Category: Fisheries

MIL-OSI USA: Dr. Rand Paul Forces Vote on Six Penny Plan to Balance the Federal Budget in Five Years

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Kentucky Rand Paul
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 25, 2024
Contact: Press_Paul@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343

Dr. Rand Paul Forces Vote on Six Penny Plan to Balance the Federal Budget in Five Years
Senate Votes 39-56 on Dr. Paul’s Six Penny Plan
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) forced the Senate to vote on his “Six Penny Plan” federal budget that will balance within five years. Dr. Paul spoke on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, below are excerpts from his remarks.
“This year, the United States will spend over $6 trillion while only bringing in $4 trillion in revenue. That’s a profound gap, $2 trillion will be borrowed this year. To add insult to injury, Congress spends like drunken sailors without even bothering to pass a budget…In fact, over the past 20 years, Congress has passed a budget less than half the time. So, today, I will attempt to do what both parties have failed to do and that is pass a budget…The Penny Plan that I offer today will balance the budget in 5 years.
“Americans will pay dearly for Congress’s insatiable appetite for more and more spending. The high level of spending that is currently crushing the American family is just the beginning. If we continue down this unsustainable path, American families will be forced to deal with even higher inflation, confiscatory tax rates, rising interest rates, and a weak economy. It will be harder to find a job and provide for a family because the deals made in the halls of Congress always stick the taxpayers with the bill.
“As interest payments on the national debt crowd out the rest of the government’s budget, tax increases, inflation, and an eventual default on the debt are what lie ahead for the American economy. Unfortunately, a debt crisis will not just stop with our economy. A threat to our financial security is also a threat to our national security.
“Even the Biden-Harris Administration’s own Treasury has admitted that our current path is unsustainable. The math is clear, and I urge my colleagues: do not get in an argument with math. You will lose.
“Our current trajectory weakens our national security and drains productivity from our economy. History will remember those who had the courage to make the hard choices now and who chose to leave their children with less of the burden. For just six pennies on the dollar, we can reverse this dismal trajectory. In just five years, we can restore trust in the U.S. dollar, the U.S. economy, and walk the U.S. government off the fiscal cliff. Vote yes on this plan, vote yes on restoring fiscal sanity, vote yes on securing a future for our country.”
You can watch Dr. Paul’s full floor remarks HERE and HERE.
Background:
The Six Penny Plan is a federal budget resolution that will balance on-budget outlays and revenues within five years by cutting six pennies off every dollar projected to be spent in the next five fiscal years. This plan is the most recent in a series of plans that Dr. Paul has introduced to address an ever-worsening budget crisis:
In the 100 days between CBO’s February and June budget baselines, the federal government added an additional $540 billion to the national debt (an additional $1,600 per U.S. citizen).
CBO’s June estimates increased projected deficits by $2.5 trillion over CBO’s February estimates.
Interest payments on the debt account for more spending than our entire defense budget.
At over $35 trillion, the national debt is nearly double the amount of total bank deposits in the U.S. In other words, emptying every bank account in the U.S. would only cover half of the government’s debt.
In 2017, Dr. Paul introduced a budget that would have only required a spending freeze to balance in five years. An annual six percent cut is now required to achieve the same results. Dr. Paul’s Six Penny Plan implements these cuts while preserving congressional discretion regarding how to achieve these spending targets. This plan would:
Reduce spending by $329 billion in the first year. The plan would continue to cut six percent until balance in year five, then allows spending to rise with the pace of revenues in the five years remaining.
Make no specific policy assumptions. All savings are reflected in the newly defined budget function 930: New Efficiencies, Consolidations, and Other Savings. The budget sets a goal of balance and then calls on Congress to make the changes needed to achieve this objective.
Assume the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is made permanent (originally set to expire in 2027). Since CBO originally assumed this would expire and federal revenues would increase, this plan accounts for the decrease in projected revenues if TCJA were to be made permanent.
You can read the Six Penny Plan HERE.
Dr. Paul’s Six Penny Plan has wide support:
“For decades, the government has spent beyond its means and expected hardworking taxpayers to foot the bill. This reckless spending in Washington has delivered nothing but record inflation, leaving the American people unable to make ends meet. It’s past time for Congress to make the hard decisions required to put our financial house back in order. Heritage Action thanks Sen. Paul for his consistent support for fiscal responsibility and backs his ‘Six Penny Plan’ to balance the budget,” said Ryan Walker, Executive Vice President of Heritage Action.
“The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste supports Sen. Paul’s amendment to cap spending for five years and achieve a balanced budget. His proposal to cut spending by 6 percent annually should be supported by every senator who believes in fiscal responsibility and getting the nation back on the right track,” said Tom Schatz, President of Council for Citizens Against Government Waste.
“Senator Paul has been a true pioneer in new concepts for fiscal responsibility, with his first introduction of a Penny Plan to balance the budget back in 2017. At the time, achieving eventual balance would have only required cutting 1 cent per dollar of federal spending. However, due to continued reckless policies, a Six Penny Plan, requiring annual 6 percent savings to tackle deficits, is now necessary. Senator Paul’s legislation also locks in the pro-growth Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, preventing tax hikes on top of inflation. Also important, the Six Penny Plan wisely proposes scorekeeping reforms to identify duplicate programs in new proposals and strengthened budget enforcement in the Senate. Taxpayers can only hope that Congress acts swiftly on the Six Penny Plan, so Senator Paul won’t need to introduce a Dime Plan or, worse, a Quarter Plan,” said Demian Brady, Vice President of Research, National Taxpayers Union Foundation.
“Senator Rand Paul has been fighting for fiscal responsibility and raising the alarm on federal spending with his Penny Plan since 2017. Had Congress listened to Sen. Paul and passed his plan, the country would have a balanced budget today. Instead, Congress continues to exacerbate inflationary pressures with unprecedented and obscene spending levels. As President of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, I thank Senator Rand Paul for this commonsense and much-needed solution to balance the budget and protect taxpayers,” said David Williams, President of Taxpayers Protection Alliance.
“Citizens for Renewing America supports Senator Rand Paul’s Six Penny Plan, which offers a real solution to years of reckless spending policies. As Congress continues to avoid addressing the root causes of our growing national debt, Senator Paul’s plan forces genuine cuts to the woke and weaponized federal bureaucracy. This legislation is critical to restoring the fiscal sanity that Washington has sorely lacked and provides the necessary course correction to years of flawed policies that have failed to reduce our national debt or deficits,” said Wade Miller, Executive Director of Citizens for Renewing America.
“Unfortunately, the Biden Administration continues to advocate for inflationary spending plans that would add to the crushing tax burden faced by hardworking Americans. As we face the real threat of stagflation for the first time since the 1970s, we need a major course correction from policymakers in Washington. Senator Rand Paul should be commended for his bold approach to address our $35 trillion national debt, while avoiding economically damaging tax increases. Sen. Paul’s common sense spending reforms put our hardworking taxpayers first by addressing the root cause of our national debt: overspending,” said Jonathan Williams, ALEC Chief Economist and Executive Vice President of Policy.
“Unsustainable federal spending is driving the bloated national debt and contributes to economic weakness and elevated inflation, so I applaud Senator Paul’s Six Penny Plan to get control of the spending crisis,” said Vance Ginn, Ph.D., President of Ginn Economic Consulting and former Chief Economist of Trump White House OMB.
“Senator Rand Paul has long been a champion of balancing the federal budget and protecting the American taxpayer. Senator Paul has a plan that will balance the budget in five years. Interestingly, if Congress had voted for Senator Paul’s plan five years ago, we would not be suffering runaway inflation, economic downturns, slowdowns, severe shortages, and empty shelves at the store. And we’d be celebrating a balanced budget too! And balancing the budget has national security benefits as well. If we wait even longer to take action, we will suffer more inflation, larger and larger deficits, and more economic instability and our national security will slide downhill as well. And then it will take much larger cuts to get things back on track. So now is the time to act before the problem becomes so large that it cannot practically be fixed,” said George Landrith, President of Frontiers for Freedom.
“Senator Rand Paul is one of the few Senators who are serious about the fiscal challenges facing America. Quite simply, the current rate of government spending is unsustainable with interest payments on the debt for the first ten months of fiscal year 2024 reaching a staggering $763 billion fully $202 billion more than the same period the previous year. Net interest payments on the debt surpass every other spending category other than Social Security. It is astonishing that the fiscal apocalypse that we have worried about for decades is now upon us with even defense spending dwarfed by the cost of simply making interest payments on our $35 trillion national debt. Senator Paul’s Six Penny Plan forces an honest discussion about the crisis our nation faces and some of the tough decisions which will be required to reverse course from the almost $2 Trillion in debt our country adds onto the ledger every single year. Higher interest rate payments on more of the debt combined with the spending spree which has raised the debt from $26.9 Trillion on September 30, 2020 to more than $35 Trillion. America is in trouble and Senator Paul is one of the few members of Congress willing to propose solutions,” said Richard Manning, President of Americans for Limited Government Foundation

MIL OSI USA News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI USA: Warner, Connolly Introduce Legislation to Promote Federal Worker Safety

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Commonwealth of Virginia Mark R Warner
WASHINGTON – With winter cold, flu, and COVID season upon us, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) is leading Senate introduction of the Chai Suthammanont Healthy Federal Workplaces Act, legislation requiring federal agencies to establish and publish workplace protections in the instance of a public health emergency declared for an infectious disease. Companion legislation was also introduced today in the House of Representatives by U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA).
The legislation is named for Chai Suthammanont, a kitchen staff worker at a childcare facility on Marine Corps Base Quantico, who died from coronavirus-related complications in May of 2020 after being exposed to COVID-19, likely in the tight kitchen space he shared with additional staff. Confusion and uncertainty regarding best practices and agency policies, as well as a general lack of communication with federal workforce staff, likely contributed to his death.
Joining Sen. Warner in Senate introduction are Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
“Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal employees remained hard at work, ensuring that the American people could continue to count on their government. But unfortunately, the pandemic highlighted that our federal agencies were widely unprepared to protect these essential workers,” said Sen. Warner. “It’s crucial that we learn from our mistakes. We owe it to our federal workforce to ensure a safe workplace, and when faced with another public health emergency, we must be prepared.”
“On May 26, 2020, Chai Suthammanont, my constituent and a kitchen staff worker at a childcare facility on Marine Corps Base Quantico, died from COVID-related complications,” said Rep. Connolly. “Confusion and uncertainty surrounding agency guidance during the pandemic emerged as two of the largest contributing factors to Chai’s death. These factors, combined with a general lack of communication with federal workforce staff, led to tragedy. Our Chai Suthammanont Healthy Federal Workplaces Act will ensure federal employees are informed and better protected during any future public health emergency. I want to thank Senator Warner for his partnership, and I want to thank Chai’s widow, Christina, for her continued efforts to transform her family’s loss into a charge to help others.”
Specifically, the Chai Suthammanont Healthy Federal Workplaces Act would:
Require each federal agency to develop and maintain a plan that details public health protocols the agency will take during a nationwide infectious disease PHE declaration. The plan must include guidelines for testing, cleaning, occupancy limits, use of personal protective equipment, notification of individuals who may have been exposed, and protections for employees who travel off-site;
Require each agency to publish the safety plan on its website and communicate its plan to employees, contractors, and subcontractors;
Ensure accountability and oversight by requiring the Office of the Inspector General for each agency to report to Congress on plan implementation. The Government Accountability Office would also issue a report on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic to improve future protocols.
This bill has been endorsed by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), and the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE).
Bill text is available here.

MIL OSI USA News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI USA: Durbin Questions Judicial Nominees In Judiciary Committee Nominations Hearing

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin
09.25.24
WASHINGTON – During today’s Senate Judiciary Committee nominations hearing, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned Sarah Morgan Davenport, nominated to be a United States District Judge for the District of New Mexico, about her unique background. Durbin also began his remarks by highlighting the rigorous vetting process nominees undergo to be considered for a judicial nomination.
“Among our nominees is Ms. Davenport, who graduated from New Mexico State University with a bachelor’s in music and who was a music teacher before going to law school and then [becoming] a prosecutor. She went from professor to prosecutor. Can you tell me about your background in music [that lead to your nomination]?” Durbin asked.
Ms. Davenport replied that she wanted to go down a different career path after serving as a music teacher—which led her to attend law school and pursue a career as a prosecutor.
Durbin then asked Keli Marie Neary, nominated to be a United States District Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, about a case where she represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in Federal Trade Commission et al., v. Penn State Hersey Medical Center et al. The Commonwealth, along with the FTC, sued to block a merger of the Penn State Hershey Medical Center with the Pinnacle Health System.
“Can you tell us about that case?” Durbin asked.
Ms. Neary responded, “that was one of two very important cases I worked on during my career that involved health care and providing care to many people across Pennsylvania. In that particular case, we were working to make sure that no hospital became a monopoly in order to maintain prices in Pennsylvania, to ensure affordable health care in central Pennsylvania.”
She continued to say, “The other case I referenced is a case involving two large insurance companies in Pennsylvania and the hospital systems that participated in those insurance companies, and through my work on behalf of the Commonwealth, we were able to garner an agreement that resulted in affordable health care for many Pennsylvanians in the western part of the state.”
Durbin then questioned Judge Anthony J. Brindisi, nominated to be a United States District Judge for the Northern District of New York, about his background as a congressman and his service on the bench.
“Can you compare those legal experiences?” Durbin asked.
Judge Brindisi responded that the key to being a good congressman is to be a good listener, work in a bipartisan way to get work done, and to sit down with individuals you might disagree with to better understand their ideas on bills. He continued to say that he took the lessons he learned from Congress to the bench.
Durbin then questioned Elizabeth C. Coombe, nominated to be a United States District Judge for the Northern District of New York, about her legal experience, noting that she has tried almost 40 cases to verdict or final decision.
Ms. Coombe responded that given her experience litigating in both D.C. and New York federal courts, she was exposed to many bench trials and jury trials. She continued to say, “I love being in the courtroom presenting cases to juries and seeing the power of the jury work its magic… And I think that my experience as a trial lawyer in front of juries will be helpful if I am fortunate enough to be confirmed. I would bring that practical experience from the courtroom with me.”
Video of Durbin’s questions in Committee is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s questions in Committee is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s questions Committee is available here for TV Stations.
The hearing continues the Committee’s work filling judicial vacancies with highly qualified, diverse candidates who help ensure the fair and impartial administration of the American justice system.
Under the leadership of Chair Durbin, the Senate has confirmed 212 judges to lifetime appointments on the federal bench during the Biden-Harris Administration. Following the confirmation of Michelle Court to be U.S. District Judge for the District of California and last week’s executive business meeting, 18 lifetime judges – including four circuit court nominees and 14 district court nominees – are eligible for a vote on the Senate floor.
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MIL OSI USA News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI USA: The Marshall Star for September 25, 2024

Source: NASA

By Wayne Smith
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center honored top contractors, subcontractors, teams, and individuals of fiscal year 2024 at the 38th meeting of Marshall’s Small Business Alliance. The awards honor aerospace companies and leaders who have demonstrated support of the center’s small business programs and NASA’s mission of exploration.

The event took place Sept. 19 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s Davidson Center for Space Exploration in Huntsville. Around 650 participants from industry and government gathered to network, learn about business opportunities, and recognize outstanding achievements in support of NASA’s mission and the small business community. Those attending represented 32 states and 10 nations.
“The Marshall Small Business Alliance is an outreach tool designed to introduce the business community to the NASA marketplace,” said David Brock, small business specialist for the agency’s Office of Small Business Programs at Marshall. “Those in attendance can gain valuable insight into Marshall’s exciting programs and projects, upcoming procurement opportunities, and get an opportunity to network with Marshall prime contractors.”
Marshall Director Joseph Pelfrey welcomed attendees, while Jeramie Broadway, deputy director of Marshall’s Office of Strategic Analysis and Communications, provided an update on the center for fiscal year 2025 and beyond.
Marshall’s Industry & Advocate Awards are presented annually and reflect leadership in business community and sustained achievement in service to NASA’s mission.
“We are excited about this year’s winners,” Brock said. “Each play a key role in helping NASA achieve successes in support of key programs and projects, including the Human Landing System and Space Launch System rocket. Maintaining and sustaining an experienced and competitive industry base is what makes America strong, and small businesses are at the core of those successes.”

Marshall manages the Human Landing System and Space Launch System programs.
This year’s award recipients are:
Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year
Media Fusion
Small Business Subcontractor of the Year
Zin Technologies
Large Business Prime Contractor of the Year
Jacobs
Mentor-Protégé Agreement of the Year
Jacobs (mentor) and CodePlus (protégé)
Procurement Person of the Year
Joseph Tynes
Program Person of the Year
Patrick McVay
Small Business Technical Coordinator of the Year
Leah Fox
Technical Person of the Year
David Hood

NASA civil service employees nominate eligible individuals and organizations for awards. A panel of NASA procurement and technical officials evaluates each nominee’s business practices, innovative processes, adoption of new technologies and their overall contributions to NASA’s mission and the agency’s Small Business Program.
Award recipients in the following categories become candidates for agency-level Small Business Industry and Advocate Awards:

Large and Small Business Prime Contractors of the Year
Small Business Subcontractor of the Year
Procurement Team or Person
Technical, Small Business Technical Coordinator/Technical Advisor
Program Person or Team of the Year

Learn more about Marshall’s small business initiatives.
Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
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By Serena Whitfield
A new flag is reaching for the Moon outside the Huntsville Operations Support Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center following a Sept.19 ceremony, marking contributions from center team members toward the launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
The Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station will carry NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. The mission is scheduled to launch Sept. 28 no earlier than 12:17 p.m. CDT.

Crew-9 will be the first human spaceflight mission to launch from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This is the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the orbiting laboratory under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP). The crew will spend approximately five months at the station, conducting more than 200 science and research demonstrations before returning in February 2025.
Once aboard the space station, Hague and Gorbunov will become members of the Expedition 72 crew and perform research, technology demonstrations, and maintenance activities. The pair will join NASA astronauts Don Petitt, Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. Wilmore and Williams, who launched aboard the Starliner spacecraft in June, will fly home with Hague and Gorbunov in February 2025.

The flag raising has been a tradition for missions supported at Marshall’s Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC), as well as a tradition within the CCP to celebrate the successful conclusion of NASA’s Agency Flight Readiness Review prior to launch. The HOSC provides engineering and mission operations support for the space station, the CCP, and Artemis missions, as well as science and technology demonstration missions. The Payload Operations Integration Center within HOSC operates, plans, and coordinates the science experiments onboard the space station 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.
The CCP support team at Marshall provides crucial programmatic, engineering, and safety and mission assurance expertise for launch vehicles, spacecraft propulsion, and integrated vehicle performance. Marshall’s role within the CCP is to support certification that the spacecraft and launch vehicle are ready for launch. The support team performs engineering expertise, particularly for propulsion, as well as program management, safety and mission assurance, and spacecraft support.

The flag-raising ceremony was a joint effort between the Payload and Mission Operations Division (PMOD) and CCP team. Dave Gwaltney, technical assistant, specialty systems, and Commercial Crew Program representative, gave the introductions. He recognized Brady Doepke, structural analyst for liquid propulsion systems, for his significant contributions in preparation for Crew-9 mission success. Gwaltney said Doepke exemplified leadership and innovation through his guidance of Marshall’s CCP engineering team, which resulted in a successful risk assessment of the updated SpaceX turbine wheel fleet leader acceptance criteria.
Payload and Mission Operations Division Manager Nicole Pelfrey also recognized Thomas “Reid” Lawrence as the division’s Crew-9 honoree.
“Reid serves dutifully in the HOSC as part of the HOSC’s Data Operations Control Room Operations Engineers,” Pelfrey said. “Reid has a number of technical specialties, including his expertise in the Backup Control Center activation procedures. This expertise has been vital over the past year as JSC has worked through power upgrades. He also diligently ensures our ISS payload users receive their data and is a key engineer for the testing, verification, and operation of our HOSC interfaces that support commercial crew communications.”
Whitfield is an intern supporting the Marshall Office of Communications.
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NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center hosted the Rossi Prize Recognition Dinner at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville on Sept. 18. The dinner was held to recognize the IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) team members honored with the Bruno Rossi Prize, a top prize in high-energy astronomy. From left, Martin Weisskopf, Rossi Prize awardee and NASA emeritus scientist, who served as the principal investigator for IXPE during its development, launch, and commissioning; Paolo Soffitta, Rossi Prize awardee, and the Italian Space Agency’s principal investigator for IXPE; Hashima Hasan, program scientist for IXPE at NASA Headquarters; Andrea Marinucci, IXPE team member and researcher with the Italian Space Agency; and Marshall Director Joseph Pelfrey, who provided welcome remarks at the dinner. “The Bruno Rossi Prize highlights how partnerships and teamwork can push the boundaries of scientific knowledge,” Pelfrey said. “The (IXPE) mission, a groundbreaking collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, represents over 30 years of dedicated effort and stands as a testament to the innovative work of a truly multinational team.” (NASA/Jennifer Deermer)

Rossi Prize winners Weisskopf and Soffitta, center seated, are joined by a plush goat, the unofficial mascot of the IXPE mission, and other IXPE team members at the Rossi Prize Recognition Dinner. Read more about the award and the prize winners. (NASA/Jennifer Deermer)
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By Wayne Smith
Talk with Shannon Segovia for any length of time and you’ll quickly discover the care and enthusiasm she has for her position as director of the Office of Communications at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. And that care and enthusiasm extends to those she works with across the center to share news about Marshall missions and team members.
In her role, Segovia oversees a team responsible for media relations and public affairs, digital and social media, stakeholder relations and engagement, internal and employee communications, and executive communications for the center.

“We manage these activities for the entire center of about 7,000 people, so it is a definitely a very busy job!” said Segovia, a native of Athens, Alabama, who was named as permanent communications director this summer after more than 12 years at Marshall.
She was the deputy director of communications starting in June 2023 after working as Marshall’s news chief and public affairs team lead starting in 2019. From 2012 to 2019, Segovia was a public affairs officer at the center. Prior to joining NASA, she was the communications manager for the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Sequoyah Nuclear Plant near Chattanooga, Tennessee.
At Marshall, she said it’s the people who continue to be her biggest motivators.
“As a public servant, I want the people I serve – the people who follow our channels, listen to the news stories we create, and attend our events – to know why NASA’s missions are important and critical to the world we live in,” Segovia said. “I am so fortunate to have such a brilliant team, and they motivate me daily with their hard work.”
“I’m also motivated by my husband and family because I want to make them proud. I want my nieces and nephews to have a bright future, and I truly believe the work we are doing at NASA will help them do that.”
Question: What excites you most about the future of human space exploration, or your NASA work, and your team’s role it?
Segovia: NASA’s missions depend on public and stakeholder support, and that is what our office does – ensures people know what we are doing at NASA and specifically at Marshall, why it is important, and how our missions are benefiting humanity. From social media posts to events like the South Star music festival to interviews with media outlets and stakeholder tours, we use every channel we can to tell others about the work we are doing at Marshall and NASA. Our office touches every organization at the center, and it is so exciting to have a front seat to everything we are doing to get humans back to the Moon and on to Mars.

Question: What has been the proudest moment of your career and why?
Segovia: I helped take a team of 12 Marshall female engineers to The Today Show in 2019 for a segment about International Women’s Day. As a public affairs specialist, one of our job duties is to prepare subject matter experts for interviews, making sure they have messages, talking points, and anything else they need. I have never been more proud to be a woman and to work for Marshall than I was that day, seeing how well these women represented NASA and the extraordinary achievements they have made possible. It also made me even more thankful for the job I have – preparing them to make sure they felt confident and could talk about their work was a wonderful experience. The other moment in my career I will never forget is the Artemis I launch in November 2022. I’ve supported the Space Launch System since I started working at NASA, and seeing that rocket fly was one of the best moments of my career. It was the culmination of so much hard work and sacrifice from so many people and was truly an overwhelming and amazing experience.
Question: Who or what inspired you to pursue an education/career that led you to NASA and Marshall?
Segovia: My parents have always been my No. 1 fans, encouragers, and supporters. They instilled in me a strong work ethic and the belief I could do anything I wanted to do if I worked hard. They made education a priority for my brothers and I and would do anything to help us succeed. I am so fortunate to have such a wonderful family. My mom always wanted me to do something in the medical field, but a biology course in college changed my mind quickly on that. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but had been at school for two years and needed to declare a major. I liked to write and read but didn’t know how to make a career out of that until I went to a journalism class taught by Ms. Bobbie Hurt at the University of North Alabama, and I was hooked. She became my mentor and really taught me how to be a good writer, which has been the foundation for my entire career. I ended up with a double major in journalism and public relations, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Question: What advice do you have for employees early in their NASA career or those in new leadership roles?
Segovia: Find people to whom you can go to for advice, who have your back, and can help you accomplish your goals. I’ve had some amazing mentors, teammates, and bosses who have not only supported me but pushed me to do things I wasn’t sure I could do and helped me even when I messed up. I would not be here without them, and I think it is so important to have those people in your entire career, but especially when you are new. Ask for help when you need it. Time flies, so enjoy the season and job you are in. You will know when it is time to move on, but being present and learning from where you are will help you succeed.
Question: What do you enjoy doing with your time while away from work?
Segovia: I love the water – ocean, river, pool, lake – I like being outside and water activities. I love to read and travel, and also to spend time with family and friends. I have three nieces and two nephews, and I like to go to their games and activities. I have a 4-year-old terrier mix named Ted and I enjoy taking him on walks and to the park.
Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
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NASA has awarded a total of $1.5 million to two U.S. teams for their novel technology solutions addressing energy distribution, management, and storage as part of the agency’s Watts on the Moon Challenge. The innovations from this challenge aim to support NASA’s Artemis missions, which will establish long-term human presence on the Moon.

This two-phase competition has challenged U.S. innovators to develop breakthrough power transmission and energy storage technologies that could enable long-duration Moon missions to advance the nation’s lunar exploration goals. The final phase of the challenge concluded with a technology showcase and winners’ announcement ceremony Sept. 20 at Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, Ohio, home of the visitor center for NASA’s Glenn Research Center.
“Congratulations to the finalist teams for developing impactful power solutions in support of NASA’s goal to sustain human presence on the Moon,” said Kim Krome-Sieja, acting program manager for Centennial Challenges at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “These technologies seek to improve our ability to explore and make discoveries in space and could have implications for improving power systems on Earth.”

The winning teams are:

First prize ($1 million): H.E.L.P.S. (High Efficiency Long-Range Power Solution) of Santa Barbara, California
Second prize ($500,000): Orbital Mining Corporation of Golden, Colorado

Four teams were invited to refine their hardware and deliver full system prototypes in the final stage of the competition, and three finalist teams completed their technology solutions for demonstration and assessment at Glenn. The technologies were the first power transmission and energy storage prototypes to be tested by NASA in a vacuum chamber mimicking the freezing temperature and absence of pressure found at the permanently shadowed regions of the Lunar South Pole. The simulation required the teams’ power systems to demonstrate operability over six hours of solar daylight and 18 hours of darkness with the user three kilometers (nearly two miles) away from the power source.
During this competition stage, judges scored the finalists’ solutions based on a Total Effective System Mass (TESM) calculation, which measures the effectiveness of the system relative to its size and weight – or mass – and the total energy provided by the power source. The highest-performing solution was identified based on having the lowest TESM value – imitating the challenges that space missions face when attempting to reduce mass while meeting the mission’s electrical power needs.

Team H.E.L.P.S. (High Efficiency Long-Range Power Solution) from University of California, Santa Barbara, won the grand prize for their hardware solution, which had the lowest mass and highest efficiency of all competitors. The technology also featured a special cable operating at 800 volts and an innovative use of energy storage batteries on both ends of the transmission system. They also employed a variable radiation shield to switch between conserving heat during cold periods and disposing of excess heat during high power modes. The final 48-hour test proved their system design effectively met the power transmission, energy storage, and thermal challenges in the final phase of competition.
Orbital Mining Corporation, a space technology startup, received the second prize for its hardware solution that also successfully completed the 48-hour test with high performance. They employed a high-voltage converter system coupled with a low-mass cable and a lithium-ion battery.
“The energy solutions developed by the challenge teams are poised to address NASA’s space technology priorities,” said Amy Kaminski, program executive for Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. “These solutions support NASA’s recently ranked civil space shortfalls, including in the top category of surviving and operating through the lunar night.”

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Watch the finale of NASA’s Watts on the Moon challenge, a $5 million, two-phase competition designed to develop breakthrough power transmission and energy storage technologies.

During the technology showcase and winners’ announcement ceremony, NASA experts, media, and members of the public gathered to see the finalist teams’ technologies and hear perspectives from the teams’ participation in the challenge. After the winners were announced, event attendees were also welcome to meet NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen.
The Watts on the Moon Challenge is a NASA Centennial Challenge led by Glenn. Marshall manages Centennial Challenges, which are part of the agency’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program in the Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA contracted HeroX to support the administration of this challenge.
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Manufacturing equipment that will be used to build components for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for future Artemis missions is being installed at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility.
The novel tooling will be used to produce the SLS rocket’s advanced exploration upper stage, or EUS, in the factory’s new manufacturing area. The EUS will serve as the upper, or in-space, stage for all Block 1B and Block 2 SLS flights in both crew and cargo configurations.

In tandem, NASA and Boeing, the SLS lead contractor for the core stage and exploration upper stage, are producing structural test articles and flight hardware structures for the upper stage at Michoud and the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Early manufacturing is already underway at Michoud while preparations for an engine-firing test series for the upper stage are in progress at nearby Stennis Space Center.
“The newly modified manufacturing space for the exploration upper stage signifies the start of production for the next evolution of SLS Moon rockets at Michoud,” said Hansel Gill, director at Michoud. “With Orion spacecraft manufacturing and SLS core stage assembly in flow at Michoud for the past several years, standing up a new production line and enhanced capability at Michoud for EUS is a significant achievement and a reason for anticipation and enthusiasm for Michoud and the SLS Program.”

The advanced upper stage for SLS is planned to make its first flight with Artemis IV and replaces the single-engine Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) that serves as the in-space stage on the initial SLS Block 1 configuration of the rocket. With its larger liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant tanks feeding four L3 Harris Technologies- built RL10C-3 engines, the EUS generates nearly four times the thrust of the ICPS, providing unrivaled lift capability to the SLS Block 1B and Block 2 rockets and making a new generation of crewed lunar missions possible.
This upgraded and more powerful rocket will increase the SLS rocket’s payload to the Moon by 40%, from 27 metric tons (59,525 lbs.) with Block 1 to 38 metric tons (83,776 lbs.) in the crew configuration. Launching crewed missions along with other large payloads enables multiple large-scale objectives to be accomplished in a single mission.

Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon. The rocket is part of NASA’s deep space exploration plans, along with the Orion spacecraft, supporting ground systems, advanced spacesuits and rovers, Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. NASA’s SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the SLS Program and Michoud.
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Chris Pereira can personally attest to the immense gravitational attraction of black holes. He’s been in love with space ever since he saw a video on the topic in a high school science class.
But it wasn’t just any science class. It was one specially designed for English learners.

“I was born and raised in Guatemala,” Pereira said. “I came here at 14 unable to speak any English.”
Pereira did not know how to navigate the U.S. educational system either, but after that class, he was certain he wanted a career in space.
Thus began a journey that ultimately landed him at L3Harris Technologies, where he works in the Aerojet Rocketdyne segment as an engineer and operations integrator on the RS-25 engine – used to power the core stage of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will launch astronauts to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis campaign.
Pereira’s first step was to stay after class and ask to borrow a copy of the video on black holes. His teacher not only obliged but took him across the street to the local library to get his first library card.
Pereira quickly recognized that the pathway to his desired career in space was through higher education. It was equally clear, however, that he was not yet on that pathway. English as a Second Language classes, including that science class, did not count toward college admissions. His guidance counselor, meanwhile, was nudging him toward the trades.
But with the help of teachers and a new guidance counselor, he got himself on the college-bound track.
“I came to understand there were multiple career pathways to explore my interest in space,” Pereira said. “One was engineering.”
There was a lot of catching up to do, so Pereira took eight classes per day, including honors courses. He also worked every day after school cleaning a gymnasium from 6 to 11 p.m. to help his family make ends meet.
Pereira earned his mechanical engineering degree at California State University at Los Angeles while also working as a senior educator at the California Science Center to cover the cost of his college tuition and living expenses.
Pereira’s first career experience was as an intern in manufacturing engineering at Aerojet Rocketdyne. “I learned that making 100% mission-success engines requires a strong culture of attention to detail, teamwork and solid work ethics.” Pereira said. His first full-fledged engineering job was with Honeywell Aerospace working on aircraft programs.
Eventually, space came calling – literally. “My mentor at Aerojet Rocketdyne called me up and said, ‘Chris, I have a job for you,’” Pereira said.
He began his new job working on rocket engine programs including the AR1 and RS-68 but shifted to the RS-25 after NASA awarded Aerojet Rocketdyne a contract for newly manufactured versions of the engine. Initial versions of the SLS are using refurbished engines from the Space Shuttle Program. Evolved versions of the RS-25 recently concluded a critical test series and will debut with the fifth Artemis flight.
As RS-25’s operations integrator, Pereira is responsible for ensuring that the many pieces of the program – from tracking on-time procurement of supplies and labor loads to coordinating priorities on various in-demand machine centers – come together to deliver a quality product.
Playing a key role in the nation’s effort to return astronauts to the Moon feels a bit like coming home again, Pereira said. “You develop your first love, work really hard, take different pathways and encounter new passions,” he said. “It’s almost funny how the world and life work out – it’s like I’ve taken a big circle back to my first love.”
NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with the Orion spacecraft, supporting ground systems, advanced spacesuits and rovers, the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the SLS Program.
Read other I Am Artemis features.
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Renee Weber, chief scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, talks during the “Legacy of the Invisible” event in downtown Huntsville on Sept. 20. About 300 people attended the event, which coincided with the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The celebration featured “No Straight Lines,” a new mural at the corner of Clinton Avenue and Washington Street by local artist Float. The mural honors Huntsville’s rich scientific legacy in astrophysics and highlights the groundbreaking discoveries made possible by Marshall scientists and engineers. Other speakers included Collen Wilson-Hodge, principal investigator of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The event also offered members of the community the opportunity to meet the scientists who worked on some of NASA’s most revolutionary astrophysics missions. Featured exhibits from Marshall included the Apollo Telescope mount, the main science instrument on Skylab; the High Energy Astrophysics Program (HEAO); the BATSE instrument on the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory; Chandra X-ray Observatory; Fermi; IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer); and Marshall’s X-Ray and Cryogenic Facility. “I had a really nice time at the event,” Weber said. “It’s always great to see such interest and enthusiasm in our science work from the public.” Wilson-Hodge said the mural is an artistic depiction of the historic event detected with the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory on Aug. 17, 2017. “On that day, for the first time ever, we observed both a gamma-ray burst and gravitational waves from two very dense neutron stars merging to form a black hole,” she said. (NASA/Serena Whitfield)

From left to right, scientists and astrophysicists from Marshall, Cori Fletcher, Michelle Hui, Steven Ehlert, Weber, Colleen Wilson-Hodge, Lisa Gibby, and the artist Float pose for a photo in front of the “No Straight Lines” mural at the corner of Clinton Avenue and Washington Street in Huntsville. (NASA/Serena Whitfield)
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Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have found a galaxy cluster has two streams of superheated gas crossing one another. This result shows that crossing the streams may lead to the creation of new structure.

Researchers have discovered an enormous, comet-like tail of hot gas – spanning over 1.6 million light-years long – trailing behind a galaxy within the galaxy cluster called Zwicky 8338 (Z8338 for short). This tail, spawned as the galaxy had some of its gas stripped off by the hot gas it is hurtling through, has split into two streams.
This is the second pair of tails trailing behind a galaxy in this system. Previously, astronomers discovered a shorter pair of tails from a different galaxy near this latest one. This newer and longer set of tails was only seen because of a deeper observation with Chandra that revealed the fainter X-rays.
Astronomers now have evidence that these streams trailing behind the speeding galaxies have crossed one another. Z8338 is a chaotic landscape of galaxies, superheated gas, and shock waves (akin to sonic booms created by supersonic jets) in one relatively small region of space. These galaxies are in motion because they were part of two galaxy clusters that collided with each other to create Z8338.
This new composite image shows this spectacle. X-rays from Chandra (represented in purple) outline the multimillion-degree gas that outweighs all of the galaxies in the cluster. The Chandra data also shows where this gas has been jettisoned behind the moving galaxies. Meanwhile an optical image from the Dark Energy Survey from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile shows the individual galaxies peppered throughout the same field of view.
The original gas tail discovered in Z8338 is about 800,000 light-years long and is seen as vertical in this image. The researchers think the gas in this tail is being stripped away from a large galaxy as it travels through the galaxy cluster. The head of the tail is a cloud of relatively cool gas about 100,000 light-years away from the galaxy it was stripped from. This tail is also separated into two parts.

The team proposes that the detachment of the tail from the large galaxy may have been caused by the passage of the other, longer tail. Under this scenario, the tail detached from the galaxy because of the crossing of the streams.
The results give useful information about the detachment and destruction of clouds of cooler gas like those seen in the head of the detached tail. This work shows that the cloud can survive for at least 30 million years after it is detached. During that time, a new generation of stars and planets may form within it.
The Z8338 galaxy cluster and its jumble of galactic streams are located about 670 million light-years from Earth. A paper describing these results appeared in the Aug. 8, 2023, issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and is available here.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
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What does it take to build a massive spacecraft that will seek to determine if a mysterious moon has the right ingredients for life? Find out in a new video series called “Behind the Spacecraft,” which offers behind-the-scenes glimpses into the roles of five engineers working on NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, from building the spacecraft’s communications systems to putting it through rigorous tests so the orbiter can meet its science goals in space.

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With its launch period opening Oct. 10, Europa Clipper is the agency’s first mission dedicated to exploring an ocean world beyond Earth. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles to the Jupiter system, where it will investigate the gas giant’s moon Europa, which scientists believe contains a global saltwater ocean beneath its icy shell.
The videos are being released here weekly. The first two are already out.
Meet the team:

Dipak Srinivasan, lead communications systems engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, makes sure the Europa Clipper team can communicate with the spacecraft. Learn more about his work in the video above.
Sarah Elizabeth McCandless, navigation engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, helped plan Europa Clipper’s trajectory, ensuring the spacecraft arrives at Jupiter safely and has a path to fly by Europa dozens of times. Learn more about Sarah’s work here.
Jenny Kampmeier, a science systems engineer at JPL, acts as an interface between mission scientists and engineers.
Andres Rivera, a systems engineer at JPL and first-generation American, works on Europa Clipper’s cruise phase — the journey from Earth to Jupiter.
Valeria Salazar, an integration and test engineer at JPL who spent her childhood in Mexico, helped test the Europa Clipper spacecraft to ensure its launch readiness.

Europa Clipper experts will answer questions about the mission in a NASA Science Live show airing in English on Oct. 1, and in Spanish on Oct. 3. The broadcasts will appear on NASA+, YouTube, Facebook, and X. The Spanish broadcast will be streamed on the NASA en Español YouTube channel. Viewers can submit questions on social media using the hashtag #askNASA or by leaving a comment in the chat section of the Facebook or YouTube stream.
Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission and will fly through the most punishing radiation environment of any planet in the solar system. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter and, during multiple flybys of Europa, will collect a wealth of scientific data with nine science instruments and an experiment that uses its telecommunications system to gather gravity data.
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The main spacecraft body was designed by APL in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft.
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MIL OSI USA News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-Evening Report: Our electricity workforce must double to hit the 2030 renewables target. Energy storage jobs will soon overtake those in coal and gas
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jay Rutovitz, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Wanwajee Weeraphukdee/Shutterstock

The electricity workforce will need to double in five years to achieve Australia’s 2030 renewable energy target, our new report finds. More than 80% of these jobs will be in renewables. Jobs in energy storage alone will overtake domestic coal and gas jobs (not including the coal and gas export sector) in the next couple of years.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) updates its Integrated System Plan every two years. It’s a blueprint for the energy transition from coal to renewable energy. The plan lays out scenarios for how the electricity system might change to help put in place all the elements needed to make the transition happen.

AEMO and the RACE for 2030 co-operative research centre commissioned the Institute for Sustainable Futures to undertake modelling on the workforce needed for this transition. The “step change” scenario in the Integrated System Plan is broadly aligned with the 2030 renewables target. Under this scenario, we found the electricity workforce would need to grow from 33,000 to peak at 66,000 by 2029.

Rooftop solar and batteries together are projected to account for over 40% of these jobs. Wind farms will employ around one-third and solar farms just under 10%. Jobs would also treble in transmission line construction to connect renewables in regional areas to cities and other states in the next few years.

Job projections in the National Electricity Market under the ‘step change’ scenario that aligns with the 2030 renewables target.
Author provided

Job growth would surge in a ‘renewable energy superpower’

In the “green energy export” scenario, Australia becomes a “renewable energy superpower”. The country uses renewable energy to export green hydrogen and power heavy industry. In this scenario, the electricity workforce would almost treble to 96,000 by the late 2020s.

By 2033, after construction peaks, more than half of electricity sector jobs will be in operations and maintenance. This applies to both the step change and green energy export scenarios.

A significant employment downturn is projected during the 2030s. But in the green energy export scenario jobs then climb steeply again to a peak of 120,000. This projection reflects AEMO’s expectations of when green export growth will occur.

New South Wales is projected to have the most renewable energy jobs in the 2020s. However, Queensland would become the largest state for renewable jobs (especially in wind farms) in the green energy export scenario.

Projected total job numbers by scenario.
Author provided

What are the other possibilities?

“Progressive change” is another scenario in the Integrated System Plan. For this scenario, we modelled slower growth in renewable energy. It reflects constraints on the economy and supply chains (including labour and minerals) for renewables.

In an “enhanced manufacturing” scenario, local renewable energy manufacturing increases. Our modelling found it could create a peak of 5,000 extra jobs.

Importantly, these projections don’t include upstream jobs in supply chains for the sector (for example, increased mining to supply the resources that renewables need) or electrification of homes.

Creating this many jobs is very challenging

Our modelling shows the workforce needs to grow very rapidly to make Australia’s energy transition happen. Unfortunately, the challenges of building this workforce are daunting. They include:
- there’s a shortage of almost all key occupations in demand for the electricity sector – electricians, engineers, construction managers – according to Australia’s Skills Priority List
- “extraordinary growth” forecast by Infrastructure Australia in other major infrastructure projects, such as transport, which will compete for many of the same skilled workers
- under AEMO’s scenarios, employment will be subject to boom-bust cycles, which increases the risk of skill shortages and damaging impacts, such as housing shortages, in regional areas
- Australia has relied heavily on skilled migrants – and will look to do so again – but many parts of the world are chasing the same workers.
The International Energy Agency has noted:

Labour and skills shortages are already translating into project delays, raising concerns that clean energy solutions will be unable to keep pace with demand to meet net zero targets.

What can be done to avoid skill shortages?

Some action has been taken to increase the workforce. The federal government, for instance, is subsidising apprentices under the New Energy Apprenticeship program.

But action isn’t happening at the scale and pace required.

What else can be done?

Firstly, Jobs Skills Australia and Powering Skills Organisation (which oversees energy skills training) have outlined ways to increase the system’s capacity to train more skilled workers. This includes creating better pathways into renewable energy for students, especially in recognised Renewable Energy Zones.

Secondly, Jobs Skills Australia has noted the need for renewable energy businesses to increase their intakes of apprentices. It recommends expanding the Australian Skills Guarantee to include generation and transmission projects.

The guarantee has set mandatory targets for apprentices or trainees to complete 10% of labour hours on Commonwealth-funded major construction and information technology projects (A$10 million plus). It could also be applied to major government funding programs for renewable energy and transmission. These include:
- the Capacity Investment Scheme, a government tender program to support a large volume of new renewables and storage projects
- Rewiring the Nation, a $20 billion fund for transmission lines
- grants from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Thirdly, government tenders could moderate the peaks and troughs in employment by limiting the maximum and minimum volumes built each year.

Fourthly, including more women and First Nations Australians can increase labour supply and workforce diversity. Only one-in-two First Nations Australians are employed compared to around two in three in the wider population. Yet they account for around one-in-ten people in some major Renewable Energy Zones.

Government pre-employment programs, working with industry and First Nations groups, could also increase the supply of workers. These could have a dramatic social impact too.

It’s a challenging problem whichever way you look at it. We need rapid change to build renewable energy capacity before coal plants retire and to tackle climate change. But that depends on growing the workforce amid skill shortages.

There’s a range of ways to increase the supply of workers and improve local outcomes. But we are running out of time. Urgent action is needed.

The Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney received funding from the Australian Energy Market Operator and the RACE for 2030 CRC for the report upon which this article is based

The Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney received funding from the Australian Energy Market Operator and the RACE for 2030 CRC for the report upon which this article is based.

– ref. Our electricity workforce must double to hit the 2030 renewables target. Energy storage jobs will soon overtake those in coal and gas – https://theconversation.com/our-electricity-workforce-must-double-to-hit-the-2030-renewables-target-energy-storage-jobs-will-soon-overtake-those-in-coal-and-gas-239718
MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –
September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Russia: The government will allocate almost a quarter of a billion rubles to support fisheries enterprises operating in the Black and Azov Seas

MIL OSI Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

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

In 2024, fisheries organizations operating in the Azov and Black Seas will receive funding to partially cover their operating expenses. The order to allocate 234.1 million rubles for these purposes was signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

Subsidies are intended for fishing organizations and fish farms operating in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Republic of Crimea, Krasnodar Krai, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, as well as the city of Sevastopol.

With the help of federal funding, companies will be able to cover part of the costs of paying employees and social contributions (insurance contributions for mandatory pension, medical and social insurance). The size of the subsidy will be 20% of the cost of the average annual volume of marine aquaculture products caught by a fishing organization or produced in a fishery over the previous three years. At the same time, companies must retain at least 80% of their employees compared to the previous year’s figures.

The work is being carried out within the framework of the state program “Development of the fisheries complex”.

Earlier, in 2022, among the measures to ensure economic stability in the context of external sanctions, the Government provided financial support to fishing enterprises operating in the Sea of Azov. Such enterprises received transfers to support current expenses to maintain financial stability and jobs.

The document will be published.

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

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

http://government.ru/nevs/52787/

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

MIL OSI Russia News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Newport’s Lord Louis library set to undergo essential works 25 September 2024 Newport’s Lord Louis library set to undergo essential works.

Source: Aisle of Wight

The Lord Louis Library in Newport is scheduled to undergo essential maintenance from Monday 14 October and is expected to be fully completed by the end of December 2024.

During this time the main library will remain open as much as possible except for Thursday 10, Friday 11 and Saturday 12 October when it will be closed to the general public to allow staff to move books from the areas where work will be completed.

The library will also be closed for a short time in late December alongside some possible lunch time closures and changes to opening hours during the work.

For those wanting to use the children’s library, the books will be relocated to a dedicated area within the main library. As space will be limited some activities such as Rhyme Time and adult group sessions will unfortunately not be able to take place. The public computers will still be available for use, as will printing and photocopying facilities.

Colin Rowland, director for community services “Although there may be some temporary inconvenience due to construction work, the end result will be worth it. Residents will still be able to use all the libraries online services while building works take place. We’d also like to remind and encourage residents to visit the other libraries across the Island, which are open as normal”.

Councillor Julie Jones-Evans, cabinet member for economy, regeneration, culture and leisure added; “This investment reflects our commitment to the library service and our appreciation of its value to the local community. Please make sure you follow both the library services and council’s Facebook pages for the latest updates.”

For more information on the libraries online services please visit free online services.

Residents can also visit our other libraries during this time, a list is available by clicking Isleof Wight Council libraries

Stay up to date with what’s happening at your local library by visiting facebook/iwlibraries and follow facebook/isleofwightcouncil/

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Australia: Press Conference Government House, Adelaide

Source: Minister for Trade

Minister for Trade, Don Farrell: Good afternoon everybody, and please take a seat, don’t stand on formality. I thank the Governor for making her home available to us today to hold this press conference with my very good friend, the Trade Minister for India, Piyush Goyal, it’s absolutely wonderful to have you here.

When I first became the Trade Minister for Australia, I was lucky enough to be invited to Piyush’s home in New Delhi, and have a wonderful feast with him and his wife, and a little bit later on today I’m going to return the favour. We’re heading out to the magnificent Clare Valley, and we’re going to have a wonderful meal out in the Clare together this evening.

We’ve just wrapped up our face‑to‑face meeting, and it’s the first meeting that we’ve had since the Modi Government was recently re‑elected, and of course follows on the weekend’s events between our Prime Minister and Prime Minister Modi in Delaware, with the Japanese and the American leaders.

I think it’s fair to say that the relationship between Australia and India has never, ever been closer. And to reflect that, is the economic relationship between our two countries, and it has never ever been better.

Following our Trade Agreement that was ratified during the course of this Parliamentary session, trade with India is turning out to be a really big win for Australia, and today we held in‑depth discussions on how to accelerate that trading relationship. And in addition to that, our investment relationship viability on the enormous growth that we’ve just seen in recent times.

Just to give you some examples of that, in the 18 months since our Trade Agreement with India came into force, nearly $30 billion worth of Australian exports have entered India either with zero tariffs or lower tariffs than any of our competitors.

Agricultural exports to India are up around 60 per cent to $1.6 billion, and we know how important that is to the South Australian economy.

Industrial equipment and manufacturing exports are up 66 per cent or $145 million, and our health exports to India have increased by nearly 40 per cent to $33 million.

Australian consumers are of course benefitting by our trade deals with savings at the checkouts worth around $225 million, thanks to the lower tariffs on products that are coming in from India.

During our meeting, Minister Goyal and I discussed how we can grow our two‑way trade and investment even more. The key focus of today’s discussion was our next free trade agreement called the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.

Our trade negotiators recently met in Sydney, and today’s discussions show that there’s real momentum here to get an agreement as we work out the details.

For Australia, we’ve made it clear that we have much to offer our friends in India, particularly in agriculture, as well as the emerging sectors we are building as part of our Future Made in Australia.

We also exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding on investment cooperation between Austrade and Invest India, which will help boost two‑way investment between our countries.

Our Government has also wrapped up consultations on our new India Economic Roadmap. We’ve held over 400 consultation sessions across every Australian State and Territory and in India.

Over the past two days, Minister Goyal has heard from a range of Australian businesses who see wonderful opportunities to partner with India in sectors like green energy, education skills, tourism, agriculture and technology, and in a few moments the Minister and I will walk up to the Australian Space Agency headquarters to meet some of the Australian space start‑ups that are partnering directly with India.

Our Government is committed to driving more practical cooperation between Australian and Indian businesses. That’s why today I’m announcing $10 million in new grants for Australian businesses, organisations and universities to boost cooperation with India.

By extending the $10 million Maitri Grants program, the Government will deliver, firstly, $5 million for Australian organisations working on projects that boost trade and innovation, cultural ties and community leaders, and then a further $5 million for scholars and fellowships to support Australian universities to host some of the brightest Indian students in their research, on some of our biggest shared challenges.

As I indicated before, the Minister and our wives, will be heading out to the magnificent Clare Valley, and we’ll continue to discuss the wonderful opportunities between our two countries. I’ll invite my good friend Piyush to say some words about today’s events and his time in Australia.

Indian Minister for Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal: Thank you very much Honourable Don Farrell, Member of Parliament and Minister for Trade and Industry, someone I look upon as not only a friend and well‑wisher, but a brother who has been a guide, who has helped me understand trade nuances, very sensitive, ever‑smiling, and a well‑wisher of the Australia-India partnership.

Thank you very much for your warm hospitality, thank you very much for bringing me to Adelaide for the first time. What a beautiful city, charming, a place we’ve heard about from childhood. Where cricket matters and in the good old days, we had five‑day test matches where every wicket falling was blown all over the television and radio. But to actually be right across from the Adelaide stadium is truly a memorable visit for me.

We had very good engagement with Australian business persons in Sydney over the last two days, the excitement is truly palpable on both sides, Australian business and Indian business.

For the first time ever both our major chambers, the conflagration of Indian industries and the conflagration of Indian chambers of commerce and industry were represented by their top leadership together as a testimony of the importance that the Australia relationship is to India.

We are looking at significantly upscaling our partnerships in trade, investment, tourism and technology, and therefore one of the first announcements I’d like to make is that we shall shortly be setting up in Sydney an office covering all these four areas, ITTT, investment, trade, technology, and tourism. With representatives of Invest India, representatives of the organisation responsible for building industrial smart cities and townships, meeting representatives of our Export Trade and Guarantee Corporation, and other officials related to trade and tourism.

Along with the private sector, CII jointly manning these offices to act as a bridge between investors and businesses on both sides and working closely together with Austrade with whom Invest India has today exchanged an MOU for mutual investment promotion, technology and trade facilitation, and other insights into economic trade.

Thank you very much, Don, for giving us the encouragement to work together on these areas. And I’m sure the unprecedented ties that our two countries are sharing today with nine in‑person meetings since May 2022, in less than three years, nine in‑person meetings of our senior leaders, both Prime Ministers, reflecting the big bonding that both Prime Ministers, political leadership have with business-to-business and people‑to‑people connect that Australia and India share.

Friends, today is a very important day in India. We are celebrating 10 years of our Making India Program. Prime Minister Modi on 25 September 2014, had launched this initiative, and through the Making India Program over the last 10 years we have significantly had a whole of government approach to addressing the challenges that manufacturing in India increase. Whether it’s provision of plug-and-play infrastructure, a national single window for all approvals, regulators reducing compliance burden or decriminalising laws, opening up foreign direct investment in newer sectors making it easier to invest in India, or encouraging the start of ecosystem. It’s been a multi‑pronged approach to attract manufacturing in India, and I do see a lot of promise between the Making India Program and the Future Made in Australia program that your government has launched, so that we can exchange the technologies, exchange opportunities and encourage businesses on both sides to work with each other.

This enhanced cooperation via education, via skill development, tourism, investments, critical minerals, which we discussed at length today, or renewable energy, green ecosystem towards sustainability, all of these other areas where this relationship holds tremendous potential. And India is committed to partner with Australia to provide a bouquet of opportunities to our business persons on both sides so that we can work towards a greater and more ambitious relationship on the economic front.

Friends, as Minister Farrell mentioned, ECTA, and I think some of you may recall, ECTA in India, in Hindi, is unity. This agreement has truly been a game‑changer providing greater market access to businesses on both sides and has resulted in a significant increase in merchandise trade. We’re looking at further strengthening the ECTA through to the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, the CECA, and we do hope to see a greater flow of goods and services along with investments flowing out of the CECA, which we are looking to conclude at an early date to unlock new dimensions in this partnership and provide further momentum to this business relationship.

Friends, I must mention that we have also discussed at length greater cooperation at various multilateral fora like the WTO, the G20, the IPEF and other international organisations where Australia and India share common interests.

India is the world’s fastest growing economy today. We grew at 8.2 per cent last year. The economy today is the fifth largest in the world, expected to become the third largest in the next three years. We will cross the $7 trillion mark by 2030, and the $10 trillion mark by 2034, 10 years from now.

We are very confident of achieving a developed country status by 2047. [Indistinct] 2047 is our ambition, is our goal, taking up our economy to 10 times today’s size, to $35 trillion economy in the next 25 years or so, so that we can meet the aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians for a better quality of life. And I see Australia playing an important role in this journey towards making India a developed nation, a role to greater trade, a role to exchange of technologies, a role in our common goals for sustainability and a significant role when it comes to provision of high-tech services and investments.

India offers the advantage of four Ds. The first is our democracy. We have a vibrant democracy, the world’s largest democracy, the Rule of Law prevails, it provides safety and security for investment and people. And I think in today’s day and age, two democracies working together provides a great comfort to investors in the long run.

The second D is our demographic dividend, a young population with an average age of 28.4 years, expected to remain young for many, many more years to come, with two‑thirds of our population in the working age to providing skills, talent and huge manpower force to help the economy to move faster.

The third D is demand. 1.4 billion aspirational Indians, demanding high quality goods and services is a huge market opportunity, and growth opportunity.

And the fourth D is decisive leadership. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Government are willing to reform, transform and perform to take the country to greater heights. I’m very confident that together we shall make the Australia-India partnership a defining partnership of the decade, if not the 21st Century. The kangaroos and the tigers together have a combined strength which is unstoppable. Thank you.

Minister for Trade: I think we should give Piyush a clap for that. Thank you, very much, my friend, and we’ll open to questions.

Journalist: This one’s for both Ministers. Can you give an update on the CECA negotiations? You made progress of the outstanding points of difference, and do you see an agreement for Australia [indistinct]?

Minister for Trade: We are very optimistic that the good work that was done today will result in an expanded agreement. As we saw with the United Arab Emirates, when both parties put their mind to it we can very quickly expedite the discussions to finalise an agreement. I’d be hopeful that goodwill on both sides, and you can see today, that’s been demonstrated here – I think with goodwill we can very quickly resolve this issue, and we can have a new upgraded agreement between Australia and India.

Piyush Goyal: Madam, I think the important and defining feature of our discussions and negotiations is the sensitivity that both sides have to each other’s issues, defensive interests, offensive interests. All are considered together in a manner which will only result in a win‑win situation. So any issue that I can see Australia will be uncomfortable with I would not like to push, press on that, and likewise our approach has been that if something is very sensitive to a large Indian population given our current status of development, Australia has been very gracious in their understanding of our sensitivities.

It is my deep confidence in each other that helps us to resolve issues very fast, and I’m very confident that the final agreement will only help grow this relationship. You saw that our first agreement didn’t have any negative press or any negative public outcry. I’m sure the second agreement will correspondingly be a good mix of the good things that people want out of the agreement.

Minister for Trade: I think it’s worthwhile repeating that when we were last in India together we committed to increasing our trade from its current $49 billion two‑way trade to $100 billion by the end of the decade, and I think we’re ‑ I’m certainly happy, and I think I speak for Piyush here, to restate that today.

We want to double that trade between our countries between now and the end of the decade.

Journalist: Just on that, Minister Goyal, India has traditionally been hesitant about removing barriers to Australian exports in sensitive sectors like dairy. Have you had consultations with those domestic producers and has the Government consulted with its Coalition partners on any of those sensitivities?

Piyush Goyal: First of all, the Government in India is a strong government. The Coalition is a pre‑poll alliance. So we have very seamless consultations and very seamless understanding of any decisions that the Government takes.

As regards dairy, that sector was discussed even before we started the negotiations with Australia three years ago, and Indian dairy is very significantly different from Australian dairy.

Our average holding with a farmer is a small two‑acre, three‑acre farm with three or four livestock, whereas Australia’s farms and dairy farms are both very large, and it would be near impossible for these large farms and these small farms to compete with each other on a common footing.

We have discussed this issue even three years ago and on earlier occasions, and dairy is such a sensitive subject that in any of our FTAs across the world, we have not been able to open up the dairy sector with duty concessions there is permitted in India, but there are certain duties imposed on that.

This is one sector where there’s no discussion with any Coalition partner, even when we were a full majority government there was no opening up of the dairy. It’s actually two very unequal situations and would not lend themselves to fair trade between the two countries, or between any countries. We have neither opened up dairy in Europe, or planning to open up dairy in Europe, nor have we opened it up even with Switzerland and Norway, with whom we have recently concluded an FTA under the EFTA grouping – Switzerland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Iceland. Even then we have not opened up dairy. It’s the first agreement Switzerland has signed without any component of dairy in it.

Journalist: You predicted that China will bring its pursuit of all lobster type business. Given your previous predictions on the subject have proven optimistic, why do you have the confidence that this will be resolved in the next few months?

Minister for Trade: I’m an optimistic sort of person, and I think the only way you can do this job is to be optimistic. If you think about this, when we came to government two and a half years ago, we had $20 billion worth of impediments between Australia and China.

We have reduced that over time to less than $1 billion and one product that is still outstanding unfortunately is lobster.

We’ve recently had meetings both with the Chinese Premier, and also my counterpart, Wang Wentao, in fact as Piyush has done. They both came to Adelaide, it’s becoming a bit of a feature of international trade these days, everyone’s coming to Adelaide. I’m confident that we can resolve the outstanding issues in a timely manner.

It is unfortunate that that issue hasn’t been resolved. The Government is doing its absolute best to resolve it, but these issues do take time, and we’ll continue to work very closely with the Chinese Government to put aside all of the outstanding issues between our two governments.

Journalist: Paul Starick from The Advertiser in Adelaide. Two questions, one for both ministers. You mentioned agriculture as a significant component of the next stage of your agreement. Do you care to elaborate on that, what particular opportunities do you see? And secondly, for Senator Farrell, regarding an unrelated issue at the Whyalla steelworks. The Premier has talked about the importance of that as a national enterprise. Do you agree, and what response given its current predicament do you think is appropriate at a national level?

Minister for Trade: Well, look, in terms of agriculture, we’re talking about the removal of all of the tariffs that weren’t removed at the last process, so we’ve made very significant progress, but as the Minister said, some of the more difficult issues were not resolved at that issue, we put them to one side, they’re all back on the table. So things like chickpeas, pistachios, and apples. So, all of the issues, all of the products where there are still tariffs ‑ wine is another one ‑ we are seeking to have those tariffs removed.

I’m not going to go to the details of the negotiations, it’s not appropriate to do that here, but we’ll continue to work through, and as Piyush said, where issues are difficult, we understand that, and we’re not going to make life any more difficult for the Indian Government.

On the other issue, I’m aware that there have been some discussions between the Prime Minister and the Premier over the issue of Whyalla. Obviously steel making is a very important business in Whyalla. As a government we want to see steel making continue, and of course all of those jobs be protected, and we will, of course, continue those discussions between the Prime Minister and the Premier.

Minister, you might like to answer that first question.

Piyush Goyal: I think as you very rightly put it, we let the negotiators take the discussions forward and give them a chance to look at what other possibilities as we conclude the CEPA.

Minister for Trade: Well, if there are no other questions, thank you very much for coming along today, and we’ll head up to the Space Agency after a quick lunch with the Premier and the Governor. Thank you very much for attending.

Piyush Goyal: Thank you friends.

MIL OSI News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Veterinary drug chloramphenicol found in prepackaged frozen jade perch sample

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Veterinary drug chloramphenicol found in prepackaged frozen jade perch sample
Veterinary drug chloramphenicol found in prepackaged frozen jade perch sample
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The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (September 25) that a sample of prepackaged frozen jade perch was detected with a veterinary drug, chloramphenicol. Members of the public should not consume the affected batch of the product. The trade should also stop using or selling the affected batch of the product immediately if they possess it. The CFS is following up on the case. Product details are as follows:Product name: JADE PERCH FISHBrand: (Not available in English)Net weight: 251 grams to 300gBest-before date: February 25, 2025Distributor: Inspire Foodie Limited A spokesman for the CFS said, “The CFS collected the above-mentioned sample from an online shop for testing under its routine Food Surveillance Programme. The test result showed that the sample contained chloramphenicol at a level of one microgram per kilogram. “The CFS has informed the vendor concerned of the irregularity and instructed it to stop sales and remove from shelves the affected batch of the product. According to the CFS’s instructions, the distributor has initiated a recall on the affected batch of the product. Members of the public may call its hotline at 9778 8484 during office hours for enquiries about the recall of the product concerned,” the spokesman added. According to the Harmful Substances in Food Regulations (Cap. 132AF), no fish (including shellfish) sold in Hong Kong for human consumption is allowed to contain chloramphenicol. Offenders will be liable to a fine of $50,000 and to imprisonment for six months upon conviction. The CFS will alert the trade and will continue to follow up on the incident and take appropriate action. An investigation is ongoing.

Ends/Wednesday, September 25, 2024Issued at HKT 17:44

NNNN

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Satyanarayanamma’s Sanitation Success in Ponnapalli

Source: Government of India

Satyanarayanamma’s Sanitation Success in Ponnapalli

A fisherwoman’s efforts transformed her community in line with Swachh Bharat’s vision

Posted On: 25 SEP 2024 11:46AM by PIB Delhi

Satyanarayanamma’s Sanitation Success in Ponnapalli

****

Santosh Kumar/ Sarla Meena/ Sheetal Angral/ Ritu Kataria/ Saurabh Kalia

(Release ID: 2058490) Visitor Counter : 22

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI China: Cities in NW China transform saline-alkali lands into planting, cultivation areas

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

Cities in NW China transform saline-alkali lands into planting, cultivation areas

Updated: September 25, 2024 17:32 Xinhua

Staff catch fish at an aquaculture base in Helan County, Yinchuan, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Sept. 20, 2024. In recent years, Yinchuan and Qingtongxia cities in Ningxia have managed to transform the saline-alkali lands into planting and cultivation areas. [Photo/Xinhua]

An aerial drone photo taken on Sept. 19, 2024 shows a view of a prawn cultivation base built on the saline-alkali land in Helan County, Yinchuan, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

An aerial drone photo taken on Sept. 20, 2024 shows a view of a rural ecotourism park built on the saline-alkali land in Helan County, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

A staff member checks Juncao grass growing on the improved saline-alkali land in Qingtongxia City, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Sept. 23, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

An aerial drone photo taken on Sept. 20, 2024 shows a view of a rural ecotourism park built on the saline-alkali land in Helan County, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

This photo taken on Sept. 19, 2024 shows a view of a rural ecotourism park in Helan County, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

An aerial drone photo taken on Sept. 19, 2024 shows a rural ecotourism park in Helan County, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

An aerial drone photo taken on Sept. 23, 2024 shows a staff member checking Juncao grass growing on the improved saline-alkali land in Qingtongxia City, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

This photo taken on Sept. 19, 2024 shows a view of a rural ecotourism park in Helan County, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

An aerial drone photo taken on Sept. 20, 2024 shows an aquaculture base built on the saline-alkali land in Helan County, Yinchuan, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

MIL OSI China News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Russia: Sobyanin spoke about the opening of the second fish market in Moscow in the North-West Administrative Okrug

MIL OSI Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

The second fish market in Moscow has opened in Mitino.

“The success of the festival

“Moscow is on the wave. Fish week” inspired us to create the first fish market – in Kosino-Ukhtomsky. During its operation, more than a million buyers visited it. Seeing such a demand for fresh, high-quality fish and seafood, we decided to open a second market – in Mitino. Its area is over four thousand square meters. And with the onset of warm weather next spring, we will additionally open a terrace,” – said Sergei Sobyanin.

The new market has a branded corner called “Moscow – on the Wave,” for which a special menu has been developed.

The open kitchen of the new market is twice as big as in Kosino-Ukhtomsky. Products purchased at the market will be cooked for free. And on the master class sites, guests can learn how to cook fish and seafood dishes.

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

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

https://vvv.mos.ru/major/themes/11821050/

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

MIL OSI Russia News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI USA News: FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠ Harris Administration Announces New Investments to Protect Freshwater Resources, Enhance Drought and Climate Resilience
Source: The White House

Our nation’s lakes, rivers, streams, estuaries, and wetlands are fundamental to the health, prosperity, and resilience of our communities and are held sacred by many Tribal Nations. They are not only the sources of clean drinking water that flows into the taps of our homes, but are also economic drivers supporting jobs and outdoor recreation across the nation. By absorbing and storing carbon, our nation’s waterways and wetlands – and the forests, grasslands, and farmlands they nourish – also play a critical role in the fight against climate change.

Since Day One, the Biden-Harris Administration has worked to secure clean water for all communities, protect our vital freshwater resources, and mitigate the impacts of drought. Given that communities often acutely experience the climate crisis through water-related impacts – from floods and droughts to polluted drinking sources and waterways – this Administration is making historic investments through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to protect, conserve, and restore our freshwater basins and ecosystems.

Meanwhile, many Republicans in Congress continue to deny the very existence of climate change and remain committed to repealing the President’s Inflation Reduction Act – the biggest climate protection bill ever – which would undermine the health, safety, and economic vitality of their own constituents.

Today, during Climate Week, the White House is announcing new funding and whole-of-government initiatives that build upon its ambitious freshwater agenda and help restore and conserve our freshwater resources and address climate impacts felt across the nation:
- Investing in Long-Term Colorado River Basin Resilience: The Biden-Harris Administration is leading a comprehensive effort to make Western communities more resilient to climate change and address the ongoing megadrought across the region, including the Colorado River Basin, by harnessing the full resources of President Biden’s historic Investing in America agenda. The Administration’s investments in the Lower Colorado River Basin bridge the immediate need for water conservation while moving toward improved system efficiency and more durable long-term solutions. Overall, the funding for long-term water conservation initiatives in the Lower Basin is expected to save more than 1 million acre-feet of water, putting the Basin on a path to a more resilient and sustainable water future.
  - The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation is announcing the execution of the first three contracts for long-term water conservation under the Lower Colorado Basin System Conservation and Efficiency Program. Totaling approximately $107 million, taken together these first three projects – all with the Gila River Indian Community in the Lower Colorado River Basin of Arizona – will provide over 73,000 acre-feet of water conservation to support the sustainability of Lake Mead while also helping ensure long-term water resilience for the Community. The Bureau of Reclamation is also working on the companion program for the Upper Basin, which will provide additional water savings for the Basin’s long-term sustainability.
  - The Bureau of Reclamation is working with the following sponsors in the Lower Colorado Basin to negotiate water conservation contracts for ten additional proposed projects, including:
    
    City of Phoenix
    
    City of Tucson
    
    Coachella Valley Water District
    
    Salt River Valley Water Users’ Association & Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District
    
    San Diego County Water Authority
    
    Southern Nevada Water Authority
    
    The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
    
    Town of Gilbert
- The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation is also signing agreements with the Imperial Irrigation District and the Bard Water District in partnership with the Metropolitan Water District in California to ensure the conservation of up to 717,100acre-feet of water by 2026. This water will remain in Lake Mead in an effort to benefit the Colorado River System and its users.
- Investing in Indian Country: The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation has announced historic Tribal water infrastructure investments totaling over $1.2 billion through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, Reclamation Water Settlement funding, and annual appropriations. This includes a new investment of $9.4 million for Tribal drought relief and technical assistance projects that will restore wetlands, improve irrigation efficiency, and support groundwater monitoring.
- Reconnecting Waterways and Restoring Aquatic Ecosystems: With over $3 billion in funding for ecosystem restoration and fish passage projects, the Investing in America agenda is helping secure cleaner rivers, safer communities, greater recreational opportunities, and improved fish and wildlife habitat, driving change across the landscape for people, communities, species, and ecosystems.
  - The Administration is announcing a suite of 10 transformational fish passage projects that to date have received over $150 million from eight Federal agencies. When completed, these fish passage and aquatic connectivity projects – located in communities from Maine to Ohio to California – will reconnect nearly 5,000 miles of rivers and streams across the United States. Reconnecting waterways allows natural functions to be restored in freshwater systems, improving their climate resilience and water quality, and therefore their ability to protect communities from catastrophic floods, droughts, catastrophic wildfire, and water pollution. Improving fish passage and reconnecting aquatic systems is one of the most effective ways to help conserve vulnerable species, while building safer infrastructure for communities and improving climate resilience. To date, the Administration has spent over $970 million on more than 600 fish passage projects in 45 states across the country.
  - The Department of the Interior today is announcing an additional $92 million in new resources from the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Program to help restore important salmon and other native fish habitat across the West. These projects, when complete, will provide increased water quality, floodplain stability, and drought resiliency.
- Collaborating with Stakeholders to Protect Freshwater Systems: At a Climate Week NYC event focused on the Global Freshwater Challenge, White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory announced a doubling of new partners in the America the Beautiful Freshwater Challenge – a nationwide initiative to protect, restore, and reconnect 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of our nation’s rivers and streams by 2030. Over 100 members from across the country initially signed on to support freshwater restoration in their communities. That number has now more than doubled to over 211, including 14 states, 16 Tribal entities, 27 local governments, and 79 private sector members.
Today’s announcements build on recent actions that deliver on the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to ensuring safe drinking water, including providing approximately $1 billion in funding to bring safe, clean water to Tribal communities; finalizing the first-ever standard to protect communities from toxic “forever chemicals,” along with rulemakings to hold polluters responsible for PFAS cleanup and to enhance safeguards against dangerous chemical spills in our nation’s waters; and continuing to deliver on President Biden’s goal to replace every lead pipe in America in the next decade. The Department of the Interior has invested more than $6.95 billion to fund over 831 Western water projects through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act; the Environmental Protection Agency has leveraged more than $9 billion in the last two years alone to communities across the West; and other agencies from the Department of Agriculture to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continue to make investments that increase water availability, reduce water use, and enhance resilience.

###

MIL OSI USA News –
September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI USA: DLNR News Release – HAWAI‘I WILDFIRE LEADER RECOGNIZED NATIONALLY, Sept. 24, 2024

Source: US State of Hawaii

DLNR News Release – HAWAI‘I WILDFIRE LEADER RECOGNIZED NATIONALLY, Sept. 24, 2024

Posted on Sep 24, 2024 in Latest Department News, Newsroom

DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES

JOSH GREEN, M.D.
GOVERNOR

DAWN CHANG
CHAIRPERSON

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sept. 24, 2024

CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF HAWAI‘I WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION RECEIVES NATIONAL RECOGNITION

(HILO, HAWAI‘I) – Elizabeth Pickett, the long-time co-executive director of the Hawai‘i Wildfire Management Organization (HWMO) was honored today at a ceremony in New York City, as one of the 2024 Grist 50. Grist bills itself as the only newsroom focused on finding solutions at the intersection of climate and justice.

The ninth annual Grist 50 list honors leaders who are tackling the most pressing climate problems of today in innovative and exciting ways. The organization says this year’s list includes people who “found a unique way to apply their strengths, creativity, and time to tackle the biggest problem our planet faces. We call them Fixers: dynamic doers who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo and dive headlong into building and championing better alternatives. The Grist 50 is both a look at what it takes to make change happen and a testament to the strength, diversity, and creativity of people doing just that.”

In its description of Pickett’s award, Grist noted, “After the town of Lahaina went up in flames, killing 102 people in August last year, survivors and onlookers were left with enormous grief – and endless questions. How could such a horrific event have happened? What could be done to prevent another?”

Hawai‘i Governor Josh Green M.D. commented, “The Hawai‘i Wildfire Management Organization plays a vital role in sharing wildfire information, coordinating efforts among agencies, and helping communities become better prepared and resilient. In the wake of last year’s devastating Maui wildfires, HWMO stepped up in incredible ways, and this recognition of Elizabeth Pickett reflects the hard work and dedication of the entire organization.”

HWMO Board Chair Dan Dennison added, “On behalf of the entire board, we can’t think of anyone more deserving of this honor than Elizabeth. The Maui fires put enormous focus on our nonprofit as the clearinghouse for Hawaiʻi wildfire information and programs and has shown HWMO to be instrumental in responding to questions about wildfire science, resiliency, and action.”

For answers, many turned to the HWMO, where Elizabeth Pickett had spent 16 years trying in vain to convince people to take wildfire risks seriously. She first became interested in wildfires after learning about their effects on coral reef sedimentation and went on to pursue a master’s degree in forestry research.”

Since the Maui fires, Pickett and HWMO Co-executive Director Nani Barretto have fielded hundreds of citizen and media inquiries from local, national, and international news organizations. Pickett said, “We laid that groundwork strategically place-by-place, layer-by-layer over 20 years. We were able to meet the moment.” She says she hopes HWMO’s work will ensure the islands will be prepared for future wildfires, even as climate change increases their threat.

Dave Smith, the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) Administrator said, “We are tremendously fortunate to have HWMO as the coordinating organization for so much of what is available in Hawaiʻi to address wildfire.”

The number of HWMO positions has grown a lot over the past year, with additional staff now on all the major Hawaiian Islands. While the constant demand for wildfire information from many corners has continued unabated, the HWMO co-executive directors have managed to keep focused on the organization’s core strategy of being a trusted partner and a go-to place for wildfire-related information, expert advice and community action.

Pickett said, “The Grist award is for our entire organization. By the time of the Lahaina fires, I’d become somewhat disillusioned with the state’s approach to and lack of investment in wildfire preparedness and risk reduction. Then the fire happened and suddenly the questions came pouring in.

Hawai‘i teachers needed curricula to teach their students about wildfires. Land managers wanted to know what fire breaks to install. The Dept. of Health, Dept. of Hawaiian Homelands, the DLNR Division of State Parks, Dept. of Transportation and county planning offices; along with communities across the state all reached out for technical support and partnership toward the role they could play in getting more prepared for wildfire. There was interest and commitment I never imagined possible.”

HWMO, in partnership with DLNR, leads the Firewise Communities program for neighborhood wildfire preparedness. Together with other firefighting organizations, they are currently in the ninth year of the Wildfire & Drought LOOKOUT! news media and public awareness campaign which shares fire prevention, water conservation and resiliency messages across social media and through the general news media.

# # #

RESOURCES

(All images/video courtesy: DLNR)

HD video – Wildfire & Drought LOOKOUT! news conference, Maui (June 4, 2024):

[embedded content]

Photographs – Elizabeth Pickett speaking at news conference (June 4, 2024):

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/5anop2w0io0kfgqr9ngam/AArwLpU2vBYgXWoSvgwn5cs?rlkey=upceq0blfi1zzxnrook37j38z&st=b04552je&dl=0

Media Contact:

Ryan Aguilar

Communications Specialist

Hawai‘i Dept. of Land and Natural Resources

808-587-0396

[email protected]

MIL OSI USA News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Translation: AMERICA/HAITI – Father Massimo Miraglio: “we continue with courage and determination our commitment alongside the people so that one day they may have a dignified life”

MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –

Source: The Holy See in Italian

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

MM

by Antonella PrennaPourcine (Agenzia Fides) – “Although the international spotlight on Haiti has been turned off for some time now, newspapers and media no longer talk about it, the situation has absolutely not changed or improved”. Father Massimo Miraglio, a Camillian missionary, tells Fides the reality he found upon his return to Haiti after a long and forced Italian break. “Despite the intervention of the UN forces led by the Kenyan group, which arrived on the island last 25 June, and these days reinforced with additional Jamaican and Belizean forces, the context is always one of degradation. We can say that the presence of these forces in Haiti is almost inoperative. They complain about lack of material, fear of loss of human lives, and fairly restrictive rules of engagement – the missionary remarks. In fact, the capital Port au Prince continues to be in the hands of armed gangs, sowing terror among the people. All activities continue to be almost paralyzed. The entrance to both the south and north of the capital are completely blocked, you can only pass after paying bribes to the various groups that stop along the way. However, this only applies to public transport and trucks which in many cases are seized instead of being allowed to pass. Even the exit that leads to Jeremie, 200 km south of the capital, is now totally closed, it is practically impossible to get there by land. And it is in this tragically sad context for the majority of the Haitian population that the school year will open on October 1st” explains Father Massimo, who has been on the island for almost twenty years. “We cannot hide the fact that the school year will open with many apprehensions and a thousand difficulties. Many children will not go to school and many schools will remain closed, especially in Port au Prince due to the presence of armed gangs. Many children will not be able to go to school because they do not have the money necessary to buy the minimum materials to be able to access teaching. Let us remember that in Haiti 80% of schools are private and costs increase more every year while families continue to fall into poverty.” Even in Jeremie – where the Camillians have a community – the situation is dramatic and many children will not be able to start the school year on time on October 1st. “Books, like all school supplies, are prohibitively expensive and arrive with difficulty from the capital. As well as the uniform and school bag for the students. Finding a decent pair of shoes to send them to school has become truly challenging and very expensive. In short, it promises to be a truly difficult school year for the children of Haiti” adds Fr. Miraglio. “In our parish of Our Lady of Help in Pourcine, in the mountainous hinterland of Jeremie, this year we will have 250 pupils enrolled in primary school and nursery school” explains Fr. Massimo who is the parish priest (see Fides 28/9/2023). We managed to build two small, very simple structures, with local wood, tents and sheet metal, where six primary school classes and two nursery school classes will be hosted. With equally great difficulty we managed to complete the teaching staff. They are all very young, the only ones who agree to come and teach in such distant places, despite the idea of having a salary. It will be the second year that the ‘Our Lady of Perpetual Help’ school will open here in the Pic-Makaya mountains.” Among the various projects that the missionaries try to carry forward on the Caribbean island the Camillian emerges as the absolute priority of a clinic doctor. “We would like to create a small clinic in the parish to avoid the large movements to which those who become ill are subjected, our Foyer Saint Camille in Port au Prince is very far away. Furthermore, this week, with a group of Cuban doctors and the support of a local organization, we will organize a mobile clinic with which we can give an initial welcome to the sick in a mountain area and bring together people from two nearby valleys. This too is an arduous undertaking because to reach the place where we would like to take the clinic more than four hours are needed on foot and the same number to be able to return to the paths along the slopes which are very dangerous, especially in this period of rain.”“Following the charism of our Founder, San Camillo, we want to work in the area alongside groups of chronically ill people, children with nutritional problems, elderly people who are often abandoned and alone in their homes. We hope to be able to create a clinic by 2025, we are very grateful to the organization Madian Orizzonti, of the Camillian Missionaries of Turin, which supports us with great affection and we trust in the support of many other people who will meet us on our journey.”“In Unfortunately, at the moment the province is also not free from problems due to the enormous difficulties in communicating with the capital. Being able to receive goods of all kinds from Port au Prince is very complicated, as Haiti is a country where everything is very centralized and everything comes from the capital. In recent times, even transport from the province to the capital Jeremie is difficult due to the increase in the cost of diesel and petrol.” from the source to the center of the village. And it is very important not only because it will shorten the distances from the source to the valley, where most people live, but above all because we will be able to make the water drinkable and avoid/limit the continuous and frequent epidemics of cholera and intestinal diseases. Together with the aqueduct, work to support agriculture continues. In the next few months we hope to launch a coffee production nursery in the area which in the past had provided a certain prosperity. However, let us not lose hope and continue to fight to create better living conditions – concludes Father Miraglio. The aqueduct, the schools, the nursery, the mobile clinics, are all important aspects to revive the hope of the population and ensure that their living conditions can improve and keep people from abandoning these countryside locations to come and gather in metropolises or provincial towns which are already, like Jeremie, overloaded with people, where it is not possible to provide work or hope to these people who leave the countryside to go to the city. We continue our commitment with courage and determination alongside this peasant population, we try to support their faith, to accompany them so that one day they can achieve dignified living standards”. (Agenzia Fides 25/9/2024)MM

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MIL Translation OSI

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Economics: Luigi Federico Signorini: Building a quantum-safe financial system – what role for authorities and for the private sector?

Source: Bank for International Settlements

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to open this seminar on the implications of quantum technology for the financial sector.

Experts agree that we are on the eve of a very significant technological change: one that will redefine our approach to data and to the tools we use to process them, and may well revolutionise important, even critical, aspects of the way financial institutions operate.

Like all significant technological advances, the quantum revolution comes with both promises and threats. Massively enhanced computational power, algorithms that are far more efficient than existing ones, and a much stronger base for artificial intelligence, are expected to offer opportunities for better and cheaper services, but they will also introduce new challenges, not least for financial stability.

Central banks and financial institutions have often been early adopters of technological innovations. To preserve trust, institutions should continue to be bold and imaginative, but at the same time fully aware of the risks. Prudent supervisory guidance is needed to preserve the stability, security and integrity of the financial system. Our seminar will be an opportunity to go beyond generalities and explore the most likely concrete challenges and trade-offs we need to face in the quantum era.

The Bank of Italy has a tradition of actively and rapidly adapting its policies to changes in the data management landscape. Drawing on our experience, we have long contributed to the action of the European System of Central Banks. We continue to work in partnership with academia and in cooperation with national and international institutions.

The most immediate threat most of us currently perceive concerns the protection of the integrity and confidentiality of data. We feel that such a threat calls for a coordinated response, within the G7 and beyond. We shall take the opportunity of this workshop to share our experiences and ongoing work at the Bank of Italy and to present some real-life examples of useful and feasible cooperation at the national, European and global level. We encourage all participants to do the same.

Since Peter Shor demonstrated, in 1994, that a quantum computer could theoretically solve problems much faster than traditional ones, he has inspired scientists all over the world to imagine the countless possibilities of this technology, and technologists to look for ways to actually build a functioning machine based on it. Thirty years on, while we still lack a fully functional and reliable quantum computer, we seem to be actually getting closer and closer.

As the cybersecurity threat is serious but there are potential ways to fend it off, we cannot afford to wait. Implementing quantum-resistant cryptography tools before quantum computers become practically operational is crucial for data longevity. Sensitive data that are encrypted using today’s technology could be stored now by malicious agents and decrypted later, once quantum tools become available; upgrading cryptographic tools as soon as possible is therefore necessary to ensure long-term data security. This is especially relevant for financial institutions. Their core business is ultimately based on the ability to create, manage and use sensitive data, and it is not unlikely that the quantum revolution will hit the financial sector faster and more intensively than other industries.

Awareness of the need to act is growing. In the spring of this year, the European Commission published a ‘Recommendation on a Coordinated Implementation Roadmap for the transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography’. In the US, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) officially released its first set of finalised post-quantum cryptography (PQC) algorithms last month. This is a major step forward.

In the G7 Finance Track, the Italian presidency identified quantum computing as one of the key strategic cyber issues facing us. It may affect multiple policy areas, including national security, competitiveness, ethics, and skill development.

While solutions to achieve quantum security are starting to become available, there are factors that can make market players reluctant to adopt them quickly. These include uncertainty about the actual urgency of the quantum threat, the fact that a common transition approach has not yet emerged, and the fragmentation of investments, responsibilities and regulatory frameworks across jurisdictions.

The G7 has launched several technical initiatives to foster coordination among the main stakeholders. With today’s workshop, we aim to engage key experts in G7 countries, with a view to developing a shared understanding of the most urgent issues, a potential roadmap to address the transition to quantum resilience and, to the extent possible, an agreed policy agenda. We are fortunate today to have speakers and attendants from a wide range of backgrounds: academia, government institutions (including law-enforcement agencies), central banks, international organisations and the finance industry. This promises to be an ideal opportunity to exchange views, in that it brings together a set of distinguished experts with considerably diverse experience. I encourage all participants to be active, ask questions and share their insights.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are also honoured to have Professor Juan Ignacio Cirac Sasturain with us today as a keynote speaker. As many of you will know, our speaker is one of the leading theorists in quantum computation. His contributions range from the physics of quantum computers to quantum algorithms and quantum information theory. Many here will be especially interested in his seminal work on quantum cryptography. Professor Cirac is the Director of the Theory Department at the Max Planck Institute of quantum optics in Garching bei München, Bavaria, and collaborates with many other academic institutions. He has received an impressive number of high-level awards, including the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research (2006), the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2008), the Benjamin Franklin Medal (2010), the Wolf Prize in Physics (2013), the Max Planck Medal (2018), and many others; more are sure to come. The subject of his talk is, very aptly, ‘opportunities and challenges of the next generation’s computers’. We are certain that his remarks on today’s central issue will set the stage for a very productive seminar.

Please join me in welcoming Ignacio Cirac to the stage.

MIL OSI Economics –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: World Rivers Day 2024: Removing fish barriers across South West
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Fish have been moving more freely thanks to joint efforts to remove manmade barriers blocking them from going home to spawn or reach vital habitats.
Before and after a weir was removed from the River Camel Credit: Westcountry Rivers Trust

World Rivers Day, which happens on the fourth Sunday of September, is a global event which celebrates rivers around the world – including the River Camel in Cornwall and River Tarrant in Dorset where the Environment Agency and partner organisations have worked hard to remove weirs in the past year. Staff have also been investigating the River Teign to draw up a detailed map of 59 manmade structures and a further 79 obstacles to inform future action.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said:

World Rivers Day is an excellent reminder to celebrate what we have and the vital work that is being undertaken to protect and improve our rivers

The cost of removing these legacy structures when demands on rivers were different are prohibitive. But thanks to partnership help from bodies like Westcountry Rivers Trust and Wessex Rivers Trust, we are overcoming these obstacles.

There are many pressures on fish including the iconic salmon which is seeing a global decline in numbers. Removing historic obstacles is one way to improve their future and enhance the environment that they live in.

This weir on the River Camel was causing issues for fish Credit: Westcountry Rivers Trust

How the River Camel looks now the weir has been removed Credit: Westcountry Rivers Trust

Alongside removing obstacles in the river, initiatives like reducing the canopy of forested areas to let more light into habitats and slowing the flow of water with leaky dams have improved the environment for the wildlife dependent on both rivers.

Laurence Couldrick, Chief Executive Officer for Westcountry Rivers Trust, said:

The two barrier removals on the upper River Camel have contributed to safeguarding this beautiful Cornish river and many of the protected species that rely on free-flowing rivers.

As well as removing barriers to fish passage this also provides numerous ecological benefits such as restoring natural flow regimes, improving sediment transport, improved water quality, enhanced biodiversity and improving climate resilience.

A spokesperson for the National Trust said:

Partnerships are a powerful tool to unlock benefits for our catchments and maximise the positive impacts of any project.

In priority rivers for Atlantic Salmon in the South West such as the Teign, Lemon and Plym we are working closely with the Environment Agency, Rivers Trusts and other partners to undertake monitoring, enhance habitats and remove or provide solutions to the presence of barriers, with wider benefits to local wildlife and communities.

Background

Read our World Rivers Day 2024 blog by our director of water about the biggest causes of river pollution.

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Published 25 September 2024
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Translation: VATICAN/GENERAL AUDIENCE – Lebanon, the Pope: the international community must do everything possible to stop the “terrible escalation”

MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –

Source: The Holy See in Italian

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Vatican Media

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “I am saddened by the news coming from Lebanon, where in recent days intense bombings have caused many victims and destruction”. At the end of the general audience, Pope Francis’ thoughts go to the Middle East, in particular to Lebanon, hit by a new Israeli raid in the last few hours. And while the first Hezbollah missile is intercepted over Tel Aviv, the Pontiff, from the parvis of the Vatican basilica hopes “that the international community will make every effort to stop this terrible escalation. It is unacceptable! I express my closeness to the Lebanese people, who have already suffered too much in the recent past”. “And let us pray for all the peoples who suffer because of the war: let us not forget the tormented Ukraine, Myanmar, Palestine, Israel, Sudan, all tormented peoples. Let us pray for peace”, adds the Pontiff, who during the general audience, today’s five hundredth, reiterates that one must not dialogue with the devil. “The strongest proof of Satan’s existence is not found in sinners or the possessed, but in saints,” says the Bishop of Rome, continuing the series of catecheses on the theme “The Spirit and his bride,” focusing today on the role of the Holy Spirit as “our ally in the fight against evil.” “It is true that the devil is present and operating in certain extreme and inhuman forms of evil and wickedness that we see around us,” Pope Francis emphasizes. “In this way, however, it is practically impossible to arrive, in individual cases, at the certainty that it is really him, given that we cannot know precisely where his action ends and our own evil begins. For this reason, the Church is very prudent and very rigorous in the exercise of exorcism, unlike what happens, unfortunately, in certain films!” “It is in the lives of the saints that the devil is forced to come out into the open, to place himself against the light,” he points out. More or less, all the saints and great believers testify to their struggle with this dark reality, and one cannot honestly suppose that they were all deluded or simply victims of the prejudices of their time”. And in our time, where technology reigns supreme, it is precisely this that offers, “in addition to many positive resources that should be appreciated, also countless means to give occasion to the devil, and many fall for it. Let us think of pornography on the Internet, behind which there is a flourishing market, we all know, it is the devil who works there. This is a very widespread phenomenon, but Christians must be wary of it and must forcefully reject it”. “Any cell phone has access to this brutality, to this language of the devil, pornography on the Internet”, the Pope said off the cuff. “The awareness of the devil’s action in history must not discourage us. The final thought must be, in this case too, one of trust and security. ‘I am with the Lord, go away!’ Christ defeated the devil and gave us the Holy Spirit to make his victory our own. The enemy’s action itself can turn to our advantage, if with God’s help we make it serve our purification. Be careful, the devil is cunning, but we Christians, with the grace of God, are more cunning than him”. (FB) (Agenzia Fides 25/9/2024) Share:

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

MIL Translation OSI

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI USA: Understanding Mosquito-Borne Diseases in Connecticut
Source: US State of Connecticut

Despite the gradual arrival of fall, mosquitos are still active in our state. Paulo Verardi, professor of virology and vaccinology and head of the Department of Pathobiology and Veterinary Science, shares information that can keep Connecticut residents safe from mosquito-borne diseases.

What types of mosquito-borne diseases are we seeing in Connecticut?

Mosquito-borne diseases are spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes. In Connecticut, one would immediately think of West Nile virus, by far the most common mosquito-borne virus in the region. However, we have

additional viruses transmitted by mosquitoes, such as Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus, Jamestown Canyon virus, and Cache Valley virus, that luckily are less common. Sometimes Connecticut has imported cases of additional mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue fever and Zika virus disease. These are acquired when people travel to areas where the virus is circulating, get bitten by an infected mosquito, and then travel back to Connecticut. If you are traveling outside the country in areas like the Caribbean and Central or South America, you should also be aware of chikungunya virus, yellow fever virus, and Oropouche virus, to name a few.

Why are these diseases appearing more frequently in the state?

Cases are linked to the proliferation of mosquitoes, which is driven by several factors including precipitation and temperature patterns, as well as alterations in these patterns. Climatic changes seem to also be impacting the distribution of these diseases, especially because warmer temperatures can promote a wider geographical range of disease-transmitting mosquitoes.

West Nile virus has been in Connecticut since 1999, when it was introduced in New York City, so it is relatively new. On the other hand, evidence of EEE in Massachusetts dates back almost 200 years, and thus it is considered a local disease. West Nile cases in people are not uncommon during every mosquito season, but EEE seems to be impactful only every few years, such as in 2019 when a larger outbreak last occurred.

West Nile and EEE viruses are actually maintained in nature in reservoir hosts, typically birds, and therefore these are considered zoonotic diseases. This means that the interplay amongst people, animals, plants, and the environment is a major factor determining the prevalence and transmission of these diseases, in what we call the One Health concept.

What times of year do we need to be concerned about mosquito-borne diseases?

We ought to be concerned any time of the year when mosquitoes are up and about. Generally, we think of the hot summer months, but transmission can start in the spring and last well into the fall season. A good example is EEE, as cases typically peak in late summer, but transmission can occur as late as October.

What are the symptoms of these diseases?

Diseases like West Nile and EEE are caused by viruses, so flu-like symptoms are typical: fever, headache, fatigue, and in some instances rashes. Most people may not even feel sick at all, while a few others may end up developing inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) or of the membranes around the brain and the spinal cord (meningitis), leading to severe disease symptoms.

What should someone do if they are sick?

First, never assume that you may just have a cold, and pay attention to the severity of your symptoms. Consult a health care provider if symptoms do not improve, particularly if you have high fever and headache. Go immediately to an emergency room if symptoms become severe and you suspect any neurological involvement. The key is to be vigilant and proactive.

It is noteworthy that horses with EEE are severely affected with up to 95% mortality (about half that rate for West Nile fever), and routine vaccination of horses for both diseases is recommended.

How dangerous/deadly are these diseases?

Fortunately, for most of us infections are self-contained. Our immune system can keep the invading viruses in check, and all you may experience are mild flu-like symptoms, if any. But symptoms can be more severe and can worsen very quickly. Pay attention to any rashes or severe symptoms, such as high fever, intense headache, stiffness of the neck, and other neurological problems. Encephalitis and meningitis are dangerous and life-threating complications, so a visit to the emergency room is necessary at the onset of neurological signs.

What actions are state and local governments taking to help?

Connecticut’s Department of Public Health (DPH) and Department of Agriculture (DoAg) are monitoring the situation in Connecticut and surrounding states closely. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) is doing surveillance of mosquitoes, and the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (CVMDL) at UConn is monitoring wild and domestic animals (mammals and birds). In some cases, agencies may decide to curtail outdoor activities in certain areas at dusk, as Connecticut did in 2019 when we had high activity of EEE in Eastern Connecticut CT and neighboring states, and mosquito spraying may be recommended in limited areas by the Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).

How can Connecticut residents protect themselves and help stop the spread of these diseases?

By preventing mosquito bites:
- Avoid outdoor activities during dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most active
- Use approved insect repellents
- Wear long-sleeved shirts and pants when outside
- Keep mosquitoes out of your house with the appropriate use of window and door screens.
One can also treat clothing and gear with permethrin, which will help repel both mosquitoes and ticks. Vaccines against some mosquito-borne illnesses such as dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Japanese encephalitis are available for people traveling to high-risk areas. Visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Traveler’s Health site for further information.

This work relates to CAHNR’s Strategic Vision area focused on Enhancing Health and Well-Being Locally, Nationally, and Globally.

Follow UConn CAHNR on social media

MIL OSI USA News –
September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Europe: AMERICA/HAITI – Father Massimo Miraglio: “With courage and determination, we continue our commitment so that people will one day have a decent standard of living”

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

Wednesday, 25 September 2024

MM

by Antonella PrennaPourcine (Agenzia Fides) – “Although the international spotlight on Haiti has long since faded, newspapers and media no longer report on it, the situation has not changed or improved in any way”. This is what the Italian Camillian Father Massimo Miraglio complains to Fides about the reality he found upon his return to Haiti after a long forced break in Italy.”Despite the intervention of the UN units led by the Kenyan force, which arrived on the island on June 25 and which have been reinforced in recent days by additional soldiers from Jamaica and Belize, the situation is still disastrous. It can be said that the presence of these troops in Haiti is almost ineffective. They complain of a lack of material, fear of loss of life and restrictive rules of engagement”, says the missionary. “In fact, the capital, Port au Prince, remains in the hands of armed gangs that spread terror among the population. All activities remain almost paralyzed. The entrances to the south and north of the capital are completely blocked, with various groups demanding bribes from people who stop them on the way. But this only applies to public transport and trucks, which in many cases are confiscated instead of letting them through. The exit to Jeremie, 200 km south of the capital, is also closed; it is practically impossible to get there by land. In this sad situation for the majority of the Haitian population, the new school year begins on October 1,” explains Father Massimo, who has lived on the island for almost twenty years.”We cannot hide the fact that the start of the school year will be accompanied by great fears and many difficulties. Many children will not go to school and many schools will be closed, especially in Port-au-Prince, due to the presence of armed gangs. Many children will not be able to go to school because they do not have the money to buy the minimum school supplies. Consider that 80 percent of schools in Haiti are private and costs are rising every year, while families are plunged further into poverty,” the missionary says. In Jeremie – where the Camillians have a parish – the situation is also dramatic and many children are unlikely to be able to start the school year on time on October 1st. “Books, like all school materials, are prohibitively expensive and difficult to get from the capital. The same goes for uniforms and school bags for students. Finding a decent pair of shoes to send them to school has become very difficult and expensive. In short, it promises to be a very difficult school year for children in Haiti,” adds Father Miraglio.”In our parish in Pourcine, in the mountainous hinterland of Jeremie, 250 students will be enrolled in primary and kindergarten this year,” explains Father Massimo, who is the parish priest (see Fides, 28/9/2023). “We have managed to build two very simple small buildings out of local wood, tents and sheet metal, which will accommodate six elementary school classes and two kindergarten classes. With just as much effort, we have managed to complete the teaching staff. They are all very young and the only ones who are prepared to teach in such a distant place despite the prospect of a salary. This will be the second school year in which the school will open here in the Pic Makaya mountains.”Among the various projects that the missionaries want to implement on the Caribbean island, the Camillians’ top priority is the establishment of a medical clinic on site. “We would like to set up a small outpatient clinic in the parish to save the sick from having to travel long distances; our “Foyer Saint Camille” in Port au Prince is far away. In addition, this week we will organize a mobile clinic with a group of Cuban doctors and the support of a local organization, with which we can provide first aid to the sick in a mountain region and bring people from two neighboring valleys. This is also a difficult undertaking, because to reach the place where we want to set up the clinic, we need more than four hours on foot and the same time to return to the paths along the slopes, which are very dangerous, especially in this rainy season.”“Following the charism of our founder, Saint Camillus, we want to work in this area with groups of chronically ill people, children with nutritional problems and the elderly who are often abandoned and alone in their homes. We hope to be able to set up an outpatient clinic by 2025, we are very grateful to the “Madian Orizzonti” organization of the Camillian Missionaries of Turin, who have supported us with great affection and we trust in the support of many other people who will meet us on our way,” stresses the missionary. “At the moment, unfortunately, the province is not free of problems due to the enormous difficulties in communication with the capital. It is very complicated to receive all kinds of goods from Port au Prince because Haiti is a country where everything is very centralized and everything comes from the capital. Recently, transport from the province to the capital, Jeremie, has also been difficult due to the rising prices of diesel and gasoline,” he reports.”In Pourcine Pic-Makaya, in our community, work is continuing on the aqueduct, we bring the water from the source to the center of the village. This is very important, not only because it shortens the distance between the source and the valley where most people live, but above all because it allows us to purify the water and avoid/limit the constant and frequent epidemics of cholera and intestinal diseases. In addition to the aqueduct, work to support agriculture is also continuing. We hope to create a coffee nursery in the coming months in the area that in the past provided some prosperity. But we do not give up hope and we continue to fight for better living conditions,” said Father Miraglio. “The aqueduct, the schools, the kindergarten, the mobile clinics, all these are important aspects to revive the hope of the population and ensure that their living conditions improve and prevent people from leaving these rural towns to concentrate in the metropolis or in the provincial towns that, like Jeremie, are already overcrowded and where there is no possibility of giving work and hope to these people who leave the countryside to come to the city. With courage and determination we continue our commitment alongside these rural populations, we try to support them in their faith, to accompany them so that one day they can have a decent standard of living,” he concludes. (Agenzia Fides, 25/9/2024)
MM

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MIL OSI Europe News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Europe: VATICAN/GENERAL AUDIENCE – Lebanon: the international community should “make every effort to stop this terrible escalation”

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

Wednesday, 25 September 2024

Vatican Media

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “I am saddened by the news from Lebanon, where in recent days the intense bombings have claimed many victims and caused destruction,” said Francis during the general audience in front of thousands of pilgrims and tourists. “I hope that the international community will make every effort to stop this terrible escalation. It is unacceptable. I express my closeness to the Lebanese people, who have already suffered too much in the recent past.”And let us pray for everyone, for all the peoples who suffer as a result of war: let us not forget tormented Ukraine, Myanmar, Palestine, Israel, Sudan, all the suffering peoples. Let us pray for peace,” added the Pope, who reiterated during today’s 500th general audience of his pontificate that one should not speak to the devil. “The strongest proof of the existence of Satan is found not in sinners or the possessed, but in the saints,” the Pope explained. He continued the cycle of catechisms on the theme “The Spirit and the Bride” and today focused on the role of the Holy Spirit as “our ally in the fight against evil”.”It is true that the devil is present and working in certain extreme and “inhuman” forms of evil and wickedness that we see around us,” said Pope Francis. “But by this route, though, it is practically impossible to reach, in individual cases, the certainty that it is truly him, given that we cannot know with precision where his action ends and our own evil begins. This is why the Church is so prudent and so rigorous in performing exorcism, unlike what happens, unfortunately, in certain films!”.”It is in the life of the saints, precisely there, that the devil is forced to come out into the open, to place himself “against the light,” he stressed. All the saints, all the great believers testify to their struggle with “this obscure reality”and one cannot honestly assume that they were all deluded or mere victims of the prejudices of their time. He was more skeptical about the attempt to deduce the existence of the devil from the evil in the world. “And yet our technological and secularized world is teeming with magicians, occultism, spiritualism, astrologers, sellers of spells and amulets, and unfortunately with real satanic sects.” Unfortunately, modern technology offers “countless means” to give an opportunity to the devil. “Think of online pornography, behind which there is a flourishing market: we all know this. It is the devil at work, there. And this is a very widespread phenomenon, which Christians should beware of and strongly reject.” But Christians should not be discouraged by “knowing the devil’s action in history.” “Christ overcame the devil and gave us the Holy Spirit to make His victory our own.” (F.B.) (Agenzia Fides, 25/9/2024)
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MIL OSI Europe News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Africa: Minister Gwarube commits to stabilising the education system

Source: South Africa News Agency

Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube and her deputy, Dr Reginah Mhaule, have committed to take all necessary steps to stabilise the education system given the budgetary constraints affecting provinces.

The Minister said this while addressing the media on developments regarding budget cuts in the education sector, in Pretoria, on Wednesday.

“The Deputy Minister and I have been in constant engagement with provinces to support them during this challenging fiscal environment. We have committed ourselves to doing everything we can to stabilise the system and have appealed to provinces to retain the basket of posts, in order to not compromise education outcomes,” the Minister said.

She also moved to appreciate the work that the provinces have been doing around the clock to help the sector get to grips with these challenges.

“I have witnessed MECs work tirelessly with their provincial departments to protect teaching and learning in our schools.”

Challenges

The briefing comes weeks after several provincial Departments of Education have been vocal about the budgetary pressures they face.

These, said the Minister, have been years in the making due to the aggressive budget cuts, economic stagnation and fiscal mismanagement which is now set to impact schools.

“These budget pressures are not just numbers on a spreadsheet – they translate into fewer teachers, reduced textbooks, and fewer admin support staff, which means teachers spend more time on admin work, thereby reducing learning and teaching time. In essence, the very fabric of our children’s future is under threat.”

She explained that provinces like the Western Cape have seen the painful decision to reduce the basket of teaching posts for 2025, a move that may result in fewer educators in classrooms.

“This may mean larger class sizes, reduced individual attention for learners, and ultimately, a risk to the achievement of quality education outcomes.”

She added that unfortunately, other provinces throughout the country are in a similar position with many desperately working to find ways of avoiding having to top slice budgets for key services like textbooks, admin support and scholar transport programmes.

“We are faced with a pending national crisis, one that affects not just our learners but our teachers, principals, and broader communities.

“It is crucial to understand that this crisis is not confined to one province or one aspect of the education sector. Every province is grappling with these painful choices.”

Provincial education departments will in the next two to three years, find it increasingly difficult to fund their existing basket of posts and existing programmes within the available budget, unless measures are taken proactively to mitigate this risk.

For instance, she said in the 2025/26 financial year, four provincial departments will battle to cover their budgets; in the 2026/27 financial year, five provinces will battle to cover their budgets. In the 2027/28 financial year, seven provinces will not be able to afford their budgets.

“Several provinces have preserved the same post basket for the past three academic years, despite learner numbers increasing, while other provinces have decreased their posts in the past three years. It is important to note that these have been cuts in posts but not warm bodies.

“Meaning that no person gets retrenched but rather vacancies are not filled,” she said.

Increase in learner numbers

Nationally, the Minister highlighted that the number of learners within the education system has increased by approximately 292,820 over the last five years.

Learner/Educator Ratios have also steadily increased across most provinces.
She explained that an increase in learners’ numbers without increasing the post basket, may affect the quality of teaching which may soon be reflected in the performance of the system.

Largely, she added that the financial constraints have had the largest impact on educator provisioning, leading to a steady increase in Learner/Educator Ratios in most provincial education departments.

“Most provincial Education Departments require between R350 million and R3.8 billion [over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework to fully fund their respective basket of posts].

“The numbers are staggering. If we continue down this path, projections indicate that most provincial education departments will not be able to maintain their respective basket of posts,” she said.

Interventions

In response to this potential crisis, Minister Gwarube said she convened two special meetings of the Council of Education Ministers (CEM). These meetings brought together education MECs from across the country and they conducted a thorough analysis of the budget challenges in each province.

MECs from each province have compiled provisional provincial reports with sobering results.

“For the first time in a decade, we now have a clearer picture of where the most significant budget pressures lie and how we need to engage treasury in a bid to address the challenges we see.

“As a result, I have requested an urgent meeting with the Minister of Finance to discuss the matter further. I am grateful to Minister [Enoch] Godongwana for his cooperation and support on this important matter.

“We are also appreciative of Treasury’s willingness to engage with the Education sector. Ultimately a solution must be found in order for us to protect front line services,” the Minister said.

Gwarube has also requested a convening of a political 10X10 meeting between the Minister of Finance and the provincial MECs for Finance, as well as herself and the nine MECs of Education.

“We must work together with all 10 treasuries to unlock additional funds to alleviate the pressures facing the education sector, even if it is for the short term, and to prevent further cuts to teaching posts and critical support services like school nutrition and transport.

“We also need to look at cross-departmental reprioritisation of budgets from departments that have under-performing programmes – ensuring that funding across government is directed to appropriate national priorities,” she said.

The Minister concluded that while the sector faces significant challenges, “these are not insurmountable. But they require decisive action and an unwavering commitment to putting education first.”

Earlier this month, the Department of Basic Education said that the Minister had held meetings with various international partners to reinforce South Africa’s commitment to enhancing the education sector through global collaboration.

READ | Minister Gwarube in talks to enhance education sector

– SAnews.gov.za

MIL OSI Africa –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Africa: Condolences to family of victim affected by freezing weather conditions

Source: South Africa News Agency

The Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities Sindisiwe Chikunga has extended her heartfelt condolences to the family of the woman who lost her life in adverse weather conditions that hit parts of the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

“We are deeply saddened to learn that a woman lost her life to hypothermia due to these unprecedented weather conditions. She was a passenger in a taxi travelling from Johannesburg to KwaZulu-Natal,” the Minister said in a statement on Wednesday.

The 39-year-old woman died on Saturday while trapped in the blizzard that engulfed the N3 between Van Reenen’s Pass, connecting KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.

This was confirmed by paramedic services, Midlands EMS [emergency medical services] Rescue Medics, in a statement.

According to the medical service, the Midlands EMS Howick crews, along with Midlands EMS Rescue Medics, were dispatched to a shopping centre in Merrivale for a person who had collapsed after being exposed to severe cold overnight, while in a taxi stuck in traffic in the snow.

READ | Heavy snowfall on N3 claims life of a 39-year-old woman

Chikunga commended the exemplary selflessness and solidarity shown by South Africans who came to each other’s aid in what were life-threatening circumstances.

She also added that South Africa is experiencing unusual climate change related incidents, marked by an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, as well as rising mortality rates.

The severity of these events continues to disproportionately affect marginalised communities—those who often lack the resources to cope—most of whom are women and persons with disabilities.

“While this is a global phenomenon, the impact of climate change related disasters is not uniform. Recent research published by the World Bank shows that “across the globe, women and persons with disabilities experience mortality rates up to four times higher in natural disasters than those without.

“We express our condolences to those who have lost their loved ones, and we urge all South Africans to closely monitor weather reports to avoid areas projected to experience extreme weather conditions,” the Minister said.

In his address at the National Heritage Day celebrations on Tuesday, Acting President Paul Mashatile emphasised the need to recognise the growing impact of climate change on the nation’s well-being and cultural heritage.

Mashatile urged citizens to be mindful of how climate change threatens both livelihoods and cultural traditions.
The Acting President expressed his honour in addressing the nation on Heritage Day but noted that celebrations were overshadowed by severe weather affecting parts of KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, and the Free State.

“It is a great honour and privilege to address you at this significant occasion as we celebrate our country’s Heritage Day. Unfortunately, as we were looking forward to this day, some parts of our country, which include Kwa-Zulu Natal, Eastern Cape and Free State, were impacted by severe weather conditions, exacerbated by climate change,” he said at the celebrations held in Ficksburg, Free State.

READ | Let’s be alive to the impact of climate change – Acting President Mashatile

Meanwhile, the South African Weather Service (SAWS) said the country is set to experience a mix of warm and cool temperatures in the coming days, with a significant drop in temperatures and even light snowfall expected later this month.

This after the weekend’s freezing temperatures and snowfall in some parts of the country caused havoc on the roads, resulting in one fatality.

READ | SA Weather Service forecasts warm week followed by light snow

–SAnews.gov.za

MIL OSI Africa –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Russia: With the support of Rosneft, the Oceans Day festival was held in Sakhalin

MIL OSI Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

Source: Rosneft – Rosneft – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

The seventh environmental festival “Oceans Day” was held in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk with the support of the Sakhalin-1 project. This environmental education event is timed to coincide with World Maritime Day and is traditionally celebrated at the end of September. Festival visitors were told what everyone can do to protect the fragile marine ecosystem.

The world ocean is one of the largest ecosystems on the planet, a source of oxygen and an absorber of carbon dioxide. 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. More than 2 million species of various organisms live in rivers, lakes, seas and oceans: invertebrates, fish, mammals, birds and many others.

Festival guests took part in various educational stations, where they learned the “ABCs of Marine Mammals”, were able to draw their own whale, learn about the impact of human activity on the animal habitat and how to protect the sea from waste. Particularly popular were the stations “Inhabitants of the Deep Sea” and “Getting to Know the Seals”, “Pacific Eagle”, where you could learn about rare species of fish, mammals and birds of the Pacific coast of Russia.

Environmental care is an integral part of Rosneft’s corporate culture and social responsibility. The Company’s activities are based on the principle of preserving a favorable environment and biological diversity in the regions of its presence. A number of initiatives are aimed at studying and restoring rare species of animals, including conducting environmental education events and developing a responsible attitude to the use of natural resources.

The Okhotsk Sea gray whale population monitoring program has been implemented in the northeast of Sakhalin Island for 27 years. Scientists note that the population is growing and today there are already more than 350 individuals. Every year, the number of mammals is counted, their behavior is observed, and the food supply is studied, photo-identification studies and acoustic monitoring are carried out. The studies are carried out jointly with the leading scientific organizations of the country.

In 2024, the Company developed a new research program, which received positive reviews from experts at the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources. Scientists, together with the Company’s relevant specialists, will monitor gray whales throughout the navigation period until the Sea of Okhotsk is covered with ice and the whales head to their wintering grounds.

Department of Information and Advertising of PJSC NK Rosneft September 25, 2024

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

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

http://vvv.rosneft.ru/press/nevs/item/220835/

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

MIL OSI Russia News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI USA: Meet New Head of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Elizabeth Jockusch

Source: US State of Connecticut

How has the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology changed since you joined in 1999?

The crises we address in our work, like global change and the biodiversity crisis, are getting much more attention. These issues are now at the forefront of many people’s minds. In the department, that means that more people have incorporated applied components into their work.

For example, my work with slender salamanders, specifically those in the genus Batrachoseps, has shifted from just understanding their evolutionary history and population structure to providing crucial information for decision-makers. Several of these salamanders are candidates for endangered species listing, making my research suddenly very relevant.

We’re also seeing more collaborative, team-oriented work in the department and in the field as a whole. The scale at which we can conduct research has grown significantly, partly due to larger teams and advancements in technology. For example, genomic technology allows us to learn much more, even from single specimens. These changes have contributed to the increasingly computational and quantitative nature of the field.

Do you have goals for the department?

Yes, I definitely want to maintain our commitment to undergraduate teaching. If you survey our grad students or even many undergrads, you’ll find that we teach the kind of courses that ignite a passion for organismal biology. We offer hands-on engagement and experiences that can set students on new trajectories or introduce them to career paths they hadn’t considered. This is true not just for biology majors, but for students across different fields like natural resources.

I also want to ensure that we provide top-notch graduate training. One piece of this is continuing to do research at the forefront of ecology, evolution and systematics. Another piece is helping graduate students build the kinds of diverse skillsets they will need to tackle big challenges, such as the biodiversity and global change crises.

What are some of the exciting research areas emerging in your department?

The power of genomics to help us answer our questions is incredibly exciting. We can now understand how evolution works not just on a gene-by-gene basis or in a test tube, but in real-world, complex environments. It also has practical applications. For example, the ability to sequence and compare whole genomes allows us to identify novel targets for conservation in forest trees facing new diseases. This approach helps us understand the past and shape the future.

Another major area of interest is the intersection of ecology and evolution, especially understanding how evolution can happen rapidly enough to affect interaction patterns. This is critical for making accurate predictions about the future of biodiversity. Finally, we still have a lot to learn about organisms. Organisms have all sorts of tricks that humans haven’t fully figured out yet. New tools help us figure out how and why they do what they do.

What makes the UConn EEB department unique?

The living plant collection–the EEB Botanical Conservatory, or the Greenhouses–is a premier collection that offers tremendous opportunities to students. It has living plants representing about 1% of all the world’s plants, which is pretty amazing. It’s not just used by biology students, but also by art students, archaeology students, and many others. If you’re having a bad day in the winter, you should just go in there. There’s always something amazing to be seen.

The biodiversity collections are also a valuable record of biodiversity that traditionally has been used by taxonomists and systematists but has many additional uses. They’re a repository of ecological data, genetic data, and environmental data that allows us to track how the world has changed, such as how plant and animal ranges have shifted, flowering times have changed, and body sizes have changed. For example, we know that plants are flowering earlier and salamanders are getting smaller. We can also track the spread of diseases and look at contaminant levels in the environment.

Is there still a place for traditional naturalist approaches, like finding and naming organisms?

Yes, taxonomy and systematics are foundational. While naming organisms might seem like service work, it’s crucial for anyone studying or quantifying biodiversity. These areas of study are built on the work of those who catalog and classify organisms.

But now we can look at organisms in whole new ways–not just through their morphology, but their genomes. And we can look at morphology and function in much greater detail than we could before because some of the imaging techniques that are out there now, like micro-CT scanning, are unbelievable.

Why is it useful for non-majors to take your classes?

All life is touched by aspects of biology in very direct ways. Everyone is going to be facing decisions for their personal health and that of their family members that depend on making decisions about biology or understanding biology.

Cancer is an evolutionary process. It’s an evolutionary disease. Understanding how evolution works can inform how we think about it. We’ve all been witnessing evolution in action with COVID over the last four years. We’ve seen how that has seriously disrupted society in all kinds of ways, and how the evolutionary process has kept that going.

We’re also seeing huge changes in our environment. Lots of people think, “When I was younger, I used to see a lot more monarchs,” or songbirds, or fireflies, or whatever. Being aware of that is important; the decisions we, as a society, make will affect what the world’s going to look like in the future.

Tell us a little about your research.

I’m an evolutionary biologist. I’m interested in understanding the diversity of life, and specifically, how an organism’s development over its lifespan can influence its evolution. In my lab, we primarily study arthropods, tardigrades, and salamanders.

We conduct some research in the UConn Forest. One of my graduate students is particularly interested in the evolution of development in salamanders, and several species in the area are useful for this study. A couple of undergraduate students have worked on the red-backed salamander, which has a color polymorphism. Some salamanders we study in California have declined and are close to becoming endangered. I wasn’t planning to become the world’s expert on an obscure group of salamanders that has a bunch of endangered species, but that’s how it panned out! When people need the most current scientific information on them, it’s usually coming from my lab.

What do you think are the biggest upcoming developments in your field over the next 10 years?

I believe AI is going to have a significant impact on our field. We don’t fully understand its potential yet. We’re keen on predicting how natural systems will change in the future, such as shifts in geographic range, alterations in physical characteristics, and changes in interaction patterns. This is a complex area, but I think AI will be a valuable tool in making more accurate predictions. The increasing availability of large datasets, including those from natural history collections, will also be crucial for our research. You don’t have to use only data that you’ve collected to ask questions anymore.

What’s your favorite spot on campus?

Mirror Lake! It is such a hotbed of biological activity. There’s so much going on there. There are things to be observed every day. Beavers came through this year and settled in temporarily and started chewing down the trees. Birds fish there every day. There’s incredible dragonfly diversity. I’ve even seen the fish mob a snapping turtle!

And I have to include the Fenton Meadow off Gurleyville Road for the same reasons, just a lot of diversity. If you’re at the Fenton Meadow during one of those nights when the frogs have just come out and started to call…it’s deafening. Wood frogs and peepers and green frogs, bullfrogs, pickerel frogs, gray tree frogs, American toads, all those things breed there. It’s just great.

This Q&A is part of CLAS Visionary Voices, a series highlighting the College’s new academic leaders and their innovative visions for education, research, and outreach at UConn.

MIL OSI USA News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI USA: What tiny marine organisms eat can affect how the deep ocean stores carbon

Source: US Government research organizations

The dietary preferences of bacteria that eat organic molecules called lipids can affect how carbon dioxide from the ocean’s surface moves to the deep ocean, where it can be sequestered away for hundreds of years, potentially affecting future climate change, according to a new U.S. National Science Foundation-supported study published in Science.

“Our study marks a significant leap in understanding the molecular basis for why some carbon sinks to the deep sea and is sequestered,” said Benjamin Van Mooy, a co-author and senior scientist in the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department.

The study suggests that if the bacteria cannot eat specific lipid molecules, the carbon-rich lipids are more likely to sink into the deep ocean, potentially sequestering the carbon in the lipids.

“Bacteria seem to have very distinct diet preferences for different lipid molecules,” Van Mooy said in a university press release. “This study used state-of-the-art methods to link the molecular composition of the sinking biomass with its rates of degradation, which we were able to link to the dietary preferences of bacteria.”

“Until now, we’ve been aware of dietary preferences in higher organisms such as zooplankton and fish, but generally haven’t thought about bacteria having dietary preferences,” said Elizabeth Canuel, an NSF program director.

Credit: Helen Fredricks, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Co-lead authors Lars Behrendt (left; ETH-Zürich) and Jon Hunter (right;WHOI) aboard the R/V Neil Armstrong, sampling sinking particles for lipid analysis.

About 5 to 30% of surface ocean particulate organic matter is composed of lipids, carbon-rich fatty acid biomolecules that microbes use for energy storage and cellular functions. As the organic matter sinks to the deep sea, microbes degrade and use the lipids.

Understanding this process can improve our ability to forecast global carbon changes. For example, geographic areas where more lipids reach the deep ocean without being degraded, or consumed, by bacteria could be hotspots for natural carbon sequestration.

The study relied on two NSF-funded projects, one on lipids in the upper ocean and one on fats in the upper ocean.

MIL OSI USA News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Global: Diet-related diseases are the No. 1 cause of death in the US – yet many doctors receive little to no nutrition education in med school

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Nathaniel Johnson, Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics, University of North Dakota

Nearly 60% of respondents to one medical school survey said they received no nutritional education at all. Peter Dazeley/The Image Bank via Getty Images

On television shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Resident” and “Chicago Med,” physicians seem to always have the right answer.

But when it comes to nutrition and dietary advice, that may not be the case.

One of us is an assistant professor of nutrition and dietetics; the other is a medical student with a master’s degree in nutrition.

Both of us understand the powerful effects that food has on your health and longevity. A poor diet may lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and even psychological conditions like depression and anxiety. Diet-related diseases are the leading causes of death in the U.S., and a poor diet is responsible for more deaths than smoking.

These health problems are not only common and debilitating, but expensive. Treating high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol costs about US$400 billion per year. Within 25 years, those costs are expected to triple, to $1.3 trillion.

These facts support the need for physicians to give accurate advice about diet to help prevent these diseases. But how much does a typical physician know about nutrition?

The deficiencies in nutrition education happen at all levels of medical training.

What doctors don’t know

In a 2023 survey of more than 1,000 U.S. medical students, about 58% of respondents said they received no formal nutrition education while in medical school for four years. Those who did averaged about three hours of nutrition education per year.

That is woefully short of the goals set by the U.S. Committee on Nutrition in Medical Education back in 1985: that med students should receive a total of 25 hours of nutrition education while in school – a little more than six hours per year.

But a 2015 study showed only 29% of medical schools met this goal, and a 2023 study suggests the problem has become even worse – only 7.8% of med students reported 20 or more hours of nutrition education across all four years of med school. If this is representative of medical schools throughout the country, it has happened despite efforts to bolster nutrition education through numerous government initiatives.

Not surprisingly, the lack of education has had a direct impact on physicians’ nutrition knowledge. In a study of 257 first- and second-year osteopathic medical students taking a nutrition knowledge quiz, more than half flunked the test. Prior to the test, more than half the students – 55% – felt comfortable counseling patients on nutrition.

Unfortunately, this problem is not limited to U.S. medical schools. A 2018 global study concluded that no matter the country, nutrition education of med students is insufficient throughout the world.

Bringing nutrition education back

Even though evidence suggests that nutrition education can be effective, there are many reasons why it’s lacking. Medical students and physicians are some of the busiest people in society. The amount of information taught in medical curricula is often described as overwhelming – like drinking out of a fire hose.

First- and second-year medical students focus on dense topics, including biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics, while they learn clinical skills such as interviewing patients and understanding heart and lung sounds. Third- and fourth-year students are practicing in clinics and hospitals as they learn from physicians and patients.

As a result, their schedules are already jammed. There is no room for nutrition. And once they are physicians, it gets no better. Providing preventive care including nutrition counseling to patients would take them more than seven hours per week – and that’s not counting the time they would have to spend on continuing education to keep up with new findings in nutrition science.

On top of that, the lack of nutrition education in medical schools has been attributed to a dearth of qualified instructors for nutrition courses, as most physicians do not understand nutrition well enough to teach it.

Ironically, many medical schools are part of universities that have nutrition departments with Ph.D.-trained professors; those academicians could fill this gap by teaching nutrition to medical students. But those classes are often taught by physicians who may not have adequate nutrition training – which means truly qualified instructors, within reach of most medical schools, are left out of the process.

This doctor said he learned virtually nothing about nutrition in medical school.

Finding the right advice

The best source of nutrition information, whether for medical students or the general public, is a registered dietitian, certified nutrition specialist or some other type of nutrition professional with multiple degrees and certification. They study for years and record many practice hours in order to give dietary advice.

Although anyone can make an appointment with a nutrition professional for dietary counseling, typically a referral from a health care provider like a physician is needed for the appointment to be covered by insurance. So seeing a physician or other primary care provider is often a step before meeting with a nutrition professional.

This extra step might be one reason why many people look elsewhere, such as on their phones, for nutrition advice. However, the worst place to look for accurate nutrition information is social media. There, about 94% of posts about nutrition and diet are of low value – either inaccurate or lacking adequate data to back up the claim.

Keep in mind that anyone can post nutrition advice on social media, regardless of their qualifications. Good dietary advice is individualized and takes into account one’s age, sex, goals, body weight, goals and personal preferences. This complexity is tough to capture in a brief social media post.

The good news is that nutrition education, when it occurs, is effective, and most medical students and physicians acknowledge the critical role nutrition plays in health. In fact, close to 90% of med students say nutrition education should be a mandatory part of medical school.

We hope that nutrition education, after being devalued or ignored for decades, will soon be an integral part of every medical school’s curriculum. But given its history and current status, this seems unlikely to happen anytime soon.

In the meantime, those who want to learn more about a healthy diet should meet with a nutrition professional, or at the very least read the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans or the World Health Organization’s healthy diet recommendations.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Diet-related diseases are the No. 1 cause of death in the US – yet many doctors receive little to no nutrition education in med school – https://theconversation.com/diet-related-diseases-are-the-no-1-cause-of-death-in-the-us-yet-many-doctors-receive-little-to-no-nutrition-education-in-med-school-236217

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI USA: USGS supercomputers help assess volcanic hazards in support of community resilience

Source: US Geological Survey

Eruptions can last anywhere from hours to years and can produce a diverse and difficult to predict set of hazardous phenomena including explosions, earthquakes, ash clouds and deposits, lava flows, landslides, and lahars (high-speed floods of water, mud, and rocks). Worse still, these hazards can affect a wide range of areas, from near the vent (explosions) to regional (volcanic ash) to global (climatic changes due to volcanic gas dispersal in the stratosphere).

In the U.S., there are about 170 potentially active volcanoes, which are monitored by the USGS Volcano Hazards Program Volcano Science Center. The Center is home to the five regional observatories in Hawaiʻi, Alaska, the Cascades, California, and Yellowstone. USGS scientists at these observatories are responsible for monitoring these volcanoes as well as delivering forecasts, warnings, and information about volcano hazards while helping communities to be prepared during an eruption.

Fortunately for scientists, the USGS has three available HPC systems, supported by Core Science Systems Science Analytics and Synthesis group – named Denali, Tallgrass, and Hovenweep — that can quickly and efficiently process very large datasets and solve complex systems of equations in geophysics.

Although each of these machines are different, their power is derived from the ability to split a large task into chunks, compute all the chunks “in parallel”, that is, at the same time on different processors, and then combine the results. This is noticeably different from running “serial” tasks on a single processor, where the chunks must be computed one after another.

The large increase in speed made possible by HPC systems also enables scientists to develop more complex data analysis techniques (such as machine learning models) as well as more sophisticated approaches to geophysical modeling (such as data assimilation and probabilistic hazards assessments).

Since the development of the first USGS supercomputer

Yeti in 2013, USGS volcanologists have greatly increased their use of HPC resources, expanding both the complexity of the calculations and the range of applications.

HPC resources now commonly serve in a variety of real-world applications such as models of landslide and lahar scenarios at Mt. Rainier to ash fall hazards assessments to real-time forecasting of lava flows in Hawaiʻi, to machine learning of satellite-based volcano deformation data.

Looking into a volcano’s plumbing

Because many volcanic processes are too hazardous to observe up close or are otherwise inaccessible (for example, we can’t see underground), volcanologists rely upon other methods. Some of the data is captured after an area is safe to visit, while other geophysical methods such as seismicity, infrasound, and gravity changes, can be measured from a distance. In both cases, volcanologists seek to link these data to the processes that generated them using models of various kinds.

Recently, Dr. Roger Denlinger, Research Geophysicist at the Cascades Volcano Observatory led the largest active seismic experiment ever conducted at Kīlauea volcano, Hawaiʻi. Thousands of small temporary seismometers were deployed around the volcano summit which “listened” together for natural (passive) earthquakes as well as vibrations caused by an active seismic source mounted on a large truck.

Because both the truck-generated seismic waves and those received by the seismometers that have passed through the complex structure of Kīlauea are known, scientists can compute variations in density in the subsurface, enabling “imaging” of the volcano’s magma plumbing system. With an improved image of Kīlauea’s subsurface, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory will be able to make improved assessments of volcanic hazards.

Of course, this imaging is easier said than done, requiring perhaps millions of computer hours to compute how volcanic features attenuate and scatter seismic waves below Kīlauea to match those recorded by the seismic network. Using a combination of machine learning tools and seismic geophysical models, USGS scientists are using Tallgrass and Hovenweep to tackle this monumental task.

“Machine learning methods help us monitor changes in volcanic systems and anticipate eruptions by probing the increasingly mind-numbing quantity of data that modern instrumentation produces,” says Denlinger. “For example, the Kīlauea imaging project is analyzing more than 200 million seismic waveforms to produce three-dimensional images of the magma system. This is physically impossible for any group of scientists to do by hand.”

Hazard forecasting for active volcanoes

Since the advent of using computational tools to model volcanic hazards, volcanologists have sought to be able to forecast volcanic eruptions and the hazards they produce. Although an eruption forecasting model is still only an area of active research, some volcanic hazards such as ash dispersal and lava flows have seen the development of robust forecasting models. These models focus on predicting where ash or lava will go in the case of an eruption and are often used in real time when and where these hazards appear.

Recently, USGS scientists have developed a new geophysical model called Lava2d to simulate how lava flows over the landscape during an eruption. Lava2d can produce very realistic model flows even when run with a coarse resolution, and its effectiveness was demonstrated during the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa, Hawaiʻi. It was used to produce experimental forecasts in real time of where lava flows could inundate and how fast they would get there.

Lava2d simulation of the fissure 3 lava flow from the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa, Hawaiʻi. Colors represent lava flow depth after 5 days of activity. Inset: USGS mapped lava flow extent at about the same time in the eruption.

Most of these models were computed on the Yeti supercomputer, enabling the computation of thousands of runs with different lava flow properties and scenarios. These experimental forecasts were used by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory to assess the possibility of future flow advance towards a major highway.

“USGS HPC resources have advanced our ability to accurately assess and forecast volcanic hazard before and during eruptions to protect life, property, and infrastructure in the US,” says Dr. Hannah Dietterich, Research Geophysicist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory and hazard modeling lead during the eruption. “Running large numbers of simulations allows us to generate better, more quantitative, and robust hazard information at volcanoes in the US but also elsewhere.”

Current research using the lava flow model Lava2d is focused on optimizing the model for use on Hovenweep, where it will be used to quickly compute high resolution lava flow forecasts when volcanoes in Hawaiʻi or the central Cascades next produce lava flows.

USGS HPC resources are also playing a significant role in longer-term volcanic hazard assessments, especially where volcanologists are planning for the next eruption of long-dormant volcanoes. In these cases, data on past hazards is limited to whatever lava or ash is still exposed at the surface. This can cause a great deal of uncertainty about the nature of “typical” volcanic materials for a given volcano.

When a model is run, the researcher needs to feed it specifications about material properties, ambient conditions, and the magnitude or size of the eruption. Unfortunately, these factors are typically highly uncertain, reducing the predictive value of any individual model run. However, if many models are made with different inputs, the collection of models, which researchers call an “ensemble”, work together to produce a much more probabilistic assessment of the hazard.

Complicating factors

This is particularly important for volcanic hazards that are greatly affected by atmospheric conditions, such as ash dispersal and deposition. Wind direction at the exact time the eruption occurs is a major factor controlling where volcanic ash will be deposited.

USGS researchers use a specific ash dispersal model, known as Ash3d, to compute how the wind will carry the ash and how quickly it will fall out of suspension.

Because wind direction and speed can vary so much, many thousands of Ash3d runs are required to capture the range of possible ashfall deposits. Running these very large jobs on supercomputers like Denali and Hovenweep allows the USGS to estimate the probability of ashfall in different locations for significant explosive eruptions in the future.

Animated Ash3D simulation of a volcanic ash cloud from a hypothetical eruption of Mt. St. Helens, WA if it occurred today. Colors represent ash concentrations in the cloud.

A similar ensemble modeling approach is in development for estimating the hazard posed by a variety of volcanic hazards including lava flows, ashfall, and lahars from Newberry Volcano near Bend, OR which last erupted in 690 CE.

Landslides and lahars (high-speed floods of water, mud, and rocks) are other types of hazards that pose a unique computing challenge due to the complexity of the equations used to models them. The USGS uses a model known as D-Claw that incorporates sophisticated algorithms to simulate these highly destructive flows. To simulate the flows, D-Claw must first break down many related complex processes involved in the overall flow, such as levee formation, particle segregation, dilatancy, and pore pressurization. These highly complex dynamics require a sophisticated algorithm operating within a high-resolution grid.

Because of the high-resolution needed, D-Claw models tend to be very large in scale and are optimized for parallel computing on USGS HPC systems.

D-Claw was recently used to model lahar scenarios originating from possible landslide collapses high on Mt. Rainier, WA. These highly detailed models were used to estimate the hazard posed to communities downstream.

Animated D-Claw simulation of a hypothetical landslide and lahar originating from the failure of a section of the Tahoma Glacier headwall at Mt. Rainier, WA.

These are just a snapshot of applications of USGS HPC resources in volcanic hazards studies, but these tools are only gaining popularity and relevance. As more USGS scientists get the training needed to work on these machines, the free access to vast computational power that they offer them makes these HPC systems highly attractive settings for solving the big questions in volcanology. The gain in new knowledge accelerated by USGS HPC resources is helping to develop next-generation tools for assessing volcanic hazards, helping to protect and inform the public.

Denali is the USGS’s flagship supercomputer installed and housed at the EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, SD.

Dr. Tina Neal, Volcano Science Center Director, is excited to see this work into the future. “The application of HPC to volcano science is truly exciting to see flourish; from simulating ash cloud dispersal to modelling the complex motion of lava flows and lahars, results improve our scientific understanding of hazards and the quality of USGS decision support information for stakeholders.”

For more information or to get started using Denali, Tallgrass, or Hovenweep, contact us at hpc@usgs.gov.

MIL OSI USA News –

September 29, 2024
MIL-OSI Security: Gun Supplier Convicted of Murdering 13-Year-Old Boy Gets 108½ Years in Prison

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

WASHINGTON – Stephon Nelson, 33, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today in Superior Court to 108 ½ years in prison for first degree murder and other charges stemming from the killing of 13-year old Malachi Lukes in March of 2020. A jury found Nelson and two co-defendants–Tyiion Freeman and Koran Jackson—guilty of first-degree murder while armed, several counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, conspiracy to commit various firearms offenses and other firearms-related charges. Last week Freeman received 108 years while Jackson was sentenced to 164 years in prison.

The sentences were announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge David Geist of the Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division, ATF Acting Special Agent in Charge James VanVliet of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Between February 1, 2020, and May 31, 2020, the defendants, along with two other defendants (whose cases were severed pre-trial), participated in a conspiracy to illegally possess, carry, and transfer firearms for the purpose of using those firearms in the commission of dangerous and violent crimes. Jackson and Freeman, along with the severed defendants, are members and associates of neighborhood crews. Between 2019-2020, the defendants’ neighborhood crews were feuding with other crews and the feud escalated when Tahlil Byrd, also known as Slatt Goon, was killed in September 2019.

Stephon Nelson, who is a felon and approximately 10 years older than his coconspirators, supplied the firearms that were illegally possessed, carried, and transferred in the conspiracy. Over the span of nine days, February 22-March 1, 2020, the defendants engaged in a shooting spree in the Petworth, Shaw, and Stronghold neighborhoods using the firearms they illegally acquired and shared as a part of the firearms conspiracy. The first charged shooting occurred on February 22, 2020, in the Petworth neighborhood when two victims were fired upon after a mere verbal exchange with two defendants. Two days later, on February 24, 2020, the conspirators drove through rival crew territory Ninth Street where they shot three rival crew members. An innocent bystander who was sitting in her vehicle was caught in the barrage of gunfire. She fortunately escaped with little physical injury because her front windshield suffered the bulk of the damage. The spree culminated on March 1, 2020, when the defendants participated in two shootings in two separate neighborhoods over the span of ten minutes. At 2:08 p.m., the defendants, who were traveling in a stolen Kia Soul, followed 13-year-old Malachi Lukes, along with his three friends, into the Ninth Street area of the 600 block of S Street, N.W., where two defendants exited the Kia Soul and opened fire on them. Malachi Lukes was shot in the back as he fled. The bullet traveled through his heart and lung causing him to collapse to his death. The defendants then traveled to another neighborhood where members of the rival crew were known to gather and at 2:18 p.m., opened fire on individuals in that block. No injuries were reported in that shooting spree.

In announcing the sentences, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Smith commended the work of those investigating the case from the MPD, the FBI Washington Field Office’s Violent Crimes Task Force and ATF along with the Arlington County Police Department. They also thanked the Arlington County Sheriff Department; U.S. Marshals Service; U.S. Capitol Police; D.C. Department of Forensic Sciences; DOJ Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section; Montgomery County Police Department; D.C. Department of Corrections; and the Internal Revenue Service—Atlanta Branch.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Jackson, Tamara Rubb, and Nebiyu Feleke, with assistance from Lead Paralegal Sharon Newman, Supervisory Paralegal Tasha Harris, Paralegals April Urbanowski and Alyssa Schroeder, Superior Court Operations Manager Linda McDonald, and Victim Witness Advocate Jennifer Allen.

MIL Security OSI –

September 29, 2024
MIL-Evening Report: Where do we stash the equivalent of 110 Sydney harbour bridges? That’s the conundrum Australia faces as oil and gas rigs close
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darryn Snell, Associate professor, School of Management, RMIT University

James Jones Jr, Shutterstock

Oil and gas wells are dotted off Australia’s shores. They involve huge steel structures fixed firmly to the sea floor, and thousands of kilometres of pipelines.

Most of Australia’s offshore oil and gas projects will be decommissioned in the next 30 years – some in the next decade. An estimated 5.7 million tonnes of material will need to be removed – the equivalent of 110 Sydney harbour bridges.

Australia desperately needs the skills and equipment to conduct these complex decommissioning operations. The Albanese government says a high-capacity decommissioning facility is required by the early 2030s. At present, no such facilities exist.

We hope the nation welcomes the opportunity to build a new multi-billion dollar demolition and recycling industry, with skilled jobs for workers. Rather than letting companies abandon structures for so-called “artificial reefs”.

What would a decommissioning industry look like?

Australia has two main offshore oil and gas producing areas: the North West Shelf in Western Australia and the Bass Strait off Gippsland, Victoria.

WA and the Northern Territory have 35 platforms, 11 floating facilities and 6,076km of pipelines offshore. Victoria has 22 platforms and 2,089km of pipelines. Altogether, more than a thousand wells will need to be plugged and abandoned.

Many of these facilities have already reached the end of their lives, or soon will. Less demand for fossil fuels in the future means we don’t need to refurbish or extend them. The only other option is to decommission them.

Federal law requires the complete removal of offshore oil and gas infrastructure and plugging of wells, unless companies can come up with a better option.

About 60% of the material requiring removal is steel, which could be recycled. A further 25% is concrete. The remainder includes plastics, hazardous metals and naturally occurring radioactive materials.

But decommissioning is expensive, complex and time consuming, and the weak regulations are poorly enforced. Companies often present proposals that fail to meet community expectations.

The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility argues “further regulation is needed to ensure greater transparency, disclosure, and public consultation on decommissioning”.

The Albanese government has been developing a plan for a decommissioning industry in Australia. It would be worth A$60 billion over the next 30 to 50 years.

The industry would reclaim the materials and transport them to dismantling yards, for safe sorting and recycling. It would create highly skilled jobs, many of which overlap with skills needed for building offshore wind farms. These include:
- electricians and mechanical fitters
- specialist engineering roles
- various management and contract management roles
- health, safety and environmental specialists
- specialist offshore operators, including for cranes and drilling activities.
Currently only a few countries such as Norway and Turkiye have such dedicated decommissioning industries. Some also accept materials from oil and gas fields further afield. Scottish oil and gas rigs, for example, were controversially transported to Turkiye for dismantling and recycling in 2022-23.

Plenty of work to be done

In Gippsland, there may be ways to decommission not just offshore oil and gas, but also coal-fired power stations in the Latrobe Valley, which are scheduled to close in coming years.

Some 30,000 tonnes of steel and 65,000m³ of asbestos was removed when Hazelwood Power Station was demolished. A further 100,000 tonnes of steel and 100,000 tonnes of concrete was recycled.

Much recycling work was done on site. This provided more than 1.1 million hours of work employment badly needed in a region that had lost one of its largest employers.

The WA state government allocated $5 million to a local decommissioning industry in its 2022-23 budget. This funds the Centre of Decommissioning Australia’s research, including a study investigating how to develop a dismantling hub in WA.

Unfortunately, Victoria has not shown similar interest. This is despite decommissioning work by Esso in Bass Strait raising ongoing community concerns. They relate to the marine environment, human safety – for fishing, beach and tourism activities – and the loss of other potential industry and job opportunities.

Whether to remove oil and gas structures or leave them in place is hotly debated. Some people argue the structures should be left to serve as artificial reefs. Others say the material is dangerous and potentially toxic.

Given the immense size and number of oil and gas platforms around the world, a lot of material could be left to decay in the oceans with unknown consequences.

Gas in the Bass Strait is running out but what will happen to the offshore rigs? | 7.30.

Challenges and opportunities

Renewable energy promises to create jobs and revitalise many fossil-fuel dependent regions. Setting up a decommissioning industry in the oil and gas regions of WA and Victoria would provide further opportunities during the transition.

Ideally, the decommissioning process would deliver positive social and environmental benefits, not just cost savings. But that requires managing decommissioning as part of policies aimed at supporting workers and communities to adjust to a low carbon economy.

The Future Made in Australia policy, for instance, could consider including support for a decommissioning industry.

Regulations for decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructure must be strengthened. Environmental groups and unions are increasingly campaigning for these changes. Australia’s oil and gas companies are powerful and will likely resist further regulation.

Abandoning oil and gas infrastructure on the ocean floor would result in lost opportunities for regions, communities and workers. It would also set a precedent for the dumping of yet more industrial waste into the ocean.

We must get decommissioning right. Otherwise, it may prove another environmental harm imposed on the planet by the oil and gas industry.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Where do we stash the equivalent of 110 Sydney harbour bridges? That’s the conundrum Australia faces as oil and gas rigs close – https://theconversation.com/where-do-we-stash-the-equivalent-of-110-sydney-harbour-bridges-thats-the-conundrum-australia-faces-as-oil-and-gas-rigs-close-235867
MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –
September 29, 2024