Category: Education

MIL-Evening Report: Women played key roles in Syria’s revolution. Now they’ve been pushed to the margins

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kinda Alsamara, Lecturer in the School of Languages and Cultures, The University of Queensland

The end of the oppressive Assad regime in Syria in late 2024 has been broadly welcomed on the global stage – underscored by the fact the United States and European Union have now lifted sanctions against the country.

However, women have been marginalised by Syria’s new leadership. That’s a problem for Syrian women, of course, but it also puts at risk prospects for sustainable peace in Syria.

A growing body of research, including our own, shows a direct correlation between gender equality and peace.

Syria now stands at a crossroads. Will it ensure women’s meaningful participation and follow a path to peace? Or will things head in the other direction?

This is more urgent than ever. Failure to grapple with women’s rights in Syria risks plunging the nation further into extremist violence.

Women excluded both before and after Assad’s rule

After decades in power, the harsh Assad regime was overthrown late last year by rebels led by Sunni Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

But women – who were marginalised politically and economically under Assad – continue to be systematically excluded from decision-making in the new government.

This is even though women played an essential role in the Syrian revolution. They organised protests and advocated for rights (often at great personal risk).

They endured sacrifices such as imprisonment, torture, disappearance and displacement.

Yet, only one woman was appointed to Syria’s immediate post-Assad caretaker government. She didn’t get a ministerial title.

The caretaker government spokesman reportedly suggested women’s “biological and physiological nature” makes them unsuitable for certain government roles.

Reports allege the man initially appointed as Syria’s new minister of justice previously oversaw executions of women accused of being sex workers.

Some Syrian activists are concerned Hayat Tahrir al-Sham will enforce a gendered and conservative interpretation of Islamic law, which prevailed in its previous stronghold of Idlib (a city in northwestern Syria).

Limited roles for women

A key moment came when the new Syrian government held a “national dialogue conference” earlier this year. This conference was to establish a forward-looking “political identity” for Syria.

Of the seven-member conference preparatory committee, only two were women.

There was no representation on the preparatory committee from several of Syria’s diverse communities, including Kurdish, Alawite and Druze groups.

Most members had strong ties with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or other Islamist factions.

About 200 of the 1,000 delegates at the conference were women. However, their input in legislative and security committees was minimal.

Only one of 18 conference recommendations referred (in a limited way) to women.

Following the national dialogue conference, new Syrian President Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa signed into force a constitutional declaration that set a five-year transition period and established the interim government.

Senior figures in the new government described the declaration as guaranteeing women’s political and economic rights.

Yet only one of Syria’s 23 ministers is a woman: Hind Kabawat, appointed as minister of social affairs and labour. This “soft” portfolio is commonly associated with gendered expectations around care and welfare.

Key ministries were allocated to al-Sharaa’s all-male long-time comrades from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s base in Idlib.

Change is possible

A just and sustainable peace requires proactive measures to integrate women into leadership roles in Syria.

Change is possible. For example, constitutional mandates could guarantee minimum representation for women in ministerial leadership and judicial positions, which would better reflect the diversity of Syrian society.

Independent mechanisms could be established to investigate and address gender-based injustices. This would need to provide accountability for past abuses and protect women’s rights under the post-Assad system.

As we have previously noted, there cannot be a “collective forgetting” of crimes Syrian women experienced in the past.

Economic empowerment initiatives would also help foster women’s financial independence and participation in public life.

Public awareness campaigns could also highlight women’s contributions to the revolution and their essential role in nation-building.

Syria at a crossroads

With the recent lifting of sanctions by the US and EU, and ongoing regional instability globally, Syria stands at a crossroads.

The G7 Summit in May 2025 emphasised the global community’s renewed focus on women’s participation in peace processes.

Influential middle-power countries can play a key role by reviewing sanctions and tying humanitarian aid to the promotion of human rights, gender inclusion and pluralistic governance.

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. Women played key roles in Syria’s revolution. Now they’ve been pushed to the margins – https://theconversation.com/women-played-key-roles-in-syrias-revolution-now-theyve-been-pushed-to-the-margins-257358

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

July 14, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Washington’s war demands – Australia risks being dragged into a conflict with China over Taiwan

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University

Andy. LIU/Shutterstock

The United States can count on Australia as one of its closest allies.

Dating back to the shared experiences in the second world war and the ANZUS Treaty signed in 1951, Australia has steadfastly worked to help ensure the US remains the principal security guarantor in the Indo-Pacific.

Australia’s track record speaks for itself. Yet additional demands are being placed that rankle.

The Pentagon wants to know how Australia – and other allies such as Japan – would respond in the event of a war with China over Taiwan.

Making these demands – which are being sought as part of the review of the AUKUS nuclear submarine agreement – is both unjustified and unreasonable.

‘100 years of mateship’

Since federation in 1901, Australians have found themselves alongside US counterparts in almost all the major conflicts of the 20th century and beyond.

It is this shared experience that led former Ambassador to Washington, Joe Hockey, to coin the term “100 years of mateship”.

The pinnacle of the security relationship is the ANZUS Treaty which is a loosely worded document barely 800 words long.

However, it is important to remember AUKUS is just that – a technical agreement, albeit premised on the century-spanning trusted collaboration across the full spectrum of national security ties.

Goldilocks solution

More recently, the US administration has made demands of allies, including Australia, the likes of which have not been seen in living memory.

This spans not just tariffs, but also increased defence spending. American policymakers appear oblivious or unconcerned about the blowback they are generating.

It is this context which makes the US demands for a broad-ranging and largely open-ended commitment over the defence of Taiwan, in advance of any conflict, so extraordinary and unhelpful.

Under-secretary of defence for policy Elbridge Colby who wants a clear sense of how Australia would act in a potential war over Taiwan.
Supplied by US Department of Defence, CC BY

Australia has long had a fear of abandonment. Ever since the searing experience of the fall of Singapore in 1942, officials have been eager to burnish ties with US counterparts. Conversely, there has always been a strong element in the community that has feared entrapment in yet another US-led war in Asia.

The experience in the Korean and Vietnam wars, let alone Afghanistan and Iraq, left many guarded about the efficacy of hitching the wagon to US-led military campaigns.

In essence, though, Australian policymakers have long sought the Goldilocks solution: not too enthusiastic to trigger entrapment and not too lukewarm to trigger abandonment.

No guarantees

Now Australia, Japan and others face a surprising new push by American officials for a commitment to a hypothetical conflict, under open-ended circumstances.

The irony is that American demands for a commitment fly in the face of the loosely worded ANZUS alliance – which stipulates an agreement to consult, but little more than that.

The AUKUS agreement includes no such guarantees either. The overt and confronting nature of Washington’s demands means Prime Minister Anthony Albanese effectively has no option but to push back:

We support the status quo when it comes to Taiwan. We don’t support any unilateral action […] we want peace and security in our region.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy was adamant Australia would not be committing forces ahead of any “hypothetical” conflict:

The decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict will be made by the government of the day, not in advance, but by the government of the day.

A further irony is Australia, like Japan, is already hugely invested in its US military relationship, particularly through its military technology.

The purchase of the F35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, for instance, was meant to help enable the generation of interoperable forces, yet no such demand has been made when it comes to an advance commitment over their use in support of US ambitions.

So why invoke AUKUS in such a way?

Evidently, the way the US is trying to stand over Japan and Australia is harmful to its own interests. Such adversarial and unduly transactional behaviour could provoke a popular backlash in Australia and elsewhere.

The government has rightly rebuffed the calls saying it would be up to the government of the day to make such a decision. It is likely this will not be well received by the Trump administration. The PM is right though, to say it’s hypothetical and not worthy of a public endorsement.

Strategic ambiguity

Yet a further irony is that this is mostly a moot point.

The key benefit of alliance collaboration is already in place – and that relates to the efforts to deter China from ever acting on its desire to change the status quo in the first place.

As former PM and now ambassador to Washington, Kevin Rudd explained in his book, The Avoidable War, geo-political disaster is still avoidable, particularly if the US and China can find a way to coexist without betraying their core interests through managed strategic competition.

This strategic ambiguity is meant to complicate a potential adversary’s military planners and political decision makers’ thought processes over the advantages and disadvantages of going to war.

China already knows a clash over Taiwan would mean US allies like Japan and Australia would find it virtually impossible to avoid being entangled. The strategic ambiguity can be maintained ad infinitum, so long as an outright invasion is averted.

And the likelihood of conflict over Taiwan? I remain sanguine that conflict can be avoided.

But to do so would involve clear and compelling messaging: both through diplomatic channels and through the demonstration of robust military capabilities that war would be too costly.

John Blaxland received funding (2015–2018) from the US DoD Minerva Research Initiative.

– ref. Washington’s war demands – Australia risks being dragged into a conflict with China over Taiwan – https://theconversation.com/washingtons-war-demands-australia-risks-being-dragged-into-a-conflict-with-china-over-taiwan-261076

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Why Texas Hill Country, where a devastating flood killed more than 130 people, is one of the deadliest places in the US for flash flooding

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Hatim Sharif, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at San Antonio

A Kerrville, Texas, resident watches the flooded Guadalupe River on July 4, 2025. Eric Vryn/Getty Images

Texas Hill Country is known for its landscapes, where shallow rivers wind among hills and through rugged valleys. That geography also makes it one of the deadliest places in the U.S. for flash flooding.

In the early hours of July 4, 2025, a flash flood swept through an area of Hill Country dotted with summer camps and small towns about 70 miles northwest of San Antonio. More than 130 people died in the flooding. The majority of them were in Kerr County, including more than two dozen girls and counselors at one summer camp, Camp Mystic. Dozens more people were still unaccounted for a week later.

The flooding began with a heavy downpour, with more than 10 inches of rain in some areas, that sent water sheeting off the hillsides and into creeks. The creeks poured into the Guadalupe River.

A river gauge at Hunt, Texas, near Camp Mystic, showed how quickly the river flooded: Around 3 a.m. on July 4, the Guadalupe River was rising about 1 foot every 5 minutes at the gauge, National Weather Service data shows. By 4:30 a.m., it had risen more than 20 feet. As the water moved downstream, it reached Kerrville, where the river rose even faster.

Flood expert Hatim Sharif, a hydrologist and civil engineer at the University of Texas at San Antonio, explains what makes this part of the country, known as Flash Flood Alley, so dangerous.

What makes Hill Country so prone to flooding?

Texas as a whole leads the nation in flood deaths, and by a wide margin. A colleague and I analyzed data from 1959 to 2019 and found 1,069 people had died in flooding in Texas over those six decades. The next highest total was in Louisiana, with 693.

Many of those flood deaths have been in Hill County. It’s part of an area known as Flash Flood Alley, a crescent of land that curves from near Dallas down to San Antonio and then westward.

The hills are steep, and the water moves quickly when it floods. This is a semi-arid area with soils that don’t soak up much water, so the water sheets off quickly and the shallow creeks can rise fast.

When those creeks converge on a river, they can create a surge of water that wipes out homes and washes away cars and, unfortunately, anyone in its path.

Hill Country has seen some devastating flash floods. In 1987, heavy rain in western Kerr County quickly flooded the Guadalupe River, triggering a flash flood similar to the one in 2025. Ten teenagers being evacuated from a camp died in the rushing water.

San Antonio, at the eastern edge of Hill Country, was hit with a flash flood on June 12, 2025, that killed 13 people whose cars were swept away by high water from a fast-flooding creek near an interstate ramp in the early morning.

Why does the region get such strong downpours?

One reason Hill Country gets powerful downpours is the Balcones Escarpment.

The escarpment is a line of cliffs and steep hills created by a geologic fault. When warm air from the Gulf rushes up the escarpment, it condenses and can dump a lot of moisture. That water flows down the hills quickly, from many different directions, filling streams and rivers below.

As temperature rise, the warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, increasing the downpour and flood risk.

A tour of the Guadalupe River and its flood risk.

The same effect can contribute to flash flooding in San Antonio, where the large amount of paved land and lack of updated drainage to control runoff adds to the risk.

What can be done to improve flash flood safety?

First, it’s important for people to understand why flash flooding happens and just how fast the water can rise and flow. In many arid areas, dry or shallow creeks can quickly fill up with fast-moving water and become deadly. So people should be aware of the risks and pay attention to the weather.

Improving flood forecasting, with more detailed models of the physics and water velocity at different locations, can also help.

Probabilistic forecasting, for example, can provide a range of rainfall scenarios, enabling authorities to prepare for worst-case scenarios. A scientific framework linking rainfall forecasts to the local impacts, such as streamflow, flood depth and water velocity, could also help decision-makers implement timely evacuations or road closures.

Education is particularly essential for drivers. One to two feet of moving water can wash away a car. People may think their trucks and SUVs can go through anything, but fast-moving water can flip a truck and carry it away.

Officials can also do more to barricade roads when the flood risk is high to prevent people from driving into harm’s way. We found that 58% of the flood deaths in Texas over the past six decades involved vehicles. The storm on June 12 in San Antonio was an example. It was early morning, and drivers had poor visibility. The cars were hit by fast-rising floodwater from an adjacent creek.

This article, originally published July 5, 2025, has been updated with the death toll rising.

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

– ref. Why Texas Hill Country, where a devastating flood killed more than 130 people, is one of the deadliest places in the US for flash flooding – https://theconversation.com/why-texas-hill-country-where-a-devastating-flood-killed-more-than-130-people-is-one-of-the-deadliest-places-in-the-us-for-flash-flooding-260555

MIL OSI –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Songshan Lake: A microcosm of China’s innovation ecosystem

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

A staff member operates robot to climb stairs at a robot base in Dongguan, south China’s Guangdong Province, June 23, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

Songshan Lake, nestled in south China’s Guangdong Province, buzzes with youthful energy as tomorrow’s tech leaders weave through roads once scented by lychees.

Just two decades ago, this thriving innovation hub was a quiet orchard. Today, it blossoms with ideas instead of fruit.

Covering 103 square kilometers, this high-tech zone hosts over 17,000 market entities. Among them are seven national-level manufacturing champion enterprises and 770 national high-tech enterprises, each playing a part in the rise of new-generation industries technology — from connected vehicles and robotics to intelligent equipment manufacturing, biomedicine and the frontiers of new materials and energy.

Fueling this rapid enterprise growth is Songshan Lake’s innovation ecosystem. It houses six universities and 18 provincial-level new R&D institutions. It is also home to several key scientific facilities, including China Spallation Neutron Source and the under-construction Advanced Attosecond Laser Infrastructure.

The journey of ePropulsion, a company co-founded by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) graduate Pan Zongliang and his three classmates, exemplifies this ecosystem.

In 2012, spotting significant potential in marine new energy, they formed a startup team dedicated to marine electric propulsion R&D. By 2014, they had developed a prototype for their first electric outboard motor. However, turning that breakthrough into a market-ready product was not easy sailing — industrialization turned out to be a formidable voyage.

Luckily, HKUST professor Li Zexiang founded the XbotPark robotics base within Songshan Lake also in 2014, and Li recommended and helped ePropulsion’s five-member team relocate their company to Songshan Lake.

“As a marine new energy company, we needed a water area for product testing,” explained Pan, ePropulsion’s co-founder and COO. The Songshan Lake administrative committee provided the team a crucial asset: a dedicated water testing dock. “It was tremendous support,” Pan recalled.

Beyond policy backing, Songshan Lake’s strategic location allows XbotPark companies to leverage the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’s supply chain advantages.

“Teams here often say, ‘If you can imagine it, you can build it’,” said director of the XbotPark robotics base. “Good ideas can typically find suppliers for implementation within half an hour.”

Today, ePropulsion operates a manufacturing plant in Dongguan City, where Songshan Lake is located, with its products — ranging from 500W to 1000kW electric outboards, pod drives, inboard systems, and matching battery and control systems — sold globally.

“Our main market is Europe and the United States, and our small and medium-sized electric outboards ranked first globally in shipments last year,” Pan noted. “Domestic market share is also rising with China’s expanding new energy vessel sector.”

Their green propulsion systems now power boats in events like the SailGP and America’s Cup, as well as scenic waters across China, including Wuhan’s East Lake, Hangzhou’s West Lake, and Guilin’s Li River.

According to XbotPark, it has incubated over 80 robotics and smart hardware startups, of which six are unicorns, boasting an over 80 percent survival rate. Its top companies have a cumulative valuation of 10 billion U.S. dollars.

An intelligent underwater robot is tested at a provincial institute of intelligent robotics in Dongguan, south China’s Guangdong Province, June 24, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

Nearby at the Guangdong Intelligent Robotics Institute (GIRI), another industrial park at Songshan Lake, a bright yellow robot maneuvers in a testing pool, surfacing and diving with fish-like agility. This intelligent underwater inspection robot, developed by BlueDiveBot, performs comprehensive, blind-spot-free surveys.

“Underwater robots can handle equipment maintenance, debris removal, water quality monitoring, and emergency response, overcoming human limitations and safety risks,” explained Hu Gangyi, general manager of BlueDiveBot.

Incubated by the GIRI and founded in 2023, BlueDiveBot has established a collaborative innovation platform integrating industry, academia, research, and application for advanced underwater equipment. It has mastered a series of cutting-edge technologies in unmanned underwater intelligent systems, some being domestic firsts.

“The well-developed industrial chain in Dongguan and surrounding areas accelerates our R&D commercialization,” Hu said. “We rapidly achieved production capacity and significant market sales growth.”

Since its establishment in August 2015, GIRI has focused its R&D and commercialization efforts on core robotics components like high-power lasers, sensors, and machine vision, alongside core products including industrial robots, high-end intelligent equipment, unmanned autonomous systems, and industrial big data.

GIRI vice president Zhou Xiaoxiao likens prototype technology to “an unripe green apple,” which needs refinement to turn into “a mature red apple” that can then serve a whole chain of products, such as apple jam and apple juice.

Further empowering innovation, the Songshan Lake high-tech zone partnered with Huawei Cloud to build a developer village in April 2022. It addresses enterprise digitalization needs through deep integration and collaborative innovation among different developer organizations, fostering digital innovation and industrial upgrading. Currently, 29 companies have settled there.

“The Songshan Lake high-tech zone has deployed frontier basic research,” concluded Wang Qianqian, deputy director of the Songshan Lake Science, Technology and Innovation Bureau. “Based on fundamental research results, we are forging a complete innovation chain from pioneering research to commercialization and industrial development.”

MIL OSI China News –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: When disasters fall out of the public eye, survivors continue to suffer – a rehabilitation professional explains how sustained mental health support is critical to recovery
Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Lee Ann Rawlins Williams, Clinical Assistant Professor of Education, Health and Behavior Studies, University of North Dakota

In Kerrville, Texas, Leighton Sterling watches the rushing floodwaters along the Guadalupe River on July 4, 2025. Eric Vryn via Getty Images News

The devastating losses from the historic flooding in Texas Hill Country on July 4, 2025, are still coming into grim focus, with 121 deaths confirmed and more than 100 still missing as of July 10.

As emergency responders focus on clearing debris and searching for victims, a less visible and slower disaster has been unfolding: the need for ongoing mental health support long after headlines fade.

This phase is no less critical than restoring power or rebuilding bridges. Disasters destabilize emotional well-being, leaving distress, prolonged recovery and long-term impacts in their wake long after the event is over.

Without sustained emotional support, people and communities face heightened risks of prolonged trauma and stalled recovery.

As an educator and practitioner focused on disability and rehabilitation, I explore the intersection of disaster recovery and the impact of disasters on mental health. Both my research and that of others underscore the vital importance of support systems that not only help people cope in the immediate aftermath of a disaster but also facilitate long-term healing over the months and years that follow – especially for vulnerable populations like children, older adults and people with disabilities.

The emotional toll of disasters

Natural disasters disrupt routines, displace families and challenge people’s sense of control and security. In the immediate aftermath, survivors often experience shock, grief, anxiety and sleep disturbances. Often these symptoms may evolve into chronic stress, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or a combination of these conditions.

A 2022 study found that Texans who experienced two or more disasters within a five-year span had significantly poorer mental health, as reflected by lower scores on standardized psychological assessments, which highlights the cumulative toll repeated disasters can have on mental well-being.

After Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in 2005, nearly a third of survivors continued to experience poor mental health years later.

And reports following Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017 revealed surging rates of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts, especially in areas where services remained unavailable for extended periods of time.

There are actionable ways to make a difference in the recovery process.

Strained recovery systems

Disaster response understandably focuses on immediate needs like rescue operations, providing post-disaster housing and repairing damaged infrastructure. In addition, short-term mental health supports such as mobile health clinics are often provided in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

However, although emergency services are deployed quickly after a disaster, long-term mental health support is often delayed or under-resourced, leaving many people without continued care during the recovery period, especially in remote or rural communities, exposing deep structural gaps in how recovery systems are designed.

One year after Hurricane Harvey devastated parts of Texas in 2017, more than 90% of Gulf Coast residents reported ongoing stress related to housing instability, financial hardship or displacement. Yet less than 10% of people stated that they or someone in their household had used mental health services following the disaster.

Hurricane Helene in 2024 similarly tested the resilience of rural mental health networks in western North Carolina. The storm damaged roads and bridges, schools and even local clinics.

This prompted a news organization, North Carolina Health News, to warn of rising “trauma, stress and isolation” among residents as providers scrambled to offer free counseling despite legal barriers stemming from licensing requirements to provide counseling across state borders. State health officials activated community crisis centers and helplines, while mobile mental health teams were dispatched from Tennessee to help those impacted by the disaster. However, state representatives stressed that without long-term investment, these critical supports risk being one-off responses.

These events serve as a powerful reminder that while roads and buildings can often be restored quickly, emotional recovery is a slower, more complex process. Truly rebuilding requires treating mental health with the same urgency as physical infrastructure. This requires investing in strong mental health recovery systems, supporting local clinics, sustaining provider networks and integrating emotional care into recovery plans from the start.

In Hunt, Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott speaks to volunteers and community members during a news conference on July 8, 2025.
Brandon Bell via Getty Images News

Finding mental health support following a disaster

Lessons learned from previous disasters and an abundance of research show how sustained mental health supports can help people recover and build resilience.

These six lessons are particularly helpful for finding needed mental health support following a disaster:
- If you’re feeling overwhelmed after a disaster, you’re not alone, and help is available. Free and confidential support is offered through resources like the Disaster Distress Helpline (1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746), which connects you to trained counselors 24/7.
- Many communities offer local mental health crisis lines or walk-in centers that remain active well after the disaster passes. Check your county or state health department’s website for updated listings and information.
- Even if physical offices are closed, many clinics now offer virtual counseling or can connect you with therapists and medication refills remotely. If you’ve seen someone before, ask if they’re still available by phone or video.
- After major disasters, states often deploy mobile health clinics that include mental health services to shelters, churches or schools. These temporary services are free and open to the public.
- If someone you care about is struggling, help them connect with resources in the community. Share hotline numbers, offer to help make an appointment or just let them know it’s OK to ask for support. Many people don’t realize that help is available, or they think it’s only for more “serious” problems. It’s not.
- Mental health support doesn’t always arrive right away. Keep an eye on local news, school updates or health department alerts for new services that may become available in the weeks or months after a disaster.
Disasters don’t just damage buildings; they disrupt lives in lasting ways.

While emotional recovery takes time, support is available. Staying informed and sharing resources with others can help ensure that the road to recovery isn’t traveled alone.

Lee Ann Rawlins Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. When disasters fall out of the public eye, survivors continue to suffer – a rehabilitation professional explains how sustained mental health support is critical to recovery – https://theconversation.com/when-disasters-fall-out-of-the-public-eye-survivors-continue-to-suffer-a-rehabilitation-professional-explains-how-sustained-mental-health-support-is-critical-to-recovery-260781
MIL OSI Analysis –
July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: When disasters fall out of the public eye, survivors continue to suffer – a rehabilitation professional explains how sustained mental health support is critical to recovery
Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Lee Ann Rawlins Williams, Clinical Assistant Professor of Education, Health and Behavior Studies, University of North Dakota

In Kerrville, Texas, Leighton Sterling watches the rushing floodwaters along the Guadalupe River on July 4, 2025. Eric Vryn via Getty Images News

The devastating losses from the historic flooding in Texas Hill Country on July 4, 2025, are still coming into grim focus, with 121 deaths confirmed and more than 100 still missing as of July 10.

As emergency responders focus on clearing debris and searching for victims, a less visible and slower disaster has been unfolding: the need for ongoing mental health support long after headlines fade.

This phase is no less critical than restoring power or rebuilding bridges. Disasters destabilize emotional well-being, leaving distress, prolonged recovery and long-term impacts in their wake long after the event is over.

Without sustained emotional support, people and communities face heightened risks of prolonged trauma and stalled recovery.

As an educator and practitioner focused on disability and rehabilitation, I explore the intersection of disaster recovery and the impact of disasters on mental health. Both my research and that of others underscore the vital importance of support systems that not only help people cope in the immediate aftermath of a disaster but also facilitate long-term healing over the months and years that follow – especially for vulnerable populations like children, older adults and people with disabilities.

The emotional toll of disasters

Natural disasters disrupt routines, displace families and challenge people’s sense of control and security. In the immediate aftermath, survivors often experience shock, grief, anxiety and sleep disturbances. Often these symptoms may evolve into chronic stress, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or a combination of these conditions.

A 2022 study found that Texans who experienced two or more disasters within a five-year span had significantly poorer mental health, as reflected by lower scores on standardized psychological assessments, which highlights the cumulative toll repeated disasters can have on mental well-being.

After Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in 2005, nearly a third of survivors continued to experience poor mental health years later.

And reports following Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017 revealed surging rates of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts, especially in areas where services remained unavailable for extended periods of time.

There are actionable ways to make a difference in the recovery process.

Strained recovery systems

Disaster response understandably focuses on immediate needs like rescue operations, providing post-disaster housing and repairing damaged infrastructure. In addition, short-term mental health supports such as mobile health clinics are often provided in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

However, although emergency services are deployed quickly after a disaster, long-term mental health support is often delayed or under-resourced, leaving many people without continued care during the recovery period, especially in remote or rural communities, exposing deep structural gaps in how recovery systems are designed.

One year after Hurricane Harvey devastated parts of Texas in 2017, more than 90% of Gulf Coast residents reported ongoing stress related to housing instability, financial hardship or displacement. Yet less than 10% of people stated that they or someone in their household had used mental health services following the disaster.

Hurricane Helene in 2024 similarly tested the resilience of rural mental health networks in western North Carolina. The storm damaged roads and bridges, schools and even local clinics.

This prompted a news organization, North Carolina Health News, to warn of rising “trauma, stress and isolation” among residents as providers scrambled to offer free counseling despite legal barriers stemming from licensing requirements to provide counseling across state borders. State health officials activated community crisis centers and helplines, while mobile mental health teams were dispatched from Tennessee to help those impacted by the disaster. However, state representatives stressed that without long-term investment, these critical supports risk being one-off responses.

These events serve as a powerful reminder that while roads and buildings can often be restored quickly, emotional recovery is a slower, more complex process. Truly rebuilding requires treating mental health with the same urgency as physical infrastructure. This requires investing in strong mental health recovery systems, supporting local clinics, sustaining provider networks and integrating emotional care into recovery plans from the start.

In Hunt, Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott speaks to volunteers and community members during a news conference on July 8, 2025.
Brandon Bell via Getty Images News

Finding mental health support following a disaster

Lessons learned from previous disasters and an abundance of research show how sustained mental health supports can help people recover and build resilience.

These six lessons are particularly helpful for finding needed mental health support following a disaster:
- If you’re feeling overwhelmed after a disaster, you’re not alone, and help is available. Free and confidential support is offered through resources like the Disaster Distress Helpline (1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746), which connects you to trained counselors 24/7.
- Many communities offer local mental health crisis lines or walk-in centers that remain active well after the disaster passes. Check your county or state health department’s website for updated listings and information.
- Even if physical offices are closed, many clinics now offer virtual counseling or can connect you with therapists and medication refills remotely. If you’ve seen someone before, ask if they’re still available by phone or video.
- After major disasters, states often deploy mobile health clinics that include mental health services to shelters, churches or schools. These temporary services are free and open to the public.
- If someone you care about is struggling, help them connect with resources in the community. Share hotline numbers, offer to help make an appointment or just let them know it’s OK to ask for support. Many people don’t realize that help is available, or they think it’s only for more “serious” problems. It’s not.
- Mental health support doesn’t always arrive right away. Keep an eye on local news, school updates or health department alerts for new services that may become available in the weeks or months after a disaster.
Disasters don’t just damage buildings; they disrupt lives in lasting ways.

While emotional recovery takes time, support is available. Staying informed and sharing resources with others can help ensure that the road to recovery isn’t traveled alone.

Lee Ann Rawlins Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. When disasters fall out of the public eye, survivors continue to suffer – a rehabilitation professional explains how sustained mental health support is critical to recovery – https://theconversation.com/when-disasters-fall-out-of-the-public-eye-survivors-continue-to-suffer-a-rehabilitation-professional-explains-how-sustained-mental-health-support-is-critical-to-recovery-260781
MIL OSI Analysis –
July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Professional development round for teachers and educators

Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority

The Albanese Government is strengthening the early childhood education sector by upskilling workers through a new round of paid prac subsidy and professional development opportunities.

Applications open today for the next round of the Professional Development Subsidy, Paid Practicum Subsidy and the Practicum Exchange Living Allowance grants.

Professional development not only helps early educators build skills and knowledge but also contributes to safe, high-quality education and care.

The Professional Development Subsidy enables positions to be backfilled while early childhood educators, teachers and centre directors undertake professional development opportunities, or allows staff to be paid for undertaking these opportunities outside of work hours.

Professional development opportunities can include highly recommended training, such as additional child safety and quality training, inclusion training and/or leadership training, and mandatory training such as First Aid and/or CPR training.

The Paid Practicum Subsidy helps early learning providers to give existing educators paid leave while they undertake the practicum placements required to complete their early childhood education and care qualifications.

The Paid Practicum Subsidy is available for educators undertaking a Diploma of Early Childhood Education or relevant Early Childhood Teaching qualifications, including post-graduate Early Childhood Teaching qualifications.

To assist with living and travel costs while educators undertake a practicum placement in a rural or remote area organised via the Practicum Exchange Network, applications will also open for the Practicum Exchange Living Allowance.

The subsidies and Practicum Exchange Living Allowance are part of the Government’s $72.4 million Early Childhood Education Workforce Package, introduced in 2023 to support the training and development of the Early Childhood Education and Care workforce.

Over the past two years, the Government has supported approximately 2,850 student educators through the paid practicum subsidy and more than 86,000 educators have benefited from the professional development subsidy.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth, Senator Dr Jess Walsh:

“I want to ensure that children have a positive, rewarding and safe early education experience so they get the best possible start in life.

“These grants help to build and retain our existing highly skilled early learning workforce.

“Creating a stable workforce also paves the way for our plans to continue expanding access to quality early education, starting with our 3 Day Guarantee that comes in from January next year.”

MIL OSI News –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Telescope in world’s roof starts hunt for Big Bang’s oldest ripples

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

High on a ridge 5,250 meters above sea level in southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region, a new eye onto the infant universe has blinked open.

Scientists at the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced Sunday that their AliCPT-1 telescope has captured its first crisp images of the moon and Jupiter at 150 GHz, a milestone that marks the formal opening of China’s first hunt for primordial gravitational waves.

The ripples — faint whispers from the dawn of time — may hold the key to explaining how the universe began.

Imagine the universe as a newborn; the primordial gravitational waves would be its very first cry. Born from quantum fluctuations in spacetime during the epoch of cosmic inflation, these elusive signals are the most pristine ripples ever etched into the fabric of the cosmos.

Primordial gravitational-wave detection is believed to be a critical test of cosmic origin, probing inflation and quantum gravity.

“If we successfully detect primordial gravitational waves, we will glimpse the universe in its very first instant,” said Zhang Xinmin, a researcher at the IHEP.

“At the same time, it can drive breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies like cryogenic superconducting detectors and low-temperature readout electronics, thus propelling cosmology into an era of unprecedented precision,” Zhang added.

Led by the IHEP, the telescope was built in eight years by a 16-member global consortium including China’s National Astronomical Observatories and Stanford University.

Placed on the roof of the world, the telescope is designed to escape atmospheric water vapor that would drown the whisper of primordial gravitational waves.

Only four sites on Earth are known to be viable for such observations: Antarctica, Chile’s Atacama Desert, the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Greenland, said Liu Congzhan, a project manager of the telescope experiment.

The moon and Jupiter experiment is just the beginning, said Li Hong, also a researcher at IHEP. “As the Northern Hemisphere’s first high-altitude primordial gravitational-wave observatory, the telescope fills a gap for China and, together with devices in Antarctica and Chile, completes a global, complementary network.”

MIL OSI China News –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Tackling a $1.2 billion problem for Australian farmers using dirt-cheap crushed volcanic rock

Source:

14 July 2025

UniSA researcher Dr Binoy Sarkar and a student spreading basalt onto crops.

Cheap volcanic rock that languishes in open cut mines and quarries could transform Australia’s farming sector as a natural fertiliser, boosting crop yields and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

It turns out that crushed basalt – a common rock used to make roads, houses, schools and hospitals – may address two very critical issues of our time: climate change and acidic soils.

University of South Australia (UniSA) environmental researcher Dr Binoy Sarkar is leading an Enhanced Rock Weathering trial that involves applying crushed basalt to agricultural soils, measuring its nutrient release and carbon capture.

Dr Sarkar, from UniSA’s Future Industries Institute, is collaborating with James Cook University, the Tropical North Queensland Drought Hub, and industry partner Carbonaught Pty Ltd on two projects, funded by the Federal Government and Cascade Climate.

“Australian farmers spend nearly $1.2 billion a year to tackle soil acidification, using expensive liming materials that in themselves contribute to greenhouse gas emissions,” Dr Sarkar says.

“Large volumes of adequately fine rock particles – a byproduct of the mining and construction industry – can be bought for as little as $30 per ton and applied to soils using existing farm equipment, with negligible expense.

“Basalt does not completely replace chemical fertilisers, but it can cut fertiliser amounts needed to grow crops, saving farmers a lot of money and substantially improving their profit margins.”

A truck spreading basalt – crushed rock from quarries – onto crops.

Farming with basalt solves two critical challenges facing Australian agriculture: improving infertile soils and simultaneously removing greenhouse gas emissions from farming practices that include nitrogen fertilisers, deforestation and land clearing.

“As a country, we have committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Almost 18% of our emissions are produced by the agricultural sector, primarily from crop production and emissions from livestock,” Dr Sarkar says.

“Lime is commonly used for correcting soil acidity, but it is expensive and contributes heavily to on-farm carbon dioxide emissions. Basalt naturally reduces acidity, captures carbon, and it also releases nutrients such as phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and silicon into the soil.”

Dr Sarkar says the research will not only benefit Australia’s agricultural sector, but also the mining sector, where basalt is a byproduct that has to be dug and moved aside before reaching valuable minerals located at depth.

This byproduct is already crushed to make road building and construction materials, but finer fractions are stockpiled, often taking up large amounts of space with negligible commercial use.

Society at large is also a winner, thanks to basalt scrubbing gigatons of carbon dioxide from the air.

Dr Sarkar’s collaborative team is the first in Australia to receive significant R&D federal funding ($5 million) to trial the low-cost carbon cutting technology nationally.

“I hope we can see a lot more trials in the next few years, to build confidence and propel a large-scale adoption of this rock weathering technology.

“It will also provide opportunities for farmers and quarry owners to sell carbon credits and earn additional profits. Our farmers will be able to take advantage of this huge market when we have a strong monitoring, reporting and verification program for the technology.”

A video accompanying this media release is available at: https://youtu.be/rivrFCol0g0

Contact for interview: Dr Binoy Sarkar M: +61 433 801 054 E: binoy.sarkar@unisa.edu.au

Media contact: Megan Andrews M: +61 434 819 275 E: megan.andrews@unisa.edu.au

Other articles you may be interested in

MIL OSI News –

July 14, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Music is at the forefront of AI disruption, but NZ artists still have few protections

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dave Carter, Associate Professor, School of Music and Screen Arts, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University

Getty Images

Was the recent Velvet Sundown phenomenon a great music and media hoax, a sign of things to come, or just another example of what’s already happening ?

In case you missed it, the breakout act was streamed hundreds of thousands of times before claims emerged the band and their music were products of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).

Despite the “band” insisting they were real, an “associate” later admitted it was indeed an “art hoax” marketing stunt. Much of the subsequent commentary was concerned with fairness – particularly that a “fake” band was succeeding at the expense of “real” artists.

But Velvet Sundown is only the most recent example in a long history of computer generated and assisted music creation – going back to the 1950s when a chemistry professor named Lejaren Hiller debuted a musical composition written by a computer.

By the 1980s, David Cope’s Experiments in Musical Intelligence created music so close to the style of Chopin and Bach it fooled classically trained musicians.

Artist and composer Holly Herndon was highlighting a need for the ethical use and licensing of voice models and deepfakes several years before Grimes invited others to use AI-generated versions of her voice to make new music, and “Deepfake Drake” alarmed the major record labels.

At the same time, music companies, including Warner, Capitol and rapper-producer Timbaland, have since inked record contracts for AI-generated work.

GenAI-powered tools, such as those offered by Izotope, LANDR and Apple, have become commonplace in mixing and mastering since the late 2000s. Machine learning technology also underpins streaming recommendations.

Creativity and copyright

Despite this relatively long history of technology’s impact on music, it still tends to be framed as a future challenge. The New Zealand government’s Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, released this month, suggests we’re at a “pivotal moment” as the AI-powered future approaches.

In June, a draft insight briefing from Manata Taonga/Ministry for Culture & Heritage explored “how digital technologies may transform the ways New Zealanders create, share and protect stories in 2040 and beyond”.

It joins other recent publications by the Australasian Performing Rights Association and New Zealand’s Artificial Intelligence Researchers Association, which grapple with the future impacts of AI technologies.

One of the main issues is the use of copyright material to train AI systems. Last year, two AI startups, including the one used by Velvet Sundown, were sued by Sony, Universal and Warner for using unlicensed recordings as part of their training data.

It’s possible the models have been trained on recordings by local musicians without their permission, too. But without any requirement for tech firms to disclose their training data it can’t be confirmed.

Even if we did know, the copyright implications for works created by AI in Aotearoa New Zealand aren’t clear. And it’s not possible for musicians to opt out in any meaningful way.

This goes against the data governance model designed by Te Mana Raraunga/Māori Sovereignty Network. Māori writer members of music rights administrator APRA AMCOS have also raised concerns about potential cultural appropriation and misuse due to GenAI.

Recent research suggesting GenAI work displaces human output in creative industries is particularly worrying for local musicians who already struggle for visibility. But it’s not an isolated phenomenon.

In Australia, GenAI has reportedly been used to impersonate successful, emerging and dead artists. And French streaming service Deezer claims up to 20,000 tracks created by GenAI were being uploaded to its service daily.

Regulation in the real world

There has been increased scrutiny of streaming fraud, including a world-first criminal case brought last year against a musician who used bots to generate millions of streams for tracks created with GenAI.

But on social media, musicians now compete for attention with a flood of “AI slop”, with no real prospect of platforms doing anything about it.

More troublingly, New Zealand law has been described as “woefully inadequate” at combating deepfakes and non-consensual intimate imagery that can damage artists’ brands and livelihoods.

The government’s AI strategy prioritises adoption, innovation and a light-touch approach over these creative and cultural implications. But there is growing consensus internationally that regulatory intervention is warranted.

The European Union has enacted legislation requiring AI services to be transparent about what they have trained their models on, an important first step towards an AI licensing regime for recorded and musical works.

An Australian senate committee has recommended whole-of-economy AI guardrails, including transparency requirements in line with the EU. Denmark has gone even further, with plans to give every citizen copyright of their own facial features, voice and body, including specific protections for performing artists.

It’s nearly ten years since the music business was described as the “canary in a coalmine” for other industries and a bellwether of broader cultural and economic shifts. How we address the current challenges presented by AI in music will have far-reaching implications.

Dave Carter is a writer member of APRA AMCOS. He has received funding and contributed to projects funded by Manatū Taongao Ministry for Culture and Heritage, NZ on Air and APRA AMCOS.

Jesse Austin-Stewart has completed commissioned research for NZ On Air and participated in focus groups for Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage. He has received competitive funding from Creative New Zealand, NZ On Air, Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture & Hertiage, and the NZ Music Commission. He is a writer member of APRA AMCOS and a member of the Composer’s Association of New Zealand and Recorded Music NZ

Oli Wilson has previously completed research in partnership with or commissioned by APRA AMCOS, Toi Mai Workforce Development Council, Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture & Heritage and the NZ Music Commission. He has also received funding, or contributed to projects that have benefited from funding from NZ on Air, the NZ Music Commission and Recorded Music New Zealand. He has provided services to The Chills, owns shares in TripTunz Limited, and is a writer member of APRA AMCOS.

– ref. Music is at the forefront of AI disruption, but NZ artists still have few protections – https://theconversation.com/music-is-at-the-forefront-of-ai-disruption-but-nz-artists-still-have-few-protections-260299

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Weekly injection could be life changing for Parkinson’s patients
Source:
14 July 2025

UniSA PhD candidate Deepa Nakmode and Professor Sanjay Garg in the lab.

A new weekly injectable drug could transform the lives of more than eight million people living with Parkinson’s disease, potentially replacing the need for multiple daily tablets.

Scientists from the University of South Australia (UniSA) have developed a long-acting injectable formulation that delivers a steady dose of levodopa and carbidopa – two key medications for Parkinson’s – over an entire week.

Their findings have been reported in the journal Drug Delivery and Translational Research.

The biodegradable formulation is injected under the skin or into muscle tissue, where it gradually releases the medication over seven days.

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurological disorder, affecting more than 8.5 million people worldwide. Currently there is no cure and the symptoms – tremors, rigidity and slow movement – are managed with oral medications that must be taken several times a day.

The frequent dosing is a burden, especially for elderly patients or those with swallowing difficulties, leading to inconsistent medication levels, more side effects, and reduced effectiveness.

Lead researcher Professor Sanjay Garg, from UniSA’s Centre for Pharmaceutical Innovation, says the newly developed injectable could significantly improve treatment outcomes and patient adherence.

“Our goal was to create a formulation that simplifies treatment, improves patient compliance, and maintains consistent therapeutic levels of medication. This weekly injection could be a game-changer for Parkinson’s care,” Prof Garg says.

“Levodopa is the gold-standard therapy for Parkinson’s, but its short life span means it must be taken several times a day.”

UniSA PhD student Deepa Nakmode says the in-situ implant is designed to release both levodopa and carbidopa steadily over one week, maintaining consistent plasma levels and reducing the risks associated with fluctuating drug concentrations.

“After years of focused research, it’s incredibly rewarding to see our innovation in long-acting injectables for Parkinson’s disease reach this stage. Our invention has now been filed for an Australian patent,” Nakmode says.

The injectable gel combines an FDA-approved biodegradable polymer PLGA with Eudragit L-100, a pH-sensitive polymer, to achieve a controlled and sustained drug release.

Extensive lab tests confirmed the system’s effectiveness and safety:
- More than 90% of the levodopa dose and more than 81% of the carbidopa dose was released over seven days.
- The implant degraded by over 80% within a week and showed no significant toxicity in cell viability tests.
- The formulation can be easily administered through a fine 22-gauge needle, minimising discomfort and eliminating the need for surgical implant.
“The implications of this research are profound,” Prof Garg says. “By reducing the frequency of dosing from multiple times a day to a weekly injection is a major step forward in Parkinson’s therapy. We’re not just improving how the drug is delivered; we’re improving patients’ lives.”

Prof Garg says the technology could also be adapted for other chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, pain management, and chronic infections that require long-term drug delivery.in

The system can be tuned to release drugs over a period ranging from a few days to several weeks depending on therapeutic needs.

UniSA scientists hope to start clinical trials in the near future and are exploring commercialisation opportunities.

The study, titled “Development of an in-situ forming implant system for levodopa and carbidopa for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease,” is authored by Professor Sanjay Garg, Deepa Nakmode, Dr Sadik Abdella and Dr Yunmei Song. DOI: 10.1007/s13346-025-01892-y

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Contact for interview: Professor Sanjay Garg E: sanjay.garg@unisa.edu.au

Media contact: Candy Gibson M: +61 434 605 142 E: candy.gibson@unisa.edu.au
Other articles you may be interested in

MIL OSI News –
July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI: BAY Miner Unveils Cutting-Edge Cloud Mining Platform for BTC, ETH, DOGE and More
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

San Francisco, California, July 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The global crypto market is evolving rapidly. Investors everywhere are chasing smarter, greener, and more stable ways to grow their portfolios. BAY Miner steps forward with a major breakthrough, unveiling a next-generation cloud mining platform designed for today’s realities. Whether you’re looking to mine Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC), or Solana (SOL), BAY Miner makes it easier, safer, and more profitable.

This is not just another cloud mining project. BAY Miner blends advanced technology, eco-friendly operations, and multi-asset flexibility to give investors an edge. As the crypto space grows more competitive, choosing the right mining partner matters more than ever.

What Makes BAY Miner Stand Out in the Crypto Market?

Many platforms promise fast returns. Few can back it up with real innovation and trust. BAY Miner sets itself apart by focusing on four crucial pillars:
- Multi-Asset Mining Capabilities: Mine BTC, ETH, DOGE, XRP, LTC, and SOL all under one roof. Shift strategies anytime to adapt to market swings.
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- Green Energy Commitment: BAY Miner uses renewable energy across its facilities, lowering costs and protecting the planet.
- Full Transparency: Access live dashboards that show your earnings and mining stats. No shady math. No hidden deductions.
On top of this, BAY Miner is fully mobile-optimized. Manage your entire mining portfolio straight from your phone. This is a huge advantage for investors in emerging markets who rely on mobile over desktop.

Taking Advantage of BTC Halving and Rising Energy Prices

The latest Bitcoin halving event sliced mining rewards in half. That means only the most efficient miners stay profitable. BAY Miner’s tech-driven operations use AI to adapt instantly to changing difficulty levels, ensuring your investment stays on track.

Meanwhile, global energy costs continue to climb. BAY Miner’s reliance on renewable sources shields investors from these spikes. It’s a win for your wallet and for long-term sustainability.

Why Registering with BAY Miner is the Smart Move

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The BAY Miner platform interface is intuitive. Register to get a $15 welcome bonus and a complete visual mining monitoring experience. Whether you are a crypto novice or a senior investor, you can easily follow the daily mining dynamics.

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BAY Miner Builds Trust Through Community and Education

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Press Contact:
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Email: info@bayminer.com

Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release does not constitute an investment solicitation, nor does it constitute investment advice, financial advice, or trading recommendations. Cryptocurrency mining and staking involve risks. There is a possibility of financial loss. You are advised to perform due diligence before investing or trading in cryptocurrencies and securities, including consulting a professional financial advisor.

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The MIL Network –
July 14, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Can’t work out without music? Neither could the ancient Greeks and Romans

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History, The University of Western Australia

Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

These days when you see people exercising, they’re usually also listening to music, whether they’re at the gym, or out jogging on the street.

It makes sense, as studies have shown listening to music can help you get the most out of a workout.

Somehow the ancient Greeks and Romans knew this too, long before modern science was there to back it.

A more than 2,000-year-old habit

In his oration To the People of Alexandria, the Greek writer Dio Chrysostom (40-110 CE) complained about a phenomenon he saw all the time.

Dio wrote people loved to listen to music in their daily activities. According to him, music could be found in the courtroom, in the lecture theatre, in the doctor’s room, and even in the gym.

“Everything is done to music […] people will presently go so far as to use song to accompany their exercise in the gymnasium,” Dio wrote.

But exercising to music wasn’t a new thing in his day. This practice has been recorded across the ancient Greek and Roman worlds from the earliest times, and as far back as the poems of Homer (circa 800 BCE).

Why exercise to music?

There are many depictions of professional athletes training, or competing, to the accompaniment of music in ancient Greek vase paintings.

In one vase painting from the 5th century BCE, a group of athletes trains while a musician plays the aulos, a type of ancient pipe instrument.

Young men exercising to the sound of an aulos player (an ancient wind instrument).
Wikimedia

The ancient writer Plutarch of Chaeronea (46-119 CE) tells us music was also played while people wrestled or did athletics.

Athenian writer Flavius Philostratus (circa 170-245 CE) offers clues as to why. In a book about gymnastics, Philostratus wrote music served to stimulate athletes, and that their performance might be improved through listening to music.

Today’s researchers have proven this to be true. One 2020 study involving 3,599 participants showed listening to music during exercise had many benefits, such as reducing the perception of fatigue and exertion, and improving physical performance and breathing.

Singing and trumpets

Since ancient people didn’t have electronic devices, they found other ways to exercise to music. Some had music played by a musician during their exercise routine. Others sang while they exercised.

Singing while playing ball games was particularly popular. In Homer’s Odyssey (circa 8th century BCE), Nausicaa, the daughter of the King of Phaeacia, plays a ball game with her girl friends, and they all sing songs as they play.

Similarly, the historian Carystius of Pergamum (2nd century BCE) wrote the women of his time “sang as they played ball”.

Another popular activity was dancing to music. Dancing was widely regarded as a gymnastic exercise people could do for better health.

One famous advocate of the benefits of dancing as exercise was the great Athenian philosopher Socrates (circa 470-399 BCE). According to the historian Diogenes Laertius (3rd century CE), “it was Socrates’ regular habit to dance, thinking that such exercise helped to keep the body in good condition”.

Exercising to music was depicted in several ancient Greek vase painting.
Wikimedia, CC BY-NC-SA

Apart from individuals using music in their personal exercise, soldiers also did training exercises, and marched to battle, to the sound of trumpets.

Don’t skip leg day

There was a belief in ancient Greek and Roman that music and exercise played an important role in shaping and developing the body and soul.

The ideal was harmony and moderation. The body and soul needed to be balanced and proportionate in all their parts, without any excess. As such, doing one kind of exercise too often, or exercising one body part excessively, was frowned upon.

The physician Galen of Pergamum (129-216 CE) criticised types of exercise that focused too much on one part of the body. He preferred ball games as they exercised the whole body evenly.

Immoderation in music – that is, listening to too much, or listening to music that was too emotional – was also sometimes frowned upon.

For example, the Athenian philosopher Plato (circa 428-348 BCE) famously argued most music should be censored as it can stir the passions too strongly. Plato thought only simple and unemotional music, listened to in moderation, should be allowed.

If the ancients could see today’s people running along the pavement with music thumping in their ears, they would surely be amazed. And they’d probably approve – as long as it wasn’t being done in excess.

Konstantine Panegyres 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. Can’t work out without music? Neither could the ancient Greeks and Romans – https://theconversation.com/cant-work-out-without-music-neither-could-the-ancient-greeks-and-romans-258069

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

July 14, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Soaring house prices may be locking people into marriages, new research shows

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Whelan, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Sydney

GAS-photo/Shutterstock

House prices continued to rise across Australia in June, recent data shows. Nationally, prices have risen about 38% in the past five years.

Higher housing prices are simply one contributor, albeit a very important one, to the cost of living crisis that Australian households face. Energy prices are another.

Those higher costs of living and the financial stress associated with them are linked to a range of negative outcomes for households, including poor health and wellbeing, greater housing insecurity, and some families having to go without some essential items.

One consequence of house prices that has largely been ignored is their relationship to marriage and divorce.

Divorce rates are at historic lows

The rate of divorce in Australia is at the lowest level since the introduction of no-fault divorce in 1976.

The 1990s recession was also a period of significant financial hardship for households, and divorces rose over that time. Why isn’t this happening now?

Couples may prefer to divorce but can’t for financial reasons.

Why? Put simply, divorce is a decision that brings with it significant costs. The financial implications of divorce could mean couples stay together longer than they’d like to.

Why do people choose to marry or separate?

To understand patterns of divorce, a good place to start is to think about why couples choose to marry, or separate, in the first place.

Economists argue that individuals marry if the expected benefits from marriage exceed the benefits from remaining single.

As new information arises or unexpected outcomes occur, individuals may reassess their beliefs about the expected benefits from being married versus being single.

In turn, we might expect that separation occurs if either partner believes they will be better off outside the marriage than within it, taking into account all costs and constraints.

How housing prices can affect the likelihood of divorce

Research shows that housing prices are closely linked to a range of household behaviours and outcomes, including consumer spending, labour supply and fertility intentions.

Rising housing prices might encourage couples to remain married (or not separate) due to the higher housing costs they would face if they separated.

It is generally cheaper to run a single household where many resources are shared rather than two separate households. This may be thought of as a cost that accompanies higher house prices.

The high cost of housing can affect couples’ decisions to separate.
Elias Bitar/Shutterstock

Of course, higher house prices also offer some benefit in the event of separation. For homeowners, the asset held by the couple is more valuable and the wealth each partner may be entitled to is greater. This benefit from separation might encourage couples to separate and divorce.

Our research, presented at the Australian Conference of Economists last week and not yet peer reviewed, addresses this issue. We looked at whether unanticipated changes in the growth of housing prices are related to the likelihood of divorce.

It is important to focus on unanticipated changes in housing prices. Unanticipated changes, or “shocks”, will lead individuals to reassess their decision to stay married, or separate and divorce.

Which factors explain divorce in Australia?

Our research sought to understand the key factors associated with divorce in Australia using the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey.

Not unexpectedly we found couples who share similar traits such as the same religion, education level or place of birth are more likely to remain married. A longer time being married is also linked to couples being less likely to separate. In contrast, partners whose parents had divorced are more likely to separate.

Importantly, the inclusion of housing price shocks into our analysis indicates they have a significant effect on the likelihood of divorce. But the effect differs depending on whether the housing price shock is positive or negative.

For homeowners, lower-than-anticipated housing price growth significantly increases the likelihood of separation. In this case the cost of lower house prices is more important than the benefit of lower house prices. When house prices don’t grow as quickly as anticipated, couples can separate knowing they will not face as large a penalty running separate households.

So what lesson may be drawn from this research and why is a link between housing prices and divorce important?

Our findings indicate higher-than-expected house price growth may be keeping some people in marriages they’d otherwise leave, but don’t, for financial concerns. This is more likely to include women with low education levels, low-income households and older couples.

In some instances, this will have negative consequences. Often those harmful consequences are disproportionately experienced by women and policy settings have a role to play in reducing those effects.

One only needs to look at initiatives such as the Leaving Violence Program. By providing financial support to assist people leaving potentially dangerous relationships, it will alleviate barriers associated with high housing costs that come after separation.

Stephen Whelan receives funding from the Australian Research Council as part of DP230101054. Funding is also received from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute for project 24/PRO/73346.

Luke Hartigan receives funding from the Australian Research Council as part of DP230100959.

– ref. Soaring house prices may be locking people into marriages, new research shows – https://theconversation.com/soaring-house-prices-may-be-locking-people-into-marriages-new-research-shows-260086

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

July 14, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Even a day off alcohol makes a difference – our timeline maps the health benefits when you stop drinking
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Lee, Adjunct Professor at the National Drug Research Institute (Melbourne based), Curtin University

d3sign/Getty

Alcohol has many negative effects on our health, some of which may surprise you. These include short-term impacts such as waking up with a pounding head or anxiety, to long-term effects including cancer.

If you are thinking about taking some time off alcohol, you’ll find many quick wins and long-term gains for your health.

How long will you have to wait to feel the benefits?

We’ve made a timeline – based on scientific research – that shows what you might feel in the first days, weeks, months and years after taking a break from alcohol.

Some benefits start immediately, so every day without alcohol is a win for your health.

After one day

Alcohol takes around 24 hours to completely leave your body, so you may start noticing improvements after just one day.

Alcohol makes you need to urinate more often, causing dehydration. But your body can absorb a glass of water almost immediately, so once alcohol is out of your system alcohol dehydration is reduced, improving digestion, brain function and energy levels.

Alcohol also reduces the liver’s ability to regulate blood sugar. Once alcohol leaves the system, blood sugar begins to normalise.

If you are a daily drinker you may feel a bit worse to start with while your body adjusts to not having alcohol in its system all the time. You may initially notice disrupted sleep, mood changes, sweating or tremors. Most symptoms usually resolve in about a week without alcohol.

After one week

Even though alcohol can make you feel sleepy at first, it disrupts your sleep cycle. By the end of an alcohol-free week, you may notice you are more energetic in the mornings as a result of getting better quality sleep.

As the body’s filter, the liver does much of the heavy lifting in processing alcohol and can be easily damaged even with moderate drinking.

The liver is important for cleaning blood, processing nutrients and producing bile that helps with digestion.

But it can also regenerate quickly. If you have only mild damage in the liver, seven days may be enough to reduce liver fat and heal mild scarring and tissue damage.

Even small amounts of alcohol can impair brain functioning. So quitting can help improve brain health within a few days in light to moderate drinkers and within a month even for very heavy dependent drinkers.

Alcohol damages your liver, but it’s very good at regenerating and healing itself.
skynesher/Getty

After one month

Alcohol can make managing mood harder and worsen symptoms of anxiety and depression. After a few weeks, most people start to feel better. Even very heavy drinkers report better mood after one to two months.

As your sleep and mood improve you may also notice more energy and greater wellbeing.

After a month of abstinence regular drinkers also report feeling more confident about making changes to how they drink.

You may lose weight and body fat. Alcohol contains a lot of kilojules and can trigger hunger reward systems, making us overeat or choose less healthy foods when drinking.

Even your skin will thank you. Alcohol can make you look older through dehydration and inflammation, which can be reversed when you quit.

Alcohol irritates the gut and disrupts normal stomach functioning, causing bloating, indigestion, heartburn and diarrhoea. These symptoms usually start to resolve within four weeks.

One month of abstinence, insulin resistance – which can lead to high blood sugar – significantly reduces by 25%. Blood pressure also reduces (by 6%) and cancer-related growth factors declines, lowering your risk of cancer.

After six months

The liver starts to repair within weeks. For moderate drinkers, damage to your liver could be fully reversed by six months.

At this point, even heavy drinkers may notice they’re better at fighting infections and feel healthier overall.

Just a month without alcohol can you make more confident about sticking to changes.
Yue_/Getty

After one year or more

Alcohol contributes to or causes a large number of chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and seven different types of cancer, as well as mental health issues. All of these risks can be reduced by quitting or cutting back on alcohol.

Alcohol increases blood pressure. High blood pressure (hypertension) is the top risk factor for death in the world. A small 2mmHg increase in blood pressure above the normal range (120mmHG) increases death from stroke by 10% and from coronary artery disease by 7%.

Cutting back on alcohol to less than two drinks a day can reduce blood pressure significantly, reducing risk of stroke and heart disease. Reducing blood pressure also reduces risk of kidney disease, eye problems and even erectile dysfunction.

With sustained abstinence, your risk of getting any type of cancer drops. One study looked at cancer risk for more than 4 million adults over three to seven years and found the risk of alcohol-related cancer dropped by 4%, even for light drinkers who quit. Reducing from heavy to moderate drinking reduced alcohol-related cancer risk by 9%.

Making a change

Any reduction in drinking will have some noticeable and immediate benefits to your brain and general health. The less you drink and the longer you go between drinks, the healthier you will be.

Whether you aim to cut back or quit entirely, there are some simple things you can do to help you stick with it:
- set clear goals plus the smaller steps you need to take to get there
- pay attention to the benefits you notice from quitting
- monitor your progress with a Drink Tracker
- get support from others, for example Hello Sunday Morning’s anonymous Daybreak app, SMART Recovery, CounsellingOnline or Sober in the Country.
If you are still wondering about whether to make changes or not you can check your drinking risk here.

If you have tried to cut back and found it difficult you may need professional help. Call the National Alcohol and other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015 and they will put you in touch with services in your area that can help. You can also talk to your GP.

We would like to thank Dr Hannah MacRae for assistance in identifying the research used in this article.

Nicole Lee works as a paid evaluation and training consultant in alcohol and other drugs. She has previously been awarded grants by state and federal governments, NHMRC and other public funding bodies for alcohol and other drug research. She is CEO of Hello Sunday Morning.

Dr Katinka van de Ven is the Research Manager of Hello Sunday Morning. She also works as a paid evaluation and training consultant in alcohol and other drugs. Katinka has previously been awarded grants by state governments and public funding bodies for alcohol and other drug research.

– ref. Even a day off alcohol makes a difference – our timeline maps the health benefits when you stop drinking – https://theconversation.com/even-a-day-off-alcohol-makes-a-difference-our-timeline-maps-the-health-benefits-when-you-stop-drinking-249272
MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –
July 14, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: ‘You become a target’: research shows why many people who experience racism don’t report it

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mario Peucker, Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow, Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities, Victoria University

The way racism manifests itself may have changed over time, but it remains a persistent problem in Australia.

The 2024 Reconciliation Barometer found a significant increase in racism against First Nations people. Antisemitism and Islamophobia have also been on the rise.

Many other migrant communities and their Australian-born descendants continue to face racial discrimination, abuse and systemic marginalisation.

And yet the true picture of racism in Australia is hard to determine, as a lot of racism goes unreported. Our soon to be published research reveals people often don’t know how to come forward, are scared of negative consequences, or simply don’t think anything would change if they did report it.

Unheard voices

The silencing of those who have experienced racism manifests in various ways, including the sceptical, at times hostile public reactions to those who speak out publicly.

But our research, funded by VicHealth and accepted for publication by the journal Ethnic and Racial Studies, analysed how inadequate formal reporting pathways can mean people don’t come forward about their experiences.

We conducted a survey of more than 700 people, then focus groups with almost 160 people. In total, we examined the experiences of 859 Victorian adults from culturally or racially marginalised communities.

The vast majority of them – 76% of the survey respondents – had experienced racism in Australia, across many areas of life. These experiences happened at work, in shopping centres, on public transport and on the streets. Some also encountered racism in schools, healthcare, housing, online or when dealing with police.

But crucially, only 15.5% of them had ever reported any such incident to an organisation.

Unsurprisingly, one of the reasons why people do not report is that many are not aware of existing reporting options, for example through the federal or states’ human rights commissions.

For 75.2% of survey respondents, not knowing where and how to report was a key barrier. The only place most people knew about was the police, which was often not seen as appropriate unless the incident involved physical violence.

Moreover, trust in an effective response by police was generally low. A Muslim woman in one of the focus groups said:

the biggest reason [for not reporting] is probably not knowing. The obvious is the police station, but then, well, many of us already feel that police won’t do much. But what else is out there?

High cost, low reward

An even bigger obstacle is that reporting racism was commonly considered high-cost, but low-reward. Most participants (83.2%) were deterred by the conviction that the process was taking too much time and effort.

As one Asian-Australian participant stated:

I imagine the reporting to be a long process. Do I want to go through the process, especially as a migrant. You ask yourself: is it life and death? If not, let me just get on with my day.

Many highlighted concerns they would not be taken seriously (75.9%) or that reporting would have negative consequences for them or their children (72.8%). They were also concerned about how reporting could negatively affect their career, treatment at school or even their legal resident status.

An African-Australian man said:

You know you’re gonna be a double victim. Let’s say at your workplace, if you report racism, straight away […] you become a target.

No accountability

These factors shape the discouraging perspective that reporting is a high-cost action.

But what makes it even worse is the very common conviction, expressed by 90.6% of survey respondents, that “nothing would change” even if they were to report, and that there was no accountability for racist behaviour.

A Somali-born mother, whose daughter was called a racist slur by her teacher, complained to the school principal, but “he didn’t do anything”. She said her kids and their friends “all agreed that no one would do anything about this”. She said:

They have this belief that if they make a complaint, it will not go anywhere. They all said the same thing: If you go somewhere, no one will care.

Another survey participant said reporting racism would have to be worth the effort:

We need to know that the mental and emotional sacrifice of reporting will be worth it, that it will result in an outcome. Why would I report racism if nothing will be done?

‘Don’t rock the boat’

In addition, there are other psychological factors at play.

Of those surveyed, 70.1% explained they refrain from reporting because they don’t want to “cause trouble”. In the focus groups, participants often spoke about not wanting to “rock the boat” or refraining from “talking bad, talking about racism because they might hate us”.

Similarly, others are so determined to “blend in” they feel they have to accept racism. A Chinese-Australian participant explained her community wouldn’t complain because:

we want to, and try to, fit in. And we have come to accept a little bit of tough treatment.

Even protecting the perpetrators of racism from harm was described by some as a reason for not reporting:

I thought by reporting I would hurt her [the perpetrator], and in our culture, we should not be hurting another person.

What can be done?

Our research shows racism often goes undetected and unreported due to systemic and cultural barriers. As a result, injustice remains unchallenged and normalised.

But communities are finding alternative ways of speaking out against racism, often outside formal reporting channels.

Following our research, for example, three local community-led anti-racism support networks have been set up in parts of Victoria to complement the existing support and reporting system.

These networks provide trusted and culturally safe spaces and support to those who face racism. They have started to systematically document racism, working towards local evidence that can be used to raise awareness and inform targeted anti-racism actions in the future.

Networks like these could be introduced around the country to give people more options to come forward.

We won’t be able to properly address racism while those experiencing it think they won’t be listened to. We all need to ensure racist incidents are taken seriously, responded to promptly and that people are heard.

Mario Peucker receives funding from the Victorian Government and VicHealth.

Franka Vaughan receives funding from VicHealth

Jo Doley received funding from VicHealth.

Tom Clark receives funding from VicHealth.

– ref. ‘You become a target’: research shows why many people who experience racism don’t report it – https://theconversation.com/you-become-a-target-research-shows-why-many-people-who-experience-racism-dont-report-it-260092

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

July 14, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Cycling can be 4 times more efficient than walking. A biomechanics expert explains why

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Blazevich, Professor of Biomechanics, Edith Cowan University

You’re standing at your front door, facing a five kilometre commute to work. But you don’t have your car, and there’s no bus route. You can walk for an hour – or jump on your bicycle and arrive in 15 minutes, barely breaking a sweat. You choose the latter.

Many people would make the same choice. It’s estimated that there are more than a billion bikes in the world. Cycling represents one of the most energy-efficient forms of transport ever invented, allowing humans to travel faster and farther while using less energy than walking or running.

But why exactly does pedalling feel so much easier than pounding the pavement? The answer lies in the elegant biomechanics of how our bodies interact with this two-wheeled machine.

A wonderfully simple machine

At its heart, a bicycle is wonderfully simple: two wheels (hence “bi-cycle”), pedals that transfer power through a chain to the rear wheel, and gears that let us fine-tune our effort. But this simplicity masks an engineering that perfectly complements human physiology.

When we walk or run, we essentially fall forward in a controlled manner, catching ourselves with each step. Our legs must swing through large arcs, lifting our heavy limbs against gravity with every stride. This swinging motion alone consumes a lot of energy. Imagine: how tiring would it be to even swing your arms continuously for an hour?

On a bicycle, your legs move through a much smaller, circular motion. Instead of swinging your entire leg weight with each step, you’re simply rotating your thighs and calves through a compact pedalling cycle. The energy savings are immediately noticeable.

But the real efficiency gains come from how bicycles transfer human power to forward motion. When you walk or run, each footstep involves a mini-collision with the ground. You can hear it as the slap of your shoe against the road, and you can feel it as vibrations running through your body. This is energy being lost, literally dissipated as sound and heat after being sent through your muscles and joints.

Walking and running also involve another source of inefficiency: with each step, you actually brake yourself slightly before propelling forward. As your foot lands ahead of your body, it creates a backwards force that momentarily slows you down. Your muscles then have to work extra hard to overcome this self-imposed braking and accelerate you forward again.

Kissing the road

Bicycles use one of the world’s great inventions to solve these problems – wheels.

Instead of a collision, you get rolling contact – each part of the tyre gently “kisses” the road surface before lifting off. No energy is lost to impact. And because the wheel rotates smoothly so the force acts perfectly vertically on the ground, there’s no stop-start braking action. The force from your pedalling translates directly into forward motion.

But bicycles also help our muscles to work at their best. Human muscles have a fundamental limitation: the faster they contract, the weaker they become and the more energy they consume.

This is the famous force-velocity relationship of muscles. And it’s why sprinting feels so much harder than jogging or walking – your muscles are working near their speed limit, becoming less efficient with every stride.

Bicycle gears solve this problem for us. As you go faster, you can shift to a higher gear so your muscles don’t have to work faster while the bike accelerates. Your muscles can stay in their sweet spot for both force production and energy cost. It’s like having a personal assistant that continuously adjusts your workload to keep you in the peak performance zone.

Cycling can be at least four times more energy-efficient than walking and eight times more efficient than running.
The Conversation, CC BY

Walking sometimes wins out

But bicycles aren’t always superior.

On very steep hills of more than about 15% gradient (so you rise 1.5 metres every 10 metres of distance), your legs struggle to generate enough force through the circular pedalling motion to lift you and the bike up the hill. We can produce more force by pushing our legs straight out, so walking (or climbing) becomes more effective.

Even if roads were built, we wouldn’t pedal up Mount Everest.

This isn’t the case for downhills. While cycling downhill becomes progressively easier (eventually requiring no energy at all), walking down steep slopes actually becomes harder.

Once the gradient exceeds about 10% (it drops by one metre for every ten metres of distance), each downhill step creates jarring impacts that waste energy and stress your joints. Walking and running downhill isn’t always as easy as we’d expect.

Not just a transportation device

The numbers speak for themselves. Cycling can be at least four times more energy-efficient than walking and eight times more efficient than running. This efficiency comes from minimising three major energy drains: limb movement, ground impact and muscle speed limitations.

So next time you effortlessly cruise past pedestrians on your morning bike commute, take a moment to appreciate the biomechanical work of art beneath you. Your bicycle isn’t just a transport device, but a perfectly evolved machine that works in partnership with your physiology, turning your raw muscle power into efficient motion.

Anthony Blazevich 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. Cycling can be 4 times more efficient than walking. A biomechanics expert explains why – https://theconversation.com/cycling-can-be-4-times-more-efficient-than-walking-a-biomechanics-expert-explains-why-257120

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Police Minister Mchunu placed on leave of absence

Source: Government of South Africa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has placed Police Minister Senzo Mchunu on leave of absence with immediate effect.

The President has also announced a judicial commission of inquiry – led by Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga – into the allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

The President made the announcements during an address to the nation on Sunday evening.

During a media briefing last week, Mkhwanazi made several allegations about an alleged criminal syndicate that has “spread its tentacles into law enforcement and intelligence services”.

Mkhwanazi also made allegations against the Police Minister – alleging that Mchunu colluded with criminal elements to disband the Political Killings Task Team based in KwaZulu-Natal.

During the address to the nation, the President emphasised that the allegations “call for an urgent and comprehensive investigation”.

“To address these allegations and the implications of these allegations, I am establishing a judicial commission of Inquiry, chaired by Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga. Justice Madlanga will be assisted by Advocate Sesi Baloyi SC and Advocate Sandile Khumalo SC.

“In order for the Commission to execute its functions effectively, I have decided to put the Minister of Police, Mr Senzo Mchunu, on a leave of absence with immediate effect. The Minister has undertaken to give his full cooperation to the Commission to enable it to do its work,” President Ramaphosa said.

Mkhwanazi had also made allegations about the uncovering of a drug cartel, implicating, amongst others, the judiciary, law enforcement, prosecutors and politicians.

The President said these allegations “raise serious concerns around the Constitution, the rule of law and national security”.

“These allegations, if proven true, threaten to undermine the confidence of South Africans in the ability of the South African Police Service to protect them and to effectively fight crime and corruption.

“South Africans are concerned about corruption and the rise of criminality in our country, which manifests itself in the killing of innocent people, gender-based violence, gang violence, kidnappings, construction mafia criminality and many others.

“As we intensify the fight against crime, it is vital that we safeguard the integrity and credibility of the police and other law enforcement agencies,” President Ramaphosa said.

With the Police Minister now on a leave of absence, Professor Firoz Cachalia has been appointed as acting Minister in terms of Section 91(3)(c) of the Constitution.

“Professor Cachalia is currently a professor of law at the University of the Witwatersrand and is the chairperson of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council. He previously served as a MEC of Community Safety in Gauteng.

“Professor Cachalia will be retiring from his current position at the University of Witwatersrand at the end of July. I will appoint an Acting Minister from within Cabinet until Professor Cachalia takes up his post at the beginning of August,” the President said. – SAnews.gov.za

MIL OSI Africa –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Delays following fire, Avondale

Source: New Zealand Police

Motorists are advised to expect delays in Avondale this morning due to a building fire in Great North Road.

Emergency Services responded to reports of a fire at Saint Mary’s Catholic School at about 4.20am.

Great North Road, between Portage Road and Larch Road, is cordoned off and emergency services are in attendance.

There are no reports of injury.

Police will work with fire investigators to establish the circumstances of the fire.

ENDS.

Holly McKay/NZ Police

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Disasters don’t disappear when the storm ends – cascading hazards, from landslides to floods, are upending risk models

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Brian J. Yanites, Associate Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Science. Robert Shrock Professor of Surficial and Sedimentary Geology, Indiana University

The Carter Lodge hangs precariously over the flood-scoured bank of the Broad River in Chimney Rock Village, N.C., on May 13, 2025, eight months after Hurricane Helene. AP Photo/Allen G. Breed

Hurricane Helene lasted only a few days in September 2024, but it altered the landscape of the Southeastern U.S. in profound ways that will affect the hazards local residents face far into the future.

Mudslides buried roads and reshaped river channels. Uprooted trees left soil on hillslopes exposed to the elements. Sediment that washed into rivers changed how water flows through the landscape, leaving some areas more prone to flooding and erosion.

Helene was a powerful reminder that natural hazards don’t disappear when the skies clear – they evolve.

These transformations are part of what scientists call cascading hazards. They occur when one natural event alters the landscape in ways that lead to future hazards. A landslide triggered by a storm might clog a river, leading to downstream flooding months or years later. A wildfire can alter the soil and vegetation, setting the stage for debris flows with the next rainstorm.

Satellite images before (top) and after Hurricane Helene (bottom) show how the storm altered landscape near Pensacola, N.C., in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Google Earth, CC BY

I study these disasters as a geomorphologist. In a new paper in the journal Science, I and a team of scientists from 18 universities and the U.S. Geological Survey explain why hazard models – used to help communities prepare for disasters – can’t just rely on the past. Instead, they need to be nimble enough to forecast how hazards evolve in real time.

The science behind cascading hazards

Cascading hazards aren’t random. They emerge from physical processes that operate continuously across the landscape – sediment movement, weathering, erosion. Together, the atmosphere, biosphere and the earth are constantly reshaping the conditions that cause natural disasters.

For instance, earthquakes fracture rock and shake loose soil. Even if landslides don’t occur during the quake itself, the ground may be weakened, leaving it primed for failure during later rainstorms.

That’s exactly what happened after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, which led to a surge in debris flows long after the initial seismic event.

A strong aftershock after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan province, China, in May 2008 triggered more landslides in central China.
AP Photo/Andy Wong

Earth’s surface retains a “memory” of these events. Sediment disturbed in an earthquake, wildfire or severe storm will move downslope over years or even decades, reshaping the landscape as it goes.

The 1950 Assam earthquake in India is a striking example: It triggered thousands of landslides. The sediment from these landslides gradually moved through the river system, eventually causing flooding and changing river channels in Bangladesh some 20 years later.

An intensifying threat in a changing world

These risks present challenges for everything from emergency planning to home insurance. After repeated wildfire-mudslide combinations in California, some insurers pulled out of the state entirely, citing mounting risks and rising costs among the reasons.

Cascading hazards are not new, but their impact is intensifying.

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires, storms and extreme rainfall. At the same time, urban development continues to expand into steep, hazard-prone terrain, exposing more people and infrastructure to evolving risks.

The rising risk of interconnected climate disasters like these is overwhelming systems built for isolated events.

Yet climate change is only part of the equation. Earth processes – such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions – also trigger cascading hazards, often with long-lasting effects.

Mount St. Helens is a powerful example: More than four decades after its eruption in 1980, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to manage ash and sediment from the eruption to keep it from filling river channels in ways that could increase the flood risk in downstream communities.

Rethinking risk and building resilience

Traditionally, insurance companies and disaster managers have estimated hazard risk by looking at past events.

But when the landscape has changed, the past may no longer be a reliable guide to the future. To address this, computer models based on the physics of how these events work are needed to help forecast hazard evolution in real time, much like weather models update with new atmospheric data.

A March 2024 landslide in the Oregon Coast Range wiped out trees in its path.
Brian Yanites, June 2025

A drone image of the same March 2024 landslide in the Oregon Coast Range shows where it temporarily dammed the river below.
Brian Yanites, June 2025

Thanks to advances in Earth observation technology, such as satellite imagery, drone and lidar, which is similar to radar but uses light, scientists can now track how hillslopes, rivers and vegetation change after disasters. These observations can feed into geomorphic models that simulate how loosened sediment moves and where hazards are likely to emerge next.

Researchers are already coupling weather forecasts with post-wildfire debris flow models. Other models simulate how sediment pulses travel through river networks.

Cascading hazards reveal that Earth’s surface is not a passive backdrop, but an active, evolving system. Each event reshapes the stage for the next.

Understanding these connections is critical for building resilience so communities can withstand future storms, earthquakes and the problems created by debris flows. Better forecasts can inform building codes, guide infrastructure design and improve how risk is priced and managed. They can help communities anticipate long-term threats and adapt before the next disaster strikes.

Most importantly, they challenge everyone to think beyond the immediate aftermath of a disaster – and to recognize the slow, quiet transformations that build toward the next.

Brian J. Yanites receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

– ref. Disasters don’t disappear when the storm ends – cascading hazards, from landslides to floods, are upending risk models – https://theconversation.com/disasters-dont-disappear-when-the-storm-ends-cascading-hazards-from-landslides-to-floods-are-upending-risk-models-259502

MIL OSI –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: NEWS: Sanders: ‘No, Mr. President. Climate Change is Not a Hoax’

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Vermont – Bernie Sanders

BURLINGTON, Vt., July 13 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today released the following statement:

In the midst of everything else going on, it’s easy to ignore the extraordinary planetary crisis we face from climate change. But we just can’t allow ourselves to do that.

The past 10 years have been the warmest 10 years on record. 2024 was the warmest year in recorded history. January 2025 was the hottest January on record. Western Europe just had its hottest June on record. The recent heat wave in the United States put nearly 190 million Americans under heat advisories and broke heat records in more than 280 locations. Over the past 60 years, the frequency of heat waves in the United States has tripled. According to a new study from Yale University, 64% of Americans think global warming is affecting the weather in the U.S. and almost HALF say they have personally experienced its effects.

From May 2024 to May 2025, 4 billion people — half of the world’s population — experienced at least one extra month of extreme heat due to climate change. Climate change exacerbated Hurricane Helene last fall in the American Southeast, flooding in Texas this past week and in Vermont and Brazil last summer, recent wildfires in Canada and Los Angeles, and health waves in the United States, Europe, India and Pakistan.

And what is President Trump’s response? He just fired the last remaining State Department employees who work on climate change, which is undoubtedly one of the greatest threats to our national security.

Donald Trump is putting the planet and future generations at risk for the short-term profits of his fossil fuel executive friends.

MIL OSI USA News –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Working Group on Patriotic Education organises exchange tour to Greater Bay Area (with photos)

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

The Working Group on Patriotic Education (WGPE) under the Constitution and Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee organised a two-day exchange tour to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) on July 12 and 13. Led by the Convenor of the WGPE, Dr Starry Lee, together with members of the Media Publicity Sub-group, Mr Lee Luen-fai and Dr James Li; the Director of Information Services, Mrs Apollonia Liu; and 20 representatives from different media organisations, the delegation visited various enterprises and places in Shenzhen and Dongguan to learn more about the latest developments of the GBA in areas such as innovation and technology and industrialisation, as well as culture and history.

The delegation visited the headquarters of DeepRoute.ai in Shenzhen yesterday (July 12) to experience the application of autonomous vehicle technologies. After that, it visited the China State Construction Hailong Technology Company Limited Science and Technology Research Institute to learn about the operation of the Modular Integrated Construction manufacturing bases, which has been applied to the Light Public Housing development at Kai Tak, Hong Kong. The delegation later paid a visit to BYD Company Limited’s headquarters in Shenzhen.

Today (July 13), the delegation visited Huawei’s research institute in Songshan Lake, Dongguan, followed by a visit to the Dongjiang-Shenzhen Water Supply Project Memorial Park and its exhibition hall to gain insights into the project’s history and its importance for fresh water supply in Hong Kong. In the afternoon, the delegation explored the Nantou Ancient City Museum and was briefed on the important position of Nantou Ancient City in the Lingnan coastal region, reflecting on the close ties and deep friendship between Hong Kong and Shenzhen as well as the same roots they share. The delegation then visited SmartMore Corporation Limited, which was founded by a Hong Kong entrepreneur, and learned about the company’s developments in artificial intelligence.

Dr Lee said, “Since its establishment, the WGPE has been dedicated to preserving and promoting patriotism on different fronts. The delegation gained significant rewards through the exchange. By visiting different renowned enterprises and sites in Shenzhen and Dongguan, we observed the rapid development of our country in various areas, fostered a strong sense of national pride, and recognised the close ties between the GBA and Hong Kong, enabling the media to continue to deliver in-depth and accurate information to Hong Kong citizens. In the future, I hope that the WGPE and the media will maintain close collaboration to keep abreast of the latest developments of our country and tell good stories of Mainland China and Hong Kong.”

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Not just a few bad apples: The Canadian Armed Forces has a nagging far-right problem

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Stéphane Leman-Langlois, Professor, School of Social Work and Criminology, Université Laval

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is making headlines. But not, as they probably hoped, for the renewed recruiting efforts they’re about to launch. Instead, they are once again confounded by a far-right scandal.

The latest episode is the arrest of four CAF members and ex-members. Three of them have been charged with taking concrete steps to facilitate terrorist activity and possessing prohibited firearms. A fourth man was charged with possession and storage of prohibited firearms and devices.

The crew had allegedly been under surveillance by the federal government’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team since 2021, most likely when equipment, weapons and ammunition began to go missing from military installations. The weapons were finally seized in January 2024, some in the personal vehicle of one of the suspects, but the group remained free for another 18 months.

Read more:
Charges against Canadian Army members in anti-government terror plot raise alarms about right-wing extremism

As is usual with these types of efforts, a certain degree of amateurism was present at multiple stages of the alleged scheme, which may have developed on the fly. The idea that a micro-militia might successfully seize and hold territory in Canada is far-fetched at best.

Recruitment efforts for the suspected mission, complete with propaganda and self-aggrandizing pictures of military training, took place on, you guessed it: Instagram. (We won’t publish the name of the account.)

It might be pointed out that any large organization like the CAF inevitably represents a microcosm of society, meaning that it can’t be expected to be free of various forms of undesirable behaviour, including political extremism. But this “rotten apple” theory of far-right extremism in the CAF falls somewhat short of explaining the situation.

Not just a ‘few rotten apples’

First, the rotten apples seem too numerous. Just days before the recent arrests, the CAF announced on July 3 it was investigating the participation of other soldiers in a private Facebook page named the “Blue Hackle Mafia.” The page disseminated openly racist, homophobic, misogynist and antisemitic content.

These events point to a phenomenon difficult to measure within western countries, even though it’s very real. The penetration of ideas associated with the far right within the military and law enforcement agencies is currently happening. Whether more or less structured, the emergence of underground small groups are more or less ready to “take action.”

Second, previous reports have identified a general laissez-faire approach within the CAF regarding far-right activities. In a 2022 independent report commissioned by the CAF, the presence of white supremacist and other far-right ideologies was identified not only as a growing problem for the Army, but also one that was not being addressed.

Similar conclusions were reached in the 1997 report on the behaviour of Canadian soldiers in Somalia, which had explicitly recommended that “the Canadian Forces establish regular liaison with anti-racist groups to obtain assistance in the conduct of appropriate cultural sensitivity training and to assist supervisors and commanders in identifying signs of racism and involvement with hate groups.” In other words, neither the concern nor the awareness is news.

Affinity between far right and military

At the root of the problem is a peculiar affinity between most forms of far-right ideologies and military or paramilitary/policing organizations.

It’s absurd to simply paint such organizations as inherently far right in their nature, of course. But strict authority structures and notions of defence, fellowship, honour — as well as the projection of power through physical strength and training and the accompanying symbolism of weapons, fatigues, uniforms and campaign-like deployments — are all very appealing to far-right extremists.

This nexus has been amply documented and leads to multiple practical implications: extremist groups trying to recruit active or retired soldiers; soldiers joining existing groups or setting up their own; veterans joining existing groups or creating their own, like the founders of Québec’s La Meute; professionally trained lone wolves, like Correy Hurren, who attempted to “arrest” Prime minister Justin Trudeau at Rideau Hall in 2020)

Members of extremist groups also routinely try to join the military to benefit from training, which elevates their standing within the group.

Military, former and active, and law enforcement members are to be found in multiple “militia” groups like the Three Percenters, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, Diagolon and the Boogaloo movement, for instance. Some are overtly anti-government and/or anti-system, like the Veterans 4 Freedom or The Base.

Far-right demons

It may sound strange to think of military personnel or veterans getting involved or creating an anti-government movement when they’ve served under the flag sometimes for decades. The apparent paradox quickly disappears once we understand the manifold individual motivations that underpin their actions.

They range from the feeling of having served a timourous government that failed to make proper use of the Armed Forces at its disposal. The absence of deployments to theatres of conflict also generates frustration among some in search of military adventure.

A lot of young men are quickly bored with exercises that never satisfy their expeditionary spirit. The role of camaraderie, of group dynamics based on mutual aid, honour and the presence of danger, as well as mental health issues, must not be overlooked. Not to mention the idea, strong in some units, of defending a singular idea of a “fatherland” endangered by government contempt and inaction.

What is striking in the light of the recent charges in Québec is not so much the racist and anti-semitic ideological ideas allegedly held by the accused group members. It’s the primacy given to a patriarchal ideology that explicitly targets women and gender. Fascination with Russia and the war in Ukraine waged by Vladimir Putin is also palpable.

In short, the CAF is still wrestling with far-right demons, though in a new context of social media acceleration and global loss of confidence in democratic institutions. The situation has a high potential to undermine confidence in Canada’s Armed Forces at a time when geopolitical tensions are calling for a strengthening of its military arsenal, and first and foremost, our military human capital.

Stéphane Leman-Langlois receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Samuel Tanner receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Aurélie Campana 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. Not just a few bad apples: The Canadian Armed Forces has a nagging far-right problem – https://theconversation.com/not-just-a-few-bad-apples-the-canadian-armed-forces-has-a-nagging-far-right-problem-260896

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Want more orgasms? Choose a woman partner

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Caroline Pukall, Professor, Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Ontario

Being partnered with a woman is associated with an orgasm advantage. (Pexels/Cottonbro)

The orgasm gap — the consistent finding that men who have sex with women have more frequent orgasms than women who have sex with men — has been shown in study after study of cisgender, heterosexual participants.

The gap is a big one: Based on a recent Canadian study, approximately 60 per cent of women and 90 per cent of men reported reaching orgasm in their most recent sexual encounter.

In sexually diverse samples (samples that also include women who have sex with women and men who have sex with men), the pattern becomes more nuanced but still supports a gendered orgasm gap.

Research has shown that women who have sex with women have a more equal frequency of orgasms within their partnership.
(Pexels/Ketut Subiyanto)

Research has shown that the gap in orgasm frequency is reduced (in other words, there is more equal orgasm frequency) in women who have sex with women (about 75 per cent), and this rate is significantly higher than in women who have sex with men (about 62 per cent). However, men as a group — regardless of who they were having sex with — still had significantly higher orgasm frequency (85 per cent) than women overall (63 per cent). Women are orgasm-disadvantaged overall and especially when they have sex with men.

Mind the gap

How far-reaching is the orgasm gap and what factors might be standing in the way of orgasms for all? We — a team of researchers and science journalists from the podcast Science Vs — examined orgasm frequency in a large diverse sample that included sexual (such as lesbian) and gender (such as trans) minorities and majorities, as well as racialized participants (there were no significant results with analyses focused on sexual orientation or race).

The good news? We found that many people overall were having lots of orgasms — about two-thirds reported having orgasms almost or every time they engaged sexually.

The not-so-great news? The orgasm gap persisted: cis men overall reported the highest orgasm frequency compared to women and gender minorities (who did not differ significantly from each other). In addition, we found that participants of all genders who engaged sexually with women reported significantly more frequent orgasms than those who engaged sexually with men. So being partnered with a woman is associated with an orgasm advantage.

More not-so-great news was that about 17 per cent of participants reported almost never or never having orgasms during sex and that there were many factors preventing orgasms in participants. For cis women, psychological barriers — such as insecurities, mental health struggles and distractions — were prominent, as were sexual obstacles (like not receiving adequate stimulation), difficulties inherent in having orgasms (for example, they take too long and require too much effort) and not knowing why orgasms are difficult for them to have.

Closing the gap

So why does the orgasm gap exist and persist? One main reason is that broad sociocultural norms prioritize men’s sexual pleasure over women’s. Indeed, these norms develop from the traditional (heterosexual, western) sexual script that defines the end of sexual activity as male orgasm; importantly, women’s adherence to this script has been associated with lower sexual satisfaction.

Women’s own degree of familiarity with their partner has also been shown to be critical in narrowing the gap.
(Unsplash/Jonathan Borba)

Another is that mainstream media feeds into narratives of sexual expectations based on gender, such that portrayals of women who do not have orgasms are much more — even readily — acceptable than portrayals of orgasmless men. This inequality is played out in sexual encounters, perpetuating the gap and contributing to complacency in addressing it.

But there is hope: Heterosexual men’s motivation to bring their partner to orgasm and their intentional incorporation of sexual activities that increase the chance of orgasm for their partner — such as clitoral stimulation and oral sex — can help narrow (and even eradicate!) the gap. Women’s own degree of familiarity with their partner has also been shown to be help narrow the gap. Higher familiarity (think of a long-term situationship as opposed to a casual hookup) was associated with higher orgasm frequency.

The simple act of prioritizing women’s orgasm — captured with an easy-to-remember phrase of “she comes first” — may be all that is needed to substantially narrow the orgasm gap.

Caroline Pukall receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health, and Queen’s University.

– ref. Want more orgasms? Choose a woman partner – https://theconversation.com/want-more-orgasms-choose-a-woman-partner-259655

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Canada’s proposed east-west energy corridors should prioritize clean energy

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Andy Hira, Professor of Political Science, Simon Fraser University

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has made establishing east-west energy corridors a priority for Canada. He suggested that such corridors would include new oil and natural gas pipelines, designed to reduce dependence on the United States.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson has gone even further in pushing for subsidization of carbon capture and storage projects that would effectively underwrite the long-term continuation of the fossil fuel industry at taxpayer expense.

While there might be short-term political reasons for backing fossil fuels, such an approach goes against Canada’s long-term interests. Prioritizing fossil fuels undermines the country’s commitments to reduce emissions and takes away the investment needed for it to realize its potential to become a green energy superpower.

Creating energy corridors is in the national interest, and would allow Canada to take full advantage of its abundant and diverse energy and mineral resources. The government also needs to be involved, as the corridors are interprovincial and will require substantial investment. However, the government has limited resources and so Canada must think strategically about its priorities for such corridors.

Canadian taxpayers should not be subsidizing an already lucrative oil and gas industry. Instead, the federal government should prioritize funding clean energy supply solutions.

Oil and gas subsidies

Canadian governments have long faced opposition to building new pipelines. The provinces of Québec and British Columbia and many First Nations have strongly opposed new pipeline proposals. More recently, there is some signs of softening under the duress of U.S. tariffs.

Even if such shifts are lasting, it’s for the private sector to step up and invest into these projects. Previous federal investments, such as the Trans Mountain pipeline (TMX), were reflections of the private market’s unwillingness to invest in pipelines because they are bad investments. The 2024 Parliamentary Budget Office report estimated that selling the TMX would result in a loss.

There are reasons to question the soundness of fossil fuels on a purely financial basis. A 2022 Parliamentary budget office report found that climate change reduced GDP by 0.8 per cent in 2021, or around $20 billion. This number is expected to rise to 5.8 per cent per year by 2100 (or $145 billion in 2021 dollars).

By contrast, from 2017 to 2021, federal, provincial and territorial governments received an average of $12 billion annually in revenues from the the oil and gas industry.

The gap between the costs and benefits is only going to increase over time. The costs cut across all aspects of life, including food security, health care, global instability and threats to coastal cities due to sea level rise.

On the other hand, every dollar invested in adaptation today has an estimated return of $13-$15.

Furthermore, a recent study indicates a likely glut in global natural gas markets, and the future prospects for oil are equally questionable. For example, one of Canada’s target markets, Japan, has been reselling its liquefied natural gas imports to other countries, suggesting the glut of oil and gas is likely to continue as cheaper producers, including those in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, who are cheaper and closer to consumers, flood the market.

Cheaper and closer oil producers are also flooding markets in anticipation of declining prices.

There are important opportunity costs of investing money in fossil fuels that could otherwise be invested in the clean energy economy. When new technologies arise, there is a limited window of opportunity for global competitors to enter into an emerging industry.

In light of the shift to electric vehicles, heat pumps and artificial intelligence, it’s clear that energy demand is bound to increase significantly in Canada in the coming years. Canada can become a global competitor, but only if it enters the race now, while the window is open.

An East-West clean energy system

Solar and wind prices have declined by 83 per cent and 65 per cent respectively since 2009. However, they suffer from the fundamental issue of intermittency; the sun is not always shining and the wind isn’t always blowing.

While battery prices are declining, they remain an expensive solution. An easier solution is at hand: Canada’s hydroelectric resources. Québec, B.C. and Manitoba have abundant hydro resources that can reduce energy costs throughout the rest of the country.

Alberta and Saskatchewan have potential for significant geothermal power generation. Ontario and the Atlantic provinces could contribute wind and solar. Trading electricity through an integrated national grid increases the investment capital and reduces the need for batteries while diversifying the energy mix.

But we need an east-west electricity market to make this happen.

An east-west grid would reduce the need for every province to run its own power generation system. Creating a pooled market would allow provinces to trade electricity, giving consumers more choice and investors a larger market and potential return on their investment.

More valuable still is the fact that electricity capacity has to be built for the few peak hours and seasons. But most of the time demand is well below full capacity, such as the middle of the night or early summer, when neither heat nor air conditioning is needed in many areas. As peak times and seasons vary across the country, Canada can reduce overall costs by trading the electricity in the lowest cost producing province at a given time to where it’s needed in the other.

By locating some of the new clean energy in First Nations, Canada can also move reconciliation forward. There is potential for a win-win situation whereby Canada increases renewable energy generation while creating new jobs and income for First Nations wherever feasible.

The first step is for regulatory reform across the provinces to support a Canada-wide electricity market, and to provide the funding for the massive infrastructure investment required to connect provincial grids. This would be a federal investment with incredible long-term payoffs for employment, taxpayers and future generations.

Following this plan could truly make Canada an energy superpower on the right side of the energy transition, create thousands of jobs and give the country a global competitive edge — all while helping to save the planet in the process.

This article was co-authored by energy consultant Sheldon Fernandes.

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. Canada’s proposed east-west energy corridors should prioritize clean energy – https://theconversation.com/canadas-proposed-east-west-energy-corridors-should-prioritize-clean-energy-259530

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Lemurs can help save Madagascan forests, but first we need to protect them

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Colombe Nirina Sehenomalala, PhD candidate, Anthropology, Université de Montréal

Most people’s encounters with lemurs have occurred through their representations in popular children’s media, like Zoboomafoo or Madagascar. However, most people don’t know that lemurs play an important role in forest renewal and that they’re currently in grave danger from climate change.

In my home country of Madagascar, there is an amazing array of creatures that are not found anywhere else in the world. Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot, and approximately 90 per cent of plant and animal species on this island are endemic.

Among them are lemurs, a group of primates that are not only the flagship symbols of the island’s fauna, but also one of the key players in the health and stability of Madagascar’s ecosystems because they do the very important work of dispersing seeds.

I am a primatologist who researches the interactions between infant-and-mother lemur dyads in wild. Their bond is a reminder of what we stand to lose, as it shows care, learning and viability. When forests disappear, so does this fragile bond, and a whole way of life we can never replace.

Lemurs’ habitats and survival are increasingly being threatened by human activities such as deforestation, forest resource exploitation and hunting. There is an urgent need for conservation projects that involve local communities in preserving Madagascar’s unique biodiversity.

A lemur trap encountered in the field during our research.
(C.N. Sehenomalala), CC BY

Charismatic animals

Due to their charisma, media attention and their biological significance, lemurs attract tourists and researchers to Madagascar. The viability of lemurs is essential to the island’s future, both economically but especially in terms of protecting biodiversity. As they eat fruits from trees like ebony, mammea and wild coffee and then scatter seeds through their droppings, they help new plants grow.

Among the 105 lemur species of Madagascar, Propithecus candidus, commonly known as the silky sifaka, is one of the most endangered species. Only around 250 of them are currently living in the wild.

As their name implies, silky sifakas have visually striking long white hair, and they can only be found in the misty, mountainous rainforests of northeastern Madagascar.

Silky sifakas are primarily active during the daytime, and can travel very quickly through the trees by vertically clinging to them and leaping from tree to tree using their powerful legs. They have highly specialized diets consisting of leaves, flowers and fruits like Diospyros pervilleana, a native ebony species from Madagascar.

A BBC Nature documentary clip on silky sifakas.

Observing mothers and infants

I have spent 10 years studying and following lemurs daily. During my fieldwork in northeastern Madagascar, I closely observed how deforestation and habitat fragmentation affect silky sifaka females and their young.

I studied these females during their lactation season in three different forest contexts: Marojejy National Park (a mostly untouched primary rainforest), Makira Natural Park (a mix of old-growth and re-generating forest) and Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve (known as COMATSA-Sud, a primary forest with heavily degraded areas).

At each forest, the forest canopy, which provides both shelter and food for the lemurs, measured above 10 metres at all sites, but was semi-open, which is a sign of habitat degradation. A semi-open canopy allows more light to permeate the forest canopy, but it also exposes animals to predators and decreases the quantity of high-quality food.

Mothers’ movements and behaviours

One clear difference between the three sites is how mother–infant pairs move and use space. In Marojejy, where the forest is more continuous even if the canopy is partly open, mothers and babies stay within fairly fixed areas, following the same paths and resting spots.

But in places like Makira and COMATSA-Sud, where the forest is broken up into separate patches, mothers have to travel farther and more unpredictably, moving between these isolated patches. This extra travelling causes them to burn more energy and face higher risks from predators and hunters.

These differences show that fragmentation doesn’t just affect food availability, but also changes how these lemurs move and survive.

Forest fragmentation affects lemurs’ social behaviour and grouping patterns to deal with low food availability. It also impacts their health and development; a poor diet causes malnourishment in the lemurs.

Lemurs are social animals, but scarce resources can cause competitive behaviours to emerge.
(Simponafotsy/Wikimedia Commons), CC BY

Poor nutritional quality

While the food availability for silky sifakas in northeastern Madagascar during the lactation season is relatively abundant, it is of low nutritional quality.

This leads to increased stress and competition as dominant lactating females, desperate to feed their infants, attack subordinates to accumulate more nutrients to produce higher quality milk.

As offspring start to feed on non-milk foods, the poor nutritional quality of available plants after weaning can lead to poor health and stunted growth.

Engaging the community

The decline of lemur populations, particularly silky sifakas, shows the need for urgent conservation action. Continued monitoring — as well as sustained support and funding for Malagasy scientists — is crucial for long-term lemur and biodiversity conservation.

When it comes to the effects of human activity, this decline — habitat fragmentation, global climate change and deforestation — is the result of large-scale activites such as extraction, tourism and state infrastructural development.

Education and awareness campaigns are crucial, both in Madagascar and internationally, to inform people about lemurs’ habitat needs and what can be done to prevent their extinction.

Conservation will never be successful without building an appreciation of the environmental, cultural and economic value of lemurs and the forests they inhabit.

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. Lemurs can help save Madagascan forests, but first we need to protect them – https://theconversation.com/lemurs-can-help-save-madagascan-forests-but-first-we-need-to-protect-them-256300

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 14, 2025
Hungary’s opposition flags ‘New Deal’ to kickstart stagnating economy

Source: Government of India

Source: Government of India (4)

Hungary’s opposition leader Peter Magyar said on Saturday his Tisza party will launch a “Hungarian New Deal” to revive the stagnating economy with massive investment and predictable policy if it wins elections next year.

Magyar, whose centre-right party has a firm lead over the ruling Fidesz in most opinion polls, poses the biggest political challenge to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who after 15 years in power finds himself struggling to boost the inflation-hit economy.

The risk of steep U.S. tariffs on EU imports also looms large over recovery prospects and Saturday’s announcement of 30% tariffs on the EU by President Donald Trump is bad news for the Central European country.

Magyar announced his Hungarian New Deal plan to supporters at his party’s congress in the western city of Nagykanizsa.

“We need economic growth, investments, predictable financial and economic policy in Hungary,” Magyar said, adding that Tisza would crack down on corruption and buy back state assets that he said had been stolen over the past 15 years.

The main pillars of Tisza’s plan will be a major healthcare reform with additional funding of 500 billion forints ($1.5 billion) annually, a large-scale rental flat and home construction programme, a modernisation of state railways using EU and national funds, and investments in energy efficiency for households and in education.

Magyar, a former government insider who burst into Hungarian politics last year, again pledged to unlock some 20 billion euros of suspended EU funds that Hungary has not received for years due to clashes between Brussels and Orban over a perceived erosion of democracy and corruption — accusations that Orban denies.

The parliamentary election is set to take place early next year, though no date has been set. In June parliament passed Orban’s 2026 election year budget, including steep tax cuts for families, a key demographic group for Fidesz.

“People are fed up with this regime. And Tisza is a kind of ‘collecting party’ which stood behind all this (discontent). People want change,” said Edit Piroska Borsi, a retired teacher at the congress.

(Reuters)

July 13, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: President Mahama inaugurates committee for University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) transfer to University of Ghana

Source: APO

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President John Dramani Mahama has inaugurated a committee tasked with overseeing the transfer of the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) from the Ministry of Health to the University of Ghana.

The inauguration fulfils a key commitment by President Mahama to strengthen the links between the nation’s leading teaching hospital and its premier university.

Named the Transitional Management Committee, the body is co-chaired by two distinguished Ghanaians: Professor Aaron Lawson, a seasoned academic and former Provost of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Ghana, and Professor Mutawakilu Iddrissu, a Neurosurgeon at the Department of Surgery, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

The committee has been given a comprehensive mandate to guide the transition process. Its key responsibilities include:

1. Conducting a comprehensive review of the legal mandates, operational structures, and academic frameworks of both UGMC and the University of Ghana Medical School.
2. Developing integration guidelines to ensure coherence between UGMC’s clinical mandates and the university’s teaching and research mandates.
3. Designing a practical roadmap with clear timelines and a communication plan for stakeholders.
4. Facilitating all necessary legal and administrative processes for the seamless transfer and integration.
5. Identifying potential challenges, particularly in funding, staffing, and resource allocation, and proposing sustainable solutions.
6. Establishing a transition secretariat to provide operational and logistical support.
7. Reviewing expressions of interest for partnership by international health care institutions.
8. Submitting a comprehensive report to the President of the Republic within three months from the date of inauguration.

President Mahama emphasised the significance of the committee’s work, urging the members to “work diligently with a sense of historic responsibility,” adding, “You’re laying the foundation for a legacy of health care and medical education excellence. You’re building a bridge between the past and the future.”

The President described the UGMC as currently “a beacon of excellence, a world-class medical institution with a national mandate.”

He noted that the Centre “hosts the largest digitised medical simulation and training centre in West Africa,” which has “the potential to provide cutting-edge training for healthcare professionals across the West African sub-region.”

Built during President Mahama’s first term in office at a cost of $271 million and commissioned before he handed over power, the University of Ghana Medical Centre is a quaternary health facility.

It provides specialised care in numerous areas, including urology, ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat, cardiology, dermatology, neurology, and interventional radiology for cancers.

The facility also boasts amenities such as a medical hotel for clients, assisted reproductive technology services for fertility solutions, and a helipad for airlifting emergency cases.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency, Republic of Ghana.

MIL OSI Africa –

July 13, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Oil funds for ‘Big Push’ will be efficiently used, Mahama tells Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC)

Source: APO

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President John Dramani Mahama has assured members of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) that oil revenues earmarked for his proposed $10 billion “Big Push” infrastructure initiative will be efficiently disbursed and managed.

The President gave the assurance during a courtesy call by the PIAC members. Led by its Chairman, Mr Constantine K.M. Kudzedzi, the Committee members visited to congratulate the President on his recent election victory and discuss matters concerning the management of Ghana’s oil revenues.

President Mahama outlined his government’s ambitious plan to invest $10 billion over the next five years, allocating $2 billion annually, into priority infrastructure projects across the country.

These projects will target key sectors, including roads, major bridges, education, and health infrastructure, as well as areas vital for boosting productivity in the agriculture sector.

He specified that agricultural projects under the “Big Push” would encompass irrigation schemes, construction of farmer service centres, and support for agribusiness development.

The President stated that the primary sources of funding for this significant policy initiative would be petroleum revenue and minerals royalties.

Commending PIAC for its vital role, President Mahama praised the Committee’s efforts in monitoring and ensuring transparency and accountability in the utilisation of Ghana’s petroleum revenues.

He highlighted PIAC as a commendable model for other countries seeking effective oversight mechanisms.

President Mahama inaugurates committee for UGMC transfer to University of Ghana.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency, Republic of Ghana.

MIL OSI Africa –

July 13, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Backing British Industry: Government launches £2.5bn DRIVE35 programme to power UK auto investment and jobs
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

Backing British Industry: Government launches £2.5bn DRIVE35 programme to power UK auto investment and jobs

UK auto firms will benefit from a £2.5 billion commitment over the next decade that will support thousands of jobs and help ensure the UK remains at the forefront of zero-emission vehicle development.
UK auto sector boosted by £2.5 billion under DRIVE35, as government launches new and improved funding competitions, supporting projects which help the transition to zero-emission vehicle manufacturing.

Package forms part of the UK’s modern Industrial Strategy, which takes bold ambition to significantly increase business investment in the advanced manufacturing sector by 2035.

Government also announces over £300 million of investment for specific auto projects, supporting the UK’s thousands of high-value manufacturing jobs and delivering on the Plan for Change.

UK auto firms will benefit from a £2.5 billion commitment over the next decade that will support thousands of jobs and help ensure the UK remains at the forefront of zero-emission vehicle development.

Government is today announcing the launch of DRIVE35, comprising new and improved funding competitions that will support UK businesses. The programme will fund a wide spectrum of projects which help the transition to zero-emission vehicle manufacturing – targeting established high-volume manufacturing and multi-billion-pound gigafactories, all the way to start-ups, prototypes and cutting-edge automotive innovation.

The new programme was announced in the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, part of the UK’s modern Industrial Strategy. It will commit £2 billion in funding to 2030 alongside an additional £500m for research and development to 2035, signalling a ten-year commitment to UK automotive innovation.

The cash will provide certainty to the sector, give innovators the confidence to invest in the UK and will support the latest in research and development, unlocking capital investment in zero emission vehicles, batteries and their supply chains. 

The automotive sector contributed £21.4 billion in GVA to the economy in 2024 and currently employs 132,000 people across all parts of the UK – including many highly-skilled, highly-paid roles, and apprenticeships. The transition to zero emissions is the biggest opportunity of the 21st century to attract investment, harness British innovation, and deliver growth for generations to come.

The UK was also the largest EV market in Europe in 2024 and the third in the world with over 382,000 EVs sold – up a fifth on the previous year. There are now more than 82,000 public chargepoints in the UK – with one added every half an hour – ensuring that motorists are always a short drive from a socket.

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said:

We’re helping British carmakers get to the front of the pack by working hand in hand with investors to build a globally competitive electric vehicle supply chain in the UK as we deliver our Plan for Change.

We’re taking action to back the industry for the future with the biggest set of announcements for the sector in the last decade. This includes securing a landmark trade deal with the US to bring down tariffs for British car manufacturers, measures in our modern Industrial Strategy to lower electricity prices and updating the ZEV mandate, supporting UK manufacturers to safeguard jobs, and secure the future of the sector.

Economic growth is our number one priority, and by funding our world leading auto sector we are creating the right conditions for increased investment, bringing growth, jobs, and opportunities to every part of the UK.

The funding announced today forms part of government’s bold ambition to significantly increase business investment in the advanced manufacturing sector by 2035, giving British firms an edge in the frontier industries of the future and driving growth across the UK.  

DRIVE35 will build on previous successes with the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) and the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) R&D competitions, which between them leveraged over £6 billion of investment from the private sector, creating thousands of jobs across the UK economy.

The Department for Business and Trade today also announces over £300 million for specific UK automotive manufacturing firms and projects. This includes over £100 million of capital investment for UK automotive manufacturing via the ATF, approximately £140 million in combined Government and industry R&D investment, and £18 million from the new £150m Connected & Automated Mobility (CAM) Pathfinder programme.

With Government support, Bolton is set to benefit from over £100 million in investment from Astemo Ltd., which will be vital to the production of electric vehicle (EV) components in the UK. This investment will produce new generations of electric inverters, supporting over 220 direct high-value jobs in the region and hundreds more in the wider UK supply chain.

The West Midlands will also welcome a recent £15 million investment from Dana to produce parts that are crucial for EV manufacturing. Dana’s investment will ensure skilled jobs in the region, supporting over 100 direct jobs over the long term.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive said:

The creation of this dedicated automotive programme is further evidence of the sector’s importance to economic growth. Delivered as part of the Industrial Strategy, DRIVE35 has the potential to unlock investment and innovation in the UK, supporting jobs and creating wealth across the country. The importance of a long term, cross-government strategy with specific measures for automotive cannot be understated given the challenges facing the sector amid geopolitical uncertainty and fierce global competition. DRIVE35, and the wider measures identified in the Industrial Strategy, must now be implemented at pace to ensure the UK is amongst the leaders in next generation automotive technologies.

Ian Constance, CEO, Advanced Propulsion Centre UK and Zenzic said:

This new investment underlines the commitment from Government to secure advanced manufacturing in the UK. I am pleased that the APC, Zenzic, and its delivery partners are here to facilitate a new wave of funding in the automotive industry, supporting innovation, driving scale-up, and enabling transformation.

Today, we have announced projects receiving four types of grants that boost the UK’s leadership in automotive manufacturing. They will enable the rapid development of demonstrators featuring cutting-edge technology, accelerate ambitious SMEs, and support vital collaborative R&D innovation. This will encourage further investment in the UK’s growing zero-emission supply chain, safeguarding skilled jobs, building on the country’s reputation as a world-leader for technology.

Thanks to the wide range of eligible technologies under the new competitions, DRIVE35 funding will benefit UK auto businesses of all sizes and maturities, from small-scale innovators to large-scale established global companies. Through targeted investment for successful project applicants, the programme will create tens of thousands of new jobs, stimulate billions in economic growth and investment, and cut millions of tonnes CO2 emissions.

The programme will provide a more impactful offering for investors across three streamlined pillars: Transformation, Scale Up and Innovation. Tomorrow the government will open the following competitions across the DRIVE35 programme:

Automotive Transformation Fund: A new and improved capital funding offer under DRIVE35’s keystone Transformation pillar, supporting large-scale capital investments in the UK, and now with a widened technology scope.

Scale Up Feasibility Studies: R&D funding to support businesses with strategic thinking on opportunities to scale, creating a pipeline of exciting decision-ready auto projects for UK investment.

Innovation competitions: Through DRIVE35’s Collaborate and Demonstrate streams, we will build on over a decade of success to support both early-stage and late-stage R&D projects involving innovative technologies and processes.

DRIVE35 will continue the successes of the UK’s world-leading achievements in R&D. As an example, this government has recently committed a combined £70 million of R&D grant funding for over 50 innovative automotive projects. The programme will be delivered by DBT in partnership with APC UK and Innovate UK.

Combined with industry funding, this totals £140 million in new investment for UK R&D. These projects will support technologies including batteries, energy storage, lightweighting and power electronics. Successful applicants include Mercedes and JLR.

Notes to editors:

The winners of the R&D competitions are as follows:

Mobilise: An SME accelerator programme for zero-emission vehicle-related technology, as well as innovations in connected and automated mobility (CAM), and automotive software.

Allye Energy – London

Antobot – South East, Chelmsford

Cellmine – Scotland, Livingstone

Drisq – West Midlands, Malvern

Electrify Everything Now – West Midlands, Worcester

Evie Autonomous – West Midlands, Stoke-On-Trent

High Temperature Material Systems (HTMS) – South West, Bristol

Infiniti Recycling – South East, Cambridge

Kuasasemi – Wales, Cardiff

Lightning Tree Advanced Materials – London

Minimalx – London

Muon Tech – West Midlands, Leamington Spa

Otaski Energy Solutions – North East, Gateshead

Saif Autonomy – South East, Cambridgeshire

Senergy Innovations – Northern Ireland, Carryduff

Super6 – London

Talos Consulting Services – South East, Banbury

Collaborate: Grants fund projects where companies, and academic institutions, form a consortium to take a product or process to commercial readiness. Please note, these are the lead partners only – there are several partners in each consortium.

Ionic Technologies International – Northern Ireland, Belfast

Mint Biomining – West Midlands, Coventry

Mercedes Amg High Performance Powertrains – East Midlands, Northamptonshire

Jaguar Land Rover – West Midlands, Coventry

Phinia Delphi UK – South West, Gloucestershire

Demonstrate: Grants are for companies that are earlier in their product or process development or need a short, sharp sprint to get where they want to be. Please note that these are the lead partners.

Cummins UK – Yorkshire And The Humber, Huddersfield

Oxlid – East Midlands, Nottingham

Thermulon – London

Expert Tooling & Automation – West Midlands, Coventry

Cool Van Ltd – North West – Barnoldswick

Jaguar Land Rover – West Midlands, Warwick

Batri – Wales, Bridgend

Magnetic Systems Technology – Yorkshire and the Humber, Rotherham

Leyland Trucks – North East, Leyland

Project Four Design – West Midlands, Warwick

Fluorok – South East, Oxford

Hydrostar UK – South West, Exeter

Lorillion – West Midlands, Coventry

Talos Consulting Services – South East, Banbury

Ford Motor Company – South East, Essex

Advanced Electric Machines – North East, Washington

Maeving – West Midlands, Coventry

Fering Technologies – London

Green Lithium Refining – North East, Teesside

Mercedes Amg High Performance Powertrains – East Midlands, Northamptonshire

Watt Electric Vehicle Company – South West, Worcester

Electrified Automation – South West, Bridgwater

Ulemco – North West, Liverpool

Clean Air Power Gt – East Midlands, Melton Mowbray

Donut Lab Development UK – South West, Chippenham

Electric Aviation Group – South West, Bristol

Project Four Design – West Midlands, Warwick

Altilium Metals – South West, Plymouth

Inetic – Southampton

Morris Commercial – West Midlands, Evesham

Ilika Technologies – South East, Hampshire

Mcmurtry Automotive – South West, Wotton-Under-Edge

Yasa – South East, Oxford

Phoenix Carbon – East Of England, Stowmarket

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Published 13 July 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
July 13, 2025