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Category: Europe

  • MIL-OSI Security: France takes command of NATO Mission Iraq

    Source: NATO

    On Thursday 22 May, Major General Christophe Hintzy from France assumed command of NATO Mission Iraq, at a change of command ceremony in Baghdad. He succeeds Lieutenant General Lucas Schreurs from the Netherlands, who had been in post since May 2024. The ceremony was attended by Iraqi officials, Ambassadors from Allied and partner countries, NATO officials, and other representatives from the international community in Baghdad.

    “For France and for me personally, it is an honour and immense privilege to take over command of the NATO Mission in Iraq, a country often regarded as the cradle of civilization,” Major General Hintzy said. “Together with Iraqi security institutions and Iraqi Security Forces, we share a common goal. Our success will never be an individual success, but rather a collective one to develop tailored and sustainable solutions that will help Iraq as a valued partner for NATO,” he pointed out.

    The outgoing commander, Lieutenant General Lucas Schreurs, thanked his Iraqi counterparts for their hospitality and excellent cooperation and praised them for their commitment to the cooperation with NATO and to further strengthening the Iraqi security forces and institutions. “To our Iraqi partners — your resilience and leadership inspire us. We have learned much from you, and it has been a privilege to serve alongside you. To our Allies and partners — thank you for investing in Iraq’s future and in our shared security,” he said. “Christophe, I pass this command to you with full confidence. You inherit a team of dedicated professionals and a resilient network of partnerships. I know you will lead with vision and respect for both NATO’s principles and the Iraqi context. This mission is about people — about trust, support, and sovereignty. I know you will carry it forward with the integrity it deserves,” Lieutenant General Schreurs added.

    At the NATO Summit in Brussels in July 2018, Allied leaders launched NATO Mission Iraq, following a request and upon invitation from the Government of Iraq. The mission was established in Baghdad, in October 2018. It is a non-combat, advisory, and capacity-building mission that assists Iraq in building more sustainable, transparent, inclusive and effective security institutions and forces, so that they themselves are able to stabilise their country, fight terrorism, and prevent the return of ISIS/Daesh.

    All efforts of NATO Mission Iraq are carried out with the consent of the Iraqi government and conducted in full respect of Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

    Ahead of the change of command ceremony of NATO Mission Iraq, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Operations, Tom Goffus, participated in the second meeting of the High-Level Dialogue for Partnership between NATO and Iraq, held in Baghdad, on 21 May. “This second meeting of the High-Level Dialogue for Partnership, here in Baghdad, is a testimony to our partnership with Iraq and to cementing this dialogue,” he said, adding that “NATO continues to stand prepared to support the Government of Iraq and its security institutions into the future through NATO Mission Iraq.”

    The High-Level Dialogue for Partnership between NATO and Iraq was launched in Brussels on 27 August 2024. It provides an additional framework for consultations and exchange of views on issues of mutual interest – including stability across the Middle East.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: From grey to green: Derby City Centre gets a makeover

    Source: City of Derby

    Derby City Centre has undergone a transformative green makeover thanks to funding from the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund.

    New planters have been installed around the city centre, giving a fresh and vibrant feel to the area.

    Many of the new planters have seating incorporated, which has been designed to be accessible to all visitors. Whether stopping for a quick rest or enjoying the sunshine, people can now experience Derby in a whole new way.

    Alongside the new planters, residents will already be familiar with the living roof bus shelters, which continue to be installed around the city. On top of being more visually appealing, these shelters also provide food sources and habitats for a wide variety of pollinating insects.

    Councillor Carmel Swan, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Transport and Sustainability, said:

    This project marks a real step forward in making Derby a greener, more climate-conscious city. By adding trees, plants, and accessible seating, we’re turning grey spaces into greener, more welcoming areas.

    Over the last year I have been holding several events with schools across the city as part of the Derby Promise. Their voices have been clear; make our city greener. I hope that they like the new greening of our city.

    These changes not only improve the look and feel of our streets, but also support biodiversity, help tackle air pollution and create a more resilient urban environment for the future.”

    These new planters have been installed by Whitehouse on behalf of Derby City Council.

    In 2020, Derby City Council and Nottingham City Council secured £161m from the Transforming Cities Fund to invest in local transport infrastructure that will improve sustainable transport options, support growth, and encourage more low carbon journeys.

    As part of this wider vision, Derby’s city centre streets have been reimagined to provide improved access for road users and pedestrians, improve traffic flow, and reduce emissions. This includes new segregated cycle lanes, wider pavements, and improved traffic signals.

    The greenery and seating has been strategically placed where Transforming Cities infrastructure works were completed. These enhancements are not just aesthetic, but are helping to revive Derby’s city centre by creating a more pleasant environment that attracts visitors, supports local businesses, and encourages sustainable travel choices.

    The new planters and seating areas are the latest in our plans to make Derby a greener city. Six new pocket parks have recently been installed around Derby, providing an accessible, safe space for citizens to take a break.

    The Transforming Cities Fund works support actions in the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan to increase active and sustainable travel, increase biodiversity which in turn improves health and wellbeing whilst supporting the local economy.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: “Eternal Deposits”: Development of Endowments in Russia Discussed at Polytechnic University

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    The Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University hosted the Eternal Deposits Assembly and the Endowment EXPO exhibition, organized by the National Endowment Association with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

    The plenary session was opened by the Vice-Rector for Youth Policy and Communication Technologies of SPbPU Maxim Pasholikov.

    “The topic of endowments is in demand now, in recent years we have seen its rebirth, and the issues that the National Endowment Association raises, initiating various sessions and events, certainly influence the development and promotion of endowments,” Maxim Aleksandrovich noted in his welcoming speech. “These issues are related to motivational co-financing, and to the attraction of state corporations, and to the involvement of society as a whole in charity. I think many of you will agree that there is romance in the topic of endowments, because we are talking about eternal capital, about the fact that the result may appear not in a year or two, but in fifty or a hundred years, and our descendants will receive it. That is why our business seems so romantic and especially valuable to me.”

    Svetlana Lavrova, Chairperson of the Board of the National Endowment Association, agreed that there is a certain romanticism in the fact that an endowment, on the one hand, is important for the financial market, and on the other hand, it supports the non-profit sector, ensuring its sustainability and independence.

    “The financial sector is interested in finances, and the beneficiaries of all this are simply people,” Svetlana Nikolaevna explained. “The development of endowments balances the interests of business and society.”

    Director of NAE Alexey Anisin presented statistics on the endowment industry for 2024 and the dynamics of its development since 2011. Targeted capital is created to support universities, schools, sports associations, and cultural institutions. Today, there are already 407 of them, 360 are registered, and the volume of funds in endowments, according to management companies, amounted to 155.5 billion rubles.

    Alexey Anisin noted that this year the number of Assembly participants and partners has increased significantly: We held the First Assembly “Eternal Deposits” in 2023. Last year we decided to make exhibition “Endowment EXPO”. We invited not only endowment funds, but also management companies, universities, schools, museums. We realized that those people who, especially in the regions, are engaged in this topic, lack a community, communication, because if in Moscow, in St. Petersburg there are many endowments, there is a certain professional circle where people communicate, then in the regions it is much more difficult. The industry itself is not yet sufficiently represented in the media field. An important function of such an exhibition is to tell the widest possible circle of people, including donors, about the endowment.

    The plenary session was also attended by the co-founder and president of the Rybakov Foundation Ekaterina Rybakova, the general director of the Potanin Foundation Oksana Oracheva, the director of the Federal Center for Cultural Heritage Our Norilsk, and a member of the board of the National Association of Ecologists Anna Makukha.

    On the first day of the assembly, discussions were held on the tracks “Basics and Reviews”, “Consultations and Special Events” and “Special Sessions”, where participants discussed issues of investing and developing endowments in various fields.

    Maxim Pasholikov, Vice-Rector for Youth Policy and Communication Technologies at SPbPU, gave a presentation at the “University Endowment Review” track. He shared his experience of attracting funds to the Polytechnic’s endowment funds (there are currently six of them), and then the audience exchanged examples and ideas for filling their endowments. Maxim Pasholikov separately said that since this year, the monitoring system of the Ministry of Education and Science’s “Priority-2030” program has included an indicator of the effectiveness of attracting funds to endowment funds, so the universities participating in the program have an additional incentive to develop alumni communities, partnerships and other mechanisms for increasing endowment funds.

    At the end of the first day of the Assembly, the winners and prize winners of the Eternal Contribution Prize were awarded. The ceremony was hosted by Associate Professor of the Higher School of Law and Forensic Science of the Humanitarian Institute of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, winner of the competition and recipient of the Eternal Contribution-2022 Prize Artem Klinitsky.

    In 2025, the special prize of the organizing committee of the award was received by a team of authors, which included Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Higher School of International Relations and the Higher School of Social Sciences of the Humanities Institute of SPbPU Ilya Sidorchuk, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of St. Petersburg State University Evgeny Rostovtsev and a student of the Humanities Institute of the Polytechnic University Svetlana Danilova.

    The study by the co-authors is dedicated to the Society for Assistance to Students of the Imperial St. Petersburg University and the importance of endowment capital in its activities.

    “The society was founded in 1873 and up until the revolution it successfully coped with its tasks,” said Ilya Viktorovich. “We came to the conclusion that there were many ways to support the society and raise funds, for example, membership fees, charity concerts. But, as practice has shown, the most effective was the use of perpetual deposits. It was thanks to them that it became possible to implement such projects as the construction of a sanatorium in Yevpatoria and the organization of a student canteen, which fed many needy young people for free.”

    “As they said today on one of the tracks, time goes by, but many students are still forced to look for money for clothing, food, housing, education, especially in the humanities, where there are fewer and fewer budget places every year,” added Svetlana Danilova. “That is why our work is relevant, and this historical experience can be useful.”

    Photo archive

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI: R3 signals strategic shift to lead the convergence of public and private blockchains to deliver internet capital markets through collaboration with Solana Foundation

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LONDON, May 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —

    • Collaboration brings together R3’s leading private enterprise blockchain with Solana’s high performance public mainnet
    • Drives institutional adoption of public blockchain networks, capitalizing on greater regulatory clarity and growing institutional demand for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs)
    • Announcement marks new strategic direction for R3, signalling its leadership in driving the convergence of public and private networks to unlock the next era of internet capital markets
    • Enables regulated financial institutions to directly access the speed and scale of Solana for broader asset distribution, enhanced liquidity, and a decisive step in bringing TradFi to DeFi

    {{DATELINECITY_DATE_GLOBENEWSWIRE_BUG}R3 and Solana Foundation today announce a strategic collaboration to bring regulated financial institutions and their real-world assets onto Solana. It will deliver the first enterprise-grade, permissioned consensus service offered to the public directly on a Layer 1 network. This brings the institutional TradFi and DeFi worlds into true convergence, marrying the unparalleled reach of R3 into the TradFi ecosystem with the scale, liquidity, and innovation of internet capital markets. As the world’s most used public blockchain, the Solana blockchain offers unmatched performance, low fees, and a vibrant global ecosystem – making it the ideal foundation for the next generation of regulated digital finance.

    R3 has invited Lily Liu, President of the Solana Foundation, to R3’s Board of Directors, marking a strategic shift for R3 that unites the strengths of public and permissioned blockchains.

    Solana and R3 will bring regulated assets onto a public blockchain at a time when the RWA sector is at a pivotal juncture: regulatory tailwinds are spurring investor confidence in digital assets, financial institutions are becoming increasingly comfortable with leveraging public networks, and the DeFi sector is maturing. These forces are driving growing demand for high-quality, tokenized assets on public networks.

    As the world’s largest collection of permissioned RWA networks, with over $10 billion in regulated assets on-chain across its platforms, the R3 ecosystem is ideally positioned to meet this demand. R3’s Corda has the most live, in-production use cases and millions of transactions processed daily by leading institutional players. Integrating with Solana’s blockchain will enable these assets to flow to meet the growing demand on public networks, and unlock new settlement options across these ecosystems, including using high-quality stablecoins. Unlike traditional interoperability approaches, this comprehensive integration means private transactions on Corda can be confirmed directly on Solana mainnet, inheriting the network’s performance and security, and enabling true transactional atomicity.

    The collaboration will create a consensus service deployed on Solana to enable native interoperability between R3’s existing Corda platform – as well as other private networks – and Solana, bridging the gap between permissioned and public blockchain ecosystems for the first time. This will enable regulated financial institutions – including banks, financial market infrastructure providers, and asset managers – to fully harness the openness and efficiency of Solana without re-writing their applications or compromising on compliance, security, or asset control.

    R3 chose Solana as its public Layer-1 substrate and the basis for its new consensus service following an extensive evaluation and technical review of decentralized protocols, selecting Solana for its low transaction fees, speed, scalability, as well as the Solana ecosystem’s robust developer community, and relationships with numerous regulated financial institutions, including Blackrock, Franklin Templeton, and Hamilton Lane which have all deployed regulated assets on the network.

    Critically, this collaboration simplifies the complexity of managing RWAs on public blockchains – bringing Corda’s proven strengths in identity, privacy, and compliance to a public and permissioned environment. This allows traditional financial institutions to operate with the same control and clarity they expect from enterprise-grade infrastructure, while unlocking the scale and flexibility of a public network. 

    “This is a major step forward for the institutional adoption of public blockchain,” said Lily Liu, President of the Solana Foundation. “R3’s decision to bring its regulated financial network onto Solana is powerful validation that public blockchains have reached institutional readiness. With Solana’s unmatched performance, enterprise-grade permissioning, and growing roster of regulated assets, we’re not just witnessing convergence between TradFi and DeFi – we’re enabling it. This collaboration signifies that the future of capital markets will be built on public infrastructure. We’re thrilled that the Solana ecosystem is leading the way.”

    David E. Rutter, Founder and CEO of R3 commented: “We’ve never pursued blockchain for its own sake – our mission is to solve real financial problems. After years of laying the groundwork, R3 is ready to bring our experience and our network of regulated financial institutions towards a new public future with one of the best and most trusted public ecosystems – Solana. This is more than a milestone; it’s a strategic realignment for the entire industry. We know DeFi isn’t coming to TradFi, so it’s up to us to build the connective infrastructure that links these two ecosystems. This is about adapting to deliver real-world utility, institutional-grade readiness, and shaping the long-term future of regulated markets.”

    Clearstream, a leading post-trade infrastructure provider at the forefront of digitizing financial markets, is a long-standing user of R3’s Corda which underpins its digital collateral solution. 

    Jens Hachmeister, Head of Issuer Services & New Digital Markets at Clearstream, commented: “Tokenization isn’t just about digitizing assets – it’s about building scalable, global infrastructure where real-world assets can interact directly and securely, no matter where investors are located. The convergence of public and private blockchains is no longer a future promise – it’s happening now. This is a generational shift in how value moves, and a compelling moment for any institution looking to enter the crypto space. We’re excited for what’s ahead.”   

    Media Contacts

    Eterna Partners for R3

    R3@eternapartners.com

    +44 (0)7442 230 170

    Solana

    press@solana.org

    About R3

    R3 is the leader in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and interoperability solutions, driving market digitization and bridging the largest on-chain RWA ecosystem with DeFi.

    Corda is an open, permissioned DLT platform powering the tokenization of assets and currencies connecting global markets. Corda enables tokenization with control, providing diverse asset mobility in a secure, trusted environment. 

    R3 is committed to progressing financial markets by enabling an open, trusted and advanced digital economy for real-world assets.  

    For further information, please visit www.r3.com.

    About Solana

    Solana is a blockchain built for mass adoption. It’s a high performance network that is utilized for a range of use cases, including finance, NFTs, payments, and gaming. Solana operates as a single global state machine, and is open, interoperable and decentralized. For more information, please visit https://solana.com.

    About Solana Foundation

    The Solana Foundation is a non-profit foundation based in Zug, Switzerland, dedicated to the decentralization, adoption, and security of the Solana network. For more information, please visit https://solana.org/.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ae6d91e9-9bb4-4a47-b3e3-7a873993c009

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Fusion Fuel Announces Over $2.7 Million in New Contracts and Substantial Utility Growth through Al Shola Gas

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    DUBLIN, Ireland, May 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — via IBN – Fusion Fuel Green PLC (Nasdaq: HTOO) (“Fusion Fuel” or the “Company”), a leading provider of full-service energy engineering, advisory, and utility solutions, today announced that its majority-owned operating subsidiary, Al Shola Al Modea Gas Distribution LLC (“Al Shola Gas”), has secured an estimated $2.7 million in new engineering contracts since the beginning of March 2025, and, since the beginning of January 2025, has added more than 1,800 residential service contracts and two commercial service contracts to its portfolio for estimated recurring revenue of more than $0.9 million. The Company also provided an update on Al Shola Gas’ bulk LPG supply.

    Overview of New Contracts – Engineering Projects

    Since March 2025, Al Shola Gas has signed contracts for design, supply, installation, maintenance, and operations with an estimated total value of approximately $2.7 million.

    “The award of these market-leading contracts exemplifies Al Shola Gas’s capability to undertake and execute the industry’s most exemplary and demanding projects. We continue to expand our operations as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) benefits from increased migration and construction sector growth,” added Al Shola Gas, Managing Director, Sanjeeb Safir.

    Overview of New Contracts – Residential Utilities

    Since the commencement of the current year, Al Shola Gas has signed contracts for the supply and maintenance of LPG utility solutions for over 1,800 new apartments situated in 16 buildings throughout Dubai, UAE. The anticipated annual recurring revenue generated from the new contracts is projected to be approximately $0.9 million. Consequently, with the incorporation of these new contracts, the current billings for utility solutions rendered by Al Shola Gas will increase to encompass over 12,000 customers.

    Overview of New Contracts – Commercial Utilities

    Furthermore, since the beginning of 2025, Al Shola Gas has signed commercial LPG supply and maintenance contracts for two food and beverage facilities in Dubai. With the addition of these properties, Al Shola Gas now manages monthly billing for over 170 food and beverage outlets.

    Overview of Bulk LPG Supply

    Bulk LPG supplied by Al Shola Gas to its current customers has consistently exceeded 600 MT monthly. Bulk LPG supply has been organically growing at a rate of 10 to 20 MT per month. With new bobtail trucks purchased and expected to join the Al Shola Gas fleet in the coming months, the company expects to reach 800 MT per month in bulk LPG supply by the end of the year.

    “Al Shola Gas continues to deliver impressive operational results and commercial traction,” said John-Paul Backwell, CEO of Fusion Fuel. “These new contracts reflect the market’s trust in our capabilities and contribute meaningful value to our long-term revenue base through project and recurring utility income.”

    About Fusion Fuel Green PLC

    Fusion Fuel Green PLC (NASDAQ: HTOO) is an emerging leader in the energy services sector, offering a comprehensive suite of energy supply, distribution, and engineering and advisory solutions through its Al Shola Gas and BrightHy brands. Al Shola Gas provides full-service industrial gas solutions, including the design, supply, and maintenance of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) systems, as well as the transport and distribution of LPG to a broad range of customers across commercial, industrial, and residential sectors. BrightHy, the Company’s newly launched hydrogen solutions platform, delivers innovative engineering and advisory services enabling decarbonization across hard-to-abate industries.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release includes “forward-looking statements.” Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “seek,” “target”, “may”, “intend”, “predict”, “should”, “would”, “predict”, “potential”, “seem”, “future”, “outlook” or other similar expressions (or negative versions of such words or expressions) that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside the Company’s control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Fusion Fuel has based these forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations, are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate, and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, those set forth in Fusion Fuel’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 9, 2025, which could cause actual results to differ from the forward-looking statements.

    Wire Service Contact:
    IBN
    Austin, Texas
    www.InvestorBrandNetwork.com
    512.354.7000 Office
    Editor@InvestorBrandNetwork.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: FMQs: Polluters must pay to prevent climate breakdown

    Source: Scottish Greens

    22 May 2025 Climate

    Climate breakdown already costs households in Scotland over £3,000 a year on average.

    More in Climate

    Climate inaction will cost Scottish households and the economy unless big polluters are made to pay, says Scottish Greens Co-Leader Lorna Slater MSP at First Minister’s Questions.

    Research by Global Witness has revealed that the costs of climate breakdown in the UK amount to an estimated £3,000 per household over the course of 2025.

    The cost of wildfires, flooding, crop losses, and more, means higher bills for households, such as insurance and everyday essentials, warns Tax Justice UK.

    Scottish Greens have long called for a windfall tax on the fossil fuel sector to pay for a Just Transition for North East workers, and to fund urgent climate action.

    In the Holyrood chamber, Ms Slater asked the First Minister:

    “Your Government has spent the last year ripping up policies designed to tackle the climate emergency. And I know the First Minister knows that delaying action on climate, actually costs a lot more in the long run.

    “Analysis from Global Witness shows that climate damage is already costing Scottish households £3,000 every year, on average, while multinational fossil fuel giants are still raking in billions of pounds of profit.

    “Unless polluters pay, communities will be worse off and the super rich will keep getting richer.

    “So that we can invest more now, not only to save money later, but to create green jobs and opportunities that we know will benefit Scotland, will the First Minister support policies to tax polluters?”

    Responding to Ms Slater, the First Minister did not set out any clear examples of climate action or attempts to make polluters pay his government would take.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: A representative of SPbGASU spoke about the use of artificial intelligence in course design at a conference in China

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Andrey Surovenkov at the conference

    Head of the Department of Architectural Design, Associate Professor of SPbGASU Andrey Surovenkov spoke at the forum of the International Alliance of Architectural and Technological Universities of the Silk Road (SRIAATU) at Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology (China). As reported by the Head of the International Activities Department of SPbGASU Shuainat Akhmadulaeva, our university is a partner of this university and a member of the alliance, which opens up new opportunities for interaction in the field of education and science.

    “The annual international conference attracts employees of universities from many countries with its relevant agenda: the topics raised are understandable and close to all participants. Our university is interested in exchanging experience and discussing important aspects, so it is participating in the conference for the second year in a row,” explained Shuainat Akhmadulaeva.

    This year, the conference “Joint Construction and Innovation along the Silk Road: Writing a New Chapter in Green Architecture of the Silk Road” discussed priority areas of cooperation between universities of the Silk Road countries in the field of construction science and technology, integration and development of educational innovations. In his speech, Andrey Surovenkov considered the advantages and risks of using artificial intelligence in the development of course projects in the discipline “Architectural Design”.

    “New tools are increasingly coming into architectural design, greatly accelerating and simplifying the work of an architect. But they come to education much later – only after they have become firmly established in business. For example, the computer-aided design system (CAD) came to the university only in the 2002/2003 academic year, when it was already fully used in real design. On the one hand, this is logical, since students begin to use only those design tools that have received recognition from business and have been tested in practice. On the other hand, without an understanding of how to work with new tools needed by a modern specialist, competencies are not fully acquired. At the same time, students are quite actively mastering new technologies and are already beginning to use AI when creating course projects. It is difficult to prohibit this, and it is also unnecessary. Therefore, it is better to identify possible areas of application of AI in course design and the boundaries within which this technology can be used in a dialogue with students, so as not to harm the acquisition of other important competencies. At the same time, it is already important for teachers to understand the principles of neural networks: what they are most often used for, and how it is possible to distinguish a picture drawn by a neural network from a picture made by a specialist,” explained Andrey Surovenkov.

    Andrey Viktorovich prepared his report with a team of students and identified a fairly large number of neural networks that are already successfully used in developing ideas and refining three-dimensional images. Seven neural networks were selected that were tested by students during design or received positive feedback in professional communities. The main options for using these neural networks in developing course projects were also identified: editing and improving three-dimensional images, selecting materials, searching for possible ideas during design.

    “This technology can facilitate and speed up the design process. Especially since it is developing very quickly. Currently, the neural network “operator” has to form the correct request to get a more or less suitable solution, but in two or three years, neural networks will learn to fully communicate with a person, understanding what he wants to get. However, as futurologists wrote, AI will free people from routine, giving them time for creativity. It seems that it is the creativity of the neural network that they are trying to take away from us. Therefore, the main danger for students is to become not a full-fledged specialist, but simply an operator of the neural network. To prevent this from happening, it is important to learn to design independently,” Andrey Surovenkov summed up.

    It should be noted that Andrey Surovenkov is participating in this conference for the second time. The topics he raises find a wide response from colleagues from different countries.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Wave of Russian tourism gains momentum in 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

    BEIJING, May 22 (Xinhua) — China and Russia have declared 2024-2025 as the Years of Culture. Diverse humanitarian exchanges between the two countries have become an important bridge for deepening bilateral relations and strengthening friendship between the peoples of both countries. The growing flow of tourists from Russia to China has become a bright stroke in the picture of humanitarian interaction between the two countries.

    As reported by the newspaper “Kitayskaya Kultura”, at a recent presentation of tourism resources in the Beidaihe district of Qinhuangdao City (Hebei Province, Northern China), a representative of the Russian side noted that the golden beaches and warm sun of this region are very popular with Russian tourists, expressing hope for even closer cooperation in the future.

    By the end of 2024, Beidaihe’s foreign tourist flow was 30.9 thousand people-times, of which 24.5 thousand people-times were Russian citizens. Since the beginning of 2025, friendly artistic competitions and other events aimed at attracting even more Russian tourists have been held here.

    “We will definitely bring more Russians to Weihai!” said representatives of 31 Russian tour operators during a familiarization tour of the Huancui District of Weihai City in Shandong Province /East China/, during which they visited the local iconic structure – the “Gate of Happiness”. Charter flights from Vladivostok and Khabarovsk to Shandong are expected to launch in July this year, and the current tour operators’ visit is aimed at developing new tourist routes.

    As of October 2024, China and Russia have established 167 pairs of sister city relations between cities and provinces, which has contributed to the rapid development of tourism.

    According to the Chinese travel platform Ctrip, during the May holidays of this year, bookings of tours to China for tourists from Russia increased by 213 percent year-on-year.

    The number of Russian tourists on Hainan Island /South China/ is also growing rapidly. Factors such as affordable prices, quality service, developed resort infrastructure and a variety of tourist programs contribute to the active growth of sales of relevant tourist products.

    A large number of Russians arrive in the city of Heihe in Heilongjiang Province /Northeast China/ every day. They visit local restaurants and intangible cultural heritage workshops. A regular visitor to the city, Natalia, noted that she likes traditional Chinese medicine methods – acupuncture and massage. “I have even mastered some techniques and now give massages to my family members.”

    The growing tourist flow is stimulating the modernization of services. “In April, we received 36 groups of 258 Russian tourists, and in May we expect 19 groups of 184 people,” said Li Fan, head of the international department of Tianma International Travel Service in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, Central China. Since the beginning of the year, the number of Russian tourists in this company has increased by 50 percent compared to the same period last year. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Lightning: China, France should jointly safeguard international trade rules and world economic order, practice true multilateralism – Xi Jinping

    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

    Xinhua | 22.05.2025

    Key words: China-France

    Source: Xinhua

    Lightning: China, France should jointly safeguard international trade rules and world economic order, practice true multilateralism – Xi Jinping Lightning: China, France should jointly safeguard international trade rules and world economic order, practice true multilateralism – Xi Jinping

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Lightning: Xi Jinping calls on China, France to be reliable forces to uphold international order, open forces to promote global growth, and progressive forces to lead multilateral cooperation

    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

    Xinhua | 22.05.2025

    Key words: China-France

    Source: Xinhua

    Flash: Xi Jinping calls on China, France to be reliable forces to uphold international order, open forces to promote global growth, and progressive forces to lead multilateral cooperation Flash: Xi Jinping calls on China, France to be reliable forces to uphold international order, open forces to promote global growth, and progressive forces to lead multilateral cooperation

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Councillor Paul De Kort re-elected Leader of St Albans City and District Council

    Source: St Albans City and District

    Publication date:

    Councillor Paul De Kort has been re-elected Leader of St Albans City and District Council.

    He was voted to the role for the second year in succession at the annual meeting of the Full Council on Wednesday 21 May.

    Cllr De Kort will chair the Council’s Strategy and Resources Committee which has responsibility for the budget and other financial issues.

    He will also chair the Planning Policy and Climate Committee, which is overseeing the progress of the Local Plan.

    Cllr De Kort represents Harpenden East ward and has been a Councillor since 2021. He has previously held several key committee positions including Vice Chair of Resources and Chair of Audit.

    He said after the meeting confirmed his appointment:

    I am delighted to have been voted Leader again by my fellow Councillors. 

    During the coming year, we will continue our work on behalf of our residents to make St Albans District an even better place to live and work.

    Over the past 12 months, we have completed the construction of Jubilee Square, a landmark development in a sustainable location in the heart of the City. It has provided 30 new social rent homes for people on our housing register and it will also considerably increase footfall in the centre once the commercial space is occupied.

    In the year ahead, we are on track to get our Local Plan adopted, a blueprint for the sustainable growth of St Albans District over the next 16 years.

    This will allow for 15,000 much-needed new homes as well as £750 million of new infrastructure including new schools, better public transport, locations for 15,000 jobs, green spaces and health facilities.

    We will also remain committed to tackling the climate emergency, promoting inclusive communities and ensuring that our leisure facilities remain at a very high level. We have achieved all this despite the challenging financial climate.

    The Council meeting also agreed to the appointment of six other Lead Councillors who will each have a wide range of responsibilities. They are:

    Councillor Helen Campbell: Deputy Leader, Chair of the Public Realm Committee and Lead for car parking, parks and leisure.

    Councillor Terrie Smith: Vice-Chair of the Public Realm Committee and Lead for heritage, waste and recycling.

    Councillor Simon Johns: Chair of the Housing and Inclusion Committee and Lead for housing services and homelessness.

    Councillor Sarwar Shamsher: Vice-Chair of the Housing and Inclusion Committee and Lead for equality, inclusion and community safety.

    Councillor Giles Fry: Vice-Chair of the Strategy and Resources Committee and Lead for resources.

    Councillor Jacqui Taylor: Vice-Chair of the Planning Policy and Climate Committee and Lead for sustainability, climate and housing delivery.

    Contact for the media: John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer, 01727 819533, john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Council commits to learning and moving forward following Armada Way Independent Learning Review

    Source: City of Plymouth

    Plymouth City Council has today published the findings of an independent learning review into the events surrounding the felling of trees on Armada Way in March 2023 — and has committed to a comprehensive action plan to improve how it delivers major projects and engages with residents. 

    Commissioned by the current administration and led by a panel of independent experts through SOLACE, the review explored how decisions were made, how the project was managed, and how the Council communicated with the public. The panel reviewed extensive documentation, court evidence, and conducted interviews with staff, partners, and residents. 

    The report offers valuable insights into areas where the Council’s approach did not meet the standards expected — particularly in governance, project management, engagement, and staff wellbeing. It highlights opportunities that were missed and processes that did not function as effectively as they should have. 

    In response, the Council has reflected and acknowledged that there were weaknesses in the approach to bringing forward the project, many of which had underlying causes. As a result, a detailed action plan has been published outlining how the Council will address the findings and ensure that lessons are fully embraced. This includes strengthening decision-making processes, improving consultation and communication, and introducing a new corporate approach to project management. 

    Chief Executive Tracey Lee said: “I want to thank David Williams and the panel for their thorough and thoughtful work. We are grateful for the insights the review has provided — even where they are difficult to hear. It’s clear that in some key areas, we came up short of where we needed to be. And for that, we are sorry.  

    “Every single day, this Council delivers outstanding work. From supporting vulnerable families to delivering major infrastructure, we are making a real difference to people’s lives. The issues highlighted in this report are not reflective of the vast majority of what we do. But they do show us where we need to improve.  

    “We are committed to being a learning organisation — one that reflects honestly, adapts, and grows from experience. That’s not just important for us as a Council — it’s vital for the people we serve. When we learn, we improve. And when we improve, we deliver better outcomes for our communities. 

    “But, let me be clear — Plymouth City Council is not anti-tree. In fact, since November, thanks in part to a huge new partnership effort, there are over 35,000 new trees growing and establishing across the city. This has resulted in us being recognised by the Tree Cities of the World programme. But we are also ambitious for Plymouth. We want this city to grow — and that means making difficult decisions. 

     “This review was about how we made those decisions, and it’s evident that we didn’t always get it right. We are committed to learning from this experience and doing better.” 

    The Council’s action plan includes: 

    • A revised policy and training programme for public engagement and consultation 
    • A new project management framework, to be rolled out across the organisation 
    • Enhanced support and training to ensure stronger governance and decision-making processes 
    • Improved support for staff wellbeing  
    • A review of the Council’s Constitution, Scrutiny arrangements, and governance training 

    The report and action plan will be discussed at the Council meeting on 2 June, where the Chair of the Independent Review Panel will present the findings to members. 

    David Williams, Chair of the Review Panel, said: “This was a complex and sensitive situation. While there were clearly areas where the Council could have done better, what stood out to us was the genuine commitment to the city’s regeneration and the strong community voice advocating for green spaces. 

    “This review wasn’t about blame. It was about understanding how things unfolded, where opportunities were missed, and how the Council can move forward in a more inclusive and resilient way. We hope the findings support healing, strengthen trust, and help the Council deliver its ambitions with the community alongside them.” 

    Tracey Lee added: “We are committed to rebuilding trust through transparency and accountability. We won’t always get everything right, but we will always listen, learn, and strive to do the right thing for Plymouth.” 

    The Council has already begun implementing changes and will report regularly on progress through the Audit and Governance committee process. 

    You can read the full Independent Learning Review Report and Action Plan on our website. 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Report of the Head of OSCE Mission to Skopje: UK statement, May 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Speech

    Report of the Head of OSCE Mission to Skopje: UK statement, May 2025

    The UK underlines appreciation for the work and added value of the OSCE Mission to Skopje over the last 12 months, particularly in supporting government reforms.

    Thank you, Mr Chair.

    Firstly, I would like to welcome back Ambassador Wahl to the Permanent Council. Thank you for the work of your team over the last year, and for your comprehensive and engaging report this morning.

    The United Kingdom highly appreciates the work and added value of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, and the Mission’s support to government reforms.

    The United Kingdom and North Macedonia have developed a strong and supportive bilateral partnership since we established diplomatic relations over 30 years ago. I am delighted that our Prime Minister met with Prime Minister Mickoski during the European Political Community summit last week and announced the new strategic partnership between our two countries. This deepens our mutual commitment to work together on issues of trade and investment, foreign policy, tackling organised crime, infrastructure cooperation and migration.

    The UK welcomes the findings of the ODIHR Election Observation Mission that the parliamentary and presidential elections held in North Macedonia last year were competitive and fundamental freedoms were respected, though we note the concerns highlighted over insufficient regulation of the process. We encourage the Government of North Macedonia to continue engagement towards addressing the remaining recommendations in the ODIHR Election Observation Mission Final Report ahead of municipal elections later this year.

    The UK positively notes the OSCE Mission’s achievements over the past 12 months, set out clearly in your Report. We particularly welcome your continued engagement to promote social cohesion and community rights, and your support on criminal justice reform – including work in the last 12 months on judicial independence, promotion of fair trial standards and strengthening cooperation with civil society.  

    The UK is also pleased to note the Mission’s continued commitment to gender equality – particularly your support for women’s political participation, and your engagement with parliament on the adoption of a new Gender Action Plan for 2025-2027.

    Mr Chair, it is vital for the work of all OSCE field operations that participating States agree a Unified Budget for 2025 and beyond. As highlighted in the Report, the continued non-agreement of budgets and the resulting forced subsistence on monthly allotments make it very challenging for field missions to deliver across their mandates and adjust to changing priorities. We urge all participating States to engage constructively with upcoming proposals to resolve the impasse over budgets.    

    Thank you, Ambassador Wahl. Thank you, Mr Chair.

    Updates to this page

    Published 22 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Goodbye, school: the last bell rang at the Pre-University of the State University of Management

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    On May 21, 2025, the last bell rang for 11th grade students of the Pre-University of the State University of Management.

    This year, the theme of the holiday was a train journey. And before departure, the rector of the State University of Management Vladimir Stroyev addressed the assembled students, their parents and teachers with a welcoming speech.

    “Two years have flown by and today you are already standing on the threshold of a new adult life. But the path of a graduate is not over yet, the most important thing is ahead – passing the Unified State Exam. As a parent, I myself went through this exciting stage and I want to wish you to worry less, because it is definitely impossible not to worry at all. Believe in your children, our Pre-University provides one of the best educations that Moscow has at the high school level. I am sure that the children will cope with all the tests with dignity and in a month we will award them with prizes and medals. I wish you all to pass the Unified State Exam with a hundred points and enter the State University of Management, because the guys from the Pre-University are already familiar with the university, know the basics of the first year and will be able to easily adapt to study,” concluded Vladimir Stroyev.

    The students of the Pre-University themselves prepared a festive concert, where they performed large-scale dance numbers, humorous skits, live performances of songs by groups and a choir, as well as live playing of musical instruments. In addition, the guys prepared several videos about their life during their studies at the Pre-University and humorous questions about teachers.

    The class teachers also came up on stage with their wishes and congratulations in return, which they read out without hiding their tears.

    Marina Grigorieva, Director of the Pre-University of the State University of Management, also congratulated the graduates.

    “I am very touched by your performance, I want to say that I love you very much too. I wish all your dreams come true: from little unicorns to presidents of large holding companies,” Marina Yuryevna admitted.

    The GUU Pre-University started working in 2020. The training is free of charge in the following term profiles: socio-economic, humanitarian and technical (IT-oriented). Depending on the choice, schoolchildren study in depth mathematics, English, computer science, information technology, social studies, economics, law, which in the future allows them to easily and successfully enter the GUU or any university in the country.

    More photos from the event in our VK community.

    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 USA: Carter statement on “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” passing the House

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Earl L Buddy Carter (GA-01)

    Headline: Carter statement on “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” passing the House

    Carter statement on “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” passing the House

    Washington, May 22, 2025

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA) released the following statement today after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act:


    “This is a once-in-a-generation bill that will unlock President Trump’s full domestic agenda, which Georgians voted for overwhelmingly back in November. With the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act we are unleashing our nation’s energy dominance, securing the border, putting more money back into hardworking Americans’ wallets, kicking illegal immigrants off Medicaid so that it is available for those who need it, and ending the waste, fraud, and abuse that risks sending our country into economic ruin. I could not be more proud of my House Republican colleagues for getting this fantastic bill passed, but the fight is not over.

    “Georgia’s Senators now have a choice: Will they stand with the people of Georgia by preventing the largest tax hike in American history, or will they bend the knee to Chuck Schumer by siding with the liberal elites?” said Rep. Carter.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Americus Man Sentenced to Prison for Illegally Possessing Firearms

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Under Investigation for Fentanyl Distribution, Armed Defendant Attempted to Evade Police

    ALBANY, Ga. – An Americus, Georgia, resident who was under investigation for distributing fentanyl in the community was sentenced to federal prison for illegally possessing several firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime as he attempted to evade arrest.

    Juan Antonious Boone, 36, of Americus, Georgia, was sentenced to serve 181 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release by Chief U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner on May 21. Boone previously pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime on Oct. 9, 2024. There is no parole in the federal system.

    “Armed repeat felons distributing fentanyl and other dangerous illegal substances will find their cases in federal court,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney C. Shanelle Booker. “We are grateful that no one was injured when the defendant recklessly sped away in his car while attempting to evade arrest. I want to thank the teams from the Americus Police Department, GBI and ATF for helping us hold the defendant accountable for his crimes and their tireless efforts to make our communities safer.”

    “Let me be clear—if you’re a convicted felon pushing fentanyl and carrying illegal firearms, the ATF will find you, and you will face the full force of federal prosecution,” said ATF Assistant Special Agent in Charge Beau Kolodka of the Atlanta Field Division.

    “Fentanyl distribution and armed criminal activity pose a grave threat to public safety,” said GBI Director Chris Hosey. “This sentencing sends a clear message: individuals who choose to traffic deadly drugs and illegally possess firearms will be met with the full force of the law. We remain steadfast in our mission to protect Georgia communities through strong partnerships and relentless investigative work.”

    “The Americus Police Department appreciates the teamwork between local, state and federal law enforcement partners that helps to get dangerous criminals like this off our streets. We are all in the fight together against violent offenders who are flooding our streets with fentanyl and other dangerous narcotics,” said Americus Police Chief Mark Scott.

    According to court documents and statements made in court, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) utilized a confidential informant (CI) between June 13, 2023, and Aug. 7, 2023, to purchase small quantities of narcotics, including fentanyl, from Boone in the Americus area. On Jan. 8, 2024, GBI conducted surveillance of Boone at the Days Inn in Americus as he departed the hotel. Boone, who was wanted on an active probation warrant, was pulled over by Americus Police Department (APD) officers. Rather than exiting the vehicle as instructed, Boone placed the vehicle in drive and drove away at a high speed, almost striking an APD officer. APD officers pursued Boone to a nearby apartment complex; when he got to a dead-end, he got out of the car and ran away. Boone had a firearm in his hand and one in his waistband; he was safely apprehended. Boone, who has several felony convictions, was illegally possessing two stolen 9mm pistols. Inside his car, police found approximately 24 grams of fentanyl, 79.743 grams of methamphetamine, 251 grams of cocaine, a large quantity of marijuana and a 9mm semiautomatic pistol. Boone has several prior felonies, including two convictions for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and a conviction for possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

    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).

    The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the Americus Police Department (APD).

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Redavid prosecuted the case for the Government.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: EBA launches consultation on amended disclosure requirements for ESG risks, equity exposures and aggregate exposure to shadow banking entities

    Source: European Banking Authority

    • The EBA proposes a proportionate ESG disclosure framework aligned with the European Commission’s initiative to simplify sustainability reporting.
    • Simplified requirements are proposed for small and medium banks, as well as clarifications and enhancements to streamline reporting. No new obligations are introduced for large-listed banks.
    • To support institution’s implementation, the EBA proposes to introduce transitional measures and supervisory flexibility aimed at reducing the compliance burden for institutions.

    The European Banking Authority (EBA) today launched a public consultation on proposed amendments to the European Commission’s Implementing Regulation on Pillar 3 disclosures under the CRR3. The proposal specifies enhanced and proportionate disclosure requirements related to ESG-related risks, equity exposures and aggregate exposure to shadow banking entities. It also implements the new codes for the statistical classification of economic activities in the EU (NACE).  The. Today’s proposal aims to enhance transparency and consistency of disclosures in a proportionate manner. The consultation runs until 22 August 2025.

    This consultation paper finalises the implementation of the Pillar 3 disclosure requirements introduced by the banking package (CRR3), including the extension of the scope of application of ESG risks-related disclosures to all institutions and the disclosure of information on shadow banking and equity exposures.

    In line with the European Commission’s omnibus proposal  to reduce reporting costs and simplify sustainability reporting, the EBA has designed a proportionate approach for ESG disclosures based on the institution’s type, size and complexity, with simplified disclosures for banks other than large, particularly for those that are small or non-listed.

    Furthermore, the consultation does not introduce any new requirement on banks already disclosing ESG related information (large listed banks),  but aims to simplify the reporting process by clarifying the existing requirements based on the experience gained. It does this by introducing materiality considerations regarding the frequency of some of the disclosures and by ensuring full and permanent alignment with the Taxonomy Regulation in terms of scope and definition of the Green Asset Ratio (GAR) templates.

    Transitional provisions have been introduced to support institutions and facilitate the initial implementation of the new requirements. For ESG disclosures, in particular, consistently with these transitional provisions, in order to clarify expectations, ensure consistency and reduce operational burden, for the period until the ITS now being consulted starts applying, the EBA is encouraging supervisory flexibility. For this purpose, the EBA is considering issuing a no action letter advising competent authorities not to prioritise the enforcement of the disclosure of certain templates related to the Green Asset Ratio and Taxonomy Regulation for large and listed institutions; nor the enforcement of the disclosure of any ESG-related templates for other institutions.

    Finally, the EBA is further supporting institutions in their compliance with disclosure requirements by providing an updated mapping tool between Pillar 3 and supervisory reporting.

    Consultation process

    Responses to the consultation can be sent to the EBA by clicking on the “Submit response” button on the consultation page.

    All contributions received will be published after the consultation closes, unless requested otherwise. The deadline for the submission of comments is 22 August 2025

    A public hearing on this consultation will take place via conference call on 26 June 2025 from 11:00 to 12:30 CEST. Deadline for registration is 24 June 2025 at 16:00 CEST.

    Legal basis and background

    Regulation (EU) 2024/1623 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR3) implements the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS)’s December 2017 Basel III post-crisis regulatory reforms in EU, while considering the specific aspects of the EU’s banking sector. The new banking package envisages further harmonisation of supervisory powers and enforcement tools and an increase in transparency and proportionality in the Pillar 3 disclosure requirements.

    The EBA’s plan on how to implement the mandates included in the Banking Package is explained in the ‘EBA Roadmap on strengthening the prudential framework’, published in December 2023. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/3172 including the new and amended disclosure requirements directly linked to Basel III implementation was published last year as part of step 1 of the EBA roadmap. As part of step 2 of the EBA roadmap, the Pillar 3 disclosure framework is amended to consider the other CRR 3 amendments to Part Eight of the CRR, including disclosure requirements on equity exposures (Article 438(e) of CRR3); new disclosure requirements on the aggregate exposure to shadow banking entities (Article 449b of CRR3); and the extension of the scope of application of disclosure requirements on ESG risks to all institutions (Article 449a of CRR3).

    In addition, the Guidelines on disclosure of non-performing and forborne exposures (EBA/GL/2018/10 as amended by EBA/GL/2022/13) are repealed, considering the extension of the disclosure requirements on non-performing exposures and forbearance to listed SNCI and other non-listed institutions in accordance with the CRR 3 Articles 433b and 433c.

    On February 26, 2025, the Commission published the Omnibus proposal aimed at simplifying sustainability reporting under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), and Taxonomy Regulation.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: On guard of the HR brand: the HR forum named after A.Ya. Kibanov has started its work at the State University of Management

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    On May 21, 2025, the State University of Management’s Information Technology Center hosted the grand opening of the XVI All-Russian Interuniversity Personnel Forum named after A.Ya. Kibanov, which will last from May 21 to 23, 2025.

    The concept of this year’s forum is based on the images of Russian heroes, personifying strength, reliability and dedication to their work. Inspired by these images, the forum organizers presented the HR brand as a fortress that must be carefully guarded and strengthened.

    Vladimir Stroev, Rector of the State University of Management, addressed the participants of the event with a welcoming speech.

    “It is no coincidence that the forum is held every year at the State University of Management: the Department of Human Resources Management of our university is the oldest in Russia and the USSR, its founder Ardalyon Yakovlevich Kibanov is a pioneer in this field. Moreover, our department is known throughout the country and many of its graduates, who today hold high positions and often visit our university, confirm that it is still the leader in its field. I urge everyone to actively participate in the forum events and remember that you are the future of this field, and the policy and success of companies will directly depend on your work,” Vladimir Vitalyevich noted.

    Also at the opening of the forum, the head of the Department of Human Resources Management of the State University of Management Rafik Ashurbekov spoke, emphasizing the importance and practical significance of the forum.

    “Today we are opening the doors of the sixteenth forum, which has already become a good tradition for the State University of Management. I would like to note that every year our meetings are becoming more and more large-scale and significant. This time, more than 400 participants from 41 Russian universities have gathered here, 19 teams will compete in the Olympiad, and the forum already has 11 partners. This indicates a great interest in the field and a desire to exchange experience. The program will allow everyone to find something useful for themselves. Young people are the driving force that will allow us to make positive changes in the field of personnel management,” concluded Rafik Ashurbekovich.

    After the official part, the conference “HR Bogatyrs: Protection of corporate values and strength of spirit in personnel management” began.

    The invited experts did not just give presentations, but also had a dialogue with Polina Druzhinina, a student of the HR Department of the State University of Management and the host of the podcast “HR in the Heart”. The guests discussed the modern cultural code, HR brand, the country’s HR scientific potential, the role of corporate culture, the possibilities of neural networks in HR management and other topical issues.

    Also on the first day of the forum, the first stage of the student Olympiad “Human Resources Management: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” began, where teams competed for victory in the quest “Corporate Tales”.

    The second stage of the Olympiad will take place on May 22 – teams will have to complete a practical case from the partner company ANCOR and present their work to a competent jury. In addition, the Competition of Innovative Projects in Personnel Management and Labor Economics for students and postgraduates will begin on this day, the final of which will take place in the form of a battle of the competition finalists on May 23.

    Also on May 22, within the framework of the forum, the Educational and Methodological Section on the training of specialists in the field of personnel management “Effective methods of training specialists in personnel management” will be held, in which representatives of various universities that train students in the field of “Personnel Management” will take part.

    The A. Ya. Kibanov Personnel Forum is an annual unique discussion platform that brings together students, young scientists, teachers and experts in the field of personnel management and labor economics in Russia and abroad. Its main goal is to develop the theory and practice of personnel management, improve personnel technologies, and promote the development of innovative solutions in the field of personnel management and intellectual resources of modern organizations.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Country Development Strategy and the Role of Statistics: GUU and Mosstat Held a Joint Forum

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    On May 22, 2025, the Information Technology Center of the State University of Management hosted the forum “Statistics of Modernity: Challenges and Opportunities”, organized jointly with the Office of the Federal State Statistics Service for Moscow and the Moscow Region (Mosstat).

    The Vice-Rector of the State University of Management Dmitry Bryukhanov addressed the audience with a welcoming speech.

    “It is nice that such a large-scale and significant event is taking place on the territory of our university. The data provided by statistics is the basis for management decisions, and the State University of Management trains personnel for the Russian economy. Our interaction with partners today is not limited to the event, we will also continue to plant an alley of famous statisticians in order to popularize this area in such an informal way,” Dmitry Yuryevich noted.

    The head of Mosstat, Leonid Kalimullin, expressed gratitude to the rector of the State University of Management for the provided venue and organizational assistance in holding the forum, as well as the lilac alley as a tribute to the memory of statisticians. In his speech at the plenary session, he also recalled the historical date that the organization is celebrating this year.

    “This June will mark 190 years of statistics in Moscow and the Moscow Region. For almost two centuries, we have been collecting and preserving the history of our country in figures and facts that help leaders make important management decisions aimed at improving the lives of citizens. This is our main role. I would like to note the close cooperation with the State University of Management in terms of recruiting young specialists. As part of project-based learning at the university, of which we have been participating for the second year, many interesting and high-quality projects have been implemented together with students, for which we are also grateful,” admitted the head of Mosstat.

    Deputy Head of the Federal State Statistics Service Sergei Egorenko spoke about the main indicators of the Development Strategy of Russia and the role of statistical agencies in its implementation.

    “The topic of our meeting is more relevant than ever. In December 2024, the development strategy of Russia was approved, and less than a month ago, the plan for its implementation. One of the points talks about creating a digital platform to ensure the quality and completeness of data analysis. This is what we have been talking about in recent years, that statistics should be made convenient for citizens and widely used, and also to improve statistical literacy in the country,” emphasized Sergey Egorenko.

    Also taking part in the plenary session were Pavel Smelov, Director General of the Center for Strategic Research, Dmitry Faikov, Head of the Analytics and Internal Communications Department of the Russian Federal Nuclear Center – All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics, Anna Vedernikova, Deputy Director General of the Center for Strategic Research, and Elena Pryakhina, Head of the Department of Information Statistical Resources and Technologies of the Interstate Statistical Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

    After the speeches, the guests went to plant trees on the Alley of Statisticians, which was laid out at the State University of Management in 2024, where they were met by the rector of the State University of Management Vladimir Stroyev.

    “Last year we started a good tradition – planting an alley of statisticians on the territory of our university – and today we will continue it. The oldest department in Russia and the USSR for training young specialists and managers in the field of statistics for a variety of fields operates at the State University of Management. This is our profile. And the choice of the State University of Management for planting the alley by the heads and specialists of federal and regional statistical bodies once again confirms the high role of our university in this field,” Vladimir Stroyev noted.

    The final part of the forum was the work of the participants in three thematic sections dedicated to the digital transformation of the statistical system, data quality standards and the human resources potential of the industry.

    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 Global: Work requirements are better at blocking benefits for low-income people than they are at helping those folks find jobs

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Anne Whitesell, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Miami University

    Meeting work requirements to get government benefits can lead to burdensome paperwork. JackF/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    Republican lawmakers are battling over a bill that includes massive tax and spending cuts. But they’re having trouble agreeing on provisions intended to reduce the cost of Medicaid.

    The popular health insurance program, which is funded by both the federal and state governments, covers about 78.5 million low-income and disabled people – more than 1 in 5 Americans.

    The House is getting ready to vote on a budget bill designed to reduce federal Medicaid spending by requiring anyone enrolled in the program who appears to be able to get a job to either satisfy work requirements or lose their coverage. It’s still unclear, however, whether Senate Republicans would support that provision.

    Although there are few precedents for such a mandate for Medicaid, other safety net programs have been enforcing similar rules for nearly three decades. I’m a political scientist who has extensively studied the work requirements of another safety net program: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

    As I explain in my book, “Living Off the Government?
    Race, Gender, and the Politics of Welfare,” work requirements place extra burdens on low-income families but do little to lift them out of poverty.

    Work requirements for TANF

    TANF gives families with very low incomes some cash they can spend on housing, food, clothing or whatever they need most. The Clinton administration launched it as a replacement for a similar program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, in 1996. At the time, both political parties were eager to end a welfare system they believed was riddled with abuse. A big goal with TANF was ending the dependence of people getting cash benefits on the government by moving them from welfare to work.

    Many people were removed from the welfare rolls, but not because work requirements led to economic prosperity. Instead, they had trouble navigating the bureaucratic demands.

    TANF is administered by the states. They can set many rules of their own, but they must comply with an important federal requirement: Adult recipients have to work or engage in an authorized alternative activity for at least 30 hours per week. The number of weekly hours is only 20 if the recipient is caring for a child under the age of 6.

    The dozen activities or so that can count toward this quota range from participating in job training programs to engaging in community service.

    Some adults enrolled in TANF are exempt from work requirements, depending on their state’s own policies. The most common exemptions are for people who are ill, have a disability or are over age 60.

    To qualify for TANF, families must have dependent children; in some states pregnant women also qualify. Income limits are set by the state and range from US$307 a month for a family of three in Alabama to $2,935 a month for a family of three in Minnesota.

    Adult TANF recipients face a federal five-year lifetime limit on benefits. States can adopt shorter time limits; Arizona’s is 12 months.

    An administrative burden

    Complying with these work requirements generally means proving that you’re working or making the case that you should be exempt from this mandate. This places what’s known as an “administrative burden” on the people who get cash assistance. It often requires lots of documentation and time. If you have an unpredictable work schedule, inconsistent access to child care or obligations to care for an older relative, this paperwork is hard to deal with.

    What counts as work, how many hours must be completed and who is exempt from these requirements often comes down to a caseworker’s discretion. Social science research shows that this discretion is not equally applied and is often informed by stereotypes.

    The number of people getting cash assistance has fallen sharply since TANF replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children. In some states caseloads have dropped by more than 50% despite significant population growth.

    Some of this decline happened because recipients got jobs that paid them too much to qualify. The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan office that provides economic research to Congress, attributes, at least in part, an increase in employment among less-educated single mothers in the 1990s to work requirements.

    Not everyone who stopped getting cash benefits through TANF wound up employed, however. Other recipients who did not meet requirements fell into deep poverty.

    Regardless of why people leave the program, when fewer low-income Americans get TANF benefits, the government spends less money on cash assistance. Federal funding has remained flat at $16.5 billion since 1996. Taking inflation into account, the program receives half as much funding as when it was created. In addition, states have used the flexibility granted them to direct most of their TANF funds to priorities other than cash benefits, such as pre-K education.

    Many Americans who get help paying for groceries through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are also subject to work requirements. People the government calls “able-bodied adults without dependents” can only receive SNAP benefits for three months within a three-year period if they are not employed.

    A failed experiment in Arkansas

    Lawmakers in Congress and in statehouses have debated whether to add work requirements for Medicaid before. More than a dozen states have applied for waivers that would let them give it a try.

    When Arkansas instituted Medicaid work requirements in 2018, during the first Trump administration, it was largely seen as a failure. Some 18,000 people lost their health care coverage, but employment rates did not increase.

    After a court order stopped the policy in 2019, most people regained their coverage.

    Georgia is currently the only state with Medicaid work requirements in effect, after implementing a waiver in July 2023. The program has experienced technical difficulties and has had trouble verifying work activities.

    Other states, including Idaho, Indiana and Kentucky, are already asking the federal government to let them enforce Medicaid work requirements.

    Then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks during a news conference in 2017, in Little Rock, Arkansas, calling for Medicaid work requirements.
    AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo

    What this may mean for Medicaid

    One version of the Republican budget bill floated in 2025 would introduce Medicaid work requirements nationwide for childless adults age 19 to 64, with some exemptions.

    But most people covered by Medicaid in that age range are already working, and those who are not would likely be eligible for work requirement waivers. An analysis by KFF – a nonprofit that informs the public about health issues – shows that in 2023, 44% of Medicaid recipients were working full time and another 20% were working part time. In 2023, that was more than 16 million Americans.

    About 20% of the American adults under 65 who are covered by Medicaid are not working due to illness or disability, or because of caregiving responsibilities, according to KFF. This includes both people caring for young children and those taking care of relatives with an illness or disability. In my own research, I read testimony from families seeking work exemptions because caregiving, including for children with disabilities, was a full-time job.

    The rest of the adults under 65 with Medicaid coverage are not working because they are in school, are retired, cannot find work or have some other reason. It’s approximately 3.9 million Americans. Depending on what counts as “work,” they may be meeting any requirements that could be added to the program.

    The Congressional Budget Office estimates that introducing Medicaid work requirements would save around $300 billion over a decade. Given past experience with work requirements, it is unlikely those savings would come from Americans finding jobs.

    My research suggests it’s more likely that the government would trim spending by taking away the health insurance of people eligible for Medicaid coverage who get tangled up in red tape.

    Anne Whitesell is a 2024-2025 PRRI Public Fellow.

    – ref. Work requirements are better at blocking benefits for low-income people than they are at helping those folks find jobs – https://theconversation.com/work-requirements-are-better-at-blocking-benefits-for-low-income-people-than-they-are-at-helping-those-folks-find-jobs-256839

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: WHO is finalizing a new treaty that prepares for the next pandemic − but the US isn’t signing

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Nicole Hassoun, Professor of Philosophy, Binghamton University, State University of New York

    The 78th World Health Assembly is taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, from May 19-27, 2025. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

    On March 20, 2025, members of the World Health Organization adopted the world’s first pandemic agreement, following three years of “intensive negotiations launched by governments in response to the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The U.S., however, did not participate, in part because of its intention to withdraw from the WHO.

    Global health experts are hailing the agreement as a historic moment.

    What does the agreement mean for the world, and how can it make everyone safer and more prepared for the next pandemic?

    The Conversation asked Nicole Hassoun, a professor at Binghamton University and executive director of Global Health Impact, to explain the pandemic accord, its prospects for advancing global health, and the significance of the U.S.’s absence from it.

    What will the pandemic agreement do?

    The accord will bolster pandemic preparation within individual countries and around the world.

    Countries signing onto the agreement are committing to improve their disease surveillance and grow their heath care workforces, strengthen their regulatory systems and invest in research and development. It encourages countries to strengthen their health regulations and infrastructure, improve communication with the public about pandemics and increase funding for preparation and response efforts.

    It also includes new mechanisms for producing and distributing vaccines and other essential countermeasures. Finally, it encourages countries to coordinate their responses and share information about infectious diseases and intellectual property so that vaccines and other essential countermeasures can be made available more quickly.

    The agreement will take effect once enough countries ratify it, which may take several years.

    Why isn’t the US involved?

    The Biden administration was broadly supportive of a pandemic agreement and was an active participant in negotiations.

    Prior to Donald Trump’s reelection, however, Republican governors had signed a letter opposing the treaty, echoing a conservative think tank’s concerns about U.S. sovereignty.

    The U.S. withdrew from negotiations when President Trump signed an executive order to withdraw from the WHO on the day he was inaugurated for his second term.

    Why could the lack of US involvement be beneficial for the world?

    The lack of U.S. involvement likely resulted in a much more equitable treaty, and it is not clear that countries could have reached an agreement had the U.S. continued to object to key provisions.

    It was only once the U.S. withdrew from the negotiations that an agreement was reached. The U.S. and several other wealthy countries were concerned with protecting their pharmaceutical industry’s profits and resisted efforts aimed at convincing pharmaceutical companies to share the knowledge, data and intellectual property needed for producing new vaccines and other essential countermeasures.

    Other negotiators sought greater access to vaccines and other treatments during a pandemic for poorer countries, which often rely on patented technologies from global pharmaceutical companies.

    While most people in wealthy countries had access to COVID-19 vaccines as early as 2021, many people in developing countries had to wait years for vaccines.

    How could the agreement broaden access for treatments?

    One of the contentious issues in the pandemic agreement has to do with how many vaccines manufacturers in each country must share in exchange for access to genetic sequences to emerging infectious diseases. Countries are still negotiating a system for sharing the genetic information on pathogens in return for access to vaccines themselves. It is important that researchers can get these sequences to make vaccines. And, of course, people need access to the vaccines once they are developed.

    Still, there are many more promising aspects of the agreement for which no further negotiations are necessary. For instance, the agreement will increase global vaccine supply by increasing manufacturing around the world.

    The agreement also specifies that countries and the WHO should work together to create a mechanism for fairly sharing the intellectual property, data and knowledge needed to produce vaccines and other essential health products. If financing for new innovation requires equitable access to the new technologies that are developed, many people in poor countries may get access to vaccines much more quickly in the next pandemic. The agreement also encourages individual countries to offer sufficient incentives for pharmaceutical companies to extend access to developing countries.

    If countries implement these changes, that will benefit people in rich countries as well as poor ones. A more equitable distribution of vaccines can contain the spread of disease, saving millions of lives.

    What more should be done, and does the US have a role to play?

    In my view, the best way to protect public health moving forward is for countries to sign on to the agreement and devote more resources to global health initiatives. This is particularly important given declining investment and participation in the WHO and the contraction of other international health initiatives, such as USAID.

    Without international coordination, it will become harder to catch and address problems early enough to prevent epidemics from becoming pandemics.

    It will also be imperative for member countries to provide funding to support the agreement’s goals and secure the innovation and access to new technologies. This requires building the basic health infrastructure to ensure shots can get into people’s arms.

    Nicole Hassoun has receive funding from the WHO and worked as a consultant for the UN.

    – ref. WHO is finalizing a new treaty that prepares for the next pandemic − but the US isn’t signing – https://theconversation.com/who-is-finalizing-a-new-treaty-that-prepares-for-the-next-pandemic-but-the-us-isnt-signing-256191

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Billions of cicadas are emerging, from Cape Cod to north Georgia – here’s how and why we map them

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Chris Simon, Senior Research Scientist of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut

    Three cicadas in North Carolina during the 2003 Brood IX emergence Chris Simon, CC BY-ND

    If they’re in your area, you’ll know it from their loud droning, chirping and buzzing sounds. Cicadas from Brood XIV – one of the largest groups of cicadas that emerge from underground on a 13-year or 17-year cycle – are surfacing in May and June 2025 across 12 states. This large-scale biological event reaches from northern Georgia up into Indiana and Ohio and eastward through the mid-Atlantic, extending as far north as Long Island, N.Y. and Massachusetts.

    Through mid-June, wooded areas will ring with cicadas’ loud mating calls. After mating, each female will lay hundreds of eggs inside small tree branches. Then the adult cicadas will die. When the eggs hatch six weeks later, new cicada nymphs will fall from the trees and burrow back underground, starting the cycle again.

    We are evolutionary ecologists who study periodical cicadas to understand questions about the natural history, genetics and geographic distribution of life. This work starts with mapping where they appear.

    We’ve been doing this for decades, updating a process begun by entomologists in the mid-1800s. Our latest maps are published online and searchable.

    Periodical cicadas emerge on 13- or 17-year cycles in enormous numbers, which increases their odds of finding mates and avoiding predators long enough to reproduce.

    Mapping the presence of such a noisy species might seem straightforward, but it’s actually complex. And accuracy matters because there are seven species of periodical cicadas — four with 13-year life cycles and three with 17-year cycles. Different broods can share boundaries, and some cicadas that emerge this year may be members of broods other than XIV, coming out early or late.

    A lot of work goes into verifying the data in our maps so that they show the status of these unique insects as accurately as possible. Here’s a look at the process, and at how you can contribute:

    Refining past records

    We first started creating our maps on paper by collecting all known specimen records of 13- and 17-year periodical cicadas from past scientific studies and museums large and small across the eastern U.S., where these broods are located. For centuries, museum specimens have been the gold standard for documenting the presence of a species.

    But past standards for labeling specimens were different. Many old museum labels simply noted very approximate locations where specimens were collected. Sometimes they just recorded the city, county or state.

    Today we collect our records along roads. We listen for species-specific songs and then record the cicada species identity on computers, with their GPS locations. Often we’ll stop to examine a patch of forest. If the cicadas are singing, we note whether the chorus is light, moderate, loud or distant.

    If stormy weather damps down the cicada songs, we look for signs of emergence, such as cast-off skins, adult cicadas on plants, or egg scars on branches.

    Dozens of small brown cicadas climb grass stems during a Brood VIII emergence in Rector, Pa.
    Chris Simon, CC BY-ND

    Connecting the data dots

    In some regions, such as the U.S. Midwest, roads are arranged on a grid that reflects land survey lines. Networks like these can be ideal for mapping species distributions. Delineating an area that’s occupied by a specific cicada brood may be as simple as connecting the dots that represent our positive sightings.

    In other places, such as Appalachia, roads often follow ridges or valleys and miss many areas. Here, it’s harder to infer where cicadas are present between data points, especially when those data points are located on different roads.

    Drawing a boundary that contains every data point in a survey area usually will end up overstating the area where periodical cicadas are emerging. We intentionally design our maps to be conservative, so we display our information as point data and do not attempt to draw brood boundaries or generalize our data to counties.

    It’s equally important to record absence points – places where no cicadas are present. Otherwise, an area might be blank either because a species is absent or simply because no one looked for cicadas there.

    A cicada nymph from Brood X sheds its skin during an emergence in Herndon, Va.
    Chris Simon, CC BY-ND

    We have been verifying periodical cicada records and updating maps since the late 1980s. Our more recent maps include geographic information for data collection points.

    Where our maps show the presence of cicadas, a senior member of our project has verified that cicadas were present at that place and date. The insects may have been just emerging, singing loudly, or on their way out.

    Where our maps show the absence of cicadas, that means that one of us or a collaborator visited that location under appropriate conditions and verified that no cicadas were present. Where our maps show no records, we have no information on presence or absence.

    Each color on this map represents a different periodical cicada brood. Brood XIV is the darker green extending from the Midwest to eastern Massachusetts.
    University of Connecticut, used with permission., CC BY-ND

    Crowdsourcing the emergence

    In recent years, citizen scientists – members of the public collecting data for scientific research – have revolutionized mapping efforts, using apps and the internet. Apps such as iNaturalist and Cicada Safari allow users to submit geolocated photos, sounds and videos with a few clicks.

    When we receive these records, our colleague Gene Kritsky, an emeritus entomologist at Mount St. Joseph University, vets them with his team. Then they are uploaded to a map on Cicada Safari.

    Citizen science maps have different biases from those that are created by our expert teams. Members of the public tend to collect their data in areas where residents are familiar with cicadas, there is good internet connectivity and media stories have piqued volunteer reporters’ interest. These maps don’t show absence records or all localities, especially in sparsely populated areas.

    Even records supported by sounds or photographs may not be accurate. They may capture “stragglers” from broods that are not part of the current year’s cycle but are emerging one to four years early or late.

    This phenomenon may become more commonplace in response to changing climates. Warming temperatures create longer growing seasons, which can enable at least some fraction of a periodical cicada population to develop faster and be ready to emerge earlier.

    For this reason, maps based on citizen science reports are most valuable if the same observers report back from the same locations repeatedly over several weeks. The longer-term presence of periodical cicadas indicates that what’s being tallied is a non-straggler population, or a straggler population on its way to permanently shifting the timing of its emergence.

    An evolving story

    Maps are valuable tools for understanding how species fit into their environment, how they interact with other species and how they respond to change. However, it is important to be aware of any map’s biases and limitations when interpreting it. Research requires dedication and repetition over many years.

    Our research suggests that climate warming has resulted in more four-year-early straggling events that are increasingly dense, widespread and likely to leave offspring. The result is a mosaic of broods that makes the jigsaw puzzle of periodical cicada distribution more complicated, but more interesting. Understanding how these four-year shifts are encoded in cicadas’ genes is a mystery that remains to be solved.

    Chris Simon has received funding from The National Science Foundation, The National Geographic Society, The Marsden Fund of New Zealand, and the University of Connecticut.

    John Cooley has received funding in the past from NSF and National Geographic Society. There are no current grants funding this work.

    – ref. Billions of cicadas are emerging, from Cape Cod to north Georgia – here’s how and why we map them – https://theconversation.com/billions-of-cicadas-are-emerging-from-cape-cod-to-north-georgia-heres-how-and-why-we-map-them-255461

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: A decade after the release of ‘The Martian’ and a decade out from the world it envisions, a planetary scientist checks in on real-life Mars exploration

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ari Koeppel, Postdoctoral Scientist in Earth and Planetary Science, Dartmouth College

    ‘The Martian’ protagonist Mark Watney contemplates his ordeal. 20th Century Fox

    Andy Weir’s bestselling story “The Martian” predicts that by 2035 NASA will have landed humans on Mars three times, perfected return-to-Earth flight systems and collaborated with the China National Space Administration. We are now 10 years past the Hollywood adaptation’s 2015 release and 10 years shy of its fictional timeline. At this midpoint, Mars exploration looks a bit different than how it was portrayed in “The Martian,” with both more discoveries and more controversy.

    As a planetary geologist who works with NASA missions to study Mars, I follow exploration science and policy closely. In 2010, the U.S. National Space Policy set goals for human missions to Mars in the 2030s. But in 2017, the White House Space Policy Directive 1 shifted NASA’s focus toward returning first to the Moon under what would become the Artemis program.

    Although concepts for crewed missions to Mars have gained popularity, NASA’s actual plans for landing humans on Mars remain fragile. Notably, over the last 10 years, it has been robotic, rather than crewed, missions that have propelled discovery and the human imagination forward.

    NASA’s 2023 Moon to Mars Strategy and Objectives Development document lays out the steps the agency was shooting for at the time, to go first to the Moon, and from there to Mars.
    NASA

    Robotic discoveries

    Since 2015, satellites and rovers have reshaped scientists’ understanding of Mars. They have revealed countless insights into how its climate has changed over time.

    As Earth’s neighbor, climate shifts on Mars also reflect solar system processes affecting Earth at a time when life was first taking hold. Thus, Mars has become a focal point for investigating the age old questions of “where do we come from?” and “are we alone?”

    The Opportunity, Curiosity and Perseverance rovers have driven dozens of miles studying layered rock formations that serve as a record of Mars’ past. By studying sedimentary layers – rock formations stacked like layers of a cake – planetary geologists have pieced together a vivid tale of environmental change that dwarfs what Earth is currently experiencing.

    Mars was once a world of erupting volcanoes, glaciers, lakes and flowing rivers – an environment not unlike early Earth. Then its core cooled, its magnetic field faltered and its atmosphere drifted away. The planet’s exposed surface has retained signs of those processes ever since in the form of landscape patterns, sequences of layered sediment and mineral mixtures.

    Layered sedimentary rocks exposed within the craters of Arabia Terra, Mars, recording ancient surface processes. Photo from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment.
    NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

    Arabia Terra

    One focus of scientific investigation over the last 10 years is particularly relevant to the setting of “The Martian” but fails to receive mention in the story. To reach his best chance of survival, protagonist Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon, must cross a vast, dusty and crater-pocked region of Mars known as Arabia Terra.

    In 2022 and 2023, I, along with colleagues at Northern Arizona University and Johns Hopkins University, published detailed analyses of the layered materials there using imagery from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey satellites.

    By using infrared imagery and measuring the dimensions of surface features, we linked multiple layered deposits to the same episodes of formation and learned more about the widespread crumbling nature of the terrain seen there today. Because water tends to cement rock tightly together, that loose material indicates that around 3.5 billion years ago, that area had a drying climate.

    To make the discussions about this area easier, we even worked with the International Astronomical Union to name a few previously unnamed craters that were mentioned in the story. For example, one that Watney would have driven right by is now named Kozova Crater, after a town in Ukraine.

    More to explore

    Despite rapid advances in Mars science, many unknowns remain. Scientists still aren’t sure of the precise ages, atmospheric conditions and possible signatures of life associated with each of the different rock types observed on the surface.

    For instance, the Perseverance rover recently drilled into and analyzed a unique set of rocks hosting organic – that is, carbon-based – compounds. Organic compounds serve as the building blocks of life, but more detailed analysis is required to determine whether these specific rocks once hosted microbial life.

    The in-development Mars Sample Return mission aims to address these basic outstanding questions by delivering the first-ever unaltered fragments of another world to Earth. The Perseverance rover is already caching rock and soil samples, including ones hosting organic compounds, in sealed tubes. A future lander will then need to pick up and launch the caches back to Earth.

    Sampling Mars rocks could tell scientists more about the red planet’s past, and whether it could have hosted life.

    Once home, researchers can examine these materials with instruments orders of magnitude more sensitive than anything that could be flown on a spacecraft. Scientists stand to learn far more about the habitability, geologic history and presence of any signs of life on Mars through the sample return campaign than by sending humans to the surface.

    This perspective is why NASA, the European Space Agency and others have invested some US$30 billion in robotic Mars exploration since the 1960s. The payoff has been staggering: That work has triggered rapid technological advances in robotics, telecommunications and materials science. For example, Mars mission technology has led to better sutures for heart surgery and cars that can drive themselves.

    It has also bolstered the status of NASA and the U.S. as bastions of modern exploration and technology; and it has inspired millions of students to take an interest in scientific fields.

    A selfie from NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover with the Ingenuity helicopter, taken with the rover’s extendable arm on April 6, 2021.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

    Calling the red planet home?

    Colonizing Mars has a seductive appeal. It’s hard not to cheer for the indomitable human spirit while watching Watney battle dust storms, oxygen shortages and food scarcity over 140 million miles from rescue.

    Much of the momentum toward colonizing Mars is now tied to SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk, whose stated mission to make humanity a “multi-planetary species” has become a sort of rallying cry. But while Mars colonization is romantic on paper, it is extremely difficult to actually carry out, and many critics have questioned the viability of a Mars habitation as a refuge far from Earth.

    Now, with NASA potentially facing a nearly 50% reduction to its science budget, the U.S. risks dissolving its planetary science and robotic operations portfolio altogether, including sample return.

    Nonetheless, President Donald Trump and Musk have pushed for human space exploration to somehow continue to progress, despite those proposed cuts – effectively sidelining the robotic, science-driven programs that have underpinned all of Mars exploration to date.

    Yet, it is these programs that have yielded humanity’s richest insights into the red planet and given both scientists and storytellers like Andy Weir the foundation to imagine what it must be like to stand on Mars’ surface at all.

    Ari Koeppel receives funding from NASA.

    – ref. A decade after the release of ‘The Martian’ and a decade out from the world it envisions, a planetary scientist checks in on real-life Mars exploration – https://theconversation.com/a-decade-after-the-release-of-the-martian-and-a-decade-out-from-the-world-it-envisions-a-planetary-scientist-checks-in-on-real-life-mars-exploration-255752

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: OSCE boosts Tajikistan’s ministry of interior capacities in combating cybercrime

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

    Headline: OSCE boosts Tajikistan’s ministry of interior capacities in combating cybercrime

    The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe conducted two specialized practical training courses from 12 to 16 May and from 19 to 22 May 2025 focused on strengthening cybersecurity measures in Tajikistan. Thirty-two law enforcement officials (31 men and one woman) from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) participated in two intensive courses focused on enhancing their capabilities in usage of open-source cybercrime intelligence and modern investigation techniques. This comprehensive initiative aimed to equip participants with advanced skills and knowledge essential for effective cybercrime intelligence gathering, by incorporating global best practices into their methodologies.
    Both courses were facilitated by experts from the General Directorate of Security and Turkish International Academy Against Drugs and Organized Crime (TADOC), by the request of Tajikistan’s MIA in co-operation with the Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in Tajikistan.
    During the closing ceremony of the course, Deputy Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, Tatiana Turcan, National Coordinator on Police Reform under the MIA, Major General Azizulozoda Safialo, and Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye in Tajikistan Umut Ajar jointly underscored their commitment and the importance of continuing co-operation to advancing cybersecurity in the country.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: First aid and emergency response in focus of OSCE Training of Trainers Course for border guards in Turkmenistan

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

    Headline: First aid and emergency response in focus of OSCE Training of Trainers Course for border guards in Turkmenistan

    Participants during a practical exercise with simulation of various injuries and conditions held as part of an OSCE-organized Tactical Medical Training of Trainers Course, Ashgabat, 22 May 2025, OSCE (OSCE) Photo details

    An OSCE-organized Tactical Medical Training of Trainers (ToT) Course, took place from 20 to 22 May 2025 in Ashgabat. The course brought together thirty-one participants, including border guards who work in remote areas serving as first responders to emergencies and incidents, and specializing in rescue operations as well as doctors from the Central Hospital for Border Guards.
    The course aimed to enhance trainees’ practical skills focusing on tactical medical content, pre-hospital emergency medical care, modern and effective methods of first aid and emergency response. Participants were trained in first aid skills with simulation of various injuries in demanding environmental and emergency conditions complemented by practical training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and procedures for moving patients to the next level of care.  
    In his address at the opening of the ToT course, John MacGregor, Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, said: “There are a number of OSCE Commitments related to border security and management, including those outlined in the “Border Security and Management Concept” adopted by the OSCE Ministerial Council in December 2005.”
    “Clearly, the work of the border guards entails specific risks to health and physical safety, since border guards serve in different climatic and geographical conditions at any time of the day.” stressed MacGregor”.
    “When you are out of range of immediate medical support and face real risk in remote environments with prolonged time to evacuation, knowing how to respond in the first minutes after an injury can save lives and mitigate the losses.” he added.
    The course was facilitated by an international medical expert from Uzbekistan. Applying an experiential learning method, the expert involved trainees in simulation exercises that were carefully tailored to climatic and geographical conditions of the region.
    The ToT course was organized within the framework of the Centre’s extrabudgetary project “Strengthening State Border Service Capacities of Turkmenistan” and financially supported by the Government of Germany.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: OLAF and Romanian authorities lead the way on digital tools to safeguard EU budget

    Source: European Anti-Fraud Offfice

    Press release no.12
    PDF version 

    The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the Romanian Police and Romania’s Department for the Fight Against Fraud (DLAF), are hosting European anti-fraud specialists in Bucharest to discuss the use of digital tools to fight fraud against the EU budget. The meeting aims to strengthen cross-border cooperation and improve the detection and investigation of fraud through advanced digital means.  

    Running from 20-23 May 2025, the Technical Workshop on Digital Anti-Fraud Tools brings together nearly 100 anti-fraud experts from EU Member States, the European Court of Auditors (ECA), the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), Eurojust, Europol, and OLAF. The event focuses on building a community of digitally skilled anti-fraud specialists and identifying best practices in anti-fraud detection and investigation in digital environments. It is also aimed at fostering synergies in the development of data-driven tools – including artificial intelligence – to protect European taxpayers’ money. 

    Additionally, on 22 May 2025, OLAF and the Romanian National Trade Register Office (ONRC) signed a bilateral agreement to facilitate access to national company data for the purpose of anti-fraud investigations. This agreement reflects a shared commitment to ensuring a more effective protection of EU financial interests.  

    Ville Itälä, OLAF Director-General said: “OLAF is proud to play a leading role in driving the digital transformation of the anti-fraud community, particularly by fostering the development and take-up of digital tools, including artificial intelligence. These innovative tools will significantly strengthen our ability to protect the EU budget.”  

    Benone Marian Matei, General Inspector of the Romanian Police said: “The Central Unit for Information Analysis reaffirms its commitment to the development and use of advanced analytical tools to support the early identification of fraud patterns and to enhance the protection of European funds.” 

    Ionuț Bogdan Dințoi, Secretary of State and Head of DLAF said: “DLAF reiterates the good cooperation with OLAF and, as a partner in the protection of EU financial interests, supports OLAF’s efforts to bring together professionals and create a framework for sharing good practices in using and developing digital and AI tools in the anti-fraud domain, specifically to protect Union expenditure.”

    Luiza Mardare, ONRC Director-General, commented on the signing of the bilateral agreement with OLAF: “The signing of these protocols is a step towards standard practice and, we hope, an important support for the actions carried out by the European Anti-Fraud Office in protecting the financial interests of the European Union. In this regard, by granting the European Anti-Fraud Office free access to the data held by the Trade Register, we can contribute to the fight against corruption within the European Union.”

    OLAF mission, mandate and competences:

    OLAF’s mission is to detect, investigate and stop fraud with EU funds.    

    OLAF fulfils its mission by:
    •    carrying out independent investigations into fraud and corruption involving EU funds, so as to ensure that all EU taxpayers’ money reaches projects that can create jobs and growth in Europe;
    •    contributing to strengthening citizens’ trust in the EU Institutions by investigating serious misconduct by EU staff and members of the EU Institutions;
    •    developing a sound EU anti-fraud policy.

    In its independent investigative function, OLAF can investigate matters relating to fraud, corruption and other offences affecting the EU financial interests concerning:
    •    all EU expenditure: the main spending categories are Structural Funds, agricultural policy and rural development funds, direct expenditure and external aid;
    •    some areas of EU revenue, mainly customs duties;
    •    suspicions of serious misconduct by EU staff and members of the EU institutions.

    Once OLAF has completed its investigation, it is for the competent EU and national authorities to examine and decide on the follow-up of OLAF’s recommendations. All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a competent national or EU court of law.

    For further details:

    Pierluigi CATERINO
    Spokesperson
    European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
    Phone: +32(0)2 29-52335  
    Email: olaf-media ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (olaf-media[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
    https://anti-fraud.ec.europa.eu
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • Two galaxies seen in a ‘joust’ preceding a cosmic mega-merger

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Astronomers have observed two distant galaxies – both possessing roughly as many stars as our Milky Way – careening toward each other before their inevitable merger at a time when the universe was about a fifth its current age, a scene resembling two knights charging in a joust.

    The galaxies, observed using two Chile-based telescopes, were seen as they existed about 11.4 billion years ago, approximately 2.4 billion years after the Big Bang event that initiated the universe.

    At the heart of one of the galaxies resides a quasar, a highly luminous object powered by gas and other material falling into a supermassive black hole. The intense radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum unleashed by the quasar is seen disrupting clouds of gas and dust, known as molecular clouds, in the other galaxy.

    It is molecular clouds that give rise to stars. But the effects of the quasar’s radiation turned the clouds in the affected region into “only tiny dense cloudlets that are too small to form stars,” said astrophysicist Sergei Balashev of the Ioffe Institute in Saint Petersburg, Russia, co-lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.

    This is the first time such a phenomenon has been observed, Balashev said.

    Stars form by the slow contraction under gravity of these clouds, with small centers taking shape that heat up and become new stars. But the galaxy affected by the quasar’s radiation was left with fewer regions that could serve as such stellar nurseries, undermining its star formation rate.

    The interaction between the two galaxies reminded the researchers of a medieval joust.

    “Much like jousting knights charging toward one another, these galaxies are rapidly approaching. One of them – the quasar host – emits a powerful beam of radiation that pierces the companion galaxy, like a lance. This radiation ‘wounds’ its ‘opponent’ as it disrupts the gas,” said astronomer and co-lead author Pasquier Noterdaeme of the Paris Institute of Astrophysics in France.

    Supermassive black holes are found at the heart of many galaxies, including the Milky Way. The researchers estimated the mass of the one that serves as the engine of the quasar studied in this research at about 200 million times that of our sun.

    The intense gravitational strength of the supermassive black hole pulls gas and other material toward it. As this stuff spirals inward at high speed, it heats up due to friction, forming a disk that emits extremely powerful radiation in two opposite directions, called biconical beams.

    The ultraviolet light from one of these beams is what played havoc with the gas in the companion galaxy.

    This supermassive black hole is much more massive than the one at the center of the Milky Way – called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* – which possesses roughly 4 million times the mass of the sun and is located about 26,000 light-years from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

    The researchers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, to characterize the two galaxies and used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, or VLT, to probe the quasar as well as the gas in the companion galaxy.

    The configuration of the galaxies as viewed from the perspective of Earth enabled the researchers to observe the radiation from the quasar passing directly through the companion galaxy.

    Most galactic mergers that have been observed by astronomers occurred later in the history of the universe.

    “Galaxies are typically found in groups, and gravitational interactions naturally lead to mergers over cosmic time,” Noterdaeme said. “In line with current understanding, these two galaxies will eventually coalesce into a single larger galaxy. The quasar will fade as it exhausts the available fuel.”

    (Reuters)

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Teachers to benefit from pay boost

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Press release

    Teachers to benefit from pay boost

    Teachers in England set to receive a 4% pay award from September.

    Teachers will receive a 4% pay boost from September, after the Education Secretary accepted the teachers’ pay body recommendation in full today (22 May) marking a major step toward delivering 6,500 teachers by the end of Parliament.

    The independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) recommended a pay award of 4% for 2025/26 academic year, building on the 5.5% pay award made last year.

    Like the rest of the public sector, schools will need to play their part in getting maximum value from every pound of public money. Schools will be expected to find the first 1% of the pay award through improved productivity and smarter spending with the government providing significant additional investment of £615 million. Many schools are already making savings and driving costs down including the 400 schools who took part in the department’s new energy deal which will save them 36% on average.

    The government has also taken tough but fair choices to afford the above inflation pay award – ending tax breaks for private schools, as well as programmes offering poor value for money and driving efficiency through boosting digital capability, so every pound is spent on driving high and rising standards for our children.

    The pay boost builds on the work already underway to deliver on the government’s commitment as part of its Plan for Change to drive high and rising standards for every child, in every school. This includes a stronger accountability system through reforms to Ofsted inspection, new regional improvement teams to tackle poorly performing schools, and a new, rich and broad curriculum so pupils are set up for life, work and the future.

    £160 million will also be provided to colleges and providers of 16-19 education. The cash will help them to address immediate priorities, including recruiting and retaining expert teachers in subject areas such as construction and manufacturing so more young people gain the skills needed to drive economic growth and deliver the workforce which businesses and public services need.

    Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:

    Teachers have been overstretched and undervalued for far too long but from my first day in office, I have made it my priority to back them so that teaching is restored as the highly valued profession it should be.

    This pay award for schools backed by major investment alongside funding for further education is in recognition of the crucial role teachers play in breaking the link between background and success and will support schools and colleges to invest in the workforce they need, so every young person achieves and thrives.  

    As part of our Plan for Change, we are already seeing green shoots, with two thousand more secondary school teachers training this year than last and more teachers forecasted to stay in the profession.

    Through its Plan for Change the government is determined to ensure there are more expert teachers in front of classrooms, so every child and young person has access to an excellent education.

    Hundreds of millions of pounds are also being invested to offer tax free financial incentives and professional development to attract and keep the best and brightest teachers across the country, alongside targeted action to improve teachers’ workload and wellbeing.

    There are encouraging signs that this is working with two thousand more secondary school teachers training this year than last, a 25% increase in the number of people accepting teacher training places in STEM subjects, and more teachers forecasted to stay in the profession.

    Alongside the significant investment announced today the government has been clear that it will support leaders to get best value from their funding including by offering schools a suite of productivity initiatives to help them slash the costs on things like energy, banking and recruitment so every penny is invested on delivering opportunities for young people.

    Through its landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the government is also legislating so every parent can be confident of a core high quality education offer for their child – ensuring that all children learn from a cutting-edge curriculum and are taught by an excellent qualified teacher.

    DfE media enquiries

    Central newsdesk – for journalists 020 7783 8300

    Updates to this page

    Published 22 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Dedication and professionalism of Armed Forces rewarded with above inflation pay rise

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Press release

    Dedication and professionalism of Armed Forces rewarded with above inflation pay rise

    Government recognises professionalism and dedication of the Armed Forces with 4.5% pay rise, which follows last year’s record pay deal for personnel.

    Military personnel are to receive an above inflation pay rise of 4.5% (3.75% for senior officers), recognising their extraordinary professionalism and the sacrifices they make to keep the British people safe.   

    The award forms part of the government’s efforts to fix recruitment and retention, while demonstrating how it is renewing the contract with those who serve.   

    The pay rise maintains the MOD’s status as a National Living Wage employer, while recognising the important work of military personnel in keeping Britain secure at home and strong abroad – foundational to this government’s Plan for Change.  

    This pay award follows last year’s headline award of 6% (5% for senior officers) and a significant uplift for new recruits of approximately 35%, ensuring all full-time members of the Armed Forces were paid the National Living Wage for the first time. This means Armed Forces personnel have received a cumulative pay award of 10.5% (8.75% for senior officers) since July 2024.  

    Defence Secretary, John Healey MP said:  

    Our people are what make the UK Armed Forces’ reputation one of the best around the world. Our forces work tirelessly to keep Britain secure at home and strong abroad.  

    Today’s above inflation pay award recognises their dedication and underlines this Government’s commitment to renew the nation’s contract with those who serve.

    Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said: 

    This Armed Forces pay award continues to demonstrate our commitment to our people. It ensures that those who work so hard for our safety and security are supported.  

    To do what they do takes immense courage, determination and sacrifice and I’m pleased to see so much done to recognise their efforts.  

    Pay, accommodation and pension are key pieces of a bigger puzzle, and we will continue to put those pieces together to ensure the strength of our military for years to come.

    Starting salaries for Other Ranks who have completed initial training will increase to approximately £26,334, benefiting around 7,800 of our most junior personnel. 

    Starting pay for junior officers will rise to around £34,676. 

    The package includes two new targeted retention payments for specific Royal Navy Catering Services personnel, addressing critical retention challenges in this specialist area. 

    A new Afloat Environmental Allowance will replace existing provisions, bringing coherence and clarity to recognise different conditions across naval platforms. 

    Medical specialists will benefit from an increased Medical Officers’ Golden Hello to enhance its attractiveness for consultants and registrars in specialisms with workforce capability gaps. 

    The Government has already taken decisive action to tackle recruitment and retention challenges by announcing new financial retention packages.   

    Around 5,000 eligible aircraft engineers across all three Services are eligible to receive £30,000 when they sign up for an additional three years of service. And a new £8,000 retention payment for around 4,000 eligible Army Privates and Lance Corporals each year for the next three years when they sign up for an additional three years of Service.  

    This announcement follows recent action taken by the department to improve the offer for our Armed Forces personnel. This includes improving living conditions through a new Consumer Charter to provide homes fit for the heroes who serve our nation, and are creating a new, independently-appointed, Armed Forces Commissioner who will have the power to investigate issues raised directly by serving personnel and their families. 

    Last year the Armed Forces saw a headline award of 6% (5% for senior officers) and a significant uplift for new recruits of approximately 35%. The Government has taken decisive action to tackle recruitment and retention challenges by announcing new financial retention packages.

    Updates to this page

    Published 22 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Rector of SPbPU Andrey Rudskoy awarded with Gratitude from the President of Russia

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    At the 20th St. Petersburg International Book Fair, which is taking place in our city, the rector of the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University Andrei Rudskoy was awarded the Gratitude of the President of Russia for his participation in the creation of the book “Putin in the Mirror of Time. Biography Milestones and Chronicles of the Era.” The award was presented by the Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov and the President of the Russian Book Union Sergei Stepashin.

    The book, co-authored by historian Alexander Myasnikov and journalist Sergei Dmitriev, is a biography of Vladimir Putin, supplemented with unique photographs and historical information.

    Andrey Rudskoy noted: It is a great honor to receive the Gratitude of the President of Russia from the hands of the Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Dmitrievich Beglov and the President of the Russian Book Union Sergey Vadimovich Stepashin. Our joint work with Sergey Nikolaevich Dmitriev and Alexander Leonidovich Myasnikov “Putin in the Mirror of Time” has found a worthy assessment among a wide range of readers, and for us this is the main indicator that we are making our contribution to the creation of the chronicle of modern Russia, telling about the key events and achievements of the country. It is undoubtedly pleasant that the award ceremony took place within the framework of the XX St. Petersburg International Book Salon, where the Polytechnic Publishing House is traditionally represented.

    The book “Putin in the Mirror of Time. Milestones of the Biography and Chronicles of the Era” is a large-scale work covering key moments in the life and political career of Vladimir Putin. The publication not only covers biographical milestones, but also offers a deep analysis of the era in which the Russian president managed to return the country to its status as a great power. Through the prism of presidential documents, speeches and messages to the Federal Assembly, the authors recreate a vivid and dynamic chronicle of the events that defined modern Russia.

    Let us recall that the 20th anniversary St. Petersburg International Book Fair opened today on Palace Square. It will last four days. Last year, it was visited by more than half a million people.

    The SPbPU Publishing and Printing Center (POLITEKH-PRESS) traditionally becomes an active participant in the Book Salon. At the stand, the company presents a wide range of products: new books of the current year, exclusive series of postcards and flip calendars with picturesque views of St. Petersburg and the Polytechnic University. Guests can also purchase a variety of souvenirs.

    This year, special attention is paid to the current topics of the Book Salon. The events and exposition of POLITEKH-PRESS are dedicated to the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland and the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory. This is reflected in the special design of the stand with information posters called “Polytechnicians for Victory”, which tell about the role of the university staff and students during the war.

    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 –