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Category: Education

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Rightwing populist Sanseitō party shakes Japan with election surge

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rin Ushiyama, Lecturer in Sociology, Queen’s University Belfast

    Japan held elections for its upper house, the House of Councillors, on July 20. The vote proved a challenge for the conservative ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP), which has been reeling from corruption scandals, rising prices and US tariffs on Japanese exports.

    The ruling coalition, composed of the LDP and its junior partner, Kōmeitō, lost its majority in the house. While the centre-left Constitutional Democratic party maintained its position as the largest opposition group, the breakout success of the election was that of Sanseitō, an ultranationalist populist party.

    Sanseitō successfully framed immigration as a central issue in the election campaign, with the provocative slogan “Japanese First”. The party won 14 seats in the 248-seat chamber, a substantial jump from the single seat it won in the last election in 2022.

    Sanseitō calls itself a party of “ordinary Japanese citizens with the same mindset who came together”. It was formed in 2020 by Sōhei Kamiya, a conservative career politician who served as a city councillor in Suita, a city in Osaka Prefecture, before being elected to the House of Councillors.

    Although Sanseitō was initially known for its stance against the COVID-19 vaccine, it has more recently campaigned on an anti-foreigner and anti-immigration platform. The party, which also holds three seats in the powerful lower house, has quickly gained seats in regional and national elections. It most recently won three seats in Tokyo’s prefectural elections in June 2025.

    Sanseitō is “anti-globalist”, urging voters to feel proud of their ethnicity and culture. Polls suggest the party is popular among younger men aged between 18 and 30.

    Throughout the most recent election campaign, Kamiya repeatedly spread far-right conspiracy theories and misinformation. This included arguing multinational corporations caused the pandemic, as well as that foreigners commit crimes en masse and can avoid paying inheritance tax. Social media has amplified Sanseitō’s xenophobic messaging.

    Sanseitō’s electoral success is reminiscent of other right-wing populist parties across Europe and North America, which also place immigration as a core issue.

    Kamiya denies being a xenophobe. But he has expressed support for the Republican party in the US, Reform in the UK, Alternativ für Deutschland in Germany and Rassemblement National in France. Echoing other right-wing populist leaders, Kamiya has promised tax cuts, home-grown industries, regulation of foreigners and patriotic education.

    However, while Sanseitō rides the global wave of right-wing populism, it also has deeply Japanese roots. Following Japan’s defeat in the second world war, a distinct current of right-wing thought developed, defending “traditional values” and glorifying Japan’s imperial past.

    Tensions have flared periodically over issues such as history education and official visits to Yasukuni Shrine, where those who died in service of Japan – including military leaders convicted of war crimes – are commemorated. There have also been disputes around the memorialisation of so-called “comfort women”, who were forced into sex slavery by Japanese forces before and during the war.

    Building on these currents, Sanseitō represents a new generation of Japanese conservatism, not just an emulation of foreign populist leaders.

    What happens next?

    Sanseitō’s rise could have a pivotal influence on Japan’s political landscape. While the prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, has indicated he will not resign, the ruling coalition has now lost control of both houses. Ishiba may need to seek support from other parties and may face leadership challenges.

    He also must respond to issues Sanseitō has raised. LDP policymakers are now aware of public anxieties surrounding migration, excessive tourism and cultural integration. Seeking to co-opt some of Sanseitō’s proposals, the government has already banned tourists from driving and set up a new government agency to address concerns about non-Japanese nationals. It has also pledged to reduce illegal immigration to zero.

    But the government is facing steep economic and demographic challenges, such as US tariffs, a rapidly ageing and declining population, and a record-low birth rate. So it cannot afford to cut immigration dramatically. Policymakers will have to balance economic needs with hardening public attitudes towards foreigners.

    It’s not just immigration that will be at stake. Ishiba will need to navigate wedge issues that could split the LDP’s conservative support base. These include same-sex marriage, the use of separate surnames by married couples, and female succession to the throne.

    It’s too early to say whether Sanseitō can sustain its momentum. Numerous populist leaders in Japan before Kamiya have succeeded in turning mistrust of the political class into votes at the ballot box. However, few have been able to translate it into meaningful political change across multiple election cycles.

    For instance, Shinji Ishimaru made headlines in 2024 after placing second in the race for Tokyo governor. But his Path to Reform party, which promised educational reform, struggled in the latest election. Reiwa Shinsengumi, the left populist party led by Tarō Yamamoto, also enjoyed success in previous elections but remains small.

    Only time will tell if Sanseitō will become a major political party or yet another minority group on the fringes. But it’s clear anti-immigration populism has arrived in Japan. And it looks like it’s here to stay.

    Rin Ushiyama 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. Rightwing populist Sanseitō party shakes Japan with election surge – https://theconversation.com/rightwing-populist-sanseito-party-shakes-japan-with-election-surge-261303

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Teenagers aren’t good at spotting misinformation online – research suggests why

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Yvonne Skipper, Senior Lecturer in Psychology (Education), University of Glasgow

    Body Stock/Shutterstock

    Misinformation is found in every element of our online lives. It ranges from fake products available to buy, fake lifestyle posts on social media accounts and fake news about health and politics.

    Misinformation has an impact not only on our beliefs but also our behaviour: for example, it has affected how people vote in elections and whether people intend to have vaccinations.

    And since anyone can create and share online content, without the kind of verification processes or fact checking typical of more traditional media, misinformation has proliferated.

    This is particularly important as young people increasingly turn to social media for all kinds of information, using it as a source of news and as a search engine. But despite their frequent use of social media, teenagers struggle to evaluate the accuracy of the content they consume.

    A 2022 report from media watchdog Ofcom found that only 11% of 11 to 17 year olds could reliably recognise the signs that indicated a post was genuine.

    My research has explored what teenagers understand about misinformation online. I held focus groups with 37 11- to 14-year-olds, asking them their views on misinformation.

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    I found that the young people in the study tended to – wrongly – believe that misinformation was only about world events and scams. Because of this, they believed that they personally did not see a lot of misinformation.

    “[My Instagram] isn’t really like ‘this is happening in the world’ or whatever, it’s just kind of like life,” one said. This may make them vulnerable to misinformation as they are only alert for it in these domains.

    There was also wide variation in how confident they felt about spotting misinformation. Some were confident in their skills. “I’m not daft enough to believe it,” as one put it.

    Others admitted to being easily fooled. This was an interesting finding, as previous research has indicated that most people have a high level of confidence in their personal ability to spot misinformation.

    Most did not fact-check information by cross-referencing what they read with other news sources. They relied instead on their intuition – “You just see it, you know” – or looked at what others said in comment sections to spot misinformation. But neither of these strategies is likely to be particularly reliable.

    Relying on gut instinct typically means using cognitive shortcuts such as “I trust her, so I can trust her post” or “the website looks professional, so it is trustworthy”. This makes it easy for people to create believable false information.

    And a study by Ofcom found that only 22% of adults were able to identify signs of a genuine post. This means that relying on other people to help us tell true from false is not likely to be effective.

    Interestingly, the teens in this study saw older adults, particularly grandparents, as especially vulnerable to believing false information. On the other hand, they viewed their parents as more skilled at spotting misinformation than they themselves were. “[Parents] see it as fake news, so they don’t believe it and they don’t need to worry about it,” one said.

    Teens thought their parents would be better than them at spotting misinformation online.
    LightField Studios/Shutterstock

    This was unexpected. We might assume that young people, who are often considered digital natives, would see themselves as more adept than their parents at spotting misinformation.

    Taking responsibility

    We discussed whose role it was to challenge misinformation online. The teens were reluctant to challenge it themselves. They thought it would not make a difference if they did, or they feared being victimised online or even offline.

    Instead, they believed that governments should stop the spread of misinformation “as they know about what wars are happening”. But older participants thought that if the government took a leading role in stopping the spread of misinformation “there would be protests”, as it would be seen as censorship.

    They also felt that platforms should take responsibility to stop the spread of misinformation to protect their reputation, so that people don’t panic about fake news.

    In light of these findings, my colleagues and I have created a project that works with young people to create resources to help them develop their skills in spotting misinformation and staying safe online. We work closely with young people to understand what their concerns are, and how they want to learn about these topics.

    We also partner with organisations such as Police Scotland and Education Scotland to ensure our materials are grounded in real-world challenges and informed by the needs of teachers and other adult professionals as well as young people.

    Yvonne Skipper has received funding from the ESRC, Education Scotland and British Academy.

    – ref. Teenagers aren’t good at spotting misinformation online – research suggests why – https://theconversation.com/teenagers-arent-good-at-spotting-misinformation-online-research-suggests-why-260445

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: How young people have taken climate justice to the world’s international courts

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Susan Ann Samuel, PhD Candidate, School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds

    Pla2na/Shutterstock, CC BY-NC-ND

    Youth activist organisations including Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change and World Youth for Climate Justice recently coordinated massive online calls across two different time zones. These two global gatherings were in preparation for a coordinated global youth movement around the release of the most anticipated advisory opinion scheduled to be delivered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on July 23 2025.

    An advisory opinion is a legal interpretation provided by a high-level court or tribunal with a special mandate, in response to a specific question of law. Simply put, an advisory opinion is not legally binding in the way a court judgement between two nations would be.

    But it is authoritative. The opinion carries significant legal, moral and political weight: since states often refer to advisory opinions when shaping policies, judges cite them for decisions and they’re used by civil society to hold governments accountable. An advisory opinion can influence shifting governance and principles governing it. I like to think of it as a northern star — it won’t change the reality but can guide potential outcomes and pave the way for future change.

    As one of hundreds of participants attending both the online meetings, plus in my capacity as a researcher investigating the role of youth in climate law and politics, this collective action feels momentous.

    The movement for an advisory opinion to ICJ began in 2019 when a few brave young people from the Pacific Islands stood up for the world. Twenty-seven law students at the Vanuatu campus of the University of South Pacific convinced their nation to champion climate action and accountability to the entire world by bringing climate justice to the world court.

    For these students in the Pacific, the climate crisis means losing their identity, their culture and their homes to the rising sea levels and weather catastrophes. To the young people across the globe — including me — the concern about not being heard by world leaders becomes a shared reality, even though it is our future at stake.

    Four courts, four continents

    It’s not just the ICJ that’s delivering an advisory opinion. The world is at a turning point. For the first time, four world courts or tribunals across four continents are being asked to clarify nations’ legal obligations in the face of the climate crisis. The ICJ’s advisory opinion is the centrepiece: but it sits within a broader push primarily by global youth and developing countries — to clarify what human rights, state responsibility and climate justice mean in law.

    A “quartet” of advisory opinions now spans four judicial bodies: the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the ICJ, and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. See the diagram below to check the timeline of each court proceeding.

    In addition to the advisory opinions, there are currently 3,113 climate cases across the globe. These include many youth-led cases that bolster solidarity for climate action, call for futureproofing environmental governance, and evoke soft power around the legal proceedings.

    These legal proceedings are the result of bold, persistent advocacy. These cases are not abstract. There’s a moral arc here: they primarily stem from advocacy from global youth movements, developing countries, civil society coalitions and frontline communities demanding legal recognition of climate harms and protection of future generations.

    As such, the role of youth in bolstering moral power is massive. Their influence in empowering states across the globe to embody climate leadership is critical to pushing for political action, even amid geopolitical realities.

    Tracing climate litigation patterns suggests that youth are changing the environmental governance space: as youth litigators (both young lawyers and youth-led cases), youth negotiators and youth activists. Youth across these three spheres — law, politics and activism — are mutually reinforcing each other in their advocacy, unlike ever before.

    Themes of climate justice in litigation, negotiation, and social movements are deeply interconnected, rather than isolated from one another. Youth, who are active across all these spheres, often serve as key advocates, thereby reshaping governance dynamics in the process

    The push for justice by youth is palpable, despite growing political concerns across the globe. Youth remains the common face of vulnerability, agency and promise. The call for justice is now.

    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.

    Susan Ann Samuel receives funding from Prof. Viktoria Spaiser’s UKRI FLF Grant MR/V021141/1 and is supported by the University of Leeds – School of Politics and International Studies.

    – ref. How young people have taken climate justice to the world’s international courts – https://theconversation.com/how-young-people-have-taken-climate-justice-to-the-worlds-international-courts-261033

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: From painkillers to antibiotics: five medicines that could harm your hearing

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dipa Kamdar, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice, Kingston University

    DC Studio/Shutterstock

    When we think about the side effects of medicines, we might think of nausea, fatigue or dizziness. But there’s another, lesser-known risk that can have lasting – and sometimes permanent – consequences: hearing loss. A wide range of prescription and over-the-counter drugs are known to be ototoxic, meaning they can damage the inner ear and affect hearing or balance.

    Ototoxicity refers to drug or chemical-related damage to the cochlea, which affects hearing, and the vestibular system, which controls balance. Symptoms can include tinnitus (ringing in the ears), hearing loss (often starting with high-frequency sounds), dizziness or balance problems or a sensation of fullness in the ears.

    These effects can be temporary or permanent, depending on the drug involved, the dose and duration and a person’s susceptibility.

    The inner ear is highly sensitive, and most experts believe ototoxic drugs cause damage by harming the tiny hair cells in the cochlea or disrupting the fluid balance in the inner ear. Once these hair cells are damaged, they don’t regenerate – making hearing loss irreversible in many cases.

    Around 200 medicines are known to have ototoxic effects. Here are some of the most commonly used drugs to watch out for:

    1. Antibiotics

    Aminoglycoside antibiotics like gentamicin, tobramycin and streptomycin are typically prescribed for serious infections such as sepsis, meningitis, or tuberculosis – conditions where prompt, aggressive treatment can be lifesaving. In these cases, the benefits often outweigh the potential risk of hearing loss.

    These drugs, usually given intravenously, are among the most well-documented ototoxic medications. They can cause irreversible hearing loss, particularly when used in high doses or over extended periods. Some people may also be genetically more vulnerable to these effects.

    These drugs linger in the inner ear for weeks or even months, meaning damage can continue after treatment has ended.

    Other antibiotics to be aware of include macrolides (such as erythromycin and azithromycin) and vancomycin, which have also been linked to hearing problems, particularly in older adults or people with kidney issues.

    2. Heart medicines

    Loop diuretics like furosemide and bumetanide are commonly used to manage heart failure or high blood pressure. When given in high doses or intravenously, they can cause temporary hearing loss by disrupting the fluid and electrolyte balance in the inner ear. Around 3% of users may experience ototoxicity.

    Some blood pressure medications have also been linked to tinnitus.



    Read more:
    That annoying ringing, buzzing and hissing in the ear – a hearing specialist offers tips to turn down the tinnitus

    These include ACE inhibitors – drugs like ramipril that help relax blood vessels by blocking a hormone called angiotensin, making it easier for the heart to pump blood – and calcium-channel blockers like amlodipine, which reduce blood pressure by preventing calcium from entering the cells of the heart and blood vessel walls. While these associations have been observed, more research is needed to fully understand the extent of their effect on hearing.

    3. Chemotherapy

    Certain chemotherapy drugs, especially those containing platinum – like cisplatin and carboplatin – are known to be highly ototoxic. Cisplatin, often used to treat testicular, ovarian, breast, head and neck cancers, carries a significant risk of permanent hearing loss. That risk increases when radiation is also directed near the head or neck.

    Up to 60% of patients treated with cisplatin experience some degree of hearing loss. Researchers are exploring ways to reduce risk by adjusting dosage or frequency without compromising the drug’s effectiveness.



    Read more:
    Chemotherapy can be a challenging treatment – here’s how to deal with some of the side-effects

    4. Painkillers

    High doses of common pain relievers, including aspirin, NSAIDs – non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen, commonly used to relieve pain, inflammation and fever – and even paracetamol, have been linked to tinnitus and hearing loss.

    A large study found that women under 60 who regularly took moderate-dose aspirin (325 mg or more, six to seven times per week) had a 16% higher risk of developing tinnitus. This link was not seen with low-dose aspirin (100 mg or less). Frequent use of NSAIDs as well as paracetamol was also associated with a nearly 20% increased risk of tinnitus, particularly in women who used these medications often.

    Another study linked long-term use of these painkillers to a higher risk of hearing loss, especially in men under 60. In most cases, tinnitus and hearing changes resolve once the medication is stopped – but these side effects typically occur after prolonged, high-dose use.

    5. Antimalarial drugs

    Drugs like chloroquine and quinine – used to treat malaria and leg cramps – can cause reversible hearing loss and tinnitus. One study found that 25–33% of people with hearing loss had previously taken one of these drugs.

    Hydroxychloroquine, used to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, has a similar chemical structure and poses a similar risk. While some people recover after stopping the drug, others may experience permanent damage, particularly after long-term or high-dose use.

    People with pre-existing hearing loss, kidney disease, or genetic susceptibility face higher risks – as do those taking multiple ototoxic drugs at once. Children and older adults may also be more vulnerable.

    If you’re prescribed one of these medications for a serious condition like cancer, sepsis or tuberculosis, the benefits usually outweigh the risks. But it’s still wise to be informed. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if your medicine carries a risk to hearing or balance. If you experience ringing in your ears, dizziness, or muffled hearing, report it promptly.

    Dipa Kamdar 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. From painkillers to antibiotics: five medicines that could harm your hearing – https://theconversation.com/from-painkillers-to-antibiotics-five-medicines-that-could-harm-your-hearing-260671

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  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Effective partnerships can stop the next pandemic

    Source: United Nations 2

    Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar, a professor of infectious diseases at University College London,  issued this warning at a recent meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York.

    It is not a question of if but when, and Dr. Abubakar believes the answer is sooner than anyone wants in part because the global healthcare system remains drastically  siloed.

    This is a problem because, intrinsically, a pandemic cannot be stopped by one country alone.

    “Infectious diseases will not respect borders. Therefore, health systems to ensure equity, dignity and universal access must also be agile to implement policies across borders,” Dr. Abubakar said.

    Rather, stopping pandemics — and promoting broader global development — requires robust partnerships and consistent investment in multilateral systems as a practice, not just an ideal.

    “If we are to meet the ambitions of the 2030 Agenda, we must reimagine cooperation, not as a transactional action but as a dynamic, inclusive and future-ready partnership,” said Lok Bahadur Thapa, vice president of ECOSOC.

    A goal to unite all goals 

    The High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development is convening at UN Headquarters in New York to discuss progress – or lack thereof – towards the globally agreed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    The first 16 SDGs deal with specific aspects of development — such as poverty, gender equality and climate change — but the 17th puts forward a path to achieve the others. And this path lies in embracing global partnerships between State governments, civil society organizations, communities and the private sector.

    However, with an annual financing gap for the SDGs which exceeds $4 trillion, the partnerships of today are not sufficient to realize the goals for tomorrow.

    “We must forge truly transformative partnerships that break traditional silos: governments, civil society, the private sector and multilateral institutions all have roles to play in an inclusive coalition for sustainable development,” Dima Al-Khatib, director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) said at an HLPF event.

    Prioritize prevention, not reaction

    Right now, the current health system, which includes pandemic preparedness, is oriented towards halting health emergencies once they emerge as opposed to proactively preventing them, according to Dr. Abubakar.

    Member States recently adopted a pandemic prevention treaty which endeavours to do just this — limit the likelihood of future pandemics.

    But for many, this emphasis on prevention extends beyond pandemics to issues like rehabilitation services and primary care, both of which experts say are critical investments not only in human well-being but also in peace and security.

    Moreover, these types of preventative medicine are cheaper than reactive medicine, according to Mandeep Dhaliwal, the Director of Health at the UN Development Programme (UNDP).  

    “It’s important to invest in prevention as much as it is in treatment, and it is more cost-effective because … you’re turning off the tap,” Ms. Dhaliwal said.

    However, convincing investors to support preventive care can be difficult because, when done correctly, tangible results are not necessarily visible.

    Health is in every system

    Nevertheless, investing in preventive medicine like primary care and the socioeconomic determinants of health — such as climate and nutrition — can help ensure that health systems are holistically supporting people before a crisis begins.

    “Health is not a silo… the factors that influence health are often outside the health sector,” Ms. Dhaliwal said, citing the example of air pollution which is a climate problem that inherently influences health.  

    This sort of holistic investment requires robust partnerships which work to ensure that every initiative — no matter how seemingly distanced — considers health implications.

    “We have too often treated [health] as a downstream issue, something that improves only if other systems are working. But we now understand that health and well-being is not simply the result of good developments. It’s the starting point,” said Tony Ott, a professor of agricultural sciences at the Pennsylvania State University.

    The weak link in the health system

    Migrants and displaced people tend to be among those least likely to have access to preventive medicine and often those most impacted by the social determinants of health.

    “Migration and displacement, whether it’s driven by conflict, climate change or economic factors, are defining factors in terms of our health,” he said.  

    By the end of 2024, 123.2 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide, a decade-high number which proves that in the 10 years since the SDGs were adopted, the world has regressed in relation to displacements.

    For Dr. Abubakar, these displaced people — and the millions more voluntary migrants — embody why the health system simply cannot continue to silo itself and must instead embrace cross-border partnerships.

    “Health systems must ensure access to essential services regardless of immigration status … Any community without access is that weak link that may mean we are all not protected,” Dr. Abubakar said, referring to the next pandemic.

    Communities at the centre

    The idea of partnerships as foundational to achieving the SDGs is logical for many people. After all, the goals are universal in nature and demand global collaboration.

    But this collaboration, especially for health, must do more than just engage experts — it must engage the people who seek out healthcare. Dr. Abubakar said that all health policies must be culturally appropriate to local contexts, something which can only happen if communities are placed at the centre of healthcare.

    “The new future that I see would embrace global partnership, including countries irrespective of income level, public and private sector, academic and civil society. And within this framework, communities must be at the centre… not just as recipients but as co-creators of solutions.”
     

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: AI in universities: How large language models are transforming research

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ali Shiri, Professor of Information Science & Vice Dean, Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies, University of Alberta

    Generative AI, especially large language models (LLMs), present exciting and unprecedented opportunities and complex challenges for academic research and scholarship.

    As the different versions of LLMs (such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity.ai and Grok) continue to proliferate, academic research is beginning to undergo a significant transformation.

    Students, researchers and instructors in higher education need AI literacy knowledge, competencies and skills to address these challenges and risks.

    In a time of rapid change, students and academics are advised to look to their institutions, programs and units for discipline-specific policy or guidelines regulating the use of AI.

    Researcher use of AI

    A recent study led by a data science researcher found that at least 13.5 per cent of biomedical abstracts last year showed signs of AI-generated text.



    Read more:
    AI-detection software isn’t the solution to classroom cheating — assessment has to shift

    Large language models can now support nearly every stage of the research process, although caution and human oversight are always needed to judge when use is appropriate, ethical or warranted — and to account for questions of quality control and accuracy. LLMs can:

    • Help brainstorm, generate and refine research ideas and formulate hypotheses;

    • Design experiments and conduct and synthesize literature reviews;

    • Write and debug code;

    • Analyze and visualize both qualitative and quantitative data;

    • Develop interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological frameworks;

    • Suggest relevant sources and citations, summarize complex texts and draft abstracts;

    • Support the dissemination and presentation of research findings, in popular formats.

    However, there are significant concerns and challenges surrounding the appropriate, ethical, responsible and effective use of generative AI tools in the conduct of research, writing and research dissemination. These include:

    • Misrepresentation of data and authorship;

    • Difficulty in replication of research results;

    • Data and algorithmic biases and inaccuracies;

    • User and data privacy and confidentiality;

    • Quality of outputs, data and citation fabrication;

    • And copyright and intellectual property infringement.

    AI research assistants, ‘deep research’ AI agents

    There are two categories of emerging LLM-enhanced tools that support academic research:

    1. AI research assistants: The number of AI research assistants that support different aspects and steps of the research process is growing at an exponential rate. These technologies have the potential to enhance and extend traditional research methods in academic work. Examples include AI assistants that support:

    • Concept mapping (Kumu, GitMind, MindMeister);

    • Literature and systematic reviews (Elicit, Undermind, NotebookLM, SciSpace);

    • Literature search (Consensus, ResearchRabbit, Connected Papers, Scite);

    • Literature analysis and summarization (Scholarcy, Paper Digest, Keenious);

    • And research topic and trend detection and analysis (Scinapse, tlooto, Dimension AI).

    2. ‘Deep research’ AI agents: The field of artificial intelligence is advancing quickly with the rise of “deep research” AI agents. These next-generation agents combine LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation and sophisticated reasoning frameworks to conduct in-depth, multi-step analyses.

    Research is currently being conducted to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of deep research tools. New evaluation criteria are being developed to assess their performance and quality.

    Criteria include elements such as cost, speed, editing ease and overall user experience — as well as citation and writing quality, and how these deep research tools adhere to prompts.

    The purpose of deep research tools is to meticulously extract, analyze and synthesize scholarly information, empirical data and diverse perspectives from a wide array of online and social media sources. The output is a detailed report, complete with citations, offering in-depth insights into complex topics.

    In just a short span of four months (December 2024 to February 2025), several companies (like Google Gemini, Perplexity.ai and ChatGPT) introduced their “deep research” platforms.

    The Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a non-profit AI research institute based in Seattle, is experimenting with a new open access research tool called Ai2 ScholarQA that helps researchers conduct literature reviews more efficiently by providing more in-depth answers.

    Emerging guidelines

    Several guidelines have been developed to encourage the responsible and ethical use of generative AI in research and writing. Examples include:

    LLMs support interdisciplinary research

    LLMs are also powerful tools to support interdisciplinary research. Recent emerging research (yet to be peer reviewed) on the effectiveness of LLMs for research suggests they have great potential in areas such as biological sciences, chemical sciences, engineering, environmental as well as social sciences. It also suggests LLMs can help eliminate disciplinary silos by bringing together data and methods from different fields and automating data collection and generation to create interdisciplinary datasets.

    Helping to analyze and summarize large volumes of research across various disciplines can aid interdisciplinary collaboration. “Expert finder” AI-powered platforms can analyze researcher profiles and publication networks to map expertise, identify potential collaborators across fields and reveal unexpected interdisciplinary connections.

    This emerging knowledge suggests these models will be able to help researchers drive breakthroughs by combining insights from diverse fields — like epidemiology and physics, climate science and economics or social science and climate data — to address complex problems.



    Read more:
    The world is not moving fast enough on climate change — social sciences can help explain why

    Research-focused AI literacy

    Canadian universities and research partnerships are providing AI literacy education to people in universities and beyond.

    The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute offers K-12 AI literacy programming and other resources. The institute is a not-for profit organization and part of Canada’s Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy.

    Many universities are offering AI literacy educational opportunities that focus specifically on the use of generative AI tools in assisting research activities.

    Collaborative university work is also happening. For example, as vice dean of the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies at the University of Alberta (and an information science professor), I have worked with deans from the University of Manitoba, the University of Winnipeg and Vancouver Island University to develop guidelines and recommendations around generative AI and graduate and postdoctoral research and supervision.

    Considering the growing power and capabilities of large language models, there is an urgent need to develop AI literacy training tailored for academic researchers.

    This training should focus on both the potential and the limitations of these tools in the different stages of the research process and writing.

    Ali Shiri 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. AI in universities: How large language models are transforming research – https://theconversation.com/ai-in-universities-how-large-language-models-are-transforming-research-260547

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Dating app categories could be shaping you more than you know

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Kevin Guyan, Chancellor’s Fellow & Director of the Gender + Sexuality Data Lab, University of Edinburgh

    Natalllenka.m/Shutterstock

    Any account of love and dating in the 2020s is incomplete without addressing an uncomfortable topic: are our encounters with technology shaping who we are and how we desire?

    Dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble and Feeld allow users to choose from dozens of genders, sexualities, desires and relationship types. Commonplace descriptors such as “straight”, “gay” and “bisexual” are now joined by labels including “polysexual” (an attraction to multiple, but not all, genders), “skoliosexual” (an attraction predominantly to people who don’t conform to traditional gender norms) and “heteroflexible” (an attraction that is mostly heterosexual with some exceptions).

    But do these categories provide a more accurate representation of the world beyond the app? Or do they partly construct the world they claim to describe?

    As a regular user of gay dating apps throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s, I discovered a menu of categories to describe myself. There was everything from “twinks” (slim build, youthful appearance and little or no body hair) and “otters” (the same but with a bit more body hair and a more masculine appearance) to “bears” (large build and lots of body hair) and “muscle daddies” (older with a muscular physique).

    I quickly understood how to maximise my success on the app by hacking the algorithm: the curated buzzwords in my bio, profile pics that struck the right balance between “sexy” and “intelligent”, how often to use the app and when. If the app gave prominence to a certain “category” of gay man in its listings, I was more than willing to present myself as that category.

    But, in the process, the line between the category and the thing being categorised (me and my desires) became increasingly impossible to untangle.

    This experience inspired research in my new book Rainbow Trap, which investigates the technical aspects of app design and how the provision of more “inclusive categories” for LGBTQ+ communities often does nothing to reconfigure the narrow accounts of desire encoded in the tech.

    Dating today can feel like a mix of endless swipes, red flags and shifting expectations. From decoding mixed signals to balancing independence with intimacy, relationships in your 20s and 30s come with unique challenges. Love IRL is the latest series from Quarter Life that explores it all.

    These research-backed articles break down the complexities of modern love to help you build meaningful connections, no matter your relationship status.

    Writing in the early 2000s, science and technology scholars Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star coined the term “convergence” to describe what happens when “people get put into categories and learn from those categories how to behave”. Philosopher of science Ian Hacking similarly used the term looping effect“ to describe the multi-directional relationship between a category and the “thing” being categorised.

    These encounters, however, highlight a fundamental tension between queer communities and classifications: the classifications used to describe us also come to define us. This can determine what doors are opened and closed and who we are allowed to be.

    Thinking back to my early forays into dating apps, I would often assign myself to the category of “twink”. Although used by app designers to assist with the algorithmic sorting of users, the identity felt contoured to my life.

    The connections suggested by the app, based on my self-categorisation as a “twink”, felt as if they reflected who I was and what I had always wanted. And, for a period, I believed it.

    However, in hindsight, I don’t know if I was ever really attracted to men with 26-inch waists and hair frazzled by too much bleach. I had limited myself to what the app told me I should like. But desire isn’t so easily put into a box.

    Getting critical about categories

    Underpinning the mechanics of all dating apps are categories, and we can learn a lot about love and dating by thinking critically about the categories used.

    Between 2021 and 2023, Tinder reported a 30% increase in the use of gender identities other than “male” or “female” on the app, creating more than 145 million new matches. Identification with the label “non-binary” also more than doubled in just one year.

    In 2023, the dating app Feeld (which describes itself as designed “for the curious”) reported that more than half its users who identified as “heterosexual” connected with someone on the app who did not identify as “heterosexual”. Feeld also has claimed that over 180,000 people “changed their sexuality” during their first year of using the app and that “the longer Feeld members are on the app, the less heterosexual they get”.

    I am not suggesting that our navigation of love and dating through the prism of technology (and its growing menu of categories) is making us more queer – as these technologies could just as equally be making us more straight. But whatever is happening, it is clear that assigning yourself to a particular category opens and closes opportunities for love and desire.

    It is app designers who then hold the power to decide what connections are made – for example, whether “twinks” connect with “bears”, whether your category features first or last on the home page. Because the classifications used to describe us are also now defining us, app designers partly shape how you think about yourself and your desires. This power does not stop when you turn off the app, it extends into offline worlds too.

    So, for app users, be open to how your encounters with categories shape who and how you desire. Who will the app include and exclude based on your self-categorisation? And is that the experience you necessarily what?

    Kevin Guyan 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. Dating app categories could be shaping you more than you know – https://theconversation.com/dating-app-categories-could-be-shaping-you-more-than-you-know-256368

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Is a ‘nanny state’ a price worth paying to keep the NHS free? The evidence shows it could work

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Renaud Foucart, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University

    Nanny says no. SOK Studio/Shutterstock

    The UK government’s new ten-year-plan to transform the NHS includes a focus on preventing ill health rather than treating illness. But to what extent should people depend on the state to help them make healthy decisions?

    Some think any kind of nudge in that direction is symptomatic of a “nanny state” overstepping its boundaries. Others might argue that nanny knows best, or that governments should do whatever works best both economically and to keep people healthy.

    Either way, if a country like the UK wants to keep providing free (or at least tax-payer funded) and universal healthcare, rather than charging every patient for their specific needs, its choices are limited.

    Take obesity for example, which is estimated to cost the NHS around £12.6 billion a year – more than 5% of its total budget.

    In 2022, 28.7% of adults in the UK had obesity, compared to 10.9% in France, 14.3% in Denmark and 22% in Belgium. (In the US, it was 42.8%.)

    Government analysis claims that if everyone who is overweight reduced their calorie intake by just 216 calories a day – roughly equivalent to a single 500ml bottle of fizzy drink – obesity would be halved, and so would the associated costs. It also estimates that cutting the calorie count of a daily diet by just 50 calories would lift 340,000 children and 2 million adults out of obesity.

    But how should it persuade people to cut those calories? Happy to ignore accusations of being a nanny state, the UK government is now working with food retailers and manufacturers to encourage people to make healthier choices.

    Under the plan, products will be made with less sugar and fat. And the data that supermarkets own about your shopping habits (through online shopping and loyalty cards) will be used to nudge you towards more fruits and vegetables and fewer bags of crisps. Businesses that fail to induce changes in customer consumption will face financial penalties.

    And perhaps this is more effective than personal responsibility. Recent alternative policies which relied on individual action like following diets using the NHS weight loss app have not worked.

    The UK has also invested hundred of millions of pounds trying to encourage people to burn calories by walking and cycling more. But the country remains reluctant to reduce its car-dependence, with its cities poorly served by public transport. Walking and cycling are just not that popular.

    So perhaps state intervention is the only policy British people are willing to accept. Understandably, they want the freedom to make their own choices when it comes to exercise, eating and drinking, but they also want to keep the NHS free. Only 7% would support charging people for their use of healthcare.

    Fat tax

    Another option is to tax the consumption of fat and sugar to pay for the cost it imposes on others. In 2016, the UK was among the first countries to introduce a tax on sugary drinks. Since then, the total amount of sugar in British soft drinks has decreased by 46%, because changing the recipes means the producers pay less tax.

    Research shows that the tax also deters younger people from buying too much sugar. However, it does little to reduce consumption among those who have the most sugar-intensive diets, just like alcohol taxes do nothing to convince the most addicted alcoholics to drink less.

    There is also a valid argument that taxing sugar and fat is unfair. Unhealthy food is a much larger proportion of the budget of poorer households than it is for wealthier one, making it a regressive tax.

    Love for the NHS.
    John Gomez/Shutterstock

    Yet policies nudging people towards healthy choices often have a good track record. A study of food labelling policies which placed warning labels on high sugar and high calorie foods in Chile showed that people bought less of them.

    To stay below the threshold, firms then changed their recipes, just like with the tax. In that case, the warnings led to people consuming 11.5% less sugar and 2.8% less fat.

    While paternalistic interventions can be annoying or upsetting, pretending obesity is purely an individual choice is misleading. Obesity starts in childhood, and can destroy future choices. Children with obesity are more likely to be bullied, and don’t do as well at school.

    The state regularly bans harmful products without controversy. Even if you wanted to, you could not insulate your house with asbestos, and the UK is currently busy banning the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2009.

    With NHS waiting lists remaining at record highs, and a struggling economy, risk of the country becoming a nanny state by trying to encourage healthier food might actually be a pretty minor one.

    Renaud Foucart 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. Is a ‘nanny state’ a price worth paying to keep the NHS free? The evidence shows it could work – https://theconversation.com/is-a-nanny-state-a-price-worth-paying-to-keep-the-nhs-free-the-evidence-shows-it-could-work-260539

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hickenlooper, Colleagues Introduce Black Women’s Equal Pay Day Resolution

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Colorado John Hickenlooper

    WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper joined 32 of his colleagues to introduce a resolution honoring Black Women’s Equal Pay Day. 

    “Black women face dual and compounding discrimination based upon both their race and gender,” wrote the lawmakers. “Lost wages mean Black women have less money to support themselves and their families, to save and invest for the future, and to spend on goods and services, causing businesses and the economy to suffer as a result.”

    In the U.S., Black women workers are paid just 66 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic White men. The wage gap has only narrowed by 5 cents in the last two decades. If current trends continue, Black women wouldn’t achieve equal pay for over 200 years.

    The resolution is supported by Equal Pay Today, Equal Rights Advocates, Family Values @ Work, National Partnership for Women and Families, Institute for Women’s Policy Research, A Better Balance, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Black Women’s Roundtable, Women Employed, National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, National Council of Jewish Women, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, American Association of University Women, ERA Coalition, Legal Momentum – The Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Council of Negro Women, National Black Worker Center, Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable, Oxfam America, NAACP, Maine Women’s Lobby & MWL Education Fund, Pro-Choice North Carolina, 9to5, National Urban League.

    The full text of the resolution is available HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: 21 July 2025 Departmental update Partner spotlight: Centre for Pathogen Genomics celebrates two years of partnership with the WHO International Pathogen Surveillance Network

    Source: World Health Organisation

    The Centre for Pathogen Genomics is a leading academic and training hub for infectious diseases genomics in the Asia-Pacific region at the University of Melbourne, based at the Doherty Institute. The Centre’s mission is to build collaborative partnerships to support accessible pathogen genomics globally, through translational research and research training; and also to provide support for genomics-informed infectious disease surveillance and response, through strategy development, capacity building and training.

    As one of the earliest members of the International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN), the Centre has contributed expertise in governance, evaluation, epidemiology, bioinformatics and public health. The ISPN was established in 2023 to help protect people from infectious disease threats through the power of pathogen genomics. By connecting countries and regions, the network will strengthen sample analysis to inform public health decisions and provide a platform for enhanced data sharing.

    The partnership with IPSN has driven new collaborations, linkage with the global genomics community, capacity building and training initiatives, and development of key resources in the IPSN toolkit. Furthermore, the Centre co-hosted the IPSN’s 2024 Global Partners Forum in Bangkok. The event showcased the significant contribution of the ISPN towards improved access to genomics, and promotion of locallyled and globally supported initiatives to enhance genomic surveillance.

    Sustainable Training and Implementation Workshop hosted by the Centre for Pathogen Geonomics and the IPSN in Bangkok, November 2024. More than 70 stakeholders from WHO, donors and funders, regional networks, public health and research institutions across the Asia-Pacific and globally participated in discussions on best practice approaches for harmonized and sustainable public health training and implementation.

    © WHO / Sahawate Suedee, Picturian Production House

    One of the Centre’s key activities with the IPSN has been the development of a Monitoring and Evaluation Tool (M&E) for the IPSN toolkit, Capacity Strengthening Framework for Pathogen Genomics Informed Surveillance Systems. The M&E Tool is aligned with other IPSN tools and resources, and structured to support implementation of WHO’s Global Genomic Surveillance Strategy. It aims to provide countries, funders, and implementers with a standardized approach to systematically assess progress towards implementing the established goals for a public health pathogen genomics surveillance system.

    At the core of the tool is a capacity matrix, which measures progress across different components of pathogen genomics surveillance.  Structured into sections, each contains a series of scored items covering:

    1. genomics-informed surveillance and policy
    2. specimen selection, collection and referral
    3. laboratory workflow
    4. bioinformatics and analysis
    5. reporting and communication
    6. implementation in public health practice.

    The development of this new tool has been a collaborative effort with a number of global leaders in genomics such as the UK Health Security Agency, Robert Koch Institute, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL). Each has provided invaluable time, expertise and experience to the M&E Technical Working Group.

    Bacterial genomics sequence training delivered by the Centre at the Medical Research Institute, Sri Lanka as part of the ‘Piloting the application of pathogen genomics for surveillance of food borne and AMR disease’ project awarded in the 1st IPSN Catalytic Grant round (April 2025).

    © Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity

    “Collaboration is central to everything we do,” said Professor Ben Howden, Co-director of the Centre Pathogen Genomics.  “It drives innovation, fosters meaningful results, and strengthens global impact. Since its inception, the IPSN has been a leading force in expanding outreach, engagement, and partnerships across the genomics community at national, regional, and global levels. We are proud to have supported IPSN in mobilizing global resources, knowledge, and expertise to build more sustainable and resilient global health surveillance systems using pathogen genomics. We extend our congratulations to IPSN on its 2-year Anniversary. The dedication to knowledge sharing, capacity building, and advancing research and public health partnerships have strengthened our collective mission in ensuring equitable and sustainable access to genomic technology, tools, and resources for all. We look forward to another transformative year with the team.”

    Starting mid-2025, the Centre will commence piloting of the M&E Tool with support from the IPSN, and WHO regional and country offices. The purpose of the pilot is to further refine the user experience and improve functionality and applicability of the tool across contexts, through an iterative feedback and improvement process. Importantly, it will demonstrate how the M&E Tool is used across diverse countries, sectors and organizations with varying levels of genomics capacity.

    Sustainable Training and Implementation Workshop: Asia-Pacific held in Bangkok, Thailand and jointly hosted by the Centre for Pathogen Genomics, IPSN and Wellcome Connecting Science (November 2024).

    © WHO / Sahawate Suedee, Picturian Production House

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: One Step Closer to Solving a Century-old Crustacean Mystery

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    When you think of barnacles, you likely picture shell-like creatures stuck to the sides of boats or docks, or even whales. However, did you know that some of the barnacles that attach to other animals are not just hitching a ride — they actually hijack their host?  

    “Instead of gluing themselves to a rock or something, they glue themselves to a host, often a crab, and they inject themselves into that host, and live their entire life as a root network growing through their host. It’s almost like a fungal network or plant root system. They have no real body in the way that we think of animal bodies,” says UConn Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Assistant Professor James Bernot.  

    Bernot and his colleagues – including lead author Niklas Dreyer from the Natural History Museum of Denmark and Biodiversity Research Center Academia Sinica, Taiwan; Jørgen Olesen at the Natural History Museum of Denmark; Gregory Kolbasov at Moscow University; Jens Høeg at the University of Copenhagen; and Ryuji Machida and Benny Chan at the Biodiversity Research Center Academia Sinica, Taiwan – published their research on a mysterious group of crustaceans in Current Biology (LINK) to hopefully solve an enduring puzzle about these strange creatures. 

    Bernot explains that barnacles are crustaceans, like crabs or shrimp, and they have evolved unique strategies for survival. For example, they go from a free-swimming larval form to live the rest of their lives permanently attached to their substrate of choice. 

    A particularly enigmatic group called “y-larvae,” also known as Facetotecta, resembles young barnacles. Y-larvae have been studied in plankton samples since the 1800s, but Bernot says the real mystery is figuring out what they grow up to be—so far, the adult stage has never been seen. Though that element remains unanswered, in this new paper, the researchers are getting closer to finding out. 

    To look for clues on how y-larvae fit into the tree of life, the researchers collected more than 3,000 of the tiny crustaceans and analyzed their genes. They did this by sequencing the transcriptome, which is similar to a genome but represents the RNA that is expressed. 

    Facetotectans (aka y-larvae) have been a mystery since their discovery in the 1800s. Scientists are unsure of what they grow up to become, but we now know where these crustaceans fit in the tree of life. This image shows a cypris larvae, or y-cyprid. (Image courtesy of Niklas Dreyer)

    “We were finally able to confirm, in the realm of big data science, that they are, in fact, related to barnacles, but they aren’t closely related to any of the other parasitic barnacles. This was interesting to test by building a giant tree of life for all the crustaceans, then adding this little branch of y-larvae , this very unknown group, to that bigger tree, and we saw that they are related to barnacles, but more as distant cousins,” says Bernot.   

    Though not closely related to parasitic barnacles, these crustaceans are also likely parasitic because they have some structures in common with their parasitic cousins, says Bernot, including antennae with claws that may be used to hook onto their host. 

    “One of the best pieces of evidence we have that y-larvae become parasitic is that if we expose them to crustacean growth hormone, they will hatch out of their little swimming larval shape into a small slug-like body, which is similar to what parasitic barnacles do when they enter a host,” says Bernot. “The fact that if we give them hormones, they also molt into a slug-like thing, suggests they go on to be parasitic somewhere, but we still don’t know what host they end up in. Being hidden inside another animal’s body could explain why we haven’t found the adult stage of y-larvae yet.”   

    Although these crustaceans are unusual and largely unknown with only 17 species described so far, Bernot says some of his co-authors found more than 100 new and different species from a single harbor in Japan. There is more to learn about these enigmatic animals. 

    “We know the other parasitic barnacles do weird things. The ones that grow like roots inside of crabs castrate their hosts, so their hosts are no longer able to reproduce. They trick their hosts into thinking that the host is pregnant, so it starts taking care of this mass that grows outside of its body, but that mass is part of the barnacle and not actually the eggs of the host, and even if they infect a male crab, the male crab becomes feminized and starts behaving like a pregnant female crab. Y-larvae could be having similarly impactful roles in ecosystems, but we won’t know until we find what hosts they are living in and what they are doing there,” says Bernot. 

    Since the y-larvae transcriptome sequencing showed they were not closely related to parasitic barnacles, Bernot says that it is likely that y-larvae and parasitic barnacles evolved in a process called convergent evolution. 

    “Because they’re probably both parasitic and doing similar things, they’ve evolved similar strategies to attach to a host and to become this slug-like larva. It’s amazing to think that that really weird, unique lifestyle evolved multiple times.” 

    Different species of barnacles use different strategies when they become sessile adults. Besides living on inanimate objects, those that live on animals like whales are not considered parasitic because they are essentially hitching a ride and do not feed on their host. Others attach to the host and have structures that they use to feed on the host. Understanding the evolution of these different strategies is important, and Bernot says that a project they are currently working on involves building the evolutionary tree of all barnacles to observe and understand some of the evolutionary patterns.  

     “A big question is, what is it about barnacles that has given them so much variability over evolutionary time to take on so many different shapes and forms and lifestyles? They have come up with incredibly ingenious strategies for making their ways of life, and often their ways of life seem very bizarre to us, but they have clearly been very successful,” says Bernot. “These animals have been around for hundreds of millions of years and there are several thousand species of them, so they have come up with some really amazing solutions to complex problems.” 

     Some of those solutions could also help humans. For example, Bernot says, there is a lot of interest in trying to better understand barnacle glues. 

    “They glue themselves to docks, they glue themselves to boats, and that is a problem. The Navy spends millions of dollars on additional fuel because barnacles on their ships cause additional drag. Also having more powerful glues that can dry underwater would be very useful for mechanical reasons, but maybe also for dentistry and things like that,” says Bernot. “There could be a lot of applications if we can better understand some of these amazing solutions that barnacles have evolved.” 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Why has a bill to relax NZ foreign investment rules had so little scrutiny?

    ANALYSIS: By Jane Kelsey, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

    While public attention has been focused on the domestic fast-track consenting process for infrastructure and mining, Associate Minister of Finance David Seymour has been pushing through another fast-track process — this time for foreign investment in New Zealand.

    But it has had almost no public scrutiny.

    If the Overseas Investment (National Interest Test and Other Matters) Amendment Bill becomes law, it could have far-reaching consequences. Public submissions on the bill close tomorrow.

    A product of the ACT-National coalition agreement, the bill commits to amend the Overseas Investment Act 2005 “to limit ministerial decision making to national security concerns and make such decision making more timely”.

    There are valid concerns that piecemeal reforms to the current act have made it complex and unwieldy. But the new bill is equally convoluted and would significantly reduce effective scrutiny of foreign investments — especially in forestry.

    A three-step test
     Step one of a three-step process set out in the bill gives the regulator — the Overseas Investment Office which sits within Land Information NZ — 15 days to decide whether a proposed investment would be a risk to New Zealand’s “national interest”.

    If they don’t perceive a risk, or that initial assessment is not completed in time, the application is automatically approved.

    Transactions involving fisheries quotas and various land categories, or any other applications the regulator identifies, would require a “national interest” assessment under stage two.

    These would be assessed against a “ministerial letter” that sets out the government’s general policy and preferred approach to conducting the assessment, including any conditions on approvals.

    Other mandatory factors to be considered in the second stage include the act’s new “purpose” to increase economic opportunity through “timely consent” of less sensitive investments. The new test would allow scrutiny of the character and capability of the investor to be omitted altogether.

    If the regulator considers the national interest test is not met, or the transaction is “contrary to the national interest”, the minister of finance then makes a decision based on their assessment of those factors.

    Inadequate regulatory process
     Seymour has blamed the current screening regime for low volumes of foreign investment. But Treasury’s 2024 regulatory impact statement on the proposed changes to international investment screening acknowledges many other factors that influence investor decisions.

    Moreover, the Treasury statement acknowledges public views that foreign investment rules should “manage a wide range of risks” and “that there is inherent non-economic value in retaining domestic ownership of certain assets”.

    Treasury officials also recognised a range of other public concerns, including profits going offshore, loss of jobs, and foreign control of iconic businesses.

    The regulatory impact statement did not cover these factors because it was required to consider only the coalition commitment. The Treasury panel reported “notable limitations” on the bill’s quality assurance process.

    A fuller review was “infeasible” because it could not be completed in the time required, and would be broader than necessary to meet the coalition commitment to amend the act in the prescribed way.

    The requirement to implement the bill in this parliamentary term meant the options officials could consider, even within the scope of the coalition agreement, were further limited.

    Time constraints meant “users and key stakeholders have not been consulted”, according to the Treasury statement. Environmental and other risks would have to be managed through other regulations.

    There is no reference to te Tiriti o Waitangi or mana whenua engagement.

    Forestry ‘slash’ after Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 . . . no need to consider foreign investors’ track records. Image: Getty/The Conversation

    No ‘benefit to NZ’ test
     While the bill largely retains a version of the current screening regime for residential and farm land, it removes existing forestry activities from that definition (but not new forestry on non-forest land). It also removes extraction of water for bottling, or other bulk extraction for human consumption, from special vetting.

    Where sensitive land (such as islands, coastal areas, conservation and wahi tapu land) is not residential or farm land, it would be removed from special screening rules currently applied for land.

    Repeal of the “special forestry test” — which in practice has seen most applications approved, albeit with conditions — means most forestry investments could be fast-tracked.

    There would no longer be a need to consider investors’ track records or apply a “benefit to New Zealand” test. Regulators may or may not be empowered to impose conditions such as replanting or cleaning up slash.

    The official documents don’t explain the rationale for this. But it looks like a win for Regional Development Minister Shane Jones, and was perhaps the price of NZ First’s support.

    It has potentially serious implications for forestry communities affected by climate-related disasters, however. Further weakening scrutiny and investment conditions risks intensifying the already devastating impacts of international forestry companies. Taxpayers and ratepayers pick up the costs while the companies can minimise their taxes and send profits offshore.

    Locked in forever?
     Finally, these changes could be locked in through New Zealand’s free trade agreements. Several such agreements say New Zealand’s investment regime cannot become more restrictive than the 2005 act and its regulations.

    A “ratchet clause” would lock in any further liberalisation through this bill, from which there is no going back.

    However, another annex in those free trade agreements could be interpreted as allowing some flexibility to alter the screening rules and criteria in the future. None of the official documents address this crucial question.

    As an academic expert in this area I am uncertain about the risk.

    But the lack of clarity underlines the problems exemplified in this bill. It is another example of coalition agreements bypassing democratic scrutiny and informed decision making. More public debate and broad analysis is needed on the bill and its implications.

    Dr Jane Kelsey is emeritus professor of law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Why has a bill to relax NZ foreign investment rules had so little scrutiny?

    ANALYSIS: By Jane Kelsey, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

    While public attention has been focused on the domestic fast-track consenting process for infrastructure and mining, Associate Minister of Finance David Seymour has been pushing through another fast-track process — this time for foreign investment in New Zealand.

    But it has had almost no public scrutiny.

    If the Overseas Investment (National Interest Test and Other Matters) Amendment Bill becomes law, it could have far-reaching consequences. Public submissions on the bill close tomorrow.

    A product of the ACT-National coalition agreement, the bill commits to amend the Overseas Investment Act 2005 “to limit ministerial decision making to national security concerns and make such decision making more timely”.

    There are valid concerns that piecemeal reforms to the current act have made it complex and unwieldy. But the new bill is equally convoluted and would significantly reduce effective scrutiny of foreign investments — especially in forestry.

    A three-step test
     Step one of a three-step process set out in the bill gives the regulator — the Overseas Investment Office which sits within Land Information NZ — 15 days to decide whether a proposed investment would be a risk to New Zealand’s “national interest”.

    If they don’t perceive a risk, or that initial assessment is not completed in time, the application is automatically approved.

    Transactions involving fisheries quotas and various land categories, or any other applications the regulator identifies, would require a “national interest” assessment under stage two.

    These would be assessed against a “ministerial letter” that sets out the government’s general policy and preferred approach to conducting the assessment, including any conditions on approvals.

    Other mandatory factors to be considered in the second stage include the act’s new “purpose” to increase economic opportunity through “timely consent” of less sensitive investments. The new test would allow scrutiny of the character and capability of the investor to be omitted altogether.

    If the regulator considers the national interest test is not met, or the transaction is “contrary to the national interest”, the minister of finance then makes a decision based on their assessment of those factors.

    Inadequate regulatory process
     Seymour has blamed the current screening regime for low volumes of foreign investment. But Treasury’s 2024 regulatory impact statement on the proposed changes to international investment screening acknowledges many other factors that influence investor decisions.

    Moreover, the Treasury statement acknowledges public views that foreign investment rules should “manage a wide range of risks” and “that there is inherent non-economic value in retaining domestic ownership of certain assets”.

    Treasury officials also recognised a range of other public concerns, including profits going offshore, loss of jobs, and foreign control of iconic businesses.

    The regulatory impact statement did not cover these factors because it was required to consider only the coalition commitment. The Treasury panel reported “notable limitations” on the bill’s quality assurance process.

    A fuller review was “infeasible” because it could not be completed in the time required, and would be broader than necessary to meet the coalition commitment to amend the act in the prescribed way.

    The requirement to implement the bill in this parliamentary term meant the options officials could consider, even within the scope of the coalition agreement, were further limited.

    Time constraints meant “users and key stakeholders have not been consulted”, according to the Treasury statement. Environmental and other risks would have to be managed through other regulations.

    There is no reference to te Tiriti o Waitangi or mana whenua engagement.

    Forestry ‘slash’ after Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 . . . no need to consider foreign investors’ track records. Image: Getty/The Conversation

    No ‘benefit to NZ’ test
     While the bill largely retains a version of the current screening regime for residential and farm land, it removes existing forestry activities from that definition (but not new forestry on non-forest land). It also removes extraction of water for bottling, or other bulk extraction for human consumption, from special vetting.

    Where sensitive land (such as islands, coastal areas, conservation and wahi tapu land) is not residential or farm land, it would be removed from special screening rules currently applied for land.

    Repeal of the “special forestry test” — which in practice has seen most applications approved, albeit with conditions — means most forestry investments could be fast-tracked.

    There would no longer be a need to consider investors’ track records or apply a “benefit to New Zealand” test. Regulators may or may not be empowered to impose conditions such as replanting or cleaning up slash.

    The official documents don’t explain the rationale for this. But it looks like a win for Regional Development Minister Shane Jones, and was perhaps the price of NZ First’s support.

    It has potentially serious implications for forestry communities affected by climate-related disasters, however. Further weakening scrutiny and investment conditions risks intensifying the already devastating impacts of international forestry companies. Taxpayers and ratepayers pick up the costs while the companies can minimise their taxes and send profits offshore.

    Locked in forever?
     Finally, these changes could be locked in through New Zealand’s free trade agreements. Several such agreements say New Zealand’s investment regime cannot become more restrictive than the 2005 act and its regulations.

    A “ratchet clause” would lock in any further liberalisation through this bill, from which there is no going back.

    However, another annex in those free trade agreements could be interpreted as allowing some flexibility to alter the screening rules and criteria in the future. None of the official documents address this crucial question.

    As an academic expert in this area I am uncertain about the risk.

    But the lack of clarity underlines the problems exemplified in this bill. It is another example of coalition agreements bypassing democratic scrutiny and informed decision making. More public debate and broad analysis is needed on the bill and its implications.

    Dr Jane Kelsey is emeritus professor of law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Strand Aldwych wins a Green Flag Award for transformation into vibrant urban green space | Westminster City Council

    Source: City of Westminster

    The Strand Aldwych project has earned a Green Flag Award, recognising its exceptional transformation from one of London’s busiest and most polluted streets into a thriving public green space in the heart of the capital.

    The Green Flag Award is an international recognition awarded to parks and green spaces with excellent management in the UK and around the world.

    The project has also been awarded the Green Heritage Site Accreditation, an acknowledgement of its outstanding conservation of historical and cultural significance alongside its environmental value.

    Strand Aldwych is the first pedestrianised green space to achieve either of these awards, setting a benchmark for urban transformation in the country.

    Launched in December 2022, the Strand Aldwych project transformed what was once a congested and polluted road system into a vibrant, car-free public space that celebrates the cultural and historic heritage of the area. 

    With an investment of £22 million from Westminster City Council, the project has created a new pedestrian zone the size of a football pitch, connecting the historic St Mary le Strand church with London’s leading cultural and educational institutions in the area, including King’s College London, the London School of Economics, Somerset House, and The Courtauld Institute. 

    The Strand and Aldwych areas now welcome 14 million visitors annually, and are home to 400 businesses employing over 20,000 people.

    Key features of the transformation include:

    • A safe, car-free zone with increased cycle parking, improved safety at junctions, and expanded footways on nearby roads to support pedestrian movement and cycling.
    • New seating areas offering a place for people to relax under the shade of trees.
    • A variety of trees and planting to support biodiversity, provide year-round colour, and contribute to a greener urban environment.
    • As a 7,000m² green space in one of the busiest areas of central London, the project has enhanced air quality, offered urban cooling and provided support for pollinators.
    • The space also serves as an accessible cultural platform, with rotating art installations around the year and connections to nearby cultural and educational institutions.

    Cllr Ryan Jude, Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Ecology, Culture and Air Quality, said:

    “I’m proud to announce that Strand Aldwych has just earned a Green Flag Award for its outstanding urban transformation. This is a well-deserved recognition of the area as a world-class public green space connecting historic and cultural landmarks with the vibrant city life in central London. 

    “In response to our declaration of an ecological emergency in 2023, we developed our Greening and Biodiversity Strategy to make Westminster more resilient through improving and enhancing nature in the city. Our recently published Air Quality Action Plan also presents a bold and clear roadmap towards reducing air pollution and improving public health outcomes for residents.

    “The Strand Aldwych project is an excellent example of a public space that is welcoming, accessible and beneficial to the environment. All key to our commitment to creating a greener, fairer Westminster for all our residents and visitors.”

    Ruth Duston OBE OC, CEO of London Heritage Quarter, said: 

    “Creating calm, people-focused, places in urban spaces is an important priority for London Heritage Quarter. Strand Aldwych receiving a Green Flag Award is testament to the hard work of all involved, and the project is a great example of what collaborative work can achieve. By working closely with Westminster City Council and a wide range of partners and stakeholders including King’s College London, London School of Economics, Somerset House Trust, St Mary Le Strand and The Courtauld Institute, this greening scheme has delivered truly transformative results for this area of London that links the West End and the City.

    “It serves as a template on how the pedestrianisation of public spaces can transform pockets of urban cities into a destination where people want to be.”

    Miles Watson-Smyth, Chief Executive of Windowflowers Ltd, who plants and maintains the displays, said:

    “We are incredibly proud to have played a part in the transformation and ongoing care of the gardens in the Strand Aldwych area, working alongside Westminster City Council. To see this space recognised with both a Green Flag Award and Green Heritage Site Accreditation is a true honour. When we’re on site, members of the public regularly stop to tell us how much they enjoy the gardens and to thank us for our work — that kind of appreciation, along with these prestigious awards, makes all our efforts feel truly worthwhile.”

    Cannon Ivers, Director of LDA Design, said:

    “This is a special moment for Strand-Aldwych and for all those who worked so hard to transform what was a heavily trafficked and polluted road into a place for people and for nature, and for those who tirelessly support and maintain the space so well, with passion, knowledge, care, and commitment.

    “Strand has historically been about movement and transport. Now it’s a democratic, biodiverse space for everyone to enjoy with seating for up to 700 people, described as the best thing to happen to London in years. The fact that it is the first time a pedestrianised space has been awarded Green Flag status is fantastic recognition of Strand’s contribution to making London a healthier, calmer, and better place to be. Hopefully, this will embolden other towns and cities to reclaim streets for communities and for nature to thrive.” 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Judokas join GB team’s medal charge in Germany

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    Lucy Williams, left, and Dr Katrina McDonald in their GB Students kit ahead of the World University Games

    Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is set to play a key role in the GB Students’ medal charge at the World University Games, taking place in the Rhine-Ruhr region of Germany.

    ARU student and top-ranked British judoka Lucy Williams is part of the three-woman judo squad, which is being coached by ARU lecturer Dr Katrina McDonald, and the pair fly out to Germany today.

    The World University Games is one of the largest multi-sports events to be staged this year, attracting around 8,500 student athletes and officials from over 150 countries.

    Lucy has represented Great Britain at senior level and is currently ranked as Britain’s number one in the over 78kg category. She’s studying for a Masters in Physiotherapy at ARU’s Cambridge campus, having originally completed a BSc degree in Sport and Exercise Therapy at ARU.

    Lucy won a bronze medal last summer at the European University Games in Hungary, and she’s joined in the GB Students women’s judo squad this week by Tatum Keen and Summer Shaw.

    “I am super excited for the three athletes selected. Even though it’s a small team, the judoka are of excellent calibre, and all are looking to medal. It’s a high-level tournament with current Senior World Champions in the event.

    “Keeping a high level of training whilst studying is commendable but in judo, as a combat sport, it is truly remarkable. The athletes have worked really hard for this opportunity, and I am delighted to be able to assist in this part of their judo journey.”

    Dr Katrina McDonald, Senior Lecturer in Sports Coaching at ARU and the squad’s coach

    The World University Games have a long history – the first precursor event to the Games, the International Universities Championships, took place in Paris in 1923 – and the biennial event was last held in Chengdu, China in 2023.

    Judo is one of 18 different sports being contested at the World University Games, and the judo competition begins in the city of Essen on Wednesday.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: ARU graduates lead the region for career success

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    New national data shows that Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) graduates are thriving in their chosen careers, with ARU top in the region for two key measures of graduate success.

    The findings come from the Graduate Outcomes survey, the UK’s largest annual social survey, conducted by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)*.

    The survey captures the views and employment status of graduates 15 months after completing their studies and the latest data focuses on those who graduated from their courses in 2022-2023.

    ARU ranks first in the East of England for the proportion of UK undergraduates working as managers, directors or senior officials 15 months after graduation and shares top position in the region for the overall proportion of UK undergraduates in employment.

    Highlighting the University’s focus on preparing students for fulfilling roles, ARU is ranked fifth in the country for the proportion of full-time UK undergraduates working as managers, directors or senior officials within 15 months of graduating.

    Graduates also report a strong sense of purpose in their work, with ARU in the top 10% of universities in the country for UK students in employment and further study who agree their current activity is “meaningful”.

    These new Graduate Outcome survey results build on the Department for Education’s Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data released last month, which also shows ARU’s impact, particularly for students from underrepresented backgrounds.

    The LEO data places ARU second in the UK for graduate earnings among those who entered university with lower tariff points, and 12th for students from areas with the lowest university participation.

    It also found that 90% of ARU’s first degree undergraduates who live in the UK are in sustained employment or further study one year after graduation, and ARU is in the top 10 in England for graduate earnings in the areas of health and social care, applied and forensic sciences, and architecture, building and planning. 

    “Our students accomplish a great deal during their time at ARU and we’re immensely proud of what they go on to achieve once they graduate.

    “We work closely with employers to ensure our courses are practical and career-focused, and our students benefit from teaching delivered by staff with professional industry knowledge and expertise. This provides students with the skills and experience needed in today’s job market and these latest results show the positive impact of our approach.”

    Professor Roderick Watkins, Vice Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU)

    *Source: Graduate Outcomes Survey. Country refers to mainstream HEIs in England, excluding specialist institutions and those with fewer than 500 students. Contains HESA Data © HESA 2025 (https://www.hesa.ac.uk/).

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Leicester’s new Roman visitor attraction ready to open its doors

    Source: City of Leicester

    THE MUSIC of Ancient Rome will resound around Leicester’s Jewry Wall this weekend as the city’s exciting new Roman visitor attraction opens to the public.

    Lyre player Michael Levy will join Roman re-enactors and City Mayor Peter Soulsby to cut the ribbon at the fully revamped Jewry Wall Museum at 9.50am on Saturday (26 July).

    Visitors with tickets for the very first admission at 10am will then head inside to enjoy the museum’s new multimedia exhibits, interactive displays and stunning immersive video experience.               

    While the museum’s use of 21st century technology will help tell the story of Roman Leicester like never before, it’s the 2nd century archaeology that will provide the real insight into everyday life in Roman Leicester, with more than a hundred items on display that were discovered in Leicester and Leicestershire.

    These include some of the finest Roman mosaics and wall plasters ever found in the UK, including the stunning Peacock and Blackfriars mosaics, as well as jewellery, pottery, bronzework (pictured) and coins.

    Content at the new museum has been developed with the help of the University of Leicester, which has shared its expertise on everything from Roman hairstyles and clothing to language and religion – ensuring the displays are both entertaining and educational.

    Mathew Morris, project officer at University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), has been digging up and researching Roman Leicester for the past 20 years and is proud to have been an adviser to the Jewry Wall Museum project. 

    “Leicester was an important regional administrative centre in Roman Britain,” he said.

    “Artefacts found in the city reveal its extensive links with the wider Roman world, including the Mediterranean as far afield as Egypt. The town’s residents of civilians, soldiers and slaves were immersed in Roman culture – and excavations over the years, many carried out by ULAS, have revealed their lives in incredible detail.

    “It is inspiring to see how their stories are now being brought vividly to life in the new Jewry Wall Museum and it’s been a privilege to collaborate with Leicester Museums and Galleries to showcase the very latest understanding of our Roman town.”

    The Grade II listed building, which housed both the former Vaughan College and the old museum that closed in 2017, has been fully refurbished, with a new pedestrian bridge from St Nicholas Circle making the building fully accessible for the first time.

    City Mayor Peter Soulsby said: “This magnificent new attraction means we can now shout proudly about our 2,000 years of history and Leicester’s place in Roman Britain.

    “Thanks to archaeological discoveries and interactive technology, the Jewry Wall Museum can reveal the public and private lives of the residents of Ratae Corieltauvorum like never before, telling their stories in new and compelling ways.

    “With more than a hundred items on display, discovered by archaeologists right here in Leicester, you’ll be able to see the mosaics and wall paintings that decorated their homes, the pottery they ate from, the jewellery they wore, and even the handy little tool that kept their fingernails clean!

    “It’s a fascinating story, which I hope people living in Leicester and further afield will be keen to discover.

    “And with no similar dedicated Roman visitor site within 80 miles of Leicester, our new Jewry Wall Museum is set to become the most important Roman-themed attraction in the Midlands.”

    Phil Hackett, general manager of the Jewry Wall Museum, said: “Jewry Wall isn’t just a museum – it’s a bold reimagining of how we tell Leicester’s Roman story.

    “By combining powerful archaeology, local discovery and world-class technology, we’ve created an experience that’s both deeply immersive and genuinely educational. We’re very proud to bring Leicester’s Roman roots to life, not just for local people, but for regional, national and international audiences.”

    Tickets for the Jewry Wall Museum include a Roman Explorer Pass, which allows unlimited visits to the attraction for 12 months. Prices are £12.50 for adults, with children aged 5-15 paying half-price. A family ticket for two adults and two children is available for £32.

    The museum shop will offer a range of books and Jewry Wall souvenirs, including a replica Roman brooch, a Peacock mosaic tile and even the museum’s take on a ‘tersorium’ – the sponge on a stick that was used by the Romans in public latrines before toilet paper was invented!

    There’s also an attractive café – overlooking the remains of the Roman bath house – that will be open to the public from 10am every day, without the need to buy an admission ticket.

    Further information and tickets are available now at jewrywall.com

    Leicester’s new Jewry Wall Museum is on St Nicholas Walk, Leicester LE1 4LB. Opening hours will be 10am-4am from Sunday to Friday, and from 10am-5pm on Saturdays and bank holidays, with the last admission 90 minutes before closing time.

    The new exhibition was designed by Haley Sharpe Design, the collections on display are from Leicester Museums & Galleries, the audiovisual content was created by Heritage Interactive Ltd and illustrative content and styling is by the artist Scott Tetlow.

    Leicester Museums & Galleries are a National Portfolio Organisation funded by Arts Council England.

    ends

     

    Picture caption:  Two of the Roman artefacts on display at Leicester’s new Jewry Wall Museum, which opens on Saturday 26 July

    • Bull’s head (bronze)
    • Figure of a male in a toga holding an offering dish (bronze)

     Photo credit: Ian Davis, Leicester City Council

    Background note:

    The remains of the bath house in Leicester are one of the largest civic Roman ruins in the country. Dating from around 125-130 AD, the remains have been referred to as ‘the Jewry Wall’ for centuries. The name is thought to have derived from the word ‘jurat’ – the name for the members of the medieval town’s corporation, who held their meetings nearby.

    From the 2nd century onwards, the bath house would have been one of the most important public buildings in Roman Leicester, together with the forum, the basilica and the market hall.

     

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • PM Modi condoles loss of lives in Dhaka air crash, offers India’s support

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday condoled the loss of lives in the tragic air crash in Dhaka. He assured that India stands in solidarity with Bangladesh and is ready to extend all possible support and assistance.

    In a post on X, the Prime Minister said:

    “Deeply shocked and saddened at the loss of lives, many of them young students, in a tragic air crash in Dhaka. Our hearts go out to the bereaved families. We pray for the swift recovery of those injured. India stands in solidarity with Bangladesh and is ready to extend all possible support and assistance.”

    At least 19 people were killed and 164 injured when a Bangladesh Air Force training jet crashed into a college and school campus in Dhaka on Monday. The aircraft experienced a technical problem shortly after take-off, a military spokesperson confirmed.

    The F-7 BGI jet took off at 1:06 p.m. local time (0706 GMT) from the Bangladesh Air Force base in Kurmitola, Dhaka, as part of a routine training mission. It encountered a mechanical failure soon after take-off, said military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Sami Ud Dowla Chowdhury.

    “The pilot made a valiant attempt to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas. Despite his best efforts, the aircraft crashed into a two-storey building belonging to Milestone School and College,” he stated.

    The pilot was among those killed in the crash. The Bangladesh military has formed a committee to investigate the cause of the incident.

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Africa’s minerals are being bartered for security: why it’s a bad idea

    Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Hanri Mostert, SARChI Chair for Mineral Law in Africa, University of Cape Town

    A US-brokered peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda binds the two African nations to a worrying arrangement: one where a country signs away its mineral resources to a superpower in return for opaque assurances of security.

    The peace deal, signed in June 2025, aims to end three decades of conflict between the DRC and Rwanda.

    A key part of the agreement binds both nations to developing a regional economic integration framework. This arrangement would expand cooperation between the two states, the US government and American investors on “transparent, formalized end-to-end mineral chains”.

    Despite its immense mineral wealth, the DRC is among the five poorest countries in the world. It has been seeking US investment in its mineral sector.

    The US has in turn touted a potential multi-billion-dollar investment programme to anchor its mineral supply chains in the traumatised and poor territory.

    The peace that the June 2025 deal promises, therefore, hinges on chaining mineral supply to the US in exchange for Washington’s powerful – but vaguely formulated – military oversight.

    The peace agreement further establishes a joint oversight committee – with representatives from the African Union, Qatar and the US – to receive complaints and resolve disputes between the DRC and Rwanda.

    But beyond the joint oversight committee, the peace deal creates no specific security obligations for the US.

    The relationship between the DRC and Rwanda has been marred by war and tension since the bloody First (1996-1997) and Second (1998-2003) Congo wars. At the heart of much of this conflict is the DRC’s mineral wealth. It has fuelled competition, exploitation and armed violence.

    This latest peace deal introduces a resources-for-security arrangement. Such deals aren’t new in Africa. They first emerged in the early 2000s as resources-for-infrastructure transactions. Here, a foreign state would agree to build economic and social infrastructure (roads, ports, airports, hospitals) in an African state. In exchange, it would get a major stake in a government-owned mining company. Or gain preferential access to the host country’s minerals.

    We have studied mineral law and governance in Africa for more than 20 years. The question that emerges now is whether a US-brokered resources-for-security agreement will help the DRC benefit from its resources.

    Based on our research on mining, development and sustainability, we believe this is unlikely.

    This is because resources-for-security is the latest version of a resource-bartering approach that China and Russia pioneered in countries such as Angola, the Central African Republic and the DRC.

    Resource bartering in Africa has eroded the sovereignty and bargaining power of mineral-rich nations such as the DRC and Angola.

    Further, resources-for-security deals are less transparent and more complicated than prior resource bartering agreements.

    DRC’s security gaps

    The DRC is endowed with major deposits of critical minerals like cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese and tantalum. These are the building blocks for 21st century technologies: artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, wind energy and military security hardware. Rwanda has less mineral wealth than its neighbour, but is the world’s third-largest producer of tantalum, used in electronics, aerospace and medical devices.

    For almost 30 years, minerals have fuelled conflict and severe violence, especially in eastern DRC. Tungsten, tantalum and gold (referred to as 3TG) finance and drive conflict as government forces and an estimated 130 armed groups vie for control over lucrative mining sites. Several reports and studies have implicated the DRC’s neighbours – Rwanda and Uganda – in supporting the illegal extraction of 3TG in this region.

    The DRC government has failed to extend security over its vast (2.3 million square kilometres) and diverse territory (109 million people, representing 250 ethnic groups). Limited resources, logistical challenges and corruption have weakened its armed forces.

    This context makes the United States’ military backing enormously attractive. But our research shows there are traps.

    What states risk losing

    Resources-for-infrastructure and resources-for-security deals generally offer African nations short-term stability, financing or global goodwill. However, the costs are often long-term because of an erosion of sovereign control.

    Here’s how this happens:

    Examples of loss or near-loss of sovereignty from these sorts of deals abound in Africa.

    For instance, Angola’s US$2 billion oil-backed loan from China Eximbank in 2004. This was repayable in monthly deliveries of oil, with revenues directed to Chinese-controlled accounts. The loan’s design deprived Angolan authorities of decision-making power over that income stream even before the oil was extracted.

    These deals also fragment accountability. They often span multiple ministries (such as defence, mining and trade), avoiding robust oversight or accountability. Fragmentation makes resource sectors vulnerable to elite capture. Powerful insiders can manipulate agreements for private gain.

    In the DRC, this has created a violent kleptocracy, where resource wealth is systematically diverted away from popular benefit.

    Finally, there is the risk of re-entrenching extractive trauma. Communities displaced for mining and environmental degradation in many countries across Africa illustrate the long-standing harm to livelihoods, health and social cohesion.

    These are not new problems. But where extraction is tied to security or infrastructure, such damage risks becoming permanent features, not temporary costs.

    What needs to change

    Critical minerals are “critical” because they’re hard to mine or substitute. Additionally, their supply chains are strategically vulnerable and politically exposed. Whoever controls these minerals controls the future. Africa must make sure it doesn’t trade that future away.

    In a world being reshaped by global interests in critical minerals, African states must not underestimate the strategic value of their mineral resources. They hold considerable leverage.

    But leverage only works if it is wielded strategically. This means:

    • investing in institutional strength and legal capacity to negotiate better deals

    • demanding local value creation and addition

    • requiring transparency and parliamentary oversight for minerals-related agreements

    • refusing deals that bypass human rights, environmental or sovereignty standards.

    Africa has the resources. It must hold on to the power they wield.

    Hanri Mostert receives funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. She is a member of the Expropriation Expert Group and a steering committee member of the International Bar Association’s (IBA) Academic Advisory Group (AAG) in the Sector for Energy, Environmental, Resources and Infrastructure Law (SEERIL).

    Tracy-Lynn Field receives funding from the Claude Leon Foundation. She is a non-executive director of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa.

    – ref. Africa’s minerals are being bartered for security: why it’s a bad idea – https://theconversation.com/africas-minerals-are-being-bartered-for-security-why-its-a-bad-idea-260594

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Ghana has a rare treasure, a crater made when a meteor hit Earth: why it needs to be protected

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Marian Selorm Sapah, Senior lecturer, University of Ghana

    Impact craters are formed when an object from space such as a meteoroid, asteroid or comet strikes the Earth at a very high velocity. This leaves an excavated circular hole on the Earth’s surface.

    It is a basic geological process that has shaped the planets from their formation to today. It creates landscapes and surface materials across our solar system. The moon is covered with them, as are planets like Mercury, Mars and Venus. On Earth, impacts have influenced the evolution of life and even provided valuable mineral and energy resources. However, very few of the impact craters on Earth are visible because of various processes that obscure or erase them.

    Most of the recognised impact craters on Earth are buried under sediments or have been deeply eroded. That means they no longer preserve their initial forms.

    The Bosumtwi impact crater in Ghana is different, however. It is well preserved (not deeply eroded or buried under sediments). Its well-defined, near-circular basin, filled by a lake, is surrounded by a prominent crater rim that rises above the surface of the lake and an outer circular plateau. This makes it a target for several research questions.

    As an Earth scientist, I joined a research team from 2019 to better understand the morphology of the crater. We carried out a morphological analysis of the crater (a study of its form, structure and geological features).

    This study concluded that the activities of illegal miners are a threat to the sustainability of the crater. We also discovered that the features of the Bosumtwi impact crater can be considered as a terrestrial representation for a special type of impact crater known as rampart craters. These are common on the planets Mars and Venus and are found on icy bodies of the outer solar system (like Ganymede, Europa, Dione, Tethys and Charon).

    For future studies, the Bosumtwi impact crater can be used to help understand how rampart craters form on Mars and Venus. So the Bosumtwi impact crater should be protected and preserved.



    Read more:
    Curious Kids: Why are there so few impact craters on Earth?

    The crater

    The Bosumtwi impact crater is in Ghana’s mineral-rich Ashanti gold belt. It is the location of the only natural inland lake in Ghana. As one of the world’s best-preserved young meteorite impact craters it is designated as an International Union of Geological Sciences geoheritage site.

    It is one of only 190 confirmed impact crater sites worldwide, one of only 20 on the African continent. Its lake is one of six meteoritic lakes in the world, recognised for their outstanding scientific value.

    At almost 1.07 million years old, the crater offers unparalleled opportunities for studying impact processes, climate history and planetary evolution. It’s an irreplaceable natural laboratory for researchers and educators.

    Beyond its scientific importance, the crater holds cultural significance for the Ashanti people of Ghana. The lake at its centre serves as a sacred site and spiritual landmark. The crater’s breathtaking landscape also supports eco-tourism and local livelihoods, contributing to Ghana’s economic development while maintaining exceptional aesthetic value.

    The research

    As part of further research work on the 2019 study, in 2025 we have discovered through field work and satellite data analysis that illegal artisanal mining is prevalent in the area and threatening the crater. This refers to informal, labour-intensive extraction of minerals, primarily gold. It is conducted by individuals or small groups using basic tools and rudimentary machinery. The use of toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide, and practices such as river dredging, cause severe environmental harm.

    Illegal miners are encroaching on and around the crater rim, posing severe threats to its environment and sustainability. Their activities have become more prevalent over the course of less than 10 years, indicating a growing problem. If unchecked, it could lead to irreversible damage to the crater.

    These mining operations risk contaminating the lake with toxic heavy metals. The consequences of these are grave. They include destroying critical geological evidence, accelerating deforestation, and degrading the land. All this damages the crater’s scientific, cultural and economic value.

    The International Union of Geological Sciences geoheritage designation of the crater underscores the urgent need for protection measures. The loss of this rare geological wonder would represent not just a national tragedy for Ghana, but a blow to global scientific heritage.

    Immediate action is required. This includes enhanced satellite monitoring (tracking illegal mining, deforestation and environmental changes) using optical imagery (such as Sentinel-2, Landsat, PlanetScope). These tools can detect forest loss, identify mining pits and sediment runoff, and analyse changes over time.

    Stricter enforcement of mining bans, and community engagement programmes, will help preserve the Bosumtwi impact crater’s unique attributes for future generations of scientists, students, tourists and local communities who depend on its resources.

    Marian Selorm Sapah 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. Ghana has a rare treasure, a crater made when a meteor hit Earth: why it needs to be protected – https://theconversation.com/ghana-has-a-rare-treasure-a-crater-made-when-a-meteor-hit-earth-why-it-needs-to-be-protected-260600

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Call for urgent overhaul of disease control framework amid ongoing FMD challenges

    Source: Government of South Africa

    Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, has called for urgent and proper regionalisation of South Africa’s disease control framework, amid ongoing challenges posed by widespread Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreaks.

    “Every credible trading nation in the world understands the principle of regionalisation, that an outbreak in one part of a country should not result in blanket trade restrictions for the entire nation,” Steenhuisen said.

    The Minister made the call during the Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) Indaba, currently underway at the ARC-VIMP Campus in Roodeplaat, northeast of Pretoria.

    The Minister’s call comes as the country is currently experiencing significant and ongoing challenges with widespread outbreaks of Foot and Mouth disease, affecting several provinces, including KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and, most recently, the Free State.

    The resurgence of the disease has resulted in livestock movement restrictions and has also significantly impacted the country’s red meat trade on international markets.

    In response to this escalating crisis, the Department of Agriculture, in partnership with the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), the University of Pretoria, and Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP), is hosting a national Foot and Mouth Disease Indaba.

    The two-day event, starting Monday, 21 July 2025, aims to bring together top veterinary scientists, agricultural experts, and key industry stakeholders, to deliberate on and develop long-term solutions to combat FMD.

    In his opening address, Steenhuisen said South Africa is falling behind in establishing, certifying, and maintaining internationally recognised disease control zones.

    He said the failure to regionalise is not due to a lack of veterinary science, but institutional coordination, legal clarity, and capacity.

    “It is unacceptable that South Africa takes years to respond to import health questionnaires, delays that have cost us market access and weakened our negotiating position. This is not a regulatory issue; it is a capacity issue, and we are taking steps to fix it,” the Minister said.

    To address this, the Minister announced the appointment of two senior veterinarians, Dr Emily Mogajane and Dr Nomsa Mnisi, to lead the development of a comprehensive national regionalisation framework.

    Mnisi and Mogajane bring extensive experience in veterinary science, government, and international trade.

    Their work will focus on:
    •    Defining and operationalising regional disease zones for all major livestock sectors, in consultation with industry;
    •    Supporting provinces to assume their responsibilities as prescribed in the Animal Health Act, 2002 (Act No.7 of 2002), aligning disease control with our Constitutional division of powers; and
    •    Strengthening interdepartmental capacity to process export and import applications swiftly and credibly.

    Public-private partnerships to improve vaccine security

    Steenhuisen also called for stronger public-private partnerships to improve vaccine security, particularly for controlled animal diseases.

    He urged the livestock industry, especially red meat, dairy, and game sectors to co-finance vaccine procurement.

    “This does not mean you will manage the vaccines or the cold chains. But it does mean that, like in other agro-industries, we establish structured partnerships that ensure we are not caught unprepared again,” Steenhuisen said.

    The Minister pointed to a recent breakdown in vaccine availability during the FMD outbreak, and that the national vaccine bank was depleted and the production cycle was misaligned with outbreak realities.

    “Most notably, Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) currently lacks the infrastructure to produce FMD vaccines at the scale and speed required to respond to outbreaks.

    “As a result, we were compelled to import vaccines from Botswana, to mount even a partial response. This situation is unsustainable for a country with South Africa’s livestock footprint and export ambitions,” the Minister said.

    In response to this, Steenhuisen said government is establishing OBP, but warned that this will take time.

    In the interim, he said efforts are underway to secure vaccine imports and establish forward-looking supply contracts to ensure minimum stock levels of FMD and other priority vaccines, “before the next outbreak, not after.”

    He however warned that the State cannot do this alone and urged the industry to invest.

    “If you want predictability, you must also invest. The time has come to build a nationally managed but jointly funded vaccine bank, not only for FMD, but for lumpy skin disease, brucellosis, Rift Valley Fever, and all other controlled diseases affecting trade and production,” SAnews.gov.za

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: African media are threatened by governments and big tech – book tracks the latest trends

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Hayes Mabweazara, Senior Lecturer in Sociological & Cultural Studies (Media, Culture & Society), University of Glasgow

    Media capture happens when media outlets lose their independence and fall under the influence of political or financial interests. This often leads to news content that favours power instead of public accountability.

    Media Capture in Africa and Latin America: Power and Resistance is a new book edited by news media scholars Hayes Mawindi Mabweazara and Bethia Pearson. It explores how this dynamic plays out in the global south and how journalists and citizens are resisting it. We asked them four questions.

    What is media capture and how has it reshaped itself in recent times?

    Media capture describes how media outlets are influenced, manipulated or controlled by powerful actors – often governments or large corporations – to serve their interests. It’s an idea that helps us understand how powerful groups in society can have a negative influence on news media. While this idea isn’t new, what has changed is how subtly and pervasively it now operates.

    These groups include big technology organisations that own digital media platforms – such as X, owned by xAI (Elon Musk), and Instagram and Facebook, owned by Meta. But it’s also important to consider Google as a large search engine that shapes the news content and audience of many other platforms.

    This matters because the media are important for the functioning of democratic societies. Ideally, they provide information, represent different groups and issues in society, and hold powerful actors to account.

    For example, one of the key roles of the media is to provide accurate information for citizens to be able to decide how to vote in elections. Or to decide what they think about important issues. One big concern, then, is the effect of inaccurate or biased information on democracy.

    Or it might be that accurate information is harder to access because algorithms and platforms make it easier to access inaccurate or biased information. These can be intended and unintended consequences of the technology itself, but algorithms can amplify misinformation and fake news – especially if this content has the potential to go viral.

    So, what’s particular about media capture in the global south?

    This is a really interesting question that is still being investigated, but we have some ideas.

    First of all, it’s useful to know that media capture scholarship from the global north emerged around the time of the 2008 financial crisis. The influence of financial institutions on business journalists was one of the first areas of study. Since then, research in the US has focused on the capture of government-funded media organisations like Voice of America. And on how digital platforms like Google and Facebook can lead to capture.

    In the global south, scholars have drawn attention to the importance of large media corporations in understanding media capture. For example, in Latin America, there’s a high level of what’s called “media concentration”. This is when many media outlets are owned by a few companies. These companies often own companies in other sectors, which means that critical reporting on business interests presents a conflict of interest.



    Read more:
    Public trust in the media is at a new low: a radical rethink of journalism is needed

    But to focus on Africa, scholars have drawn attention to governments as a source of pressure on journalists and editors. This can be through direct pressure or what we might call “covert” pressure. Withholding advertising that helps to fund media outlets is an example, or offering financial incentives to stop investigating certain topics.

    Researchers are also concerned about the influence of big tech in Africa. Digital platforms like Google and Facebook can shape the news and information that citizens have access to.

    Can you share some of the studies from the book?

    Our book includes many interesting studies – from Colombia, Brazil and Mexico in Latin America to Ethiopia and Morocco in Africa. We’ll share a few African cases here to give an overview of the issues.

    The book’s contribution on Ghana warns us that although more overt “old” types of media capture may have subsided, transitional democracies can feature messier, more nuanced forms of media control. This can be evident in government pressures and through capture of regulators.

    In the Morocco chapter, we see the threat to media freedom presented by digital platforms owned by global tech giants. This is known as “infrastructural capture”. It means news organisations become dependent on tech giants to set the rules of the game for democratic communication.

    Another compelling case is Nigeria, where researchers explore ties between media ownership and political patronage. The authors argue that the Nigerian press is failing in its democratic duty because of its reliance on advertising and sponsorship income from the state. Added to this are ineffective regulatory mechanisms and close relationships with some big businesses that own newspapers and printing presses.

    How can media capture be resisted in the global south?

    The studies in the book show some ways forward and we do think it’s important to be optimistic! Resistance takes many forms. Sometimes it comes through legal and policy reform aimed at increasing transparency and media diversity. In other cases, it’s driven by social movements, investigative journalists and independent media who continue to operate under pressure.

    The chapter on Uganda shows that journalist groups working with media advocacy organisations can strategically act to resist government media capture and harmful regulations. For example, to push back against one legislative change, several groups formed a temporary network called Article 29 (named after the article in the Ugandan constitution protecting free speech) and the African Centre for Media Excellence produced a report criticising the proposed changes.



    Read more:
    Western media outlets are trying to fix their racist, stereotypical coverage of Africa. Is it time African media did the same?

    One of the chapters on Ghana also shows how networks such as journalists, media associations, human rights groups and legal organisations can mobilise to push back against government influence. Organisations including the Ghana Journalists Association and Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association have played key roles in, for example, taking the media regulator to court to overturn laws that would have led to censorship. These findings are echoed in Latin America, where research on Mexico and Colombia also found professional journalism to be a strong source of resistance.

    The conversation must also include rethinking how we define capture itself. If we frame it only as total control, we risk missing the everyday ways influence operates – and the spaces where it can be resisted. We would also say it’s really important that citizens are aware and alert to the issues when they think about how they access news media and what platforms they use. This is sometimes called “media literacy” and is about people being more knowledgeable about where trustworthy news comes from.

    You can listen to a podcast about the book over here.

    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. African media are threatened by governments and big tech – book tracks the latest trends – https://theconversation.com/african-media-are-threatened-by-governments-and-big-tech-book-tracks-the-latest-trends-258017

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Johannesburg’s creative hubs are booming: how artists are rejuvenating a failing inner city

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Mariapaola McGurk, Lecturer in Innovation & Entrepreneurship, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

    Johannesburg is weathering a storm of crises. Nowhere is its complex tangle of challenges more visible than in the inner city, where crime, overcrowding, and infrastructure collapse – such as roads literally exploding – paint a grim picture. Cultural institutions haven’t been spared either, with long-standing landmarks like the Johannesburg Art Gallery caught in cycles of neglect and crisis.



    Read more:
    South Africa doesn’t need new cities: it needs to focus on fixing what it’s got

    Yet, while many avoid the inner city or speak only of its decline, the creative and cultural practitioners of Johannesburg never left. In fact, artists, architects, fashion designers, animators, musicians and the like have been hard at work. They’re building, dreaming and shaping a new urban reality that could become the beacon of hope this city needs.

    As a researcher and visual artist, I recently completed a PhD study that focused on Johannesburg’s cultural and creative industries. My research revealed that a clear understanding of the existing structures and dynamics within this industry is essential for developing effective strategies to strengthen its role in local economic development.

    Here I explore one such opportunity: creative hubs. I argue that they represent a low-hanging fruit for the inner city’s growth and revitalisation.

    Urban renewal

    Numerous articles have explored strategies for the city’s economic development and urban renewal. One group of scholars recently outlined four critical focus areas: coordinated efforts across government levels; an active civil society; a shift in political culture; and restored leadership in a revitalised administration.

    These are vital interventions, but they still beg a deeper question. What is the new “gold” of the “City of Gold”, the mining town founded in 1886 and on track to become a megacity by 2030?

    What is it that truly sets Johannesburg apart, nationally and globally? What strengths already exist that, if nurtured, could help address the city’s challenges? The answer may not lie in building something entirely new, but in recognising and investing in what already thrives. The city’s people, its culture, and its extraordinary creativity.

    In 2004, Unesco launched the Creative Cities Network. Today it comprises 246 cities in 80 member states. South Africa has three cities in the network: Cape Town (design), Durban (literature) and Overstrand (gastronomy). Johannesburg has never applied to belong.

    Cities are acknowledging the economic and social value of the cultural and creative industries, particularly in addressing challenges such as youth unemployment, micro-enterprise growth, equity and community development.

    Yet cities globally are grappling with how to retain creative professionals. This is the case in cities like Toronto, Sydney, Los Angeles, Cologne or Barcelona. Rising property prices, the redevelopment of industrial areas into commercial or luxury spaces, and short-term rental agreements are displacing these professionals from the urban cores they help energise. Cities are coming up with incentives and programmes to correct this.

    A recent World Cities Cultural Forum report offers a solution in the form of Creative Land Trusts. These permanently hold land and assets at affordable rates for creatives. They take property out of speculative real estate markets. They’re designed to support not galleries or theatres, but the studios and workspaces where creative production actually happens.

    Similar initiatives are happening in London, Helsinki and San Francisco.

    Mapping Johannesburg’s creative hubs

    Unlike cities that are trying to reverse the exodus of creatives, Johannesburg’s inner city has seen a recent surge in creative hub development.

    A creative hub is a physical or digital space (in this case physical) designed to bring together cultural and creative professionals for studio space, collaboration, networking and the exchange of ideas.

    Over the last year, 21 creative hubs have been mapped in the city, the majority newly established. Notable examples include Transwerke Studios, Asisebenze Art Atelier, Victoria Yards and Oovookoo. Remarkably, 19 of the 21 hubs identified in my open-source mapping process are in the inner city. Only two are government run – Transwerke and Downtown Music Hub.

    Across Johannesburg, creative hubs buzz with independent activity, yet share a common commitment to cultivating talent, business support and community impact. They are evidence of innovative partnerships between creatives and property developers.

    Inside these spaces, artists and creatives get opportunities through gallerist and investor visits (access to markets). They build practical and entrepreneurial skills through tailored workshops. And they collaborate on projects that place social upliftment at their heart.

    Some hubs focus on offering studio spaces, while others extend their reach beyond their walls, blending artistic expression with community development and public engagement.

    By actively building community and opportunity, creative hubs are becoming

    lighthouses for the new urban economy.

    They are small business incubators, urban beautification engines and potential cultural tourism hotspots. An event like Contra Fair opens the doors of art studio hubs once a year. Entrepreneur and social activist Tebogo Moalusi has now taken the lead in the establishment of Creative20. This will become a platform for revitalising Johannesburg’s creative cities campaign.

    Neglected by the city

    And yet the cultural and creative industries remain almost entirely absent from the city’s strategic planning. The Johannesburg 2040: Growth and Development Strategy fails even to mention the sector.

    This is despite Gauteng, the province that houses Johannesburg, being the epicentre of South Africa’s creative economy. It contributes 46.3% of the industry’s gross domestic product and generates the highest employment impact. Johannesburg hosts the majority of creative businesses in the province.



    Read more:
    The real Johannesburg: 6 powerful photos from a gritty new book on the city

    The Gauteng 2030 Strategy highlights three high-growth sectors: agro-processing, cultural and creative industries, and high-tech/knowledge sectors, including digital and gaming. Two of these directly involve the creative economy. Yet there’s been little effort to integrate them into Johannesburg’s urban development agenda.

    If Johannesburg is serious about inclusive economic development and sustainable urban growth, it must recognise and invest in the cultural and creative industries which are already thriving within its borders.

    Mariapaola McGurk consults to Creative20 Organisation

    – ref. Johannesburg’s creative hubs are booming: how artists are rejuvenating a failing inner city – https://theconversation.com/johannesburgs-creative-hubs-are-booming-how-artists-are-rejuvenating-a-failing-inner-city-260224

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: African media are threatened by governments and big tech – book tracks the latest trends

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Hayes Mabweazara, Senior Lecturer in Sociological & Cultural Studies (Media, Culture & Society), University of Glasgow

    Media capture happens when media outlets lose their independence and fall under the influence of political or financial interests. This often leads to news content that favours power instead of public accountability.

    Media Capture in Africa and Latin America: Power and Resistance is a new book edited by news media scholars Hayes Mawindi Mabweazara and Bethia Pearson. It explores how this dynamic plays out in the global south and how journalists and citizens are resisting it. We asked them four questions.

    What is media capture and how has it reshaped itself in recent times?

    Media capture describes how media outlets are influenced, manipulated or controlled by powerful actors – often governments or large corporations – to serve their interests. It’s an idea that helps us understand how powerful groups in society can have a negative influence on news media. While this idea isn’t new, what has changed is how subtly and pervasively it now operates.

    These groups include big technology organisations that own digital media platforms – such as X, owned by xAI (Elon Musk), and Instagram and Facebook, owned by Meta. But it’s also important to consider Google as a large search engine that shapes the news content and audience of many other platforms.

    Palgrave Macmillan

    This matters because the media are important for the functioning of democratic societies. Ideally, they provide information, represent different groups and issues in society, and hold powerful actors to account.

    For example, one of the key roles of the media is to provide accurate information for citizens to be able to decide how to vote in elections. Or to decide what they think about important issues. One big concern, then, is the effect of inaccurate or biased information on democracy.

    Or it might be that accurate information is harder to access because algorithms and platforms make it easier to access inaccurate or biased information. These can be intended and unintended consequences of the technology itself, but algorithms can amplify misinformation and fake news – especially if this content has the potential to go viral.

    So, what’s particular about media capture in the global south?

    This is a really interesting question that is still being investigated, but we have some ideas.

    First of all, it’s useful to know that media capture scholarship from the global north emerged around the time of the 2008 financial crisis. The influence of financial institutions on business journalists was one of the first areas of study. Since then, research in the US has focused on the capture of government-funded media organisations like Voice of America. And on how digital platforms like Google and Facebook can lead to capture.

    In the global south, scholars have drawn attention to the importance of large media corporations in understanding media capture. For example, in Latin America, there’s a high level of what’s called “media concentration”. This is when many media outlets are owned by a few companies. These companies often own companies in other sectors, which means that critical reporting on business interests presents a conflict of interest.

    Read more: Public trust in the media is at a new low: a radical rethink of journalism is needed

    But to focus on Africa, scholars have drawn attention to governments as a source of pressure on journalists and editors. This can be through direct pressure or what we might call “covert” pressure. Withholding advertising that helps to fund media outlets is an example, or offering financial incentives to stop investigating certain topics.

    Researchers are also concerned about the influence of big tech in Africa. Digital platforms like Google and Facebook can shape the news and information that citizens have access to.

    Can you share some of the studies from the book?

    Our book includes many interesting studies – from Colombia, Brazil and Mexico in Latin America to Ethiopia and Morocco in Africa. We’ll share a few African cases here to give an overview of the issues.

    The book’s contribution on Ghana warns us that although more overt “old” types of media capture may have subsided, transitional democracies can feature messier, more nuanced forms of media control. This can be evident in government pressures and through capture of regulators.

    In the Morocco chapter, we see the threat to media freedom presented by digital platforms owned by global tech giants. This is known as “infrastructural capture”. It means news organisations become dependent on tech giants to set the rules of the game for democratic communication.

    Another compelling case is Nigeria, where researchers explore ties between media ownership and political patronage. The authors argue that the Nigerian press is failing in its democratic duty because of its reliance on advertising and sponsorship income from the state. Added to this are ineffective regulatory mechanisms and close relationships with some big businesses that own newspapers and printing presses.

    How can media capture be resisted in the global south?

    The studies in the book show some ways forward and we do think it’s important to be optimistic! Resistance takes many forms. Sometimes it comes through legal and policy reform aimed at increasing transparency and media diversity. In other cases, it’s driven by social movements, investigative journalists and independent media who continue to operate under pressure.

    The chapter on Uganda shows that journalist groups working with media advocacy organisations can strategically act to resist government media capture and harmful regulations. For example, to push back against one legislative change, several groups formed a temporary network called Article 29 (named after the article in the Ugandan constitution protecting free speech) and the African Centre for Media Excellence produced a report criticising the proposed changes.

    Read more: Western media outlets are trying to fix their racist, stereotypical coverage of Africa. Is it time African media did the same?

    One of the chapters on Ghana also shows how networks such as journalists, media associations, human rights groups and legal organisations can mobilise to push back against government influence. Organisations including the Ghana Journalists Association and Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association have played key roles in, for example, taking the media regulator to court to overturn laws that would have led to censorship. These findings are echoed in Latin America, where research on Mexico and Colombia also found professional journalism to be a strong source of resistance.

    The conversation must also include rethinking how we define capture itself. If we frame it only as total control, we risk missing the everyday ways influence operates – and the spaces where it can be resisted. We would also say it’s really important that citizens are aware and alert to the issues when they think about how they access news media and what platforms they use. This is sometimes called “media literacy” and is about people being more knowledgeable about where trustworthy news comes from.

    You can listen to a podcast about the book over here.

    – African media are threatened by governments and big tech – book tracks the latest trends
    – https://theconversation.com/african-media-are-threatened-by-governments-and-big-tech-book-tracks-the-latest-trends-258017

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Johannesburg’s creative hubs are booming: how artists are rejuvenating a failing inner city

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Mariapaola McGurk, Lecturer in Innovation & Entrepreneurship, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

    Johannesburg is weathering a storm of crises. Nowhere is its complex tangle of challenges more visible than in the inner city, where crime, overcrowding, and infrastructure collapse – such as roads literally exploding – paint a grim picture. Cultural institutions haven’t been spared either, with long-standing landmarks like the Johannesburg Art Gallery caught in cycles of neglect and crisis.

    Read more: South Africa doesn’t need new cities: it needs to focus on fixing what it’s got

    Yet, while many avoid the inner city or speak only of its decline, the creative and cultural practitioners of Johannesburg never left. In fact, artists, architects, fashion designers, animators, musicians and the like have been hard at work. They’re building, dreaming and shaping a new urban reality that could become the beacon of hope this city needs.

    As a researcher and visual artist, I recently completed a PhD study that focused on Johannesburg’s cultural and creative industries. My research revealed that a clear understanding of the existing structures and dynamics within this industry is essential for developing effective strategies to strengthen its role in local economic development.

    Here I explore one such opportunity: creative hubs. I argue that they represent a low-hanging fruit for the inner city’s growth and revitalisation.

    Urban renewal

    Numerous articles have explored strategies for the city’s economic development and urban renewal. One group of scholars recently outlined four critical focus areas: coordinated efforts across government levels; an active civil society; a shift in political culture; and restored leadership in a revitalised administration.

    These are vital interventions, but they still beg a deeper question. What is the new “gold” of the “City of Gold”, the mining town founded in 1886 and on track to become a megacity by 2030?

    Work by artist Candice Kramer at Bag Factory Artists Studios. Mark Straw

    What is it that truly sets Johannesburg apart, nationally and globally? What strengths already exist that, if nurtured, could help address the city’s challenges? The answer may not lie in building something entirely new, but in recognising and investing in what already thrives. The city’s people, its culture, and its extraordinary creativity.

    In 2004, Unesco launched the Creative Cities Network. Today it comprises 246 cities in 80 member states. South Africa has three cities in the network: Cape Town (design), Durban (literature) and Overstrand (gastronomy). Johannesburg has never applied to belong.

    Cities are acknowledging the economic and social value of the cultural and creative industries, particularly in addressing challenges such as youth unemployment, micro-enterprise growth, equity and community development.

    Artist Mankebe Seakoe at Contra Fair. Mark Straw

    Yet cities globally are grappling with how to retain creative professionals. This is the case in cities like Toronto, Sydney, Los Angeles, Cologne or Barcelona. Rising property prices, the redevelopment of industrial areas into commercial or luxury spaces, and short-term rental agreements are displacing these professionals from the urban cores they help energise. Cities are coming up with incentives and programmes to correct this.

    A recent World Cities Cultural Forum report offers a solution in the form of Creative Land Trusts. These permanently hold land and assets at affordable rates for creatives. They take property out of speculative real estate markets. They’re designed to support not galleries or theatres, but the studios and workspaces where creative production actually happens.

    Similar initiatives are happening in London, Helsinki and San Francisco.

    Mapping Johannesburg’s creative hubs

    Unlike cities that are trying to reverse the exodus of creatives, Johannesburg’s inner city has seen a recent surge in creative hub development.

    A creative hub is a physical or digital space (in this case physical) designed to bring together cultural and creative professionals for studio space, collaboration, networking and the exchange of ideas.

    Some creative hubs offer gallery spaces. Mark Straw

    Over the last year, 21 creative hubs have been mapped in the city, the majority newly established. Notable examples include Transwerke Studios, Asisebenze Art Atelier, Victoria Yards and Oovookoo. Remarkably, 19 of the 21 hubs identified in my open-source mapping process are in the inner city. Only two are government run – Transwerke and Downtown Music Hub.

    Across Johannesburg, creative hubs buzz with independent activity, yet share a common commitment to cultivating talent, business support and community impact. They are evidence of innovative partnerships between creatives and property developers.

    Mapping Johannesburg’s creative hubs. Google Maps/Mariapaola McGurk

    Inside these spaces, artists and creatives get opportunities through gallerist and investor visits (access to markets). They build practical and entrepreneurial skills through tailored workshops. And they collaborate on projects that place social upliftment at their heart.

    Some hubs focus on offering studio spaces, while others extend their reach beyond their walls, blending artistic expression with community development and public engagement.

    By actively building community and opportunity, creative hubs are becoming

    lighthouses for the new urban economy.

    They are small business incubators, urban beautification engines and potential cultural tourism hotspots. An event like Contra Fair opens the doors of art studio hubs once a year. Entrepreneur and social activist Tebogo Moalusi has now taken the lead in the establishment of Creative20. This will become a platform for revitalising Johannesburg’s creative cities campaign.

    Neglected by the city

    And yet the cultural and creative industries remain almost entirely absent from the city’s strategic planning. The Johannesburg 2040: Growth and Development Strategy fails even to mention the sector.

    Bag Factory Artists Studios hosting a public event. Mark Straw

    This is despite Gauteng, the province that houses Johannesburg, being the epicentre of South Africa’s creative economy. It contributes 46.3% of the industry’s gross domestic product and generates the highest employment impact. Johannesburg hosts the majority of creative businesses in the province.

    Read more: The real Johannesburg: 6 powerful photos from a gritty new book on the city

    The Gauteng 2030 Strategy highlights three high-growth sectors: agro-processing, cultural and creative industries, and high-tech/knowledge sectors, including digital and gaming. Two of these directly involve the creative economy. Yet there’s been little effort to integrate them into Johannesburg’s urban development agenda.

    If Johannesburg is serious about inclusive economic development and sustainable urban growth, it must recognise and invest in the cultural and creative industries which are already thriving within its borders.

    – Johannesburg’s creative hubs are booming: how artists are rejuvenating a failing inner city
    – https://theconversation.com/johannesburgs-creative-hubs-are-booming-how-artists-are-rejuvenating-a-failing-inner-city-260224

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Ghana has a rare treasure, a crater made when a meteor hit Earth: why it needs to be protected

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Marian Selorm Sapah, Senior lecturer, University of Ghana

    Impact craters are formed when an object from space such as a meteoroid, asteroid or comet strikes the Earth at a very high velocity. This leaves an excavated circular hole on the Earth’s surface.

    It is a basic geological process that has shaped the planets from their formation to today. It creates landscapes and surface materials across our solar system. The moon is covered with them, as are planets like Mercury, Mars and Venus. On Earth, impacts have influenced the evolution of life and even provided valuable mineral and energy resources. However, very few of the impact craters on Earth are visible because of various processes that obscure or erase them.

    Most of the recognised impact craters on Earth are buried under sediments or have been deeply eroded. That means they no longer preserve their initial forms.

    The Bosumtwi impact crater in Ghana is different, however. It is well preserved (not deeply eroded or buried under sediments). Its well-defined, near-circular basin, filled by a lake, is surrounded by a prominent crater rim that rises above the surface of the lake and an outer circular plateau. This makes it a target for several research questions.

    As an Earth scientist, I joined a research team from 2019 to better understand the morphology of the crater. We carried out a morphological analysis of the crater (a study of its form, structure and geological features).

    This study concluded that the activities of illegal miners are a threat to the sustainability of the crater. We also discovered that the features of the Bosumtwi impact crater can be considered as a terrestrial representation for a special type of impact crater known as rampart craters. These are common on the planets Mars and Venus and are found on icy bodies of the outer solar system (like Ganymede, Europa, Dione, Tethys and Charon).

    For future studies, the Bosumtwi impact crater can be used to help understand how rampart craters form on Mars and Venus. So the Bosumtwi impact crater should be protected and preserved.

    Read more: Curious Kids: Why are there so few impact craters on Earth?

    The crater

    The Bosumtwi impact crater is in Ghana’s mineral-rich Ashanti gold belt. It is the location of the only natural inland lake in Ghana. As one of the world’s best-preserved young meteorite impact craters it is designated as an International Union of Geological Sciences geoheritage site.

    It is one of only 190 confirmed impact crater sites worldwide, one of only 20 on the African continent. Its lake is one of six meteoritic lakes in the world, recognised for their outstanding scientific value.

    Satellite view of the Bosumtwi Impact Crater showing areas of Artisanal and Small scale Gold Mining activities. David Baratoux

    At almost 1.07 million years old, the crater offers unparalleled opportunities for studying impact processes, climate history and planetary evolution. It’s an irreplaceable natural laboratory for researchers and educators.

    Beyond its scientific importance, the crater holds cultural significance for the Ashanti people of Ghana. The lake at its centre serves as a sacred site and spiritual landmark. The crater’s breathtaking landscape also supports eco-tourism and local livelihoods, contributing to Ghana’s economic development while maintaining exceptional aesthetic value.

    The research

    As part of further research work on the 2019 study, in 2025 we have discovered through field work and satellite data analysis that illegal artisanal mining is prevalent in the area and threatening the crater. This refers to informal, labour-intensive extraction of minerals, primarily gold. It is conducted by individuals or small groups using basic tools and rudimentary machinery. The use of toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide, and practices such as river dredging, cause severe environmental harm.

    Illegal miners are encroaching on and around the crater rim, posing severe threats to its environment and sustainability. Their activities have become more prevalent over the course of less than 10 years, indicating a growing problem. If unchecked, it could lead to irreversible damage to the crater.

    These mining operations risk contaminating the lake with toxic heavy metals. The consequences of these are grave. They include destroying critical geological evidence, accelerating deforestation, and degrading the land. All this damages the crater’s scientific, cultural and economic value.

    The International Union of Geological Sciences geoheritage designation of the crater underscores the urgent need for protection measures. The loss of this rare geological wonder would represent not just a national tragedy for Ghana, but a blow to global scientific heritage.

    Immediate action is required. This includes enhanced satellite monitoring (tracking illegal mining, deforestation and environmental changes) using optical imagery (such as Sentinel-2, Landsat, PlanetScope). These tools can detect forest loss, identify mining pits and sediment runoff, and analyse changes over time.

    Stricter enforcement of mining bans, and community engagement programmes, will help preserve the Bosumtwi impact crater’s unique attributes for future generations of scientists, students, tourists and local communities who depend on its resources.

    – Ghana has a rare treasure, a crater made when a meteor hit Earth: why it needs to be protected
    – https://theconversation.com/ghana-has-a-rare-treasure-a-crater-made-when-a-meteor-hit-earth-why-it-needs-to-be-protected-260600

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Africa’s minerals are being bartered for security: why it’s a bad idea

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Hanri Mostert, SARChI Chair for Mineral Law in Africa, University of Cape Town

    A US-brokered peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda binds the two African nations to a worrying arrangement: one where a country signs away its mineral resources to a superpower in return for opaque assurances of security.

    The peace deal, signed in June 2025, aims to end three decades of conflict between the DRC and Rwanda.

    A key part of the agreement binds both nations to developing a regional economic integration framework. This arrangement would expand cooperation between the two states, the US government and American investors on “transparent, formalized end-to-end mineral chains”.

    Despite its immense mineral wealth, the DRC is among the five poorest countries in the world. It has been seeking US investment in its mineral sector.

    The US has in turn touted a potential multi-billion-dollar investment programme to anchor its mineral supply chains in the traumatised and poor territory.

    The peace that the June 2025 deal promises, therefore, hinges on chaining mineral supply to the US in exchange for Washington’s powerful – but vaguely formulated – military oversight.

    The peace agreement further establishes a joint oversight committee – with representatives from the African Union, Qatar and the US – to receive complaints and resolve disputes between the DRC and Rwanda.

    But beyond the joint oversight committee, the peace deal creates no specific security obligations for the US.

    The relationship between the DRC and Rwanda has been marred by war and tension since the bloody First (1996-1997) and Second (1998-2003) Congo wars. At the heart of much of this conflict is the DRC’s mineral wealth. It has fuelled competition, exploitation and armed violence.

    This latest peace deal introduces a resources-for-security arrangement. Such deals aren’t new in Africa. They first emerged in the early 2000s as resources-for-infrastructure transactions. Here, a foreign state would agree to build economic and social infrastructure (roads, ports, airports, hospitals) in an African state. In exchange, it would get a major stake in a government-owned mining company. Or gain preferential access to the host country’s minerals.

    We have studied mineral law and governance in Africa for more than 20 years. The question that emerges now is whether a US-brokered resources-for-security agreement will help the DRC benefit from its resources.

    Based on our research on mining, development and sustainability, we believe this is unlikely.

    This is because resources-for-security is the latest version of a resource-bartering approach that China and Russia pioneered in countries such as Angola, the Central African Republic and the DRC.

    Resource bartering in Africa has eroded the sovereignty and bargaining power of mineral-rich nations such as the DRC and Angola.

    Further, resources-for-security deals are less transparent and more complicated than prior resource bartering agreements.

    DRC’s security gaps

    The DRC is endowed with major deposits of critical minerals like cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese and tantalum. These are the building blocks for 21st century technologies: artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, wind energy and military security hardware. Rwanda has less mineral wealth than its neighbour, but is the world’s third-largest producer of tantalum, used in electronics, aerospace and medical devices.

    For almost 30 years, minerals have fuelled conflict and severe violence, especially in eastern DRC. Tungsten, tantalum and gold (referred to as 3TG) finance and drive conflict as government forces and an estimated 130 armed groups vie for control over lucrative mining sites. Several reports and studies have implicated the DRC’s neighbours – Rwanda and Uganda – in supporting the illegal extraction of 3TG in this region.

    The DRC government has failed to extend security over its vast (2.3 million square kilometres) and diverse territory (109 million people, representing 250 ethnic groups). Limited resources, logistical challenges and corruption have weakened its armed forces.

    This context makes the United States’ military backing enormously attractive. But our research shows there are traps.

    What states risk losing

    Resources-for-infrastructure and resources-for-security deals generally offer African nations short-term stability, financing or global goodwill. However, the costs are often long-term because of an erosion of sovereign control.

    Here’s how this happens:

    Examples of loss or near-loss of sovereignty from these sorts of deals abound in Africa.

    For instance, Angola’s US$2 billion oil-backed loan from China Eximbank in 2004. This was repayable in monthly deliveries of oil, with revenues directed to Chinese-controlled accounts. The loan’s design deprived Angolan authorities of decision-making power over that income stream even before the oil was extracted.

    These deals also fragment accountability. They often span multiple ministries (such as defence, mining and trade), avoiding robust oversight or accountability. Fragmentation makes resource sectors vulnerable to elite capture. Powerful insiders can manipulate agreements for private gain.

    In the DRC, this has created a violent kleptocracy, where resource wealth is systematically diverted away from popular benefit.

    Finally, there is the risk of re-entrenching extractive trauma. Communities displaced for mining and environmental degradation in many countries across Africa illustrate the long-standing harm to livelihoods, health and social cohesion.

    These are not new problems. But where extraction is tied to security or infrastructure, such damage risks becoming permanent features, not temporary costs.

    What needs to change

    Critical minerals are “critical” because they’re hard to mine or substitute. Additionally, their supply chains are strategically vulnerable and politically exposed. Whoever controls these minerals controls the future. Africa must make sure it doesn’t trade that future away.

    In a world being reshaped by global interests in critical minerals, African states must not underestimate the strategic value of their mineral resources. They hold considerable leverage.

    But leverage only works if it is wielded strategically. This means:

    • investing in institutional strength and legal capacity to negotiate better deals

    • demanding local value creation and addition

    • requiring transparency and parliamentary oversight for minerals-related agreements

    • refusing deals that bypass human rights, environmental or sovereignty standards.

    Africa has the resources. It must hold on to the power they wield.

    – Africa’s minerals are being bartered for security: why it’s a bad idea
    – https://theconversation.com/africas-minerals-are-being-bartered-for-security-why-its-a-bad-idea-260594

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: SPbPU representatives took part in the cross-university examination of the Priority-2030 program

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –

    An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    The Sociocenter, with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, has completed the selection of experts to conduct a cross-university examination of the implementation of the Priority-2030 program. Among them are the head of the SPbPU Office of Technological Leadership Oleg Rozhdestvensky, Vice-Rector for Continuing and Pre-University Education Dmitry Tikhonov and Director of the Department of Economics and Finance Elena Vinogradova.

    In total, 156 representatives of universities participating in the Priority 2030 program and scientific organizations will be involved in the cross-university examination of the Priority 2030 program.

    The selection of experts was a multi-stage process. At the correspondence stage, the selection committee assessed the professional experience and motivation of candidates based on their resumes and essays. As a result, 225 people received an invitation to an educational intensive course at Bauman Moscow State Technical University. There, the candidates’ leadership qualities, teamwork skills, ability to analyze information and formulate constructive proposals were assessed. The final stage was an online meeting with the participation of expert candidates, representatives of the Sociocenter and the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, at which five strategically important areas of modern higher education were formulated:

    target model and strategic positioning; university development management; strategic technology projects and change projects; knowledge production, transfer and application system for technological leadership; leadership and development team.

    After the final list of experts was approved, the Sociocenter team began the final preparation of a large-scale expert work that will cover 113 universities participating in the Priority 2030 program. From September, experts will begin visiting universities across the country to assess their condition and develop recommendations for further development.

    Cross-university assessment is an innovative format for assessing the activities of universities, in which the assessment is carried out by representatives of the professional community of university specialists themselves. This mechanism allows combining the principles of objective assessment with the possibility of mutual learning and dissemination of best practices.

    “This is an excellent expert tool that has not only proven its effectiveness over the past couple of years, but has also ensured the formation of a community of qualified specialists in the field of university development,” commented Oleg Rozhdestvensky, Head of the SPbPU Office of Technological Leadership. “And the main difference this year is that such expert work is becoming systemic — more and more people and universities are getting involved. This is extremely important given the focus of most universities on the federal agenda of achieving technological leadership and the upcoming changes in the higher education system in the country.”

    The Russian Ministry of Education and Science has been implementing the Priority 2030 program since 2021. Since 2025, the program has become part of the federal project Universities for a Generation of Leaders of the national project Youth and Children.

    Based on materials from the Federal State Autonomous Institution “Sociocenter”

    Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    .

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Rosneft held a corporate festival “Energy of Talents” in Moscow

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Rosneft – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    The final of Rosneft’s corporate creative festival “Energy of Talents” was held in Moscow at the Mosproducer conference center, in which employees of 44 of the Company’s enterprises from all over the country took part.

    Rosneft has been holding annual creative festivals for its employees since 2011. In 2025, more than 7,000 people from 59 Group Companies applied to participate in the Energy of Talents selection round, which was held online. The jury members viewed hundreds of creative numbers in various nominations.

    Participants who qualified for the final competed over two days in dancing, singing, playing musical instruments, original genre, fine art and photography. Winners in six nominations were selected by a professional jury, with voting in two nominations taking place online.

    Between performances, participants and spectators had the opportunity to take master classes under the guidance of professional teachers in choreography, vocals, acting, public speaking and instrumental genres.

    The company supports significant projects in Russian cultural life that are aimed at reviving and preserving spiritual and national values. With the support of the Company, the State Hermitage Museum has been holding various exhibitions and expositions since 2018. Thus, in 2024, the museum opened an updated permanent exhibition “Culture and Art of China”.

    With the Company’s support, the Mariinsky Theatre artists under the direction of Valery Gergiev performed in Qatar with the production of “A Thousand and One Nights”; a concert dedicated to the 95th anniversary of Alexandra Pakhmutova was held in Volgograd; a number of exhibitions were organized at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow. In 2023-2024, Tatyana Navka’s ice shows “Evenings on a Farm” and “The Nutcracker” were held in Moscow, and the show “The Love Story of Scheherazade” toured in the Indian city of Ahmedabad.

    Department of Information and AdvertisingPJSC NK RosneftJuly 21, 2025

    Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    .

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Idi Amin made himself out to be the ‘liberator’ of an oppressed majority – a demagogic trick that endures today

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Derek R. Peterson, Ali Mazrui Professor of History & African Studies, University of Michigan

    Idi Amin addresses the United Nations General Assembly in 1975. Bettmann/Getty Images

    Fifty years ago, Ugandan President Idi Amin wrote to the governments of the British Commonwealth with a bold suggestion: Allow him to take over as head of the organization, replacing Queen Elizabeth II.

    After all, Amin reasoned, a collapsing economy had made the U.K. unable to maintain its leadership. Moreover the “British empire does not now exist following the complete decolonization of Britain’s former overseas territories.”

    It wasn’t Amin’s only attempt to reshape the international order. Around the same time, he called for the United Nations headquarters to be moved to Uganda’s capital, Kampala, touting its location at “the heart of the world between the continents of America, Asia, Australia and the North and South Poles.”

    Amin’s diplomacy aimed to place Kampala at the center of a postcolonial world. In my new book, “A Popular History of Idi Amin’s Uganda,” I show that Amin’s government made Uganda – a remote, landlocked nation – look like a frontline state in the global war against racism, apartheid and imperialism.

    Doing so was, for the Amin regime, a way of claiming a morally essential role: liberator of Africa’s hitherto oppressed people. It helped inflate his image both at home and abroad, allowing him to maintain his rule for eight calamitous years, from 1971 to 1979.

    The phony liberator?

    Amin was the creator of a myth that was both manifestly untrue and extraordinarily compelling: that his violent, dysfunctional regime was actually engaged in freeing people from foreign oppressors.

    The question of Scottish independence was one of his enduring concerns. The “people of Scotland are tired of being exploited by the English,” wrote Amin in a 1974 telegram to United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. “Scotland was once an independent country, happy, well governed and administered with peace and prosperity,” but under the British government, “England has thrived on the energies and brains of the Scottish people.”

    Even his cruelest policies were framed as if they were liberatory. In August 1972, Amin announced the summary expulsion of Uganda’s Asian community. Some 50,000 people, many of whom had lived in Uganda for generations, were given a bare three months to tie up their affairs and leave the country. Amin named this the “Economic War.”

    In the speech that announced the expulsions, Amin argued that “the Ugandan Africans have been enslaved economically since the time of the colonialists.” The Economic War was meant to “emancipate the Uganda Africans of this republic.”

    “This is the day of salvation for the Ugandan Africans,” he said. By the end of 1972, some 5,655 farms, ranches and estates had been vacated by the departed Asian community, and Black African proprietors were queuing up to take over Asian-run businesses.

    Ugandan Asian refugees arrive at an airport in the U.K. after being expelled from Uganda.
    P. Felix/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    A year later, when Amin attended the Organization of African Unity summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, his “achievements” were reported in a booklet published by the Uganda government. During his speech, Amin was “interrupted by thunderous applauses of acclamation and cheers, almost word for word, by Heads of State and Government and by everybody else who had a chance to hear it,” according to the the report.

    It was, wrote the government propagandist, “very clear that Uganda had emerged as the forefront of a True African State. It was clear that African nationalism had been born again. It was clear that the speech had brought new life to the freedom struggle in Africa.”

    Life at the front

    Amin’s policies were disastrous for all Ugandans, African and Asian alike. Yet his war of economic liberation was, for a time, a source of inspiration for activists around the world. Among the many people gripped by enthusiasm for Amin’s regime was Roy Innis, the Black American leader of the civil rights organization Congress of Racial Equality.

    In March 1973, Innis visited Uganda at Amin’s invitation. Innis and his colleagues had been pressing African governments to grant dual citizenship to Black Americans, just as Jewish Americans could earn citizenship from the state of Israel.

    Over the course of their 18 days in Uganda, the visiting Americans were shuttled around the country in Amin’s helicopter. Everywhere, Innis spoke with enthusiasm about Amin’s accomplishments. In a poem published in the pro-government Voice of Uganda around the time of his visit, Innis wrote:

    “Before, the life of your people was a complete bore,

    And they were poor, oppressed, exploited and economically sore.

    And you then came and opened new, dynamic economic pages.

    And showered progress on your people in realistic stages.

    In such expert moves that baffled even the great sages,

    your electric personality pronounced the imperialists’ doom.

    Your pragmatism has given Ugandans their economic boom.”

    In May 1973, Innis was back in Uganda, promising to recruit a contingent of 500 African American professors and technicians to serve in Uganda. Amin offered them free passage to Uganda, free housing and free hospital care for themselves and their families. The American weekly magazine Jet predicted that Uganda was soon to become an “African Israel,” a model nation upheld by the energies and knowledge of Black Americans.

    Roy Innis, national director of the Congress of Racial Equality, in 1972.
    Bettmann/Getty Images

    As some have observed, Innis was surely naive. But his enthusiasm was shared by a great many people, not least a great many Ugandans. Inspired by Amin’s promises, their energy and commitment kept institutions functioning in a time of great disruption. They built roads and stadiums, constructed national monuments and underwrote the running costs of government ministries.

    Patriotism and demagoguery

    Their ambitions were soon foreclosed by a rising tide of political dysfunction. Amin’s regime came to a violent end in 1979, when he was ousted by the invading army of Tanzania and fled Uganda.

    But his brand of demagoguery lives on. Today a new generation of demagogues claim to be fighting to liberate aggrieved majorities from outsiders’ control.

    In the 1970s, Amin enlisted Black Ugandans to battle against racial minorities who were said to dominate the economy and public life. Today an ascendant right wing encourages aggrieved white Americans to regard themselves as a majority dispossessed of their inheritance by greedy immigrants.

    Amin encouraged Ugandans to regard themselves as frontline soldiers, engaged in a globally consequential war against foreigners. In today’s America, some people similarly feel themselves deputized to take matters of state into their own hands. In January 2021, for instance, a right-wing group called “Stop the Steal” organized a rally in Washington. Vowing to “take our country back,” they stormed the Capitol building.

    The racialized demagoguery that Idi Amin promoted inspired the imagination of a great many people. It also fed violent campaigns to repossess a stolen inheritance, to reclaim properties that ought, in the view of the aggrieved majority, to belong to native sons and daughters. His regime is for us today a warning about the compelling power of demagoguery to shape people’s sense of purpose.

    Derek R. Peterson receives funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Andrew Mellon Foundation.

    – ref. Idi Amin made himself out to be the ‘liberator’ of an oppressed majority – a demagogic trick that endures today – https://theconversation.com/idi-amin-made-himself-out-to-be-the-liberator-of-an-oppressed-majority-a-demagogic-trick-that-endures-today-256969

    MIL OSI Analysis –