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Category: Education

  • MIL-OSI USA: Another First: NASA Webb Identifies Frozen Water in Young Star System

    Source: NASA

    Is frozen water scattered in systems around other stars? Astronomers have long expected it is, partially based on previous detections of its gaseous form, water vapor, and its presence in our own solar system.
    Now there is definitive evidence: Researchers confirmed the presence of crystalline water ice in a dusty debris disk that orbits a Sun-like star 155 light-years away using detailed data known as spectra from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. (The term water ice specifies its makeup, since many other frozen molecules are also observed in space, such as carbon dioxide ice, or “dry ice.”) In 2008, data from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope hinted at the possibility of frozen water in this system.
    “Webb unambiguously detected not just water ice, but crystalline water ice, which is also found in locations like Saturn’s rings and icy bodies in our solar system’s Kuiper Belt,” said Chen Xie, the lead author of the new paper and an assistant research scientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
    All the frozen water Webb detected is paired with fine dust particles throughout the disk — like itsy-bitsy “dirty snowballs.” The results published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
    Astronomers have been waiting for this definitive data for decades. “When I was a graduate student 25 years ago, my advisor told me there should be ice in debris disks, but prior to Webb, we didn’t have instruments sensitive enough to make these observations,” said Christine Chen, a co-author and associate astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. “What’s most striking is that this data looks similar to the telescope’s other recent observations of Kuiper Belt objects in our own solar system.”
    Water ice is a vital ingredient in disks around young stars — it heavily influences the formation of giant planets and may also be delivered by small bodies like comets and asteroids to fully formed rocky planets. Now that researchers have detected water ice with Webb, they have opened the door for all researchers to study how these processes play out in new ways in many other planetary systems.

    The star, cataloged HD 181327, is significantly younger than our Sun. It’s estimated to be 23 million years old, compared to the Sun’s more mature 4.6 billion years. The star is slightly more massive than the Sun, and it’s hotter, which led to the formation of a slightly larger system around it.
    Webb’s observations confirm a significant gap between the star and its debris disk — a wide area that is free of dust. Farther out, its debris disk is similar to our solar system’s Kuiper Belt, where dwarf planets, comets, and other bits of ice and rock are found (and sometimes collide with one another). Billions of years ago, our Kuiper Belt was likely similar to this star’s debris disk.
    “HD 181327 is a very active system,” Chen said. “There are regular, ongoing collisions in its debris disk. When those icy bodies collide, they release tiny particles of dusty water ice that are perfectly sized for Webb to detect.”

    Water ice isn’t spread evenly throughout this system. The majority is found where it’s coldest and farthest from the star. “The outer area of the debris disk consists of over 20% water ice,” Xie said.
    The closer in the researchers looked, the less water ice they found. Toward the middle of the debris disk, Webb detected about 8% water ice. Here, it’s likely that frozen water particles are produced slightly faster than they are destroyed. In the area of the debris disk closest to the star, Webb detected almost none. It’s likely that the star’s ultraviolet light vaporizes the closest specks of water ice. It’s also possible that rocks known as planetesimals have “locked up” frozen water in their interiors, which Webb can’t detect.
    This team and many more researchers will continue to search for — and study — water ice in debris disks and actively forming planetary systems throughout our Milky Way galaxy. “The presence of water ice helps facilitate planet formation,” Xie said. “Icy materials may also ultimately be ‘delivered’ to terrestrial planets that may form over a couple hundred million years in systems like this.”
    The researchers observed HD 181327 with Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph), which is super-sensitive to extremely faint dust particles that can only be detected from space.
    The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
    To learn more about Webb, visit:
    https://science.nasa.gov/webb
    Downloads
    Click any image to open a larger version.
    View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
    View/Download the research results from the journal Nature.

    Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.govNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
    Claire Blome – cblome@stsci.eduSpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
    Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.eduSpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.

    View Webb images of other debris disks around Vega, Fomalhaut, Beta Pictoris, and AU Microscopii
    Learn more about spectroscopy
    Read more: Webb’s Near-infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec)
    More Webb News
    More Webb Images
    Webb Science Themes
    Webb Mission Page

    What is the Webb Telescope?
    SpacePlace for Kids
    En Español
    Ciencia de la NASA
    NASA en español 
    Space Place para niños

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Landmarks Illuminated on Buffalo Shooting Anniversary

    Source: US State of New York

    overnor Kathy Hochul today announced 15 State landmarks will be illuminated orange on the evening of May 14 to honor the lives taken and those impacted by the racially motivated mass shooting at Tops on Jefferson Avenue on May 14, 2022.

    “As a daughter of Buffalo, my heart continues to break for our 10 neighbors that were senselessly taken away from us and the pain that was inflicted across this community,” Governor Hochul said. “Buffalo is tough and resilient, and as we reflect on that tragic day, I remain steadfast in my dedication to helping the East Buffalo community heal and ensuring the memory of those we lost and the lives impacted will never be forgotten.”

    The following landmarks will be illuminated orange tonight:

    • One World Trade Center
    • Albany International Airport Gateway
    • Alfred E. Smith State Office Building
    • Empire State Plaza
    • Fairport Lift Bridge over the Erie Canal
    • Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge
    • Grand Central Terminal – Pershing Square Viaduct
    • Kosciuszko Bridge
    • Moynihan Train Hall
    • Niagara Falls
    • State Education Building
    • State Fairgrounds – Main Gate & Expo Center
    • The H. Carl McCall SUNY Building
    • The “Franklin D. Roosevelt” Mid-Hudson Bridge
    • Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park

    Governor Kathy Hochul, City of Buffalo Mayor Christopher P. Scanlon and members of the 5/14 Memorial Commission yesterday announced a major milestone for the permanent and living memorial to honor the lives affected by the 5/14 shooting. The 5/14 Memorial Commission identified 18 city-owned and privately-owned lots required for the construction of a permanent memorial, which have now been designated by the City of Buffalo for a unified site. The acquisition and designation of these parcels marks a critical step forward for the 5/14 Memorial Foundation Inc. to enter detailed phases of design, engineering, permitting and fundraising.

    The 5/14 Memorial Commission, established in October 2022 by Governor Kathy Hochul and then-Mayor Byron W. Brown, unveiled the final design for the memorial, titled “Seeing Us,” on May 13, 2024. Designed by Jin Young Song and Douglass Alligood, the memorial features ten interconnected stone pillars inscribed with the names of the lives taken and survivors, each with a unique arc and height. A sweeping support building will serve as a central hub for education, exhibitions, community activities and events, with an elevated Memorial Walk on its roof. The design was selected through a comprehensive public engagement process, including community meetings and surveys.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Doggett Honors Austin Students Headed to Our Nation’s Military Service Academies

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)

    Contact: Alexis.Torres@mail.house.gov

    Austin, Texas—Today, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) honored 13 Austin students whom he nominated for our nation’s military service academies. In a highly competitive selection process, these students have been admitted to the U.S. Military, Air Force, and Naval Academies.

    The students will receive a tuition-free education, which includes room and board, textbooks, and uniforms, as well as a guaranteed military job after graduation. A fully funded, four-year education at a military service academy is valued at upwards of $450,000.

    “This is by far my largest number of nominees accepted for academy admission ever. It shows that Austin is home to many talented and determined students who have already demonstrated success in their studies and extracurricular activities. They are ready to serve our country and obtain the education and experience needed to become our next generation of leaders,” said Rep. Doggett. “Every year, I look forward to making these nominations to help a select group of young Austinites achieve their dreams. Young people, usually current high school juniors, wishing to be considered for our next year-end round of nominations should contact my office.”

    The students and their parents were honored in a special ceremony in the historic LBJ Suite of the JJ Pickle Federal Building—President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Austin office, where he met with military and civilian leaders during his presidency.

    Rep. Doggett’s nominees attending the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, NY:

    • Tyler Letcher, a senior at Westlake High School
    • Mary Teal, a senior at St. Dominic Savio Catholic High School
    • Owen Baggish, a 2022 graduate of Westlake High School

    Rep. Doggett’s nominees attending the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO:

    • William Kugler, a senior at Westlake High School
    • Paxton Seghi, an Air Force soccer recruit and senior at Westwood High School
    • Maddox Brown, a 2024 graduate of Bowie High School and a NASA High School Aerospace Scholar
    • Benjamin Brophy, an Air Force soccer recruit and senior at St. Michael’s Catholic Prep School
    • Alexander Agrawal, a senior at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School
    • Arun Gandhi, a senior at Bowie High School
    • Ryan Gulandri, a senior at Bowie High School

    Rep. Doggett’s nominees attending the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD:

    • Oscar Bednar, a senior at Anderson High School
    • Angelina Gomez, a senior at Austin High School
    • Trent Gray, a senior at Austin High School

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA Observes First Visible-light Auroras at Mars

    Source: NASA

    On March 15, 2024, near the peak of the current solar cycle, the Sun produced a solar flare and an accompanying coronal mass ejection (CME), a massive explosion of gas and magnetic energy that carries with it large amounts of solar energetic particles. This solar activity led to stunning auroras across the solar system, including at Mars, where NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover made history by detecting them for the first time from the surface of another planet.

    “This exciting discovery opens up new possibilities for auroral research and confirms that auroras could be visible to future astronauts on Mars’ surface.” said Elise Knutsen, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oslo in Norway and lead author of the Science Advances study, which reported the detection.
    Picking the right aurora
    On Earth, auroras form when solar particles interact with the global magnetic field, funneling them to the poles where they collide with atmospheric gases and emit light. The most common color, green, is caused by excited oxygen atoms emitting light at a wavelength of 557.7 nanometers. For years, scientists have theorized that green light auroras could also exist on Mars but suggested they would be much fainter and harder to capture than the green auroras we see on Earth.
    Due to the Red Planet’s lack of a global magnetic field, Mars has different types of auroras than those we have on Earth. One of these is solar energetic particle (SEP) auroras, which NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) mission discovered in 2014. These occur when super-energetic particles from the Sun hit the Martian atmosphere, causing a reaction that makes the atmosphere glow across the whole night sky.
    While MAVEN had observed SEP auroras in ultraviolet light from orbit, this phenomenon had never been observed in visible light from the ground. Since SEPs typically occur during solar storms, which increase during solar maximum, Knutsen and her team set their sights on capturing visible images and spectra of SEP aurora from Mars’ surface at the peak of the Sun’s current solar cycle.
    Coordinating the picture-perfect moment
    Through modeling, Knutsen and her team determined the optimal angle for the Perseverance rover’s SuperCam spectrometer and Mastcam-Z camera to successfully observe the SEP aurora in visible light. With this observation strategy in place, it all came down to the timing and understanding of CMEs.
    “The trick was to pick a good CME, one that would accelerate and inject many charged particles into Mars’ atmosphere,” said Knutsen.
    That is where the teams at NASA’s Moon to Mars (M2M) Space Weather Analysis Office and the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), both located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, came in. The M2M team provides real-time analysis of solar eruptions to the CCMC for initiating simulations of CMEs to determine if they might impact current NASA missions. When the simulations suggest potential impacts, the team sends out an alert.
    At the University of California, Berkeley, space physicist Christina Lee received an alert from the M2M office about the March 15, 2024, CME. Lee, a member of the MAVEN mission team who serves as the space weather lead, determined there was a notable solar storm heading toward the Red Planet,which could arrive in a few days. She immediately issued the Mars Space Weather Alert Notification to currently operating Mars missions.
    “This allows the science teams of Perseverance and MAVEN to anticipate impacts of interplanetary CMEs and the associated SEPs,” said Lee.
    “When we saw the strength of this one,” Knutsen said, “we estimated it could trigger aurora bright enough for our instruments to detect.”
    A few days later, the CME impacted Mars, providing a lightshow for the rover to capture, showing the aurora to be nearly uniform across the sky at an emission wavelength of exactly 557.7 nm. To confirm the presence of SEPs during the aurora observation, the team looked to MAVEN’s SEP instrument, which was additionally corroborated by data from ESA’s (European Space Agency) Mars Express mission. Data from both missions confirmed that the rover team had managed to successfully catch a glimpse of the phenomenon in the very narrow time window available.
    “This was a fantastic example of cross-mission coordination. We all worked together quickly to facilitate this observation and are thrilled to have finally gotten a sneak peek of what astronauts will be able to see there some day,” said Shannon Curry, MAVEN principal investigator and research scientist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder).
    The future of aurora on Mars
    By coordinating the Perseverance observations with measurements from MAVEN’s SEP instrument, the teams could help each other determine that the observed 557.7 nm emission came from solar energetic particles. Since this is the same emission line as the green aurora on Earth, it is likely that future Martian astronauts would be able to see this type of aurora.
    “Perseverance’s observations of the visible-light aurora confirm a new way to study these phenomena that’s complementary to what we can observe with our Mars orbiters,” said Katie Stack Morgan, acting project scientist for Perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “A better understanding of auroras and the conditions around Mars that lead to their formation are especially important as we prepare to send human explorers there safely.”

    More About Perseverance and MAVEN
    The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio and NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
    The MAVEN mission, also part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio, is led by LASP at CU Boulder. It’s managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and was built and operated by Lockheed Martin Space, with navigation and network support from NASA’s JPL.
    —
    By Willow ReedLaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), University of Colorado Boulder
    Media Contact: 
    Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
    Headquarters, Washington
    202-358-1600
    karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov  
    Nancy N. JonesNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
    DC AgleJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-9011agle@jpl.nasa.gov

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New Lord Mayor of Westminster Elected at Full Council | Westminster City Council

    Source: City of Westminster

    Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg has been elected the new Right Worshipful Lord Mayor of Westminster following a vote at Full Council tonight (14th May).

    Speaking at the Mayor Making event held at Marylebone Town Hall, Cllr Dimoldenberg said:

    It is a huge honour and a privilege to serve as Lord Mayor; the culmination of my political career. We are lucky that so many different communities call Westminster their home and it will be a privilege to represent them all as their First Citizen. I hope during my time as Lord Mayor, I can meet as many people and communities as possible in all parts of Westminster”.

    Cllr Dimoldenberg has represented Hyde Park Ward since May 2022. He was first elected to Westminster City Council to represent Harrow Road Ward from 1982 to 1990 and was later elected to represent Queen’s Park Ward from 1997 to 2022. From 2022 to 2025, he was Cabinet Member for City Management and Air Quality, having previously been the Opposition’s City Management spokesperson. He was also the Leader of the Opposition from 1987-1990 and from 2004-2015, and has served on a wide range of committees, including as Chair of the Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

    He has chosen two charities to support throughout the year. These are the Avenues Youth Project a youth centre in Queens Park and Hotel School who provide training in the hospitality industry to those who have experienced homelessness. His chosen consorts for the mayoral year will be his wife Linda and two daughters, Amelia and Zoe. 

    Upon election, the new Lord Mayor said:

    I chose the Avenues Youth Project as one of my charities as I have known the organisation for over 25 years and am a strong supporter of the great work they do with young people in North Paddington.”

    “Hotel School is my other charity choice. I heard the founder, Jeremy Goring, give an inspirational talk about the practical ways in which Hotel School helps homeless and other vulnerable people learn the skills to build a career in the hospitality industry.”

    In his spare time, the Lord Mayor enjoys going to the cinema and theatre, watching Manchester United, and listening to jazz and brass band music. An avid historian, the new Lord Mayor has written five books on British and local Westminster political history. Born in Manchester, he moved to Westminster in 1973 and has been involved in Westminster politics ever since.

    During his term, he plans to be ‘the walking Lord Mayor’ with a programme of walks promoting environmental and personal wellbeing and encouraging residents to explore and learn more about their local area.

    At the special Full Council service, the Lord Mayor presented Cllr Robert Rigby with an illuminated Vote of Thanks together with a past Lord Mayor’s badge and a past Lady Mayoress badge to Emiko Murai Rigby.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Released lists shed light on Japanese germ warfare units’ activities in China

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

    TOKYO, May 14 (Xinhua) — The National Archives of Japan on Wednesday released lists of personnel of three biological warfare units of the Imperial Japanese Army.

    The documents contain detailed personal information on members of Units 1644, 8604 and 8609, including names, dates of birth, family register details, addresses and assignment details.

    These lists, originally under the control of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, were transferred to the National Archives in March 2024 and were included in the list of documents to be released to the public in March 2025.

    The documents were released at the request of researchers, including renowned bacteriological warfare expert and professor emeritus at the Shiga Prefectural University of Medical Sciences, Katsuo Nishiyama.

    Kazuo Nishiyama said Wednesday that the discovery of the lists disproves previous claims that the germ warfare units existed.

    During the invasion of China, the Japanese army formed several biological warfare units, including the infamous “Unit 731.” –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Decades of neglect: Migrant farm worker housing needs national regulatory standards

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By C. Susana Caxaj, Associate Professor, Nursing, Western University

    Housing for migrant workers in Western Canada. Many workers live in poorly maintained housing and face surveillance and harassment from employers. (Elise Hjalmarson/RAMA Okanagan)

    In today’s political climate, temporary migrants in Canada are being scapegoated for everything from rising grocery bills to the affordable housing crisis. Yet migrant workers, particularly farm workers, face a hidden housing crisis that needs urgent attention.

    Much of Canada’s ability to produce food hinges on hiring migrant agricultural workers from countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Jamaica and elsewhere. Yet, housing for migrant agricultural workers in Canada is often overcrowded, dangerous and undignified.

    Amid government inaction, our group of 29 researchers, clinicians and advocates with the Coalition for National Housing Standards for Migrant Agricultural Workers (CoNaMi), have developed a proposal for national housing standards. This work is backed by clinical experience, hundreds of interviews and surveys and migrant agricultural workers’ own advocacy.

    Inadequate housing

    When two of us — Anelyse and Susana — interviewed 151 migrants in Ontario and British Columbia as part of our research, workers described conditions of isolation, crowding, inadequate ventilation, poor maintenance and close proximity to hazards such as agrochemicals.

    Both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, many workers struggled to access health care, groceries and social services. In addition, their phone and internet access was often unreliable.

    Some workers reported employer-imposed restrictions on leaving the property, and bans on visitors. These living conditions pose serious risks to workers.

    Similarly to research led by the Centre for Climate Justice in British Columbia, we also encountered several workers who endured significant hardships as a result of extreme weather events.

    Consistent with recent research in Nova Scotia, we found that a lack of meaningful union representation, precarious status and low wages created coercive conditions in which workers felt forced to accept poor living conditions.

    Marginalization and exploitation

    As migrant workers typically live on the farms where they work, the lines between work and home can be blurred. This living arrangement often contributes to isolation and surveillance by employers. It may also enable harassment and abuse.

    Furthermore, migrants are geographically separated from their families for months or years at a time. Research that Adam has conducted in Atlantic Canada and Ontario, Jill in Québec and Susana in Ontario and British Columbia, outlines how poor housing conditions not only threaten workers’ health and well-being, but also contribute to their marginalization and exploitation.

    Workers often describe feeling demeaned and controlled, and they wonder why Canada, a country so willing to accept their labour, is so reluctant to accept their common humanity.

    In 2024, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery has described Canada’s temporary foreign worker program, accessed by migrant agricultural workers to come to Canada, as “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery,” a statement echoed by international human rights watchdog Amnesty International.

    Yet the federal government has failed to meaningfully improve housing conditions or establish clear, enforceable and mandatory standards. This inaction persists despite years of reviews, consultations and recommendations.

    In fact, a study commissioned by the federal government to review the possibility of a national housing standard for migrant agricultural workers in 2018 called for greater consistency in housing quality assessments.

    Academic experts have long called for a national housing standard, as well as proactive and unannounced housing inspections. Other professional and labour organizations have identified the need for greater inter-jurisdictional co-ordination and attention to issues of safety, pandemic preparedness, privacy and dignity.

    Furthermore, safeguarding housing quality requires policy changes that provide meaningful status and adequate collective bargaining representation to migrant workers, as these conditions underlie their vulnerability in housing.

    In the 2020 Auditor General of Canada report, the need for national minimum accommodation requirements for migrant agricultural workers was identified. However, housing remains a key concern for these workers who have not yet benefited from such proposed recommendations.

    National housing standard

    A national housing standard for migrant agricultural workers is a crucial step towards protecting their rights and mitigating their vulnerability. These standards must include:

    1. Appropriate and enforced housing standards: Ensure robust and proactive enforcement of housing standard. Living quarters must be well-constructed, safe and dignified.

    2. Privacy, security, access and freedom: Guarantee workers’ rights to privacy, movement, access to health and social services and freedom from surveillance. Workers must have access to transportation and be able to enjoy rest, leisure and a social life.

    3. Dignified living conditions: Safeguard basic rights to comfort, storage and personal care by prescribing minimum standards and ratios for private bedrooms, common areas, laundry and cooking facilities. Workers should have private bedrooms and reliable internet access.

    4. Health and safety in housing: Protect workers from the spread of illness, extreme weather events and other hazards through proper air conditioning, ventilation and reduced occupancy ratios for bathrooms and kitchens.

    5. Co-ordinated government leadership: Prevent different jurisdictions passing the buck by mandating co-ordination, data-sharing and training among federal, provincial and municipal governments. For example, inspectors should be trauma-informed and armed with strategies to mitigate implicit bias and to anticipate barriers this group faces because of their precarious status. The federal government must lead with adequate funding and policy reform to address barriers that prevent workers from advocating for decent housing.

    The evidence is clear. Canadian governments must raise the bar from the floor, and create national standards for migrant agricultural workers’ housing.

    C. Susana Caxaj has received Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to carry out this research. Previously, her work has been funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research, Vancouver Foundation and Western University. She is a co-founder and member of the Migrant Worker Health Expert Working Group.

    Anelyse Weiler receives funding from SSHRC and the Hari Sharma Foundation. She is a board member with the B.C. Employment Standards Coalition and is involved with the Worker Solidarity Network.

    J. Adam Perry receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    Jill Hanley receives funding from SSHRC and CIHR for her research on farmworkers. She is affiliated with the Immigrant Workers Centre and the SHERPA University Institute.

    – ref. Decades of neglect: Migrant farm worker housing needs national regulatory standards – https://theconversation.com/decades-of-neglect-migrant-farm-worker-housing-needs-national-regulatory-standards-255709

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Elmhurst University

    Source: UNISDR Disaster Risk Reduction

    Mission

    Located just west of Chicago, Elmhurst University combines a well-rounded academic experience with a focus on practical, hands-on learning. In our inclusive community, students gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to excel. Students collaborate in its inclusive community with faculty members who are scholars, practitioners and passionate teachers. Its students develop a versatile skillset that sets them up for enduring success in their career and beyond.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: A law change will expand who we remember on Anzac Day – the New Zealand Wars should be included too

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato

    The New Zealand Wars memorial in new Plymouth. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    Anzac Day has come and gone again. But – lest we forget – war and its consequences are not confined to single days in the calendar. Nor do we only remember those who fought at Gallipoli more than a century ago.

    This gradual expansion of the scope and meaning of April 25 is now about to grow further, with the Anzac Day Amendment Bill currently before parliament. Its goal is to make the commemoration “broader and more inclusive than it currently is”.

    Remembrance will soon include “other conflicts and persons who have served New Zealand in time of war or in warlike conflicts in the past and in the future that are not currently covered”.

    New Zealand personnel who served in United Nations missions, and who fought or died in training, will be recognised, as will civilians who served in war or warlike conflicts. Without doubt, it is an excellent initiative.

    The question is, does it go far enough? The obvious omission, if the new law is intended to be “broader” and include past wars, is the conflict that helped shape (and still shapes) the country we are today: the New Zealand Wars.

    Of course, including this pivotal period from 1843 to 1872 plays into the politics of today, given the land confiscations and other injustices the New Zealand Wars also represent. The question is whether their inclusion can avoid becoming a culture war in the process.

    How Anzac Day has grown

    The case for explicitly including the New Zealand Wars is strong. It is thought about 500 British and colonial troops, 250 of their Māori allies (sometimes known as kūpapa), and 2,000 Māori fighting against the Crown died in these conflicts.

    It was also during these wars that Australian and New Zealand military cooperation (the earliest form of Anzacs, in a sense) actually began. Around 2,500 Australian men enlisted for irregular New Zealand militia units, many encouraged by the offer of land grants in return for serving.

    Furthermore, Anzac Day has gradually grown over time to include wars and military conflicts beyond the tragedy in Turkey, first observed in 1916 when the government gazetted a half-day holiday (later made into a full public holiday in 1921) .

    The government again changed the law governing Anzac Day in 1949 to include World War II and the 11,500 New Zealand citizens who died in it. Significantly, it also added the South African/Boer War (which killed 59 New Zealanders), setting a precedent for bringing pre-first world war events into the frame.

    In 1966, Anzac Day’s scope grew again to recognise those “who at any time have given their lives for New Zealand and the British Empire or Commonwealth of Nations”. This allowed commemorations to cover the Cold War period, during which New Zealanders were killed in the Malayan Emergency (15), Korea (38) and Vietnam (37).

    Remembering without prejudice

    The counterargument to including the New Zealand Wars in an expanded Anzac Day might be that we already have a dedicated day of observance: Te Pūtake o te Riri on October 28, the date the Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand (precursor to the Treaty of Waitangi) was signed in 1835.

    First observed in 2018, the commemorations take place in different locations each year. And perhaps one day, young New Zealanders will talk about the events at Rangiriri, Gate Pā, Matawhero and Ngātapa in the same way they now talk about Gallipoli, Passchendaele, Crete and Monte Cassino.

    But the problem is that a two-tier system seems to have been created. Te Pūtake o te Riri was not made an official holiday and has struggled for wider recognition. While there is some public funding available, it is not on the scale of Anzac Day.

    Te Pūtake o te Riri can and will continue to evolve, and it’s focus on the causes and injustices of these conflicts should not be diminished.

    But an expanded and more inclusive Anzac Day, which recognises those who fought and died, would add another layer of meaning to a date long enshrined in the national calendar, similar to the way National Memorial Day in the United States encompasses their Civil War.

    We are now at a point in history when the injustices of the early colonial government have at least been acknowledged through the Treaty settlement process. It would make sense for the New Zealand Wars to be folded into the Anzac Day Amendment Bill.

    The words “lest we forget” should also apply to those who fell in the nation’s third most costly military conflict. That way we can remember all of the fallen, without prejudice.

    Public submissions on the Anzac Day Amendment Bill close on Thursday May 22.

    Alexander Gillespie 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. A law change will expand who we remember on Anzac Day – the New Zealand Wars should be included too – https://theconversation.com/a-law-change-will-expand-who-we-remember-on-anzac-day-the-new-zealand-wars-should-be-included-too-256682

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Andor showcases the power of music to oppose tyranny – an homage to the French Resistance

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Clare V. Church, Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London

    Warning: this article contains spoilers for Andor season two, up to episode nine.

    This week, many fans are diving into the final episodes of Andor season two on Disney+. Meanwhile, others are still reeling from last week’s powerful episode.

    Episodes seven through nine of the Star Wars spin-off show depicted the tragedy of the fictional Ghorman massacre and its political fallout. Set chronologically two years before Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, the episodes present the peaks of the Galactic Empire’s oppressive rule over the planet Ghorman, which culminates in a mass slaughter of peaceful Ghor protesters in the capital city’s main plaza.

    Episode eight, Who Are You?, is a poignant portrayal of propaganda, collective resistance and military force.

    A particularly emotive scene comes when Lezine (Thierry Godard) – a member of a local rebel group called the Ghorman Front – begins to sing in the midst of the Ghor’s demonstration. Soon, all members of the peaceful protest join Lezine’s chorus in an act that signals not aggression, but community.

    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    The moment echoes the French Resistance’s use of music to defy Nazi rule throughout the second world war. The French Resistance was a movement of civilians and combatants who opposed the German occupation of France.

    While the episode’s parallels to Earth-side conflicts throughout historical and modern eras do not start and stop with the French Resistance, it is worth unpacking these similarities further. Doing so reveals insights into the power of art — and specifically music – in fighting tyranny.

    The political parallels between Star Wars and Andor

    The Star Wars franchise has long been analysed for its political storytelling. The original trilogy, for instance, makes connections to the French Revolution, the second world war and the Vietnam war. There are overarching themes of colonialism, fascist dictatorship and guerrilla warfare.

    Andor is no exception. Showrunner Tony Gilroy uses two 12-episode seasons to narrate the birth of a rebellion and subsequent revolution. Critics and Star Wars pundits alike have commented on the show’s parallels to historical and contemporary conflicts, with think-pieces and social-media threads comparing season two’s plot points to the America’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Russo-Ukrainian war and even the conflict in Gaza.

    The Ghor sing their anthem as an act of defiance in Andor season two, episode eight.

    The Ghorman massacre has become an especially explosive talking point given its significance to the overall series. At the start of season two, it becomes clear that the Galactic empire requires a mineral – kalkite – that is unique to Ghorman to supply its “energy initiative” (the Death Star).

    The empire subsequently launches a devastating propaganda campaign to turn the galaxy against the Ghor. This is done in anticipation of eventually carrying out a genocide against the planet’s people to clear the path for unimpeded mineral extraction. In turn, it is the Ghorman massacre that prompts Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) to publicly declare her opposition to the “monstrous” Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and lead the Rebel Alliance – as seen in the films Rogue One (2016) and Episode IV – A New Hope (1977).

    In the lead-up to the Ghorman massacre, some of the Ghor initiate an underground resistance against the empire’s forces – often haphazard and disjointed, but resilient all the same. Several storytelling devices are used to evoke the spirit of the French Resistance.

    For one, Gilroy casts French actors to play many of the Ghorman Front leaders, including Ewens Abid, Thierry Godard and Caroline Vanier. Second, the Ghor language is based on a combination of French phonetics and Italian grammar. Combined with the accents of the Ghor actors, it conjures the feeling of the French language, without directly using its vocabulary.

    The costuming of the Ghor is also suggestive of second world war France, as they don trench coats and berets.

    Music as a tool against tyranny

    In the episode, the protesters sing the Ghor national anthem: We Are The Ghor! Its lyrics yield imagery of the “valley” and “highland”, as well as call upon its nationals to “raise your eyes to homeland skies”, “call your kin to come and sing”, and “tight the weave and roll the sleeve”.

    Describing the creation of the anthem, composer Nicholas Britell remarked that his and Gilroy’s goal was to “create something that felt timeless and authentic, but which could also feel like an emotional rallying cry”.

    The French national anthem, La Marseillaise, has served a similar mandate since its adoption in 1795. It was used as a political tool of resistance throughout the second world war.

    French soldiers are shown singing La Marseillaise in a scene from Casablanca (1942).

    Upon Germany’s defeat of France in 1940, the Nazi occupiers swiftly banned French citizens from singing La Marseillaise. In November 1940, however, thousands of French students and civilians marched around the Arc de Triomphe while chanting the anthem in a show of defiance. To end the display of unity, occupying forces violently dispersed the demonstration, injuring and arresting many.

    Members of the French Resistance also gained a second anthem throughout the war, titled Le Chant des Partisans, which was composed and performed by Anna Marly. Like We Are The Ghor!, the tune evokes rural landscapes, hard workers and kin, as well as issues demands to its listeners-in-arms to “sing” as one.

    There are many accounts of Le Chant being used to oppose Nazi rule. It was played, for instance, over the radio to signal an incoming message for the French Resistance. It was also reportedly hummed between members of the Maquis during sabotage operations. One account even relays the story of French fighters who whistled the song while they were forced by the Germans to dig their own graves.

    The trailer for season two of Andor.

    These examples from history and fantasy demonstrate the power of music to oppose tyranny. While in itself an act of nonviolence, singing in a group is a tool of community building – an indispensable component of overcoming authoritarianism. Tellingly, in an interview with DECIDER, Andor creator Gilroy explained that authoritarianism is always “about the destruction of community”.

    When you sing along with the crowd at a beloved artist’s concert or belt the anthem ahead of a heated sports match, it is the joy of community that is felt – a feeling of oneness among a swath of strangers. It is therefore in this musical moment – reminiscent of not just the French Resistance but of all movements that have deployed music in defiance – that the fictional realm of Andor’s Who Are You? tragically tells the truth.

    For fans, it aptly brings to bear the unshakeable capacity of singing to combat oppression, be it here on Earth, or in a galaxy, far, far away.

    Clare V. Church 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. Andor showcases the power of music to oppose tyranny – an homage to the French Resistance – https://theconversation.com/andor-showcases-the-power-of-music-to-oppose-tyranny-an-homage-to-the-french-resistance-256522

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Looking for mental health or wellness advice in a book? Check the author’s credentials first

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Joanna Pozzulo, Chancellor’s Professor, Psychology, Carleton University

    Not all the suggestions provided in self-help books are evidence-based or written by professionals with advanced training in psychology or have a medical degree. (Shutterstock)

    Self-help books are a mainstay of the non-fiction market. According to a 2022 study by BookNet Canada, self-help titles account for 17 per cent of non-fiction book sales.

    Some of these books can go on to sell millions of copies, but popularity doesn’t always equal credibility. Achieving bestseller status can reflect effective marketing campaigns, a large social media following or the appeal of personal storytelling rather than academic or clinical credentials.

    To better understand the current self-help landscape, my graduate student and I are reviewing New York Times bestsellers under the “Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous” category, which includes self-help books.

    Our preliminary analysis for April 2025 identified 22 relevant books, with only three written by authors with advanced training in psychology or medicine:

    This isn’t a new issue. A 2008 study examining 50 top-selling books directed at anxiety, depression and trauma found that more than half contained strategies that were not supported by evidence.

    Can self-help books help? It depends

    The effectiveness of a self-help book depends largely on the quality of its content and how it is used by readers.

    Books that draw on peer-reviewed research are more likely to offer reliable, evidence-based strategies for improving well-being.

    Peer review is a process in academic publishing where experts in a given field vet a research study’s quality before it’s published. This process helps ensure the research is of high quality and adheres to the standards of the discipline.



    Read more:
    Explainer: what is peer review?

    Evidence-based books are ones that rely on peer-reviewed research to support their claims and suggestions for improved well-being. Having psychological science make its way to the general public via self-help books can provide a useful resource to support well-being and self-improvement.

    In contrast, books that are based on someone’s opinion or their lived experiences have not had their ideas tested or verified. Although these books can contain useful information that were helpful to the author, they can also be problematic, as the ideas have not been empirically examined.

    Risks of non-evidence-based self-help books

    Relying on untested self-help strategies can delay people from seeking appropriate support for the challenges they face. When they turn to self-help books instead of seeking professional care, it can lead to worsening symptoms and missed opportunities for effective treatment.

    This can have serious consequences, particularly for those dealing with complex mental health challenges like anxiety, depression or trauma.

    Relying on untested self-help strategies can delay individuals from seeking appropriate support for the challenges they face.
    (Shutterstock)

    In addition, exposure to misinformation or disinformation can make matters worse. When such content circulates widely, like through best-selling books, it can reinforce harmful stereotypes or downplay the seriousness of psychological distress.

    This can perpetuate stigma and make people feel ashamed or reluctant to seek therapy, medical treatment or other professional help.



    Read more:
    Why do we fall for wellness scams? Our cultural biases and myths are often to blame

    At the same time, the booming global wellness industry has created new risks for consumers. In 2023, the wellness industry was valued at an estimated US$6.3 trillion.

    The size and growth of the industry has created fertile ground for wellness grifters to financially exploit people’s desire for better health and happiness.

    Community for science-based self-help readers

    If you’re interested in more evidence-based books for well-being and self-improvement, consider joining my Reading for Well-Being Community Book Club.

    Each month, members receive a newsletter announcing “Professor Pozzulo’s Pick” — an evidence-based book chosen by me that is focused on some dimension of well-being or self-improvement.

    The newsletter also provides access to a digital platform where my review will be posted, along with a discussion board where club members can share their thoughts about the book.

    Membership is free and sign-up is located here. You can also hear directly from the authors of the selected books through the Reading for Well-Being Podcast, which provides deeper insight into the evidence and ideas behind each book.

    Summer reading recommendations

    For readers seeking self-help books supported by research, here are four accessible and evidence-based suggestions:

    The Positive Shift: Mastering Mindset to Improve Happiness, Health, and Longevity by Psychologist Catherine A. Sanderson (2019, Published by BenBella Books).

    ‘The Positive Shift: Mastering Mindset to Improve Happiness, Health, and Longevity’ by Catherine A. Sanderson.
    (BenBella Books)

    Sanderson explains that our level of happiness, physical health and even our longevity is connected to how “we think about ourselves and our world around us.” In other words, our mindset.

    By making small changes, Sanderson shows how we can improve our happiness and physical and mental health. The book is full of straightforward, science-backed strategies to “shift your mindset.”

    One study Sanderson highlights found that people who read for more than 3.5 hours per week tended to live longer.

    Chatter: The Voice in our Head, Why it Matters, and How to Harness It by Ethan Kross (2021, Published by Crown Publishing Group).

    ‘Chatter: The Voice in Our Head’ by Ethan Kross.
    (Crown Publishing Group)

    Anyone who has found themselves lying awake in the middle of the night with endless thoughts of potential doom can likely relate to this book. In Chatter, psychologist Ethan Kross examines this inner voice.

    According to Kross, by changing the dialogue we have with ourselves, we can potentially change our lives and ultimately improve our health and well-being.

    The last section of the book, titled “The Tools,” includes several evidence-based strategies to reduce the negative loops that can run in our minds.

    Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most by Cassie Holmes (2022, published by Gallery Books).

    ‘Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most’ by Cassie Holmes.
    (Gallery Books)

    Do you ever feel like you never have the time for the things you want or need to do? Management professor Cassie Holmes writes that people who are “time poor” can “feel less happy and less satisfied with life.”

    Several studies have found that when people make time to do the things they want, they feel they have more time to do the things they need.

    Holmes encourages readers to reflect on how they spend their time. Although we can’t change the amount of time we have, we can re-prioritize how we spend it, and by doing so, improve our sense of well-being and life satisfaction.

    How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Katy Milkman (2021, published by Portfolio).

    ‘How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be’ by Katy Milkman.
    (Portfolio)

    If you feel like you need a change or find it hard to make a change last, you might be using an ineffective strategy or approach.

    Economist Katy Milkman reviews the science of how to make behaviour change last with several evidence-based strategies to help you reach your goals.

    Each chapter examines an internal obstacle that stands between people and their goals. By the end of the book, you’ll learn how to recognize these obstacles and what you can do to overcome them.

    Joanna Pozzulo receives funding from the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. Looking for mental health or wellness advice in a book? Check the author’s credentials first – https://theconversation.com/looking-for-mental-health-or-wellness-advice-in-a-book-check-the-authors-credentials-first-256082

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Welch Skewers Trump’s Trade Policy in Senate Finance Committee Hearing 

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today skewered the Trump Administration’s misguided trade policy, which has slowed economic growth, interrupted supply chains, and threatened access to markets for Vermont businesses, farms, and manufacturers. 
    “We’re getting hammered. Dairy is our big product, but we have a lot of vegetable growers. Our farmers get a lot of fertilizer from Canada and it’s going to go up like 25%. And I don’t care what the politics are of the farmer, whether they voted for Trump or voted for Harris—that’s a real hit, right?” asked Senator Welch. “Some of the issues, or the justification for tariffs, is to get the supply chain back here and I have some appreciation for that. But it’s not like, ‘the more we grow here, the better,’ right? We’re already doing that. We get higher costs, and that will make the markets more vulnerable. More farms will go out of business.”  
    Watch more here: 
    The Senate Finance Committee’s hearing featured testimony from representatives of the American Soybean Association, the Center for Strategic International Studies, the Semiconductor Industry Association, and AdvaMed. 
    This week, President Trump announced a new trade agreement with China that will temporarily reduce tariffs from 145% to 30%, while retaining several other newly imposed tariff categories. Even with this temporary reprieve, Americans still face an overall effective tariff rate of 17.8% —the highest since 1934.    
    Senator Welch has blasted Trump’s tariffs and trade war and shared stories from constituents about how President Trump’s economic policies have impacted their businesses, farms, and communities. Senator Welch has hosted roundtables in Stowe, Newport, St. Albans, and virtually, where he heard concerns and first-hand stories from Vermont and Canadian business leaders impacted by the trade war. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: Senator Reverend Warnock Delivers Commencement Address to Paine College’s Class of 2025 in Augusta

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock – Georgia

    ICYMI: Senator Reverend Warnock Delivers Commencement Address to Paine College’s Class of 2025 in Augusta

    On Sunday, Senator Reverend Warnock delivered the keynote commencement speech to Paine College’s Class of 2025 in Augusta, Georgia
    Senator Warnock encouraged the Class of 2025 to make their life’s project longer and larger than their lifespan, give themselves over to a mission that is larger than themselves
    Paine College is one of ten Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) in Georgia; Senator Reverend Warnock is a 1991 graduate of Morehouse College and is the only sitting U.S. Senators to graduate from an HBCU
    Senator Warnock has secured $664 million for Georgia’s HBCUs to date, part of $17 billion in federal investments championed by the Senator since 2021

    Above: Senator Warnock addresses the Class of 2025 at Paine College in Augusta, Georgia
    Photo credit: Rob Davis, Augusta Chronicle
    Augusta, Georgia – On Sunday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) delivered the commencement address for the Class of 2025 at Paine College in Augusta, Georgia. Paine College is one of ten Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) across Georgia. The Senator commended Paine College for its rich history, academic excellence, and commitment to fostering Black leadership across industries. 
    During the college’s 143rd commencement ceremony, Senator Warnock, an alum of Atlanta’s Morehouse College and the only sitting U.S. Senator to graduate from an HBCU, urged the graduates to make their life’s project longer and larger than their lifespan and give themselves over to a mission that is larger than themselves. In a moment in which there are those in power trying to silence the voices of young people, Senator Warnock charged the graduates to not allow them to silence their voices or squash the activist spirit that fuels peaceful protest in pursuit of social change. 
    In recognition of his lifelong commitment to service, moral leadership, and the pursuit of social justice, Paine College awarded Senator Warnock the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters during the ceremony, as well as a plaque of appreciation for delivering the keynote address.

    Above: Senator Warnock and Paine College President Dr. Lester McCorn
    Photo credit: Rob Davis, Augusta Chronicle
    Additionally, the Senator highlighted the important role of HBCUs in helping shape the next generation of changemakers, as well as his work to successfully secure $664 million in federal funding for Georgia’s HBCUs, part of $17 billion in investments the federal government has delivered to HBCU campuses throughout the nation since the Senator came to the Senate. 
    Over the weekend, Senator Warnock also addressed the Class of 2025 at Virginia Union University, an HBCU in Richmond, Virginia. 
    Watch video of Senator Reverend Warnock’s address to Paine College’s Class of 2025 HERE.
    Key excerpts from media coverage of Senator Warnock’s commencement address can be found below:
    FOX 54: Sen. Warnock joins Paine College’s 2025 graduation ceremony
    The campus of Paine College was filled with cheers and tears Sunday as graduates turned over their tassels. […] The commencement had prominent speakers, from alumni Michael Thurmond to Senator Raphael Warnock.
    The senator was the lead commencement speaker, and emphasized the need for more funding in college education, specifically HBCUs.
    “Let’s face it, these kids are coming out of school at a difficult time in our nation, we’ve got to invest in higher education, invest in Technical and Community Schools. I’m an HBCU graduate, and what you get in these schools is a commitment to bringing head and heart to the work of community service, social change,” said Senator Warnock.
    The Augusta Press: Sen. Raphael Warnock speaks at Paine College convocation ceremony 
    Paine College’s HEAL Complex welcomed hundreds of visitors, Sunday morning, mostly the families of students, as it celebrated its 143rd Commencement Convocation.
    Sen. Warnock, a close friend of McCorn’s and a fellow Morehouse alumnus, would have normally been speaking from the pulpit in Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church on Sunday. His exhortations to graduating students during his address were delivered with comparable enthusiasm.
    “As an HBCU (historically Black college/university) graduate, I know the unique history of places like Paine College. I know what you represent, I know the sacrifice that it took to get you here,” Warnock said.
    The senator referred to his own personal history in encouraging grads to persevere amid what he called “a difficult time in our nation.”
    “I wanted to recognize that it is difficult. Many of them had to work really hard, had to push against financial and other restraints just to get this far,” he said, alluding to his own work in Washington, including his membership in the Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. “But I hope that my own story might be an example, a model, of how you keep pushing even when you don’t have the answers, and when you’re working and doing the work very often, help comes in unexpected places, and I’m trying to do that work every single day in the United States Senate.”
    WRDW: Sen. Warnock gives keynote speech at Paine College graduation
    Despite the rainy day, Paine College still celebrated its graduates Sunday. Hundreds of students walked across the stage today to celebrate their academic achievements, and on Mother’s Day, nonetheless. Senator Raphael Warnock was the keynote speaker at commencement.
    “America is great because of its diversity, and here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to fight for that kid who was me growing up in public housing down in Savannah, GA. But I’m also going to fight for the poor, white rural kid who’s growing up in communities that have been too long forgotten about and overlooked,” said Warnock. 
    He also talked about what he has done to help schools like Paine College thrive.
    Interested media can view photos of Paine College’s commencement ceremony in the Augusta Chronicle HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Sen. Jason Anavitarte Issues Statement on the Passing of John Dean

    Source: US State of Georgia

    ATLANTA (May 14, 2025) — Today, Senator Jason Anavitarte (R–Dallas) issued a statement on the passing of John Dean:

    “Today, Jennifer and I are saddened by the passing of John Dean, a beloved member of our Paulding County community who did so much for our churches, schools, kids and countless citizens. John and I were elected to the Paulding County School Board together in 2018 as outsiders, to fight for kids and teachers across our county. One thing about John Dean is that he always put people first, and in his heart, he did what was best for our community without wavering one day. John was a U.S. Marine and lived those ideals daily as a war veteran who saw the best of America. He always shared those values with my family and countless others across West Georgia. On behalf of Jennifer and I, the Georgia Senate, and the Paulding County Legislative Delegation, we will be praying for his wife Sandra and the entire Dean family in the days to come. God bless.”

    # # # #

    Sen. Jason Anavitarte serves as Chairman of the Senate Majority Caucus. He represents the 31st Senate District, which includes Polk County and a portion of Paulding County. He may be reached via email at Jason.Anavitarte@senate.ga.gov.

    For all media inquiries, please reach out to SenatePressInquiries@senate.ga.gov.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Criticism of the bill on developing and promoting research and the excessive level of job insecurity faced by Italian researchers – E-000986/2025(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    The Commission is aware that the Ministry of University and Research presented to the Parliament in September 2024, the bill No 1240 ‘Provisions on the valorisation and promotion of research’ with the aim of further modifying the rules concerning the career of researchers, already reformed following the entry into force of the decree-law of 30 April 2022 ‘Further urgent measures for the implementation of the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP)’, converted with amendments into law of 29 June 2022, no. 79. The Commission, in the context of the implementation of the NRRP, maintains a constant dialogue with the Italian Authorities as well as stakeholders, including trade unions, and carefully monitors the implementation of the reforms and investments. At this stage, the bill no. 1240 has not been adopted. The Commission is not in a position to comment on a draft law.

    The Commission attaches high importance to promote job security and stability for researchers[1], within the remit of EU competences. These elements are addressed in the European framework for research careers and the European Charter for Researchers[2]. The Commission supports Member States and stakeholders in the implementation of the new framework through a set of initiatives.

    Regarding the possibility for the Commission to support the structural financing of pre-tenure and tenure-track university positions , it is a responsibility of the Member State to propose measures amending its Recovery and Resilience Plan, that the Commission can then assess in accordance with the Recovery and Resilience Facility (Regulation (EU) 2021/241).

    • [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/7282/oj/eng C/2024/7282, 05/12/2024.
    • [2] Council Recommendation of 18 December 2023 on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe.
    Last updated: 14 May 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Massive brain drain from EU universities is an existential threat to Europe’s future – E-001033/2025(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    Establishing measures to attract and retain talents and counter brain drain is a priority for the Commission, as human capital is fundamental for the competitiveness of research and innovation and of the European economy.

    The new European framework for research careers and the new European Charter for Researchers[1] support attractive careers and working conditions in universities and beyond, contributing to a balanced mobility of research talents between EU countries and sectors, to retaining European talents, and to attracting international ones.

    Horizon Europe[2] supports the implementation of the new framework, for example via the Human Resources Excellence in Research award[3], a Mutual Learning Exercise[4] supporting the exchange of good practices by Member States[5], and a Talent Ecosystems pilot call supporting attractive careers for early-career researchers[6]. Additional measures to ensure attractive careers are expected in the European Research Area (ERA) Policy Agenda 2025-2027[7] with Horizon Europe funding. A proposal for a legislative ERA Act is due in 2026, including measures to further strengthen researchers’ careers and mobility.

    The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)[8] play a pivotal role in retaining European researchers, bringing European talents back to Europe and attracting foreign ones[9]. A new Choose Europe MSCA action is foreseen to be launched in 2025 to provide excellent researchers coming to Europe with pathways to more stable and attractive employment.

    The European Universities alliances funded by Erasmus+ continue to support the European academic community, as they offer enhanced global visibility and attractive career development within the institutions of the alliances and across diverse ecosystems[10].

    • [1]  OJ C, C/2023/1640, 29.12.2023.
    • [2]  https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en .
    • [3]  https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/hrexcellenceaward.
    • [4] Under the Horizon Europe Policy Support Facility.
    • [5] https://projects.research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/en/statistics/policy-support-facility/psf-challenge/mutual-learning-exercise-research-careers .
    • [6] https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-02-03?isExactMatch=true&status=31094501,31094503,31094502&frameworkProgramme=43108390&callIdentifier=HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-02&order=ASC&pageNumber=1&pageSize=50&sortBy=identifier .
    • [7] Proposal for a Council Recommendation on the European Research Area Policy Agenda 2025-2027, COM(2025)0062 final.
    • [8] https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/ .
    • [9] See European Commission: AIT, CSES, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, PPMI, Dėlkutė, R. et al., Study on mobility flows of researchers in the context of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions — Analysis and recommendations towards a more balanced brain circulation across the European Research Area — Final report, Publications Office of the European Union, 2022, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/401134.
    • [10] European Commission: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, PPMI, Grumbinaitė, I., Colus, F. and Buitrago Carvajal, H., Report on the outcomes and transformational potential of the European Universities initiative, Publications Office of the European Union, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/32313.
    Last updated: 14 May 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Grade 1 historic building Haw Par Mansion guided tour features new virtual reality exhibition

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    Grade 1 historic building Haw Par Mansion guided tour features new virtual reality exhibition 
    Co-organised by the Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) of the Development Bureau (DEVB), the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Chu Hai College, the “Virtual Reality: The ‘Ten Courts of Hell’ of Tiger Balm Garden” exhibition is sponsored by the Aw Boon Haw Foundation and with venue support from the Commissioner for Heritage’s Office of the DEVB.
     
    Premised on a virtual reality metaverse platform developed by the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Chu Hai College, the exhibition focuses on reconstructing the former “Ten Courts of Hell” of the Tiger Balm Garden. Participants wearing virtual reality headsets can explore details of the murals of the “Ten Courts of Hell” and learn about the historical and cultural contexts through an interactive interface. There will also be display boards introducing the “Ten Courts of Hell” and videos of the project.
     
    The guided tours of the Haw Par Mansion are free of charge and conducted in Cantonese from Fridays to Sundays and on public holidays (except for the first three days of Lunar New Year). Four sessions will be held per day, and each session can accommodate 24 participants. Docents will guide participants through the private garden and the Mansion’s interior, introducing its history, architectural features and heritage value, followed by the “Virtual Reality: The ‘Ten Courts of Hell’ of Tiger Balm Garden” exhibition. The public can enrol in the guided tours through the AMO’s website (www.amo.gov.hk/en/visitor-centre/docent-services/public/haw-par-mansion/index.html 
    Located at No. 15A, Tai Hang Road, Hong Kong, the Haw Par Mansion was the residence of Mr Aw Boon Haw, an overseas Chinese merchant. It was accorded Grade 1 historic building status in 2009.
    Issued at HKT 18:17

    NNNN

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: Stefanik Delivers Remarks, Leads Press Conference on Educational Choice for Children Act

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (21st District of New York)

    ICYMI: Stefanik Delivers Remarks, Leads Press Conference on Educational Choice for Children Act | Press Releases | Congresswoman Elise Stefanik

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Empowering teen students to achieve more with Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Empowering teen students to achieve more with Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot

    Learn about Microsoft 365 Copilot availability for students aged 13 and older. Enhance learning with AI, enterprise protection, and IT controls.

    We’re excited to announce Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot availability for students aged 13 and older is coming this summer with enterprise data protection and IT controls. AI provides new and unique learning opportunities when integrated thoughtfully as a complement to established practices with input from educators. A study from Microsoft Research found that most students demonstrated remarkable curiosity when using AI, asking sophisticated questions that extended beyond their task at hand and led to deeper understanding. Further, the latest report from LinkedIn calls for action to equip the future workforce with AI and uniquely human skills as demand is rapidly increasing.

    We’re optimistic about the opportunities that lie ahead to help students advance their learning and build skills to prepare for success in their future. We’ll share impact and insights from our private preview for students aged 13 and older, product details, and resources to help you get started.

    Try Copilot Chat today

    Increasing student agency with Copilot Chat

    Throughout our preview, we heard feedback from K-12 institutions that reinforced the importance of providing training and support for educators and students, setting appropriate guidelines, and granting permission to experiment and learn together. They also demonstrated what’s possible when these needs are met. Read on for testimonials from Fulton County Schools and Brisbane Catholic Education, with more insights from our preview and resources later in the blog.

    Fulton County Schools first set a foundation with an AI task force, evaluation of over 200 use cases, and alignment on critical goals such as preparing students for their future and giving every student the opportunity to learn in a way that works best for them. After initial training, educators introduced Copilot Chat as a thought partner, provided coaching on topics like prompting, and quickly saw student confidence and curiosity increase. Students used it to ideate, receive immediate feedback without judgment, design multimedia projects, identify and fix code errors, adjust content based on their preferences or pace, and manage their time. Educators are also now able to challenge them more than ever, and students are using Copilot Chat as a force multiplier to bring their ideas and passions to life in ways they couldn’t previously imagine or access.

    Hear Johns Creek High School educators and students share their experience with Copilot Chat in their own words in the following video and read the full story.

    Read the Johns Creek High School story

    For Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE), the journey began with a plan to use AI to support their mission to teach, challenge, and transform in a time where there are increasing needs for reduction of administrative workload and evolution of learning models for digital-native students. Educators in an early trial reported saving an average of 9.3 hours per week which contributed to BCE’s interest and confidence to expand access more broadly. Copilot Chat increased student agency, enabled more project-based work, and accelerated a shift they’ve been trying to make for years to help students truly become learners, not just receivers of knowledge. Shane Tooley, Assistant Principal, noted, “The real promise of Copilot Chat isn’t efficiency—it’s cognition. It’s helping us push students beyond knowledge recall into evaluation, synthesis, and justification.”

    BCE’s success was built on strong leadership buy-in, aligning AI with broader strategic goals, ongoing measurement, and transparent engagement with opportunities for co-design. It sparked new ways of thinking, a culture of sharing, and thoughtful reflection on the future of education. Learn more about how BCE boosts agency and efficiency with Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot.

    My role has shifted from lesson planner to facilitator and mentor. One of the most powerful moments was watching a student ask Copilot Chat to reformat their assignment for dyslexia accessibility. That’s agency. That’s personalization. And it happened without pulling the teacher away from the rest of the class.

    Michael Parker, Student Academic Performance and Growth Leader, Trinity College

    Get started with Copilot Chat, learn more about Microsoft 365 Copilot

    Copilot Chat offers free, secure AI chat powered by GPT-4o and the ability to maintain IT control with enterprise data protection and management and is included with Microsoft 365. It also includes features like file upload, image generation, Copilot Pages, and agents. Learn more by reviewing our Copilot Chat documentation. Copilot Chat will be generally available for students aged 13 and older this summer and administrators will need to take additional steps to grant access based on their institution’s plans and preferences. We recommend administrators review the details on managing Copilot Chat access for students and begin taking the next steps to prepare today.

    Manage Copilot Chat access for students

    When you add a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, Copilot Chat becomes more powerful by drawing on the Microsoft Graph for access and understanding of your institutional data, working directly in productivity apps like Outlook, Microsoft Teams, PowerPoint, and Excel, and using advanced measurement and management tools. Microsoft 365 Copilot will be eligible to purchase as an add-on for students aged 13 and older with a Microsoft 365 subscription later in May 2025. Higher education institutions like Indiana University and Miami Dade College are already seeing the impact of Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance career readiness and increase student engagement.

    Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot offer enterprise data protection, the same enterprise terms available in our Microsoft 365 offerings. This means we secure your data, your data is private, your existing Microsoft 365 access controls and policies apply, you’re guarded against AI security and copyright risks, and your data isn’t used to train foundation models. Keeping your institutional data protected is important, and Copilot Chat has built-in safeguards to help ensure it stays that way. Additionally, IT administrators and security professionals can further secure, manage, and analyze the use of Copilot Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, and agents across their institution with the Copilot Control System.

    We look forward to hearing how Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot bring new opportunities to life for your students and institutions. A National 4-H Council survey with young people found that many kids (72%) are seeking support from adults in learning how to use these tools correctly and with confidence. The importance of helping students, educators, and staff adapt to an evolving future will increase and we’ll continue to provide access to the latest technology and relevant resources.

    Explore Microsoft Copilot for personal use

    Many students are not only starting to use AI tools in the classroom, but also at home and for purposes outside of schoolwork. Microsoft Copilot for individuals is designed to inform, entertain, and inspire and can be accessed for free with a Microsoft personal account. Learn more about default settings and policies to protect those aged 13 and older using Microsoft Copilot. Microsoft 365 Personal or Family is also available for use of productivity apps and credits for new AI features. Eligible students can receive a 50% discount on Microsoft 365 Personal and starting today—students in the United States can sign up for a free three-month trial.

    Additional insights from our preview

    We want to thank the inspiring educators, students, and institutional leaders who have shared their insights with us and agreed to share them more broadly with you. Participants emphasized the importance of professional development, guidelines, prompting practice, and creating space for transparency and sharing of successes and failures. Educators noticed Copilot Chat helped keep students engaged, immediately receive and act on feedback, improve their research and analysis process, explore counterarguments, and build AI skills that they’ve already begun using to their advantage in the hiring process and even teaching to their employers in part-time jobs. Students also appreciated time savings, providing relief from the stress of deadlines, through the ability to easily brainstorm, troubleshoot issues, ask unlimited questions, and learn at their own pace.

    Shane Tooley, Assistant Principal Curriculum at St. Peter Claver College says, “If you’re on the fence about AI, it comes down to this: Your students will surprise you. Given the chance, they’ll use AI ethically and meaningfully. The key is to guide them—not restrict them. Show them what good use looks like.”

    Students in Onslow County enjoyed interacting with Copilot Chat to learn more about historical figures, create questions geared towards their specific needs, and receive assistance while away from school. One educator reflected, “Using AI was an eye-opening experience, all I had ever heard or thought about were the negatives, but actually using it allowed me to see many of the wonderful benefits it can bring to our students’ educational experience.”

    Jorge Ledezma, Director of Educational Technology, Santa Margarita Catholic High School advises, “It’s crucial to provide AI literacy courses and resources so that students can learn how to use AI responsibly. Furthermore, emphasizing the importance of privacy and security when using AI tools is vital. This not only helps students understand the ethical implications but also ensures they are well-prepared to navigate the digital world safely.”

    In Saga Prefecture, ⁠instructors helped students use Copilot Chat to learn how to prompt AI tools, program 3D games in Python, resolve issues on their own, and take initiative to further explore their interests. They used Copilot Chat side by side with Microsoft MakeCode for easy access to troubleshooting support and the ability to ask deeper questions about the task at hand. Educators and leaders emphasized the importance of data protection when providing AI tools to their students.

    Dr. Faisal Al Busaidi, Director General of Information Technology, Ministry of Education Oman urges, “Successful adoption of Copilot Chat hinges on the preparedness of educators. I strongly encourage institutions to invest in structured training programs that empower teachers to guide students in using AI tools effectively and thoughtfully.”

    Educators at Our Lady of the Southern Cross College, Dalby noted that Copilot Chat fostered further independence and critical thinking for their students as they reflected on how to use AI effectively and responsibly in and outside of school. They also expressed the importance of providing training for students and staff, and that like any new technology in education—the experience will only be as good as the guidelines and learning sequence that accompany it.

    Lisvette Flores Quiñones, Department of Education, Puerto Rico shared “Copilot Chat’s use in education and document management has been incredibly beneficial in all teaching and learning processes, I look forward to continuing learning and exploring the potential of AI. I encourage my students to start with Copilot Chat, adjust information to their learning style, and to be specific in their prompts to achieve great results.”

    Resources to begin your AI journey

    Educators in our preview program consistently highlighted the need for training in AI rollout and we have several resources and tools to help you and your students get started:

    • AI Classroom Toolkit – Try this creative resource to introduce AI to teen students that blends engaging narrative stories with instructional information for an immersive and informative learning experience.
    • Copilot Chat Adoption Kit – Review the collection of resources for IT, educators, and guardians to get started with Copilot Chat.
    • Family Safety Toolkit – Learn more about online safety guidance for all ages, tools and tips, and resources we have developed over time through engagement with young people and digital safety partnerships.
    • Minecraft Education AI Foundations – Discover a set of accessible, interactive materials for building AI literacy such as curriculum, short videos, Minecraft lessons, and more.
    • Additional free AI tools – Explore the AI-enhanced Learning Accelerators to help students build foundational skills, GitHub Copilot to empower the next generation of developers, and Khan Academy Writing Coach.
    • FarmBeats for Students program expansion – Access a free, comprehensive course providing training on precision agriculture, data science, and AI designed for classrooms of all kinds.

    Discover even more resources for educators, leaders, and administrators:

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Republicans Shoot Down Rep. Peters’ Amendment to Save Medicaid for Millions of Needy Americans

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Scott Peters (52nd District of California)

    [embedded content]

    Washington, D.C. – Today, during the 17th hour of the marathon Energy and Commerce Committee meeting on the Republican tax plan, Representative Scott Peters (CA-50) offered an amendment to protect millions of Americans from being kicked off Medicaid. Their legislation would kick 13.7 million people off their healthcare, according to a new analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. In every state that has experimented with so-called “work requirements,” employment was not increased, but tens of thousands of people – many of whom are in fact working – have lost their healthcare. The Republican majority on the committee rejected Rep. Peters’ commonsense amendment to protect sick and uninsured Americans on a party-line vote of 23-28.  

     

    Speaking on his amendment, Rep. Peters stated, “I want to talk about what’s at stake today. Medicaid covers more than 72 million Americans. That includes nearly 40 million children, 7 million seniors, and 15 million people with disabilities. In my district alone, Medicaid (or Medi-Cal, as we call it), covers nearly one in five people. Across the San Diego region, that number is almost one in three. Medicaid helps working families who don’t get health insurance through their jobs, and it keeps struggling rural hospitals afloat. Medicaid provides treatment for opioid addiction and mental health services for those who need them the most. And let’s not forget: Medicaid is also the largest provider of long-term care in this country.” 

     

    He continued, “Look, I believe that work is valuable. It provides stability, dignity, and a path toward opportunity. I also believe deeply that every American who can work should be encouraged and supported in doing so. But time and again, when states have made these cuts, we have not seen increases in employment. But we have seen people lose health coverage, more red tape for doctors, and worse health outcomes.” 

     

    And he concluded, “People who should qualify still lose coverage. My constituents—veterans with post-traumatic stress injury, new mothers recovering from childbirth, or people managing chronic conditions often can’t make it through the reporting process in time. My Republican colleagues will point to the bill text and say people with disabilities are clearly exempted. Tragically, it already takes people who are disabled almost 8 months to receive a formal determination from the Social Security Administration. So, this bill would kick disabled people who have health care today off of their coverage. That’s because many of them are covered by the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, which the legislation before us would gut. And even for those who do work — often in low-wage, unstable jobs — these mandates create a penalty for workers. A missed shift, a lost job, or a technical error can trigger a cascade that ends in lost coverage. That’s not promoting work. It’s punishing job loss. When people lose Medicaid, they don’t stop getting sick. They just stop getting preventive care. They end up in the emergency room, often sicker, and often at greater cost to their family and the taxpayers.”  

     

    Watch Rep. Peters’ opening statement against the Republican tax plan here.  

    Watch Rep. Peters’ remarks on the Republican tax plan’s fossil fuel favoritism here.   

     

    CA-50 Medicaid Facts:  

    • 156,100 people in the district rely on Medicaid for health coverage—that’s 20 percent of all district residents. 
      • 34,700 children in the district are covered by Medicaid. 
      • 17,700 seniors in the district are covered by Medicaid. 
      • 64,900 adults in the district have Medicaid coverage through Medicaid expansion—that includes pregnant women who are able to access prenatal care sooner because of Medicaid expansion, parents, caretakers, veterans, people with substance use disorder and mental health treatment needs, and people with chronic conditions and disabilities. 
    • At least five hospitals in the district had negative operating margins in 2022. These hospitals would be especially hard-hit by cuts to Medicaid. For example: 
      • Scripps Mercy Hospital had a negative 25.3 percent operating margin—and nearly 22 percent of its revenue came from Medicaid. 
      • Sharp Coronado Hospital had a negative 3.5 percent operating margin—and over 36 percent of its revenue came from Medicaid. 
      • University of California San Diego Medical Center had a negative 2.4 percent operating margin—and nearly 19 percent of its revenue came from Medicaid. 
    • There are 54 health center delivery sites in the district that serve 529,944 patients. 
    • Those health centers and patients rely on Medicaid—statewide, 69 percent of health center patients rely on Medicaid for coverage. 
    • Health centers will not be able to stay open and provide the same care that they do today, with more uninsured and underinsured patients. They are already operating on thin margins—in 2023, nationally, nearly half of health centers had negative operating margins. 
    • Medicaid cuts put health centers at risk, including: 
      • Family Health Centers of San Diego 
      • Neighborhood Healthcare 
      • North County Health Project 
      • San Diego American Indian Health Centers 
      • St. Vincent De Paul Village 

     

    Read Rep. Peters full remarks below:  

     

    I want to talk about what’s at stake today. Medicaid covers more than 72 million Americans. That includes nearly 40 million children, 7 million seniors, and 15 million people with disabilities. 

      

    In my district alone, Medicaid (or Medi-Cal, as we call it), covers nearly one in five people. Across the San Diego region, that number is almost one in three.   

      

    Medicaid helps working families who don’t get health insurance through their jobs, and it keeps struggling rural hospitals afloat. 

      

    Medicaid provides treatment for opioid addiction and mental health services for those who need them the most. And let’s not forget: Medicaid is also the largest provider of long-term care in this country. 

      

    If you have a loved one who relies on home care or if you have a grandparent in a nursing home, Medicaid is there to make sure they get the care they need. 

     

    So, when Republicans propose slashing Medicaid, let’s be clear about what that really means. It means seniors will be kicked out of nursing homes. It means people with disabilities will lose their independence. It means kids will miss critical doctor visits. 

      

    We know this because we’ve seen it before. 

      

    Let’s look at Arkansas. When the state piloted its Medicaid work requirement, over 18,000 people lost coverage. 

      

    Not because they refused to work, but because they struggled to report their hours in a newly created, online-only portal. 

      

    The vast majority of these people had jobs. Many more were caring for disabled relatives, recovering from illness, or navigating mental health challenges. The problem is: the work requirement didn’t account for that. 

      

    Local doctors and clinics felt the strain almost immediately. Physicians reported longer waits. Patients missed their follow-up appointments. Emergency rooms saw increases in uncompensated care. 

      

    It wasn’t just those subject to the mandate who suffered—everyone in the system felt the impact including the elderly, pregnant women, children, and people with disabilities. 

      

    Similar results followed when Georgia experimented with its own mandate. The evidence is consistent: Republican policies will increase red tape and cut health care coverage for everyone, but they do not increase employment for “able-bodied” people. 

      

    Medicaid is the difference between children getting the medication they need or not. It’s the difference between a working mother affording prenatal care or risking her pregnancy. 

      

    It’s the difference between a senior being able to stay in their home or being forced into a nursing facility. 

      

    Look, I believe that work is valuable. It provides stability, dignity, and a path toward opportunity. I also believe deeply that every American who can work should be encouraged and supported in doing so. 

      

    But time and again, when states have made these cuts, we have not seen increases in employment. But we have seen people lose health coverage, more red tape for doctors, and worse health outcomes. 

      

    We’ve heard plenty of arguments today that there are exemptions for the elderly or people with disabilities. 

      

    The problem is: in practice, these exemptions are often poorly implemented and difficult to navigate, as is the bill before us. 

      

    People who should qualify still lose coverage. My constituents—veterans with post-traumatic stress injury, new mothers recovering from childbirth, or people managing chronic conditions often can’t make it through the reporting process in time. 

      

    My Republican colleagues will point to the bill text and say people with disabilities are clearly exempted.  

      

    Tragically, it already takes people who are disabled almost 8 months to receive a formal determination from the Social Security Administration. 

      

    So, this bill would kick disabled people who have health care today off of their coverage. 

      

    That’s because many of them are covered by the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, which the legislation before us would gut. 

      

    And even for those who do work—often in low-wage, unstable jobs—these mandates create a penalty for workers. 

      

    A missed shift, a lost job, or a technical error can trigger a cascade that ends in lost coverage. That’s not promoting work. It’s punishing job loss. 

      

    When people lose Medicaid, they don’t stop getting sick. They just stop getting preventive care. They end up in the emergency room, often sicker, and often at greater cost to their family and the taxpayers. 

      

    The evidence is overwhelming: these policies will drastically cut Medicaid funding and take health care away from more than 13 million Americans. 

      

    The short-term spending cuts we may see on our balance sheet will be outweighed by downstream costs—in both dollars and American lives. 

      

    We can do better than this, I encourage my colleagues to vote yes on my amendment. 

    ### 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump administration moves to undo appliance efficiency standards that save consumers billions, reduce pollution and fight climate change

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By David J. Vogel, Professor Emeritus of Business Ethics and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

    Refrigerators were the target of the very first energy efficiency standards for appliances, back in 1974. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

    The Trump administration has begun the process of undoing decades of regulations that improved energy efficiency in American household appliances. In a statement announcing the move, the U.S. Department of Energy said those regulations are “driving up costs and lowering quality of life for the American people.”

    The legality of this effort is problematic, however, as federal law prohibits the Department of Energy from reversing already approved appliance efficiency standards.

    And as a scholar of environmental regulations, I know those regulations were created to save energy and lower utility bills for consumers. I also know that many companies and consumers have supported federal regulation to strengthen energy efficiency standards and generally have opposed weakening them.

    The first government-set energy efficiency standards for appliances were issued by California in 1974. They were initially for refrigerators, the household appliance that used the most energy. Subsequently, several other household appliances were added. During the next decade, more states issued standards, as saving energy would help avoid the costs of constructing new power plants.

    The proliferation of state standards led the federal government to prohibit states from issuing appliance efficiency standards once the federal government had done so. The first federal standards, in 1987, applied to 13 household products, including refrigerators.

    Since then, the federal government has created standards for additional products and tightened existing ones. Those changes have progressively made home appliances and business and industrial equipment more efficient, saving consumers billions of dollars, decreasing air pollution from power plants and reducing carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change.

    Electric meters like these at a Mississippi apartment complex keep track of how much – or how little – electricity residents use.
    AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

    Broad application

    Federal data indicates that 40% of total U.S. energy consumption – and 28% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions – is attributable to household and industrial appliances, such as heating and cooling systems, refrigerators, lighting and various kinds of equipment, such as computers, printers and electric motors.

    At present, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Appliance and Equipment Standards Program covers more than 70 products that the government estimates consume about 90% of energy used in homes, 70% of energy in commercial buildings and 30% of energy used in industry. The government estimates the standards saved American consumers $105 billion just in 2024 – with a typical household saving about $576 over the expenses if there were no efficiency standards.

    Appliance energy efficiency standards now in place are cumulatively expected by the Department of Energy to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 2 billion metric tons over 30 years. That’s as much carbon dioxide as 15 million gas-powered cars would emit in that same period.

    Many federal standards, including on light bulbs, electric motors and commercial heating and cooling equipment, have been based on those previously adopted by one or more states. Federal law permits states to issue standards for products that the federal government has not yet regulated: As of 2024, 18 states had set efficiency rules for a total of 22 types of appliances, including computers and televisions.

    Additional benefits

    These appliance standards have reduced American energy use, including electricity. The existing national standards are projected to reduce overall national energy consumption by 10% between 2025 and 2035.

    Those standards also improve public health, because there is less need to build new fossil-fuel power plants or operate existing ones. As a result, power generators have been able to reduce their emissions of dangerous pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and mercury.

    Energy efficiency standards reduce the need for fossil fuel-powered electric plants, like this one in Ohio.
    Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    A popular policy

    Making appliances more energy efficient has proved popular. A national survey released by the Consumer Federation of America in 2018 found that 71% of Americans “support the idea that the government should set and update energy efficiency standards for appliances.” Significantly, 72% of those surveyed named lowering electrical bills and 57% stated that avoiding construction of new power plants to keep electricity rates from rising were important reasons to increase appliance efficiency.

    Support remains strong: A June 2024 YouGov poll found that 60% of Americans support tougher appliance efficiency standards.

    From 1987 through 2007, more than three-quarters of national appliance energy efficiency standards were passed into law by Congress, with the rest created by administrative processes under existing laws. These legal standards received bipartisan support and were signed into law by Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

    But more recently, partisanship has affected the setting of standards. Since 2008, whether standards improve or remain unchanged has depended on whether Democrats or Republicans occupied the White House.

    Political back-and-forth

    The Obama administration enacted among the most ambitious energy efficiency standards for appliances and equipment to date. New standards for commercial air conditioners and furnaces affected heating and cooling equipment for half of the square footage used by the nation’s businesses. The rules were projected to reduce energy costs to businesses by $167 billion over the life of the regulated products.

    But during the first Trump administration, improvements in existing standards came to a halt.

    When Joe Biden became president, his administration resumed issuing new standards, most notably phasing out incandescent light bulbs. The Biden administration also issued new standards for furnaces, residential water heaters, stoves, washing machines and refigerators.

    Electric induction stoves, like this one, are more energy efficient than gas stoves.
    Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images

    Controversy continues

    A new Biden rule for electric motors, which are widely used in manufacturing and processing equipment, incorporated recommendations from businesses and advocacy organizations. The rule was slated to take effect in 2028 and was expected to save businesses and consumers up to $8.8 billion over a 30-year period.

    But the Trump administration has withdrawn this standard, along with others issued by the Biden administration, including for ceiling fans, dehumidifers and external power supplies. The administration has postponed the effective dates of other standards that had been finalized before Trump took office. The administration said the reversals would “slash unnecessary red tape and regulations that raise prices, reduce consumer choice, and frustrate the American people.”

    Another set of politically controversial standards Biden introduced sought to encourage consumers to switch from stoves, furnaces and water heaters that use natural gas or propane to electric ones. The electric versions of those appliances are more energy efficient, while gas cooking emits toxic chemicals into the home. Switching can be expensive, and many consumers prefer gas-powered appliances, as of course does the natural gas industry, which has opposed these federal efforts.

    And in early April 2025, Republicans in Congress used their legislative authority to overturn the regulations for natural gas water heaters. But most of the federal standards – and all of the state ones – remain in effect, at least for now.

    This article, originally published April 17, 2025, was updated on May 14, 2025, to reflect the Trump administration’s latest move on efficiency standards.

    David J. Vogel 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. Trump administration moves to undo appliance efficiency standards that save consumers billions, reduce pollution and fight climate change – https://theconversation.com/trump-administration-moves-to-undo-appliance-efficiency-standards-that-save-consumers-billions-reduce-pollution-and-fight-climate-change-253673

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Federal Jury Convicts a Former Armed-Robber of Possessing a Firearm while on Supervised Release

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. – A federal jury convicted a Raleigh man on Tuesday on charges of possession of a firearm by a felon.  Cawajalin Kavin McNeil, age 30, will face up to 15 years of imprisonment when sentenced later this year.

    According to court records and evidence presented at trial, in the early morning hours of March 16, 2024, while heading home from work, an eyewitness saw McNeil in a confrontation with a young woman. When the eyewitness attempted to intervene, McNeil pointed a 9mm pistol at him.  He then backed away to his vehicle where he called 911 to report the incident near North Carolina State University.  The eyewitness described the black car the defendant got into, gave a nearly complete license plate number, and a physical description of McNeil.

    When Officers with the Raleigh Police Department (RPD) responded, they found McNeil seated in a black vehicle matching the description of the car from the eyewitness. That vehicle’s license plate was nearly an exact match of the one given to 911 and McNeil himself matched the description of the individual who had pointed the gun at the eyewitness. A search of the vehicle found a 9mm pistol wedged between the front passenger seat and the center console. The gun was similar to the gun pointed at the 911 caller. McNeil was then arrested for not having a conceal-carry permit.

    During processing at the Wake County Detention Center, officers located a razor blade in McNeil’s shoe and felt an unusual object near the defendant’s groin. A subsequent search uncovered a second 9mm pistol hidden in McNeil’s underwear. It was later determined that McNeil was a convicted felon who had previously plead guilty to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act Robbery and using and carrying a firearm in furtherance of a federal crime of violence. McNeil had been sentenced to 180 months in prison, had been released in November 2023, and was on supervised release when this incident occurred.

    Daniel P. Bubar, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle accepted the verdict. The RPD and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives are investigating the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Logan Liles is prosecuting the case.

    A copy of this press release is located on our website. Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No.5:24-cr-00271.

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: China-US trade war: the next 90 days are a big deal for Beijing as it seeks long-term solutions

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Chee Meng Tan, Assistant Professor of Business Economics, University of Nottingham

    Washington and Beijing have finally agreed a pause in their escalating trade war. US and Chinese officials announced in Geneva this week that US tariffs on Chinese goods would fall to 30%, while Chinese tariffs on US products would drop back to 10%.

    But the real battle to determine the fate of future US-Sino relations will be in negotiations that take place in the next 90 days. As both sides jostle to protect respective national interests, a win is possible for China. But that probably hinges on whether Donald Trump sees what’s on offer as a win for him as well.

    The 90-day deal to deescalate tariffs, which begins on May 14, includes significant concessions, and shows a willingness from both sides to negotiate.

    In early April, US tariffs on Chinese products had soared to 145%, while Beijing imposed a 125% tariff on US imports. US supermarkets had begun to warn of imminent stock shortages.

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

    Donald Trump was quick to claim a significant win from Monday’s deal, but so did China.

    Was this really a win for either side? So far the only progress is the roll back of tariffs to levels before the trade war intensified in April 2025.

    But for China, the latest tariff reduction has provided much needed, if short term, economic relief, even if no one knows what will happen after 90 days. The Chinese stock market rallied immediately after the announcement. China is attempting to repair its ailing economy fuelled by a real estate crisis that began in 2021. So, Beijing needs more triumphs of this sort, as it realises that fiscal stimulus may be ineffective in the face of overwhelming tariffs.

    So, what measures should Beijing take to ensure that US tariffs remain low, if not lower?

    Before the trade war between the US and China began in July 2018, tariffs imposed by Washington on Beijing and vice versa were relatively low. In January 2018, US tariffs on Chinese exports stood at 3.1%, while Chinese tariffs on US exports were at 8%. While the current 10% Chinese tariffs on US goods isn’t far from the pre-trade war level, the same cannot be said of US tariffs on Chinese goods, which stand at 30%.

    What’s a big win for China?

    For Beijing, a big win would be a return of the pre-trade war tariffs or the absence of tariffs entirely. But either outcome is highly unlikely.

    A major obstacle is Trump’s need for a political win. In early April this year, the US president has harshly criticised foreign nations for having “looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered” the US. To address this problem, the US has imposed a minimum tariff of 10% on all nations sending exports to the US. And if Washington were to reduce tariffs on Chinese products to under 10%, then he would be expected to do the same with the rest of the world.

    Even this 90-day deal with China could be seen as capitulation by Trump, who was already under pressure from the US stock market and business leaders to roll back the high tariffs on Chinese goods. But revising baseline tariffs downwards to below 10% for the rest of the world would be seen as an even greater cop out.

    This could eat into Trump’s political capital and harm the Republican party’s chances at midterm elections scheduled for 2026. All of which seems unlikely.

    Details of the US and China trade war pause start to be revealed.

    What China hopes is for future US tariffs to get back to around 10%. This represents a massive improvement from the previous 145% imposed by the White House in April this year. But for Washington to save face and claim a believable victory of its own to reduce tariffs, Beijing needs to offer something in return.

    Sticking points

    One significant issue affecting US-Sino relations is the drug fentanyl. According to the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), fentanyl, which is responsible for tens of thousands of US deaths each year, comes primarily from China and Mexico.

    Washington expects Beijing to do more to stem the flow of the drug and chemicals used to make the drug from flowing into the US. To push China to take action on this, the US imposed a 30% tariff on China instead of the baseline 10% it has put on all other nations.

    Beijing sees things differently and claimed that Washington is engaging in a “smear campaign” and aims to “shift blame” on China for not doing enough when the country has some of the strictest drug laws in the world.

    Trump sees the fentanyl problem as a national security issue, and says China needs to provide sufficient concessions in stemming the outflow of the drug so that the White House can justify the lowering of tariffs below the existing 30%.

    But China can do more to secure lower tariffs. As part of the present trade deal, China has agreed to lift its export ban of critical minerals to the US. This is a crucial for the US as these items are essential in manufacturing advanced weaponry.

    If Beijing can guarantee the flow of critical minerals to the US, and assure its support for US agriculture, an important political support base for Trump, then it is likely that a Trump administration would lower, and more importantly, maintain these tariffs in the foreseeable future.

    China probably will want to hedge its bets. It needs to engage with the US and lower US tariffs as much as possible, but will want to look at other options, rather than relying on an unpredictable Trump. It will look to increase its trade with other significant regional players such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an economic bloc that promotes economic growth among its member nations.

    Ultimately, China needs policy continuity from Washington. Without it, any plans that it has in recovering its sluggish economy won’t work.

    But like any good trader, Trump will likely find it difficult to pass up a good deal, especially when the US has to deal with its own economic problems. So if Beijing can find a way to make a deal that works and brings a symbolic win for both sides, it is likely to get Trump’s attention.

    Chee Meng Tan 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. China-US trade war: the next 90 days are a big deal for Beijing as it seeks long-term solutions – https://theconversation.com/china-us-trade-war-the-next-90-days-are-a-big-deal-for-beijing-as-it-seeks-long-term-solutions-256535

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Peter Sullivan murder conviction quashed after 38 years in jail – it would be a mistake to see his case as a bizarre, one-off

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Brian Thornton, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, University of Winchester

    Peter Sullivan has had his conviction for the murder of Diane Sindall quashed. He is not the Beast of Birkenhead. He is an innocent man who got ensnared in a malfunctioning system that then took 38 years to admit its mistake.

    He was wrongly convicted in 1987 for the brutal attack on the part-time pub worker. The 21-year-old was beaten to death and sexually assaulted as she walked home after a shift in Bebington, Merseyside.

    Sullivan is now 68 and has lost the best years of his life. Remarkably, in a statement read by his lawyer after his conviction was overturned he said he was “not angry, not bitter”. He said he had experienced horrors but would not dwell on them: “I’ve got to make the most of what is left of the existence I am granted in this world.”

    Given he’s the victim of the longest miscarriage of justice experienced by a living inmate in the UK, no one would begrudge Sullivan that.

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    But it would be a mistake to see his case as a bizarre, one-off. In March I wrote in detail about how the English criminal justice system continually betrays victims of injustice – from cases like the Birmingham six and the Guildford four to the hundreds of victims of the Post Office scandal.

    There are also immediate parallels to be made with two other miscarriage of justice cases – Victor Nealon and Andrew Malkinson.



    Read more:
    Convicting the innocent: how a rotten system ensures miscarriages of justice will continue

    The Sullivan, Malkinson, Nealon cases were all exposed as miscarriages of justice thanks to new DNA evidence, but only after a reluctant and incurious appeal system was dragged kicking and screaming into agreeing to new forensic testing.

    Malkinson was wrongly convicted of rape and spent 17 years in prison. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) twice rejected his submissions that he was innocent, and he was only cleared when his own lawyers tracked down DNA evidence that proved his innocence.

    Nealon who was wrongfully convicted of attempted rape spent an additional ten years in prison because the CCRC refused to carry out DNA tests that would have proved his innocence. He applied to the CCRC twice but was rejected both times.

    In the Sullivan case, the CCRC feels it deserves credit for ordering the retesting that led to his exoneration, and it does. But it’s worth noting that he applied to the CCRC in 2021 and it took until now for him to be freed.

    No compensation

    Justice delayed is justice denied and all three men spent unnecessary years of their lives behind bars thanks to a sluggish and often inept appeals system.

    It took decades, but Sullivan is now a free man. He leaves prison with £89 in his pocket, and that’s it. There will be no automatic compensation, no system that eases him back into ordinary life.

    When Victor Nealon was released after 17 years in prison, he would have been homeless if it were not for the kindness of a journalist who allowed him to sleep on his couch. Nealon has never received compensation. After multiple rejections he and Sam Hallam, another miscarriage of justice victim who was accused of murder, took their claims for compensation all the way to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). They lost.

    The judges at the ECHR concluded that it was virtually impossible for victims of miscarriage of justice to receive compensation in the UK, noting that 93% of people who applied for compensation were rejected. The two men have never seen a penny of compensation.

    But it appears that Malkinson may be one of the lucky 7% who do. It has been reported that the Ministry of Justice is to pay him “a significant sum” and no one in their right mind would object to Malkinson receiving compensation. He is an innocent man who spent 17 wasted years in prison.

    Hallam, Nealon and so many more are also innocent but have been refused compensation. Why?

    It is difficult to come to any other conclusion than Malkinson is being compensated because of the media coverage his case attracted. Malkinson is a very impressive person – erudite, thoughtful and reasonable – someone capable of guest editing the Today programme. His case, along with his criticisms, threw the CCRC into crisis and led to the resignation of its chair. But not everyone can be Andrew Malkinson, and they shouldn’t have to be.

    Sullivan is a very different person. “He’s a very quiet, private man,” his lawyer told the BBC. He has so far shunned the media and it’s clear that he will not have the same high profile as Malkinson. His story will fade as the news agenda moves on and there will be a danger that the lessons from this case will be ignored or forgotten.

    For example, Sullivan’s case is a reminder that there are still people in prison who were jailed based on false confessions, and these cases should be reviewed urgently.

    And the project announced by the CCRC to identify cases where new forensic testing could provide fresh evidence needs to happen urgently. As Chris Henley KC, the lawyer who led a review into the CCRC’s handling of the Malkinson case, said, more miscarriages of justice cases are “inevitable” and so it is better to identify them as quickly as possible. No need for more innocent people to languish unnecessarily in prison.

    Ultimately, the main lesson for the criminal justice system to learn is humility.
    If a plane crashes, accident investigators will painstakingly piece the wreckage back together to identify what went wrong. If there is an infectious outbreak, medical experts will urgently seek out the source. They do this so that they can find out what went wrong and avoid future tragedies.

    But somehow the criminal justice system appears to feel it is above this approach, despite the fact that Peter Sullivan was failed by the police, by the legal system, courts and the Court of Appeal. As Henley said: “I think that there is a fundamental problem in relation to our appeal system generally, that it just won’t face up to the fact that mistakes can be made. It stubbornly wants to stick to the original flawed conviction.”

    But first and foremost, Peter Sullivan must receive the compensation he deserves. He was wronged and the state should swiftly and fairly do what it can to make that right.

    Brian Thornton 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. Peter Sullivan murder conviction quashed after 38 years in jail – it would be a mistake to see his case as a bizarre, one-off – https://theconversation.com/peter-sullivan-murder-conviction-quashed-after-38-years-in-jail-it-would-be-a-mistake-to-see-his-case-as-a-bizarre-one-off-256723

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Universities and social care depend on immigration. The UK government’s plans could be an economic own goal

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tom Montgomery, Lecturer in Work and Organisations, University of Stirling

    James Jiao/Shutterstock

    The recent launch of plans to reform the UK’s immigration system reflects the government’s effort to regain the initiative on this issue. But looking at the finer detail of migration to the UK shows restrictions introduced by the previous government, particularly around visas for social care workers and international students, have already led to fewer people arriving in the UK.

    What’s more, these latest proposals risk worsening crises in these key sectors. In adult social care and higher education, accelerating the decline in the numbers of migrants could create, rather than solve, problems for the government.

    The government argues there is a need to move away from the reliance on migrant workers in the UK’s adult social care sector. It has announced the closure of a visa route to new applications.

    But in its new white paper laying out its policy changes, the government acknowledges that following the tightening of the health and care worker visa route (particularly in terms of bringing dependants to the UK) the number of these visas granted for both main applicants and dependants fell by 68% in 2024 compared to the previous year. This means that, even before any new restrictions, fewer workers were arriving to plug the staffing shortages in the sector.

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    Keir Starmer’s government rightly points out that there have been longstanding issues of recruitment and retention in the social care sector across the UK. After all, it is often associated with poor pay and conditions.

    The government also highlights initiatives to address worker shortages, such as the independent commission into adult social care as well as proposed fair pay agreements. But care sector bodies such as Care England say the measures will not arrive in time and that international recruitment is being cut off before a solution is in place.

    Trade unions in the sector, including Unison, have also highlighted how migrant workers have been crucial for the sustainability of delivering care across the UK.

    Pay remains stubbornly low in the social care sector.
    Pressmaster/Shutterstock

    This points to the potential destabilising effect the white paper may have for a sector already in crisis. Attracting UK citizens to work in social care will also be difficult considering the stubbornly low pay for what can be a challenging job.

    Added to this, opportunities for pay progression are often limited. Care workers in England with five or more years’ experience are on average earning only around 10p more per hour than those with less than a year of experience. Research also indicates how attracting young people to a career in care is particularly difficult.

    The crisis in higher education

    Just as Starmer could blame the crisis in social care on the previous government, the same could be said for the emergency that is engulfing higher education.

    Over the past 15 years there has been a clear shift in the balance of funding for universities away from government grants and towards income from fees. Fee income from international students has been declining, especially since January 2024 in part due a tightening of restrictions by the previous government, such as students bringing family members with them.

    Debates around funding in the sector are taking place against the backdrop of institutions across the UK facing budget deficits and announcements of thousands of redundancies.

    The UK sector is clearly in a fragile state, and dependent on income from overseas students. But the government has indicated it wants to tighten requirements for recruiting international students and reduce students’ ability to remain in the UK after their studies to 18 months.

    It is also exploring a levy on UK higher education providers’ income from international students. These moves were said to be in response to the “misuse and exploitation” of student visas.

    These new measures have understandably caused alarm in the sector. Many institutions are still trying to convince students from around the world that the UK should be their destination for study, particularly when political developments may have made the US less attractive.

    Representatives such as the sector body Universities UK have asked the government to consider the damage a levy could do to the appeal of the UK higher education market. The University and College Union has also warned that moves to deter international students could lead to UK “universities going under”.

    In these ways, the white paper may have sought to see off political challenge, but it could instead expose the government to risk. The restrictions proposed in the white paper in relation to social care and higher education could easily worsen the crises in these sectors.

    Thousands of redundancies in the higher education sector and the shrinking of these institutions could also have a huge negative effect on local economies across the UK given the economic benefits that universities bring.

    And the measures will also have implications for Wales and Scotland, both due to hold elections next year. Recent polling indicates that support for pro-independence parties is surging, as Plaid Cymru and the SNP position themselves as the counterweight to further restrictions on immigration

    The immigration white paper has been an effort by the prime minister and his advisers to seize short-term political advantage. In the long term it could prove to be an economic own goal.

    Tom Montgomery works in higher education. He has conducted research on issues of social care, migration and labour markets that has been funded by the European Commission.

    – ref. Universities and social care depend on immigration. The UK government’s plans could be an economic own goal – https://theconversation.com/universities-and-social-care-depend-on-immigration-the-uk-governments-plans-could-be-an-economic-own-goal-256707

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Who is Project 2025 co-author Russ Vought and what is his influence on Trump?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dafydd Townley, Teaching Fellow in US politics and international security, University of Portsmouth

    While Elon Musk has clearly been a major influence on the Trump administration, the less well known, but arguably more influential, power behind the presidency is Russell (usually Russ) Vought. Vought is the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) – the nerve centre of the administration’s sweeping changes.

    Vought is also rumoured to be about to take over running the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) from Musk.

    Unlike Musk, Vought acts mostly outside the media spotlight. He is fully committed to a radical overhaul of the way the US presidency works – and his deep religious convictions have led him to believe there should be more Christianity embedded in government and public life.

    He has vowed to “be the person that crushes the deep state”, and was part of the first Trump administration, where he held the position of OMB deputy director – and, briefly, director.

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    Vought worked with Trump in his first
    term on executive order 13957, which aimed to reclassify thousands of policy jobs within the federal government. This was designed to allow the White House to quickly change who was employed in these roles.

    This was subsequently revoked by the Biden administration. But Trump issued a similar executive order 14171 in January, which will implement quicker hiring and firing procedures. The Office of Personnel Management estimates that this could affect 50,000 federal roles.

    In an interview with conservative commentator and podcaster Tucker Carlson, Vought said that this was necessary for the White House to “retain control” of the agencies under its command. Without it, he claimed, ideological “opponents” within the agencies had the power to diminish the efficiency of White House initiatives. And his role as head of the OMB, he argued, was “to tame the bureaucracy, the administrative state”.

    During the Biden presidency, Vought was one of the main authors – credited as the key architect – of the Heritage Foundation’s influential Project 2025, widely seen as the blueprint for Trump’s second term of office. The 900-page document, whose full title is Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, was a major talking point during last year’s presidential election campaign.

    Throughout the campaign, Trump strenuously denied Democrat accusations of having any connection to Project 2025. But a large number of his appointees contributed to the Heritage Foundation’s publication, and numerous Project 2025’s recommendations have quickly been put into action. These include Trump’s high trade tariffs and Doge’s cost-cutting initiatives.

    Russ Vought talking to Tucker Carlson.

    During his confirmation hearing in the US Senate, Vought reiterated his belief that the White House has authority over federal spending, not Congress. This contradicts article I, section 8, of the US Constitution, which grants Congress the power to tax and spend for the general welfare of the country.

    For the majority of constitutional experts, the executive (the president) may propose a budget, but it is Congress that authorises it.



    Read more:
    How Project 2025 became the blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term

    Concerned by this, Democrats on the Senate budget committee attempted a boycott of Vought’s confirmation vote, which failed when all 11 Repubican members voted in favour. And when the call came on the Senate floor to confirm his appointment, all 47 Democratic senators held an all-night debate in protest.

    Democrat and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has called Vought the “most radical nominee” with “the most extreme agenda” and said that Americans needed to understand the danger he poses to them in their daily lives.

    Vought’s involvement in Project 2025

    When asked to compare the Trump administration’s policies to Project 2025, Paul Dans, who was the director of Project 2025 until he stepped down during the Trump campaign, said that the administration’s policies were “beyond my wildest dreams”. According to one website tracking the agenda, of the 313 suggested policy objectives in Project 2025, 101 have been implemented, while another 64 are in progress.

    A significant number of Project 2025’s recommendations have been implemented by the Elon Musk-led Doge. And Vought has been described by one journalist as “the glue between Musk and the Republicans”.

    Vought and Musk have forged a strange but effective relationship in executing Doge’s cost-cutting initiatives. According to reports quoting former Trump administration officials, Musk’s Doge has used data to identify what he considers to be overspending while and Vought’s OMB has confirmed Doge’s findings recommending how to deal with them.

    “What’s needed is a specific theory about the case and what can be done,” Vought said. It was part of an effort to help the government “balance its books”, he added.

    When asked by Tucker Carlson what he thought of Doge, Vought replied: “I think they’re bringing an exhilarating rush … of creativity, outside the box thinking, comfortability with risk and leverage.”

    The process to crush the so-called “deep state” conducted by Maga Republicans in Congress and Doge in the White House has been expertly coordinated by Vought. As one reporter wrote, he has experience of working on Capitol Hill and is on good terms with the Freedom Caucus who are the group of conservative Republicans that advocates for limited government, fiscal restraint and strict adherence to a constitutional, right-wing agenda.

    After the caucus was instrumental in defining the terms of support for Mike MCarthy as Speaker of the House in 2023, Vought called the members of Freedom House “the lions that have been through battle and won.” He knows the capabilities of the OMB – and is just as anti-establishment as Musk.

    According to independent researchers tracking Project 2025, a number of departments still have more than half of the project’s objectives to be completed. The administration will need to work quickly, however.

    Historically, the party that occupies the White House fares badly in the midterms. The Republicans could lose control of the House or the Senate, both of which they currently control. Should this happen, the administration may find it more difficult to implement the changes they wish.

    But it is highly unlikely that this will deter Vought and his drive for reforms of presidential powers. He, along with the majority of the Trump White House, believe in the unitary executive theory. This essentially argues that the president has control over all executive branch officials and operations, and that Congress cannot limit that control, even through legislation.

    If Vought does carry on and Congress challenges his decisions, the issue could end up in the Supreme Court – a court dominated by Trump appointees. Any judgment made by the court would be seismic in its importance of future interpretations of the constitution and where power really lies in the federal government.

    For Vought and other Project 2025 authors in the administration, a ruling in their favour would be vindication of their work.

    Dafydd Townley 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. Who is Project 2025 co-author Russ Vought and what is his influence on Trump? – https://theconversation.com/who-is-project-2025-co-author-russ-vought-and-what-is-his-influence-on-trump-255134

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Forget chatbots: research suggests reading can help combat loneliness and boost the brain

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology, University of Cambridge

    Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock

    Loneliness has become such a widespread problem that Silicon Valley billionaires are now highlighting it to market AI companions, with Mark Zuckerberg recently stating “the average American has fewer than three friends”.

    This actually echoes what the World Health Organization has called a crisis of social isolation and loneliness. They report that around 25% of older adults are socially isolated and 5%-15% of adolescents are lonely. But a variety of research – including our own – suggests reading may be a much better solution than chatbots.

    Human interaction is no doubt hugely important. In a study we published in 2023, we found that it only takes around five close friends for children and adolescents to thrive, giving them better brain structure, cognition, academic performance and mental health.

    Having fewer than five close friends may not provide enough social contact. But larger numbers are less likely to be close friends. The dilemma of technology frequently means that despite some people having vast numbers of friends on social media, they are not close friends and so do not provide the social support needed.

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    Similarly, chatbots may not provide the type of face-to-face social interaction that people need to flourish. During the pandemic lockdowns, a study found that face-to-face communication was far more beneficial for mental health than digital communication.

    But how can reading help us to feel less lonely and have better wellbeing?

    A recent survey from The Queen’s Reading Room, the charity and book club of Queen Camilla, and other surveys, have found that reading fiction and other books significantly reduces feelings of loneliness and improves wellbeing.

    Another charity, The Reader, conducted a survey of approximately 2,000 participants and found that this was especially true among young adults. Fifty-nine percent of those aged 18-34 said reading made them feel more connected to others and 56% felt less alone during the pandemic.

    Another survey, in conjunction with the University of Liverpool, of over 4,000 participants found that reading offers powerful benefits, serving as a top method for reducing stress. In addition, participants reported that reading encouraged personal growth, such as improving health, picking up hobbies and boosting empathy, with 64% of readers having a better understanding others’ feelings.

    Reading and the brain

    Indeed, scientific research looking at book clubs and shared reading back this up, finding notable emotional and social benefits of reading. For example, students reported greater connection (42.9%) to others, deeper understanding of others’ experiences and beliefs (61.2%) and reduced loneliness (14.3%) as a result of reading.

    The surveys above all rely on people reporting how they feel, rather than an objective measure. But there are also findings from objective measures of the brain, including neuroimaging. A systematic review of 11 intervention studies showed that shared reading among older adults improved wellbeing and helped alleviate loneliness and social isolation.

    One way in which reading may help reduce loneliness is by enhancing our social cognition, which is the ability to understand and connect with others.

    There are plenty of cognitive benefits from reading, in addition to social connectedness.
    aniascamera/Shutterstock

    A neuroimaging study of young adults found that reading fiction, particularly passages with social content, activated areas of the brain involved in social behaviour and emotional understanding, such as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. This brain region was also linked to the stronger social cognition seen in frequent fiction readers, suggesting a neural pathway through which reading fosters greater social connectedness.

    Importantly, reading may also reduce the risk of dementia. One study of 469 people aged 75 and over, with no dementia at baseline, were followed up for 5.1 years. Among leisure activities such as playing board games, playing musical instruments and dancing, reading was associated with a 35% reduced risk of dementia.

    A number of studies have similarly shown that engaging in cognitively stimulating activities, such as reading, can slow cognitive decline and reduce the risk of dementia.

    Our own research also showed the benefits of reading for pleasure early in life. In a large sample of over 10,000 children in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, we found that those children who read for pleasure early in life had better brain structure, cognition, academic achievement, longer sleep duration and better mental health – including lower symptoms of inattention, stress and depression – when adolescents. Importantly, they also had less screen time and better social interactions.

    So, while AI and chatbots can enhance our lives in many ways, they are not a solution to everything. We know that while technology has many benefits, it has also produced many unforeseen problems. Let’s solve problems of loneliness and social isolation through reading and book clubs. Reading is also a great way to improve brain structure, cognition and wellbeing.

    We recently gave a talk about this topic for the British Neuroscience Association, in association with The Queen’s Reading Room. We would like to thank the Queen’s Reading Room CEO, Vicki Perrin for her input and support.

    Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian receives funding from the Wellcome Trust and the Lundbeck Foundation. Her research work is conducted within the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) Mental Health and Neurodegeneration Themes. She consults for Cambridge Cognition.

    We recently gave a talk about this topic for the British Neuroscience Association, in association with The Queen’s Reading Room. We would like to thank the Queen’s Reading Room CEO, Vicki Perrin for her input and support. Christelle Langley receives funding from the Wellcome Trust. Her research work is conducted within the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) Mental Health and Neurodegeneration Themes.

    – ref. Forget chatbots: research suggests reading can help combat loneliness and boost the brain – https://theconversation.com/forget-chatbots-research-suggests-reading-can-help-combat-loneliness-and-boost-the-brain-256613

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why spring 2025 is so dry

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, UK edition

    April showers bring May flowers according to an old English saying.

    This phrase, which might have originated in a verse written by poet Thomas Tusser in 1557, harks back to a time when most people depended on rough rules that were borne of practical experience to know when to plant crops. “Such weather lore was the only forecast available”, says meteorologist Rob Thompson at the University of Reading.



    Read more:
    ‘April showers’ – a rainfall scientist explains what they are and why they are becoming more intense

    UK farmers waited in vain for showers this April. The unusually dry month gave lie to the centuries-old expression, which hints at a climate that was generally more obedient to familiar rhythms. The heating of Earth’s atmosphere and ocean, predominantly caused by the mass burning of fossil fuels, has changed that. What we can expect in each season is no longer so assured.

    So, how do we keep our bearings on a warming planet?

    This roundup of The Conversation’s climate coverage comes from our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed.

    Forecasting chaos

    Forecasters have an enormous challenge in predicting how the weather in each season will change, and in communicating the role of climate change.

    “Overall, we can be confident that climate change is bringing warmer conditions in all seasons,” say atmospheric scientists Simon H. Lee and Matthew Patterson at the University of St Andrews. Europe in particular has been a hotspot for warming, with temperatures rising at roughly double the global average.

    Patterson suspects that this has already warped our perceptions of what a “normal” season feels like. When a month arrives with temperatures closer to the long-term average for instance, like June 2024, people tend to experience it as unusually cold.



    Read more:
    Average months now feel cold thanks to climate change

    “Scientists also have strong evidence to suggest that drought conditions will become more common,” Lee and Patterson continue.

    The UK has had roughly half the rainfall it would usually expect for March and April, and spring 2025 is on track to be the country’s driest on record. Some of the latest research on Earth’s water cycle predicts that these dry bouts will get drier, while wet ones will get wetter, and that the switch from drought to deluge will be more sudden (“weather whiplash”, as some have called it).



    Read more:
    Landmark new research shows how global warming is messing with our rainfall

    This doesn’t fully explain the UK’s record-warm and dry spring, however. There are also “weather blocks” to factor in.

    “A blocking event is a disruption to the usual weather patterns of Earth’s middle latitudes,” explains Tim Woollings, a professor in physical climate science at the University of Oxford. In this part of the world it’s the jet stream, a river of air high in the atmosphere, that typically sets the agenda by driving transient weather over the British Isles from the Atlantic.

    Since the beginning of March, a zone of high pressure has rested above the UK and blocked the jet stream like a boulder in a river, Lee and Patterson say. The weather has effectively remained “stuck”. This phenomenon is responsible for a lot of extreme weather in the middle latitudes, as blocks prevent relief from heatwaves or cold snaps, Woollings adds.



    Read more:
    How weather ‘blocks’ have triggered more extreme heatwaves and floods across Europe

    There isn’t conclusive evidence to suggest these blocks are becoming more common as the climate warms according to Lee and Patterson. But one thing is clear: the climate is incredibly complex – and our continuing intervention in it is reckless.

    High-temperature haiku

    Seasons are our living world’s accommodation of the variation in day length, temperature and weather during the year.

    What we perceive as seasonal features, like the shedding of leaves, the arrival and departure of migratory animals, are the adaptations species have made to the average set of conditions that have remained within a particular range for several thousands of years.

    Changes in Earth’s orbit and spin axis gradually influenced the climate and seasons over millennia. More recently, fossil fuel burning has been the dominant influence.

    “As such, humanity is currently on the path to compressing millions of years of temperature change into just a couple of centuries,” say ancient climate experts Dan Lunt (University of Bristol) and Darrell Kaufman (Northern Arizona University).

    The seasonal signals we once thought of as immutable are changing to match these changing conditions. It’s too much, too fast for most species to deal with – including our own.



    Read more:
    Humanity is compressing millions of years of natural change into just a few centuries

    To reorient around a rapidly changing climate, we could do as Tusser did six centuries ago, and write poetry.

    Haiku is perhaps our most useful cultural barometer of climate change. These poems, which originated in 17th-century Japan, comprise three short lines and usually include a reference to the season in which they were composed.

    “A successful haiku could be described as a half-finished poem,” say lecturer in publishing Jasmin Kirkbride (University of East Anglia) and creative writing PhD candidate Paul Chambers (University of Bristol). The listener must complete the scene in their head by linking it with an intense moment of perception from their own life, in which “the vast is perceived in one thing”.



    Read more:
    Haiku has captured the essence of seasons for centuries – new poems contain a trace of climate change

    As seasons have shifted, so have their markers in haiku. Snowdrops, once a feature of February haiku, now appear close to Christmas. The language used to describe certain species has altered too, the pair say, to become “soaked in grief”. Butterflies that once formed “clouds” in earlier haiku, for example, are now “lone survivors… pushing against time”.

    Kirkbride and Chambers urge a new generation of poets to continue recording these changes in haiku: “The vast climate crisis is upon us, and we should write about it.”

    – ref. Why spring 2025 is so dry – https://theconversation.com/why-spring-2025-is-so-dry-256709

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why are Turkey and the PKK turning to peace – and can it last?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Pinar Dinc, Associate Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science and Researcher, Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University

    Negotiations to end more than 40 years of conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) have taken on a concrete dimension. On May 12, two months after the PKK’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, wrote a letter in which he called on the group to lay down its arms, it has announced it will disband.

    The PKK, which has been fighting for greater Kurdish rights and autonomy, has outlined several conditions it views as essential for it to dissolve. It insists that Öcalan lead and direct the peace process, that the right to democratic politics in Turkey is recognised, and that the group is given solid legal guarantees.

    On the one hand, there seems to be great longing for peace between Turkey and the PKK. This has been evidenced by the positive reactions to the PKK’s statement both nationally and internationally.

    Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said the PKK’s disengagement with terror had opened “the doors of a new era in every area, namely strengthening politics and democratic capacity”.

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    However, there is also scepticism. Turkey views the peace process very differently from the Kurds, referring to it as part of the government’s “terror-free Turkey” initiative. The Kurdish movement has instead adopted the title of Öcalan’s February letter, “Call for Peace and Democratic Society”.

    Many also see Erdoğan’s willingness to resolve the Kurdish issue as a political maneuver by the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP). Positioning itself as the party that ended decades of “terror” at the hands of the PKK would allow the AKP to consolidate its hold on power.

    But, notwithstanding this, there are clear reasons for both the Turkish state and the PKK to come to the negotiating table now. One of the leading reasons is the changing geopolitical dynamics of the Middle East.

    In late 2024, Bashar al-Assad’s regime was toppled in Syria and the country was subsequently taken over by Islamist militants. Iran’s influence has also been weakened following the collapse of parts of its regional proxy network, notably Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and, most recently, the Houthis in Yemen.

    Israel, meanwhile, is continuing its war in Gaza. And it has intensified its military operations in Syria, particularly near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, alongside open expressions of support for Syria’s Druze religous communities.

    At the same time, Donald Trump has returned to the White House and reopened the door to dialogue with Iran over its nuclear programme. The region’s politics are being reshaped, and leaders across the Middle East are repositioning themselves accordingly.

    For the PKK and its broader political base, a peace process with Turkey offers a pathway to equal citizenship, democratic participation and long-term legitimacy for Kurds in the Middle East after nearly a century of struggle.

    This was signalled by the Kurdish National Conference in April 2025. The conference, which was attended by different Kurdish parties and organisations, highlighted the importance of strategic coordination among Kurds in the region.

    For Turkey, peace with the PKK now would further reduce a weakened Iran’s ability to project power westward. Some groups suspected of being affiliated with the PKK, such as the Sinjar Resistance Units in northern Iraq, have been indirectly supported by Iran.

    Turkey’s handling of the PKK conflict and the broader Kurdish issue has also often complicated its engagement with the west. For example, human rights groups have accused Turkey of allowing the Syrian National Army (a coalition of armed groups in northern Syria) to act with impunity against Kurdish civilians in areas outside its control.

    This has created friction in Turkey’s diplomatic outreach to the US and Europe. By addressing the longstanding Kurdish issue, Ankara could lay the groundwork for more stable relations with the west. These relations are particularly important now as Turkey is looking to take an increasingly key role in European security.

    It is serving as a mediator in negotiations to end the Ukraine war. And Erdoğan has even offered to host direct talks between the Ukrainian president, Volodymr Zelensky, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Istanbul.

    Bumpy road ahead

    The PKK’s dissolution will not guarantee peace in Turkey. The Kurdish people expect equal citizenship and the end the government’s practice of removing elected mayors and replacing them with state-appointed trustees.

    They also demand the release of political prisoners and reforms to Turkey’s anti-terrorism laws, which critics say are frequently used to suppress dissent. These issues will be discussed in parliament over the coming days, with talks on a new constitution expected to take place in the autumn.

    The negotiations will not be simple. The Kurds have been persistently labelled as rebels, traitors and terrorists since the beginning of the Turkish republic in 1923. It will not be easy to change entrenched opinions overnight.

    Özgür Özel, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s party (CHP), has emphasised the importance of resolving the Kurdish issue peacefully and democratically. But it is not clear whether his views reflect those of his supporter base and Turkish society more broadly.

    Turkey must be further democratised to give the peace process a greater chance of success. The nation’s vibrant civil society currently operates under intense pressure from the state. Giving it more of a voice will help bring Turkey’s deeply divided society together.

    It is always difficult – if not impossible – to make predictions about the future when it comes to Middle Eastern politics. However, a new balance is being established in the Middle East, and in this new balance very different players have to sit at the same table.

    Pinar Dinc is the principal investigator of the ECO-Syria project, which receives funding from the Strategic Research Area: The Middle East in the Contemporary World (MECW) at the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, Sweden.

    – ref. Why are Turkey and the PKK turning to peace – and can it last? – https://theconversation.com/why-are-turkey-and-the-pkk-turning-to-peace-and-can-it-last-256527

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Caveman method skincare: how neglecting skincare completely can give you ‘cornflake’ build-up

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Adam Taylor, Professor of Anatomy, Lancaster University

    Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock

    Social media has done it again – this time reviving a minimalist skincare trend known as the caveman method. Think of it as the paleo diet for your face: no cleansers, no moisturisers, no water. Just your skin, left completely to its own devices.

    Supporters claim it helps reduce breakouts, arguing that overuse of products is irritating their skin. But while simplifying your routine might have some short-term benefits, going completely product free, and especially water free, can put you at risk of a lesser known condition: dermatitis neglecta.

    Dermatitis neglecta was first described in a medical journal in 1995. It’s a skin condition that doesn’t involve inflammation but rather occurs when skin isn’t cleaned adequately over time. It’s most commonly seen in people with neurological or psychological conditions, or in people avoiding cleaning surgical wounds, skin sensitivity, or even poor hygiene.

    It often shows up on the face, chest and limbs, but can appear anywhere on the body. The hallmark? A pigmented, scaly build-up that looks like cornflakes.

    But what’s actually building up?

    Your skin is constantly renewing itself. As new skin cells form underneath, older ones are pushed up and eventually die due to lack of oxygen from the blood supply beneath.

    We shed about 500 million dead skin cells per day – roughly two grams’ worth. That’s not much, but if you’re not washing your face, even this small daily build-up can quickly lead to visible debris and dullness.

    This often overlooked layer of built-up skin can sometimes conceal underlying medical conditions, including cancer, that only become apparent once the excess is removed.

    Skin cancers are less common in people with darker skin tones but they often have worse outcomes, primarily due to delayed diagnosis, which makes the cancer harder to treat. In such cases, conditions like dermatitis neglecta may further obscure signs of disease, making early detection even more challenging.

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    But it’s not just dead cells at play. Your skin’s natural secretions, sweat and sebum, also contribute to this protective barrier.

    Sebum is an oily substance produced by sebaceous glands all over the body. It helps keep moisture in and has antimicrobial properties. The nose is the area with the highest sebum production, which explains its reputation for shininess. Sebum also plays a role in skin pH, helping keep the skin slightly acidic to ward off harmful bacteria.

    Sweat, meanwhile, also contains antimicrobial peptides that helps defend against pathogens. But if these secretions can’t reach or function properly at the skin’s surface – either because they’re blocked by build-up or not spread through cleansing – your natural defences may weaken, making it easier for bacteria or fungi to thrive.

    Skipping all skincare might sound natural, but it may disrupt these finely balanced systems. If the skin becomes overwhelmed, it can’t do its job – leading not just to clogged pores, but potential infection.

    Thankfully, dermatitis neglecta is relatively easy to treat. Mild cases clear up with warm soapy water. More stubborn build-up may require gentle cleansing with isopropyl alcohol. In extreme cases, dermatologists may prescribe keratolytics, creams that help break down and remove the thickened outer layers.

    Back to basics

    Let’s get one thing straight: you don’t need a ten-step routine. But, as well as keeping the skin clean, a few basic skincare practices go a long way.

    First, hydrate. Drinking water can improve skin hydration, especially if your intake has been low.

    Next, moisturise. A simple moisturiser with ingredients like hyaluronic acid or glycerin helps lock in moisture and support the skin’s natural barrier. You’ll often spot hyaluronic acid on product labels: it’s known for its ability to bind water to the skin.

    High molecular weight hyaluronic acid can help hydrate the surface of the skin and support it’s barrier function. But only low molecular weight hyaluronic acid can penetrate into the deeper layers, where it can help improve hydration more comprehensively and help reduce the appearance of fine lines. A blend of high and low molecular weight hyaluronic acid can offer both deep hydration and surface moisture retention.

    Humectants like sodium PCA also draw moisture from the air into the skin, helping to keep it soft and supple. This is particularly important for darker skin tones, which are more prone to transepidermal water loss, meaning they can lose moisture more quickly and may need extra hydration support.

    Finally, wear sunscreen – every day – no matter your skin tone. While melanin can offer some natural protection against UV damage, it’s not enough to prevent skin cancer, premature ageing, or pigmentation issues. Daily use of sunscreen is essential for everyone. UV rays damage collagen, the protein that keeps skin firm. They cause collagen to cross-link, making it stiff and contributing to wrinkles and sagging. Collagen has a half-life of around 15 years, so once it’s damaged, your skin takes a long time to recover.

    To maintain the skin’s young, fresh and healthy appearance collagen and other molecules need to be replaced and allowed to mature. But UV also physically damages the collagen formation and maturation process, making it more difficult for new collagen to form properly, further contributing to the aged appearance of skin. Sunscreen helps prevent this long-term ageing effect.

    Cheesy varnish

    If you think your skin has never been coated in build-up, think again. In the womb, your sebaceous glands produced a substance called vernix caseosa, Latin for “cheesy varnish”. This waxy coating, visible on many newborns, is made of sebum and dead skin. It moisturises, insulates and protects infants during birth – and it’s proof that build-up on your skin isn’t as unnatural as it might seem.

    Going back to basics can feel appealing, especially in a world overflowing with products. But your skin is a complex, hardworking organ that benefits from a little support.

    More research is needed to understand how skincare affects different people: factors like biological sex, skin tone, environment and genetics all play a role. But simple steps like drinking water, applying moisturiser, and wearing sunscreen can help your skin function at its best.

    So before you ditch everything in your bathroom, remember that “natural” doesn’t always mean “better”. Your skin evolved to protect you – but it still needs a little help now and then.

    Adam Taylor 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. Caveman method skincare: how neglecting skincare completely can give you ‘cornflake’ build-up – https://theconversation.com/caveman-method-skincare-how-neglecting-skincare-completely-can-give-you-cornflake-build-up-256362

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –