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Category: Education

  • MIL-OSI Global: How the Take It Down Act tackles nonconsensual deepfake porn − and how it falls short

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sylvia Lu, Faculty Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, University of Michigan

    The Take It Down bill, co-authored by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, easily passed both houses of Congress. President Trump is expected to sign it into law. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

    In a rare bipartisan move, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Take It Down Act by a vote of 409-2 on April 28, 2025. The bill is an effort to confront one of the internet’s most appalling abuses: the viral spread of nonconsensual sexual imagery, including AI-generated deepfake pornography and real photos shared as revenge porn.

    Now awaiting President Trump’s expected signature, the bill offers victims a mechanism to force platforms to remove intimate content shared without their permission – and to hold those responsible for distributing it to account.

    As a scholar focused on AI and digital harms, I see this bill as a critical milestone. Yet it leaves troubling gaps. Without stronger protections and a more robust legal framework, the law may end up offering a promise it cannot keep. Enforcement issues and privacy blind spots could leave victims just as vulnerable.

    The Take It Down Act targets “non-consensual intimate visual depictions” – a legal term that encompasses what most people call revenge porn and deepfake porn. These are sexual images or videos, often digitally manipulated or entirely fabricated, circulated online without the depicted person’s consent.

    The bill compels online platforms to build a user-friendly takedown process. When a victim submits a valid request, the platform must act within 48 hours. Failure to do so may trigger enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission, which can treat the violation as an unfair or deceptive act or practice. Criminal penalties also apply to those who publish the images: Offenders may be fined and face up to three years in prison if anyone under 18 is involved, and up to two years if the subject is an adult.

    A growing problem

    Deepfake porn is not just a niche problem. It is a metastasizing crisis. With increasingly powerful and accessible AI tools, anyone can fabricate a hyper-realistic sexual image in minutes. Public figures, ex-partners and especially minors have become regular targets. Women, disproportionately, are the ones harmed.

    These attacks dismantle lives. Victims of nonconsensual intimate image abuse suffer harassment, online stalking, ruined job prospects, public shaming and emotional trauma. Some are driven off the internet. Others are haunted repeatedly by resurfacing content. Once online, these images replicate uncontrollably – they don’t simply disappear.

    In that context, a swift and standardized takedown process can offer critical relief. The bill’s 48-hour window for response has the potential to reclaim a fragment of control for those whose dignity and privacy were invaded by a click. Despite its promise, unresolved legal and procedural gaps can hinder its effectiveness.

    NBC News gives an overview of the Take It Down Act.

    Blind spots and shortfalls

    The bill targets only public-facing interactive platforms that primarily host user-generated content such as social media platforms. It may not reach the countless hidden private forums or encrypted peer-to-peer networks where such content often first appears. This creates a critical legal gap: When nonconsensual sexual images are shared on closed or anonymous platforms, victims may never even know – or know in time – that the content exists, much less have a chance to request its removal.

    Even on platforms covered by the bill, implementation is likely to be challenging. Determining whether the online content depicts the person in question, lacks consent and affects the hard-to-define privacy interests requires careful judgment. This demands legal understanding, technical expertise and time. But platforms must reach that decision within 24 hours or less.

    On the other hand, time is a luxury victims do not have. But even with the 48-hour removal window, the content can still spread widely before it is taken down. The bill does not include meaningful incentives for platforms to detect and remove such content proactively. And it provides no deterrent strong enough to discourage most malicious creators from generating these images in the first place.

    This takedown mechanism can also be subject to abuse. Critics warn that the bill’s broad language and lack of safeguards could lead to overcensorship, potentially affecting journalistic and other legitimate content. As platforms may be flooded with a mix of real and malicious takedown requests – some filed in bad faith to suppress speech or art – they may resort to poorly designed and privacy-invasive automated monitoring filters that tend to issue blanket rejections or err on the side of removing content that falls outside the scope of the law.

    Without clear standards, platforms may act improperly. How – and even whether – the FTC will hold platforms accountable under the act is another open question.

    Burden on the victims

    The bill also places the burden of action on victims, who must locate the content, complete the paperwork, explain that it was nonconsensual, and submit personal contact information – often while still reeling from the emotional toll.

    Moreover, while the bill targets both AI-generated deepfakes and revenge porn involving real images, it fails to account for the complex realities victims face. Many are trapped in unequal relationships and may have “consented” under pressure, manipulation or fear to having intimate content about them posted online. Situations like this fall outside the bill’s legal framing. The bill bars consent obtained through overt threats and coercion, yet it overlooks more insidious forms of manipulation.

    Even for those who do engage the takedown process, the risks remain. Victims must submit contact information and a statement explaining that the image was nonconsensual, without legal guarantees that this sensitive data will be protected. This exposure could invite new waves of harassment and exploitation.

    Loopholes for offenders

    The bill includes liability-evasive conditions and exceptions that could allow distributors to escape liability. If the content was shared with the subject’s consent, served a public concern, or was unintentional or caused no demonstrable harm, they may avoid consequences under the Take It Down Act. If offenders deny causing harm, victims face an uphill battle. Emotional distress, reputational damage and career setbacks are real, but they rarely come with clear documentation or a straightforward chain of cause and effect.

    Equally concerning, the bill allows exceptions for publication of such content for legitimate medical, educational or scientific purposes. Though well-intentioned, this language creates a confusing and potentially dangerous loophole. It risks becoming a shield for exploitation masquerading as research or education.

    Getting ahead of the problem

    The notice and takedown mechanism is fundamentally reactive. It intervenes only after the damage has begun. But deepfake pornography is designed for rapid proliferation. By the time a takedown request is filed, the content may have already been saved, reposted or embedded across dozens of sites – some hosted overseas or buried in decentralized networks. The current bill provides a system that treats the symptoms while leaving the harms to spread.

    In my research on algorithmic and AI harms, I have argued that legal responses should move beyond reactive actions. I have proposed a framework that anticipates harm before it occurs – not one that merely responds after the fact. That means incentivizing platforms to take proactive steps to protect the privacy, autonomy, equality and safety of users exposed to harms caused by AI-generated images and tools. It also means broadening accountability to cover more perpetrators and platforms, supported by stronger safeguards and enforcement systems.

    The Take It Down Act is a meaningful first step. But to truly protect the vulnerable, I believe that lawmakers should build stronger systems – ones that prevent harm before it happens and treat victims’ privacy and dignity not as afterthoughts but as fundamental rights.

    Sylvia Lu 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. How the Take It Down Act tackles nonconsensual deepfake porn − and how it falls short – https://theconversation.com/how-the-take-it-down-act-tackles-nonconsensual-deepfake-porn-and-how-it-falls-short-255809

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Luján Statement on Republican Resolution to Strip Internet Access from Millions of Students and Educators

    US Senate News:

    Source: US Senator for New Mexico Ben Ray Luján
    Luján Joined Press Conference Ahead of Senate Republicans’ Vote, Highlighted Impact on New Mexico Students

    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Telecommunications and Media Subcommittee, issued the following statement on Senate Republicans’ vote to strip internet access from millions of students and educators:
    “Across the country, the E-Rate program has helped connect countless students to the internet they need to succeed in today’s world – especially in the most rural parts of America. Under the FCC’s Wi-Fi hotspots rule, schools and libraries across America can provide Wi-Fi hotspots to students and educators to use at home.
    “Senate Republicans just passed a partisan resolution that would rob New Mexico students and educators of the very tools they need to succeed. When we should be increasing connectivity, my Republican colleagues are working to limit it. If this resolution is signed into law, New Mexico schools and libraries that have applied for Wi-Fi spots through the E-Rate program will be rejected.”
    Earlier today, Senator Luján joined U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), and advocates at a press conference on Republican attempts to gut low-income, rural, and Tribal students’ access to Wi-Fi internet hotspots. Following the press conference, Senate Republicans voted to pass a Congressional Review Act resolution that overturns a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule allowing schools and libraries to use their E-Rate funds to loan Wi-Fi hotspots to students and educators.  
    In New Mexico, 40% of students lack access to high-speed broadband. Nationwide, studies have estimated between 9 million to 15 million U.S. students lack adequate internet access at home. Since 2020, the FCC’s E-Rate program has committed over $174 million in support to New Mexico schools and libraries.
    Schools and libraries in New Mexico that have applied for Wi-Fi hotspots through the E-Rate program include:
    ·         David F. Cargo El Valle De Anton Chico Library
    ·         Farmington Municipal School District 5
    ·         Grants Public Library
    ·         Lake Valley Navajo School
    ·         Ojo Encino Day School
    ·         Taos Day School
    ·         Taos Municipal School District
    As Ranking Member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media, Senator Luján is a strong champion for 100% broadband connectivity. In the 118th Congress, Senator Luján introduced the bipartisan Tribal Connect Act to make it easier for Tribes to secure high-speed internet access at Tribal Essential Community-Serving Institutions through the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Universal Service Fund (USF) Schools and Libraries Program, or E-Rate program. In the 117th Congress, Senator Luján introduced legislation to help close the homework gap by equipping school buses with Wi-Fi technology and improving financing options for broadband deployment.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: India-Pakistan: escalating conflict between two nuclear powers

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor

    This article was first published in The Conversation UK’s World Affairs Briefing email newsletter. Sign up to receive weekly analysis of the latest developments in international relations, direct to your inbox.

    Once again, India and Pakistan are locked in conflict over Kashmir. A diplomatic crisis that started with a terrorist attack that killed 26 tourists, all but one of them Indian, became a fortnight of cross-border skirmishes and pugilistic posturing from New Delhi and Islamabad. India responded on May 7 with Operation Sindoor, a series of airstrikes apparently aimed at what India said were terrorist training camps, in which at least 31 people were reportedly killed. Pakistan has vowed revenge and launched its own deadly attacks. And so an old emnity is rekindled.

    India and Pakistan have been at loggerheads over Kashmir virtually since partition in 1947. Its mixed population, its geography and, importantly, its history as what was known as a “princely state”, virtually guaranteed it. Princely states, which were not administered by the British Raj were given the choice of joining either independent India or the newly created Pakistan. Kashmir, ruled over by the Hindu maharaja Hari Singh, eventually joined India.

    Hari Singh reportedly did so with some misgivings. The state he ruled over had a majority population of Muslims. But when the first conflict broke out at the end of 1947, with an invasion by Pakistani tribesmen looking to take control of Kashmir, he called on India for assistance and signed a deal temporarily incorporating the state into India pending a plebiscite – which never took place.

    The first India-Pakistan war ended in 1949 with a UN-mandated ceasefire. A border was drawn through the state giving India roughly two-thirds control over Jammu and Kashmir, with Pakistan controlling the other third. Both sides have claimed the whole territory ever since.

    Violence has broken out periodically in the intervening decades, characterised since the 1980s by insurgencies, which India routinely accuses Pakistan of backing – an accusation which Pakistan routinely denies. Groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) have carried out terror attacks in both Kashmir and India, including LeT’s 2008 Mumbai massacre in which 166 people were killed.

    Sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter from The Conversation UK. Every Thursday we’ll bring you expert analysis of the big stories in international relations.

    Now the situation which the rest of the world has worried about for years, a conflict between two neighbouring nuclear armed powers, has begun to escalate with fears it might spiral out of control. Natasha Lindsteadt, an expert in international security, takes a look at the military – and nuclear– capabilities and policies of the two countries.

    She writes that India has a far larger military (it’s ranked as one of the world’s top five military nations by Military Watch magazine, with Pakistan ranked ninth). The two countries have a roughly comparable nuclear arsenal. But while India has a “no first use” policy, Pakistan has never committed itself in this way, arguing it needs its nuclear arsenal to counter India’s larger conventional forces.

    But even a small nuclear exchange between the two could kill more than 20 million people, writes Lindsteadt.



    Read more:
    Why are India and Pakistan on the brink of war and how dangerous is the situation? An expert explains

    Part of the problem seems to be a complete lack of communications at the highest level. US president, Donald Trump, initially appeared reluctant to get involved, saying that he is “sure they’ll figure it out one way or the other … There’s great tension between Pakistan and India, but there always has been.” He is since reported to have offered to step in, an offer apparently politely rejected by New Delhi.

    “What is needed now is robust, real-time crisis communication between the two nations,” write security experts Syed Ali Zia Jaffery of the University of Lahore and Nicholas Wheeler of the University of Birmingham. The problem is that there is no mechanism for that.

    And as we know from the Cuban missile crisis, when the US and Soviet Union came very close to a nuclear exchange, it’s all too easy for mistakes to be made which could escalate a conflict between two nuclear powers into a conflagration.

    After that crisis, the two leaders involved, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Krushchev, set up a communications link (which became known as the “hotline”) to enable direct communications. As Jaffery and Wheeler point out, this served to keep the rival powers from further dangerous confrontation (it even helped in bringing about arms treaties when Ronald Reagan was in the White House and Mikhail Gorbachev was in the Kremlin.



    Read more:
    Why a hotline is needed to help bring India and Pakistan back from the brink of a disastrous war

    For a deeper dive into the crisis and the long history of conflict between India and Pakistan, here are five essential reads, carefully curated for you by my colleague Matt Williams, senior international editor at The Conversation in the US.



    Read more:
    India-Pakistan strikes: 5 essential reads on decades of rivalry and tensions over Kashmir

    Netanyahu’s Gaza plan

    In the Middle East, meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are planning to move in large numbers into Gaza with a plan to occupy the whole of the territory. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has described the move as a “forceful operation” which will destroy Hamas and rescue its remaining hostages. The remaining population of 2.1 million Palestinian civilians will be moved “to proect it”.

    With more than 50,000 people dead in Gaza since the conflict began in October 2023, you have to say Israel’s attempts to protect civilians have been decidedly unsuccessful.

    Leonie Fleischmann, senior lecturer in international politics at City St George’s, University of London, sees this as Israel’s next step towards clearing Gaza of Palestinians, something she says Netanyahu’s far-right enablers have been pushing for all along. But she also sees parallels with what is happening in the West Bank, where Israel is gradually annexing land occupied by Palestinians and mandated by the Oslo accords of the 1990s as part of a future Palestinian state.

    The recent Louis Theroux documentary film showed the terrible circumstances under which Palestinians live on the West Bank, juxtaposing that with the determination of extreme Zionists to take over what they see as the land of their forefathers.

    Fleischmann notes that this week, Israeli cabinet minister Bezalel Smotrich approved plans for construction on land in an area which, if given to settlers, would effectively cut the West Bank in two. This would, she says, “bury any remaining hope for a two-state solution”. Rather chillingly, Smotrich is quoted as saying: “This is how you kill the Palestinian state.”



    Read more:
    Israeli plan to occupy all of Gaza could open the door for annexation of the West Bank

    Where would Palestinians go under Netanyahu’s plan? Well, if the Israeli prime minister shares Donald Trump’s vision of redeveloping Gaza as some sort of Middle Eastern “riviera”, they’d be dispersed into countries such as Egypt and Jordan.

    This idea is a non-starter, writes Scott Lucas of University College Dublin. Lucas, a Middle East expert who has written regularly for us about Israel and Gaza and answered our questions about the situation. He says Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has definitively ruled out accepting a mass exodus of Palestinians via the Rafah crossing at Gaza’s southern end. And Jordan is equally unwilling to accept any more Palestinian refugees. Apart from anything else, it already has about 3 million.

    As Lucas writes: “Any Arab government that takes in Gazans, even amid a humanitarian crisis, would be tacitly burying the idea of a Palestinian state. That would break a 77-year-old principle and resurrect the Nakba – the forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948.”

    Israel is unlikely to get much international support for such a move either, Lucas adds. Donald Trump is preoccupied with other things and, even if he weren’t, the rest of the international community would hardly stand for what would probably be seen as an act of ethnic cleansing on a massive scale.



    Read more:
    What does Netanyahu’s plan for ‘conquering’ Gaza mean for Israel, Palestine and their neighbours? Expert Q&A

    But what do ordinary Israelis think of their government’s plans for Gaza? For most Israelis the paramount factor is their security. So far the Netanyahu government’s actions in Gaza had enjoyed majority suppport for that reason and in the hope that somehow the conflict might lead to getting the remaining hostages home.

    But the latest plan to take Gaza completely could scupper any hope of repatriating the hostages. And there are signs that many Israelis are getting tired of the constant crisis and conflict. There appears to be a growing appetite for peace.

    Or so writes Yuval Katz of Loughborough University, who grew up in Israel but left eight years ago to pursue an academic career. He was recently home for the first time in two years and spent time contacting peace groups. Here is what he found.



    Read more:
    Israel’s peace movement offers a ray of hope amid the pain of Gaza conflict

    World Affairs Briefing from The Conversation UK is available as a weekly email newsletter. Click here to get updates directly in your inbox.

    – ref. India-Pakistan: escalating conflict between two nuclear powers – https://theconversation.com/india-pakistan-escalating-conflict-between-two-nuclear-powers-256277

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Ontario Chief Coroner reports raise concerns that MAID policy and practice focus on access rather than protection

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Trudo Lemmens, Professor of Health Law and Policy, University of Toronto

    The Ontario Coroner’s reports cover two aspects of medical assistance in dying (MAID): waiver of final consent, and same- or next-day provision of MAID. (Shutterstock)

    The Chief Coroner for Ontario recently released two new reports of its interdisciplinary MAID Death Review Committee: on Same or Next Day Provision of MAID and on Waiver of Final Consent.

    The MAID Death Review Committee — of which I am a member — reviews cases of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) that are selected by the coroner’s MAID team for the common issues they raise. The review helps inform policy recommendations.

    Committee reports contain case summaries and summaries of committee discussions, and the Chief Coroner’s recommendations. The newly released reports appear to confirm what is argued in several chapters in our recently co-edited volume, Unravelling MAiD in Canada: Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide as Medical Care, and in other publications: Canada’s MAID law, policy and practice focuses excessively on promoting access to death, not on protection.

    Some of the cases suggest a troubling prioritizing of ending patients’ lives with MAID rather than a precautionary approach. In my opinion, they reveal an urgent need for more rigorous legal and professional standards. Committee members’ starkly contrasting views on the ethics of some of the practices, which can be gleaned from the anonymous summaries of the committee’s discussions, are striking.

    Most assisted dying laws or policies in other countries prohibit same-day provision of MAID and waiving of final consent.
    (Shutterstock)

    Access over protection

    The topics of the reports illustrate how Canada’s MAID law reform has prioritized access over protection. Most assisted dying laws or policies in other countries prohibit same-day provision of MAID and waiving of final consent. Many impose a reflection period to protect patients against rushed and desperate decision-making, for example following a devastating diagnosis.

    Before 2021, Canada’s MAID law had a 10-day reflection period, which could be shortened by request. This was removed in the 2021 expansion of MAID, which also removed the safeguard of a reasonably foreseeable natural death.

    At the time, concerns that removing the 10-day reflection period could lead to rushed decisions were dismissed, with a hypothetical example involving same-day MAID provision being described as “absurd.” An official report now documents the practice.

    Waiver of final consent, which was also introduced in 2021, moves Canada clearly away from unambiguous or clear consent, which the Supreme Court emphasized as a key safeguard in its 2015 Carter decision — the decision that declared an absolute criminal law prohibition on euthanasia and assisted suicide to be unconstitutional.

    A waiver enables track 1 patients (those with a reasonably foreseeable death) who are at risk of losing capacity to receive MAID at a specific time in the near future. In contrast, with an advance request for MAID, a patient authorizes someone else to request MAID on their behalf in the future, when they have lost capacity and specified conditions are met.

    Québec recently introduced advanced requests, and Health Canada has organized public consultations on the topic, seemingly considering it. But it remains prohibited under the Criminal Code. Rightly so, since it raises unique ethical, legal and professional challenges.

    The coroner’s report on waiver of final consent includes cases, and notes on case discussions, that demonstrate the fine line between flexible use of such waivers and circumventing the prohibition of advance request. In some cases, it appears that different guidance documents of the Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers have been combined to facilitate MAID: guidance on waiver of final consent and on dementia.

    In a journal publication, my co-authors and I warned that combining these guidance documents, which we consider to be obfuscating, could lead to advance requests for MAID even though they remain prohibited under the criminal code.

    Case reports

    Take the case of Mr. A. Distressed by short-term memory loss and a diagnosis of an onset of Alzheimer’s disease, he signed a waiver scheduling MAID 3.5 years later. Some, but not all, members of the committee opined that scheduling it so much in advance was incompatible with a track 1 approval, since it revealed that he was not approaching his death, not in an advanced state of irreversible decline of capability and could hardly be considered to suffer intolerably at the time of approval.

    The MAID provider ended up not using the waiver for Mr. A’s consent for MAID. However, his MAID death remains problematic due to concerns about how the provider accepted he was able to provide final consent.

    Less than a year after signing the waiver, he was hospitalized after a fall. He was deemed delirious, confused and had hallucinations. During “a period of cognitive improvement” the MAID provider deemed him capable of confirming final consent and provided MAID based on the original assessment.

    Family pressures, such as caregiver burnout, need to be sufficiently investigated.
    (Shutterstock)

    Informed consent concerns also arose in the case of 80-year-old Mrs. B, who told a first MAID assessor she preferred palliative care because of personal and religious values. When a palliative care physician noticed her husband’s “caregiver burnout,” he requested hospice care for Mrs. B, which was rejected.

    Her husband then contacted a second MAID assessor, who approved her for MAID and who rejected the first assessor’s request to talk to Mrs. B. the next day. A third assessor confirmed the second assessor’s approval and Mrs. B received MAID the same day.

    The case of Mr. C involved a man in his 70s, diagnosed with metastatic cancer, who requested a MAID assessment five days after admission into palliative care. But before he could be assessed, he experienced cognitive decline and “loss of ability to communicate.”

    When the palliative care team told a MAID provider the next day that he had lost capacity to consent, the provider “vigorously roused Mr. C., who opened his eyes and mouthed ‘yes’” when asked if he wanted MAID. After withholding pain medication for 45 minutes, the provider considered him more “alert.” A second MAID assessor confirmed his eligibility after an online assessment, also accepting mouthing yes, and “nodding his head in presumed agreeance” as clear and capable informed consent, and he was euthanized.

    These and some other cases described in the committee reports raise several concerns. They show how MAID has been provided in cases where assessors clearly disagree about the application of access criteria, with two seemingly limited assessments favouring MAID overriding others.

    Some patients received MAID after capacity and informed consent procedures that appear problematic, in the case of Mr. C overriding a capacity assessment by a treating palliative care team. Family pressures, such as caregiver burnout, may also be insufficiently investigated, as in the case of Mrs. B.

    And MAID appears to have been delivered in the case of Mr. C. when the patient appeared otherwise comfortable in palliative care and may not have had capacity to consent.

    The reports also reveal that even patients specifically hospitalized for suicidal ideation and in need of mental health care are offered MAID, as earlier coroner reports already revealed. Some cases appear to stretch the contours of MAID law.

    Starkly differing views

    The committee discussions included in the report further suggest starkly different views among MAID Death Review Committee members, including on standards for assessing capacity for consent.

    As discussed in a recent study I co-authored, most of Canada’s MAID practice is driven by a relatively small group of frequent providers. The study found that there are 1,837 MAID providers in Canada, but up to 336 of these are frequent providers who are likely responsible for the majority of annual MAID deaths. This adds to concerns about arguably overly flexible provision of MAID among these providers.

    Another committee member recently discussed how the report on same- or next-day provisions reveals this practice is disproportionately present in some geographical locations. This suggests, as others have discussed in relation to Québec’s MAID practice, that there may be starkly different professional standards and approaches among providers.

    To date there have been no known cases of criminal or professional sanctions against a MAID provider. However, the Chief Coroner’s reports, as well as media reports, indicate that this does not mean Canada’s MAID practice is exemplary, safe and compliant. When reading these cases, many likely wonder, as I do, what it will take for political, judicial and professional authorities to provide firmer guidance, investigate thoroughly and put a halt to problematic delivery of MAID.

    The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, after hearing evidence from both the federal government and civil society organizations, recently urged Canada to withdraw track 2 MAID (MAID cases in which the patient’s death is not reasonably foreseeable), not to introduce MAID for mental illness and with advance requests, and to improve MAID monitoring and safeguards.

    The UN committee cited the earlier coroner reports. The two most recent reports, which the UN committee did not have yet at its disposal, clearly confirm the urgent need for a revisiting of our MAID law, and for refocusing on protection, not on further expansion.

    Trudo Lemmens is a member of the Chief Coroner of Ontario MAID Death Review Committee. He has been an expert witness for the Federal Attorney General in the Truchon and Lamb cases. He has been an advisor to the Vulnerable Person Standard. His research is partly funded by a Scholl Chair in Health Law and Policy. He is co-editor of a McGill/Queens University Press book Unravelling MAID in Canada: Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide as Medical Care.

    – ref. Ontario Chief Coroner reports raise concerns that MAID policy and practice focus on access rather than protection – https://theconversation.com/ontario-chief-coroner-reports-raise-concerns-that-maid-policy-and-practice-focus-on-access-rather-than-protection-253917

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Winning the AI race: Strengthening U.S. capabilities in computing and innovation

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Winning the AI race: Strengthening U.S. capabilities in computing and innovation

    Editor’s note: On Thursday, May 8, Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith testified before the Senate Commerce Committee. To view the proceedings, visit the committee’s website.

     

    Winning the AI Race:
    Strengthening U.S. Capabilities in Computing and Innovation

    Written Testimony of Brad Smith
    Vice Chair and President, Microsoft Corporation

    Senate Commerce Committee

    Chairman Cruz, Ranking Member Cantwell, and Members of the Committee,

    Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the critical issue of artificial intelligence. I am Brad Smith, the Vice Chair and President of Microsoft Corporation.

    AI has the potential to become the most useful tool for people ever invented. Like the general purpose technologies that preceded it, such as electricity, machine tools, and digital computing, AI will impact every part of our economy. It will shape not just how we work and live, but how we compete, prosper, and stay secure as a nation between now and the middle of this century.

    The notice for this hearing aptly refers to an “AI race.” I would like to talk today about what is needed to win this race.

    The AI race involves both technology and economics. It requires both innovation and diffusion. It is both a sprint and a marathon. The country can win a lap but lose the race if it fails to bring together all the ingredients needed for success.

    It is a race that no company or country can win by itself.

    To win the AI race, the United States will need to support the private sector at every layer of the AI tech stack. The nation will need to partner with American allies and friends around the world.

    In my testimony today, I will focus on three strategic priorities where this Congress and the federal government will make a difference.

    First, the country must win the AI innovation race. This will require massive datacenters and AI infrastructure that need federal support to expand and modernize the electrical grid on which they depend. The country must recruit and train skilled labor like electricians and pipefitters that are in short supply. We all must summon the best of our researchers at national labs and universities, supported by federal basic research programs and partnerships that have become the envy of the world. We will need to continue to excel in moving innovative ideas from academic labs into companies and new products. And we will need to support AI developers with open and broad access to public data.

    Second, the nation must win the AI diffusion race. This will require that we promote broad AI adoption that will enable productivity growth across every sector of the economy. More than anything, this requires new initiatives to promote the AI skilling of the American workforce. This will involve basic AI fluency in our schools and new AI training programs in our community colleges. It will also include advanced AI education that will represent the next generation of computer science degrees, organizational skills that will be mastered in the country’s business schools, and new courses in the nation’s law schools. When combined, these will enable companies, non-profits, and government agencies alike to put AI to effective use. Governments at the federal, state, and local levels can then help accelerate this diffusion by adopting AI services to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the services they provide to the public.

    Third, the United States must export AI to American allies and friends. No company or country is so powerful that it can master the future of AI without friends. The United States and China are competing not only to innovate but to spread their respective technologies to other countries. This part of the race likely will be won by the fastest first mover. The United States needs a smart export control strategy that protects our national security while assuring other countries that they will have reliable and sustained access to critical American AI components and services. Perhaps as much as anything, this requires that we collectively sustain international trust in our products, our companies, and the country itself.

    AI as a General Purpose Technology

    Economists sometimes put technologies into two categories, general purpose technologies and single-purpose tools. Most things in the world are single-purpose tools, like a smoke detector or a lawn mower. They do one thing very well. But over the course of history, certain so-called general purpose technologies impact and sometimes even redefine almost every sector of the economy. Electricity is the prototypical example, because when you think about it, electricity changed the way every economic sector works.

    The key to mastering the future of AI starts in part by understanding the role technology has played in the past. The past three centuries have brought the world three industrial revolutions, each driven by these general purpose technologies. First, it was iron working in the United Kingdom, starting in the 1700s. And then it was electricity and machine tools in the 1800s, when the United States overtook the United Kingdom by putting these technologies to work more broadly than any other country. And then there was the third industrial revolution during the last 50 years, driven by computer chips and software.

    Without question, being a global leader in advancing a general purpose technology gives a country a major edge. But one lesson of history is that the countries that benefit the most and advance the fastest are not necessarily the countries where the technology is invented. Rather, it’s where the technology is diffused – or adopted – the most quickly and broadly. This is for good reason. If a technology improves productivity and changes every part of an economy, then the country that uses it the most broadly and quickly will benefit the most.

    This both frames and defines the AI opportunity and challenge for the United States. As a nation, we need to focus both on advancing innovation and driving diffusion, both domestically and as a leading American export.

    The AI Tech Stack

    The key to driving both innovation and diffusion is to recognize that AI, like all general purpose technologies, is built on what we in the industry call a tech stack – a stack of technologies that are used together. This is true for every great general purpose technology. You can see this, for example, if we go back in time and think about electricity. Thomas Edison first succeeded in 1878 in using electricity to light a lightbulb. But the illumination of lights across a city quickly required the construction of power plants, the fuel to run them, the creation of an electrical grid, the standardization of circuits, and a wide range of electrical appliances beyond the lightbulb itself. In short, a tech stack for electricity.

    Artificial intelligence similarly is built on an AI tech stack. Fundamentally, it is divided into three layers, infrastructure, the platform layer, and applications. You can see this illustrated below.

    The infrastructure layer is massive. Microsoft is spending more than $80 billion this fiscal year on the capital investment needed for this layer, with more than half this amount being spent in the United States. This goes to buying land, investing in electricity and broadband connectivity, procuring chips like GPUs, and installing liquid cooling. These lead to the construction of datacenters – or often datacenter campuses with many buildings with potentially hundreds of thousands of computers. This infrastructure supports both the training of new AI models and their deployment, so they can be used for AI-based services around the world.

    On top of this infrastructure, there is the platform layer. The heart of this layer consists of AI foundation models, including frontier models created by companies like OpenAI, as well as open source and other models from a wide variety of other firms – including Anthropic, Google, Mistral, DeepSeek, and Microsoft itself. The platform layer relies on data to train and ground models. And it includes a new generation of software-based AI platform services that are used to help build AI applications.

    Ultimately, both the infrastructure and platform layers support the applications layer. These are devices and software applications that use AI to deliver better services to people. ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot are both examples of AI applications. One of the amazing things about the applications layer is it’s not just companies – large or small or established or startup – that are creating AI applications. It’s everybody. It’s researchers using new AI-infused applications to change drug discovery. It’s non-profits changing the way they deliver services. It’s teachers using AI as a tool to improve the way they prepare material for a classroom. It’s governments making everything from the filing of a tax return to the renewal of a driver’s license easier and more efficient.

    To build a new AI economy, it’s critical to get all three of these layers working and to get a flywheel turning across the ecosystem. It’s essential to build the infrastructure layer so people can develop and deploy the models at the platform layer. It’s essential to use the AI models so that people will build the applications on top of them. And it’s essential for customers to adopt the applications, so the market can grow, and drive increased investment to expand the infrastructure further. The process repeats itself. This is how a new economy is born.

    Success Requires an Entire Ecosystem

    The flywheel effect makes clear that success requires not only national progress at one layer of the tech stack, but at every layer. That is what the private sector currently is pursuing in the United States better than in any other country. And it’s what this Congress and the Executive Branch can help support with a strategy that promotes both AI innovation and diffusion up and down this stack.

    National AI leadership requires not only success by a few companies, but by many. Today’s panel, involving leading firms such as OpenAI, AMD, CoreWeave, and Microsoft, reflects important slices of the new AI economy. The AI economy requires a multifaceted and integrated ecosystem that includes “Big Tech” and “Little Tech,” startups and more established firms, open source and proprietary developers, suppliers and customers, firms that create data and firms that consume it, all working together. Governments as both regulators and leading AI adopters have critical roles to play.

    Commentators sometimes focus on the tensions between different participants in this tech ecosystem. These deserve attention. What’s often overlooked is that the different participants also depend on each other. And this means that the different contributors to the AI ecosystem all need to be healthy.

    A large technology company like Microsoft has a unique opportunity – and responsibility – to partner with and support the participants at every level of the tech stack. We strive to advance not just innovation but an economic architecture, business models, and responsible practices that will help grow the AI market on a long-term basis. Not just for the United States, but the country’s friends and allies.

    Winning the Innovation Race

    Although the AI economy is being built mostly by the private sector, government policies and initiatives need to play a critical role. This starts with work needed to help fuel innovation. A few areas deserve particular attention in this hearing.

    Power the growth of datacenters

    Just as you can’t have reliable electricity in your home without a powerplant, you can’t have AI without datacenters and AI infrastructure. And these datacenters require a vast supply chain to construct and large amounts of electricity to operate.

    America’s advanced economy relies on 50-year-old infrastructure that cannot meet the increasing electricity demands driven by AI, reshoring of manufacturing, and increased electrification. The United States will need to invest in more transmission and energy resources, onshore our supply chains, and modernize our electric grid to support forecasted increases in electrical loads. Microsoft is investing in these areas itself.

    We urge the federal government to streamline the federal permitting process to accelerate growth in all these areas. The current federal permitting processes often involve multiple agencies and complex, unpredictable, multi-year reviews. This hinders progress. The federal government should take immediate steps to establish reliable, reasonable, and transparent timelines for permitting decisions. This can also be done by standardizing federal permitting processes and designating a lead agency to shepherd the permits through the process. Further, the permitting agencies should utilize AI and digital tools to improve timelines and transparency for applicants and ensure the permitting agencies have quick access to information to assist them in their review and decision-making process.

    We were pleased to see President Trump’s recent Executive Order, “Updating Permitting Technology for the 21st Century,” directing agencies to make maximum use of technology in the environmental review and permitting process. The Congress should also look to the Federal-State Modern Grid Deployment Initiative as a proven program that can be leveraged to deliver results.

    This is just the start of what is needed to modernize and expand America’s energy grid. We need to recognize that new investments in the grid are just as important today as they were a century ago, when the United States led the world in private and public sector support for electricity.

    Grow the AI Infrastructure workforce

    Perhaps the single biggest challenge for data center expansion in the United States is a national shortage of people – including skilled electricians and pipefitters. Electricians, for example, are essential to datacenter construction, installing a complex system of electrical panels, transformers and backup power systems. We have hired thousands of electricians across the country, including in Arizona, Georgia, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. But the United States doesn’t have enough electricians to fill the growing demand. We estimate that over the next decade, the United States will need to recruit and train half a million new electricians to meet the country’s growing electricity needs. We need a national strategy to ensure we meet this opportunity for American workers.

    These are good jobs that will provide great long-term careers for people across the country. We recommend making existing federal education and training funds, as well as tax incentives, available to scale up these opportunities. These could include targeting current federal apprenticeship investments in regions that have identified major AI infrastructure initiatives and supporting existing training centers to quickly increase the number of registered apprenticeships focused on electricians.

    We commend President Trump’s recent Executive Order, “Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future,” for highlighting the importance of skilled trades in the building of AI infrastructure and for paving the way to meet this moment. As federal agencies work to implement the order, it will be critical that industry forecasters and union training centers work together to maximize impact.

    Ultimately, we need new steps at every level of government and in communities across the country. For example, we need to do more as a nation to revitalize the industrial arts and shop classes in American high schools. This should be a priority for local school boards and state governments. Similarly, the nation’s community colleges will need to do more to support a national initiative to help train a new generation of skilled labor, including electricians and pipefitters.

    Invest in AI research and development

    To uphold America’s position as a global scientific leader, it is imperative to enhance federal investment in fundamental scientific research. The United States boasts a storied history of employing public-private partnerships. The decisions made decades ago to publicly fund research infrastructure and provide financial support to talented scientists and entrepreneurs paved a pathway to American technological leadership. Through federal, state and local government initiatives, investments were made in regional economies and programs, betting on the ingenuity of the American people. Notable incubators of the 20th  century – such as Bell Labs and the network of federal national laboratories – were the result of deliberate efforts to unite industry, government, and academia to propel scientific advancement. We must deploy a similar strategy today for AI and quantum technologies. Investments in these areas are critical to advancing the development of innovative technological solutions that address complex global challenges.

    To outcompete nations like China, which have significantly boosted their research and development (R&D) investments, the United States must accelerate strategic investments in scientific research for future technologies. Experts predict China will continue to invest substantial resources in next-generation technologies such as AI, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, quantum computing, and semiconductors over the next decade.

    Since the Second World War, America’s technological innovation has been driven by R&D based on two critical ingredients that the rest of the world has both studied and envied. The first is sustained support for basic research. While a few tech companies invest substantial sums in basic research, as we do through Microsoft Research (MSR), most world-leading basic research is pursued by academics at American universities, often based on funding from the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies. Driven by curiosity rather than a profit motive, this research often leads to unexpected but profound discoveries that are published publicly.

    The second ingredient is a sustained commitment to investments in product development by companies of all sizes. The United States, more than any other country, has mastered the process of moving new ideas quickly from universities to the private sector. This success rests on healthy investments in both R and D, recognizing that basic research is often publicly funded and typically in universities, while product development is robustly and privately funded through companies. It’s the combination of the two that makes American R&D so successful.

    In 2019, President Trump approved an executive order designed to strengthen America’s lead in artificial intelligence. It rightly focused on federal investments in AI research and making federal data and computing resources more accessible. Six years later, the President and Congress should expand on these efforts to support advancing America’s AI leadership. More funding for basic research at the National Science Foundation and through our universities is one good place to start.

    Ensure public data is open and accessible

    Data is the fuel that powers artificial intelligence. The quality, quantity, and accessibility of data directly determines the strength and sophistication of AI models. While the internet has been a major source of training data, the federal government remains one of the largest untapped sources of high-quality and high-volume data. Yet today, many of these datasets are either inaccessible or not usable for AI development.

    By making government data readily available for AI training, the United States can significantly accelerate the advancement of AI capabilities, driving innovation and discovery. Opening access to these datasets would allow for the analysis of themes, patterns, and insights across broad datasets, propelling the country to the forefront of global AI development.

    Importantly, accessible public data levels the playing field. It empowers not only large companies but startups, academic institutions, and nonprofits to train and refine AI models. This fosters a more competitive and inclusive AI ecosystem, where innovation is driven by ideas and ingenuity – not just proprietary data.

    In comparison, countries like China and the United Kingdom are already investing heavily in their data resources, recognizing the economic and strategic value of national-scale data management. China’s comprehensive system to manage datasets as a strategic resource and the UK’s National Data Library underscore a growing global trend of treating data as a common good for economic competitiveness.

    Winning the AI Diffusion Race

    History teaches us that the true impact of a general-purpose technology is not measured solely by the caliber of its leading inventions, but by how quickly, widely, and effectively these are adopted across society. But the reality is that technology diffusion takes time, investment, partnerships, and sound public policy.

    The history of electricity offers an important insight for AI. Once Thomas Edison proved in 1878 that electricity could power a lightbulb, why would anyone choose to sit at night in a room illuminated by a candle or kerosene? Yet tonight, almost 150 years later, more than 700 million people on the planet still live without electricity in their homes. Diffusion requires not only great technology, but sound economics.

    The economics of tech diffusion start with skilling. Countries need to invest in the skills needed to use new technology, both as individuals and across organizations. It is easy to underestimate both the role that skilling plays and the need for public policy to support it. But in each industrial revolution, the country that best harnessed the leading general-purpose technology of its time was the nation that skilled its population the most quickly and broadly.

    Skill the American workforce

    In the new AI economy, Americans of all backgrounds will need critical AI skills to compete. To meet the totality of the skilling challenge, the country must pursue a new national goal to make AI skilling accessible and useful for every American. This will require a very broad range of partnerships and new policy ideas, spanning across geographic, organizational, economic, and political divides.

    President Trump’s recent executive orders focused on AI education and the workforce provide critical steps towards a national skilling strategy for AI. The “Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth” EO establishes a clear policy to promote AI literacy by responsibly integrating AI into education for teachers and students. By fostering this early exposure, the nation’s youth will be better positioned for AI-enabled work. Congress can also consider leveraging existing federal funding to the nation’s school districts to encourage AI learning and literacy in K-12 education.

    Businesses and non-profits have important roles to play. At Microsoft, we are seeking to do our part to meet this skilling challenge. In 2025 alone, we are on a path to train 2.5 million Americans in basic AI skills. We’re partnering with the National Future Farmers of America (FFA) to train educators in every state to integrate AI into the agricultural classroom through our Farm Beats for Students program. We are partnering with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the largest organization representing the nation’s educators in America, to deliver a co-developed training program to 10,000 AFT members. And we’re partnering with the State of New Jersey, Princeton University, and CoreWeave on an AI Hub in New Jersey that will include support for AI education in local community colleges.

    When it comes to AI skilling, the most important thing we need to do is recognize that this is a critical field that is ripe for attention, learning, partnership, and innovation. It will have a huge impact on broadening access to this technology across our economy and society. Generative AI is a new and young technology. So is our knowledge of the full extent of need in terms of AI skilling programs and support. This is a first-class priority that deserves as much attention and support as innovation in AI technology itself.

    Encourage AI adoption

    The federal government also will play a critical role in AI diffusion by using AI itself. There are opportunities across the government to use AI to improve the quality and efficiency of public services for citizens.

    It’s encouraging to see the recent OMB publication of M-Memos focused on federal government use and procurement of AI. Both memos emphasized the importance of removing barriers to innovation, maximizing the use of domestically developed AI products, and encouraging AI leaders within the federal government to facilitate responsible AI adoption.

    We’re seeing activity in the states as well. We partnered with the Texas Department of Transportation to launch a six-week pilot program aimed at boosting productivity and improving decision-making across various departments. The program saw strong results with 97 percent of participants using the AI digital assistant during the pilot, 68 percent have integrated it into their daily workflow, and participants reporting saving an average of 12 hours a week on routine tasks.

    Exporting American AI

    The ability to export our AI is essential to sustaining our global competitiveness and ensuring that our technological progress benefits not only our nation, but also our allies and partners around the world. Building on recent AI diplomacy efforts, the United States offers a compelling and trusted value proposition in the global technology landscape.

    American tech companies, including Microsoft, are making unprecedented investments in AI infrastructure around the world. Microsoft alone is building AI infrastructure in more than forty countries, including regions where China has focused its investments. We urgently need a national policy that provides the right balance of export controls and trade support for these investments.

    While the U.S. government rightly has focused on protecting sensitive AI components in secure datacenters through export controls, an even more important element of AI competition will involve a race between the United States and China to spread their respective technologies to other countries. Given the nature of technology markets and their potential network effects, this race between the United States and China for international influence likely will be won by the fastest first mover. The United States needs a smart international strategy to rapidly support American AI around the world.

    This fundamental lesson emerges from the past twenty years of telecommunications equipment exports. Initially, American and European companies such as Lucent, Alcatel, Ericsson, and Nokia built innovative products that defined international standards. But as Huawei invested in innovation and China’s government subsidized sales of its products, especially across the developing world, adoption of these Chinese products outpaced the competition and became the backbone of numerous countries’ telecommunications networks. This created the technology foundation for what later became an important issue for the Trump Administration in 2020, as it grappled with the presence of Huawei’s 5G products and their implications for national and cybersecurity.

    Early signs suggest the Government of China is interested in replicating its successful telecommunications strategy. China is starting to offer developing countries subsidized access to scarce chips, and it’s promising to build local AI datacenters. The Chinese wisely recognize that if a country standardizes on China’s AI platform, it likely will continue to rely on that platform in the future.

    International partnerships will be critical. This is why Microsoft has partnered with entities like the UAE’s G42 and investment funds like Blackrock and MGX, aiming to raise up to $100 billion for AI infrastructure and supply chains. American tech companies and private capital markets are forging stronger ties with key nations and sovereign investors in the Middle East, surpassing previous efforts to counter Chinese subsidies in telecommunications and reflecting our commitment to innovation and cooperation. While China’s government may subsidize its technology adoption in developing regions, it will struggle to match the scale and impact of America’s private sector investments.

    Pragmatic American export control policies are essential, balancing security protections with the ability to expand rapidly. Protecting national security by preventing adversaries from acquiring advanced AI technology is crucial. Rules should include qualitative standards for secure datacenter deployments to prevent chip diversion to China and ensure advanced AI services are safeguarded. We support this type of approach.

    However, we have expressed our concerns about the quantitative caps imposed on GPU shipments by the interim final AI Diffusion Rule issued in January. These place key American allies and partners in a Tier Two category, imposing limits on AI datacenter expansion. This includes countries like Switzerland, Poland, Greece, Singapore, India, Indonesia, Israel, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Customers in these countries now fear restricted access to American AI technology – potentially benefitting China’s AI sector by turning to alternatives.

    The Trump administration has an opportunity to revise the rule, eliminating quantitative caps and retaining qualitative standards. This approach ensures American allies and partners remain confident in accessing American AI products.

    Ultimately, we need to recognize that countries around the world will use American AI only if they can trust it. This creates responsibilities for American companies to develop and deploy AI infrastructure and products in a responsible manner that meets local needs. And it requires that countries have confidence in sustained and uninterrupted access to critical AI components and services. The United States has long built a reputation for trustworthy technology that China has been unable to match. But this reputation, like everything that truly matters, requires constant attention and care.

    Tags: AI, AI economy, artificial intelligence, Brad Smith, Congress, Innovation, Innovation Featured, Technology

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Edinburgh appoints visitor levy forum chair

    Source: Scotland – City of Edinburgh

    Julie Ashworth will lead the new forum to advise the Council on all matters related to establishing Edinburgh’s Visitor Levy and its ongoing performance.

    A recruitment panel, comprising senior representatives of the City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, Visit Scotland and Edinburgh Association of Community Councils, identified the experienced executive as the ideal candidate to establish and lead the Visitor Levy Forum.

    Councillors formally agreed to the appointment at the full Council meeting on Thursday 8 May.

    Julie brings to the role considerable experience in complex stakeholder management and financial planning, and is a skilled networker with a strong track record of building relationships across multiple industry sectors, local and national governments.

    She is founder and CEO of BroadReach Leadership Consultancy, whose clients span retail, technology, travel, education and the arts.

    An Edinburgh resident, she currently serves as a Public Interest Board Trustee for the Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland, is Chair of the Board for the University of Aberdeen and has been a longstanding member of the Institute of Directors, where she is Chair of the Scotland Board. She also contributes on a cross-party working group at the Scottish Parliament and is a member of the Scottish Government’s New Deal for Business Group.

    She has previously held executive and advisory positions with leading organisations operating in the retail sector including Marks and Spencer, Liberty of London, IBM, the Spirit Group and Clear Returns.

    Council Leader Jane Meagher said:

    “I’m delighted that Julie has been appointed as Chair of the Visitor Levy Forum. This independent role will be important in helping to deliver the scheme in a way that benefits everyone living, working in and visiting Edinburgh, making sure big decisions are taken in a way that supports the whole city.

    “Julie’s proven ability to analyse important information and make sound decisions in high profile organisations will be a great asset to this new position. We believe her clear, determined and approachable style mean she is the right person to establish and lead a well-balanced forum where all views are given fair representation.

    “The levy is a once in a lifetime opportunity to invest in the future of our city, and with Julie onboard as forum chair, we are well placed to deliver a scheme that will enhance and sustain the things that make Edinburgh such a great place to live in and visit.”

    Commenting on her appointment, Julie Ashworth said:

    “I am excited to get to work with establishing the forum and encouraging a broad range of views from businesses and communities across the city. We are entering a busy period as we build up to the implementation of the levy, and getting underway with the forum is a big opportunity for all of us.

    “As a long-time resident of the city, I am passionate about Edinburgh’s heritage and future success. I strongly believe the forum can play a very important role in helping the levy to be delivered in a way that is fair, just and brings benefits to everyone in the years to come.”

    Julie’s first task will be to establish the Edinburgh Visitor Levy Forum in line with the duties set out in the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act, with the first meeting taking place before 24 July 2025.

    The forum’s purpose is to discuss and advise the Council on matters to do with the levy, including advising the Council on any recommended modifications to the scheme at the formal three-year review point.

    The forum will also be consulted on how the income from the levy will be invested and invited to review and comment on the performance of the scheme and investments once in place. Decisions on amendments to the scheme and how the proceeds from the levy are invested will ultimately be taken by councillors.

    It will comprise an equal number of representatives from the community and businesses operating in the city’s visitor economy, and aim for at least 40 per cent of the representatives to be women. Council officers responsible for the investment streams and officers from the Council’s Programme Management Office will attend forum meetings and may make recommendations to the forum, but will not be members of the forum itself.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Sending off the Class of 2025

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    The Class of 2025 is just days away from walking across the commencement stage to receive their Doctor of Dental Medicine degrees.

    This week, the students gathered with their fellow classmates and faculty to celebrate their many accomplishments for one last time before UConn Health’s 54th Commencement on May 12.

    The annual senior awards celebration—this year taking place at the New Britain Museum of American Art—includes the presentation of student and faculty awards.

    Faculty and students in the Class of 2025 gather for the annual School of Dental Medicine senior awards ceremony.

    “On behalf of the entire School of Dental Medicine community, I congratulate each of our soon-to-be new graduates for completing arguably the most challenging and rigorous dental programs anywhere,” said Dr. Steven Lepowsky, dean of the School of Dental Medicine. “In doing so, we are confident that you are well prepared to enter the profession as exceptionally well trained and competent beginning practitioners. You are well poised to face the challenges of the next phase of your professional careers.”

    The dean continued, “Your professional journey does not end with graduation. The majority of you will be entering residency programs in a few weeks, while others will be entering practice, but regardless of that next step, I want to encourage you to continue to learn and grow with the same enthusiasm and spirit that you have demonstrated with us over the past four years.”

    Students in the Class of 2025 gather for the annual School of Dental Medicine senior awards ceremony.

    “It was an honor to attend the student awards reception,” said David Cruzate, the class representative. “The night of camaraderie with our friends, colleagues, and faculty felt like such a culmination and celebration of our time here at UConn. I am forever grateful to be a part of our community!”

    After commencement, Cruzate will be heading to Togus Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta, Maine for his Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency.

    Cynara McPhail, president of the School of Dental Medicine Alumni Association Board and 1984 graduate of the School of Dental Medicine, made remarks to the students as well.

    Earlier in the week, the School of Dental Medicine hosted an induction ceremony for the Phi Chi Chapter of the prestigious Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU) National Dental Honor society.

    Samira Abdelrehim, Dedrian Barrett, Emma Bergstrom, Sierra Furey, Dani Gosselin, and Michael Truhlar were inducted for their outstanding achievements in scholarship, professionalism, and ethics.

    “Induction into OKU is based on scholarship and character, and is a great honor in dental medicine,” said Dr. Donna Paolella, associate dean for admissions and president of the Phi Chi chapter. “The faculty and students inducted this year are very impressive, and this is a well-deserved honor.”

    Phi Chi Chapter of the OKU National Dental Honor Society student and faculty inductees.

    Dr. Eric Bernstein, associate dean for academic affairs, and Dr. Takanori Sobue, associate professor in the Department of Periodontology, were inducted as faculty.

    During the student awards recognition ceremony, Dr. Ellen Eisenberg was announced as this year’s Kaiser Permanente award winner for excellence in teaching and Dr. Hang Le received the South Park Inn Award for outstanding service to the community.

    The full list of the student awards is below:

    ENDODONTICS

    American Association of Endodontists Student Achievement Award
    Olivia Dort

    GENERAL DENTISTRY

    Academy of General Dentistry Future Leader in General Dentistry Award
    Mark DiRusso

    Academy of Operative Dentistry Award
    Cristal Bruce

    American Academy of Esthetic Dentistry Student Award of Merit
    Emma Bergstrom

    The Quintessence Award for Clinical Achievement in Restorative Dentistry
    Gosia Fryc

    ORAL MEDICINE

    American Academy of Oral Medicine Award
    Danielle Gosselin

    American Academy of Orofacial Pain Award
    Lucy Schlink

    ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL PATHOLOGY

    American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology Dental Student Award
    Samira Abdelrehim

    ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL RADIOLOGY

    Allan B. Reiskin Award
    Kipa Shakya

    American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Award
    Gosia Fryc

    ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY

    American Academy of Implant Dentistry Student Award
    Dedrian Barrett

    American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Dental Student Award  
    Spencer Infranco

    American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Dental Implant Award
    Mark DiRusso

    American College of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Award (William H. Bell Award)
    Isiah Sumler

    Academy of Osseointegration Outstanding Dental Student in Implant Dentistry
    Tyler Deitelbaum

    Connecticut Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Award
    John Todd

    Dr. Richard G. Topazian Prize
    Juan Mitchell

    Horace Wells Senior Student Award from the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology
    Pablo Piedra

    International Congress of Oral Implantologists/Dentsply Student Achievement Award
    Brian Legato

    ORTHODONTICS

    American Association of Orthodontists Award
    Thomas Nelson

    Dr. Surender Nanda Memorial Award
    Peter Schwalm

    PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY

    American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Certificate of Merit
    Samantha DePalma

    Special Care Dentistry Association/Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities Award
    Sierra Furey

    PERIODONTOLOGY

    American Academy of Periodontology Award
    Dedrian Barrett

    Northeastern Society of Periodontists Award
    Pritisha Amatya

    The Quintessence Award for Clinical Achievement in Periodontics
    Timothy Tsai

    PROSTHODONTICS

    American College of Prosthodontists Achievement Award
    Michael Truhlar

    American Prosthodontic Society Award
    Sarah Nevolis

    HanauTM Best of the Best Prosthodontic Award
    Gosia Fryc

    Kohrman Award
    Dedrian Barrett

    SENIOR AWARDS COMMITTEE AWARDS

    American Association of Public Health Dentistry
    Samantha DePalma

    Dr. Robert G. Levine Award
    Julia Clapis

    The Dr. Loeb Prize
    Samira Abdelrehim

    Friends of the School of Dental Medicine – Fox Award
    Dedrian Barrett

    International College of Dentists Student Humanitarian Award
    Nina Penabad

    International College of Dentists Student Leadership Award
    Eddyson Altidor

    Society for Color and Appearance in Dentistry (SCAD)
    Richard Cadena

    The Brian D. Stone Student Memorial Award
    Jake Wallach

    The Pierre Fauchard Academy Award
    Jason Deck

    The Quintessence Award for Research Achievement
    Emma Winchester

    University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine Professional Development Award
    John Dellalana

    American Association of Women Dentists Eleanor J. Bushee Senior Dental Student Award
    Megna Senthilnathan

    Olmstead Prize in Geriatrics
    Ninad Vora

    Academic Achievement Award 2025 Sponsored by the Provost’s Commission on the Status of Women, the UConn Alumni Association, and the Women’s Center
    Samira Abdelrehim

    ADEA Dr. Jean Craig Sinkford Student Leadership Award
    Dedrian Barrett

    US Public Health Service Dental Award
    Serene Elbach

    2025 ASDA Award of Excellence
    Sarah Nevolis

    Commencement Speaker
    Kristina Dubois

    The Alumni Relations Award
    Victoria D’Agostino
    Eddyson Altidor
    Mychael Mckeever

    Health Careers Bridge Award
    Nina Penabad

    Phi Chi Chapter of Omicron Kappa Upsilon 2025 Inductees
    Samira Abdelrehim
    Dedrian Barrett
    Emma Bergstrom
    Sierra Furey
    Danielle Gosselin
    Michael Truhlar

    The South Park Inn Dental Clinic Award
    Vanessa Vlaun
    Dr. Hang Le

    Kaiser Permanente Teaching Award
    Dr. Ellen Eisenberg

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: A new pope is chosen: A look back on the jostling for the papacy and the conclave’s history

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Colin Rose, Associate Professor of European and Digital History, Brock University

    Cardinal Robert Prevost of the United States is the new pope, succeeding Pope Francis, and taking the name Pope Leo XIV. He’s been elected following a millennium-old ceremony known as the papal conclave. During the conclave, the 135 eligible Cardinal Electors of the Catholic Church sequestered themselves and elected the new pope in isolation.

    During that time, they had no contact with the outside world and they voted repeatedly, in written ballots and verbal declaration, until one of them achieved a two-thirds majority.

    Every failure brings sighs from the crowds in St. Peter’s Square as the votes, burned with a chemical admixture, send up a plume of inky black smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. White smoke, signalling a new pope has been elected, provokes cheers and celebrations and the beginning of a new papal era, as was the case after the election of Leo on May 8, 2025.



    Read more:
    How the next pope will be elected – what goes on at the conclave

    The history of the conclave, especially during the Italian Renaissance that I teach and research, tells us a lot about how the papacy is both a religious and a political office.

    The pope is at once the supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church as well as the absolute monarch of Vatican City. He is both bishop of Rome and head of state of the smallest sovereign state in the world.

    Politics of the papacy

    In the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, the Vatican was the capital of a much-larger Papal State. This territorial buffer around Rome at its height bordered the territories of Florence, Naples, Milan and Venice, and covered much of northern Italy.

    Popes wielded great influence in the dramatic politics of famous Italian families like the Medici: it was a Medici pope, Clement VII, who helped negotiate the installation of the first Medici duke in Florence.

    Apocryphal accounts persist of Julius II, the so-called “Warrior Pope,” leading a charge over the walls of Bologna in 1506.

    At the same time popes, and Catholic policy, had profound consequences for European and global politics: Clement’s successor Paul III excommunicated England’s King Henry VIII, cementing the English break with Rome in 1538.

    A portrait of Pope Alexander VI Borgia circa 1495.
    (Vatican Museums)

    Alexander VI was more audaciously imperial: he sponsored the treaty that arbitrarily divided the entire world outside of Europe between Spain (his home country) and Portugal in 1494.

    Alexander VI’s historical infamy is perhaps outdone only by his son, Cesare Borgia, made famous by his mention is Niccolo Machiavelli’s book The Prince.

    Becoming pope was a big deal for a cardinal and his family. Leading candidates known as papabili (pope-ables) began strategizing and negotiating even before popes died.

    When a pontiff died, those cardinals abroad began their travels to Rome, construction began on the temporary cells that would house them all during the sequestration and the real work of electing a pope began.

    Enea Silvio Piccolomini left a detailed memoir of his election as Pius II in 1458. In it he describes a process of negotiating, threatening, cajoling and strategizing that make the scheming in the recent movie Conclave look unsophisticated.

    Renaissance Italy wrestled with and ultimately reconciled itself to the political nature of the papacy.

    Many, including popes such as Pius II, expressed discomfort with the political power of the papacy. While it was a clear factor in the schism of European Christendom that led to the emergence of the Protestant churches in the 16th century, in early modern Italy the political power of the papacy was a reality of the diplomatic milieu.

    The empty throne

    The conclave marks a special place in early modern history as a time when ordinary political order was overturned for a brief period known as the sede vacante (the Vacant See).

    The Vacant See was a time when identities were swappable and when, as one Paolo di Grassi told a judge in 1559, “in Vacant See [Romans] are the masters. The People are the Masters.” Di Grassi had, during the Vacant See of November 1559, pursued his own longstanding grudges against his enemies and been involved in at least one armed brawl.

    While they waited for a new pope, Romans and everyone else might have passed the time with another favourite vice: gambling on the conclave’s outcome.



    Read more:
    Who will the next pope be? Here are some top contenders

    European princes and other potentates of the church paid close attention to conclaves, tried to smuggle information in and out and steer the conclave in favour of their preferred candidate.

    In 1730, for instance, Cardinal Lambertini smuggled a letter out of his conclave thanking a benefactor for their donations to his future ordination as Pope Benedict XIV.

    The election held everyone’s attention as a rare and unusually impactful event in the Roman calendar.

    While Rome’s streets thrummed with tension during the chaotic days of a Vacant See, the conclave proceeded serenely and secretly within the Vatican’s walls.

    The use of white smoke to mark the election of a pope only began in the 20th century. During the Renaissance, the sound of bells would be a more effective way to spread the news through Rome, before the new pope was announced to the city and the world.

    Much turns on that announcement now, as much did in previous centuries. The conclave elects both a pope and a head of state. While Vatican City is magnitudes smaller than the Papal State of the past, it remains a sovereign state.

    Papal pronouncements shape not just religious thought but political action, through voting, advocacy and more. The crowds who awaited the announcement of the new pope might be less raucous than Renaissance Romans, but they were nonetheless invested in the results.

    Colin Rose receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. A new pope is chosen: A look back on the jostling for the papacy and the conclave’s history – https://theconversation.com/a-new-pope-is-chosen-a-look-back-on-the-jostling-for-the-papacy-and-the-conclaves-history-255492

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Even with Pope Leo XIV in place, US Catholics stand ‘at a crossroads’

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Maureen K. Day, Research Fellow, Center for Religion and Civic Culture and Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

    Parishioners attend a memorial Mass in honor of Pope Francis at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles on April 21, 2025. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

    Shortly after 6 P.M. in Rome, the longed-for sight appeared above the Sistine Chapel: white smoke.

    Over the course of a day and a half, the more than 130 members of the College of Cardinals had come to a decision on who should lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. On May 8, 2025, they elected Cardinal Robert Prevost, who chose the name Leo XIV – becoming the first pope from the United States.

    The Conversation U.S. asked Maureen Day, a researcher at the University of Southern California who has written several books about the contemporary church, to explain what Catholicism looks like in the U.S. at this high-stakes moment.

    How is Catholic identity and practice in the U.S. changing, compared with a generation ago?

    In 1987, the year of the first American Catholic Laity survey, nearly half of American Catholics said that faith was “the most” or “among the most” important parts of their life. Now, only 37% say the same.

    Others are leaving the Catholic Church completely. The General Social Survey, a national survey conducted every year or two since the 1970s, asks people about the faith they grew up with, as well as their present religious identity. According to our analysis of its data, in 1973 only 10% of Americans who grew up Catholic had changed religions, and another 7% had left religion altogether. By 2018, each of those percentages had increased to 18%.

    A Pew Research Center study conducted in 2024 found that for every American who converts to Catholicism, another 8.4 leave. The only reason that Catholicism is able to maintain a relatively steady share of the U.S. population – about 20% – is due to the high percentage of immigrants and migrants who are Catholic.

    So my co-authors and I chose the title of our 2025 book, “Catholicism at a Crossroads,” quite intentionally. The church has been facing a variety of challenges for decades, both nationally and across the globe. It’s not just about disaffiliation, but also issues such as the sexual abuse crises and bishops’ decreasing influence on lay Catholics’ personal decisions.

    The Rev. Athanasius Abanulo celebrates Mass in Lanett, Ala., in 2021. Many international clergy, like Abanulo, are helping to ease a shortage of priests in the U.S.
    AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski

    In response, church leaders have mostly offered minor adjustments, such as encouraging parishes to become more family- or young adult-friendly. They have not yet made larger shifts that could substantially alter some of those trend lines.

    Some of your work focuses on what you call ‘cultural Catholics’ − defined as Catholics who attend Mass less than once per month. How would you describe cultural Catholicism in the U.S. today?

    A big concern of Catholic leaders right now is decreasing Mass attendance, as weekly Mass is an important precept of the Catholic Church. Sunday Mass is a place for Catholics to participate in the sacraments, strengthen their faith and build relationships with other Catholics.

    One of the things Catholic leaders tend to attribute this drop in attendance to is a broader trend of secularism. There might be some merit to this, but it can’t be the whole story. In our analysis of General Social Survey data, for example, the percentage of Protestant Christians who say they attend worship services weekly was 35% in 1950 and 40% in 2023. Among Catholics, however, weekly Mass attendance has declined from 63% to 30% in these same years.

    “Cultural Catholics” who say they attend Mass “a few times a year” or “seldom or never” account for 53% of U.S. Catholics. Many of them demonstrate strong ties to Catholic teachings in other ways. For example, around 70% to 80% of cultural Catholics say that it is “essential” or “somewhat essential” to Catholicism to help the poor, have a devotion to Mary and practice daily prayer.

    There are findings that can lend themselves to either a “glass half empty” or “glass half full” interpretation. For instance, it might be heartening to Catholic leaders to know that 62% of cultural Catholics say it is important that future generations of their family are Catholic – although this is much lower than the 89% among those who attend Mass frequently.

    Sister Maris Stella Vaughan teaches a religion class at St. John Paul II Catholic School in Phoenix, Ariz., in 2020.
    AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills

    And when these cultural Catholics imagine future generations of their family being Catholic, what does that mean? Perhaps it entails simply a few milestones, like receiving baptism, First Communion and possibly Confirmation – the three sacraments that initiate a person into the Catholic faith. The way many cultural Catholics are loosely tethered to the church, without much involvement in parish life, is a great concern for many Catholic leaders.

    What main challenges do you see for the American church under the next pope?

    I would argue that the American church’s biggest challenge is how to heal the factionalism within itself.

    On the one hand, there is a great deal of common ground among the most active Catholics, even with the diversity still found here. According to our analysis, 20% of Catholics are “high commitment”: those who say they attend Mass weekly, are unlikely to leave the faith, and that the church is very important to them. These Catholics are more likely to depart from their political party’s position on an issue if it does not align with Catholic teachings. For example, high-commitment Catholic Republicans are much more likely to support the bishops’ position on making the immigration process easier for families. High-commitment Catholic Democrats, meanwhile, are more likely to be against abortion than are their moderate- or low-commitment counterparts.

    In other words, these high-commitment Catholics tend to be less polarized and could find common cause with one another.

    Catholics pray during Mass at Benedictine College on Dec. 3, 2023, in Atchison, Kan.
    AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

    However, there are more extreme pockets – such as those who called into question the legitimacy of Francis’ papacy – that are more militant about their vision of Catholicism. While these Catholics are few in number, they are very vocal. There are fringe groups that mobilized to try to change the direction of the Catholic Church after Francis’ papacy, which they saw as a series of liberal reforms.

    Within more mainstream Catholicism, there are divides over styles of worship, with media attention on some young Americans flocking to more conservative or traditional parishes. However, sociologist Tim Clydesdale and religion scholar Kathleen Garces-Foley found that young adult Catholics are split: While some are attracted to churches with pastors who demonstrate “orthodoxy,” a similar number prefer “openness.”

    What do you wish more people understood about Catholicism in the U.S.?

    I think the “missing piece” for many is the incredible diversity of U.S. Catholicism, from race and ethnicity to politics and practice. Many Americans tend to associate the religion with one or two issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage, and assume that Catholics are fairly monolithic, both in their demographics and their politics.

    Catholics themselves can also forget – or never learn – that their small slice of Catholicism is not the whole of Catholicism.

    Recognizing and elevating what unites this vast family of Catholics, both personally and collectively, is going to be critical as the church moves forward.

    This article was updated on May 8, 2025 to include Pope Leo XIV’s election.

    The work mentioned in this article was funded largely by the Louisville Institute. Her previous research has received funding from many sources, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

    – ref. Even with Pope Leo XIV in place, US Catholics stand ‘at a crossroads’ – https://theconversation.com/even-with-pope-leo-xiv-in-place-us-catholics-stand-at-a-crossroads-255177

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Even with Pope Leo XIV in place, US Catholics stand ‘at a crossroads’ − a sociologist explains

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Maureen K. Day, Research Fellow, Center for Religion and Civic Culture and Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

    Parishioners attend a memorial Mass in honor of Pope Francis at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles on April 21, 2025. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

    Shortly after 6 P.M. in Rome, the longed-for sight appeared above the Sistine Chapel: white smoke.

    Over the course of a day and a half, the more than 130 members of the College of Cardinals had come to a decision on who should lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. On May 8, 2025, they elected Cardinal Robert Prevost, who chose the name Leo XIV – becoming the first pope from the United States.

    The Conversation U.S. asked Maureen Day, a researcher at the University of Southern California who has written several books about the contemporary church, to explain what Catholicism looks like in the U.S. at this high-stakes moment.

    How is Catholic identity and practice in the U.S. changing, compared with a generation ago?

    In 1987, the year of the first American Catholic Laity survey, nearly half of American Catholics said that faith was “the most” or “among the most” important parts of their life. Now, only 37% say the same.

    Others are leaving the Catholic Church completely. The General Social Survey, a national survey conducted every year or two since the 1970s, asks people about the faith they grew up with, as well as their present religious identity. According to our analysis of its data, in 1973 only 10% of Americans who grew up Catholic had changed religions, and another 7% had left religion altogether. By 2018, each of those percentages had increased to 18%.

    A Pew Research Center study conducted in 2024 found that for every American who converts to Catholicism, another 8.4 leave. The only reason that Catholicism is able to maintain a relatively steady share of the U.S. population – about 20% – is due to the high percentage of immigrants and migrants who are Catholic.

    So my co-authors and I chose the title of our 2025 book, “Catholicism at a Crossroads,” quite intentionally. The church has been facing a variety of challenges for decades, both nationally and across the globe. It’s not just about disaffiliation, but also issues such as the sexual abuse crises and bishops’ decreasing influence on lay Catholics’ personal decisions.

    The Rev. Athanasius Abanulo celebrates Mass in Lanett, Ala., in 2021. Many international clergy, like Abanulo, are helping to ease a shortage of priests in the U.S.
    AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski

    In response, church leaders have mostly offered minor adjustments, such as encouraging parishes to become more family- or young adult-friendly. They have not yet made larger shifts that could substantially alter some of those trend lines.

    Some of your work focuses on what you call ‘cultural Catholics’ − defined as Catholics who attend Mass less than once per month. How would you describe cultural Catholicism in the U.S. today?

    A big concern of Catholic leaders right now is decreasing Mass attendance, as weekly Mass is an important precept of the Catholic Church. Sunday Mass is a place for Catholics to participate in the sacraments, strengthen their faith and build relationships with other Catholics.

    One of the things Catholic leaders tend to attribute this drop in attendance to is a broader trend of secularism. There might be some merit to this, but it can’t be the whole story. In our analysis of General Social Survey data, for example, the percentage of Protestant Christians who say they attend worship services weekly was 35% in 1950 and 40% in 2023. Among Catholics, however, weekly Mass attendance has declined from 63% to 30% in these same years.

    “Cultural Catholics” who say they attend Mass “a few times a year” or “seldom or never” account for 53% of U.S. Catholics. Many of them demonstrate strong ties to Catholic teachings in other ways. For example, around 70% to 80% of cultural Catholics say that it is “essential” or “somewhat essential” to Catholicism to help the poor, have a devotion to Mary and practice daily prayer.

    There are findings that can lend themselves to either a “glass half empty” or “glass half full” interpretation. For instance, it might be heartening to Catholic leaders to know that 62% of cultural Catholics say it is important that future generations of their family are Catholic – although this is much lower than the 89% among those who attend Mass frequently.

    Sister Maris Stella Vaughan teaches a religion class at St. John Paul II Catholic School in Phoenix, Ariz., in 2020.
    AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills

    And when these cultural Catholics imagine future generations of their family being Catholic, what does that mean? Perhaps it entails simply a few milestones, like receiving baptism, First Communion and possibly Confirmation – the three sacraments that initiate a person into the Catholic faith. The way many cultural Catholics are loosely tethered to the church, without much involvement in parish life, is a great concern for many Catholic leaders.

    What main challenges do you see for the American church under the next pope?

    I would argue that the American church’s biggest challenge is how to heal the factionalism within itself.

    On the one hand, there is a great deal of common ground among the most active Catholics, even with the diversity still found here. According to our analysis, 20% of Catholics are “high commitment”: those who say they attend Mass weekly, are unlikely to leave the faith, and that the church is very important to them. These Catholics are more likely to depart from their political party’s position on an issue if it does not align with Catholic teachings. For example, high-commitment Catholic Republicans are much more likely to support the bishops’ position on making the immigration process easier for families. High-commitment Catholic Democrats, meanwhile, are more likely to be against abortion than are their moderate- or low-commitment counterparts.

    In other words, these high-commitment Catholics tend to be less polarized and could find common cause with one another.

    Catholics pray during Mass at Benedictine College on Dec. 3, 2023, in Atchison, Kan.
    AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

    However, there are more extreme pockets – such as those who called into question the legitimacy of Francis’ papacy – that are more militant about their vision of Catholicism. While these Catholics are few in number, they are very vocal. There are fringe groups that mobilized to try to change the direction of the Catholic Church after Francis’ papacy, which they saw as a series of liberal reforms.

    Within more mainstream Catholicism, there are divides over styles of worship, with media attention on some young Americans flocking to more conservative or traditional parishes. However, sociologist Tim Clydesdale and religion scholar Kathleen Garces-Foley found that young adult Catholics are split: While some are attracted to churches with pastors who demonstrate “orthodoxy,” a similar number prefer “openness.”

    What do you wish more people understood about Catholicism in the U.S.?

    I think the “missing piece” for many is the incredible diversity of U.S. Catholicism, from race and ethnicity to politics and practice. Many Americans tend to associate the religion with one or two issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage, and assume that Catholics are fairly monolithic, both in their demographics and their politics.

    Catholics themselves can also forget – or never learn – that their small slice of Catholicism is not the whole of Catholicism.

    Recognizing and elevating what unites this vast family of Catholics, both personally and collectively, is going to be critical as the church moves forward.

    This article was updated on May 8, 2025 to include Pope Leo XIV’s election.

    The work mentioned in this article was funded largely by the Louisville Institute. Her previous research has received funding from many sources, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

    – ref. Even with Pope Leo XIV in place, US Catholics stand ‘at a crossroads’ − a sociologist explains – https://theconversation.com/even-with-pope-leo-xiv-in-place-us-catholics-stand-at-a-crossroads-a-sociologist-explains-255177

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Israel’s peace movement offers a ray of hope amid the pain of Gaza conflict

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Yuval Katz, Lecturer in Communication and Media, Loughborough University

    The first thing I do when going back to Israel for a visit is go for a run. After more than two years abroad, it is a good opportunity to refamiliarise myself with the home I left to pursue my academic career more than eight years ago.

    I knew things would not feel the same. On October 7 2023, Hamas militants breached the fence surrounding the Gaza Strip, killing over 1,000 Israelis and taking more than 200 hostage. It was the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and a resounding blow against the founding idea of the state of Israel, which was established as a safe haven for the Jewish people, who have been persecuted for millennia.

    But in the 18 months that have passed since this catastrophic day, I have grown increasingly critical of the path Israel has taken. It has become a path of revenge, in which Israel has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians through ruthless air strikes and ground operations in the Gaza Strip.

    Now, as many government officials openly declare that there are “no innocent people in Gaza”, plans are in the making to cleanse Gaza of Palestinians through “voluntary immigration”. Although it has not been recognised as such by international law (charges of genocide are currently being investigated by the International Court of Justice), the Netanyahu government has been accused of premeditated genocide, carried out by Jews only 80 years after the Holocaust ended.

    Sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter from The Conversation UK. Every Thursday we’ll bring you expert analysis of the big stories in international relations.

    In the meantime, Israelis are frustrated and exhausted. Their security has not improved, and 59 hostages remain in Gaza (only 24 of whom are thought to be alive). Those who returned from captivity alive report that military operations kill rather than save them – many of them urge the government to stop the war.

    During my run, I was amazed by the mesmerising advocacy campaign to release the hostages. Faces of the hostage and their stories are omnipresent across the public sphere – in posters hung on walls and fences, on flags, bumper stickers and slogans sprayed in graffiti on highways.

    One cannot escape the simultaneous presence (absence) of the hostages. When driving across the country, I listened to radio hosts mentioning those left behind in the Gaza tunnels at the beginning of every hour. Lest we forget.

    Yet, with all the yearning to bring them home comes a devastating helplessness. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, whose intelligence failures were responsible for October 7 and the endless war, is still in power – and many ordinary people feel there is little they can do to change this reality.

    Perhaps it was my indefatigable search for hope that led me to an organisation that embodies the alternative to endless cycles of conflict.

    My academic work focuses on how media forms – whether that be popular television shows, digital activism, or mainstream journalism – generate spaces where Palestinians and Jews meet each other. Where they can process their traumas together creatively through art and storytelling in ways that offer new possibilities for a life worth living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

    But I completed collecting the data for my book project before October 7. Now, returning, I felt an urgency to discover whether a vision for peace was still possible amid this unbearable despair.

    Standing together

    The movement, Standing Together, was founded in late 2015 in the wake of a series of violent incidents. Witnessing the incompetence of left-wing parties and human rights organisations to protect Palestinian citizens of the state from growing racism, a few dozen activists decided to organise a joint demonstration for Palestinians and Jews, so they set up a Facebook page to invite people to join.

    Trailer for No Other Land.

    The movement has expanded significantly since then; from a group of roughly 20 activists, it now consists of over 6,000 registered members, operating in 14 local centres across the country and is a leading organiser of political activities on Israeli campuses.

    I visited its headquarters in Tel Aviv – where the movement has expanded from a couple of rooms to a whole floor of an office building, with paid staff managing its data, media content, finances, and student relations.

    I conducted several interviews with Standing Together’s managers in which they indicated that membership and donations have grown exponentially since the war started. They told me many Palestinians and Israelis are looking for a political home to advance a vision of peace, equality and solidarity.

    The activities of Standing Together include operating information booths which also collect humanitarian aid for Gaza and send it across the border. They screen events and movies for members that reflect the harsh reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while offering an alternative to perpetual violence.

    A series of national screenings was dedicated to the Oscar-winning documentary, No Other Land, which depicts the dispossession of the Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta in the West Bank.

    The movie had been banned from commercial screening in Israel, but the filmmakers, peace activists for whom changing the political reality in Masafer Yatta is more important than anything else, have made it free to screen – they want all Israelis to see it.

    It also screened the joint Memorial Day service, a ceremony that has been staged for years now to allow bereaved families from both sides to meet and grieve together and call for a political change in which no more people join this community of pain.

    People who attended a screening of the Israeli-Palestinian memorial day ceremony at a synagogue in the city of Ra’anana at the end of April were attacked by right-wing activists. There was no response or condemnation from government officials.

    As darkness threatens to consume the people of Israel and Palestine with little regard for human life, movements like Standing Together spread light and bring hope.

    Yuval Katz 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. Israel’s peace movement offers a ray of hope amid the pain of Gaza conflict – https://theconversation.com/israels-peace-movement-offers-a-ray-of-hope-amid-the-pain-of-gaza-conflict-256030

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Donald Trump has reduced tariffs on British metals and cars, but how important is this trade deal? Experts react

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Maha Rafi Atal, Adam Smith Senior Lecturer in Political Economy, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow

    The US president called it a “very big deal”. The UK prime minister said it was “fantastic, historic” day. For sure, Keir Starmer and his team will have been delighted that the UK was first in line to negotiate adjustments to Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs announced on “liberation day” just a few weeks ago. But what might the trade deal between the UK and US actually mean? We asked four economic experts to respond to the Oval Office announcement.

    Wins for the UK are real, but limited

    Maha Rafi Atal, Adam Smith Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Political Economy, University of Glasgow

    The new UK-US trade announcement is less a breakthrough than a careful balancing act – partial, tactical and politically calculated.

    Key UK wins are real but limited. Tariffs on British metals and autos are eased, thanks in part to the UK government acquisition of the Chinese-owned Scunthorpe steelmaking facility, removing a longstanding US objection. But even auto tariffs are only scaled back to the general baseline of 10% and not eliminated.

    Agriculture and tech remain the real stress points. The UK has granted market access to US agricultural products, including beef, but crucially without changing its food safety standards. This sidesteps a domestic political fight and avoids undermining the UK’s Northern Ireland arrangements or its EU alignment. Still, if US beef doesn’t meet those standards, the market access may prove meaningless in practice – setting up future pressure points.

    Perhaps the most notable UK win: it retains its digital services tax on US tech giants. That tax hits Silicon Valley hard, and the US wanted it gone. Instead, the announcement punts this to future talks – holding the line for now, but not securing it permanently.

    This isn’t the long-anticipated UK-US free trade agreement. It’s not a treaty, not comprehensive, and not ratified. It’s a limited, executive-level arrangement with more questions than answers – and more negotiations to come.

    Stronger ties and badly needed growth to come

    David Collins, Professor of International Economic Law, City St George’s, University of London

    This deal is an excellent development that should help restore the UK-US trade relationship to what it was before President Trump took office for the second time. At the time of writing, few details about the arrangement are known. But the 25% tariff on UK steel and aluminium has been removed, as has the tariff rate on most car exports – from 27.5% to 10%

    The lower car rate applies to the first 100,000 vehicles exported from the UK to the US each year. Around 101,000 were exported last year.

    More details are promised in the coming days and weeks. Perhaps they will include an agreement which separates the UK from any restrictions that the US intends to impose on the film industry. In return, the UK might eliminate its digital services tax on the US (which I argue it should never have imposed because it will only raise prices for consumers and generate little revenue).

    But overall, it seems clear that the Labour government has prioritised the UK’s relationship with the EU, evidently seeking as close as possible a connection without formally rejoining. So, while this agreement with Trump is well short of a comprehensive free trade agreement, it is a welcome development that should strengthen Anglo-American ties and bring some badly needed economic growth to both countries.

    Political theatre for both sides

    Conor O’Kane, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Bournemouth

    This announcement is a framework for a trade deal rather than an actual formal completed agreement. Trade deals are detailed, complex and take many months to negotiate.

    The US and the UK are both countries with massive persistent structural trade deficits. It is very unlikely that what has been announced will significantly shift the dial on either country’s structural deficit or growth forecast.

    Jerome Powell, chair of the US Federal Reserve, recently warned that Donald Trump’s tariff policy risked higher inflation and higher unemployment at the same time, what economists call “stagflation”. The president’s announcement will prove a welcome distraction from Powell’s comments.

    The deal should perhaps be viewed as symbolic. Trump’s US tariff policy has been chaotic to date and his administration finally has something they can point to as a win in the aftermath of “liberation day”.

    Of course, a trade deal is also a good news story for the Labour government after disappointing local elections. Prime Minister Keir Starmer can claim economic credibility by being first in line for a trade deal, perhaps cementing the “special relationship”.

    Mini-tariffs on UK cars.
    balipadma/Shutterstock

    However, is the US a reliable partner to sign a trade deal with? During his first term, Trump signed a free trade deal with Mexico and Canada (the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA – the successor to Nafta). At the time, he said the deal “will be fantastic for all”. But he subsequently reneged on it.

    There is also a wider strategic element to this. First, the US wanted to get a trade deal in place with the UK ahead of what looks like a comprehensive EU-UK trade deal coming down the line. Second, Trump sees the EU as an economic rival. By signing a deal with the UK, he is signalling to other European countries the possibility of a potentially better trading relationship with the US outside of the EU.

    Deal leaves the door open for EU relationship

    Sangeeta Khorana, Professor of International Trade Policy, Aston University

    The agreement is a tactical win for both countries. It eases trade frictions, supports key industries and sets the framework for a broader UK-US free trade agreement without impacting on the UK’s economic reset with the European Union.

    The UK–US agreement, which suspends some of Trump’s recent tariffs, is sector-specific and far from comprehensive. It preserves UK food safety and animal-welfare standards. And it safeguards post-Brexit EU links while allowing the UK to cement its strategic partnership with Washington. Talks will be launched on aerospace, advanced batteries, data flows and services liberalisation within 12 months.

    This is a timely coup, coming so soon after the India deal. The pact represents a strategic diplomatic gain that brings tariff relief (and potentially the associated uncertainty) for key British industries, while also preserving UK’s regulatory alignment with the EU.

    Maha Rafi Atal is sometimes a volunteer organiser for the US Democratic party/candidates and has no party affiliation or involvement in the UK.

    Sangeeta Khorana is Professor and endowed Chair of International Trade Policy at Aston University.

    Conor O’Kane and David Collins do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Donald Trump has reduced tariffs on British metals and cars, but how important is this trade deal? Experts react – https://theconversation.com/donald-trump-has-reduced-tariffs-on-british-metals-and-cars-but-how-important-is-this-trade-deal-experts-react-256240

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Four records that embody the joy of the double album – from the Beatles to Outkast

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Glenn Fosbraey, Associate Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Winchester

    In the summer of 1966, a race was on between two very different opponents. On one side was Bob Dylan, the established and bestselling folk artist. On the other was new act The Mothers of Invention, a genre- (and mind-) bending band led by avant garde composer Frank Zappa. The aim? To release the first “double album” (four-sided LP) in popular music.

    On June 20, Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde prevailed, pipping The Mothers of Invention’s Freak Out! by a single week. But the outcome was largely unimportant – not least because the first double album had actually been released six years prior, in the form of R&B singer Jimmy Clanton’s Jimmy’s Happy/Jimmy’s Blue.

    But the “race” did at least demonstrate there was interest in the double album as a format – and that, with the commercial success of Blonde on Blonde (Freak Out! unsurprisingly failed to trouble the charts), the public weren’t put off by the inflated price of a two-LP set.

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    The double album may have subsequently gone through a rocky patch in the 1970s when “self-indulgent” prog rockers used it to unleash interminable dreary eternities – but it remains a crucial, albeit uncommon, part of pop music. Here are some of the standouts that you may or may not have come across.

    1. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by Outkast (2003)

    Rumours of a falling out between Outkast members Big Boi and André 3000 were rife in the lead-up to the release of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below in September 2003. The fact thia project was essentially two solo albums stuck together didn’t help matters.

    Roses by Outkast from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.

    Whatever the circumstances it was recorded under, the result was synapse-popping, gut-reorganising, breathtakingly adventurous music. It’s not perfect and, like many double albums before and since, critics have suggested it would have been better served trimmed down and issued as a single disc. But the benefit of the double album format is that it allows artists the time and freedom to experiment.

    Across its two-and-a-half-hour running time, Big Boi and André push boundaries and create a space for hip hop to embrace its weirdness.

    2. Blinking Lights and Other Revelations by Eels (2005)

    American alt-rock band Eels’ sixth studio album saw songwriter-singer-producer Mark Everett (known as “E”) in reflective mood, taking stock of his entire life up to this point.

    Given that his life had included his sister’s 1996 suicide, his mother’s death from cancer soon after, his father’s alcoholism and the death of his cousin in 9/11, it would have been reasonable to expect one of the most depressing albums of all time. And yet, somehow, it’s anything but.

    Described by the Guardian as “one of the best albums to have arisen out of grief” and by E as “a love letter to life itself, in all its beautiful, horrible glory”, Blinking Lights manages to take all that pain and misery and turn it into something genuinely positive and life-affirming.

    Hey Man (Now You’re Really Living) by Eels from Blinking Lights and Other Revelations.

    Recorded over several years, mostly in E’s Los Angeles basement, the album’s production veers between intricate and lo-fi. E’s singing voice – a unique combination of gruff and tender – is its only constant.

    Having spent 90 minutes going through every conceivable emotion (and perhaps several more besides), we make it to the final line of the final track, Things the Grandchildren Should Know, where E tells us: “If I had to do it all again, then it’s something I’d like to do.”

    After all the struggles, all the devastation and trauma, the fact he still considers life sweet enough to live all over again is goosebump-inducing: an extraordinary moment from an extraordinary album.

    3. Aerial by Kate Bush (2005)

    For whatever reason, the number of double albums released by male artists dwarfs those released by females. Donna Summer, Christina Aguilera and Beyoncé are among the few, and Taylor Swift almost had one with The Tortured Poets Department (technically its 15-song “second instalment” was a separate release from the first). But these are relatively uncommon examples.

    As for a double album that’s been written and produced solely by a female artist – well, replace “uncommon” with “almost non-existent”.

    King of the Mountain by Kate Bush from Aerial.

    “Almost” because in 2005, Kate Bush did it with Aerial. Her first album in over a decade, Aerial saw Bush at her idiosyncratic best. In her hands (and voice), commonplace events are made to sound extraordinary – and they’re sung to a constantly shifting palette of musical styles, ranging from baroque to dance.

    It’s impossible to predict what’s going to come next, and that is joyous. Just to show how nothing is ever perfect, though, two of the tracks feature disgraced Australian entertainer Rolf Harris, whose contributions Bush removed from the 2018 re-issue.

    4. The Beatles/The White Album by The Beatles (1968)

    On May 30 1968, almost exactly one year after the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the fab four returned to Abbey Road studios to begin work on their next album, a self-titled affair which will forever be known as the White Album.

    But where do the most important band in the world go after they’ve just hit a “musically ground-breaking, hyper-influential career high-water mark”? They go bigger, of course.

    Millions of words have already been written about the brilliance of the Beatles, but their prolific artistry around this period still can’t be overstated. When the White Album was released in November 1968, the band had produced a staggering 53 songs in just 18 months, spread across two albums (one a double), a double EP and four chart-topping singles. Thirty of those songs appear on this album, most of them written during the band’s meditation retreat to Rishikesh in India in early 1968.

    While My Guitar Gently Weeps by the Beatles from the White Album.

    It’s the least collegiate of all the Beatles’ albums and Harrison, Lennon and McCartney would often work on their own tracks in three different studios. But it’s also their most experimental and diverse, taking in everything from hard rock and blues-rock to saloon satire, pastoral folk, vaudeville, and avant-garde sound collage.

    Its stark, plain white cover may have been designed to contrast with the colourfully trippy artwork of Sgt. Pepper’s, but it shares its acclaim, regularly making “best album cover of all time” lists.

    The Beatles may have been coming apart as a group when they were making it – and the sound collage track Revolution 9 may make beginning-to-end listens a bit of a challenge – but for many of us, the White Album is still the biggest and best album from the biggest and best band.

    Do you have a favourite double album? We’d love to hear about it. Let us know your pick in the comments below.

    Glenn Fosbraey 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. Four records that embody the joy of the double album – from the Beatles to Outkast – https://theconversation.com/four-records-that-embody-the-joy-of-the-double-album-from-the-beatles-to-outkast-255244

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Objective pain score? Here’s the problem with that

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Laurenz Casser, Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow, University of Sheffield

    Nenadmil/Shutterstock

    Are you in pain? Are you sure? On a scale from zero to ten, where zero is no pain at all and ten is the worst pain imaginable, how much pain is it?

    Invitations to rate your pain on some arbitrary scale of numerals, or on a display of smiley faces that range from happy to sad (if you’re a child), remain the standard ways of assessing people’s pain. If a doctor wants to know how much pain their patient is in, that’s how they’ll try to find out. And they do this for good reason: no one knows a person’s pain better than the person whose pain it is.

    And yet, ratings like these have their limitations. After all, people interpret their pains differently. Some make much of very little, giving high ratings to fairly light pains, while others make little of very much, giving low ratings to pretty bad pains. When a patient rates their pain a five out of ten, who’s to say how much pain that five actually stands for (other than the patient)?

    Luckily, we are promised that these problems with subjective pain ratings will soon be a matter of the past. Several labs around the world report that they are on the cusp of releasing the first objective pain measurement technology: devices that will be able to determine the type and intensity of a person’s pain without having to rely on anyone’s rating or interpretation at all.

    These measurement devices differ in their specifics, but converge in kind. They track patterns in so-called “biomarkers” that correlate with pain experiences – such as the activation of certain nerve fibres, pupil dilation, or variations in blood flow – and compare these patterns with lots of data from people in pain. Doing so, these devices are meant to measure how much pain a person is in based on their biomarker profile.

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    The upshots of this technology are expected to be tremendous: more accurate diagnostics, better testing of analgesic drugs, massive savings for the healthcare system, you name it. Objective pain measurement is meant to transform pain management as we know it.

    But there’s a catch, and it’s a big one. Ask yourself: how did anyone ever figure out that these devices actually work? I mean, how can these researchers be sure that these patterns of nerve activation or those variations in blood flow correspond to that much pain? The answer may surprise you.

    To test the accuracy of their devices, pain researchers evaluate their measurements by reference to the only glimpse of people’s pain experiences they have access to: subjective pain ratings. That’s right. The ultimate test for how good an “objective” pain measurement device truly is is to see how it stacks up against people’s subjective ratings – the very ratings that were deemed so problematic that we wanted new ones.

    The reason researchers do this is that they’re caught in a catch-22: to verify that they have accurately measured a person’s pain, they would have to know how much pain the person was in to begin with, which of course they don’t – that’s why they’re developing a measurement device. What they do know, however, is how that person rates their pain, and so that’s all they have to evaluate the accuracy of their measurements with.

    But a device that predicts people’s pain ratings based on their biomarkers is a far cry from an “objective pain measurement” technology. Its measurements can’t tell us how much pain a person is in with any more accuracy, any less bias, or any more authority than a person’s own rating. Why? Because it’s trained on subjective pain ratings we had trouble interpreting in the first place.

    Pain is subjective. There’s no getting away from it.
    guruXOX/Shutterstock.com

    A philosophical issue

    The problem here has nothing to do with technology. It’s not about how sophisticated your algorithms are, how advanced your equipment is, or how much research funding you got. It’s about the philosophical issue that pain is a subjective experience with only one person who has access to it: the person in pain. Linking biomarkers to pain ratings will never make that access more public.

    Should we be disappointed? I’m not so sure. If objective measures of pain existed, and if they were worth their salt, then they would come apart from people’s own assessments of their pain. They’d have to, since they could hardly be any better or any more accurate if they came out just the same.

    But if what I make of my pain and what a device makes of it is different, then whose assessment is the more important one here? And who is my doctor going to take more seriously in guiding their treatment recommendations: the flashy objective pain score or my little subjective rating? I’m glad I won’t have to find out.

    Laurenz Casser receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust.

    – ref. Objective pain score? Here’s the problem with that – https://theconversation.com/objective-pain-score-heres-the-problem-with-that-255063

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: A beginner’s guide to vegan fashion (and how to spot ‘greenwashing’)

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dr Songyi Yan, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Fashion Management, Manchester Metropolitan University

    Ksw Photographer/Shutterstock

    “Vegan” and “plant-based” are not just food labels anymore; they are fashion’s latest buzzwords. Imagine walking into a high-street fashion store, drawn to a stylish bomber jacket labelled “100% vegan”. You flip the tag, looking for material details, only to find none. Nearby, a luxury handbag proudly announces it’s made from vegan leather. A closer look reveals it’s 56% recycled polyester and 44% polyurethane – basically plastic.

    It’s easy to assume vegan clothes are more ethically and sustainably produced. While it’s evident that vegan leathers avoid animal-derived materials and can support higher animal welfare, labels can be misleading. Many vegan leathers are primarily plastic-based, with environmental consequences that aren’t always communicated clearly.

    Even when made from recycled polyester, these materials still contribute to pollution. They will shed plastic microfibres that persist in landfills and oceans for centuries, and require energy intensive recycling. In some cases, plastic-based vegan leather can be more environmentally damaging than natural alternatives such as vegetable-tanned leather, which is a by-product of the meat industry that biodegrades more easily.

    Fashion’s veganism doesn’t stop with plastics. Material innovations such as cactus leather, mushroom-based mycelium and algae-derived threads promise exciting alternatives to plastic-based and animal-derived fabrics. Brands often use terms such as “plant-based”, “bio-material”, and “100% biodegradable” to attract consumers. Unfortunately, these labels are often vague, inconsistently defined, and can hide potential issues, including synthetic coatings, unclear biodegradability or short product lifespans.

    I’m a researcher in sustainable fashion, focusing on consumer behaviour and sustainability communication. Together with colleagues, I have analysed the websites of 21 innovative materials companies and found that sustainability messaging is often carefully curated and lacking transparency. Vegan alternatives can help brands build an eco image and cut production costs, without necessarily reducing environmental harm.

    Few companies disclose important details such as product durability, recyclability or the conditions needed to biodegrade. Meanwhile, terms like “100% biodegradable” can give the impression that their algae-derived T-shirt will simply decompose in the garden – when, in reality, it requires specific industrial conditions such as sustained high heat, controlled humidity and specialised microbial environments to break down properly. Such miscommunication contributes to “greenwashing”, where marketing sounds greener than the reality.

    Often vegan products are made from plastic polymers.
    TaraPatta/Shutterstock

    To help consumers make informed choices, brand messaging about sustainability needs to be clear and consistent. Terms such as “vegan”, “plastic-free” and “biodegradable” currently lack standardised definitions and aren’t regulated rigorously in markets such as the UK and EU, making them nearly meaningless without verifiable proof. Even upcoming legislation aimed at regulating green claims faces major challenges, as legally binding definitions remain vague.

    This lack of transparency isn’t limited to fashion. I’ve seen a vegan sofa marketed without details about its materials, leaving consumers unaware of plastics and synthetic chemicals involved.

    Similarly, a computer bag is marketed as made from Banbū, a plant-based material derived from bamboo. While the exact composition isn’t disclosed, similar materials often combine natural fibres with synthetic elements for durability. Without full transparency, it’s difficult for consumers to know whether such items are entirely plastic-free or not.

    How to shop smarter

    So, what can we do as consumers? With so much greenwashing and fuzzy language, it’s easy to feel powerless. Here are some practical ways to help you question vague eco-claims:

    Read beyond the label: Don’t stop at buzzwords such as “vegan” or “plant-based”, check what the product is actually made of. Is it 100% natural or blended with plastics like polyurethane? If material details aren’t listed, that’s a red flag.

    Check for trusted certifications: Claims are stronger when backed by certifications. Look out for certifications such as the Global Recycled Standard (GRS), Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), or Cradle-to-Cradle Certified™ help verify claims around recycled content, chemical safety and sustainability across products’ lifecycle.

    Think long-term: A durable product you can use for years is more sustainable than one that’s vegan but only lasts a season. Ask yourself: Will this item stand the test of time? Can it be repaired, reused, or easily recycled once it reaches the end of its wearable life?

    Prioritise transparency: Choose brands that don’t just tell feel-good stories but openly share facts. One good example is Veja – the footwear brand openly discusses its practices with vegetable-tanned leather, admitting it wasn’t durable enough for wide use. While they don’t claim perfection, Veja is relatively honest about their materials, production practices, and sustainability challenges and limitations – that transparency is still quite rare.

    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. 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 so far.

    Dr Songyi Yan 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 beginner’s guide to vegan fashion (and how to spot ‘greenwashing’) – https://theconversation.com/a-beginners-guide-to-vegan-fashion-and-how-to-spot-greenwashing-253770

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: GUU and MIREA celebrate the 80th anniversary of Victory: a memorial was opened in the village of Selizharovo

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    On May 8, 2025, students and staff of the State University of Management, together with colleagues from the Russian Technological University MIREA, opened a memorial to Soviet soldiers in the village of Selizharovo in the Tver Region.

    The opening ceremony, timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, was attended by Rector Vladimir Stroyev and students of the university expeditionary corps led by Vladimir Linnik on behalf of the State University of Management. RTU MIREA was represented by Vice-Rector Igor Tarasov and members of the Student Expeditionary Corps “Arctic Team”.

    Two years ago, students from RTU MIREA discovered a reinforced concrete firing point during search operations, and while clearing it, they found a trench and the remains of a Red Army soldier. The remains were raised, and a memorial was subsequently founded on this site, arranged by students from GUU and MIREA. The construction of the memorial began on April 30. During the shift, the students also visited the Nilov-Stolobenskaya Hermitage, the source of the Volga River, and a livestock farm on an excursion.

    Having greeted those gathered, the rector of the State University of Management Vladimir Stroyev noted that universities are engaged not only in education, but also in upbringing. Students are at an age when they are being formed as individuals and citizens. Search work on battlefields helps them to learn more about history and find themselves.

    “We are a non-war generation, we grew up in peacetime thanks to our ancestors, who at the cost of incredible efforts achieved victory over the aggressor. Now there are almost no living veterans left, and we have no right to forget the contribution of each of them to the common Great Victory.

    It so happened that today, on the fields of a special military operation, a new military generation is being formed, a generation of successors to the victors of fascism, who continue the fight against this inhuman ideology. This continuity is extremely important, because it is the peers of our students and they themselves who, many, many years from now, will tell their children and grandchildren about the current events.

    I want to congratulate everyone on the upcoming Victory Day, the 80th anniversary of the Victory. And I am sure that another such day will definitely come when we will have a big holiday – our next big common victory,” Vladimir Stroyev wished.

    Acting head of the Selizharovsky municipal district Dmitry Markuzov:

    “80 years ago, the final page of the bloodiest war in history was turned. Every year we pay tribute to those who allowed us to live in a free country, to raise children and grandchildren. The opening of this memorial shows that in every corner of our country, there were stubborn battles for the Motherland.”

    The Chairman of the Ostashkov District Public Organization of Veterans, Anatoly Lukashov, who helped raise the remains of many soldiers lying in the Tver soil and participated in the creation of the memorial exhibition in Selizharovo, reminded those gathered about the events of the Great Patriotic War that took place in the Tver Region.

    After the fall of Smolensk, a decision was made to build three defensive lines around Moscow. The outer, third line of defense ran right through the territory of the Rzhevsky, Selizharsky and Ostashkovsky districts. The fortifications were built day and night, mostly by women and children. The production standard was considered to be 7 cubic meters per day. As a result, on August 27, 1941, the colonel who accepted the work wrote in a report, “The line was accepted with a good, almost excellent rating.”

    “As is known, despite stubborn resistance, in November 1941 the village of Selizharovo was captured by the enemy. But not for long, in January the Red Army returned to these places and at the cost of great losses liberated the surrounding area. Yes, many guys died, about 4,000 people, but there are no unnecessary losses in the defense of the Motherland. The enemy was thrown back from our land, and later finally routed in his lair,” said Anatoly Lukashov.

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 05/08/2025

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: N West takes service delivery programmes to Kgetlengrivier Local Municipality

    Source: South Africa News Agency

    The North West Provincial Government’s Accelerated Service Delivery Programme, known as Thuntsha Lerole Reloaded, was launched this week in the Kgetlengrivier Local Municipality. 

    This initiative focuses on areas such as Swartruggens, Derby, Redirile, and the Senthumole section in Koster.

    The weeklong service delivery programme will conclude with the provision of on-site social services at the Reagile Community Hall in Koster on Friday, 9 May 2025. 

    READ | North West leaders on drive to expedite services 

    This event will include visits to identified infrastructure projects and a community feedback session, which will be led by Premier Lazarus Kagiso Mokgosi.

    According to the provincial government, Mokgosi will be joined by MECs, and District and Local Mayors. 

    In efforts to empower local farmers and enhance food production capacity, a shade net tunnel will be handed over to the Onalerona Community Centre. 

    Meanwhile, a veteran poultry package will be provided to beneficiaries, which includes one three-tier layer cage, layer mash feed, and 120 point-of-lay chickens. 

    A veteran goat package will also be distributed, consisting of 10 Boer goat does and one Boer goat buck.

    In addition, a 10-hectare center pivot system will be handed over to a farmer in Koornfontein.

    The Premier’s team will also embark on a site inspection visit to the new Mphe Bana II Secondary School construction project in Reagile, along with an oversight visit to the special maintenance section of Roads P4/2, including Koster Town and sections of Road P34/2. 

    “Road safety will be improved through the patching of potholes, while grass cutting will be undertaken at identified roads. High-mast and streetlight repairs will also be carried out across Reagile to enhance night-time safety. 

    “Furthermore, an intensified litter picking and waste collection programme will target illegal dumping sites with the launch of the clean cities campaign,” the statement read. 

    In response to the needs of the community, sanitary towels will be issued to learners at Mphe Bana Secondary School to support hygiene and dignity. 

    The leaders will also distribute food parcels to needy families as part of the ongoing community relief efforts. – SAnews.gov.za 

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How Tove Jansson’s Moomins illustrations taught us to imagine, resist and belong

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Amelia Huw Morgan, Senior Lecturer Illustration, Cardiff Metropolitan University

    There is a world beyond our own, where imagination and reality meet, and where, for 80 years, Tove Jansson’s Moomins illustrations have offered readers a way to recognise themselves.

    Before Moomin books began to be published in 1945, early Moomin characters appeared, grumpily, in publications like the Finnish satirical magazine Garm. Jansson had started her career there in 1929. Her witty caricatures led to her making a name for herself, relishing the opportunity to be “beastly to Stalin and Hitler”.

    But as war engulfed the world in the 1940s, Jansson turned away from direct satire. Instead, she took the Moomins to the soft refuge of her newly imagined Moominvalley, to live more safely, simply and happily, where they continued to grapple with serious issues. She later recalled that at the time she “felt that the only thing one could do was to write fairy tales”.

    Cover of the 1950 paperback edition of Finn Family Moomintroll.
    Tove Jansson/Wikimedia

    Since then, her creations have provided a haven where melancholy, joy and wonder can exist side by side. Through their soft, contrary, strange and heavy lightness, the Moomins’ theorise and share wisdom.

    Illustrated children’s books like the Moomins can turn into our forever books. For this reason, children’s literature should always be taken seriously, as former children’s laureate Lauren Child has argued.

    But in today’s publishing world, illustrations often seem designed simply to fatten pages up. They look like something but can feel like nothing.

    Golden age

    During the golden age of illustration between 1890 and 1930, illustrators gave children a new and vital aspect of childhood. They created books that supported young readers as they grew.

    Illustrators like Kate Greenaway and Beatrix Potter who Jansson much admired, took children seriously. They met them unpatronisingly and valued their imaginations.

    Greenaway’s illustrations for songs, parlour games and nursery rhymes, as well as her famous drawings for the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and Potter’s courageous problem-solving animals, charm the child who will one day become an adult.

    Front cover of The Moomins and the Great Flood.
    Tove Jansson/Wikimedia

    Jansson’s tiny ink marks continued this tradition. As you travel through the expanse of Moominvalley, she holds the reader close, transporting them to the Moomins’ consciousness. The texture of her illustrations make them almost tangible.

    Our imaginations become fertile and awake. From the slippery feel of seaweed underfoot to the dim light of a cold room, everything is heightened by the Moomins’ glowing whiteness. Their thoughtful eyes widen to produce subtle emotions.

    Jansson’s techniques are much like the methods used by writers such as Katherine Mansfield (1888 – 1923). She was a pioneering modernist and her work is now praised for its accessible approach to writing short stories. Mansfield threw her readers into her characters’ experiences to feel their feelings and think their thoughts. Mansfield’s astute observations and empathy entwined to sustain sophisticated stories which feel fresh to this day.

    Similarly, Jansson’s drawings refuse to patronise or simplify. They respect the reader’s intelligence, offering stories that enchant and challenge in equal measure.

    Jansson placed her characters between reality and imagination. Her comic strips had spoken to a world of dictators, of vanity and class. This allowed her to form, in Moominvalley, a place also to observe, make comment, fight back, perhaps even ridicule. She kept the satirical qualities but made them more palatable to children as well as adults.

    The UK version of the Polish felt stop motion Moomins animation.

    Texture

    Perhaps the 1977 to 1982 Polish stop-motion Moomin animations captured the texture of Jansson’s world best. In these felted forms, the Moomins remained soft, slightly wobbly and imperfect, just as in the original ink lines.

    The more polished, digital and sharp-edged the Moomins become, the more their truth seems to recede. Commercialisation has pushed the Moomins into the bright, glossy world of merchandise – mugs, theme parks and endless shelf life. But in the rush to perfect and brand them, we risk losing the open, imaginative spaces Jansson drew.

    Her illustrations matter because they are portals, openings into parallel worlds that help us better understand ourselves. Early fairy tales were deliberately sparse and undetailed, leaving space for a child’s imagination to roam freely. Jansson’s illustrations do the same.

    In the penultimate chapter of her second Moomin book Comet in Moominland, Moominmama sings a lullaby to the children who have returned from their adventure:

    Snuggle up close and shut your eyes tight

    And sleep without dreaming the whole of the night

    The comet is gone and your mother is near

    To keep you from harm till the morning is near

    It’s a moment of comfort, of deep protection. A mother willing her children to forget what they’ve seen. But viewed from today’s perspective, in a world saturated with fear, uncertainty and noise, it also raises a question. Should we be lulled into forgetting, or, as Jansson’s illustrations suggest, should we remain half-awake?

    Her drawings never offer perfection. The ink lines wobble and hold tension and gentleness together, just as her stories balance safety with peril. Jansson’s illustrations invite us to embrace the vulnerability and the danger, the wholesome and the pure. They give us space to feel deeply and think clearly, in a world that often discourages both.

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

    – ref. How Tove Jansson’s Moomins illustrations taught us to imagine, resist and belong – https://theconversation.com/how-tove-janssons-moomins-illustrations-taught-us-to-imagine-resist-and-belong-254631

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Keep calm and carry on buying: how Ukrainian consumers are hitting back at Russia

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Cristina Galalae, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, The Open University

    Political conflicts and global tensions always affect people on the ground and across borders. Unable to influence events such as the ongoing war against Ukraine or proposed sweeping US tariffs, people turn to whatever resources are available for defending their livelihoods, institutions and communities.

    This explains the recent surge of boycotts and “buycotts” where consumers swerve a brand or actively support it for political reasons. For example, shoppers across the world are replacing US goods with local alternatives to protect national pride and economies.

    In the early days of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, shoppers were making similar public commitments to boycott Russian products.

    But there are many other ways in which brands and consumers responded to the start of the invasion in 2014. Global and local reactions from brands included donations, divestment, the creation of new products or product names and advertising and social media content linked to the invasion. In turn, consumer responses to these brand initiatives are a form of civic action.

    In a study we undertook (along with our colleagues Carlo Mari, Verónica Martín Ruiz and Lizette Vorster), we analysed how marketing professionals and ordinary consumers create and interpret products and brands explicitly or implicitly acknowledging the war in Ukraine. To do this, we conducted in-depth interviews with marketing managers and consumers and analyses of brand and product imagery.

    Our findings highlight three ways that marketing resources and consumer responses support psycho-social and cultural resilience in war-affected communities.

    1. Using satire to ease symbolic threat

    Humour and satire have long been used for addressing pressing societal issues, and many brands in Ukraine have embraced them in response to the invasion. For example, mayonnaise brand Ukrop Style, marketed by Ukrainian firm Olkom, leant on satire to boost consumer morale.

    The term “Ukrop” (meaning “dill” in Ukrainian) has been used by Russia as a slur against Ukrainians since the beginning of the war. Several “ukrop”-themed products and services then sprang up to reclaim the word and its imagery. It was used in new product names and packaging, as Olkom did.

    Several participants in our study discussed engagement with brands like this to mobilise the public spirit of defiance. For them, the use of humour helped lessen the insult directed at their nation.

    2. National symbols for societal cohesion

    When people perceive that their society and way of life is under threat, they often turn to cultural symbols. These can help to assert connections with others.

    Several brands have incorporated symbolic references to Ukraine in their communication messages, with national flags and designs depicting vyshyvanka
    embroidery (which is specific to traditional Ukrainian shirts).

    A Samsung advert using vyshyvanka, traditional Ukrainian garments and the phrase “Evolution is beautiful” evokes Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity and the shared Ukrainian identity built on dignity, freedom and togetherness.

    Samsung taps into Ukrainian national pride.

    3. Promoting the origin of products

    Between 2014 and 2022, Ukraine and Russia continued to trade in consumer goods. During this time, several major retail chains in Ukraine used flags to mark the origin of products.

    These marketing signals kept consumers informed, but potentially also supported boycotts and buycotts. Since 2022, Ukraine’s trade in consumer goods with Russia has ceased. But the labelling of Ukraine-made goods has grown. The Ukrainian ministry of economy has launched a “Made in Ukraine” trademark, encouraging people to support local manufacturers.

    Even when brand boycotts are no longer needed – as is the case with Ukraine and Russia, since the two countries no longer trade – consumers still use their collective power to support their local economy.

    The response of consumers

    Participants in our study shared the view that brand activism and marketing related to political shocks can offer people an outlet for a civic response. It also opens up conversations about the distressing events affecting them and their country.

    Some described these marketing activities as grassroot initiatives by fellow citizens – owners and managers of brands engaging in activism. Others stressed that their willingness to support brand activism is dependent on whether they perceive it as sincere or mere profit-seeking. Few interviewees separated private consumption from political views and actions.

    Brand activism and marketing related to conflict and political shocks could well be a trend that will grow in scale and scope. After all, consumption remains one domain where people have collective power.

    Boy/buycotting movements responding to the US tariffs are gaining momentum, while the #buyforukraine and #shopukrainian initiatives have stood the test of time.

    Brands and governments may be tempted to leverage this social sentiment, but here our research tells a cautionary tale. The consumers we interviewed were savvy in their assessment of the sincerity of brand activism. And they held different views about its appropriateness as a form of civic action.

    Brand activism merely seeking to encourage sales may backfire, evoking consumer cynicism rather than support. For example, brands like Unilever and Pepsi were criticised for appearing to be insincere in their announced suspension of sales and production in Russia.

    At the same time, brand activism increasingly requires careful, nuanced consideration. More widely, consumers are not united on whether companies should take positions on political and social issues. Whether brand activism proves to be this century’s “Keep Calm and Carry On” remains to be seen.

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

    – ref. Keep calm and carry on buying: how Ukrainian consumers are hitting back at Russia – https://theconversation.com/keep-calm-and-carry-on-buying-how-ukrainian-consumers-are-hitting-back-at-russia-256000

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How to make your apology more effective – new research

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Shiri Lev-Ari, Reader in Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London

    pathdoc/Shutterstock

    It can be difficult to find the right words to show you really mean it when you apologise. But there are linguistic cues you can use to get your message across. My recent research suggests that the length of the words that we choose influences how sincere the apology seems.

    Apologies are often described as “cheap talk” – anyone can say they’re sorry, regardless of how they actually feel. But apologies work. Research shows that people feel better and are more likely to cooperate again with someone who wronged them if the person apologised.

    One way to make an apology more persuasive is to make it more costly. When
    apologisers are willing to incur a cost in the form of spending money, effort, or time, their apology is better received.

    A 2009 study found people seemed to be more convinced by apologies that the apologiser had to spend money to deliver than by ones that could be delivered at no cost. Similarly, that study found that apologies are more convincing if the transgressor inconvenienced themselves to deliver the message, such as by showing up to an early class that they are not enrolled in to apologise to their friend rather than apologising at the next convenient opportunity.

    There are other ways to make an effort when you apologise though. A word’s length and commonness affect how hard it is to say or write. Longer words require more articulation. Uncommon words are harder to remember and to say or write. So, if someone wants to express their regret by making greater effort in their apology, they could use longer and less common words.

    At the same time, uncommon words are also harder to understand, meaning they burden the recipient as well as the transgressor. But longer words that are not uncommon aren’t usually harder to understand. They tend to be more distinct than other words, which means they might even be easier to understand. A sophisticated apologiser, then, might select longer but not rarer words – making the apology harder for themselves, but not harder for the recipient.

    Do you always mean it when you apologise?
    Cast Of Thousands/Shutterstock

    I conducted two studies to investigate the role of word length and word commonness in apologies. One analysed real-world apologies, and one tested people’s perceptions of apologies with words of different length and commonness.

    In the first study, I used apology tweets from X (formerly Twitter) written by 25 celebrities and 25 non-celebrities. These apology tweets were compared to other tweets from the same users. My results showed that apology tweets consisted of longer words than the non-apology tweets. They did not differ in word commonness though.

    In a second study I examined whether people perceived apologies with longer or less common words as more apologetic. Participants were presented with triads of apologies that had the same meaning but differed in either word length or word commonness.

    Example one:

    • My action does not show who I am (short, common)

    • My action does not reflect my true self (short, less common)

    • My action does not represent my true character (long, less common)

    Example two:

    • I did not mean to answer in a hostile way (short, common)

    • I did not mean to reply in a combative style (short, less common)

    • I did not mean to respond in a confrontational manner (long, less common)

    Participants were presented with the sentences in the triad in a random order and they ranked them from most to least apologetic. The results showed that participants graded the sentences with longer words as more apologetic than the sentences with short words that were matched for commonness. In contrast, word commonness did not influence how apologetic the sentences seemed.

    The results of the two studies align: people use longer words when apologising and perceive apologies with longer words as more apologetic. But apologies that employ uncommon words don’t seem to have the same effect. In other words, people seem to express their regret by delivering apologies that are harder for them to say or write but not harder for the addressees to understand.

    My research shows how we convey messages not only via the meaning of the words we use but also via the form of the words. It also shows how the form of a word (in this case, its length) can express contextual meaning. That is, the word “character” does not have an apologetic meaning in general, but in the context of an apology, its length symbolises effort and may be interpreted as expressing greater remorse. So if now you cannot stop humming Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word, I am unequivocally and exceedingly remorseful.

    Shiri Lev-Ari receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust.

    – ref. How to make your apology more effective – new research – https://theconversation.com/how-to-make-your-apology-more-effective-new-research-255730

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Girls’ voices are needed to tackle misogyny and the manosphere – but they are being ignored

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Chiara Fehr, PhD Candidate in Gender and Sexuality Studies, UCL

    yunulia/Shutterstock

    The Netflix series Adolescence has sparked important conversations about the role of social media in spreading harmful content. It has widened the public’s understanding of the rampant uptake of digitally disseminated misogyny, the legacies of Andrew Tate and those like him, and the violence perpetuated by the manosphere. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has even supported a plan to show the series to young people in schools.

    But when the term “misogyny” is brought up in reference to the manosphere, girls and women often become abstract representations of victimhood. Their voices are missing. Conversation around Adolescence, as well as wider coverage on the online misogyny, tends to prioritise the opinions, behaviour and experiences of boys and how they can be supported.

    Very little so far has been said about how those victimised feel towards the cultural uptake of misogyny. We need to know how this is playing out in real time in and around schools for girls, and what structures of support are necessary for them.

    The crux of online misogyny lies in the systemic dehumanisation of women and girls. We need this to be a part of the discussion and to find solutions.

    In 2021, in the wake of COVID-19, an Ofsted review explored sexual abuse in schools and colleges. Girls were asked about the types of sexual behaviour they experienced among their peer group. 92% of girls mentioned sexist name calling, and 88% said that they or their peers had received unsolicited explicit pictures or videos.

    Similarly, one of us (Jessica) has carried out research with colleagues on over 600 young people on their experiences of sexual violence online and at school. The research found that 78% of all participants had experienced harms that included misogynistic, sexually harassing or homophobic comments, and image-based sexual abuse.

    For almost all the young people in the study – 98.5% – these experiences had increased during COVID-19.

    The other of us (Chiara), is conducting doctoral research into teenage girls’ online experiences. So far this research has found that most participants had been negatively affected by rhetoric of online misogyny influencers, both online and offline. For most, these negative experiences involved behaviour from their male peers at school.

    Misogyny is normalised as ‘lad banter’.
    Tsuguliev/Shutterstock

    The girls recounted seeing a lot of manosphere content online and hearing discussions at school, which they found “unsettling” and “scary” as they promoted harmful body image and toxic sexual scripts. Much of this related to the standards boys in their schools would set for girls’ appearance.

    The girls also discussed how boys at their school did not understand the seriousness of their misogynist behaviour. “They do it to wind us up, to get a reaction from us … to them it’s all a joke,” one girl said.

    This aligns with previous research by Jessica and her colleagues on manosphere messages and the sharing of nude images in school. Misogyny is legitimised as part of lad banter. “It’s normalised with boys to like to behave that way, I think,” a year-nine girl (aged 13-14) in one study said.

    An everyday reality

    Young people are already very familiar with, and regularly deal with, the mundane reality of misogyny in their everyday lives. They do not need to be shown a television show, like Adolescence, which sensationalises and dramatises misogyny through the murder of a young girl. This show was not intended for educational purposes and would do little to change misogynist attitude of boys while potentially terrify girls.

    When addressing the radicalisation of boys online, the experiences of those who have been victimised need to be included. Young people should be taught to recognise patriarchal power structures and to be critical of online media, so they can better identify manosphere type messaging that legitimises misogyny.

    Unfortunately, although relationships and sex education is now a compulsory subject in UK schools, it is often poorly resourced and low priority. It does not necessarily cover issues such as sexual violence and misogyny, nor does it typically connect the dots to how sexual violence is normalised in digital and non-digital environments. Jessica and colleagues have co-produced relationships and sex education lessons that cover the complexity of online and offline sexual harassment, abuse and misogyny.

    Politicians across the UK need to make a systematic and concerted effort to support and regulate high-quality relationships and sex education. Training for teachers is necessary to address issues of sexual violence in a wider and more comprehensive way.

    Relying on a TV show that sensationalises misogyny and the manosphere, re-centres masculinity and erases the experiences of those victimised including girls and gender diverse youth, will not solve any of the pressing contemporary issues around the influx of digitally exacerbated misogyny.

    Jessica Ringrose receives funding from Arts and Humanities Research Council

    Chiara Fehr 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. Girls’ voices are needed to tackle misogyny and the manosphere – but they are being ignored – https://theconversation.com/girls-voices-are-needed-to-tackle-misogyny-and-the-manosphere-but-they-are-being-ignored-254626

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Five evidence-based ways to manage chronic stress – by an expert in behavioural psychology

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tanisha Douglas, Assistant Lecturer in Psychology, , Birmingham City University

    Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock

    Spend too long on social media and you might start to hear the term “cortisol face” used to describe someone with supposedly puffy eyes or cheeks. The phrase describes the physical signs that some believe result from prolonged stress, particularly elevated levels of the hormone cortisol. It’s often used to encourage people to do something about their stress levels.

    Cortisol is a natural hormone that plays an essential role in regulating metabolism, inflammation, blood sugar and, most importantly, the body’s response to stress. When we’re under pressure, cortisol levels rise to help us respond to the challenge at hand. It’s part of the “fight-or-flight” response that has evolved over millions of years to keep us safe.

    But managing stress isn’t just about reducing cortisol — it’s about supporting your body and mind. And because of the wide variety of physical and mental health effects that stress can cause – particularly when it becomes chronic – stress-management strategies should focus on improving overall wellbeing, not just how you look.

    This means creating a toolkit of habits and practices that signal safety to the body, helping it shift out of survival mode. Here are five evidence-based ways to manage stress long term.

    1. Start small — and stick with it

    When life feels overwhelming, the idea of making major changes can be enough to stop us in our tracks. But science shows that meaningful improvement often begins with the tiniest of steps.

    Maybe it’s five minutes of stretching while the kettle boils, switching your phone to “Do Not Disturb” after 9pm, or simply taking a few deep breaths before starting your day.

    The key isn’t intensity — it’s consistency. Like building muscle, stress resilience grows with regular, manageable effort. Start small, and let those early wins build momentum.

    2. Set goals you can actually measure

    Saying “I want to be less stressed” is a good intention — but it’s also vague. How would you know if you succeeded? Instead, try setting clear, specific targets like: “I’ll take a 20-minute walk after dinner on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays,” or “I’ll turn off all screens an hour before bed this week.”

    Specific goals give your brain something to work with. They also make it easier to track your progress — and celebrate it. Achievable goals create confidence, and confidence helps calm the nervous system.

    3. Check in with yourself regularly

    Stress doesn’t stay the same — and neither should your coping strategies. What worked for you during exam season or a tough breakup might not suit your current schedule or state of mind. That’s why it’s important to reflect and recalibrate.

    Ask yourself: What’s been helpful lately? What’s felt like a chore? You don’t need a journal (though it can help). Just a few minutes of honest reflection can show you where to tweak your routine. Think of it as emotional maintenance — like checking your car’s oil, but for your mind.

    4. Don’t underestimate the basics

    The foundations of wellbeing are often the most powerful — and the most overlooked. Regular movement, a good night’s sleep, nourishing food and spending time with people you trust all buffer the effects of stress. But it’s not about perfection – it’s about patterns.

    You don’t need to hit the gym five times a week or cook gourmet meals. Even a short walk, a better breakfast, or texting a friend instead of scrolling social media can nudge your nervous system in the right direction. Small improvements in the basics can create big shifts over time).



    Read more:
    The ‘cortisol belly’ myth: when diet culture is rebranded as ‘wellness’

    5. Tame the voice in your head

    Not all stress comes from outside pressures, some of it comes from how we talk to ourselves. Maybe it’s a voice saying “you’re falling behind” or “you can’t cope.” These thoughts can feel automatic, but they’re often based on distorted beliefs, not facts.

    Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) offers practical tools to spot and challenge these patterns. When you catch a thought like “I always mess things up,” pause and ask: is that really true? What evidence do I have?

    Reframing unhelpful thoughts won’t make stress disappear, but it can change the way you carry it.

    Stress may be a natural part of life, but how we manage it makes all the difference. By understanding the science behind stress and taking small, practical steps to support our wellbeing, we can train our bodies to move out of survival mode and into a state of balance.

    You don’t need a perfect routine or hours of free time — just a willingness to check in with yourself and make space for small, consistent change. Because in a world that rarely slows down, learning how to care for your nervous system is not just self-care — it’s a powerful act of resilience.

    Tanisha Douglas 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. Five evidence-based ways to manage chronic stress – by an expert in behavioural psychology – https://theconversation.com/five-evidence-based-ways-to-manage-chronic-stress-by-an-expert-in-behavioural-psychology-254333

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congresswoman De La Cruz Announces Winners of 2025 Congressional Art Competition

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Monica De La Cruz (TX-15)

    Congresswoman De La Cruz (TX-15) announced the winner of the 2025 Congressional Art Competition for Texas’s 15th District, Alina Ozuna from Edinburg North High School. Alina’s piece, “In America, We Believe,” was selected from among 55 entries submitted by talented young high school artists across her district.

    As the district winner, Alina’s piece will be displayed for one year in the U.S. Capitol alongside winning artwork from other districts across the country.

    “I am thrilled to congratulate Alina on this incredible achievement. Her work beautifully captures the ideas of the American Dream, and it will be an inspiring addition to the halls of the nation’s Capitol for all to enjoy. I am proud of all the students who participated, and I hope you all continue to share your passion for creativity.” – Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz

    Congresswoman De La Cruz honored Briana Olvera from Edinburg High School with second place for her piece, “I Thank the Women in My Life for Giving Me a Choice,” and Cassandra Pedraza from Edinburg North High School with third place for her piece, “Hard Work, Tender Care”. 

    “In America, We Believe” by Alina Ozuna

     
    Background:
    Every spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and each Congressional District. Since the competition began in 1982, more than 650,000 high school students have participated.
     
    This year’s competition was judged by a panel of local educators from UTRGV’s School of Art and Design, including Director Ed Pogue and Art Instructors Rosie Kane and Ashley Gonzalez.
     
    For more information about the annual art competition, please visit our website here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: Stefanik Joined Fox News’ Faulkner Focus on Pro-Terrorist Rioters at Columbia and Antisemitism in Higher Education

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

    ICYMI: Stefanik Joined Fox News’ Faulkner Focus on Pro-Terrorist Rioters at Columbia and Antisemitism in Higher Education | Press Releases | Congresswoman Elise Stefanik

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Helping heroes heal

    Every day, Alberta’s first responders face danger, trauma and heartbreak to safeguard the lives, futures and well-being of Alberta’s families, communities and loved ones. That’s why it is important to honour their sacrifice by ensuring Alberta’s heroes don’t face their battles alone.

    Budget 2025 provides the Supporting Psychological Health in First Responders (SPHIFR) grant program with an ongoing investment of $1.5 million per year. This grant supports non-profit organizations in delivering critical mental health services to first responders living with or at risk for post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSIs), as well as those conducting applied research to advance prevention and treatment. This funding ensures Alberta’s police and peace officers, correctional workers, paramedics and firefighters (including wildland firefighters) get the help they need, when they need it.

    “First responders and emergency workers face Alberta’s hardest moments – trauma, danger, and crisis – so others don’t have to. This grant program makes sure they get the support they need when it matters most. Alberta’s government will continue to stand with our local heroes by funding the services and research that safeguard their mental health and well-being.”

    Matt Jones, Minister of Jobs, Economy and Trade

    “We owe so much to the men and women on the frontlines working as first responders – police and peace officers, firefighters, paramedics and correctional workers. These jobs come with a cost, with workers often facing post-traumatic stress injuries or other mental health challenges. I am pleased to see funding go toward helping first responders heal from these challenges.”

    Dan Williams, Minister of Mental Health and Addiction

    “Supporting the mental health and well-being of our first responders is crucial. They bravely confront Alberta’s most challenging situations, and this grant program provides essential resources to help them heal and continue their vital work, ensuring they receive the care they deserve.”

    Mike Ellis, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services

    The grant program helps organizations across Alberta offer accessible, high-impact programming that addresses the psychological risks of first response work. It also funds applied research to develop and evaluate new approaches to treatment and prevention, ensuring support systems evolve to meet the growing needs of those on the front lines.

    Applications are currently open for the 2025-26 intake of the Supporting Psychological Health in First Responders grant program. The application period opened March 31, 2025, and will close on May 26.

    Some grant recipients from 2024-25 included:

    • The Alberta Municipal Health and Safety Association (received $185,435):
      • For their “First Responder and Family PTSI Train the Trainer” project. Building on a previous grant for “Working Mind First Responder,” this funding will train 48 new facilitators to deliver mental health training.
         
    • Legacy Place Society (received $161,000):
      • For their 12-month “Families as Allies” project to support families of first responders recovering from PTSI. The project will offer resources and strategies to help family members care for their own well-being while supporting their loved ones.
    • The University of Alberta (received $331,000):
      • For their “Moving Forward: 3MDR Study with First Responders in Alberta.” The project will train providers in 3MDR, an emerging virtual reality therapy for PTSD.

    “The receipt of SPHIFR grant funding has been pivotal to our ongoing efforts to provide evidence-based mental health services to Alberta first responders, emergency workers and families living with or at risk for PTSI.”

    Craig Hrynchuk, CEO and executive director, Alberta Municipal Health and Safety Association

    Alberta’s government is putting the well-being of first responders at the forefront because when first responders are supported, communities are safer and stronger. By investing in the mental health of first responders, Alberta’s government is helping ensure the province’s emergency workforce remains strong, supported and ready to serve.

    Quick Facts:

    • Since the program launched in 2020, 62 grants have been provided to 32 service providers and 30 for researchers, for a total of almost $7.5 million in funding.
    • In the 2024-25 intake, six service providers and six researchers received a total of $1.5 million in grants.

    Related information: 

    • First responders’ mental health grants

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How Canada can turn tariff tensions into a global affordable housing alliance

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ehsan Noroozinejad Farsangi, Visiting Senior Researcher, Smart Structures Research Group, University of British Columbia

    Canada is facing a worsening housing crisis. Home prices have exploded, with 45 per cent of Canadians saying they are deeply worried about finding affordable housing.

    The country needs to build an additional 3.5 million homes by 2030 to achieve housing affordability. However, housing supply is lagging well behind that target even as demand continues to rise, driven largely by population growth and immigration.



    Read more:
    Canada’s housing crisis: Innovative tech must come with policy reform

    Into this crisis have come new costs. In March 2025, the United States imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports. Canada immediately hit back with its own 25 per cent duties on U.S. steel and aluminum, affecting roughly $12.6 billion of steel and $3 billion of aluminum goods.

    In practical terms, that means higher costs for key building materials like steel beams, aluminum cladding, appliances and machinery.

    Industry groups say these duties will drive up the price of new construction and further erode affordability. In a market already strained, adding tariff charges is like pouring salt on an open wound: it makes every new home more expensive to build and to buy.

    Factory-built housing offers a way forward

    Modern methods of construction, such as modular and prefabricated housing, are a promising answer to the housing shortage. These methods involve large components of houses being produced in factories and assembled at their final location.

    Factory-built housing can be done about 50 per cent faster and up to 35 per cent cheaper than site-built homes.

    Importantly, this speed and affordability do not come at the expense of quality or energy performance. Canadian-built modular homes achieve top efficiency ratings and reach net-zero energy while frequently delivering superior performance compared to site-built homes. They are also greener, as controlled factory processes produce far less waste.

    In Japan, modular factories produce over 15 per cent of all new housing. Sweden’s construction industry heavily relies on prefabricated construction as well; it is present in approximately 84 per cent of detached houses.

    Other countries are rapidly scaling up modern construction methods. Singapore mandates every public housing project to use modular techniques because this enables mass apartment production with efficiency.

    The combination of expensive labour costs and immediate housing needs makes Australia, the United Kingdom and parts of the United States optimal markets for modular construction expansion.

    Canada can lead in modular housing

    Canada has key advantages that make it well suited to expand modular and prefabricated housing. In particular, it has a strong forest products sector for supplying wood panels and engineered timber, a skilled construction and technology workforce and a growing policy drive for lower-carbon building.

    Canadian builders have already shown they can deliver modular housing at scale. Launched in 2020, Canada’s Rapid Housing Initiative committed $1 billion to modular projects, followed by another $1.5 billion in 2021 to quickly house vulnerable populations.

    The Rapid Housing Initiative exceeded its target, creating nearly 4,700 new homes in short order. It proved that factory-built housing can be both fast and high-quality in Canada.

    Canada has the opportunity to build on that success. The 2024 federal budget created a Homebuilding Technology and Innovation Fund aimed at expanding prefabricated housing. It set aside $50 million through Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (to be matched by industry) and up to $500 million in low-cost loans from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for prefabricated apartment projects.

    Prime Minister Mark Carney has also shown interest in modular and prefabricated housing technologies to create sustained demand.

    Provinces like Ontario and British Columbia are focusing on modular construction to cut red tape and better understand how to expand it. Canada’s National Research Council is also consulting on aligning building codes and inspections for factory-built homes with the help of Canadian universities.

    A global alliance on modular housing

    As Canada faces a deepening housing crisis, it has the opportunity to turn today’s tariff tensions into deeper international partnerships.

    By forming an international affordable housing consortium, Canada could collaborate with countries that have succeeded in modern construction methods, like Sweden, Japan, Australia and Germany, to share knowledge. Together, these nations could harmonize building standards and invest in research.

    Here are five practical moves Canada can take to build this global modular housing alliance:

    1. Create a zero-tariff modular homes club.

    Canada should use the trade tools it already has, like the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, to eliminate most tariffs with the European Union and Asian countries. Canada should negotiate an add-on protocol that lets modular components, such as panels and factory equipment, cross borders without tariffs.

    2. Launch a joint show-home projects in partner countries.

    We propose a “FastBuild 1000 initiative” initiative that would see each member nation commit to building a minimum of 1,000 modular homes. Pilot sites could include Vancouver, Sydney, Hamburg and Osaka — urban centres in countries already familiar with modern construction techniques. Engineers could travel across countries to test how modules fit different climates and design codes, while giving factories steady orders.

    3. Pool global buying power for materials and appliances.

    Canada and its partners could form a modular materials co-operative that bundles steel, engineered timber, heat pumps and windows. The proposed system should leverage economies of scale in factory production to make the final product much cheaper.

    4. Open-source designs and one-click certifications.

    Ottawa’s catalogue of pre-approved housing designs could be expanded into a global online catalogue where partner countries can download and adapt pre-existing designs while keeping the structure safe and secure. Simplified, one-click certification would help speed up approvals across borders.

    5. Create a ‘modular skills passport’ and research and development hub.

    Canadian universities and colleges could train workers through micro-credentials in areas like offsite manufacturing, digital construction, robotics, penalization and on-site assembly. Some countries like Japan have a huge prefabrication industry valued at over $24 billion. Linking research and development would give Canada access to the latest technologies while offering partner countries entry into the Canadian construction sector.

    By investing in this kind of international collaboration, Canada can address its domestic housing crisis while leading a fast, green housing revolution that makes homes affordable worldwide.

    Dr. Ehsan Noroozinejad has received funding from both national and international organizations to support research addressing housing and climate crises. His most recent funding for integrated housing and climate policy comes from the James Martin Institute for Public Policy. He has also been involved in securing funding from NSERC and Mitacs.

    Prof. T.Y. Yang secures funding from national and international organizations to develop innovative solutions for housing and climate crises, with a focus on modern methods of construction. His most recent funding has been from NRCan, NSERC and Mitacs.

    – ref. How Canada can turn tariff tensions into a global affordable housing alliance – https://theconversation.com/how-canada-can-turn-tariff-tensions-into-a-global-affordable-housing-alliance-255829

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Warner & Kaine Introduce Bills to Protect Wilderness in Rockingham, Augusta, Highland, and Bath Counties

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Commonwealth of Virginia Mark R Warner
    WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) introduced two bills to protect wilderness in Rockingham, Augusta, Highland, and Bath counties.
    “We are lucky to have such beautiful natural resources in Virginia, and we need to do more to ensure that these lands are protected for future generations,” said the senators. “We’re proud to introduce this legislation to preserve wilderness in Rockingham, Augusta, Highland, and Bath counties, protect wildlife, and support local economies that depend on tourism and outdoor recreation.”
    These additions were recommended by the U.S. Forest Service in 2014 and endorsed by members of the George Washington National Forest Stakeholder Collaborative, a group of forest users that started work together over a decade ago to agree on acceptable locations in the George Washington National Forest for wilderness, timber harvest, trails, and other uses. 
    In 2023, the tourism economy directly employed 7,562 people and generated $842.5 million in expenditures in Augusta, Rockingham, Bath, and Highland counties, as well as Harrisonburg, Staunton, and Waynesboro.
    Shenandoah Mountain Act
    The Shenandoah Mountain Act would establish a 92,562-acre Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area (SMNSA) in Rockingham, Augusta, and Highland counties. National Scenic Areas protect the scenic, historic, recreational, and natural resources in specific areas and allow compatible uses such as outdoor recreation activities.
    The SMNSA encompasses four wilderness areas—Skidmore Fork, Little River, Ramsey’s Draft, and Lynn Hollow—and establishes a wilderness area at Beech Lick Knob. It also includes headwaters for the Potomac and James Rivers and watersheds that provide municipal drinking water sources for Harrisonburg, Staunton, and other communities. The NSA designation would protect these rivers and streams from industrial development and safeguard populations of at-risk species, such as the Cow Knob and Shenandoah Mountain Salamander.
    James Madison University scientists estimate that lands within the SMNSA proposal already generate $13.7 million per year in other local benefits, including the value of the water supply and energy savings, and that the designation of the SMNSA would further grow this value.
    “Friends of Shenandoah Mountain is so pleased with the reintroduction of the Shenandoah Mountain Act. For decades, we’ve worked with folks who hunt, hike, paddle, fish, and ride mountain bikes in this landscape, and everyone agrees that a National Scenic Area designation strikes the right balance between recreation and preservation,” said Lynn Cameron, Co-Chair of Friends of Shenandoah Mountain.
    Full text of the Shenandoah Mountain Act is available here.
    Virginia Wilderness Additions Act
    The Virginia Wilderness Additions Act would add 5,600 acres to the existing Rough Mountain and Rich Hole wilderness areas within the George Washington National Forest in Bath County.
    “Expanding the Rough Mountain and Rich Hole Wilderness Areas honors decades of work by dozens of stakeholders, and results in a number of ecological, economic, and recreational benefits. The Virginia Wilderness Committee is grateful to Senators Kaine and Warner for this reintroduction,” said Ellen Stuart-Haentjens, Executive Director of the Virginia Wilderness Committee.
    Full text of the Virginia Wilderness Additions Act is available here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: New child care centre open in downtown Vancouver

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Families and children in Vancouver are benefiting from more licensed child care spaces, providing more options in the downtown core.

    “We are excited that families who are living or working in Vancouver will get to benefit from this new child care centre for years to come,” said Rohini Arora, parliamentary secretary for child care. “These seats are an important addition for the working and single parents, and especially women in this community, who need access to high-quality child care. It represents another strong step forward to build more child care sites in partnership with communities and the federal government, and another step to make access to affordable, quality child care a core service for all British Columbians”

    First Baptist Church of Vancouver received more than $464,000 through the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund to create 37 child care spaces. This fund is jointly supported by provincial investments and federal funding under the 2021-22 to 2030-31 Canada-British Columbia Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.

    “We are delighted to partner with Wind and Tide, a child care provider with over 35 years experience, to provide families with a child care that enables individuals in their early formative years to learn and thrive,” said Suzannah Nacho, pastor, First Baptist Church. “With sandboxes and storytime amid the rooftops of downtown, this space was specifically created to care for the physical, emotional and social needs of children because we believe nurturing our children and families will allow our whole community to flourish.”

    The centre is part of a larger restoration and seismic upgrade of the church. The new licensed child care spaces will include 12 spaces for children younger than 36 months and 25 spaces for children 30 months to school age.

    “Our beautiful city of Vancouver has expressed a consistent need for affordable child care in the downtown area and we are honoured and overjoyed to be a small part of meeting that need,” said Drew Melton, lead pastor, First Baptist Church. “It is a privilege to be part of the West End community in downtown Vancouver and to continue serving the community through providing fun and welcoming child care in partnership with Wind and Tide.”

    Since 2018, ChildCareBC’s accelerated space-creation programs have helped fund the creation of more than 40,900 new licensed child care spaces in B.C., with more than 24,900 of these operational. Funding the creation of new child care spaces is part of the Province’s ChildCareBC plan to build access to affordable, quality and inclusive child care as a core service for families.

    Learn More:

    For more information about the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, visit:
    https://gov.bc.ca/childcare/newspacesfund

    For more information about how B.C. is delivering quality and affordable child care to more families in the province, visit: https://gov.bc.ca/childcare

    For more information about ChildCareBC, visit: https://gov.bc.ca/childcare

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Building Awareness of Ethical Animal Research

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    On April 17, UConn took part in the annual Biomedical Research Awareness Day (BRAD), highlighting the importance of ethical animal research.

    With oversight spanning six departments involved in animal-based research, UConn Research strives to balance scientific innovation and humane treatment of animals. The BRAD event, held outside the Pharmacy Biology Building on the Storrs campus, allowed the biomedical research team to spread awareness on the advancement of research technology that has been developed to protect animals in testing.

    Jonathan XIV stopped visits the BRAD table. Contributed photo.

    With fresh pastries and merch on hand, BRAD attracted  younger generations of scientists eager to understand the efforts behind taking care of lab animals. This year’s theme centered on the importance of administering vaccinations to animals in research labs.

    “Many animals contract diseases while being used for testing,” says James Brennan, program manager for facility operations and technical training for UConn’s Office of the Vice President for Research.  “So to combat such issues, our graduate students have been working on vaccinations that treat diseases contracted by chickens.”

    A public viewing of the webinar “Unlocking Vaccine Prevention” followed the event later that day that was attended by over 100 students, researchers, and faculty members.

    “Events like Biomedical Research Awareness Day shine a positive light on the work our researchers do and scientific advancements that benefit both humans and animals alike.” Brennan added. “We celebrate the bonds that are formed and recognize the importance of humane treatment toward all animals in our care.”

    As an R1 research university, UConn continues to reinforce its research productivity while ensuring optimum care facilities for the animals housed in University facilities.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Israeli plan to occupy all of Gaza could open the door for annexation of the West Bank

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Leonie Fleischmann, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, City St George’s, University of London

    Israel’s security cabinet has announced a plan to “capture” the whole of the Gaza Strip. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on May 5 the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would remain in the territory indefinitely and take over the administration of humanitarian aid. What his government is referring to as its latest “intensive operation” is likely to result in Israel occupying all of Gaza.

    This development should come as no surprise, given previous rhetoric from members of Netanyahu’s cabinet. But the announcement marks a turning point in official policy that could have significant implications.

    Israel’s far-right has repeatedly advocated for the expulsion of Palestinians and the resettlement of Gaza. In response to Netanyahu’s announcement, the finance minister and leader of the Religious Zionist party, Bezalel Smotrich, said that there will be “no retreat from the territories we have conquered, not even in exchange for hostages”.

    Smotrich envisioned that a successful Israeli incursion would leave Gaza “totally destroyed”, with the Palestinian population left “totally despairing” and wanting to leave the Strip.

    Yair Golan, leader of the Israeli left-of-centre Democrats party, criticised the plans for an all-out occupation of Gaza. He wrote on X on May 5 that the operation was approved “not in order to protect the security of Israel, but in order to save Netanyahu and his government of extremists”.

    Sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter from The Conversation UK. Every Thursday we’ll bring you expert analysis of the big stories in international relations.

    It’s an argument that has consistently been raised against Netanyahu’s response to the October 7 Hamas attacks. The Hostage and Missing Families Forum also criticised the government for sacrificing the lives of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and spilling the blood of more Israeli soldiers.

    Despite this opposition, it is Israel’s far-right politicians who hold the reins of power and appear to be influencing Israeli government policy when it comes to Gaza.

    The government’s objectives to eradicate Hamas in Gaza, and shore up Netanyahu’s precarious position as prime minister – as well as Trump’s plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza to neighbouring countries – have given them the opportunity to realise their maximalist dreams. This is not only the reoccupation of Gaza, but also the annexation of the West Bank.

    Gaza and the West Bank have notable differences. An all-out war of the kind being waged in Gaza is unlikely in the West Bank, at least at present. But there have been many attempts from various arms of the Israeli system to drive Palestinians from their land there.

    Driving Palestinians from the West Bank

    At the end of 2023, half a million Israelis were reported as living in the West Bank, compared with almost 3 million Palestinians. As of November 2024, the Israeli Peace Now movement recorded 141 settlements that it said were “officially established” by the Israeli government in the West Bank (not including those in East Jerusalem), with a further 224 outposts established without government approval since the 1990s. These are considered illegal according to Israeli law – although only two of these outposts have ever been evicted.

    In 1993, under the sponsorship of the Clinton administration, the Israeli government and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation signed the Oslo Declaration of Principles (also commonly referred to as Oslo Accord 1). This divided the West Bank into three areas: A, B and C. These are not delineated areas, rather – as the Oslo accords map below shows – they differentiate between Palestinian cities and villages and areas under Israeli civil and military control, about 60% of the total of the land area of the West Bank.

    Area C is where the majority of Israeli settlers live, alongside, at present, 200,000 Palestinians. Oslo Accord II mandated the gradual transfer of control of this area to the Palestinians, but this has never happened.

    Map of Areas A B and C after Oslo II.
    Researchgate

    Research by the Norwegian Refugee Council has found that, despite full control of Area C being central for the creation of a viable Palestinian state, there are two separate planning systems in place, one for Israelis and one for Palestinians.

    Israeli Human Rights Organisation, B’Tselem, has criticised Israel’s planning and building policy in Area C as “aimed at preventing Palestinian development and dispossessing Palestinians of their land”. This is achieved through denying permits for Palestinian construction and demolishing Palestinian buildings, while allowing Israeli settlement construction.

    Meanwhile, for decades the Israeli settlers have engaged in intimidation and violent attacks against Palestinians there. This continuing harassment has led to Palestinian communities being displaced. In his recent documentary film, The Settlers, Louis Theroux films and interviews ultranationalist settlers who make it clear they have nothing but contempt for the Palestinians – solely motivated by what they believe to be their God-given right to sovereignty over the Greater Land of Israel.

    As the exclusive authority over Area C of the West Bank, Israel is obliged by international law to protect the Palestinian communities. But a report by Israeli human rights organisation, Yesh Din, dating back to 2006 identified, even then, “a systematic evasion of applying the law to Israeli civilians who harm Palestinians in the West Bank”. The Israeli authorities, according to Yesh Din, “stand idly by” as crimes are committed by the settlers towards Palestinians.

    2025 the ‘year of sovereignty’

    In February 2023, Smotrich was entrusted with administration over civilian life in Area C. He has made no effort to hide his intentions of establishing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied territory.

    Unlike in Gaza, the annexation of territory in the West Bank has been incremental and often under the radar. The Palestinian human rights organisation, Al Haq, claims this amounts to de facto annexation of the West Bank.

    Smotrich this week said the government would move forward with its plans to approve construction in the highly contentious E1 area of the West Bank. This would include the building of enough Israeli settlements to “bring in a million residents”.

    Should it go ahead, it would significantly alter the situation by effectively dividing the West Bank in half and would bury any remaining hope for a two-state solution. In the words of Smotrich: “this is how you kill the Palestinian state”.

    Leonie Fleischmann 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. Israeli plan to occupy all of Gaza could open the door for annexation of the West Bank – https://theconversation.com/israeli-plan-to-occupy-all-of-gaza-could-open-the-door-for-annexation-of-the-west-bank-256029

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –