NewzIntel.com

Category: Europe

  • MIL-Evening Report: Basic service provider or mini democracy? Why NZ needs to decide what it wants from local government

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeffrey McNeill, Honorary Research Associate, School of People, Environment and Planning, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University

    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s recent challenge to local government “to rein in the fantasies and to get back to delivering the basics brilliantly” was unsurprising, given his government’s focus on fiscal restraint.

    It was in keeping with his announcement that councils’ legislative purpose of delivering their communities’ economic, social, environmental and cultural wellbeing are to be removed from the Local Government Act.

    Local government responded with the usual indignation and suggested solutions. There were complaints about inadequate funding mechanisms, questions about whether libraries are basic services. The whole spat likely flew under the radar of the wider public.

    Yet the problems facing local government are very real and will not just go away by kicking costly decisions down the road. Rather, they are symptomatic of fundamental choices facing the sector.

    Foundational issues

    The problems go back to the late 1980s when our current local government system was designed.

    Led by then local government minister Michael Bassett, the reforms were the first in over 100 years. More than 850 city, borough and county councils, catchment boards, united councils and local boards were amalgamated to form 86 in 1989 and now 78 regional, city and district councils we have today.

    But Bassett still considered local government reform incomplete because of the failure to address water provision.

    But I would argue the real unfinished business was the failure to resolve the purpose of local government in the first place. Only when that is agreed can we address local government’s functions, form and funding.

    Until then, the shape and function of local government will remain a political football.

    According to section 10(1)(a) of the Local Government Act 2002, the purpose of local government is “to enable democratic local decision-making and action by, and on behalf of, communities”.

    But the second subsection describing its purpose, (s.10(1)(b)) has changed with the various governments. In 2002, under Helen Clark’s Labour-led government, the purpose of local government was:

    to promote the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of communities in the present and for the future.

    John Key’s National-led government in 2012 replaced that purpose with a remit

    to meet the current and future needs of communities for good-quality local infrastructure, local public services, and performance of regulatory functions in a way that is most cost-effective for households and businesses.

    The previous Labour government reintroduced the wellbeing purpose. Luxon is set to remove it.

    Function, form and funding

    Should local government be a true local government with comprehensive and wide powers, or simply a property-services organisation, providing little more than street-lighting, roading, water and sewerage?

    The two very different conceptions of local government determine its functions, form and funding.

    These differing views reflect the disparate Anglophone and European concepts of local government. National aligns with the Anglophone model, with its limited local government functions under a strong central government. Labour leans towards the European model, with devolved wide-ranging functions.

    The distinction between the two models was made very clear to me while working as part of an international team researching local government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    My Italian colleague, for example, reported how his country’s local governments were vitally involved in their cities’ day to day management during the crisis.

    Mayors and councils were making daily decisions and announcements about their hospitals’ resourcing, whether to close the schools and training institutes, increase social welfare provision and housing, and so on.

    On the flipside, New Zealand local government was largely sidelined to address humanitarian services such as ensuring people had access to food and accommodation.

    Instead, councils searched for local “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects to access central government funds in order to reduce unemployment and stimulate local economies. The public focused on national daily press announcements from the prime minister and director-general of health.

    No appetite strong local government

    For all that, the distinction between Labour and National conceptions of local government may not be as great as recent history suggests.

    Both want a strong centre and weak local government. Our councils have largely reinforced this reality. Some have sought to extend their scope of activities, others have clearly defined themselves as property services agencies.

    Most have largely refrained from the excesses the prime minister appears to be concerned about, partly to avoid being caught out by changes in central government, but also because most council expenditure is already committed to infrastructure.

    But does it have to be this way?

    The Labour-led government’s 2021 Future for Local Government review envisaged local government using partnerships with hapū and iwi to promote the four key wellbeings as key to any reform. This is at odds with the present government’s priorities and views on governing with Māori – a big reason why the reports now collect dust.

    The review was also very constrained in considering local government functions. Rather, it seemingly took existing functions as its starting point to focus instead on local governance.

    Writing about our local government nearly 70 years ago, public servant and academic R.J. Polaschek imagined what would have been if New Zealand had been colonised by Denmark instead of Great Britain. In this hypothetical scenario he saw strong independent local government based on communities with wide-ranging functions.

    It still could be, but tinkering at the edges is not going to solve its problems. Our local government project remains unfinished business. It will take political courage and vision to complete the task. One that remains a fantasy, and we are all the losers.

    Jeffrey McNeill 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. Basic service provider or mini democracy? Why NZ needs to decide what it wants from local government – https://theconversation.com/basic-service-provider-or-mini-democracy-why-nz-needs-to-decide-what-it-wants-from-local-government-238862

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: With all these defamation lawsuits, what ever happened to free speech?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Clift, Lecturer in Law, The University of Melbourne

    Shutterstock

    It seems like the dust barely settles from the latest high-profile defamation stoush before the next set of litigants straps on the gloves and steps into the ring.

    Many of these cases raise eyebrows — and questions. Was that story about him? Does anyone remember that tweet? Wasn’t it just harmless banter? Didn’t she respond to that allegation? What if it’s all true? Isn’t that free speech? How much did you say this will cost?!

    Defamation law continues to loom large over public conversations, despite recent law reforms aimed at remedying Australia’s unwanted reputation as the “defamation capital of the world”.

    At the heart of defamation law lies a tension between protecting reputation and maintaining freedom of speech. The more robustly defamation law protects reputation, the more it constrains speech.

    Free speech is valued in Australian law, politics and society, notwithstanding our lack of an explicit constitutional speech right. So why does our defamation law facilitate seven-figure lawsuits over communicative slights that, at times, seem disproportionately minor?

    What shapes these laws?

    Defamation law is old — very old — with roots in English law half a millennium ago. For several hundred years it existed in parallel with publishing monopolies, political and moral censorship, and fears that loose talk could stoke public disorder.

    In other words, our defamation law substantially predates modern conceptions of civil and political rights. Some of its features, like strict rather than fault-based liability (the plaintiff need not prove anything about the defendant’s intentions or degree of care), retain the flavour of less liberal times.

    Libel laws in the western world, as seen here in the US in the 1730s, are very old.
    Library of Congress

    Still, defamation has developed over the years and adapted with transplantation to other legal systems.

    The defamation laws of different places are influenced by factors such as community values, prevailing views on the value of speech, the nature and democratic credentials of the political system, and the role of law and the constitution in regulating citizens and the state.

    For example, the United States is culturally and historically predisposed to liberty and suspicion of government. The freedom to discuss and debate public affairs is seen as essential to its democratic system. The First Amendment to the US Constitution is the world’s most famous free speech law.

    Accordingly, US courts have limited defamation on matters of public concern to deliberate or reckless lies, while opinions on any newsworthy topic are immune from suit. This is because US democracy requires the “marketplace of ideas” to be minimally constrained and largely self-regulating.

    On the other hand, less democratic states have kept their defamation laws strict, to suppress political dissent and silence critical media.

    A case in point is Singapore, which, under founding father Lee Kwan Yew and his perpetually-in-power People’s Action Party, has weaponised defamation law against political opposition and the press.



    Read more:
    With more lawsuits potentially looming, should politicians be allowed to sue for defamation?

    That is not to say that less defamation law is automatically better than more. The interest in maintaining a (deserved) good reputation is legitimate. And speech anarchism can allow low-value and harmful speech to flourish.

    The High Court of Australia has shied away from US-style speech liberalism for fear it could facilitate speech that is harmful to the integrity of political discourse: a prescient position given recent US history. The English courts have done similarly, influenced by distrust of the tabloid press.

    But when reputation and speech fall out of balance, defamation law risks infringing both democratic values and fundamental rights.

    Legal balancing acts

    Around the turn of the millennium, English defamation law reached a crossroads. Its relative stasis had turned the United Kingdom into a “libel tourism” hotspot, and the UK was falling behind on the speech protections mandated by the European Convention on Human Rights.

    So the UK courts moved to better protect publishers by creating a new defence for responsible publication in the public interest. That was followed in 2013 by a new Defamation Act to further simplify, clarify and rebalance defamation law.

    Australia, lacking the same constitutional or convention impetus, has been slow to follow suit. The states agreed to harmonise their disparate defamation laws only in 2005, and it was 2021 before they found the appetite to improve them.

    By then, Australia had taken over the UK’s mantle as the preferred destination for defamation plaintiffs.

    Australia’s 2021 reforms included a new defence for publication of public-interest material, which generated some excitement but hasn’t substantially liberated the media from defamation threats. It amounts to tinkering around the edges of law, which remains conservative at its core.

    Today, from a practical standpoint, the biggest problem with defamation may be its cost.

    Legal advice and correspondence are expensive, settlements more so, and the cost of litigation can be eye-watering. It’s one problem if you can’t afford to assert your legal rights; it’s quite another to be slapped with an unexpected complaint. Defamation disputes can easily bankrupt individuals and exhaust media budgets.



    Read more:
    Why defamation suits in Australia are so ubiquitous — and difficult to defend for media organisations

    Legal consequences can act as an incentive for better journalism, but they also chill public-interest reporting. Even a journalist assured of their facts will find proving them in court to be a different matter. And a win does not guarantee full recovery of costs, let alone time and stress.

    The debate over defamation law reform is ongoing. The central question remains how best to balance the interest in reputation with the benefits of free speech. The answers depend on what we really value, and what our commitment to liberal democracy really requires.

    Brendan Clift 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. With all these defamation lawsuits, what ever happened to free speech? – https://theconversation.com/with-all-these-defamation-lawsuits-what-ever-happened-to-free-speech-238312

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Activist News – KEEP SPACE FOR PEACE – WELLINGTON PROTEST AGAINST THE AEROSPACE CONFERENCE

    Source: Peace Action Wellington

    On Monday 23 September at 1pm, Peace Action Wellington will protest against the Aerospace Summit. The Wellington protest will be outside the Ministry of Business at 15 Stout Street.

    “The Aerospace Conference raises serious concerns because of its ties to the US weapons industry and US military. The aggressive steps taken by the NZ government to join the US in the weaponisation of space, contrary to the Outer Space Treaty, is a deeply alarming agenda,” said Valerie Morse, spokesperson for Peace Action Wellington.

    The Aerospace Summit is an annual event sponsored by Rocket Lab and supported by the US government. Rocket Lab is partly owned by Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest arms dealer. Summit speakers include a representative from Boeing Aerospace, the second largest arms dealer. The Summit is held in Ōtautahi/Christchurch.

    Rocket Lab has been launching US military satellites providing actionable information for the genocide in Gaza.

    “Despite weekly outpouring across Aotearoa of calls for peace, the New Zealand Government seems determined to follow the US into their wars more than ever,” said Valerie Morse, spokesperson for Peace Action Wellington. “New Zealand has taken three steps to join the US Space Race in just the past few months.” (1)

    “New Zealand is now one of the top ‘spots’ for space launches – why? Because NZ has become a US military spaceport,” said  Morse. “All other major space programmes – US, India, China, Russia – are directly linked to their militaries. Ours is linked, too, but not to the NZ military, but rather to the US military. That gives the US huge sway in the things that are launched from Aotearoa, including things that are contrary to the interests of ordinary people here like surveillance and private spying satellites”

    This is the third Aerospace Conference hosted in Ōtautahi, and the third year of peace organising to oppose it. The Wellington action is supported by the Stop AUKUS Coalition, Victoria University Socialists, Asians Supporting Tino Rangatiratanga, climate and peace activists, and local solidarity band the Brass Razoo.

    “We invite members of the public in Wellington to join us in opposing the militarisation of space. We stand in solidarity with Stop the Space Waste in Ōtautahi who are mobilising against the Aerospace Conference and have a nationwide petition (2). We stand in solidarity with: RocketLab Monitor in Māhia who have long exposed the military aims of RocketLab, with Kanaky, against French militarisation. Rocket Lab is launching technology for Kineis, a company based in France that builds French military satellites; with Palestine and with the Anti-Bases Campaign who have long opposed military bases,” said Ms Morse.

    Notes:

    About Peace Action Wellington: For the past quarter-century, Peace Action Wellington has worked for peace and justice throughout the world, with a special focus on the New Zealand government’s involvement in international affairs. PAW stands for peace with justice and self-determination. 

    1. Phil Pennington, “New Zealand takes another step towards US space operations,” RNZ, 8 September 2024, https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/527390/new-zealand-takes-another-step-towards-us-space-operations 
    2. Stop the Space Waste petition, https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfd7goKR5ANBiGY2Jv5-Ri4hDhxgmY75yv_YtuSn3px61xONA/viewform?usp=send_form 
    3. The Outer Space Treaty can be found here: https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html
    4. Details of the 2024 Aerospace Summit can be found here: https://www.aerospace.org.nz/summit

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI Translation: President Meloni’s meetings on the sidelines of the 79th UN General Assembly

    MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –

    Source: Government of Italy

    On the sidelines of the high-level week of the 79th United Nations General Assembly, the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, today held a series of meetings with representatives of the innovation sector and in particular with the CEOs of the Google-Alphabet group, Sundar Pichai, of Motorola, Greg Brown, and of Open AI, Sam Altman.

    At the center of the discussions, the prospects of global technological and IT development with particular reference to Artificial Intelligence, the opportunities to be seized and the risks to be prevented.

    The investment plans of the various Groups in Italy were also discussed, as well as which initiatives could be adopted, also in light of Italy’s strategic position at the centre of the Mediterranean, to increase Italian competitiveness in the most high-tech sectors, in particular by leveraging Italian excellence in higher education and research.

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.

    MIL Translation OSI

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Rural Flood Resilience Partnership launched to help farmers and rural communities adapt to a changing climate

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Partnership unites six organisations including: Action with Communities in Rural England; Association of Drainage Authorities; Country Land and Business Association; Environment Agency; National Farmers Union; and Natural England

    With rural communities increasingly on the frontline of extreme weather and the devastating impacts of flooding, a unique partnership has been launched today (23 September 2024) to support rural flood resilience and help farmers and communities adapt to a changing climate. 

    Climate change means that people, places and nature are facing more frequent and more severe storms and floods. Last winter saw one of England’s wettest periods since records began in 1836. 

    The Rural Flood Resilience Partnership has been established to improve collaboration, deepen understanding of vulnerabilities, and support rural communities and agricultural businesses in building their resilience to present and future flood risks and coastal erosion. 

    The Partnership unites organisations representing government agencies, trade associations, rural communities and businesses to tackle a joint challenge with joint solutions. 

    The six equal founding partners are: Action with Communities in Rural England; the Association of Drainage Authorities; Country Land and Business Association; the Environment Agency; the National Farmers Union; and Natural England. 

    Today, the Partnership publishes its work plan covering 2024 to 2026. Partners and a wide range of projects will work together to improve their evidence base and will draw on this to co-develop solutions. 

    The work plan sets out 21 actions supporting seven strategic outcomes focused on: developing the evidence base behind decision-making to increase resilience; ensuring communities, farmers and landowners have access to quality advice and support; and engaging rural communities in flood resilience.  

    James Blake, Chair of Trustees Action with Communities in Rural England, said:

    It’s vital that everyone living and working in rural communities – not just those involved in land management and agriculture – have an opportunity to engage with and influence plans to manage the consequences of climate change.  

    As one of the founding members of this partnership, we look forward to drawing on the experience and reach of ACRE members to build the capacity of rural communities to come together and consider what can be done based on local circumstances in response to this most pressing global issue.

    Robert Caudwell, Chair of the Association of Drainage Authorities, said:  

    Our climate is changing rapidly, and those living and working in rural parts of England are some of the most aware of, and most vulnerable to, those changes.

    Listening to the voice of rural communities is essential if we are to build England’s resilience to flooding and drought in the future. 

    The best solutions can often be achieved when public authorities work together with local businesses and communities, combining their land and water management expertise with a deeper understanding of our local landscape and those impacted. 

    ADA is proud to play its part in this new Partnership in support of our members, England’s flood and water management authorities.

    Country Land and Business Association (CLA) President Victoria Vyvyan said:

    The damage to rural land and businesses from flooding is localised but acute, and the frequency of these events will increase with climate change.  

    It is crucial to improve the resilience of rural businesses and communities to flooding. The CLA hopes this partnership will provide the evidence, awareness of risks, and access to practical advice that will allow them to improve their resilience.  

    This partnership will look for short and medium-term solutions whilst raising awareness of the rural-specific costs and challenges from flooding which our members face.

    Caroline Douglass, Executive Director for Flood and Coastal Risk Management, Environment Agency, said: 

    Flooding presents specific challenges to those living and working in rural communities, from ruined crops to having road access cut off by floodwaters.  

    Since 2015, flooding and coastal change projects have been completed to protect more than 400,000 hectares of agricultural land better. This includes 280,000 hectares between 2015-2021, helping to avoid more than £500 million worth of economic damage to agricultural land production.

    While the Environment Agency continues to work to strengthen rural flood resilience, no single organisation can tackle these challenges in isolation. This partnership provides the opportunity to accomplish more than any one organisation can manage alone. 

    The new Rural Flood Resilience Partnership will help farmers, land managers and rural communities become more resilient to the impacts of climate change while retaining the vital role of managing land and producing sustainable food.

    NFU Vice President Rachel Hallos said: 

    The NFU is pleased to be involved in this new Partnership and hope it will enable farmers and rural communities to strengthen the resilience of their homes and businesses by providing practical solutions based on tangible evidence to some of the challenges they face in the event of flooding. 

    It will also give rural communities the means to influence decision making, provide access to resources and support action on the ground, strengthening rural resilience to flooding in a changing climate. 

    Farmers are on the frontline of climate change – our biggest challenge. The extreme weather this brings is one of the main threats to UK food security and more severe storms, devastating floods, and increased periods of little or no rain are all impacting our ability to produce food. 

    The country has just experienced its wettest 18 months since records began in 1836 which left many thousands of acres of productive farmland under water. There are still many farm businesses in dire need of support, and we are awaiting details of how the Farming Recovery Fund can help those businesses recover from the impacts of the devastating flooding and saturated ground.

    Natural England’s Greener Farming & Fisheries Director, Brad Tooze, said:

    Natural England champions the power of nature and nature-based solutions to help tackle the joint climate and biodiversity emergencies.  

    NE welcomes the opportunity to join this partnership and add our science and evidence expertise and our local farm advice offer into the mix. Together we can support farmers and land managers to farm in more flood resilient ways – supporting communities to become more flood resilient and recovering nature at the same time. 

    From signing up to the Sustainable Farming Incentive to manage arable land for flood/drought resilience and water quality or by working with others to restore a river and floodplain in Landscape Recovery every farmer and land manager can make a difference.

    The Partnership forms part of the wider work that all partners are undertaking on flood and coastal resilience.  

    All flood and coastal risk management schemes delivered by risk management authorities in England are carefully assessed to make sure they benefit the most people and property. Approximately 40% of all schemes and 45% of investment better protect properties in rural communities.

    Updates to this page

    Published 23 September 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Met announces next steps to rebuild trust with Black Londoners

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    • Met launches London Race Action Plan, committing to the next steps in becoming an anti-racist police service
    • The plan has been co-created with Black officers, staff and communities – with more than 2,200 Londoners consulted.
    • Improvements to the service’s culture, training and leadership all form part of the Met’s commitment to strengthening trust among Black Londoners and its own workforce.
    • A new stop and search charter which has been co-authored with Black communities. This re-sets how stop and search should be carried out in London.
    • Improvements in how we record and monitor the ethnicity of drivers when making vehicle stops, with external scrutiny for greater transparency.
    • An overhaul of our policy on intimate searches of children – increasing the threshold and oversight, ensuring they only occur when necessary and proportionate.
    • To better represent the communities we serve we’re working hard to recruit and retain a more diverse workforce that brings all the talents, experiences and perspectives of London to policing.
    • We’re also now training all new recruits so they understand the lived experience of Black Londoners and other communities across the capital.
    • We’ve committed to rooting out disparities in the Met’s misconduct system and have introduced focused workshops to improve promotion rates. As a result, since 2021 promotion pass rates for Black officers has increased from 68% to 75%.

    The London Race Action Plan outlines the next steps in the Met’s mission to become an anti-racist organisation and a service that is more inclusive, diverse and representative of London.

    It sets out across four pillars how the Met will better represent, respect, involve and protect Black Londoners.

    Over many years the Met has let Black communities down and although steps have been taken in the right direction, there remains a long way to go to be an inclusive and anti-racist organisation.

    The four pillars of the plan will be delivered through tangible action across London, co-designed by the communities we serve. This will include: 

    We know there is more to do, but this plan sets the right course to continue building a Met that our officers and public deserve.

    Progress will be made publicly available via biannual updates.

    Sir Mark Rowley, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police said: “This plan publicly sets out our next steps towards becoming a truly anti-racist and inclusive organisation.

    “Black Londoners have been let down by the Met over many years and while we continue to take steps in the right direction, there remains a long way to go and there is a lot more work to do.

    “Action not words will rebuild trust in our service, so we must now remain focused on delivering real change that is seen and felt by our communities and our workforce.

    “We are changing our systems, our processes, culture and our leadership. We are better understanding and acting on disproportionality wherever it exists. We are working more closely than ever with communities we’ve let down to build a service that delivers for all of London.

    “To achieve this critical change once and for all will take time, but I am determined that we will continue to strengthen our relationship with Black Londoners – whether that be members of the public or our own colleagues – and renew the principle of policing by consent.”

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with Prime Minister of Japan Kishida Fumio

    Source: Government of Canada – Prime Minister

    Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with the Prime Minister of Japan, Kishida Fumio, on the margins of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

    Prime Minister Trudeau and Prime Minister Kishida reaffirmed the strong bond between Canada and Japan as G7 partners, as well as their shared commitment to promoting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and to standing with Ukraine for as long as it takes.

    Prime Minister Trudeau praised Prime Minister Kishida’s leadership on the G7 Leaders’ Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament and his efforts toward an international treaty banning the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. 

    The two leaders discussed ways to expand bilateral trade, investment, and energy co-operation to foster economic security and support a strong middle class on both sides of the Pacific. They also explored opportunities to increase collaboration between the two countries and advance progress on shared global priorities, including in the context of Canada’s G7 Presidency next year.

    Prime Minister Trudeau thanked Prime Minister Kishida for his meaningful efforts in strengthening the Canada-Japan relationship during his tenure and his friendship to Canada.

    Associated Links

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Translation: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio

    MIL OSI Translation. Canadian French to English –

    Source: Prime Minister of Canada – in French

    Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with the Prime Minister of Japan, Kishida Fumio, on the margins of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

    Prime Minister Trudeau and Prime Minister Kishida reaffirmed the close ties between Canada and Japan as G7 partners, as well as their shared commitment to promoting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and to standing with Ukraine for as long as necessary.

    Prime Minister Trudeau commended Prime Minister Kishida’s leadership in the G7 Leaders’ Hiroshima Vision on nuclear disarmament and his efforts to secure an international treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

    The two leaders discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation on trade, investment and energy to promote economic security and support a strong middle class on both sides of the Pacific. They also explored opportunities to enhance collaboration between the two countries and advance shared global priorities, including through Canada’s G7 presidency next year.

    Prime Minister Trudeau thanked Prime Minister Kishida for his significant efforts to strengthen Canada-Japan relations during his term and for his friendship for our country.

    Related links

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.

    MIL Translation OSI

  • MIL-OSI China: Chinese, foreign scientists to start new expedition into Asia’s longest cave

    Source: China State Council Information Office 2

    A member of Guizhou provincial mountain resources institute observes the rock formation inside a branch cave of Shuanghe Cave in Suiyang County, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, Sept. 23, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]
    Scientists from China, France, Portugal, Belgium and other countries gathered on Friday at the Shuanghe Cave, Asia’s longest known cave, in southwest China’s Guizhou Province for a launch ceremony of the 23rd joint international scientific expedition into the cave.
    The expedition is scheduled for Oct. 7 to 24, and the results of their findings will be made available on Oct. 24.
    Previous scientific expeditions found 44 individual giant panda fossils, with the oldest specimen dating back 100,000 years and the most recent dating back a few hundred years.
    The fossils prove that Guizhou was once a habitat for giant pandas, which are today known to survive in the provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu.
    Zhou Wenlong, deputy secretary general of the Guizhou Cave Association, said the upcoming cave expedition will further study the cave’s resources, formation and evolution.
    According to the results of the 2023 joint expedition, the cave network has 107 connected openings and boasts a length of 409.9 kilometers, making it the longest known cave in Asia and the third-longest in the world. It is also the world’s longest dolomite cave.
    French caver Jean Bottazzi, who has more than three decades of cave exploration experience in China, is acting as chief of the upcoming cave research. He calls Shuanghe Cave his second home.
    He said that since the late 1980s, the discoveries of Chinese and foreign experts in the cave have led to repeated updates of the cave’s length, and many cave fossils and living organisms have been unearthed, providing rich, valuable scientific research materials.
    During this year’s scientific expedition, Suiyang County, which administers the cave area, will hold activities such as a geological science photography contest and a short video contest to promote the cave geopark.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Dogma or data? Why sentencing reforms in NZ will annoy judges and clog the courts

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology

    Getty Images

    The Luxon government surely has little sense of irony.

    Shortly after introducing the Parliament Bill, designed to reinforce the fundamental constitutional principle of the separation of powers, it has introduced the Sentencing Reform (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to constrain the judicial arm of the state.

    Its purpose is to put more people into prison for longer. In its Regulatory Impact Statement, the Ministry of Justice estimates 1,350 people will be added to the current prison population. The ministry is also clear that most of the changes are unnecessary and rest on inadequate consultation, particularly with Māori.

    The main change the bill makes is to cap reductions in a prison sentence for mitigating factors at “40% of the sentence”, unless that would be “manifestly unjust”.

    Mitigating factors

    To understand why this is a problem, we need to start with how the Sentencing Act 2002 works. First, the seriousness of an offence provides a starting point. Since the maximum sentence is for the worst example of the offence, the facts can be put on a scale.

    Secondly, the judge considers aggravating factors, such as repeat offending, malicious motivations or the victim’s vulnerability. The new bill specifies various additional aggravating factors, but the ministry notes these are already taken into account.

    Finally, the judge looks at mitigating factors, such as youth, intellectual disability or mental illness, remorse and positive steps to remedy the cause of offending.

    One important available reduction is for a guilty plea. The bill will cap this at 25% – the Supreme Court already decided this several years ago.

    Sentence reductions based on these factors will regularly exceed the overall 40% cap proposed in the new bill. For example, impulsive offending by a young adult with ADHD who was in state care because of family abuse, and who pleads guilty early, would likely mean a considerable sentence reduction.

    Similarly, offending by someone who both admits it, shows remorse and assists the police would qualify for considerable reductions.



    Read more:
    A last minute amendment to NZ’s gang legislation risks making a bad law worse

    ‘Moral and fiscal failure’

    The New Zealand judiciary is not soft by world standards. Its rate of incarceration – currently 181 per 100,000 people – places the country 90th out of 223 jurisdictions.

    This is well above Australia, England, Wales and Scotland, and double the rates in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Canada. As Māori have long made up more than 50% of the prison population, their incarceration rate is at US levels. Do we really want to make this worse?

    When former Finance Minister Bill English observed New Zealand’s high prison population represented a “moral and fiscal failure”, he asked the chief science advisor to collate the evidence.

    The resulting 2018 report, Using Evidence to Build a Better Justice System, concluded the prison population had grown because of “dogma not data”.

    Prisoners are seven times more likely than the general population to have a mental health or substance abuse problem. Ninety percent have a history of mental health or addiction, with 60% still affected. Up to 70% have significant literacy problems.

    The sentencing reform proposals rest on the notion people should take more personal responsibility. But they overlook the reality of most of the people in the system having a reduced capacity to do that. This looks more like dogma than data.

    And since prisons train people in criminal ways and provide gangs with recruits, but do not deal with underlying causes of criminal behaviour, it is dogma that risks creating more victims.

    Increased prisoner numbers: Paremoremo Maximum Security Prison, Auckland.
    Getty Images

    A stressed justice system

    On top of this, the criminal justice system is creaking, without enough judges or courtrooms. Complainants, defendants and witnesses already wait too long for trials.

    Reductions in sentences for guilty pleas and other mitigating features are essential to preventing this from getting worse. Some of these factors only come to light at the sentencing hearing when pre-sentence reports (often including medical reports) are provided.

    Also, the final preparation for a trial often leads the prosecution to accept a plea to a less serious offence. And the time waiting for a trial often means a defendant will have served all or much of their sentence already.

    If a judge feels obliged to impose a higher sentence because of the new amendments, lawyers will have to advise defendants accordingly. Inevitably, more will decide to take their chances in a trial rather than plead guilty.

    That means more complainants will have to give evidence, some defendants will be acquitted, and the criminal justice system will creak more.

    Judges and rules

    Judges will have to confront some dissonance in the law. The Sentencing Act requires judges to impose the “least restrictive” sentence. But a sentence that is longer than appropriate doesn’t meet that requirement.

    A longer-than-necessary prison sentence is arguably arbitrary detention. But the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act requires judges to interpret other statutes to avoid breaching rights if possible, including the right not to be detained arbitrarily.

    In addition, a fair trial should aim to secure the right sentence for the individual defendant.

    Judges do not sign up to breach people’s rights. Nor do they like it when the executive branch of government uses its parliamentary majority to overstep the separation of powers. Quite properly, they will do what they can to secure individualised justice.

    They might, for example, set a sentence at the low end of the available range to achieve the same outcome while appearing to abide by the new 40% cap. Or they might just decide a rehabilitative sentence, invariably non-custodial, is the better outcome.

    Judges spend all their time dealing with rules. You can expect them to be creative in finding ways around restrictions that should not be imposed on them.

    Kris Gledhill is currently working on a project relating to sentencing that is funded by the Borrin Foundation. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Criminal Bar Association, which represents prosecution and defence lawyers. The views stated in this article are his own.

    – ref. Dogma or data? Why sentencing reforms in NZ will annoy judges and clog the courts – https://theconversation.com/dogma-or-data-why-sentencing-reforms-in-nz-will-annoy-judges-and-clog-the-courts-239303

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: York Walls in Bloom

    Source: City of York

    Residents and visitors will be able to experience areas of the city walls from a fresh perspective next spring, as this unique and historic space blooms into life.

    Volunteers and businesses from across the city are coming together this week to help transform the City Walls embankments, for the first phase of the York Walls in Bloom project.

    This unique green space will evolve into a beautiful biodiverse landscape, where residents and visitors will be able to enjoy seeing many different pollinators thrive.

    Over its 2,000-year-old history, the city walls embankments (ramparts) have constantly evolved and changed from being cleared sheer slopes, areas of grazing until the mid-20th century and in recent years manicured lawns and bedding plants.

    The first phase of the York in Bloom project will be in the city centre at Station Rise. The area around the Station Rise rampart has over the centuries seen some of the most dramatic changes in landscape visible anywhere on the city walls.

    The season bedding displays here will be familiar to many residents and visitors, but this approach is not without its downsides. It’s resource intensive in terms of water and carbon used in the growing, transporting, planting, weeding and removing bedding plants. This makes the practice increasingly unsustainable for the city and the planet.

    Cllr Jenny Kent, Executive Member for Environment and Climate Emergency, said “York is proud to have some of the UK’s best preserved medieval walls, and this partnership project to cover the site at Station Rise in meadow flowers for York Walls in Bloom will not only look beautiful, it will also help support York’s bees, moths and butterflies, and help preserve the ramparts underneath.

    We are lucky to have expert advice from many partners and are also in the process of reviewing our maintenance of the walls overall. We will ensure that we adopt the very best heritage and ecology conservation practices to prevent soil erosion, which increases with extreme heat and increased rainfall, maximise the environmental benefit, and keep the Walls looking great for generations to come.”

    Inspired by projects such as the Tower of London ‘Moat in Bloom’, the council believes that carefully managed wild flowering could offer the right mix of stunning visuals, increased sustainability and improved habitat.

    York Walls in Bloom is being carefully introduced over the course of 2024. Earlier this year, the area was left to grow naturally for several months so that the ecological study could be undertaken. This was critical so that the council knew that any intervention wouldn’t endanger existing habitats.

    While next year will see a spectacular floral display near Station Rise, the area will still be very carefully managed over several years to balance the ecology of the site. The second phase of the project will be extended to the Red Tower, Walmgate next year.

    This will transform the flatter sections of rampart on the outside of the city walls by sowing wildflowers in Spring, to create a floral display in summer 2025, which over the following years will be carefully managed into a sustainable natural floral meadow.

    Introducing a more sustainable, natural environment in the coming years, including changing how frequently the grass is cut in this area, will ensure a healthier soil and more wildflower growth.

    The York in Walls project has gained the backing and sponsorship of local businesses.

    Simon Mahon, General Manager of The Grand York, said: “We’re delighted to be working on the York Walls in Bloom project. We’re very proud sponsors and are looking forward seeing wildflowers being introduced along the walls, which naturally will make this historical part of York even more beautiful.

    Here at The Grand, York, as part of our sustainability initiative we house approximately 50,000 bees on our roof – the honey they produce is used throughout The Grand in desserts, pastries and cocktails. So, we’re really happy to support this project.”

    From Tuesday 24 September, works will be visible on the ground when the turf will be ‘wither stripped’ to allow for the sowing of the wildflowers.

    With the help on York Cares, volunteers from across the city will come together to support the project and help sow the seeds.

    Holly Hennell, Manager, York Cares: “The 16th annual York Cares Big Community Challenge is taking place between 16 September and 11 October in partnership with City of York Council, St Nicks and the University of York. The challenge aims to connect communities with nature, providing volunteering opportunities at over 30 sites across the city along routes leading into the city centre around the city walls.

    “Employee-volunteers will get involved with a variety of practical activities to enhance biodiversity across the city including sowing seeds as part of the York Walls in Bloom project, a fantastic initiative which will really brighten up the city whilst also benefiting the environment. The York Cares team is excited to be able to get involved in one of the sessions alongside their members, demonstrating the difference we can make when we come together.”

    The York in Bloom project is funded by the Green Corridors project , the National Lottery Community Fund and is sponsored by local businesses including The Grand York.

    For more information visit York Walls in Bloom.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Be Bright, Be Seen, Be Safe

    Source: City of York

    Be Bright, Be Seen, Be Safe

    Published Thursday, 19 September 2024

    Be Bright, Be Seen, Be Safe is the key message from City of York Council and North Yorkshire Council during Cycle to School Week [23-27 September].

    Getting to school safely, especially as the nights are now getting darker is one of the most important things taught in schools, through the Bikeability and pedestrian training sessions, which take place throughout the year.

    Those who run the training sessions are joining forces with the York and North Yorkshire safeguarding children’s teams, to raise awareness of the importance of children wearing cycle helmets, bright clothing and putting on their bike lights.

    Cllr Kate Ravilious, Executive Member for Transport at City of York Council, said: “Cycling can be so much fun. It brings independence and it’s a fantastic way of building exercise into everyone’s day and improving health.

    “As the nights draw in it’s important to be visible on your cycle. Wearing bright clothes, using cycle lights after dusk and wearing a helmet will help to keep everyone safe. And drivers also need to play a role: driving responsibly, using mirrors to check for cyclists before turning, and giving cyclists at least 1.5m space when passing.”.

    Jason McAleese from Modeshift, who deliver the Active Travel Ambassador programme in secondary schools across York and North Yorkshire, said: “Cycling safety is crucial. If we want young people to embrace more active and sustainable ways of traveling to and from school, they must feel both safe and confident. With our support these Active Travel Ambassador schools lead the way by researching and developing behaviour change campaigns that prioritise active travel and road safety.

    Interested in having the Active Travel Ambassador programme at your secondary school, email jason@modeshift.org.uk

    Visit iTravelYork for cycling tips or to find out more about the cycle training.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Shapiro Welcomes Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, Signs Sister State Agreement with Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine to Strengthen Ties

    Source: US State of Pennsylvania

    September 22, 2024 – Scranton, PA

    Governor Shapiro Welcomes Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, Signs Sister State Agreement with Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine to Strengthen Ties

    Governor Josh Shapiro and members of the Shapiro Administrationwelcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a visit to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant (SCAAP) in Lackawanna County – one of two major munitions plants in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

    President Zelenskyy made a special trip to the Keystone State to visit the Pennsylvania workers who are playing a vital role in Ukraine’s defense. During the visit, President Zelenskyy spoke with workers at SCAAP – a U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command (JMC) facility that manufactures large-caliber metal projectiles and mortar projectiles for the U.S. Department of Defense – and thanked them for their efforts. SCAAP specifically builds 155-millimeter howitzer rounds, some of the most vital equipment for Ukraine’s defense against Russia.

    “Pennsylvania is the birthplace of American freedom – and our Commonwealth proudly stands with the people of Ukraine as they fight for their freedom against naked aggression,” said Governor Shapiro. “I’m proud to welcome President Zelenskyy and his delegation to Scranton – to visit with the women and men who are fueling his country’s fight for freedom – and sign an agreement with Zaporizhzhia that will strengthen both states and foster collaboration for years to come. Pennsylvania looks forward to building a close relationship with Zaporizhzhia as we continue to stand on the side of freedom.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: ANZ continues to support Hyundai Motor Company’s EV Manufacturing with USD1.35b Green ECA facility

    Source: ANZ statements

    ANZ has successfully closed an USD1.35b Green Labeled K-Sure covered Term Loan Facility for Hyundai Motor Group, funding its first electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing plant in the US, as the world’s third largest car manufacturer continues to invest in the country.

    It will help accelerate Hyundai Motor Company’s electrification strategy with an expected manufacturing capacity of 300,000 units annually at its Georgia Metaplant complex.

    The Green Export Credit Agency (ECA) backed loan adheres to LMA Green Loan Principles, and reinforces ANZ as a key financing partner for Hyundai Motor Group, acting as ECA and Green Loan Coordinator, Mandated Lead Arranger, and Bookrunner on its past three mandates.

    Aaron Ross, ANZ’s Global Head of Project, Export & Asset Finance said, “These deals underscore ANZ’s market-leading position in the Korean ECA sector, delivering low risk, capital-efficient and high-returning facilities that meet our customer needs. We have executed four major EV sector transactions backed by Korean ECAs in the past five years.

    “We’re proud to play a role in supporting Hyundai Motor Group’s capital expenditure initiatives as it strives to become a global leader in electric vehicle manufacturing. Leveraging our expertise across Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and the US, we have been able to consistently deliver smart solutions by integrating sustainable finance to meet Hyundai Motor Group’s strategic and evolving needs,” Mr Ross said.

    Previous deals with Hyundai Motor Group include:

    • USD 940 million K-Sure-backed deal for Hyundai Mobis’ EV parts plant located within the Georgia Metaplant complex
    • USD 711 million ECA financing to establish South-East Asia’s first and largest EV battery manufacturing facility in Indonesia
    • SGD 230 million green loan to finance the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center in Singapore

    ANZ has set a target to fund and facilitate at least $A100 billion by the end of FY2030, including $A15 billion by end FY2024, in social and environmental outcomes through customer activities and direct investments by ANZ. This includes initiatives that aim to help lower carbon emissions, protect nature, increase access to affordable housing and promote financial wellbeing, as described in the target methodology.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Readout of the Secretary-General’s meeting with representatives of the European Union

    Source: United Nations secretary general

    The Secretary-General met with Mr. Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, H.E. Mr. Josep Borrell Fontelles, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission and Ms. Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships.
     
    They discussed cooperation between the United Nations and the European Union on global issues, including sustainable development and follow-up to the Summit of the Future.  They also exchanged views on the situation in Afghanistan and the Middle East, as well as the war in Ukraine.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: FS begins visit to Madrid, Spain (with photos/video)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    FS begins visit to Madrid, Spain (with photos/video)
    FS begins visit to Madrid, Spain (with photos/video)
    ****************************************************

         The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, arrived in Madrid, Spain, yesterday (September 22, Madrid time) and began his visit.     Mr Chan led a group of local tech startups to visit Spain’s innovation organisation, Spain Startup and meet with its President, Ms Maria Benjumea, and representatives from its partner, IE University of Spain. Spain Startup is the organiser of the renowned innovation and entrepreneurship event South Summit, which has been running since 2012, bringing together startups, tech talents, investors and entrepreneurs from around the world. Through a variety of programmes, including startup competitions, networking events, and workshops, it offers startups opportunities to build global networks, exchange knowledge, and connect with investors. The South Summit event has now expanded to Brazil.     Spain Startup has indicated that it is actively considering organising an Asian version of the South Summit. Mr Chan said Hong Kong welcomes the event to be hosted in Hong Kong to attract startups and investors from the Mainland, particularly the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as well as the broader Asian region, and he will instruct relevant departments to follow up actively.     Also joining the innovation and technology delegation on the visit to Europe are the Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, Mr Albert Wong, and the Chief Public Mission Officer of Cyberport, Mr Eric Chan.     Mr Chan will continue his visit in Madrid today (September 23, Madrid time).

     
    Ends/Monday, September 23, 2024Issued at HKT 9:00

    NNNN

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Scientists to start expedition into Asia’s longest cave

    Source: China State Council Information Office 2

    A member of Guizhou provincial mountain resources institute observes the rock formation inside a branch cave of Shuanghe Cave in Suiyang County, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, Sept. 23, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]
    Scientists from China, France, Portugal, Belgium and other countries gathered on Friday at the Shuanghe Cave, Asia’s longest known cave, in southwest China’s Guizhou Province for a launch ceremony of the 23rd joint international scientific expedition into the cave.
    The expedition is scheduled for Oct. 7 to 24, and the results of their findings will be made available on Oct. 24.
    Previous scientific expeditions found 44 individual giant panda fossils, with the oldest specimen dating back 100,000 years and the most recent dating back a few hundred years.
    The fossils prove that Guizhou was once a habitat for giant pandas, which are today known to survive in the provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu.
    Zhou Wenlong, deputy secretary general of the Guizhou Cave Association, said the upcoming cave expedition will further study the cave’s resources, formation and evolution.
    According to the results of the 2023 joint expedition, the cave network has 107 connected openings and boasts a length of 409.9 kilometers, making it the longest known cave in Asia and the third-longest in the world. It is also the world’s longest dolomite cave.
    French caver Jean Bottazzi, who has more than three decades of cave exploration experience in China, is acting as chief of the upcoming cave research. He calls Shuanghe Cave his second home.
    He said that since the late 1980s, the discoveries of Chinese and foreign experts in the cave have led to repeated updates of the cave’s length, and many cave fossils and living organisms have been unearthed, providing rich, valuable scientific research materials.
    During this year’s scientific expedition, Suiyang County, which administers the cave area, will hold activities such as a geological science photography contest and a short video contest to promote the cave geopark.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Deputy Secretary-General’s remarks at the open dialogue on “Strengthening Financing for the SDGs: High-level Dialogue between MDB Heads and UN Member States” [as prepared for delivery]

    Source: United Nations secretary general

    Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

    I am thrilled to be with you all at this high-level dialogue.

    We meet at a pivotal time.

    The SDGs are off-track. Hunger is rising. Fossil fuel use and global temperatures have reached unprecedented new highs. Conflicts are spreading. And the fight for gender equality has stalled.

    Meanwhile, financing gaps are large and growing.

    Multilateral Development Banks are a critical part of the solution to salvage the SDGs and spur progress towards the future we want and need.

    MDBs are an essential source of affordable, long-term finance to developing countries.

    They provide vital countercyclical support in times of crisis.

    And they are uniquely capable of mobilizing other sources of finance with the SDGs, including private investments.

    But to fulfill this role effectively, MDBs must become bigger, better and bolder.

    This message is being clearly articulated by Member States at the Summit of the Future.

    In the Summit’s Pact, Member States welcome the reforms taking place across the MDB system, while declaring that further reforms are urgently needed.

    What we will hear today is that MDBs are rising to this challenge.

    This meeting provides a unique opportunity for MDB Principals to share their vision for reform, explain how it can accelerate SDG action, and take stock of progress.

    They will also explain where they need your support to push their reforms – and impact – further.

    I’m delighted that the MDB Principals are delivering these messages here – in New York, the home of the SDGs – and now, against the backdrop of the Summit of the Future.

    This sends a powerful message of the bridges we are building between the UN and MDBs, between New York and Washington DC, and between Ministries of Finance and Ministries of Foreign Affairs.

    Over the coming months, the UN will be working with our MDB partners to agree on further steps to increase development finance and to reform the international financial architecture, as we prepare for the

    Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Spain in 2025.

    This is our once-in-a-decade opportunity to transform financing to serve sustainable development everywhere.

    The United Nations is proud to be travelling this path with you.

    Thank you.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Smart tourism applications offer unique experiences

    Source: China State Council Information Office 2

    People visit the 2024 China Culture and Tourism Industries Exposition in north China’s Tianjin, Sept. 13, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]
    Wearing an elegant white dress, Umuhoza, a Rwandan businesswoman, took a photo in front of a smart photo device, which soon generated a photo depicting her as a valiant and chivalrous female with traditional Chinese features.
    “When people travel to China, they really want to take memories back home. The device can take a picture of you and then transform you into a Chinese kind of person. I really love it,” Umuhoza said.
    Umuhoza runs a travel website. She helps tourists from Asian countries travel to African countries, including Rwanda, Egypt and Tanzania. At the same time, her website has a “China package,” catering to travelers from Africa who want to go to China.
    At the 2024 China Culture & Tourism Industries Exposition held earlier this month in north China’s Tianjin Municipality, many foreign visitors were overwhelmed by the novel technologies adopted in China’s tourism sector.
    “That’s amazing. I am very interested in autonomous driving cars and many smart tourism scenes. Perhaps new trade cooperation can be carried out in the future,” Umuhoza said.
    Telling people more about China
    Putting on a virtual reality headset, Elena Jitari-Parry, a full-time travel blogger from Moldova, was instantly drawn to various places to experience the magnificent landscapes of China’s mountains and rivers.
    “So beautiful. It felt so authentic here,” Jitari-Parry said.
    She also quickly learned about securing travel tips for exploring Tianjin via an intelligent tourism companion system, which simply requires a person to ask questions at a booth provided by Midu, a company focusing on artificial intelligence and large language models.
    “Traveling in China can be so easy for foreigners! The digitalization and intelligence services of Chinese tourist attractions have become a new trend, enabling foreigners like me to enjoy a more comfortable and convenient travel experience in China,” Jitari-Parry said.
    With the desire to further explore China, Jitari-Parry chose to be a full-time travel blogger, documenting her travels and experiences in China. “Foreigners are very interested in China’s technological development. I always advise my audience to come to China and see something different.”
    The deep integration of technology and the cultural tourism sector not only creates a variety of experiential consumption scenarios, but also meets people’s new needs for personalized travel, immersive experiences and creative consumption.
    Data showed that by the end of 2023, the scale of China’s digital cultural tourism market had exceeded 1 trillion yuan (about 140 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for more than 30 percent of the entire cultural tourism industry.
    Experiencing smart, convenient services
    In the exhibition area of Meituan, one of China’s leading online services platforms, high-end technologies such as drones and autonomous delivery vehicles became the focus of foreign bloggers’ lenses.
    Ruben Diaz Jr. from the United States was amazed by it. “Some of these things are brand new to me. Tourists can specify drones to deliver the items they need directly to the scenic areas, which is definitely more convenient.”
    A staff member at the Meituan booth said that currently Meituan drones are operating on more than 30 routes in cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and have completed over 300,000 orders in total.
    Thanks to the rapid development of smart tourism in China, tourists have become accustomed to using online payments, ticket purchases and guided tours during their travels.
    Data from iResearch, an industry research and consulting institute, showed that in 2023, the total number of monthly uses and total usage time of online travel apps had grown by more than 30 percent year on year on average.
    Some Chinese online travel service companies also use digital technologies to meet the growing travel needs of foreign visitors in China.
    In May, Tongcheng Travel launched an international travel reservation platform named HopeGoo, which supports payments in 16 global currencies and via various operating languages.
    Richard Santana, a product designer and blogger from the United States, said that with these online services, foreigners will be more willing to go to China, while their travels in China will also be more convenient.
    Ma Yiliang, chief statistician of the China Tourism Academy, said that “digitalization plus cultural tourism” has become a development trend.
    As “China Travel” has surged to be a hot global social media topic, demand for inbound tourism to China has increased significantly.
    “With the smarter and more convenient experience in China, foreign tourists can find a more open, more confident and safer China during their travels,” said Ma. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Summit hammers out consensus for updating, upgrading UN to tackle challenges

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    Philemon Yang, president of the General Assembly of the United Nations, speaks at the Summit of the Future at the UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 22, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

    The Summit of the Future opened at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York on Sunday, with the adoption of a Pact for the Future, as well as its annexes the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations, which cover a broad range of themes including peace and security, sustainable development, climate change, digital cooperation, human rights, gender, youth and future generations and the transformation of global governance.

    The Pact for the Future is the UN’s master plan for tackling challenges that lie ahead for humanity, with 56 “actions” covering everything from peacekeeping to the potential threats posed by artificial intelligence. The pact underlines the “increasingly complex challenges” to world peace, notably the threat of nuclear war, with the document reiterating the UN’s core tenets.

    The pact promises to accelerate efforts to attain the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim for the eradication of extreme poverty by 2030, an intensified battle against hunger, promotion of gender equality and education. Most of the objectives were set in 2005, but are far from being realized. Against that backdrop, and with poor countries particularly mobilized for change, the pact especially calls for “reform of the international financial architecture.”

    What UNGA president says?

    “We stand at a crossroads of global transformation, facing unprecedented challenges that demand urgent, collective action,” Philemon Yang, president the UN General Assembly, said at the opening segment of the two-day summit. “From conflict and climate change to the digital divide, from inequalities to threats against human rights, together, we all face profound challenges. Yet, alongside these challenges, there is hope,” because challenges come along with opportunities.

    The Pact for the Future represents the world body’s pledge not only to address immediate crises, but lay the foundations for a sustainable, just, and peaceful global order, for all peoples and nations, he said, adding that the commitments embodied in the pact and its annexes reflect the collective will of UN member states to promote international peace and security, invigorate implementation of the SDGs, foster just and inclusive societies, and ensure that technologies always serve the common good of humankind.

    “The Summit of the Future is a call to action. We must shape our future to protect ourselves and our planet Earth,” said the president. “Action that recommits us to the principles of international law, the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the promise of the United Nations Charter to save future generations from the pain of war.”

    The world body’s mission is to eradicate poverty in all its forms, tackle inequalities, and promote peace and security, tolerance and respect for diversity, and the summit offers a historic opportunity to ensure that progress is shared equitably across all nations and communities everywhere, he said.

    “We have an obligation to harness the power of science, technology, and innovation, in order to prepare the future of humankind. It is also important that we reproduce our human successes across generations all the time,” noted the president. “Let us continue our efforts to reform and strengthen global institutions that support peace, security, sustainable development, and financial stability.”

    What UN secretary general says?

    “I called for this summit to consider deep reforms to make global institutions more legitimate, fair and effective, based on the values of the UN Charter,” said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the meeting. “I called for this summit because 21st century challenges require 21st century solutions: frameworks that are networked and inclusive; and that draw on the expertise of all of humanity … our world is heading off the rails — and we need tough decisions to get back on track.”

    Conflicts are raging and multiplying, from the Middle East to Ukraine and Sudan, with no end in sight, he said, adding that the world’s collective security system is threatened by geopolitical divides, nuclear posturing, and the development of new weapons and theaters of war, while resources that could bring opportunities and hope are invested in death and destruction.

    “In short, our multilateral tools and institutions are unable to respond effectively to today’s political, economic, environmental and technological challenges. And tomorrow’s will be even more difficult and even more dangerous,” noted the secretary general, stressing that things are changing fast but the world’s peace and security tools and institutions, as well as its global financial architecture, reflect a bygone era.

    Technology, geopolitics and globalization have transformed power relations and the world is going through a time of turbulence and a period of transition, he addressed the meeting. With the adoption of the Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations, pathways are opened to new possibilities and opportunities — a breakthrough on peace and security reforms to make the Security Council more reflective of today’s world is promised.

    These three landmark agreements are a step-change toward more effective, inclusive, networked multilateralism, said Guterres, noting that their implementation will prioritize dialogue and negotiation, end the wars tearing the world apart, and reform the composition and working methods of the Security Council. “To rebuild trust, we must start with the present and look to the future. People everywhere are hoping for a future of peace, dignity, and prosperity.”

    What Summit of the Future Means?

    In 2020, the United Nations turned 75 and marked the occasion by starting a global conversation about hopes and fears for the future. This was the beginning of a process that would eventually lead, four years later, to the convening of the Summit of the Future, a major event this September, just before the annual high-level debate of the General Assembly.

    The summit was conceived at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was a perception at the UN that countries and people pulled apart instead of cooperating to face this global threat.

    “We were really confronted with the gap between the aspirations of our founders, which we were trying to celebrate at the 75th anniversary, and the reality of the world as it is today,” said Michele Griffin, the policy director of the summit.

    UN member states tasked Guterres to come up with a vision for the future of global cooperation. His answer to their call was “Our Common Agenda,” a landmark report with recommendations on renewed global cooperation to address a host of risks and threats, and a proposal to hold a forward-looking summit in 2024.

    The event consists of sessions and plenaries based around five main tracks — sustainable development and financing; peace and security; a digital future for all; youth and future generations; and global governance — and other topics that cut across all of the work of the UN, including human rights, gender equality and the climate crisis.

    The immediate outcome is the finalized version of the Pact for the Future, with the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration for Future Generations as annexes, all of which were adopted by member states during the summit on Sunday.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The pressing case for a new emergency visa to help people fleeing Gaza and other conflicts

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane McAdam, Scientia Professor and ARC Laureate Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Sydney

    Recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza have displaced large numbers of people. In each case, Australia’s humanitarian response has been different. Some people have been able to acquire a visa and travel to Australia relatively easily; others have been stuck.

    Once here, wildly varying visa entitlements mean some people have access to work rights, health care and other services; others are barely surviving.

    In a new policy brief, we argue the Australian government should create a new emergency visa for humanitarian crises.

    We believe the government needs a more streamlined, equitable, predictable and effective response to assist people facing a real risk of persecution, extreme danger or other serious harm.

    An ad hoc approach to emergencies

    To date, Australia has used at least 25 different types of visas to respond to humanitarian emergencies. This has resulted in varying outcomes for those affected, as well as significant distress for diaspora communities in Australia concerned for the safety and welfare of loved ones stuck abroad.

    While the use of different visas has provided the government with flexibility, it has led to ad hoc and inconsistent approaches. It has also added to challenges and inefficiencies within the visa processing system.

    For instance, no special humanitarian visa has been announced for people fleeing conflicts in Gaza or Sudan, though Tony Burke, the new minister for Home Affairs, has indicated he is looking at ways to allow Palestinians to stay here longer.

    Large numbers of Palestinians have been refused visitor visas due to security concerns and, arguably, the politicisation of humanitarian assistance.

    In any case, visitor visas are far from an ideal response in such cases. They are intended for a short, temporary period and do not give people access to any government services or social supports.

    What’s wrong with other existing visas?

    One of the problems with existing visas is that even those designed for emergencies can be too slow to provide urgent protection. In addition, they typically help only a small number of individuals in immediate danger.

    Many visas are issued on a wholly discretionary basis. People must be invited to apply for them, and they cannot transition to a more permanent visa unless the minister permits them to do so.

    In some cases, special visa arrangements have been created for particular groups of people, such as Kosovar refugees in the late 1990s. By contrast, no special humanitarian visa regime has been created for people fleeing conflicts in Gaza or Sudan.

    The visa situation does not need to be this complicated. Yes, it can be reassuring for people to know there is more than one way to find safety in Australia. However, a preferable option would be to have an emergency visa that enables people to reach Australia lawfully and quickly, with a clear pathway to a long-term solution.

    What should an emergency visa look like?

    An emergency visa should enable people at risk to travel to Australia quickly and safely. Eligibility should be determined on the basis of sound and defensible principles, and guided by good practices from other countries and our own history.

    For example, the government could identify eligible classes of people in need of humanitarian emergency visas. Relatives and diaspora communities in Australia could assist in identifying those with connections to Australia (such as family members, past residents and people with links to Australian companies or organisations).

    This recommendation aligns with past practices of designating a particular cohort of people for protection. For instance, Australia’s former special assistance visa category (in use from 1991–2000) provided resettlement opportunities to categories of people with connections to Australia. This included those from the former Yugoslavia and Soviet Union, East Timor, Lebanon, Sudan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, as well as Ahmadi Muslims.

    An emergency visa should provide for an initial stay of 12 months. While this is shorter than some comparative visas, it would provide some certainty for people and allow for a reassessment of the circumstances in their country of origin after a year. At this point, they could either return voluntarily. Or, if it’s not safe to do so, they could be granted a pathway to permanent residence in Australia.

    Emergency visas should also provide immediate access to services (including Medicare and Centrelink), as well as work and study rights, language and cultural support, and assistance with accommodation. Access to work and study rights would enable visa holders to support themselves and alleviate the demands on relatives, community organisations, social service agencies and the government.

    Furthermore, anyone who is in Australia when a humanitarian emergency occurs in their home country should be granted an automatic visa extension or a bridging visa with the same conditions. This should not adversely affect their ability to apply for a different visa, including a protection visa.

    Why a more predictable system is important

    Establishing this kind of system would enable refugees fleeing conflict to rebuild their lives in Australia relatively quickly.

    It would likely encourage people to take steps to get their qualifications recognised and seek jobs commensurate with their skills – benefiting both themselves and the Australian community.

    It would also provide them with both legal and psychological security by removing the uncertainty and precarity of being stuck in a prolonged temporary status. Our research has shown this is detrimental to people’s mental health and wellbeing.

    Australia has an opportunity to take a bold, dynamic and forward-looking approach that would show real leadership in responding to humanitarian emergencies in a timely, well-considered and compassionate manner.

    Jane McAdam receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She is a member of the expert sub-committee of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration.

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

    – ref. The pressing case for a new emergency visa to help people fleeing Gaza and other conflicts – https://theconversation.com/the-pressing-case-for-a-new-emergency-visa-to-help-people-fleeing-gaza-and-other-conflicts-238877

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: Concert held to mark 75th anniversary of China-Poland diplomatic ties

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

    WARSAW, Sept. 22 — A concert was held here on Sunday night to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Poland.

    Co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and the Chinese Embassy in Poland, the concert was performed by musicians from the China National Opera and Dance Drama Theater, together with Polish musicians.

    Sun Linjiang, Chinese ambassador to Poland, said that music has played an important role in promoting cultural cooperation and enhancing mutual understanding between China and Poland.

    Nearly 400 guests from the two countries enjoyed such well-known pieces as “Blooming Flowers and Full Moon,” “I Love You, China,” “Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon,” and “Chopin: Fantaisie Impromptu, op. 66.”

    The performance earned rounds of applause from the audience.

    Joanna, a Polish member of the audience, said that she was very happy to see the Chinese art troupe come to Poland, and she expressed the hope that cultural exchanges between the two countries will become richer in the future.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Families fired up about ceramics

    Source: China State Council Information Office 3

    Like most, Sun Lixin, the eldest child in the family-run businesses in Jingdezhen, east China’s Jiangxi province, was born with a mission — succession.

    The firstborn son was followed by a brother and a sister in a family that has made porcelain for four generations and was trained to inherit the family’s ceramic making skills since he was a child.

    His father, Sun Tongxin, has a masterly skill for blue and white painting on porcelain and was a trailblazer in splash ink painting on ceramic panels, blending the innovative contemporary high-temperature technique with the expressive methods of traditional Chinese blue and white ink painting. One of Sun Sr’s pieces was collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing.

    Ink color is one of the color painting decoration methods of ceramics. It refers to a kind of porcelain painting technique that uses thick or bright black as the main colorant to paint on ceramics, presenting a light-black ink effect. It has a strong literati charm and an artistic appeal, showing an elegant and simple, green and subtle aesthetic feeling.

    “I grew up in an environment surrounded by ceramics and ceramists,” Sun Lixin, 57, said.

    He recalled that he did homework at the workshops where his parents worked when primary school finished. The three went home together after the adults got of work.

    In 1976, then premier Zhou Enlai decreed the protection for traditional craftsmanship of porcelain production.

    Thanks to the regulation, a group of teens in Jingdezhen was recruited by the local 10 state-owned porcelain factories to be trained in pottery-making techniques.

    “Though being wet behind the ears, I was thrilled to be an apprentice in a state-owned factory,” Sun Lixin said.

    He was only 13.

    “I liked to learn how to make ceramics, such as drawing, throwing and painting as many of my peers were also in the factory,” he said.

    Sun Lixin’s teacher was his father, who was very strict with the naughty boy. Luckily, his peer apprentices, in his words, learned from their parents’ friends, who were very friendly.

    “I was always sniveling as my father bawled me out for doing things frolicsome with other children,” Sun Lixin said. “One day, I ran away from home, saying to myself that I was damned if I was going to do pottery again.”

    However, he had no choice but to return home and continue his apprenticeship and his father had more teachers for the boy to sharpen his skill of Chinese painting.

    Sun Lixin was a fast learner and became a skilled porcelain painter.

    Time of change

    But things turned bad in Jingdezhen in the late 1980s and early 90s as all the workers were laid of due to the restructuring of the state-owned factories. Sun Lixin and other potters had to do something else to make a living.

    An entrepreneur from Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong province, invited Sun Lixin to work for him, offering a fat salary of more than 2,000 yuan ($275) a month.

    “His offer is very impressive to me. You know, I earned a monthly income of only 300 yuan in Jingdezhen at that time,” Sun said.

    His parents were also among the massive layoffs, instead bringing home the bacon by drawing for some local people who were the first to run their own porcelain workshops.

    Sun Lixin returned to Jingdezhen from Guangzhou when he was told that his grandfather was fatally ill.

    “I am his firstborn grandson, whom the big family has great expectation on,” Sun said.

    He took with him all the money he had saved over several years in Guangzhou and rebuilt the kiln that the family had before 1949.

    Most of the Sun family members are artisans. Sun Lixin’s uncle has a mastery of porcelain pigments.

    In January 1975, the Jingdezhen-based ceramic research institute affiliated to China’s former ministry of light industry was assigned the special mission of making porcelain for Chairman Mao Zedong. More than 100 sets of porcelain, or nearly 10,000 pieces, which were coded as 7501, were produced in a year.

    Sun Lixin’s mother, who is specialized in underglaze polychrome enamels, was in the team for the important assignment.

    “In my childhood, I saw my mom doing underglaze enameling on a very thin piece in the middle of night. There was a slight sound of cracking. I saw a tear rolling down her cheek,” Sun Lixin recalled compassionately.

    “Flaws make porcelain prices drop, so no single flaw is allowed on ceramic pieces,” he said.

    But Sun has kept piles of porcelain wares with flaws, which, in his words, remind him of the time and effort his parents invested.

    “Hard work and dedication is the character of the Sun family to the core. I have a sense of purpose for making the family craftsmanship better,” Sun Lixin said.

    Family craftsmanship

    He is devoted to making the Sun’s kiln not only a workshop but also a place for doing research on ceramic making.

    Sun Lixin’s modern aesthetic perfectly complements the craftsmanship of the classic designs from Chinese ink painting.

    His ceramic panels are widely collected by museums such as the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, as well as individuals. He is one of the inheritors of intangible cultural heritage conferred by the Jingdezhen authorities.

    In 2006, the Jingdezhen ceramic hand-making technique was included in the first batch of traditional skills in China’s national intangible cultural heritage list. There are 1,899 inheritors of Jingdezhen’s intangible cultural heritage, more than 90 percent of whom are engaged in the inheritance of ceramic hand-making skills.

    When Sun Lixin found that his son was not into the porcelain making, he and his wife decided to have one more child. They had a daughter when Sun Lixin was 41.

    The girl’s early interest in drawing gives her parents and grandparents pleasure. “It seems that drawing is in her bones. She is making sketches much better than I do,” Sun Lixin said as he beamed with pride.

    While his 24-year-old son was studying biological engineering in Dalian city in Northeast China’s Liaoning province, his daughter, 16, is learning fine art in Beijing.

    As the intangible cultural heritage inheritor, Sun Lixin is taking on six young people as his apprentices. They learn to draw the traditional Chinese patterns such as lotus, peony, peach, bat and persimmon.

    “These flora and animals used as decorative motifs on porcelain pieces are symbols of traditional Chinese culture, which young people had better have a understanding of,” Sun Lixin said.

    The Bat, for example, represents good fortune, lotus stands for good luck and the peach means longevity.

    “I am obliged to tell them what I know about traditional Chinese culture,” he said.

    Linglong ware

    Lyu Yating, 31, is also the firstborn of a family that makes ceramics for five generations. She has a younger sister who does not find porcelain making appealing, as well as a younger brother who is still a middle school student.

    Shortly after graduating from a university where she studied international business management in the United Kingdom in 2014, the 21-year-old Lyu returned to Jingdezhen to take over the family business. “My mother told me that my father, 62, was out of sorts as he always put his nose to the grindstone,” she said.

    Lyu’s father started the Fuyu blue and white linglong ceramic company in the 1990s when the state-owned porcelain factories could not survive. He recruited all six of his brothers and sisters who were laid off from the factories, as well as other skilled artisans.

    Jingdezhen is the only place where linglong porcelain is produced. Grain-sized holes are hollowed out in the thin roughcast and covered with several layers of glaze when ceramists make linglong porcelain, also known as a “porcelain inlaid with glass”. It is famous for its exquisite carving patterns and glittering, translucent appeal. The process requires a high level of craftsmanship.

    Linglong porcelain is one of the most famous types of ceramics Jingdezhen produces. The others include famille-rose porcelain, blue-white porcelain and color-glazed porcelain.

    Like Sun Lixin, Lyu also grew up at the ceramic-making workshop.

    At that time, she dreamed of doing something different from what her parents did. The young artisan said: “I wanted to be independent.”

    But she has no heart to let her parents down. The Lyu family has a formula for glaze handed down from her great-great-grandfather.

    “After all, I am the eldest child and my father’s technique should be passed on. Our family business is well established in Jingdezhen,” Lyu said.

    She feels a sense of pride when she sees Chinese porcelain, especially items made in Jingdezhen, exhibited in foreign museums.

    Lyu started studying ceramic making comprehensively — the way to make the linglong glaze in particular — shortly after coming back to Jingdezhen.

    “Though I had no experience for ceramic making at that time, I was of intellectual curiosity and thought outside the box,” she said.

    The family business produces daily use porcelain at its production lines. At the same time, Lyu has a team focusing on research and development.

    She and her team have been experimenting with new media to achieve the best effects for linglong porcelain.

    “I want to find a type of glaze that can make the linglong ceramic more beautiful and more translucent,” Lyu said.

    “Fortunately, the production of the daily use ceramics has increased significantly and made big profit so that investment in R&D is possible,” Lyu said.

    New ways forward

    Now the young entrepreneur is dedicating herself to building brands as she knows that her production lines cannot churn out as much as the companies in Dehua, Fujian province, and Chaozhou, Guangdong province. The two places have a pile-it-high-and-sell-it-cheap strategy.

    “I don’t want to be an original equipment manufacturer. Instead, I want to sell our brands overseas,” she said.

    Lyu described herself as a well balanced person who is calm and reasonable and shows good judgment.

    “I hope that products of intangible cultural heritage can be salable rather than merely a symbol. In so doing, people can understand what the charm of intangible cultural heritage is,” Lyu said.

    Lyu, also a designated inheritor of intangible cultural heritage in Jingdezhen, is ambitious to make ceramics that could be handed down from generation to generation.

    “I am grateful to my father who has created such a wonderful company,” she said.

    Her company has four brands; one started by her father and the other three by her. She is pouring a lot of effort into developing products such as coffee and tea sets, jardinieres and copies of antique porcelain.

    In Lyu’s words, the spirit of artisans means their craftsmanship and pursuit of excellence.

    Lyu received offers for graduate study from four foreign universities after her undergraduate education in the UK. When asked whether she regrets not undertaking graduate studies, Lyu said she had no choice but inherit the family business.

    ” Now I am having a great life, and I have no regrets,” she said.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Kunqu Opera is a hard act to follow

    Source: China State Council Information Office 3

    Kunqu Opera performers perform at China Institute in Manhattan, New York, the United States, Jan. 8, 2023. (Photo by Ziyu Julian Zhu/Xinhua)

    In Peking University Hall on Sept 13, an air of reflective nostalgia and vibrant enthusiasm enveloped a lecture by Pai Hsien-yung, a distinguished Chinese-American writer, playwright and director.

    Pai, 87, a pivotal figure in modern Chinese literature and theater, took the stage to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the youth edition of the Kunqu Opera, The Peony Pavilion, which he produced and adapted. This adaptation of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) classic, originally penned by Tang Xianzu, has been instrumental in bridging the gap between Kunqu Opera and contemporary youth culture. The lecture not only commemorated two decades of artistic endeavor but also highlighted the enduring relevance of this timeless tale.

    Pai’s lecture also opened the latest performances of the youth edition of The Peony Pavilion, which was staged for three days at Peking University from Sept 14 to 16. About 6,000 tickets were sold.

    “Time flies. It’s been 20 years since we premiered the youth edition of The Peony Pavilion. I am back here today, sharing this production with young people, just like what we did two decades ago,” Pai says. “I am a writer and I never expected that my life would be associated with Kunqu Opera closely for such a long time. I consider myself a volunteer in protecting and promoting the ancient art form, which is so sophisticated and beautiful that it would be a great regret if we didn’t keep it alive and let it be appreciated by a wider audience.”

    One of the oldest traditional opera forms still performed in China, Kunqu Opera was born in the region of Kunshan in today’s Suzhou, Jiangsu province. It has distinguished itself by the virtuosity of its rhythmic patterns and exerted a dominant influence on other recent forms of opera in China, such as Peking Opera, which is over 200 years old. It is hence known as the mother of all Chinese operas.

    Combining songs performed in the Suzhou dialect, graceful body movements, martial arts and dance, Kunqu Opera uses a great variety of gestures to express specific emotions.

    For Pai, there is a reason why Kunshan was the birthplace of Kunqu Opera. “It’s just like Western opera was born in Italy because the Italian language is rhythmic. Kunqu Opera was born in Kunshan because of the local dialect’s musicality and expressiveness,” he says.

    In 2008, UNESCO inscribed Kunqu Opera on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (originally proclaimed in 2001). This recognition put Kunqu Opera in the international spotlight at the same time as it began to experience a domestic revival. The youth edition of The Peony Pavilion was the fruit of a collaboration between the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theater of Jiangsu and Pai. Premiering in Taipei in 2004 and staged at Peking University in 2005, the production has been considered a major contributor to the development and revival of the art form.

    With more than 500 performances across the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, as well as in countries such as Greece, the United Kingdom and the United States, it has been watched by a combined worldwide audience of about 800,000. The shows were also staged at more than 40 Chinese universities at that time, which allowed Kunqu Opera to witness a surge in popularity, especially among young people.

    In 2006, 2009 and 2016, the production returned to Peking University with shows and workshops. In 2009, appealing to the rising number of Kunqu Opera lovers, Pai, along with the university, initiated and launched a project, Inheritance Program of Kunqu Opera, to train young amateur fans. The school also launched an elective course on the art form, which, according to Peng Feng, dean of the university’s School of Arts, is one of its most popular courses among students.

    Born in Guilin, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Pai moved to Shanghai with his family during wartime and later settled in Taiwan. He recalls that his enthusiasm for the art form started at the age of 9 when he watched a performance by Peking Opera masters Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) and Yu Zhenfei (1902-93) in Shanghai in 1946.

    “I can still remember that performance, an excerpt, The Interrupted Dream, from The Peony Pavilion, that is still widely performed today. Because of the two Peking Opera artists’ fame, tickets sold out fast and the audience was excited,” Pai says.

    “People had been looking forward to Mei’s return and the show was phenomenal,” Pai adds. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), Mei, who specialized in nandan (man performing female roles), stopped performing for eight years, refusing to entertain the invaders and growing a moustache to show his determination. Nandan roles are a practice forged in feudal times when women were forbidden to take the stage.

    Pai as a child didn’t understand what Kunqu Opera was all about; he was only impressed by the art form’s beauty and the warm feedback of the audience. Gaining his degree in English literature from a local university and his master’s degree in literary theory and creative writing at the University of Iowa, Pai became a professor of Chinese literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and lived there for over three decades until his retirement in 1994. His many works include Taipei People and New Yorkers.

    It was in 2002, when Pai was invited to give a lecture on Kunqu Opera in Hong Kong, that he was inspired to produce the youth edition of The Peony Pavilion. Kunqu Opera faced a great challenge back then from modern life, and few people went to theaters to watch the old art form. “I wanted to let young people enjoy the beauty of Kunqu Opera. I wanted to build up a profound dialogue between the past and the present,” Pai says.

    For his lecture in Hong Kong, Pai not only narrated the history and cultural significance of Kunqu Opera but also had young performers display the singing and movements of The Peony Pavilion, an innovation that was widely praised by the students.

    The original play, known for its intricate portrayal of love and longing, was a cornerstone of Chinese literature and drama. A beautiful young woman named Du Liniang falls in love with Liu Mengmei, a handsome scholar she meets in her dream. She wakes up and finds that her longing for the man is so strong that it gradually causes her to fall ill and die. After her death, she persuades the judge of the underworld to grant her permission to return as a ghost to find him. She eventually finds Liu, who is temporarily staying at her family temple where she is buried. Their powerful love brings Du back to life, and they live happily ever after.

    “The Peony Pavilion is just like William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, which is timeless and embraced by different cultures. The difference is that Chinese people love a happy ending, so the couple conquered death and reunited,” Pai says.

    His version was specifically tailored to resonate with a younger audience, infusing the classic narrative with elements that appeal to modern sensibilities while preserving its historical essence. He invited Kunqu Opera actor Yu Jiulin and actress Shen Fengying to play the roles of Liu and Du, both in their 20s in 2004, similar in age as the targeted audiences.

    The original version tells the story in 55 acts, spanning eight hours in total. To appeal to the contemporary audience, Pai narrowed it down to 27 acts.

    Pai talked about the personal stories he encountered from audience members over the years, especially the exciting moments when the production toured four universities in the US in 2006. “We toured the US for a month. I was worried about the response of the audiences, whether they would be able to enjoy the old Chinese art form. To my surprise, our tickets sold out and our performances received long standing ovations,” Pai say.

    “For many, both the Chinese and Western audiences, the play was a gateway to discovering the complexities and beauty of Kunqu Opera, while for others, especially our creative team members and our then young performers, it was a profound reminder of the timeless nature of the story and the everlasting appeal of Kunqu Opera.”

    According to Weng Guosheng, one of the directors of the youth edition of The Peony Pavilion, Pai’s adaptation took bold steps to modernize the presentation of the play, incorporating innovative staging techniques, contemporary music elements, and a focus on themes that speak directly to today’s youth. “Pai’s approach was both respectful and revolutionary, maintaining the soul of the original, while introducing new dimensions to enhance its appeal to younger generations,” Weng says.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Scientists from NSU and ICG SB RAS have developed a new approach to collecting, storing and analyzing information about wheat ears

    MIL OSI Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –

    Scientists from NSU and ICG SB RAS presented a new approach to collecting, storing and analyzing information on the morphometric characteristics of a wheat ear. Students took an active part in the work on creating the SpikeDroidDB system Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of NSU, Faculty of Information Technology NSU, and also Mathematical center in AkademgorodokWork on this project was carried out with the support of the Russian Science Foundation, project No. 23-14-00150.

    The SpikeDroidDB information system allows storing digital images of the ear, annotating their phenotypic characteristics according to 14 important traits and provides a flexible query system for accessing data.

    Using SpikeDroidDB, a collection of F2 hybrid ears from a cross between the Australian soft wheat variety Triple Dirk and the Chinese wheat sample KU506 Triticum yunnanense was digitized and annotated. An analysis of the variability of the ears in shape, length and width was carried out.

    The structure of the ear is one of the most important features of cereals, associated with such economically valuable qualities as productivity, resistance to environmental factors and pests, ease of threshing. Ears differ in shape, size, density, awns, color, etc.

    For breeders and geneticists, such parameters as the number of grains in an ear, the thousand-grain weight, and others are of great importance. These characteristics are closely related to plant productivity. A useful selection feature is the shape of the grain and such characteristics of the ear as its type, length, profile, the presence or absence of awns, the number of fertile and sterile spikelets (i.e., grain content), ear fragility, and the properties of the glume. Collecting and describing these features manually is a labor-intensive and lengthy process.

    — Researchers at our laboratory have long been working on an important task aimed at replacing the measuring methods of geneticists and breeders with a ruler and a computer or mobile phone. We would like to make it so that scientists no longer have to manually measure plant parameters, but simply take a photo of a wheat ear, while observing a number of technical conditions, and then obtain the information they are interested in by uploading this photo to our database. When creating it, we worked with conventional image analysis, that is, with digital vision, and applied deep machine learning in terms of image recognition using neural networks, identifying individual features and classification, — said the leading researcher at the Laboratory of Evolutionary Informatics and Theoretical Genetics of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, an employee of the Department of Information Biology Faculty of Natural Sciences, Novosibirsk State University Dmitry Afonnikov.

    The complexity of the researchers’ work was that it was based on digital images of ears. They serve as the initial data when applying automatic phenotyping methods. When developing them, an important task is an expert assessment of many plant characteristics for their further use in training and verification of computer algorithms. However, many morphological features of the ear are usually assessed qualitatively, not quantitatively. Very often, they do not have a quantitative assessment. Such features include the shape of the ear, its density, the color of the ear, the pubescence of the glumes, the type of awns, the color of the awns, the shape of the ear, brittleness of the ear and many others. Therefore, the use of digital image analysis approaches to describe the shape of the grain and ear, as well as their comparison with the assessments of the ear features made by expert breeders, became an important task for the developers.

    — In our database, we have collected over 10,000 digital images of ears and described their structure and properties so that genetic scientists can obtain all the data they need from a photograph — the size of the ear, its thickness, width, presence of awns, color of the ears, etc., essentially replacing conventional measurements with image analysis. And as a result, we obtain more characteristics, and they are also more accurate. In this case, the automated system has more capabilities than a person. If a person determines some parameters “by eye”, then computer vision records them more accurately and productively. With the help of computer analysis of digital images, we can determine hundreds of parameters of ears — both basic and their derivatives, and then use them to develop methods and classifications, as well as to assess productivity. Such technologies provide a high degree of automation of information collection, its storage in databases, integration with data on the genotype and environmental parameters, and create the basis for intelligent analysis of the information received. There is another important advantage: a digital description of the ear and its image will be stored in the database for as long as necessary, whereas a dried ear placed in a paper envelope may crumble, change color or deteriorate, and the sample will be lost, explained Dmitry Afonnikov.

    In the SpikeDroidDB system, several images can be associated with each ear. For each of them, the protocol by which it was obtained is indicated. For shooting, the developers used two protocols for obtaining digital images of mature ears. They chose a blue background as the most contrasting to the color of the ears and allowing you to easily separate the object from the background. Shooting of the ears was carried out in two versions: in the first, the ear is located vertically in front of a blue background, the second shooting option provides for a horizontal position of the ears on the glass above the blue background.

    The prototype of the SpikeDroidDB system is available at this link http://speakedroid.biores.cytogen.ru/The main page contains brief information about the database, links for logging in or registering, and links to the main blocks of information in the database.

    Dmitry Afonnikov says that breeders and geneticists involved in developing new varieties of wheat are showing great interest in this development and are interested in working with it to automate painstaking and lengthy routine processes that require precision and concentration. In addition, the SpikeDroidDB system will help avoid subjective assessments, errors and inaccuracies in phenotyping ear samples.

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

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    https://www.nsu.ru/n/media/news/nauka/uchenye-ngu-i-itsig-so-ran-razrabotali-novyy-podkhod-dlya-sbora-khraneniya-i-analiza-informatsii-ok/

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and or sentence structure not be perfect.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Speech for National Commemoration of Service in Timor-Leste

    Source: New Zealand Government

    A warm welcome to you all as we gather to acknowledge the New Zealanders who were involved in peace support operations in Timor-Leste, and to remember those who lost their lives as a result of their service.

    I acknowledge the many military and civilian veterans present, and I am pleased this national commemoration provides the recognition your service so greatly deserves. 

    Welcome to all the families and friends here among us, and to the members of the Timorese community. 

    I especially want to acknowledge the families and friends of the five New Zealand soldiers who so tragically lost their lives in Timor-Leste:

    • Private Leonard William Manning
    • Warrant Officer Class Two Tony Michael Walser
    • Staff Sergeant William Edward White
    • Private Boyd Regan Henare Atkins
    • Private Dean Russell Johnston. 

    I also want to pay tribute to the three personnel from Fiji, Ireland and Nepal who were serving under New Zealand command who lost their lives.

    Every death in service is a tragedy, and my heart goes out to the families, friends and comrades who will be feeling the impact to this day. Our thoughts are with you today.

    I acknowledge His Excellency Alfredo Pérez Bravo Dean of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassador of Mexico, Her Excellency Felicidade de Sousa Guterres Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, and all the members of the Diplomatic Corps who are here representing the many countries who served in Timor-Leste.

    I acknowledge Vice Chief of Defence Force Rear Admiral Mathew Williams, here representing the Chief of Defence Force, all the representatives of the New Zealand Defence Force and the National President of the Returned and Services’ Association Sir Wayne Shelford.

    I also acknowledge Greg O’Connor, Labour spokesperson for Veterans.

    Yesterday, the 20th of September, marked the 25th anniversary of the arrival of New Zealand troops in Timor-Leste to contribute to peace operations led by Interfet, the International Force East Timor. 

    The troops came to the aid of the Timorese people at a time of extreme violence and destruction, in the aftermath of a referendum which had confirmed overwhelming support for independence.

    New Zealanders served from 1999 to 2002 to support East Timor’s transition to a sovereign state, the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. After further violence broke out in 2006, New Zealand personnel were again deployed and continued to serve there until 2012.

    Approximately 7000 New Zealand personnel were deployed over these years.  

    In fact, New Zealand was one of the largest contributors to international efforts. The Special Air Service, air transport and helicopter support, three naval ships, and an infantry battalion which included sub-units from Canada, Ireland, Nepal, Fiji and Singapore, along with members of the Territorial Force, were all deployed at times throughout the conflict.

    Today is also a time to recognise the diplomats, members of the New Zealand Police and New Zealand Customs, prison officers, legal staff, medical professionals and other New Zealand civilians who served alongside Defence Force personnel.

    On the Roll of Honour in the Hall of Memories at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park, our national place of remembrance, the names of the New Zealanders lost in Timor-Leste are commemorated among those of all who have died serving our country. I am pleased we have the Timor-Leste Roll on display here in the Cathedral today as we honour the deceased.

    Today, let us also give thought to the suffering of the people of Timor-Leste and the impact of violence on their lives, homes and communities. Let us honour, too, their enormous courage in supporting independence despite the brutal repercussions from the militia.

    It is the nature of service in times of conflict that strong bonds are forged – between service personnel, with local communities, and nation to nation.

    We cherish our strong relationships with the Timorese people and the Timor-Leste government, relationships we owe to the contribution of our personnel and the trust they earned. 

    I understand Inspector Ray Sutton, former Commander of the first contingent of New Zealand Police to serve in the new nation, is with us today. I hope he doesn’t mind if I quote him about the importance of relationships:

    We had to think on our feet — everything we did was through diplomacy. Probably our best asset was our ability to get on with people.

    Ours is a relationship founded on shared values that are all the more important in today’s uncertain world – decency and human rights, democracy and the rule of law, equality and fairness, and guardianship and protection of our environment.

    The New Zealand Defence Force still maintains a presence in Timor-Leste, supporting the professional development of the Timor-Leste military.

    Because the peace support operations were relatively recent, many of those who served in Timor-Leste remain employed in the New Zealand Defence Force today. For all who were involved, the experiences in Timor-Leste must still be very close and vivid, and I know too that your experiences will have had lasting impacts on your lives.

    I am glad that we have this opportunity as a nation to say thank you on this important anniversary.

    We can be very proud of the contribution of New Zealand service personnel and civilians in Timor-Leste, standing alongside the local people and helping to provide a more secure and stable life during their country’s journey as the first new sovereign state of the millennium.

    Twenty-five years after New Zealand’s involvement began, your deeds are enshrined in our nation’s memory, and your achievements, and the bonds you helped forge, will live on as a testament to your service.

    Thank you.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: [Interview] Samsung’s Odyssey OLED G8 Joins the Journey of Creating ‘The First Descendant’ With Nexon Developers

    Source: Samsung

    “Playing The First Descendant on the Odyssey monitor with HDR10+ GAMING allows you to experience the game’s vivid, high-quality graphics at their best”
    – Junhwan Kim, Lead programmer, Engine Program team, Nexon Games
     
    Game development is an art, and like any masterpiece, it requires the right tools. Nexon’s upcoming title, The First Descendant, is set to redefine the looter-shooter genre with its stunning visuals and immersive gameplay. At the heart of this development process is Samsung’s Odyssey OLED G8 — a monitor that not only displays these graphics but elevates them to a new level of realism.
     
    Join us as we dive into the behind-the-scenes journey with the developers at Nexon Games, who reveal how this cutting-edge display technology has helped bring their ambitious vision to life. From the precision of color to the speed of response, discover why the Odyssey OLED G8 is more than just a monitor — it’s a game-changer in the industry.
     

     
    Founded in 1994, Nexon has become a global leader in online gaming. Known for creating popular titles like MapleStory, Dungeon & Fighter and KartRider, Nexon continues to push boundaries in the gaming world. This year, the company introduced The First Descendant, a looter-shooter that attracted 260,000 concurrent players at launch. Nexon is focused on expanding its global reach and adapting to the fast-changing gaming industry. In 2021, Nexon completed the acquisition of Embark Studios AB, a company based in Stockholm, Sweden, developing multiple projects for global release.
     
    ▲ (From left) Lead Engine Programmer Junhwan Kim from the Engine Program team and Lead World Concept Artist Sinwook Wi, from the Environmental Concept Design team at Nexon Games, sat down with Samsung to talk about their latest project, The First Descendant and how the Odyssey OLED G8 played a role in its development.
     
     
    Q. Can you tell us about your role in developing The First Descendant and how you contributed to the game’s creation?
     
    Kim: I’m responsible for the game engine. I develop the software that integrates essential elements like graphics, sound and physics engines, make them work seamlessly together.
     
    Wi: I handle the environmental concept design. My role involves creating the overall concept of the game and designing the backgrounds and characters to fit within that environment.
     
    ▲ (From left) Gley, Blair and Enzo, key characters from Nexon’s looter-shooter game ‘The First Descendant’ (Image courtesy of Nexon)
     
     
    Q. What sets The First Descendant apart? What were some of the key innovations and design choices that defined your approach?
     
    Kim: The First Descendant is a looter shooter that blends third-person shooter (TPS) mechanics with role-playing game (RPG) elements. It features spectacular combat scenes, high-quality graphics and a rich loot system filled with powerful guns and gear. The core of the game lies in its storytelling, character development and the pursuit of the best weapons and equipment.
     
    A major focus for us was bringing the open world of The First Descendant to life through cutting-edge graphics. Using Unreal Engine 5, we leveraged Nanite to achieve highly detailed environments, allowing us to render complex landscapes and objects with incredible precision. This was crucial for creating an immersive open-world experience where players can explore vast and visually stunning environments. Lumen played a significant role as well, enabling real-time lighting that reacts dynamically to the game’s world and characters, further enhancing the realism of the gameplay.
    * Open World: A game design element that allows players to freely explore most areas with minimal restrictions.
    * Unreal Engine 5: A game engine developed by Epic Games, known for key features like Nanite, which efficiently handles high-capacity graphics, and Lumen, which enhances lighting effects.
     
    ▲ Junhwan works on the development of ‘The First Descendant’ using the Odyssey OLED G8. The Odyssey OLED G8 delivers superb graphics with its high resolution and color accuracy.
     
    Wi: The game is set in an apocalyptic world where factions — each with their own traditions — battle for survival. The story follows humanity’s fight against the Vulgus, invaders who nearly wiped out the human race. Players take on the role of descendants, embarking on a quest to find the Iron Heart, the ultimate weapon to end the war.
     
    On the design front, our goal was to create an apocalyptic world that felt rich and immersive while avoiding the overly dark and futuristic look often seen in similar settings. The environment itself is a key part of the storytelling. So, we integrated colorful, future-oriented designs for city of Albion to balance the grim atmosphere with a sense of hope. This approach doesn’t just end at the visual appeal but also helps the game engage players on an emotional level, too.
     

     
    ▲ Sinwook works on the design for the city of Albion, a key area in ‘The First Descendant,’ using the Odyssey OLED G8. The monitor’s consistent colors and detailed contrast has helped bring out the intricate design elements.
     
     
    Q. As a game developer, what do you consider the most important factors in creating a visually immersive gaming experience?
     
    Kim: A high-quality display is crucial to accurately present the game’s graphics and visuals. Today’s gaming standards demand seamless gameplay with vibrant graphics, high frame rates, detailed resolutions and minimal input lag. To fully experience these advancements, it’s crucial to use a gaming monitor with high resolution, a wide color gamut and fast response times.
     
    As part of our collaboration with Samsung, I received the Odyssey OLED G8 during the development of The First Descendant, and what stood out to me was the monitor’s awesome display quality — color accuracy, expressions and its quick response time. The monitor delivers colors and contrast with a high level of precision, which was crucial for developing the game. The 0.03ms (GTG) response time made a noticeable difference during our demonstrations as well.1
     
    “[With the Odyssey OLED G8,] You get two distinct display experiences with a single monitor—16:9 for working and 21:9 for playing”
    – Wi Sinwook, Lead World Concept Artist, Environmental Concept Design team, Nexon Games
     
    Wi: As a World Concept Artist, I constantly ask myself, “How can I best convey the immersive universe to players?” I want players to experience every detail of the environments and even the subtle expressions of the characters as they were intended. For that, a display accurately reproduces colors and fine details is crucial. When players can see the subtle nuances in shading and the vibrant colors, it significantly enhances their immersion in the game.
     
    ▲ Sinwook builds out the background concept designs for ‘The First Descendant’ using the Odyssey OLED G8.
     
    Q. Other than picture quality, were there any other the Odyssey OLED G8 features that stood out when you were working on and demonstrating the game?
     
    Kim: The First Descendant is a multi-platform game, available on PC (Steam) and consoles. The fact that the Odyssey OLED G8 supports up to three external inputs,2 was especially helpful when we were testing across the different platforms. The sleek, metal design also saved space and complemented the game’s sci-fi aesthetic.

     
    ▲ Junhwan demonstrates the console version of ‘The First Descendant’ on the Odyssey OLED G8. The Odyssey OLED G8 offers enhanced convenience with 2 HDMI 2.1 ports, 1 DisplayPort 1.4 and a USB hub.
     
    Wi: Working on the design and demonstrating the game on the Odyssey OLED G8, I found the gameplay smoother and more comfortable compared to my previous monitor. The colors and contrast were balanced and accurate, even on the big screen.
     
    I also really appreciated the ability to switch the screen ratio between 16:9 and 21:9 with just a single setting change. Normally, I avoid wide monitors due to the viewing angle, but the Odyssey OLED G8 made it convenient to switch between ratios for different tasks — 16:9 for working and 21:9 for demonstrating the game. The big advantage is that you get two distinct display experiences with a single monitor.
     
    ▲ The Odyssey OLED G8’s Game Bar allows users to switch between 21:9 and 16:9 screen ratios, enabling them to enjoy games in their preferred ratio.
     
    “The fact that the Odyssey OLED G8 supports up to three external inputs, was especially helpful when we were testing across platforms like PCs and different consoles”
    – Junhwan Kim, Lead Programmer, Engine Program team, Nexon Games
     
     
    Q. What features of the Odyssey OLED G8 do you think will elevate the experience for The First Descendant players?
     
    Kim: The First Descendant is the world’s first HDR10+ GAMING title. We collaborated with Samsung to implement this technology in our game, optimizing peak brightness of the monitor and supporting standard HDR without the need for manual adjustments.3 Playing The First Descendant on the Odyssey monitor with HDR10+ GAMING allows you to experience the game’s vivid, high-quality graphics at their best.
    * HDR10+ GAMING: A gaming technology that enhances image quality by analyzing game content to enhance the depth of graphics and supporting features like response time and Auto HDR.
     
    ▲ The Odyssey OLED G8 supports HDR10+ GAMING, allowing gamers to enjoy an optimized HDR gaming experience without manual adjustments in supported titles. ‘The First Descendant’ is the first game to feature HDR10+ GAMING technology.
     
    Wi: Unlike my previous monitor, where colors near the edges tended to darken, the Odyssey OLED G8 maintained consistent brightness across the entire screen. The thin frame and bezel also made it easier to focus on the game.
     

     
    ▲ The Odyssey OLED G8’s slim metal design and Core Lighting+ on the back enhance user immersion and create a stylish gaming space.
     
    Kim: I also found the Game Bar feature to be helpful. When the Odyssey OLED G8 is connected to a PC or console, it automatically calls up the Game Bar. Selecting FPS mode in the Game Bar brightens dark areas in the game, giving you an advantage over hidden enemies. Also, the sound becomes richer, further enhancing the immersion.
     
    ▲ (Left) Default Game Bar settings without a selected genre, (Right) FPS genre selected in Game Bar.
     
     
    Q. Any final words for The First Descendant players?
     
    Kim: If you’re a fan of The First Descendant, or any third-person shooter (TPS) game with high-quality graphics, the Odyssey OLED G8 is an excellent choice. It has high refresh rate, wide color gamut and fast response time, which really enhance the gaming experience.
     
    Wi: I’ve always debated between choosing a monitor with high resolution and refresh rate for gameplay versus one with accurate colors and contrast for development. The Odyssey OLED G8 meets both needs perfectly, so I can confidently recommend it to any gamer…or developer!
     

     
     
    1 Based on GtG measured under internal test conditions. Results may vary by content, monitor settings and the performance of the input source.2 Supports 2 HDMI 2.1 cables, one Display Port 1.4 and three USB 3.0 ports (1 Up, 2 Down)3 To use HDR10+ GAMING, the content must be HDR10+ GAMING compatible, and additional settings may need to be adjusted depending on the content.

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Honiara: London Fashion Week Show Blo Iumi returns bigger, better in 2024

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    The event celebrated 40 years of the London Fashion Show, one of the “Big Four” fashion weeks, alongside Paris, Milan, and New York.

    Winner of the Great London Fashion Show Mrs Hahe Alatala of Ahe Designs. Photo credit: Courtesy of Jay Gagame Photography.

    The British High Commission in Honiara hosted its second edition of the popular London Fashion Week Show Blo Iumi on Tuesday 17 September 2024, with fantastic local designers and incredible models showcasing the best in Solomon Design.

    The event celebrated 40 years of the London Fashion Show, one of the “Big Four” fashion weeks, alongside Paris, Milan, and New York. It showcases the work of leading British designers and attracts international buyers, media, and fashion enthusiasts. Burberry, present their collections here.

    The 40th celebration focuses on uniting creative communities, honouring the diversity of cultures and creativity of the city and positioning London at the forefront of the cultural zeitgeist. It is an occasion to celebrate not just the event itself but everyone that makes it possible.

    The Great funded Fashion Show Blo Iumi attracted 7 designers, 55 models including 5 Miss Solomon Islands Pageants 2024 contestants, and over one hundred excited guests.

    Speaking at the Fashion Show’s opening ceremony, Deputy High Commissioner to Solomon Islands, Emma Jane David said:

    Like in Solomon Islands, London’s fashion is deeply intertwined with its diversity. The city’s fashion reflects its multicultural population, drawing on a wide range of influences to create unique and eclectic styles. British fashion is at the forefront of sustainable and ethical fashion movements.

    This year’s Fashion Show Blo Iumi included 4 categories featuring a Lavalava wear, Evening wear, Lotu wear and a Contemporary traditional wear. Four judges made the tough decision selecting the best designs and models.

    Mrs Hahe Alatala of Hahe Designs emerged the winner, picking up a trophy and a mentoring session with a UK designer. Rosemary Boe of Rosie’s Couture and Wendy Gwaena of WG Designs took second and third places.

    Sonia’s Rochenberg of Sons and Daughters Designs, Prudence Beck of Threads Investment, Lava Grossmith of Lava’s Original and Luke Gegeu of EL Designs all received commendations.

    The show also featured body art by artists Hamid Ramokasa, Fred Oge, Wilson Kabe, Cassey Hairiu and Emmanuel Manu on five body building athletes, and a performance from Blad P2A and Khazin.

    Updates to this page

    Published 23 September 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senators Carper, Coons cosponsor resolution reaffirming access to emergency health care, including abortion care

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Delaware Christopher Coons
    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons (both D-Del.) joined a resolution led by Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) today reaffirming that every patient has the basic right to emergency health care, including abortion care, regardless of where they live. The introduction comes as new reporting from ProPublica makes plain that Republican abortion bans are preventing women from receiving lifesaving emergency health care, resulting in preventable deaths.
    “Every American, no matter where they live, deserves to receive the health care that they need,” said Senator Carper. “Reproductive health care continues to be attacked all across our country. Women and their doctors, not politicians and judges, should make these private health care decisions.”
    “New reporting makes clear what many Americans have suspected: Women are dying because of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and conservative states’ Trumpian abortion bans,” said Senator Coons. “Since the elimination of the federal right to an abortion, pregnant women who are in desperate need of medical attention are being turned away from emergency rooms, while doctors are afraid of being jailed for providing lifesaving care. I will fight tirelessly to protect emergency abortion care so that women don’t have to take their lives into their own hands when becoming pregnant.”
    “I introduced this resolution alongside my colleagues to simply reaffirm the basic principle that when you go to the ER, doctors should be allowed to treat you, and when you need emergency care – including abortion care – no politician should stop you from getting it,” said Senator Murray. “Yet here in America, in the 21st century, pregnant women die – not because doctors don’t know how to save them, but because doctors don’t know if Republicans will let them. Democrats will keep pressing to fully restore reproductive freedoms for every woman in America and we will continue to put a white-hot spotlight on the devastating, deadly fallout of Donald Trump’s abortion bans.”
    Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago, nearly two-dozen Republican-led U.S. states have banned or severely restricted access to abortion. These strict laws have created confusion around the treatment doctors can provide even when a pregnant patient’s life is in danger, as physicians fear that they may lose their medical license, be sued, or even charged with a felony if they perform lifesaving emergency care. Despite the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act’s (EMTALA) requirements that Medicare-participating hospitals treat and stabilize pregnant patients in need of emergency medical care, pregnant people are being turned away from emergency rooms. New reporting by ProPublica this week reported on the death of Amber Furman, a Georgia woman who died of medical complications after failing to receive a routine medical procedure that doctors were afraid to carry out because of Georgia’s new anti-abortion law.
    This summer, in Moyle v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court had the opportunity to reaffirm that federal law requires pregnant patients to have access to lifesaving emergency care in every state, but instead, the court dismissed the case and sent it back to the lower courts, effectively punting on making a decision on the case itself. While the litigation continues in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the health and lives of women remain at risk as uncertainty around emergency abortion care persists. One-hundred-and-twenty-one congressional Republicans, including 26 senators, filed an amicus brief arguing that EMTALA does not require hospitals to provide abortion care as emergency stabilizing care in order to save a patient’s life.
    Alongside Senator Murray, U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) co-led the introduction of the resolution. In addition to Senators Carper and Coons, this resolution is cosponsored by Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.),George Helmy (D-N.J.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
    The resolution is endorsed by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Center for Reproductive Rights, In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, Reproductive Freedom For All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America), American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, National Women’s Law Center, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Power to Decide, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, Guttmacher Institute, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, All* Above All, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, National Council of Jewish Women, and National Partnership for Women and Families.
    The House companion bill was introduced last week by U.S. Representatives Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio) and Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.).
    The full text of the resolution can be read here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: MEDIA ADVISORY: Sanders to Lead HELP Committee Hearing on Outrageous Ozempic and Wegovy Prices with Novo Nordisk CEO

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Vermont – Bernie Sanders
    WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 – As millions of Americans struggle with diabetes and obesity, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), on Tuesday will lead the committee in a hearing to examine why Novo Nordisk charges the American people the highest prices in the world for its lifesaving drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. Epidemiologists have estimated that more than 40,000 lives per year could be saved if Wegovy and other weight-loss drugs were made affordable and widely available in the United States.
    Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen will join the hearing to provide in-person testimony on a solo panel.
    “I want to thank Mr. Jørgensen for our discussions and for his agreeing to voluntarily testify before the HELP Committee about the outrageously high cost of Ozempic and Wegovy in the United States,” said Sanders. “The American people are sick and tired of paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. They deserve to hear from Mr. Jørgensen.”
    Novo Nordisk has made nearly $50 billion in sales from these two products alone. Yet, Novo Nordisk currently charges Americans with Type 2 diabetes $969 a month for Ozempic, while this same exact drug can be purchased for just $155 in Canada, $122 in Denmark, and just $59 in Germany. Incredibly, Novo Nordisk also charges Americans with obesity $1,349 a month for Wegovy, while this same exact product can be purchased for just $186 in Denmark, $140 in Germany, and $92 in the United Kingdom.
    In March of 2024, a study from researchers at Yale University found these drugs could be profitably manufactured for less than $5 a month, or $57 per year. Earlier this week at an expert discussion hosted by Sanders, the chairman announced that some CEOs of major generic pharmaceutical companies are willing to sell Ozempic to Americans for less than $100 per month, at a profit. More than 250 physicians also came together earlier this week to call on Congress to rein in the exorbitant prices of GLP-1s, like Ozempic and Wegovy.
    If half of all adults in the U.S. took these weight loss drugs, it would cost $411 billion per year – $5 billion more than what Americans spent on all prescription drugs at the pharmacy counter in 2022.
    This hearing builds on the HELP Committee’s previous efforts to ensure pharmaceutical companies provide life-saving medicines at affordable prices, including taxpayer funded prescription drugs, COVID vaccines, inhalers, and insulin.
    DetailsWhat: Senate HELP Committee hearing titled, “Why Is Novo Nordisk Charging Americans with Diabetes and Obesity Outrageously High Prices for Ozempic and Wegovy?”When: 10:00 a.m. ET, Tuesday, September 24, 2024Where: Room 562 Dirksen Senate Office Building. The discussion will also be livestreamed on the HELP Committee’s website and Sanders’ social media.Who:
    Senate HELP Committee members
    Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen
     

    MIL OSI USA News –