NewzIntel.com

Category: Education

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Getting to know the partners of the State University of Management: wide opportunities for internships and employment prospects

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    The admission campaign of the State University of Management is approaching its hottest stage. For many far-sighted applicants, one of the main questions is the issue of subsequent employment. In this regard, we decided to introduce them to a small part of the university’s partners, who will have the opportunity to do an internship, and perhaps even find a permanent job in these companies.

    Kept. Head of the Kept brand development group Maria Uchaeva.

    Briefly describe your company’s place in the market.

    — Kept has been present in Russia for 35 years and is one of the largest audit and consulting firms on the market. The company has offices in 10 cities in Russia. Kept has an extensive technology practice that helps clients become more efficient with the help of digital products and solutions.

    How do young specialists adapt? Is there a mentoring/coaching system, what does it include? — All new employees undergo a two-day onboarding, during which they learn more about the main divisions and areas of the company’s activities. Young specialists work with a manager-coach on their professional goals, improving their performance. And a buddy mentor helps them get used to the team faster – introduces them to corporate activities and traditions.

    How fast is career growth in your company?

    — Kept has a transparent career ladder: an internship usually lasts from 3 to 6 months. If the employee is then ready to work full time, he is promoted to the next grade. It is important that in our company, an internship implies further employment.

    DIDENOK TEAM. Agency co-founder, GUU graduate Peyzulla Magomedov.

    Briefly describe your company’s place in the market.

    — DIDENOK TEAM is a communications agency – No. 1 in the Adindex rating in the influence marketing category. We develop creative ideas, strategies, positioning and visual identity for global and personal brands, and also manage our clients’ social networks on a turnkey basis.

    Over seven years of work, we have assembled a strong team of professionals with over 2,000 strong cases. Our clients include: Yandex, Zolotoe Yabloko, Samokat, Samsung, Alfa Bank, Ingosstrakh, L’Oreal, Alpen Gold, VTB, Megafon and others. We manage celebrities such as: Anton Shastun, Mash Milash, Dima Pozov, Yana Churikova, Nikita Nagorny, Andrey Bebureshvili, Dania Kraster and others. The total number of subscribers of our stars is already 600 million people.

    Describe a short step-by-step instruction on how to get a job at your company and why a job seeker should choose you?

    — Our company is constantly looking for new promising specialists in the areas of customer service, creativity, strategy, design, and back office. For guys without practical experience, but with a desire to gain real skills in advertising, we have a cool internship program. You can always find out more on our website in the “Work with us” section.

    What skills and knowledge do you need to have to apply for a position in your company?

    — To join our team, you need to have expert knowledge in the field of marketing, have a portfolio of completed projects, understand the effectiveness of key tools in digital advertising. In addition, it is important to be well-versed and have a broad outlook. If you follow trends, we are waiting for your resume at hr@didenokteam.com.

    AKAR. PR manager of AKAR Daria Ezhova.

    Briefly describe your company’s place in the market.

    — The Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (ACAR) is a leading industry association representing the interests of the Russian advertising and marketing communications market. The Association unites the largest players, which makes it a significant regulator and a platform for dialogue between business and the state.

    How do young specialists adapt? Is there a mentoring/coaching system, what does it provide? — A system of internships has been built within AKAR, allowing it to train personnel for its structure, which unites three more associations: ARIR, RAMU, GIPP and the commercial structure CRBC, thanks to which large-scale industrial conferences, festivals and competitions are held, media projects are developed, research is implemented and useful industry content is generated. Many students who have completed an internship at AKAR currently occupy key management positions within the structure. We provide structured adaptation through mentoring, practice in real projects and training. Each intern is assigned a curator who helps them integrate into the team, consults on work issues, and provides feedback on completed tasks. More details on the AKAR internship website.

    What are the main problems of modern job seekers, what mistakes should be avoided at the very beginning of a career?

    — In our opinion, one of the main problems of modern job seekers is inflated expectations at the initial stage. Often, new specialists immediately want a high salary, interesting tasks and fast career growth, not realizing that the first months (and sometimes years) are an investment in skills and gaining experience. It is important to show initiative; interns who themselves offer ideas, ask for feedback and take on additional tasks are more likely to receive an offer for their first job.

    “Rosselkhozbank”. Head of the HR Department of JSC “Rosselkhozbank” Anastasia Kalanchina.

    How does your company usually recruit interns?

    — We have a large database of partner universities, among which we regularly post open internship positions. In addition, we cooperate with the career agency FutureToday: we also publish and talk about RSHB on their platforms. We also participate in career events, where we look for candidates for our team. The main flow of potential candidates comes from these platforms.

    What specialists are most in demand in your industry at the moment and in your company in particular?

    — Our biggest demand is for economists, financiers and analysts, whom we are considering for various departments. Here we can note such areas as large business, financial risks, work with problem assets and retail business. We are also looking for guys in other areas: HR, marketing, journalism and so on.

    Does your company provide any special working conditions for interns and young professionals?

    — Yes, Rosselkhozbank has a flexible schedule for interns so that students can combine their studies and internships. Therefore, every student from the 3rd year can work from 20 to 40 hours a week. We have VHI (voluntary medical insurance) with dentistry for interns, as well as loyalty programs that are valid from the first day of employment.

    Audit and consulting company “Pacioli”. HR Director Marina Emelyanova.

    Briefly describe your company’s place in the market.

    — We have two legal entities, one is engaged in audit, the other in consulting. If we talk about audit, we are in the top 10 largest companies according to the rankings of the year before last (the last one is not ready yet). If we talk about consulting, there are four blocks and, for example, in terms of business assessment, we are in 5th place among all Russian companies. In the blocks of engineering consulting and non-financial reporting, we work with very large companies at the level of state corporations.

    What skills and knowledge do you need to have to apply for a position in your company?

    — Nothing supernatural is required, only a good basic education in the relevant fields and knowledge of English. Personal qualities are important. People with a certain mindset and character work in consulting: erudite, striving for development, ready to solve various problems, responsible, self-confident enough to negotiate with very high-level clients.

    Does your company have any training programs for interns and young professionals?

    — There are two programs: “Pacioli University Consulting” and “Pacioli University Audit”. The first one lasts about a month, is aimed at 3rd-4th year students, and is highly practice-oriented. The “Pacioli University Audit” program is held twice a year, in April and August for a week and a half. In the first week we give in-depth theory, in the second – practical tasks and a large final work, based on the results of which the students receive offers. The level of demand for these programs is growing noticeably. Last year, we had 12 people studying consulting, and this year we have already received 40 applications.

    Systeme Electric. Recruitment Administration Specialist Yulia Shepelova.

    What specialists are most in demand in your industry and in your company in particular at the moment?

    — Systeme Electric is constantly recruiting personnel, as the company is developing, new products and projects appear. The most in-demand positions now are: design engineer, software engineer, technical support engineer, service engineer. We also have vacancies at production sites. The full list of vacancies is available on our website.

    Describe a short step-by-step instruction on how to get a job at your company and why a job seeker should choose you?

    — How to get a job with us? Go to the official website of Systeme Electric or to the company page on hh.ru. The selection process consists of 3-4 interview stages: a conversation with a recruiter, an interview with a potential manager, an interview with an HRBP. We have our own educational platform with more than 100 courses, external trainings and mentoring and career guidance programs, as well as separate programs for managers. The company has sports communities and three clubs of interest, there are volunteer programs, and family holidays are organized. Open communication is important to us not only at work, but also outside of it.

    Does your company provide any special working conditions for interns and young professionals?

    — We are pleased to offer: competitive income; flexible working hours and partial work from home; mobile communications and a laptop for productive work; internal training and career growth prospects. Summer internships and permanent trainee positions, positions of young specialists and department assistants are available for students. The rate is from 30 hours per week, a hybrid work format is possible.

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 04/16/2025

    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 Russia: Polytechnic students prepare Leningrad-style treats

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    The Institute of Secondary Vocational Education of SPbPU held the defense of a student research paper, “Leningrad Lunch,” which became part of the St. Petersburg government project, “St. Petersburg Cuisine.”

    The event began with the opening of the updated exhibition of the Museum of the History of the Development of Public Catering in St. Petersburg. Visitors were presented with exhibits telling about the development of culinary art in the 18th–19th centuries: coronation and restaurant menus, kitchen utensils used to create culinary masterpieces in the homes of the Russian aristocracy, etc. One of the museum’s rarities is an ice cream maker used to make ice cream for Catherine II herself.

    Then, students of the 1st–4th years of study of the public catering, low-temperature and food technologies department, under the guidance of a teacher Tatyana Tsvetkova told about the peculiarities of the history of Leningrad cuisine, the traditions of city restaurants and outstanding chefs who hosted the top officials of the USSR, Europe and the USA. The guys also prepared a “Leningrad Lunch” using recipes from a collection of USSR recipes and 19th century cookbooks by Ignatius Radetsky and Pelageya Aleksandrova-Ignatyeva, thereby emphasizing the peculiarity of Leningrad cuisine, which has preserved the culinary traditions of St. Petersburg cuisine. The guests were served Leningrad-style fish, Novinka cutlets, herring forshmak, Ladoga salad, Leningrad cake, Yeralash multilayer jelly and ice cream.

    The event was attended by the First Deputy Chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg, head of the “St. Petersburg Cuisine” project, Sergei Markov.

    It is important that students study the history of St. Petersburg cuisine and participate in such projects, where they not only demonstrate deep knowledge, but also prepare historical dishes of our region. This inspires optimism and faith that in the city’s restaurants in the future there will be more and more chefs who are familiar with our local gastronomic specialties, – noted Sergey Markov.

    Photo archive

    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: The final stage of the Siberian Geological Olympiad was held at NSU

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –

    On March 30, the final stage of the Siberian Geological Olympiad ended at Novosibirsk State University, bringing together schoolchildren from all over Siberia and the Urals. Participants demonstrated their knowledge of geology, exchanged mineralogical findings and visited Scientific and educational center “Evolution of the Earth”, taking a step towards a future career in science and geological exploration.

    How the Olympiad was held: first, schoolchildren sent their own research on one of the proposed topics. For example, in 2024, the children were asked to complete work related to “mineralogy and petrography”, “the evolution of the organic world and climate in the history of the Earth” and other topics. The author’s personal contribution, the originality of the topic and presentation of the material, the degree of fulfillment of the goals and objectives set in the work, as well as literacy were assessed. After summing up the results of the correspondence round, for three days, the invited schoolchildren from the 5th to the 11th grades immersed themselves in the study of geology. In addition to the Olympiad tasks, which consisted of the oral and written rounds, the children participated in master classes and seminars. During master classes with NSU teachers, the children observed the extraction of gold from ore, examined all stages of 3D printing and much more, and the seminars allowed them to apply the knowledge they had gained in practice.

    — At first, we introduced only popular science lectures: we took schoolchildren to geological laboratories of scientific institutes of Akademgorodok, to various museums. This year, master classes and popular science seminars for schoolchildren appeared. At first, the children did not really understand what it was. We tried to reconstruct a simplified seminar, but intended for schoolchildren, so that they would feel a little like students and understand what it is like to study with us. This is an open dialogue: in the master class, we simply show – they repeat, and at the seminar we show how scientists, teachers and students of the Faculty of Geology and Geology obtain this knowledge. We helped the children master a piece of knowledge that is not yet available to them in geological clubs, — said Olga Khokhryakova, candidate of geological and mineralogical sciences, senior lecturer Faculty of Geology and Geophysics of NSU.

    The Olympiad is special in that the priority for evaluation is not so much knowledge as the ability to think logically, the ability to build a sequence of conclusions from ignorance with the help of erudition and horizons in order to arrive at a final answer, even if it is incomplete or not entirely correct.

    — I learned about the Olympiad through my geology tutors. I was motivated by the fact that I had been studying it for about a year and wanted to participate. The skills I acquired during field work came in very handy. Most of all, I liked the tasks in the oral round; they were in the question-and-answer format, — shared his impressions Alexander Yarson, one of the Olympiad participants.

    The Olympiad has traditionally been held at NSU for 52 years. Its main goal is to popularize geology as a science in order to broaden the horizons of schoolchildren. First, participants complete tasks in the correspondence round, then the best are selected and invited to the final stage at the university.

    A diploma from the Siberian Geological Olympiad for the 3 years preceding the year of admission gives from 3 to 10 additional points for applicants to NSU in the field 05.03.01 “Geology”.

    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: Two NSU Master’s students became winners of the Alpha-Chance grant competition

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –

    This year, 82 applications were submitted to the NSU Alpha Chance program, two of which were approved. The grant recipients were Veronika Komlyagina, a second-year master’s student Faculty of Natural Sciences, and Maxim Yemelyanov, a first-year master’s student Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of NSU.

    Here’s what students have to say about winning and participating in the program:

    — Two years ago I already tried my hand at this competition, but it didn’t work out then. That failure became valuable for me — I analyzed my mistakes and purposefully worked to make my application stronger this time. I decided to try again because I believe in the importance of my scientific work.

    I plan to use the grant to purchase a powerful computer for quantum chemical calculations. The new equipment will allow me to perform more complex and resource-intensive calculations and will significantly speed up my work, – Veronika Komlyagina shared her experience.

    As the student says, the selection for Alpha Chance consisted of one stage. It was necessary to prepare a detailed motivation letter, where Veronika talked about her scientific interests, goals and principles. A separate letter about hobbies was also required, in which the student shared information about her sports achievements, additional education received and other various life activities. In addition, it was necessary to provide documents confirming achievements – scientific publications, diplomas from conferences and competitions, sports awards. The student paid special attention to significant publications.

    — I am incredibly happy with this victory! It proves that persistence and working on mistakes really do lead to success. My advice to future participants:

    1. Don’t be afraid to apply to this and any other competitions, even if it seems like the competition is high.

    2. Pay special attention to motivation letters – they should reveal your personality and can bring a significant number of points to your grant application.

    3. Systematize the grant application – divide all the files into folders, give clear names to each file, so it will be easier for experts to evaluate the application, – Veronica shared her emotions and advice.

    Maxim Yemelyanov also persistently pursued his goal – he applied for the Alpha-Chance scholarship for several years in a row and finally achieved a result.

    — For the competition for the Alpha-Chance scholarship, I recorded a video business card, where I spoke in detail about my achievements, goals and hobbies. Receiving the scholarship will help me improve my professional competencies and reach a new level in my work.

    I advise students not to be afraid to apply for interesting competitions – everyone always has their own chance! – Maxim noted.

    On behalf of the university, we congratulate the students and wish them further success in their studies and professional activities!

    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 New Zealand: Education – Coho Hui conference draws global expertise to Ara

    Source: Ara Institute of Canterbury

    Ara Institute of Canterbury and The Housing Innovation Society (THIS) have partnered to bring the biennial Coho Hui 2025 to Ōtautahi for 2025.
    The conference-dedicated to advancing collective housing in Aotearoa- is being held at Kahukura, Ara’s academic hub for engineering and architecture studies on April 16 and 17.
    With the theme of “The Future of Housing”, Coho Hui 2025 is bringing together academics, industry leaders and housing professionals to discuss solutions aimed at redefining urban living and tackling systemic housing challenges.
    It’s the first time the event has come to Ara thanks to the efforts of conference organiser Irene Boles, a senior academic in engineering and architecture at the institute.
    Boles said she was excited to bring the leading experts together along with 100 delegates, for academic sessions, workshops and site visits.
    “The rich perspectives our guest experts will be sharing, and the conversations our workshops will generate, will bring diverse ideas and new knowledge to Aotearoa, informing the collective housing movement here,” she said.
    Boles said academic research presented at Coho Hui will be considered for a special issue of the Urbanisation, Sustainability and Society (USS) Journal published by Emerald Publishing.
    Opening the conference, Ara’s Dean of Faculty of Applied Technology, Academic, Innovation and Research Division Peter Sauer said Ara’s values aligned with the aims of Coho Hui.
    “As we look to the future, we understand that the needs of our learners, community and industry are changing quicker than we have ever seen before. We are working at pace to understand and meet those needs as we strive for academic excellence,” Sauer said.
    THIS chair James Winter said community housing in New Zealand was still emerging compared to efforts achieved in other parts of the world.
    “Our goal with this fourth Coho Hui is to bring further awareness to the sector and hopefully see more collective housing projects take off in Aotearoa,” he said in his opening remarks.
    The conference features a powerhouse lineup of speakers, each bringing unique expertise to the conversation on housing innovation.
    They include keynotes from Professor Louise Crabtree-Hayes (Western Sydney University, Australia) and Dr Tom Moore (University of Liverpool, UK).
    Crabtree-Hayes will discuss the state of Community Land Trusts (CLTs) in Australia, exploring how these models ensure permanently affordable housing and what policy support they need to thrive.
    Moore will share his research on community-led housing, touching on the challenges black and minority ethnic communities face, as well as policy lessons from Northern Ireland and innovative approaches to neighborhood transformation.
    Delegates will also visit three unique housing developments in Christchurch on Thursday April 17, each showcasing a different approach to community-led living: Papakāinga at Rāpaki, a Māori-led housing initiative; Te Pākau Maru in New Brighton, designed for community sustainability; and Peterborough Village, a central city collective housing neighborhood focused on urban regeneration.
    Boles wanted to acknowledge the event’s sponsors Abodo Wood Ltd, The Urban Advisory, and 26Aroha for helping to make the hui possible.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: We compared the Labor and Coalition’s income tax proposals to see who benefits most

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra

    Shutterstock

    We now have the competing bids for our votes by the alternative governments on income tax policy.

    From Labor, future cuts to the lowest marginal tax rate and new standard deductions for work expenses. From the Coalition, a one-off return to a tax offset for low and middle income earners that was previously nicknamed the “lamington”.

    Our modelling shows slightly higher benefits for low- and middle-income earners from the Coalition’s proposals compared to Labor’s.

    Labor’s drip-fed tax policies

    The Labor government announced its main tax proposal in the recent budget. It is a permanent cut in the lowest marginal tax rate.

    Currently, the tax rate on income between A$18,201 and $45,000 is 16%. This will drop to 15% from July 2026 and then to 14% from July 2027.

    This will reduce the tax paid by taxpayers in all income brackets, with most receiving $536 a year in relief. But it is proportionately larger for those on lower incomes.



    Read more:
    Tax cuts are coming, but not soon, in a cautious budget

    At the weekend, the government announced an additional measure: allowing everyone to claim a standard tax deduction of $1,000 instead of claiming individual work-related expenses.

    Those with expenses over $1,000 can continue to claim their deduction in the current way. The government estimates this measure will assist 39% of taxpayers. The average relief for those benefiting will be $205 per year.

    Coalition’s revived tax offset

    Also at the weekend, the Coalition released its tax policies. It is essentially proposing the reintroduction of the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset (“LMITO”, which led to the nickname the “lamington”), for one financial year only.



    Read more:
    The Low and Middle Income Tax Offset has been extended yet again. It delivers help neither when nor where it’s needed

    The Morrison government introduced a low- and middle-income tax offset in the 2018-19 tax year. It was subsequently extended, but then abolished by the Labor government.

    It is now called the Cost of Living Tax Offset. Those with taxable incomes between $48,000 and $104,000 will get a one-off rebate of $1,200. Other taxpayers with incomes below $144,000 will get smaller rebates.



    Read more:
    Dutton to offer targeted income tax offset of up to $1,200

    Although Dutton was critical of Labor’s income tax cuts for not starting until 2026, the one-off rebate would also not be paid until mid-2026.

    Dutton has not explained why he said three weeks ago that the budget position would not allow for income tax cuts but now he thinks it does.

    Who benefits most from the competing proposals?

    We have estimated the distribution of the benefits from Labor’s proposed tax cut (but not the instant tax deduction) and the Coalition’s one-year tax offset.

    Given a federal election is held every three years, the estimates are provided up to mid-2028. This resulted in a slightly higher cumulative figure of around $10 billion for the Labor proposal (over two years) and $11 billion for the Coalition proposal (over one year). This is slightly higher than the Coalition’s own estimate.

    The following charts show disposable household income deciles from the poorest 10% to the 10% with the highest incomes. This is household income that has been adjusted to allow comparison of income levels between households of differing size and composition.

    The chart indicates slightly higher benefits from the Coalition for households in the lowest and second-lowest income groups. This may be an overestimate as it assumes those earning less than $37,000 get a $265 benefit. The policy is rather vague on this, saying only that they would get “up to” $265.

    The Coalition proposal provides a somewhat higher benefit for middle income earners, but withdraws it for those on higher incomes.

    All individual taxpayers earning above $45,000 will receive the same benefit from the Labor proposal. But differences in household composition mean that the benefit calculated by household continues to rise somewhat.

    The Coalition proposal gives no benefits to individuals earning over $144,000. But even the households in the highest income groups have some members earning less than this, such as adult children living at home. So the average household with a high income will still get some benefit.

    In terms of family type, the Coalition proposal will give less benefit than the Labor plan to couples with children but more to other groups, especially single parents.

    From these distributions of both income level and family type, it seems that neither party has a clear plan to target their own traditional constituencies with these policies. The Coalition proposal may be targeting households in outer suburban marginal seats which tend to have more low and middle income households.

    How much will they cost?

    According to the budget papers, Labor’s cut to the lowest marginal rate will cost $3 billion in 2026-27, $6.7 billion in 2027-28 and $7.4 billion in 2028-29.

    The cost of the instant tax deduction will be $2.4 billion over four years.

    The Coalition has claimed its rebate would cost $10 billion in 2026-27.

    This would of course increase if a Dutton government feels under pressure to extend the new rebate, as happened with the LMITO.

    Disappointing for democratic decision-making

    It is very disappointing that both major parties are releasing key policies on taxation and housing literally only days before people start voting.

    Previous leaders like Robert Menzies (when opposition leader from 1943 to 1949) and Gough Whitlam (1967 to 1972) would spend years developing, then explaining and advocating for policies. This gave time for them to be scrutinised, and if necessary revised, before voters were asked to pass judgement.

    The proposals are also disappointing for those arguing for substantial tax reform.

    John Hawkins was formerly a senior economist in the Australian Treasury.

    Yogi Vidyattama 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. We compared the Labor and Coalition’s income tax proposals to see who benefits most – https://theconversation.com/we-compared-the-labor-and-coalitions-income-tax-proposals-to-see-who-benefits-most-254576

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: OFFICE OF CONGRESSWOMAN PLASKETT HOSTS 43RD ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL ART COMPETITION

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett (USVI)

    For Immediate Release                                          Contact: Tionee Scotland
    April 15, 2025                                                           202-808-6129

    PRESS RELEASE

    OFFICE OF CONGRESSWOMAN PLASKETT HOSTS 43RD ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL ART COMPETITION

    St. Croix, USVI – Congresswoman Plaskett’s office held a reception to announce the winners of the 43rd Annual Congressional Art Competition and showcase the artwork of all participating students. The winners were selected from a diverse range of submissions by talented high school students throughout the Virgin Islands. Of the 14 entries, 3 top winners were selected:

    1st Place

    Contemplation by Henson Barley Jr.

    St. Croix Educational Complex High School

    2nd Place

    Island Vibe by Riyanna M. Sutton

    St. Croix Educational Complex High School

    3rd Place

    Lady in Madras by Ava Daniel

    Ivanna Eudora Kean High School

    “My team and I would like to extend our gratitude to the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts for their efforts every year towards the success of the Virgin Islands District Art Competition,” said Congresswoman Plaskett. “VICA’s unwavering support of the arts in our community plays a vital role in fostering creativity. We are also thankful for the hospitality of the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts, which graciously hosted this reception and provided a beautiful venue to showcase the talents of our young artists. Lastly, thank you to the families, educators, and judges whose dedication helps cultivate a strong foundation for the arts and the preserves our cultural heritage in the Virgin Islands.”

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Half of Australian landlords sell their investments after 2 years, adding to renters’ insecurity

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ranjodh B. Singh, Senior Economics and Finance Lecturer, Curtin University

    Marc Bruxelle/Shutterstock

    Australia’s renters have to battle rising rents and a lack of available properties. They also face ongoing instability. Our new research suggests half of all landlords sell their investment properties after only two years, adding to renters’ insecurity.

    Our study released by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, models the behaviour of landlords using longitudinal data from 2001 to 2021. It looks at what motivates small-scale investors to buy, sell or keep their rental properties.

    This work can inform future planning for the private rental sector, which has been projected to continue expanding. Both Labor and the Coalition were strongly criticised for making little mention of renters or supply in their housing policies released on Sunday.

    The short-term owners

    Those landlords who got rid of their investment after two years, sometimes sooner, often did so because they hadn’t counted on the additional costs of property ownership or their circumstances changed because they divorced or lost their job.

    While younger people aged 25–34 years were more likely to buy a rental
    property compared to other age groups, this group was also more likely to sell their property sooner.

    Landlords who sold after two years or less, were more likely to be women, unemployed, unmarried and with low-to-moderate incomes.

    How this makes renting less secure

    Landlords who sell after a relatively short investment period disrupt the supply of private rental housing, which can potentially have a negative impact on both tenant security and affordability.

    This includes unplanned moves for renters after a notice period, as well as possible increases in the amount of rent they have to pay. This type of exposure to precarious housing conditions adversely affects the wellbeing of tenants.

    This is especially important given that the share of private renters in Australia has risen over the last 20 years and there is ongoing concern about affordability among private renters. Private renters now represent about 30% of the market.

    What motivates landlords?

    Understanding the factors that increase the likelihood of landlords holding onto a property will contribute to tenure security in the rental sector.

    These landlords tend to have higher educational qualifications, higher incomes and smaller mortgages on their own homes. As such, these landlords are financially stable and are able to withstand the higher economic costs of holding a rental property.

    Our findings show there is value in establishing programs that offer education on property investment. This could support landlords’ efforts to hold their rental properties. It could also increase the supply of long-term rental housing for tenants.

    As well, there should be more rigorous financial risk assessments by lenders and appropriate regulations so those who buy rental investment properties can afford to hold them.

    Potential impact of policy changes

    Policy changes that affect the costs of supplying rental housing for landlords could also have affordability consequences for renters.

    Landlords will only continue to invest in the rental market if market conditions offer them income relative to their property values.

    For instance, policy changes that apply long-term freezes to rent increases will reduce rental yields for landlords. This might in turn hurt the supply of rental properties available to renters.

    Changes to policies affecting landlords’ tax positions could also have major impacts on whether they keep their rental investment over time.

    For instance, if changes are made to capital gains tax and interest rates that directly increase the landlord’s cost of holding an investment property, they will likely pass these costs on to tenants.

    As a consequence, rents would become less affordable. Any changes to tax settings that affect landlords need to be rolled out incrementally. This will avoid destabilising rental markets and reducing the supply of housing available for tenants.

    Why we need a secure rental market

    Increasing the supply of private rental dwellings would help make renting more affordable.

    Individuals who can afford investment properties add to the supply of private rental stock. And if they can hold their rentals for long periods, the rental market becomes even more secure.

    Those who can’t hold their rental investments for long can disrupt the supply of private rental housing, with potentially negative impacts on affordability and security.

    Our study has focused on individual landlords, which make up the majority of suppliers of rental housing in Australia. However, improving tenure security for renters will require more than just encouraging a stable flow of rental housing from individual landlords.

    For instance, increasing institutional investment in rental stock might result in more diverse and affordable housing options for renters.

    Social housing is also a crucial source of secure housing for those who cannot compete in the private rental market. There is now an urgent need to redress decades of under-investment in social housing in Australia.

    Ranjodh B. Singh has received funding from AHURI.

    Chris Leishman receives funding from AHURI, SMCA, ARC, ESRC, the Office of the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Scottish Government, UK Government, Welsh Government, Northern Ireland Government, South Australia Government. He is a non-executive director of Housing Choices Australia, a Trustee for the UK’s Housing Studies Charitable Trust, Chair of the Australasian Housing Studies Association, editor of the Urban Studies journal, guest editor of the Regional Studies, Regional Studies journal. He is not a member of any political party in any country.

    Rachel Ong ViforJ is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project FT200100422). She also receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

    Jack Hewton 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. Half of Australian landlords sell their investments after 2 years, adding to renters’ insecurity – https://theconversation.com/half-of-australian-landlords-sell-their-investments-after-2-years-adding-to-renters-insecurity-254578

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Release: $10 million for only 215 students in charter schools

    Source: New Zealand Labour Party

    That equates to about $46,500 per student in charter schools compared to about $9000 per student in a state school.

    “Only in David Seymour’s world does it make sense to pour millions into a failed experiment for a couple hundred students yet restrict funding for school lunches for hundreds of thousands of other students,” Labour’s education spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime said.

    “Each student in a charter school is costing the taxpayer more than five times what it costs per student in state schools. This is what happened last time. Yet again we are watching public education money being siphoned off into private hands with little transparency.

    “This is an insult to the many schools throughout the country who are strapped for cash and sending kids home hungry because of David Seymour’s ideological choices.

    “We know from the past failures of charter schools that the high cost does not improve results for students and only puts profits before kids.

    “Schools are relying on Erica Stanford to take a stand against these bad ideas, but her silence is deafening.

    “Labour has abolished charter schools before and will do so again. They’re a waste of time and money,” Willow-Jean Prime said.

    Stay in the loop by signing up to our mailing list and following us on Facebook, Instagram, and X.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Labor and the Greens likely to gain Senate seats at the election

    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

    As well as the election for the full House of Representatives, there will be an election on May 3 for 40 of the 76 senators. The 72 state senators have six-year terms, with half of them up for election every three years. The four territory senators are all up for election with each House election.

    In a double dissolution election, all senators are up for election, but this election won’t be a double dissolution. State senators elected at this election will begin their six-year term on July 1.

    The six states are entitled to equal representation in the Senate, so each state has 12 senators. This system greatly overrepresents Tasmania relative to its population. The ACT and Northern Territory have two senators each.

    Senators are elected by proportional representation in their jurisdictions with preferences. At a half-Senate election, with six senators in each state up for election, a quota is one-seventh of the vote, or 14.3%. For the territories, a quota is one-third or 33.3%. Half a quota on primary votes (7.1% in a state) is usually enough to give a party a reasonable chance of election.

    Voters will be instructed to number at least six boxes above the line or 12 below the line, but only one box above the line or six below is needed for a formal vote. Preferences are voter-directed, with the group ticket voting system scrapped before the 2016 election. Owing to exhausted votes, the final seats in states are likely to be filled on less than a full quota.

    To become law, legislation must pass both the House and Senate in the same form. With the Senate’s proportional representation, it’s very unlikely to be under government control, so governments need to negotiate with other parties to pass their legislation through the Senate.

    Party standings and seats up for election

    The Coalition holds 30 of the 76 total senators, Labor 25, the Greens 11, One Nation two, the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) one, the United Australia Party (UAP) one and all others six.

    During this term, Lidia Thorpe defected from the Greens, Fatima Payman from Labor and Tammy Tyrrell from JLN. As all three are state senators who were last elected in 2022, none will be up for election until 2028. The Coalition also lost two senators to defections (Gerard Rennick and David Van) – both were last elected in 2019 and will be up for election this year.

    Other than the ACT and NT seats, the seats up for election were last up in 2019. At that election, the Coalition won 17 of the 36 state senators, Labor 11, the Greens six, One Nation one and Jacqui Lambie one.

    The Coalition and One Nation combined won four of the six Queensland senators. In Tasmania, Labor and the Greens won three seats, the Liberals two and Lambie one. All other states were tied between the left and right blocs.

    In the 2022 election, Labor and the Greens combined won four of the six Western Australian senators, Tasmania once again went three Labor and Greens, two Liberals and Tyrrell from JLN, and the other states were tied between the left and right. The state senators elected in 2022 are not up for election.

    The four territory senators elected in 2022 will be up for election. In 2022, the ACT split one Labor and one for independent David Pocock, the first time its senators had not split one Labor, one Liberal. The NT is expected to once again be one Labor, one Country Liberal Party.

    Here is a table of Senate seats up for election in 2025. I have ignored the defections of Rennick and Van from the Coalition in Queensland and Victoria. The good news for the left is that only Pocock’s ACT seat looks winnable for the right.

    Left-wing parties likely to gain Senate seats

    For either the left or the right to win four of the six senators for a state, they need to win nearly four quotas of votes or 57%.

    The Poll Bludger’s BludgerTrack by state for the House currently gives Labor a 51.9–48.1 lead in New South Wales, a 52.1–47.9 lead in Victoria, a 56.4–43.6 lead in WA and a 54.7–45.3 lead in South Australia. The Coalition leads in Queensland by 52.7–47.3.

    On these vote shares, NSW, Victoria, Queensland and SA would be tied 3–3 between the left and right, while the left would probably repeat their 4–2 win in WA from 2022.

    A 3–3 split in Queensland would be a gain for the left from the right, as the right are defending a 4–2 split from 2019. A 4–2 win for the left in WA would also be a gain, as WA was 3–3 in 2019.

    Tasmania doesn’t have enough polling to be included in BludgerTrack. But analyst Kevin Bonham, who is a Tasmanian, believes the likely outcome is two Labor, two Liberals, one Green and one to Lambie, the same as in 2019.

    There haven’t been any ACT Senate polls, but cities are becoming more left-wing, and the ACT is just a city. In 2022, Labor won the ACT by 67.0–33.0 in the House, a 5.3% two-party swing to Labor. It’s plausible that any Trump-inspired backlash against the Coalition will be strongest in the ACT, so it may be difficult for the Liberals to regain their ACT Senate seat.

    If Labor and the Greens gain Senate seats in Queensland and WA, Pocock retains in the ACT, and there are no other changes to the left-right balance, the new Senate would have 38 seats for Labor and the Greens, 33 for the Coalition, One Nation and UAP, and one each of Pocock, Lambie, Thorpe, Payman and Tyrrell.

    It’s increasingly likely that Labor will win the House election. Labor and the Greens are likely to increase their Senate numbers. If Labor and the Greens hold 38 of the 76 Senate seats after the election, Labor would only need one more vote to pass legislation supported by the Greens but opposed by right-wing parties. The five others are mostly left-wing, so this shouldn’t be difficult.

    Candidate nominations down from 2022

    Candidate nominations were declared last Friday. The Poll Bludger said Saturday that there will be 330 total candidates for the Senate, down from 421 in 2022. The total number of groups (above the line boxes) dropped from 151 to 118.

    Victoria has the most groups with 20, Queensland has 19, NSW and WA 18, SA 16 and Tasmania 12. With only two vacancies each, the ACT has seven groups and the NT eight.

    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. Labor and the Greens likely to gain Senate seats at the election – https://theconversation.com/labor-and-the-greens-likely-to-gain-senate-seats-at-the-election-253937

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Politics with Michelle Grattan: Warwick McKibbin on trying to model economic certainty in uncertain times

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

    Global markets have remained on edge after Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs caused panic worldwide. Now, more than ever, markets and economists are looking for trying to read the implications.

    Joining us from Washington DC is Warwick McKibbin,
    an internationally renowned economic modeller from the Australian National University whose services are now in high demand. McKibbin is also a former member of the Reserve Bank board.

    With much earlier talk about whether Australia can do a deal with Trump on tariffs, McKibbon argues,

    The best way to deal with the president is to ignore him. And I think that’s to take him off the front page of Australia’s newspapers for example. I think what we should be doing is accelerating a process that was already underway. And that was to open up our trade with other partners around the world, Korea, Southeast Asia, Europe, in particular.

    There’s a lot of trading opportunities. Our products – fortunately for us – the ones we sell to the US, we can sell somewhere else. We know that that’s a flexibility we have.

    McKibbin says it’s “unlikely” Trump’s trade wars will cause a recession in Australia, but,

    the problem we do have is that we haven’t dealt with the key problems that Australia faces, which is low productivity. We have a productivity problem which means [you’re] more likely to have a recession if you’re not growing. The second thing is we haven’t been given enough fiscal space. That is, running budget surpluses when we have full employment. But we’ve been running budget deficits, so our debt-to-GDP ratio has gone up, which means we have got less capacity to respond. But we also have a flexible exchange rate, which is good news. That helped us during the Asian financial crisis and the global financial crisis. We have the central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia, [which] has plenty of capacity to cut interest rates if required.

    Our modelling suggests that under the scenario of no change in the severe tariffs that the US put on in the beginning of April, you would probably cut interest rates in Australia by 50 basis points over the year as a result of the tariffs alone.

    McKibbin says Australia’s interest rates are “probably a little bit too low”,

    I think at the moment where we stand is without this shock Australia’s rates are probably a little bit too low, but probably close to being neutral. This shock will give you an extra 25 to 50 basis points capacity, if you need it. We’re still at full employment, and the bank worries about inflation relative to the target and still above the target if you adjust for the cyclical elements and about employment or output relative to potential which we’re very close to potential, so really there wasn’t a big case for a big interest rate cut.

    On the Australian election, McKibbin outlines the need for reforms, which are not being much talked about in this campaign,

    We know what the fundamental problems are in Australia. We need serious reform. We need to deal with the tax system not functioning properly. We have a cost of living crisis – our reaction is to pump more money into the housing market, to drive up demand relative to supply. We’re also hitting our own exports of higher education.

    And so we’re actually responding completely the opposite way. And both parties are arguing for cutting foreign student numbers. That is a key export of the Australian economy.

    The problem with the housing market is lack of supply. You don’t fix the lack of supply by attacking foreign students who are a very, very small part of the demand coming from immigration. And actually those students, they come and they go mostly.

    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. Politics with Michelle Grattan: Warwick McKibbin on trying to model economic certainty in uncertain times – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-warwick-mckibbin-on-trying-to-model-economic-certainty-in-uncertain-times-254591

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: This election, disinformation is swirling on Chinese social media. Here’s how it spreads

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fan Yang, Research fellow at Melbourne Law School, the University of Melbourne and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society., The University of Melbourne

    Shutterstock/The Conversation

    Since 2024, the RECapture research team has been monitoring political disinformation and advertising in Australia.

    Our focus is on WeChat, the primary news and information platform for Chinese speakers in Australia, and RedNote (Xiaohongshu), an emerging Chinese information sharing platform similar to Instagram.

    Hundreds of thousands of people in Australia use these platforms. They’re often a main source of news.

    Our research reveals while Australian news media often focus on foreign interference, in this election cycle, disinformation is being driven by commercial and domestic political interests.

    These pose substantial threats to Chinese Australian communities and our democracy.

    What is disinformation?

    Defining disinformation often hinges on three criteria:

    • the truthfulness of the content

    • the intent behind its creation and dissemination

    • the harm it causes.

    However, findings from our 2023 study on the Voice referendum challenge those assumptions. Disinformation isn’t as simple as true or false. It can involve ambiguous intent and produce harm that’s difficult to measure.

    Further, Australia’s lack of clear definition for online misinformation and disinformation presents significant challenges for researchers and regulators.

    With these limitations, we focus on deliberate misrepresentations of policy positions and the manipulation of political speech intended to influence voter behaviour.

    What have we discovered?

    We found examples that misrepresented political statements and policies and capitalised on preexisting concerns within migrant communities.

    Concerns include potential changes to investor visas, undocumented migration, humanitarian programs and Australia’s diplomatic relations with India, the US and China.

    We also found several strategies, such as:

    • exaggerating the likelihood of events (like the revival of the Significant Investment Visa – an invitation-only visa for those investing at least A$5 million in certain sectors)

    • manipulating timelines and contexts (like re-hyping past news stories to create the impression the events are happening in the present)

    • and misaligning visuals and text to suggest misleading interpretations.

    While we’re working to better understand who’s behind these cases, we know they’re not political parties. Here are two examples.

    This post on RedNote, published in April, referred to several statements, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s speech at the Future of Western Sydney Summit. Albanese stated the government had a “balanced” immigration ratio.

    However, the Chinese-language text accompanying the post omitted Labor’s past immigration policies and misrepresented the speech:

    Labor grants amnesty to all? Albo embraces immigrants! Good news for Chinese people!

    Discussions in the comments largely favoured a class-based immigration system. Users argued the Labor government disproportionately favoured humanitarian immigrants and greater preference should be given to upper and middle-class migrants.

    We also found examples on WeChat.

    On March 4, the Chinese-language media outlet AFN Daily published an article with the provocative headline:

    I am furious! How shameless! Australia is really going to be in chaos!

    The headline was sensational and intentionally ambiguous. It attracted reader attention to click through past four advertisements, including one political ad by the Liberal candidate for Bennelong, Scott Yung.

    The article claimed the Coalition’s support had surpassed Labor’s, while presenting a segment of a poll in which Labor had actually received greater voter support for its welfare, healthcare and education policies.

    The article further claimed the Labor Party had naturalised 12,500 new citizens – predominantly of Indian origin – in an attempt to sway the Chinese audience.

    This claim had been explicitly refuted by Tony Burke back in February.

    The article challenged this assertion by Burke and reinforced anti-Labor sentiment through racially charged narratives. It emphasised the strengthening diplomatic relations between Australia and India, and highlighted the growing number of South Asian and Middle Eastern migrants in comparison to Chinese migrants.

    We also observed ad hoc disinformation narratives triggered by natural disasters or public emergencies.

    For example, there was a claim on WeChat suggesting “the election is cancelled because of Cyclone Alfred.” Such disinformation requires timely intervention to prevent its rapid spread and impact.

    Why is this so harmful?

    The harms of disinformation are often more severe on digital media used by marginalised communities. Our research shows a few reasons why.

    The limited regulatory oversight of these platforms makes the harms hard to fully identify and prevent.

    Australian regulatory bodies keep intervention to address disinformation on these platforms to a minimum. This reflects broader national concerns around cybersecurity and foreign interference.

    Unfortunately, this has resulted in a largely unregulated environment where political disinformation thrives during election cycles.

    Finally, we see persistent disinformation narratives – from 2019, 2022, 2023 (around the Voice referendum), through to 2025 – where racial stereotypes intersect with partisan biases.

    What can be done?

    For Chinese-language platforms, our findings suggest disinformation might be less a product of foreign political actors, propaganda or linguistic barriers. What’s more important are the insular structure of WeChat and RedNote’s media ecosystems.

    Tailored civic education and media literacy initiatives can help users to spot disinformation. Currently, grassroots debunking efforts are largely done by community members who comment beneath posts.

    But more broadly, we need to support the public to think critically when reading digital news. This would help mitigate the exploitation of racial and gender biases for clicks and political point-scoring.

    While automation is sometimes used to detect and debunk disinformation, its application is limited here. WeChat and RedNote prohibit external automated tools. Their own systems for flagging content generated by artificial intelligence don’t always work either.

    Individual and coordinated human effort remains the best way to accurately inform Australian communities of their choices this election. This applies whether these communities tune in to mainstream broadcasts, major US-based social media platforms or Chinese language apps.

    The authors would like to thank researchers Dan Dai, Stevie Zhang, and Mengjie Cai for their contributions to this project.

    The research project is funded by the Susan McKinnon Foundation for the period 2024-2025.

    Robbie Fordyce is a member of the grants panel for the Australian Communication Consumer Action Network (ACCAN). He has previously worked on studies of online political content that has been funded by the Australian Research Council and by ACCAN.

    Luke Heemsbergen 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. This election, disinformation is swirling on Chinese social media. Here’s how it spreads – https://theconversation.com/this-election-disinformation-is-swirling-on-chinese-social-media-heres-how-it-spreads-253849

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: 3 in 4 meth users relapse – outcomes could improve if treatments considered the drug’s effect on impulsive behaviour

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bodeker, Teaching Assistant in Behavioural Psychology, University of Canterbury

    Getty Images

    Methamphetamine is New Zealand’s most harmful illicit drug and wastewater testing shows its use and availability are on the rise.

    Much of the harm results from reckless and impulsive behaviour – including ram raids and gang violence – some people show when under methamphetamine’s influence.

    Methamphetamine impairs decision making because it increases the likelihood of users acting impulsively, without regard to risk or long-term consequences.

    Impulsivity is a maladaptive pattern of choice behaviour linked to crime, violence and drug use. Research shows higher levels of impulsivity are associated with a higher risk of initiating drug use, increase the amounts used, drop out of rehabilitation programmes and relapse.

    Our new research investigates how methamphetamine affects impulsivity in rats. We argue that our findings are applicable to people and could improve treatments to reduce the high relapse rate of about 77% of methamphetamine users.

    Stimulant drugs and impulsive behaviour

    There has been substantial research and several tests have been developed to measure and define impulsivity. However, the effect of stimulant drugs such as methamphetamine on impulsivity remains unclear.

    Some studies report amphetamines reduce impulsivity whereas others have found methamphetamine increases it. A probable cause of these conflicting results is the multi-dimensional nature of impulsivity.

    Although often reported as a singular concept, impulsivity comprises several distinct but related components that must be assessed individually.

    Laboratory research can help us better understand impulsivity. Specially designed behavioural experiments present animals with choices that provide an equivalent of those humans might experience.

    The results can help us unravel the complex nature of impulsivity which we can then translate to human experience and inform treatment programmes. In our research we used rats to study two situations related to impulsivity.

    The first is a choice between a smaller reward given sooner or a larger reward received later, known as “delay discounting”. The other choice is between a smaller but certain reward and a larger uncertain reward, known as “probability discounting”. We also examined how the overall magnitude of the rewards affected choice.

    How we consider choices

    In human studies, people are often asked to make hypothetical choices about money.

    In delay discounting, opting for the smaller/sooner reward is an impulsive choice. For example, imagine you are given a choice between $400 now and $500 in one year, and choose the $400 now.

    However, if you were asked instead to choose between $40,000 now and $50,000 in one year, you may select the delayed option. When the rewards are larger, we are less likely to choose impulsively.

    In probability discounting, choice of the larger/uncertain reward is impulsive. Imagine you are given a choice between $50 for sure or a 50% chance at $100. You might be willing to gamble on the larger amount.

    But what if your choice was between $5,000,000 for sure and a 50% chance at $10,000,000? You would be more likely to choose the certain reward because we tend to be less impulsive when the possible loss is greater.

    Complex nature of impulsivity

    In our research, rats could choose between two alternatives that resulted in food rewards by pressing levers in an experimental chamber.

    Some rats completed delay discounting sessions in which they chose between smaller/sooner and larger/later food outcomes. Other rats completed probability discounting sessions and chose between smaller/certain and larger/uncertain outcomes.

    We also varied the overall amounts of food to confirm rats were less likely to choose impulsively with larger amounts. We measured the rats’ sensitivity to differences between delay, probability and magnitude.

    Results were similar to studies with humans in that the rats’ choices reflected trade-offs between delay, probability and the amount of food. Impulsive choices were reduced with larger amounts.

    We then gave the rats gradually increasing doses of methamphetamine and observed how their choices changed. Our results reflected the complex nature of impulsivity. Increasing methamphetamine doses resulted in decreasing sensitivity to the most salient difference between the two choices the rats experienced.

    On methamphetamine, more rats chose the larger delayed reward. This means a decrease in impulsive choice because sensitivity to delay was reduced and the smaller/sooner option was less attractive.

    However, we found the opposite in probability discounting. Here, methamphetamine increased preference for the larger/uncertain reward, indicating an increase in impulsivity because sensitivity to risk decreased.

    Sensitivity to magnitude also decreased, meaning rats were more likely to choose impulsively even when the reward was large.

    What this means for people

    People are obviously cognitively more complex, but methamphetamine users also demonstrate decreased sensitivity to risk in response to tasks similar to those we used with rats.

    Therefore our findings are applicable to human methamphetamine users and highlight that long-term changes to impulsivity should be taken into account in treatment programmes. This is especially important because effects on decision making can persist long after drug use during periods of abstinence.

    Psycho-education on impulsivity could be incorporated into existing treatment programmes. This would mean educating methamphetamine users about their increased risks related to decision making and how that may affect treatment outcomes.

    The Salvation Army’s Bridge Programme, a well-known drug rehabilitation programme with 20 centres throughout the country, is a good example. It uses a community reinforcement approach as part of their treatment, which involves participants building skills to cultivate rewarding experiences outside of drugs or alcohol use.

    Rehabilitation processes could implement a psycho-education component focused on the increased vulnerability to risky choices, regardless of amount, of current and former methamphetamine users. This could raise the personal agency of participants by making them more aware of the increased risk factors for relapse and other negative decision making.

    Psycho-education could help release people from the grip of this pervasive and increasingly prolific drug.

    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. 3 in 4 meth users relapse – outcomes could improve if treatments considered the drug’s effect on impulsive behaviour – https://theconversation.com/3-in-4-meth-users-relapse-outcomes-could-improve-if-treatments-considered-the-drugs-effect-on-impulsive-behaviour-253439

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: More weight management clinics opened across China

    Source: China State Council Information Office 2

    People exercise at a city park in north China’s Tianjin Municipality, Aug. 8, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]
    It is a balmy spring afternoon at the Anhui Acupuncture and Moxibustion Hospital, and a queue of young women waits patiently outside. But these women are not seeking traditional medical treatment — they are on the hunt for weight loss solutions.
    “All those delicious holiday feasts have left me with quite a belly,” said Zhu Rongrong, 23, adding that the extra weight has left her constantly feeling drained and affected her sleep.
    In March, Lei Haichao, head of the National Health Commission (NHC), announced plans to establish more weight management clinics at medical and health facilities, helping people shed pounds safely and pivot to healthier lifestyles. This not only provides professional services, but also gives birth to new form of medical services.
    The Anhui Acupuncture and Moxibustion Hospital opened a dedicated weight loss clinic in March, offering Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) therapies such as acupuncture to address the growing demand.
    According to Fei Aihua, an endocrinologist at the hospital, the number of patients seeking treatment for weight-related conditions more than quadrupled year on year in the first quarter of 2025.
    “Acupuncture for weight management is about holistic body regulation,” Fei said. “Effective weight control requires long-term, sustainable habits and a healthy lifestyle.”
    Fei has observed that some young women seeking treatment do not meet the clinical standards for obesity or show related symptoms, but are preoccupied with achieving a slimmer figure.
    “For them, a balanced diet and moderate exercise remain the best options,” she said.
    Alongside TCM approaches, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a key part of China’s weight management programs.
    A new AI-powered assistant, developed by local medical institutions and health tech companies, is helping doctors improve their diagnostic efficiency and tailor their intervention plans.
    “Now, with structured health data generated through patient interactions with the AI model, I can obtain a complete patient health profile in just 30 seconds,” said Zheng Xueying, an endocrinologist at the First Affiliated Hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China.
    Zheng’s team is exploring additional tech applications, including AI-generated diet plans and photo-based food recognition programs to assess daily calorie intake and nutritional balance.
    Weng Jianping, president of Anhui Medical University, said that integrating AI and professional clinical expertise can produce personalized obesity interventions and preventive healthcare strategies.
    Hospitals nationwide are now establishing multidisciplinary clinics to provide comprehensive weight management services.
    At the Anhui Provincial Children’s Hospital, an 8-year-old girl aroused laughter when she told doctors, “The food my mom makes is just too delicious. I can’t help eating it!” But the laughter turned to concern after tests revealed early signs of puberty linked to the patient’s obesity.
    “Our first step is to correct her perception and help her understand the health risks,” said Wang Ya, who works at the hospital’s new weight management clinic, which has the endocrinology, cardiology and psychology departments.
    Thanks to the hospital’s multidisciplinary clinic unveiled in March, such cases are now promptly referred for comprehensive evaluation and treatment.
    “Childhood obesity affects more than just physical health, and it often brings psychological challenges during these sensitive years,” Wang said.
    In Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Second Nanning People’s Hospital has launched an integrated weight management clinic combining gastrointestinal surgery, clinical nutrition and endocrinology departments.
    The clinic offers one-stop, full-cycle services from evaluation and intervention to follow-up care for scientific and personalized weight control solutions.
    In Tianjin, the TEDA Hospital has opened a multidisciplinary clinic that integrates metabolic control, integrated Traditional Chinese and Western medicine services, nutrition and exercise therapies, and behavioral intervention to support lifelong weight management.
    In Wuhan, Hubei province, the Union Hospital of Tongji Medical College at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology has inaugurated a weight management center that integrates 14 clinical departments.
    The center aims to screen 50,000 overweight or obese patients each year while providing tiered treatment, complication prevention and long-term follow-up services.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: US small businesses file lawsuit against Trump’s tariffs

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    Multiple U.S. small businesses Monday sued to challenge the White House’s authority to unilaterally issue tariffs on April 2.

    The lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade argues that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has no authority to issue across-the-board worldwide tariffs without congressional approval.

    The lawsuit was jointly filed by the Liberty Justice Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan and public-interest litigation firm, and Ilya Somin, a co-counsel and professor of law at George Mason University, according to a court document.

    The lawsuit is filed on behalf of five owner-operated businesses from the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and Vermont.

    “Trade deficits have existed for decades, and do not constitute a national emergency or threat to security,” the Liberty Justice Center said in a release. “Moreover, the (Trump) Administration imposed tariffs even on countries with which the United States does not have a trade deficit, further undermining the administration’s justification.”

    Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify the “Liberation Day” tariffs, as well as the tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, noted the center.

    However, the IEEPA does not authorize the U.S. president to impose across-the-board tariffs, and not even authorize tariffs at all, argued the complaint.

    Amid widespread opposition, Trump signed an executive order on April 2 on the so-called “reciprocal tariffs,” imposing a 10-percent “minimum baseline tariff” and higher rates on certain trading partners.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: China, Vietnam reaffirm commitment to closer ties, broader cooperation

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, and To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, greet the crowd after a grand welcome ceremony as they walk to the CPV Central Committee headquarters for talks in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 14, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up his state visit to Vietnam on Tuesday with the two neighbors pledging joint efforts to accelerate the building of a community with a shared future that carries strategic significance.

    To that end, the two sides agreed to work together for stronger political mutual trust, more substantive security cooperation, deeper practical cooperation, more solid popular foundation, closer coordination on multilateral affairs and better management of differences.

    Before leaving for Malaysia to continue his three-nation Southeast Asia tour, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said he has full confidence in the future of China-Vietnam relations.

    Shared vision for shared future

    This year marks the 75th anniversary of China-Vietnam diplomatic ties, a milestone in the two nations’ profound traditional friendship featuring “camaraderie plus brotherhood.”

    During Xi’s state visit to Vietnam in December 2023, the two sides agreed to build a China-Vietnam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance on the basis of deepening the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

    In his talks with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee To Lam on Monday, Xi called for further efforts to fulfill the vision.

    The two countries should work to advance their comprehensive strategic cooperation with high quality, ensure steady and sustained progress in building a China-Vietnam community with a shared future, and contribute even more to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, Xi said.

    Building the China-Vietnam community with a shared future carries great global significance, Xi said, noting that as the two countries jointly pursue peaceful development, their combined population of over 1.5 billion is jointly advancing toward modernization, which will contribute to regional and global peace and stability while promoting common development.

    Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, holds talks with To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, at the CPV Central Committee headquarters in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 14, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    To Lam, for his part, said that Xi’s visit would definitely mark a new milestone in the history of friendly exchanges between the two parties and countries, further advancing the building of a Vietnam-China community with a shared future that carries strategic significance.

    Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa, a researcher at the Institute for Asia-Pacific Studies under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, said the effort to build a Vietnam-China community with a shared future that carries strategic significance reflects both the continuation and the deepening of the enduring friendship between the two countries.

    “It is built on the foundation of political trust, the promotion of commonalities and especially the sharing of benefits and mutual concerns,” she said. “The ultimate goal is to bring benefits to the people of both nations, support each country’s development, and contribute to regional peace and stability.”

    Over the past year, the agreement on building a Vietnam-China community with a shared future has already injected fresh momentum into the bilateral relationship, said Nguyen Vinh Quang, vice president of the Vietnam-China Friendship Association, noting that businesses from both sides have demonstrated increased confidence in each other.

    March toward modernization

    On Monday, the Chinese president also urged the two countries to deepen cooperation across various fields and march toward modernization hand in hand.

    While meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Xi called on the two countries to intensify high-level exchanges, strengthen strategic communication, and jointly oppose hegemonism, unilateralism and protectionism.

    He called on the two sides to implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, so as to jointly safeguard international fairness and justice, and defend peace, stability, development and prosperity in Asia and beyond.

    China and Vietnam, Xi said, should give full play to their geographical advantages of being connected by land and sea, strengthen the alignment of development strategies and tap the potential of industrial cooperation.

    He also called on the two countries to steadily advance cooperation in infrastructure development, enhance connectivity and ensure a smooth flow of trade.

    The two countries should firmly uphold the multilateral trading system, and work together to push for economic globalization that is more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all, he added.

    Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, meets with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee headquarters in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 14, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    In his meeting with Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Tran Thanh Man, Xi pointed out that his state visit to Vietnam once again allowed him to witness the new achievements in Vietnam’s cause of Doi Moi (reform) and personally experience the profound foundation of China-Vietnam friendship.

    Facing an international landscape fraught with changes and turbulence, Xi said, China and Vietnam should strengthen confidence in their paths and systems, enhance solidarity and coordination, continue to build the China-Vietnam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, join hands to march toward modernization, and inject more stability and positive energy into the world.

    Carry forward traditional friendship

    As this year is also designated the China-Vietnam Year of People-to-People Exchanges, a series of activities have been organized and planned to further cement the public support of bilateral relations.

    During his meeting with representatives of the Chinese and Vietnamese People’s Friendship Meeting on Tuesday, Xi said that over the years, the peoples of China and Vietnam have stood together through thick and thin, and have jointly written a glorious chapter in the history of China-Vietnam friendship.

    He emphasized that China-Vietnam friendship has taken root and sprouted through mutual support between the two peoples, and has blossomed and borne fruit through their solidarity and coordination.

    Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee To Lam and Vietnamese President Luong Cuong jointly launch the “Red Study Tours” project at the International Convention Center in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, April 15, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    Xi told To Lam during their talks that the two sides should take this year as an opportunity to organize more people-oriented exchange activities, and enhance cooperation in tourism, culture, media, public health and other fields.

    While meeting with Pham Minh Chinh, Xi urged the two sides to ensure the success of activities celebrating the 75th anniversary of China-Vietnam diplomatic ties and the China-Vietnam Year of People-to-People Exchanges, so as to tell the stories of friendship, mutually beneficial cooperation, as well as their joint pursuit of modernization.

    Particularly, noting that young people are the future and hope of the cause, Xi announced that in the next three years, China will invite Vietnamese youth to China for “Red Study Tours.”

    That, he added, will help the younger generation of both countries better understand the hard-won nature of the socialist countries and the great value of China-Vietnam good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation, and will cultivate greater vitality for the development of bilateral relations and the two countries’ respective national development.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Xi’s Vietnam visit highlights ‘camaraderie plus brotherhood’

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

    HANOI, April 16 — On a balmy April morning in Hanoi, the second floor of the Hanoi International Convention Center hummed with anticipation, as representatives attending the Chinese and Vietnamese People’s Friendship Meeting waited eagerly to welcome a special guest from China.

    Around 10 a.m. (0300 GMT), Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, walked into the venue alongside General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee To Lam and Vietnamese President Luong Cuong. They strolled along the red carpet, smiling and waving to the hundreds of Chinese and Vietnamese delegates gathering there.

    Smiles, joy and applause filled the room. It felt, in many ways, like a family reunion.

    The Tuesday event was part of Xi’s fourth visit to Vietnam in a decade and his first overseas tour of the year. During each trip, he would quote on multiple occasions late Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh’s famous description of China-Vietnam relations — a bond of “camaraderie plus brotherhood.”

    That sentiment echoed in his speech on Tuesday, as he traced the deep historical ties between the two nations.

    The China-Vietnam friendship took root in the mutual support between the two peoples, Xi said, adding that they fought shoulder to shoulder for the just cause of national independence and liberation, and created a shared revolutionary legacy that shaped their deep friendship featuring “camaraderie plus brotherhood.”

    For Nguyen Vinh Quang, vice president of the Vietnam-China Friendship Association, the expression of “camaraderie plus brotherhood” remains the “best testament to that shared history of standing together through storm and stress, with unwavering loyalty.”

    “During Vietnam’s resistance wars against France and the United States, we received selfless assistance from China. It is a fact no one can or should ever forget,” he said.

    During his previous visits to Vietnam, Xi consistently emphasized the importance of passing on the traditional friendship between China and Vietnam to the younger generation. For him, the foundation of China-Vietnam friendship lies between the two peoples, and the future of this friendship will be created by the young people.

    When meeting with Chinese and Vietnamese youth representatives during his visit to Vietnam in 2015, Xi expressed a firm belief that the traditional China-Vietnam friendship will certainly span the long river of history, growing even deeper and newer in spite of time.

    When meeting representatives of young Chinese and Vietnamese and people who have contributed to the China-Vietnam friendship during his visit in 2023, Xi expressed the hope that the young people will take the lead in promoting bilateral friendship.

    On Tuesday, Xi said that in the next three years, China will invite Vietnamese youth to China for “Red Study Tours,” where they will explore the revolutionary heritage that underpins the bilateral friendship, and experience the dynamism of Chinese modernization.

    The launch of the “Red Study Tours” reflects both sides’ commitment to cherishing their shared revolutionary heritage, said Dao Ngoc Bau, director of the Institute of International Relations under the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.

    This initiative will help strengthen the friendship between the two peoples, particularly between the younger generations, he said.

    One of the attendees, Nguyen Quang Minh, a lecturer at Vietnam’s University of Transport and Communications, said he sensed from the speech “a steadfast resolve of China and Vietnam to pursue development hand in hand.”

    “Looking ahead,” he said, “the younger generations of both countries will draw strength from their shared history to drive mutual prosperity and progress.”

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for April 16, 2025

    ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 16, 2025.

    Trump’s racist, corrupt agenda – like a bank robbery in broad daylight
    EDITORIAL: By Giff Johnson, editor of the Marshall Islands Journal US President Donald Trump and his team is pursuing a white man’s racist agenda that is corrupt at its core. Trump’s advisor Elon Musk, who often seems to be the actual president, is handing his companies multiple contracts as his team takes over or takes

    Why the Coalition’s tone-deaf diss track was bound to hit all the wrong notes
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andy Ward, Senior Lecturer in Music, School of Business and Creative Industries, University of the Sunshine Coast Hip-hop is a cultural powerhouse that has infiltrated every facet of popular culture, across a global market. That said, one place you usually don’t see it is on the election

    Homelessness – the other housing crisis politicians aren’t talking about
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cameron Parsell, Professor, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland Igor Corovic/Shutterstock Measures to tackle homelessness in Australia have been conspicuously absent from the election campaign. The major parties have rightly identified deep voter anxiety over high house prices. They have responded with a raft of

    Superb fairy-wrens’ songs hold clues to their personalities, new study finds
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Diane Colombelli-Négrel, Senior Lecturer, Animal Behaviour, Flinders University Two superb fairy-wrens (_Malurus cyaneus_). ARKphoto/Shutterstock When we think of bird songs, we often imagine a cheerful soundtrack during our morning walks. However, for birds, songs are much more than background music – they are crucial to attract a

    ‘De-extinction’ of dire wolves promotes false hope: technology can’t undo extinction
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martín Boer-Cueva, Ecologist and Environmental Consultant, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Colossal Biosciences Over the past week, the media have been inundated with news of the “de-extinction” of the dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus) – a species that went extinct about 13,000 years ago. The breakthrough has been achieved

    Students are neither left nor right brained: how some early childhood educators get this ‘neuromyth’ and others wrong
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate E. Williams, Professor of Education, University of the Sunshine Coast MalikNalik/ Shutterstock Many teachers and parents know neuroscience, the study of how the brain functions and develops, is important for children’s education. Brain development is recommended as part of teacher education in universities. Neuroscience is even

    Trump’s trade war puts America’s AI ambitions at risk
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Zomaya, Professor, School of Computer Science, University of Sydney remotevfx.com/Shutterstock The global trade war triggered by US President Donald Trump earlier this month shows no signs of ending anytime soon. In recent days, China suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals that are vital

    More bulk billing is fine. But what the health system really needs this election is genuine reform
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Worrying signs are emerging about aspects of Australia’s health system, which will require the attention of whoever wins the May election. Despite big money

    Half way through the campaign, how are the major party leaders faring?
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Mills, Honorary Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney More than two weeks in, we know one thing for sure. This time, the election campaign does matter. In decades past, when voters were more loyally rusted on to the major parties, news

    Safe seat syndrome? Why some hospitals get upgrades and others miss out
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anam Bilgrami, Senior Research Fellow, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University On his campaign trail, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged A$200 million to upgrade St John of God Midland Public Hospital in Perth. He promised more beds and operating theatres, and a redesigned obstetrics

    Allowing forests to regrow and regenerate is a great way to restore habitat
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Thomas, PhD candidate in Environmental Policy, The University of Queensland Cynthia A Jackson, Shutterstock Queensland is widely known as the land clearing capital of Australia. But what’s not so well known is many of the cleared trees can grow back naturally. The latest state government figures

    A century after its discovery, scientists capture first confirmed footage of a colossal squid in the deep
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kat Bolstad, Associate professor, Auckland University of Technology The colossal squid was first described in 1925 based on specimens from the stomach of a commercially hunted sperm whale. A century later, an international voyage captured the first confirmed video of this species in its natural habitat –

    Students are neither left or right brained: how some early childhood educators get this ‘neuromyth’ and others wrong
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate E. Williams, Professor of Education, University of the Sunshine Coast MalikNalik/ Shutterstock Many teachers and parents know neuroscience, the study of how the brain functions and develops, is important for children’s education. Brain development is recommended as part of teacher education in universities. Neuroscience is even

    Pagan loaves, Christian bread, a secular treat: a brief history of hot cross buns
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Historian, Australian Catholic University Jasmine Waheed/Unsplash Hot cross buns aren’t just a sweet snack that appears around Easter. They carry centuries of storytelling in their dough. From ancient gods to modern supermarkets, these sticky spiced buns have crossed many borders and beliefs. Today,

    US-China trade war leaves NZ worse off, but still well placed to weather the storm – new modelling
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Niven Winchester, Professor of Economics, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Forecasting the potential impact of Donald Trump’s turbulent tariff policies is a fraught business – and fraught for business. The United States president has changed, paused and exempted various categories of goods so often, the only

    Caitlin Johnstone: Every day the Gaza holocaust continues, the empire tells the truth about itself
    Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone Every day the Gaza holocaust continues, the Western empire tells the truth about itself. The US government is telling you the truth about itself. Israel is telling you the truth about itself. Their Western allies are telling you the truth about themselves.

    PNG’s ‘chief servant’ James Marape defeats no-confidence vote
    By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has survived a motion of no confidence against him in Parliament. During the proceedings, livestreamed on EMTV, Speaker Job Pomat announced the results of the vote as 16 votes in favour and 89 against. In moving the motion, the member for Abau,

    Does Russia have military interest in Indonesia? Here’s what we know – and why Australia would be concerned
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sussex, Associate Professor (Adj), Griffith Asia Institute; and Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A news report that Russia has sought to base long-range aircraft in Indonesia caught Australia’s political leaders by surprise during an already hectic election campaign. The military publication Janes

    Obama praises Harvard for ‘setting example’ to universities resisting Trump
    Asia Pacific Report Former US President Barack Obama has taken to social media to praise Harvard’s decision to stand up for academic freedom by rebuffing the Trump administration’s demands. “Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make

    Election Diary: for a few hours, it seemed possible the Russians might be coming
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra For a few hours on Tuesday afternoon, it seemed just possible the Russians might be sending their planes to a base very near us. A claim on the military and intelligence site Janes that said the Russians were seeking to

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: US think tank projects American economic growth likely to stall this year

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., projected on Tuesday that the U.S. economic growth is likely to stall this year amid policy uncertainty.

    “Basically, it’s a story about a solid foundation giving way to stalled economic growth and higher inflation” due to policy shifts, said Karen Dynan, nonresident senior fellow at the PIIE, who led the forecast for the think tank’s semiannual Global Economic Prospects.

    Dynan, a professor of the practice in the Harvard University economics department, said at an event Tuesday that year-on-year U.S. GDP growth is projected to be 1.1 percent in 2025 and 0.6 percent in 2026. She noted that U.S. GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 is expected to be 0.1 percent, compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

    Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation in the fourth quarter is projected to reach 4.0 percent year over year, before dropping to 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2026, according to the newly released Global Economic Prospects.

    In the United States, tariffs will raise prices, reduce real incomes, disrupt supply, and impede decisions, and a drastic reduction in immigration will slow growth in U.S. potential output and demand, Dynan said.

    She also argued that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, is not reducing government spending much and is not increasing efficiency. The direct savings from laying off workers is “relatively small,” and “operational disruptions” are reducing efficiency in the near term, she noted, adding that cuts in research and development will lower productivity and output in the longer run.

    Dynan estimated the odds of a U.S. recession at 40 percent, noting that major downside risks exist due to potential developments in the United States. She highlighted that economic weakness could be amplified by a larger stock market decline, a loss of confidence in U.S. fiscal management, and renewed monetary tightening if inflation expectations become unanchored.

    The Federal Reserve is expected to hold interest rates steady through year-end, waiting for clearer signs that inflation is easing before making cuts, she said.

    Globally, “under the assumption that the tariffs currently announced by the Trump administration are mostly kept in place – and some retaliation occurs – many countries will experience significantly slower growth in coming quarters than expected six months ago,” Dynan said.

    Real global GDP is now projected to increase by just 2.7 percent in 2025 and 2.8 percent in 2026, down from a 3.2 percent gain last year, according to the projection.

    Adam Posen, president of the PIIE, put U.S. recession risk at 65 percent, and highlighted U.S. policy uncertainty.

    “What we are undergoing is a fundamental shift in the regime of U.S. economic policy, and by regime, I mean it in the political economy sense, the ongoing set of norms, institutions, practices that define a situation,” Posen told the audience.

    “The bottom line is, we may get recessions, we may not, but you’re going to get inflation either way,” said Posen. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Trump’s racist, corrupt agenda – like a bank robbery in broad daylight

    EDITORIAL: By Giff Johnson, editor of the Marshall Islands Journal

    US President Donald Trump and his team is pursuing a white man’s racist agenda that is corrupt at its core. Trump’s advisor Elon Musk, who often seems to be the actual president, is handing his companies multiple contracts as his team takes over or takes down multiple government departments and agencies.

    Trump wants to be the “king” of America and is already floating the idea of a third term, an action that would be an obvious violation of the US Constitution he swore to uphold but is doing his best to violate and destroy.

    Every time we hear the Trump team spouting a “return to America’s golden age,” they are talking about 60-80 years ago, when white people ruled and schools, hospitals, restrooms and entire neighborhoods were segregated and African Americans and other minority groups had little opportunity.

    Every photo of leaders from that time features large numbers of white American men. Trump’s cabinet, in contrast to recent cabinets of Democratic presidents, is mainly white and male.

    This is where the US going. And lest any white women feel they are included in the Trump train, think again. Anything to do with women’s empowerment — including whites — is being scrubbed off the agenda by Trump minions in multiple government departments and agencies.

    “Women” along with things like “climate change,” “diversity,” “equality,” “gender equity,” “justice,” etc are being removed from US government websites, policies and grant funding.

    The white racist campaign against people of colour has seen iconic Americans removed from government websites. For example, a photo and story about Jackie Robinson, a military veteran, was recently removed from the Defense Department website as part of the Trump team’s war on diversity, equity and inclusion.

    Broke whites-only colour barrier
    Robinson was not only a military veteran, he was the first African American to break the whites-only colour barrier in Major League Baseball and went on to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame for his stellar performance with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

    How about the removal of reference to the Army’s 442nd infantry regiment from World War II that is the most decorated unit in US military history? The 442nd was a fighting unit comprised of nearly all second-generation American soldiers of Japanese ancestry who more than proved their courage and loyalty to the United States during World War II.

    The Defense Department removing references to these iconic Americans is an outrage. But showing the moronic level of the Trump team, they also deleted a photo of the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan at the end of World War II because the pilot named it after his mother, “Enola Gay.”

    Despite the significance of the Enola Gay airplane in American military history, that latter word couldn’t get past the Pentagon’s scrubbing team, who were determined to wash away anything that hinted at, well, anything other than white, heterosexual male. And there is plenty more that was wiped off the history record of the Defense Department.

    Meanwhile, Trump, his team and the Republican Party in general while claiming to be focused on eliminating corruption is authorising it on a grand scale.

    Elon Musk’s redirection of contracts to Starlink, SpaceX and other companies he owns is one example among many. What is happening in the American government today is like a bank robbery in broad daylight.

    The Trump team fired a score of inspectors general — the very officials who actively work to prevent fraud and theft in the US government. They are eliminating or effectively neutering every enforcement agency, from EPA (which ensures clean air and other anti-pollution programmes) and consumer protection to the National Labor Relations Board, where the mega companies like Musk’s, Facebook, Google and others have pending complaints from employees seeking a fair review of their work issues.

    Huge cuts to social security
    Trump with the aid of the Republican-controlled Congress is going to make huge cuts to Medicaid and Social Security — which will affect Marshallese living in America as much as Americans — all in order to fund tax cuts for the richest Americans and big corporations.

    Then there is Trump’s targeting of judges who rule against his illegal and unconstitutional initiatives — Trump criticism that is parroted by Fox News and other Trump minions, and is leading to things like efforts in the Congress to possibly impeach judges or restrict their legal jurisdiction.

    These are all anti-democracy, anti-US constitution actions that are already undermining the rule of law in the US. And we haven’t yet mentioned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its sweeping deportations without due process that is having calamitous collateral damage for people swept up in these deportation raids.

    ICE is deporting people legally in the US studying at US universities for writing articles or speaking about justice for Palestinians. Whether we like what the writer or speaker says, a fundamental principle of democracy in the US is that freedom of expression is protected by the US constitution under the First Amendment.

    That is no longer the case for Trump and his Republican team, which is happily abandoning the rule of law, due process and everything else that makes America what it is.

    The irony is that multiple countries, normally American allies, have in recent weeks issued travel advisories to their citizens about traveling to the United States in the present environment where anyone who isn’t white and doesn’t fit into a male or female designation is subject to potential detention and deportation.

    The immigration chill from the US will no doubt reduce visitor flow resulting in big losses in revenue, possibly in the billions of dollars, for tourism-related businesses.

    Marshallese must pay attention
    Marshallese need to pay attention to what’s happening and have valid passports at the ready. Sadly, if Marshallese have any sort of conviction no matter how ancient or minor it is likely they will be targets for deportation.

    Further, even the visa-free access privilege for Marshallese and other Micronesians is apparently now under scrutiny by US authorities based on a statement by US Ambassador Laura Stone published recently by the Journal

    It is a difficult time being one of the closest allies of the US because the RMI must engage at many levels with a US government that is presently in turmoil.

    Giff Johnson is the editor of the Marshall Islands Journal and one of the Pacific’s leading journalists and authors. He is the author of several books, including Don’t Ever Whisper, Idyllic No More, and Nuclear Past, Unclear Future. This editorial was first published on 11 April 2025 and is reprinted with permission of the Marshall Islands Journal. marshallislandsjournal.com

    Freedom of speech at the Marshall Islands High School

    Messages of “inclusiveness” painted by Marshall Islands High School students in the capital Majuro. Image: Giff Johnson/Marshall Islands Journal

    The above is one section of the outer wall at Marshall Islands High School. Surely, if this was a public school in America today, these messages would already have been whitewashed away by the Trump team censors who don’t like any reference to “inclusiveness,” “women,” and especially “gender equality.”

    However, these messages painted by MIHS students are very much in keeping with Marshallese society and customary practices of welcoming visitors, inclusiveness and good treatment of women in this matriarchal society.

    But don’t let President Trump know Marshallese think like this. — Giff Johnson

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: SH29 Tauriko Enabling Works project driving towards major milestones 

    Source: New Zealand Transport Agency

    Road users will be enjoying 2 new Tauriko West intersections by May, as part of the State Highway 29 (SH29) Tauriko Enabling Works project. 

    NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) advises that a new intersection in Tauriko Village, near where the former service station was, will open with a temporary layout on Tuesday 29 April, providing access to a safer, new carpark for Tauriko School and Playcentre.  

    Motorists will be travelling through a new roundabout at the intersection of SH29 and Redwood Lane from Thursday 1 May, also under temporary layout. 

    Regional Manager Infrastructure Delivery Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Darryl Coalter, says the opening of these intersections is a step towards a better connected Tauriko West. 

    “March marked 1 year of construction on this project, and we’re thrilled with the progress that’s being made. These 2 intersections are integral pieces of the puzzle and will result in safer and more efficient ways to move around Tauriko once completed. 

    “They will open in temporary states to enable new work areas and allow the team to continue their hard work on the surrounding infrastructure, while facilitating traffic to continue flowing. 

    “We’re also pleased to be handing over a new, safer carpark for the school and Playcentre community.” 

    The new road off SH29 in Tauriko Village will also link to the planned community in Tauriko West, being developed to help accommodate Tauranga’s growing population. 

    Tauranga City Tauriko Ward Councillor Marten Rozeboom says the project is reaching a special milestone with the 2 new intersections.  

    “Regular users of SH29 have seen significant changes take place over the past 12 months, and they’ll soon be able to use the new layout and experience how much easier it makes travelling this route.” 

    The Tauriko Village intersection will eventually feature additional lanes and be signalised with traffic lights. although it will initially open without lights while the team works on the surrounding infrastructure. This includes constructing retaining and noise walls; stormwater, wastewater, and power upgrades; and widening SH29 to allow for additional lanes and a shared path through Tauriko Village. 

    The intersection will remain in a temporary configuration until early 2026, with further layout changes to come while work is undertaken on the southern side of SH29. More information will be communicated closer to the time.  

    At Redwood Lane, traffic will be switched across to the new, temporary single-lane layout, which will see motorists on SH29 shifted slightly to the west of the current state highway lanes to approach the new roundabout. 

    Once completed, the roundabout will have 2 lanes travelling in each direction. When it first opens it will have 1 lane in each direction while work continues on widening SH29 on the eastern side, along with extending the pedestrian and cycle underpass beneath the road and completing the Kaweroa Drive extension of the roundabout. 

    The Kaweroa Drive extension, accessed via the fourth leg directly opposite Redwood Lane, won’t be in use until the roundabout works are completed. This is expected be in late 2025/early 2026.  

    Road users and the local community should prepare for:  

    Tauriko Village 

    Overnight on Wednesday April 23 and again on Monday 28 April (between 6pm and 6am) there will be a stop/go and temporary speed limit of 30km/h to relocate the safety barriers on SH29 through Tauriko Village in preparation for a new intersection opening on Tuesday 29 April.

    From Tuesday 29 April there will be a stop/go operation and temporary speed limit of 30km/h for night works to install safety barriers along the northern side of SH29 in the Tauriko Village. This work is expected to take 5 nights and continue into the following week.  

    As part of this work, traffic lanes will be shifted to the southern side of SH29 to allow for the upcoming widening work on the northern side of SH29. Traffic lanes will be maintained in both directions, along with the flush median down the centre of the road and access to businesses and residential properties will remain. However, there will be a reduction in the width of the shoulder along each side of the road, meaning reduced space available for entering and exiting driveways and heading south on SH29.

    The work on the northern side of SH29 is expected to take 1 year.  

    Tauriko Village temporary intersection map [PDF, 188 KB]

    Redwood Lane 

    Night works (between 6pm and 6am) will be carried out ahead of switching traffic onto the roundabout, starting with safety barrier relocation on Tuesday 22 April, followed by resurfacing works from Sunday 27 April for 5 nights. Overnight on Wednesday 30 April, the team will be line marking and preparing the new road, with the new roundabout expected to be in use on the morning of Thursday 1 May. These works will involve stop/go, shoulder closures, rolling blocks, and a temporary 30km/h speed limit on SH29. 

    People are asked to drive with extra care through the area, while people adjust to the new traffic conditions, allow extra time for their journeys and follow any signage or instructions provided by road workers. 

    These night works are weather dependent. If work is delayed because of weather or other unforeseen issues, it will be carried out on the next suitable night. 

    Elsewhere on the project, construction of the major retaining wall on Cambridge Road is well underway in preparation for the new signalised intersection with SH29. This includes a new connection to Whiore Avenue for people walking and cycling and bus access, only. 

    Work is also underway on the wastewater upgrades in Whiore Avenue and watermains upgrade on SH29, near Gargan Road, starting with investigative works to establish the location of existing underground services.  

    The SH29 Tauriko Enabling Works are being delivered by NZTA together with Tauranga City Council. Downer is delivering the construction for the project.  

    Redwood Lane temporary intersection map [PDF, 176 KB]

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Knowledge sharing and practical solutions to feature at Love our Harbour: Manukau Harbour Symposium

    Source: Auckland Council

    Mana Whenua, government, scientists, community groups and all who care about Te Manukanuka o Hoturoa, the Manukau Harbour, are invited to join in a full day conference on Friday 31 May 2025.

    The Symposium is a day where the Manukau Harbour, with its immense value, the challenges it faces, and the extraordinary passion for restoring its wellbeing, is the central focus, says Jon Turner, Chair of the Manukau Harbour Forum.

    The forum is a joint committee formed by the nine local boards that surround the harbour, that advocates for better resourcing and a focus on this taonga.

    “This is the second biggest harbour in Aotearoa New Zealand. Our harbour is beautiful and has environmental, cultural, economic and recreational value and it deserves more attention”, says Turner.

    The Manukau Harbour Symposium will focus on the harbour’s future, and on thinking that can contribute to its improved well-being in the future.

    “We aim to tell the full story, across generations and across disciplines of thinking,” says Jon Turner.

    Awards

    With MC Mandy Kupenga, the Symposium will also announce recipients of the ‘Ngaa Tohu o te Manukau – Celebrating Harbour Champions’ Awards, which recognise individuals, stakeholders, organisations or community groups for their work to protect and restore the mauri of the harbour.

    You can nominate someone for an award here until 14 May.

    One week before the Symposium the Manukau Harbour Forum will also host a clean-up and restoration event, the Love Your Harbour Day, at Island Road, Māngere. This event is held with the support of Te Motu a Hiaroa Charitable Trust, Auckland Council and SeaCleaners, and targets one of the worst sites for illegal dumping in the region.

    The Manukau Harbour Symposium will be held on Friday 31 May in the Auditorium at Green Bay High School. Tickets are $15 each and can be booked through Evenfinda.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Why the Coalition’s tone-deaf diss track was bound to hit all the wrong notes

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andy Ward, Senior Lecturer in Music, School of Business and Creative Industries, University of the Sunshine Coast

    Hip-hop is a cultural powerhouse that has infiltrated every facet of popular culture, across a global market. That said, one place you usually don’t see it is on the election campaign trail.

    That’s right, I’m talking about the track “Leaving Labour” – the Liberal-National Coalition’s latest attempt to create beef with the Australian Labor Party, via a hip-hop track from an unnamed artist.

    You only need to go as far as the (very entertaining) comments section on the Coalition’s SoundCloud to see what people think of the campaign’s new track, the lyrics of which include such zingers as “I just wanna buy some eggs and cheese, a hundred bucks you kidding me?” and “real prices are at the pinnacle”.

    For many, it hasn’t struck the right chord. But that will be no surprise to anyone who knows what hip-hop is really about.

    A voice for the oppressed and disenfranchised

    Hip-hop has historically been a voice for Black America, and more recently for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other First Nations peoples.

    And while it was traditionally critiqued for being proto-masculine and homophobic, the movement has evolved greatly over the past decade.

    With artists such as Lil Baby telling us there are “too many mothers that’s grieving, they kill us for no reason”, and Lil Nas X’s dance with the devil, helping the LGBTQIA+ community rise to prominence while challenging cultural norms, modern hip-hop provides a voice to the disaffected and the oppressed.

    Diss tracks: hip-hop through and through

    The culture of hip-hop – birthed in the Bronx, New York City, in 1973 – is built on five pillars central to the movement. These are MCing (rapping), DJing (turntablism), breakdancing, graffiti and, last but not least, knowledge.

    The first four pillars represent paradigm shifts in the culture of resistance towards non-violent means – initially in African American culture, but today more broadly across the world. The final pillar, knowledge, speaks to the power of education, both formal and street.

    The diss (short for disrespect) track is deeply embedded in hip-hop, as it can be considered synonymous with MCing itself. Built on the tradition of Jamaican competitive “toasting”, it was initially a way for MCs to non-violently instigate, battle through, and resolve disputes and conflict.

    Over the past 40 year, the diss track has emerged as a form in and of itself, with far-reaching influence. During the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop feuds of the 90s, Biggie Smalls and 2Pac famously traded diss tracks up until both artists were murdered (with the murders often cited as fuelled by the tracks themselves).

    In the late 90s and 2000s, artists such as JayZ dissed Mobb Deep and Nas, and vice versa. Nas’ track Ether was so influential it entered the word “ethered” into the hip-hop lexicon as a synonym for being defeated.

    Eminem has also established himself as a kind of lyrical assassin, releasing more than 40 diss tracks over some 20 years. His targets have included Limp Bizkit, Mariah Carey, Machine Gun Kelly and Will Smith, to name a few.

    More recently, Kendrick Lamar and Drake gained global attention for what can only be described as a beef for the annuls of hip-hop history.

    Social media and streaming platforms have increased the speed at which artists can trade blows back and forth.
    Shutterstock

    What were they thinking?

    So, if diss tracks have a rich history of anti-establishment action, protest, and are largely deployed by minority voices, why would a party campaigning on conservative “mainstream” values commission a hip-hop track to take on its political rival?

    It’s less likely the track signals some kind of cultural shift in the Coalition, and more likely it shows a high level of cultural tone-deafness. This is similar to conservative pundit Ben Shapiro, who was heavily criticised for dropping a racist rap track last year after spending most of his career claiming “rap isn’t music”.

    As a leader, Dutton has a history of inflaming racial tensions, including by stoking fears of so-called “African gang violence” and calling to boycott the Stolen Generation apology.

    It’s difficult for him and his party to justify using the cultural capital of hip-hop in their campaign. Diss tracks are inherently embedded in Black American spaces and history, and can’t be separated from this. When a largely white, Australian political party adopts this medium – with no ties to the culture it came from – it will feel inauthentic.

    Michael Idato, culture editor-at-large at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, described the track as “a hip-hop miss with the rhyming genius of a Little Golden Book”. Another headline from Sky News called it a “bizarre election move amid poor polls”.

    Also, for a year where arts policies have been all but completely absent from the election trail, it seems disingenuous for the Coalition to now use art for their own means.

    Andy Ward 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. Why the Coalition’s tone-deaf diss track was bound to hit all the wrong notes – https://theconversation.com/why-the-coalitions-tone-deaf-diss-track-was-bound-to-hit-all-the-wrong-notes-254595

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: Macao holds exhibition on national security education

    Source: China State Council Information Office 2

    An exhibition on national security education opened Tuesday in China’s Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR).
    China’s National Security Education Day is observed annually on April 15 to raise public awareness of national security issues and encourage greater civic involvement in safeguarding the country.
    Jointly hosted by the Macao SAR government and the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao SAR, the one-month exhibition presented over 500 photographs and several videos to showcase the country’s latest achievements in national security work and those over the past decade.
    In his speech at the ceremony, Macao SAR Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai said that the Macao SAR must concentrate on its development while preventing various risks and hidden dangers.
    He stressed the need to curb interference by external forces, implement the principle of “patriots governing Macao,” ensure the eighth Legislative Assembly election, and maintain Macao society’s long-term stability and security.
    Zheng Xincong, director of the liaison office, noted that it was imperative to enhance Macao’s capacity to safeguard national security, while ensuring high-level security through high-quality development.
    The exhibition will run through May 15.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: HK marks national security education day

    Source: China State Council Information Office 2

    The 2025 National Security Education Day was marked in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Tuesday.
    This year’s event, themed “The 10th anniversary of National Security Education Day: advancing toward more in-depth and effective implementation,” attracted more than 1,800 people.
    Xia Baolong, head of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, addressed the opening ceremony via video link.
    Xia said that the past 10 years have witnessed the full implementation of the overall national security concept and the fiercest struggle in Hong Kong in safeguarding national security.
    History and reality showed that attempts of external forces to destabilize Hong Kong and use Hong Kong to contain China will never succeed. Hong Kong compatriots have a tradition of loving the country and Hong Kong. Those who betray the motherland and Hong Kong will never come to a good end, he said.
    The practice of “one country, two systems” has entered a new stage, and everyone should cherish it even more, and consolidate and develop Hong Kong’s hard-won sound situation today, he said.
    Xia urged people to face up with challenges related to Hong Kong’s development and security, remain vigilant, unite as one, ensure high-level security to support high-quality development, and advance the steady and long-term implementation of the “one country, two systems” principle.
    John Lee, chief executive of the HKSAR, said that the international situation is complex and changing, and threats to national security may arise suddenly. Everyone must do their utmost to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, continue to strengthen national security barriers, consolidate security foundation of high-quality development, create a new era of prosperity, and make greater contributions to the nation’s development and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Speech to Business Canterbury – 16 April 2025

    Source: ACT Party

    Introduction

    Thank you very much to Leeann and the team for hosting me here at Business Canterbury.

    I say it every time but I’ll say it again: we need to celebrate business in this country.

    Too often, when a business makes a profit, people jump to the conclusion that someone, somewhere must be losing. That’s dangerously false. A person will engage as an entrepreneur, investor, worker, or customer only if doing so will make them better off than they would have been otherwise.

    Business is not exploitative, sinister, or deceptive. It’s actually very simple. Four types of people achieve together what they couldn’t do alone.

    Entrepreneurs ask others to bring their ideas and dreams to life.

    Investors risk their savings in the hope of greater returns than they could achieve working alone.

    Workers exchange their time and talents for money to buy what they want.

    Those workers become customers who give up their money to buy things they couldn’t produce by themselves.

    And the best thing of all? Nobody is forced to do any of this. Business is voluntary cooperation where adults freely trade value for value and get stronger together.

    Business is not only a force for good in our community, it is beautiful human cooperation.

    The most important thing we can do for business is to ensure New Zealand has a sound, predictable policy environment.

    Today I’d like to talk about what the Government is doing to make it easier to do business. I hope you’ll agree our deregulation program is comprehensive and coherent.

    Most of all I hope you are starting to feel the effects of deregulation. I hope you can spend less time on compliance activity and more time on productive activity.

    But today, I’d like to talk not just about what the Government is doing to improve the business environment, but why.

    Too often in the last four decades, people who favour open markets and entrepreneurship have won the technical argument, but we have lost the cultural argument.

    Yes, business is a force for good. Yes, our prosperity depends on unleashing the creative powers of a skilled and educated population. Yes, free markets and freedom generally are the vehicle for doing that.

    There is nobody serious who disputes that free markets work. We now have decades of data from hundreds of countries showing free markets lead to healthier, wealthier lives.

    When I hear political reporting, and most of Parliament, though, I know we still have work to do establishing the facts.

    Our nation of pioneers

    I’d like to talk today about how we win the cultural argument for business and markets by discovering our true national identity. It draws on the pioneering spirit that brought our ancestors to these shores in search of something better.

    We are a nation of immigrants. A nation built by those who chose challenge over comfort. Our ancestors crossed the globe—not to be given something, but for the freedom to build something.

    To this day, people crossing the seas to our country don’t ask for guarantees, they ask for a fair go.

    Like centuries past, they don’t seek safety above all else, they seek opportunity.

    And they don’t want to wait for permission—they just want to get on with building a life for themselves and their families.

    As it was for my ancestors eight hundred years ago by waka, so it is for New Zealanders arriving at the international terminals of the country’s airports today. The country at the edge of the world is the frontier for people seeking freedom and we need to adopt that part of our mentality.

    The Treaty debate can be seen as a simple question of what defines your life. Is it events that happened many lifetimes ago, or the choices you make in your lifetime? If you know the answer to that, you’ll be able to answer most political questions.

    The problem is somewhere along the way more and more people have chosen the first option, our futures were determined long ago. Our culture hesitates. Instead of cheering on success, we eye it suspiciously. Our instinct, cultivated over decades, seems to be caution over courage, conformity over creativity.

    Take last week. A firm founded by New Zealanders, Zuru, was awarded the Total Consumables Supplier of the Year award by Walmart. It’s difficult to overstate how big that is. They proudly put out a New Zealand press release. It got no coverage in the New Zealand media, but one of Zuru’s owners applying to build a helipad will provide wall-to-wall clickbait. Why do we cut down tall poppies instead of celebrating them?

    There are now five different tax rates, designed to ping people harder as their income grows. Why do we tell our kids to study hard, save, and invest, but punish disproportionately if their work pays off?

    We are a top destination for migrants, but also have one of the world’s largest diasporas. Why do so many come here seeking hope, only to give up and move on?

    The answer, I believe, lies in a deep tension in our national character. It’s not new, but it’s getting sharper. You could call it a divide—but it’s more like two tribes, invisible yet powerful, shaping our future.

    On one side, we have the doers, the pioneers. I call them changemakers.

    These are the people who see the freedom to act not as a privilege, but as a responsibility. These are the people who saw me driving the Land Rover up Parliament’s steps for what it was. No rules were broken, nobody was hurt, we raised tens of thousands for Heart Kids New Zealand.

    The flip side was the endless whingers who said I ‘should have asked permission.’ The interesting thing is many of them didn’t know who I should have asked. They just know everyone should ask someone. What a depressing, defeated way to think and live.

    Changemakers don’t think that way. They’re the ones who put everything on the line to start a business, employ others, and keep going when the odds are against them. The ones who work hard, employ others, save for a home, raise kids, build communities. They believe that life is what you make of it.

    And too often, they’re punished for it.

    Tall poppy forever?

    They’re taxed harder, regulated more tightly, lectured more condescendingly. They’re told their success is a problem, their ambition is selfish, and their values are outdated. But they are the backbone of this country—and many of them are in this room today.

    This is who ACT stands for, and who we represent. We are the party of people who believe in letting you make a difference in your own life, not telling you how to live it.

    But there’s another part of New Zealand and its influence is growing. The people building what I’ve called a Majority for Mediocrity. They would love nothing more than to go into lockdown again, make some more sourdough, and worry about the billions in debt another day.

    They blame one of the most successful societies in history for every problem they have. They believe that ancestry is destiny. They believe people are responsible for things that happened before they were born, but criminals aren’t responsible for what they did last week.

    Far from believing people can make a difference in their own lives, they believe that their troubles are caused by other people’s success. They look for politicians who’ll cut tall poppies down – politicians who say to young New Zealanders ‘if you study hard, get good grades, get a good job, save money, and invest wisely, we’ll tax you harder’.

    It’s not about any one group or party—it’s a mindset. A creeping belief that life should be comfortable, not challenging. That fairness means flattening everyone to the same level, not lifting people up. That success must be questioned, not admired.

    They see every problem through the lens of blame. They see society’s gains as someone else’s loss. They want safety without sacrifice, reward without risk, rights without responsibility. They speak the language of resentment, not aspiration. And they vote for politicians who promise comfort today, at the cost of opportunity tomorrow.

    It’s a toxic mix: personal disappointment and ideological resentment. And it’s being used to manufacture a new generation of mediocrity voters—disillusioned, angry, and ready to believe that someone else is to blame.

    And too often, that’s exactly what politicians have done.

    Instead of fixing systems, they’ve chosen scapegoats.

    They’ve blamed farmers for emissions, despite the different profile of methane.

    They’ve blamed law-abiding firearm owners for crime, whether they committed one or not.

    They’ve blamed landlords for housing shortages, even though they’re trying to help.

    They’ve blamed employers for low wages, even though they compete for workers.

    They’ve blamed successful business owners for prices.

    That’s the lazy politics of envy and distraction. And it’ll lead us nowhere.

    This is the opposite of the spirit that brought people to New Zealand. It is not progress—it is retreat.

    But here’s the good news: that’s not inevitable. The short-term outlook is brighter. Interest rates are coming down. Inflation has been brought to heel – albeit in an uncertain global economic environment. The Government is no longer borrowing recklessly. We’re cutting red tape, restoring sanity to regulation, and pulling back from the brink of identity politics.

    The Government’s deregulation effort

    We’re fixing the CCCFA. It was meant to protect consumers, but in practice it punished responsible borrowers and turned your mortgage broker into a marriage counsellor. That’s not financial literacy—that’s madness.

    We’ve reformed building material approvals, so you’re not paying double just because a product is made overseas. If it’s good enough for Australia, it should be good enough for us.

    We’ve legalised granny flats—because why on earth should families have to fight councils to look after their own loved ones?

    We’re rewriting early childhood education regulations—because we trust teachers to know how to care for children more than we trust clipboard-wielding bureaucrats.

    We’re reviewing health and safety laws to make sure they actually keep people safe, instead of tying businesses up in fear and compliance.

    We’re unblocking the pathways in agriculture and horticulture, cutting through the outdated rules that stop our farmers and growers from accessing the same products our global competitors already do.

    Take the hairdressing and barbering industry. It faces rules that are barely enforced, make no difference to the underground half of the industry, but add costs nonetheless. So we’re just going to get rid of them.

    We’re looking at labour laws to restore balance to give people the choice to work the hours they want, under conditions that suit them, not some centralised formula written for the benefit of union organisers.

    Perhaps the biggest of the lot, the Resource Management Act, once the single biggest handbrake on housing, infrastructure, and industry in this country. It’s being rewritten to serve people, not paperwork, with property rights at the centre.

    Why can’t young New Zealanders afford homes? Why are power bills so high? Why can’t I buy McDonald’s in Wanaka? Each question has a common answer. The legacy of these reforms will be more productive activity, more high-paying jobs, and affordable housing. That’s how we give young Kiwis confidence to build families and futures here in New Zealand, and I’m very proud of the role ACT and Simon Court have played.

    The Regulatory Standards Bill

    But of course, there’s nothing stopping a future government, one driven by the majority for mediocrity from reversing this agenda and piling on more regulation. That’s where the Regulatory Standards Bill comes in.

    In a nutshell: If red tape is holding us back, because politicians find regulating politically rewarding, then we need to make regulating less rewarding for politicians with more sunlight on their activities. That is how the Regulatory Standards Bill will help New Zealand get its mojo back. It will finally ensure regulatory decisions are based on principles of good law-making and economic efficiency.

    It requires politicians and officials to ask and answer certain questions before they place restrictions on citizens’ freedoms. What problem are we trying to solve? What are the costs and benefits? Who pays the costs and gets the benefits? What restrictions are being placed on the use and exchange of private property?

    The law doesn’t stop politicians or their officials making bad laws. They can still make rules that don’t solve any obvious problem, whose costs exceed their benefits, whose costs fall unfairly on some at the expense of others, and that destroy people’s right to property.

    They can do all of that, but the Regulatory Standards Bill will make it transparent that they’re doing it. It makes it easier for voters to identify those responsible for making bad rules. Over time, it will improve the quality of rules we all have to live under by changing how politicians behave.

    All of this deregulation is rebuilding the ability for people to make a difference in their own lives. Government should be a partner in innovation, not a cautious overseer who sees risk as a reason to regulate. When we begin every conversation about change by asking, “What’s the worst that can happen?” instead of “What can we achieve?” we create barriers. We unintentionally penalize ambition and hold back the very people who have the vision and drive to grow New Zealand’s economy and job market.

    In a high-cost economy, regulation isn’t neutral – it’s a tax on growth.

    These are real wins. And ACT is proud to be at the heart of the coalition government delivering them.

    Conclusion

    We’re focused on fixing the system, not finding someone to blame. That’s what’s needed to make New Zealand a nation of pioneers, rather than a retirement village of resentment.

    That’s the legacy we must honour, not with empty slogans or timid half-measures, or by finding a new big business to beat up on, but by recommitting to the principles that made New Zealand great in the first place: freedom, responsibility, equality before the law.

    And ACT is here to make sure New Zealand chooses aspiration over envy, freedom over fear, excellence over mediocrity.

    After all, it’s human creativity that is the secret sauce to a business’s success, the power of people to think, to build, to innovate, makes all the difference. The role of policy is not to command and control that creativity. It’s to unleash it.

    That only happens when Government remembers its place—not above the people, but in service to them. When we treat citizens as adults with their own ambitions, not as passive recipients of government programmes.

    When we respect that people have different values, different goals, and that there is no single ‘right’ way to live, only the right to live freely.

    Now, the lockdown lovers will say: that sounds risky. That sounds like letting go. And they’re right. It is. But let’s be honest, every great leap forward has come from people willing to take risks. From those who trusted themselves more than they trusted the state.

    The real risk is in doing nothing. In clinging to systems that are broken. In pretending that more regulation will fix what regulation broke in the first place. We can’t be a place where our best and brightest only see a future of getting cut down, so they take their talents elsewhere. We need to show them that their ambition is not only tolerated it is welcomed, and we back them to fulfil it.

    We are not here to manage decline. We are here to enable growth.

    That’s the promise of New Zealand. That’s the kind of country we’re building. That’s what brought our ancestors here in the first place.

    So where does that leave us?

    It leaves us with a choice. A choice between two futures.

    One where ambition is met with suspicion, and success is something to be taxed and tamed.

    Or one where we cut back the red tape and back the people who take risks, work hard, and create something better not just for themselves, but for everyone around them.

    We know which path ACT stands for. That is what the Government’s deregulation agenda is striving for – not to control, but to clear the way.

    That’s why we’re rebuilding a culture of responsibility, not resentment. One where every person is treated not as part of a group, but as an individual with potential.

    We cannot change our size, or the impact of the world’s largest economies. We can’t change our underlying history or culture, and we cannot quickly change our levels of education. What we can change is our policies.

    There is a drive to reduce waste. There is a drive to get more money from overseas investment. The Regulatory Standards Bill will change how we regulate. The Resource Management Act is being replaced. Anti-money laundering laws are being simplified. Charter schools are opening, more roads are being built. These are all good things.

    Norman Kirk once said, people everywhere need “someone to love, somewhere to live, somewhere to work, and something to hope for”. It is still good advice for the success of any country.

    I believe people are leaving because they feel let down. They’ve done their homework, got the grades, worked hard and saved money. And yet, life remains harder here than other places they could be. They’re ambitious people, but they are told success is not something to celebrate,

    Bad regulation is at the heart of this. Make no mistake, in a country where you’re free to do as you please unless there’s a law against it, every extra law is a restriction on your basic freedoms, and I hear about it in nearly every field.

    If we want New Zealand to be a place worth staying in, not just arriving to—we need to clear the path of needless regulations. And if we want to turn things around, we must start by trusting New Zealanders to be in charge of their own lives again.

    Thank you to every New Zealander who’s taken a chance, whether it was sailing here generations ago, stepping off a plane just a few years back, or taking out a loan to start a business. However daunting the road ahead may seem, together we can make sure New Zealand’s best days are still to come.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Homelessness – the other housing crisis politicians aren’t talking about

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cameron Parsell, Professor, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland

    Igor Corovic/Shutterstock

    Measures to tackle homelessness in Australia have been conspicuously absent from the election campaign.

    The major parties have rightly identified deep voter anxiety over high house prices. They have responded with a raft of policies, with big dollars attached, to try to make housing more affordable.

    But in doing so, homelessness has been rendered a silent crisis. We all see the destitute and displaced on our city streets or sleeping in their cars. But we are hearing very little from Labor and the Coalition about how to help the 122,000 Australians who are without permanent shelter.

    This is despite evidence that homeless services are witnessing significantly increased demand, with the rate of homelessness soaring above pre–pandemic levels.

    Election efforts to promote home ownership should be welcomed. But they will not help Australia’s homeless, who will remain excluded from shelter, a basic human right.

    Impossible dream

    Although people experiencing homelessness are not a homogeneous group, they have one thing in common – poverty. People who are homeless are overwhelmingly likely to be living in financial hardship.

    Even if they aspire to home ownership, their poverty means buying a home is an improbable solution to their homelessness, regardless of the various incentives on offer during an election campaign.

    Further, the experience of homelessness creates health problems and barriers to accessing mainstream services. People’s lives become transient, unpredictable and often dangerous.

    When homelessness is lost in major policy announcements about addressing only part of the housing crisis, we fail to confront and deal with the related harms homelessness inflicts.

    Strategic plan

    The first thing needed to confront the problem is a national housing and homelessness strategic plan. Governments should set measurable targets to end and prevent homelessness and avoid vague terms such as “address” or “respond”.

    Overseas experience shows it can be done. A strategic plan in the United States contributed to massive reductions in homelessness among military veterans.

    If a standalone homelessness plan sounds familiar, it might be because it was a Labor commitment leading up to the 2022 election. Despite an issues paper and consultation with the sector, the plan has never seen the light of day.

    Housing supply

    It is self-evident that ending and preventing homelessness, as the recent Australian Homelessness Monitor demonstrates, requires an increase in housing supply.

    Trying to fix homelessness without providing shelter would be like trying to prevent polio without vaccines, or ending illiteracy without books.

    Extra supply needs to include more social housing for people on low incomes. And permanent supportive housing, which combines affordable housing with health and social services for our most marginalised citizens.

    A whole-of-society response is required to find shelter for the 122,000 Australians who are homeless.
    TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock

    Some progress has been made by the Albanese government, which has increased the availability of social housing and boosted subsidies to renters in the private market.

    The Liberal Party’s policy platform for the election does not mention homelessness. Rather, it assumes increasing home ownership though measures like the tax deductibility of mortgage repayments for first homebuyers will be a remedy.

    More than houses

    Housing is critical to ending the scourge of homelessness. But it doesn’t tell the whole story.

    A much broader approach is needed that recognises we don’t live siloed lives. Poor connections with a range of health, social and charitable services can drive people into homelessness, and make ending it even harder.

    A more integrated approach would reduce the risk of homelessness. For example, ensuring people are not discharged from institutions such as prisons, hospitals, and foster care onto the street. The connections between homelessness and other critical areas of human need must be prioritised.

    An exclusive focus on building more dwellings will never fix homelessness. This is because the problem and its solutions cut across society, ending and preventing homelessness will require a society wide approach.

    Achieving that will be anything but simple.

    What do we value?

    Societies have worked out ways to overcome many harms to human life. Homelessness can also be remedied, but only if there is the social and political will to do so.

    In Australia we achieved significant success for a short time during the COVID pandemic when many people sleeping rough were accommodated. It can be done again.

    But any policies to end and prevent homelessness must confront the importance of values. Facts and data are needed to inform policy, but facts and data must always be framed by what we value in society.

    The way we respond to people who are homeless would demonstrate how we value each other, and how we can achieve equity and social cohesion well beyond the election campaign.

    Cameron Parsell receives funding from the Australian Research Council, as well as from numerous nonprofit organisations.

    Karyn Walsh is the CEO of Micah Projects which receives funding from the Commonwealth, state and local governments, and philanthropic and private entities to provide a range of homelessness, health, and community services. Neither Karyn nor Micah Projects will receive any financial benefit from this article

    – ref. Homelessness – the other housing crisis politicians aren’t talking about – https://theconversation.com/homelessness-the-other-housing-crisis-politicians-arent-talking-about-254453

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: BUTLER COUNTY – Lt. Gov. Austin Davis to Highlight 2025-26 Proposed Budget Investments in Safer Communities

    Source: US State of Pennsylvania

    April 16, 2025 – Butler, PA

    ADVISORY – BUTLER COUNTY – Lt. Gov. Austin Davis to Highlight 2025-26 Proposed Budget Investments in Safer Communities

    Lt. Gov. Austin Davis will discuss the Shapiro-Davis Administration’s proposed 2025-26 budget and its investments to make Pennsylvania communities safer Wednesday, April 16, at 1 p.m. at the Butler County Courthouse, 124 W. Diamond St., Butler.

    The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, which Davis leads, recently approved $45 million in Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) grants. This program supports a wide range of models focused on reducing community violence and relies on community groups that are most in tune with specific local needs. The Butler County District Attorney’s office is receiving nearly $900,000 to continue and enhance their Butler County Gun Investigation Program.

    The proposed 2025-26 budget includes a $10 million increase for the VIP program, as well as $10 million more for the Building Opportunity through Out-of-School Time (BOOST) initiative, which provides funding for afterschool programs that help keep kids safe and give them enrichment opportunities.

    WHO: Lt. Gov. Austin Davis; Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger; Butler County Commissioners Kevin Boozel, Leslie Osche and Kimberly Geyer; representatives from the Victim Outreach Intervention Center (VOICe)

    WHAT: News conference to discuss how the Shapiro-Davis Administration’s proposed state budget will help make Pennsylvania communities safer

    WHEN: Wednesday, April 16, at 1 p.m.

    WHERE: Butler County Courthouse, 124 W. Diamond St., Butler

    RSVP: Members of the news media who are interested in attending can RSVP to Kirstin Alvanitakis at kirstinalv@pa.gov.

    Contact: kirstinalv@pa.gov

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Superb fairy-wrens’ songs hold clues to their personalities, new study finds

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Diane Colombelli-Négrel, Senior Lecturer, Animal Behaviour, Flinders University

    Two superb fairy-wrens (_Malurus cyaneus_). ARKphoto/Shutterstock

    When we think of bird songs, we often imagine a cheerful soundtrack during our morning walks. However, for birds, songs are much more than background music – they are crucial to attract a mate and defend a territory.

    But what if a song could reveal something deeper about the singer’s personality? A new study, published today in Royal Society Open Science by my colleagues and me, shows it might.

    Addressing a research gap

    For many bird species, songs vary in complexity, with some individuals producing more intricate melodies than others. Such differences often indicate individual variation in genetic quality, age, or health. Yet most research to date has focused on males, and very few studies have investigated how song complexity relates to personality in birds.

    The new study addresses this research gap.

    My colleagues and I studied wild superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus), a small Australian songbird known for its bright plumage and complex vocal skills. Interestingly, in this species, both males and females learn to sing complex songs. This makes them a good example to study the relationship between song complexity and personality in both males and females.

    We captured wild superb fairy-wrens and brought them into short-term captivity to assess their personality. Specifically, we measured their exploration by placing them in a novel environment, where we observed where they went and how much they explored the environment.

    We also tested their aggressiveness by using a mirror, as birds often see their reflection as a rival and respond accordingly.

    We then released the birds and recorded their songs for several months to assess song complexity (that is, element types per song and syllables per song). Elements are the basic building blocks in bird songs (a little like letters in a word) and element types are categories of elements.

    Aggressive versus exploratory

    We found that, regardless of sex or life stage, birds that were more exploratory had more element types per song than those that were less exploratory. Also, more aggressive birds produced songs with fewer syllables than those that were less aggressive. You can hear this in the recordings below.

    Recording of a more exploratory male superb fairy-wren.
    Diane Colombelli-Negrel, CC BY-ND50.4 KB (download)

    Recoding of a less exploratory male superb fairy-wren.
    Diane Colombelli-Negrel, CC BY-ND35.5 KB (download)
    Regardless of sex or life stage, superb fairy-wrens that were more exploratory had more element types per song than those that were less exploratory, as this chart demonstrates.
    Diane Colombelli-Negrel, CC BY-ND

    We also found that more aggressive fledglings, but not adults, had more element types per song.

    Our study demonstrates that both males and females can advertise their personality through their songs. It also raises questions as to whom birds learn their songs from.

    In superb fairy-wrens, male and female juveniles learn from both parents as well as from other members of their species. It is possible that rather than learning from any available adults, birds may selectively copy song elements from specific individuals based on their own personality.

    In superb fairy-wrens, more exploratory birds may approach and learn from a wider range of tutors than less exploratory ones who may limit themselves to more familiar tutors.

    Additionally, our study highlights that the relationship between personality and song complexity could be shifting between different life stages. More aggressive young may experiment with a greater diversity of element types to prepare for the establishment of their own territory in their first year of life, leading to increasing song complexity.

    In contrast, adults have already settled in their territories and may not need to experiment as much.

    In superb fairy-wrens, male and female juveniles learn from both parents.
    Audra Thomson/Shutterstock

    Insights into how personality traits evolve

    Our study illustrates that learned aspects of sexual signalling are personality dependent, and that this may have some potential implications for survival or reproduction.

    This opens up exciting new questions about how vocal communication reflects individual differences — not just in males, but in females too.

    Understanding these links can give us deeper insights into how personality traits evolve and how they influence social interactions in the wild.

    Diane Colombelli-Négrel receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australia & Pacific Science Foundation.

    – ref. Superb fairy-wrens’ songs hold clues to their personalities, new study finds – https://theconversation.com/superb-fairy-wrens-songs-hold-clues-to-their-personalities-new-study-finds-254472

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: Xi’s Malaysia visit to deepen ties, enhance trust

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

    People welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 15, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here at dusk on Tuesday for a state visit to Malaysia. Xi was warmly welcomed by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

    In a written statement released upon his arrival, Xi expressed the hope for fruitful outcomes from the visit that would usher in a new “Golden 50 Years” for bilateral relations.

    The two countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations in 2024. In 2023, Xi met with Anwar in Beijing, where the two sides agreed to jointly build a China-Malaysia community with a shared future.

    Malaysia is the second leg of Xi’s ongoing tour of Southeast Asia, which will also take him to Cambodia later this week. The visit is his second trip to Malaysia as the Chinese head of state.

    During the visit, Xi will discuss with Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar and Prime Minister Anwar bilateral relations, as well as international and regional issues of common concern.

    People welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 15, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    “The visit by President Xi would continue to strengthen bilateral ties and expand strategic collaboration between the two countries,” said Lee Pei May, a political expert at the International Islamic University Malaysia.

    “Malaysia and China are neighbors whose relationship will continue to strengthen, capable of enduring both tests of time and adversity,” Lee added.

    China has remained Malaysia’s largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, with the volume hitting an all-time high of 212.04 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. In recent years, Malaysia’s tropical fruits such as durian, mangosteen and jackfruit have become increasingly popular among Chinese consumers.

    In a signed article published in Malaysian media ahead of his arrival, Xi described China and Malaysia as “friendly neighbors across the sea.”

    He urged both sides to “keep a firm grip” on the strategic helm that guides bilateral friendship, highlighting how China and Malaysia made the decision to establish diplomatic ties more than half a century ago by “breaking through the gloom of the Cold War.”

    “China will work with Malaysia and other ASEAN countries to combat the undercurrents of geopolitical and camp-based confrontation, as well as the countercurrents of unilateralism and protectionism, in keeping with the historical trend of peace and development,” Xi wrote.

    Malaysia was the first ASEAN country to establish diplomatic relations with China. It currently holds the ASEAN chairmanship for 2025.

    Azmi Hassan, a senior fellow at the Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research, a local research institute, noted that China continues to benefit Malaysia and its other ASEAN trade partners, particularly through initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative, which provides stable and long-term access to the Chinese market.

    Xi’s visit comes at an opportune time to strengthen economic and trade ties amid global uncertainties, Hassan said.

    This photo taken on April 11, 2025 shows Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. [Photo/Xinhua]

    In the first quarter of this year, ASEAN maintained its position as China’s largest trading partner, with total trade reaching 1.71 trillion yuan (234.17 billion dollars) and accounting for 16.6 percent of China’s total foreign trade, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.

    The significance of President Xi’s visit goes beyond bilateral relations, said Ong Tee Keat, president of the Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific.

    “It will greatly impact ASEAN-China relations, injecting new momentum into regional development and stability,” he said.

    MIL OSI China News –