Category: Education

MIL-Evening Report: Christian nationalism in the U.S. is eerily reminiscent of ‘dominionist’ reformers in history
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary K. Waite, Professor Emeritus, Early Modern European History, University of New Brunswick

In this etching from Dutch theologian Lambertus Hortensius’ 1614 book ‘Van den oproer der weder-dooperen,’ Anabaptists warn the residents of Amsterdam of the coming vengeance of Christ in 1535. (Lambertus Hortensius)

Far-right politics and Christian nationalism are on the rise in North America and Europe, leading to growing concerns about what it means for human rights and democracy.

As an historian of the demonizing language of the 16th century, I have been watching current events, around QAnon and Christian nationalist support for United States President Donald Trump with considerable trepidation.

Why? Because we’ve seen before what happens when religious groups use government to force their beliefs and morality upon society.

Religion scholar Bradley Onishi writes that the Christian nationalist movement known as the “New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is one of the most influential and dangerous Christian nationalist movements in the United States” and has become “a global phenomenon.”

Read more:
New Apostolic Reformation evangelicals see Trump as God’s warrior in their battle to win America from satanic forces and Christianize it

This movement has reshaped its theology in ways eerily reminiscent of the prophets of the Anabaptist kingdom of Münster of the 1530s in present-day Germany. As my scholarship has examined, those religious dissenters faced polemical demonizing by religious authorities and faced violent oppression, via torture and execution.

Today’s Christian nationalists, however, have faced no such maltreatment. Yet, like persecuted dissenters of the 1530s, they claim divine authority to remake society.

The Anabaptists of Münster

A portrait of Jan van Leiden, a leader of the Münster Anabaptists, by Dutch artist Jan Muller circa 1615.
(The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

The 16th-century Reformation had originally broken down the religious state of medieval Europe. However, Protestant leaders like Martin Luther and John Calvin quickly saw the advantage of having civic governments force conformity to their reforms, and punish dissent.

Among those targeted were the small groups of dissenters whose Biblical interpretation, congruent with the life and teaching of Jesus, led them to follow the Gospel’s command to preach and baptize “on confession of faith” and a person’s commitment to discipleship.“ By contrast, reformers, and the church they sought to reform, “practised and required infant baptism for the entire population (usually required by law).”

Derisively called Anabaptists, the small group of dissenters also refused to participate in government. For these practices they were persecuted, with hundreds horrifically tortured and executed.

Driven to desperation, some Anabaptists in northwestern Europe and northern Germany looked for hope to the Westphalian city of Münster in present-day Germany.

Here the city’s major preacher, Bernhard Rothmann, was moving the city into the Reformed Protestant camp, rather than that of their Lutheran neighbours. When large numbers of Anabaptist refugees arrived in 1533, they won the civic election and Münster became an Anabaptist city.

The Catholic bishop of Münster had other ideas. Hiring Catholic and Lutheran troops, he laid siege to the city and things became desperate. Enraged by persecution, the Münsterite Anabaptists changed their image of Jesus from the peacemaker of the Gospels to the apocalyptic Jesus of Revelation.

The Jesus of Anabaptist Münster

Rothmann’s original theology was like what Calvin would develop for Geneva. What made the two cities distinct was the charismatic leadership of the Dutch Anabaptist prophet Jan Matthijs, who predicted that Christ would return on Easter Day, 1534, adding both urgency and confidence in applying God’s directives.

Now besieged, Matthijs and Rothmann took their reform movement in a more “dominionist” direction, meaning they believed their movement should take moral, spiritual and religious control over society. They expelled anyone who refused to co-operate.

When Christ did not return on Easter 1534 and Matthijs was killed by the besiegers, his successor, Jan van Leiden, simply postponed Christ’s return to the following Easter and declared himself a semi-divine king.

He also abandoned the message of the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount in favour of the vengeful Jesus of the Book of Revelation. Rothmann justified this in a tract which I translated as:

“It was … the intention of our hearts in our baptism, that we would suffer for Christ, whatever men did to us. But it has pleased the Lord … that now we and all Christians at this time may not only ward off the violence of the godless with the sword, but also, that he has put the sword into our hands to avenge all injustice and evil over the entire world.”

King van Leiden sent people out to spread this revolutionary message and take over other cities. This led to several militant episodes, including in Amsterdam, where in February 1535, 11 Anabaptists paraded naked through the streets proclaiming the “naked truth” of God’s anger.

Others delivered the message while waving swords. Finally, in May, 1535 about 40 Anabaptists captured Amsterdam’s city hall. All were arrested and executed. These were the actions of desperate people inspired by their prophets’ assurances of divine authority. When, however, Münster fell at the end of June 1535, the result was massive disillusionment, a return to non-violence and increased persecution.

This etching (circa 1629-1652) by Dutch artist Pieter de Hooch depicts Anabaptists walking naked through the streets of Amsterdam after being inspired to remove and burn their clothes in February 1535.
(Rijksmuseum)

Divine authority to remake society?

This transformation of the Münster Anabaptists into vengeful militants reminds me of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). As Matthew D. Taylor has revealed, this movement sees itself as fighting a “spiritual battle” against the demonic forces opposing Trump; some participated (non-violently) in the Jan. 6, 2020 riot.

Taylor concludes with a warning that the NAR act as “spiritual warmongers, constantly expanding the arena of spiritual warfare, mapping it onto geographical territory and divisive politics in a deeply destabilizing and antidemocratic manner.” It is as if we are listening to Rothmann’s fiery sermons again.

One difference, of course, is that the NAR folk are not under persecution, despite what they might claim. Taylor describes this as “the Evangelical Persecution Neurosis.”

Three of the NAR’s principle components are:
1. A charismatic approach to Christian life that affirms God speaks directly to them. They see themselves as biblical prophets who speak God’s commands which must be implemented regardless of social impact.
2. The Evangelical Christian belief of living in the end-times on the eve of Jesus Christ’s return for judgment. NAR preachers proclaim that while Jesus in the Gospels taught to “turn the other cheek,” they now follow the judgmental Jesus of the apocalyptical Book of Revelation and mobilize a struggle with Satan to rely on scapegoat ideology.
3. Derived from a group of Reformed or Calvinist theologians called “Christian Reconstructionists,” and building on Calvin’s theology of the “godly city,” they pursue a broader “dominionist” rationale to take over all of society for Christ. Believing one is living in the end-times means that society must be taken over and cleansed immediately, adding to urgency.
Read more:
I went to CPAC as an anthropologist to see how Trump supporters are feeling − for them, a ‘golden age’ has begun

Believers, drawing on these three beliefs, derive an assurance they speak with God’s voice. This was the case for the Münster Anabaptists, and now similarly, for the NAR. As the example of the Münster Anabaptists suggests, we’ve seen this many times before throughout history, and it doesn’t end well.

A 1685 engraving by Dutch poet and engraver Jan Luyken depicting the 1571 burning of Anabaptist woman Anneken Hendriks from Thieleman van Braght’s 1660 book ‘The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs Mirror.’
(Allard Pierson Museum)

There have been many more recent episodes of Christian groups claiming divine authority to remake society. Like Jan van Leiden, those in the NAR or who concur with its theology have recast the Jesus of the Gospels, and U.S. President Donald Trump, in apocalyptic terms.

U.S. congresswoman Lauren Boebert, for example, who has been described as a Christian nationalist and is a strong gun advocate, is among those who say God anointed Trump to the presidency.

This gives a gloss of divine approval for Trump’s autocratic goals. As authoritarianism and Christian nationalism rises, the fusion of charismatic authority with Reformed Protestant certitude and end-times fervour continues to attract followers.

Gary K. Waite has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

– ref. Christian nationalism in the U.S. is eerily reminiscent of ‘dominionist’ reformers in history – https://theconversation.com/christian-nationalism-in-the-u-s-is-eerily-reminiscent-of-dominionist-reformers-in-history-250600
MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –
March 18, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Bug drugs: bacteria-based cancer therapies are finally overcoming barriers

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Stebbing, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University

Lightspring/Shutterstock

Imagine a world where bacteria, typically feared for causing disease, are turned into powerful weapons against cancer. That’s exactly what some scientists are working on. And they are beginning to unravel the mechanisms for doing so, using genetically engineered bacteria to target and destroy cancer cells.

Using bacteria to fight cancer dates back to the 1860s when William B. Coley, often called the father of immunotherapy, injected bacteria called streptococci into a young patient with inoperable bone cancer. Surprisingly, this unconventional approach led to the tumour shrinking, marking one of the first examples of immunotherapy.

William Coley (centre), a pioneer of bug drugs.
Wikimedia Commons

Over the next few decades, as head of the Bone Tumour Service at Memorial Hospital in New York, Coley injected over 1,000 cancer patients with bacteria or bacterial products. These products became known as Coley’s toxins.

Despite this early promise, progress in bacteria-based cancer therapies has been slow. The development of radiation therapy and chemotherapy overshadowed Coley’s work, and his approach faced scepticism from the medical community.

However, modern immunology has vindicated many of Coley’s principles, showing that some cancers are indeed very sensitive to an enhanced immune system, an approach we can often capture to treat patients.

How bacteria-based cancer therapies work

These therapies take advantage of the unique ability of certain bacteria to proliferate inside tumours. The low oxygen, acidic and dead tissue in the area around the cancer – the tumour “microenvironment” (an area I am especially interested in) – create an ideal niche for some bacteria to thrive. Once there, bacteria can, in theory, directly kill tumour cells or activate the body’s immune responses against the cancer. However, several difficulties have hindered the widespread adoption of this approach.

Safety concerns are paramount because introducing live bacteria into a patient’s body can cause harm. Researchers have had to carefully attenuate (weaken) bacterial strains to ensure they don’t damage healthy tissue. Additionally, controlling the bacteria’s behaviour within the tumour and preventing them from spreading to other parts of the body has been difficult.

Bacteria live inside us, known as the microbiome, and treatments, disease and, of course, new bacteria that are introduced can interfere with this natural environment. Another significant hurdle has been our incomplete understanding of how bacteria interact with the complex tumour microenvironment and the immune system.

Questions remain about how to optimise bacterial strains for maximum anti-tumour effects while minimising side-effects. We’re also not sure of the dose – and some approaches give one bacteria and others entire colonies and multiple bug species together.

Recent advances

Despite these challenges, recent advances in scientific fields, such as synthetic biology and genetic engineering, have breathed new life into the field. Scientists can now program bacteria with sophisticated functions, such as producing and delivering specific anti-cancer agents directly within tumours.

This targeted approach could overcome some limitations of traditional cancer treatments, including side-effects and the inability to reach deeper tumour tissues.

Emerging research suggests that bacteria-based therapies could be particularly promising for certain types of cancer. Solid tumours, especially those that have a poor blood supply and are resistant to conventional therapies, might benefit most from this approach.

Colon cancer, ovarian cancer and metastatic breast cancer are among the high-mortality cancers that researchers are targeting with these innovative therapies.
One area we have the best evidence for is that “bug drugs” may help the body fight cancer by interacting with routinely used immunotherapy drugs.

Recent studies have shown encouraging results. For instance, researchers have engineered strains of E coli bacteria to deliver small tumour protein fragments to immune cells, effectively training them to recognise and attack cancer cells. In lab animals, this approach has led to tumour shrinkage and, sometimes, complete elimination.

E coli have been used to deliver cancer tumour fragments to immune cells.
Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock

By exploiting these mechanisms, bacterial therapies can selectively colonise tumours while largely sparing healthy tissues, potentially overcoming limitations of conventional cancer treatments.

Ultimately, we need human trials to give us the answer about whether this works, by controlling or eradicating cancer and, of course, if there are side-effects, its toxicity.

In one study I worked on, we showed that part of a bacterial cell wall, when injected into patients, could safely help control melanoma – the most deadly form of skin cancer.

While we’re still in the early stages, the potential of bacteria-based cancer therapies is becoming increasingly clear. As our understanding of tumour biology and bacterial engineering improves, we may be on the cusp of a new era in cancer treatment.

Bacterial-based cancer therapies take advantage of several unique mechanisms to specifically target tumour cells. As a result, these therapies could offer a powerful new tool in our arsenal against cancer, working in synergy with existing treatments like immunotherapy and chemotherapy. And, as we look to the future, bacteria-based cancer therapies represent a fascinating convergence of historical insight and groundbreaking science.

While challenges remain, the progress in this field offers hope for more effective, targeted treatments that could significantly improve outcomes for cancer patients.

Justin Stebbing 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. Bug drugs: bacteria-based cancer therapies are finally overcoming barriers – https://theconversation.com/bug-drugs-bacteria-based-cancer-therapies-are-finally-overcoming-barriers-251278

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 18, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Stop waiting for a foreign hero: NZ’s supermarket sector needs competition from within

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa M. Katerina Asher, Retail Academic Researcher, PhD Candidate & Sessional Academic, University of Sydney

non c/Shutterstock

New Zealand’s concentrated supermarket sector is back in the spotlight after Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she was open to offering “VIP treatment” to a third international player willing to create competition.

However, New Zealanders hoping for a foreign hero to break up the current supermarket concentration will be waiting a long time.

It could take five years or more for an international brand such as Aldi to enter New Zealand and establish a nationwide chain. It is a risky bet. So far, no foreign operator has expressed interest publicly in setting up shop here on a national scale.

To create more competition in the supermarket sector, the New Zealand government needs go back to where the issues began: allowing multiple companies to merge until there were few alternatives for shoppers.

Breaking up two of the major entities in the sector would be a relatively quick way to reintroduce competition and improve affordability for everyone.

The rise in concentration

The current state of New Zealand’s supermarket sector – dominated by Woolworths (formerly Countdown), Foodstuffs North Island and Foodstuffs South Island – is a result of successive mergers and acquisitions along two tracks.

The first was Progressive Enterprises’ (owner of Foodtown, Countdown and Five Guys banners) purchase of Woolworths New Zealand (which also owned Big Fresh and Price Chopper) in 2001.

Progressive Enterprises was sold to Woolworths Australia, its’ current owner, in 2005. In less than 25 years, six brands owned by multiple companies were whittled down to a single brand, Woolworths.

The second was the concentration of the “Foodstuffs cooperatives” network. This network once included four regional cooperatives and multiple banners including Mark’n Pak and Cut Price, as well as New World, PAK’nSave and Four Square.

The decision of the four legally separate cooperatives to include “Foodstuffs” in their company name blurred the lines between them. The companies looked similar but remained legally separate.

As a result of mergers, these four separate companies have now become Foodstuffs North Island – franchise limited share company, operating according to “cooperative principlies” and Foodstuffs South Island, a legal cooperative.

In a recent failed application to merge into one company, Foodstuffs North Island and Foodstuffs South Island admitted to sharing information between the two legally separate companies. They are also not meaningfully competing with each other as they operate in regions which do not overlap.

Breaking up the current players to compete

While the Commerce Commission declined the clearance for Foodstuffs North Island Limited and Foodstuffs South Island to merge into one single national grocery entity, more can be done to drive competition in the supermarket sector.

The fastest option would be to break up the “Foodstuffs” companies into smaller entities, with the breakaway and re-branding of PAK’nSave across both islands.

But to do this the government would need to update legislation to allow parliament to force divestiture, consistent with the United Kingdom and the United States.

This would allow New Zealand to go from three supermarket companies to five or more in a short period of time.

Reducing the power dependency of suppliers and customers on the current companies would also reduce barriers to entry for overseas brands.

Global players will take too long

Breaking up the local dominant supermarket players is simply faster, and more straightforward, than waiting for a foreign company to enter New Zealand. It takes time and is expensive to build scale with stores. It can also be risky, as recent history in Australia shows.

Aldi Australia, a favourite of New Zealand consumers hoping for a global alternative, took 20 years to reach scale as a third major player in that country. Originally from Germany, Aldi entered Australia as a declining brand – Franklins – left the market.

In 2017, another German company, Kaufland, announced ambitious plans to enter the Australian market, starting with 20 stores. It purchased its first site in 2018 and hired 200 staff. However, the company abandoned launch plans in 2020 and divested completely from the market.

Additionally, it took US-based bulk retail store Costco three years – and NZ$100 million – to go from announcing its plans for one New Zealand store to open. The retailer has hinted at opening a second location but this has not yet happened.

In the end, the solution to New Zealand’s concentrated supermarket sector needs to come from within. Breaking up the power held by the dominant supermarket companies will allow prices to come down more quickly than waiting for a foreign supermarket to arrive.

The government allowed the market to become concentrated, so it can now fix it. An international brand is not the hero – local, New Zealand-owned competition is.

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. Stop waiting for a foreign hero: NZ’s supermarket sector needs competition from within – https://theconversation.com/stop-waiting-for-a-foreign-hero-nzs-supermarket-sector-needs-competition-from-within-251910

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Tatyana Golikova: 12 million senior citizens participate in active longevity programs

Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

March 17, 2025

Tatyana Golikova at the presentation of the results and awarding of the winners of the fifth All-Russian selection of the best practices of active longevity.

The presentation of the results and the awarding of the winners of the fifth all-Russian selection of the best practices of active longevity took place at the site of the Government Coordination Center. The event was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, Minister of Labor and Social Protection Anton Kotyakov, General Director of the ANO “National Priorities” Sofia Malyavina and experts. 2684 applications from 89 regions of Russia were submitted to the fifth all-Russian selection of the best practices of active longevity.

The experts recognized 10 practices from Lipetsk, Ryazan, Samara, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Ulyanovsk regions, the Republic of Tatarstan, the Chuvash Republic and St. Petersburg as the best. The winners received cash prizes of 500 thousand rubles for the development of their projects. Three practices were awarded in the special nomination “Comprehensive Infrastructure Solutions” – from Krasnoyarsk Krai, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Yugra and Chelyabinsk Region.

Tatyana Golikova noted that over the past five years, competitive selection has become an integral part of state policy in relation to the elderly.

“These are not just citizens of the third age, these are our beloved grandparents, for whom we do everything possible to ensure that their lives go on, so that this generation, with its unique experience, passes on the best traditions to the younger generation and so that it always feels absolutely in demand. The year 2024 marked the end of one of the national projects that was announced by the President – this is the national project “Demography”, where events on the topic of active longevity occupied a strong place. The new national projects that started on January 1, 2025, on the instructions of the head of state, incorporate all the best that we managed to achieve over the previous period. And today this is no longer just one national project “Family”, but also events of the national project “Personnel”, events of the national project “Long and Active Life”, a number of other events in other national projects that we will implement in order to create a comfortable environment for our older citizens. The best practices that we have developed, including within the framework of our competition, are becoming an integral part of the Strategy of Actions in the Interests of Senior Citizens until 2030, developed by the Government and planned for adoption in the near future,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

According to Tatyana Golikova, 12 million senior citizens participate in active longevity programs. Of these, 8.5 million are actively involved in sports, 2 million in social tourism, a million in third-age universities, and more than 200,000 are active “silver” volunteers.

“We will continue this work – both within the framework of the strategy and within the framework of national projects. And, of course, we want more senior citizens to be shoulder to shoulder with us. Our fifth all-Russian selection of the best practices of active longevity involved all 89 subjects of the Russian Federation in 2024. More than 2,600 projects, including 110 best ones that became finalists. I hope that we will continue to work together, promoting all the events that we have planned for our respected senior citizens,” Tatyana Golikova emphasized.

The winners in the nomination “Medical and social care, public care and prevention” were the following practices: “Circle of Good” (St. Petersburg), ANO “Good Sergievo”; “Rapid Response Service” (Sverdlovsk Region), Interregional Charitable Public Foundation “Yekaterinburg Jewish Cultural Center “Menorah”.

The following projects received awards in the category “Active Life: Culture, Tourism, Volunteering”: “Kindness Nearby 2.0” (Tyumen Oblast), Tyumen Regional Charity Fund “Older Generation”; “Good Friend: Joint Work of a Nursing Home with Volunteers and NGOs” (Samara Oblast, Zhigulevsk), Solnechnopolyansky Nursing Home.

Winners in the Education and Employment category: a program to maintain the professional longevity of social workers aged 50 from small villages (Samara Oblast), ANO Center for Social Services for the Population of the Northern District; a project to improve legal literacy, Legal Odyssey: A Journey to Knowledge (Ulyanovsk Oblast), and the Silver Dawn boarding house for senior citizens named after Z.A. Kudinova in the village of Yazykovo.

In the nomination “Healthy Lifestyle” the best were: the health training project “Manage Your Health” (Ryazan Region), Ryazan State Medical University named after Academician I.P. Pavlov; the Spartakiad “Longevity Games. Life-lover” (Republic of Tatarstan), the administration of the city of Kazan and the Spartakiad project committee.

In the nomination “Practice for Men 60” the awards were received by the authors of the practices: Fishing Sport Festival “Fishing without Borders” (Lipetsk Region), Department of Social Policy of Lipetsk Region; “Express-grandfathers” (Chuvash Republic), Shemurshinsky Center for Social Services to the Population.

In the special nomination “Integrated Infrastructure Solutions”, the following practices received gratitude: the “Veteran” house (Chelyabinsk Region), PAO “Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works”; “Social Apartments” – an ecosystem for the active life of senior citizens (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra), Department of Social Development of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra; “We Know That the Impossible is Possible!” (Krasnoyarsk Region), Krasnoyarsk nursing home for senior citizens and disabled people “Botanichesky”.

“The competition is gaining popularity year after year. Today, 12 million people and all subjects of the Russian Federation are actively participating in the program. “Active Longevity” has started working. It really gives everyone who has the desire and opportunity to prove themselves. To prove themselves in sports, to prove themselves in creativity. And to lead a truly active lifestyle. Therefore, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone, it is you who fill the active longevity programs with the content that today gives a lot of positive emotions to our older generation. Thank you!” – the head of the Ministry of Labor Anton Kotyakov addressed the winners of the selection.

A total of 110 participants were included in the finalists of the fifth all-Russian selection of the best practices of active longevity. All projects will be published in the collection “Active Longevity – 2024”, and will also receive expert support and access to replication through the platform of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives “Smarteka“.

“Every year, the number of applications and regions grew. 2024 gave us a 2.5-fold increase compared to last year and a 10-fold increase compared to 2020, when we were just starting. All the winning projects were divided into the following nominations: 10 were submitted in the Education and Employment nomination, 15 in the Healthy Lifestyle nomination, 23 projects in the Medical and Social Care nomination, 49 projects in the Active Life nomination, and 13 in the Practices for Men 60 nomination. These practices vary in scale. We have 88 practices on a regional scale, six on a federal scale, four on a city scale, and 12 on a rural scale,” said Sofia Malyavina, General Director of the National Priorities ANO.

She also noted that over five seasons, the all-Russian selection covered not only all regions, but also all possible types of practices for the older generation. Therefore, it now makes sense to shift the focus from finding the best solutions to their systematization and inclusion in comprehensive regional programs.

“We have already started discussions with the Ministry of Labor and would like to discuss with you [experts and selection participants] how we should further transform the assessment of practices and the competition itself. Perhaps now we should assess the comprehensiveness of regional programs, and then we should approach the development of a methodology that takes into account the contribution of leading organizations of a particular region to the comprehensive program of active longevity,” said Sofia Malyavina.

In the near future, experts and partners of the all-Russian selection of the best practices of active longevity will formulate proposals for the launch of the new season.

The All-Russian selection of the best practices of active longevity is held annually by the ANO “National Priorities” with the support of the Ministry of Labor of Russia on the platform of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives “Smarteka”. The partners are the National Research University Higher School of Economics, the Public Chamber, the Silver Age Alliance, the Russian Gerontological Scientific and Clinical Center, the Agency for Social Information, the All-Russian Organization of War and Labor Veterans, the Pochet charitable foundation and the Odnoklassniki social network.

The national project “Family” was launched in Russia in 2025 by decision of President Vladimir Putin. The main goal of the project is to support families with children, large families, care for reproductive health and strengthen family values. The national project also provides for the development of initiatives for active longevity, ensuring high-quality care for older people and the formation of a family-oriented cultural infrastructure.

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 –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Governor Polis and Arnold Ventures Announce $20 Million Partnership to Boost Economic Opportunity, Strengthen Colorado’s Workforce & Expand Education

Source: US State of Colorado

The multi-year partnership will support data-driven investments to advance economic mobility for Coloradans

Denver, CO. (March 17, 2025) – Today, Governor Jared Polis and philanthropy Arnold Ventures announced The Colorado Partnership for Proven Initiatives, a new multi-year $20 million philanthropic partnership to improve economic opportunities for Coloradans, starting with expanding students’ access to the support needed to thrive in the classroom and workforce, helping more Coloradans build brighter futures.

“In Colorado, we are expanding opportunities for Coloradans by investing in what works. This exciting new partnership with Arnold Ventures builds on our nation-leading progress to significantly expand access to high-quality education, strengthen our workforce, and create more pathways to economic success for all Coloradans,” said Gov. Polis.

Over the next four years, Arnold Ventures will match investments made by the State of Colorado dollar-for-dollar, providing up to $10 million in support for evidence-based, proven initiatives to advance the economic mobility of Coloradans.

“In today’s climate of constrained resources, our commitment to research-backed programs isn’t just smart—it’s essential,” said Laura Arnold, founder and co-chair of Arnold Ventures. “By matching state investments with philanthropic capital, we’re ensuring every dollar maximizes its impact for students, families, and the future of our communities.”

“We are thrilled that Colorado Mountain College and Lamar Community College will participate in this pilot,” said Dr. Angie Paccione, Executive Director for the Colorado Department of Higher Education. “These institutions are committed to enhancing student success and economic mobility, which are at the core of this project. By focusing on in-demand careers and addressing attainment gaps, we’ll address state workforce needs and provide opportunities for all learners to achieve their educational and professional goals.”

The first phase of the partnership will focus on higher education and workforce training, supporting the launch of proven student success initiatives at two Colorado community colleges: Lamar Community College and Colorado Mountain College. With the Partnership, these colleges will launch initiatives modeled on the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) initiative, which was developed by the City University of New York (CUNY) and provides comprehensive academic, financial, and personal support for low-income students pursuing two-year associate degrees. Studies have found that ASAP and its replications result in higher graduation rates and higher salaries following graduation, which helps both students and taxpayers.

“CUNY ASAP has helped more than 110,000 CUNY students and has been replicated nationwide. We are sure that Colorado’s adoption of this comprehensive support program will have a measurable impact for students at Lamar Community College and Colorado Mountain College,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “ASAP has garnered national accolades and doubled graduation rates; independent studies have consistently demonstrated its effectiveness and shown the significant return it provides on taxpayer dollars. We applaud Colorado’s investment in this proven-successful model and thank Arnold Ventures for its ongoing support.”

The State of Colorado and Arnold Ventures will work with the nonprofit, nonpartisan Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy to identify promising initiatives, scale proven initiatives, ensure funding sustainability, and implement these efforts. Colorado policymakers will also develop long-term strategies to allocate public resources toward initiatives that deliver proven results for local communities.

“There’s a growing body of programs, like ASAP, that have been shown in gold-standard randomized trials to produce meaningful, sustained improvements in people’s lives,” said Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy President Jon Baron. “It’s great to see Governor Polis and Arnold Ventures using that evidence to make progress at scale on education and economic mobility for Coloradans.”

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MIL OSI USA News –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: SBA Announces 2025 National Small Business Week Program and Specialty Award Winners
Source: United States Small Business Administration

WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced the national program and specialty award winners for SBA’s 2025 National Small Business Week, which will take place May 4-10, 2025. These awards recognize businesses and resource partners for their efforts in government contracting and disaster recovery as well as individual awards for exporter, small business investment company and surety bond agent of the year.

“The Small Business Administration is proud to recognize excellence across our small businesses and key resource partners,” SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said. “As we prepare to highlight just a few of the many success stories during National Small Business Week, we are laser-focused on our mission to empower American job creators and drive economic growth.”

Government Contracting-related Awards

8(a) Graduate of the Year: Owner/President Gina Hill, G.M. Hill Engineering Inc., Jacksonville, Fla.

Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year: President and CEO Karen Renee Paschal, Conco Inc., Louisville, Ky.

Small Business Subcontractor of the Year: President and CEO Antonio Martinez, Renaissance Global Services LLC, Holmdel, N.J.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Awards for Excellence

These awards recognize small business prime contractors that have excelled in using small businesses as suppliers and subcontractors in various industries.
- Construction: Vice President, Contracts and Compliance Glenn Sweatt, Environmental Chemical Corporation, Burlingame, Calif.
- Manufacturing: Executive Director, Supplier Diversity and Sustainability Rondu Vincent, Bristol Myers Squibb, Lawrence Township, N.J.
- Services: Small Business Liaison Officer and Senior Manager of Supply Chain Excellence Lisa Tanner, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, Aiken, S.C.
Phoenix Awards for Disaster Recovery

These awards recognize inspiring resilience in the aftermath of devastating natural disasters and outstanding contributions toward recovery efforts.

Small Business: Luis and Amy Fuentes Ruiz, Island Catering LLC, Lahaina, Hawaii

Outstanding Contributions, Public Official: Mayor Jennifer Linam Hobbs, Wynne, Ark.

Outstanding Contributions, Volunteer: Senior Pastor John Grayson, Gospel Tabernacle Church, Selma, Ala.

SBA Resource Partner Awards

These awards recognize SBA-funded training and assistance partners for their impact on local economic growth, job creation and entrepreneurial support.

SCORE Chapter of the Year: SCORE Greater Seattle, Seattle, Wash., led by Chapter Chair Suvendoo Ray

Small Business Development Center Excellence and Innovation Center Award: Angelo State University Small Business Development Center, San Angelo, Texas, led by Director Dezaray Kathlaine Johnson

Women’s Business Center of Excellence Award: Women’s Business Center of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, led by Director Anne Marie Wallace

Veterans Business Outreach Center of the Year: Veterans Business Outreach Center at University of Texas Arlington College of Business, Arlington, Texas, led by Director Patrick Alcorn

Exporter of the Year

President and CEO Louis Auletta and Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing Michael Auletta, Bauer Inc., Bristol, Conn.

Small Business Investment Company of the Year – Established Manager

GMB Capital Partners, Minneapolis, Minn.

Surety Bond Agent of the Year

Vice President of Bond Operations Alicia Marasco, Capstone Risk Management Services, Las Vegas, Nev.

Details on the National Small Business Week virtual summit, registrations and speakers are featured on National Small Business Week and will be updated as additional information and activities are confirmed. Local events will be featured on Find upcoming events and identifiable by searching with #SmallBusinessWeek.

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About the U.S. Small Business Administration

The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of entrepreneurship. As the leading voice for small businesses within the federal government, the SBA empowers job creators with the resources and support they need to start, grow, and expand their businesses or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.

MIL OSI USA News –
March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Thirty years ago Ukraine got rid of its nuclear arsenal – now some people regret that decision

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jennifer Mathers, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, Aberystwyth University

Around 73% of Ukrainians now want their country to “restore” its nuclear weapons, according to a recent opinion poll. Most Ukrainians (58%) were in favour of their country owning nuclear weapons, even if it meant losing western allies.

This suggests an underlying regret that Ukraine agreed to relinquish the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal as part of the Budapest Memorandum around 30 years ago. This agreement, signed in December 1994, provided security guarantees for Ukraine from the US, the UK and Russia in return for giving up the weapons. Ukraine also agreed it would not acquire nuclear weapons in the future.

The focus on nuclear weapons is intensifying all over Europe. This week the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, called on the US to station its nuclear weapons in his country to deter Russian attacks. He cited Moscow’s decision to deploy nuclear weapons just across the border in Belarus during 2023 as part of his reasoning.

Trump’s apparent weakening commitment to Nato has also prompted the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to suggest that France could extend protection of its own nuclear weapons to its allies.

It’s clear that some Ukrainians now believe that their country would have been less likely to have experienced a Russian invasion if it had held on to its nuclear capacity. Ukrainians now question how much they can rely on other states after the failure of security guarantees that were central to the 1994 agreement.

The pledges by the US, UK and Russia to protect the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine were put to the test in 2014 when Russia invaded and then annexed Crimea and began providing financial and military backing for militia leaders in eastern Ukraine who claimed to lead pro-Russian separatist movements.

Read more:
Are Ukrainians ready for ceasefire and concessions? Here’s what the polls say

The US and UK imposed economic sanctions against Russia and provided training, equipment and non-lethal weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces. But these measures fell well short of ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty and were insufficient to help Ukraine retake its territory.

Similarly, US and UK support for Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, although valuable and much appreciated by the Ukrainians, has not been enough to allow Kyiv to completely expel Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.

What was the Budapest Memorandum?

What if Ukraine still had nuclear weapons?

But what if Ukraine had never given up its nuclear weapons? The logic of deterrence suggests that Putin would have not have invaded and attacked a nuclear-armed Ukraine. But the argument that Ukraine should not have surrendered the Soviet nuclear weapons on its territory overlooks the specific circumstances. For while physical components of a nuclear weapons capability – delivery vehicles and nuclear warheads – were within Ukraine’s grasp, the launch codes remained in Moscow, and Russian leaders showed no willingness to relinquish them.

So, Kyiv would have had no control over whether, when or against whom those weapons might have been used. The risk to Ukraine of becoming the target of another state’s nuclear strike would have been considerable, and the Kyiv government would have been unable to do anything to reduce that risk. Retaining nuclear weapons left over from the Soviet period would have probably made Ukrainians less rather than more secure.

Read more:
What is the value of US security guarantees? Here’s what history shows

Ukraine also lacked the economic resources to maintain the nuclear weapons on its territory, or develop them into a credible deterrent force. In exchange for giving up nuclear weapons, Ukraine received much-needed economic assistance from the west.

In the 1990s Ukrainian views were shaped by the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This had a devastating and lasting impact on the land and the people in that part of Ukraine, highlighting the risks of the nuclear sector. In 1994, when the Budapest Memorandum was being negotiated, only 30% of Ukrainians were in favour of Ukraine possessing nuclear weapons.

What now?

Ukraine would face considerable technical challenges in developing nuclear weapons today, both in creating the necessary quantities of fissile material for warheads and manufacturing delivery vehicles.

Kyiv would also need to pay for an expensive nuclear weapons development programme at a time when the Ukrainian economy is struggling to supply its soldiers with conventional weapons and meet the needs of civilians.

And unless Ukraine’s international supporters were on board, Kyiv might face the withdrawal of economic and military aid at a crucial juncture. If Moscow detected any move on Ukraine’s part to develop nuclear weapons, there would be a strong motive for a preemptive Russian strike to put an end to that plan.

But even though it may not be feasible for Ukraine to develop an independent nuclear deterrent in the short term, Kyiv may feel compelled to pursue a nuclear weapons programme unless Ukraine is provided with serious and reliable security guarantees. With the Trump administration apparently ruling out Nato membership for Ukraine, the onus is on the country’s international supporters to come up with an alternative unless they want to see further nuclear proliferation in Europe.

Jennifer Mathers 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. Thirty years ago Ukraine got rid of its nuclear arsenal – now some people regret that decision – https://theconversation.com/thirty-years-ago-ukraine-got-rid-of-its-nuclear-arsenal-now-some-people-regret-that-decision-251733

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Europe had worst measles outbreak since 1997 – new data

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, University of Southampton

SamaraHeisz5/Shutterstock

Europe has had the highest number of measles cases since 1997, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). There were 127,350 cases in 2024 – about double the number from 2023.

“Measles is back, and it’s a wake-up call,” says Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe. “Without high vaccination rates, there is no health security.” Last year, there were 38 deaths from measles.

Transmission is similar to COVID, with respiratory droplets and aerosols (airborne transmission) spreading the virus between people. The infection produces a rash and fever in mild cases, and encephalitis (brain swelling), pneumonia and blindness in severe cases.

Hospitalisation and deaths are overwhelmingly in unvaccinated people, with mortality rates in developed countries around one in 1,000 to one in 5,000 measles cases.

Each person infected with measles will, on average, spread the virus to between 12 and 18 other people. This is more infectious than COVID. For example, someone with the omicron variant would spread the virus to around eight others.

In 2022 the WHO had described measles as an “imminent threat in every region of the world”. The widespread impact of COVID made it harder for people to access healthcare, reducing the ability of regular health services, like vaccinations, to function properly.

These new stark figures from WHO Europe are an inevitable consequence of lower vaccination rates. Measles is almost entirely vaccine-preventable, with two doses providing greater than 99% protection against infection. The vaccine has an excellent safety record, with severe harm being extremely rare.

The proportion of the population that needs to be vaccinated to keep local transmission low and prevent outbreaks (so-called “herd immunity”) is around 95%.

WHO Europe highlighted some examples of where there are clear gaps in vaccine coverage. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania, fewer than 80% of eligible children were vaccinated in 2023, with rates below 50% for the past five or more years. Romania had the highest number of measles cases in Europe in 2024 – an estimated 30,692 cases.

Misinformation is the driver

Misinformation is an important factor that reduces vaccine uptake. For example, in the UK, former physician Andrew Wakefield presented falsified data in 2002 claiming the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine caused autism. He somehow got these claims published in The Lancet – although the paper was later retracted.

This fake scare received sustained media coverage, which resulted in lower uptake in young children at the time and was then a key factor a large measles outbreak among teenagers in England in 2012.

The claims have spread internationally. In 2020, a US population survey found that “18% of our respondents mistakenly state that it is very or somewhat accurate to say that vaccines cause autism”.

Sadly, misinformation about health can even be found at the highest levels of government. US President Donald Trump repeatedly made false claims during the COVID pandemic, including the suggestion that injecting disinfectant might cure COVID. In 2025, he appointed Robert F. Kennedy as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has long espoused anti-vaccine viewpoints, including being required to apologise in 2015 for comparing vaccination programmes to the Holocaust.

RFK Jr. was made to apologise for comparing vaccination programmes with the Holocaust.
Maxim Elramsisy/Shutterstock

In a recent interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity, Kennedy said of the MMR vaccine: “It does cause deaths every year. It causes — it causes all the illnesses that measles itself causes, encephalitis and blindness, et cetera.”

This is untrue. The Infectious Disease Society of America points out that there have been “no deaths related to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in healthy individuals”. This is amid two measles deaths in unvaccinated people in the US, the first such deaths since 2003. There are estimates that the measles vaccine prevented 94 million deaths globally between 1974 to 2024.

The US National Institute for Health, one of the world’s biggest funders of health research, announced on March 10 2025 that it was axing research that aimed to understand and address vaccine hesitancy.

This goes alongside the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) apparently planning a large study into potential associations between vaccines and autism, despite dozens of studies indicating there being no such link.

This volatility coming from the US and elsewhere matters for Europe. Trump and the US have political supporters in Europe, so their messaging carries weight and could do harm. Anti-vaccine sentiment promoted on Facebook from within the US resulted in comments on the posts from multiple countries. The use of social media has been observed to spread misinformation internationally, for example, within Europe. Russian trolls are also involved in creating arguments about vaccines.

There is an urgent need for outbreaks to be brought back under control and for accurate information about vaccines to be the key message in public discussions. As Dr Kluge highlights: “The measles virus never rests – and neither can we.”

Michael Head has previously received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Research England and the UK Department for International Development, and currently receives funding from the UK Medical Research Foundation.

– ref. Europe had worst measles outbreak since 1997 – new data – https://theconversation.com/europe-had-worst-measles-outbreak-since-1997-new-data-252327

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Justice Department Files Statement of Interest in California Religious Land Use Case Brought by Small Christian Church

Source: US State of North Dakota

The Justice Department filed a statement of interest today in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California supporting a small Christian church’s claim that the City of Santa Ana violated its rights under the under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) when it denied the church’s zoning application to use space in the city’s professional district as a house of worship.

The statement of interest was filed in Anchor Stone Christian Church v. City of Santa Ana, a private lawsuit alleging that the City violated RLUIPA by enacting and enforcing zoning provisions that treat religious uses less favorably than secular places of assembly. The lawsuit alleges that the city’s professional district allows, as of right, nonreligious assembly uses like museums and art galleries, but only allows religious assembly uses with the city’s discretionary approval of a conditional use permit (CUP).

“RLUIPA prohibits local governments from treating religious assembly uses like the Anchor Stone Church worse than comparable nonreligious assemblies,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mac Warner of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Zoning codes violate RLUIPA when they make it more difficult for people to gather for religious worship than for secular purposes. The Civil Rights Division will continue to vigilantly enforce RLUIPA’s protections and ensure that religious groups have equal access to places to worship as a community.”

“Zoning practices that unfairly limit assemblies by faith-based groups violate federal law,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally for the Central District of California. “Municipalities cannot create zoning districts that treat houses of worship worse than comparable secular assemblies. The Justice Department will vigorously protect the right of religious institutions to receive equal treatment under the law.”

The lawsuit alleges that Anchor Stone is a small Christian church of first-generation Chinese and Taiwanese Americans. It obtained space within the city’s professional district and applied for a CUP to operate a Church but was denied by the city. The Church filed a motion for preliminary injunction, seeking an order allowing it to worship at its property. The Department’s statement of interest supports the Church’s argument that the zoning code, on its face, treats religious uses less favorably than nonreligious assembly uses, in violation of RLUIPA’s equal terms provision, and that the city has failed to justify this unequal treatment.

RLUIPA is a federal law that protects persons and religious institutions from unduly burdensome, unequal, or discriminatory land use regulations. More information about RLUIPA and the department’s efforts to enforce it can be found on the Place to Worship Initiative’s webpage.

As part of this initiative, the department distributed a letter to state, county, and municipal leaders throughout the country to remind them of their obligations under RLUIPA, including its requirement that land use regulations treat religious assemblies and institutions at least as well as nonreligious assemblies and institutions. Additionally, as part of a series on combating religious discrimination and promoting awareness of RLUIPA, the department hosted an outreach forum last year with land use practitioners and religious leaders at Fowler School of Law at Chapman University in Orange County, California.

Individuals who believe they have been subjected to discrimination in land use or zoning decisions may contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Division’s Civil Rights Section at (213) 894-2879 or the Civil Rights Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section at (833) 591-0291 or may submit a complaint through the RLUIPA complaint portal. More information about RLUIPA, including questions and answers about the law and other documents, may be found at www.justice.gov/crt/about/hce/rluipaexplain.php.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Justice Department Files Statement of Interest in California Religious Land Use Case Brought by Small Christian Church

Source: United States Attorneys General 1

The Justice Department filed a statement of interest today in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California supporting a small Christian church’s claim that the City of Santa Ana violated its rights under the under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) when it denied the church’s zoning application to use space in the city’s professional district as a house of worship.

The statement of interest was filed in Anchor Stone Christian Church v. City of Santa Ana, a private lawsuit alleging that the City violated RLUIPA by enacting and enforcing zoning provisions that treat religious uses less favorably than secular places of assembly. The lawsuit alleges that the city’s professional district allows, as of right, nonreligious assembly uses like museums and art galleries, but only allows religious assembly uses with the city’s discretionary approval of a conditional use permit (CUP).

“RLUIPA prohibits local governments from treating religious assembly uses like the Anchor Stone Church worse than comparable nonreligious assemblies,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mac Warner of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Zoning codes violate RLUIPA when they make it more difficult for people to gather for religious worship than for secular purposes. The Civil Rights Division will continue to vigilantly enforce RLUIPA’s protections and ensure that religious groups have equal access to places to worship as a community.”

“Zoning practices that unfairly limit assemblies by faith-based groups violate federal law,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally for the Central District of California. “Municipalities cannot create zoning districts that treat houses of worship worse than comparable secular assemblies. The Justice Department will vigorously protect the right of religious institutions to receive equal treatment under the law.”

The lawsuit alleges that Anchor Stone is a small Christian church of first-generation Chinese and Taiwanese Americans. It obtained space within the city’s professional district and applied for a CUP to operate a Church but was denied by the city. The Church filed a motion for preliminary injunction, seeking an order allowing it to worship at its property. The Department’s statement of interest supports the Church’s argument that the zoning code, on its face, treats religious uses less favorably than nonreligious assembly uses, in violation of RLUIPA’s equal terms provision, and that the city has failed to justify this unequal treatment.

RLUIPA is a federal law that protects persons and religious institutions from unduly burdensome, unequal, or discriminatory land use regulations. More information about RLUIPA and the department’s efforts to enforce it can be found on the Place to Worship Initiative’s webpage.

As part of this initiative, the department distributed a letter to state, county, and municipal leaders throughout the country to remind them of their obligations under RLUIPA, including its requirement that land use regulations treat religious assemblies and institutions at least as well as nonreligious assemblies and institutions. Additionally, as part of a series on combating religious discrimination and promoting awareness of RLUIPA, the department hosted an outreach forum last year with land use practitioners and religious leaders at Fowler School of Law at Chapman University in Orange County, California.

Individuals who believe they have been subjected to discrimination in land use or zoning decisions may contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Division’s Civil Rights Section at (213) 894-2879 or the Civil Rights Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section at (833) 591-0291 or may submit a complaint through the RLUIPA complaint portal. More information about RLUIPA, including questions and answers about the law and other documents, may be found at www.justice.gov/crt/about/hce/rluipaexplain.php.

MIL Security OSI –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Bug drugs: bacteria-based cancer therapies are finally overcoming barriers

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Justin Stebbing, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University

Lightspring/Shutterstock

Imagine a world where bacteria, typically feared for causing disease, are turned into powerful weapons against cancer. That’s exactly what some scientists are working on. And they are beginning to unravel the mechanisms for doing so, using genetically engineered bacteria to target and destroy cancer cells.

Using bacteria to fight cancer dates back to the 1860s when William B. Coley, often called the father of immunotherapy, injected bacteria called streptococci into a young patient with inoperable bone cancer. Surprisingly, this unconventional approach led to the tumour shrinking, marking one of the first examples of immunotherapy.

William Coley (centre), a pioneer of bug drugs.
Wikimedia Commons

Over the next few decades, as head of the Bone Tumour Service at Memorial Hospital in New York, Coley injected over 1,000 cancer patients with bacteria or bacterial products. These products became known as Coley’s toxins.

Despite this early promise, progress in bacteria-based cancer therapies has been slow. The development of radiation therapy and chemotherapy overshadowed Coley’s work, and his approach faced scepticism from the medical community.

However, modern immunology has vindicated many of Coley’s principles, showing that some cancers are indeed very sensitive to an enhanced immune system, an approach we can often capture to treat patients.

How bacteria-based cancer therapies work

These therapies take advantage of the unique ability of certain bacteria to proliferate inside tumours. The low oxygen, acidic and dead tissue in the area around the cancer – the tumour “microenvironment” (an area I am especially interested in) – create an ideal niche for some bacteria to thrive. Once there, bacteria can, in theory, directly kill tumour cells or activate the body’s immune responses against the cancer. However, several difficulties have hindered the widespread adoption of this approach.

Safety concerns are paramount because introducing live bacteria into a patient’s body can cause harm. Researchers have had to carefully attenuate (weaken) bacterial strains to ensure they don’t damage healthy tissue. Additionally, controlling the bacteria’s behaviour within the tumour and preventing them from spreading to other parts of the body has been difficult.

Bacteria live inside us, known as the microbiome, and treatments, disease and, of course, new bacteria that are introduced can interfere with this natural environment. Another significant hurdle has been our incomplete understanding of how bacteria interact with the complex tumour microenvironment and the immune system.

Questions remain about how to optimise bacterial strains for maximum anti-tumour effects while minimising side-effects. We’re also not sure of the dose – and some approaches give one bacteria and others entire colonies and multiple bug species together.

Recent advances

Despite these challenges, recent advances in scientific fields, such as synthetic biology and genetic engineering, have breathed new life into the field. Scientists can now program bacteria with sophisticated functions, such as producing and delivering specific anti-cancer agents directly within tumours.

This targeted approach could overcome some limitations of traditional cancer treatments, including side-effects and the inability to reach deeper tumour tissues.

Emerging research suggests that bacteria-based therapies could be particularly promising for certain types of cancer. Solid tumours, especially those that have a poor blood supply and are resistant to conventional therapies, might benefit most from this approach.

Colon cancer, ovarian cancer and metastatic breast cancer are among the high-mortality cancers that researchers are targeting with these innovative therapies.
One area we have the best evidence for is that “bug drugs” may help the body fight cancer by interacting with routinely used immunotherapy drugs.

Recent studies have shown encouraging results. For instance, researchers have engineered strains of E coli bacteria to deliver small tumour protein fragments to immune cells, effectively training them to recognise and attack cancer cells. In lab animals, this approach has led to tumour shrinkage and, sometimes, complete elimination.

E coli have been used to deliver cancer tumour fragments to immune cells.
Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock

By exploiting these mechanisms, bacterial therapies can selectively colonise tumours while largely sparing healthy tissues, potentially overcoming limitations of conventional cancer treatments.

Ultimately, we need human trials to give us the answer about whether this works, by controlling or eradicating cancer and, of course, if there are side-effects, its toxicity.

In one study I worked on, we showed that part of a bacterial cell wall, when injected into patients, could safely help control melanoma – the most deadly form of skin cancer.

While we’re still in the early stages, the potential of bacteria-based cancer therapies is becoming increasingly clear. As our understanding of tumour biology and bacterial engineering improves, we may be on the cusp of a new era in cancer treatment.

Bacterial-based cancer therapies take advantage of several unique mechanisms to specifically target tumour cells. As a result, these therapies could offer a powerful new tool in our arsenal against cancer, working in synergy with existing treatments like immunotherapy and chemotherapy. And, as we look to the future, bacteria-based cancer therapies represent a fascinating convergence of historical insight and groundbreaking science.

While challenges remain, the progress in this field offers hope for more effective, targeted treatments that could significantly improve outcomes for cancer patients.

Justin Stebbing 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. Bug drugs: bacteria-based cancer therapies are finally overcoming barriers – https://theconversation.com/bug-drugs-bacteria-based-cancer-therapies-are-finally-overcoming-barriers-251278

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Changes to speech and language can help detect Alzheimer’s early – here are five things to look out for

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sarah Curtis, Doctoral Candidate, Language use in Down Syndrome and Alzheimer’s Disease, School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University

More people than ever are being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease New Africa/Shutterstock

Ten million people are diagnosed with dementia worldwide each year – that’s more than ever. According to the Alzheimer’s Society approximately one million people in the UK are currently living with the disease. Studies predict this figure will rise to 1.6 million people by 2050.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia and leads to a decline in memory and thinking skills. This is a physical illness that causes the brain to stop working properly and gets worse over time. Identifying the onset of Alzheimer’s early can help patients and caregivers find the right support and medical care.

One way to detect Alzheimer’s early is by spotting changes to people’s use of language. This is because new speech problems are one of the first signs of a mental decline that could indicate the onset of this disease.

Here are five early, speech-related signs of Alzheimer’s disease to look out for:

1. Pauses, hesitations and vagueness

One of the most recognisable symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease is trouble remembering specific words, which can often lead to frequent or long pauses and hesitations. When a person with Alzheimer’s is struggling to remember a word, they may talk vaguely such as saying “thing”, or describing and talking around a word. For example, if someone is having trouble remembering the word dog, they may say something like “people have them as pets … they bark … I used to have one when I was a child”.

2. Using words with the wrong meaning

Trouble remembering the right word can be an early feature of Alzheimer’s. People with Alzheimer’s might replace a word they are trying to say with something related to it. For example, instead of saying “dog”, they might use an animal from the same category, saying “cat” for instance. In the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, however, these changes are more likely to be related to a broader or more general category such as saying “animal” instead of “cat”.

3. Talking about a task rather than doing it

Someone with Alzheimer’s may struggle with completing tasks. Instead of performing a task, they may talk about their feelings toward the task, express doubts, or mention past abilities. They might say, “I’m not sure I can do this” or “I used to be good at this”, rather than discussing the task directly.

4. Less word variety

A more subtle indicator of Alzheimer’s disease is the tendency to use simpler language, relying on common words. People with Alzheimer’s often repeat the same verbs, nouns and adjectives instead of using a broader vocabulary. They can also use “the”, “and” or “but” frequently to connect sentences.

5. Difficulty finding the right words

People with Alzheimer’s can have trouble thinking of words, objects or things that belong in a group. This is sometimes used as a cognitive test for the disease. For example, those with Alzheimer’s may struggle to name things in a specific category, such as different foods, different parts of the body or words that start with the same letter. This gets harder as the disease progresses, making these tasks increasingly challenging.

Age is the biggest risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s – the chance of developing the disease doubles every five years after the age of 65. However, one in 20 people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease are under the age of 65. This is referred to as younger – or early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

While forgetting words now and then is normal, persistent and worsening problems remembering words, speaking fluently, or using a variety of words could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease. Identifying these signs early can be particularly important for people at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease as they age, such as people with Down Syndrome.

Sarah Curtis 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. Changes to speech and language can help detect Alzheimer’s early – here are five things to look out for – https://theconversation.com/changes-to-speech-and-language-can-help-detect-alzheimers-early-here-are-five-things-to-look-out-for-252251

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Europe faces worst measles outbreak since 1997 – new data

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, University of Southampton

SamaraHeisz5/Shutterstock

Europe has had the highest number of measles cases since 1997, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). There were 127,350 cases in 2024 – about double the number from 2023.

“Measles is back, and it’s a wake-up call,” says Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe. “Without high vaccination rates, there is no health security.” Last year, there were 38 deaths from measles.

Transmission is similar to COVID, with respiratory droplets and aerosols (airborne transmission) spreading the virus between people. The infection produces a rash and fever in mild cases, and encephalitis (brain swelling), pneumonia and blindness in severe cases.

Hospitalisation and deaths are overwhelmingly in unvaccinated people, with mortality rates in developed countries around one in 1,000 to one in 5,000 measles cases.

Each person infected with measles will, on average, spread the virus to between 12 and 18 other people. This is more infectious than COVID. For example, someone with the omicron variant would spread the virus to around eight others.

In 2022 the WHO had described measles as an “imminent threat in every region of the world”. The widespread impact of COVID made it harder for people to access healthcare, reducing the ability of regular health services, like vaccinations, to function properly.

These new stark figures from WHO Europe are an inevitable consequence of lower vaccination rates. Measles is almost entirely vaccine-preventable, with two doses providing greater than 99% protection against infection. The vaccine has an excellent safety record, with severe harm being extremely rare.

The proportion of the population that needs to be vaccinated to keep local transmission low and prevent outbreaks (so-called “herd immunity”) is around 95%.

WHO Europe highlighted some examples of where there are clear gaps in vaccine coverage. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania, fewer than 80% of eligible children were vaccinated in 2023, with rates below 50% for the past five or more years. Romania had the highest number of measles cases in Europe in 2024 – an estimated 30,692 cases.

Misinformation is the driver

Misinformation is an important factor that reduces vaccine uptake. For example, in the UK, former physician Andrew Wakefield presented falsified data in 2002 claiming the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine caused autism. He somehow got these claims published in The Lancet – although the paper was later retracted.

This fake scare received sustained media coverage, which resulted in lower uptake in young children at the time and was then a key factor a large measles outbreak among teenagers in England in 2012.

The claims have spread internationally. In 2020, a US population survey found that “18% of our respondents mistakenly state that it is very or somewhat accurate to say that vaccines cause autism”.

Sadly, misinformation about health can even be found at the highest levels of government. US President Donald Trump repeatedly made false claims during the COVID pandemic, including the suggestion that injecting disinfectant might cure COVID. In 2025, he appointed Robert F. Kennedy as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has long espoused anti-vaccine viewpoints, including being required to apologise in 2015 for comparing vaccination programmes to the Holocaust.

RFK Jr. was made to apologise for comparing vaccination programmes with the Holocaust.
Maxim Elramsisy/Shutterstock

In a recent interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity, Kennedy said of the MMR vaccine: “It does cause deaths every year. It causes — it causes all the illnesses that measles itself causes, encephalitis and blindness, et cetera.”

This is untrue. The Infectious Disease Society of America points out that there have been “no deaths related to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in healthy individuals”. This is amid two measles deaths in unvaccinated people in the US, the first such deaths since 2003. There are estimates that the measles vaccine prevented 94 million deaths globally between 1974 to 2024.

The US National Institute for Health, one of the world’s biggest funders of health research, announced on March 10 2025 that it was axing research that aimed to understand and address vaccine hesitancy.

This goes alongside the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) apparently planning a large study into potential associations between vaccines and autism, despite dozens of studies indicating there being no such link.

This volatility coming from the US and elsewhere matters for Europe. Trump and the US have political supporters in Europe, so their messaging carries weight and could do harm. Anti-vaccine sentiment promoted on Facebook from within the US resulted in comments on the posts from multiple countries. The use of social media has been observed to spread misinformation internationally, for example, within Europe. Russian trolls are also involved in creating arguments about vaccines.

There is an urgent need for outbreaks to be brought back under control and for accurate information about vaccines to be the key message in public discussions. As Dr Kluge highlights: “The measles virus never rests – and neither can we.”

Michael Head has previously received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Research England and the UK Department for International Development, and currently receives funding from the UK Medical Research Foundation.

– ref. Europe faces worst measles outbreak since 1997 – new data – https://theconversation.com/europe-faces-worst-measles-outbreak-since-1997-new-data-252327

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: This is why physical affection can boost your health

Source: Anglia Ruskin University

By Viren Swami, Anglia Ruskin University

In the opening scene of Love, Actually, Hugh Grant’s character says how, whenever he gets gloomy with the state of the world, he thinks about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport. The reason is on screen: we see couples kissing, old friends embracing, children smiling and laughing as they jump into the arms of their parents.

Airports are great places to really understand the importance of physical affection – hugging, kissing, cuddling, holding hands, or even just touching. But physical affection is ubiquitous in everyday life, too – and with good reason. Science shows that non-sexual physical affection produces more than just moments of joy – it also benefits our mental and physical health.

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Physical affection is one of the most direct and important ways that people communicate intimacy in their romantic relationships. And it seems to occur in romantic relationships all over the world, despite cross-cultural differences in ideas of love and romance.

People in romantic relationships report more intimate physical affection than singletons. They’re also more comfortable allowing their partners to touch more of their bodies than strangers or friends. For example, most people are comfortable being touched on their thighs and abdomen by their partner, but not by other people.

Even how we touch our partners is different to how we touch other people. When participants in one study were asked to stroke their partner, a friend, a stranger, or an artificial arm, they did so more slowly with their partner. Slower strokes may be experienced as more pleasant and erotic than quicker strokes. Even just thinking about physical affection from a partner evokes pleasant and erotic sensations.

There is now strong evidence showing that physical contact is associated with better physical and mental health. One review of “touch interventions” – think massage – in 212 studies involving more than 13,000 participants found that physical touch benefited everything from sleep patterns to blood pressure to fatigue. Touch interventions were especially helpful in reducing pain, depression and anxiety.

Couple’s therapy

Before you rush off to book yourself a massage, you should know that much of the evidence suggests the strongest benefits come from physical affection with romantic partners. Several studies have found that, in couples, physical affection is associated with a range of physiological effects, including lower blood pressure and better immune responses.

In couples, physical affection is also associated with better psychological wellbeing. One study found that couples who sleep-touched – cuddling shortly before or after sleep – felt happier and calmer in the morning, which meant they were more likely to enjoy the company of their partners.

Physical affection – including kissing and affection after sex – is also associated with greater relationship and sexual satisfaction, and better ratings of one’s relationship overall, which in turn contribute to better psychological wellbeing. And even when conflicts do occur, hugging seems to reduce levels of negative mood in couples.

Cuddle up, because there’s more. Receiving physical affection from a partner makes us feel psychologically stronger. One study found that women showed less activation in parts of the brain that respond to threat when holding their husband’s hand. Even just imagining touch from a partner can increase one’s willingness to take on challenging tasks.

Another way to look at this is to examine what happens when we lose physical affection. Studies have shown that “touch deprivation” – the absence of touch – is associated with greater symptoms of depression and anxiety. Indeed, the loss of affection from others during the pandemic hit many people hard. Among couples, a lack of physical affection is associated with lower relationship satisfaction, stress, and feelings of loneliness.

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There are several ways in which physical affection provides these benefits. Affectionate touch is known to activate reward centres of the brain, which boosts our mood and promotes feelings of wellbeing. Touch also stimulates the release of oxytocin, which can strengthen social bonds and increase feelings of trust between individuals. It’s for these reasons that oxytocin is sometimes called the “cuddle chemical”.

Physical affection also reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol and reduces perceived pain, which suppress physiological stress systems. One study found that a 10-minute neck-and-shoulder massage from one’s partner helped lower cortisol responses, helping to regulate levels of stress.

Psychologically, physical affection in romantic relationships is an important way to keep our emotions under control. Touching one’s partner in a caring manner helps to improve their mood and makes them feel loved, secure, and safe. As feelings of connection, trust, and belonging are strengthened through non-sexual physical signs of affection, negative effect is reduced and psychological well-being is improved.

However, not everyone likes to be touched, even if it is by their romantic partners. Some people are “touch avoidant” – and some people may actually be apprehensive about being touched. For instance, people with avoidant attachment styles – characterised by a discomfort with emotional closeness – often have very negative views about cuddling and are more hesitant to touch their partners. Conversely, people with anxious attachment styles – characterised by a fear of abandonment – may desire more touch than they receive.

But when couples have similar touch preferences, it can lead to greater attraction, closeness, and commitment to one another. And if you’re looking for a fun way to incorporate non-sexual physical affection into your relationships, consider home massage. One study found that couples who took turns massaging each other at home felt a deeper connection with each other, and felt more relaxed and less stressed.

Viren Swami, Professor of Social Psychology, Anglia Ruskin University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The opinions expressed in VIEWPOINT articles are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARU.

If you wish to republish this article, please follow these guidelines: https://theconversation.com/uk/republishing-guidelines

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Christian nationalism in the U.S. is eerily reminiscent of ‘dominionist’ reformers in history
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Gary K. Waite, Professor Emeritus, Early Modern European History, University of New Brunswick

In this etching from Dutch theologian Lambertus Hortensius’ 1614 book ‘Van den oproer der weder-dooperen,’ Anabaptists warn the residents of Amsterdam of the coming vengeance of Christ in 1535. (Lambertus Hortensius)

Far-right politics and Christian nationalism are on the rise in North America and Europe, leading to growing concerns about what it means for human rights and democracy.

As an historian of the demonizing language of the 16th century, I have been watching current events, around QAnon and Christian nationalist support for United States President Donald Trump with considerable trepidation.

Why? Because we’ve seen before what happens when religious groups use government to force their beliefs and morality upon society.

Religion scholar Bradley Onishi writes that the Christian nationalist movement known as the “New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is one of the most influential and dangerous Christian nationalist movements in the United States” and has become “a global phenomenon.”

Read more:
New Apostolic Reformation evangelicals see Trump as God’s warrior in their battle to win America from satanic forces and Christianize it

This movement has reshaped its theology in ways eerily reminiscent of the prophets of the Anabaptist kingdom of Münster of the 1530s in present-day Germany. As my scholarship has examined, those religious dissenters faced polemical demonizing by religious authorities and faced violent oppression, via torture and execution.

Today’s Christian nationalists, however, have faced no such maltreatment. Yet, like persecuted dissenters of the 1530s, they claim divine authority to remake society.

The Anabaptists of Münster

A portrait of Jan van Leiden, a leader of the Münster Anabaptists, by Dutch artist Jan Muller circa 1615.
(The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

The 16th-century Reformation had originally broken down the religious state of medieval Europe. However, Protestant leaders like Martin Luther and John Calvin quickly saw the advantage of having civic governments force conformity to their reforms, and punish dissent.

Among those targeted were the small groups of dissenters whose Biblical interpretation, congruent with the life and teaching of Jesus, led them to follow the Gospel’s command to preach and baptize “on confession of faith” and a person’s commitment to discipleship.“ By contrast, reformers, and the church they sought to reform, “practised and required infant baptism for the entire population (usually required by law).”

Derisively called Anabaptists, the small group of dissenters also refused to participate in government. For these practices they were persecuted, with hundreds horrifically tortured and executed.

Driven to desperation, some Anabaptists in northwestern Europe and northern Germany looked for hope to the Westphalian city of Münster in present-day Germany.

Here the city’s major preacher, Bernhard Rothmann, was moving the city into the Reformed Protestant camp, rather than that of their Lutheran neighbours. When large numbers of Anabaptist refugees arrived in 1533, they won the civic election and Münster became an Anabaptist city.

The Catholic bishop of Münster had other ideas. Hiring Catholic and Lutheran troops, he laid siege to the city and things became desperate. Enraged by persecution, the Münsterite Anabaptists changed their image of Jesus from the peacemaker of the Gospels to the apocalyptic Jesus of Revelation.

The Jesus of Anabaptist Münster

Rothmann’s original theology was like what Calvin would develop for Geneva. What made the two cities distinct was the charismatic leadership of the Dutch Anabaptist prophet Jan Matthijs, who predicted that Christ would return on Easter Day, 1534, adding both urgency and confidence in applying God’s directives.

Now besieged, Matthijs and Rothmann took their reform movement in a more “dominionist” direction, meaning they believed their movement should take moral, spiritual and religious control over society. They expelled anyone who refused to co-operate.

When Christ did not return on Easter 1534 and Matthijs was killed by the besiegers, his successor, Jan van Leiden, simply postponed Christ’s return to the following Easter and declared himself a semi-divine king.

He also abandoned the message of the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount in favour of the vengeful Jesus of the Book of Revelation. Rothmann justified this in a tract which I translated as:

“It was … the intention of our hearts in our baptism, that we would suffer for Christ, whatever men did to us. But it has pleased the Lord … that now we and all Christians at this time may not only ward off the violence of the godless with the sword, but also, that he has put the sword into our hands to avenge all injustice and evil over the entire world.”

King van Leiden sent people out to spread this revolutionary message and take over other cities. This led to several militant episodes, including in Amsterdam, where in February 1535, 11 Anabaptists paraded naked through the streets proclaiming the “naked truth” of God’s anger.

Others delivered the message while waving swords. Finally, in May, 1535 about 40 Anabaptists captured Amsterdam’s city hall. All were arrested and executed. These were the actions of desperate people inspired by their prophets’ assurances of divine authority. When, however, Münster fell at the end of June 1535, the result was massive disillusionment, a return to non-violence and increased persecution.

This etching (circa 1629-1652) by Dutch artist Pieter de Hooch depicts Anabaptists walking naked through the streets of Amsterdam after being inspired to remove and burn their clothes in February 1535.
(Rijksmuseum)

Divine authority to remake society?

This transformation of the Münster Anabaptists into vengeful militants reminds me of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). As Matthew D. Taylor has revealed, this movement sees itself as fighting a “spiritual battle” against the demonic forces opposing Trump; some participated (non-violently) in the Jan. 6, 2020 riot.

Taylor concludes with a warning that the NAR act as “spiritual warmongers, constantly expanding the arena of spiritual warfare, mapping it onto geographical territory and divisive politics in a deeply destabilizing and antidemocratic manner.” It is as if we are listening to Rothmann’s fiery sermons again.

One difference, of course, is that the NAR folk are not under persecution, despite what they might claim. Taylor describes this as “the Evangelical Persecution Neurosis.”

Three of the NAR’s principle components are:
1. A charismatic approach to Christian life that affirms God speaks directly to them. They see themselves as biblical prophets who speak God’s commands which must be implemented regardless of social impact.
2. The Evangelical Christian belief of living in the end-times on the eve of Jesus Christ’s return for judgment. NAR preachers proclaim that while Jesus in the Gospels taught to “turn the other cheek,” they now follow the judgmental Jesus of the apocalyptical Book of Revelation and mobilize a struggle with Satan to rely on scapegoat ideology.
3. Derived from a group of Reformed or Calvinist theologians called “Christian Reconstructionists,” and building on Calvin’s theology of the “godly city,” they pursue a broader “dominionist” rationale to take over all of society for Christ. Believing one is living in the end-times means that society must be taken over and cleansed immediately, adding to urgency.
Read more:
I went to CPAC as an anthropologist to see how Trump supporters are feeling − for them, a ‘golden age’ has begun

Believers, drawing on these three beliefs, derive an assurance they speak with God’s voice. This was the case for the Münster Anabaptists, and now similarly, for the NAR. As the example of the Münster Anabaptists suggests, we’ve seen this many times before throughout history, and it doesn’t end well.

A 1685 engraving by Dutch poet and engraver Jan Luyken depicting the 1571 burning of Anabaptist woman Anneken Hendriks from Thieleman van Braght’s 1660 book ‘The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs Mirror.’
(Allard Pierson Museum)

There have been many more recent episodes of Christian groups claiming divine authority to remake society. Like Jan van Leiden, those in the NAR or who concur with its theology have recast the Jesus of the Gospels, and U.S. President Donald Trump, in apocalyptic terms.

U.S. congresswoman Lauren Boebert, for example, who has been described as a Christian nationalist and is a strong gun advocate, is among those who say God anointed Trump to the presidency.

This gives a gloss of divine approval for Trump’s autocratic goals. As authoritarianism and Christian nationalism rises, the fusion of charismatic authority with Reformed Protestant certitude and end-times fervour continues to attract followers.

Gary K. Waite has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

– ref. Christian nationalism in the U.S. is eerily reminiscent of ‘dominionist’ reformers in history – https://theconversation.com/christian-nationalism-in-the-u-s-is-eerily-reminiscent-of-dominionist-reformers-in-history-250600
MIL OSI – Global Reports –
March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Youth are charting new freshwater futures by learning from the water on the water

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Andrea Reid, Assistant Professor, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia

The future of freshwater is increasingly in jeopardy across Canada and around the world.

Lakes, rivers and wetlands face numerous threats, from climate change to a range of harmful pollutants. Today, one-quarter of freshwater fauna are at risk of extinction.

As climate change and other stressors worsen, ecological grief is increasingly recognized as a legitimate response to the losses of valued species and ecosystems.

This grief poses a serious threat to mental health and well-being for many, with young people often feeling an outsized burden. While young people have contributed little to these challenges over their lifetimes, they face bearing the brunt of intensifying climate change impacts.

Similarly, this existential angst is reportedly heightened among marginalized groups. This is often true for Indigenous Peoples, who are frequently the least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet yet face higher climate risk or vulnerability to the direct consequences of climate change.

What we need are adaptive approaches that address this grief and reconnect people with the natural world at this time of profound disconnection. Research about ecological grief points to approaches that centre social support, deep listening and sensitivity, as well as valuing an ethic of care as key elements. This is ultimately about fostering community and interconnectedness in relationships.

As freshwater scientists, we are committed to contributing toward a better future for fresh waters. This is what led us to create a registered charity, Riparia, where we work to unite these concerns and approaches by facilitating free land-based learning programs for young people, especially Indigenous young women.

These programs are geared towards facing this climate-uncertain future together and the profound need for improved stewardship of freshwater ecosystems.

Why land-based learning

Land-based learning is, by definition, experiential and rooted in local culture and history. It is a mode of education that arises from connecting learners with the land, by spending time on the land, in ways that engage minds, bodies, hearts and spirits.

This approach has always been at the core of Indigenous learning. While conventional classrooms are often a far cry from these lived experiences, there is growing interest in breaking out of these confines and engaging in active land-based learning across the continent.

In our time contributing towards land-based learning initiatives over the last decade, we have observed numerous benefits. There’s a saying that numbers numb and stories stick; we find that the voices of youth who participated in land-based learning best convey its meaning and impact.

Among other benefits, land-based learning has fostered a heightened sense of connection to the land and water, spurred a deep drive to steward and care for these systems and built a community of practice to achieve that. In the words of youth aged 13-18 who participated in Riparia programs between 2019-2024:

“I could feel my point of view of the world changing. In every way. I felt as though I had become closer to the land.”

“This experience changed my view on how we should be more active in the environment and protect our water.”

“Being with these girls reassured me that our environment’s future isn’t something we have to take on alone and it will be much easier if we do it together.”

Together, our experiences with Riparia and the growing body of literature highlighting beneficial outcomes of land-based learning, tell us that these approaches can play an important role in fostering the community of care required to chart new freshwater futures.

Learning that centres Indigenous perspectives

Throughout the history of outdoor education — as an organized approach to learning in western systems — harmful stereotypes have been reproduced and Indigenous knowledge systems have been appropriated.

How many recall attending youth camps bearing the names of Indigenous Peoples or places? Were they involved in any way? Was there regard for whose land this is?

How many have participated in journey “wilderness”-based experiences? Many such experiences have often perpetuated western ideas of a “pristine” or “wild” “nature,” free from human influence. This point of view is in line with the doctrines of terra nullius (Latin for “nobody’s land”) and aqua nullius (“nobody’s water”) used to justify European colonization of Indigenous lands and waters.

Read more:
Terra nullius has been overturned. Now we must reverse aqua nullius and return water rights to First Nations people

What we need is learning that recognizes that Indigenous Peoples, languages and cultures are alive and evolve in close relationship with the land.

We also need learning to be accessible so it can play a foundational role building the community of care that humans and fresh waters now require.

Little programming — from youth outdoor education through university — is built with Indigenous learners in mind. Few initiatives are offered at no cost to participating youth and their families. Women remain underrepresented in existing outdoor education initiatives because of cultural and social inequalities.

What we can do

As scientists supporting youth engagement through Riparia, we join the growing movement to break down these specific barriers to access.

You can also contribute to this movement by helping connect young people in your life to existing youth engagement programs and offering support through relevant local ways or donations.

But youth are not the only ones who need connection to land and water. We all deal with eco-grief. We all need water. And we all need to work together to chart new futures. Spending time in and on the water together is an important step in this direction. This video offers an opportunity to dive into what land-based learning with, in, and for fresh waters can look like and feel like.

As a 15-year-old Kanien’kehá:ka participant in a Riparia 2019 program shared with us: “Water is the most important thing, it’s the thing we all have in common.”

Dr. Andrea Reid co-directs Riparia from her role as an Assistant Professor at The University of British Columbia. She is a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Indigenous Fisheries Science.

Dr. Dalal Hanna co-directs Riparia from her position as an assistant professor at Carleton University, where she leads the Watershed Stewardship Research Collaborative.

– ref. Youth are charting new freshwater futures by learning from the water on the water – https://theconversation.com/youth-are-charting-new-freshwater-futures-by-learning-from-the-water-on-the-water-250987

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Canada’s local food system faces major roadblocks without urgent policy changes

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Rosie Kerr, Research Associate, Sustainable Food Systems Lab, Lakehead University

As Canada’s trade conflict with the United States escalates, governments are encouraging Canadians to buy local to support the country’s economic, social and environmental stability and independence.

But while enthusiasm in purchasing locally made food is growing, actually identifying Canadian products in grocery stores is often confusing. Decades of free trade have deeply integrated Canada’s food supply chains with the U.S., making it difficult to determine what is actually local.

Read more:
Trump tariffs have sparked a ‘Buy Canadian’ surge, but keeping the trend alive faces hurdles

Even for Canadian-owned companies, most food products are enmeshed in global supply chains and often contain a mix of Canadian and foreign ingredients.

Canada’s beef industry is a striking example of this. Two multinational corporations — American-owned Cargill and Brazilian-owned JBS — process more than 95 per cent of beef produced in Canada. This means that even if some of the food consumers purchase is labelled as Canadian-owned, the economic benefit may be flowing outside the country

As food systems researchers and practitioners who have explored ways for Canadians to feed themselves in equitable and sustainable ways, it has become clear that local food systems lack the infrastructure and supply to meet increasing demand.

What’s holding local food systems back?

In collaboration with Sustain, an Ontario-wide network that promotes healthy, just and sustainable food and farming, we conducted a study to understand the policy priorities of organizations and businesses working to build local food economies in regions across the province.

Ontario already has a vibrant network of farmers, organizations and food entrepreneurs ready to meet local food demand. However, systemic challenges continue to hinder their ability to scale up production and distribution.

To better understand how to support Ontario’s food system, we surveyed over 90 organizations working in different food-related sectors.

Through this research, we developed a series of policy reports focused on supporting aspiring farmers, protecting land for food production and strengthening local food systems.

Our findings show that regulatory changes to support small- and medium-sized enterprises and key investments could remove barriers and allow local food economies to flourish.

Smaller farms struggling to survive

Our study identified several barriers holding back Ontario’s local food economy. The first set of barriers are on the supply side. A strong local food system depends on a strong network of farmers. However, many small- and medium-sized farms that supply local markets face disproportionate barriers that threaten their survival.

Many current government policies favour large-scale food production, making it difficult for smaller farmers to flourish.

Compounding the issue is Canada’s looming farm succession crisis. More than 40 per cent of farmers in Canada are expected to retire by 2033, yet many aspiring farmers cannot afford to purchase farms or access start-up capital. When farmers can’t afford land, it’s often sold for non-agriculture uses.

To tackle these barriers, our study calls for provincially supported low-interest loan programs to finance down-payments, construction and equipment. Strengthening policies to protect farmland from urban sprawl, among other strategies, is also essential, as is expanding access to public land for local, ecological food production.

Processing, distribution bottlenecks

The second set of barriers we identified affect the farm-to-plate process. Small- and medium- sized farmers need better access to retail opportunities to sell fresh produce, along with the infrastructure to process raw foods into products like flour, packaged meats, jams, sauces and pickles.

This is especially evident in Ontario’s meat-processing sector, where a shortage of local abattoirs has led to long wait times.

To address these issues, our study recommends increased investment in regional food hubs. Food hubs are shared-use facilities that manage the aggregation, processing and distribution of food products from local and regional producers, giving them better access to markets.

These hubs are essential to meeting the growing demand coming for sustainable, local food from businesses, public institutions and school food programs. But they are only part of the picture.

We also identified funding opportunities that could bolster local food economies. These include expanding Ontario’s Fair Finance Fund to provide more financing options for regional food enterprises and supporting new abattoirs through the expansion of the Meat Processors Capacity Improvement Initiative.

A co-ordinated strategy is needed

Ontario manufacturers, retailers and farmers have all shown a willingness to expand local food production, but they need better support from policymakers to make it viable. There must be policies in place to support local food production and processing, remove key barriers and prioritize much-needed investments.

Across Canada, other provinces and territories face similar challenges in building strong local food networks. Most of the recommendations we heard are similarly outlined across different regions.

With consumer interest in local food on the rise, this is a critical moment for governments at all levels to improve avenues for new farmers, invest in processing and storage facilities and build local distribution networks — all essential to building a robust local food system.

Moe Garahan, a board member of Sustain Ontario, co-authored this article.

Rosie Kerr receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Charles Z. Levkoe receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Government of Ontario.

Leigh Potvin receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Council for Articulation and Transfer, the Government of Nova Scotia, and the University of the Arctic.

– ref. Canada’s local food system faces major roadblocks without urgent policy changes – https://theconversation.com/canadas-local-food-system-faces-major-roadblocks-without-urgent-policy-changes-251578

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Minister Thomas-Symonds speech at the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly

Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Speech

Minister Thomas-Symonds speech at the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly

Minister Thomas-Symonds speech at the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly

It really is a pleasure to be here with you all today.

But I do want to just begin, by joining Maros in wishing all our Irish friends a very happy St Patricks Day.

I’d also like to thank the Assembly…

…especially the Chairs, Sandro and Marsha…

…for giving Maros and I this opportunity to speak to you all today.

And it is that idea of opportunity that I want to talk about…

…because we have a chance to strengthen the strategic alliance between the UK and the EU…

…and I want to talk about how – by being ruthlessly pragmatic – we can harness this opportunity, for the benefit of the people that we are all elected to serve.

Now this is the very first meeting of the reconstituted Assembly…

… and I know that you are welcoming members, both new and old.

Since this Government came into power, we have worked tirelessly to change the UK’s approach.

In the recent past, we have been too focused on what divides us…

…and it’s those differences that have too often defined the agenda.

But I believe these groups and these meetings must be used for our collective good.

This Assembly was set up under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement…

…to ensure the voices of parliamentarians – and, in turn, our citizens – can be heard.

You’re all serving the interests of the people who voted for you…

…and we must use every opportunity available to us to build trust…

…and improve cooperation.

And all of you here today – through your membership in the Assembly – are essential to that work.

Now, I have already met members of both delegations – and I am committed to maintaining that engagement.

The UK and EU’s future will be defined by how we both tackle our shared challenges together.

We are living through a period of generational challenge…

…and I know as political leaders – we all feel the scale of this moment.

War in Ukraine…

…people smuggled in treacherous conditions by treacherous criminals…

…the price of energy and the cost of inflation…

…achieving growth and prosperity to boost living standards for our citizens…

…all of these challenges are exacerbated by a mindset of division.

They are problems across our continent…

…and they require a coordinated response.

Just look at the actions of our Prime Minister this year.

He was delighted to be a part of the European Leaders retreat last month…

…where he made the case for greater cooperation between the EU and the UK.

On 2 March, he hosted European leaders, as well as the NATO Secretary General and the Presidents of the EU Commission, EU Council and indeed welcomed Canada…

…for a summit focused on Ukraine.

The importance of these meetings cannot be overstated.

They are emblematic of how seriously this Government takes European security.

And there is no greater imperative to this than supporting Ukraine.

In the face of Russia’s illegal and barbaric invasion, we must be resilient.

It is why we recently announced an increase in UK defence spending to 2.5% of GDP.

We are stepping up, and we know that the EU is stepping up, too.

It was heartening to see – on the anniversary of the invasion – that the EU reaffirmed its unwavering support.

And at the European Council meeting earlier this month, where EU leaders agreed a significant increase in defence spending.

I know that, together, we are determined to help Ukraine prevail…

…and rebuild.

We must keep pushing – together – to find new ways to achieve this.

At a time of such intense global change, I believe it is vital to recognise what unites the UK and the EU…

…and understand how our mutual priorities can be realised through teamwork.

We saw that in action this January…

…where, on the same day, the UK Chancellor and the President of the European Commission gave speeches about the challenges facing them.

Both spoke about their desire for growth…

…both spoke about how their potential had been held back…

…and both spoke too about the importance of trade openness.

In fact, both our Prime Minister’s ‘Plan for Change’ and the President’s ‘Competitiveness Compass’ focused on the same priorities…

…like reducing red tape, improving skills and a more resilient economy.

The UK government was elected on a mandate to increase our security, keep our citizens safe and to encourage growth.

Europe is a crucial partner in these priorities…

…and, indeed, Europe shares those concerns.

That is why we are living up to the obligations we have in existing Agreements and Frameworks…

…that is how trust is earned.

No more threats to break international law in ‘limited and specific ways’…

…and no more undermining of the ECHR.

So we are respectful of the TCA and the Windsor Framework…

…and we want to build on that structure to address emerging challenges and opportunities.

The Prime Minister has tasked me with leading these discussions with Maros…

…supported by our new EU Sherpa Micheal Ellam.

And I want to thank Maros – not only for the way he has been so constructive in his relationship with me…

…but for the many years – and no doubt late nights – that he has dedicated to the EU – UK relationship…

…but also the pragmatism he is known and respected for.

And in our discussions I have always been clear about our desire to strengthen our alliance – and I focus on the three priorities I mentioned…

…on security, safety and prosperity…

…where I believe there is much benefit to be gained.

And it’s these priorities I would like to focus on.

First, security.

Now, I’ve already spoken about how seriously we’re taking this…

…and I know that it is a topic you will be discussing later today.

But it bears repeating: to keep Europe secure, we need to support allies like Ukraine…

…and work with NATO on security and defence.

As the Prime Minister said in the UK Parliament recently, we have:

“A recognition of the fact that once again, we live in an era where peace in Europe depends upon strength and deterrence.”

So, we are seeking a broad UK-EU cooperation on security and defence matters…

…and we’re ready to negotiate a Security and Defence Partnership.

This has been central to the Prime Minister’s approach with European leaders.

When he visited the informal European Leaders’ Summit, he discussed what this partnership could include…

…and what it could address.

He suggested a focus on R&D…

…improved military mobility across Europe …

…greater co-operation on missions and operations…

…and building on our industrial collaboration.

Building on that commitment, let me turn to the next pillar: safety.

I am clear that if we want to protect our respective borders…

…and keep our citizens safe…

…then we need to work together.

The criminals that we all try and combat pay no respect to our borders…

…whether they’re taking part in the vile global trade in human trafficking…

…or planning a terrorist attack to push their agenda and terrify our citizens.

These challenges plague us all…

…and I believe that it is only through greater cooperation that we can remain safe.

It’s why we have already increased the UK’s presence at Europol…

…but I believe we should be going further.

We need to think of new ways to coordinate our security…

…and ensure we have the intelligence and skills to combat cross-Europe criminal enterprises.

And finally, prosperity.

The European Union is the UK’s biggest trading partner…

…with trade totalling over £800bn in 2023.

And while that figure is still impressive, we know it is not as good as it could be.

A study published last year by Aston University Business School showed that between 2021 and 2023, the goods EU businesses export to the UK were down by 32%…

…while UK goods exports to the EU were down by 27%.

What I’m hearing from businesses that I speak to is that this drop is down to them facing more barriers and more costs.

They’re frustrated, and I can understand why.

As ‘Businesseurope’ set out in a report this Autumn, and I quote: “There remain many unnecessary barriers to trade and investment. Following the elections of new governments in the EU and UK, there is a clear opportunity to upgrade the relationship to deliver for businesses and citizens.”

And that is why we want to build on the structures we have – the TCA and the Windsor Framework…

…to tear down trade barriers and make Brexit work better for the British and European people.

We have already said that we will seek to negotiate a sanitary and phytosanitary agreement…

…to help boost trade…

and deliver benefits to businesses and consumers in both the UK and the EU.

Now, all these issues have been at the forefront of our Government’s discussions with the EU.

In fact, since the UK election, there have been over 70 direct engagements between UK ministers and their EU Counterparts.

We have agreed to hold regular UK-EU Summits…

…with the very first one, as Maros has said, being hosted in London on 19th May…

…which will be a great opportunity to strengthen this work further.

But ultimately, this is all about building trust…

…and this Government wants to keep its word…

…and become a trusted and stable partner.

Our discussions continue on the full implementation of the TCA and the Withdrawal Agreement …

…with almost all of our Specialised Committees meeting last year…

…and there are plans in place to meet again in the coming months.

The co-chairs continually update each other on their progress…

…whilst monitoring and reporting on their passage to full and faithful implementation.

We fully believe in these structures…

…but we also fully believe in the opportunities to improve the status quo.

So, ladies and gentlemen, the time for ideologies is over.

The time for ruthless pragmatism is now.

And it is the only way we can seek a closer, more cooperative relationship.

After all, a stronger UK-EU relationship means a stronger Europe.

This Assembly will be a vital part of that journey…

…where that mutual interest will be demonstrated and discussed.

I also know that many of you have deep expertise, insights and passion for this agenda…

… and I am sure that this forum will be a fantastic way to bring these to bear.

I want to thank you for the time you have given me to discuss my work. To say how much that I am looking forward together.

This forum, this Assembly is such an important part of hat shared future and what a pleasure it is to discuss this with you today.

Thank you.

Updates to this page

Published 17 March 2025

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Samsung Reveals World’s First 25-hour Skatepark, Powered by the Galaxy S25 series

Source: Samsung

London, UK – 17th March 2025 – Building off the success of the ‘Drop in with Samsung’ Flip Park, Samsung, in collaboration with Skateboard GB and supported by EE, launches the groundbreaking ‘Drop in with Samsung 25-hour Skate Park’ Supported by EE. This unique immersive event, taking place at London’s iconic BAYSIXTY6 Skatepark in West London, celebrates skate culture while showcasing the revolutionary capabilities of the new Galaxy S25 series.

This pop-up celebrates Samsung and EE’s commitment to facilitating enhanced accessibility and connectivity within UK skateparks, empowering more individuals to embrace the sport.

Event Details:
Dates: Wednesday 19th – Thursday 20th March, 2025
Location: BAYSIXTY6 Skate Park, 66 Acklam Road, London, W10 5YU
Opening Hours: 6PM on 19th March – 7PM on 20th March

The world’s first 25-hour skatepark is a vibrant homage to all elements of skateboarding culture, featuring 25 hours of music performances, entertainment and content creation experiences, all powered by the Galaxy S25 series. Samsung invites everyone to ‘Drop in with Samsung’ Supported by EE and participate in a dynamic range of activities on offer, all whilst experiencing the exceptional camera capabilities of the latest Galaxy S25 series.

BAYSIXTY6 will undergo a dramatic transformation, with enhanced lighting and design, creating the ultimate backdrop for capturing stunning content with the Galaxy S25’s advanced features, including Nightography Video and Ultra-Wide camera. Whether day or night, attendees can witness firsthand how the device delivers stunning shots in any lighting condition.

Experience the 25-hour immersion:

The 25-Hour Street: A free skate zone for all skill levels, with Samsung product experts on hand to assist with capturing incredible content on the Galaxy S25 series.
The Ultra-Wide Bowl: A dedicated drop-in area for skaters to showcase their skills, utilising the Ultra-Wide camera to capture expansive angles during the day and stunning night shots with Night mode, or video content with Nightography Video.
The 25-Hour Zone: Home of the ‘Now Bar’ – a space to learn about Samsung’s latest Galaxy AI innovations and why the Galaxy S25 series is the ultimate true AI companion. The Now Bar is a space to break for some food, grab a drink, and learn how the latest tech can offer ‘New ways to get things done’, with updates on the 25-hour Skatepark schedule and some exclusive product giveaways for most impressive Galaxy S25 skate footage.
The 25-Hour Shop: Celebrity meet-and-greets with Team Galaxy Skate ambassadors, an immersive mobile gaming station, offering visitors the chance to beat the top score on mobile skateboarding game True Skate, and opportunities to try out the wider Samsung Galaxy product ecosystem.

Event highlights:
A launch moment to remember with Sky Brown and Team Galaxy Skate talent dropping in, and James Threlfall DJing to set the vibe.
An exclusive sunrise skate session and shoot curated in partnership with Dazed Media
Invigorating skate yoga session led by Shankos Skate School
Design your own board with Big Aye Skateboards – a closed session for under 18s
Exclusive meet-and-greets with professional skaters, including Olympic medalist Sky Brown
Social media workshop with skate influencer Stef Nurding and Samsung UK, giving insights on maximising skate content for visibility
Dedicated skate photography sessions with renowned photographer Garry Jones
Perfect your trick with pro-skaters in Team Galaxy Skate offering one-on-one lessons
A panel discussion with leaders from Skateboard GB, who will be talking about what a career in skate looks like and how to get more skateparks in your local community.

Driven by the shared belief to ‘Never Stop Growing,’ Samsung, Skateboard GB and EE are also investing in extended opening hours at ten skateparks across the UK. This initiative, which includes funding for events, product experiences, and skate jams, will empower the personal growth of the next generation of skaters with greater park access, enhanced connectivity, and the tools to capture and share their progress.

Join the ‘Drop in with Samsung 25-hour Skate Park’ Supported by EE. experience from 19th to 20th March, located at BAYSIXTY6. Drop in be part of this interactive experience – check out the full schedule here:

Full 25-hour Skatepark event schedule:

Time:
Activity:
Attendance:
18:00 – 20:00
Opening skate jam:
Featuring demos from Team Galaxy Skate, hosted by Marc Churchill and accompanied by tunes from DJ James Threlfall, plus exclusive meet and greet with two-times Olympic Medallist Sky Brown
Sign-up needed
(Via Dazed website here)
20:00 – 22:00
Skate with Team Galaxy Skate:
Skate drop-ins accompanied by DJ James Threlfall on the decks
Drop in on the day
22:00 – 00:00
Skate film session:
Hosted in partnership with City Mill Skate
Sign-up needed
(Via Skateboard GB website here)
00:00 – 04:00
Artist creation session:
Hosted by artist Billy Colours – mural creation at BAYSIXTY6, with time-lapse capture
Invite only
04:00 – 06:30
Sunrise skate session and shoot:
Hosted in partnership with Dazed Club
Sign-up needed (via Dazed here)
06:30 – 07:30
Skate yoga session:
Hosted in partnership with Shankos Skate School
Sign-up needed
(Via Skateboard GB website here)
07:30 – 10:00
Pre-school skate breakfast club
Invite only
10:00 – 11:00
Skate Photography Session:
Hosted by photographer Garry Jones
Sign-up needed
(Via Skateboard GB website here)
11:00 – 12:00
Social media workshop:
Hosted by Team Galaxy Skate’s Stef Nurding, Samsung UK and creative agency Iris
Drop in on the day
12:00 – 14:00
Skate activators:
Hosted in partnership with Skateboard GB and Team Galaxy Skate
Drop in on the day
14:00 – 16:00
How to get skateparks built in your local community:
Led by Skateboard GB
Drop in on the day
16:00 – 17:30
Lessons with a pro:
Hosted by Team Galaxy Skate’s Jordan Thackeray and Alex DeCunha
Sign up needed
(Via Skateboard GB website here)
17:30 – 19:00
Game of S.K.A.T.E
Hosted by Team Galaxy Skate’s Ashley Mercer
Drop in on the day

About Skateboard GB
Skateboard GB is the National Governing Body for skateboarding in England and the home of Olympic skateboarding in Great Britain. The organisation exists to give skateboarders the opportunity to “Skate More, Skate Better” ensuring they are skater-focused in everything that they do; aiming to lead, support, empower and facilitate.

Skateboard GB celebrate and champion everything that is positive about skateboarding’s heritage and culture and work with the skateboarding community to develop more opportunities and better environments to skate, inspiring future generations of skateboarders as a result of success on the world stage.

MIL OSI Economics –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: NIH-funded study identifies potential new stroke treatment

Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 2

Media Advisory
Monday, March 17, 2025

Preclinical study in rodents suggests that uric acid is ready for human clinical testing.
What
In a preclinical study, rodents treated with uric acid showed improved long-term outcomes after acute ischemic stroke. The findings suggest that the treatment may work as an add-on therapy to standard stroke treatments in humans. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published in Stroke.
Led by Enrique Leira, M.D., and Anil Chauhan, Ph.D., at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, researchers used a well-established rodent model of stroke that closely simulates stroke in humans. They administered intravenous uric acid or saline control and monitored animals’ recovery over one month. Behavioral and neurological assessments, including MRI scans, were used to evaluate the treatment’s effects.
Mice treated with uric acid had better sensorimotor function—the primary outcome measure—30 days after stroke. More animals in the uric acid group also survived their stroke compared to control animals. However, some secondary outcome measures, such as brain damage, were not reduced.
The research teams used equal numbers of male and female animals and studied older, young, and obese mice, as well as rats with hypertension. Uric acid was efficacious across all groups, suggesting that the treatment could potentially perform well in human trials, including in people with stroke comorbidities.
Ischemic stroke, a leading cause of disability and death in the United States, occurs when a blood clot or other blockage in an artery cuts off blood supply to the brain. Strokes are treated with medications or surgery aimed to break up clots and restore blood flow to affected brain areas. These therapies are highly effective, but not all people fully recover. Using additional treatments that protect brain tissue from damage, either immediately before or during clot removal, could boost the effects of standard treatments and greatly improve recovery in patients.
The study was part of the NIH’s Stroke Preclinical Assessment Network (SPAN), a rigorous, transparent approach to preclinical research that mimics clinical trials. SPAN applies standard clinical practices, like randomization and blinded analysis, to animal studies, with the goal of finding agents that are likely to succeed in clinical trials. Recently, the network tested six promising stroke treatments and found one, uric acid, that showed efficacy. The current study described the results of this trial.
The study was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) (U01NS113388, U24NS113452) and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (R35HL139926).
Who
Walter Koroshetz, M.D., director, NINDS; and Francesca Bosetti, Ph.D. program director, NINDS, are available for interviews. To arrange an interview, please contact: NINDSpressteam@ninds.nih.gov.
Article
Patel, R.B., and Kumskova, M., et al. “Uric acid stroke cerebroprotection transcended sex, age, and comorbidities in a multicenter preclinical trial.” Stroke. March 17, 2025. DOI: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.124.048748.
About the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS): NINDS is the nation’s leading funder of research on the brain and nervous system. The mission of NINDS is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®
###

MIL OSI USA News –

March 18, 2025

MIL-OSI United Nations: UNECE ModernStats World Workshop 2024

Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

Abstracts and papers for the different topics of this workshop can be found below.

Background:

Modern statistical production systems require standardization of the processes, information and architectures that are involved in producing statistics, so that those processes can be automated, and information (including data) can be seamlessly passed between different systems, perhaps using software components that have been developed by another organization for the same purpose.

The need to do this has never been more pressing, due to the multiplicity of different sources of data, different outputs required, and different technologies that may be used to choreograph all of the required elements required to produce statistics.

This workshop is organized by the Supporting Standards Group, which maintains a set of standards and models for processes, information, architectures and other activities needed to produce statistics, and supports collaboration activities for their implementation, to provide a foundation for modern production.

This year’s workshop is focused on the objectives of interoperability, governance, and of transparency, traceability and provenance in production, discussing the role of various models and standards for achieving those objectives. There will also be sessions showcasing the use of models and the future of production.

Abstracts:

Title	Document
Information Note 1	pdf
Information Note 2	pdf
Timetable	pdf
Title	Abstract	Paper	Slides
Session: Interoperability using Standards and Models
The DDI Cross-Domain Integration (DDI-CDI) Specification: Overview and Implementations, CODATA and DDI	pdf		pdf
The statistical production LEGO set: using standard models and tools to build metadata-driven pipelines at StatCan, Statistics Canada	pdf		pdf
Using standards to develop a system for coherent metadata for production and dissemination in Denmark, Statistics Denmark	pdf		pdf
Enhancing Interoperability and Transparency through Linked Open Data Standards: Lessons Learned from the ESS LOD Community of Practice, Eurostat	pdf		pdf
Session: Transparency, traceability and provenance
From micro to macro data: ModernStats models for the conceptual modelling of statistical metadata in an interoperability perspective, Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat)	pdf		ppsx
Unlocking data transparency: how improved metadata empowers IMF data users., International Monetary Fund	pdf		pdf
Describing and Querying Data Transformation Scripts: SDTL and SDTH, University of Michigan	pdf		pdf
Session: Governance
Streamlining statistical and data production, Statistics Finland	pdf		pdf
The designed governance for a central metadata system, Istat	pdf	pdf	pdf
A reference framework for structural metadata governance, OECD	pdf		pdf
Simplifying the Reuse of Concepts Across Organisations, Federal Statistical Office (FSO)	pdf		pdf
Session: Using ModernStats models
Tau-Argus: Lessons learned of sharing an IT-tool in Official Statistics, Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis)	pdf		pdf
Applying GSBPM to processes based on new data sources, Istat	pdf		pdf
Using standards to direct the flow of data: Modernizing production processes at Statistics Iceland, Statistics Iceland	pdf		pdf
Adopting GSBPM in a national statistical institute, Statistics Denmark	pdf		pdf
Modeling of Business Process Activities and Data: GSBPM, GSIM, and BPMN, National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI, México)	pdf		pdf
Session: Modern production in 2025 and beyond
Incorporating AI into statistical standards: Enhancing GSBPM with (generative) AI, Statistics Finland	pdf	pdf	pdf
Modernizing the BIS Data Bank: A Metadata-Driven Approach to Statistical Business Processes and SDMX Integration, Bank for International Settlements	pdf		pdf
A dataset catalogue as a tool for automated and metadata driven statistical production, Statistics Sweden	pdf	pdf	pdf
Modernization and agility powered by Communities of Practice, Statistics Netherlands	pdf		pdf
Capabilities and Metadata Standards, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics	pdf		pdf
Tools For Automating Metadata-Driven Processes In Statistics Poland, Statistics Poland	pdf		pdf
Other presentations
Updates on the activities and plans of the Supporting Standards Group, Flavio Rizzolo, chair of SSG		pdf	pdf
Update on the HLG Open-Source project, Carlo Vaccari, Project Manager			pdf
Soapbox presentation on Units of Measurement, OECD			pdf

MIL OSI United Nations News –

March 18, 2025

MIL-OSI Canada: Government of Saskatchewan Extends 4R Nutrient Stewardship Agreement with Fertilizer Canada

Source: Government of Canada regional news

Released on March 17, 2025

The Government of Saskatchewan has renewed its ongoing collaboration with Fertilizer Canada to support education, training and expansion regarding 4R Nutrient Stewardship in the province through the signing of a new three-year Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC).

Extending the joint effort based on previous agreements, the Ministry of Agriculture will work with Fertilizer Canada to continue advancing the implementation of 4R Nutrient Stewardship in Saskatchewan. This approach to crop nutrient management and environmental stewardship follows the four “Rs” of fertilizer use: Right Source @ Right Rate, Right Time, Right Place.

“Healthy soil means healthy crops, and that is part of the reason Saskatchewan enjoys a reputation as a major global producer of quality agri-food products,” Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison said. “The 4R approach is fundamental to a responsible, sustainable agriculture industry driven by producers who set the bar for best practices, and we are very pleased to continue working with Fertilizer Canada to enhance 4R Nutrient Stewardship in our province.”

“Saskatchewan is a cornerstone of Canadian agriculture, demonstrating industry leadership through its commitment to responsible nutrient management and science-based farming practices,” Fertilizer Canada Interim President and CEO Catherine King said. “With 40 per cent of Canada’s cropland, the province is a key driver of the national economy. The Government of Saskatchewan’s commitment to the 4R Nutrient Stewardship framework reflects its dedication to balancing environmental responsibility with economic growth in agriculture, strengthening Canada’s global competitiveness. Fertilizer Canada values this strong partnership and the province’s ongoing efforts to promote best practices on the farm, ensuring the long-term success of the agricultural sector.”

Areas of collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and Fertilizer Canada outlined in the new agreement focus on progress toward achieving shared objectives, including data and information sharing and knowledge transfer activities. The ministry has promoted 4R practices to a broad audience of producers and industry through events such as the Crop Diagnostic School and the Agronomy Research Update, as well as publications, webinars and research and demonstration initiatives. The percentage of agricultural land in Saskatchewan under a 4R stewardship plan has experienced steady growth, increasing by over 20 per cent from 2022 to 2023.

Pursuant to the agreement, the ministry and Fertilizer Canada have co-chair roles on the 4R Nutrient Stewardship Steering Committee, which includes representation from industry partners – the Canadian Association of Agri-Retailers, Canola Council of Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada, the Prairie Certified Crop Adviser Board, and Agriculture-Applied Research Management (Agri-ARM) sites -and the University of Saskatchewan.

More information on 4R Nutrient Stewardship and sustainable farming practices in Saskatchewan is available at https://fertilizercanada.ca/our-focus/stewardship/4rs-across-canada/saskatchewan/.

-30-

For more information, contact:

MIL OSI Canada News –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: NIH-sponsored trial of Lassa vaccine opens

Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 2

News Release
Monday, March 17, 2025

Lassa fever is a viral hemorrhagic disease that can be fatal and that causes permanent hearing loss.

A National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored clinical trial of a candidate vaccine to prevent Lassa fever has begun enrolling participants at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. Lassa fever is a viral hemorrhagic disease that can be fatal and that causes permanent hearing loss in up to one-third of those who contract it. Lassa virus is spread by rodents, known as multimammate rats, that are native to many countries in West Africa. The virus can also be spread from person to person. Currently, there are no specific drug treatments or vaccines for Lassa fever. NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is sponsoring the Phase 1 trial.
“The candidate vaccine being tested in this trial was developed by an NIH-supported research team at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia,” said NIAID Director Jeanne Marrazzo, M.D., M.P.H. “The progression of this candidate from the lab to a first-in-humans clinical trial is a promising step towards a vaccine to prevent Lassa fever.”
The trial will enroll up to 55 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 50 years to test the safety and immunogenicity of three different concentrations of the vaccine candidate. Participants will receive two injections, delivered 28 days apart, of either the vaccine candidate or a Food and Drug Administration-licensed rabies vaccine (control).
In research published in 2024, Matthias Schnell, Ph.D., and colleagues at Thomas Jefferson University tested the experimental vaccine, known as LASSARAB, in nonhuman primates. They found that two doses of the vaccine, delivered 28 days apart, protected all the immunized animals that were exposed to large and lethal amounts of Lassa virus six weeks after the second inoculation.
LASSARAB is based on a weakened (attenuated) rabies vaccine that is subsequently inactivated to make the vaccine candidate. The experimental vaccine is then modified so that it expresses all the rabies proteins found in inactivated rabies vaccine along with a Lassa virus surface protein called the glycoprotein precursor complex (GPC). If LASSARAB is shown to be safe and elicits a good immune response to both the rabies proteins and the Lassa GPC, it could be used to prevent both diseases pending further testing in clinical trials and subsequent approval by the FDA.
Additional information about the new clinical trial is available at clinicaltrials.gov using the identifier NCT06546709.
NIAID conducts and supports research—at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide—to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®
###

MIL OSI USA News –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: KVN League of the State University of Management is looking for organizers

Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

KVN is not only writing jokes and performing on stage, it is also a lot of organizational work, allowing you to gain unique management experience in an intensive mode. The KVN League of the State University of Management allows you to give such experience in a specialized university.

If you love KVN and want to become part of one of the best university leagues in Moscow, you can join the creative team of the First Management League.

Who we are looking for: – Organizers – if you want to learn how to plan and coordinate events, we are definitely on the same page! – SMM specialists – if you know how to attract attention on social networks and make our events bright and memorable, we will be glad to see you. – Partner managers – if you have a desire to interact with partners and find a common language with different people, then we are ready to be friends and work with you.

We offer: — Invaluable experience: organizing interregional and all-Russian events, as well as the opportunity to create a portfolio — a great start for a future career. — Training and development: we will teach you everything you need to work successfully both in KVN and in other areas. You will be able to implement your ideas based on real projects. — The opportunity to undergo educational practice: if you want, we can provide you with tasks specifically in your specialty so that you can undergo practice with us in the League.

Join our team to create unforgettable moments for spectators and participants!

If you are ready for new challenges and want to learn more, fill out the form here: http://ligakvnguusearch.tilda.ws/

Let’s make KVN at GUU even better!

Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 03/17/2025

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 –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI: Iterate.ai’s Kevin Homer Named CRN Channel Chief Amid AI PC Partnership Success

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

SAN JOSE, Calif. and DENVER, March 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Iterate.ai, whose AI platform enables enterprises to build production-ready applications and ready-to-use products for private AI requirements and the AI PC era, today announced that CRN has named Kevin Homer as a 2025 Channel Chief. The recognition comes as Iterate.ai expands its channel-first strategy, bringing secure and local AI processing capabilities to business through recent strategic partnerships with companies including Intel and TD SYNNEX. Iterate.ai’s channel program now has more than 50 partners, with plans to continue expanding rapidly this year.

Homer has led Iterate.ai’s channel-centric model by establishing partnerships that make Generate—Iterate’s privacy-first AI Assistant—available to over 25,000 resellers. Generate’s ability to process documents more than 1,000 pages locally on AI PCs, among its many other capabilities, positions partners to address growing business demands for secure AI deployment. Unlike cloud-dependent AI assistants, Generate’s proprietary Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) framework ensures sensitive data remains within organizational boundaries while eliminating cloud processing costs.

“The channel is ideal for what Iterate.ai brings to the market,” said Homer. “Through our recent deals with TD SYNNEX, Intel, and others, we’re empowering partners to drive revenue while delivering AI solutions that protect users’ sensitive data by running entirely on local AI PCs. This has created tremendous services opportunities for our partners as their customers seek more secure ways to leverage AI, while our partner portal and upcoming MDF program provide the resources needed to accelerate their growth.”

“Kevin’s vision for Iterate.ai in the channel aligns well with our product development and the emergence of AI PCs that demand secure AI deployments,” said Brian Sathianathan, CTO and co-founder of Iterate.ai. “His recognition by CRN validates our strategy of scaling through partners who can deliver complete, secure AI solutions for years to come.”

Homer brings 25 years of technology sales experience to Iterate.ai, having previously built successful channel programs at LogRhythm and Vericept. His CRN Channel Chief achievement adds to Iterate.ai’s industry recognition; the company has recently been recognized in Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators, named to the KM World AI 100, and had its Interplay-AppCoder LLM awarded the best AI and Machine Learning Model by InfoWorld.

About Iterate.ai

Iterate.ai is at the forefront of empowering businesses with state-of-the-art AI solutions, like Generate and its AI low code platform, Interplay. Interplay is cloud-agnostic and can run AI on the edge and in secure private environments. With six patents granted (including “drag-and-drop AI”) and nearly a dozen more pending, Iterate.ai’s platform offers corporate innovators a low-risk, speedy, and systematic way to scale in-house, near-term digital innovation initiatives. With its largest offices in San Jose, CA and Denver, CO, Iterate.ai has a global presence with other offices in North America (Texas, Washington, Arizona), Europe (Stockholm), and Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Singapore).

Contact

Kyle Peterson
kyle@clementpeterson.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e20a4206-0b49-4122-92ed-85343513d9eb

The MIL Network –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Important information for out-of-town participants of the final stage of the SPbGASU School Olympiad in Architecture in the 2024/2025 academic year!

Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering –

We remind you that SPbGASU provides accommodation for the period of participation in the final stage to out-of-town participants and their parents (legal representatives).

The check-in will take place at the Interuniversity Student City (MSC), located at the following address: Saint Petersburg, Basseynaya St., Building 8 (entrance from Varshavskaya St., checkpoint No. 1). The nearest metro stations are: Park Pobedy, Elektrosila.

Move-in to the MSG is possible from March 21 to April 1, 2025.

The working hours of the MSG check-in point are: Monday – Friday, from 09:00 to 18:00.

Out-of-town participants temporarily staying at the MSG, including a parent (legal representative), must have the following with them at the time of registration:

passport (birth certificate) of the participant and its copy; passport of the legal representative (birth certificate confirming legal representation) and its copy.

Cost of living in a hostel per day: 750 rubles for Olympiad participants, 1100 rubles for a parent (legal representative).

No more than one legal representative is allowed to accompany one participant.

The number of places is limited!

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 –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: CE mourns Lee Shau-kee

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Chief Executive John Lee today expressed sorrow over the passing of entrepreneur Lee Shau-kee.

He said Lee Shau-kee was an outstanding business leader and entrepreneur who had made significant contributions to Hong Kong’s economic development as well as the city’s prosperity and stability.

Furthermore, the Chief Executive noted that the entrepreneur was also a highly respected philanthropist.

“He had made outstanding contributions to education and community service in the past decades, including his generous donations to a number of universities and tertiary institutions in Hong Kong and the Mainland, and his ardent support for the development of higher education and talent development.

“He had established the Lee Shau Kee Foundation and the Hong Kong Pei Hua Education Foundation, which promote education with special concern on the development of education and research in Chinese communities. He was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal in 2007.

“I express sorrow over the passing of Dr Lee and extend my deepest condolences to his family.”

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: NEWS: Sanders, 37 Colleagues to Education Secretary: “We Will Not Stand By as You Attempt to Turn Back the Clock on Education in this Country”

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Vermont – Bernie Sanders

WASHINGTON, March 17 – As the Trump administration and Elon Musk attack public education in America by closing offices and laying off 1,300 workers at the Department of Education, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), alongside 37 Senate colleagues, today sent a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon expressing outrage at the administration’s reckless and illegal firing of half of the workforce at the U.S. Department of Education, which will devastate America’s public education system and impact students across the country.

Joining Sanders on the letter are Sens. Maize Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).

“At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, when 60 percent of people live paycheck to paycheck, millions of Americans cannot afford higher education, and 40 percent of our nation’s 4th graders and 33 percent of 8th graders read below basic proficiency, it is a national disgrace that the Trump Administration is attempting to illegally abolish the Department of Education and thus, undermine a high-quality education for our students,” wrote Sanders and the lawmakers.

The lawmakers noted that these layoffs and closures will have devastating effects on the nation’s students, including by limiting the department’s ability to guarantee federal funding reaches communities that rely on it, ensure students can access federal financial aid, and uphold students’ civil rights. Not even 24 hours after the staff reductions were announced, the Free Application for Federal Financial Aid (FAFSA) experienced a glitch that prevented students and families from accessing the application. Education Department workers responsible for fixing it had reportedly been fired.

The lawmakers continue: “[The layoffs] would also mean decreased enforcement of rights for children with disabilities and fewer resources for students from low-income backgrounds and children with disabilities, like the 26 million students from low-income backgrounds and over 100,000 public schools in every community across this country that rely on Title I funding; the 7.5 million students with disabilities who benefit under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the 7 million students who receive Pell grants to help access higher education.”

“We will not stand by as you attempt to turn back the clock on education in this country through gutting the Department of Education. Our nation’s public schools, colleges, and universities are preparing the next generation of America’s leaders—we must take steps to strengthen education in this country, not take a wrecking ball to the agency that exists to do so,” concluded Sanders and the lawmakers.

Read the text of the letter here.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: King, Collins Praise Passage of Bipartisan Bill to Combat Illicit Fentanyl Trafficking

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Angus King, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the Select Senate Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), and Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and member of SSCI and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today lauded the passage of bipartisan legislation that would crack down on illegal fentanyl trafficking. The Halt All Lethal Trafficking (HALT) of Fentanyl Act will permanently classify fentanyl-related substances (FRS) — any substance that is structurally related to fentanyl by one or more listed modifications — as Schedule I controlled drugs. These drugs have no current accepted medical use and have a high potential for abuse.
A permanent scheduling classification of FRS is required to make penalties for drug-related crimes clear and enforceable under the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The legislation would also streamline the process for scientists seeking approval from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to research those substances. The bill passed the Senate in a 84-16 vote.
“Opioids like fentanyl have devastated families and communities across Maine and the country for far too long,” said Senator King. “As we continue working to combat the fentanyl and overdose crisis, commonsense bills like the HALT Fentanyl Act will pave a the way toward a safer tomorrow. I am thankful to my colleagues for putting partisanship aside and recommitting to keeping our families out of harm’s way.”
“The fentanyl epidemic has devastated lives and wreaked havoc on communities all over the United States, including here in Maine,” said Senator Collins. “This bipartisan legislation will permanently classify fentanyl analogues as a Schedule I substance, ensuring law enforcement always has the tools they need to combat the scourge of fentanyl and hold cartels accountable.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there were 107,543 overdose deaths in the United States in 2023. Fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances accounted for nearly 75,000 of those deaths. Since 1999, the overdose crisis has increasingly been characterized by deaths involving these illicitly manufactured synthetic opioids, which are commonly sold through illicit drug markets for their fentanyl-like effect, and are often mixed with heroin or other drugs, such as cocaine, or pressed in to counterfeit prescription pills. The New England Journal of Medicine estimated that 22 teenagers died of overdoses each week in 2022.
Since 2013, Maine has experienced tragically significant growth in total deaths from fentanyl-related overdoses. In 2021, 77% of all drug overdoses in Maine were due to fentanyl. The University of Maine estimates fentanyl to be 25 times more potent than oxycodone and 50-100 times more potent than heroin.
However, there have recently been positive downward trends for overdose deaths in Maine and nationwide. Overall, the CDC found that drug overdose deaths in the United States decreased by three percent in 2023, the first annual decrease since 2018. Drug overdose deaths in Maine decreased by nearly 16% over this same period; this was the first year-over-year reduction in fatalities since 2018. Provisional data from the CDC also shows that overdose deaths for last year decreased 25% nationwide and 24% in Maine.
As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Select Senate Committee on Intelligence, Senator King has previously supported legislation to combat illicit drug use and decrease overdoses. He is a cosponsor of the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act, bipartisan legislation that is designed to stop dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl and carfentanil from being shipped through our borders. Senator King also cosponsored the INTERDICT Act, bipartisan legislation to help halt the flow of illicit fentanyl from Mexico, China and other nations around the world into the United States. During an open hearing of the Select Senate Intelligence Committee last year, Senator King pressed Avril Haines, the former Director of National Intelligence and Christopher Wray, the former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), about what the intelligence community is doing to halt the flow of illicit drugs — including fentanyl — from Mexico, China and other nations into the United States.
Senator Collins has also been working to combat the fentanyl epidemic for years. Senator Collins is a cosponsor of the FEND Off Fentanyl Act , which was signed into law last year. This bill disrupts the flow of fentanyl into the United States, including by requiring the President to sanction criminal organizations and drug cartels involved in trafficking fentanyl and its precursors. Last Congress, she also introduced the Fighting Illicit Goods, Helping Trustworthy Importers, and Netting Gains (FIGHTING) for America Act to crack down on fentanyl smuggling.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 18, 2025
MIL-OSI: University of Arizona Student Shares Educational and Career Updates After Receiving SBB Research Group Foundation STEM Scholarship

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

CHICAGO, March 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The SBB Research Group Foundation is proud to announce the continued success of Emerald Bell after receiving the STEM Scholarship in 2024. The $2,500 award empowers students to create value for society by pursuing higher learning through interdisciplinary combinations of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).

Emerald Bell received the SBB Research Group Foundation STEM Scholarship during her fourth year at the University of Arizona to pursue a graduate degree in nursing.

Since receiving the scholarship, Bell won her university’s Outstanding PhD Dissertation Award at her graduation. She continues to work in the Herbst-Kralovetz lab and plans to publish the findings from her dissertation.

“Emerald is an incredible student, and we are so happy to hear that she has finished her program and was recognized for her dissertation. We wish her the best in her career,” said Matt Aven, co-founder and board member of the SBB Research Group Foundation.

The SBB Research Group Foundation is honored to have played a role in Bell’s success. We look forward to continuing to support outstanding students in STEM and helping them achieve their full potential.

For eligibility criteria and more information on the Foundation’s STEM scholarship, please visit http://www.sbbscholarship.org.

About the SBB Research Group Foundation

The SBB Research Group Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that furthers the philanthropic mission of SBB Research Group LLC (SBBRG), a Chicago-based investment management firm led by Sam Barnett, Ph.D., and Matt Aven. The Foundation sponsors the SBB Research Group Foundation STEM Scholarship, supporting students pursuing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degrees. In addition to its scholarship program, the Foundation provides grants to support ambitious organizations solving unmet needs with thoughtful, long-term strategies

Contact: Erin Noonan
Organization: SBB Research Group Foundation
Email: scholarship@sbbrg.org
Address: 450 Skokie Blvd, Building 600, Northbrook, IL 60062 United States
Phone: 1-847-656-1111
Website: https://www.sbbscholarship.com/

The MIL Network –

March 18, 2025

Category: Education

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