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Category: Europe

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Aberdeen Highland Games brings family fun

    Source: Scotland – City of Aberdeen

    Hazlehead Park was filled with the sound of bagpipes on Sunday as thousands enjoyed the Aberdeen Highland Games.  

    Over 8,000 attendees enjoyed traditional Highland Games events, including caber tossing and Highland Dancing, as well as a range of fun activities such as an assault course, climbing wall, segways and TechFest.  

    The 2025 Highland Games were officially opened by the Lord Provost of Aberdeen, Dr David Cameron, and The Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, George Gordon, who was the Chieftan of the games.  

    The Lord Provost said: “I had a fantastic time being a part of this year’s Highland Games.  

    “Each year the Highland Games is so popular, with this year once again being no different, and I was delighted to see so many people turn out and enjoy a fun day out in the sun for the most part, the two heavy showers late in the afternoon did not dampen the spirits of everyone present.  

    Stage entertainment featured popular children’s act Mr Bloom from CBeebies and musical performances by Aberdeen City Music Service, The Rock Choir and Vienna. 

    A selection of fine food and drink from local producers was also available alongside quality trade and charity stalls.  

    Aberdeen’s summer events programme will continue with the Armed Forces Day Parade on 28 June, followed by the Festival of the Sea running from 12-27 July, and The Tall Ships Races from 19-22 July that will see the city welcome 50 magnificent vessels for four days of international celebration, music, food and family fun.  

    More information can be found online.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Leader of Multi-Million Dollar International Money Laundering and Drug Trafficking Ring Convicted

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    ATLANTA – Monica Dominguez Torres, 36, of Mexico, pleaded guilty on June 13, 2025, to federal charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Dominguez led a transnational criminal organization that operated methamphetamine conversion laboratories in the Atlanta area and laundered millions of dollars of drug proceeds to Mexico.

    “Dominguez’s elaborate criminal operation has been dismantled, and more than $3.5 million of illicit drug proceeds have been seized as a result of our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners’ diligent work,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “Our office will continue to aggressively prosecute individuals like Dominguez who seek an undeserved life of luxury by trafficking deadly drugs in our community.”

    Jae W. Chung, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division stated, “Through hard work, this drug trafficking and money laundering network has been removed from our streets. This criminal organization had no regard for the destructive impact on our communities.”

    “This conviction sends a strong message to those who think they can live a life of luxury funded by illegal activities,” said Steven N. Schrank, the Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia and Alabama. “Thanks to the dedicated collaboration between HSI and our law enforcement partners at the federal, state, and local levels, we were able to dismantle Monica Dominguez Torres’s multi-million dollar drug trafficking and money laundering ring, seizing millions in illicit proceeds and bringing her to justice.”

    “Monica Torres led a transnational organized crime organization, which like others of its nature, threatens the national and economic security of the United States,” said Special Agent in Charge Demetrius Hardeman, IRS Criminal Investigation, Atlanta Field Office. “IRS Criminal Investigation special agents, along with our other federal, state, and local law enforcement partners of the Atlanta Strike Force are working together to find, investigate, and bring to justice those who endanger American citizens lives through their drug trafficking and other illicit crimes.”

    According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges and other information presented in court: Monica Dominguez Torres’s organization operated methamphetamine conversion laboratories where liquid methamphetamine, obtained from sources in Mexico, was converted into hundreds of kilograms of crystal methamphetamine to be sold in the Atlanta area and elsewhere. Dominguez and her associates also used residences in the Atlanta area to collect and count millions of dollars in cash from these drug sales. The proceeds were laundered and sent to coconspirators in Mexico. 

    As part of the criminal operation, Dominguez and her associates purchased millions of dollars’ worth of real estate, vehicles, and luxury goods – all designed to conceal the illicit source of their wealth. The investigation revealed that Dominguez purchased five separate residences, including a seven-bedroom waterfront home in Jonesboro, Georgia. Three of these residences were purchased with bulk cash brought directly to the transaction. Dominguez and others also purchased nine luxury vehicles worth approximately $780,000. Dominguez also spent lavishly on high-end goods, including nearly $400,000 at Louis Vuitton and more than $425,000 at Burberry over roughly four and a half years. 

    During the investigation, agents seized nearly $3.6 million in cash from Dominguez’s residences, stash locations, and associates. When agents arrested Dominguez at her Conyers, Georgia home in February 2024, they seized more than $1.7 million in cash, five firearms, and three vehicles.

    Dominguez is scheduled to be sentenced on September 15, 2025, at 1:30 pm, before Chief United States District Judge Leigh Martin May. Regarding her drug trafficking conviction, Dominguez faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, up to life in prison, a maximum $10,000,000 fine, and a minimum of five years of supervised release. The money laundering conviction carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a maximum $500,000 fine or twice the value of the laundered funds, up to three years of supervised release, and forfeiture of property involved in the offense. 

    This case is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations, with valuable assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshals Service, Georgia State Patrol, the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, and the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office.

    Assistant United States Attorneys John T. DeGenova, Deputy Chief of the Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Section, and Nicholas L. Evert are prosecuting the case.

    This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

    This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to eliminate the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations.

    The specific mission of the David G. Wilhelm Atlanta OCDETF Strike Force (Atlanta Strike Force) is to eliminate transnational organized crime syndicates and major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations in the Atlanta metropolitan area and the Northern District of Georgia. To accomplish this mission, the Atlanta Strike Force will target these organizations’ leaders, focusing on targets designated as Consolidated Priority Organization Targets, Regional Priority Organization Targets, and their associates. The Atlanta Strike Force is comprised of agents and officers from ATF, DEA, FBI, HSI, USMS, USPIS, and IRS, as well as numerous state and local agencies; and the prosecution is being led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

    For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6280. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Law enforcement representatives from Ukraine build knowledge around Advance Passenger Information and passenger data systems during OSCE study visit to the United Kingdom

    Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe – OSCE

    Headline: Law enforcement representatives from Ukraine build knowledge around Advance Passenger Information and passenger data systems during OSCE study visit to the United Kingdom

    Law enforcement representatives from Ukraine build knowledge around Advance Passenger Information and passenger data systems during OSCE study visit to the United Kingdom | OSCE

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  • MIL-OSI Banking: Klaas Knot: How is the water? Continuing our work to preserve financial stability

    Source: Bank for International Settlements

    Thank you. I want to start by telling you a little story. Some of you may know it.

    There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way. The older fish nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and says “What the hell is water?”

    This parable was famously used by the American writer David Foster Wallace in a commencement speech in 2005. Now, just like Wallace, I don’t plan to present myself here as the wise, older fish explaining to you what water is. The point of the fish story is merely that, like he said: ‘the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.’

    Now, Wallace was speaking to a class of graduates about the benefits of a liberal arts education in life. To have his idea being used by some central bank technocrat at a conference on financial stability would probably be his worst nightmare come true. But although it may seem a stretch, I think his idea applies to our world too. Because financial stability is an obvious and important reality. Its impact is universal. Financial stability affects households, businesses, governments-and ultimately, the trust that underpins our economies. It’s the basis of everything in economic life.

    Because of its universal impact, financial stability seems like a natural state. We take out our phone and we pay. And the bread that we buy costs the same as it did last week. And when we wake up in the morning our savings are still in our bank account. Financial stability is something that seems to be just there, unconditionally. But it really isn’t. It is something we must continuously work for. It demands vigilance, coordination, and above all, the political will to act before the crisis hits. I know that you are aware of this. But many people tend to forget.

    As this is my last address in my capacity as Chair of the FSB, let me take this opportunity to look back a bit, take stock. And ask: where do we stand? How is the water?

    In truth, it has been anything but calm. Over the past years, we have experienced quite some waves in the financial system: the dash for cash during the onset of the Covid pandemic, the commodity market turmoil following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the failure of Archegos Capital Management in March 2021, and the market volatility associated with the recent trade tariff announcements. Central banks had to intervene in some of these episodes to support market functioning and the supply of credit to the economy. And in each case, parts of the non-bank financial sector played a central role in amplifying the stress.

    Non-bank financial intermediation, or NBFI, has grown into a critical part of the financial system. Its rise has been driven by regulatory shifts, search for yield, technological innovation, and demographic trends leading to asset accumulation.

    The NBFI sector brings real benefits. NBFIs offer a diversified source of funding and much needed competition for banks. But they also have vulnerabilities-liquidity mismatches and the inability of some market players to prepare for them, leverage, and growing interconnectedness with banks. Historically, regulation of this sector focused on investor protection, market integrity, and other mandates. But those don’t fully capture the systemic risks. We needed a financial stability lens.

    That’s what the FSB brought to the table. Our work to date has included policy recommendations to enhance money market fund resilience, to address structural liquidity mismatch in open-ended funds, and to enhance liquidity preparedness for margin calls. Later this month, we will deliver policy recommendations to the G20 to address financial stability risks arising from leverage in NBFI.

    Have we made a difference? The recent bout of tariff-related volatility in global markets could serve as a test. We saw a global sell-off in equity markets and historic trading volumes. Typical correlations between certain asset classes broke down. We saw some deleveraging and large margin and collateral calls. Yet – the system held. That is encouraging. But let’s be honest: we can’t credit our reforms just yet. Because the FSB’s recommendations have not yet been implemented in full. And recommendations alone don’t reduce systemic risk. Implementation does. That means authorities must not only put them into national laws and regulations, they must also have the capacity to operationalise them.

    One of the biggest challenges we face in NBFI is data. We need better data. More data. And better use of that data. There is a reason why the non-bank sector was formerly called “shadow banking”. It’s opaque. There are gaps. And those gaps mean we often don’t see the vulnerabilities-until it’s too late. The quality and timeliness of non-bank data are essential for identifying and assessing vulnerabilities and for designing and calibrating effective policies. We must address these data challenges. We can’t keep relying on crises to reveal what we should have seen coming.

    That’s why a high-level group within the FSB is now exploring how to close those data gaps-to support risk monitoring, policy design and implementation, and cross-border cooperation.

    And let’s be clear: we can’t just copy-paste banking rules onto the NBFI sector. It’s too diverse and different from banks. We need to look at both non-bank entities and activities. But our goal should be clear: a level playing field across the financial system. Not by weakening bank rules-but by strengthening the resilience of the non-bank sector.

    Which brings me to the banking sector. During my tenure as FSB Chair, we witnessed something unprecedented: the failure of a global systemically important bank. The demise of Credit Suisse, together with the failure of three US regional banks, was a stark reminder that bank failures are not relics of the past. It brought lessons for banks and financial authorities. In some areas, our work to make the banking sector more resilient is not yet complete. Take the final Basel III standards. These are designed to strengthen the resilience of banks to withstand losses. And yet-they still have not been implemented in many jurisdictions. The Credit Suisse case also highlighted that more than 15 years after the Global Financial Crisis, authorities still face challenges in dealing with failing banks.

    So yes, we’ve made progress. But we’re not done. And in the meantime, we must protect what we’ve already built.

    Because let’s not forget: during all the recent episodes of financial stress the banking system held up. In fact, during the pandemic, banks acted as shock absorbers. Not shock amplifiers. They absorbed losses. They kept credit flowing. They helped keep the economy afloat. That’s no small feat.

    And I believe that is largely thanks to the reforms we put in place after the global financial crisis. The years of hard work. The tough decisions. The commitment to resilience.

    But now, more than 15 years later, we’re hearing familiar calls again-for deregulation. But also calls for simplification. And let me be clear: those two are not the same.

    I understand the desire to simplify. Banking regulation and supervision has become overly complex. Over the past 15 years, a great deal of regulation has been introduced from various angles -global, EU, national. Micro and macro. New risks added, old ones rarely removed. There’s overlap. There’s friction. And yes, sometimes, there’s a lack of supervisory proportionality for smaller institutions. That’s worth looking into.

    But keep in mind that, beyond some point, simple rules are less risk-sensitive. And that means they have to be stricter. You want simpler rules? Sure, but those rules must then be calibrated at a more prudent level. That is the general thinking behind the standardised approach of Basel III. That is also the thinking behind the leverage ratio.

    Most importantly, what we must avoid is confusing simplification with deregulation. Deregulation means effectively lowering buffers by relaxing the rules. That would both reduce resilience in the banking system and increase the likelihood of financial crises. We cannot afford to undo the progress we have made. Especially not now, in this time of unusually high uncertainty, both on the economic and political front. That would be a big mistake. As the late Rudiger Dornbusch used to say: ‘The crisis takes a much longer time coming than you think, and then it happens much faster than you would have thought.’

    Which brings me to my next point. The developments in both the bank and non-bank sectors are unfolding against a backdrop of major structural shifts-shifts that could reshape financial stability as we know it. I am talking here about technology, about payments, and climate risk.

    Technological innovation is transforming the financial sector. It’s adding new layers of complexity. And it’s doing so at speed.

    The period leading up to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis was marked by balance sheet expansion and financial product innovation. But over the past 15 years, the focus has shifted toward technological innovation. The FSB has been watching this closely. It’s our job to harness the benefits while mitigating the risks.

    And yes, the benefits are real. Technology has made financial services faster, more accessible, more efficient. And in some areas, like AI, we have only started to see its full impact. But it also brings new risks. Why? Because of the speed and scale of adoption. For example in cyberattacks. Because of the growing interconnections with the traditional financial system. Because of the concentration of services in a few key providers.

    Technology creates new interdependencies. And it can accelerate the pace at which a crisis unfolds. Technological innovation is perhaps most visible in the payments space, where new platforms and digital assets are rapidly reshaping how value moves across borders and between users.

    These dynamics are most visible in crypto-assets. This fast-growing market has seen more than its fair share of bankruptcies, liquidity crises and outright fraud, even as its links with traditional finance continue to grow. At the FSB, we have long maintained that crypto does not yet pose a systemic risk, but recent developments suggest we may be approaching a tipping point. Barriers for retail users have dropped significantly, particularly with the introduction of crypto ETFs. The interlinkages with the traditional financial system continue to grow. Stablecoin issuers, for example, now hold substantial amounts of U.S. Treasuries. This is a segment we must monitor closely.

    The crypto ecosystem will continue to evolve-and so must our regulatory frameworks. Jurisdictions are actively developing these, and the FSB’s recommendations offer a common foundation. This is especially important given the inherently cross-border nature of crypto. Effective implementation must extend beyond the G20, supported by strong regulatory and supervisory cooperation.

    Now, part of crypto’s rise can be traced to the shortcomings of cross-border payments. This is a complex, technical issue. But solving it has real-world benefits-for people, for businesses, for economies. This is the goal of the G20 Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-Border Payments. The aim of the roadmap is to bring about cheaper, faster and more transparent and inclusive cross-border payment services for the benefit of citizens and businesses worldwide.

    We’ve made progress. The FSB, the CPMI, and others have done a lot of work. However, our goals are ambitious. And while they have driven changes by both the private and public sectors, we continue to see significant challenges, particularly in certain regions and payment corridors. As we move toward crafting a strategy for the next phase of work, we are seeking to clarify the issues that continue to impede progress. We will continue to work with the private sector to get it done.

    Next to technology and payments, we face another growing challenge-one that’s no longer on the horizon, but right at our doorstep. I’m talking about climate change. Now, climate change may originate outside the financial sector-but its impact on financial stability is very real.

    Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. And as they occur, the risks to financial systems continue to rise. These events test the ability of financial institutions to manage risk and maintain services-especially in the most vulnerable regions. That’s why we must keep strengthening risk management practices. And why we must build resilience-across the entire global financial system.

    The FSB’s Climate Roadmap, launched in 2021 and endorsed by the G20, gives us a coordinated path forward. It focuses on four key areas: firm-level disclosures, data, vulnerability analysis, and regulatory and supervisory tools.

    These four pillars are not standalone. They’re connected. They build on each other.

    For example: consistent, reliable corporate disclosures are the foundation. They help close data gaps. They help firms-and authorities-understand climate-related risks. Better data leads to better analysis. And better analysis leads to better policy.

    And we are making progress. More jurisdictions and companies are adopting climate-related disclosures. New global standards on sustainability assurance are boosting trust in those disclosures. Tools like climate risk dashboards and scenario analyses help us understand vulnerabilities. International bodies are issuing guidance on how to integrate climate risks into existing regulatory and supervisory frameworks. And across the global financial community, we’re seeing knowledge shared, capacity built, and good practices identified.

    But let’s be honest-challenges remain. Especially when it comes to implementation. The groundwork is there. But now, the focus must shift to action-by firms and by authorities. We still lack reliable, granular, and comparable data. That makes it hard to fully assess and manage climate-related risks.

    And let’s face it-traditional financial stability tools weren’t built for this. They’re not always fit for purpose when it comes to forward-looking, long-horizon risks like climate change. That’s why developing robust, climate-specific analytical approaches must remain a top priority.

    Because climate risk isn’t just an environmental issue. It’s a financial one. And it’s one we can’t afford to ignore.

    Let me wrap up.

    Financial stability is an international public good. Every single issue I have mentioned today – NBFI, banking, crypto, payments, climate – they all cross borders. And so must our response be.

    If we want to meet today’s challenges to financial stability, we have to continue to work together. And we need to stay committed to the international bodies we have built to underpin that cooperation, such as the Basel Committee and the FSB. In a fragmented world, global cooperation is harder. But it is also more essential. During the global financial crisis, policymakers acted swiftly and in unison. We must preserve that capacity.

    Because for society, financial stability is like what water is for fish. We barely notice it-until it’s gone. Preserving financial stability is continuous hard work. It is complicated, it is technical, it is not glamorous. Calibrating risk weights for banks doesn’t make headlines. It doesn’t fill the streets with protestors. Therefore, it doesn’t always get the attention it deserves from policy makers, among all the other issues they have on their plate.

    But make no mistake: a stable financial system is the foundation for almost all public policy. When financial stability is lost, everything else falls apart. Governments can’t focus on education, or healthcare, or climate. They’re too busy drawing up rescue plans for an economy in free fall.

    So we have to continue our work. Which means maintaining our ambition as policy makers to take the agreed policies all the way through to implementation. Let’s keep our eyes on the water. And let’s keep it safe and stable.

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UN Human Rights Council 59: UK Statement on the report of the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Speech

    UN Human Rights Council 59: UK Statement on the report of the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan

    UK Statement for the Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on the report of the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan. Delivered by the UK’s Human Rights Ambassador, Eleanor Sanders.

    Thank you, Mr President.

    Special Rapporteur,

    We welcome your dedication to highlighting the grave human rights situation in Afghanistan. The UK fully supports your mandate.

    As you have outlined, as we approach the fourth anniversary of Taliban rule, women and girls are denied their right to education, employment, freedom of movement and expression.

    Discrimination against so many is compounded by the lack of accessible, affordable and impartial judicial institutions.

    The Taliban must reverse these inhumane restrictions to ensure a brighter future for all Afghans, including minorities such as LGBT+ individuals and people from ethnic Hazara communities.

    23 million Afghans are in need of humanitarian assistance. The UK continues to provide assistance, working with the UN and others.

    We remain committed to working constructively for an Afghanistan at peace with itself, its neighbours and the international community. Afghanistan cannot achieve long-term stability and prosperity while half its population is systematically excluded from society.

    The international community must remain united in ensuring accountability and in urging the Taliban to change direction.

    Special Rapporteur, what are the short and long-term consequences of this erosion of justice for Afghan society as a whole?

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UN Human Rights Council 59: UK Statement for the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Speech

    UN Human Rights Council 59: UK Statement for the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea

    UK Statement for the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea. Delivered by the UK’s Human Rights Ambassador, Eleanor Sanders.

    Thank you Mr President,

    We thank the Special Rapporteur for his update and reiterate our ongoing support to his vital mandate. We remain concerned by Eritrea’s continued lack of engagement with the Special Rapporteur and minimal human rights scrutiny in the country.

    During Eritrea’s Universal Periodic Review in May 2024, the UK welcomed progress made in promoting economic, social and cultural rights, including an improvement in higher education opportunities. But more still needs to be done to ensure that the rights of Eritreans are fully promoted and protected.

    Meaningful change is urgently needed.

    The system of national service needs a comprehensive evaluation to help stem the flow of young people leaving the country in search of freedoms and opportunities they cannot access in Eritrea.

    Furthermore, those arbitrarily detained for political reasons, or for their religion or belief, must be released.

    Special Rapporteur,

    How can this Council further support your mandate, including by facilitating visits to the region?

    Thank you.

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Situation in the Middle East: E3 Statement at the IAEA Extraordinary Board, 16 June 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

    Speech

    Situation in the Middle East: E3 Statement at the IAEA Extraordinary Board, 16 June 2025

    Joint statement by Ambassador Corinne Kitsell, UK Permanent Representative to the UN, on behalf of France, Germany and the UK (E3) at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Extraordinary Board of Governors meeting on 16 June 2025.

    Chair,

    The E3 are concerned about  the ongoing escalation of tensions in the Middle East, following Israeli strikes against targets in Iran and Iran’s response. The E3 reiterate their commitment to the region’s stability and call on all sides to abide by international law, show restraint and refrain from taking further steps which could lead to serious consequences such as potential radioactive release. Escalation is in the interest of no one in the region.

    We reiterate our full support to the IAEA’s independent and impartial mandate and thank the DG for his recent update to the UNSC.

    The E3 have repeatedly expressed their deep concern about Iran’s accelerating and expanding enrichment activities without any plausible civilian justification. The E3 are also worried by recent statements by high-ranking officials on Iran’s willingness to take new and special measures to protect nuclear materials and equipment that would not be declared to the IAEA. As a state party to the NPT and its nuclear safeguards regime, Iran is obliged to declare and put all nuclear material located in Iran under IAEA safeguards. Such statements are concerning and exacerbate the IAEA Comprehensive Report’s findings of Iran’s continued noncompliance with its safeguards agreement and that the IAEA is not in a capacity to verify that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.

    Manipulative attempts to link this crisis with the resolution passed by the Board is an unjustified and irresponsible narrative politicising the IAEA and the safeguards system. The resolution this Board adopted last week was a necessary and long-overdue step to hold Iran into account for its failure to cooperate sufficiently with the Agency over the past six years. It was measured and gave Iran a final opportunity to resolve the outstanding safeguards issues. Iran’s full cooperation with the IAEA and full implementation of its safeguards agreement are a legal obligation and a necessary foundation for any enduring agreement.

    The E3 have repeatedly expressed our commitment to a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear programme and the security of the state of Israel. We have supported recent US diplomatic efforts to reach a diplomatic agreement. We regret Iran’s decision not to participate in talks scheduled this Sunday in Oman. We will spare no efforts to contribute to a negotiated solution, in coordination with the United States.

    Thank you, Chair.

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: From an idea to a forum for 3,200 people: how HSE students are building the business environment of the future

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    On May 31, the Higher School of Economics hosted the fifth, anniversary Forum of the HSE Business Club — the largest student entrepreneurial event in the country. In five years, students have transformed it from a local initiative into a large-scale platform uniting market leaders, investors, aspiring entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to build a business while still studying.

    Entirely organized by students, the forum became living proof: entrepreneurship at HSE is already working. In 2025, the event attracted a record 3,200 registrations and was supported by 20 partner companies. The online broadcast attracted thousands of views. VTB Bank acted as the general partner of the event.

    Dmitry Shminke

    Deputy Vice-Rector of the National Research University Higher School of Economics

    — The HSE Business Club Forum is a shining example of what our students are capable of when they have an idea, a team, and a desire to do truly meaningful things. This event is the result of colossal work, created entirely by the hands of students, and this is its main value.

    They don’t just listen to lectures, they create big events, learn in the process, take responsibility and leave the university with real management and project experience. Such initiatives show that studying at HSE is not about later, but about now. And this is inspiring.

    The forum also gives students a unique opportunity to meet with current entrepreneurs – ask questions, discuss their ideas and simply see what business looks like from the inside. Live communication with people who have already gone from idea to business.

    Dmitry Palchikov

    President of the HSE Business Club

    — At the Business Club, we believe that entrepreneurship begins with initiative — with the ability to take responsibility, assemble a team, negotiate, attract people, form an idea and bring it to fruition.

    And every year we are convinced: the forum is a tool with which we form a new generation of leaders and entrepreneurs. Those who will build businesses, create teams, make important decisions. And it is important for us that this generation has the right values, the right thinking and the right ambitions. Ambition not just to do big, but to do significant. Not just to earn, but to create. Not just to talk, but to take responsibility.

    It is important for us not only to inspire, but also to show that the entrepreneurial path is closer than it seems. Everything starts with a simple dialogue, with a desire to learn more, with the first idea. The forum is a space where you can take this first step. We want each participant to leave with a new question, a new contact or an idea that will launch something important.

    Thank you, HSE, for freedom and trust. And thank you to everyone who came: you are creating the future of entrepreneurship today.

    Investments in ideas: how the round table went

    One of the key events was the round table “The Future of Business: Investments in Youth Entrepreneurship”, organized jointly with the ANO “Development of Human Capital”. Representatives of investment funds, the venture industry, the university and the Business Club took part in the discussion.

    The discussion focused on early investments in student startups, criteria for their attractiveness to investors, and the role of universities in supporting young entrepreneurs. Participants discussed how the university environment can become a catalyst for the development of startup ecosystems and which mechanisms work most effectively.

    Pitch session: from words to deeds

    The forum became a real platform for testing student ideas. Nine student teams spoke at the pitch session, presenting their projects to investors and industry experts. The startups included an AR atlas, infusion devices, an AI interior designer, gaming PCs, a fitness community, and AI applications for mental support.

    Participants received not only feedback, but also the opportunity to attract partners, clients and mentors.

    Managing the Future: Insights from Industry Leaders

    The speakers at the forum were the country’s leading entrepreneurs, each of whom shared not only their experience, but also a strategic view on business development.

    Stanislav Bliznyuk, President of T-Technologies, spoke about digital transformation and the role of young people in the development of ecosystems. According to him, more than 40% of the company’s employees are recent graduates. The company operates on the “Test and Learn” principle: successful solutions are implemented instantly, mistakes are part of the process, the main thing is not to scale failures.

    Vladimir Yevtushenkov, founder of AFK Sistema, gave a speech on leadership in a crisis. The main thesis is the ability to maintain composure in conditions of uncertainty: “If a person is overcome by panic, consider that he has lost.”

    Oleg Zherebtsov, founder of the Lenta chain and Solopharm, shared his approach to creating effective operating models. The focus is on eliminating unnecessary links, focusing on speed and a strong team, digitalization and customer focus.

    Mikhail Grebenyuk, founder of the consulting company Resulting, presented a 20-point checklist that allows you to evaluate a business idea at the concept stage. The company’s portfolio includes more than 1,000 built sales departments and an annual revenue of 2 billion rubles.

    Other speakers at the forum include Ivan Tavrin (Kismet Capital Group), Dmitry Chuiko (Whoosh), Rinat Aliyev (Educate Online), Alexander Dubovenko (GOOD WOOD), Anton Makarov (divan.ru), Viktor Kuznetsov (VseInstrumenty.ru), Sergey Lebedev (CHICKO), Amiran Mutsoev (Dream Island).

    Education in practice

    The forum gave HSE students not only knowledge, but also the opportunity to apply it in practice. Organizing a large-scale event, working with partners, logistics, moderating platforms, managing teams – all this became part of the real experience of the Business Club participants.

    In parallel with the main speeches, practical workshops were held in the Small Hall: how to build a team, what to do with conflicts and how to develop a business in conditions of uncertainty. Semyon Shimichev, the founder of the Mates coffee chain, also spoke about his path – he opened his first outlet at the age of 19.

    General partner of the forum: VTB Partners: Sber, Ozon, Alfa-Bank, X5 Group, SBS Consulting, Domodedovo, Kept, Axenix, Future Today, FRII, Changellenge, Rosselkhozbank, HSE Business Incubator, Promsvyazbank, Svyatoy Istochnik and others.

    June 16

    “Vyshka” in Telegram

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: NATO participates in EU European Youth Event in Strasbourg

    Source: NATO

    “What if Google Maps was a game?” This question was brought to a whole new level when NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division presented an Alliance-themed Geoguessr game at the biennial European Youth Event (EYE) on 14 June 2025.

    Hosted at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France and attended by various European Union (EU) institutions, international organisations, civil society and youth organisations, the EYE brings together thousands of 16- to 30-year-olds from across the European Union, and beyond. It provides a platform for young people to exchange views and debate with European parliamentarians and other influential decision-makers.

    For the first time, the event included a dedicated session on NATO and provided European youth with the opportunity to learn more about how the Alliance works to ensure peace and security for one billion people across Europe and North America. The briefing covered an introduction to NATO, a panel session in which young Europeans were able to ask questions to experts about the Alliance’s core business, and a fast-paced location-guessing challenge with a French professional Geoguessr, Bastel.

    Geoguessr is an online game in which players are dropped in a random location somewhere in the world. Using a 360-degree image from Google Street View, they must guess where they have landed based on the scenery, geographical features, or local elements specific to certain locations. To help educate young people about the Alliance, a specific version of the game was created with 35 significant locations from NATO’s history, such as the Palais de Chaillot, opposite the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, where NATO’s Headquarters was based from 1952 to 1959. By playing along with Bastel and NATO staff, the more-than-150 attendees were able to learn more about the origins and relevance of the Alliance in a fun and engaging manner.

    The event concluded with an open conversation between the young audience members and NATO experts. Questions centred around today’s security challenges, NATO-EU unity in the context of defence, and how young people can help contribute to the Alliance’s mission.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Steijn: The AI assistant transforming meal planning for millions in the Netherlands

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Steijn: The AI assistant transforming meal planning for millions in the Netherlands

    Albert Heijn carries about 17,000 different products in its 1,200 stores, and it has a system of demand forecasting that makes as many as one billion predictions a day to ensure the best possible balance between supply and demand.

    A separate product team is responsible for the price labels on the electronic shelves in the stores.

    “There is an algorithm behind them that automatically calculates the best discounts every 15 minutes,” van Ameyden says. As products get closer to their expiration date, the discounts get bigger. “At the beginning of the day you might see 20% off, and it can go to 70%.”

    Willems, back at home in her kitchen in Nieuw-Vennep, said that as long as she’s been shopping for groceries, she’s been an Albert Heijn customer, and before Steijn appeared, she was using recipes she found in the app.

    Steijn has added a helpful twist, however, introducing new flavors – both by suggesting variations on favorite recipes and introducing new ones.

    “For example, lentils – I never used lentils for any of my recipes, but when I entered three ingredients in Steijn, it came up with a lentil soup, and we loved it,” she said. “Thanks to Steijn I’m now a big fan of lentils.”

    Van Straaten said Steijn has delivered both practical and unexpected benefits.

    “I think Steijn saves me about an hour and a half to two hours a week,” he said. “But I think what is even more important is that I provide my kids with healthier food and a better variety of food.”

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Announcing comprehensive sovereign solutions empowering European organizations

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Announcing comprehensive sovereign solutions empowering European organizations

    Today, we are taking the next step in strengthening our European Digital Commitments to empower our customers with greater choice, more control over their data privacy and the most robust digital resilience we have ever offered. Building on our 42-year history as a company in Europe, we are expanding our efforts with Microsoft Sovereign Cloud. This offer spans both public cloud and private digital infrastructure, ensuring our customers can choose the right balance of control, compliance and capability for their needs.

    With this expanded offering we are announcing Data Guardian for European operations, External Key Management for customer-controlled encryption, Regulated Environment Management for simplified configuration and Microsoft 365 Local for critical productivity services in private cloud environments.

    This brings together comprehensive productivity, security and cloud solutions designed to enable European organizations to grow, compete and lead on their own terms and with more control than ever before across Sovereign Public Cloud, Sovereign Private Cloud and National Partner Clouds.

    Building on our experience delivering sovereignty solutions that meet the needs of highly regulated customers and government agencies, our Sovereign Public Cloud is an evolution and expansion of the Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty and will be offered across all existing European datacenter regions, for all European customers, across enterprise services such as Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Security and Power Platform. Sovereign Public Cloud ensures customer data stays in Europe, under European Law, with operations and access controlled by European personnel, and encryption is under full control of customers. This is enabled for all customer workloads running in our European datacenter regions requiring no migration.

    Microsoft’s new Sovereign Private Cloud will support critical collaboration, communication and virtualization services workloads on Azure Local. This solution now integrates Microsoft 365 Local and our security platform with Azure Local, providing consistent capabilities for hybrid or air-gapped environments to meet resiliency and business continuity requirements.

    In France and Germany, our National Partner Clouds offer comprehensive capabilities of Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure in an independently owned and operated environment. In France, we have an agreement with Bleu, a joint venture between Orange and Capgemini, for Bleu to operate a “cloud de confiance” for the French public sector, critical infrastructure providers and essential services providers that is designed to meet SecNumCloud requirements. In Germany, we have an agreement with Delos Cloud, an SAP subsidiary, for Delos Cloud to operate a sovereign cloud for the German public sector that is designed to meet the German government’s Cloud Platform Requirements.

    Across our Sovereign Public Cloud, Sovereign Private Cloud and support for National Partner Clouds, Microsoft Sovereign Cloud offers the most comprehensive set of sovereignty solutions in the industry for integrated productivity, security and cloud.

    Sovereign Public Cloud for all Microsoft Cloud customers in Europe

    Many technology providers have approached sovereignty as niche requirements for a unique set of customers that require a specific deployment approach that at times is at odds with the economics and innovation of public cloud systems. This often requires running duplicate systems and teams, migrating to separate environments and limiting access to cutting-edge technologies like AI. However, Microsoft’s Sovereign Public Cloud builds an evolving set of sovereign capabilities that can be configured to meet specific needs without sacrificing functionality or requiring migration to specialized datacenters. With Microsoft’s Sovereign Public Cloud currently in preview and set to be generally available in all European cloud regions later this year, we will introduce new features and solutions that reinforce this vision.

    Announcing Data Guardian

    Our EU Data Boundary already provides an industry-leading commitment to store and process your data on infrastructure located in Europe. Data Guardian will add an additional level of assurance by ensuring that only Microsoft personnel residing in Europe control remote access to these systems. Data Guardian adds additional human and technical oversight whenever engineers outside of Europe need access. All remote access by Microsoft engineers to the systems that store and process your data in Europe is approved and monitored by European resident personnel in real time and will be logged in a tamper-evident ledger.

    Announcing External Key Management to extend Azure Managed HSM

    Encryption under the full control of customers provides an additional guarantee of data protection. With external key management, customers can connect Azure to keys stored on their own Hardware Security Module (HSM) on-premises or hosted by a trusted third party. We’re working with major HSM manufacturers such as Futurex, Thales and Utimaco to ensure their support.

    Announcing Regulated Environment Management

    The Regulated Environment Management service will allow customers to easily manage all these features in one place (for instance, configuring Data Guardian policies or reviewing access log entries). Regulated Environment Management will be at the center of the customer experience for configuring, deploying and monitoring workloads in support of sovereign operations. Together, these tools will be at the center of the customer experience for configuring, deploying and monitoring workloads in the Sovereign Public Cloud.

    Sovereign Private Cloud with Azure Local and Microsoft 365 Local

    While strengthening sovereign controls in public cloud environments is critical, we also understand that some scenarios require certain workloads be run in a physical environment under full customer control to support business continuity risk mitigation. Azure Local delivers Microsoft cloud services in customer locations, enabling organizations to meet specific data residency and sovereignty requirements. It includes core Azure capabilities — such as compute, storage, networking and virtualization services — while providing a consistent management and developer experience. Azure Local is ideal for delivering services closer to where data is generated or regulated, whether in-country, on-premises or in partner-operated datacenters. Microsoft’s Sovereign Private Cloud solution is in preview today and will be generally available later this year.

    Announcing Microsoft 365 Local

    Microsoft 365 Local provides customers with additional choice by bringing together Microsoft’s productivity server software into an Azure Local environment that can run entirely in a customer’s own datacenter.

    This provides a simplified deployment and management framework for organizations to run Microsoft’s trusted productivity servers in environments they fully control. Built on our validated reference architecture and powered by Azure Local, Microsoft 365 Local enables customers to deploy Microsoft productivity workloads like Exchange Server and SharePoint Server in their own datacenters or sovereign cloud environments — with full control on security, compliance and governance.

    Private Sovereign Cloud is designed for governments, critical industries and regulated sectors that need to meet the highest standards of data residency, operational autonomy and disconnected access.

    Building a sovereign cloud and AI partner ecosystem for Europe

    To support European customers in implementing and operating sovereign solutions, we are also excited to preview a new Microsoft Sovereign Cloud specialization in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program. This specialization will provide our European customers the ability to identify Partners who have differentiated themselves based on their demonstrated capabilities in supporting their Sovereign Cloud ambitions on Microsoft technology. Our preview partners include Accenture, Arvato Systems, Atea, Atos, Crayon, Capgemini, Dell Technologies, IBM, Inspark, Infosys, Lenovo, Leonardo, NTT Data, Orange, Telefonica and Vodafone.

    “The launch of Microsoft Sovereign Cloud marks a pivotal moment in empowering European institutions and industries with the control, compliance and innovation they need to thrive in today’s digital economy,” said Aiman Ezzat, CEO of Capgemini Group.

    “As a shareholder of Bleu, we have already set up a National Partner Cloud in France in order to deliver Microsoft technologies in a sovereign environment that respects the French State requirements. With decades of experience in Microsoft technologies and deep expertise in regulated sectors, we are uniquely positioned to help our clients harness the full power of Microsoft’s sovereign public and private cloud solutions. Together, we are enabling a trusted digital future for Europe.”

    Delivering on our digital commitments to Europe

    Together, Microsoft Sovereign Cloud is grounded in our European Digital Commitments and offers the best mix of choice, control and resilience for European customers. Microsoft is proud to offer the broadest set of sovereignty solutions available on the market today and we will constantly look for new ways to ensure our European customers have the options and assurances they need to operate with confidence.

    In a time of geopolitical volatility, we are committed to providing digital stability. With each step we take in this journey, we invite open dialogues with our customers, policymakers and regulators as we continue to innovate.

    Tags: Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Sovereign Cloud, National Partner, Power Platform, Sovereign Private Cloud, Sovereign Public Cloud

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: You know AI is transformative when it’s at your dinner table. In the Netherlands today, I met the Albert Heijn team who are using Azure AI Foundry to help customers navigate everyday decisions, like what’s for dinner.

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: You know AI is transformative when it’s at your dinner table. In the Netherlands today, I met the Albert Heijn team who are using Azure AI Foundry to help customers navigate everyday decisions, like what’s for dinner.

    Really impressed by how Steijn tackles the problem with habit-driven user design – helping users within their existing decision-making flow rather than forcing new workflows. It’s a smart example of making AI feel seamless and intuitive. This is exactly where GenAI shines, not just through automation, but through contextual augmentation that enhances everyday choices. And we’re just scratching the surface with such applications, industries like healthcare, education, and logistics are next in line to benefit from similar personalized, AI-powered experiences.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Frozen, thawed: how Arendelle’s glacier would fare under modern climate change

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Harold Lovell, Senior Lecturer, Glaciology, University of Portsmouth

    As a glaciologist who thinks about ice a lot, rewatching the movie Frozen umpteen times with my six-year-old daughter provides ample opportunity for my imagination to run wild. The movie is set in the fictional kingdom of Arendelle, which is modelled on a fjord landscape, complete with a large glacier at the head of Arenfjord. Ice unsurprisingly plays a very prominent role in the story. Yet this glacier receives very little attention.

    Glaciers are receding across the world at an unprecedented rate. And on more than one occasion I have wondered how Arendelle’s glacier might have fared since the time of Frozen.

    To add some scientific rigour to this thought experiment, it is useful to approximate a real geographical location. Arendelle is inspired by the fjords of western Norway, a region where most of the glaciers flow from the Jostedalsbreen ice cap, the largest ice mass in mainland Europe.

    We can also approximate the date. Based on various clues, including the clothing and technology on show, it appears the events in Frozen take place one July in the mid-19th century. This means the glacier is depicted towards the end of the little ice age, a cool period lasting several centuries during which most northern hemisphere glaciers expanded to their largest size in recent history.

    In the movie, the glacier plunges from a high elevation plateau into the fjord below and looks steep and crevassed at the front. This implies a healthy, advancing glacier, in a similar condition to the many outlet glaciers of Jostedalsbreen that reached their little ice age maximum positions around this time.

    The short-term health of Arendelle’s glacier may have been further boosted by the unseasonal summer snowfall and cold temperatures that Elsa’s powers unleashed on the kingdom.

    Real glaciers are shrinking fast

    The fate of the fictional glacier since the little ice age would have been less positive, as demonstrated by the very real glaciers of Jostedalsbreen. This period has been characterised by accelerated climate warming, causing widespread glacier retreat and thinning.

    Since Elsa’s time, the real glaciers it’s based on have shrunk by about a fifth. Individual glaciers have retreated several kilometres at rates of up to 20 metres per year. This makes it likely that, without any further help from Elsa, Arendelle’s glacier would have retreated onto land within decades of the time of the film.

    How Jostedalsbreen’s glaciers have retreated from the little ice age (red outline) to today (blue).
    Andreassen et al. 2023

    In the late 1980s and early 1990s, an increase in winter snowfall in western Norway meant most major glaciers in the region began to advance up to a few hundred metres. The Arendelle glacier might therefore have grown again for a time, although probably not enough for the glacier to re-enter the fjord. While there are other explanations, the more imaginative mind might consider the possibility that a descendent of Elsa was responsible for this period of increased snowfall.

    Since the early 2000s, those same glaciers have shrunk significantly, retreating by up to 70 metres per year. That’s largely because higher air temperatures mean more ice is melting in summer. Several of Jostedalsbreen’s glaciers have retreated almost back onto the plateau, while others are disconnecting from the larger ice bodies that have been nourishing them for centuries.

    What would Arendelle’s glacier look like today?

    Retreat of this scale means the fictional glacier today might look something like Briksdalsbreen, now just a small tongue spilling over from the plateau ice behind. Indeed, it is quite possible that in 2025, designated by the UN as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, Arendelle’s glacier would no longer have been visible from Arendelle Castle.

    Briksdalsbreen, one of Jostedalsbreen’s outlet glaciers, shows what the Arendelle glacier might look today.
    Nataliya Nazarova / shutterstock

    So, if Arendelle’s glacier were real, it would be a shadow of its 19th-century self – much like its real-life Norwegian equivalents. By 2050, approximately 200 years after the time of Frozen, the glacier would probably have retreated onto the plateau. The ice cap would also have thinned considerably and might even be in the early stages of terminal break up.

    However, while this is one potential scenario for Jostedalsbreen in the 21st century, it is by no means certain. Climate scientists agree that concerted action is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming.

    Magic helped Arendelle once. This time, it’ll take real-world action to ensure the real glaciers have a fighting chance of still being around by the time Frozen 3 is finally released.

    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Harold Lovell receives funding from NERC.

    – ref. Frozen, thawed: how Arendelle’s glacier would fare under modern climate change – https://theconversation.com/frozen-thawed-how-arendelles-glacier-would-fare-under-modern-climate-change-255539

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Life’s Better by Bike — Even Small Rides Can Make a Big Difference 16 June 2025 Islanders are being invited to leave the car at home and hop on their bikes this June

    Source: Aisle of Wight

    Islanders are being invited to leave the car at home and hop on their bikes this June, as part of the Isle of Wight Council’s ‘Life’s Better by Bike’ campaign.

    The campaign aims to inspire residents to swap shorter car journeys for cycling — boosting their own health and wellbeing while helping to protect the Island’s environment.

    Throughout June, the campaign will highlight how cycling can help improve physical fitness, strengthen mental wellbeing, and contribute to cleaner, greener communities.

    While we recognise that not all routes are currently ideal for cycling — with some lanes and footpaths in need of improvement — the campaign also aims to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining and enhancing our cycling infrastructure. Feedback from local cycling groups is vital in helping us identify areas that need attention.

    Simon Bryant, the Isle of Wight’s Director of Public Health, said: “We know that regular cycling can help reduce stress, improve mental focus, and boost heart health. It’s also a great way to reconnect with nature, enjoy time with friends and family, and rediscover that sense of freedom we often lose in busy daily life. Life really is better by bike — and we’d love to see as many people as possible joining in this June.”

    With the Island’s roads often busy, especially during peak times, cycling can offer a refreshing alternative for some journeys — no queues, just the freedom of two wheels. However, we understand that for others, walking may feel like a safer or more accessible option, and that’s okay too. The key is finding ways to stay active and reduce car use where possible.

    The council will be promoting local cycle routes — including those best suited for beginners or families — offering inspiration for Islanders of all abilities to get started or rediscover the simple joy of riding a bike.

    The Isle of Wight celebrates its highly reputed status as one of the top cycling destinations in the world. With around 200 miles of cycle tracks, byways and bridleways, there are plenty of opportunities to explore — whether you’re a seasoned cyclist or just starting out.

    Residents are encouraged to share their cycling adventures on social media, tagging the council and using the hashtag #LifesBetterByBike for a chance to be featured.

    Even a short ride can make a big difference — to your health, your mood, and the environment we all share.

    Residents can find cycling tips, local routes, and ways to get involved by visiting our Life’s better by bike webapge: Life’s better by bike

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Support for Struggling Island Households – DWP Household Support Fund 16 June 2025 Households on the Isle of Wight will benefit from extended financial assistance thanks to the DWP extension of the HSF

    Source: Aisle of Wight

    Households on the Isle of Wight will benefit from extended financial assistance with the cost of food, utilities, and wider essentials thanks to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) extension of the Household Support Fund (HSF). Available from early-June 2025 until March 2026, the fund provides £1.994 million to help eligible Island residents struggling to manage the continued cost of living pressures.

    Ian Lloyd, Strategic Manager for Partnerships and Support Services, Isle of Wight Council, emphasised the importance of this funding: “Supporting our community through these challenging times is a top priority, as recognised in the Island’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. The extended Household Support Fund will offer crucial assistance to those facing financial hardship.”

    Key Support Measures

    • Supermarket Vouchers: A £25 one-off voucher will be distributed to up to 10,000 households receiving Local Council Tax Support as of 19 May 2025. These vouchers will be sent out in July. Pensioners in receipt of Local Council Tax Support as of 29 September 2025 will receive an additional supermarket voucher in November.

    • Utility Support for Pensioners: Eligible pensioners will receive £75 pre-paid utility cards or vouchers between November and February, in addition to the supermarket voucher in November.

    • Additional Vouchers: Up to three £25 supermarket vouchers will be available for households experiencing significant financial crises through Isle of Wight Council and partner organizations.

    • Foodbank and Community Pantry Support: Essential food items will be provided to those in financial crisis need.

    • Help Through Crisis: Support for utility debt, energy-efficient white goods, and emergency food assistance.

    • Community Grants: Funding will be available for local initiatives offering crisis and preventative approaches through support and guidance, with application windows in June, September, and January.

    For more information, visit the council’s cost of living web page, email hsf@iow.gov.uk, or call (01983) 823644.

    This initiative aligns with the Isle of Wight’s Poverty Reduction Strategy 2024-2029, which aims to address financial hardship through targeted support, preventative measures, and long-term planning in partnership.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Dstl celebrates King’s Honours and team commendations

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    News story

    Dstl celebrates King’s Honours and team commendations

    Dstl engineer Peter Briggs awarded an OBE for his work securing UK defence and security capabilities, and Dstl teams receive VCDS commendations.

    Dstl scientist Peter Briggs OBE

    Peter Briggs, Senior Principal Engineer in Positioning, Navigation and Timing at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has been recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours list 2025. He has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

    The prestigious honour acknowledges Peter’s significant contributions to the UK’s defence and security capabilities through his expert work in Positioning, Navigation and Timing technologies at Dstl.

    During his 23-year career at Dstl, he has led numerous groundbreaking projects that have enhanced the resilience of the UK’s critical navigation systems, developed countermeasures against emerging threats and strengthened collaboration with international partners.

    On hearing about his award Peter said:

    I am amazed and proud to receive this honour for the work I’ve done over my career. I’d like to thank all of my incredible colleagues, both nationally and internationally, that I have worked with and learnt from over the years. Their team effort has led to me proudly receiving this honour.

    The recognition comes as Dstl teams have also received Vice Chief of Defence Staff (VCDS) commendations for their exceptional work on critical defence projects.

    Dr Paul Hollinshead, Dstl’s Chief Executive, said:

    This well-deserved honour recognises Peter’s exceptional technical leadership and innovation in critical defence technologies. His work has significantly enhanced the UK’s security capabilities and represents the outstanding talent we have at Dstl.  

    We’re especially proud that our teams have also been recognised through the Vice Chief of Defence Staff commendations, which highlight the crucial contribution Dstl makes to national security through cutting-edge research and collaboration with military and industry partners.

    Taskforce Spirit commendation recognises international collaboration

    A combined Dstl and Ministry of Defence (MOD) team has been commended for supporting allies with leading-edge expertise to help develop long-term military capability.

    Taskforce Spirit developed and delivered innovative wargaming, modelling and analytical techniques to inform critical capability priorities and investment decisions, helping to generate forces fit for the future operating environment.

    The work, conducted alongside allies and partners, has enhanced the UK’s reputation in the Strategic Force Development arena and contributed to United Kingdom National Security Objectives to counter global threats and support UK interests and influence.

    Dstl Strategic Force Analysis team recognised for Strategic Defence Review work

    Dstl’s Strategic Force Analysis team has also received a commendation for their crucial role in providing the MOD with force design and capability evidence to inform the Strategic Defence Review (SDR).

    Between August 2024 and January 2025, the team developed coherent candidate Defence Force Structures representing different policy choices, costed principal alternatives, and explored variations as requested by Defence Reviewers. Their work ensured senior management understood the challenges and choices available to Defence, drawing praise from the Chief of Defence Staff.

    Multidisciplinary team receives Vice Chief of Defence Staff commendation

    A multidisciplinary team including Dstl scientists has received a prestigious VCDS commendation for their work on a complex flight test event conducted in the US in late 2024.

    The successful trial tested multiple technologies and concepts to improve air survivability in a complex Anti-Access Area Denial (A2AD) environment. The whole-force collaboration included elements from the RAF Rapid Capabilities Office, Air and Space Warfare Centre, Dstl and industry partners.  

    Dstl continues to play a vital role in science and technology innovation for the UK’s defence and security, with experts like Peter Briggs and the commended teams demonstrating the organisation’s world-class capabilities and contributions to national security.

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: Westhaven Announces Non-Brokered Private Placement With Eric Sprott and Earthlabs, for Gross Proceeds of $3.16 Million

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

    VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Westhaven Gold Corp. (TSX-V:WHN) (“Westhaven” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the Company has arranged a non-brokered private placement (the “Offering”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $3,160,000 from the sale of 8,333,333 units of the Company (each, a “Unit”) at a price of $0.12 per Unit, and 12,500,000 flow-through units of the Company to be sold on a charitable flow-through basis (each, a “Charity FT Unit”, and collectively with the Units, the “Offered Securities”) at a price of $0.1728 per Charity FT Unit.

    Eric Sprott and Earthlabs Inc. are expected to be the subscribers for the Units and the end purchaser of Charity FT Units, following the charitable flow through donations in the Offering.

    Ken Armstrong, President and CEO of Westhaven, commented: “We are pleased to welcome Eric Sprott as a new shareholder of Westhaven, as well as the continued support of Earthlabs. This financing represents a strong endorsement of Westhaven’s approach to advance the Company’s Spences Bridge Gold Belt properties, particularly the Shovelnose gold project located adjacent to well-established transportation and power infrastructure, less than 2.5 hours by car from Vancouver in southern British Columbia. Proceeds of this private placement will allow the Company to expand our summer exploration drilling program to at least 5,000m and advance work towards realizing the potential outlined in a recently completed preliminary economic assessment of a high grade, high margin underground gold mining opportunity at the South Zone, FMN and Franz gold deposits at Shovelnose (please see news release dated March 3rd, 2025 for details).”

    Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (each, a “Unit Share”) and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a “Warrant”). Each Charity FT Unit will consist of one share that will qualify as a “flow-through share” within the meaning of subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) and one half of one Warrant. Each whole Warrant shall entitle the holder to purchase one common share of the Company (each, a “Warrant Share”) at a price of $0.18 at any time on or before that date which is 24 months after the closing date of the Offering.

    The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the sale of the Units for working capital and general corporate purposes. The gross proceeds from the issuance of the Charity FT Units will be used for Canadian exploration expenses on the Company’s projects in British Columbia and will qualify as “flow-through mining expenditures”, as defined in subsection 127(9) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the “Qualifying Expenditures”), which will be incurred on or before December 31, 2026 and renounced to the subscribers with an effective date no later than December 31, 2025 in an aggregate amount not less than the gross proceeds raised from the issue of the Charity FT Units.

    The private placement is expected to close on or around July 3, 2025, and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, receipt of all necessary approvals including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issuable in connection with the Offering will be subject to applicable resale restrictions in accordance with Canadian securities legislation and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

    A finder’s fee, consisting of a cash payment of $66,823 and 250,000 non-transferable broker warrants will be paid to Red Cloud Securities Inc. in respect of the private placement. Each broker warrant can be exercised to acquire one common share at a price of $0.12 for a period of 24 months post-closing.

    This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to or for the account or benefit of a U.S. person (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

    On behalf of the Board of Directors

    WESTHAVEN GOLD CORP.

    “Ken Armstrong”

    Ken Armstrong, President and CEO

    Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

    About Westhaven Gold Corp.

    Westhaven is a gold-focused exploration and development company targeting low sulphidation, high-grade, epithermal style gold mineralization within the Spences Bridge Gold Belt in southern British Columbia. Westhaven controls ~61,512 hectares (~615 square kilometres) within four gold properties spread along this underexplored belt. The Shovelnose Gold project is the most advance property, with a recently updated 2025 Preliminary Economic Assessment that validates the Project’s potential as a robust, low cost and high margin 11-year underground gold mining opportunity with average annual life-of-mine gold production of 56,000 ounces and having a Cdn$454 million after-tax NPV6% and 43.2% IRR (base case parameters of US$2,400 per ounce gold, US$28 per ounce silver and CDN/US$ exchange rate of $0.72). Initial capital costs are projected to be Cdn$184 million with a payback period of 2.1 years. Please see Westhaven’s news release dated March 3, 2025 for details of the updated PEA. Shovelnose is situated off a major highway, near power, rail, large producing mines, pipelines and within commuting distance from the city of Merritt, which result in lower cost exploration and development.

    Qualified Person: The technical and scientific information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Peter Fischl, P.Geo, who is a Qualified Person for the Company under the definitions established by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

    Westhaven trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol WHN. For further information, please call 604-681-5558 or visit Westhaven’s website at www.westhavengold.com.

    Forward Looking Statements:

    This press release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities laws, which is based upon the Company’s current internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and beliefs. The forward-looking information included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release. Such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the Company’s expectations with respect to the Offering; the use of proceeds of the Offering; completion of the Offering and the date of such completion. Forward-looking statements or forward-looking information relate to future events and future performance and include statements regarding the expectations and beliefs of management based on information currently available to the Company. Such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information often, but not always, can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “potential”, “is expected”, “anticipated”, “is targeted”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates”, or “believes” or the negatives thereof or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved.

    Forward-looking information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, and without limitation: that the Offering may not close within the timeframe anticipated or at all or may not close on the terms and conditions currently anticipated by the Company for a number of reasons including, without limitation, as a result of the occurrence of a material adverse change, disaster, change of law or other failure to satisfy the conditions to closing of the Offering; the Company will not be able to raise sufficient funds to complete its planned exploration program; that the Company will not derive the expected benefits from its current program; the Company may not use the proceeds of the Offering as currently contemplated; the Company may fail to find a commercially viable deposit at any of its mineral properties; the Company’s plans may be adversely affected by the Company’s reliance on historical data compiled by previous parties involved with its mineral properties; mineral exploration and development are inherently risky industries; the mineral exploration industry is intensely competitive; additional financing may not be available to the Company when required or, if available, the terms of such financing may not be favourable to the Company; fluctuations in the demand for gold or gold prices generally; the Company may not be able to identify, negotiate or finance any future acquisitions successfully, or to integrate such acquisitions with its current business; the Company’s exploration activities are dependent upon the grant of appropriate licenses, concessions, leases, permits and regulatory consents, which may be withdrawn or not granted; the Company’s operations could be adversely affected by possible future government legislation, policies and controls or by changes in applicable laws and regulations; there is no guarantee that title to the properties in which the Company has a material interest will not be challenged or impugned; the Company faces various risks associated with mining exploration that are not insurable or may be the subject of insurance which is not commercially feasible for the Company; the volatility of global capital markets over the past several years has generally made the raising of capital more difficult; inflationary cost pressures may escalate the Company’s operating costs; compliance with environmental regulations can be costly; social and environmental activism can negatively impact exploration, development and mining activities; the success of the Company is largely dependent on the performance of its directors and officers; the Company’s operations may be adversely affected by First Nations land claims; the Company and/or its directors and officers may be subject to a variety of legal proceedings, the results of which may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business; the Company may be adversely affected if potential conflicts of interests involving its directors and officers are not resolved in favour of the Company; the Company’s future profitability may depend upon the world market prices of gold; dilution from future equity financing could negatively impact holders of the Company’s securities; failure to adequately meet infrastructure requirements could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business; the Company’s projects now or in the future may be adversely affected by risks outside the control of the Company; the Company is subject to various risks associated with climate change, the Company is subject to general global risks arising from epidemic diseases, the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, rising inflation and interest rates and the impact they will have on the Company’s operations, supply chains, ability to access mining projects or procure equipment, supplies, contractors and other personnel on a timely basis or at all is uncertain; as well as other risk factors in the Company’s other public filings available at www.sedarplus.ca. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. The Company cannot guarantee future results, performance, or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no duty to update any of the forward-looking information to conform such information to actual results or to changes in the Company’s expectations, except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained in this offering document is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: REMINDER: Boralex to hold Investor Day and present its 2030 Strategy on June 17, 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MONTREAL, June 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Boralex inc. (“Boralex” or the “Company”) (TSX: BLX) announces that its 2030 Strategy will be presented at an Investor Day on June 17, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in Toronto.

    Financial analysts, investors and the media are invited to attend the conference in person in Toronto or via a live video webcast during which members of Boralex’s senior management will present the various aspects of the 2030 Strategy and financial targets.

    Date and time

            Tuesday, June 17, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (ET)

    To attend the live conference

    Webcast link: https://meetings.lumiconnect.com/400-747-683-475

    In person in Toronto (analysts, investors and media): please contact Dominique Hamelin (dominique.hamelin@boralex.com) to reserve your place.

    Anyone interested in this conference are invited to attend the webcast, which will be broadcast live and available for replay on Boralex’s website at www.boralex.com until July 17, 2026.

    Media availability

    Members of Boralex’s Executive Committee will be available for media interviews on the afternoon of June 17, 2025, either by telephone or videoconference, to discuss the company’s 2030 Strategy. For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Camille Laventure, Senior Advisor, Public Affairs and Communications. Her contact details are provided at the end of this press release.

    About Boralex

    At Boralex, we have been providing affordable renewable energy accessible to everyone for over 30 years. As a leader in the Canadian market and France’s largest independent producer of onshore wind power, we also have facilities in the United States and development projects in the United Kingdom. Over the past five years, our installed capacity has increased by more than 50% to 3.2 GW. We are developing a portfolio of projects in development and construction of more than 8 GW in wind, solar and storage projects, guided by our values and our corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach. Through profitable and sustainable growth, Boralex is actively participating in the fight against global warming. Thanks to our fearlessness, discipline, expertise and diversity, we continue to be an industry leader. Boralex’s shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BLX.

    For more information, visit boralex.com or sedarplus.com. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

    For more information

    MEDIA INVESTOR RELATIONS
    Camille Laventure
    Senior Advisor, Public Affairs and External Communications
    Boralex Inc.
    438 883-8580
    camille.laventure@boralex.com    		 Stéphane Milot
    Vice President, Investor Relations and Financial Planning and Analysis
    Boralex Inc.
    514 213-1045
    stephane.milot@boralex.com
       

    Source: Boralex inc.        

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Iran-Israel ‘threshold war’ has rewritten nuclear escalation rules

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Farah N. Jan, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Pennsylvania

    Smoke rises from locations targeted in Tehran amid the third day of Israel’s waves of strikes against Iran, on June 15, 2025. Photo by Khoshiran/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

    Israel’s conflict with Iran represents far more than another Middle Eastern crisis – it marks the emergence of a dangerous new chapter in nuclear rivalries that has the potential to reshape global proliferation risks for decades to come.

    What began with Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and other targets on June 13, 2025 has now spiraled into the world’s first full-scale example of what I as an expert in nuclear security call a “threshold war” – a new and terrifying form of conflict where a nuclear weapons power seeks to use force to prevent an enemy on the verge of nuclearization from making that jump. As missiles continue to rain down on both Tehran and Tel Aviv – with hundreds dead in Iran and at least 24 killed in Israel – the international community is witnessing the collapse of traditional deterrence frameworks in real time.

    Unlike traditional nuclear rivalries where both sides possess declared arsenals – like India and Pakistan, who despite their tensions operate under mutual deterrence – this new threshold dynamic creates an inherently unstable escalation spiral. Iran increasingly believes it cannot deter Israeli aggression without nuclear weapons, yet every step toward acquiring them invites more aggressive Israeli strikes. Israel, for its part, cannot permanently eliminate Iran’s nuclear knowledge through military means – it can only delay it through means that would seemingly guarantee future Iranian determination to acquire the ultimate deterrent.

    Under this dynamic, neither side can step back without accepting an intolerable outcome: for Israel, an Iran more determined than even in becoming a nuclear weapons nation capable of deterring Israeli action and ending its regional military dominance; for Iran, the risk of regime change through devastating Israeli strikes. The consequences of this deadly logic extend far beyond the Middle East.

    Flames rise from an oil storage facility after it appeared to have been hit by an Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, on June 15, 2025.
    AP Photo/Vahid Salemi

    The preventive strike precedent

    The stakes could not be higher, as Iranian officials have called the attack “a declaration of war” and vowed that destroyed nuclear facilities “would be rebuilt.” Israel, meanwhile has warned its campaign will continue “for as many days as it takes.”

    Most ominously, the scheduled nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran were called off, with Tehran dismissing any such dialogue as “meaningless.” This may suggest diplomacy’s window – which opened for just a few months under Trump’s second administration, after being closed during his first – was deliberately slammed shut.

    More broadly, the Israeli strikes mark a dangerous evolution in international norms around preventive warfare. While Israeli officials called this a “preemptive strike,” the legal and strategic reality is different. Preemptive strikes respond to imminent threats – like Israel’s 1967 Six-Day War against Arab armies preparing to attack. Preventive strikes, by contrast, target distant future threats when conditions seem favorable – like Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

    Israel justified its action by claiming Iran could rapidly assemble up to 15 nuclear bombs. Yet, as the International Atomic Energy Agency director, Rafael Grossi, warned beforehand, an Israeli strike could solidify rather than deter Iran’s nuclear ambitions, potentially prompting withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. True to that warning, on June 16, Iran announced it was preparing a parliamentary bill that would see the country leave the 1968 treaty.

    Israel’s calculations in opting to strike build on the same erosion of international legal frameworks that has legitimized preemptive warfare since the United States’ military action in Afghanistan and Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack. America’s “war on terror” fundamentally challenged sovereignty norms through practices like drone strikes and preemptive attacks. More recently, operations in Gaza and elsewhere have demonstrated that violations of international humanitarian law carry limited consequences in practice. For Israel, this permissive environment has seemingly created both opportunity and justification regarding striking Iran – something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pursuing for decades.

    Already, Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant demonstrated nuclear facilities’ vulnerability in modern warfare. I believe Israel’s actions further risk normalizing attacks on nuclear infrastructure, potentially legitimizing similar preventive actions by India, China or the U.S. against emerging nuclear programs elsewhere.

    From strikes to regional conflagration

    Israel’s initial strike quickly triggered inevitable escalation. Iran’s retaliation came in waves: first hundreds of drones and missiles on June 13, then sustained barrages throughout the following days. By the morning of June 15, both countries were trading strikes on energy infrastructure, military bases and civilian areas, with no immediate end in sight.

    The Houthis in Yemen have since joined the fight, by launching ballistic missiles at Tel Aviv. Notably absent are Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran’s Iraqi militias – all significantly damaged by recent action by Israel. This degradation of Iran’s “axis of resistance” – its traditional forward deterrent – fundamentally alters Tehran’s strategic calculations. Without strong proxies to threaten retaliation, Iran is more exposed to Israeli strikes, making nuclear weapons seem like the only reliable deterrent against future attacks.

    The escalation pattern illustrates what can happen when when a government casts aggression as prevention. Having initiated the recent escalation of hostilities, Israel now faces the consequences. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s vow that destroyed facilities “would be rebuilt” underscores that Israeli action designed to prevent nuclearization may instead result in Iran pursuing it with renewed determination.

    The commitment trap

    This creates what strategists call the “commitment trap” – a dynamic where both sides face escalating costs but cannot back down. Israel faces its own strategic dilemma. The strikes may ultimately accelerate rather than prevent Iranian nuclearization, yet backing down would mean accepting a nuclear Iran. Netanyahu’s promise that current strikes are “nothing compared to what they will feel in coming days” shows how quickly strikes sold as preventative escalate toward total war.

    Missiles fired from Iran are pictured in the night sky over Jerusalem on June 14, 2025.
    Photo by Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images

    Unlike established nuclear powers that can negotiate from positions of strength, threshold states, such as Iran, face a stark choice: remain vulnerable to preventive strikes and regime change or race toward the protection that nuclear deterrence provides.

    North Korea offers the clearest example of this dynamic. Despite decades of sanctions and military threats, Pyongyang’s nuclear program has made it essentially immune to preventive strikes. Iranian leaders understand this lesson well – the question is whether they can reach the same protected status before suffering decisive preventive action.

    Traditional nuclear deterrence theory assumes rational actors operating under mutual vulnerability. But threshold wars break these assumptions in fundamental ways. Iran cannot fully deter Israeli action because it lacks confirmed weapons, while Israel cannot rely on deterrence to prevent Iranian weaponization because Iran’s nuclear program continues advancing.

    This creates “use it or lose it” dynamics: Israel faces shrinking windows to act preventively as Iran approaches weaponization; Iran faces incentives to accelerate its program before suffering additional strikes.

    The absence of effective external mediation compounds these risks. U.S. President Donald Trump’s response to the strikes reveals this dynamic starkly. Initially opposing military action and preferring diplomacy to “bombing the hell out of” Iran, Trump pivoted dramatically after the strikes began, and warned that “there’s more to come. A lot more.”

    His post on Truth Social – “Two months ago I gave Iran a 60-day ultimatum to ‘make a deal.’ They should have done it!” – demonstrates how quickly diplomatic efforts can collapse once threshold wars begin.

    Global implication

    The international response reveals how thoroughly Israel’s Operation Rising Lion has normalized aggression against nuclear facilities. While European leaders called for “maximum restraint,” none condemned Israel’s initial attacks. Russia and China condemned the attacks but took no concrete action. The U.N. Security Council produced only statements of “concern” about “escalation.”

    This normalization sets what I believe to be a catastrophic precedent. The threshold war model threatens to unravel decades of nuclear governance based on deterrence rather than preemption.

    Indeed, the Iran-Israel threshold war sets dangerous precedents for other regional nuclear competitions. Successful preventive strikes could incentivize similar actions elsewhere, eroding diplomatic nonproliferation efforts. Conversely, rapid nuclearization by Iran could encourage other threshold states, like Saudi Arabia, to pursue nuclear capabilities swiftly and secretly.

    When preventive strikes become the enforcement mechanism for nonproliferation norms, the entire architecture of nuclear governance begins to crumble. Without these frameworks, the world faces an unstable future defined by cycles of preventive strikes and accelerated nuclear proliferation – far more dangerous than the Cold War-era standoffs that shaped nuclear governance.

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

    – ref. Iran-Israel ‘threshold war’ has rewritten nuclear escalation rules – https://theconversation.com/iran-israel-threshold-war-has-rewritten-nuclear-escalation-rules-258965

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Iran-Israel ‘threshold war’ has rewritten nuclear escalation rules

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Farah N. Jan, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Pennsylvania

    Smoke rises from locations targeted in Tehran amid the third day of Israel’s waves of strikes against Iran, on June 15, 2025. Photo by Khoshiran/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

    Israel’s conflict with Iran represents far more than another Middle Eastern crisis – it marks the emergence of a dangerous new chapter in nuclear rivalries that has the potential to reshape global proliferation risks for decades to come.

    What began with Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and other targets on June 13, 2025 has now spiraled into the world’s first full-scale example of what I as an expert in nuclear security call a “threshold war” – a new and terrifying form of conflict where a nuclear weapons power seeks to use force to prevent an enemy on the verge of nuclearization from making that jump. As missiles continue to rain down on both Tehran and Tel Aviv – with hundreds dead in Iran and at least 24 killed in Israel – the international community is witnessing the collapse of traditional deterrence frameworks in real time.

    Unlike traditional nuclear rivalries where both sides possess declared arsenals – like India and Pakistan, who despite their tensions operate under mutual deterrence – this new threshold dynamic creates an inherently unstable escalation spiral. Iran increasingly believes it cannot deter Israeli aggression without nuclear weapons, yet every step toward acquiring them invites more aggressive Israeli strikes. Israel, for its part, cannot permanently eliminate Iran’s nuclear knowledge through military means – it can only delay it through means that would seemingly guarantee future Iranian determination to acquire the ultimate deterrent.

    Under this dynamic, neither side can step back without accepting an intolerable outcome: for Israel, an Iran more determined than even in becoming a nuclear weapons nation capable of deterring Israeli action and ending its regional military dominance; for Iran, the risk of regime change through devastating Israeli strikes. The consequences of this deadly logic extend far beyond the Middle East.

    Flames rise from an oil storage facility after it appeared to have been hit by an Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, on June 15, 2025.
    AP Photo/Vahid Salemi

    The preventive strike precedent

    The stakes could not be higher, as Iranian officials have called the attack “a declaration of war” and vowed that destroyed nuclear facilities “would be rebuilt.” Israel, meanwhile has warned its campaign will continue “for as many days as it takes.”

    Most ominously, the scheduled nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran were called off, with Tehran dismissing any such dialogue as “meaningless.” This may suggest diplomacy’s window – which opened for just a few months under Trump’s second administration, after being closed during his first – was deliberately slammed shut.

    More broadly, the Israeli strikes mark a dangerous evolution in international norms around preventive warfare. While Israeli officials called this a “preemptive strike,” the legal and strategic reality is different. Preemptive strikes respond to imminent threats – like Israel’s 1967 Six-Day War against Arab armies preparing to attack. Preventive strikes, by contrast, target distant future threats when conditions seem favorable – like Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

    Israel justified its action by claiming Iran could rapidly assemble up to 15 nuclear bombs. Yet, as the International Atomic Energy Agency director, Rafael Grossi, warned beforehand, an Israeli strike could solidify rather than deter Iran’s nuclear ambitions, potentially prompting withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. True to that warning, on June 16, Iran announced it was preparing a parliamentary bill that would see the country leave the 1968 treaty.

    Israel’s calculations in opting to strike build on the same erosion of international legal frameworks that has legitimized preemptive warfare since the United States’ military action in Afghanistan and Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack. America’s “war on terror” fundamentally challenged sovereignty norms through practices like drone strikes and preemptive attacks. More recently, operations in Gaza and elsewhere have demonstrated that violations of international humanitarian law carry limited consequences in practice. For Israel, this permissive environment has seemingly created both opportunity and justification regarding striking Iran – something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pursuing for decades.

    Already, Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant demonstrated nuclear facilities’ vulnerability in modern warfare. I believe Israel’s actions further risk normalizing attacks on nuclear infrastructure, potentially legitimizing similar preventive actions by India, China or the U.S. against emerging nuclear programs elsewhere.

    From strikes to regional conflagration

    Israel’s initial strike quickly triggered inevitable escalation. Iran’s retaliation came in waves: first hundreds of drones and missiles on June 13, then sustained barrages throughout the following days. By the morning of June 15, both countries were trading strikes on energy infrastructure, military bases and civilian areas, with no immediate end in sight.

    The Houthis in Yemen have since joined the fight, by launching ballistic missiles at Tel Aviv. Notably absent are Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran’s Iraqi militias – all significantly damaged by recent action by Israel. This degradation of Iran’s “axis of resistance” – its traditional forward deterrent – fundamentally alters Tehran’s strategic calculations. Without strong proxies to threaten retaliation, Iran is more exposed to Israeli strikes, making nuclear weapons seem like the only reliable deterrent against future attacks.

    The escalation pattern illustrates what can happen when when a government casts aggression as prevention. Having initiated the recent escalation of hostilities, Israel now faces the consequences. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s vow that destroyed facilities “would be rebuilt” underscores that Israeli action designed to prevent nuclearization may instead result in Iran pursuing it with renewed determination.

    The commitment trap

    This creates what strategists call the “commitment trap” – a dynamic where both sides face escalating costs but cannot back down. Israel faces its own strategic dilemma. The strikes may ultimately accelerate rather than prevent Iranian nuclearization, yet backing down would mean accepting a nuclear Iran. Netanyahu’s promise that current strikes are “nothing compared to what they will feel in coming days” shows how quickly strikes sold as preventative escalate toward total war.

    Missiles fired from Iran are pictured in the night sky over Jerusalem on June 14, 2025.
    Photo by Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images

    Unlike established nuclear powers that can negotiate from positions of strength, threshold states, such as Iran, face a stark choice: remain vulnerable to preventive strikes and regime change or race toward the protection that nuclear deterrence provides.

    North Korea offers the clearest example of this dynamic. Despite decades of sanctions and military threats, Pyongyang’s nuclear program has made it essentially immune to preventive strikes. Iranian leaders understand this lesson well – the question is whether they can reach the same protected status before suffering decisive preventive action.

    Traditional nuclear deterrence theory assumes rational actors operating under mutual vulnerability. But threshold wars break these assumptions in fundamental ways. Iran cannot fully deter Israeli action because it lacks confirmed weapons, while Israel cannot rely on deterrence to prevent Iranian weaponization because Iran’s nuclear program continues advancing.

    This creates “use it or lose it” dynamics: Israel faces shrinking windows to act preventively as Iran approaches weaponization; Iran faces incentives to accelerate its program before suffering additional strikes.

    The absence of effective external mediation compounds these risks. U.S. President Donald Trump’s response to the strikes reveals this dynamic starkly. Initially opposing military action and preferring diplomacy to “bombing the hell out of” Iran, Trump pivoted dramatically after the strikes began, and warned that “there’s more to come. A lot more.”

    His post on Truth Social – “Two months ago I gave Iran a 60-day ultimatum to ‘make a deal.’ They should have done it!” – demonstrates how quickly diplomatic efforts can collapse once threshold wars begin.

    Global implication

    The international response reveals how thoroughly Israel’s Operation Rising Lion has normalized aggression against nuclear facilities. While European leaders called for “maximum restraint,” none condemned Israel’s initial attacks. Russia and China condemned the attacks but took no concrete action. The U.N. Security Council produced only statements of “concern” about “escalation.”

    This normalization sets what I believe to be a catastrophic precedent. The threshold war model threatens to unravel decades of nuclear governance based on deterrence rather than preemption.

    Indeed, the Iran-Israel threshold war sets dangerous precedents for other regional nuclear competitions. Successful preventive strikes could incentivize similar actions elsewhere, eroding diplomatic nonproliferation efforts. Conversely, rapid nuclearization by Iran could encourage other threshold states, like Saudi Arabia, to pursue nuclear capabilities swiftly and secretly.

    When preventive strikes become the enforcement mechanism for nonproliferation norms, the entire architecture of nuclear governance begins to crumble. Without these frameworks, the world faces an unstable future defined by cycles of preventive strikes and accelerated nuclear proliferation – far more dangerous than the Cold War-era standoffs that shaped nuclear governance.

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

    – ref. Iran-Israel ‘threshold war’ has rewritten nuclear escalation rules – https://theconversation.com/iran-israel-threshold-war-has-rewritten-nuclear-escalation-rules-258965

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Kenya’s peacebuilding efforts hold valuable lessons for the rest of the world, but gaps remain

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Leonor Oliveira Toscano, PhD Candidate in Political Science, University of Oslo

    Kenya has been praised as a “model for the world” when it comes to peacebuilding efforts to manage outbreaks of violence within its borders. The country has systematically put in place a peacebuilding architecture rooted in a history of local peace initiatives. These date back to the early 1990s.

    Over this period, the Wajir Peace and Development Committee emerged in the country’s north-eastern region. The committee successfully addressed decades of inter-clan violence in Wajir, an arid county bordering Somalia. It also inspired the emergence of numerous local peace committees across the country.

    These committees have been set up in some other African countries – like Ghana, South Africa, Sierra Leone and Burundi – and continue to contribute informally to local peacebuilding in these states.



    Read more:
    Training local leaders in mediation can reduce violence: positive results in Nigeria

    In Kenya, the committees became institutionalised after post-election violence in 2007-08 and a mediation process led by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan. They now form part of the national peacebuilding architecture.

    Violence triggered by the contested 2007 presidential election outcome resulted in the killing of more than 1,000 people. The mediation process led to a power-sharing agreement signed by the presidential contenders Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga.

    The country’s peacebuilding architecture is now supported by several policies and frameworks. These include the constitution of 2010. The system that’s been built has the capacity to connect a wide variety of peacebuilding actors – both state and non-state, formal and informal – at all levels of society. This helps resolve conflict and build resilience.

    The Kenyan government initiated a review of the peacebuilding architecture in 2023. It involved a lengthy consultation process and high levels of participation among Kenyans. The National Steering Committee on Peacebuilding and Conflict Management led the way, assisted by an independent panel of 13 peacebuilding experts.

    Released at the end of 2024, the review looked at the strengths and weaknesses of the architecture.

    It offers a vision for building a robust peacebuilding system, along with an actionable roadmap. One lesson is that Kenya can use the capacities and unique approaches of different peacebuilding actors. At the local level, peace committees showed that they made contributions to early warning systems and building confidence in communities.

    However, insufficient resources and a consistent focus on electoral violence prevent the system from addressing other drivers of conflict.

    The strengths

    Local peace committees, with membership typically drawn from ordinary citizens, religious groups or local civil society organisations, play a crucial role. They support dialogue around conflict issues. They promote trust and understanding, and can build a constructive environment for conflict resolution.

    Their information gathering feeds into the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s Conflict Early Warning and Response System (CEWARN) to prevent election violence. Local peace committees have contributed to negotiating local disputes. They have also helped de-polarise ethnic identities and facilitated local peace agreements. One example was the Modogashe Declaration. It sets ground rules to solve conflict and local disputes over pasture, water access and cattle rustling.



    Read more:
    Kenya violence: 5 key drivers of the decades-long conflict in the north and what to do about them

    We are researchers in Norway on a project focusing on civilian agency, local peace and resilience building. Our own interviews with committee members in Nakuru – a county greatly affected by the violence in 2007-08 – found that peace committee members continued to work together and share conflict-sensitive information with local stakeholders. These include administration officers and religious leaders, and covered periods during and after the 2022 elections.

    Further, local peace committees can offer women valuable opportunities for participation in conflict management. This contributes to their protection, for example from sexual violence.

    The weaknesses

    Despite these successes, Kenya’s peacebuilding architecture faces pressing challenges.

    First, local peace committees aren’t perfect. They can be manipulated by politicians seeking to build local support. They can also compete with traditional actors such as elders in conflict resolution.

    Kenya’s institutionalisation of local peacebuilding strengthened information flow across all levels. But it also threatens to undermine local peacebuilding agency and autonomy. Formalising local peace committees can spur an unhealthy monetisation of peacebuilding, with some members joining for financial gain. This threatens to erode the voluntary character of peacebuilding as a common good and undermine genuine priorities for peace.



    Read more:
    How women in Kenya mobilised for peace after surviving violence

    Second, elite-level politics in Kenya creates the persistent risk of electoral violence. This diverts attention and resources away from other long-standing causes of conflict. The drivers of violence in Kenya are varied and region specific. They include disputes over access to land, and marginalisation of ethnic and religious communities. Climate change threatens to worsen competition and conflict between pastoralists and farming communities.

    Our analysis of event data from Armed Conflict Location & Event Data shows that communal violence is the deadliest form of political violence in Kenya. For their part, fatalities related to election violence have decreased. This underscores the urgent need to consistently invest in prevention and local peacebuilding beyond narrow electoral periods.

    Fatalities in Kenya by type of armed violence: 2010-2023

    Electoral competition can escalate violence between pastoralists and farmers, but it’s the persistence of communal conflicts that represents a serious threat. Communal violence particularly affects Kenya’s arid and semi-arid areas in the Rift Valley, eastern and north-eastern regions.

    What next

    Our interviews with local peace committee members show that funding for their activities diminishes outside election years. This hampers their capacity to address conflict outside these periods.

    Yet research has shown that local peacebuilding can build social resilience against recurrent communal violence. Peacebuilding interventions grounded in local realities are also vital for countering insurgent violence. This is especially important as counterterrorism operations by state forces often trigger cycles of violence rather than resolving underlying issues.



    Read more:
    Drivers of electoral violence in Kenya: red flags to watch out for

    Our research finds that Kenyans place significant trust in local peacebuilders, such as community leaders, elders and women. The review of the country’s peacebuilding architecture proposes a 40% quota for women, youth and people with disabilities in local peace committees.

    However, quotas alone may not be sufficient to address the political and cultural challenges that entrench inequality.

    Ultimately, political elites need to transform Kenya’s “win at all costs” politics. This way, the country’s mediators and peacebuilders can address the deep social and economic grievances that underpin cycles of violence.

    Leonor Toscano’s doctoral research is supported by the grant from the European Research Council’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (852816; PI: Jana Krause). Leonor Toscano conducted interviews with LPC members in Kenya.

    Jana Krause received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant number 852816 (ResilienceBuilding).

    Marika Miner’s post-doctoral research is also supported by the grant from the European Research Council’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (852816; PI: Jana Krause).

    – ref. Kenya’s peacebuilding efforts hold valuable lessons for the rest of the world, but gaps remain – https://theconversation.com/kenyas-peacebuilding-efforts-hold-valuable-lessons-for-the-rest-of-the-world-but-gaps-remain-257761

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Kenya’s peacebuilding efforts hold valuable lessons for the rest of the world, but gaps remain

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Leonor Oliveira Toscano, PhD Candidate in Political Science, University of Oslo

    Kenya has been praised as a “model for the world” when it comes to peacebuilding efforts to manage outbreaks of violence within its borders. The country has systematically put in place a peacebuilding architecture rooted in a history of local peace initiatives. These date back to the early 1990s.

    Over this period, the Wajir Peace and Development Committee emerged in the country’s north-eastern region. The committee successfully addressed decades of inter-clan violence in Wajir, an arid county bordering Somalia. It also inspired the emergence of numerous local peace committees across the country.

    These committees have been set up in some other African countries – like Ghana, South Africa, Sierra Leone and Burundi – and continue to contribute informally to local peacebuilding in these states.

    Read more: Training local leaders in mediation can reduce violence: positive results in Nigeria

    In Kenya, the committees became institutionalised after post-election violence in 2007-08 and a mediation process led by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan. They now form part of the national peacebuilding architecture.

    Violence triggered by the contested 2007 presidential election outcome resulted in the killing of more than 1,000 people. The mediation process led to a power-sharing agreement signed by the presidential contenders Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga.

    The country’s peacebuilding architecture is now supported by several policies and frameworks. These include the constitution of 2010. The system that’s been built has the capacity to connect a wide variety of peacebuilding actors – both state and non-state, formal and informal – at all levels of society. This helps resolve conflict and build resilience.

    The Kenyan government initiated a review of the peacebuilding architecture in 2023. It involved a lengthy consultation process and high levels of participation among Kenyans. The National Steering Committee on Peacebuilding and Conflict Management led the way, assisted by an independent panel of 13 peacebuilding experts.

    Released at the end of 2024, the review looked at the strengths and weaknesses of the architecture.

    It offers a vision for building a robust peacebuilding system, along with an actionable roadmap. One lesson is that Kenya can use the capacities and unique approaches of different peacebuilding actors. At the local level, peace committees showed that they made contributions to early warning systems and building confidence in communities.

    However, insufficient resources and a consistent focus on electoral violence prevent the system from addressing other drivers of conflict.

    The strengths

    Local peace committees, with membership typically drawn from ordinary citizens, religious groups or local civil society organisations, play a crucial role. They support dialogue around conflict issues. They promote trust and understanding, and can build a constructive environment for conflict resolution.

    Their information gathering feeds into the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s Conflict Early Warning and Response System (CEWARN) to prevent election violence. Local peace committees have contributed to negotiating local disputes. They have also helped de-polarise ethnic identities and facilitated local peace agreements. One example was the Modogashe Declaration. It sets ground rules to solve conflict and local disputes over pasture, water access and cattle rustling.

    Read more: Kenya violence: 5 key drivers of the decades-long conflict in the north and what to do about them

    We are researchers in Norway on a project focusing on civilian agency, local peace and resilience building. Our own interviews with committee members in Nakuru – a county greatly affected by the violence in 2007-08 – found that peace committee members continued to work together and share conflict-sensitive information with local stakeholders. These include administration officers and religious leaders, and covered periods during and after the 2022 elections.

    Further, local peace committees can offer women valuable opportunities for participation in conflict management. This contributes to their protection, for example from sexual violence.

    The weaknesses

    Despite these successes, Kenya’s peacebuilding architecture faces pressing challenges.

    First, local peace committees aren’t perfect. They can be manipulated by politicians seeking to build local support. They can also compete with traditional actors such as elders in conflict resolution.

    Kenya’s institutionalisation of local peacebuilding strengthened information flow across all levels. But it also threatens to undermine local peacebuilding agency and autonomy. Formalising local peace committees can spur an unhealthy monetisation of peacebuilding, with some members joining for financial gain. This threatens to erode the voluntary character of peacebuilding as a common good and undermine genuine priorities for peace.

    Read more: How women in Kenya mobilised for peace after surviving violence

    Second, elite-level politics in Kenya creates the persistent risk of electoral violence. This diverts attention and resources away from other long-standing causes of conflict. The drivers of violence in Kenya are varied and region specific. They include disputes over access to land, and marginalisation of ethnic and religious communities. Climate change threatens to worsen competition and conflict between pastoralists and farming communities.

    Our analysis of event data from Armed Conflict Location & Event Data shows that communal violence is the deadliest form of political violence in Kenya. For their part, fatalities related to election violence have decreased. This underscores the urgent need to consistently invest in prevention and local peacebuilding beyond narrow electoral periods.

    Fatalities in Kenya by type of armed violence: 2010-2023

    Electoral competition can escalate violence between pastoralists and farmers, but it’s the persistence of communal conflicts that represents a serious threat. Communal violence particularly affects Kenya’s arid and semi-arid areas in the Rift Valley, eastern and north-eastern regions.

    What next

    Our interviews with local peace committee members show that funding for their activities diminishes outside election years. This hampers their capacity to address conflict outside these periods.

    Yet research has shown that local peacebuilding can build social resilience against recurrent communal violence. Peacebuilding interventions grounded in local realities are also vital for countering insurgent violence. This is especially important as counterterrorism operations by state forces often trigger cycles of violence rather than resolving underlying issues.

    Read more: Drivers of electoral violence in Kenya: red flags to watch out for

    Our research finds that Kenyans place significant trust in local peacebuilders, such as community leaders, elders and women. The review of the country’s peacebuilding architecture proposes a 40% quota for women, youth and people with disabilities in local peace committees.

    However, quotas alone may not be sufficient to address the political and cultural challenges that entrench inequality.

    Ultimately, political elites need to transform Kenya’s “win at all costs” politics. This way, the country’s mediators and peacebuilders can address the deep social and economic grievances that underpin cycles of violence.

    – Kenya’s peacebuilding efforts hold valuable lessons for the rest of the world, but gaps remain
    – https://theconversation.com/kenyas-peacebuilding-efforts-hold-valuable-lessons-for-the-rest-of-the-world-but-gaps-remain-257761

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: “Resilience isn’t enough”: why the growth of women’s football could lead to player burnout

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Helen Owton, Lecturer in Sport and Fitness, The Open University

    Millie Bright (Chelsea Fcw) of England shooting to goal during the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup in France Jose Breton- Pics Action/Shutterstock

    Women’s football has exploded onto the global stage. Record-breaking crowds, major sponsorships, elite athletes and huge media deals have transformed the sport into a fast-growing spectacle. Its rise may be inspiring, but behind the success, many players are struggling with the growing physical and mental demands of the modern game.

    As the game becomes faster and more physically intense, players are expected to deliver top performances across crowded domestic seasons, international tournaments and growing commercial commitments.

    Recovery windows are shrinking, while the pressure to remain at peak performance only grows. Physiotherapists have already warned that many female players face burnout, overtraining and a rising risk of injuries due to inadequate rest and recovery time.

    With growing visibility also comes increasing scrutiny. Female players now live under the spotlight of social media, where they are expected not only to perform, but to lead, inspire and remain endlessly positive – often while facing online abuse.

    Chelsea and England star Fran Kirby has spoken openly about the criticism she has received about her body, especially after injuries or illness when she wasn’t at peak fitness.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    “I get called fat all the time,” she has said, highlighting how online abuse adds another layer of psychological strain that isn’t always visible, but can be deeply harmful.

    Mental health is increasingly part of the conversation around women’s football, but real support remains patchy. After the tragic suicide of Sheffield United’s 27-year-old midfielder Maddy Cusack in 2023, the FA commissioned a report into mental health support across the Women’s Super League (WSL).

    More players are speaking publicly about the pressures of anxiety, burnout and emotional distress, but access to professional psychological care still depends largely on the resources of individual clubs.

    For some players, the psychological toll deepens even further after injury. One study found that professional female footballers are nearly twice as likely to experience psychological distress after undergoing surgery. Yet mental health support during injury recovery remains inconsistent across the WSL.

    Millie Bright’s story offers a recent example. The Chelsea and England defender missed much of the 2023-24 season due to injury and, in 2025, withdrew from the England squad citing burnout. She eventually underwent knee surgery and chose to prioritise her rehabilitation over international duty, highlighting the difficult choices players face when balancing physical and emotional wellbeing.

    Governing bodies and clubs have a crucial role to play in safeguarding players’ wellbeing. Yet Uefa has come under fire for putting commercial growth ahead of player welfare with its expansion of the women’s Champions League into the new “Swiss model” format.

    Instead of facing three opponents twice, teams will now play six different teams during the league phase, splitting those matches home and away. While the extra fixtures may boost visibility and revenue, they also add to an already punishing schedule, heightening the risk of fatigue, injury and burnout for players who are already stretched to the limit.

    Financial security remains another major challenge. Some WSL players reportedly earn as little as £20,000 a year, forcing many to juggle full-time jobs or academic studies alongside football.

    For mothers in the game, the demands are even higher, as they manage childcare, training, travel and recovery with little institutional support. Maternity policies remain inconsistent, and many players face intense pressure to return quickly to peak form after pregnancy.

    Extraordinary resilience

    Despite these enormous challenges, female players continue to demonstrate extraordinary resilience, paving the way for the next generation. But as a 2024 Health in Education Association report notes, resilience alone isn’t enough. Without proper investment in both physical and mental health services, the long-term wellbeing and careers of these athletes remain at risk.

    While mental toughness is often celebrated, research shows that resilience depends heavily on the support structures available. In the WSL, access to mental health care and sports psychology varies dramatically between clubs.

    The FA has announced plans to make wellbeing and psychology roles mandatory in WSL licensing, which is a positive step. But for many players, consistent, high-quality support remains far from guaranteed.

    There is no doubt that women’s football has finally gained the attention it deserves. But progress must not come at the cost of player welfare. A sustainable future for the sport means investing not just in performance, but in protection: standardised access to physiotherapy, sport psychology and wellbeing professionals for all players, across all clubs.

    If the game truly wants to thrive long-term, it must create a culture where players aren’t just expected to perform, but are supported to rest, recover and speak openly about their mental health – without fear, stigma or consequence.

    Helen Owton 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. “Resilience isn’t enough”: why the growth of women’s football could lead to player burnout – https://theconversation.com/resilience-isnt-enough-why-the-growth-of-womens-football-could-lead-to-player-burnout-258432

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden wins the 2025 Women’s prize – an expertly woven tale of personal crises and national horror

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Manjeet Ridon, Associate Dean International, Faculty of Arts, Design & Humanities, De Montfort University

    The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden has won the 2025 Women’s prize. It revisits a dark, under-explored chapter of Dutch history. It asks what happened to all the possessions that Jews who were forced to flee or were taken to camps during the second world war had to leave behind.

    The trauma of this history hangs over the novel, a haunting buzz beneath this tale of a woman slowly losing control over her small and regimented world one summer in the early 1960s. That woman is Isabel, who lives alone in her sprawling family home in a rural area of the Netherlands.

    The house is the centre of Isabel’s world and she spends most of her time obsessively keeping it in order, as her late mother would have wanted. To her, “a house is a precious thing”. Isabel is its possessive and careful caretaker, suspicious of anyone she perceives as interfering in her relationship with it.

    Isabel’s relationship with the house is tied to a difficult childhood under the influence of her domineering mother, who is still asserting control from beyond the grave. Isabel is stuck in this history, aware that “she belonged to the house in the sense that she had nothing else, no other life than the house”. It is the only place she has, and can assert, a sense of control.

    But the house does not belong to her, she is simply its keeper. It will be inherited by her brother when he wants to start a family – a future which seems incredibly distant because of his playboy and big city ways. That is till he delivers his gauche new girlfriend, Eva, to stay at the house while he is away on business.

    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    What lies beneath?

    Set 15 years after the end of the second world war, van der Wouden’s debut novel unearths terrible crimes from the past and the psychological legacies that still ripple across generations of families, ancestral homes and communities. It is a novel about theft, expropriation and convenient cultural memory loss.

    The Safekeep succeeds in blending the political with the domestic and the historical with the personal.

    The writing is restrained yet lyrical and poetic, allowing space for the readers to realise how easily injustice and a historical wrong can be quietly concealed under the surface of everyday respectability. The story unfolds slowly, like coming across an old box of photos long forgotten in a dusty attic, which reveals a devastating narrative in fragments.

    Eva’s penetration of Isabel’s perfectly kept and regimented world, makes it clear to Isabel that the house and the objects she lovingly “kept” over decades were never, and will never, be hers. This graceless young woman stands in contention to everything Isabel (and her mother) thought a woman ought to be.

    As they spend time together and her desperate attempts to enforce control fail, Isabel has to confront the uncomfortable reality of her inheritance – that of the role she plays in her family, the life she has chosen to lead and the house she loves so dearly.

    There is mystery in this novel: pieces of a broken plate, missing objects, imperfect memories. The careful attention to detail and suspenseful prose makes the house take on a ghostly presence in the novel, becoming an archive of both sentimental memory and moral ambiguity.



    Read more:
    Women’s prize for fiction 2025: six experts review the shortlisted novels

    As things become more heated inside the house, we learn more about Isabel’s relationship with her two brothers, which is marked by a similar quiet tension and emotional distance. This family is shaped by its history and by their mother. The ways they grieve their matriarch’s death become entangled with the unravelling of long-held assumptions about their identities, values, each of their ideas about love and relationships, and the meaning of home and family.

    This startling debut has moved the literary world, having been shortlisted for 2024’s Booker and now winning the 2025 Women’s prize. The brilliance of The Safekeep lies in its subtlety and moral complexity. It is beautifully written, tightly constrained and poetic, and a deeply moving story about one woman’s desire for truth, justice and transformation.

    This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

    Manjeet Ridon 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 Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden wins the 2025 Women’s prize – an expertly woven tale of personal crises and national horror – https://theconversation.com/the-safekeep-by-yael-van-der-wouden-wins-the-2025-womens-prize-an-expertly-woven-tale-of-personal-crises-and-national-horror-258997

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Soledad Núñez: Address – CREO 2025 Forum

    Source: Bank for International Settlements

    I would like to thank Cinco Días for their kind invitation to participate in this second edition of CREO, a forum for reflection and debate on Spain’s economic future and the challenges facing the financial system. Today two fundamental areas for our country’s development and growth have been addressed.

    First, the technology and innovation industry, which is key for driving a state-of-the-art, efficient and competitive economy.

    Second, the banking sector, which is essential in any economy for channelling the funds needed to make business investments and meet consumer needs.

    Starting with the banking sector, the first point to highlight is the prominent role it plays in our economy:1 the latest National Statistics Institute (INE) data show that the financial sector has contributed more than 5% of gross value added to the Spanish economy, above the European average. Moreover, it generates slightly more than 1% of employment in Spain. The banking sector is the main pillar of the financial industry, which also includes the insurance sector and other financial intermediaries.

    As you are all aware, the Spanish banking sector is in good health, having undergone a major transformation in recent years. Indeed, the current Spanish banking landscape looks little like that of 15 years ago. The great financial crisis triggered a series of legislative reforms, propelled by the Basel Capital Accord, which strengthened banking solvency and fuelled advances in other areas, such as governance. All this led to an improvement in risk management, which is key to ensuring the good health of the sector.

    Thanks to this prudent risk management, Spanish banks now have historically low non-performing loan ratios, profitability levels above the European average and significantly more robust solvency levels than in the past. These legislative and management changes have also been accompanied by a new supervisory framework: the Single Supervisory Mechanism for the leading banks, or so-called “significant institutions”, which in Spain account for 94% of total banking sector assets.

    As has already been noted during today’s session, the banking sector faces a range of challenges, some unique to it and others shared by the economy as a whole.

    Among the latter, the present uncertain global environment cannot go unmentioned. The new geopolitical setting, in which trade positions are still unclear, will undoubtedly affect the global economy. The projection models suggest that the direct impact on the Spanish economy will not be very significant. However, there could clearly be an indirect impact through other economies with which we have closer ties. In consequence, the banking sector will have to keep a close watch on credit risk developments, especially in the sectors that are, a priori, most exposed to changes in the new international trade order. Other risks – such as liquidity or market risk – should also be monitored in view of the potential impact of possible financial market instability owing to unexpected events.

    Another challenge faced by all economic sectors is adapting to the ongoing technological revolution, as the use of technology clearly affects the financial industry, albeit not exclusively. The emergence of new tools, new communication channels, new competitors, etc., poses a challenge for the banking sector, as banks will have to make major investments within a pre-defined strategic framework.

    New technologies – today notably including artificial intelligence – represent a business opportunity, paving the way for new banking products more in line with customers’ needs and delivered through new, faster channels. Although the use of artificial intelligence by banks is not yet widespread, it is a galvanising factor that will prompt efficiency gains, reducing costs and boosting profitability.

    Banks’ use of technology and artificial intelligence will have to be prudently managed, as they increase operational risk, owing to possible system failures or cyberattacks. Banks must be ready to quickly and diligently manage any such failures, as well as the risks associated with reliance on third-party providers for certain critical activities. Moreover, the use of artificial intelligence has ethical connotations that must also be considered, avoiding undue bias or inexplicable results.

    As it advances in this unstoppable digitalisation process, the banking sector, as an essential service provider, cannot leave anyone behind. This is why it must continue its efforts to ensure access to banking services for population groups who face the most barriers, whether due to a digital divide, physical distance from a bank branch or their lack of the basic financial knowledge to make sound economic decisions.

    The last challenge I wish to mention briefly here today is the sustainable transition of the banking sector. Although banking is not a highly polluting sector per se, it does play a leading role in enabling all productive sectors to transition towards a more sustainable economy. Sustainability and competitiveness are two essential and interlinked concepts; a sustainable economy tends to be more competitive because it uses fewer resources. The banking sector should play a leading role in providing appropriate funding for that transition, for which purpose it needs both data and metrics. In the current debate on regulatory simplification under way at various fora, one of the focal points is sustainability reporting. Certainly, we need to reflect on this and other requirements, but any attempt to simplify firms’ sustainability reporting must not compromise the harmonised or sufficient disclosure of critical metrics and data points for climate and nature-related risk management.

    We need to move towards a more sustainable and competitive economy, and the banking sector will play an essential role in that process.

    Moreover, as I mentioned at the start, the technology and innovation industry is key, to boost our economy and make it more competitive and productive.

    The role of the technology and communication sector is particularly crucial. Compared with the European Union (EU) average, it accounts for a smaller share of the Spanish economy in terms of gross value added (6% versus 8%) and employment (4% versus 4.5%). But our economy is very well positioned for technological change for various reasons. First, Spain has good digital skills; indeed, in 2023, 66% of the Spanish population aged between 16 and 74 had high digital skills, the fourth highest figure in the EU after the Netherlands, Finland and Ireland. It also has a good digital infrastructure, with a high penetration rate of high-speed networks. In 2023, 96% of households had access to high-capacity networks, the third highest figure in the EU.

    Second, Spanish firms are very open to adopting and using digital technologies. According to a recent survey by the European Investment Bank,2 innovation and digitalisation are the key to our firms’ competitiveness and Spain leads the way in the use of advanced digital technologies (80% versus 74%).

    Third, the industrial production index of high-tech manufacturing industries has risen more in recent years than among our main European peers. Indeed, since 2021 this sector has grown by more than 25% in Spain, compared with 12% in France and 2% in Germany.

    In short, integrating new technologies and artificial intelligence in the banking and tech sector presents significant opportunities for achieving efficiency gains, reducing costs and boosting profitability. But this progress must be prudently managed, taking into account operational and ethical risks, as well as the need for digital inclusion.

    Furthermore, the banking sector has an essential role to play in the transition towards a more sustainable economy, providing appropriate funding and correctly managing risks, drawing on data and metrics backed by clear sustainability reporting. Spain’s technological environment is well positioned to continue leading in innovation and digitalisation, with a highly skilled population and state-of-the-art digital infrastructure. As we move forward, collaboration between these sectors will be vital to drive a more competitive, productive and sustainable economy.

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Soledad Núñez: Embracing the future on solid grounds – reinforcing financial stability

    Source: Bank for International Settlements

    We are living in an age of profound uncertainty.

    In recent months, geopolitical actions have greatly affected the global economy. The United States imposed tariffs, leading to retaliatory measures from other countries, which disrupted global trade. In Europe, these issues are worsened by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which has had severe human and economic impacts since it began in 2022.

    However, the challenges do not end there. Europe’s economic performance lags behind other regions, particularly the United States and China. The Letta and Draghi reports have made this clear: Europe must act with urgency, implementing policies that drive productivity and innovation.

    The gap is particularly wide in the field of technological innovation. The world’s largest tech companies by market capitalization are either American or Asian. Not a single European startup has reached a valuation of 100 billion USD in the past fifty years. Closing this gap will require significant public and private investment.

    Investment alone isn’t enough. As Mario Draghi recently said, “Integration is our last hope.” We need not just a single market for goods, but a unified financial system where European and national authorities work together for stability.

    This principle of unity applies equally to our financial safety net. Cooperation between central banks, supervisory authorities, resolution bodies, and deposit insurers is essential.

    It is in this context that this European Forum of Deposit Insurances (EFDI) International Conference provides a valuable platform to reflect on these challenges from the perspective of financial stability.

    I would like to thank the Spanish Directorate-General for Insurance and Pension Funds and EFDI for bringing together such a distinguished line-up of speakers.

    1 European Economic Situation

    Recent episodes of protectionism, including the generalised tariffs announced by the United States and the retaliation of China, require continued attention, as they continue to have an impact on capital flows and thus on the stability of financial markets. In Europe, this difficult situation is compounded by the tensions of other conflicts in Ukraine or in the Middle East, with an unbearable and unacceptable cost in human lives.

    Against this international background of unprecedented uncertainty, as Letta and Draghi’s past diagnostic reports have already pointed out, Europe faces a structural competitiveness gap compared to the United States and China. This gap is aggravated by differences in Research and Development investment, industrial scalability and access to venture capital.

    The current climate of uncertainty and such competitiveness gap mean that the only valid response at European level is unity and swift action.

    In response, the European Commission recently launched the Competitiveness Compass, a road map to revamp the EU’s economy. It transforms Draghi’s recommendations into a concrete roadmap – backed by the political support needed to act rapidly and in a coordinated way.

    The Compass aims to close the competitiveness gap while reducing strategic dependencies for the Union. The Compass proposes measures such as a call for deepening the single market, prioritising European Union policies, reducing bureaucracy and simplifying regulatory and fiscal frameworks.

    Europe needs to act together to boost its economy. To face challenges like climate change, technological changes, and geopolitical issues, Europe must invest significantly. The Draghi report suggests an additional €750-800 billion per year is needed by 2030, especially for small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups, which can’t rely just on bank financing.

    2 Savings and Investment Union and the Single Capital Market

    One initiative deserves particular attention – and I’m sure Commissioner Albuquerque will speak to it as well: the Savings and Investment Union.

    The EU is equipped with a talented workforce, innovative companies and a large pool of household savings of around €10 trillion in bank deposits. Bank deposits are safe and easy to access, but they usually earn less money than investments in capital markets. The Savings and Investment Union will make it easier for citizens’ savings to be mobilised for productive activities both through traditional bank financing and by putting their savings to work in capital markets. In this way companies – especially innovative start-ups and SMEs – will gain greater access to finance and venture capital.

    This initiative will also help us move towards the long-standing goal of a genuine capital single market.

    These changes will not, however, be immediate. European banks, including Spanish banks, must continue to play a key role in channelling savings into productive investments. Their better competitive position allowed them to cope with the turmoil that affected US regional banks a couple of years ago as well as more recent shocks.

    It should not be forgotten that a strong regulatory framework together with robust governance and effective supervision are essential elements to contribute to a sound banking system.

    The ECB has recently launched an initiative aimed at identifying redundancies and unnecessary complexities in regulation that affect the efficiency and competitiveness of European banks. The necessary reduction of the bureaucratic burden should not, however, affect the quality of compliance and reporting standards, which have made a decisive contribution, especially in the area of capital and solvency, to the solid position that European banks enjoy today.

    Current historical low NPL ratios, high profitability and strengthened solvency ratios will allow European banks to best meet the challenges associated with the environment I have mentioned. One of these will be related to digitalisation and the use of artificial intelligence. Banks can take advantage of their good momentum to boost digitalisation and prepare for competition from new competitors.

    3 Digitalization and Technological Innovation

    The digital transformation of the banking sector is irreversible. AI, asset tokenisation, and quantum computing are already reshaping finance, and their impact will only grow. But they also introduce new risks. These risks relate to the possibility of cyber-attacks but also to the dependence of financial institutions on technology providers. The DORA Regulation establishes mandatory standards for technological risk management, focusing on cybersecurity and testing but also on the management of technological suppliers, which recognises their critical role.

    I am sure that the panellists in the conference sessions will address the relevance of this new regulatory framework, the implementation of which will require strong support from institutions, providers and of course authorities. Lessons learned in the implementation of this new regulatory framework may be useful as a reference, with appropriate proportionality, for the management of technology risk by the deposit insurers sector, as their systems and processes are exposed to similar risks.

    The transformative potential of AI for the economy in general and the financial sector in particular is obvious. The use of AI will make it possible to automate repetitive tasks, free up human resources for higher value-added activities and improve decision-making through advanced data analytics. Banking should in turn support the use of AI in its relationship with customers, personalising and improving the customer experience. However, AI management entails relevant risks that must be monitored, from the misuse or bias of models, their lack of explainability or the increase in cyber-attacks.

    The European Union has taken a decisive step in regulating these risks. The new European AI Regulation grants specific competences to national authorities for the supervision of high-risk AI systems in the financial sector, which implies additional tasks for supervisors such as the Banco de España. Again, the successful implementation of this framework will be crucial for authorities, institutions and providers.

    Let me also make a brief reference to the importance of a digital euro in the area of payments. The digital euro won’t replace cash, but will reduce dependence on big tech and thereby boost competitiveness in the Union. Card payments in Europe are dependent on foreign networks, which is a strategic weakness for the continent.

    This dependence may become even greater with the emergence of foreign providers of digital mobile wallets or the expansion of dollar-denominated stable coins. There are still important elements to be defined in the design of the digital euro, in particular how it operates with private systems. Despite some concerns for the financial sector about the cost of adaptation and balance limits – which will need to be addressed in the ongoing design phase – the digital euro will bring strategic advantages for the future of the Union.

    Also in the area of payments, it is also likely that in 2025 the future PSD3 will see the light of day. The new Directive will replace the current PSD2. Its development responds to the need to adapt regulation to the growth of electronic payments, reinforcing consumer protection in accessing digital services and reducing payment fraud. PSD3 will also impose a single authorisation and operating regime for electronic money institutions and payment institutions, with a growing presence in the financial sector.

    The new regulation will remove barriers to the entry of these competitors into payment systems. As with any innovation, its development must be accompanied by an appropriate balance of responsibilities and rights of the parties involved.

    We have also seen the adoption of the immediate transfer regulation for the euro area from early 2025, which will be implemented gradually until 2027. Since the beginning of this year, payment operators in the euro area have already been offering their customers the same or better rates for immediate and ordinary bank transfers, with the addition of verification of the identity of the beneficiary.

    I am sure that the Conference will also address the challenges and implications for deposit insurers of these innovations in the scope of their functions, in particular in the reimbursement of guaranteed balances to depositors in case of a payout event.

    4 CMDI: The role of deposit insurers

    Equally important for guarantee funds will be the framework resulting from the negotiations between the European co-legislators on the ongoing revision of the Resolution Directives (BRRD) and its Regulation (SRMR) as well as the Guarantee Funds Directive (DGSD), the Crisis Management and Deposit Insurance (CMDI) legislative package. The reform of the CMDI represents an important step towards a more integrated, resilient and, above all, better prepared Banking Union to cope with future crises, and promises important benefits in terms of financial stability and depositor protection.

    The Commission’s original proposal of April 2023 was followed by two more alternative proposals from the Council and the Parliament, in its old composition. The different proposals share the need to strengthen crisis management to protect depositors’ access to their deposits by reinforcing the use of funding mechanisms such as the Resolution Fund, the SRF for the Eurozone, and national deposit guarantee funds. The reform seeks to expand the perimeter of resolution, applying the resolution mechanisms to a greater number of credit institutions, by enabling easier access to the resolution funds thanks to the contribution of deposit guarantee funds to resolution. The contribution from private sources such as the one from deposit insurers, will complement adequately the internal bail-inable resources of the bank, without resorting to public money.

    Equally important, the CDMI proposal will review the use of guarantee fund resources for other purposes than deposit payouts, as the measures to prevent the failure of a credit institution or the alternative measures to be used in insolvency proceedings, acknowledging the effectiveness and benefits of these tools for the management of banking crises. The wider the tool-kit, the better.

    The framework will also deepen the coordination between resolution authorities and deposit guarantee schemes. Robust communication protocols, joint crisis preparedness exercises and early access to information are essential elements to ensure an effective crisis management mechanism.

    In any case, the final text should provide a framework that facilitates its effective implementation, especially important when it comes to acting decisively in a short time frame, such as the “weekend” of resolution. It should also reinforce the role of guarantee funds in the management of banking crises.

    In this regard, let me point out the importance of the role that the Spanish DGS played in crisis management of the Global Financial Crisis, which severely affected the Spanish financial sector and particularly the savings banks. The contribution of the Spanish DGS, and thus of Spanish banks, was decisive in the management of the crisis that affected these institutions from 2010. The contribution of FGD’s resources for the absorption of losses and recapitalisation amounted to 23 billion euros, approximately a third of the total granted to the sector including public aid, and it served to reduce the cost to the taxpayer.

    Since then, the FGD has been improving its financial capabilities besides its systems and processes. On the financial side, it has already reached a capitalisation level exceeding the minimum regulatory target, well complemented by a private commercial line. In the operational area, the EBA, in charge of assessing the implementation of its standards on stress testing for guarantee funds, recently published a benchmark report among 7 EU deposit insurers, including the Spanish DGS. In the report the EBA acknowledges the FGD has in place adequate arrangements to test its capacities under stressed scenarios, and therefore in good position to be prepared to face an intervention.

    5 Conclusion

    Let me conclude.

    I believe a strong crisis management framework with a flexible toolkit is essential. Equally important is the coordination among authorities before, during, and after any disruption. This means authorities and deposit insurers must act quickly, decisively, and together.

    This unity is crucial now more than ever. In a time of increasing fragmentation, both globally and regionally, Europe must respond with a single purpose and strategy, especially in maintaining financial stability.

    Today, I’ve highlighted some of the missing pieces in Europe’s financial integration – and the need for national authorities to step up. The Spanish Deposit Guarantee Fund is committed to this goal. Through its active role in European forums, it will continue to contribute to the strengthening of our shared framework.

    As Mario Draghi recently reminded us in his report presentation: “In this world, it will be only through unity that we will be able to retain our strength and defend our values.”

    I am confident that the distinguished speakers we will hear today and tomorrow will help illuminate the path ahead.

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Aleš Michl: Remarks on euro adoption

    Source: Bank for International Settlements

    Delivering on our mandate of price stability

    The new Bank Board was appointed in mid-2022. At that time, inflation in the Czech Republic was 17.5 percent. Today, it is back under control, down to just 2.4 percent.

    The base repo rate is currently at 3.5%, and I expect it will remain at this level for some time.

    Our strategy is clear: to keep interest rates higher for longer compared to the period before COVID, to avoid any unconventional policies, and to follow the vision that in monetary policy, less is more (Michl, 2024b).

    This year, our currency – the koruna – appreciated by 11% against the US dollar and by 2% against the euro. This helps us in the fight against inflation.

    The Czech National Bank is the most trusted institution in the country (STEM, 2025)1. We take this trust seriously.

    The pros and cons of having an independent monetary policy

    Two main advantages:

    First, exchange rate flexibility. A stronger koruna makes imports cheaper, which helps fight inflation. On the other hand, a weaker koruna supports exports during a recession. We can call it an adjustment mechanism for the economy – or, to be exact, an adjustment mechanism for the balance of payments.

    And the second one:

    The current policy of the European Central Bank does not fit the Czech economy. Our key interest rate is 3.5%, while in the eurozone it is 2%. We still need high interest rates to keep inflation low. We also need positive real interest rates to maintain price stability.

    In Croatia and Slovakia, inflation is around 4%, which means they currently have negative real interest rates. That makes it harder for them to fight inflation.

    Our goal is price stability – not to support exporters. The key is to keep the growth of money in the economy under control.

    One key disadvantage:

    Everyone can make mistakes. In the history of the Czech National Bank, there were two major ones: keeping real interest rates negative for more than 10 years before COVID, and increasing the money supply (banking liquidity) by 100% in 2017 in order to weaken the koruna. This is one of the reasons why core inflation after COVID was higher in the Czech Republic than in the eurozone. We must not repeat these mistakes.

    That is why our strategy is to keep interest rates higher for longer, avoid any unconventional policies, and follow the vision that in monetary policy, less is more.

    The “perfect” timing of euro adoption

    Just to remind you, the government makes the final decision about euro adoption, not the central bank.

    My PhD thesis was about the perfect timing for euro adoption.  And the main conclusion was that one day, the exchange rate adjustment mechanism may stop working for the economy.

    Let me give two situations as examples:

    First, a weaker koruna might help exporters – but at the same time, it brings very high inflation into the country (Michl, 2016).

    Second, if there is already a large amount of loans in euros in the economy – like in Croatia (Croatia: 70%, vs 20% in the Czech Republic) – independent monetary policy effectively stops working. A weaker koruna in such a situation could lead to large-scale defaults.

    For now, the exchange rate adjustment mechanism still works. There is no need to rush to adopt the euro. We should remain a country with a strong koruna, an independent monetary policy, and robust FX reserves – not follow the example of Croatia.

    Our experience with fighting high inflation

    Inflation was 17.5% in July 2022 and still rising. The key interest rate was already at 7%. Then, a new Bank Board was appointed – and we changed the strategy.

    The gamechanger was the strong koruna strategy, which we introduced in late 2022 (Michl, 2022). We announced that we would keep interest rates stable for an extended period. At the same time, we clearly communicated that a strong koruna is crucial for the Czech economy.

    This strategy worked. In spring 2023, we saw the strongest koruna in our history. The strong koruna helped reduce inflation by making imported raw materials cheaper. It also created tougher conditions for exporters – a necessary trade-off.

    The market understood and trusted our strategy because we communicated it openly and transparently. And that was enough. Sometimes, less is more in monetary policy. It is better to maintain a steady and credible restrictive stance than to keep interest rates at zero for a decade – and then hope to control inflation with a sudden, sharp rate hike.

    On FX volatility and risk premia

    Yes, FX volatility brings hedging costs for companies. But the mission of monetary policy is price stability – not cheap financing.

    Let me measure the risk premium using the asset swap spread: the difference between the 5-year government bond yield and the interest rate swap rate, measured in percentage points. Currently, this spread stands at 0.2 percentage points in Croatia, 0.3 percentage points in Slovakia, and 0.2 percentage points in the Czech Republic.

    We aim to keep the risk premium low through credible and independent monetary policy – and by putting pressure on the government to balance public finances.

    Within the eurozone, governments often feel less pressure to save money or balance their budgets. The bailout system reduces the risk premium – but it also weakens the incentive for fiscal responsibility. In a country without market pressure, politicians become less motivated to reduce deficits, and a real estate bubble can form more easily.

    We also learned the wrong lesson from the eurozone fiscal rules – the idea that a deficit under 3% of GDP is always acceptable. It’s not. What really matters is maintaining balanced public finances over time.

    Cheap euro loans and the koruna’s higher borrowing costs

    Yes, corporate loans in euros are cheaper, but interest rates on savings are higher in our country. In the Czech Republic, we need higher interest rates to fight inflation.

    Those higher rates help slow down borrowing – for everyone: households, the government, and businesses (Michl, 2024a).

    Monetary policy’s mission is price stability – not cheap financing.

    Keeping money too cheap for too long was one of the mistakes in the past that led to high inflation.

    References

    Michl, A. (2016). Nová kritéria pro přijetí Eura [New Euro Convergence Criteria]. Politická ekonomie, 2016(6), 713–729.

    Michl, A. (2022). Policy for a Strong Koruna. CNB Discussion Forum. Faculty of Economics and Administration at Masaryk University, Brno, 23 November 2022.

    Michl, A. (2024). The Target. University of Pardubice, CNB Discussion Forum 2024, 23 April 2024.

    Michl, A. (2024b). CNB’s Aleš Michl on Tackling Inflation, Friedman’s Legacy and Ditching DSGE. Central Banking, 19 December 2024.

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Wang Huning calls for integrated development across Taiwan Strait

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –

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

    XIAMEN, FUJIAN PROVINCE, June 16 (Xinhua) — Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), has called for high-quality development of the cross-Strait integrated development demonstration zone in east China’s Fujian Province.

    Wang Huning made this statement at a meeting held in Xiamen on Sunday.

    Stressing the need to leverage Fujian Province’s unique advantages and its pioneering role in cross-Strait relations, Wang Huning called for greater innovation in policies and mechanisms to deepen economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation across the Taiwan Strait.

    He noted the importance of coordinating relevant policies to promote integrated development across the Strait, as well as creating a more favorable business environment to attract more Taiwanese and companies to develop on the Chinese mainland.

    Wang Huning also stressed the need to push forward the normalization of cross-shore people-to-people contacts and exchanges, calling for efforts to optimize channels for Taiwanese youth to seek opportunities and development on the Chinese mainland. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: One dead, six missing after explosion at fireworks factory in central China

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

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

    CHANGSHA, June 16 (Xinhua) — One person was killed, six were missing and nine were injured as of 5 p.m. Monday in an explosion at a fireworks factory in central China’s Hunan Province on the same day.

    The blast occurred at Shanzhou Fireworks Co., Ltd. in Linli County, Changde City, at around 8:23 a.m., the county party committee said. All the victims have been given medical treatment and their condition is not life-threatening, it said.

    The explosion occurred in a one-story reinforced concrete building. The company, founded in July 2017, employs more than 150 people, most of whom were outside the blast zone at the time of the accident.

    Emergency rescue teams of various levels arrived at the scene immediately after the accident. The rescuers’ efforts are focused on searching for missing persons, providing assistance to victims, evacuating nearby residents and investigating the causes of the accident. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Chinese Foreign Ministry: China and Central Asian countries will jointly outline a new grand plan for future development

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

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

    BEIJING, June 16 (Xinhua) — At the upcoming second China-Central Asia Summit, the heads of state of China and Central Asian countries will jointly map out a new grand plan for future development and open up a wider space for jointly building the Belt and Road, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Monday.

    He made this statement at a regular departmental press conference, answering a journalist’s question regarding the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” by China and the Central Asian countries.

    The Central Asian region is not only the place where China first put forward the Belt and Road Initiative, but also an advanced area in its high-quality joint implementation, Guo Jiakun noted, adding that China has signed cooperation documents on jointly building the Belt and Road with all five Central Asian countries and implemented a number of landmark projects with them aimed at promoting development and improving people’s well-being.

    According to him, in 2024, China’s foreign trade volume with Central Asian countries reached a record high of 674.15 billion yuan, an increase of 116 percent compared with 2013.

    Guo Jiakun noted that the China-Kazakhstan oil pipeline and the China-Central Asia gas pipeline have created a new model of win-win cooperation. The China-Tajikistan highway, China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan highway and China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway have taken regional connectivity to a new level. The digital economy and green transformation have expanded new areas of practical cooperation.

    In addition, China has introduced a mutual visa-free regime with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Luban Workshop projects are being implemented at an accelerated pace, and humanitarian exchanges and people-to-people ties are gaining momentum, he added.

    High-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road is becoming a key area of cooperation between China and Central Asia every day, the Chinese diplomat stressed.

    According to Guo Jiakun, the second China-Central Asia Summit will be held in the near future, where the heads of state will jointly outline a new grand plan for future development, open up a wider space for jointly building the Belt and Road, and promote the building of a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –