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Category: Education

  • MIL-OSI Russia: “The fundamental principle of scientific knowledge is honesty.”

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –

    Daria Mazur wanted to study science since she was 13, when she realized in seventh grade that she was good at physics. In an interview with the Young Scientists of the Higher School of Economics project, she talked about theoretical research on the double electric layer, speed reading, and the MGMT song “Little Dark Age.”

    Why I started doing science

    I was a very unpopular child at school, no one really made friends with me, I existed on my own. And so, when physics started in the seventh grade and I started doing well, I found an outlet in it. Since the seventh grade, that is, since I was 13, I wanted to do science, and only science. I have never doubted it and since then I have been following my own path.

    For a long time I didn’t understand what scientific direction to choose. I knew it would be technical sciences, but I didn’t understand which ones. That’s why I enrolled in applied mathematics. There’s a lot of freedom there: you can do development, or fundamental research.

    In my third year, I met my academic supervisor. Yuri Alekseevich Budkov, and since then I have been engaged in science continuously, already in a specific direction – physical chemistry. This is a science in which chemical phenomena are explained with the help of physics. That is, it is physics and chemistry in one bottle.

    What am I studying?

    Double electric layer. This is a structure that forms at the metal-electrolyte boundary. It consists of a dense layer and a diffuse layer of ions. In a first approximation, the double layer can be represented as a flat capacitor with a capacitance C, which can store energy by accumulating a charge. Double electric layer is the main technology used in supercapacitors. These are new modern energy storage devices. Existing classical double layer models do not take into account many physical factors that prevent the application of these models to real physical and chemical systems, so there is a need to create new theoretical models that would allow for the correct assessment of, for example, the capacity of the double layer, since it is quite difficult to measure it experimentally.

    My first scientific work…

    …happened in the third year. During industrial practice, and then in my bachelor’s thesis, we studied a porous carbon material of the CMK-3 type: we estimated its differential electrical capacity and elastic deformation, then we compared our developed model with the experiment, and obtained good agreement.

    In the next work, already a master’s thesis, we came up with another model of the double electric layer. If earlier we did not take into account the influence of the solvent, that is, our permittivity was constant, then the next time we used an explicit polar solvent – water. This means that an equation was solved for the permittivity, and it changed with the distance from the electrode.

    We approximated the experimental data on differential electric capacity using our model. In it, we took into account all modern aspects of the theory of the double electric layer. For example, the hydrate radius, specific interactions, dielectric decrement, the effect of excluded volume. And based on the obtained parameters, we predicted the differential electric capacity for other concentrations.

    We also found out the influence of specific interactions on the differential electric capacity. Specific interactions are either repulsion or attraction of the hydrated ion and water. We found out that when the specific interactions change from repulsion to attraction, the peak of differential electric capacity decreases. This result was obtained for the first time.

    What I am proud of

    My bachelor’s and master’s degrees, because they resulted in publications in scientific journals – Europhysics Letters and ChemPhysChem respectively. In the second publication, devoted to the modeling of the double electric layer within the framework of the self-consistent field theory at the metal-electrolyte interface, I am listed as the first author for the first time in my scientific career.

    I am very proud of myself – that despite all the trials and difficulties that I had to overcome, I still retained the desire to do science and achieved results that are significant for me. I am very persistent.

    I have been living on my own since I was 18, and I had to work a lot during my entire bachelor’s degree. The first two years were especially hard because I had to combine studying with a hard, low-paying job. It got easier in my third year because Covid started. Everything was closed, there was no work, but I was paid a small salary. In addition, in my third year, I received my first money for science. This raised my morale. And I didn’t have to study in person: until the end of my fourth year, I studied completely online.

    I am currently studying on a single track “Master’s degree – postgraduate study”, and I am paid a stipend. In addition, I work as a research intern at the Laboratory of Computational Physics of MIEM HSE and teach physics in the educational programs “Applied Mathematics” and “Informatics and Computer Engineering”.

    What I dream about

    I don’t really believe in dreams. For me, it’s something unrealistic and unrealistic – like riding a unicorn. I believe in setting goals and achieving them. Actually, that’s how it works out for me in life. But if you really need a dream, then have a funny one. I want no scientist to have to write reports according to GOST.

    What is my goal?

    Defend a PhD dissertation.

    I would like to defend my thesis in physical chemistry, not applied mathematics. I am still working on it, because studying chemistry is very difficult. There is a lot of new knowledge, especially in quantum chemistry and physical chemistry. But I try to constantly learn something new. For example, I recently went to Veliky Novgorod for a workshop on quantum chemistry, where I built my first molecules.

    Science is a system of values that can help you live a good life.

    I believe that the fundamental principle of scientific knowledge is honesty.

    Few people can live without love. It doesn’t matter what kind – romantic, friendly, family. For me, science is love. Every person lives for happiness. Jung, I think, also wrote that happiness is the highest value. And in order for me to be happy, I need to study science.

    If I hadn’t become a scientist

    It’s hard for me to imagine myself as anything other than a scientist. But if I had to choose, I’d probably become a doctor. I really like helping people, and I also like chemistry. Or I could become a chemical engineer, for example, in pharmaceuticals.

    Who would I like to meet?

    With Marie Skłodowska-Curie. She is the first woman to win the Nobel Prize. And the first person in history to receive two Nobel Prizes – in physics and chemistry. I would like to know the secrets of her ability to work. She had a rather difficult life, especially at the beginning of her career. I would like to know how it affected her, what her strength is. She impresses me so much that I visited her grave in Paris, and I always have a book with her biography at home.

    How my typical day is structured

    I wake up not very early, walk the dog. And then I go to work. My working day usually lasts at least 10 hours. In particular, I devote a lot of time to preparing for seminar classes. We need to publish a scientific article soon, and the calculations for it take a lot of time. They have to be done 10-15 times, double-checking every letter in the code, because if you make a mistake somewhere, the results will be non-physical or illogical.

    Do I get burnout?

    Yes, and often, but I don’t fight it. I have too many obligations. It’s gotten a little easier lately because I turned to my supervisor for help: he gives me the opportunity to rest. Although I don’t really believe in rest. I believe that you need to work constantly and that work is the meaning of life.

    What conferences have I attended?

    Recently I went to the Chinese city of Qingdao. I wanted to limit myself to a poster, but I was invited to give an oral report. For the first time I did it in English. It was so scary that the paper in my hands was visibly shaking. But everything went well. After the presentation, Chinese colleagues came up to me and asked questions.

    I was also in Portugal, in Costa da Caparica, at a small conference of a small scientific community. It was very warm. I have amazing memories of it. On the last evening, the organizers brought a big cauldron, poured moonshine into it, set it on fire, stirred it and read a spell in Gallic. It was against witches, evil spirits and simply for happiness. You drink a glass and become a happy person for a year.

    What else am I passionate about?

    Now I spend a lot of time studying theoretical chemistry. I also take speed reading courses. I read with a metronome and have already become faster – two touches of the line with my gaze are enough for me.

    I’m also studying French. So far, quite unsuccessfully – I speak with an accent and forget that I can’t pronounce the endings. Again, this is connected with my dream of living and studying in Paris.

    What was the last thing I read?

    “It’s Me, Eddie” by Eduard Limonov. I really like Limonov – his ambiguity. I accidentally bought his book “Taming the Tiger in Paris”. I periodically buy a huge number of books and do not read them, because there is no time. But Limonov immediately captivated me. It is very difficult for me to read a lot, because my attention floats, and I swallowed “Taming the Tiger” in two days. I liked the style so much that now I am reading a book on theoretical chemistry, which is written in a style similar to Limonov’s. The author of this book is Denis Tikhonov, a fairly well-known scientist, the founder of the public “Theoretical Chemistry” on VKontakte. There is also a chat for chemists, mainly quantum chemists. I am a member of it, read articles that colleagues send there, reasoning. I do not understand anything, but I hope that one day I will.

    Advice to a young scientist

    You need to find yourself not just a scientific supervisor, but a teacher who will pass on to you not only his scientific knowledge, but also the values that he shares, knowledge about life and will be able to support you morally. Everything depends on the scientific supervisor: where you publish, what and how you do, what conferences you attend. Of course, you also have to be persistent. For example, all the foreign conferences that I attended, I found myself, applied for them and paid for them.

    Also, don’t be afraid to promote yourself wherever you can. Don’t be afraid to seek out scholarships, opportunities, conferences – anything that will help you in your scientific career.

    Favorite place in Moscow

    The “World of Vinyl” store in Kitay-gorod. I love vinyl, I have a very large collection of records. It is very diverse – from Vivaldi to “Ranetki”. I love going to this store and usually do not leave without buying anything. Everything I buy, I then regularly listen to, except for the special edition of Radiohead’s “OK Computer”, which I feel sorry to unpack.

    Lately I’ve been listening to Ariana Grande’s album “Eternal Sunshine” and the band MGMT. They have a song called “Little Dark Age”. It’s a little mainstream, but I still like it.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Internship of KRSU teachers at the Polytechnic

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    As part of cooperation between the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University and Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, an educational internship was held for the heads of KRSU educational programs. The main goal was to study modern approaches to designing educational programs, implementing innovative teaching methods and developing partnerships with industrial enterprises.

    The internship participants held a series of working meetings with the staff of the Directorate of Basic Educational Programs of SPbPU, where they discussed current trends in higher education, the specifics of developing new educational standards, and the model of multi-track engineering training. Of particular interest were issues of network interaction in the implementation of educational programs and the organization of students’ project activities.

    A significant part of the program was devoted to familiarization with the advanced infrastructure of SPbPU. KRSU teachers visited the laboratories of the Physics and Mathematics Institute, where Acting Director Nikolay Ivanov demonstrated them unique equipment: wind tunnels, installations for studying hydrodynamic processes and modern research stands. At the Civil Engineering Institute, the participants got acquainted with the laboratories of additive technologies in construction and road construction materials, as well as the innovative educational space “MetaCampus Polytech”.

    An important component of the internship was participation in the Youth Career Forum, where KRSU teachers were able to study effective mechanisms of interaction between the university and potential employers. The participants immersed themselves in the working atmosphere and improved their cross-professional competencies. This experience is especially valuable for the development of the graduate employment system in Kyrgyzstan.

    The final stage was the final certification, at which colleagues from KRSU presented the developed educational programs, highlighting their competitive advantages, listing the industrial partners involved and describing the employment prospects of graduates. The defense took place in the presence of the assistant of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Vadim Smirnov, acting rector of KRSU Sergey Volkov, representatives of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, vice-rector for educational activities of SPbPU Lyudmila Pankova and vice-rector for international activities Dmitry Arsenyev.

    Lyudmila Pankova noted: “The implemented approach to the public presentation of the educational program allows us to look at it more comprehensively, evaluate the competitive advantages of the program in the context of the challenges of the modern labor market, and analyze the resource capabilities of the university for training in-demand specialists.”

    The internship significantly deepened Russian-Kyrgyz cooperation in the field of engineering education, providing KRSU teachers with valuable experience that will contribute to the modernization of educational programs and the introduction of advanced practices into the university’s educational process. The knowledge and contacts gained open up new prospects for the development of academic mobility and joint educational projects between the two universities.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Threatening diversity, threatening growth: the business effects of Trump’s anti-DEI and anti-trans agendas

    Source: The Conversation – France – By Matteo Winkler, Professeur associé en droit et fiscalité, HEC Paris Business School

    Recent months have seen a dramatic shift in US policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). These changes carry deep economic consequences. President Donald Trump’s executive orders aim to ban DEI initiatives in federal agencies and contractors, and private companies have felt pressure to weaken or drop their DEI programmes. Trump has framed what was once a corporate safeguard against discrimination as “illegal and immoral”, marking a stark reversal in legal and business norms. Federal judges have blocked some of Trump’s orders, or elements of them, and some legal processes are ongoing.

    Transgender rights have become a lightning rod in this shifting landscape. The barrage of federal directives seeks to challenge – or outright eliminate – protections in areas ranging from health care to education to the military. Beyond the immediate harm to trans individuals, these policies pose threats to multinational companies that have long defended inclusive workplace values. Their leaders must now navigate a cultural minefield where staying silent risks public backlash, while openly supporting trans employees can invite legal and political complications. The business repercussions of this moral issue could affect everything from brand reputation to talent retention.


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    The economic imperative of DEI initiatives

    There is a growing ensemble of research suggesting that DEI policies are not just nice-to-have but a corporate imperative. This year, the World Economic Forum reported that organizations that include DEI in their core business strategies improve performance, innovation and employee satisfaction. These findings are in line with other studies, which have consistently demonstrated that inclusive workplaces not only attract top talent but perform better financially and have higher returns on assets and net income.

    With regard to people identifying as LGBTI+, a 2024 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development highlighted that inclusive policies enable LGBTI+ individuals to achieve their full employment and productivity potential, benefiting both their well-being and society at large. Moreover, according to Open for Business, a think tank whose mission is making a case for LGBTQ+ inclusion in private and public settings, companies with “larger LGBTQ+ workforce benefit from diverse perspectives but also foster environments where innovation and productivity thrive”. It has also been found that human rights violations against LGBTI+ people diminish economic output at the micro level, suggesting that inclusive societies are more likely to experience robust economic growth.



    À lire aussi :
    Business schools are facing challenges to their diversity commitments. They must reinforce them to train leaders effectively

    Research has also shown that trans-inclusive business practices have long been associated with innovation, employee satisfaction and market competitiveness. Companies that provide gender-neutral bathroom access, introduce the inclusive use of pronouns and support employees’ gender transitions have been proven to foster relational authenticity in the workplace.

    Discrimination and exclusion, by contrast, not only harm individuals but also impede economic growth by limiting the available talent pool and reducing overall productivity. In September 2024, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reported that “laws and policies designed to restrict or prevent access or supports for transgender and nonbinary people” endanger LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies, leading to increased fear, lack of safety and a rise in anti-LGBTQ+ violence. More generally, these laws and policies can also deter businesses from investing in regions perceived as discriminatory. Also in September, the Movement Advancement Project identified that the lack of legal protection against discrimination contributes to economic instability for LGBTQ+ families, which can lead to wage gaps, job insecurity and reduced access to benefits, ultimately contributing to reduced consumer spending and lower economic participation.

    Language targeting trans rights and visibility

    Despite the benefits of DEI initiatives, the current US administration has sought to enact several policies aimed at dismantling them, resulting in organizations, both public and private, to suspend funding for DEI and outreach programmes. In Trump’s executive orders, anything – policy, programme or initiative – related to or benefitting trans people in access to healthcare, academic research, scientific inquiry, school policies, personal safety, participation in sports, and military service is now rejected as “gender ideology extremism”.

    Targeting sports, education and the military is functional to an ideological battle aimed at erasing spaces where trans people are most vulnerable. These spaces are also formative arenas in shaping national identity and the public perception of DEI initiatives. When they become politicized, they can also affect how businesses frame their values, manage risks and engage with their different stakeholders.



    À lire aussi :
    Anti-DEI guidance from Trump administration misinterprets the law and guts educators’ free speech rights

    The anti-trans executive orders begin by redefining the term “sex” for interpretations of federal law. According to the text of “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to Federal Government”, a person is either male or female, which is determined by their reproductive cells at conception – a definition in which biology takes precedence over individual rights and legal protections. “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” weaponizes this “biological truth” by threatening to cut off federal funds to schools that allow trans athletes to participate in them. “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” equates being transgender with medical or physical incapacity despite no evidence suggesting that trans service members negatively impact military readiness. “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” seeks to prevent schools from teaching about gender identity, which would strip trans youth of critical support systems. And “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” describes gender-affirming healthcare as “destructive”.

    The ripple effects of this anti-trans rhetoric extend into the private sector, compelling businesses to reevaluate their DEI strategies in fear of backlash or scrutiny. Even before the last US presidential election, companies such as Ford, Harley-Davidson and Lowe’s withdrew their participation in the Corporate Equality Index, a national benchmarking tool on corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality. In the wake of Trump’s anti-DEI and anti-trans orders, organizers of various Pride events in the US and Canada learned that some corporations, including longtime sponsors, had decided not to fund them. And according to the New York Times, some companies erased language and terms related to DEI from annual reports filed this year, including Dow Chemical, whose reference to LGBTQ+ employee resource groups disappeared from its public documents.

    Navigating between inclusive values and anti-DEI pressure

    Three patterns seem to be emerging on how companies are navigating the tension between values that are inclusive of LGBTI+ people and the growing pressure to scrub DEI commitments within the US context. For the moment, these patterns do not reflect formalized strategies but adaptive responses to an environment that has grown in complexity in a very short time. Some corporate actions reflect deliberate strategy aimed at protecting global consistency, while others appear more reactive, shaped by local market pressures.

    The first pattern involves establishing a sort of internal firewall between US and international operations. Banco Santander provides a clear example of this approach. Thus far, it has maintained global DEI commitments such as tying executive bonuses to increased gender equality in leadership. This group stated that such targets would not be applied to countries where governmental policies target DEI. In this pattern, DEI programmes are maintained abroad but are dismantled in the US to minimize political exposure in the latter.

    The second approach, observed at accounting firm Deloitte, is a cultural split between US operations and those overseas: while entities under the same global brand may still share data, practices, or strategic frameworks internally, they now adopt publicly distinct positions on DEI. Deloitte UK has remained vocal on its DEI commitments, highlighting the cultural and political fault lines that multinationals must now navigate.

    The third approach is a retraction of DEI altogether. Target offers a striking example. In 2023, under increased political and consumer pressure, the company rolled back some of its LGBTQ+ inclusion efforts by reducing the number of Pride-related items for sale. In 2025, four days after Trump’s inauguration, Target announced it would “end its three-year DEI goals”, cease reporting to the Corporate Equality Index and “end a program focused on carrying more products from Black- or minority-owned businesses”, as reported by CNBC. The moves resulted in considerable public criticism, and more notably, coincided with a marked drop in foot traffic – “nearly 5 million fewer visits” over a four-week period – revealing reputational and financial risks associated with the abandoning of DEI policies. By contrast, bulk retailer Costco, which said three days after the inauguration that its shareholders voted against a proposal seen as unfriendly to the company’s DEI programmes, “saw nearly 7.7 million more visits” during that same stretch.



    À lire aussi :
    A boycott campaign fuels tension between Black shoppers and Black-owned brands – evoking the long struggle for ‘consumer citizenship’

    In light of the evidence, it is clear that undermining DEI initiatives poses substantial risks – not just to human dignity, but to economic competitiveness. Businesses and policymakers must recognize that DEI is not merely a social or ethical imperative but a core strategy for growth and innovation. By fostering environments where all individuals can thrive, we unlock the full potential of our workforce and ensure sustainable economic growth.

    Conversely, discriminatory policies contribute to social instability, brain drain and economic stagnation. In the United States, the rollback of DEI initiatives and the marginalization of transgender individuals threaten to erode the nation’s ability to uphold human rights and maintain business competitiveness. History demonstrates that exclusionary policies ultimately harm societies rather than strengthen them. The question remains whether the US can afford to sacrifice social stability and economic growth in pursuit of ideological battles. The evidence suggests that it cannot.

    Matteo Winkler is a member of the Open for Business Academic Committee. He has received funding from the HEC Foundation.

    Marcelle Laliberté is a member of Women in Aerospace Europe and HEC We&Men, and a contributor to the UN`s High Advisory Board on Governing AI for Humanity.

    – ref. Threatening diversity, threatening growth: the business effects of Trump’s anti-DEI and anti-trans agendas – https://theconversation.com/threatening-diversity-threatening-growth-the-business-effects-of-trumps-anti-dei-and-anti-trans-agendas-255040

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: SUM outlines new directions for joint scientific work with Far Eastern partners

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    Vice-Rector of the State University of Management Maria Karelina and Director of the Center for Management of Engineering Projects Vladimir Filatov visited Research

    Let us recall that in September 2024, at the Eastern Economic Forum, the rector of the State University of Management Vladimir Stroyev signed a cooperation agreement with ARNIKA LLC.

    Representatives of the State University of Management were given a tour of R

    As part of the working trip to Vladivostok, the representatives of the State University of Management also visited the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), where they got acquainted with the Advanced Engineering School “Institute of Biotechnology, Bioengineering and Food Systems”. During the meeting with the Advisor to the Director of the FEFU Elena Demidenko, the parties outlined the vectors of further cooperation – projects in the fields of machine vision and artificial intelligence.

    New areas of interaction, joint work with partners from PIS and R

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 04/24/2025

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to study looking at peanut desensitisation in adults with peanut allergy

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    A study published in Allergy looks at peanut desensitisation in adults with a peanut allergy. 

    Prof Adam Fox, Chair of the National Allergy Study Group, and Professor of Paediatric Allergy at King’s College London, said:

    “Conventional wisdom has been that oral immunotherapy for food is really just for children and there is clear evidence that the younger it is started, the safer and better the outcome.  However, that doesn’t mean that the benefits would not still be worthwhile for adults and this study shows that for many, oral immunotherapy for peanut at least, can still make a real difference.  This is only a small study and we hope to see larger studies to follow but it’s an important proof of principle that this may well be a treatment for adults too.  However, this treatment requires careful medical supervision and should never be attempted without this.”

    ‘Oral Immunotherapy in Peanut-Allergic Adults Using Real-World Materials’ by Hannah Hunter et al. was published in Allergy at 00:01 UK time on Thursday 24 April 2025.

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/all.16493

    Declared interests

    Prof Adam Fox: “Independent Chair of Data Monitoring Committee for Commercial research Study sponsored by ALK-Abello.  This relates to a different type of peanut desensitisation but I am not part of the study itself.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Interior finishing work has begun at the educational and scientific center of the Institute of Medicine and Medical Technologies of NSU

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –

    In the educational and scientific center of the Institute of Medicine and Medical Technologies (IMMT) of NSU, which is one of the second-stage facilities modern campus of NSU, which is being built within the framework of the national project “Youth and Children”, the interior decoration of the premises has begun. Work is underway to insulate the building, install partitions, lay the floor, and level the walls. In the building of the UNC IMMT NSU, an atrium skylight and mirrored ventilated facades have already been installed. In the near future, it is planned to prepare the space for the placement of laboratory equipment. The technical readiness of the facility has exceeded 30%.

    — In 2024-2025, we began implementing a large-scale program to transform medical education at the university, whose history goes back more than 20 years. We created the Institute of Medicine and Medical Technologies, received a license for new educational programs: bachelor’s degree in the direction of “Medical Cybernetics” and a master’s degree in the direction of “Industrial Pharmacy”. These are network programs that we implement jointly with the Engineering School of Moscow State University. The new educational and scientific center of the NSU IMMT will create the infrastructure to bring medical education to a fundamentally new level, increase the number of students – more than 700 people will be able to study in the new building, and conduct research in advanced biomedical areas, – commented the rector of NSU, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Mikhail Fedoruk.

    The building of the NSU IMMT UNC will house 8 laboratories in various fields, including molecular pharmacology, metabolomic research, medical chemistry, molecular virology and oncology, etc. It is important to note that the project for the development of medical education and scientific research at NSU “Creation of a center for the integration of personalized biomedicine, pharmacy and synchrotron, binary technologies” received support within the framework of the “Priority 2030” program.

    The construction of the NSU research center, which is also a second-stage facility, continues. The work on laying walls and partitions is 75% complete, the installation of stained glass windows and the installation of an external ventilated facade is 2/3 complete. The technical readiness of the facility is 28%.

    The general contractor for the construction of the second stage of the facilities is the company “MONOTEK STROY”.

    Let us recall that, on the instructions of President Vladimir Putin, a network of modern campuses is being created in Russia. By 2030, a constellation of 25 campuses should appear in the country. Work in this area is being carried out by the Government of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia. Currently, 24 such campuses are being designed and built with the support of the national project “Youth and Children”. One of them has already been completely built in Moscow on the basis of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. By 2036, the number of campuses will increase to 40. The project is being financed from the federal and regional budgets, as well as from extra-budgetary sources.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Grattan on Friday: Coalition’s campaign lacks good planning and enough elbow grease

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    Whatever the result on May 3, even people within the Liberals think they have run a very poor national campaign. Not just poor, but odd.

    Nothing makes the point more strongly than this week’s release of the opposition’s defence policy.

    As events played out, its Wednesday launch in Perth was overshadowed by the death of Pope Francis on Monday. But regardless of that unforeseeable event, the timing was extraordinarily late. Early birds had started voting at pre-poll places on Tuesday. The popularity of pre-polling means that, for many voters, the tail end of the formal campaign is irrelevant.

    The Coalition regards defence and national security as its natural territory. It is pledging to boost defence spending to 2.5% of GDP within five years – $21 billion extra – and to 3% within a decade. The policy set up a contrast with Labor.

    So why leave its release until the campaign’s penultimate week? The opposition’s line is that it wanted to see what money was available. Dutton said, “It would have been imprudent for us to announce early on, without knowing the bottom line”. The explanation doesn’t wash. If defence is such a priority, it should have been towards the front of the queue for funds.

    That wasn’t the whole of the problem. The announcement consisted literally of only these two figures, wrapped in rhetoric. It didn’t come with any meat, any policy document setting out how a Coalition government would rethink or redo defence.

    Shadow minister Andrew Hastie was at the launch, but he has been hardly seen nationally in recent months. He says he’s been working behind the scenes, and also he has a highly marginal Western Australian seat (Canning) to defend.

    But Hastie, 42, has been underused. From the party’s conservative wing, he is regarded as one of the (few) bright young things in the Liberal parliamentary party. He has been touted as a possible future leader. Given the general weakness of the Coalition frontbench, wasting Hastie has been strange.

    A captain in the Special Air Service Regiment who served in Afghanistan, Hastie has seen his share of combat. In 2018, he expressed the view that women shouldn’t serve in combat roles, saying “my personal view is the fighting DNA of close combat units is best preserved when it’s exclusively male”.

    This week he was peppered with questions about his opinion (questioning triggered by a similar view being expressed by a disqualified Liberal candidate). But the issue is a red herring.

    Hastie, a former assistant minister for defence, says he accepts the Coalition’s position that all defence roles are and should be open to qualified women. In the Westminster system, the obligation is for ministers to adhere to the agreed policy – that doesn’t mean someone might not have a different personal view.

    Putting together an election campaign requires judgements at many levels, ranging from how big or small a target to be, and the balance between negative and positive campaigning, to candidate selection and which seats the leader visits.

    The length of the formal campaign is in the prime minister’s hands. Anthony Albanese has sensibly kept this one to the typical five weeks, but a couple of past PMs made bad decisions, by running very long campaigns: Bob Hawke in 1984 and Malcolm Turnbull in 2016. Both lost seats, while retaining power.

    While keeping the formal campaign short, Albanese was canny in hitting the road as the year started with a series of announcements. That gave him
    momentum and some clear air. This also became more important when Easter and the Anzac holiday weekend intruded on the formal campaign. The Coalition looked dozy in January.

    In the event of a Coalition loss, the nuclear policy will be seen as a drag. In campaigning terms, it has been a bold throw of the dice, although admittedly not nearly as bold as the Coalition’s sweeping Fightback blueprint for economic reform in the early 1990s. That looked for a while as if it might fly, but was eventually demolished by Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating.

    Elections are not conducted in vacuums. Context can be important, and it has been particularly so in this campaign.

    As has repeatedly been said, Donald Trump hovers over these weeks, and it’s the Coalition that is disadvantaged. This is not just because Dutton struggles to deal with the government’s barbs that he is Trump-like – more generally, some voters who might have been willing to change their vote appear to be thinking now is not the time.

    If the Coalition defies the current apparent trend to Labor and scores a win in minority government, critics of its campaign will be eating humble pie. Seasoned election watchers remember the salutary lessons of 1993 and 2019, when the polls were wrong. In those elections, the government was returned.

    Dutton and Nationals leader David Littleproud have both suggested the Coalition’s internal polling, which concentrates on marginal seats, is better for it than the media’s national polls.

    If Labor loses this election, it will be left wondering how an apparently textbook campaign failed to nail the votes.

    If the Liberals lose, their post-mortem reviewers will home in on various faults. One will be the policy lateness (not just the defence policy), meaning voters didn’t have time to absorb the offerings. Another will be the fact some policies were not fully thought through, or road tested. The consequences of the foray on working-from-home should have been anticipated. “Shadows” have often put policy preparedness behind going for a political hit on the day.



    Read more:
    Election Diary: Dutton backs down on working-from-home crackdown after outcry threatens to cost votes

    Even now, the opposition is struggling when quizzed about its plan to cut 41,000 from the public service. Dutton says the numbers will only go (by attrition or voluntary redundancy) from those working in Canberra. The Coalition also says frontline services and national security areas will be protected.

    A source familiar with the public service points out, “If you sacked 41,000 in Canberra, you would decimate the national security bureaucracy and if you exempted national security you would barely have 41,000 public servants to sack”.

    If the Coalition has a disastrous loss, with few or no net gains, the criticism of its campaign will be scarifying. If it loses by only a little, the critics will say that a better planned and organised campaign, preceded by a lot more policy work, might have pushed it across the line.

    To be successful, an opposition needs a great deal of elbow grease, and so far the Coalition doesn’t look as though it has used enough of that.

    Michelle Grattan 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. Grattan on Friday: Coalition’s campaign lacks good planning and enough elbow grease – https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-coalitions-campaign-lacks-good-planning-and-enough-elbow-grease-254992

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Gov. Kemp Announces New DDS Commissioner

    Source: US State of Georgia

    ATLANTA – Governor Brian P. Kemp today announced that the Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS) Board of Directors has approved Angelique McClendon as the Commissioner of DDS, effective May 1. McClendon has been serving the department as General Counsel and Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Legal and Regulatory Affairs, where she has been a subject matter expert on all legal and regulatory issues relating to the agency’s statutory responsibilities. She will succeed Spencer Moore, who has dedicated over 30 years of service to the people of our state.

    “On behalf of hardworking Georgians, I want to congratulate Angelique McClendon on her promotion to Commissioner of the Department of Driver Services,” said Governor Brian Kemp. “With an extensive career serving both DDS and the people of our state, I know she will be a great asset in ensuring that those who interact with one of our most prominent state agencies have an efficient and smooth experience.”

    “Marty, the girls, and I also want to thank Spencer Moore for his many years of service to our state,” continued Governor Kemp. “His efforts as DDS Commissioner have helped grow our nationally-ranked logistics network, put state government’s best foot forward when serving the hardworking people of Georgia, and modernize operations at an agency that directly interacts with citizens in every community of our state.”

    Angelique McClendon will become Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS) on May 1, 2025. She first joined DDS as General Counsel in 2015 and was later promoted to Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Legal and Regulatory Affairs. Her legal career began in 2005 as an Assistant Solicitor in DeKalb County. From 2008 to 2015, McClendon served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Georgia. McClendon has provided legal guidance on several large-scale state initiatives and modernization efforts, including Georgia’s Digital Driver’s License. She has served in leadership roles with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, where she helped create national policy and track trends related to driver’s license administration and identity management.

    McClendon is a proud mother of two, a native of Decatur, and a Rockdale County resident. She graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and earned her Juris Doctorate from Georgia State University College of Law.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Vect-Horus appoints Philippe Masset to Board of Directors, in further strengthening of leadership

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

                                                                            PRESS RELEASE

    • C-Suite executive with more than 35 years’ experience in international banking
    • Brings important and complementary skills to support company’s development

    Marseille, France, April 24, 2025 – Vect-Horus, a privately held biotechnology company that designs and develops molecular vectors facilitating the targeted delivery of therapeutic molecules and imaging agents, today announced the appointment of Philippe Masset, a C–suite banking executive with more than 35 years of experience as a CEO of international banking entities, as a member of its Board of Directors.

    Philippe Masset has a successful track record in transformation and change management, and strong interest in investment banking, ESG topics, sustainable finance and AI. From 2014-2019, he was CEO of Degroof, where he oversaw a successful merger with Petercam and positioning of the new group, and he previously served as CEO and in several senior roles with ING.

    He is currently Chairman of Vicinity Affordable Housing Fund and a Board member at Edmond de Rothschild Europe and Guberna; and serves as a Senior Advisor to several financial companies including Blackfin, Syntagma and BDO.

    “We are delighted that Philippe Masset will be joining our Board at this point in time, which adds further highly relevant and senior expertise to Vect-Horus. His experience spans diverse sectors including investment banking, financial services, and non-profit governance, contributing to a broadened perspective on strategic oversight and corporate governance best practices,” said Alexandre Tokay, co-founder and CEO of Vect-Horus. “This is the third new appointment to the Board in recent months, all bringing important skills which are particularly suited to drive our mission to become the leader in the field of targeted drug delivery.”

    Philippe Masset said: “Boards have a crucial role to play in today’s business world, bringing important skills to contribute to and oversee a company’s development and strategy. The Vect-Horus Board includes hugely experienced individuals who provide important support to management. I’m excited to contribute to Vect-Horus as it builds on its impressive partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies, to deliver therapies to patients in urgent need of better treatment options.”

    About Vect-Horus

    Vect-Horus designs and develops vectors that facilitate targeting and delivery of therapeutic or imaging agents to organs, including the brain, and to tumors. Founded in 2005, Vect-Horus is a spin-off of the Institute for Neurophysiopathology (INP, UMR7051, CNRS and Aix Marseille University), formerly headed by Dr Michel Khrestchatisky, co-founder of the company. Vect-Horus has 42 employees (most in R&D).

    To learn more about Vect-Horus, visit www.vect-horus.com.

    Contacts

        For more information, please contact Vect-Horus

        Emmanuelle Bettendorf, BD & Alliance Management,

        Vect-Horus contact@vect-horus.com

        Media Relations

        Sophie Baumont, Cohesion Bureau – sophie.baumont@cohesionbureau.com

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Inside the elaborate farewell to Pope Francis

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carole Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Sydney

    ➡️ View the full interactive version of this article here.

    Carole Cusack 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. Inside the elaborate farewell to Pope Francis – https://theconversation.com/inside-the-elaborate-farewell-to-pope-francis-255020

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What is preferential voting and how does it work? Your guide to making your vote count

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Hortle, Deputy Director, Tasmanian Policy Exchange, University of Tasmania

    For each Australian federal election, there are two different ways you get to vote.

    Whether you vote early, by post or on polling day on May 3, each eligible voter will be given two ballot papers: one for the House of Representatives (the “lower house”) and one for the Senate (the “upper house”). Each of these two ballots uses a slightly different system, so it’s worth understanding how your numbered boxes translate into real results.

    Knowing how preferences work is key to making your vote count, before you get to enjoy your hard-earned democracy sausage.

    The House of Representatives (lower house)

    Australia is divided into 150 electorates, each of which is represented by one member in the House of Representatives. To elect them, we use a system called full preferential voting.

    On your green lower house ballot paper, all the candidates will be listed in a random order. You write a “1” in the box beside the candidate who is your first choice. This is called your first preference. You then write a “2” beside your second-choice candidate (your “second preference”), and so on until every candidate has a number.

    To make sure your vote counts, you need to number every box. If you skip a number, use the same number twice, or leave a box blank, your vote becomes informal and won’t count. So, it’s important to double-check. If you do make a mistake, don’t worry – you can just ask for a new ballot paper from a polling official.

    Once voting closes, the counting part is where things get interesting.

    First, officials from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) – an independent and impartial body – sort the ballot papers into piles according to each ballot paper’s first preference, then count them. If any candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, they win and are declared elected.

    If no one gets over 50%, the candidate with the lowest number of first preferences is knocked out (the technical term is “excluded”). Their ballot papers are then “redistributed” to the second preference candidate marked. This continues – eliminating the lowest-polling candidates and redistributing their preferences – until someone crosses the 50% threshold. This preference distribution process helps ensure the winner has majority support.

    But what does this look like? You can find out by numbering your preferences in the great farm animal election.

    As you’ll see, your first pick may be knocked out during vote counting, but maybe your second or third preference will get across the line.

    The Senate (Upper House)

    There are 76 members of the Senate: 12 from each state and two from each territory. Voting for senators is a bit different from the lower house in that it is partial preferential, and you can vote either “above the line” or “below the line”.

    Your white senate ballot paper will have several columns listing parties and groups. Party names appear above the thick black line, and individual candidates appear below it.

    If you vote above the line, you must number at least six boxes. When it comes to counting the votes, your preferences will then be distributed to candidates in the party in the order that their party has listed them. Parties decide this order beforehand.

    So, say you put a 1 next to the Liberal Party, which has three candidates, a 2 next to Labor, which also has three candidates, then number four more boxes. Your first three preferences would be for the three Liberal candidates, then your fourth to sixth preferences would be for the Labor candidates because you put them second. This then continues for each of the six boxes you numbered.

    You can try voting above or below the line with this sample senate ballot. It will tell you to keep numbering boxes to ensure your vote is valid.

    If you vote below the line, for individual candidates, you must number at least 12 boxes. But you can number all of them if you want – it can be satisfying to put someone last!

    Just like in the House of Representatives, you put 1 beside your first choice, 2 beside your second, and so on. You don’t have to stay within the same column – you could have a Greens candidate as your first choice, a Liberal as your second, then another Greens candidate as your third, for example.

    Because the upper house elects multiple candidates per state, using a combination of voting methods and a quota system, the Senate count is more complex.

    One thing to be mindful of is the “exhausted” vote. If you only number the minimum (six above the line or 12 below) and all your preferred candidates are excluded, your vote can no longer be redistributed. But any of your preferences used to elect a candidate before that point still count.

    Make your vote count

    Australia’s voting system is designed to make sure your vote has an impact, even if your first-choice candidate doesn’t win. That’s why understanding how preferences flow is so important.

    For those of us who have grown up here, it’s easy to think of voting as a chore rather than a privilege. But we’re so lucky to be able to go to a polling place without fearing violence or intimidation.

    To be able to cast a vote in a system that – despite some flaws – is free and fair is a global rarity. So make sure you double-check your numbers, and think carefully about where your preferences are going – then enjoy that democracy sausage knowing you’ve made your vote count.

    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. What is preferential voting and how does it work? Your guide to making your vote count – https://theconversation.com/what-is-preferential-voting-and-how-does-it-work-your-guide-to-making-your-vote-count-254286

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Preference deals can decide the outcome of a seat in an election – but not always

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne

    Every election cycle the media becomes infatuated, even if temporarily, with preference deals between parties. The 2025 election is no exception, with many media reports about preference “deals” being made.

    However, it is important to remember that voters are not required to follow the how to vote cards of the parties they vote for, and only major party voters have a significant percentage who follow the cards.

    Other than the Greens and One Nation, minor parties lack resources to put people at every polling place who will give voters how to vote cards. As a result, how to vote follow rates for most minor parties are low.

    At the 2022 Victorian state election, for example, seven seats had preferences for all voters data entered into a computer system. The Poll Bludger said Sunday that in these seven seats, about 30% of Labor voters exactly followed their party’s how to vote card.

    In seats where the Liberals were making an effort by staffing polling places, over 50% of their voters followed the card. But in Preston, a Labor vs Greens contest, only 29% of Liberals followed the card.

    The major parties will usually be the final two candidates in a seat, so their preferences are not distributed.

    Despite all this, there may be political consequences of preference recommendations.

    At this election, Labor is recommending preferences to the Greens ahead of the Coalition in all seats except in the Victorian Labor-held seat of Macnamara (an “open” ticket without a recommendation between the Greens and Liberals owing to concerns about the Jewish vote in that seat).

    The Coalition is recommending preferences to One Nation ahead of anyone else in 139 of the 147 seats One Nation is contesting.

    Recommending preferences to the Greens may make Labor seem too left-wing to some voters, and recommending preferences to One Nation may make the Coalition seem too right-wing and pro-Trump. One Nation will recommend preferences to the Coalition ahead of Labor in all seats it contests, the same recommendation they used in 2022.

    The Poll Bludger said the Greens will be recommending preferences to Labor in all seats at this election. Occasionally, the Greens issue open tickets. The difference is worth about 5% of the Greens vote, so if the Greens had 10% in a seat, Labor’s two-party vote would be 0.5 points higher with a Greens recommendation to preference Labor than otherwise.

    Trumpet of Patriots will put the incumbent party last in seats they contest. The Poll Bludger said Clive Palmer’s previous United Australia Party did this in 2022. But in 2022, Labor had a higher share of UAP preferences in seats it held than in Coalition-held seats, the opposite of what would be expected if these recommendations had made a difference.

    Trumpet of Patriots is only getting 1% or 2% in current national polls, so their how to vote preference recommendations are not worth worrying about.

    In 2022, Greens preferences (that is, voters who put the Greens as 1 on their House of Representatives ballot) went to Labor over the Coalition by 86–14. One Nation preferences went to the Coalition over Labor by 64–36. These figures are national, and use the Labor vs Coalition two-party count in seats where one major party missed the final two.

    Both the Greens and One Nation are using the same preference recommendations between Labor and the Coalition as in 2022, so their voters’ preferences won’t change because of recommendations.

    Seat-specific recommendations

    The Liberals are recommending preferences to teal independent Kate Hullett in the Western Australian Labor-held seat of Fremantle, after they put her behind Labor in the WA state seat of Fremantle at the March 8 state election. This will increase Hullett’s chance of defeating Labor.

    If the final two in Macnamara are the Greens and the Liberals, The Poll Bludger said Labor’s decision to issue an open ticket will give the Liberals about 2% of the 10% swing they would need to gain Macnamara.

    The Liberals will recommend preferences to Labor in the Tasmanian Labor-held seat of Franklin ahead of an anti-salmon farming independent. They will also recommend preferences to Labor ahead of Muslim Vote-backed independents in the NSW Labor-held seats of Watson and Blaxland. These recommendations will make it difficult for any of these three independents.

    Adrian Beaumont 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. Preference deals can decide the outcome of a seat in an election – but not always – https://theconversation.com/preference-deals-can-decide-the-outcome-of-a-seat-in-an-election-but-not-always-255005

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Education Should be Led by Experts-Not Economists

    Source: Te Pati Maori

    Te Pāti Māori are appalled by Cabinet’s decision to agree to 15 recommendations to the Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector following the regulatory review by the Ministry of Regulation. We emphasise the need to prioritise tamariki Māori in Early Childhood Education, conducted by education experts- not economists.

    “Our mokopuna deserve an education system shaped by their needs – and that must be led by the total immersion Māori education sector,” said Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for education, Tākuta Ferris.

    “Research shows that a strong sense of identity is central to the success of tamariki Māori. Instead of defunding key programmes and continuing to allocate just 1% of total education funding to Māori education, the government should be investing in the Māori educational systems that are already delivering for our tamariki.

    “A government that develops education policy within David Seymour’s cost-cutting Ministry, shows a clear disregard for the future of our tamariki Māori.”

    “There is no table fit to make decisions about the education of mokopuna Māori without Kōhanga Reo and Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori at it,” says Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for total immersion education.

    “They are more equipped than any government body to know what our tamariki need – not just in the classroom, but for their future.

    “The government must be held to account for its commitment to the recommendations made in Wai 2336. That means creating standalone legislation with policies specifically designed to support Māori education and to give whānau real, meaningful choices,” concluded Maipi-Clarke.

    Te Pāti Māori remains resolute in protecting the mana and mauri of Kōhanga Reo by ensuring all policies and regulations uphold and advance its kaupapa as a taonga tuku iho for our babies and mokopuna.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Scientists from multiple countries granted access to China’s Chang’e-5 lunar samples for research

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

    Scientists from multiple countries granted access to China’s Chang’e-5 lunar samples for research

    SHANGHAI, April 24 — The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on Thursday that scientists from institutions in France, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (U.S.) have been granted the opportunity to borrow lunar samples collected by the Chang’e-5 mission for scientific research.

    At a ceremony for China’s Space Day in Shanghai, the agency announced that seven institutions from six countries have been authorized to borrow the lunar samples.

    The authorized institutions include the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) in France, the University of Cologne in Germany, Osaka University in Japan, the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), the Open University in the UK, Brown University in the US, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook in the US.

    In 2020, China’s Chang’e-5 mission retrieved samples from the moon weighing about 1,731 grams.

    Shan Zhongde, head of the CNSA, said China’s lunar exploration program has always adhered to the principles of equality, mutual benefits, peaceful utilization and win-win cooperation, sharing achievements with the international community.

    He added that CNSA will continue to accept international applications for lunar sample research, expressing hope that global scientists will make new discoveries that expand human knowledge and benefit humanity.

    In November 2023, CNSA opened applications for international researchers to borrow Chang’e-5 lunar samples. By the end of December 2023, it had received 24 applications from 11 countries and international organizations.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Residents of the Technopolis Moscow SEZ have launched 37 new drugs on the market

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    Pharmaceutical enterprises of the special economic zone (SEZ) Technopolis Moscow brought 37 new drugs to the market in 2024. Among them are drugs for the treatment of cancer, multiple sclerosis, chronic myelogenous leukemia and others. This was reported by the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport and Industry Maxim Liksutov.

    “The capital plays a key role in the development of the domestic pharmaceutical industry and strengthening the country’s medicinal sovereignty. On the instructions of Sergei Sobyanin, the city has created a set of effective tools to support the industry, which allows for the regular introduction of popular drugs to the market and an increase in production volumes. Today, eight resident enterprises produce vital drugs in the Technopolis Moscow special economic zone; during their operation, they have produced products worth over 74 billion rubles. In 2024, three companies from the capital’s SEZ brought 37 new drugs to the market for the treatment of socially significant diseases,” said Maxim Liksutov.

    The production facilities of pharmaceutical enterprises are located at two sites: Alabushevo and Pechatniki. In addition, they are participants in the largest pharmaceutical cluster in the country.

    “Offset contracts are concluded with pharmaceutical companies from the Moscow SEZ, under the terms of which the enterprises produce innovative drugs, and the city guarantees their purchase. The enterprises have high-tech production lines, modern laboratories, invest in research and development work. All this contributes to the creation of new effective drugs,” said the Minister of the Moscow Government, head of the capital’s Department of Investment and Industrial Policy

    Anatoly Garbuzov.

    In March 2023, the Russian Ministry of Health registered the first Russian original drug for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, developed by scientists from the Russian biotechnology company Biocad and the Russian National Research Medical University named after N.I. Pirogov. The innovative drug reduces the immune-inflammatory process in the central nervous system, which reduces the number of exacerbations in patients with multiple sclerosis.

    The resident of the SEZ Technopolis Moscow invested more than one billion rubles in the development and research of the drug. Production successfully began last year on the territory of the Alabushevo site. Since then, the enterprise has produced more than seven thousand packages of the product.

    The company “R-Opra” (the group of companies “R-Pharm”) is also actively developing new types of drugs for the treatment of oncological, autoimmune, asthmatic and other diseases.

    The project to create a modern pharmaceutical production complex at the capital’s SEZ site became possible thanks to an offset contract, said Gennady Degtyarev, General Director of the Technopolis Moscow special economic zone. In 2024, the resident opened a production site for the production of drugs in the form of soft gelatin capsules, which are used in the treatment of oncological diseases. In addition, last year the company mastered more than 10 new medicinal products for the treatment of socially significant diseases.

    Another company, a resident of the Moscow SEZ, Amedart, opened import-substituting production of 26 new drugs at the Pechatniki site in 2024. Among them are, for example, drugs for the treatment of oncological diseases and the therapy of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The start of production of these critically important drugs is a significant step in providing Russian patients with affordable and high-quality medicines.

    New modern equipment allows the resident to annually produce up to 10 million packages of antiretroviral drugs for HIV therapy and up to one million packages of antitumor drugs. The company’s portfolio includes a total of more than 100 items included in the list of vital drugs. Their production capacity reaches 15 million packages per year.

    Sobyanin opened the Kalashnikov concern complex in Technopolis MoscowSobyanin told what new industrial enterprises will open in Moscow

    SEZ Technopolis Moscow is a territory with a special legal status, where a preferential regime of entrepreneurial activity for investors operates. The area of the facilities where high-tech enterprises are located exceeds 390 hectares. SEZ Technopolis Moscow has been a leader in international and national industry ratings for several years.

    Get the latest news quickly official telegram channel the city of Moscow.

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

    Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect

    https: //vv.mos.ru/nevs/ite/153087073/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Applications are now open for the National Prize in Financial and Economic Journalism

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    In Russia, the best journalistic works in the field of economics and finance will be selected as part of the annual national award “Finkor”. Applications for participation in the competition can be submitted until August 10 on the website fincor.rf.

    “Finance and economics are the basis for the stable development of society and the state. It is necessary for not only specialists in the field to be aware of what is happening, but also for all citizens of our country. Journalism serves as a bridge between the world of finance and the general public. The ability to talk about complex topics in an accessible language requires great skill and knowledge. It has already become a tradition to award the authors of the best journalistic works in the field of economics and finance at the Moscow Financial Forum. I am sure that this year we will also discover new names and recognize professionals, the best in their field,” said Irina Okladnikova, First Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation.

    This year, the competition for the award is being held for the fourth time. Representatives of Russian mass media, including radio and television broadcast editors, teams and individual publicists — professional journalists, representatives of online publications, authors of Telegram channels and bloggers covering economics and finance, as well as students of specialized faculties of Russian universities are invited to participate.

    “Economic and financial information is one of the most in-demand in the modern world. The constantly changing situation in the Russian and international economy requires journalists to painstakingly work with figures and facts, the ability to clearly present complex information and quickly convey it to readers. The Fincor Prize helps to identify the best practices in covering financial and economic processes and increase interest in these topics on the part of journalists. During the award, the number of submitted works has increased almost fourfold – from more than 200 applications in 2022 to almost 800 last year,” said

    Maria Bagreeva, Deputy Mayor of Moscow, Head of the Moscow Department of Economic Policy and Development.

    To participate, you must submit articles, interviews, reports, recordings of television broadcasts, podcasts, radio programs and other journalistic materials, as well as journalistic projects published in print or online publications, posted on the Internet, in Telegram channels, on radio or television in the period from August 1, 2024 to August 1, 2025.

    The award ceremony will take place within the framework of the IX Moscow Financial Forum, which will be held in the Manezh in the fall. Detailed information about the nominations and the award regulations are posted on the website fincor.rfYou can also apply for participation there.

    The Fincor National Award was established in 2022 by the Moscow City Economic Policy Complex jointly with the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.

    Its goal is to identify best practices for covering financial and economic processes in the country.

    The partners of the award this year are the Research Financial Institute of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, the Vmeste Media platform, the Free Economic Society of Russia, the Union of Journalists of Russia, the Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, the A.S. Griboyedov Moscow University, the Moscow University of Finance and Law, the St. Petersburg State University of Economics, the Institute of Media of the Research University Higher School of Economics, the Higher School of Journalism of Tomsk State University and the youth center of the Union of Journalists of Russia.

    Get the latest news quickly official telegram channelthe city of Moscow.

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

    Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect

    https: //vv.mos.ru/nevs/ite/153088073/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: NSU held a telethon with colleagues from the National University of Uzbekistan

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –

    Novosibirsk State University held a telethon with colleagues from the National University of Uzbekistan named after Mirzo Ulugbek “Heroes of Science and the Front: Memory of Teachers and Scientists”, dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

    The telethon was organized by partners in the Consortium of Researchers of the History of North and Central Asian Countries, the Humanitarian Institute of NSU and the Faculty of History of the Mirzo Ulugbek National University of Uzbekistan.

    Opening the meeting, Professor, Doctor of Historical Sciences Andrey Zuyev emphasized: “A lot of time has passed, but we must not forget about this, the most grandiose event of the 20th century for our history. Representatives of all peoples and social groups of the Soviet Union took part in the war. And our event is dedicated to preserving the memory of the teachers and scientists who contributed to the common Victory.”

    Professor of the National University of Uzbekistan, Doctor of Historical Sciences Akhmadjon Khalikulov, who spoke in response, shared the same point of view.

    The telethon program opened with a report by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor Vyacheslav Molodin, “Scientists of Siberia on the Front of the Great Patriotic War and in the Post-War Period,” which became the basis for a chapter in a collective monograph on this topic, prepared by the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences.

    He recalled that during the war, many scientists were already working in Novosibirsk, where the Novosibirsk Committee of Scientists was created in early 1942, with Academician S.A. Chaplygin becoming its honorary chairman. A year later, a branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences was formed, consisting of the following institutes: Mining and Geology, Transport and Energy, Chemical and Metallurgical, and Medical and Biological.

    “Among the priority tasks facing the institutes of the Siberian branch of the Academy of Sciences was the use of natural resources of the Urals and Siberia in the interests of the country’s defense, since many sources of strategic raw materials ended up in enemy-occupied territories,” Molodin said. And, as the academician showed in his report, the geologists successfully coped with it.

    It is difficult to overestimate the contribution to the victory of the future founders of Akademgorodok. Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentyev developed the theory of cumulation and decoding the actions of cumulative shells, on the basis of which a number of effective anti-tank ammunition was created, which played, among other things, a significant role in the outcome of the Battle of Kursk. The research of Sergei Alekseevich Khristianovich helped to increase the accuracy of shooting of another important class of weapons of that war – multiple launch rocket systems. The third co-founder of Akademgorodok Sergei Lvovich Sobolev worked on the development of computational mathematics during the war, and the results of his work later found expression in the successful implementation of the atomic and space projects of the Soviet Union.

    Many of the future famous scientists of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences went through the Great Patriotic War as soldiers and officers of the Red Army. Among them were the founder of the Institute of Nuclear Physics G.I. Budker, the founder of the Institute of Semiconductor Physics A.V. Rzhanov, one of the founders of the Institute of Thermal Physics S.S. Kutateladze, the author of the famous experiment on domesticating foxes and one of those who revived genetics in the USSR D.K. Belyaev, the future founder of the Physics and Mathematics School and one of the fathers of Soviet cybernetics A.A. Lyapunov and many others, whose names were also mentioned in Academician Molodin’s report.

    Also, as part of the telethon, PhD in History Stanislav Egorov presented a digital exhibition “From the War Fronts to the Scientific and Teaching Front: NSU Humanities Scientists — Participants in the Great Patriotic War.”

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: New Director General of the Bureau of Industrial Parks, MOEA, Mr. Chih-Ching Yang, outlines three core visions to drive park optimization and innovation.

    Source: Republic of China Taiwan

    The Bureau of Industrial Parks (BIP) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) held an inauguration and oath-taking ceremony for BIP’s new Director General on March 26. The ceremony was presided over by MOEA Vice Minister Chien-Hsin Lai, during which outgoing Acting Director General Chi-Chuan Liu handed over the official seal to incoming Director General Chih-Ching Yang. Director General Yang will continue to lead efforts in upgrading and transforming technology industrial parks and industrial parks, with a strong focus on sustainable operations and effective management.
    Director General Yang holds a master’s degree in business administration from the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. He began his public service career at the grassroots level in industrial services. He has served as Division Director and Deputy Director General of the Industrial Development Bureau, Chief Secretary of the MOEA, and most recently as Director-General of the Industrial Development Administration. Known for his solid academic background, strong execution skills, and proactive leadership, Director General Yang has led the Industrial Development Administration team of MOEA’s renowned “steel battalion” in advancing key initiatives such as amendments to the Industrial Innovation Act, industrial value enhancement, medical supply preparedness during the pandemic, and the dual transformation toward smart and low-carbon development. He is widely recognized in the industry as a key force in promoting sustainable park development.
    The Bureau of Industrial Parks oversees 80 parks across Taiwan. Vice Minister Lai encouraged the bureau to continue pursuing three major tasks: providing high-quality industrial spaces to support the “Five Trusted Industries”; advancing the “Extraterritorial Equivalent to Domestic” policy to expand Taiwan’s industrial reach; and implementing the “Balanced Taiwan” strategy to deepen local industrial clusters, thereby accelerating economic policy implementation.
    Director General Yang stated that building on existing foundations, he will drive optimization and innovation in park development through three core visions:
    Smart – Promoting AI integration across industries
    Safe – Creating secure and high-quality investment environments
    Sustainable – Developing low-carbon, green, and sustainable parks
    He emphasized the importance of public-private collaboration, listening to industry voices, and leveraging government support resources to create industrial bases aligned with the needs of emerging technologies. These efforts aim to accelerate industrial development and ensure the long-term sustainability of the parks.

    Spokesman: Mr. Liu Chi-Chuan (Deputy Director General, BIP)
    Contact Number: 886-7-3613349, 0911363680
    Email: lcc12@bip.gov.tw

    Contact Person: Hsiao, Yi-Chen (Personnel Office, BIP)
    Contact Number: 886-7-3611212 ext. 639
    Email: hs0218@bip.gov.tw

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Many experienced tradies don’t have formal qualifications. Could fast-tracked recognition ease the housing crisis?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pi-Shen Seet, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Edith Cowan University

    Once again, housing affordability is at the forefront of an Australian federal election.

    Both major parties have put housing policies at the centre of their respective campaigns. But there are still concerns too little is being done to address supply.

    One of the biggest hurdles is an ongoing shortage of skilled tradespeople, and difficulties attracting new workers. The construction industry accounts for 9% of Australia’s workforce. Yet an estimated 35% of workers lack formal qualifications.

    On Wednesday, Labor announced an election promise to fast-track formal trade qualifications for about 6,000 experienced but unqualified tradies.

    The Advanced Entry Trades Training program would start in 2026 and cost A$78 million.

    This program should help address some of the skills shortages in the sector. But it will be a long time before these benefits begin flowing through the system. And Australia is still likely to fall short of the government’s ambitious new home targets.

    Recognising skills we already have

    The Advanced Entry Trades Training program is intended to partly bridge the gap in construction skills shortages through a process called “recognition of prior learning” – and by offering free training to fill any skill gaps.

    In principle, recognition of prior learning allows individuals with substantial and relevant industry experience to attain formal qualifications without lengthy training programs.

    A similar approach was adopted in the healthcare sector as an emergency response to the pandemic, to boost the number of qualified workers.

    For the construction industry, it will encompass workers currently in the industry who have not completed an apprenticeship, as well as skilled migrants in Australia whose abilities remain unverified.

    This process can improve pay and conditions for participants. But it can also potentially fast-track their entry into the qualified workforce, addressing immediate skills shortages.



    Read more:
    A grab bag of campaign housing policies. But will they fix the affordability crisis beyond the election?

    Will it work?

    Labor’s new initiative mirrors an existing program at the state level, the New South Wales government’s Trade Pathways for Experienced Workers Program.

    According to Labor, this program saw 1,200 students earn their qualifications in an average time of seven months (as opposed to several years).

    It’s important to note this includes trades from all sectors of the NSW economy. But it is much faster than the traditional process of skill recognition. The Parkinson Review of Australia’s migration system found this process can take up to 18 months for a skilled migrant and cost over $9,000.



    Read more:
    Australia has a new National Skills Agreement. What does this mean for vocational education?

    Increased housing supply? Not soon

    Combined with other initiatives such as incentive payments for construction apprentices, the new Advanced Entry Trades Training program should help address some skills shortages in the sector.

    Australia’s peak construction industry body, Master Builders Australia, praised the proposal, citing its own analysis suggesting for every new qualified tradie, an extra 2.4 homes can be built.

    Even with these initiatives, the sector will likely fall short of the 83,000 additional skilled tradespeople needed to meet the Albanese government’s target to build 1.2 million new homes over five years.

    And it may mainly solve a categorisation issue. Currently, only about 80% of employers in the construction sector in Australia require all job applicants to hold a formal qualification.

    Crucially, it doesn’t address the core problem of attracting higher numbers of suitable people to a very traditional industry and helping them finish their qualifications. Almost half of construction sector apprentices do not complete their training.

    Other challenges

    There are other challenges for recognition of prior learning schemes more broadly.

    Research into recognition of prior learning for construction sector apprentices suggests some Australian employers and training providers may be averse to fast-tracking training. About 64% of assessed apprentices had prior experience and skills, but only 30% had their training shortened.

    These issues are even more complex when considering accelerated pathways for skilled migrants from a range of countries. There are some significant, well-documented challenges in transferring or recognising vocational qualifications across international boundaries.

    More to be done

    The Advanced Entry Trades Training program may go some way to alleviating a skills shortage in construction. But it will only partially address the broader issues of supply.

    Australia’s vocational education and training systems are complex, making it difficult to predict the outcomes.

    The proposed program does not address the problem of rising construction material costs and shortages. This problem is worsened by the declining productivity of the housing construction sector, which has halved over the last 30 years.

    Declining productivity isn’t just down to skilled labour shortages. It has also been attributed to other factors such as complex planning approvals, limited innovation, and a predominance of small firms.

    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. Many experienced tradies don’t have formal qualifications. Could fast-tracked recognition ease the housing crisis? – https://theconversation.com/many-experienced-tradies-dont-have-formal-qualifications-could-fast-tracked-recognition-ease-the-housing-crisis-255108

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Back to the fuel guzzlers? Coalition plans to end EV tax breaks would hobble the clean transport transition

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Mortimore, Lecturer, Griffith Business School, Griffith University

    wedmoment.stock/Shutterstock

    If elected, the Coalition has pledged to end Labor’s substantial tax break for new zero- or low-emissions vehicles.

    This, combined with an earlier promise to roll back new fuel efficiency standards, would successfully slow the transition to hybrid and battery electric vehicles (EVs).

    The Albanese government pitched these tax breaks as a way to make EVs cheaper to buy and more competitive with internal combustion engine cars. Since the tax break came in, EV popularity has surged. Almost 100,000 people have taken out a novated lease on an EV between mid-2022, when the scheme began, and February 2025.

    The Coalition has been consistently critical of the tax breaks on cost grounds. The scheme has been far more popular than government forecasts envisaged, leading to concerns about a cost blowout. Rather than the A$55 million forecast for 2024-25, the scheme has cost ten times that – $560 million. EV buyers are much more likely to be wealthy, meaning the tax break has been snapped up by people who need it less. The policy is, however, encouraging car suppliers to import more affordable EVs.

    These concerns don’t mean Labor’s policy is bad. Far from it – this tax break is currently the only policy working to drive down transport emissions, now the second-largest source of emissions in Australia. The Coalition has given no indication it would replace the EV tax break with other ways to cut transport emissions.

    Electric vehicles still cost more than their internal combustion engine counterparts.
    meowKa/Shutterstock

    What is this tax break – and did it work?

    In mid-2022, the Albanese government introduced a tax break to encourage uptake of electric vehicles. The measure initially covered hydrogen fuel-cell, battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, but plug-in hybrids are no longer eligible as of April 1.

    The tax break works by giving EV buyers who are current employees a fringe benefits tax exemption for low- or zero-emissions vehicles both held and used for private use. The fringe benefits tax is a flat tax of 47% levied on the car benefit provided by the employer. For the exemption to apply, the retail price of the car has to be under the threshold for the luxury car tax of $91,387.

    People in high incomes brackets often like to negotiate with their employer to have a car included as part of their salary package so they can reduce their taxable income. The fringe benefits tax is levied on these types of benefits.

    The scheme works by exempting purchasers of new EVs from fringe benefits tax. A battery electric Hyundai Kona retailed for around $60,000 last year – 32% more in price than its internal combustion engine equivalent. The fringe benefits tax of around $11,700 annually ends up being larger because of the EV’s high sale price. Without this exemption, the tax acts as a major disincentive for the uptake of EVs.
    By and large, electric vehicles cost significantly more than their traditional counterparts. This price gap is dropping as new manufacturers enter the market, but it’s still there. While EVs have lower fuel costs, the higher upfront cost has put off many prospective buyers. This is the issue Labor’s tax exemption was intended to fix.

    Has the scheme worked? Overall, yes. In 2022, EVs accounted for just 3.3% of all new cars sold in Australia. By 2023, almost two-thirds of battery electric, vehicles were sold to private buyers, a 145% increase. And in 2024, the figure had almost tripled to 9.6%. Without this tax incentive, Australia’s uptake of EVs would most likely be much lower.

    If a future Coalition government ended the tax break, Australia would return to the pre-2022 era, where fringe benefits tax acted as a significant disincentive for EVs.

    The tax break isn’t perfect – but it’s better than nothing

    Australia’s main power grid now runs on an average of 40% clean energy. As a result, emissions have been tracking downward in these sectors. But transport emissions are still rising. Transport is now Australia’s second-largest source of emissions – almost 100 million tonnes (Mt) out of our total emissions of 434 Mt. By 2030, transport is projected to be the largest source of domestic emissions.

    Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, nations agreed at least 20% of light vehicles on their roads would be low- or zero-emissions by 2030. But Australia is lagging well behind the pack on the shift to cleaner transport.

    At present, just 1% of Australia’s car fleet is electric. Even EVs make up close to 10% of new sales, changing the makeup of the entire fleet (16.8 million) will take years.

    By contrast, almost 90% of new cars sold in Norway are electric, according to a 2024 report from the International Energy Agency. In China it’s just under 60%, Sweden it’s 60%, Netherlands 30%, the UK 25% and the United States 10%.

    These countries have used a combination of tax incentives and fuel efficiency regulations to drive rapid uptake. While Labor has moved to introduce both of these, progress hasn’t been as fast.

    Back to the fuel guzzlers?

    Australians rely heavily on cars. But the long lack of fuel efficiency standards mean many models sold here emit much more than in other OECD countries – 150 grams per kilometre versus 107 across 29 European Union nations as of 2023. Put another way, a new car in Australia uses 40% more fuel than its equivalent in the EU. Many drivers prefer big cars, such as the top-selling Ford Ranger.

    If the Coalition ends the tax break and pulls the teeth of new emissions standards, it would bring recent modest progress to a halt.

    The Coalition has rightly pointed out the inequity of the tax break as it stands. My research has shown this could be fixed. Throwing the scheme out without proposing another way to cut transport emissions is disheartening.

    Anna Mortimore receives funding from Reliable Affordable Clean Energy Cooperative Research Centre for 2030 (RACE for 2030).

    – ref. Back to the fuel guzzlers? Coalition plans to end EV tax breaks would hobble the clean transport transition – https://theconversation.com/back-to-the-fuel-guzzlers-coalition-plans-to-end-ev-tax-breaks-would-hobble-the-clean-transport-transition-255211

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Jake Auchincloss Announces Guest for President Trump’s Joint Address to Congress

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Jake Auchincloss (Massachusetts, 4)

    March 03, 2025

    Washington, D.C. – Congressman Jake Auchincloss (D, MA-04) is announcing former Assistant Administrator for Global Health at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Dr. Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, as his guest for President Trump’s address to a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, March 4th. 

    Dr. Gawande is a renowned surgeon, writer, and public health leader. Prior to leading global health at USAID, he was a practicing general and endocrine surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He was the founder and chair of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation, and of Lifebox, a nonprofit organization working to make surgery safer globally.

    At USAID, Dr. Gawande oversaw global health efforts, providing access to preventative treatment and care. Since taking office on January 20, Trump has dismantled USAID and eliminated over ninety percent of 6,300 USAID awards, including health programs that help millions battling diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV.

    “The global vaccination efforts of Dr. Gawande and the public health officials at USAID have saved millions of lives and prevented unnecessary suffering. For the first time since 2003, a child in the U.S. has died from measles. Trump’s dismantling of USAID and his promotion of anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – who refuses to unequivocally recommend the measles vaccine – as our nation’s top health officer is reversing decades of progress in eradicating the world’s deadliest diseases,” said Congressman Jake Auchincloss

    “The experience of USAID shows what doing surgery with a chainsaw on the US government looks like. It is a bloodbath. The dismantling of USAID is costing tens of thousands of American jobs, massive loss of life, and mismanagement of billions of taxpayer dollars — the exact opposite of addressing fraud, waste, and abuse. The American people deserve to hear an explanation for why he’s firing public servants who keep America secure and cutting programs that save lives,” said Dr. Atul Gawande.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Modernization in motion as China’s ‘city of the future’ takes shape rapidly

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

    XIONG’AN, Hebei Province, April 24 — At the end of March, a new sports center with a seating capacity of over 40,000 opened in Xiong’an New Area in northern China’s Hebei Province, filling a key gap in the region’s capacity to host large-scale sports and cultural events.

    The Xiong’an New Area, located about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing, was established on April 1, 2017. It aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation’s capital, while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The process explores a new model of development in densely populated areas.

    According to Chinese authorities, Xiong’an has entered a pivotal stage, where large-scale infrastructure projects are advancing in tandem with accelerated relocation efforts. The focus has now shifted toward promoting high-quality development, high-standard management, and coordinated, efficient resettlement. As the much-anticipated “city of the future,” Xiong’an is taking shape at remarkable speed.

    MAJOR BREAKTHROUGHS

    At the end of 2021, Jia Mengshuang relocated from Beijing to Xiong’an for work. Her company is based in an internet industry park in the new area, which now accommodates more than 600 on-site employees.

    From the terrace of Jia’s office building, the view offers a striking glimpse of Xiong’an’s remarkable transformation. Just next door, the headquarters of China Satellite Network Group Co., Ltd. (CSCN) — the first centrally-administered state-owned enterprise (SOE) to establish a presence in the new area — officially began operations late last year. Meanwhile, the gleaming facades of two other centrally-administered SOEs’ nearly completed headquarters now rise prominently on the emerging skyline.

    As more SOEs establish a presence in Xiong’an, a series of emerging industrial clusters are driving the development of this futuristic city. Having lived and worked in Xiong’an for over half a year, Li Maofan, an employee at CSCN, is increasingly convinced that “dreams can be realized here.”

    Leveraging the presence of the satellite company and an innovation alliance for aerospace information and satellite internet, Xiong’an is developing an industrial ecosystem that spans satellite internet, spatiotemporal information, aerospace vehicles, and the intelligent manufacturing of commercial satellites. So far, it has attracted around 60 enterprises in the aerospace information sector.

    Driven by its commitment to becoming an innovation hub, the new area is also rapidly consolidating scientific and technological resources across industries such as next-generation information technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and new materials.

    Since its establishment, Xiong’an has seen the successful implementation of a series of landmark relocation projects. Four headquarters of centrally-administered SOEs, including CSCN, have already settled in the new area. Four others, including China Datang Corporation Ltd., are set to begin construction this year.

    Currently, over 4,000 Beijing-based enterprises have established operations in Xiong’an, and centrally-administered SOEs have opened over 300 branches and subsidiaries in the area.

    Supportive projects in education and healthcare are also progressing rapidly in the new area. Construction is accelerating on campus buildings for four Beijing-based universities, as well as the site for Peking University People’s Hospital, one of Beijing’s leading hospitals. Meanwhile, the Xiong’an branch of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, one of China’s most prestigious medical institutions, is set to begin construction soon.

    According to the reform and development bureau of Xiong’an, total completed investments in the new area had surpassed 860 billion yuan (about 119.25 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of February. Liu Jia, deputy director of the bureau, said that the implementation of the second batch of relocation projects is being expedited.

    SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

    Xiong’an is focusing not only on rapid development but also on prioritizing people in its approach to modernization, ensuring that ecological sustainability is integrated throughout the entire process.

    Huang Yuqiang, general manager of a tech firm, relocated his company from Beijing to Xiong’an four years ago. Huang’s company — now a national high-tech enterprise — has secured several invention patents. Its autonomous UAV inspection platform has been applied to various scenarios, including road defect inspections and park security.

    Benefiting from the local government’s robust talent attraction initiatives, Huang now enjoys a refreshingly carefree life after work. Not only did he move into a subsidized rental apartment at a 30-percent discount, but he also received a “Xiong’an talent card,” which grants him benefits related to business ventures, household registration, transportation, healthcare and children’s education.

    Content with the present and optimistic about the future, Huang transferred his family’s household registration to Xiong’an, where they now live. “We feel extremely comfortable, and our sense of happiness has greatly improved,” he said.

    Huang’s story reflects Xiong’an’s remarkable population growth. Since 2017, the new area has seen a consistent influx of residents, with its permanent population reaching 1.36 million by 2024, highlighting its increasing appeal as a hub for talent and opportunities.

    Much like Huang, Jia has gradually relocated her family to Xiong’an over two years. “Every morning, it’s just a five-minute walk to drop my child off at the kindergarten near home, followed by another 10-minute walk to the office,” said Jia, noting that it’s a simple pleasure she could never have imagined during her years in Beijing.

    Spanning an area of 1,770 square kilometers, the new area aims to create favorable living conditions for residents, with parks, recreational facilities, schools and convenience stores all within a 15-minute walk. The plan is to dedicate only 30 percent of the city’s space to urban development, leaving the rest for water and greenery, an exceptionally rare approach in China’s urban development history.

    Since 2017, Xiong’an has added a total of 481,000 mu (about 32,067 hectares) of trees, raising its forest coverage rate from 11 to 35 percent. Notably, the local country park, with a total area of approximately 18 square kilometers, is about five times the size of New York City’s Central Park.

    Baiyangdian Lake, one of northern China’s major wetlands, has undergone its largest systematic ecological restoration in history, with water quality reaching the highest level since monitoring began in 1988 after water replenishment. The lake is now home to 295 wild bird species, an increase of 89 species compared to the period before the new area was established.

    Designed to be smart, sustainable and free from “urban ills,” Xiong’an is China’s first city to achieve the synchronized development of both its digital and physical urban spaces on a citywide scale.

    One feature that consistently impresses nearly all visitors to Xiong’an is its cutting-edge smart mobility solutions. It has developed 153 kilometers of digital roads equipped with smart lampposts that integrate traffic lights and various sensors. By analyzing real-time traffic flow data, the intelligent system automatically adjusts signal timing to minimize red-light stops, significantly enhancing traffic efficiency, explained Song Laiqiang, product manager at China Telecom Digital City Technology Co., Ltd.

    Smart technology is also being used to tackle common urban challenges. According to Wang Kun, deputy director of the Rongdong administrative committee’s urban operations center, over 1,000 AI-equipped cameras across roads and neighborhoods in Rongdong district of Xiong’an can automatically detect 19 types of municipal issues, from overflowing trash bins to illegal parking. The center’s management platform then reports these issues to community workers, who resolve them promptly.

    At the heart of these smart systems is the Xiong’an urban computing center, often referred to as the city’s “brain,” which drives the construction and management of this smart city. “It integrates technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, AI and cloud computing to enable real-time, refined and intelligent urban management,” said Li Nan, a supervisor at Xiong’an Cloud Network Technology Co., Ltd.

    “All these innovations have enabled residents to enjoy a higher quality of life in a smarter city,” Li added.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The phrase ‘fuzzy wuzzy angels’ is far from affectionate – it reflects 500 years of racism

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erika K. Smith, Associate Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University

    This article contains mention of racist terms in historical context.

    Every Anzac Day, Australians are presented with narratives that re-inscribe particular versions of our national story.

    One such narrative persistently claims “fuzzy wuzzy angel” was used as an “affectionate” name for local stretcher-bearers of sick and wounded Australian soldiers during the New Guinea campaign of 1942 to 1945.

    Papua New Guineans called Australian soldiers masta (master), taubada (big man), and bos (boss). Australian soldiers called Papua New Guinean people by racist phrases including boong, nigger, kanaka, coon, boi, boy and wog.

    Our new research shows that, far from being “affectionate”, the phrase fuzzy wuzzy angel is best understood in this context – and in the context of 500 years of anti-Black racism.

    These other offensive terms used by soldiers are largely gone from the public domain, yet fuzzy wuzzy angel persists. We decided to explore this apparently acceptable form of contemporary racism.

    Power relations across the centuries

    In 1526 the Portuguese explorer Jorge de Menezes named islands in the west of what is now West Papua Ilhas dos Papuas.

    “Papuas” was a borrowed word by the Portuguese of Malay/Indonesian origin, meaning “frizzled” or “curly-haired”. The islands were therefore known as the “islands of the frizzy-haired people”.

    In 1545, the Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez named the east mainland Nueva Guinea (New Guinea). As historian J.H.F. Sollewijn Gelpke describes it, Ortiz de Retez saw a physical resemblance to the “frizzy haired inhabitants […] of the Guinea Coast in West Africa”.

    The first usage we found of the phrase fuzzy wuzzy angels relating to the New Guinea campaign was in an article in the Sydney’s The Daily Mirror in 1942. A war correspondent reported troops along the Track were reciting a “catchy verse with a swing in it”.

    The “catchy verse” appears to borrow directly from the 1892 poem Fuzzy Wuzzy, by English writer Rudyard Kipling. Kipling borrowed the phrase from how British soldiers referred to the Beja warriors of north-east Africa during the Mahdist (Anglo–Sudan) War of 1881–99.

    Shortly after the poem was published in The Daily Mirror, the image of the “fuzzy wuzzy angel” was immortalised in a photograph. George Silk’s image shows Raphael Oimbari (Hanau village, Oro Province) walking with injured Australian soldier Private George “Dick” Whittington (2/10th Battalion) on Christmas Day, 1942.

    While Whittington was identified as the injured soldier, it wasn’t until the 1970s that Oimbari was identified and named as the Papua New Guinean guide.

    The cultural journey of Kipling’s poem in Africa to Australian infantry on the Kokoda follows the same route as Spanish and Portuguese sailors from African Guinea to Papua New Guinea.

    This focus on frizzy or fuzzy hair homogenised Blackness under the colonial gaze.

    Continuing racial relations

    Far from being just stretcher bearers, local people during the Kokoda Campaign were often forced to support the Australian war effort in roles including cooks, cleaners, labourers, construction workers, farm hands and carriers of ammunition.

    These roles have also disappeared from our national narrative, along with the more racist forms of address.

    In place of historically accurate accounts is a distilled national narrative: iconic stretcher bearers “affectionately” known as fuzzy wuzzy angels.

    New Guinea native carriers meet Australian officers at a rest spot on the Kokoda Trail, August 1942.
    Australian War Memorial

    There was little interest in the Australian war story in Papua New Guinea and the Kokoda Track between the end of the war and the early 1990s. Then, in 1992, Prime Minister Paul Keating kissed the foot of the Kokoda Memorial.

    Attention by subsequent prime ministers and an increased number of books and films propelled the Kokoda Track into mainstream Australian consciousness.

    Prime Minister John Howard made the “affectionate” usage claim in a speech to Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Bill Skate in 1998.

    Papua New Guinean scholar Regis Tove Stella wrote in 2007 that fuzzy wuzzy angel is “belittling and consistent with the discourse of paternalism that largely characterised colonial administrative policy”.

    Yet we continue to see Indigenous perspectives erased in favour of the “affectionate” account.

    When Malcolm Turnbull laid a 75th anniversary wreath in April 2017, the Australian Associated Press included this explanatory paragraph:

    Local Papua New Guinean men, dubbed affectionately the ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels’, assisted and escorted wounded and injured Australian soldiers along the trail.

    In 2024, “affectionate” was reinscribed by Peter Dutton in an address to parliament to honour Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape.

    500 years of a racist phrase

    Australia’s northernmost island, Saibai Island of Zenadh Kes/Torres Strait Islands, is less than 4 kilometres from Papua New Guinea – yet most Australians know little about our closest neighbours.

    This year marks the 50th anniversary of Papua New Guinea’s independence from Australia, mobilised by the Whitlam government, some 25 years behind the post-war decolonisation movement.

    Yet official decolonisation has not stopped Australians from insisting that it is affectionate – and, by implication, not racist – to use colonial naming practices that date back some 500 years.

    This article draws on research conducted during Erika K. Smith’s doctoral candidature which was financially supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award and a Western Sydney University Postgraduate Research Scholarship.

    Ingrid Matthews 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. The phrase ‘fuzzy wuzzy angels’ is far from affectionate – it reflects 500 years of racism – https://theconversation.com/the-phrase-fuzzy-wuzzy-angels-is-far-from-affectionate-it-reflects-500-years-of-racism-253953

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: This may be as good as it gets: NZ and Australia face a complicated puzzle when it comes to supermarket prices

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Meade, Adjunct Associate Professor, Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research, Griffith University

    Daria Nipot/Shutterstock

    With ongoing cost of living pressures, the Australian and New Zealand supermarket sectors are attracting renewed political attention on both sides of the Tasman.

    Allegations of price gouging have become a political issue in the Australian federal election. At the same time, the New Zealand government has announced that “all options” are on the table to address a lack of competition in the sector – including possible breakup of the existing players.

    But it is not clear breaking up the supermarkets or other government interventions will improve the sector for shoppers and suppliers.

    In 2022, I co-authored a government-commissioned analysis looking at whether New Zealand’s two main supermarket groups should be forced to sell some of their stores to create a third competing chain.

    We found it was possible under some scenarios that breakup could benefit consumers. But key uncertainties and implementation risks meant consumers could lose overall.

    A lot hinges on whether breakup causes supermarkets’ input costs to rise or product variety to fall. Even in more positive scenarios at least some consumers could be left worse off.

    Watchdog concerns

    Competition authorities – the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and New Zealand’s Commerce Commission – have conducted supermarket sector studies. They each expressed concern at significant barriers to entry and expansion in the sector and supermarkets’ resulting high levels of profitability.

    This year, the ACCC concluded margins earned by Australia’s main supermarkets are among the highest of supermarket businesses in comparable countries. Similarly, in 2022 the Commerce Commission found New Zealand’s supermarkets were earning excess profits of around NZ$430m a year.

    While high profits might mean that market power is being abused, it could also mean managers are doing a good job. Or have had a great run of luck. Alternative explanations for high profits would need to be ruled out before putting fingers on regulatory triggers.

    New Zealand’s Finance Minister Nicola Willis says everything is on the table when it comes to addressing the concentration of the supermarket sector.
    Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

    Barriers to entry

    The starting point is to acknowledge that high profits and prices go hand in hand with barriers to entry and challenges in achieving economies of scale.

    In other words, some sectors are less competitive than others simply because a lack of demand or high costs make it unprofitable for additional competitors to either enter or remain in the market.

    Countries like Australia and New Zealand, with low population densities and large service areas, face high costs of nationwide supply. They also face significant shipping distances from other countries. This limits the ability of overseas entrants using their existing buying and supply infrastructures.

    That said, some barriers to entry might be artificial or caused by existing firms stifling new competitors.

    Existing supermarkets in both countries have gained controlling stakes in the land needed to set up new supermarkets – something regulatory settings can prevent.

    Another challenge for new chains is the process of getting planning and land use consents – something policymakers can address.

    This points to key elements of a test for whether supermarkets are charging too much. One is a recognition that there can be natural reasons for limited competition, and unless technologies or consumer preferences change that will remain the case.

    Another is a focus on the things that can be changed – whether at the firm or policy level – in a way that benefits consumers and suppliers. Finally, policymakers need to consider whether the benefits of implementing them outweigh the costs.

    Testing the market

    Building on work developed by Nobel economist Oliver Williamson, a “three-limb test” was used in the 2017 government-commissioned assessment of fuel pricing in New Zealand that I co-authored. The same could be used to assess the supermarket sector.

    That three-limb test asks

    • are there features of the existing industry structure and conduct giving cause for concern
    • can those causes for concern be remedied
    • would the benefits of remedying those concerns outweigh the costs of doing so?

    If the answer to all three limbs is yes, that suggests suppliers are charging too much (or delivering too little) since there are practical ways to improve on the status quo.

    A virtue of such a test is that is can be applied in any sector where there are high firm concentration, barriers to entry and high profit margins.

    Importantly, the test looks beyond just what firms are (or are not) doing and asks whether policy and regulatory settings are ripe for improvements too.

    The test is also pragmatic – it shouldn’t trigger changes unless they are clearly expected to do more good than harm. This is important if interventions are risky, costly or irreversible, especially in sectors that are important to all of us.

    Politicians on both sides of the Tasman are floating the possibility of supermarket breakup, among other possible interventions. The three-limb test helps to identify whether any proposed interventions are a good idea and whether supermarket prices are higher than they need to be.

    Richard Meade co-authored a 2022 study funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment examining the costs and benefits of breaking up New Zealand’s major supermarkets. The views expressed in this article are his own, and do not purport to represent those of any other party or organisation.

    – ref. This may be as good as it gets: NZ and Australia face a complicated puzzle when it comes to supermarket prices – https://theconversation.com/this-may-be-as-good-as-it-gets-nz-and-australia-face-a-complicated-puzzle-when-it-comes-to-supermarket-prices-254987

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Like at the city’s leading enterprises: new workshops and laboratories will be created in Moscow colleges

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    Large-scale modernization of workshops and laboratories continues in the capital’s colleges. They are equipped with the same equipment as modern enterprises in the city. This allows students to master the skills necessary for subsequent employment from their first year, the press service reported. Department of Education and Science of the City of Moscow.

    “Modern conditions for student training are being created together with partner employers. New laboratories and workshops are being opened in colleges, and innovative equipment will be installed in existing ones, like in the capital’s largest enterprises. 650 updated laboratories and workshops were modernized in colleges last year, and by the end of this year their total number will reach almost 1.5 thousand,” the department’s press service noted.

    So, inPolytechnic College named after P.A. Ovchinnikov digital metrology laboratories were updated. They were equipped with high-precision measuring instruments for quality control of products. Two new workshops with an automated surface mounting line and a full set of equipment for working with electronic boards were opened to train specialists in radio electronics.

    IN College of Communications No. 54 named after P.M. Vostrukhin The technical maintenance and repair area for power supply devices began operating. Here, students practice their skills in installing, maintaining, and troubleshooting industrial equipment, transformer substations, distribution devices, and overhead power lines. The college also opened the largest production line for assembling printed circuit boards and an electrical and radio assembly workshop, and modernized the quantum communications laboratory, which now has the latest quantum key encryption equipment.

    IN Moscow College of Business Technologies Six IT laboratories were modernized. They installed 180 high-performance computers with domestic software. With their help, students hone their professional skills in the field of creating mobile and web applications, analyzing network security, providing technical support to users, protecting data, backing up and restoring virtual, physical and cloud environments. The equipment allows working with several programs simultaneously and quickly processing graphics to create complex illustrations and animations.

    In the educational complex of urban development “Capital” opened two modern sites for practical training. In the laboratory of ornamental plant growing, students master the technologies of vertical gardening and plant care, using rare watering systems and special lighting. The soil science workshop was equipped with modern equipment – electronic scales and ion pH meters. Here, students analyze seed material, determine the quality of seeds and select optimal soils for industrial use.

    IN College of Automation and Information Technology No. 20 The electrical engineering and electronics laboratory was modernized. It was equipped with modern measuring instruments, including multimeters and oscilloscopes. Students learn to create and configure digital and analog circuits, gaining practical skills for work in the fields of IT, robotics, industrial automation and electronics.

    A new laboratory for practical training of forensic expert skills has opened in Police College. High-tech digital fingerprint scanners and expert lighting have appeared here. Thanks to the “Virtual Forensic Scientist” system, students can practice their investigative skills using virtual reality glasses.

    Detailed information about the in-demand professions and specialties taught in the capital’s colleges is available in the section “Colleges” on the portal“School. Moscow”, in the telegram channel “Colleges of Moscow” and the community of the same name on the social network “VKontakte».

    Practical classes for students of Moscow colleges are held in modern workshops and laboratories. This contributes to the formation and development of professional skills in students and corresponds to the objectives of the “Professionalism” project of the national project “Youth and Children”.

    Get the latest news quickly official telegram channel the city of Moscow.

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

    Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect

    https: //vv.mos.ru/nevs/ite/153067073/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Election meme hits and duds – we’ve graded some of the best (and worst) of the campaign so far

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

    As Australia begins voting in the federal election, we’re awash with political messages.

    While this of course includes the typical paid ads in newspapers and on TV (those ones with the infamously fast-paced “authorised by” postscripts), political parties and lobby groups now compete especially hard for our attention online.

    And, if there’s one thing internet users love, it’s a good meme.

    Indeed, as far back as two elections ago, in the 2019 campaign, the Liberal Party discovered the power of so-called “boomer memes”, and harnessed them effectively to help secure a third term in government.

    The other parties have since caught on though, and are battling hard to win the messaging war in a way that will resonate with voters, especially those who are inclined to ignore a typical political advertisement.

    What makes a good meme?

    The best political communication often contains a few key elements.

    First, it should be developed with a clear understanding of context, purpose and audience. If the target audience can’t get the message pretty much straight away, then it’s not much good.

    It should also spark some sort of emotional reaction. It should make voters feel something and motivate them to act, or change their voting intention.

    When it comes to political memes in particular, they need to make some clear reference to widely known cultural material. This might be a trending event in popular culture, or fit into an established meme format.

    And, of course, the best memes are fun. As the quote, often attributed to American funnyman Andy Kaufman, goes: “if you can make someone laugh, you can make them think”.

    Below, we have collected some of the major Australian political parties’ recent efforts on the meme front during the 2025 election campaign, and assessed their effectiveness. We graded them from “A” for best down to “D” for worst.

    Grading political messages

    We’ll start with the “diss track” the Liberals released earlier this month.

    We’d give this one a “D” grade. It focuses heavily on cost of living and might spark an emotional reaction from voters who feel pain when going to the shops. But, it’s highly unlikely to hit the mark, given it was released on a minor platform, and rap music (with its Black American roots) doesn’t exactly gel with the Liberal Party’s overall image and ethos.

    One SoundCloud user probably best summed up the vibe here, by referencing another famous internet meme: “how do you do, fellow kids?”



    Read more:
    Why the Coalition’s tone-deaf diss track was bound to hit all the wrong notes

    The Liberals did much better, however, with their version of the popular AI action figure trend that’s sweeping the Internet.

    We’d give this one a solid “B+.” It features some clever one-liners, makes use of a current trend, and makes its point easily and quickly. We knock a few points off for the redundant focus on “cheaper power” This would have been better as two separate issues rather than repeating one twice.

    Instead, we give Labor’s version a “C-”.

    It looks only barely like the prime minister. He is shown as neutral rather than smiling. And the accessories chosen feel forced.

    Although both memes tap into a trend, their shelf life will likely be short. This is in contrast to political ads like the below.

    Rather than jump on the latest, short-lived trend, this ad draws on cultural material that’s more than three decades old but considered classic. The juxtaposition of a widely seen children’s cartoon with a political ad provides a surprising contrast. And the strategic editing drew more than a few giggles out of us.

    We’d give this one an “A-.” It still relies on audio, which is often disabled by default, to get its point across but is solid, overall.

    This ad by the Greens, however, misses the mark.

    We like Lady Gaga as much as the next person, but the cultural connection here seems dated and forced. Rather than focus on one key message, the ad instead mentions five separate policy positions. It also doesn’t work without audio. We’d give it a “C-.”

    The Labor Party had more of a hit with this meme, though:

    It appropriates the Venn diagram, a well-established meme format, which requires a degree of creativity and intelligence to pull off successfully. It makes a clear point, but also doesn’t bash its audience around the head with it. So, we’d give this a “B+”.

    One of the best memes we’ve seen recently, however, comes from a Facebook page connected to The Greens:

    The Simpsons has become a kind of lingua franca of the internet over the last decade or more, and has been the genesis of many, many popular memes, including during the last federal election.

    This meme not only taps into that existing internet culture, and gestures towards one of the show’s sweetest-ever moments in recounting the circumstances of Maggie’s birth, but also cleverly draws on and repurposes one of the attack lines being used against the Greens (“Can’t vote Greens. Not this time”) by the lobby group Advance Australia. It’s a clever piece of communication and one of the few “A”-grade memes we’ve encountered in the campaign so far.

    Your turn

    Keep an eye on the memes you encounter in the next few weeks in the lead-up to the election on May 3. Which ones do you find effective and why?

    But memes are only part of the story. Also consider the positions of the candidates and parties and their substantive policies. Memes, good or bad, can only go so far.

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

    Stephen Harrington receives funding from the Australian Research Council, for the Discovery Project ‘Understanding and Combatting “Dark Political Communication”‘. He has made occasional donations to candidates for The Australian Greens.

    – ref. Election meme hits and duds – we’ve graded some of the best (and worst) of the campaign so far – https://theconversation.com/election-meme-hits-and-duds-weve-graded-some-of-the-best-and-worst-of-the-campaign-so-far-254709

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Why AUKUS remains the right strategy for the future defence of Australia

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Parker, Adjunct Fellow, Naval Studies at UNSW Canberra, and Expert Associate, National Security College, Australian National University

    Australian strategic thinking has long struggled to move beyond a narrow view of defence that focuses solely on protecting our shores. However, in today’s world, our economy could be crippled without an enemy boot stepping foot on Australian soil.

    Australia’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines through AUKUS marks a shift in this mindset.

    It is not a strategy in itself, but a structural pivot: a recognition that our vital interests lie far beyond the coastline, and that defending them requires Australia to project its maritime power.

    Protecting our vital sea lanes

    Over a century ago, US naval officer Alfred Thayer Mahan observed that “wars are won by the economic strangulation of the enemy from the sea”.

    While not universally true, this maxim is directly relevant to an island nation like Australia – 99% of our international trade moves by sea.

    But not just any trade – our critical supplies of fuel, fertiliser and ammunition all come by sea. Australia’s economy and defences would be crippled if these things were stopped at sea.

    These vulnerabilities are compounded by our growing dependence on undersea cables for communications.

    Strategic concepts that rely on making Australia’s territory a hard target, such as the “strategic defensive”, fail to grapple with this reality, perpetuating a flawed understanding of how to defend Australia.

    Viewing Australia’s interests solely through the lens of avoiding or defeating a territorial attack overlooks the reality that an adversary could cripple the nation far more easily through the maritime, space or cyber domains.

    The ability to project power in the seas and oceans far from Australia’s shores is critical to protecting these seaborne supply lines and sustaining the national economy. This is where AUKUS comes in – the endurance and range of nuclear-powered submarines are a key element.

    Developing a future maritime strategy

    Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarines would make adversary naval task groups vulnerable if they threatened our maritime trade routes.

    Much more is needed, however, to deliver a coherent maritime strategy. This includes:

    • expanding our surface combatant fleet

    • addressing the vulnerability of Australia’s limited number of resupply, mine warfare and hydrographic vessels

    • and resolving longstanding issues around our strategic fleet (commercial ships that could be requisitioned in a time of crisis).

    We must also expand our flagged merchant shipping fleet by reforming the Australian International Shipping Register. And we must strengthen our domestic maritime security through the establishment of a national coastguard.

    But AUKUS, as the centrepiece of our future undersea capability, is a good start.

    AUKUS’ critics

    AUKUS has attracted plenty of criticism — particularly following the new Trump administration’s moves away from the US’ traditional allies in Europe.

    Yet, despite claims the three-phase AUKUS submarine plan is failing, it remains remarkably on track.

    Like any complex defence acquisition, it carries risks. These risks include the continued political will to keep the deal on track, as well as the workforce, delivery schedule and cost pressures that come with building the submarines.

    But the relevant question is not whether risks exist — if that were the test, most defence programs wouldn’t proceed. The question is whether the risks around AUKUS are being effectively mitigated.

    And as the three phases of the AUKUS deal progress, these risks will continue to evolve. Australia must remain focussed on addressing them.

    Political will is firm

    The political risk has been most salient recently, given the Trump administration’s actions on Europe, Ukraine, foreign aid and tariffs. But while these disruptions are significant, they were largely foreshadowed.

    By contrast, the political signals coming out of Washington around AUKUS have been overwhelmingly positive. This is because AUKUS is in the US’ strategic interests as much as it is in Australia’s interests.

    Importantly, the political commitment to AUKUS in Canberra, Washington and London has already been demonstrated.

    The “optimal pathway” to guide the agreement into the 2030s was signed within 18 months of AUKUS’ launch in September 2021. And the AUKUS treaty that enables the US and UK to transfer nuclear submarine technology and equipment to Australia has since been signed and entered into force among all three partners.

    In Australia, bipartisan support has held for over three years, with no sign of weakening.

    Australia’s importance to the US

    Many critics have also focused on the risks posed by the US submarine industrial base and its ability to build nuclear-powered submarines quickly enough.

    The US would need to increase its production rate to two Virginia-class submarines per year by 2028 – and subsequently to 2.33 submarines per year – in order to reach the target US fleet of 66 submarines by 2054.

    But this does not preclude the sale of three Virginia-class submarines to Australia in the early 2030s. Australia is not just a recipient of submarines from the US — it will help enable the US’ undersea operations in the region.

    Our role as a rotational hub for US submarines and the longstanding support we can offer the US fleet through facilities such as the Harold E. Holt submarine communications station makes our contribution far more valuable than the notional loss of three submarines on paper.

    Could this change in the future? Like all international arrangements, of course it could. But there is no indication at present that it will.

    The defence of Australia is not simply about protecting our continent from attack — it is about safeguarding vital national interests. For an island nation, that means securing maritime trade routes and undersea infrastructure.

    Even for those concerned about the extremely unlikely prospect of invasion, a robust maritime strategy also enables threats to be defeated well before they reach our shores.

    Through its emphasis on maritime power projection, AUKUS reflects a fundamental shift in how we think about defending Australia in the decades ahead.

    This is the final part of a series on the future of defence in Australia. Read the other stories here.

    Jennifer Parker is a 20-year veteran of the Royal Australian Navy.

    – ref. Why AUKUS remains the right strategy for the future defence of Australia – https://theconversation.com/why-aukus-remains-the-right-strategy-for-the-future-defence-of-australia-254985

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: “Devastating Loss”: Senator Murray Slams Trump Gutting Women’s Health Initiative—WHI is the Largest and Most Influential National Study of Women’s Health & Based out of Fred Hutch in Seattle

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray
    ICYMI from Science: “NIH guts its first and largest study centered on women”
    ICYMI: In Senate Forum on NIH Research, Senator Murray Highlights How Trump and Elon’s Devastating Funding Cuts and Mass Layoffs are Putting Lifesaving Research At Risk
    Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chairof the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and former Chair of the Senate Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education & Related Agencies Subcommittee released the following statement on the Trump administration gutting the historic Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), the largest National Institutes of Health (NIH) effort studying the health needs of women. WHI has enrolled more than 160,000 participants in clinical trials and tracked the health of many thousands more over more than three decades since its inception in the early 1990s. There are currently over 42,000 participants that are actively involved. WHI’s findings have had a major influence on women’s health care, reducing rates of cancer and other diseases, and influencing clinical guidelines for multiple health factors.
    Yesterday, WHI investigators were informed that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will terminate WHI Regional Center (RC) contracts at the end of their current fiscal year, September 2025. According to the WHI Funding Announcement issued yesterday, the WHI Clinical Coordinating Center, which is based at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, will continue operations until January 2026, after which time its funding remains uncertain. “The full implications of these funding cuts are still being determined, but these contract terminations will significantly impact ongoing research and data collection—especially the detailed participant health event data collected by RC staff. The loss of this critical data stream would severely limit WHI’s ability to generate new insights into the health of older women, one of the fastest-growing segments of our population,” the notice read.
    “This is a devastating loss for women’s health research. It’s unacceptable and truly tragic that the Trump administration has decided to pull the plug on one of the most influential studies in the world and one that has led to enormous breakthroughs in preventing chronic disease—a stated goal of HHS leadership—and helping women everywhere live healthier and longer lives.
    “The Women’s Health Initiative has not only led to major advancements in our understanding of women’s health issues, especially in older women, but it has paved the way for a generation of researchers focused on women’s health—which has long been overlooked and underfunded. Now, Trump, Elon, and our pro-disease Health Secretary RFK Jr. are taking an axe to a study that has helped millions of Americans live healthier lives and have better treatment options—yet another example of how this administration is hell-bent on cutting health research to the bone without a clue and without a care for the consequences.
    “Destroying the Women’s Health Initiative is an unbelievably shortsighted move that will have an immense long-term cost for our country—in undiscovered treatments and cures, the loss of vast amounts of data to improve women’s health, and a less healthy population overall.
    “This is an unconscionable loss—and I am calling on every one of my colleagues, especially my Republican colleagues who understand the importance of supporting research into women’s health, to join me in demanding that the Trump administration immediately reverse course.”
    Senator Murray has been leading the charge against the Trump administration’s efforts to gut lifesaving research at NIH and fire en masse more than 1,300 skilled scientists and grants administrators at the agency. When the Trump administration attempted to illegally cap indirect cost rates at 15 percent, Senator Murray immediately and forcefully condemned the move, led the entire Senate Democratic caucus in a letter decrying the proposed change, and introduced amendments to Senate Republicans’ budget resolution to reverse it, which Republicans blocked.
    As a longtime appropriator and former Chair of the Senate HELP Committee, Senator Murray has always championed women’s health care and fought to boost investments in women’s health care research in particular. As the former Chair of the Senate Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education & Related Agencies Subcommittee, Senator Murray has fought for increases in women’s health research programs across NIH, including the Implementing a Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) Initiative and the Office of Research on Women’s Health. As the top Democrat on the Senate HELP Committee, Murray led negotiations and passage of the 21st Century Cures Act in 2016, bipartisan legislation that provided $4.8 billion over the next 10 years to invests in a wide range of health priorities including with regards to women’s health care. Murray leads and has repeatedly introduced the Jeanette Acosta Invest in Women’s Health Act, which would increase women’s access to preventive and lifesaving cancer screenings. Murray has also been a strong advocate for women veterans’ health care—transforming the VA over decades to meet the needs of women veterans, whether by authoring and passing the Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act in 2010, helping to pass the Deborah Sampson Act and MAMMO Act to address gender disparities at VA and expand access to breast cancer screening and treatment at VA, or by delivering annual funding as an appropriator to help VA provide the necessary care for women veterans.
    Last year as Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray delivered a record $900 million investment in women veterans’ health care, as well as a $300 million funding boost for NIH. Senator Murray also leads landmark bipartisan legislation endorsed by Halle Berry to boost menopause research and, for the first time, coordinate the federal government’s existing programs related to menopause and mid-life women’s health. Earlier this month, Senator Murray introduced separate bipartisan legislation to require VA and the Department of Defense (DoD) to research and study the effects of menopause on women servicemembers and women veterans
    Over her years as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray secured billions of dollars in increases for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health, and during her time as Chair of the HELP Committee, she established the new ARPA-H research agency as part of her PREVENT Pandemics Act to advance some of the most cutting-edge research in the field.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Markets are choppy. What should you do with your super if you are near retirement?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natalie Peng, Lecturer in Accounting, The University of Queensland

    Shutterstock

    For Australians approaching retirement, recent market volatility may feel like more than just a bump in the road.

    Unlike younger investors, who have time on their side, retirees don’t have the luxury of waiting out downturns. A sharp dip just before, or as you begin drawing down your superannuation, can leave lasting damage.

    It’s not just about watching your super balance dip.

    The real danger comes if you need to start withdrawing funds during a slump. Doing so can lock in losses and make it harder for your remaining savings to recover. The timing of poor market returns is known in finance circles as “sequencing risk”. And it can shorten the life of your retirement savings.

    What’s going on in markets?

    So far in 2025, global shares as measured by the MSCI World Index have fallen 4.6%. Concerns over stubborn inflation and trade tensions that will hurt growth are keeping investors on edge.

    If your superannuation is in a “balanced” option, with diversified investments in stocks, bonds, private markets and cash, your balance will have fallen by less than this amount.

    Zoom out and the story looks better. Over the past year, total returns for the MSCI index remain strong, up 6.5%.

    It’s a reminder that downturns are often followed by rebounds. We saw this during the COVID crash in 2020, when markets plummeted, only to recover more than 50% over the following year.

    Still, for those nearing retirement, the timing of these dips matters more than the averages. Uncertainty makes planning all the more crucial.

    Is your super still in high gear?

    Many Australians don’t know exactly how their super is invested. Most people are in default “balanced” or “lifecycle” options, which automatically shift from high-growth assets like shares to safer investments like bonds and cash as retirement approaches.

    A lifecycle option in super will automatically adjust your investments as you age.
    Darren Baker/Shutterstock

    This design helps cushion your balance from big market hits as you near retirement. But if you’ve chosen a high-growth option or haven’t reviewed your investment settings in years, you could still be heavily exposed to volatility.

    In that case, now’s the time to consider your options:

    • delay retirement by a year or two to give your portfolio time to recover

    • move to part-time work instead of retiring fully, reducing how much super you need to draw down

    • review your budget. You can’t control the markets, but you can control your spending plans.

    Don’t panic – reacting emotionally can cost you

    When markets fall, it’s natural to feel the urge to switch your portfolio mix from stocks into cash. But this can turn temporary losses into permanent ones.

    Instead, consider more measured steps. Transition-to-retirement strategies let you draw a partial income while keeping most of your super invested.

    Annuities – which offer guaranteed income for life or a fixed term – are another option. Newer products also address longevity risk, which is the risk of outliving your savings.

    What does a 5% drop really mean?

    Let’s say you’re 65 and have a super balance of A$200,000 (for men, that’s roughly the median; for women, it’s lower due to factors like lower lifetime earnings and career breaks).

    Long-term returns may be lower than in recent years.
    Shutterstock

    A 5% fall translates to a $10,000 loss. That might not seem huge, but if you were planning to draw down 5% of your balance annually – about $10,000 a year – that loss could effectively wipe out an entire year’s retirement income.

    It doesn’t stop there. If left invested, that $10,000 could have continued to grow. Over a 20-year retirement, and assuming a 5% annual return, that $10,000 could have grown to over $26,000.

    For retirees with smaller super balances or higher withdrawal rates, the impact of a market dip can be even more significant.

    Many experts now expect long-term returns to be more modest than in recent decades. Ageing populations, climate change and shifting global dynamics are likely to weigh on growth.

    This makes it even more important to avoid switching entirely into cash, which can erode your savings through inflation over what could be a 20- or 30-year retirement.

    A smarter path to retirement

    The best approach is to gradually shift your investments in the years leading up to retirement – not all at once in response to a market dip. Lifecycle options do this automatically, but if you’re managing your super yourself, it’s worth getting advice.

    Your super fund’s website likely offers tools and calculators to help. ASIC’s MoneySmart retirement planner is another great resource. And don’t underestimate the value of calling your fund to ask:

    • How is my super invested?

    • Does this match my age and risk tolerance?

    • What are my options if I want to make changes?

    The bottom line

    Retiring in a volatile market isn’t easy, but panic isn’t a plan. By understanding your investment mix, taking advantage of flexible retirement strategies, and seeking advice when needed, you can navigate uncertainty more confidently.

    Planning for retirement isn’t about avoiding all risk – it’s about managing it. With the right tools and mindset, you can stay on course, even when markets wobble.



    Read more:
    How much do you need to retire? It’s probably a lot less than you think

    Natalie Peng 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. Markets are choppy. What should you do with your super if you are near retirement? – https://theconversation.com/markets-are-choppy-what-should-you-do-with-your-super-if-you-are-near-retirement-255017

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for April 24, 2025

    ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 24, 2025.

    The ocean can look deceptively calm – until it isn’t. Here’s what ‘hazardous surf’ really means
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samuel Cornell, PhD Candidate, Beach Safety Research Group, School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Over the Easter weekend, seven people drowned along the Australian coast. Most were swept off rock platforms – extremely dangerous locations that are increasingly prevalent in Australia’s coastal fatality data. The weather was

    The major parties have announced their plans to address domestic and family violence. How do they stack up?
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor (Practice), Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University In the past week, at least seven women have been killed in Australia, allegedly by men. These deaths have occurred in different contexts – across state borders, communities and relationships. But are united by one truth:

    The biggest losers: how Australians became the world’s most enthusiastic gamblers
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wayne Peake, Adjunct research fellow, School of Humanities and Communication Arts, Western Sydney University The story goes that the late billionaire Australian media magnate Kerry Packer once visited a Las Vegas casino, where a Texan was bragging about his ranch and how many millions it was worth.

    A golden era for personalized medicine is approaching, but are we ready?
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nazia Pathan, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher, Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University Biobanks have become some of the most transformative tools in medical research, enabling scientists to study the relationships between genes, health and disease on an unprecedented scale (Piqsels/Siyya) If there’s a disease that seems to run

    The billions spent on NZ’s accommodation supplement is failing to make rent affordable – so what will?
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Yiu, Associate Professor, School of Business, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Pixelbliss/Shutterstock New Zealand’s unaffordable housing market has left many low and middle-income families reliant on the accommodation supplement to cover rent and mortgage payments. But our new research has found the scheme, which costs

    Fossil teeth show extinct giant kangaroos spent their lives close to home – and perished when the climate changed
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Laurikainen Gaete, PhD Candidate, University of Wollongong Chris Laurikainen Gaete Large kangaroos today roam long distances across the outback, often surviving droughts by moving in mobs to find new food when pickings are slim. But not all kangaroos have been this way. In new research published

    The billions spent on NZ’s accomodation supplement is failing to make rent affordable – so what will?
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Yiu, Associate Professor, School of Business, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Pixelbliss/Shutterstock New Zealand’s unaffordable housing market has left many low and middle-income families reliant on the accommodation supplement to cover rent and mortgage payments. But our new research has found the scheme, which costs

    The gambling industry has women in its sights. Why aren’t policymakers paying attention?
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simone McCarthy, Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Commercial Determinants of Health, Deakin University Wpadington/Shutterstock Whatever the code, whatever the season, Australian sports fans are bombarded with gambling ads. Drawing on Australians’ passion, loyalty and pride for sport, the devastating health and social consequences of gambling – including financial

    When ‘equal’ does not mean ‘the same’: Liberals still do not understand their women problem
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol Johnson, Emerita Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Adelaide “Women’s” issues are once again playing a significant role in the election debate as Labor and the Liberals trade barbs over which parties’ policies will benefit women most. In the latest salvo, the opposition

    Tremors, seizures and paralysis: this brain disorder is more common than multiple sclerosis – but often goes undiagnosed
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Scrivener, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock Imagine suddenly losing the ability to move a limb, walk or speak. You would probably recognise this as a medical emergency and get to hospital. Now imagine the doctors

    The origin story of the Anzac biscuit is largely myth – but that shouldn’t obscure the history of women during the war
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Garritt C. Van Dyk, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Waikato Australian Comforts Fund buffet in Longueval, France, 1916. Australian War Memorial The Anzac biscuit is a cultural icon, infused with mythical value, representing the connection between women on the home front and soldiers serving overseas during

    Politics with Michelle Grattan: historian Frank Bongiorno on dramatic shifts in how elections are fought and won
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra This election has been lacklustre, without the touch of excitement of some past campaigns. Through the decades, campaigning has changed dramatically, adopting new techniques and technologies. This time, we’ve seen politicians try to jump onto viral podcasts. To discuss old

    Albanese government announces $1.2 billion plan to purchase critical minerals
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A re-elected Albanese government will take the unprecedented step of buying or obtaining options over key critical minerals to protect Australia’s national interest and boost its economic resilience. The move follows US President Donald Trump’s ordering a review into American

    Why special measures to boost Fiji women’s political representation remain a distant goal
    RNZ Pacific Despite calls from women’s groups urging the government to implement policies to address the underrepresentation of women in politics, the introduction of temporary special measures (TSM) to increase women’s political representation in Fiji remains a distant goal. This week, leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa), Cabinet Minister Aseri Radrodro, and opposition

    Albanese government announces $1.2 billion in plan to purchase critical minerals
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A re-elected Albanese government will take the unprecedented step of buying or obtaining options over key critical minerals to protect Australia’s national interest and boost its economic resilience. The move follows US President Donald Trump’s ordering a review into American

    Flooding incidents in Ghana’s capital are on the rise. Researchers chase the cause
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Appiah Takyi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Urban flooding is a major problem in the global south. In west and central Africa, more than 4 million people were affected by flooding in 2024. In Ghana, cities suffer damage

    Australia needs bold ideas on defence. The Coalition’s increased spending plan falls disappointingly short
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Just as voting has begun in this year’s federal election, the Coalition has released its long-awaited defence policy platform. The main focus, as expected, is a boost in defence spending to 3% of Australia’s GDP within the next decade.

    Sniping koalas from helicopters: here’s what’s wrong with Victoria’s unprecedented cull
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Hicks, Lecturer in Law, The University of Melbourne Roberto La Rosa/Shutterstock Snipers in helicopters have shot more than 700 koalas in the Budj Bim National Park in western Victoria in recent weeks. It’s believed to be the first time koalas have been culled in this way.

    Rather than short-term fixes, communities need flexible plans to prepare for a range of likely climate impacts
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Logan, Senior Lecturer Above the Bar of Civil Systems Engineering, University of Canterbury Dave Rowland/Getty Images As New Zealanders clean up after ex-Cyclone Tam which left thousands without power and communities once again facing flooding, it’s tempting to seek immediate solutions. However, after the cleanup and

    Why do Labor and the Coalition have so many similar policies? It’s simple mathematics
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriele Gratton, Professor of Politics and Economics and ARC Future Fellow, UNSW Sydney Pundits and political scientists like to repeat that we live in an age of political polarisation. But if you sat through the second debate between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition leader Peter Dutton

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –