NewzIntel.com

Category: Education

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Consumers from all over the world have fallen in love with Chinese shopping: great value for money, convenient and easy

    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

    As the competitiveness of Chinese products grows dynamically, the attractiveness of local brands for foreign consumers is also gradually increasing.

    Stephanie, a tourist from Australia, said: “I really enjoyed the scenery and the shopping experience here. I bought souvenirs and clothes, especially Chinese brands that are gaining popularity among Australians.”

    Mo Junjun, a Malaysian international student studying at Nankai University, recently ordered a high-performance blender at a bargain price from a Chinese marketplace as a gift for his family. He noted, “The products made in China are impressive in their functionality and design.”

    Liliya, a girl from Russia, believes: “The most vivid impression of Chinese shopping is speed, convenience and reliability. This also includes the recent optimization of the tax refund policy when leaving the country: now it has become easier and more comfortable for foreign tourists to travel and buy. This, by the way, also demonstrates China’s sincere desire to continue to expand its external openness.”

    According to official reports, the “tax refund on purchase” service has already been launched in a test mode in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, Sichuan, Zhejiang and other cities and regions.

    In fact, “Chinese shopping” is not only easy and accessible, but also, with the necessary and high-quality service, can cross the ocean and provide customers with free home delivery. Up to now, e-commerce platform JD.com has expanded its “free international delivery area” to 9 countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, etc. Another Chinese e-commerce giant, Taobao, recently announced that its “Free Global Delivery Service Project” will cover 12 countries and regions, including Australia, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia, as part of the upcoming “6.18” summer promotion.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NEW REPORT: Trump’s Mass Firings at NIOSH Spokane Research Lab Put Americans at Risk, Jeopardize Progress to Keep Workers Safe on the Job

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray

    ICYMI: Senator Murray Presses Secretary Kennedy on Decimation of NIOSH and Mass Firings at NIOSH Spokane Research Laboratory

    ***NEW REPORT with testimonials from Spokane employees HERE***

    Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released a new report on how President Trump and Elon Musk’s decimation of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including their effective shuttering of the NIOSH Spokane Research Laboratory, will jeopardize on-the-job safety for firefighters, miners, agricultural workers, commercial fishermen, in Washington state and across the country. The report details the work that was done at the NIOSH Spokane Research laboratory, the Spokane Mining Research Division in particular, and outlines how the Trump administration’s mass firings across NIOSH will jeopardize the pipeline to train the next generation of workplace safety and health professionals, including those studying at Gonzaga University in Spokane and University of Washington in Seattle. Senator Murray’s report features testimonials from Washington state residents, including employees at NIOSH who were recently fired through no fault of their own.

    The release of the report comes as the Trump administration’s large-scale reduction in force (RIF) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes NIOSH, has been put on hold by a U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco, who ruled that the administration violated separation of powers principles with its agency restructuring.

    “The Trump administration’s unfathomable decision to gut NIOSH and fire nearly every person at the Spokane Research Lab is a devastating and shortsighted move that puts workers everywhere at risk,” Senator Murray said upon releasing the report. “In Spokane alone, President Trump abruptly fired nearly a hundred people working to protect those in high-risk professions including mining, firefighting, health care and emergency medicine, and the maritime industry—bringing their research to a screeching halt and creating a ticking time bomb for disasters in the workplace.”

    “These thoughtless firings don’t just risk Americans’ health and safety in the workplace today, but threaten decades of progress toward preventing workplace hazards,” Senator Murray continued. “Researchers in Spokane who have dedicated their careers to protecting workers across the country are being kicked to the curb because Donald Trump and his conspiracy theorist Health Secretary don’t have a clue what NIOSH does and don’t care to learn—no one should be treated like this. We need answers and accountability. I’m going to keep fighting to hold the Trump administration to account and shine a bright spotlight on how this administration is hurting people and communities like Spokane and forcing critical, lifesaving research to go to waste.”

    Senator Murray has been a leading voice in Congress against RFK Jr.’s destruction of HHS and America’s health infrastructure, raising the alarm over HHS’ unilateral reorganization plan and slamming the closure of the HHS Region 10 office in Seattle and the NIOSH Spokane Research Laboratory. Senator Murray has sent oversight letters and hosted numerous press conferences and events to lay out how the administration’s reckless gutting of HHS is risking Americans health and safety and will set our country back decades, and lifting up the voices of HHS employees who were fired for no reason and through no fault of their own.

    The full report is available HERE and below:

    Report: Mass Firings in Spokane and Beyond: How Gutting the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Harms Workers

    This report is part of a series detailing the harm President Trump and Elon Musk’s reckless and devastating attacks on the federal workforce are causing on the ground in Washington state. The Trump administration’s mass firings and harmful actions have real consequences for Washington’s residents, their communities, and for the entire United States.

    This report focuses on the mass firings of employees at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effectively shuttering the NIOSH Spokane Research Laboratory. These Reductions in Force (RIFs) will lead to increased health and safety risks for firefighters, miners, agricultural workers, commercial fishermen, and so many others. No one should have to worry about whether they will come home safe from their job or not come home at all – NIOSH is vital to keeping workers safe. 

    The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is Dedicated to Keeping Workers Safe Across America

    NIOSH is the only government agency statutorily authorized to conduct workplace health and safety research. In April 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. terminated about 900 of NIOSH’s approximately 1,100 employees, effectively shuttering the agency. Among these firings, the Trump administration eliminated 90 scientific positions at the Spokane Research Laboratory. In addition to NIOSH’s Spokane location, the agency also conducts research at campuses in Cincinnati, Ohio; Morgantown, West Virginia; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Due to recent outcry over these firings, the Trump administration has recently agreed to bring back around 300 NIOSH workers, but primarily in West Virginia and Ohio, leaving the Spokane Research Laboratory’s programming and research work shuttered.

    By firing and then only bringing back a small portion of NIOSH workers, and almost none from Spokane, the Trump administration is jeopardizing decades of progress in improving worker health and safety. Over the course of NIOSH’s history, worker deaths, injuries, and illnesses in America have gone down—on average, from about 38 worker deaths a day in 1970 to 15 a day in 2023, and from 10.9 incidents of worker injury and illness per 100 workers in 1972 to 2.4 per 100 in 2023. However, workplace hazards still kill and disable approximately 125,000 workers each year—5,190 from traumatic injuries and an estimated 120,000 from occupational diseases. Workplace injuries and illnesses cost businesses between $174 billion and $348 billion a year, which is still likely an underestimate given underreporting of workplace injuries.

    Kyle Zimmer, recently retired from International Union of Operating Engineers Local 478 and current Chair of the Mine Safety Health Research Advisory Committee stated, “Losing these researchers will result in the loss of safety for every worker in the United States. This research turns into standards that become guidelines that every safety professional uses throughout the country in every industry, from health care, to auto body shops, to mining and firefighting. Once your workforce really understands what you are doing, that is when you get results and changes in workplace safety culture.”

    NIOSH’s $362.8 million budget represents only 0.2% of the discretionary portion of the HHS budget. NIOSH’s lifesaving research has also saved more than $1 billion annually. For example, NIOSH research supporting improved protective equipment for firefighters is associated with an estimated $71 million in annual savings in medical and productivity losses.NIOSH work produces a tremendous return on investment, and the Trump administration’s firings have huge costs both for worker safety and the nation.

    Tristan Victoroff, a union steward and epidemiologist in the NIOSH Western States Divisions, pointed out: “The 900 people fired from NIOSH are scientists, mainly. We are industrial safety scientists, epidemiologists, engineers…. The goal is to work with industry to protect workers’ health and safety and find solutions to the problems. We do research and development. It’s not duplicative. [The Occupational Safety and Health Administration] doesn’t do this. They don’t have the capacity or the mandate. All of these cuts are supposedly to save costs. What costs are we going to tolerate? What are the costs of increased workers’ compensation claims? What are the costs of disabling injuries and chronic diseases from workplace exposures? What is the cost to a family of losing a parent to a workplace accident?”

    The NIOSH Spokane Research Laboratory is Critical to Keeping Workers Safe

    NIOSH was created by Congress to address and prevent work-related injury and illness and was created in the same statute that authorized the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in the Department of Labor. While OSHA sets and enforces safety standards, NIOSH is required to conduct or fund research, experiments, and demonstrations on occupational safety and health; produce criteria identifying toxic substances including setting exposure levels that are safe for various periods of employment, and publish annually a list of all known toxic substances and the concentrations at which such toxicity is known to occur; disseminate information about occupational safety to employers and employees; conduct education programs about occupational safety; and contract with state personnel to provide compliance assistance for employers.

    In Washington state, NIOSH conducts research to understand and promote safe job conditions and develop science-based products and interventions that support worker health, safety, and well-being, prevent future occupational injuries and deaths, and train new generations of health and safety professionals. This work is done through the Spokane Research Laboratory (which houses the Spokane Mining Research Division and the Western States Division) and the Region 10 Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety Education and Research Center.

    Tristan Victoroff, a union steward and epidemiologist in the NIOSH Western States Divisions, explained: “The NIOSH Spokane Research Laboratory in Washington State is the only NIOSH facility west of the Mississippi. Its two divisions— the Western States Division and the Spokane Mining Research Division — conduct safety research for natural resource industries across the western U.S. and Alaska, including commercial fishing, wildland firefighting, oil and gas extraction, and mining. They’re working directly with naval shipyards to assess exposures from new technology for corrosion control. They track commercial fishing deaths nationwide. They have major research efforts in high wall safety, rockfall and slope stability, and seismic monitoring using advanced fiber optic technology, to name just a few examples. This work is not duplicative, and it’s not wasteful. If we’re expanding domestic energy, mineral, and seafood production, we need to protect the people doing that work. These workers deserve to come home safe and be healthy enough to work again tomorrow. Cutting this research does not keep us competitive — it puts workers in danger.”

    The Spokane Mining Research Division Keeps Washington Miners Safe on the Job

    The Spokane Mining Research Division (SMRD) is part of the NIOSH Mining Program, which aims to eliminate mining fatalities and injuries. Since 1990, total injuries in mining have significantly decreased, reflecting safer practices industry-wide, strongly linked to NIOSH’s research and prevention programs. SMRD partners with labor, mining associations, equipment manufacturers, and mine operators to study worker health and safety problems in the field. Washington’s mining industry is vital to the state’s economy, supporting 18,845 jobs, directly and indirectly, and providing $4.07 billion in economic benefits to the state.

    SMRD also conducts laboratory research at the Spokane, WA facility, where highly specialized scientists in unique laboratories develop products and interventions that offer solutions to mining challenges.Scientists in Spokane have been doing innovative laboratory work to:

    • Simulate ground stresses to test rock samples to determine the strength of the environment and whether bolts, steel, mesh or shotcrete are needed to support the mining efforts and keep workers safe on the job.
    • Simulate mining conditions and tasks to study health effects, such as heat and stress;
    • Examine field samples to understand miners’ exposure to respiratory and other health hazards; and more.

    Dr. Art Miller, a research engineer who retired from SMRD after 34 years, explains: “No one else in the world is doing this time-sensitive, cutting-edge research that will make workers safer. We conduct research in a lot of different ways. Our lab is a unique environment of cutting-edge technology and brain power aimed at improving worker health and safety. Discontinuing our work would be a huge loss to the future health and safety of workers. Workplace safety is dynamic, and our work is never going to be done. NIOSH is small relative to the federal government but it’s a well-run entity. Why would we want to get rid of something like that?”

    Spokane Research Laboratory’s SMRD also runs the Miner Health Program, created in 2016 to collaborate with the mining community to improve workers’ physical and mental health.Prevention of opioid misuse is just one of many examples of the collaborative work being produced by the Miner Health Program. The mining industry has been hit particularly hard by drug overdoses. Work-related pain and injury increase workers’ chances of being prescribed an opioid and subsequent risks of worker prescription opioid misuse, long-term opioid use, and opioid use disorder (OUD). These overdoses and especially deaths related to opioid use have had a significant impact on mine workers, their families, and communities. This program is now archived on the CDC website, indicating that this program is no longer operating.

    In Fall 2024, Spokane’s SMRD experts launched a new guide, Implementing Effective Workplace Solutions to Prevent Opioid Use Disorder: A Resource Guide for the Mining Industry. This guide provides a model for planning and implementing prevention efforts to normalize conversations about OUD, reduce stigma, and break down barriers to treatment and recovery. Losing this Miner Health Program focused on preventing OUD will lead to increased overdoses and preventable deaths in the mining community.

    The impact of the Trump administration’s cuts to NIOSH are already being felt in the mining industry. NIOSH is the only federal agency that can test and supply approved and certified respirators and personal dust monitors to keep miners safe on the job. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) at the U.S. Department of Labor announced a temporary enforcement pause of mine operators’ respiratory protection programs. Given that NIOSH’s National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory has been effectively eliminated, the “Lowering Miners’ Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and Improving Respiratory Protection,” (“Silica Rule”), is now paused until at least August 2025.Without NIOSH, the Silica Rule cannot go into effect and workers will continue to be exposed to extremely harmful silica dust that results in the debilitating and often fatal condition of silicosis.

    These respirators are not just used in mining; they are used across industries. As explained by Tristan Victoroff, union steward and epidemiologist in the NIOSH Western States Divisions: “There will be no NIOSH-certified respirators, if there’s no NIOSH. NIOSH certifies all the respiratory protection equipment used in healthcare — and not just the N95 masks we’ve all become familiar with in recent years. That includes reusable respirators that filter oils and vapors… even supplied air systems. NIOSH is the only organization in the country equipped to perform all the required testing — more than 150 test procedures — to certify respirators that protect firefighters, miners, shipyard workers — anyone who needs respiratory protection on the job. In fact, any employer in general industry — from construction to manufacturing — if they have an OSHA-approved respiratory protection program, they must use NIOSH-certified equipment. Only NIOSH can certify that equipment to meet those standards. Rebuilding these labs somewhere else would take years, and there’s no guarantee we could replicate the expertise and facilities we currently have at NIOSH. NIOSH also monitors products on the market to spot counterfeits. Without that oversight, fake and substandard products will increasingly flood the market. That’s not theoretical. NIOSH recently found that every counterfeit product it purchased off the open market failed to meet established standards. These products were not fully protective. Workers using those products on the job could be exposed to dangerous particulates or chemicals. If these labs shut down, it will put workers at risk and stifle innovation in protective technology. Workers won’t know which products they can trust. The NIOSH certification is essential.”

    The Western States Division of NIOSH Conducts Critical Research Focusing on Hazards in the Western States

    Workers in the Western U.S. face hazards and issues unique to their industries and environment, including commercial fishing, agriculture, and firefighting. Many of these occupations include climate extremes, working at altitude, long distance commutes, remote locations, and wildland forest fires. NIOSH’s Western States Division (WSD)employs a diverse group of public health and safety scientists with expertise in industrial hygiene, epidemiology, engineering, occupational medicine and health communication, working together to reduce and eliminate workplace injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. WSD is headquartered at the Spokane Research Laboratory, but also has staff at offices in Denver, Colorado, and Anchorage, Alaska. WSD in Spokane focused on health and safety research for several industries, including commercial fishing, firefighting and wildfires, maritime, and emergency medical services.

    Commercial Fishing. NIOSH’s work has decreased the number of fatalities in the commercial fishing industry in Washington, which is recognized as one of the most hazardous work settings. Many operations are characterized by strenuous labor, long work hours, harsh weather, and moving decks with hazardous machinery and equipment. This industry generates nearly $46 billion and more than 170,000 jobs. The annual number of fatalities has declined over the past two decades because of the prevention work carried out by NIOSH.For 30 years, WSD has operated the Commercial Fishing Safety Program, working in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and the Gulf Coast in Southeastern states to keep fishermen safe from vessel disasters, falls overboard, onboard hazards, and more. WSD operates maintains the Commercial Fishing Incident Database, which tracks commercial fishing fatalities and provides statistics by region, fishery, type of vessel, and type of incident.This is the only national source for details of commercial fishing fatalities; neither the Bureau of Labor Statistics nor the U.S. Coast Guard report this type of information. Collecting this data is crucial for reducing the number of injuries and fatalities among the nation’s fishermen. Through NIOSH-funded research, WSD has developed solutions to prevent winch entanglements on commercial fishing boats, reducing loss of limb accidents. This critical research has come to a standstill with the Administration putting these scientists on administrative leave and scheduling them to be fired as of June 2, 2025.

    Outdoor Workers and Wildfires. Washington is one of the five states with the highest average annual burned acreage in the U.S., and the state is home to over 8,500 firefighters. Washington’s firefightersput themselves at enormous risk to keep Washington residents safe. Wildfire smoke is also dangerous to outdoor workers like the state’s 8,280 farmworkers whose jobs have been made safer through the work of NIOSH. For example, NIOSH scientists were instrumental in developing Washington’s Wildfire Smoke Rule, put in place January 15, 2024, which protects the health of workers who are exposed to the small particles contained in wildfire smoke. NIOSH recently developed a comprehensive hazard assessment on exposure to wildland fire smoke among outdoor workers. If NIOSH is eliminated, this document might never be finalized, and necessary revisions to the Washington Wildfire Smoke Rule may not happen, threatening firefighters, farmworkers, and other outdoor workers.

    NIOSH Provides Valuable Resources to Employers to Help Them Keep Workers Safe

    NIOSH’s Health Hazard Evaluation (HHE) Program has provided 11 technical assistance evaluations to businesses and industry in Washington over the last 20 years. The HHE program was established with the passage of the 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act. The HHE program includes evaluations of occupational exposure to illicit drugs in toxicology laboratories, health effects in commercial airline employees associated with new, mandatory uniforms, transmission of tuberculosis to zoo employees working with Asian elephants, and respiratory effects following acute exposure to chlorine gas at a metal recycling facility. These evaluations and publications are at no cost to industry or the public, and recommendations from these reports are used to establish health and safety protocols throughout the state.

    WSD conducts research to evaluate toxic exposures associated with removal and application of marine coatings on vessels at the U.S. Navy’s Trident Retrofit Facility near Bangor, WA, and at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, as part of the Center for Maritime Safety and Health Studies. Moreover, WSD evaluates exposures from rehabilitation of hydroelectric turbines, such as the Little Goose Dam on the Snake River in Southeast Washington.A timely WSD project involves assessing mental and physical health issues in emergency medical service (EMS) responders in Tribal communities in the Puget Sound area. The Trump administration RIFs have effectively shut down each of these programs.

    NIOSH Trains the Next Generation of Occupational and Safety Health Professionals

    Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to require funding for research, information, education, and training in the field of occupational safety and health. NIOSH funds 18 Education and Research Centers (ERCs), which provide high-quality interdisciplinary graduate and post-graduate training in occupational safety and health disciplines.The Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety Education and Research (NWCOHS) at the University of Washington is an ERC, housed in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, bringing together faculty from the UW Schools of Public Health, Nursing and Medicine. The program, funded continuously since 1977, has an annual budget of $1.8 million and serves four states (Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and Oregon), preparing students for careers in occupational medicine, nursing, health services research, industrial hygiene and more. Funding supports an average of 20 graduate students per year, and continuing education for an average of 1,000 occupational health and safety professionals per year.

    As Lawrence Sloan, Chief Executive Officer of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), a membership organization for occupational and environmental health and safety professionals says, “NIOSH’s work is foundational in protecting American workers. Without adequate support for these programs, achieving the goal of a healthier American workforce will be challenging. Specifically, for AIHA, our members will be disadvantaged by the inability to leverage research on various worker populations to advance our understanding of the profession. Additionally, the absence of funding for Education & Research Centers (ERCs) will significantly impact our pipeline of future talent and hinder the funding of academic research studies that benefit the American worker.”

    NIOSH engineers have worked with Gonzaga University’s Mechanical Engineering Department to guide student senior design projects for the past 15 years. Many of these projects were entered into national American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) competitions, with several teams winning awards and presenting at national ASME conventions. This collaboration has led to increased scientists seeking positions supporting mining safety and health, both in Spokane and around the country, creating a pipeline of the next generation of professionals ensuring workplace safety and health.

    NIOSH Protects Firefighters in Washington State and Nationwide

    As a nationally-based program, the NIOSH Center for Firefighter Safety, Health, and Well-Being supports all 50 states to protect firefighters and to identify and prevent new and emerging hazards in the fire service earlier and faster. NIOSH-funded research has:

    1. Increased our understanding of the 200-plus carcinogenic chemicals involved in byproducts of combustion, leading to better respiratory protection standards;
    2. Identified the presence of PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as “forever chemicals,” in firefighter foam and turnout gear and how these impact cancer risk levels;
    3. Created and provided for continuous enrollment in the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer, the largest effort ever undertaken to understand and reduce the risk of cancer among U.S. firefighters; and
    4. Provided for the development of the Firefighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program, which conducts independent investigations of firefighter line-of-duty deaths and recommends prevention methods.

    After being shutdown in April 2025, the registration portal of the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer is now operational, following the questioning of HHS Secretary Kennedy by members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee on May 14, 2025.

    Spokane Firefighters Union Local 29 is very worried about the cuts to NIOSH and has called for the continuation of NIOSH-funded research, specifically the study on how high heat affects firefighters’ cognitive abilities, using the highly technical and sophisticated labs in the SMRD. Much of this research is conducted in partnership with Washington State University, where researchers have expertise in the impacts of sleep, fatigue, circadian rhythm, and heat on the ability to be safe at work. These grants to WSU were some of the first to be terminated by HHS.

    Conclusion: The Time is Now to Return NIOSH Spokane Scientists to their Jobs

    NIOSH Spokane Research Laboratory scientists were set to be fired on June 2, 2025, but on May 22, 2025, a U.S. District Court judge ordered a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Trump administration from carrying out its RIFs. However, if the RIFs legally continue, President Trump and HHS Secretary Kennedy will eliminate the NIOSH Spokane office. Without the Congressionally-mandated occupational health and safety research conducted by NIOSH scientists, Washington workers, as well as workers across the country, in commercial fishing, mining, firefighting, manufacturing, and other industries will experience preventable and potentially fatal injuries. Through NIOSH-funded research, Spokane Research Laboratory scientists promote evidence-based safety protocols that are implemented through strong industry collaborations that create productive workplaces that contribute to Washington’s and America’s economic prosperity. President Trump and HHS Secretary Kennedy need to bring back the Spokane Research Laboratory scientists now and fully fund NIOSH research to maintain the promise of healthier and safer workplaces, communities, and families.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Gov. Pillen Address to Lawmakers: Positive, Lasting Impact Serves Nebraskans Well

    Source: US State of Nebraska

    . Pillen Address to Lawmakers:  

    Positive, Lasting Impact Serves Nebraskans Well

    LINCOLN, NE – Today, Governor Jim Pillen shared with members of the 109th Nebraska Legislature the headline he felt best summarized this session: Positive, lasting impact serves Nebraskans well. During his sine die, or end-of-session address, the Governor hit on multiple areas of achievement, including passage of the overwhelming majority of his own priority bills.

    On two occasions during his speech, Gov. Pillen gave recognition to special guests in attendance. Members of the Nebraska State Patrol, friends of Trooper Kyle McAcy, were applauded for their service to the state. They were on scene the day Trooper McAcy died while assisting motorists in a snowstorm.

    The second recognition was of WWII veteran Wayne Davy of Columbus. The former Marine was there to represent the many veterans who have been honored with special medallions as part of a program involving the Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs (NDVA). Gov. Pillen has worked with the agency to present the medals to veterans, signifying the 80th anniversary since the end of the war.

    Below are some of the legislative highlights from the 2025 session including those that align with his four priority areas – kids, taxes, agriculture and values:

    Passage of one of the most historically conservative and fiscally responsible state budgets, accomplished by cutting wasteful spending and putting idle pillowcase money to work while also maintaining investments in education, property tax relief, and the safety of the state.

    Gov. Pillen signed the following bills into law that protect our kids from online distractions and harm and to give parents more control over kids’ use of social media.

    • LB140 – Requires public school boards to adopt policies for restricting cell phone use bell to bell

    • LB383 – Creates the Parental Rights in Social Media Act, requiring parental consent for creation of social media accounts for minors and establishes criminal penalties for AI-generated child pornography

    • LB504 – As part of the Age-Appropriate Online Design Code Act, online services are required to protect user data, implement design features that reduce harm resulting from compulsive use and it gives parents access to their child’s privacy and account settings 

    Gov. Pillen signed the following bill into law to review and recommend changes to Nebraska’s TEEOSA school funding formula to help keep property taxes under control.

    • LB303 – Creates the 18-member School Finance Review Commission, which will evaluate the current TEEOSA formula governing Nebraska school funding

    • LB261 – Increases property tax relief by $105 million in 2026 and $170 million in 2027

     Gov. Pillen signed the following bills into law designed to grow agriculture and the economy.

    • LB246 – Bans lab-grown meat from being manufactured, distributed, or sold in Nebraska
    • LB317 – Merges the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources with the Nebraska Department of Environment & Energy to create the Nebraska Department of Water, Energy and Environment

    • LB650 – Eliminates or adjusts sales tax exemptions and provides and changes sunset dates for a variety of tax incentives

    • LB526 – Preserves needed electrical service to homes, businesses and other Nebraska customers by establishing requirements for cryptocurrency mining operations 

    Gov. Pillen signed the following bills into law that defend conservative Nebraska values.

    • LB89 – The Stand With Women Act protects girls and women by prohibiting biological males from joining female sports teams
    • LB645 – Puts an additional $1,000 in teachers’ pockets annually, stabilizes contribution rates to the School Employees Retirement System and increases survivor benefits through the Nebraska State Patrol Retirement System

    • LB346 – “Cleans out the closets” by ending or reassigning the duties of over 40 different boards, commission, committees or councils

    • LB 644 – Creates the Foreign Adversary & Terrorist Agent Registration Act and the Crush Transnational Repression in Nebraska Act to establish registration and reporting requirements for certain foreign entities 

    In addition to the legislative achievements outlined above, Gov. Pillen made several new appointments to key state agencies including Department of Labor Commissioner Katie Thurber, Nebraska State Patrol Superintendent Bryan Waugh, and Department of Water, Energy and Environment Director Jesse Bradley.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What is retinol? And will it make my acne flare? 3 experts unpack this trendy skincare ingredient

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Laurence Orlando, Senior Lecturer, Product Formulation and Development, Analytical Methods, Monash University

    Irina Kvyatkovskaya/Shutterstock

    Retinol skincare products suddenly seem to be everywhere, promising clear, radiant and “youthful” skin.

    But what’s the science behind these claims? And are there any risks?

    You may have also heard retinol can increase your risk of sunburn and even make acne worse.

    For some people, retinol may help reduce the appearance of fine lines. But it won’t be suitable for everyone. Here’s what you need to know.

    What is retinol?

    Retinol is part of a family of chemical compounds called retinoids. These are derived from or related to Vitamin A, a nutrient essential for healthy skin, vision and immune function.

    All retinoids work because enzymes in our skin convert them into their “active” form, retinoic acid.

    You can buy retinol in creams and other topical products over the counter.

    These are often promoted as “anti-ageing” because retinol can help reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and even out skin tone (for example, sun spots or acne scars).

    It also has an exfoliating effect, meaning it can help unclog pores.

    Stronger retinoid treatments that target acne will require a prescription because they contain retinoic acid, which is regulated as a drug in the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Australia.

    How is retinol used in skincare?

    One of the most common claims about retinol is that it helps to reduce visible signs of ageing.

    How does this work?

    With age, the skin’s barrier becomes weaker, making it more prone to dryness, injury and irritation.

    Retinol can help counteract this natural thinning by stimulating the proliferation of keratinocytes – cells that form the outer skin layer and protect against damage and water loss.

    Retinol also stimulates the production of collagen (a key protein that creates a scaffolding that keeps skin firm and elastic) and fibroblasts (cells that produce collagen and support skin structure).

    It also increases how fast the skin sheds old cells and replaces them with new ones.

    Over time, these processes help reduce fine lines, fade dark spots and even out skin tone. It can also make skin appear clearer.

    While effective, this doesn’t happen overnight.

    You may have also heard about a “retinol purge” – a temporary flare of acne when you first start using topical retinoids.

    Studies have found the skin may become irritated and acne temporarily worsen in some cases. But more research needs to be done to understand this link.

    The idea of a retinol purge is popular on social media.
    TikTok, CC BY-NC-ND

    So, is retinol safe?

    At typical skincare concentrations (0.1–0.3%), side effects tend to be mild.

    Most people who experience irritation (such as redness, dryness, or peeling) when starting retinol are able to build tolerance over time. This process is often called “retinisation”.

    However, retinol increases the skin’s sensitivity to UV radiation (known as photosensitivity). This heightened reactivity can lead to sunburn, irritation and an increased risk of hyperpigmentation (spots or patches of darker colour).

    For this reason, daily use of broad-spectrum sunscreen (SPF30 or higher) is strongly recommended while using retinol products.

    Who should avoid retinol?

    Teenagers and children generally don’t need retinol unless specifically prescribed by a doctor, for example, for acne treatment.

    People with sensitive skin or conditions such as eczema (dry, itchy and inflamed skin) and rosacea (chronic redness and sensitivity) may find retinol too irritating.

    Using retinol products alongside other skincare treatments, such as alpha-hydroxy acids, can over-exfoliate your skin and damage it.

    Importantly, the active form of retinol, retinoic acid, is teratogenic (meaning it can cause birth defects). Over-the-counter retinol products are also not recommended during pregnancy or breastfeeding.

    Choose and store retinol products wisely

    Since retinol is classified as a cosmetic ingredient, companies are not required to disclose its concentration in their products.

    The European Union is expected to introduce new regulations that will cap the concentration of retinol in cosmetic facial products to 0.3%.

    These are precautionary measures aimed to limit exposure for vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women, given the risk of birth defects.

    It’s therefore recommended to use products that clearly state the retinol concentration is between 0.1% and 0.3%.

    Retinol is also a notoriously unstable molecule that degrades with exposure to air, light or heat.

    Choosing a product with airtight, light-protective packaging will help with potential degradation problems that could lead to inactivity or harm.

    What’s the safest way to try retinol?

    The key is to go low and slow: a pea-sized amount of a low-concentration product (0.1%) once or twice a week, preferably at night (to avoid UV exposure), and then the frequency and concentration can be increased (to a maximum of 0.3%) as the skin adjusts.

    Using a moisturiser after retinol helps to reduce dryness and irritation.

    Wearing sunscreen every day is a must when using retinol to avoid the photosensitivity.

    If you experience persistent redness, burning, or peeling, it’s better to stop using the product and consult your doctor or a dermatologist for personalised advice.

    Laurence Orlando is affiliated with the Australian Society of Cosmetic Chemists.

    Professor Ademi currently serves as a member of the Economics Sub Committee of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee within the Department of Health, Australia which assesses clinical and economic evaluations of medicines submitted for listing on the PBS. She leads the global economics initiative for the Lp(a) International Task Force and Member of Professional Advisory Board of Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) Australia. Zanfina Ademi receives funding from FH Europe Foundation to understand the population screening for LP(a), globally. Received funding from National Health and Medical Research Council, Medical Research Future Fund not in relation to to this work, but work that relates to health economics of prevention and cost-effectiveness.

    Zoe Porter 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. What is retinol? And will it make my acne flare? 3 experts unpack this trendy skincare ingredient – https://theconversation.com/what-is-retinol-and-will-it-make-my-acne-flare-3-experts-unpack-this-trendy-skincare-ingredient-256074

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Astronomers thought the Milky Way was doomed to crash into Andromeda. Now they’re not so sure

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Ruby Wright, Forrest Fellow in Astrophysics, The University of Western Australia

    Luc Viatour / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

    For years, astronomers have predicted a dramatic fate for our galaxy: a head-on collision with Andromeda, our nearest large galactic neighbour. This merger – expected in about 5 billion years – has become a staple of astronomy documentaries, textbooks and popular science writing.

    But in our new study published in Nature Astronomy, led by Till Sawala from the University of Helsinki, we find the Milky Way’s future might not be as certain previously assumed.

    By carefully accounting for uncertainties in existing measurements, and including the gravitational influence of other nearby galaxies, we found there is only about a 50% chance the Milky Way and Andromeda will merge in the next 10 billion years.

    Why did we think a collision was inevitable?

    The idea that the Milky Way and Andromeda are on a collision course goes back more than a century. Astronomers discovered Andromeda is moving toward us by measuring its radial velocity – its motion along our line of sight – using a slight change in the colour of its light called the Doppler shift.

    But galaxies also drift sideways across the sky, a movement known as proper motion or transverse velocity. This sideways motion is incredibly difficult to detect, especially for galaxies millions of light years away.

    Earlier studies often assumed Andromeda’s transverse motion was small, making a future head-on collision seem almost certain.

    What’s different in this study?

    Our study did not have any new data. Instead, we took a fresh look at existing observations from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gaia mission.

    Unlike earlier studies, our work incorporates the uncertainty in these measurements, rather than assuming their most likely values.

    We simulated thousands of possible trajectories for the Milky Way and Andromeda trajectories, slightly varying the assumed initial conditions – things such as the speed and position of the two galaxies – each time.

    When we started from the same assumptions the earlier studies made, we recovered the same results. However, we were also able to explore a larger range or possibilities.

    We also included two additional galaxies that influence the future paths of the Milky Way and Andromeda: the Large Magellanic Cloud, a massive satellite galaxy currently falling into the Milky Way, and M33, also known as the Triangulum Galaxy, which orbits Andromeda.

    The new study took into account the gravitational effect of the Triangulum Galaxy, which orbits Andromeda.
    ESO, CC BY

    These companion galaxies exert gravitational tugs that change the motions of their hosts.

    M33 nudges Andromeda slightly toward the Milky Way, increasing the chance of a merger. Meanwhile, the Large Magellanic Cloud shifts the Milky Way’s motion away from Andromeda, reducing the likelihood of a collision.

    Taking all of this into account, we found that in about half of the simulated scenarios, the Milky Way and Andromeda do not merge at all within the next 10 billion years.

    What happens if they do – or don’t – collide?

    Even if a merger does happen, it’s unlikely to be catastrophic for Earth. Stars in galaxies are separated by enormous distances, so direct collisions are rare.

    But over time, the galaxies would coalesce under gravity, forming a single, larger galaxy – probably an elliptical one, rather than the spirals we see today.

    If the galaxies don’t merge, they may settle into a long, slow orbit around each other – close companions that never quite collide. It’s a gentler outcome, but it still reshapes our understanding of the Milky Way’s distant future.

    Other galaxies show examples of three future scenarios for the Milky Way and Andromeda: galaxies passing in the night, a close encounter, a full collision and merger.
    NASA / ESA

    What comes next?

    The biggest remaining uncertainty is the transverse velocity of Andromeda. Even small changes in this sideways motion can make the difference between a merger and a near miss. Future measurements will help refine this value and bring us closer to a clearer answer.

    We don’t yet have a definitive answer about our own galaxy’s future. But exploring these possibilities shows just how much we’re still learning about the universe – even close to home.

    Ruby Wright receives funding from the Forrest Research Foundation.

    Alexander Rawlings receives funding from the University of Helsinki Research Foundation and the European Research Council.

    – ref. Astronomers thought the Milky Way was doomed to crash into Andromeda. Now they’re not so sure – https://theconversation.com/astronomers-thought-the-milky-way-was-doomed-to-crash-into-andromeda-now-theyre-not-so-sure-257825

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Will surging sea levels kill the Great Barrier Reef? Ancient coral fossils may hold the answer

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Jody Webster, Professor of Marine Geoscience, University of Sydney

    marcobriviophoto.com

    In the 20th century, global sea level rose faster than at any other time in the past 3,000 years. It’s expected to rise even further by 2100, as human-induced climate change intensifies. In fact, some studies predict a rise of up to 1.6 metres and possibly more due to the rapid melting of the Antarctic ice sheets.

    These changes will have huge impacts on coastal ecosystems around the world, including coral reefs. To understand these future impacts, it can be useful to understand similar events from history.

    Our new research, published today in Nature Communications, does just that. It reveals how the Great Barrier Reef in northern Australia responded to a dramatic rise in sea level some 13,000 to 10,000 years ago.

    A hotly debated event

    Several “meltwater pulse events” have been documented in the past. These occur when ice sheets disintegrate in a catastrophic fashion, resulting in a rapid surge in global sea levels.

    One of these events, known as “meltwater pulse 1B”, remains hotly debated. It occurred roughly 11,500 years ago.

    Early evidence from reef cores in Barbados suggested a sharp sea-level rise of approximately 14 metres between 11,450 and 11,100 years ago, with rates of roughly 40 millimetres per year.

    Remarkably, this rate is about ten times faster than the current global rise.

    However, this record conflicts with others, including from Tahiti and now from the Great Barrier Reef, which suggests a more gradual rise in sea levels.

    Learning from geological archives

    Somewhat paradoxically shallow-water reef systems can “drown” because corals, and other reef organisms, depend on light for photosynthesis. If the water gets too deep too fast, the reef will no longer keep up with the rise and it will drown.

    But drowning can also occur due to other factors, such as increased temperature, sediment and nutrients, which can also add extra environmental stress to the reef – again making it more difficult to grow vertically and keep up with sea level rise.

    Cores gathered from drowned fossil coral reefs preserved along the continental shelf edge of the Great Barrier Reef contain crucial information about historic corals, coralline algae and microbial reef structures known as microbialites. They offer a unique geologic time machine to better understand how past periods of rapid global sea level rise affected reef growth.

    These geological archives also provide important clues about how ice sheets behaved in response to rapid global warming.

    In 2010, an expedition of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program used a geotechnical drill ship to sample below the seafloor and reconstruct the growth and demise of the Great Barrier Reef over the past roughly 30,000 years. Five distinct stages were identified in response to major global climatic and oceanographic disturbances.

    In this new study, we focused on a key reef stage called Reef 4. It formed between 13,000 and 10,000 years ago, just prior to the start of the modern reef as we know it.

    We refer to this reef as the “proto-Great Barrier Reef”. Once a shallow-water barrier reef system, it now exists in a fossilised form at roughly 50 metres water depth and is now the home to deeper reef communtites in the mesophotic zone 30 to 150 metres below the surface.

    The RV Great Ship Maya was used to recover fossil reef samples from the Great Barrier Reef in 2010.
    G.Tulloch/European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling/Integrated Ocean Drilling Program

    An impressive ability to keep pace

    Our study shows the Great Barrier Reef didn’t drown during meltwater pulse 1B. In fact, it continued to thrive with clear evidence of healthy, shallow-water reef assemblages (living in waters less than ten metres deep) persisting right through the rise in sea levels.

    The reef not only survived but continued to grow upwards at rates between 4–6 millimetres per year. This rate of growth is comparable to modern healthy reef growth rates, demonstrating an impressive ability to keep pace.

    We also calculated that the maximum possible sea-level rise during meltwater pulse 1B was between 7.7 and 10.2 metres over roughly 350 years. This equates to between 23 and 30 millimetres per year, but was likely less.

    This is less than the Barbados estimate, and more consistent with observations from Tahiti where no sharp sea-level jump was found.

    Importantly, this indicates that even the upper sea level rise bounds are within the survival limits of resilient reef systems such as the Great Barrier Reef – especially when environmental stressors, such as ocean warming, ocean acidification and sedimentation are low.

    UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee recently expressed utmost concern about the current state of the Great Barrier Reef.
    Darkydoors/Shutterstock

    Limits to a reef’s resilience

    Although the Great Barrier Reef survived sea level rise roughly 11,000 years ago, the world was very different back then.

    Coral reefs faced less stress from human impacts. And ocean temperatures were rising more slowly.

    But today’s reefs are already struggling, with UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee recently expressing “utmost concern” about the state of the Great Barrier Reef in particular.

    This is due to warming, acidification and pollution. And these additional challenges decrease reefs’ ability to cope with rapid sea-level rise.

    Our findings suggest abrupt sea-level jumps of more than 11 metres are unlikely to occur without major instabilities in ice sheets. The fact that such collapses likely didn’t happen during meltwater pulse 1B offers some reassurance. But we’re in uncharted territory now, particularly with the Antarctic ice sheet displaying early signs of instability.

    Our study also shows the Great Barrier Reef has been remarkably resilient, adapting to changing sea levels and continuing to grow even as the ocean rose rapidly. This resilience, however, had limits. Ultimately, the reef we examined drowned roughly 10,000 years ago, likely due to a combination of environmental stressors, including increased sediment flux. At this time the shallow water reef ecosystem migrated landward to form the modern Great Barrier, leaving behind only deeper, mesophotic reef communities.

    The lessons from the past are clear: reefs can adapt to environmental changes but there are limits.

    Protecting modern reefs will require more than understanding their past. It means reducing emissions and limiting other environmental stresses such as sediment and nutrient runoff where possible.

    Jody Webster receives funding from the Australian Research Council and ANZIC IODP.

    Juan Carlos Braga receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Spanish Government.

    Marc Humblet receives funding from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

    Stewart Fallon receives funding from the Australian Research Council and ANZIC IODP.

    Yusuke Yokoyama receives funding from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and Japan Science and Technology Agency.

    – ref. Will surging sea levels kill the Great Barrier Reef? Ancient coral fossils may hold the answer – https://theconversation.com/will-surging-sea-levels-kill-the-great-barrier-reef-ancient-coral-fossils-may-hold-the-answer-257830

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Girl power and girl bosses might be ‘feminist’ – but we can’t consume our way to equality

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Jessica Ford, Senior Lecturer in Media, University of Adelaide

    In Girl on Girl, journalist Sophie Gilbert crafts a compelling narrative about how movies, TV, celebrities and pop stars construct a culture that encourages women to internalise misogyny – and even rewards them for it. She traces how this manifests over time, from the 1990s to now, through the sexualisation of young girls in teen “sex” comedies, reality TV makeovers, the mainstreaming of pornography and more.

    The book is a useful primer on how largely white, American-centric popular culture makes women’s exploitation commonplace.

    It moves swiftly between examples, which could be confusing for readers unfamiliar with the different worlds inhabited by various figures. They include socialite and early reality star Paris Hilton; musician Amy Winehouse, who made headlines with her addiction challenges; and “riot grrrl” feminist rocker Kathleen Hanna.

    Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves – Sophie Gilbert (John Murray)

    Girl on Girl does not necessarily break new ground. It does, however, bring together disparate strands of our cultural conversation, largely relying on existing research and cultural commentary. Western popular culture, it argues, provides women with a narrow set of ideals.

    Gilbert’s book depicts popular culture as a vehicle for teaching women what kinds of behaviour are acceptable and desirable. These lessons are packaged in alluring parcels, like the Real Housewives, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Pamela Anderson. Gilbert cleverly draws a line from Madonna as provocateur to the hatred of women oozing from early 2000s rom-coms, the TikTok Trad Wives and Hillary Rodham Clinton’s failed presidential bids.

    In the book’s early pages, Gilbert shows how Hanna’s punk slogan of “Girl Power” was “appropriated” by the Spice Girls (who she describes as “sexy women who behaved like toddlers at a wedding”) in 1996. In the process, “Girl Power” went from signalling a movement charged by anger at “diminishment and abuse”, to a feminism of individual empowerment that “made you want to immediately go shopping”. It was then “almost instantly appropriated by brands”.

    Packaging empowerment

    Popular culture may seem fluffy and inconsequential, but Gilbert emphatically connects it to the material consequences of misogyny. This includes the rolling back of abortion rights in the United States, the election of alt-right men who openly despise women and the normalisation of gendered harassment, violence and abuse.

    Gilbert persuasively argues “popular culture is a strikingly predictive and transformative force with regard to the status of women and other historically marginalised groups”.

    It’s not just that women are routinely degraded and dehumanised for entertainment. It’s that this cruel spectacle has been normalised over many decades – and has been packaged and sold as empowering and “good for women”.

    Gilbert draws connections between the exploitation behind supermodel Kate Moss’s rise to prominence in the 1990s (she was bullied into posing for topless photographs), the ritualised humiliation of early 2000s reality TV and the 2010 publication of “crotch shots” of an 18-year-old Miley Cyrus. In doing so, she charts the varied ways popular media normalises women’s exploitation.

    Her investigation complicates the seemingly effortless and empowering facade of these models of femininity. For instance, the stylist for Moss’ 1990 topless shoot for The Face magazine cover that launched her to fame remembers it as “fun” and “instinctual”, while decades later, Moss recalls crying when coerced into taking her top off.

    She also remembers feeling “vulnerable and scared” during the 1992 topless Calvin Klein shoot with Mark Wahlberg. “I think they played on my vulnerability,” she said.

    Girl on Girl effectively translates the ideas feminist scholars have been unpicking for decades. Its sustained and thoughtful engagement with these ideas is what distinguishes it from similar books of journalism on the gender politics of popular culture.

    A common limitation of such books is the false assumption that these ideas are new. However, Gilbert weaves together Rosalind Gill’s postfeminism as a sensibility, Brenda Weber’s work on makeover TV and Kate Manne’s theorisation of misogyny with popular media examples.

    In a chapter on the impossible expectations of contemporary femininity, Gilbert applies Gill’s concept of “midriff advertising”, or “low-slung hipster jeans and ten inches of tanned, taut stomach”, to 2000s “it-girl” Nicole Richie. She explains how she was variously shamed for being too fat and then too thin. This led, Gilbert writes:

    to her elevation in status from Paris’s sassy sidekick to size-double-zero aughts fashion emblem, a frail, childlike figure whose accessories were so big they threatened to topple her.

    Feminism: everywhere and nowhere

    Gilbert’s book is not wholly negative. She also charts the rise (and often fall) of those who push back against the status quo.

    In a chapter on “confessional auteurs”, she considers Girls creator Lena Dunham. In another, which considers extreme, violent sex in art, she looks at French filmmaker and novelist Catherine Breillat. In Breillat’s 1999 film, Romance, about a young woman “driven almost to madness” by her boyfriend’s refusal to have sex with her, Gilbert writes:

    Breillat stages what she seems to understand as stereotypical male ideals – a woman desperate for sex, a woman bound and gagged – and renders them in ways that make them both psychologically explosive and wholly unsexy.

    In the final chapter on “rewriting the path towards power”, she explores the impact of recent feminist-leaning TV, such as Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag and Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You.

    Rather than ignoring feminism’s paradoxes and inconsistencies, Gilbert leans into how it is at once everywhere (in advertisements, behind Beyoncé at the VMAs, on t-shirts) and nowhere (rendered toothless, depoliticised, neoliberal).

    Gilbert thoughtfully teases apart the contradictions and schisms in women’s culture (both popular and everyday) to consider the mixed messaging around sexuality, empowerment, femininity and success.

    The challenge of interrogating influential celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift is that they tend to embody extreme versions of idealised femininity. Their bodies are at once an instrument of their work and a canvas, on which much is projected. Culturally, they uphold and promote very narrow ideas of heterosexual desirability, perfection and beauty.

    Gilbert grapples with how the elevation of beauty as a defining feminine virtue results in fat shaming and fashion policing of everyday women. Discussing the Kardashian-Jenners, she writes:

    Their constantly changing faces and bodies present the human form as a perfectible project ready to be molded and painted and tucked in any way that will encourage engagement and sell products.

    It is hard to look at the increase in plastic surgery procedures and the prevalence of weight-loss medication usage and not blame celebrities, reality TV and social media influencers. But these women didn’t create this world, they just figured out how to succeed in it. Should we expect them to dismantle the system that empowers them?

    Gilbert’s book zeroes in on how popular feminist thinking expects women to change, rather than systems. The responsibility for inequitable institutions – like unpaid parental leave, restricted reproductive healthcare and hostile work cultures – is moved onto individual women to solve. They are expected to bear the burden, rather than society being expected to invest in systemic change. For instance: paid parental leave, affordable accessible healthcare and employment quotas.

    The effects are twofold, absolving institutional responsibility and inscribing narcissistic, individualistic ways of thinking.

    Consuming our way to enlightenment

    Girl on Girl circles around, but never directly takes on a crucial question: should we expect popular culture to do the work of feminism? Can we consume our way to equal pay, reproductive rights, freedom from violence and respect in the workplace? We are encouraged – by popular media itself – to think so.


    There are seemingly endless articles that canonise “feminist TV shows and moments” that “every woman needs to watch”. They encourage viewers to think of themselves as “pop culture-loving feminists”.

    This is particularly prominent across online media aimed at women. It views content through the lens of feminism and curates “feminist popular culture” as a recognisable category. This is used to tell us contemporary audiences can – and should – be feminist consumers.

    The idea of consuming our way to enlightenment has been sold to us on multiple fronts. Yet feminism was never mainstream. From its early days to now, it has been a scrappy insurgency.

    The prominence of “girl power” and “girl bosses” may have lulled us into a false sense of security, but conditions for women (globally and locally) still need improving.

    Despite its limitations, we need feminism in media and everyday culture. Kristen Stewart recently reflected, on her directorial debut at Cannes: “having a female body is an overtly political act, if you can get out of bed in the morning and not hate yourself”.

    Jessica Ford 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. Girl power and girl bosses might be ‘feminist’ – but we can’t consume our way to equality – https://theconversation.com/girl-power-and-girl-bosses-might-be-feminist-but-we-cant-consume-our-way-to-equality-255410

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: In her memoir, Jacinda Ardern shows a ‘different kind of power’ is possible – but also has its limits

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Grant Duncan, Teaching Fellow in Politics and International Relations, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

    Getty Images

    Imagine getting a positive pregnancy test and then – just a few days later – learning you’ll be prime minister. In hindsight, being willing and able to deal with the unexpected would become the hallmark of former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s political career.

    She had always stood out as a leader, but her tumultuous political journey followed none of the predictable pathways. Readers of her memoir will relive what this was like, from her feelings about motherhood through to meeting world leaders.

    Review: A Different Kind of Power – Jacinda Ardern (Penguin Random House)

    The title of her book promises more than just that, however. Many people hope for a different kind of leader, but what personal qualities or strengths do such leaders need? More generally, can the personal qualities that contribute to great leadership be learned and applied by others?

    The answer seems to be a qualified yes. Since leaving office, Ardern has become something of a global influencer. But as her career pivots towards celebrity appearances and international agencies, her memoir also serves as a leadership manifesto – especially for women, or aspirants of any gender, who suffer self-doubt.

    The limits of empathy

    In her formative years, working as an assistant to Labour leader Helen Clark, Ardern relates how she let political opponents get under her skin. Was she “too thin-skinned” for politics? She soon learned “you could be sensitive and survive”. Better still, she could use her sensitivity as a strength.

    But “it is different for women in the public eye”, she writes. Derogatory terms were used against her, such as the “show pony” epithet coined by a senior woman journalist. There were questions about whether she had “substance”. These things could undermine people’s belief in her competence – perhaps even her own self-belief.

    What she did about this is instructive. Lashing out at jibes and cartoon images would make her look “humourless and too sensitive”. The “trick” was to respond in a way that would “take the story nowhere”. She became adept at that, deflecting comments aimed at putting her down.

    This also meant being a feminist but not using feminism as her ideological platform. Other than admonishing a TV presenter that it was “unacceptable” for him to ask whether a sitting prime minister could take maternity leave, she generally let others do the outrage and avoided becoming an even bigger target for culture warriors.

    But A Different Kind of Power asks the question: different from what? Ardern’s political career has been a challenge, if not a rebuke, to leaders who indulge in egotistical, competitive, always-be-winning behaviour. Need one even mention Donald Trump?

    Instead, Ardern offers kindness and empathy. The approach showed its true strength in the days following the terrorist atrocity in Christchurch in 2019. At a time when anti-immigrant and Islamophobic sentiments were growing, Ardern embraced the victims. “They are us”, she declared. Emotions that could have generated a cycle of blame were guided by her towards sharing of grief and aroha.

    Like any political virtue, though, empathy has limitations: it touches those whose suffering commands our attention, but it is partial. Effective social policy also requires an impartial administration and redistribution of resources. Leaders must ensure public goods are delivered equitably to those in need, which calls for rational planning.

    And sometimes a national emergency may call for actions that feel unfair or insensitive to some.

    Pandemic politics

    COVID-19 was that emergency. It created deep uncertainty for governments, and there was no “kind” pathway forward. The Ardern government did an exemplary job, saving many lives, and the Labour Party was rewarded at the 2020 election with an unprecedented 50% of the party vote. But Ardern’s retelling of that time is surprisingly brief, especially given her pivotal role.

    She put herself daily at the centre of it all, patiently explaining the public health responses. During this battle with a virus, however, she couldn’t inoculate against the political consequences and shifts in public opinion.

    As the pandemic wore on, many New Zealanders whose businesses had been shut down, who had been isolated in their homes, who had difficulty returning home from abroad or who’d been ostracised for not getting vaccinated, weren’t feeling much empathy or kindness from their government. And they felt they were being silenced. This sentiment grew far beyond the activists who had made themselves heard on parliament grounds in early 2022.

    Ardern refused to meet with those protestors. “How could I send a message that if you disagree with something, you can illegally occupy the grounds of parliament and then have your demands met?”

    But she (or a senior minister) could have heard their demands and explained why they couldn’t be met. Her refusal to listen left the field open to veteran populist Winston Peters, who exploited the opportunity, launching his campaign to return to parliament – in which he now sits and Ardern doesn’t.

    While vaccine mandates were a key concern for protestors, it’s disappointing that, to this day, Ardern blames the dissenters, as if they were “not us” – kicked out of the “team of five million”. She attributes the dissent solely to their “mistrust”. Refusing to listen – not just to protestors, but to deeper shifts in public opinion – would cost Labour dearly.

    Induced by the pandemic fiscal stimulus, inflation peaked at 7.3% in June 2022. By that time, two switches had occurred: the National Party was ahead in polls and a majority were saying the country was heading in the wrong direction. In January 2023, then, Ardern resigned as prime minister. She believed, probably correctly, that it would be “good for my party and perhaps it would be good for the election”.

    Power and parenthood: Jacinda Ardern with her partner Clarke Gayford and their baby daughter, 2018.
    Getty Images

    The toll of leadership

    But she also reveals in her memoir that a cancer scare influenced the decision – a false alarm, but a sign perhaps that the job was taking its toll. Her leaving could “take the heat out of the politics”, she reasoned. And anyway, she was tired, stressed and losing her patience.

    The leadership change to Chris Hipkins – and a devastating cyclone – boosted Labour’s polling for a while. But their 1,443,545 party votes in 2020 fell to 767,540 in the October 2023 election.

    Hundreds of thousands of voters had turned their backs on the Labour Party, and the COVID response wasn’t solely to blame. There were also controversial or failed policies – such as restructuring water services, a proposed unemployment insurance scheme, and Māori co-governance initiatives – that were ruthlessly exploited by the political opposition. These were all initiated under Ardern, although unmentioned in her memoir.

    Her book is more about subjective self-doubt and empathy. She doesn’t critically examine her own policies. Nor does she express empathy for those who felt disadvantaged or excluded by them – granting as always that emergency measures had been necessary. And, as she heads further into an international career, there’s no expression of empathy for those who now need it most, be they children in Gaza or refugees in South Sudan.

    It’s disappointing Ardern doesn’t define key words: empathy, leadership or power, for example. There are different ways to understand them, and definitions carry assumptions. But she’s not addressing academics or political analysts. Her audience is primarily American – a much larger and more lucrative market than her home country. With the Democrats struggling to find direction and leadership after last year’s losses, Ardern – who poses no threat to anyone’s political ambitions there – offers some inspiration.

    Some may fault it for avoiding those harder questions about her time at the top, but Ardern’s memoir interweaves an authentically retold personal story with high political drama. It tells of one woman’s struggle with morning sickness, childbirth, breastfeeding and motherhood, even while taking on extraordinary public responsibilities and media exposure. It’s still amazing how she managed to do all that.

    I was a personal acquaintance of Jacinda, when she was a list MP in Auckland Central.

    – ref. In her memoir, Jacinda Ardern shows a ‘different kind of power’ is possible – but also has its limits – https://theconversation.com/in-her-memoir-jacinda-ardern-shows-a-different-kind-of-power-is-possible-but-also-has-its-limits-257944

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Can ASEAN build a sustainable data centre future? Malaysian legal lessons may offer a wake-up call

    Source: The Conversation – Indonesia – By Professor Dr. Nuarrual Hilal Md Dahlan, School of Law, Universiti Utara Malaysia

    Southeast Asia is embracing a digital revolution. With the meteoric rise of artificial intelligence, e-commerce, and cloud computing, the region is now home to some of the most ambitious data centre developments in the world.

    But while digital technology is transforming Southeast Asia’s economy, ASEAN’s legal and regulatory systems remain stuck in the pre-digital era.

    This raises a critical question: Can ASEAN truly build a sustainable, resilient data centre industry without modernising its laws?

    Malaysia: Digital ambition vs outdated laws

    Malaysia offers a vivid case in point. In 2024, Malaysia attracted more than US$23.3 billion in data centre investments from Microsoft, Google, and Amazon Web Services.

    These investments are seen as driving Malaysia’s modern digital economy. This new development is set to place Malaysia firmly in place as Southeast Asia’s tech hub.
    However, while the infrastructure may be cutting-edge, the laws behind it are far from ready.

    Here where the problems lie:

    1. Malaysia’s National Land Code (Revised 2020)–which governs zoning, land use planning, land administration and registration, was drafted in a time when the concept of data centres didn’t even exist – The law gives state and land authorities greater power than the planning authority over conditions and restrictions.

    2. The Town and Country Planning Act 1976 (Act 172) gives local planning authorities wide control, even over the technical professional agencies such as the Department of Environment, Department of Public Works, Department of Irrigation and Drainage and Department of Mineral and Geoscience creating approval bottlenecks and confusion for developers. Bypassing the process can result in fines or demolition.

    This law needs a revision to better reflect today’s planning priorities and public needs. Today, investors may encounter regulatory challenges in Johor, as evidenced by the state’s recent rejection of nearly 30% of data centre applications to conserve water and electricity.

    3. Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), as required under the Environmental Quality Act 1974 (Act 127), are critical for large-scale developments, including data centres which have potential environmental impact. While enforcement is generally consistent, challenges can arise in ensuring compliance across all projects due to weak oversight and different standards or interpretations from one state to another in Malaysia.

    4. Data centres must also meet 1974 and 1984 rules on street, drainage, building and fire safety to be sustainable and operationally safe. Ongoing commitments to modernise these regulations cater to the evolving needs of contemporary infrastructure, public needs and national aspirations.

    5. The Planning Guidelines for Data Centres introduced in 2024 to address the environmental shortcomings, provide clearer direction on land use, energy, and water requirements– but they remain advisory and are not legally binding.

    Worse still, it cannot overcome the country’s dual governance structure, where federal and state authorities often work in silos—especially on administrative matters—due to how powers are divided under the Federal Constitution. The conflicting legal environment has caused uncertainty for investors, bottlenecks for regulators and developers, and extra economic costs.

    For the public, this can mean slower progress in building digital infrastructure, which affects internet speed, access to services, and job opportunities in the tech industry.

    Similar issues across ASEAN

    Other ASEAN countries face similar problems. Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines struggle with fragmented regulations, outdated zoning laws, and weak environmental oversight.

    This concern is highlighted in the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025, which warns that without legal and regulatory reform, ASEAN could fall behind in the global digital race. Similarly, the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025 calls for predictable, transparent, and harmonised regulations to attract infrastructure investments. Yet progress has been glacial.

    The ASEAN Smart Cities Framework also calls for more sustainable digital infrastructure. It urges member states to break down bureaucratic silos by adopting cross-sector governance models.

    The ASEAN Environmental Rights Framework is starting to promote environmental fairness in infrastructure planning—including data centres.

    But these regional policies will only work if member states are fully committed to enforcing them. Without this, they remain aspirational rather than actionable.

    Singapore has enforced sustainability through its Code for Environmental Sustainability of Buildings, adapting cooling systems to tropical climates.

    Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi uses the Estidama Pearl Rating System, ensuring high energy and water efficiency in all large-scale developments.

    These examples show that sustainable data centres are possible—but only with clear rules, strong enforcement, and cooperation across all levels of government.

    A strategic move for ASEAN

    So, what can ASEAN do?

    First, ASEAN should align its laws on land administration, planning, environment, and construction to make it easier for data systems to connect across borders and attract international investment. This would help ASEAN move closer to the goals set in the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025 and the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint.

    Second, countries like Malaysia and Indonesia need better coordination between federal/central, state and local governments to accelerate land approvals and give investors more clarity.

    Third, ASEAN could create shared sustainability standards for data centres, linking them to its land use planning and environmental rights goals and aligning them with global ESG benchmarks.

    Data centres are fast becoming the beating heart of ASEAN’s digital economy. But this heart cannot be supported by legal frameworks that belong to a bygone era. If ASEAN wants a truly sustainable digital future, it needs laws that balance growth, environmental concerns, and public interests.

    If ASEAN learns from Malaysia’s experience, it could become a global model for smart, sustainable digital infrastructure. But ignoring these lessons could lead to long-term costs—for its people, investors, and the environment.

    Professor Dr. Nuarrual Hilal Md Dahlan tidak bekerja, menjadi konsultan, memiliki saham, atau menerima dana dari perusahaan atau organisasi mana pun yang akan mengambil untung dari artikel ini, dan telah mengungkapkan bahwa ia tidak memiliki afiliasi selain yang telah disebut di atas.

    – ref. Can ASEAN build a sustainable data centre future? Malaysian legal lessons may offer a wake-up call – https://theconversation.com/can-asean-build-a-sustainable-data-centre-future-malaysian-legal-lessons-may-offer-a-wake-up-call-256263

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK demonstrates commitment to high-quality education for all as ASEAN ministers convene at London forum

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    World news story

    UK demonstrates commitment to high-quality education for all as ASEAN ministers convene at London forum

    The roundtable highlighted country-led reforms and global lessons that can support inclusive and lasting progress.

    The UK co-hosted the ASEAN Ministerial Roundtable on Foundational Learning during the Education World Forum 2025, bringing together education ministers and experts from Southeast Asia to address the urgent challenges in foundational learning.

    Participants shared practical, evidence-based strategies to improve early literacy and numeracy.

    UK Ambassador to ASEAN, Sarah Tiffin, said:

    This expert-level discussion builds on Southeast Asia’s progress and helps ensure every child has the opportunity to master foundational skills. The UK is proud to work with ASEAN to tackle this issue head-on. This aligns with our commitment to gender equality and inclusive development.

    We’re proud to support ASEAN partners in delivering real results on the ground, such as our co-investment in the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM), a regional collaboration aimed at assessing and improving learning outcomes.

    Former UK Prime Minister and UN Special Envoy for Global Education, the Rt Hon Gordon Brown, praised ASEAN’s achievements but called for urgent action to address the ongoing issue, especially among disadvantaged children. He stressed the importance of using proven approaches and innovative financing to scale up impact.

    Experts from the Gates Foundation, University of Oxford, SEAMEO, and others shared insights on what works in foundational learning. The event also featured contributions from ASEAN Member States’ representatives and the ASEAN Secretariat, who reinforced the importance of peer learning and regional cooperation.

    The Roundtable was organised by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the What Works Hub for Global Education, and the Global Coalition for Foundational Learning—including UNICEF and the Gates Foundation. It was held under the ASEAN-UK Supporting the Advancement of Girl’s Education (SAGE) Programme, which supports foundational learning for girls and marginalised groups across ASEAN and Timor-Leste.

    Through the ASEAN-UK SAGE programme, the UK has helped to getting more children, especially girls and the most vulnerable, in school and learning the basics – with a focus on reading by age 10 or the end of primary school.

    This event marks another step in strengthening ASEAN-UK cooperation under the health and education pillars of the ASEAN-UK Plan of Action, reaffirming the UK’s commitment as an ASEAN Dialogue Partner to inclusive and high-quality education for all.

    For more information on the ASEAN–UK SAGE Programme, please visit: https://www.britishcouncil.id/en/programmes/education/sage   

    For media inquiries, please contact:  
    UK Mission to ASEAN at Annissa.Mutia@fcdo.gov.uk
    ASEAN-UK SAGE Programme at naomi.nunn@britishcouncil.org               

    Editor note:

    Education World Forum is the world’s largest annual gathering of education and skills ministers and provides an unparalleled opportunity for knowledge sharing and ensuring best practice in education is disseminated globally.  

    About the ASEAN-UK SAGE Programme

    The ASEAN-UK Supporting the Advancement of Girls’ Education Programme or ASEAN-UK SAGE Programme is a five-year UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) funded programme for ASEAN and Timor-Leste running between 2023 and 2028 with funding up to GBP 30 million.   

    The UK’s Dialogue Partner status with ASEAN was formalised in August 2021. A five-year ASEAN – UK Plan of Action (PoA) 2022–2026 was agreed in August 2022. The ASEAN-UK SAGE Programme is the first ASEAN-UK cooperation programme implemented under the PoA.   

    The ASEAN–UK SAGE Programme aims to provide evidence-based technical input that enables key players in the region including the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC), Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), and ASEAN Member States (AMSs) to develop effective policies and programmes that improve foundational learning for all and that tackle exclusion and constraints limiting the achievement of girls and marginalised groups. The Programme is delivered through the following workstreams/pillars:  

    • Foundational learning   

    • Out-of-school girls and marginalised groups  

    • Gender barriers to digital skills and employment  

    Integration of education technology will crosscut the three pillars.  

    The ASEAN–UK SAGE Programme is implemented by the British Council (www.britishcouncil.org), SEAMEO Secretariat (www.seameo.org), Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) (www.acer.org), and EdTech Hub (www.edtechhub.org).

    Updates to this page

    Published 3 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Bronze sculpture at QEO to honour trailblazing cricketer Barbara Rae

    Source: New South Wales Ministerial News

    The City of Greater Bendigo is delighted to unveil the artist and location for a new public statue to honour pioneering cricketer Barbara Rae, the top scorer at Australia’s first women’s cricket match held during the Bendigo Easter Fair in 1874.

    The permanent statue will take pride of place at the entrance to Queen Elizabeth Oval (QEO), a fitting tribute as Greater Bendigo’s premier sports stadium for cricket and football, and part of the Rosalind Park Precinct where the birthplace of women’s cricket occurred.

    Lis Johnson, a central Victorian artist and one of Australia’s most respected figurative sculptors, has been commissioned to create the permanent sculpture to celebrate the trailblazing cricketer.

    The artist has an impressive portfolio of crafting lifelike bronze figures. Her sculptures include the iconic Rod Laver statue at Rod Laver Arena, works at the Vietnam War Memorial, and the Avenue of Legends at the MCG. She is also known for celebrating the contributions of women and First Nations people through public art.

    The inaugural women’s cricket match between the Blues and the Reds at the Bendigo Easter Fair in 1874 raised funds for the Bendigo Hospital and Benevolent Asylum. It marked a bold step forward for women in sport.

    Primary school teacher Barbara Rae, who was 19, was pivotal in organising the inaugural match, recruiting players and enlisting coaches for training sessions at the local cricket grounds. Barbara captained the winning team and was top scorer.

    The sculpture is expected to be installed later this year following the City’s successful submission to the Victorian Women’s Public Art Program. It was developed to support the recognition of women’s contributions through public art. Barbara Rae’s was the first of six funded public artworks announced earlier this year to address the under-representation of women and their achievements in public life.

    Mayor Cr Andrea Metcalf said she was thrilled that Barbara Rae’s legacy was being celebrated in this way.

    “Barbara Rae was a trailblazer who defied the social norms of her time. This sculpture not only honours her courage and leadership but also sends a powerful message to women, girls and anyone who doesn’t fit the stereotypical mould—that cricket, and sport more broadly, is for everyone,” Cr Metcalf said.

    “Barbara’s public art will be only the second public statue in Australia commemorating a female cricketer. The QEO is the perfect location—our premier cricket and footy venue and part of the very precinct where Barbara made history.

    “This sculpture will ensure her legacy continues to inspire future generations.

    “The artwork is expected to be unveiled later this year marking a significant moment in both local history and the broader recognition of women in sport.”

    Lis Johnson said the commission was very special.

    “I’m especially happy in recent times to see the gender and diversity imbalance being addressed in commemorative public artworks, and to contribute to that,” Lis Johnson said.

    “I want to capture Barbara Rae’s youthful confidence and determination and to faithfully sculpt her many-layered intricate period outfit. The bronze sculpture will portray her poise and determination in a moment of free-spirited celebration.

    “I hope when people observe the Barbara Rae sculpture, they will see a renewed invitation to play, as if Barbara is saying ‘come on ladies, we can do this, ignore those ignorant critics, follow me – let’s play cricket!’.

    “I look forward to seeing Barbara’s sculpture proudly displayed in front of the QEO, inspiring curiosity and discussion for many years to come.” 

    Having created a maquette of the sculpture, Ms Johnson has used historical imagery to recreate the period cricket attire alongside leading costume designer Larry Edwards and is currently sculpting the full-sized piece in clay.

    Once the mould is created, a cast will be made in museum grade silicon bronze, lasting up to 1000+ years.

    The bronze statue will weigh 140kg and reach a height of 1900mm, set on a plinth sympathetic to the surrounding garden beds outside the QEO entrance gates. The statue will be unveiled in late 2025.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: In her memoir, Jacinda Ardern shows a ‘different kind of power’ is possible – but also has its limits

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grant Duncan, Teaching Fellow in Politics and International Relations, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

    Getty Images

    Imagine getting a positive pregnancy test and then – just a few days later – learning you’ll be prime minister. In hindsight, being willing and able to deal with the unexpected would become the hallmark of former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s political career.

    She had always stood out as a leader, but her tumultuous political journey followed none of the predictable pathways. Readers of her memoir will relive what this was like, from her feelings about motherhood through to meeting world leaders.

    Review: A Different Kind of Power – Jacinda Ardern (Penguin Random House)

    The title of her book promises more than just that, however. Many people hope for a different kind of leader, but what personal qualities or strengths do such leaders need? More generally, can the personal qualities that contribute to great leadership be learned and applied by others?

    The answer seems to be a qualified yes. Since leaving office, Ardern has become something of a global influencer. But as her career pivots towards celebrity appearances and international agencies, her memoir also serves as a leadership manifesto – especially for women, or aspirants of any gender, who suffer self-doubt.

    The limits of empathy

    In her formative years, working as an assistant to Labour leader Helen Clark, Ardern relates how she let political opponents get under her skin. Was she “too thin-skinned” for politics? She soon learned “you could be sensitive and survive”. Better still, she could use her sensitivity as a strength.

    But “it is different for women in the public eye”, she writes. Derogatory terms were used against her, such as the “show pony” epithet coined by a senior woman journalist. There were questions about whether she had “substance”. These things could undermine people’s belief in her competence – perhaps even her own self-belief.

    What she did about this is instructive. Lashing out at jibes and cartoon images would make her look “humourless and too sensitive”. The “trick” was to respond in a way that would “take the story nowhere”. She became adept at that, deflecting comments aimed at putting her down.

    This also meant being a feminist but not using feminism as her ideological platform. Other than admonishing a TV presenter that it was “unacceptable” for him to ask whether a sitting prime minister could take maternity leave, she generally let others do the outrage and avoided becoming an even bigger target for culture warriors.

    But A Different Kind of Power asks the question: different from what? Ardern’s political career has been a challenge, if not a rebuke, to leaders who indulge in egotistical, competitive, always-be-winning behaviour. Need one even mention Donald Trump?

    Instead, Ardern offers kindness and empathy. The approach showed its true strength in the days following the terrorist atrocity in Christchurch in 2019. At a time when anti-immigrant and Islamophobic sentiments were growing, Ardern embraced the victims. “They are us”, she declared. Emotions that could have generated a cycle of blame were guided by her towards sharing of grief and aroha.

    Like any political virtue, though, empathy has limitations: it touches those whose suffering commands our attention, but it is partial. Effective social policy also requires an impartial administration and redistribution of resources. Leaders must ensure public goods are delivered equitably to those in need, which calls for rational planning.

    And sometimes a national emergency may call for actions that feel unfair or insensitive to some.

    Pandemic politics

    COVID-19 was that emergency. It created deep uncertainty for governments, and there was no “kind” pathway forward. The Ardern government did an exemplary job, saving many lives, and the Labour Party was rewarded at the 2020 election with an unprecedented 50% of the party vote. But Ardern’s retelling of that time is surprisingly brief, especially given her pivotal role.

    She put herself daily at the centre of it all, patiently explaining the public health responses. During this battle with a virus, however, she couldn’t inoculate against the political consequences and shifts in public opinion.

    As the pandemic wore on, many New Zealanders whose businesses had been shut down, who had been isolated in their homes, who had difficulty returning home from abroad or who’d been ostracised for not getting vaccinated, weren’t feeling much empathy or kindness from their government. And they felt they were being silenced. This sentiment grew far beyond the activists who had made themselves heard on parliament grounds in early 2022.

    Ardern refused to meet with those protestors. “How could I send a message that if you disagree with something, you can illegally occupy the grounds of parliament and then have your demands met?”

    But she (or a senior minister) could have heard their demands and explained why they couldn’t be met. Her refusal to listen left the field open to veteran populist Winston Peters, who exploited the opportunity, launching his campaign to return to parliament – in which he now sits and Ardern doesn’t.

    While vaccine mandates were a key concern for protestors, it’s disappointing that, to this day, Ardern blames the dissenters, as if they were “not us” – kicked out of the “team of five million”. She attributes the dissent solely to their “mistrust”. Refusing to listen – not just to protestors, but to deeper shifts in public opinion – would cost Labour dearly.

    Induced by the pandemic fiscal stimulus, inflation peaked at 7.3% in June 2022. By that time, two switches had occurred: the National Party was ahead in polls and a majority were saying the country was heading in the wrong direction. In January 2023, then, Ardern resigned as prime minister. She believed, probably correctly, that it would be “good for my party and perhaps it would be good for the election”.

    Power and parenthood: Jacinda Ardern with her partner Clarke Gayford and their baby daughter, 2018.
    Getty Images

    The toll of leadership

    But she also reveals in her memoir that a cancer scare influenced the decision – a false alarm, but a sign perhaps that the job was taking its toll. Her leaving could “take the heat out of the politics”, she reasoned. And anyway, she was tired, stressed and losing her patience.

    The leadership change to Chris Hipkins – and a devastating cyclone – boosted Labour’s polling for a while. But their 1,443,545 party votes in 2020 fell to 767,540 in the October 2023 election.

    Hundreds of thousands of voters had turned their backs on the Labour Party, and the COVID response wasn’t solely to blame. There were also controversial or failed policies – such as restructuring water services, a proposed unemployment insurance scheme, and Māori co-governance initiatives – that were ruthlessly exploited by the political opposition. These were all initiated under Ardern, although unmentioned in her memoir.

    Her book is more about subjective self-doubt and empathy. She doesn’t critically examine her own policies. Nor does she express empathy for those who felt disadvantaged or excluded by them – granting as always that emergency measures had been necessary. And, as she heads further into an international career, there’s no expression of empathy for those who now need it most, be they children in Gaza or refugees in South Sudan.

    It’s disappointing Ardern doesn’t define key words: empathy, leadership or power, for example. There are different ways to understand them, and definitions carry assumptions. But she’s not addressing academics or political analysts. Her audience is primarily American – a much larger and more lucrative market than her home country. With the Democrats struggling to find direction and leadership after last year’s losses, Ardern – who poses no threat to anyone’s political ambitions there – offers some inspiration.

    Some may fault it for avoiding those harder questions about her time at the top, but Ardern’s memoir interweaves an authentically retold personal story with high political drama. It tells of one woman’s struggle with morning sickness, childbirth, breastfeeding and motherhood, even while taking on huge public responsibilities and media exposure. It’s still amazing how she managed to do all that.

    I was a personal acquaintance of Jacinda, when she was a list MP in Auckland Central.

    – ref. In her memoir, Jacinda Ardern shows a ‘different kind of power’ is possible – but also has its limits – https://theconversation.com/in-her-memoir-jacinda-ardern-shows-a-different-kind-of-power-is-possible-but-also-has-its-limits-257944

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What parents and youth athletes can do to protect against abuse in sport

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fanny Kuhlin, PhD candidate in Sport Management (Sport Science), Örebro University

    Ron Alvey/Shutterstock

    From the horrific Larry Nassar abuse scandal in United States gymnastics to the “environment of fear” some volleyball athletes endured at the Australian Institute of Sport, abuse in sport has been well documented in recent years.

    This abuse in elite sport sport has been particularly visible but it is not just happening at the top level. Abusive and harmful practices are happening in all sports, at all ages and at all competition levels.

    While sport can have many wonderful benefits for young people, it can also have a dark side, one where abuse can flourish, leading to serious psychological and physical harm.

    How can parents ensure their children are safe?



    Read more:
    The 3 changes Australian sport must make after Volleyball Australia’s shocking abuse report

    Abuse in sports

    A 2022 Australian study showed 82% of children had experienced physical, psychological or sexual abuse during their time participating in community sport. This makes the abuse prevalence similar to that found in elite sport environments.

    The line between abuse and acceptable behaviour is blurred more in sport than in many other environments.

    For example, in school, it would be unacceptable for a teacher to scream at a child who performed poorly on a test but in sports, screaming is a commonly used strategy by a coach to correct a young athlete’s behaviour.

    Research from earlier this year shows athletes often justify the behaviours of their coaches.

    The following quote from an elite-level gymnast in an ongoing research project demonstrates how athletes often learn to accept abusive behaviours as necessary for their performance:

    (He) was a strict coach. He spoke loudly […] but I’m a gymnast, I need that. I don’t know if everybody needs that but if I did something really bad, he screamed at me and this kind of gave me motivation to push myself more, so for me this type of coaching style was really good.

    Challenges and changes

    The “win-at-all-costs” mentality in many sports is also problematic.

    When winning is everything, abusive practices are not seen as a problem to be stamped out but rather as legitimate strategies to motivate and toughen up the participants.

    Athletes are not the only ones who normalise these practices. Parents, coaches and administrators might also come to tolerate, accept or even celebrate abusive behaviours and cultures as a “natural” part of sport.

    This means experiences of abuse may flourish in such environments.

    Thankfully, some sports organisations have in recent years made significant changes to reduce the likelihood of abuse and deal with cases as soon as they arise.

    Sport Integrity Australia (SIA), for example, is implementing national policies for safeguarding and whistleblowing, where abuse and harmful behaviour can be reported.

    SIA has also recently co-developed a course with other leading sport agencies to help coaches working with young athletes better navigate the complexities of physical, emotional and psychological development.

    While these are potentially steps in the right direction, researchers have pointed out that similar efforts have achieved mixed results and there are no guarantees of athlete safety.

    Parents may therefore rightly ask what they might do to protect their child(ren) from abuse and maximise the positive gains from participating in sport.

    Tips for parents and caregivers

    Firstly, parents and caregivers have the right to be included in their childrens’ sporting participation.

    This involves being informed about training times and competition schedules, training content, coaching style and behavioural expectations.

    Parents should also be welcomed to watch their children’s training sessions at any time and unannounced.

    Denying parents information or access to facilities have been identified as a potential risk factors.

    The right for inclusion also refers to decision-making. Sport is often hierarchical with authoritarian leadership styles, which are significant risk factors for abuse in sports.

    So it is important children and their parents are provided with spaces and opportunities to have a say in matters related to their (child’s) sporting participation.

    Secondly, young athletes and their parents/caregivers should be made aware of the policies and safety measures put in place to keep children safe.

    If these are not clearly communicated, parents/caregivers are encouraged to ask what actions a club has put in place.

    If protection and prevention are not developed, or considered limited or ineffective, parents are recommended to raise their concerns.

    Lastly, parents should be conscious of the “win-at-all-costs” mentality found in many sports and consider how this can lead to abusive practices being accepted as a “natural” part of sport.

    By staying informed, involved and attentive, parents can play a powerful role in supporting safer sporting environments for all children.

    Natalie Barker-Ruchti is affiliated with Safesport Sweden.

    Fanny Kuhlin, Jessica Lee, and Steven Rynne do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. What parents and youth athletes can do to protect against abuse in sport – https://theconversation.com/what-parents-and-youth-athletes-can-do-to-protect-against-abuse-in-sport-255614

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Google’s SynthID is the latest tool for catching AI-made content. What is AI ‘watermarking’ and does it work?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University

    HomeArt/Shutterstock

    Last month, Google announced SynthID Detector, a new tool to detect AI-generated content. Google claims it can identify AI-generated content in text, image, video or audio.

    But there are some caveats. One of them is that the tool is currently only available to “early testers” through a waitlist.

    The main catch is that SynthID primarily works for content that’s been generated using a Google AI service – such as Gemini for text, Veo for video, Imagen for images, or Lyria for audio.

    If you try to use Google’s AI detector tool to see if something you’ve generated using ChatGPT is flagged, it won’t work.

    That’s because, strictly speaking, the tool can’t detect the presence of AI-generated content or distinguish it from other kinds of content. Instead, it detects the presence of a “watermark” that Google’s AI products (and a couple of others) embed in their output through the use of SynthID.

    A watermark is a special machine-readable element embedded in an image, video, sound or text. Digital watermarks have been used to ensure that information about the origins or authorship of content travels with it. They have been used to assert authorship in creative works and address misinformation challenges in the media.

    SynthID embeds watermarks in the output from AI models. The watermarks are not visible to readers or audiences, but can be used by other tools to identify content that was made or edited using an AI model with SynthID on board.

    SynthID is among the latest of many such efforts. But how effective are they?

    There’s no unified AI detection system

    Several AI companies, including Meta, have developed their own watermarking tools and detectors, similar to SynthID. But these are “model specific” solutions, not universal ones.

    This means users have to juggle multiple tools to verify content. Despite researchers calling for a unified system, and major players like Google seeking to have their tool adopted by others, the landscape remains fragmented.

    A parallel effort focuses on metadata – encoded information about the origin, authorship and edit history of media. For example, the Content Credentials inspect tool allows users to verify media by checking the edit history attached to the content.

    However, metadata can be easily stripped when content is uploaded to social media or converted into a different file format. This is particularly problematic if someone has deliberately tried to obscure the origin and authorship of a piece of content.

    There are detectors that rely on forensic cues, such as visual inconsistencies or lighting anomalies. While some of these tools are automated, many depend on human judgement and common sense methods, like counting the number of fingers in AI-generated images. These methods may become redundant as AI model performance improves.

    Logical inconsistencies, such as extra fingers, are some of the visual ‘tells’ of the current era of AI-generated imagery.
    T J Thomson, CC BY-NC

    How effective are AI detection tools?

    Overall, AI detection tools can vary dramatically in their effectiveness. Some work better when the content is entirely AI-generated, such as when an entire essay has been generated from scratch by a chatbot.

    The situation becomes murkier when AI is used to edit or transform human-created content. In such cases, AI detectors can get it badly wrong. They can fail to detect AI or flag human-created content as AI-generated.

    AI detection tools don’t often explain how they arrived at their decision, which adds to the confusion. When used for plagiarism detection in university assessment, they are considered an “ethical minefield” and are known to discriminate against non-native English speakers.



    Read more:
    Can you spot the AI impostors? We found AI faces can look more real than actual humans

    Where AI detection tools can help

    A wide variety of use cases exist for AI detection tools. Take insurance claims, for example. Knowing whether the image a client shares depicts what it claims to depict can help insurers know how to respond.

    Journalists and fact checkers might draw on AI detectors, in addition to their other approaches, when trying to decide if potentially newsworthy information ought to be shared further.

    Employers and job applicants alike increasingly need to assess whether the person on the other side of the recruiting process is genuine or an AI fake.

    Users of dating apps need to know whether the profile of the person they’ve met online represents a real romantic prospect, or an AI avatar, perhaps fronting a romance scam.

    If you’re an emergency responder deciding whether to send help to a call, confidently knowing whether the caller is human or AI can save resources and lives.

    Where to from here?

    As these examples show, the challenges of authenticity are now happening in real time, and static tools like watermarking are unlikely to be enough. AI detectors that work on audio and video in real time are a pressing area of development.

    Whatever the scenario, it is unlikely that judgements about authenticity can ever be fully delegated to a single tool.

    Understanding the way such tools work, including their limitations, is an important first step. Triangulating these with other information and your own contextual knowledge will remain essential.

    T.J. Thomson receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is an affiliated researcher with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making & Society.

    Elif Buse Doyuran receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She is a research fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society.

    Jean Burgess receives funding from the Australian Research Council including the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S), and from the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Council.

    – ref. Google’s SynthID is the latest tool for catching AI-made content. What is AI ‘watermarking’ and does it work? – https://theconversation.com/googles-synthid-is-the-latest-tool-for-catching-ai-made-content-what-is-ai-watermarking-and-does-it-work-257637

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) holders – Funding eligibility

    Source: Tertiary Education Commission

    Eligibility criteria
    If you are approved to provide work-based delivery, AEWV holders that undertake work-based learning with you may be eligible for TEC funding. To be eligible, they must:

    For more information about ‘domestic student’ requirements, see:
    Other valid domestic enrolments
    Which programmes are funded?
    TEC publishes a list of funded programmes for work-based learners with AEWVs here:
    List of funded programmes for eligible AEWV work-based learners (XLSX 73 KB)
    If a work-based learner with an AEWV meets the eligibility criteria, funding will apply. To determine when a specific programme becomes eligible for funding, see the ‘Programme list’ section under the ‘Instructions’ tab. Check this list regularly. It changes in response to policy, immigration and programme changes.
    What if a learner is not eligible?
    If an AEWV holder does not meet the criteria to be an eligible learner, they will not qualify for funding, unless they fall into a different category of people eligible to be treated as domestic learners. Find out more at Other valid domestic enrolments. 
    Learners ineligible for funding may still be able to access both provider-based and work-based learning. However, international fees will apply. Individuals with holiday or work visa types do not meet the criteria; the visa must be an AEWV.
    Eligibility for Fees Free
    AEWV learners who are eligible for TEC funding for work-based learning are treated as domestic learners, so they may be eligible for Fees Free.
    Find the complete list of Fees Free eligibility criteria at the Fees Free website.
    Learners enrolled in work-based learning before 1 January 2023
    Before 2023, all individuals working legally in New Zealand and enrolled in work-based learning were eligible for TEC funding under the Industry Training Fund. This included individuals with visas other than residency visas.
    From 1 January 2023, limits were placed on funded work-based learning for international workers, to align eligibility more closely with funded provider-based study. As a result, fewer international workers are eligible for TEC funding.
    However, any learner who enrolled in work-based learning before 1 January 2023 is still eligible for TEC funding until they complete their programme of training, if they meet all other fund requirements. This is because they started their training under the previous policy settings.
    If the learner changes employers but continues the same programme, they will remain eligible for TEC funding.
    However, if the learner withdraws from or changes their programme, any new enrolment will be subject to the eligibility criteria in place at the time they enrol.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Moolenaar: Benson Should Endorse SAVE Act After Illegal Voter Flees to China

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman John Moolenaar (4th District of Michigan)

    Headline: Moolenaar: Benson Should Endorse SAVE Act After Illegal Voter Flees to China

    On Friday, federal prosecutors unsealed details regarding a new criminal case against Haoxiang Gao, a Chinese national who attended the University of Michigan and illegally cast a ballot in the 2024 election. The FBI alleges Gao fled the United States for China in January using a second passport to avoid prosecution. Congressman John Moolenaar made the following statement in response to the new case: 

    “It is disgraceful Haoxiang Gao was able to illegally vote in our state in the first place, and now he will likely never face the consequences of his actions after fleeing the country. Secretary Benson has said for months that she opposes strengthening our nation’s election
    laws to stop non-citizens from voting. She said the justice system would hold lawbreakers accountable. Now we see that is not the case. This student had his vote counted in our election last November and escaped justice on her watch. Secretary Benson should endorse the SAVE Act and do more to proactively prevent non-citizens from voting.”

    The SAVE Act would require every person registering to vote to present proof of U.S. citizenship. The bill passed the House earlier this year in a bipartisan vote of 220-208. 

    In April, Moolenaar was joined by all six of his GOP colleagues from Michigan in calling on Benson to justify her opposition to the SAVE Act in light of an internal review of the 2024 election that found an additional 15 non-citizens voted in the state.  

    The United States does not have an extradition treaty with China, so Gao will likely never face prosecution for illegally voting.  

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Parex Resources Announces Appointment to the Board of Directors

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CALGARY, Alberta, June 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Parex Resources Inc. (“Parex” or the “Company”) (TSX: PXT) is pleased to announce the appointment of Alberto Consuegra to the Board of Directors (the “Board”).

    Effective June 1, 2025, Alberto Consuegra has been appointed to the Board as an independent director. Alberto has more than 30 years of experience in the energy sector. Most recently, Mr. Consuegra served as the Chief Operating Officer of Ecopetrol, Colombia’s national oil company, and for a period of time acted as the Company’s interim Chief Executive Officer. He has also served as the President of Cenit Transporte y Logística de Hidrocarburos S.A.S., the Vice President of Supply and Services of Ecopetrol, and held several executive positions at Equion Energia Ltd. and BP Exploration.

    Mr. Consuegra graduated from Universidad de Cartagena with a civil engineering degree and holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from Texas A&M University.

    “We are excited to welcome Alberto to our Board of Directors and believe his Colombia-focused energy expertise will contribute to the ongoing success of Parex,” commented Wayne Foo, Chair of Parex’s Board of Directors.

    About Parex Resources Inc.

    Parex is one of the largest independent oil and gas companies in Colombia, focusing on sustainable conventional production. The Company’s corporate headquarters are in Calgary, Canada, with an operating office in Bogotá, Colombia. Parex shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol PXT.

    For more information, please contact:

    Mike Kruchten
    Senior Vice President, Capital Markets & Corporate Planning
    Parex Resources Inc.
    403-517-1733
    investor.relations@parexresources.com

    Steven Eirich
    Senior Investor Relations & Communications Advisor
    Parex Resources Inc.
    587-293-3286
    investor.relations@parexresources.com

    NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

    PDF available: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/e1b365f5-664e-4232-871f-df46382cc069

     

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Indicative allocations by year

    Source: Tertiary Education Commission

    Last updated 3 June 2024
    Last updated 3 June 2024

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    The indicative allocation is our early estimate of each tertiary education organisation’s on-Plan funding. It indicates what you could receive for the following year if your Investment Plan is approved for funding.
    The indicative allocation is our early estimate of each tertiary education organisation’s on-Plan funding. It indicates what you could receive for the following year if your Investment Plan is approved for funding.

    We calculate this using a set of allocation methodologies, which are specific to each fund. We review and revise these every year to make sure they’re aligned to funding determinations and the current tertiary environment.
    Your indicative allocations will be made available from 3 June and can be accessed through the My Allocations and Payments app on Ngā Kete. 
    2026 indicative allocations
    2026 Global indicative allocation methodology (PDF 841 KB)
    Historical indicative allocation methodologies

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The winners of the PROproject competition visited the Mir Moscow State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    On June 1, a unique excursion to the Moscow State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company “Mir” was held for applicants of the State University of Management and winners of the All-Russian competition “PROproject”.

    The guests were met by the Deputy Chairman of the MIR TV and Radio Broadcasting Company Irina Flyur. All doors were opened for the guys: control rooms, studios and even the most secret place – the server room, which ensures continuous broadcasting.

    The TV channel staff willingly shared their experience of creating news stories and revealed the secrets of the on-air backstage, and at the end of the tour, all the children received memorable gifts and took memorable photos.

    “Thanks to the tour, we looked behind the scenes and saw the large-scale work that is going on behind the screen. I couldn’t even imagine what a colossal amount of work must be done to ensure that people receive high-quality and verified content in real time,” shared his impressions one of the winners of the PROproekt competition, Alexander Shcherbak.

    Some of the participants admitted that they were seriously considering a career as a journalist.

    “Many thanks to the organizers – GUU and MIR, everything was really cool. The excursion was interesting, we immersed ourselves in the creation of television and radio broadcasts, learned some secrets of professionals – technicians, directors, editors, designers, TV presenters and others. Now I know exactly where I want to study and work in the future,” said excursion participant Gleb Serdyuk.

    The PROproject competition has been held by the Department of Project Management of the State University of Management since 2018. The Interstate Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Mir is one of the main partners of the competition and, as part of International Children’s Day, conducted an excursion for the winners of the competition.

    We thank our partners for giving the guys the opportunity to look behind the scenes of the largest media holding in the CIS countries and Georgia.

    Photos provided by MGTRK Mir.

    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 Russia: Exclusive: Cooperation between Tajikistan and China is actively developing thanks to the Belt and Road initiative – Vice-Rector of the Tajik Technical University named after Academician M. Osimi R. Jurakhonzoda

    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

    Dushanbe, June 2 /Xinhua/ — Tajik-Chinese relations are currently at a high level of strategic partnership, Vice-Rector for International Relations of the Tajik Technical University named after Academician M. Osimi Rauf Jurakhonzoda said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua recently.

    “Cooperation between our countries is actively developing thanks to the Belt and Road initiative, especially in key areas such as science and education,” he stressed.

    According to R. Jurakhonzoda, within the framework of this initiative, quotas for studying in Chinese universities are allocated annually for Tajik students. The two countries are actively implementing joint educational and scientific projects and carrying out academic exchanges. Thus, the Tajik Technical University named after Academician M. Osimi has established a partnership with the Tianjin Vocational and Technical College of Urban Construction Management, the vice-rector said.

    R. Jurakhonzoda noted that in recent years there has been a positive trend in cultural and humanitarian exchanges between the two countries. A striking example of this, according to him, is the launch in Tajikistan of the first “Lu Ban Workshop” in Central Asia, aimed at training engineering personnel for the industrialization and modernization of the country. The activities of this workshop cover such areas as geodesy, intelligent cartography, construction, architecture, water and heat supply, as well as renewable energy sources.

    “We plan to introduce new formats of cooperation with Chinese universities. This is not only a contribution to the development of education, but also strengthening the friendship between our peoples,” he added.

    Speaking about the upcoming 2nd China-Central Asia Summit, which will be held in June, the Vice-Rector expressed hope for further deepening of the strategic partnership, especially in the field of high technology.

    He emphasized that the Tajik Technical University is interested in developing cooperation with Chinese universities in such areas as digitalization of education, artificial intelligence and smart technologies. Within the framework of the Lu Ban Workshops, it is planned to implement new joint programs that will allow training specialists in demand in various sectors – from agriculture to energy and industry, added R. Jurakhonzoda. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Update on the Golden State Plan to Counter Antisemitism

    Source: US State of California Governor

    Jun 2, 2025

    Protecting Jewish Californians, strengthening campus safety, and ensuring California’s universities remain places of learning — not hate

    To the People of California,

    Recent years have seen a troubling spike in reported hate crimes and manifestations of bigotry. In response, California launched a robust anti-hate agenda that includes significant investments and actions to support and protect all the state’s communities from hate-motivated violence, to build mutual understanding and tolerance to prevent acts of hate and bigotry, and to redouble the state’s efforts to advance equity and fight discrimination. 

    Last year, as part of that agenda, my administration published the Golden State Plan to Counter Antisemitism, a roadmap for addressing hate and discrimination against the Jewish community in our state, and a call to remain vigilant amid new and evolving threats. Since the plan was released, California has taken bold action to ensure this vital California community feels safe and respected on their college campuses and schools, secure at their houses of worship, and supported and included in their communities.

    I would like to update the state on our progress since the plan was released last spring. Since then, we’ve doubled down on our efforts, requiring California’s higher education institutions to take concrete steps to prevent discrimination, protect student safety, and ensure civil discourse. We’ve also made new investments in nonprofit security and expanded resources to promote robust Holocaust and genocide education in California schools.

    Here’s what we’ve done together:

    • In partnership with the Jewish Caucus, enacted key legislation to protect student safety:
      • SB 1287 (Glazer) requires the CSU Trustees and requests the UC Regents to: adopt rules and procedures in the student codes of conduct that prohibit violent, harassing, intimidating, or discriminatory conduct that creates a hostile environment on campus; prohibit conduct that limits or denies a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the free exchange of ideas or the educational mission of the segment; and develop mandatory training programs for students; and require each student to acknowledge the code of conduct. 
      • AB 2925 (Friedman) establishes requirements for anti-discrimination training offered at California college and university campuses that receive state financial assistance.
      • SB 153 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) expressly prohibits the adoption of any curriculum that would subject a pupil to unlawful discrimination if used in a classroom. The new law also empowers individuals to seek enforcement of this prohibition through a complaint process and authorizes a fiscal penalty for violations.  
      • The 2024-25 Budget Act requires every CSU and UC campus to prepare a campus climate action notification annually, with campus plans for fostering healthy and safe discourse, bringing together campus community members with different viewpoints, and promoting the exchange of ideas in a safe and peaceful manner. 
    • Added funding to bolster security for faith communities: 
      • The 2024-25 Budget includes an additional $160 million for the Non-Profit Security Grant Program, $80 million each year in 2024-25 and 2025-26, bolstering safety and security for faith communities. 
      • In July 2024, announced California was expediting the deployment of funds and accepting applications for $76 million in grant funding available to bolster safety and security for nonprofits  — including synagogues — that are at higher risk of hate-based crimes. 
      • In March 2025, in partnership with the Legislature, announced this funding was being awarded to 347 community groups and nonprofit organizations to protect them from hate-motivated violence.
    • Added new resources to strengthen Holocaust and Genocide education across the state:
      • Signed SB 1277 (Stern), which established the California Teachers Collaborative for Holocaust and Genocide Education (Collaborative) in statute. The collaborative is creating a statewide professional development program on genocide for school district, county office of education, and charter school teachers.
      • In 2021, created the Governor’s Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education. In January 2025, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Council released “Holocaust and Genocide Education in California: A Study of Statewide Context and Local Implementation.” The Council assessed and made recommendations for how to improve Holocaust and genocide education in our schools. The Council  is now working to promote best practices for educators, schools and organizations and sponsor Holocaust and genocide remembrance.
    • Expanded efforts to counter discrimination and address hate. 
      • In 2024, the California Civil Rights Department collaborated with community groups and other organizations at nearly 200 events across 66 cities to support community-based anti-discrimination outreach and training sessions.
      • The Commission on the State of Hate, supported by the CA Civil Rights Department, is partnering with UCLA researchers on a first state-sponsored survey to estimate the prevalence of hate across California.

    Last year, I signed Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel’s legislation to help California residents recover art and personal property stolen from their families during the Holocaust. That small step toward resolving a historic wrong from 80 years ago was a vivid reminder that we cannot forget our history, and that the fight against hate is far from over. 

    Today, we face a tide of hate and violence, one that is not easily stemmed. California remains committed to protecting its people from hatred and abuse, providing individuals with the tools they need to stand up for their neighbors, and creating a better future where no one is afraid because of who they are. 

    Governor Gavin Newsom

    Press releases

    Recent news

    Jun 1, 2025

    News SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom and Acting Governor Eleni Kounalakis issued the following statement regarding the death of Baldwin Park Police Department Officer Samuel Riveros:“We mourn the tragic loss of one of California’s brave law enforcement officers,…

    May 31, 2025

    News Sacramento, California – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring May 2025, as “Mental Health Awareness Month.”The text of the proclamation and a copy can be found below: PROCLAMATIONDuring Mental Health Awareness Month, we recognize the…

    May 30, 2025

    News SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:Connie Nakano, of Elk Grove, has been appointed Assistant Director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives and Equity at the California Department of Aging. Nakano has been Assistant…

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Results of the exhibition “Metalloobrabotka-2025”

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –

    The traditional industry exhibition “Metalloobrabotka-2025” has ended in Moscow’s Expocentre. It is safe to say that SPbPU successfully presented its developments to ensure technological leadership in the direction of “Materials, Technologies, Production”. The Polytechnic University demonstrated a real technological process for manufacturing parts of power engineering for civil and special purposes. The exhibition participants got acquainted with special-purpose technologies and the technology of highly efficient repair of critically loaded parts of power engineering.

    Director of IMMiT and Chief Designer of the Scientific and Technical Complex “New Materials, Technologies, Production”, Professor Anatoly Popovich, noted: Development of technologies for manufacturing parts of gas-pumping units using modern digital additive manufacturing technologies, in particular the technology of high-temperature selective laser melting of domestically produced metal powder materials, will reduce the cost price, terms of technological preparation of production and repair of critical units and parts, improve the quality of manufacturing components of drive gas turbine engines of gas-pumping units for enterprises of the fuel and energy complex of the Russian Federation. In particular, redesigning taking into account the advantages of additive technologies and manufacturing parts of the hot gas turbine tract will significantly increase the performance characteristics of parts and units, and the developed new materials for protective coatings, such as high-entropy alloys, will increase the service life between repairs of the units.

    Thus, notes Anatoly Popovich, this will provide Russia with technological leadership in the market for the production of units and assemblies of gas turbine engines. The automated repair and restoration system will increase productivity at the surfacing stage up to five times and reduce the cost of repairs by half. Technologies for laser surfacing of difficult-to-weld and non-weld heat-resistant alloys and the developed specialized tool will expand the range of repaired parts.

    On the final day of the exhibition, a series of meetings between key executors of the Peter the Great SPbPU project in the direction of “Materials, Technologies, Production” and future customers took place at the Polytechnic stand.

    Mikhail Kuznetsov, Head of the Research Laboratory “LiAT” of the SPbPU Institute of Metallurgy and Metallurgy, held talks with representatives of the company JSC “EZTM” and colleagues from the State Corporation “Roscosmos”. The partners discussed current projects and prospects for joint work in the field of laser welding and additive technologies.

    At the SPbPU stand, the NIL employees presented samples created using laser and additive technologies. The specialists presented components of the hot tract of gas turbine engines repaired by laser cladding, samples 7 and 10 mm thick, welded in one pass without edge preparation by laser welding and hybrid laser-arc welding, and other equally interesting exhibits.

    Head of the Laboratory of Light Materials and Structures Oleg Panchenko held meetings with representatives of NPO Luch, PI Science and Innovations, NPK Morsvyazavtomatika and others. The participants discussed the possibilities of robotization of production, friction stir welding, electric arc growing, joint projects on reverse engineering in the areas of compressor and propulsion devices.

    The staff of the Laboratory of Light Materials and Structures of the Institute of Metallurgy and Engineering at SPbPU demonstrated the process of producing a conical gear for heavy engineering using the electric arc growing method right at the exhibition. This method is based on melting metal wire under the influence of the energy of an electric arc.

    The installation, created by engineers specifically for this exhibition, is a unique solution for reducing production costs. The technological process allows achieving record-high speeds of obtaining products (for aluminum alloys (Al) – 2.2 kg/hour, for Fe – 6 kg/hour). In addition to record productivity, the key advantage of the technology is the absence of geometric limitations of the printed product. This is the reason for the concept of the “open type” cell: the manipulator is easily installed on the rails and follows the part being grown.

    The Polytechnic University stand presented a selective laser melting installation for metals (3D metal printer) “Mercury”, jointly developed by specialists from SPbPU and 3DLAM.

    The peculiarity of this complex is the platform heating up to 1300 degrees, which allows printing with heat-resistant nickel alloys. During the exhibition, engineers printed samples for further laboratory tests and analysis of metal properties.

    Visitors to the exhibition could see the advanced developments of the polytechnics in the unified catalog of SPbPU. It was entirely dedicated to the projects of the divisions of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Transport.

    The debut at the Metalloobrabotka-202 exhibition is a significant event for IMMiT specialists. The event became a platform for demonstrating breakthrough solutions and the latest technologies that the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University is developing in the field of laser and additive technologies. Our achievements are not just ideas, but ready-to-manufacture solutions that shape the future, – summed up the Director of IMMiT and the Chief Designer of the KNTN “New Materials, Technologies, Production” Anatoly Popovich.

    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 USA: DAUPHIN COUNTY – Shapiro Administration Ends Receivership for Harrisburg City School District

    Source: US State of Pennsylvania

    June 03, 2025 – Harrisburg, PA

    ADVISORY – DAUPHIN COUNTY – Shapiro Administration Ends Receivership for Harrisburg City School District

    Pennsylvania Department of Education Acting Secretary Dr. Carrie Rowe will join Sen. Patty Kim, Rep. Dave Madsen, and officials from the Harrisburg City School District to announce that effective June 17, the district will no longer be in Receivership. The district entered Financial Recovery in December 2012 and entered Receivership in June 2019.

    The Shapiro Administration is committed to ensuring schools have access to the investments and resources they need to serve learners in communities across the Commonwealth. Governor Shapiro’s proposed 2025-26 budget requests a $75 million increase for public K-12 schools and a $526 million increase for the Ready To Learn Block Grant; a $40 million increase for special education; and establishes a statewide cyber tuition rate of $8,000 per student per year to more closely align tuition with the actual costs of providing an online education, which is expected to save school districts an estimated $378 million annually.

    WHAT:
    Shapiro Administration Ends Receivership for Harrisburg City School District

    WHEN:
    Tuesday, June 3, 2025; 10:00 AM

    WHERE:
    Harrisburg City School District Administration Building Board Room
    1010 N. 7th Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102

    VISUALS:
    Officials speaking at podium, ceremonial letter signing and presentation to school district

    NOTE:
    A PA Cast will follow

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor Calls on Department of Labor to Keep Doors Open at Pinellas Job Corps Center

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Reprepsentative Kathy Castor (FL14)

    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Today, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14) urged the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Lori Chavez-Remer to reverse DOL’s decision to close the Pinellas County Job Corps Center. 

    The abrupt decision to pause Job Corps operations nationwide is creating deep concerns for the more than 250 students affected by the order.

    “This harsh and arbitrary decision casts students into an uncertain future, disrupts job training, and creates housing insecurity for hundreds of young people across Florida,” said Rep. Castor. “This move will upend more than 60 years of progress and take away a vital resource that helps young people succeed. I urge the Department to reverse this order and work with our community to ensure these students are not left behind.”

    The Pinellas County Job Corps Center provides job training, education and housing for at-risk youth from across the state. DOL’s directive to pause operations at all contractor-run centers by June 30 follows the release of a report that purportedly relied on narrow and incomplete data. Castor is demanding transparency from DOL regarding this hasty decision – which has a significant impact on at-risk youth – including the reliability of student performance numbers and how pandemic-related challenges were factored into the report.

    U.S. Rep. Castor is calling on the Department to delay the pause, revisit the data and commit to keeping opportunities alive for Florida students.

    Read the full letter here:

    Dear Secretary Chavez-DeRemer: 

    Thank you for the opportunity to relay my deep concern for the Department of Labor’s (DOL) decision to suddenly and arbitrarily close the Pinellas County, Florida Job Corps Center and cast 300 students into an uncertain future. I respectfully urge you to reverse the decision and answer the questions posed below. 

    For decades, Job Corps has provided a vital pathway to education, job training and self-sufficiency for young people who deserve a second chance. I am concerned, however, that DOL has proposed dismantling Job Corps, contrary to the direction of Congress. I have heard from local teachers and students how the sudden and arbitrary closure will undercut the mission and leave students in the lurch. The Pinellas County Job Corps Center serves 300 students who hail from across the state of Florida, 285 of whom receive housing, and employs 124 staff members. This order will displace students in the midst of their training, create housing insecurity, lay off dedicated staff and leave communities scrambling to fill the gap. 

    Staff and students have raised concerns about the cancellation of national contracts that provide critical services such as Wi-Fi access on-site, the halt of background checks for applicants, thus stopping the enrollment process, and now the pause of operations at all contractor-operated Job Corps centers scheduled to occur by June 30, 2025. This comes after the Department’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) released the first-ever Job Corps Transparency Report. This report analyzed the financial performance and operational costs of the most recently available metrics of program year 2023. Coming to such a swift decision is both alarming and hasty. 

    Please answer the following questions by June 15, 2025:

    • The Job Corps Transparency Report claims there are less than 25,000 students participating in Job Corps nationally. What data was used to determine this number? 
    • How many students receive housing through this initiative? 
    • The report claims that the graduation rate is less than 38.6 percent. Why was the analysis not performed on a date range larger than July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024? 
    • How are the impacts of COVID-19 taken into consideration? 
    • The analysis weighs incident occurrences against outcomes. What criteria are used to determine what an “incident” is? 
    • The report claims that the initiative is no longer meeting set outcomes. How have graduates’ wages compared to wage goals set by DOL for the last 10 years? 
    • Are there efficient structural changes that can be made prior to stopping operations? 

    The report suggests the initiative has become expensive, yet Job Corps has not received a funding increase in 8 years. This move will upend more than 60 years of progress, leaving current and future at-risk young people with one less pipeline to personal and professional development. Halting Job Corps contracts will deepen inequality and rob young people in need of critical tools to thrive. DOL should be investing in our communities and resources with effective tools like Job Corps to break the cycle of poverty and help young people succeed. I trust that we share the same goal of serving all Americans and bolstering our workforce. I respectfully urge you to delay the pause in operations, review this Transparency Report and include a longer dataset for analysis, and take actions to ensure the success of Job Corps.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Reducing American antisemitism requires more than condemning opposition to Israel and targeting elite universities

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By David Mednicoff, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Public Policy, UMass Amherst

    Law enforcement officials dress in protective gear to investigate after an attack on a march in Boulder, Colo., on June 1, 2025, calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. AP Photo/David Zalubowski

    Violent antisemitism in the U.S. isn’t limited to the far right wing of the political spectrum. This was tragically obvious in two recent events – the June 1, 2025, attack using Molotov cocktails to burn participants in a Boulder, Colorado, march supporting Israeli hostages in Gaza, and the murders of two Israeli embassy staffers, an American Jew and an Israeli, on May 21, 2025, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.

    As an expert on the Middle East, including Israel, my research and administrative work have included contributing to a global effort to define antisemitism and addressing antisemitism on my own campus.

    Antisemitism can be defined simply as “discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish).” What actually constitutes it is more contested, especially with respect to links between Jews and the state of Israel.

    President Donald Trump claims he is taking “unprecedented” steps to combat antisemitism.

    American Jews perceive antisemitism as rising since 2016, largely because, as one study put it, “people who hold anti-Semitic views now feel more free to express them.” But the current federal fight against antisemitism in the U.S. may have more to do with the agendas of members of the American and Israeli governments than with the concerns of most American Jews.

    First, the Trump administration’s attacks on antisemitism center on elite universities, where the president claims antisemitism runs rampant. Second, the current Israeli government tries to blur the lines between pro-Palestinian activism and antisemitism.

    These factors polarize and complicate the landscape for combating antisemitism effectively.

    GOP nominee for president Donald Trump speaks to prominent Jewish donors at an event called Fighting Anti-Semitism in America on Sept. 19, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
    Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

    Targeting speech at universities by charging ‘antisemitism’

    Trump’s administration has taken dramatic actions in the name of curbing antisemitism. Yet, his policies are notable for what they ignore as well as what they target.

    Right-wing antisemitism was responsible for the deadliest attack on a Jewish community in U.S. history in Pittsburgh in 2018. Yet the administration’s model for fighting antisemitism is not based in fighting white supremacist hatred toward Jews, which relates back to the Nazis in Germany.

    In fact, members of Trump’s administration, including senior adviser Stephen Miller and former Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk, have supported white supremacist ideas or groups. Trump’s own words have evoked right-wing antisemitic tropes, such as assuming American Jews are loyal to Israel or adept at making money.

    Trump administration policies on antisemitism are most vocal around punishing leading American universities as unsafe for Jews. As the leading target of the president’s ire, Harvard University has acknowledged that some activism against Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza has contributed to antisemitism on campuses.

    However, federal actions targeting Harvard ostensibly seek to punish antisemitism by demanding sweeping federal oversight of Harvard’s curriculum and self-governance. Billions of dollars in research funds have been cut. Neither action connects clearly to Harvard’s patterns or policies around antisemitism.

    Given this, Harvard sued the government in April.

    Many American Jews believe that Trump’s true purpose is to use the antisemitism issue as one means to curb free expression at universities.

    Defending Israeli policy by charging ‘antisemitism’

    National governments naturally seek political and material support from powerful allies. Israel’s efforts to encourage Americans to champion that support fit this pattern.

    Israel receives more U.S. aid than any other country. Thus, its government has an interest in enlisting diverse people and organizations in a sustained way to support its policies.

    The Israeli intervention has grown because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government is unpopular in both Israel and the U.S. Its war in Gaza, provoked by Hamas, is highly destructive and globally unpopular.

    Most experts and policymakers now argue that Israel, along with Hamas, has committed international war crimes.

    The Israeli government recently increased its funding to US$150 million for global public relations efforts. This is a major acceleration of policies that Israeli has pursued for decades known in Hebrew as “hasbara,” which translates to “explanation.”

    Documenting specific links between Israel’s government and groups promoting its agenda in the U.S. can be difficult. This may be a deliberate strategy by Israeli leaders to conceal their efforts.

    Yet, mainstream Israeli-run organizations such as the Jewish Agency have played up links between pro-Palestinian activism and antisemitism since Hamas triggered the war in Gaza. Groups whose funding and leadership are hard to trace maintain public blacklists labeling vocal pro-Palestine activists as antisemites. Those lists have been used by Israeli government bureaucrats to bar visitors to the country.

    U.S.-based groups aligned with Israeli government messaging engage in persistent strategies to discredit opposition voices. Some attack publicly vocal activists, including some American Jews. Others press organizations, political bodies and institutions to adopt a definition of antisemitism that makes it easy to conflate criticism of Israeli policy with antisemitism.

    Anti-Israel behavior in the U.S. can be antisemitic, such as asserting that American Jews, because they are Jews, are responsible for Israeli state actions. And some American Jews support crackdowns on pro-Palestinian activists.

    However, characterizing antisemitism in the U.S. mostly in terms of speech and activism against the Israeli government augments the Trump administration’s neglect of dangerous right-wing antisemitism.

    Presidential adviser Elon Musk interviews via video the German right-wing party AfD leader Alice Weidel at AfD’s election campaign launch on Feb. 23, 2025.
    Hendrik Schmidt/picture alliance via Getty Images

    Polarization and antisemitism in the US

    Taken together, the politics pursued by Trump and the Netanyahu government combine to target legally protected speech in the U.S. more than they deter antisemitism.

    By contributing to polarization, the conflation of antisemitism with a wide range of speech critical of Israel could add to threats faced by Jews and other religious minorities. Those who wish to undermine work toward Palestinian-Israeli coexistence benefit from the charge that most pro-Palestinian activists are antisemitic. This worsens already visible divides among American Jews over how Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians squares with their Jewish identities.

    Supported by the most aggressive pro-Netanyahu groups, the Trump administration links concerns against antisemitism to efforts to deport immigrants who have expressed pro-Palestine views, such as Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk. Deporting people in the name of policing speech critical of Israel also runs a risk that Jews will be blamed for government actions many Americans find objectionable.

    Let’s be clear. Some pro-Palestinian activism embraces Jew-hatred, as the attacks in Washington and Boulder highlight. But lumping together as antisemitic most pro-Palestinian speech, as current American and Israeli leaders do, complicates seeing antisemitism clearly and countering it.

    In addition, most Americans – and Israelis – seek an end to the war, mounting deaths and humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Any potential to blur this with antisemitism augments the few, loud American voices that support one side in the conflict by dehumanizing the other side.

    Americans believe other minority groups face greater discrimination than Jews. Yet, antisemitism from diverse directions is the worst I have seen in my lifetime.

    As with any policy problem, the way to deal with this issue is to focus on all facets of the problem, including right-wing racism and Christian nationalism.

    Current national politics around antisemitism may serve many purposes. Yet most American Jews doubt that these policies actually protect them.

    David Mednicoff 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. Reducing American antisemitism requires more than condemning opposition to Israel and targeting elite universities – https://theconversation.com/reducing-american-antisemitism-requires-more-than-condemning-opposition-to-israel-and-targeting-elite-universities-257290

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: OPINION: Relief, Retention, and Responsibility—Why This Special Session Matters

    Source: US State of Missouri

    JUNE 2, 2025

    By Governor Mike Kehoe

    This special session is about showing up for our communities—from the families across our state picking up the pieces after devastating storms, to the employees and small businesses whose livelihoods depend on the jobs and economic activity provided by the sports franchise businesses on the western side of our state. It’s about proving that we can act swiftly to help those in crisis, while also making smart decisions that secure opportunity for the future.

    The General Assembly achieved so much for our state this spring, so I am both thankful for their efforts and optimistic that we can work together to use this rare opportunity to benefit the future of our state. Because helping Missourians today—and building the kind of future they deserve tomorrow—isn’t just possible; it’s the kind of leadership Missourians expect from us.

    Disaster Relief

    Every storm reveals what matters most and who we are here for. We’ve seen firsthand how Missourians weather hardships and show up for their neighbors with courage and compassion. Now, it’s our turn to meet that same standard. We have the chance to pull together – not as rivals, but as public servants united by purpose.

    In this special session, we are asking legislators to take direct action to provide financial relief and housing assistance to those affected by natural disasters across our state. One key provision is a new income tax deduction—capped at $5,000 per household per disaster—for insurance deductibles paid by homeowners and renters in disaster-affected areas.

    We’re also strengthening support for those in need by expanding eligibility for emergency grants and rental assistance through the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC). If passed by the General Assembly, the income eligibility threshold for these grants would be expanded from 50% to 75% of the regional Area Median Income. MHDC would also receive an additional $25 million appropriation to support the expanded disaster relief grands.

    Business Retention

    Sports teams have tremendous value beyond any financial measure. Our efforts are about retaining jobs, protecting local businesses, and preserving major economic drivers that benefit not just Kansas City, but the entire state.

    The Show Me Sports Investment Act is a step in the right direction for economic stability and job retention through tax credits and bonds that are performance-based and capped to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals right here in Missouri where they belong.

    Let me be clear: We are not handing out blank checks to billionaires.

    The legislation allows teams to independently bond money from the state based on the taxes they already contribute. Only money generated by the sports teams can be used to repay the bond and any new or existing revenue above the bond payment will go to the state as it currently stands. Finally, this legislation gives each team a one-time $50 million tax credit if they first spend $500 million of their own dollars on renovating their stadium.

    If we fail to act, Missouri stands to lose thousands of jobs and millions in annual revenue. This isn’t a giveaway—it’s a strategy to ensure Missouri remains competitive with other states that would gladly take this opportunity for themselves.

    Budgetary Responsibility

    This special session call also contains critical appropriations that didn’t make it across the finish line in the regular session, including $25 million in General Revenue funds for the Radioisotope Science Center at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR). The MURR has developed life-saving medicines for patients around the world, and Missouri is proud to be home to this incredible nuclear resource.

    We are also asking the General Assembly to appropriate funding from funds other than the General Revenue for various projects such as a new 200-bed mental health hospital in Kansas City, a new crime lab in Highway Patrol Troop E, new livestock and stalling barns at the Missouri State Fairgrounds, and various projects at parks and Missouri National Guard facilities across the state.

    We are not asking the General Assembly to forgive and forget the actions taken by members of an opposing party or chamber. Instead, we are asking them to set those feelings aside to get to work on issues that matter to the people we serve.

    We understand that tension doesn’t vanish with the gavels that close one session and open another. It lingers – in priorities left unresolved and personal strains that follow difficult debates. As a former legislator, I know it can be tough to move on from these moments. The echoes of disagreements still ripple beneath the surface. But we must turn the page.

    A special session is not just a procedural tool – it’s an invitation to rise above all the noise. It’s a chance to demonstrate that principled public servants can come together with resolve to do what’s right. Leadership isn’t proven by how loudly we defend our corners, but by how we willingly find solutions that work. Missourians are watching, and they’re ready for us to meet the moment.

    This special session isn’t just another item on the legislative calendar to check off – it’s a moment Missouri simply cannot afford to coast through. There are families still waiting for relief, jobs hanging in the balance, and communities counting on us to make wise, forward-thinking investments that won’t just fix short-term, hot-button problems – but shape a stronger future.

    It’s time to rise above the noise and govern with the people in mind. Because Missourians didn’t send us here to work for ourselves. We’re here to serve them.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Over 175 Students, Dozens of Staff at Exeter Job Corps in Limbo After Trump Halts Job Corps Operations

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Rhode Island Jack Reed

    EXETER, RI — Once again, President Donald Trump is trying to eliminate the federal Job Corps program, which offers free vocational and career-training for underserved youth to help produce skilled workers.  Job Corps serves low-income youth between the ages of 16 and 24 who face barriers to education and employment.

    A week after U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) called out the Trump Administration for effectively ‘pausing’ Job Corps enrollment by preventing new students from getting background checks, the Trump Administration formally announced a “phased pause in operations” for all Job Corps centers nationwide, including the center in Exeter. 

    Senator Reed, a member of the Appropriations Committee, denounced Trump’s Job Corps suspension as counterproductive and pledged to work on a bipartisan basis to reopen, improve, and continue to fund the centers, which teach eligible youth the skills they need to become employable and independent.

    Reed stated: “Job Corps helps expand economic opportunity and prepare young people for good-paying jobs in in-demand fields.  It literally helps people turn their lives around and we shouldn’t turn our back on this program, we should strengthen it to improve outcomes for more young people.  The Exeter Job Corps Center is a high performing center that helps produce skilled workers in some of the trades we need most, like submarine manufacturing.  I strongly oppose President Trump’s attempt to dismantle vital resources for young people seeking education and opportunity and I will work to prevent the elimination of Job Corps.”

    “The Trump Administration’s Job Corps pause is putting the economic futures of young people across the country on hold.  Students trying to enroll are stuck in limbo.  Job Corps offers young people a second chance to complete their high school education, receive technical training, and prepare for a career.  The Trump Administration is attempting to take that away, but we will work hard to reverse it, because it would be a real blow to these young people and our regional economy,” Reed continued.

    At a May 22 hearing of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-H), Senator Reed questioned U.S. Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer about the Trump Administrations efforts to terminate Job Corps.

    During the hearing, Reed noted: “And it’s not only critical to these young men and women to develop their talents and be productive members of our society, but also it’s a key aspect of our submarine production with their relationships to electric boat at Quonset Point Rhode Island. If we don’t have these trained and skilled workers, we will fall behind further and further in terms of submarine production, which will be a detrimental — is an understatement to our national security.”

    Earlier this week, Reed joined Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) in sending a letter to U.S. Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer requesting detailed information on Job Corps — including contracts, background check processing, and evaluation plans.  The bipartisan letter noted: “We would be pleased to work with you to improve Job Corps and make needed changes to the program, such as some of those that were included in the bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, but we expect you to faithfully implement the program with the resources we have appropriated.”

    Since 1964, Job Corps has served more than three million low-income youth and young adults in all parts of the country.

    This is not the first time President Trump has tried to terminate Job Corps. In 2019, during Trump’s first term, his Administration announced it would be closing Job Corp centers. But thanks to public outcry and bipartisan efforts from Reed, Collins, and other members of Congress, the federal government reversed those decisions.

    Exeter Job Corps Center, which opened in 2004, provides free job training in a variety of fields, including: computers, culinary arts, construction, hospitality, health fields, manufacturing, and other career paths, as well as transportation and dormitory-style housing for those who need it. The programs are aligned with industry credentials and include work-based learning.

    Enrollment at Exeter Job Corps Center, located at the site of the former Ladd Center off Route 2 in Exeter, with a capacity for 185 students, with rolling admissions throughout the year.  Exeter Job Corps Center employs a staff of about 85 and offers vocational training in 6 trades, a GED program, and two high school diploma programs. Most participants are from Rhode Island or neighboring states.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The surprising power of photography in ageing well

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tricia King, Senior Lecturer in Photography, University of the Sunshine Coast

    Marcia Grimm

    Older adults are often faced with lifestyle changes that can disrupt their sense of place and purpose. It may be the loss of a partner, downsizing their home, or moving to residential aged care. And these changes can come with loss of identity, uncertainty, disconnect and isolation.

    But what if I told you a simple camera could help alleviate some of these pains? I’ve been working with older adults for the past decade, using photography as a way of connecting with place, and the results have been transformational.

    The value of creative ageing

    Research has shown arts engagement can significantly enhance the mental wellbeing and overall health of older adults.

    Australia has responded by developing Creative Ageing Frameworks and the National Arts Health Framework, which position creative activity as valuable components of productive and healthy ageing.

    But while creative ageing programs are expanding, there are still many barriers to participation, including cost, accessibility, participants’ self-doubt, and a lack of skilled facilitators.

    This highlights a need for more inclusive approaches that use familiar tools – and that’s where photography comes in. Photography is a multi-sensory embodied practice. It allows us to be mindful, slow down, and look for beauty in everyday life. It can also prompt us to see the world differently.

    Recent research by my colleagues and I documents how taking photographs can increase older adults’ connection to place, creativity and overall wellbeing.

    Specifically, we explored the impact of photography as not so much a structured “art activity”, but as a practice of connecting to place and other people through group photo walks.

    Over the past 18 months we’ve been working with several groups of older adults who live in aged care and community settings. We found that framing the world through a lens can powerfully transform a photographer’s relationship to the environment, and their sense of agency within it.

    This practice of intentional “seeing” creates opportunities for discovery in even the most familiar surroundings.

    As one aged care resident, Kathleen, put it:

    It’s given me a new sense of enjoyment and purpose and changed how I look at both life and seeing places in here that I’ve never seen before.

    An image by Kathleen shows some colourful flowers in a window.

    Easy, meaningful and social

    So what makes photography particularly suited to older adults? Our research highlights some key factors.

    It’s accessible and familiar

    Photography has become one of the most democratic of creative pursuits. Most people carry a camera via their phone or tablet and know how to operate it. Older adults are no exception.

    This familiarity removes common barriers, such as the need to learn a new skill, and instead builds on existing knowledge. This makes photography an ideal creative expression; it requires no special training or equipment, and there is little room for doubt one’s capability.

    It’s meaningful

    Unlike many other creative activities offered to pass time, photography constitutes a meaningful activity for older adults. According to research, “meaningful” activities for older adults are those that are enjoyable, engaging, suited to individual skills, related to personal goals, and connected to identity.

    Photography can be exploratory, fun, and deeply personal. The outcomes can be shared with others, discussed, displayed and privately revisited, allowing connection to one’s self and the surrounding world.

    Seeing the familiar differently

    Photography honours a photographer’s life experience and perspectives. Each photograph becomes both a creative expression, and validation, of their unique viewpoint – and allows them to see the world through new eyes.

    During group photo walk sessions held for my research, participants expressed delight in sharing the same experience of visiting a familiar place, while capturing their own distinct vision of it.

    When we returned to discuss the sessions, the group formed collective narratives, with each person adding their own unique contribution. Photography offers social and community connection while celebrating individual creativity and perspective.

    The different versions of Russell Anderson’s “iDIDIT!” sculpture on a walk on the Sunshine Coast.

    Different images of Russell Anderson’s ‘iDIDIT!’ sculpture, taken on a walk on the Sunshine Coast.

    Being outside in the world

    While photography can be done anywhere, most people will head outside when exploring with a camera. This was particularly important for people living in aged care, who often didn’t venture out into the gardens.

    One participant, Margaret, was relearning how to walk after a stroke, and enjoyed our creative walks together.

    Margaret’s photograph of the mystery resident knitter’s work in the gardens.

    She grew more confident with each walk, her purpose being to see parts of the residential aged care facility that she’d never accessed and photographed before. Going outside with a camera allowed her to connect to her new home.

    Putting it into practice

    The beautiful thing about photography is that anyone can do it, and there is no right or wrong. You can simply start by slowing down and looking for interesting shadows, textures, or details.

    For those working with older adults, photography is an adaptable, low-cost activity that works across various settings and abilities. You can do it indoors, from a wheelchair, sitting on a wheelie walker, or while getting some exercise.

    Photo walks, in particular, are a great way for photographers to share experiences and connect.

    Focusing on various shadows can be a fun activity to do while on photo walks.
    Tricia King

    The author would like to acknowledge the contribution of Dr Daniel Wadsworth and Dr Leah Barclay for work which has supported some of the research in this article.

    – ref. The surprising power of photography in ageing well – https://theconversation.com/the-surprising-power-of-photography-in-ageing-well-257344

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Tax concessions on super need a rethink. These proposals would bring much needed reform

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Murphy, Visiting Fellow, Economics (modelling), Australian National University

    fizkes/Shutterstock

    The federal government has proposed an additional tax of 15% on the earnings made on super balances of over A$3 million, the so-called Division 296 tax. This has set off a highly politicised debate that has often shed more heat than light.

    Yet back in 2009, the wide-ranging Henry Review of the tax system cogently identified the three main problems with the super tax system and recommended reforms to fix them. The Henry Review recommendations, after some updating, are a better, more comprehensive solution than the controversial Division 296 tax.

    The three problems are:

    1. tax concessions for contributions are heavily skewed to high income earners

    2. with an ageing population, it is unsustainable to keep the retirement phase tax-free

    3. the system is so complex that most people do not fully understand it.

    It is critical to properly address these problems with how super is taxed because Australians now have a massive $4.1 trillion in superannuation savings.

    Let us look at the main Henry Review recommendations and then see how the proposed Division 296 tax stacks up. Unlike some super tax systems, our system does not tax super pension payments, so the two key issues are how we tax contributions and earnings.

    Tax concessions are skewed to high income earners

    Employers pay workers in two ways.

    First, they directly pay a cash salary that is taxed under a progressive income tax scale. The effective marginal tax rates, including the Medicare levy, rise in steps with income from 18% through to 32% (for the average wage earner), 39% and 47%.

    Second, employers pay a contribution on workers’ behalf into their superannuation fund. From July 1, under the superannuation guarantee charge (SGC), this contribution will rise to 12% of cash salary. The contribution is taxed at a flat 15% when it is made into a fund, regardless of what income tax bracket the worker is in.

    The way contributions are taxed is a massive concession for high income earners. They pay 47% tax on additional cash salary – but only 15% on their super contributions. In contrast, low income earners receive a tiny concession because the contributions tax rate of 15% is only just below their usual effective marginal tax rate of 18%.

    The Henry Review recommended that instead, everyone should receive the same rate of tax concession as the average wage earner. This is how that idea would work today.

    First, super contributions would be taxed in the hands of employees alongside their cash salary, rather than this tax being deducted by the super fund as is currently the case. Second, everyone would receive the same tax offset calculated as 17% of their contributions as their super tax concession.

    One side effect of this Henry recommendation is that the average wage earner would now be paying the 15% contributions tax out of their own pocket, instead of the super fund paying this tax on the member’s behalf.

    However, this loss of cash income can be avoided by tweaking the Henry recommendation.

    Under my modified recommendation, the superannuation guarantee rate would be reduced to 10%, employers would be encouraged to fully pass on their savings from this by increasing wages by 1.8%, and the tax offset rate would be lifted to 20%. These policy settings would maintain both cash incomes and super balances for the average wage earner.

    Pension mode should not be tax-free with an ageing population

    In accumulation mode, the current system taxes fund earnings at 15%, with a lower effective rate of 10% on capital gains. However, after you retire and your account changes from accumulation mode to pension mode, the tax on earnings stops and your pension benefits are also tax-free.

    The Henry Review recommended that earnings should continue to be taxed in pension mode in the same way as in accumulation mode. That way, retirees make a contribution to income tax revenue, which is important with an ageing population. A uniform earnings tax would also simplify what is an overly complex super tax system.

    The Henry Review also recommended the earnings tax rate be reduced to 7.5% because long-term saving through superannuation is desirable. However, that proposal is probably unaffordable today because of the budget deficit.

    The proposed change is just a patch-up job

    The proposed Division 296 tax further complicates the tax system by introducing a third tax treatment for earnings, whereas the Henry Review simplifies the system with a uniform earnings tax. The complexities of Division 296 can be seen from the 304-page explanatory memorandum.

    The new tax also raises less revenue than the Henry Review recommendations yet we are experiencing a structural budget deficit. The new tax is more open to avoidance than the Henry recommendations. The new tax also does nothing to address the problem that tax concessions for contributions are heavily skewed to high income earners.

    Taxing unrealised capital gains under the new tax may cause financial hardship for some retirees who are asset rich but income poor. The $3 million threshold for the new tax is not indexed, unlike all of the other super tax system thresholds.

    Overall, the proposed Division 296 tax is best seen as a rough attempt to counteract past policy errors that allowed excessive contributions into super.

    The federal government should first address the main problems with the super tax system by implementing the Henry Review recommendations, suitably updated. Then, a considerably reworked Division 296 tax could potentially play a useful supporting role.



    Read more:
    New taxes on super didn’t get much attention in the election campaign. But they could be tricky to implement

    Chris Murphy 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. Tax concessions on super need a rethink. These proposals would bring much needed reform – https://theconversation.com/tax-concessions-on-super-need-a-rethink-these-proposals-would-bring-much-needed-reform-257716

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Is the private hospital system collapsing? Here’s what the sector’s financial instability means for you

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yuting Zhang, Professor of Health Economics, The University of Melbourne

    lightpoet/Shutterstock

    Toowong Private Hospital in Brisbane is the latest hospital to succumb to financial pressures and will close its doors next week. The industry association attributes the psychiatric hospital’s closure to insufficient payments from and delayed funding negotiations with private insurers.

    Meanwhile, the future of Australia’s second-largest provide hospital provider, Healthscope, remains uncertain, after its parent company went into receivership last week.

    Healthscope’s 37 private hospitals are being kept afloat with a A$100 million loan and will continue to operate for now. But the hospitals will be sold to repay lenders, so their future depends on who buys and what the new owners decide to do.

    Across the board, private hospitals are struggling with soaring costs for staff and supplies, while private health insurance isn’t paying enough to cover these expenses.

    These underlying issues will not disappear magically. More private hospitals will face similar financial troubles and some will be forced to close. But we’re unlikely to see the collapse of the entire private sector.

    A mix of public and private

    Australia operates a unique public-private health-care mix, with around 700 public and 647 private hospitals.

    Public hospitals are largely government-owned and provide free care, funded by taxes. Private hospitals are owned and managed by private organisations, some of which are non-profit.

    The private health-care sector plays a large role in Australia, providing 41% of all hospitalisations, however 74% are same-day stays.

    Private hospitals are often smaller than public hospitals, without emergency departments, focusing on simpler, same-day care, and are more likely in cities. Some 83% of private hospitals are in metropolitan, 9% in regional centres and 8% in rural towns.

    In contrast, 27% of public hospitals are in the major cities, 57% in regional areas and 16% in remote areas.

    The role of private health insurance

    Access to private hospitals requires private health insurance.

    In 2022-23, the total A$21.5 billion was spent on private hospitals. Private health insurance covered about 45% ($9.7 billion), which comes from members’ premiums. Patients contributed 11% ($2.4 billion) in out-of-pocket costs.

    The government contributed a substantial 37% ($8 billion) mainly through Medicare. This is separate from the additional $8 billion the government provides annually as rebates to individuals for buying private health insurance.

    The majority of private hospitals are in metro areas.
    Ground Picture/Shutterstock

    A key issue is this rebate money doesn’t directly flow to private hospitals, leaving them vulnerable in negotiations with insurers, as we saw with Toowong Private Hospital.

    Evidence suggests these rebates might not be the most effective government investment. Experts, including me, have argued for direct funding into hospitals instead.

    So, as more private hospitals face troubles, what does this mean?

    Less choice and access for patients

    Patients will experience less choice and potentially harder access for specific types of care.

    In larger metropolitan areas with numerous private and public hospitals (including private wings in public hospitals), patients might switch to other private facilities or seek care as private patients in public hospitals.

    However, in smaller or rural areas with limited or no other private hospitals, choice diminishes significantly. In this case, you will need to reconsider whether you need to buy private health insurance.

    Currently, people earning over $97,000 (or families over $194,000 face an additional Medicare Levy Surcharge if they don’t hold private health insurance.

    This policy is not fair to those who have no access to private hospitals and should be changed.



    Read more:
    Who really benefits from private health insurance rebates? Not people who need cover the most

    While there might be slightly longer waits in the short-term for elective surgeries due to shifting patient loads, our analysis suggests this won’t be a major long-term problem. The primary constraint for wait times is often personnel, not facilities.

    If private hospitals close, doctors and nurses could potentially shift to public hospitals, helping to alleviate staffing shortages and reduce overall wait times.

    Impacts for the public system

    The impact on public emergency departments will be minimal, as most private hospitals lack them.

    Many private hospital admissions are same-day and for simpler procedures. So public hospitals and remaining private hospitals (that are not operating at full bed capacity) should be able to absorb this extra demand in the long run, if they can attract more staff previously employed (or even facilities) in the closing private hospitals.

    These hospitals will also receive additional revenue for these additional procedures.

    Public hospitals should be able to absorb the extra demand.
    Shutterstock

    Consequently, the effect on public hospital wait times for most conditions should not be substantial.

    However, some complex, long-stay, or specific mental health cases (such as those from Toowong) may be hard to absorb without additional supply of specialists and funding.

    What about health budgets?

    In areas where patients are absorbed into existing public hospital capacity or other private facilities, the direct impact on the health budget would be minimal.

    With more patients, the remaining private hospitals may gain more power to negotiate better funding contracts with insurance companies and achieve better supplier costs through economies of scale.

    In areas where private hospitals (or public hospitals offering private care) cease to be viable, and people drop their private health insurance cover to use public hospitals, the government would pay more directly into public hospitals. However, this increased cost would be partially offset by reduced expenditure on private health insurance rebates.

    Patients would also save money on premiums and out-of-pocket costs in private hospitals, though they would lose the choice of private care.

    Ultimately, where a private model isn’t financially sustainable, the government or taxpayers often end up bearing the cost anyway.

    Investing more directly in public hospitals in these areas, rather than relying on inefficient rebates, could be a more effective solution.



    Read more:
    Does private health insurance cut public hospital waiting lists? We found it barely makes a dent

    Yuting Zhang has received funding from the Australian Research Council (future fellowship project ID FT200100630), Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the Victorian Department of Health, National Health and Medical Research Council and Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network. In the past, Professor Zhang has received funding from several US institutes including the US National Institutes of Health, Commonwealth fund, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She has not received funding from for-profit industry including the private health insurance industry.

    – ref. Is the private hospital system collapsing? Here’s what the sector’s financial instability means for you – https://theconversation.com/is-the-private-hospital-system-collapsing-heres-what-the-sectors-financial-instability-means-for-you-257886

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –