanding of capital markets.

    When debt management offices are operating at their best, they are filled with people who have this knowledge. They have a combination of financial market and public policy skills, including debt portfolio management, risk analysis and debt transaction processing.

    In discussions with debt managers at the African Sovereign Debt Conference it’s become clear to me that debt managers are sidelined in the international bond issuance negotiations. They are also sidelined in the execution process, except for administrative support.

    What happens instead is that finance ministers are usually key contacts of the investment bankers. By approaching a minister directly, investment bankers get to close their mandates faster.

    But this minimises due diligence and bypasses internal safeguards. Ministers may not pay attention to complex legal clauses under foreign jurisdictions, details of investor negotiations and fee structures. They may accept unfavourable terms, ignore sustainability assessments and obscure fiscal vulnerabilities in pursuit of political wins and quick disbursements.

    For example, in 2018, Ghana’s then finance minister was internationally lauded for financial stewardship. Ghana was the first African issuer of a longest tenure and a zero-coupon bond. A year later, the country defaulted, suggesting the bond terms weren’t great for the country. The minister nevertheless received several awards as the best and most prudent in Africa.

    There is also the issue of conflicts of interest. When the same actor – in this case the finance minister – proposes, negotiates and approves a debt instrument, the system lacks accountability.

    In many African countries, parliaments, audit institutions and civil society have limited understanding about the technical details of bond agreements. Ministers can easily sideline procurement rules and transparency mechanisms, resulting in non-competitive contracts and opaque fees paid to underwriters and advisors.

    Investment bankers prefer this arrangement as it works in their favour.

    Reforms that are needed

    Before finance ministers can hand over control, debt management offices must be equipped. This requires targeted reforms, including:

    • Capacity building through strategic partnerships: African debt management offices should work with international issuing syndicates and development partners to gain first-hand exposure to structuring, pricing and marketing global bonds.

    • Human capital reforms: Governments must attract and retain highly skilled debt managers by offering competitive pay, professional development opportunities and protection from political interference.

    • Debt management offices must be staffed by dedicated quantitative analysts. They must also be equipped to use real-time market intelligence systems and formal investor relations programmes.

    • Gradual delegation: Authority can be shifted, starting with less complex debt instruments.

    The role of the finance minister must evolve. Ministers should provide strategic leadership: approving borrowing strategies, ensuring alignment with macroeconomic goals, and engaging parliament and the public.

    Their function should shift from operational to institutional oversight and accountability.

    Structural reforms must embed the capacity, autonomy and transparency required for debt management offices to lead effectively.

    In South Africa, for example, the assets and liabilities management division of the National Treasury department manages government’s annual funding programme.

    Professionalising the debt issuance process is not just about avoiding technical mistakes. It’s also about creating resilient institutions that can withstand political turnover. That fosters credibility and long-term access to capital.

    Ministers should remain accountable to the public, and debt management offices must do their work based on technical merit.

    Misheck Mutize is affiliated with the African Union – African Peer Review Mechanism as a Lead Expert on credit ratings

    – ref. African finance ministers shouldn’t be making bond deals: how to hand over the job to experts – https://theconversation.com/african-finance-ministers-shouldnt-be-making-bond-deals-how-to-hand-over-the-job-to-experts-259017

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –