NewzIntel.com

Category: housing

  • MIL-OSI Global: US election: Trump declares victory – ‘There’s never been anything like this’

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor

    This is a rolling guide to articles and audio published by The Conversation in the immediate run-up to and aftermath of the election, with some explainers about the process. This page is updated from the top, so older references are moved down the page.

    The United States has made its choice. At just before 8am GMT (3am Florida time) Donald Trump took to the stage at the West Palm Beach convention center and claimed victory for the Republican Party. His declaration came minutes after it was announced he was going to win in the key state of Pennsylvania with its 19 electoral college votes.

    He thanked a large crowd of his adoring supporters, saying: “This was a movement like nobody’s ever seen before, and frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. There’s never been anything like this in this country, and maybe beyond.”

    It’s been a turbulent four months since outgoing president Joe Biden announced he was terminating his bid for a second term and the battlelines between the two candidates, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were drawn. Soon we will know who will lead the US for the next four years.

    From here, with the help of some of the sharpest analysts of US politics, we’ll keep you updated and informed as the situation develops.

    Dafydd Townley, teaching fellow in international security at University of Portsmouth, has written an overview of how the election went down, with turnout looking high and no major incidents of violence, despite what look like numerous bomb hoaxes with possible Russian origins.

    Turnout has been impressive and initial speculation is that Trump has surpassed his rural support from 2020 while Democrat Kamala Harris only matched the suburban numbers that Biden achieved four years ago. NBC exit polls also showed Trump had more support from voters under 30 than any Republican candidate since 2008.



    Read more:
    Trump takes first swing states after voting passes peacefully

    The US has moved to the right

    Natasha Lindstaedt says that academics and pundits got the polls badly wrong in 2024.

    The polls were right – he had a lot more strength [than we all thought]. We thought the polls were seriously underestimating Kamala Harris and that she was doing far better than they were predicting, when they said it was a knife edge. But it turns out they were underestimating Trump.

    The US has moved to the right. The abortion bill wasn’t overturned in Florida, Ted Cruz won by ten points in Texas, a state that we thought might be competitive. We thought with this Iowa poll that Harris might be more competitive with white voters. It’s been a great night for Trump and an absolute disaster for the Democrats.

    She said that many people following the campaign thought that women were going to turn out and that would make the difference. But in fact it didn’t.

    Trump gained a lot more than he had in 2020 – probably due to nostalgia of what his administration was like, looking at it through rose-coloured glasses, forgetting the chaos and all the upheaval he created himself. Now he’s going to inherit a great economy – and he’s going to take credit for it.

    Trump wins Pennsylvania, declares victory

    Donald Trump claimed victory in the 2024 presidential election. It followed hot on the heels of the networks announcing he had won the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Richard Hargy says the state has played an important part in the whole campaign, he says.

    It was in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July, where Trump survived an assassination attempt during a campaign rally after a gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop.

    The Trump victory in Pennsylvania was greatly helped by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk’s intercession into the presidential election. He financed a multi-billion dollar door-knocking operation across the state and held events in support of Donald Trump.

    On Monday a Pennsylvania judge had ruled that a $1-million-a-day voter sweepstake organised by Musk was legal and could continue into Tuesday’s election.

    When will we know the result?

    To get an idea of the scale of the task of counting votes, take a look at the below map of the US colour-coded by poll closing times. How long the count could take is anyone’s guess at this stage. Each state has its own rules.

    Ahead of the polls closing Richard Hargy, an expert in US politics from Queen’s University Belfast, wrote a guide to the process, when the votes are counted and when we might start to see results.



    Read more:
    US election: what time do the polls close and when will the results be known? An expert explains

    Delays are baked into the process, such as Pennsylvania, which doesn’t allow votes cast before election day or ballots posted in to be counted until polls close, which was at 8pm (1am GMT).

    So we’ll just have to be patient. In the mean time, you can also read Hargy’s explainer on the “electoral college” system, which can mean that the candidate with the most votes may not win the presidency.



    Read more:
    US election: how does the electoral college voting system work?

    Early voting and what it might mean

    Scott Lucas, professor of international politics at University College Dublin, believes that in a cliffhanger election, a clue to the outcome may be in the size of turnout. More than 80 million Americans voted early – around half of the total turnout in 2020 and around one-third of the eligible electorate.

    The 80 million figure takes on added significance with the recognition that it is not that distant from the 104 million who participated early in the “pandemic” election four years ago. And that 2020 ballot, with 158.4 million votes and almost 67% participation, was the largest turnout since 1900.

    Who does that favour? Probably Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Trumpists will turn out for their man come hell or high water. The large question mark has been whether potential Harris voters would sit on their hands, whether from lack of enthusiasm or dissatisfaction on issues such as Israel’s open-ended war on Gaza.

    Any prediction in this election is a risk. But it might be worth setting a marker: if turnout matches or exceeds the record set in 2020, Kamala Harris could be on the way to the White House.

    Tense moment for the US

    During the campaign there have been two assassination attempts on former president Trump as well as arson attacks on ballot boxes and ballots damaged. In Arizona the Democratic party was forced to close one of its offices after it had been shot at three times.

    Dafydd Townley, a fellow in international security at Portsmouth University, believes that there could be a reluctance to accept the result and that this could result in further disturbances. He has written about how much violence there has been during this campaign.



    Read more:
    US election: officials are issued with panic buttons as attacks on ballot boxes continue

    Dafyyd Townley comments on post-election violence.

    How race has played into the campaign

    Rhianna Garrett, PhD researcher and global coordinator of the critical mixed race studies executive board at Loughborough University, says that Trump’s campaign has been “littered with attempts to weaponise” the multiracial heritage of his Democrat opponent Kamala Harris.

    Much of this has been a dog-whistle attempt to stir up his own base, partly with fairly blatant appeals to latent feelings of racism, but also as a tool to position Harris as deceiving and untrustworthy by apparently blurring and shifting her own background.

    In August, not long after Harris took over the Democrat ticket from Biden, Trump appeared at the National Association of Black Journalists conference when he wrongfully claimed that Harris was changing her identity, stating: “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black, So I don’t know. Is she Indian or is she Black?”.

    For her part, Harris’s campaign has also used her multiracial heritage to further their political agendas. On the White House website, she is described as “the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American” to hold a vice-presidential position, which has effectively attempted to position her as a winner. Harris herself has also foregrounded “race” on her campaign website. In attempt to attack Trump’s campaign, she strategically aims to promote Black and Latino men specifically, as well as women’s rights. These are key voter groups she has aimed to mobilise through identity politics.

    Trump and winning male voters

    Donald Trump widened his appeal to male voters in this election, with polling indicating that he was picking up more support from Black and Latino men, as well as more young men more widely.

    One reason for this may be that in 2024 young men are more conservative than any other group in the US. Another reason why gender has become a divisive issue is the overturning of Roe v Wade, the legal case that gave American women abortion rights.

    Read more on the gender divide in this article from Natasha Lindstaedt, a professor of government at Essex University.



    Read more:
    US election: why more men and fewer white women say they will vote for Trump

    A free speech campaign?

    Julie Posetti, professor of journalism at City St George’s, University of London, and global director of research at the International Center for Journalists, recently conducted a survey of more than 1,000 Americans on their attitudes to the press.

    Breaking down the results, they were able to build a picture of what people in the US think of targeting journalists for criticism and even abuse. You can read all about the study here.



    Read more:
    New survey finds an alarming tolerance for attacks on the press in the US – particularly among white, Republican men

    When Trump speaks – his supporters hear him loud and clear

    Channel 4 is showing pictures of the Trump party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, where the Maga faithful are celebrating the news that it appears that Trump has retaken Georgia in his second swing-state victory. Their idol is expected to join them soon.

    While we wait for him to speak, here’s a fascinating piece on Trump’s rhetorical style by Loren D. Marsh of the Humboldt University of Berlin. His speeches have been ridiculed by his opponents during the campaign. They say he’s unfocused, rambling and at times nonsensical. He calls it the “weave” and says it’s genius. Marsh says that whatever you may think, it seems to work for his supporters.

    Far from being a liability or an indication he is incapable of staying on message, Trump’s “weave” may well be his intuitive rhetorical strategy, a way of taking control of the media narrative.



    Read more:
    Trump’s speeches are chaotic, rambling, and extremely effective. Aristotle can explain why

    – ref. US election: Trump declares victory – ‘There’s never been anything like this’ – https://theconversation.com/us-election-trump-declares-victory-theres-never-been-anything-like-this-241711

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump takes first swing states after voting passes peacefully

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Dafydd Townley, Teaching Fellow in International Security, University of Portsmouth

    Donald Trump looked poised to take some key battleground states this morning as votes continue to be counted. The Republicans were also being predicted to take control of the Senate.

    North Carolina with its 16 electoral college votes was called for Trump in the early hours of the morning, and another key east coast state, Georgia and its 16 electoral college votes, was also predicted to have been gained by Trump. Trump won other major states, from Iowa to Texas, with a strong showing at the polls.

    As well as this, Republicans have taken back control of the Senate as they were forecast to, after Democrats lost their slender lead. If Trump is victorious, this will provide him with the congressional support he needs to get his appointees ratified and pass laws without obstruction.

    Turnout has been impressive and initial speculation is that Trump has surpassed his rural support from 2020 while Democrat Kamala Harris only matched the suburban numbers that Biden achieved four years ago. NBC exit polls also showed Trump had more support from voters under 30 than any Republican candidate since 2008.

    The BBC reported that early exit polls indicated that voters were most concerned with the state of the democracy (35%) with the economy coming a close second (31%).

    These concerns have led to a turnout that will be just below the 2020 figures, according to Professor Michael McDonald, of the University of Florida.

    In too-close-to-call battleground state Pennsylvania, it was reported that voters were queueing in their hundreds over an hour before the polls opened at 7am.

    In Michigan, another key state in the election, officials said that those voters who had voted early – both the absentee and in-person votes – numbered almost as many as the total votes for the 2020 election.

    Michigan’s Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, said that the state was “on pace to see another high turnout election with voters all across the state enthusiastic and engaged”. And much of it was done in a good atmosphere with election chairperson Jennifer Jenkins telling reporters that it was “good vibes all around”.

    Safety concerns

    Concerns about whether election day would pass peacefully have not kept voters away.

    As revealed in a memo obtained by the non-partisan group, Property of the People, the Department of Homeland Security had issued a warning in September that election infrastructure was “an attractive target for some domestic violent extremists” particularly those with “election-related grievances” who seek to disrupt the democratic process and election operations.

    In the nation’s capital, Washington DC, police arrested a man who was stopped during the screening process at the US Capitol visitor centre. Authorities stated that he smelled like gasoline and had a torch lighter, flare gun and papers he intended to deliver to Congress.

    Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger, speaking at a press conference shortly after the incident, stated that “there is no indication right now that it had anything to do with the election”.

    The greatest threat to the smooth running of the election on polling day seemed not to come from domestic perpetrators but from foreign interference, particularly in the crucial swing state races.

    Several polling stations in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin were the victims of hoax bomb threats that caused temporary closures of the sites. The threats were believed to be sent by emails that were traced back to Russian email domains.

    In Navajo County in Arizona, four polling stations were the target of bomb threats. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told reporters that election officials in the state had “no reason to believe that any of our voters or any of our polling places are in any sort of jeopardy.”

    “We also have reason to believe, although I won’t get into specifics, that this comes from one of our foreign enemies, namely Russia,” he continued.

    In Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro announced at a press conference that there had been multiple bomb threats at polling stations and municipal centres across the state.

    Shapiro, who was at one time thought of as a potential running mate for Harris, revealed that “state and local law enforcement – along with the FBI – are investigating these threats and thus far, there is no credible threat to the public”.

    This came after reports emerged of at least ten polling locations in Philadelphia and in surrounding areas were sent a bomb threat via email at 6pm local time.

    Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger accused Russia of being the cause of the threats aimed at polling locations in the southern state. “They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election, and if they can get us to fight among ourselves, they can count that as a victory,” he told reporters.

    The FBI stated that it was aware of the threats and that many appeared “to originate from Russian email domains”. The Russian embassy in Washington denied the threats.

    Last Thursday, Georgia was also the subject of what the US intelligence community called a disinformation campaign designed to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election result through an online video that “depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in multiple counties in Georgia”.

    Researchers at Clemson University in South Carolina identified the work as being that of Russian disinformation group Storm-1516. Darren Linvill of Clemson University, stated that Russian group had “turned their focus squarely on the US election.”

    And the integrity of this election took a further hit when Republican candidate Donald Trump made unfounded accusations on social media platform Truth Social of election fraud in Philadelphia, a must-win state for the former president.

    Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said through a spokesperson that “the only talk about massive cheating has come from one of the candidates, Donald J. Trump. There is no factual basis whatsoever within law enforcement to support this wild allegation”.

    Experts have warned that such campaigns could give momentum to accusations that the election is not legitimate and that this, in turn, could trigger post-election violence.

    As the results come in, America holds it breath that any potential transition of power will be more peaceful than four years ago.

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

    – ref. Trump takes first swing states after voting passes peacefully – https://theconversation.com/trump-takes-first-swing-states-after-voting-passes-peacefully-242716

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI China: Trump declares victory in election night speech addressing supporters

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    Republican candidate Donald Trump declared victory early Wednesday in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, as Fox News projected that he would win 277 Electoral College votes.

    At least 270 Electoral College votes are needed to clinch the presidency. As Trump spoke, no other major U.S. media outlets called the election for him.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Utah Man Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement with Dangerous Weapons and Other Charges During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

               WASHINGTON— A Utah man was sentenced to six years in prison today after he was previously convicted of seven felonies, including assaulting law enforcement officers with dangerous weapons during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

               Odin Meacham, 30, of Myton, Utah, was sentenced to six years – or 72 months – in prison, 24 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution by U.S. District Judge John D. Bates.

               Judge Bates previously found Meacham guilty of seven felonies, including civil disorder; two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon; assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers; engaging in physical violence on restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; disorderly conduct on restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon; and entering and remaining on restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon. Meacham was also convicted of a misdemeanor offense of act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.

               According to evidence presented during the trial and court documents, on Jan. 5, 2021, Meacham, a resident of Myton, Utah, embarked on a 30-hour, 2,000-mile journey to Washington, D.C., to attend events related to the certification of the 2020 presidential election. On the morning of January 6th, Meacham attended the “Stop the Steal” rally, where the former President addressed the crowd. Following the rally, Meacham, along with thousands of other rioters, marched to the U.S. Capitol building.

               Upon reaching Capitol grounds, Meacham bypassed the initial barriers and moved with the crowd of rioters to the West Plaza, where another line of barricades and police officers held the line against advancing rioters.

               At 2:10 p.m., Meacham    rushed towards several police officers guarding the West Plaza, raised a wooden flagpole over his head, and slammed the flagpole against the upper body of a Capitol Police Officer so hard that the flagpole snapped in half. Meacham then swung the broken flagpole at officers again, striking a bike rack that had been placed in front of the officers for protection.

               At approximately 2:14 p.m., Meacham abandoned the broken flagpole and picked up a metal pole lying on the ground. Meacham then threw the metal pole at a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer, hitting the officer’s left hand. The evidence presented at trial showed that Meacham, after throwing the metal pole and striking the officer, proceeded to point at and taunt that same officer.

               Even after two assaults with dangerous weapons, Meacham’s violent and aggressive actions continued. At 2:16 p.m., Meacham approached another MPD officer and shouted “lean in!” repeatedly, while gesturing towards the crowd in an apparent attempt to rally others to overpower the line of officers. Meacham then grabbed the officer’s baton and tried to wrestle it away.

               After the altercation, Meacham remained on Capitol grounds, where he continued to verbally harass, abuse, and taunt officers. His comments included expletives and accusations, such as “you f— pieces of s—,” “you traitors,” “you dogs,” “you f— scumbag pieces of s—,” and “are you scared, m—f—?”

               The FBI arrested Meacham on May 15, 2023, in Utah.

               The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting this case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah provided valuable assistance.

               The case is being investigated by the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office’s Vernal Resident Agency and the FBI’s Washington Field Office, which identified Meacham as #400 on its seeking information photos. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

    In the 45 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,532 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 571 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.

    Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Frank Elderson: The first decade of European supervision: taking stock and looking ahead

    Source: European Central Bank

    Keynote speech by Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB at the “10 Years of SSM – Looking back and looking forward” conference organised by the European Banking Institute and the Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst

    Frankfurt am Main, 4 November 2024

    Introduction

    Thank you for your kind invitation. It’s a pleasure to be with you this afternoon to reflect on the first decade of European banking supervision and, most importantly, to take a look at the path ahead of us.

    On this day ten years ago, the morning might have seemed just like a typical November morning in Frankfurt’s Bankenviertel: a rainy autumn day, with people heading to their offices armed with umbrellas, wearing heavy coats.

    But that day ten years ago was anything but typical.

    Because it was the first time European supervisory teams got together and started work on an important task: making sure the banking system is safe and sound on behalf of European citizens.

    At the time, some argued that integrating a fragmented system of supervision was either impossible or would take forever. Well, those pioneer European supervisors who came together on 4 November 2014 have certainly proven the sceptics wrong.

    We have come a long way since that day. The last ten years have been transformative both for the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) and the banks we supervise. We have evolved from a start-up to a mature, risk-based and effective supervisor. Banks under our supervision have also evolved significantly, building up remarkable resilience. Unlike in the crises that predated the banking union, banks have now become part of the solution to economic shocks rather than the source. That’s good news.

    There is, however, no room for complacency.

    While past achievements provide a solid foundation, they are by no means a guarantee of future success. The macro-financial environment is changing profoundly. Unlike ten years ago, when the main risks emanated from banks themselves, today prudential risks are largely driven by an increasingly volatile and uncertain external environment.

    In my remarks, I will therefore focus on how supervisors and banks must adapt to this challenging environment. I will also address suggestions being put forward by some to relax banking regulation and supervision – suggestions which in my view are misguided. Compromising the resilience that has been carefully built up over the past ten years would undermine the objective of having a financial system that can support a competitive and sustainable economy.

    The first decade of European supervision: from start-up to maturity

    But before focusing on current challenges, I hope you’ll allow me to take a brief walk down memory lane. Where did we start from? What were the expectations a decade ago? And how did we go about meeting them?

    As Europe was looking into the abyss of the euro area sovereign debt crisis in 2012, legislators agreed on nothing less than a paradigm shift – the banking union, which represented the most significant leap forward in European integration since the introduction of the euro.

    The banking union encompasses three pillars, each with a straightforward task: first, European banking supervision to ensure that banks across Europe are subject to the same rules and high-quality supervisory standards. Second, European resolution to make sure that if banks fail, they can get resolved in an orderly manner instead of relying on the public purse. And third, European deposit insurance, to make sure that when push comes to shove, all depositors enjoy the same protection, no matter where in the euro area they are based.

    As far as the supervisory pillar is concerned, the ECB and the national competent authorities that make up the SSM were given a clear mission: ensuring the safety and soundness of banks. This is not just an end in itself – it is necessary so that banks remain at the service of people and businesses by funding innovation, productivity and sustainable growth.

    The destination was clear. But we had no roadmap to show us how to get there. There was no blueprint on how to transform a fragmented system of supervision into an integrated one. So it was by no means a given that the SSM would be a success.

    In the start-up phase of the SSM we were essentially crossing the bridge we were still building: we spent the mornings recruiting the best risk experts from across Europe, the afternoons supervising significant banks, and the evenings setting up our processes.

    When we started, there were plenty of ways in which supervisors across Europe looked at risks and how best to mitigate them. They all focused on different things: while some put the emphasis on credit file reviews, others focused on scrutinising banks’ internal risk management through the lens of the internal capital adequacy assessment process. Some supervisors chose to shine the spotlight more closely on governance or on-site culture.

    Thanks to the unwavering commitment and tireless energy of supervisors from the national competent authorities and the ECB, we consolidated the best practices from this wealth of supervisory experience into a common supervisory approach. What followed was a race to the top rather than to the bottom, resulting in high-quality supervision and a level playing field.

    On our path to becoming a mature organisation, we have adapted our processes along the way. Our supervision has evolved from being predominantly rule-based and heavily codified, to having a more flexible, agile and risk-focused approach.

    And banks under our supervision have also evolved significantly over the past ten years. Today, European banks are in much better shape than a decade ago.

    For instance, the financial resilience of SSM banks has notably improved. The aggregate Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio has increased from 12.7% in 2015 to 15.8% today, the liquidity coverage ratio has increased from 138% in 2016 to 159% today and the non-performing loan ratio of significant banks has declined from 7.5% in 2015 to 1.9% today.[1]

    Moreover, risk management, the effectiveness of internal control functions and governance arrangements in SSM banks have all improved.

    Over the past ten years, banks under European supervision have shown remarkable resilience even under the most challenging circumstances. They have evolved from shock propagators to shock absorbers, stabilising rather than de-stabilising the economy as it experienced significant shocks such as the pandemic, Russia’s unjustified war against Ukraine and the rapid changes to the interest rate environment. This resilience is also a testament to the crucial role played by European supervision, confirming that the SSM has lived up to the expectations that were placed on it a decade ago.[2]

    Highly complex, volatile and challenging risk landscape

    But there is no room for complacency. We can’t assume that the achievements of the past ten years will automatically pave the way for another successful decade of resilient banks under European supervision.

    We can’t ignore the fact that the world around us is changing. The macro-financial environment is characterised by unprecedented shocks, giving rise to new risk drivers. In the words of President Lagarde, in the last three years alone we have “faced the worst pandemic since the 1920s, the worst conflict in Europe since the 1940s and the worst energy shock since the 1970s”.[3]

    And as former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers put it, “this is the most complex, disparate and cross-cutting set of challenges that I can remember in the 40 years that I have been paying attention to such things’’.[4]

    In fact, the current combination of risks, challenges and uncertainties is staggering.

    A widening geopolitical divide and a global economy that is fragmenting into competing, increasingly protectionist blocs, give rise to new geopolitical risks.

    Heightened operational headwinds such as ever-more sophisticated cyberattacks and technology disruptions are challenging banks’ operational resilience.

    And last, but, alas, not least, we see the climate and nature crises unfolding, as evidenced by the horrific events last week in Paiporta and other villages and towns in the Spanish region of Valencia. On top of the human tragedy and physical destruction, the climate and nature crises are increasingly leading to material risks for banks.

    What makes this period so unprecedented is that these challenges are not happening one after the other – they are all happening at the same time. And there is no clear sign of them going away any time soon, rather the contrary.

    So how can supervisors and banks adjust to this era of polycrises?

    Ensuring bank resilience in the era of polycrises

    First and foremost, banks’ management bodies are the ones holding the steering wheel and must ensure that banks remain resilient and prepared for this new risk landscape. This involves making sure that banks have sound risk management that is commensurate to new risk drivers, that they maintain sufficient capital headroom to cushion against credible adverse scenarios, and that banks’ management bodies are effective in their steering and oversight function.

    While acknowledging that banks’ management bodies are in the driving seat, as supervisors we keep a close eye to ensure that no material risks are left unaddressed.[5] This means that we must be able to identify the risks and then ensure that banks are resilient to these risks.

    To ensure that our risk identification can keep up with the changing risk landscape, we have made our supervisory processes more agile. We simply cannot look at every risk with the same intensity, every year, in every bank we supervise. We have therefore started to implement a supervisory risk tolerance framework aiming at freeing up the desks and minds of supervisors. This allows our supervisors to focus on those risks that are most pertinent and the supervisory actions that are most impactful. In the same vein, we have also reformed our Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP) to make it more targeted and risk-based. Moreover, we are increasingly using supervisory technology tools – also known as suptech – to detect risks early on and move closer to real-time supervision.[6]

    These improvements to our processes give our supervisory teams more time to focus on the most relevant risks. By detecting vulnerabilities that would otherwise only surface later, we help banks to be better prepared and build up resilience proactively.

    Let me illustrate this with an example. Threats from cyberattacks are on the increase and are challenging banks’ operational resilience. In 2022, 50% of our supervised entities were subject to at least one successful attack – that number rose to 68% in just one year.[7] In order to help banks better identify their vulnerabilities to cyber risks and bolster their operational resilience, earlier this year we conducted a cyber resilience stress test[8] to gauge how well banks would be able to respond to and recover from a successful cyberattack while maintaining their critical functions and services. The cyber resilience stress test was an important learning exercise for banks; it helped them pinpoint areas where they need to build greater operational resilience to cyberattacks, which are unlikely to fade away in the current geopolitical risk environment.

    Let’s shift our focus from risk identification to remediation. As supervisors we must ensure that the risks we identify in our risk assessments are adequately managed. This also means that if we find deficiencies in the way banks are managing their risks, they must be remediated fully and in a timely manner, not at some unspecified point in the distant future. This is why we are putting more emphasis on impact and effectiveness.[9]

    To ensure full and timely remediation of our supervisory findings, we set out a time-bound remediation path. If a bank is not remedying the deficiency at a speed that will ensure full and timely remediation by the pre-established timeline, we will step up our supervisory action by deploying more intrusive measures from our ample supervisory toolkit. This is what we call the “escalation ladder”.

    The use of supervisory powers to compel banks to make concrete improvements is not just something we do within the SSM; it is international best practice.[10] The disorderly events of the March 2023 banking turmoil were a clear reminder of what can happen when banks leave material shortcomings unaddressed for too long.

    Banks and supervisors need to have the capacity to focus on emerging challenges. That’s why it is important to declutter our desks by tackling supervisory findings that have been with us for too long. While this is always an imperative, it is especially pertinent in the current challenging risk landscape.

    Let me illustrate this with the example of risk data aggregation and reporting. It is very hard to imagine any bank being able to appropriately manage its risks without strong risk data reporting. A bank’s ability to manage and aggregate risk-related data effectively is a pre-requisite for sound decision-making and robust risk governance. In fact, the Capital Requirements Directive, as transposed into national law, requires banks to put processes in place to identify all material risks. Worryingly, risk data aggregation and reporting was the lowest-scoring sub-category of internal governance in the 2023 SREP. In other words, despite the work done by supervisors over the years, too many banks still don’t have adequate risk data aggregation and reporting capabilities.

    It should not be a surprise that ECB Banking Supervision is stepping up the escalation ladder, using more intrusive supervisory tools to ensure that banks have adequate risk data aggregation capabilities. It’s not about forcing banks to do something that is merely an added perk; it’s about making sure they are able to manage material risks adequately and in good time. In a rapidly changing risk environment where prompt availability of reliable data has become essential, timely remediation of our supervisory findings on risk data aggregation is more important than ever.

    Deregulation and lenient supervision would compromise resilience

    After a decade of European supervision, it is not only the external risk environment that has changed. The current debate suggests that the perception by some of the role of financial regulation and supervision is also changing.

    Ten years ago, with the gloomy memories of the global financial crisis lingering in people’s minds, there was a strong consensus across society on the need for strong financial regulation and supervision in order to safeguard the public good of financial stability.

    Today, it appears that the pendulum is slowly swinging in the opposite direction. Some have raised the question as to whether regulation and supervision have become too conservative, to the point that they may constrain growth.

    Let me be clear: the argument being put forward in favour of relaxing banking regulation and supervision in order to promote growth is misguided.[11]

    We can’t allow the memory of the global financial crisis to fade. Its lessons are as relevant today as they were back in 2012, when the banking union was created. As deputy governor of the Bank of England, Sam Woods, correctly said, the great financial crisis was “the biggest growth-destroying event in recent economic history”.[Second, we would welcome if Member States were to resume discussions on setting-up a European-level public backstop to provide temporary liquidity funding to banks following resolution. The credibility of the resolution framework in Europe would be significantly enhanced by setting up a framework for liquidity in resolution.

    Moreover, building on the strong foundations of the SSM and the Single Resolution Mechanism, we must pave the way for a common European deposit insurance scheme (EDIS). In the first decade of the SSM, risks have been significantly reduced and common supervisory standards have been established. These preconditions for EDIS have now been met, and moving it forward will be important for severing any remaining feedback loops between banks and sovereigns, given that these proved so harmful during the sovereign debt crisis.

    Conclusion

    Let me conclude.

    Ten years ago today, when European supervisory teams started to come together for the first time, it was not at all certain that the SSM would be a success.

    We have since built a strong and effective supervisory framework in Europe, perceptive to evolving risks and – whenever necessary and appropriate – insistent in making sure that material risks are addressed. European banks have notably improved, proving resilient to shocks that we couldn’t have imagined a decade ago. This resilience is also a result of the strengthened supervisory and regulatory framework put in place after the global financial crisis, including the creation of the banking union.

    Ten years ago, the first Vice-Chair of the SSM, Sabine Lautenschläger, invoked the parallel of an athlete at the beginning of a career, who trained extremely hard and achieved an excellent result in a first major tournament.[15] To turn this promising start into a track record of sustained high performance, the athlete clearly cannot afford to rest on her laurels. Instead, she needs to go right back to the routine of constant training, to keep developing her skills and thus continue to build the foundation for future success on a day-to-day basis.

    This conclusion is as relevant today as it was ten year ago, especially considering the challenges along the path ahead.

    Considering the macro-financial environment and volatile risk landscape, it is safe to say that there is a high likelihood of unprecedented shocks continuing to emerge over the next decade. To make sure banks continue to serve European households and businesses under these challenging circumstances, we must ensure they remain resilient. Because a stable banking system forms the bedrock of long-term competitiveness and sustainable growth.

    European supervisors will continue to work tirelessly to make sure banks are well capitalised and adequately manage their risks. In this way, in ten years’ time we can celebrate another successful decade of resilient banks under European supervision.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI USA: In Case You Missed It: Editorial: Investigate the ICC Before It Escalates

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for South Carolina Lindsey Graham
    In Case You Missed It

    Editorial: Investigate the ICC Before It Escalates
    A bipartisan group of Senators put The Hague on notice for its lawless campaign against Israel.
    Investigate the ICC Before It Escalates
    By The Editorial Board
    The Wall Street Journal
    November 1, 2024
    https://www.wsj.com/opinion/senators-letter-international-criminal-court-karim-ahmad-khan-israel-gaza-26990e35
    The International Criminal Court has been warned. In a letter on Friday, six U.S. Senators—three Republicans and three Democrats—implored the ICC’s overseer “to investigate the highly irregular and potentially illegal actions by the Prosecutor” in targeting Israel’s leaders.
    Sens. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), Ben Cardin (D., Md.), John Thune (R., S.D.), Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) and John Fetterman (D., Pa.) wrote to the Assembly of States Parties with “two grave concerns.”
    First, prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan didn’t comply with the law in applying for arrest warrants. The Senators relate how Mr. Khan misled them that he would “meaningfully engage with the State of Israel,” as required by the court’s Rome Statute, “before any action was taken.” Instead he stiffed the Israelis and announced his application for arrest warrants on CNN.
    Second, “there is a cloud hanging over the Prosecutor and his office” from sexual-harassment allegations, suppressed shortly before Mr. Khan requested the arrest warrants and thereafter. We’ve reported on those allegations, which have since gained steam from an Associated Press investigation.
    Mr. Khan has implied in response that this is all an Israeli conspiracy, which doesn’t put to rest questions of bias. The ICC staff union doesn’t trust the court’s internal watchdog to investigate and has called for “a prompt, independent and thorough investigation led by an external panel.”
    The Senators write, “Any action by the Court regarding arrest warrants for Israeli officials without the benefit of a completed investigation into the serious allegations hanging over Prosecutor Khan would cast doubt on the Court’s actions, and jeopardize the credibility of the ICC more broadly.” That’s sensible, but the ICC faces pressure from anti-Israel groups and states to tar Israel with the arrest warrants, probably soon after the U.S. election.
    All of this is a danger to America. Today the court is after Israel, which doesn’t belong to the ICC, for actions in Gaza, which isn’t a state, in a defensive war against terrorists. Tomorrow the ICC could do the same to the U.S., another nonmember. The ICC still hasn’t closed its investigation of the Afghanistan war, and Hamas isn’t the only group to violate all laws of war and seek to win via international pressure.
    The question is why President Biden rescinded President Trump’s sanctions on the ICC in 2021, and why he and Sen. Chuck Schumer are currently blocking new, bipartisan sanctions from getting a vote on the Senate floor. Mr. Schumer, who loves telling Jewish audiences he’s their shomer, or guardian, is protecting enemies who would put Israel and America in the dock.
    Appeared in the November 2, 2024, print edition as ‘Investigate the ICC Before It Escalates’.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Video: Department of State Daily Press Briefing – November 4, 2024

    Source: United States of America – Department of State (video statements)

    Department Press Briefing with Spokesperson Matthew Miller, at the Department of State, on November 4, 2024.

    ———-
    Under the leadership of the President and Secretary of State, the U.S. Department of State leads America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance by advancing the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity. On behalf of the American people we promote and demonstrate democratic values and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.

    The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service and U.S. Agency for International Development.

    Get updates from the U.S. Department of State at www.state.gov and on social media!
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/statedept
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/StateDept
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/statedept
    Flickr: https://flickr.com/photos/statephotos/

    Subscribe to the State Department Blog: https://www.state.gov/blogs
    Watch on-demand State Department videos: https://video.state.gov/
    Subscribe to The Week at State e-newsletter: http://ow.ly/diiN30ro7Cw

    State Department website: https://www.state.gov/
    Careers website: https://careers.state.gov/
    White House website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/

    #StateDepartment #DepartmentofState #Diplomacy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qThstGtXPR4

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Secretary-General’s video message to the World Urban Forum [scroll down for Arabic version]

    Source: United Nations – English

    strong>Download the video: https://s3.amazonaws.com/downloads2.unmultimedia.org/public/video/evergr…

    I am pleased to take part in the World Urban Forum.

    It is fitting that you are gathering in Cairo – an enormously vibrant megacity and a magnet for innovation and creativity for over a thousand years.

    I thank the Government of Egypt for hosting the 12th Forum.

    Dear Friends,

    You represent urban areas which are home to more than half of humanity. 
     
    You are on the frontlines of shaping a more inclusive, connected and resilient world.  
     
    And you are at the heart of where lasting change happens. 

    As your theme rightly puts it: “It all starts at home”.

    Real progress begins at the local level.

    On the ground.

    In communities and people’s lives.

    World leaders have just adopted the Pact for the Future.

    It is an important new tool to advance our vital work, accelerate the SDGs, and address inequalities.

    It calls for ensuring adequate, safe and affordable housing for all — and supporting developing countries to plan and implement just, safe, healthy, accessible, resilient and sustainable cities. 

    We need this more than ever.

    Cities generate 70 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. And municipal waste is set to rise by two-thirds within a generation.

    Not only are cities powerful engines of social and economic development, they are also catalysts of sustainable solutions. 

    I see local and regional authorities as a crucial part of the answer on so many issues and at every level, including at the United Nations.

    We can all benefit from your insights and ideas. 

    That’s why I created the UN Advisory Group on Local and Regional Governments.

    I know over the next five days this Forum will have the chance to delve into the complexities and opportunities of sustainable urban development.

    I invite you to seek innovations and inspiration and take them back to your communities.  

    And to help develop infrastructure and public services for all, including women and girls.

    Local actions are the building blocks for future green, just and resilient cities.

    Together, let’s make sustainable urbanization a reality.

    And let’s ensure that no one and nowhere is left behind.

    Thank you.

    *****

    يسعدني أن أشارك في المنتدى الحضري العالمي.
             إنه لمِن الملائم أن تجتمعوا في القاهرة – هذه المدينة الضخمة النابضة بالحياة والمستقطبة للابتكار والإبداع على مدى أكثر من ألف عام.
             أشكر حكومة مصر على استضافتها للمنتدى الثاني عشر.
             أيها الأصدقاء الأعزاء،
             أنتم تمثلون المناطق الحضرية التي تسكنها أكثر من نصف البشرية.
             ما يعني أنكم في طليعة مَن يرسمون ملامح عالم أكثر شمولاً وترابطاً وقدرةً على التكيف.
             وأنكم موجودون في قلب المكان الذي تحدث فيه التغييرات الدائمة.
             إن الموضوع الذي اخترتموه للمنتدى يعبّر أصدق تعبير بأن ”كل الأمور تبدأ من البيت“.
             فإحراز التقدم الحقيقي يبدأ أول ما يبدأ على المستوى المحلي.
             على الأرض.
             داخل المجتمعات المحلية وفي حياة الناس.
             لقد اعتمد قادة العالم للتو ميثاق المستقبل.
             وهو أداة جديدة هامة الغرض منها هو الدفع بعملنا الحيوي والتعجيل في تحقيق أهداف التنمية المستدامة والتصدي لأوجه عدم المساواة.
             وهو يدعو إلى ضمان توفير السكن الملائم والآمن والميسور التكلفة للجميع، وإلى دعم البلدان النامية في تخطيط وتنفيذ مدن عادلة وآمنة وصحية وميسورة التكلفة ومستدامة وقادرة على التكيف.
             ونحن اليوم أحوج ما نكون إلى ذلك أكثر من أي وقت مضى.
             فالمدن تولّد 70 في المائة من انبعاثات غازات الاحتباس الحراري. ومن المتوقع أن يزيد حجم النفايات البلدية بنسبة الثلثين خلال جيل واحد.
             بيد أن المدن ليست محركات قوية للتنمية الاجتماعية والاقتصادية فحسب، بل هي أيضا محفِّزات للحلول المستدامة.
             إنني أرى في السلطات المحلية والإقليمية جزءا أساسيا من الحل في العديد من القضايا وعلى جميع المستويات، بما في ذلك في الأمم المتحدة.
             ويمكننا جميعا الاستفادة مما تبدونه من آراء متبصّرة وتطرحونه من أفكار نيِّرة.
             ولهذا السبب أنشأتُ فريق الأمم المتحدة الاستشاري المعني بالحكومات المحلية والإقليمية.
             أنا أعلم أن هذا المنتدى سيحظى خلال الأيام الخمسة المقبلة بفرصة الخوض في ما تحمله التنمية الحضرية المستدامة من تعقيدات وما تتيحه من فرص.
             لذ، أدعوكم للسعي إلى استنباط الابتكارات وتلمُّس الأفكار الملهِمة كي تحملوها معكم إلى مجتمعاتكم المحلية.
             كما أدعوكم إلى تطوير البنى التحتية والخدمات العامة للجميع، بما في ذلك للنساء والفتيات.
             إن ما تتخذونه من إجراءات محلية سيشكل اللبِنات الأساسية لبناء مدن خضراء وعادلة وقادرة على التكيف في المستقبل.
             فلنعمل معاً كي نجعل من التحضر المستدام حقيقة واقعة.
             ولنضمن ألا يتخلف أحد، في أي مكان، عن الركب.
             شكراً لكم.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Lower Sackville — RCMP charge a man involved in home invasion

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    RCMP Halifax Regional Detachment has charged a man involved in a home invasion that occurred in Lower Sackville.

    On November 3, at approximately 5:45 p.m., RCMP officers responded to a report of a disturbance at a residence on Balsam Circle.

    Investigators learned that a man armed with a knife had gained entry into the home through the front door and proceeded to assault a male resident located in a bedroom. The victim, a 73-year-old Lower Sackville man, suffered serious injuries and was transported to hospital by EHS.

    No other injuries were reported by the three other adult occupants of the home.

    At the scene, RCMP officers located and safely arrested an 18-year-old man involved in the incident.

    The two men are known to one another and investigators believe the incident was targeted in nature.

    Devon Rafuse, of Halifax, has been charged with Possession of a Weapon for a Dangerous Purpose, Breaking and Entering with Intent and Aggravated Assault. He was held in custody and will appear in Dartmouth Provincial Court today.

    File #: 24-151248

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Speech – Diwali 2024

    Source: New Zealand Government

    Namaste. Namaskar. Namaskaram. Vanakkam. Sat Sri Akal. Kem chho.

    Greetings to you all.

    It is my great privilege, as Minister for Ethnic Communities, to host this year’s Diwali Celebration at Parliament. I am truly excited to be with you all for Diwali as your Minister, and I warmly welcome each and every one of you to this special occasion.

    I would first like to welcome and acknowledge:

    • The Rt Hon Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister of New Zealand, who will join us shortly.
    • The Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, who will also join us shortly.
    • Her Excellency, Ms Neeta Bhushan, Indian High Commissioner to New Zealand.
    • Other members of the diplomatic corps.
    • Mr Mervin Singham, Chief Executive of the Ministry for Ethnic Communities.
    • Mr Narendra Bhana, President of New Zealand Indian Central Association.
    • My parliamentary colleagues.
    • Our talented performers.
    • And all of you who have travelled from far and wide to be with us tonight.

    It is a true delight to celebrate the vibrant Festival of Lights, Diwali, both here in New Zealand and across the globe.

    Just as diyas, or lamps, shine during the festival, I wish for the light within each of us to remain radiant and full of hope.

    I hope this Diwali brings forth a year of peace, prosperity, health, and joy to you and your families.

    As we gather to celebrate Diwali, we also honour the rich history and vibrant contributions of New Zealand’s Indian communities.

    You have been an integral part of our society since the late 1800s.

    The 2023 Census showed that our Indian population has become the third-largest ethnic group in New Zealand.

    Indian New Zealanders have made significant contributions in various sectors, including health, manufacturing, education, and more.

    I’m proud that Diwali at Parliament is celebrated in such an inclusive, multi-cultural way.

    Our government’s and my vision is for all communities to not only feel that they belong and can participate, but also thrive, in society.

    We are committed to ensuring that everyone in New Zealand feels safe, valued, and empowered to flourish in this country we all call home.

    Our Indian community adds so much colourful vibrancy to our country, from their sarees to their spices.

    It’s fantastic to have Indian culture such a normalised, ingrained part of our national identity.

    But it’s not just about culture. Their contribution to our economy makes a huge impact.

    In 2020, the Waitakere Indian Association estimated that the Indian community contributed around $10 billion to the New Zealand economy.

    As Minister for both Ethnic Communities and Economic Development, another of my priorities is to unlock the full potential of ethnic businesses for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

    At last month’s inaugural Ethnic Xchange Symposium, it was truly inspiring to witness the collective energy and the tremendous economic potential within our ethnic communities. When fully unleashed, this potential can help grow New Zealand’s shared prosperity.

    Once again, it is a true pleasure to welcome you all this evening.

    I want to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank-you to our Indian communities, for your warm congratulatory messages since my appointment as Minister for Ethnic Communities. Your support means a lot to me.

    It is my hope that the values of Diwali – peace, prosperity, justice, and respect – extend to communities throughout New Zealand, as we work towards a stronger, more harmonious, and peaceful future together.

    Dhanyavaad. Thank you.

    Please check against delivery.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Storm recovery in Beach Haven, Northcote Point and Birkenhead

    Source: Auckland Council

    The Pest-Free Kaipātiki Restoration Society (Pest Free Kaipātiki) is working with the Tāmaki Makaurau Recovery Office, helping local communities plan for their recovery. This is part of a series of partnerships in heavily- impacted communities across Auckland. Communities will be supported to develop practical plans, which will include activities and priorities that can be delivered to improve wellbeing and flourishing as they recover. 

    More than 230 homes in Beach Haven, Northcote Point and Birkenhead were affected by landslips or flooding last year, with 118 of them having serious access issues.  

    While most locals have moved on with their lives, the road to recovery continues for others: some of these homes will never be safe to live in again. 

    As affected residents work toward their recovery, Pest Free Kaipātiki has partnered with the Tāmaki Makaurau Recovery Office to help coordinate a wider recovery plan for these communities. 

    Pest Free Kaipātiki started out from a collection of localised community reserve groups wanting to make a more united impact in restoring and protecting their special places. It is now providing support to 55 reserve and cluster groups in the Kaipātiki area with anything from pest control advice/equipment to guidance on planting natives that reduce landslide risk.  

    You might wonder what a pest-free group is doing leading a community conversation about storm recovery.  

    “The social and natural environment are both our kaupapa,” says Annie Dignan, Pest Free Kaipātiki’s General Manager. 

    “The way we look after the land and water around us has a direct impact on flooding and landslips, and vice versa. And our neighbourhoods really felt the impact of last year’s storms.” 

    Healing and resilience through nature  

    “I had barely finished mopping out the bottom of my place when we decided to set up a get together for locals at our hub. I will always remember sitting here and seeing people crying and still in shock,” Annie tears up describing the moment.  

    “It was a loss on a number of levels – their land, their homes, and the experience they had just had. There is also a big fear of when this will happen again.  

    “We knew we had to do something practical. So, we pulled together a taskforce to focus our efforts on remediating one reserve as a start. The turnout was great, and you could see the emotion and processing that was taking place in how hard people were working.  

    “Then we started reaching out to a range of other experts and pulled together information relevant to our area about planting for slip stabilisation. We know ground and tree cover is so important.  

    “From there we created a guide so that people could plant natives at home to reduce their own landslide risk. We even helped people provide feedback on plans for how council will be responding to coastal hazards and climate change.

    “People realised it wasn’t a hopeless situation, that there are things they can do to make a difference the next time a storm comes around.”

    Pest Free Kaipātiki’s planting for slip stabilisation guide

    Planning a way forward 

    Working with the Recovery Office, Pest Free Kaipātiki has been engaging with these communities to help them plan for their recovery. 

    “The key question we want people to think about is what the community needs to feel like they are moving forward and flourishing. It’s up to people to shape the outcomes, so the results could be anything really – from physical things and places, to programmes and events.  

    “We’ve done a series of in-person events and there will be more opportunities for people to engage and contribute to the recovery plan for their neighbourhoods, including individual and group interviews, workshops, library displays, and online polls. There will even be Mandarin events to engage our growing Chinese community.” 

    “So you can participate in whatever way makes sense for you!” 

    Engagement for Beach Haven, Northcote Point and Birkenhead recovery plans will continue with Pest Free Kaipātiki’s support until mid-2025. 

    Visit Pest Free Kaipātiki’s website to find out how to participate. 

    Community recovery planning session in Kaipātiki

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI: CarGurus’ Latest Digital Retail Solution Connects Canadian Dealers with Purchase-Ready Shoppers More Efficiently

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    BOSTON, Nov. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CarGurus (Nasdaq: CARG), the fastest-growing automotive shopping site in Canada1, today introduced a new digital retail solution that powers more seamless and efficient connections between dealers and purchase-ready shoppers in Canada. CarGurus Digital Deal enables consumers to start their financing application online for eligible new and used vehicles, book an appointment, and start a trade-in before completing the process at the dealership.

    “By allowing car shoppers to handle more steps from the comfort of home, CarGurus Digital Deal helps facilitate a more seamless online to in-store experience that benefits both sides of the transaction,” said Seamus Cassidy, Principal Product Manager with CarGurus. “Dealers can access ready-to-buy shoppers while continuing to work with their preferred technology systems and lending partners. At the same time, consumers can shop with greater confidence by understanding their financing eligibility up front, and save time in the dealership by completing more of the transaction ahead of time.”

    CarGurus’ Digital Deal solution launches in Canada after experiencing strong demand in the U.S., where it is one of the company’s fastest-growing innovations. Active listings are easy to find with badging on CarGurus.ca search results and vehicle detail pages. From eligible vehicle pages, shoppers can complete a simple three-step process to build a personalized vehicle and dealership-specific finance application that is submitted directly to the participating dealership. Shoppers can also schedule an appointment at the dealership and share details about a trade-in. At the dealership, shoppers can then finalize their financing and complete the transaction.

    The solution is built in partnership with dealer finance portal platform CreditApp and can be configured to work with a dealer’s preferred lender networks. As part of the initial rollout, CarGurus Digital Deal is active across over 15,000 vehicle listings, helping participating dealers throughout Canada connect with higher-converting leads for faster, more efficient sales.

    “Digital Deal leads have significantly assisted our sales and finance teams in simplifying the buying process. By having this information upfront, our team can better prepare and creatively engage with our shoppers,” said Casey Pilip, Director of Marketing at Klas Auto Group, a dealer of new and used cars in British Columbia. “Successfully converting additional leads each month at a high closing percentage truly makes a significant impact in today’s market.”

    Dealers can sign up for CarGurus Digital Deal today. Dealerships interested in learning more can either contact their rep, call 1-800-CARGURUS or email camarketing@cargurus.com for more information.

    About CarGurus, Inc.

    CarGurus (Nasdaq: CARG) is a multinational, online automotive platform for buying and selling vehicles that is building upon its industry-leading listings marketplace with digital retail solutions. The CarGurus platform gives consumers the confidence to purchase and/or sell a vehicle either online or in-person, and it gives dealerships the power to accurately price, effectively market, and quickly sell vehicles, all with a nationwide reach. The company uses proprietary technology, search algorithms, and data analytics to bring trust, transparency, and competitive pricing to the automotive shopping experience. CarGurus is the fastest growing automotive shopping site in Canada. 1

    CarGurus operates online marketplaces under the CarGurus brand in the U.K., Canada, and U.S., where it is the most visited automotive shopping site2. The CarGurus network of brands also includes PistonHeads, the largest online motoring community in the U.K.3; Autolist, a U.S.-based online marketplace; and CarOffer, a digital wholesale marketplace serving the U.S.

    To learn more about CarGurus, visit www.cargurus.ca.

    CarGurus® is a registered trademark of CarGurus, Inc., and CarOffer® is a registered trademark of CarOffer, LLC. All other product names, trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

    1Similarweb: Traffic Insights, Q2 2024, Canada
    2 Similarweb: Traffic Insights (Cars.com, Autotrader.com, TrueCar.com), Q2 2024, U.S.
    3Similarweb: Traffic Insights, Q2 2024, U.K.

    Media Contact:
    Maggie Meluzio
    Director, Public Relations & External Communications
    pr@cargurus.com

    Investor Contact:
    Kirndeep Singh
    Vice President, Investor Relations
    investors@cargurus.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Volta Finance Limited – Director/PDMR Shareholding

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Volta Finance Limited (VTA/VTAS)

    Notification of transactions by directors, persons discharging managerial
    responsibilities and persons closely associated with them

    NOT FOR RELEASE, DISTRIBUTION OR PUBLICATION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES

    *****
    Guernsey, 4 November 2024

    Pursuant to the announcements made on 5 April 2019 and 26 June 2020 relating to changes to the payment of directors fees, Volta Finance Limited (the “Company” or “Volta”) has purchased 3,403 ordinary shares of no par value in the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) at an average price of €5.5 per share.

    Each director receives 30% of their Director’s fees for any year in the form of shares, which they are required to retain for a period of no less than one year from their respective date of issue.

    The shares will be issued to the Directors, who for the purposes of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 on Market Abuse (“MAR“) are “persons discharging managerial responsibilities” (a “PDMR“).

    • Dagmar Kershaw, Chairman and a PDMR for the purposes of MAR, acquired 1,047 additional Ordinary Shares in the Company. Following the settlement of this transaction, Ms Kershaw will have an interest in 13,885 Ordinary Shares, representing 0.04% of the issued shares of the Company;
    • Stephen Le Page, Director and a PDMR for the purposes of MAR, acquired 733 additional Ordinary Shares in the Company. Following the settlement of this transaction, Mr Le Page will have an interest in 51,295 Ordinary Shares, representing 0.14% of the issued shares of the Company;
    • Yedau Ogoundele, Director and a PDMR for the purposes of MAR acquired 733 additional Ordinary Shares in the Company. Following the settlement of this transaction, Mrs Ogoundele will have an interest in 7,595 Ordinary Shares, representing 0.02% of the issued shares of the Company; and
    • Joanne Peacegood, Director and a PDMR for the purposes of MAR acquired 890 additional Ordinary Shares in the Company. Following the settlement of this transaction, Mrs Peacegood will have an interest in 4,395 Ordinary Shares, representing 0.01% of the issued shares of the Company;

    The notifications below, made in accordance with the requirements of MAR, provide further detail in relation to the above transactions:

    1. Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated
    a)   Dagmar Kershaw
    CHAIRMAN & DIRECTOR      		 b) Stephen Le Page
    DIRECTOR    		   c) Yedau Ogoundele
    DIRECTOR    		 d) Joanne Peacegood
    DIRECTOR
    1. Reason for the notification
    a. Position/status Director
    b. Initial notification/Amendment Initial notification
    1. Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
    a. Name Volta Finance Limited
    b. LEI 2138004N6QDNAZ2V3W80
    1. Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted
    a. Description of financial instrument, type of instrument Ordinary Shares
    b. Identification code GG00B1GHHH78
    c. Nature of the transaction Purchase and allocation of Ordinary Shares relation to the part-payment of Directors’ fees for the quarter ended 31 October 2024
    d. Price(s) €5.5 per share
    e. Volume(s) Total: 3,403
    f. Date of transaction 1 November 2024
    g. Place of transaction On-market – London
    1. Aggregate Purchase Information
    a)
    Dagmar Kershaw
    Chairman and Director    		 b)
    Stephen Le Page
    Director    		   c)
    Yedau Ogoundele
    Director    		 d)
    Joanne Peacegood
    Director
    Aggr. Volume:
    1,047

    Price:
    €5.5per share

    		 Aggr. Volume:
    733

    Price:
    €5.5 per share

    		   Aggr. Volume:
    733

    Price:
    €5.5 per share

    		 Aggr. Volume:
    890

    Price:
    €5.5 per share

    CONTACTS

    For the Investment Manager
    AXA Investment Managers Paris
    François Touati
    francois.touati@axa-im.com
    +33 (0) 1 44 45 80 22

    Olivier Pons
    Olivier.pons@axa-im.com
    +33 (0) 1 44 45 87 30

    Company Secretary and Administrator
    BNP Paribas S.A, Guernsey Branch
    guernsey.bp2s.volta.cosec@bnpparibas.com 
    +44 (0) 1481 750 853

    Corporate Broker
    Cavendish Securities plc
    Andrew Worne
    Daniel Balabanoff
    +44 (0) 20 7397 8900

    *****
    ABOUT VOLTA FINANCE LIMITED

    Volta Finance Limited is incorporated in Guernsey under the Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 (as amended) and listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market for listed securities. Volta’s home member state for the purposes of the EU Transparency Directive is the Netherlands. As such, Volta is subject to regulation and supervision by the AFM, being the regulator for financial markets in the Netherlands.

    Volta’s Investment objectives are to preserve its capital across the credit cycle and to provide a stable stream of income to its Shareholders through dividends that it expects to distribute on a quarterly basis. The Company currently seeks to achieve its investment objectives by pursuing exposure predominantly to CLO’s and similar asset classes. A more diversified investment strategy across structured finance assets may be pursued opportunistically. The Company has appointed AXA Investment Managers Paris an investment management company with a division specialised in structured credit, for the investment management of all its assets.

    *****

    ABOUT AXA INVESTMENT MANAGERS
    AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) is a multi-expert asset management company within the AXA Group, a global leader in financial protection and wealth management. AXA IM is one of the largest European-based asset managers with 2,700 professionals and €844 billion in assets under management as of the end of December 2023.  

    *****

    This press release is published by AXA Investment Managers Paris (“AXA IM”), in its capacity as alternative investment fund manager (within the meaning of Directive 2011/61/EU, the “AIFM Directive”) of Volta Finance Limited (the “Volta Finance”) whose portfolio is managed by AXA IM.

    This press release is for information only and does not constitute an invitation or inducement to acquire shares in Volta Finance. Its circulation may be prohibited in certain jurisdictions and no recipient may circulate copies of this document in breach of such limitations or restrictions. This document is not an offer for sale of the securities referred to herein in the United States or to persons who are “U.S. persons” for purposes of Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), or otherwise in circumstances where such offer would be restricted by applicable law. Such securities may not be sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration from the Securities Act. Volta Finance does not intend to register any portion of the offer of such securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of such securities in the United States.

    *****

    This communication is only being distributed to and is only directed at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the “Order”) or (iii) high net worth companies, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). The securities referred to herein are only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such securities will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents. Past performance cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance.

    *****
    This press release contains statements that are, or may deemed to be, “forward-looking statements”. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms “believes”, “anticipated”, “expects”, “intends”, “is/are expected”, “may”, “will” or “should”. They include the statements regarding the level of the dividend, the current market context and its impact on the long-term return of Volta Finance’s investments. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Volta Finance’s actual results, portfolio composition and performance may differ materially from the impression created by the forward-looking statements. AXA IM does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements.

    Any target information is based on certain assumptions as to future events which may not prove to be realised. Due to the uncertainty surrounding these future events, the targets are not intended to be and should not be regarded as profits or earnings or any other type of forecasts. There can be no assurance that any of these targets will be achieved. In addition, no assurance can be given that the investment objective will be achieved.

    The figures provided that relate to past months or years and past performance cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance or construed as a reliable indicator as to future performance. Throughout this review, the citation of specific trades or strategies is intended to illustrate some of the investment methodologies and philosophies of Volta Finance, as implemented by AXA IM. The historical success or AXA IM’s belief in the future success, of any of these trades or strategies is not indicative of, and has no bearing on, future results.

    The valuation of financial assets can vary significantly from the prices that the AXA IM could obtain if it sought to liquidate the positions on behalf of the Volta Finance due to market conditions and general economic environment. Such valuations do not constitute a fairness or similar opinion and should not be regarded as such.

    Editor: AXA INVESTMENT MANAGERS PARIS, a company incorporated under the laws of France, having its registered office located at Tour Majunga, 6, Place de la Pyramide – 92800 Puteaux. AXA IMP is authorized by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers under registration number GP92008 as an alternative investment fund manager within the meaning of the AIFM Directive.

    *****

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: NICHI announces Alberta recipients of funding to advance critical Indigenous housing projects in urban, rural and northern areas and address urgent and unmet needs

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    News release

    November 4, 2024 — Edmonton, Treaty 6 Territory, Alberta — Indigenous Services Canada

    Today, National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Incorporated (NICHI) Chief Executive Officer John Gordon and Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for FedNor, Patty Hajdu, announced the recipients of NICHI’s expression of need process to address the critical need for safe and affordable urban, rural and northern Indigenous housing projects in Alberta.

    Today’s announcement includes more than $22.3 million in funding for 5 projects in Alberta led by:

    • Aboriginal Housing Society
    • Buffalo Keeper Nehiyaw Centre
    • NiGiNan Housing Ventures (2 projects)
    • Wood Buffalo Wellness Society

    Through the national process, $277.8 million out of a total funding amount of $281.5 million is being distributed to 75 projects across the country aimed at building more than 3800 units. This funding was provided to Indigenous Services Canada through Budget 2022 and distributed by NICHI, applying its “For Indigenous, By Indigenous” approach. NICHI brings together Indigenous-led housing, homelessness, and housing-related service delivery organizations to provide lasting solutions that address diverse housing inadequacies including homelessness for Indigenous Peoples living in urban, rural and northern areas.

    Over 171,000 Indigenous Peoples in urban, rural and northern areas off reserve are in core housing need according to the 2021 Census. Indigenous Peoples continue to experience core housing needs at a significantly higher rate than non-Indigenous people – with the gap between them being exacerbated by the housing and homelessness crisis and by inadequacies in distinctions-based funding. Through a For Indigenous, By Indigenous approach to Indigenous housing that recognizes Indigenous organizations are best placed to understand the needs of their communities, Indigenous Services Canada is striving to close this gap by 2030.

    Access to safe and affordable housing is critical to improving health and social outcomes, and to ensure a better future for Indigenous communities. This funding initiative is part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to address the social determinants of health and advance self-determination in alignment with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Articles 21 and 23.

    Quotes

    “Indigenous housing providers deserve Indigenous advocacy at the national level. By securing this investment and developing a For Indigenous, By Indigenous funding process, NICHI is putting Indigenous people back in charge of housing policy for our people and communities. The overwhelming expression of need we received in our application process—totalling $2 billion across 447 applications—demonstrates that the work is far from over—but today, we’re excited to announce funding that will make a positive impact on the lives of Indigenous peoples in Alberta.”

    John Gordon
    Chief Executive Officer, National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Incorporated

    “In true partnership with Indigenous peoples, we are accelerating the construction of housing. Indigenous communities are best positioned to assess their needs, which is why these projects are based on the For Indigenous, By Indigenous approach. We will stand by the communities that take the initiative to build homes, as it is a matter of fairness and equity.”

    The Honourable Patty Hajdu
    Minister of Indigenous Services

    “NICHI’s ‘For Indigenous, By Indigenous’ approach to housing is helping build more than 3800 safe and affordable housing units across Canada. In our home province of Alberta, our government is supporting their work by investing $22.3 million in 5 projects. This is strengthening our communities, promoting sustainable solutions, and giving Indigenous people the housing they deserve.”

    Randy Boissonnault
    Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages

    “NICHI’s remarkable achievement in swiftly delivering $277.8 million underscores its unwavering commitment to advancing Indigenous housing nationwide. As a new organization, NICHI’s expedient action demonstrates unparalleled dedication and catalytic impact on transforming community housing landscapes. We commend NICHI for its pivotal role in driving forward this transformative initiative.”

    Lisa Ker
    Acting Executive Director for the Community Housing Transformation Centre

    “With thousands of years of collective experience, urban, rural, and northern Indigenous housing providers have the capacity, know-how, and shovel-ready projects to address the challenge. NICHI has shown that it can deliver funding programs swiftly, fairly, and responsibly.”

    Margaret Pfoh
    President, Canadian Housing and Renewal Association

    Quick facts

    • On June 8, 2023, the Government of Canada announced that the National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Inc. (NICHI) would deliver $281.5 million in immediate funding over two years to address the urgent, unmet needs of Indigenous Peoples living in urban, rural and northern areas.

    • NICHI held its expression of need process from late November 2023 to January 12, 2024, and funding was allocated to 75 non-profit, Indigenous-led housing organizations by an objective, unbiased Project Selection Advisory Council, which prioritized urgent and unmet housing needs in Indigenous communities across the country. $3.7 million of the total funding amount remains to be allocated.

    • The National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Inc. (NICHI) is an Indigenous-led national housing organization working to ensure that all Indigenous people across Canada have access to supports and services that provide safe, affordable, secure and dignified housing.

    • Support for projects will include funding for acquisitions of new properties and buildings, construction of new facilities, repairs and renovations, housing-related training, growing organizational capacity and administration costs.

    Associated links

    Contacts

    For more information, media may contact:

    Jennifer Kozelj
    Press Secretary
    Office of the Honourable Patty Hajdu
    Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for FedNor
    jennifer.kozelj@sac-isc.gc.ca

    Media Relations
    Indigenous Services Canada
    media@sac-isc.gc.ca
    819-953-1160

    Justin Prest
    Manager, Communications, Public Relations, and Policy
    National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Incorporated (NICHI)
    jprest@nichihousing.com
    1-873-455-5557

    Stay connected

    Join the conversation about Indigenous Peoples in Canada:

    X: @GCIndigenous
    Facebook: @GCIndigenous
    Instagram: @gcindigenous
    Facebook: @GCIndigenousHealth

    You can subscribe to receive our news releases and speeches via RSS feeds. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.isc.gc.ca/RSS.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: MP Chahal announces federal investments to grow Alberta’s aerospace and aviation industry

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    News release

    Over $4.3 million through PrairiesCan to manufacture and commercialize new technologies, connect small- and medium-sized firms with procurement opportunities, and create new career paths for underrepresented groups

    November 4, 2024 – Edmonton, Alberta – PrairiesCan

    With more than 500 small- and medium-sized businesses that employ thousands of workers, Alberta’s aerospace and aviation industry is playing a key role in diversifying local economies and creating good-paying jobs in communities across the province. The Government of Canada is collaborating with partners like post-secondary institutions, industry associations, municipalities and businesses to strengthen this important industry’s competitiveness.

    Today, George Chahal, Member of Parliament for Calgary Skyview, on behalf of the Honourable Dan Vandal, Minister for PrairiesCan, highlighted five projects receiving more than $4.3 million in PrairiesCan funding that are contributing to Alberta’s leadership in aerospace and aviation innovation. The projects include:

    • Over $186,000 for the Alberta Aviation & Aerospace Council to develop and deliver the Alberta Aerospace and Defence Conference in 2025 in Calgary and 2026 in Edmonton. This newly established in-person event will help connect Alberta’s small- and medium-sized firms with procurement and investment opportunities with global defence contractors.
    • Over $100,000 for Elevate Aviation to develop and launch a mentorship initiative that provides access to personalized mentorship connections, networking opportunities and professional development courses—ultimately leading to job placement opportunities for underrepresented groups while addressing the demand for skilled workers in in the aerospace and aviation industry.
    • Over $1.4 million for the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) to create an aerospace composite materials laboratory. Innovations that use advanced composite materials have the potential to enhance aircraft performance while reducing the environmental impact of the aviation sector. This new lab includes leading-edge manufacturing and testing equipment, as well as a team of expert researchers and engineers to support cutting-edge research in the aerospace manufacturing sector.
    • Over $50,000 for Sturgeon County to develop a report and ecosystem map on the Alberta’s aerospace and defence sector value chain. This project is better enabling the County and sector partners to identify and connect local small business suppliers to larger companies.
    • $2.6 million for UVAD Technologies Inc. for developing, demonstrating and commercializing an electric fixed-wing uncrewed aerial vehicle.  

    In total, today’s investments are expected to benefit over 330 small- and medium sized businesses and support more than 360 jobs.

    In line with the principles of the Government of Canada’s Framework to Build a Green Prairie Economy, these investments are about collaborating on local priorities and building on local strengths to seize opportunities for prosperity in a sustainable net-zero Prairie economy.

    Quotes

    “Municipalities, the private sector and post-secondary institutions are all part of the vital ecosystem for Alberta’s growing aerospace and aviation sector. Our government’s investments in these projects are helping empower cutting-edge research and commercialization, connecting local businesses to new markets, and breaking down barriers for underrepresented people seeking careers in this growing sector.”
    –The Honourable Dan Vandal, Minister for PrairiesCan

    “Alberta has a global reputation for excellence in aerospace and aviation thanks to the ingenuity, innovation and hard work of our small- and medium-sized businesses, innovators and talented workforce. Calgary Skyview is home to some of the best aerospace and aviation companies in Canada and are benefiting greatly from our government’s investments in the growing sector.”
    –George Chahal, Member of Parliament for Calgary Skyview

    “Alberta’s aviation and aerospace industries have incredible potential, and the addition of defence to our conference will create critical connections and opportunities for businesses to grow within the global aerospace and defence market. Bringing industry stakeholders together under one roof will accelerate Alberta’s role in these sectors, driving innovation and investment in our province.”
    –Kendra Kincade, Chair, Alberta Aviation & Aerospace Council

    “This investment enables us to expand our mentorship initiatives, opening doors for individuals who bring diverse perspectives, drive innovation, and strengthen the industry. By connecting participants with mentorship, networking, and professional development, we are setting the stage for a stronger, more inclusive future for aviation.”
    –Laura Sinclair, Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer, Elevate Aviation 

    “This significant investment in SAIT’s aerospace composite materials laboratory within our Applied Research and Innovation Services (ARIS) area positions Alberta at the forefront of sustainable aerospace innovation. Equipped with advanced technology and a skilled research team, this lab will drive new levels of performance and environmental responsibility across the aerospace sector. This project also aligns with SAIT’s plans to expand CIRAMM’s newly established Alberta Aerospace Research Centre (AARC), advancing Alberta’s aerospace capabilities and elevating Canada’s standing in this critical industry.”
    –Dr. Hamid Rajani, Chair of CIRAMM – Centre for Innovation and Research in Advanced Manufacturing and Materials at ARIS

    “Sturgeon County is ideally situated near three army and two Royal Canadian Air Force bases, the epicenter of Alberta’s aerospace and defence sectors. Defining the skills, knowledge and expertise within the aerospace and defence ecosystem will help us attract further investment into our region. We’re thankful for PrairiesCan support, and are already seeing the benefits from this work as we engage in conversations with potential investors.”
    –Alanna Hnatiw, Mayor of Sturgeon County

    “Funding received by UVAD Technologies Inc. through PrairiesCan and the Aerospace Regional Recovery Initiative is critically important to our efforts in developing and commercializing an industry leading Uncrewed Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) on a global scale.  The Alpine Swift, UVAD’s all-electric UAV, has progressed significantly through the support of this program. Government support has also enabled Southern Alberta to attract world leading experts in the UAV field, and UVAD is strategically positioned to build on this expertise. UVAD has grown exponentially since establishing our facility in Medicine Hat, Alberta.”
    –David Birkett, President and CEO, UVAD Technologies Inc.

    Quick facts

    • Federal funding for these projects is being provided through PrairiesCan, the federal department that supports economic growth in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

    • The total federal investment of $4,350,160 announced today is allocated through three programs administered by PrairiesCan: the Aerospace Regional Recovery Initiative (ARRI), the Community Economic Development and Diversification (CEDD) program, and the Regional Innovation Ecosystems (RIE) program.

      • ARRI is a national program that is providing $250 million over three years to help the Canadian aerospace sector emerge from the pandemic and continue to compete on the global stage and the intake period is now closed.
      • CEDD supports economic development initiatives that contribute to the economic growth and diversification of communities across the Prairie provinces. Through this program, PrairiesCan enables communities to leverage their capacity and strengths to respond to economic development opportunities and adjust to changing and challenging economic circumstances.
      • RIE creates, grows and nurtures inclusive regional ecosystems that support what businesses need to innovate from start to finish and an environment where companies can innovate, grow and compete.

    • The Framework to Build a Green Prairie Economy is a long-term commitment to work differently, through stronger coordination among federal departments on investments for the Prairies and closer collaboration with Prairie partners on their priorities for a prosperous and sustainable Prairie economy.

    Associated links

    Contacts

    Carson Debert
    Press Secretary
    Office of the Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister responsible for PrairiesCan and CanNor
    Carson.Debert@rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca

    Rohit Sandhu
    Communications Manager
    Prairies Economic Development Canada
    rohit.sandhu@prairiescan.gc.ca

    Stay connected

    Follow PrairiesCan on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn

    Toll-Free Number: 1-888-338-9378
    TTY (telecommunications device for the hearing impaired):     1-877-303-3388

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Employment and Social Development Canada launches a new life event hub to better support Canadians experiencing loss

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    News release

    November 4, 2024              Ottawa, Ontario              Employment and Social Development Canada

    It is a priority for the Government of Canada to help Canadians deal with major life events. Navigating a death and knowing what to do when someone dies can be one of the hardest things we’ll ever experience.  Today, Employment and Social Development Canada introduced a new portal to help Canadians deal with the difficult circumstances surrounding death.

    Instead of having to navigate countless web pages, Canadians will now have all the information they need in one place. The “What to do when someone dies” Hub is designed to provide Canadians with a simple and improved experience that will help them better understand their next steps, available services, benefits, and programs.

    The Hub will direct Canadians to the services they need, whether they are a family member, a funeral home representative or an executor or liquidator. A key feature of the Hub is its personalized questionnaire. After Canadians answer a few simple questions, the tool will provide them with a personalized checklist and information on the benefits and services that apply to their situation.

    This new life event hub builds on the previous success of the Retirement Hub launched in October 2023, which has served more than 450,000 visitors in understanding their retirement options.

    Quotes

    “Experiencing the loss of a loved one is undoubtedly one of life’s most challenging moments. That’s why our government is dedicated to enhancing your access to essential benefits and services during significant life events such as death, birth, retirement, and marriage. This new life event hub is an innovative online tool designed to guide Canadians through the process after a loved one’s passing. It offers a straightforward, compassionate, and comprehensive experience to support you during this time. This initiative is a meaningful step toward simplifying government services, ensuring they are easier to navigate for those facing the heartache of losing someone special. We’re here for you every step of the way.”

    – Minister of Citizens’ Services, Terry Beech

    Quick facts

    • Survivors may be entitled to the following benefits:

      • Canada Pension Plan (CPP) survivor’s pension
      • CPP Allowance for the Survivor
      • CPP death benefit
      • Canadian Benefit for Parents of Young Victims of Crime
      • Canada student loan forgiveness

    • Benefit amounts will vary according to the survivor’s unique situation. Please note, there may be additional benefits available if the deceased was member of a specific group such as the Canadian Armed Forces, RCMP, Public Service, First Nations, Métis, Inuit, or Students.

    Associated links

    Contacts

    For media inquiries, please contact:

    Teodor Gaspar
    Acting Director of Communications
    Office of the Minister of Citizens’ Services
    teodor.gaspar@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca

    Media Relations Office
    Employment and Social Development Canada
    819-994-5559
    media@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
    Follow us on X (Twitter)
    Follow us on Facebook

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Oil and gas greenhouse gas pollution cap – Backgrounder to CGI Regulations

    Source: Government of Canada News

    Backgrounder

    November 4, 2024

    Context

    The proposed oil and gas greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution cap will incentivize the sector to invest in technically achievable decarbonization to attain significant emission reductions by 2030-2032. The policy will put the sector on a pathway to carbon neutrality by 2050, while enabling it to continue to respond to global demand.

    Oil and gas companies in Canada have proven repeatedly that they can innovate and develop new technologies to produce more competitive oil and gas with less pollution.

    While it continues to be a major supplier to global markets, Canada’s oil and gas sector has the opportunity to reinvest in its own competitiveness ahead of the anticipated future decline in global demand for oil and gas in a low-carbon future. Reinvesting in cleaner oil and gas production ensures that the sector contributes its fair share to GHG reductions in Canada and positions Canada for a stronger future for its workers and economy.

    The oil and gas sector is experiencing record profits within Canada. Coming out of the pandemic, operating profits in the oil and gas sector increased tenfold from $6.6 billion in 2019 to $66.6 billion in 2022. Despite that, there has been limited and declining overall investment in the sector in Canada over the last several years.

    The proposed Regulations would establish a cap-and-trade system that is designed to recognize producers with better emission performance and motivate higher-polluting facilities to reinvest record profits into more pollution-reducing projects.

    The oil and gas sector is a major contributor to Canada’s economy. In 2023, the sector generated $209 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) (PDF) and accounted for 25% of Canada’s exports (valued at $177 billion). It is also a major employer across the country, directly employing 181,800 people in 2023.

    The oil and gas sector is also Canada’s largest source of GHG pollution, responsible for 31% of Canada’s GHG emissions in 2022. Decreasing emissions in the oil and gas sector by introducing a cap on GHG pollution is necessary to ensure that the sector contributes its fair share to Canada’s ongoing efforts to tackle climate change and reach our GHG emission reduction targets and international commitments under the Paris Agreement.

    Strengthening emission performance and carbon management technologies in Canada’s oil and gas sector

    Canada’s oil and gas sector has the potential to be a supplier of choice as the demand for oil and gas for combustion declines in a low-carbon future. This would enable the sector to continue to be a major employer and source of economic activity across Canada, particularly in oil- and gas-producing regions.

    The proposed Regulations put a limit on pollution, not production. The proposed Regulations are carefully designed around what is technically achievable within the sector, while enabling continued production growth in response to global demand. In fact, modelling shows that Canadian oil and gas production is projected to increase 16% between 2019 and the 2030-2032 period with the proposed Regulations in place.

    Major emissions-reduction opportunities are available, and oil and gas producers are already investing in them. Methane is a particularly potent greenhouse gas, and most methane emissions represent a wasted resource because they are from leaks and other unintended sources. Preventing methane emissions is one of the lowest-cost ways to reduce GHG emissions, and the sector’s efforts have resulted in a steady decline in these emissions. New regulations to be finalized later this fall will ensure that the sector continues to cut methane emissions by at least 75% from 2012 levels by 2030. 

    Carbon capture is also going to play an increasingly important role in reducing emissions from oil and gas production, and Canada is well placed to cement its position as a global leader in this critical technology. According to both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), there is no credible path to carbon neutrality without carbon management technologies, such as carbon capture and storage, and their deployment must be rapid and immense, scaling up by nearly 200 times by 2050.

    The shift toward a low-carbon economy has created a rush of capital toward carbon management technologies worldwide. In the United States, there are many new carbon capture projects being deployed, with 150 currently under review at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

    Canada has already established itself as a first mover and leader in the global carbon management sector, with some of the world’s first large-scale projects; favourable geology; cutting-edge innovators and start-ups; early investments in research, development, and demonstration; deep technical expertise; a robust policy and regulatory environment at the federal and provincial levels; and active international collaboration. The Government of Canada has launched a suite of policies with a mix of financial supports and regulatory measures to better position Canada’s economy for success.

    Approximately one-sixth of the world’s active large-scale carbon management projects, which use a range of approaches to capture carbon dioxide from point sources or directly from the atmosphere to be reused or durably stored, can be found in Canada, with a growing number in the construction, design and development phase across multiple sectors and regions.

    The continued development and deployment of carbon management technologies to help achieve Canada’s climate objectives will form the basis of a world-leading, multi-billion-dollar carbon management sector in Canada that supports inclusive, high-value employment, significant export opportunities and a more sustainable economy.

    Point-source carbon capture is a leading option for deep emissions reductions from the upstream oil and gas sector. Given the long lifespan of many existing heavy industrial facilities and the value of these industries to the Canadian economy, public-private collaboration is critical to advance strategic, economical, and regionally appropriate decarbonization pathways.

    The GHG oil and gas pollution cap adds to a suite of policy measures, which are designed to shift the oil and gas industry increasingly toward cleaner production through the use of carbon management systems and other technologies, including to reduce methane emissions and to switch to cleaner fuels. Those include other successful regulatory measures, such as federal, provincial, and territorial carbon pricing systems for industry, including Alberta’s TIER system, the federal Output-Based Pricing System, federal and provincial methane regulations, and the Clean Fuel Regulations.

    They also include a wide range of financial supports to support deployment and help develop the innovation ecosystem for carbon reduction technologies in Canada, including:

    • $319 million over 7 years for RD&D to advance the commercial viability of emerging carbon management technologies.
    • Refundable CCUS Investment Tax Credit (ITC), expected to provide $12.5 billion between 2022-2023 and 2034-2035, for eligible projects that enable permanent CO2 storage.
    • The Canada Growth Fund, totalling $15 billion, offers investment tools such as contracts for differences designed to address risk and accelerate private sector investment to grow Canada’s clean economy, including in the carbon management sector.
    • Strategic Innovation Fund, with $8 billion in funding to help companies reduce emissions and grow their business sustainably.
    • The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) invests in CCUS infrastructure projects, including through its Project Acceleration funding for front-end engineering and design (FEED) capital expenditures.

    Increasingly, large-scale carbon capture projects are being built in both the oil and gas sector and other sectors. Recent projects include:

    • Strathcona Resources, an oilsands company with assets in Saskatchewan and Alberta and Canada’s fifth-largest oil producer, is launching a $2 billion project to store up to two million tonnes of CO2 per year, while creating hundreds of new jobs. The project has received support from the Canada Growth Fund.
    • Entropy, an Alberta-based company, is working on a project that will enable emissions reductions of approximately 2.8 million tonnes over 15 years and support more than 1,200 good jobs for Albertans.
    • Shell announced two new projects in Alberta: the Polaris Carbon Capture project and the Atlas Carbon Storage Hub. These projects aim to reduce industrial emissions by transitioning to cleaner technology. The Polaris project will capture approximately 650,000 tonnes of carbon a year while the Atlas project will store the captured carbon from Polaris and potentially other industrial facilities in the future. Once complete in 2028, these projects are expected to generate up to 2,000 jobs for Albertans.
    • The North West Redwater (NWR) Sturgeon Refinery, also operating in the Alberta Industrial Heartland, is the world’s first bitumen refinery built with carbon capture. 
    • The Alberta Carbon Trunk Line (ACTL), which transports captured carbon from facilities for storage in oil fields, will be used by new carbon capture projects throughout the province to transport captured CO2 to final storage sites.  
    • Linde announced an investment of more than $2 billion to build a clean hydrogen facility that will supply Dow’s Path2Zero production complex in Alberta. The facility will capture more than 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year for sequestration.

    Extensive consultation to date on the oil and gas GHG pollution cap

    The Government of Canada has engaged a broad range of partners and stakeholders on the oil and gas GHG pollution cap, including provinces and territories, Indigenous partners, industry, environmental groups, and Canadians. The government has held webinars, convened meetings, and published discussion papers to seek input and feedback. Since November 2021, the government has received over 250 written submissions from organizations, held over 100 meetings, and hosted seven public webinars.  

    The government published a Regulatory Framework to Cap Oil and Gas Sector GHG Emissions in December 2023. This Framework confirmed the government’s intent to implement the oil and gas GHG pollution cap through a new cap-and-trade system, and proposed various regulatory design features, including which subsectors would be covered by the oil and gas GHG pollution cap, the level of the GHG pollution cap, and rules about flexible compliance options.

    The proposed Regulations are carefully designed based on what is technically achievable in the sector, setting a limit on pollution, not production. Technically achievable emissions reductions were estimated based on an assessment of the abatement technologies that could feasibly be deployed within the upstream and LNG activities in the oil and gas sector by 2030-2032, considering the status of available technologies, projected levels of production, the availability of equipment and labour, and timelines for permitting and approvals.

    Estimates of technically achievable reductions included reductions related to compliance with the strengthened methane regulations, installation of carbon capture and storage technology, and electrification. The risk that not all technically achievable reductions would be implemented in time for the first compliance period was also taken into consideration.

    The government has now published proposed Regulations (PDF) to implement the oil and gas GHG pollution cap, and invites input from November 9, 2024, to January 8, 2025. The government will continue to engage with partners and stakeholders in the development of final regulations.

    Key components of the proposed national cap-and-trade system for oil and gas greenhouse gas pollution

    The proposed Oil and Gas Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap Regulations (proposed Regulations) would establish a national cap-and-trade system that would apply to upstream oil and gas activities including onshore and offshore oil and gas production; oil sands production and upgrading; natural gas production and processing; and the production of LNG.

    The proposed Regulations have been developed under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA). Since 1988, CEPA has been used to address a wide range of environmental issues, including air pollution, chemicals, plastics and GHG emissions.

    • The cap-and-trade system will freely allocate emissions allowances to facilities covered by the system. At the end of each year, each facility will need to remit to the government one allowance for each tonne of carbon pollution it has emitted. Over time, the government will give out fewer allowances, corresponding to the declining emissions cap.
    • Operators will face an ongoing incentive to reduce their emissions. If an operator does not have enough allowances to cover their emissions, they will be able to buy allowances from other operators that have invested in pollution reduction. Operators can also contribute to a decarbonization program or use GHG offset credits to cover a small portion of their emissions (up to 10% for the decarbonization program and up to 20% for offsets, for a maximum of 20% for both options). The decarbonization program would fund projects that support the reduction of emissions from the sector. The total of all allowances and the overall 20% limit on compliance flexibility creates a legal upper bound on emissions from the sector.
    • The oil and gas GHG pollution cap will limit emissions, not production, and will encourage industry to reinvest into projects that lower pollution while providing flexibility to respond to changes in the global market.  
    • To make sure the oil and gas GHG pollution cap accounts for current activity levels, the proposed Regulations would use data reported by operators for 2026 to set the first oil and gas GHG pollution cap level. The oil and gas GHG pollution cap for the first compliance period, 2030-2032, would be set at 27% below emissions reported for 2026, which is estimated to be equivalent to 35% below 2019 emissions.
    • Using 2026 for reported data means the oil and gas GHG pollution cap would be based on real-world conditions. The final oil and gas GHG pollution cap level would be published before the end of 2027.
    • The proposed Regulations allocate allowances to covered operators using specified distribution rates—defined in allowances per unit of production—for each type of covered activity. Allowances will be distributed before the start of each year (starting in 2029 for 2030, the first compliance year). To ensure that allowances are distributed to the level of the emissions cap for each year, the allowances distributed would be pro-rated across all facilities receiving them.

    The system would be phased in for the first four years (2026-2029). During that period, operators would be required to register and report their emissions and production. Large emitters will start reporting in 2027 for their 2026 emissions and production levels. Reporting for small operators would start in 2029 for their 2028 levels. Operators would need to submit verified annual reports to Environment and Climate Change Canada for their facilities for every calendar year. Reports would be due on June 1 of the following year. The reports would be used to identify which operators will be subject to the pollution cap and have remittance obligations.

    Annual reports would include the GHG emissions attributed to the facility and the production amount by industrial activity. The Quantification Methods for the Oil and Gas Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap Regulations (the Quantification Methods) would define methods to calculate each source of emissions and would provide certain default values. In addition to the draft regulations, the government is seeking feedback on the Quantification Methods.

    All operators would be required to register and report, but only large operators (producing above an annual threshold of 365,000 barrels of oil equivalent) would have to remit allowances to cover their emissions. Large operators account for approximately 99% of the upstream sector’s emissions. The government would distribute emissions allowances to covered operators annually, before the start of each compliance year. Allowances would be pro-rated across all covered operators’ facilities based on historical production volumes. Allowances would not be able to be used for compliance under other carbon pricing systems, such as the federal Output-Based Pricing System (OBPS). There would be no limits to the number of allowances operators covered under the oil and gas GHG pollution cap could hold, and allowances could be traded among operators.

    Emissions allowances and offsets could be banked for use in a limited number of future years. Decarbonization units would not be tradable or bankable.

    Economic impacts of the proposed Regulations

    Environment and Climate Change Canada undertook an economic cost-benefit analysis of the proposed Regulations. Costs and benefits have been evaluated relative to a baseline that assumes production in the oil and gas sector grows, existing federal and provincial GHG measures remain in place, and the sector achieves the 75% reduction in methane emissions relative to 2012 levels, as a result of the forthcoming oil and gas methane regulations.

    The proposed pollution cap Regulations are estimated to result in net cumulative GHG emission reductions of 13.4 Mt above the baseline of reductions between 2025 and 2030-2032 that will be achieved by existing measures. That incremental reduction is valued at almost $4 billion in avoided global climate change damages. When compared to the costs, modelling showed that the proposed Regulations are estimated to have net benefits of $428 million for Canada.

    Importantly, this multi-million-dollar benefit does not account for a wide range of additional benefits likely to be associated with the proposed Regulations, including:

    • the additional economic activity and jobs associated with post-2032 investments in carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) and other major decarbonization activities;
    • the stimulation of innovation and new low-carbon industries, such as clean hydrogen;
    • the economic and health benefits of reducing air pollution, which will improve the quality of life for many people and reduce the strain on our healthcare systems; and
    • the longer-term competitiveness benefits of a decarbonized Canadian oil and gas sector in a world that continues to take action to fight climate change and adhere to existing international and domestic climate commitments.

    The oil and gas sector directly and indirectly supports a significant workforce, especially in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Modelling for the 2019 to 2030-2032 period shows that labour expenditure in the sectors covered by the proposed Regulations is expected to grow by 53%, which is only slightly below the 55 % growth in the baseline scenario.

    Additionally, jobs in clean energy will continue to grow. A 2023 Clean Energy Canada report found that Canada will see 700,000 more energy jobs in a carbon-neutral 2050 scenario than we have today. 419,000 of these jobs will be in Alberta, representing three jobs for every individual worker employed in Alberta’s upstream energy sector as of 2022.

    Oil and gas prices correspond to global market demand, and they do not typically reflect the cost of production. As such, the risk of compliance costs passed through from the oil and gas sector to Canadians is very low, and the proposed Regulations are not expected to affect the cost of everyday items such as fuel or groceries.

    Provincial leadership

    British Columbia previously announced it will put in place an oil and gas emissions cap to serve as a backstop to the federal policy. The goal will be to meet BC’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and avoid regulatory duplication and administrative burden for the oil and gas sector.

    Alberta, in its Emissions Reduction and Energy Development Plan (2023), communicated its goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and signalled it would explore options to achieve a 75-80% reduction in methane emissions from conventional oil and gas by 2030. Alberta has had a price on carbon emissions since 2007, making it the first jurisdiction in North America to price carbon. The province’s industrial carbon pricing system, implemented as set out in the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) Regulation, recycles its proceeds to invest in emissions reduction projects including in the oil and gas sector, such as methane emissions abatement.

    Saskatchewan is a leader in carbon capture and sequestration technology, with several projects aimed at capturing CO2 emissions from oil and gas production. In 2014, the Boundary Dam project became the first power station in the world to successfully use carbon capture and storage technology. The province is also addressing methane emissions, including improving leak detection and repair practices and implementing best practices for gas flaring and venting.

    Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore oil sector is already one of the lowest-emitting in the country. The newest planned production project—Bay du Nord—was approved with the historic requirement for the project to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Like all other oil- and gas-producing provinces, NL implements a price on industrial carbon emissions via its provincial output-based pricing system.

    Note on third party reports

    The Government of Canada is aware of third-party reports conducted by Conference Board of Canada, Deloitte and S&P.

    These reports are based on a broad range of assumptions including elements of the previously published Regulatory Framework or, in some cases, other assumptions made by the authors. A common assumption found in the reports was that the oil and gas sector would take limited to no additional action to reduce emissions without the regulations.

    These reports do not reflect an accurate analysis of the current draft regulations. The Government of Canada welcomes continued sharing of analysis to help refine the proposed Regulations.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Disaster Recovery Center Will Open Tuesday in Macon County

    Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency 2

    strong>RALEIGH, N.C. –  A Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) will open Tuesday, Nov. 5, in Franklin (Macon County) to assist North Carolina survivors who experienced loss from Tropical Storm Helene.  
    The Macon County DRC is located at:
    Macon County Public Health Center
    1830 Lakeside Drive
    Franklin, NC 28734
    Open: 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. daily
    A DRC is a one-stop shop where survivors can meet face-to-face with FEMA representatives, apply for FEMA assistance, receive referrals to local assistance in their area, apply with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for low-interest disaster loans and much more.  
    FEMA financial assistance may include money for basic home repairs, personal property losses or other uninsured, disaster-related needs such as childcare, transportation, medical needs, funeral or dental expenses. 
    To find additional DRC locations, go to fema.gov/drc or text “DRC” and a ZIP code to 43362. All centers are accessible to people with disabilities or access and functional needs and are equipped with assistive technology.   
    Homeowners and renters in 39 North Carolina counties and tribal members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians can visit any open center, including locations in other states. No appointment is needed.  
    It is not necessary to go to a center to apply for FEMA assistance. The fastest way to apply is online at DisasterAssistance.gov or via the FEMA App. You may also call 800-621-3362. If you use a relay service, such as video relay, captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA your number for that service. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: $20 Million for Home Resiliency Repairs and Upgrades

    Source: US State of New York

    Governor Kathy Hochul today announced up to $20 million is available for eligible homeowners in flood prone areas to make proactive flood mitigation and energy-efficiency improvements to their homes as part of a new round of funding for the Resilient Retrofits Program. This latest round of funding builds upon the program’s initial $10 million allocation as part of a pilot phase in 2023.

    “We are committed to building resilient communities and ensuring more New Yorkers are protected from extreme weather before it occurs,” Governor Hochul said. “By expanding our successful Resilient Retrofits program, eligible homeowners have access to additional resources that can help keep their families and their homes out of harm’s way.”

    Eligible homeowners earning up to 120 percent of their Area Median Income can apply for up to $50,000, half of which is available as a grant and half as a three percent low-interest loan. Program funds can be used to cover the cost of proactive improvements such as: installing flood vents, a sump pump, or backwater valve/backflow preventer; moving utilities above the flood line; adding insulation; electrifying heating systems; or installing energy efficient appliances or lighting.

    Resilient Retrofits is managed by New York State Homes and Community Renewal’s Office of Resilient Homes and Communities, a permanent office which assumed the portfolio of the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery in 2022.

    The program has three local program administrators – Home HeadQuarters based in Syracuse, the Center for New York City Neighborhoods based in New York City, and Community Development Corporation of Long Island based in Suffolk County. All program administrators are now accepting applications. Contact information, along with program information, is available on HCR’s website.

    Since Resilient Retrofits launched as a pilot in 2023, more than 200 homeowners have been approved and 60 homes have completed their resiliency upgrades. Applications have been received from homeowners in cities across the State including Syracuse, Buffalo and New York City. The program also served nearly 20 homeowners in the Shinnecock Tribal Nations in the town of Southampton.

    The program complements New York’s efforts to address climate change by achieving economy-wide carbon-neutrality by 2050 and is an example of HCR’s investments in sustainability and resilience including long-term recovery efforts for Hurricane Ida, investing clean energy projects in affordable housing and assisting residents with weatherization of their homes among other initiatives.

    New York State Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas said, “The unpredictability and ferocity of storms caused by climate change requires us to take proactive steps to protect our communities in the face of future serious weather. By expanding this innovative program, we can help hundreds of additional homeowners so they can make the types of improvements that protect their homes for the long-term. We thank Governor Hochul for her holistic approach to preserving the State’s housing stock, strengthening resiliency, mitigating flooding and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our communities.”

    State Senator Brian Kavanagh said, “I’ve been happy to work closely with Governor Hochul, Commissioner Visnauskas and my colleagues in the Legislature to fund the Resilient Retrofits Program. We need to continue to expand this and other initiatives to ensure that all New Yorkers have access to affordable, safe and sustainable housing, and to take decisive action to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. Building upon our ongoing energy transition and resiliency work, such as the All-Electric Building Act and the Climate Friendly Homes Fund, this infusion of funds will enable New Yorkers to make critical improvements to reduce flood risk and make their homes more resilient and energy-efficient. I thank Governor Hochul, Commissioner Visnauskas and everyone at HCR involved in implementing this program, my colleagues in the Legislature, the community organizations administering the grants and the participating property owners, for their ongoing commitment to making New York a leader in sustainability. I look forward to working to increase funding for this program in the years to come.”

    Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. said, “Queens knows all too well the devastating impacts that climate change can deal to our communities. From Superstorm Sandy to Hurricane Ida and beyond, Queens residents have had their properties and lives forever altered by flood waters, even in inland neighborhoods. The resilient retrofit program has been a game-changer for residents who want to protect their homes from these dangers. I applaud Governor Hochul for this critical expansion of funding, representing a direct investment in the long-term health of our communities.”

    Home HeadQuarters Founder and CEO Kerry Quaglia said, “Home HeadQuarters is honored to be a part of the New York State Resilient Retrofits Program, a program that delivers vital funding to help homeowners fortify their homes against future flood, rain and climate damage. We know that flooding can happen anytime and anywhere, severely impacting what is often a family’s greatest investment — their home. We are grateful that New York State is responding to our changing climate and helping us support our community’s homeowners.”

    Community Development Long Island President & CEO Gwen O’Shea said, “Long Island ranks among the most vulnerable regions in the country for exposure to the physical and economic risks of climate change; specifically rising sea levels and flooding. CDLI is proud to partner with Governor Hochul and HCR to provide financial support through the Resiliency Retrofit program. These critical funds will allow homeowners to undertake the vital mitigation and sustainability improvements to protect their most precious asset, their home.”

    Center for NYC Neighborhoods CEO and Executive Director Christie Peale said, “We are honored to partner with Governor Hochul and the HCR in advancing the Resilient Retrofits program. This critical funding will empower New York City’s low- and moderate-income homeowners to protect their homes against the impacts of climate change and improve energy efficiency, while supporting community resilience. The Center for NYC Neighborhoods is committed to ensuring that every eligible homeowner has access to these vital resources, strengthening neighborhoods across the City and fostering long-term stability in the face of increasing environmental challenges.”

    New York State’s Nation-Leading Climate Plan
    New York State’s climate agenda calls for an orderly and just transition that creates family-sustaining jobs, continues to foster a green economy across all sectors, and ensures that a minimum of 35 percent, with a goal of 40 percent, of the benefits of clean energy investments are directed to disadvantaged communities. Guided by some of the nation’s most aggressive climate and clean energy initiatives, New York is advancing a suite of efforts — including the New York Cap-and-Invest program (NYCI) and other complementary policies — to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels.

    New York is also on a path toward a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030 and economy-wide carbon neutrality by mid-century. A cornerstone of this transition is New York’s unprecedented clean energy investments, including more than $28 billion in 61 large-scale renewable and transmission projects across the State, $6.8 billion to reduce building emissions, $3.3 billion to scale up solar, nearly $3 billion for clean transportation initiatives and over $2 billion in NY Green Bank commitments.

    These and other investments are supporting more than 170,000 jobs in New York’s clean energy sector as of 2022 and an over 3,000 percent growth in the distributed solar sector since 2011. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality, New York also adopted zero-emission vehicle regulations, including the requirement for all new passenger cars and light-duty trucks sold in the State to be zero emission by 2035. Partnerships are continuing to advance New York’s climate action with more than 420 registered and more than 150 certified Climate Smart Communities, over 500 Clean Energy Communities and the State’s largest community air monitoring initiative in 10 disadvantaged communities across the State to help target air pollution and combat climate change.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Supplemental Disaster Benefits Issued to People Receiving Food and Nutrition Benefits in 23 Counties Impacted by Hurricane Helene

    Source: US State of North Carolina

    Headline: Supplemental Disaster Benefits Issued to People Receiving Food and Nutrition Benefits in 23 Counties Impacted by Hurricane Helene

    Supplemental Disaster Benefits Issued to People Receiving Food and Nutrition Benefits in 23 Counties Impacted by Hurricane Helene
    hejones1

    In response to Hurricane Helene, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is providing one-time disaster supplement benefits to help households already receiving Food and Nutrition Services in 23 counties. This supplemental payment was automatically loaded onto participants’ Electronic Benefit Transfer cards Sunday and are now available for use. There is no action FNS participants need to take to receive the benefit.  The total benefit is more than $16 million that was issued to 68,000 households and 135,000 FNS participants in western North Carolina. The benefit will bring FNS recipients up to the maximum benefit level they can receive for their monthly benefit for one month.

    “We are pulling every lever we can to provide support for people and families impacted by Hurricane Helene,” said NC Health and Human Services Secretary Kody H. Kinsley. “Our commitment to helping communities rebuild and recover from Hurricane Helene includes ensuring no one goes hungry during this challenging time.”

    NCDHHS received federal authority to issue this one-month disaster benefit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure households receive the same level of support as those newly eligible for Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) benefits due to the hurricane. If ongoing SNAP households are not already at the maximum benefit level for their household size, these supplements will bring their benefits up to that maximum amount.

    For an individual, the benefit brings them up to a total of $292; for a family of four, the benefit received brings the family up to $975; and for a family of seven, the benefit ensures the family receives $1,536. The benefit total is based on what the household received in September. Individuals and households already receiving the maximum monthly benefit are not eligible for the disaster benefit supplement.

    Individuals and households receiving FNS benefits in the following 23 counties approved by the USDA will receive the one-time benefit: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey counties.

    For more information about disaster supplements and eligibility, please visit www.ncdhhs.gov/fns or contact your local DSS office. For information regarding Hurricane Helene and additional resources and flexibilities in place go to www.ncdhhs.gov/helene or www.ncdps.gov/helene. 

    ###

    In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), religious creed, disability, age, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

    Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the agency (state or local) where they applied for benefits. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

    To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to:

    1. Mail: 
      Food and Nutrition Service, USDA
      1320 Braddock Place, Room 334
      Alexandria, VA 22314; or
    2. Fax:
      (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
    3. Email:
      FNSCIVILRIGHTSCOMPLAINTS@usda.gov

    This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

    En respuesta al huracán Helene, el Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos de Carolina del Norte está proporcionando beneficios suplementarios para desastres para ayudar a los hogares que ya reciben Servicios de Alimentos y Nutrición en 23 condados. Este pago suplementario se cargó automáticamente en las tarjetas de transferencia electrónica de beneficios de los participantes el domingo y ahora está disponible para su uso. No hay ninguna acción que los participantes de Servicios de Alimentos y Nutrición (FNS, por sus siglas en inglés) deban tomar para recibir el beneficio.  El beneficio total es de más de $ 16 millones que se emitió a 68,000 hogares y 135,000 participantes de FNS en el oeste de Carolina del Norte. El beneficio llevará a los beneficiarios de FNS hasta el nivel máximo de beneficio que pueden recibir por su beneficio mensual durante un mes.

    “Estamos haciendo todo lo posible para brindar apoyo a las personas y familias afectadas por el huracán Helene”, dijo el secretario de Salud y Servicios Humanos de Carolina del Norte, Kody H. Kinsley. “Nuestro compromiso de ayudar a las comunidades a reconstruirse y recuperarse del huracán Helene incluye garantizar que nadie pase hambre durante este momento difícil”.

    El Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos de Carolina del Norte (NCDHHS, por sus siglas en inglés) recibió la autoridad federal para emitir este beneficio de un mes para desastres por parte del Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos, para garantizar que los hogares reciban el mismo nivel de apoyo que los recién elegibles para los beneficios del Programa de Asistencia Nutricional Suplementaria para Desastres (D-SNAP, por sus siglas en inglés) debido al huracán. Si los hogares que ya reciben SNAP aún no están en el nivel máximo de beneficios para el tamaño de su hogar, estos suplementos llevarán sus beneficios hasta esa cantidad máxima.

    Para un individuo, el beneficio lo lleva a un total de $ 292 dólares; para una familia de cuatro, el beneficio recibido lleva a la familia hasta $ 975 dólares; y para una familia de siete, el beneficio asegura que la familia reciba $ 1,536 dólares. El total de beneficios se basa en lo que el hogar recibió en septiembre. Las personas y los hogares que ya reciben el beneficio mensual máximo no son elegibles para el suplemento de beneficios por desastre.

    Las personas y los hogares que reciben beneficios del FNS en los siguientes 23 condados aprobados por el la Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos (USDA, por sus siglas en inglés) recibirán el beneficio único: los condados de Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes y Yancey.

    Para obtener más información sobre los suplementos para desastres y los requisitos, visite www.ncdhhs.gov/fns o comuníquese con su oficina local de DSS. Para obtener información sobre el huracán Helene y los recursos y flexibilidades adicionales disponibles, visite www.ncdhhs.gov/helene o www.ncdps.gov/helene.

    ###

    De acuerdo con la ley federal de derechos civiles y las regulaciones y políticas de derechos civiles del Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos (USDA, por sus siglas en inglés), esta institución tiene prohibido discriminar por motivos de raza, color, origen nacional, sexo (incluyendo la identidad de género y la orientación sexual), credo religioso, discapacidad, edad, creencias políticas o represalias o repercusiones por actividades anteriores en defensa de los derechos civiles.

    La información del programa puede estar disponible en otros idiomas además del inglés. Las personas con discapacidades que necesiten medios alternativos de comunicación para obtener información sobre el programa (braille, letra grande, cinta de audio, lenguaje de señas estadounidense, etc.) deben contactar a la agencia estatal o local en la que solicitaron los beneficios. Las personas sordas o con problemas de audición o discapacidades del habla pueden comunicarse con el USDA a través del Servicio de Retransmisión/Relé Federal al (800) 877-8339.

    Para presentar una queja por discriminación, el demandante debe completar un Formulario AD-3027, Formulario de queja de discriminación de programa del USDA, que se puede obtener en línea en: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, desde cualquier oficina del USDA, llamando al (866) 632-9992 o escribiendo una carta dirigida al USDA. La carta debe contener el nombre, dirección y número de teléfono del demandante, así como una descripción escrita de la supuesta acción discriminatoria con el suficiente detalle para informar al subsecretario de Derechos Civiles (ASCR, por sus siglas en inglés) sobre la naturaleza y la fecha de una supuesta violación de los derechos civiles. El formulario AD-3027 completo o la carta debe enviarse a:

    1. Correo: 
      Food and Nutrition Service, USDA
      1320 Braddock Place, Sala 334
      Alexandria, VA 22314
    2. Fax: 0-0
      (833) 256-1665 o (202) 690-7442
    3. Correo electrónico:
      FNSCIVILRIGHTSCOMPLAINTS@usda.gov

    Esta institución ofrece igualdad de oportunidades. 

    Nov 4, 2024

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta, Newsom Administration File Lawsuit Against Norwalk Over Unlawful Housing Ban

    Source: US State of California

    Lawsuit seeks court order compelling Norwalk to repeal housing ban

    LOS ANGELES — California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Governor Gavin Newsom, and California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Director Gustavo Velasquez today announced filing a lawsuit against the City of Norwalk over its unlawful ban on new housing for California’s most vulnerable residents, including emergency shelters, single-room occupancy housing, transitional housing, and supportive housing. Filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the lawsuit alleges that Norwalk’s ban violates numerous state laws and seeks an order compelling the city to repeal its ban. In addition, the lawsuit asks the court to impose other remedies afforded under state law such as temporarily suspending the city’s nonresidential permitting authority and prohibiting the city from denying qualifying affordable housing projects. 

    “Today’s lawsuit should come as no surprise. Despite receiving several warnings, the City of Norwalk has refused to repeal its unlawful ban on new supportive housing for our most vulnerable residents. Enough is enough,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Every city and county in California has a legal obligation to help solve our homelessness crisis. We have not, and will not hesitate, to ensure that everyone with the power to approve or disapprove housing takes their duties seriously.”

    “The Norwalk City Council’s failure to reverse this ban, despite knowing it is unlawful, is inexcusable,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “No community should turn its back on its residents in need.”

    “Norwalk’s moratorium on housing for its most vulnerable residents is not only unlawful — it is a rejection of people’s basic health, safety, and humanity,” said HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez. “We’re grateful for the Attorney General’s partnership to ensure all cities and counties are held accountable when they fail to comply with state housing law. I am disappointed the city did not reverse course on its own accord, choosing instead to waste time and public resources and be forced by the court to do the right thing.”

    Today’s lawsuit alleges that Norwalk has violated (1) California’s urgency ordinance statute; (2) the Housing Crisis Act; (3) the Housing Element Law; (4) the Anti-Discrimination in Land Use Law; (5) the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Law; and (6) the by-right laws for supportive housing and emergency shelters.

    On July 13, 2023, Attorney General Bonta issued legal guidance to local governments, reminding them of the strict requirements under state law for enacting so-called “urgency zoning ordinances.” The California Department of Justice observed that some local jurisdictions were responding to state housing laws passed in recent years by enacting such ordinances in an apparent attempt to limit or circumvent state housing mandates. Under California Government Code Section 65858, urgency zoning ordinances require written “legislative findings that there is a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety, or welfare” demanding immediate action.

    Without the required legislative findings or any deliberation, the five-member Norwalk City Council unanimously passed on August 6, 2024 an urgency zoning ordinance imposing a 45-day ban, or moratorium, on new supportive housing. On September 16, 2024, HCD issued a Notice of Violation to the city, warning of impending legal action if the city did not repeal the ban. Despite the warning, the Norwalk City Council unanimously extended the ban on September 17, 2024 for an additional 10 months and 15 days, once again without the required legislative findings or any deliberation. On October 3, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that HCD had decertified Norwalk’s housing element. Without a compliant housing element, Norwalk can no longer deny certain affordable housing projects and is no longer eligible to receive key state housing and homelessness funds. To date, Norwalk has not repealed the ban. 

    A copy of the lawsuit can be found here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Winter Park Express Will Offer Expanded Service for 2025 Winter Season; Including the 2024 December Holidays

    Source: US State of Colorado

    WINTER PARK — Today, the Winter Park Express (WPE), operated by Amtrak, announced in cooperation with the State of Colorado and the Colorado Department of Transportation, that it will kick off the 2025 season with expanded service five days a week, launching on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. To offer even more convenience and to meet demand, the Winter Park Express will also offer a special expanded holiday service Dec. 20-22, and Dec. 27-29, 2024. Regular expanded service will run Thursday through Monday, from January 9 through March 31, 2025. Tickets, with a significantly lower price this year, go on sale today, Monday, November 4. 

    “The Winter Park Express is a great opportunity for Coloradans and visitors to explore our mountains without the hassle of driving or traffic. Now with expanded service and lower costs, Coloradans can save time and money on our way to enjoying our great outdoors. I look forward to taking the train into the mountains this season,” said Governor Jared Polis. 

    Winter Park Resort offers its expanded and improved WPE through cooperation and partnership with the State of Colorado and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). Tickets for this year’s Winter Park Express range from $19 – $39 and children 2-12 are eligible for 50% off base fares. These fare prices are 43% lower than previous years’ fares and will be available beginning today. 

    Passenger rail along the Front Range and through the U.S. Highway 40 mountain corridor is an important priority for Coloradans and the Polis-Primavera administration, and the Winter Park Express shows public demand for more mass transit options through the mountains and beyond. The rail line on which the Winter Park Express operates is the first leg of proposed mountain passenger rail that would run from Denver to Craig. 

    Winter Park Express expanded service will run every Thursday through Monday, January through March. The expanded service is also adding a stop at the Fraser platform, five miles west of Winter Park. That means the Winter Park Express will more effectively serve non-ski passengers wanting to travel from Denver to the Fraser Valley whether for business or recreation. Passengers can also load the train in Fraser for the return trip to Denver. The expanded service will also carry two additional passenger cars, raising the number of seats available from approximately 268 to 402 on each trip. A total of 69 roundtrips will operate this season, 29 more than during the 2024 season. 

    “The Winter Park Express ski train has long been a beloved tradition for Colorado and our guests from around the globe. It has demonstrated the desire from both residents and visitors for transportation options other than passenger vehicles. The Winter Park Express gives people another way to get to the slopes that’s more scenic, sustainable, and relaxing than getting in a car and driving,” said Sky Foulkes, president of Winter Park Resort. 

    Bring your skis and snowboards as a carry-on for no additional charge. While onboard, you’ll enjoy a trip in Coach class featuring wide, reclining seats with a big picture window, ample legroom and no middle seat. The train also features a bi-level Sightseer Lounge – the social hub of the train – offering panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains from upstairs and café service with snacks and drinks for sale downstairs. 

    “At CDOT, we know that big ski days often mean tough drives in the mountains, and the Winter Park Express offers a great option to take a relaxing, affordable trip. We are excited to join in this innovative partnership to expand service and lower costs for an iconic Colorado travel experience,” said CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew. 

    Tickets between Denver Union Station (station code: DEN) to Winter Park Resort (station code: WPR) and Fraser (station code: WIP) can be purchased at Amtrak.com/WinterParkExpress and the Amtrak app. The train departs Denver at 7 a.m. and arrives at the resort at 9 a.m. The return trip departs Winter Park Resort at 4:30 p.m. and arrives in Denver at 6:40 p.m. All times Mountain. Denver Union Station is served by the Regional Transportation District’s commuter trains from Denver International Airport as well as light rail, local or intercity buses, ride-sharing services, and taxis. 

    Customers in groups of up to eight can purchase Winter Park Express tickets at Amtrak.com/WinterParkExpress and the Amtrak app. Customers in groups of 9-14 can call 800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245) to make a reservation. Groups of 15 or more—including requests for exclusive railcar occupancy—should fill out this form. For more information about group travel, call 800-USA-1GRP (1-800-872-1477) weekdays 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. MT, or email GroupSales@Amtrak.com. 

    Lift tickets and other passes can be purchased directly from the Winter Park Resort website. Winter Park Resort is an Alterra Mountain Company property and its Ikon Pass welcomes skiers and riders to a community of inspiring mountain destinations across the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan 

    About Winter Park Resort 

    Winter Park Resort, Colorado’s quintessential mountain and ski resort, is located less than 70 miles from the city of Denver. Flanked by the dramatic Continental Divide and Rocky Mountains, the resort is defined by its pure natural environment, and its unique Colorado adventure culture. During the winter, Winter Park receives some of the state’s most consistent snowfall across its 3000+ acres of world-class terrain, and has been voted USA Today’s #1 Ski Resort in North America multiple times. During summer, the resort is home to renowned Trestle bike park, and has been named as Colorado’s Top Adventure Town. For more information, visit www.winterparkresort.com. 

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: In Memoriam: UConn Law Professor Joseph Harbaugh

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Joseph Harbaugh, groundbreaking inaugural director of the first clinic at the UConn School of Law and Connecticut’s former chief public defender, died on October 11, 2024.

    His 50-year career in legal education began in 1968, when he joined the UConn Law faculty after three years as chief public defender. He opened the school’s Legal Clinic the next year and immediately found success and controversy defending Vietnam War protesters in significant First Amendment cases. Harbaugh’s efforts laid the groundwork for a robust clinical program that now comprises eight in-house and seven partnership clinics.

    In 1971, Harbaugh received the Connecticut Law Review Award for his work with the clinic. He told The Legal Realist, a student newspaper, that “the hallmark of the profession’s public responsibility is the representation of unpopular causes. It would be difficult to teach high professional standards in a Legal Profession class and permit the clinic to avoid controversial issues because of their political implications.”

    “Joe planted the seeds for all that followed with respect to our clinical programs,” said Professor Emeritus Lewis Kurlantzick. “He was one of the Founding Fathers and a terrific guy as well.”

    “The UConn Law community is forever indebted to Professor Harbaugh for his pioneering work on our clinical programs,” Dean Eboni S. Nelson said. “He was a courageous leader whose influence has persisted over decades and continues to be felt today.”

    After leaving UConn Law in 1971, Harbaugh taught law at seven universities and became dean of the University of Richmond Law School from 1987 to 1995 and of Nova Southeastern University College of Law from 1995 to 2008. He also served as chief counsel of the Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee and as special assistant chief prosecuting attorney for organized crime for the Connecticut Circuit Court. He served in several leadership roles with the Association of American Law Schools and the American Bar Association.

    Harbaugh received his BS from St. Joseph’s University, LLB from the University of Pittsburgh and LLM from Georgetown University, where he was a fellow of the prestigious E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship Program. He also held an honorary JD degree from Concord Law School.

    He leaves his wife of 42 years, Barbara Britzke; seven children; nine grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. A celebration of life will be announced in the coming weeks. In lieu of flowers, the family requests charitable donations to the Joseph Harbaugh Scholarship at the Shepard Broad College of Law.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Welsh Semiconductor Company Plans to Expand Greensboro Operation for Next Generation Compound Semiconductor Materials

    Source: US State of North Carolina

    Headline: Welsh Semiconductor Company Plans to Expand Greensboro Operation for Next Generation Compound Semiconductor Materials

    Welsh Semiconductor Company Plans to Expand Greensboro Operation for Next Generation Compound Semiconductor Materials
    mseets

    Today, IQE, Inc., a global semiconductor manufacturer, announced an expansion in Guilford County, signaling its ongoing commitment to future investment in the region, subject to customer commitments and funding from the federal CHIPS Act. The company plans to add 109 jobs and invest $305 million over several years to expand its manufacturing facility for next generation compound semiconductor material in the City of Greensboro.

    “North Carolina is a manufacturing powerhouse at the intersection of innovation and legacy,” said Governor Cooper. “IQE’s major reinvestment in Guilford County is a testament to the quality of our world-class workforce, the strength of our business climate, and our leadership in clean energy and technology.”

    IQE, Inc. is the United States subsidiary of IQE, PLC. Operating in Greensboro for more than a decade and with 72 employees, IQE manufactures epi wafers using molecular beam epitaxy for the defense and aerospace industries. This potential investment would add a new, complementary epitaxy called metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and would provide a new clean technology for semiconductor chip production to help serve the electric vehicle market.

    “Greensboro has proven to be a strategic location for IQE and has provided access to exceptional talent,” said Jutta Meier, Interim CEO of IQE. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with the city as we progress further with our application for Government funding via the CHIPS Act, which along with funding commitments from the State, will provide us with the capital to invest and expand our local footprint.”

    “North Carolina has more than 110 companies exporting $1.2 billion of semiconductors and microelectronics around the world,” said N.C. Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. “As one of the top states to do business, this expansion validates our reputation for the best talent and research partnerships that continue to attract and retain advanced manufacturers like IQE.”

    Although salaries will vary by position, the average annual wage will be $64,908, which exceeds the Guilford County average of $58,843. These new jobs could potentially create an annual payroll impact of more than $7 million for the region.

    A performance-based grant of $275,000 from the One North Carolina Fund will help facilitate IQE’s expansion in North Carolina. The One NC Fund provides financial assistance to local governments to help attract economic investment and create jobs. Companies receive no money upfront and must meet job creation and capital investment targets to qualify for payment. All One NC grants require matching participation from local governments and any award is contingent upon that condition being met.

    “This announcement is outstanding news for Guilford County and the entire state,” said N.C. Senator Michael Garrett. “IQE has been a great corporate citizen for more than a decade, and I look forward to seeing the positive impact these new good-paying jobs will have on our local economy.”

    Partnering with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina on this project were the North Carolina General Assembly, the Commerce Department’s Division of Workforce Solutions, the North Carolina Community College System, Guilford Technical Community College, GuilfordWorks, the City of Greensboro, Guilford County, the Guilford County Economic Development Alliance, the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and Duke Energy.

    ###

    Nov 4, 2024

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Sentenced for Federal Civil Rights Violation Related to Vehicular Crash Involving a Motorcyclist

    Source: US State of Vermont

    A former U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Officer was sentenced today to 21 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, related to a vehicular crash involving a motorist in Washington, D.C.

    Thomas Smith, 47, pleaded guilty on Oct. 18, 2023, to deprivation of rights under color of law.

    “This defendant recklessly pursued two motorcyclists, struck one of them with his car, left the victim unconscious on the asphalt, fled the scene and then switched out his cruiser and filed no report in an attempt to cover up his violent misconduct,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Endangering community members in this manner and disregarding the law violates the victims’ civil rights and erodes trust by those the police are sworn to protect and serve. The Justice Department will aggressively prosecute officials who engage in abuses of their authority, including federal law enforcement officers.”

    “Thomas Smith abused his position of trust by engaging in a dangerous pursuit that could have been deadly – and made matters worse by obstructing the investigation into the collision he caused,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia. “Most police officers uphold the oath they took upon becoming officers, but when police officers break that oath and violate the public trust they must be held accountable.”

    According to court documents, on the evening of June 20, 2020, Smith was on duty conducting security checks at the homes of members of Congress in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., when he began pursuing two individuals riding motorized cycles. While following the motorcyclists closely, but without his emergency lights on, Smith’s USCP cruiser struck one of the motorcyclists at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, Northwest. The crash knocked the cyclist into the air before he hit the asphalt roadway.

    As the victim lay in the intersection unconscious, Smith drove his cruiser around the victim and left the scene of the collision. Smith did not notify anyone of the collision, take any action to seek medical assistance for the victim or ensure that no further harm came to the victim as he lay on the road. Hours after the collision, Smith falsified several USCP records related to the incident and lied to his superior officers about being involved in the crash.

    The FBI and USCP investigated the case, with assistance from the Metropolitan Police Department.

    Trial Attorney Sanjay Patel of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Visser for the District of Columbia prosecuted the case.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Mosquito season in southern Africa: tonic water and vitamins won’t protect you but knowing where the hotspots are will

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Shüné Oliver, Medical scientist, National Institute for Communicable Diseases

    While the emergence of colourful butterflies is a welcome sign of summer, the constant buzzing of mosquitoes is an annoying part of the season.

    Mosquitoes are more than just pests. They are the world’s most dangerous animal. Their presence signals the start of the malaria season in southern Africa.

    It is for this reason that the Southern African Development Community recognises the first week of November as SADC Malaria Week, with 6 November as SADC Malaria Day.

    During this week the dangers of malaria are highlighted. As South Africa edges closer towards malaria elimination, this has become more important as many South Africans are unaware of the malaria risk within the country’s borders.



    Read more:
    The seven steps South Africa is taking to get it closer to eliminating malaria

    Know your enemy

    Malaria is usually spread through a bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. In rare cases, malaria can spread through blood transfusions, organ transplants or sharing contaminated needles.

    There is also the possibility that mothers can pass on the disease to their babies while pregnant or during delivery.

    Mosquitoes that spread malaria are usually only active between dusk and dawn. Some mosquitoes, particularly the large black and white Aedes mosquitoes,
    are active during the day. These mosquitoes spread diseases like yellow fever and Zika.

    Although malaria-spreading mosquitoes are active at night, they are not the mosquitoes that make the annoying buzzing sound that prevents you from getting a peaceful night’s sleep.

    Instead, malaria mosquitoes are near-silent, often referred to as silent killers. Frequently, you only realise you have been bitten when it is too late.

    Most malaria vectors tend to bite and rest outdoors. This means that you have to take extra care when outdoors.

    Know your enemy’s whereabouts

    Malaria mosquitoes require specific environmental conditions to breed and survive.

    They are found in low-lying tropical areas in most southern African countries, with the exception of Lesotho and the Seychelles. Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe have regions of high malaria risk.

    In South Africa, malaria is restricted to the low-lying border regions of northern KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces.

    Before visiting any of these areas, familiarise yourself with the malaria risk map for South Africa and take the appropriate precautions.

    In the southern hemisphere, the malaria risk is particularly high over the December holidays. This is due to the warm, wet weather conditions that favour mosquito growth.

    Over the past few years, the non-endemic South African province of Gauteng has reported a high number of
    cases. This can happen in any province: there have been incidents in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape, as well as the North-West.

    Most of these cases are imported from high-risk regions within
    and outside South Africa.

    A few rare cases are the result of odyssean malaria (also known as taxi or airport malaria).

    This happens throughout Africa. It is largely associated with migration. This happens when one or more malaria-carrying mosquitoes are accidentally transported from their natural home. They can then randomly infect people outside the malaria-risk area.

    When you have an unexplained fever in summer, think malaria. This is true even if you have not travelled to a malaria-risk area.

    It is especially important if you stayed near a major transport route or transport hub. These include places such as taxi ranks or bus depots.

    Know your enemy’s gameplan

    Malaria is preventable and treatable. The odds of a complete recovery are very high if a malaria infection is detected early. This is aided by prompt treatment with effective antimalarial medication.

    Symptoms of the milder version of malaria (uncomplicated malaria) are non-specific. This can include fever, headaches, sluggishness, nausea, and muscular/joint pains.

    Loss of consciousness, convulsions, jaundice and kidney failure are associated with the more severe, life threatening form of malaria.



    Read more:
    We’re a step closer to figuring out why mosquitoes bite some people and not others

    Keep yourself safe from the enemy

    The easiest way to prevent yourself from getting malaria is to avoid being bitten by an infected mosquito.

    If outdoors during the evening, wear long-sleeved shirts, trousers and socks, and use repellents that contain at least 30% of the insect repellent DEET.

    Doors and windows should be screened. Where possible, sleep under a bednet or in an air-conditioned room.

    In addition to these non-pharmaceutical measures, you can protect yourself by taking anti-malarial medications which you can get from a pharmacy or primary healthcare clinic.

    Discuss your anti-malarial options with a healthcare professional.

    Medication that prevents malaria does not mask the symptoms of the disease.

    The recommended treatment in South Africa, artemether-lumefantrine (Coartem), is highly effective. This is the most widely used malaria treatment across Africa.

    Know the myths about the enemy

    You cannot get malaria from drinking contaminated water or eating rotten fruit.

    There is limited evidence that vitamin-enriched products or home remedies containing natural products like citronella offer any protection against malaria.

    In addition, tonic water contains a very low concentration of antimalarial ingredients. It is therefore not possible for one person to drink sufficient quantities to protect against malaria.

    Crucially, one malaria infection will not keep you safe from future infections. You can get malaria more than once.

    Finally, always be aware – although the malaria risk is higher in summer, you can also get the disease in the dry season. You could also potentially be infected in any province due to an infected travelling mosquito.

    So if you have an unexplained fever, think malaria!

    Shüné Oliver receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa, South African Medical Research Council and Female Academic Leadership Fellowship. She is affiliated with the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and the Wits Research Institute for Malaria.

    Jaishree Raman receives funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CHAI, the Global Fund, the National Institute for Communicable Disease, the National Research Foundation, the South African Medical Research Council, and the Research Trust. She is affiliated with the Wits Research Institute for Malaria and the University of Pretoria’s Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control.

    – ref. Mosquito season in southern Africa: tonic water and vitamins won’t protect you but knowing where the hotspots are will – https://theconversation.com/mosquito-season-in-southern-africa-tonic-water-and-vitamins-wont-protect-you-but-knowing-where-the-hotspots-are-will-242620

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: US election: how does the electoral college voting system work?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Richard Hargy, Visiting Research Fellow in International Studies, Queen’s University Belfast

    The electoral votes in swing states are likely to edge one candidate over the line. Tomas Ragina/Shutterstock

    On November 5, millions of Americans will cast their votes for president, with the vast majority deciding between Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump. This historic election, however, is not determined by a singular national poll, but rather a state-by-state contest. Many people outside the US, and some inside, do not understand how this complicated system works.

    Here are five things to know about the electoral college system:

    1. It’s not one electoral contest, but 50 separate races

    The founding fathers opted against a national popular vote where the winning candidate just has to gain a majority of votes to claim victory. They decided instead to establish an electoral college under Article II of the US Constitution.

    Under this system, voters in every US state and the District of Columbia decide the outcome of a winner-takes-all contest for their state’s electoral votes. Each state is allocated a set number of electoral votes, in line with the size of its population. For example, Texas, with a population of over 29 million, has 50 electoral votes. North Dakota, on the other hand, has a population of under 800,000 and is apportioned three.

    By securing a majority of the vote in a state, a candidate collects its allotted electoral college votes. There are 538 in total, with the winner needing at least 270 to secure the presidency (with their running-mate becoming vice-president).

    Maine and Nebraska are the only two exceptions to the winner-takes-all approach. These states also use their congressional districts to allocate some electoral college votes: two go to each state’s overall popular vote winner, while one goes to the popular vote winner in each congressional district (two districts in Maine, three in Nebraska).

    So, when Americans mark their ballot with their choice for president, this vote is technically not awarded automatically to the candidate. Rather, it goes to the individual state’s electors. These people convene across all 50 states once the election is complete, then formally send their state’s electoral votes to the US Congress. The electors are usually state election officials or prominent party members.

    Brown University professor of political science Wendy Schiller explained the choice of an electoral college system more than 200 years ago was rooted in a distrust of citizens to make a reasoned choice: “The origins of the electoral college were not supposed to reflect voter opinion at all – it was to be a gate against making a bad choice. It was an elite bulwark against popular opinion.”

    2. It can allow for unpredictable and unruly outcomes

    By its very nature, the electoral college can result in two unusual, but not improbable, scenarios. First, a candidate can win the electoral college while losing the popular vote and still become president – as happened most recently in 2000 with George W. Bush and in 2016 with Trump.

    Secondly, the system allows for a situation were neither candidate wins a majority of electoral votes. If there is a 269-269 tie, a “contingent election” is held under the 12th Amendment. In this case, members of the new House of Representatives, sworn in on January 3 2025, would choose the next president. They do not vote based on individual preference. Instead, every state delegation gets one vote, with a simple majority of 26 state delegation votes needed to decide who becomes president. This has happened only twice in presidential elections, in 1801 and 1825. The House must continue voting until a president is elected.

    A history of the electoral college system.

    3. In 2020, Trump’s supporters sought to challenge the electoral college results

    State legislators can object to their state’s general election outcome during the congressional certification. This happened in 2020 when a group of Republicans objected to results in Pennsylvania and Arizona – both won by Democrat Joe Biden. After supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol building in January 2021, protesting the official authorisation of votes, Congress updated the 1800s-era Electoral Count Act to make it harder to challenge the electoral college result.

    Following the 2020 election, certain electors in several swing states attempted to falsely declare Trump the winner. These included high-profile Republicans in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona and Wisconsin. Trump’s campaign lawyer, Kenneth Chesebro, pleaded guilty in Georgia to his role in subverting the election.

    There are fears of a potential repeat of this scenario in 2024, should Trump lose again. Documentation returned to state election officials has revealed that over a dozen of these individuals are returning as potential electors this year.

    4. Criticism includes national security concerns and disinformation

    Some call the electorial college system undemocratic. Others point to the “faithless elector” issue, whereby the electors within a state cast their vote against the preference of their state’s popular vote.

    Small vote margins often secure all the votes in key swing states. For example, in 2016, Trump won Michigan by just 13,080 votes (0.3%), Wisconsin by 27,257 votes (1.0%), and Pennsylvania by 68,236 votes (1.2%). This allocated Trump 46 electoral votes as well as victory in the presidential election.

    This has led Brookings Institution fellows Elaine Kamarck and Darrell M. West to conclude that “false news purveyors don’t have to persuade 99% of American voters to be influential, but simply a tiny amount in [certain states] … A shift of 1% of the vote or less based on false narratives would have altered the outcome.”

    Harvard University professor of government Ryan Enos told me that foreign adversaries with an interest in the outcome of the US election are “aware of how decentralised the system is, and how chaos can be sowed by putting pressure on particular states”.

    5. Some people want to abolish it

    The process remains highly contentious and can result in a more fractious political climate. Consequently, there many who want to abolish it. West, a senior fellow of governance studies at Brookings, said the US should get rid of the electoral college. He called it a relic that was established “as an elite-based mechanism to basically choose the president because [America’s founding fathers] did not trust the general public”.

    However, Barnard College professor of political science Sheri Berman had a different view, saying that if you believe different states should have some guaranteed level of representation regardless of their population, then designing a system that gives this to them could be viewed as legitimate.

    Ultimately, despite its unusual elements, Christine Stenglein, a research analyst at Brookings, believes “the electoral college is part of the US constitution, and therefore not likely to change any time soon”.

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

    – ref. US election: how does the electoral college voting system work? – https://theconversation.com/us-election-how-does-the-electoral-college-voting-system-work-242283

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Scents of the Middle Ages and emo nostalgia – what you should read, watch and do this week

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Anna Walker, Senior Arts + Culture Editor

    I’ve always been a history nerd, but it wasn’t until I started working at The Conversation that I really caught the medieval bug. Inspired by our academic experts, I’ve read books, trawled online archives, and when I worked on an article about the Book of Kells earlier this year, I had to travel to Dublin to see it for myself.

    And so it is that this week I found myself booking tickets to London to visit Medieval Women: In Their Own Words at the British Library, an exhibition our reviewer, expert in medieval women’s writing Diane Watt, described as “unmissable”.

    I’m particularly excited to see the way that some of the earliest works by women to have been written in English are brought to life in a scent installation. Julian of Norwich’s satanic torments, for example, are conjured up by the stink of sulphur, while Margery Kempe’s angels are evoked by notes of honey, strawberry and caramel.



    Read more:
    Medieval Women: In Their Own Words at the British Library is unmissable

    Dystopian fiction and unsettling realities

    There’s been a lot of noise about Dahomey, the latest documentary film from award-winning French director Mati Diop since it picked up the coveted Golden Bear, the top prize at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. The film follows the restitution of 26 items that were looted by French troops during an invasion and subsequent colonial occupation of the kingdom of Dahomey, now the present-day Republic of Benin, in November 1892.

    What makes the film particularly unique is Diop’s decision to give a literal voice to the artefacts in question. Viewers follow “object 26”, a statue of King Ghezo who ruled Dahomey from 1797 until 1818, as he narrates his journey from a storage unit in a French museum, back to his homeland. It gave our reviewer, curator of living cultures at Manchester Museum Njabulo Chipangura, much to reflect on.



    Read more:
    Dahomey: timely repatriation documentary gives a literal voice to Benin’s stolen objects

    The trailer for Dahomey.

    For my money, Ali Smith is one of the greatest living British authors. My first encounter with her work was the stunning 2014 book How to Be Both, which applied the fresco technique of visual arts to the novel. Weaving together the stories of a renaissance artist and a 16-year-old girl in contemporary Cambridge, the order in which you read the story depended on which copy you picked up.

    With her latest book, Gliff, Smith continues to play with form. It tells the story of two children, Briar and Rose, as they navigate a post-apocalyptic Britain. Gliff is the first of a planned pair of novels, with the second to be called Glyph. Our reviewer found the novel’s combination of dystopian nightmare and fairy tale enchantment at once accessible and engaging, complex and subtle.



    Read more:
    Ali Smith’s new novel Gliff is a dystopian nightmare with flashes of fairytale enchantment

    Emo nostalgia

    There’s no more appropriate time to visit an exhibition on the work of Tim Burton than Halloween weekend. That is, unless you’re one of those people that insist The Nightmare Before Christmas is actually a Christmas film. Newly opened at the Design Museum, The World of Tim Burton is an exploration of the director’s design practice, and traces the complex path from his initial sketches to their realisation on screen.

    Our reviewer, expert in the gothic Catherine Spooner, found much to enjoy. She described the work on show as “a riot of colour and fizzing line”, though it was the personal items she found most thrilling – teen fan art, scribbles on table napkins and university lecture notes.



    Read more:
    Is Tim Burton an outsider auteur or a global megastar? The Design Museum thinks it has the answer

    As a teenager, I spent hours carefully curating my Myspace page. In my “profile photo” I wore black skinny jeans and doodled-on Converse. My “profile song” was almost always something by My Chemical Romance. Each generation has their defining subculture and for mine, young millennials, that subculture was emo (short for “emotional hardcore”).

    In a move that seems designed to make me feel ancient, emo is now the subject of a nostalgic exhibition at London’s Barbican Music Library. The show features much of the technology that emo teens used to build a sense of community, from those Myspace profiles to flip phones and iPod shuffles. While many of these technologies are long gone, the exhibition argues that emo remains alive and kicking.



    Read more:
    Medieval Women: In Their Own Words at the British Library is unmissable


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

    – ref. Scents of the Middle Ages and emo nostalgia – what you should read, watch and do this week – https://theconversation.com/scents-of-the-middle-ages-and-emo-nostalgia-what-you-should-read-watch-and-do-this-week-242630

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Social media and generative AI can have a large climate impact – here’s how to reduce yours

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Domenico Vicinanza, Associate Professor of Intelligent Systems and Data Science, Anglia Ruskin University

    CREATIVE WONDER / shutterstock

    On a train or bus, or just standing in a queue, the most common sight these days is the muted glow of a screen, and the flickering thumbs of people lost in the endless scroll on their smartphones.

    Across the world, about 62% of people are active social media users. In some countries, that figure is over 90%. That adds up to a lot of usage: the average UK adult spends 3 hours and 41 minutes online each day, which translates to around 56 days a year, almost two whole months.

    Every time we read an article, see an advertisement, watch a photo or video, that content needs to be transferred from the social media platform’s servers to our device. The larger the file, the more data needs to be transferred. And high-resolution images or long videos involve lots of data.

    That data is distributed across many “server farms” (typically housed in a large warehouse with thousands of computers) around the world. If you load a video from Youtube you don’t connect to a single “Youtube data HQ” somewhere in California, but will instead gather data from many different servers often in different countries or continents.

    Moving data across the internet requires energy, sending signals through various electronic devices, including routers, servers, and our own mobile phone or laptop. Each of these devices consumes energy to function, while servers need to be kept cool. And this energy is often generated from fossil fuels.

    Low-energy LinkedIn tops the charts.
    Greenspector, CC BY-SA

    Tiktok is the least eco-friendly of the social media platforms, according to a study of internet users in France run by Greenspector in 2021 and then updated in 2023.

    Simply scrolling through the app exchanges a lot of data as Tiktok is constantly running videos, including many preloaded in the background that you may never even see.

    At the end side of the spectrum is LinkedIn. As a text-based platform, with fewer photos and videos, scrolling through LinkedIn uses much less data.

    Generative AI is energy-hungry

    Social media is of course not the only offender. Generative AI, with its ability to create text, images, music and even videos, is completely reshaping lots of creative processes. But though it is appealing, and sometimes a necessity, it comes with an environmental price tag.

    Unsurprisingly, the more powerful the AI, the more energy it consumes. Unlike when you stream video or load a large web page, with generative AI most energy is used at their end, while processing your query. If you ask ChatGPT to write you a novel, the process of writing involves lots of calculations, even if the resulting text itself doesn’t use much data.

    Your request is being processed…
    Caureem / shutterstock

    All this of course raises critical questions about the sustainability of generative AI and about our own carbon footprints. The AI companies themselves are reluctant to tell us exactly how much energy they use, but they apparently can’t stop their own chatbots having a stab. I asked ChatGPT-4 “how much energy was used to process this query?” and it said “0.002 to 0.02 kWh”, which it said “would be similar to keeping a 60-watt bulb on for about 2 minutes”.

    This roughly matches numbers offered by independent analysis and is tens of times more energy than required for a Google search. With millions of queries per day to ChatGPT alone, it all adds up to a huge amount of additional energy use. As generative AI continues to evolve, the demand for energy will only increase.

    What you can do

    While the environmental impact of these technologies raises valid concerns, it’s also essential to recognise their benefits. To take one example, AI-assisted tools like text-to-speech, voice recognition and auto-captioning have already made society more inclusive particularly for disabled or neurodiverse people. I don’t want to suggest we scrap social media or reject generative AI entirely.

    But there are things we can do to reduce the carbon footprint of our internet use, involving a combination of individual actions and systemic changes. Here are some strategies we can all adopt:

    First, limit the screen time. This is the most obvious one. Reducing the amount of time spent on social media can directly decrease energy consumption.

    Second, use energy-saving settings on your devices, such as lowering screen brightness, using a dark background, and enabling power-saving modes.

    Third, consider choosing less energy-demanding social media, using environmental ranking information to inform the decision. That means more text, and less video and generative AI.

    Fourth, whenever possible, use wifi over 4G or 5G mobile data: wifi generally consumes less energy.

    So, next time we find ourselves scrolling endless sequences of pictures and videos, our face lit by the blue glow of our screens, let’s just stop for a second and start implementing those simple strategies, so we can enjoy the benefits of being connected, while minimising the impact on our planet resources. Ultimately, the choice is ours.

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

    – ref. Social media and generative AI can have a large climate impact – here’s how to reduce yours – https://theconversation.com/social-media-and-generative-ai-can-have-a-large-climate-impact-heres-how-to-reduce-yours-240661

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Scott Moe won in Saskatchewan promising economic prosperity, but does that truly help citizens?

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Iryna Khovrenkov, Associate Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina

    After winning the recent provincial election, the Saskatchewan Party’s Scott Moe promised a “strong economy, bright future.”

    But does a strong economy necessarily guarantee a bright future?

    Between 1998 and 2018, Saskatchewan’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 45 per cent, making it the fourth largest in Canada.

    Even after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Saskatchewan led the nation in economic growth, registering a hike of six per cent.

    Over the same 20 years, however, Saskatchewan’s well-being increased by only 13 per cent, according to the Saskatchewan Index of Wellbeing.

    This lag in well-being has only amplified the struggles of the province’s citizens in terms of drug use, youth mental health, homelessness and hate crimes.

    Evidently, and despite its impressive magnitude, Saskatchewan’s economic growth alone does not fully reflect the province’s progress in terms of citizen well-being.

    What is well-being?

    Well-being is a multi-dimensional concept that goes beyond the level or rate of growth of GDP and can illuminate ongoing major policy challenges. GDP, on the other hand, is one-dimensional, developed prior to the Second World War and well before today’s significant policy concerns.

    As defined by the Saskatchewan Index of Wellbeing, it’s achieved when people are physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy; economically secure; have a strong sense of identity, belonging and place; and have the confidence and capacity to engage as citizens.

    Well-being encompasses many aspects that make our lives good — happiness and wellness at the personal level, strong social capital and belonging at the community level. These aspects can then form a strong foundation to tackle larger issues at the societal level such as social justice and environmental sustainability.

    International well-being initiatives

    Many countries, including Canada with its Canadian Index of Wellbeing, have not only developed well-being frameworks but many now routinely collect and publish well-being indicators.

    A handful of jurisdictions — like France, Italy and Sweden — have also begun including quality-of-life measures as benchmarks of their progress.

    New Zealand even formally budgets for well-being and released its first Wellbeing Budget in 2019.

    Regardless of geography or political structure, one common motivation for developing these well-being frameworks is a recognition that economic metrics such as GDP are insufficient to measure a country’s human and environmental progress.



    Read more:
    Australia’s wellbeing budget: what we can – and can’t – learn from NZ

    A well-being approach to policy

    For an effective path forward, citizen well-being should be a guiding principle for government leaders. Community Initiatives Fund and Heritage Saskatchewan, joint forces behind the Saskatchewan Index of Wellbeing, have long called on decision-makers to incorporate well-being into policy.

    The federal government has recently introduced the Quality-of-Life Framework as its first step towards integrating well-being into policymaking. But are these efforts reaching local governments, which carry a regulatory duty of fostering citizen well-being?

    I partnered with the Community Initiatives Fund and Heritage Saskatchewan to survey more than 25 per cent of rural and urban municipalities in Saskatchewan on what’s facilitated or hindered the adoption of well-being into policy in their communities.

    We learned that only 17 per cent of our participating municipalities adopted a well-being approach in their official community plans, although 55 per cent of them consider community well-being elements when developing policies and budgets.

    Additionally, 46 per cent are interested in adopting a well-being approach but have cited lack of financial and human resources, time, community and team support as key challenges in shifting to a well-being approach.

    Finally, we learned that arts, culture and sports amenities were identified as a pressing community need by 36 per cent of our respondents, compared to only six per cent referencing economic sustainability and growth.

    Our findings also support existing evidence that rural communities become stronger when they value well-being more than economic growth.

    The five elements of a well-being economy. (ICLEI Europe YouTube Channel)

    Municipal action required

    As the government level closest to the people, municipalities matter. Services provided by local authorities define citizens’ well-being and their quality of life. Also, local efforts have the potential to inspire province-wide change.

    With urban municipalities in Saskatchewan gearing up for their own elections on Nov. 13, it’s a good time to consider prioritizing community well-being.

    In the words of Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister of New Zealand: “Growth alone does not lead to a great country …. so it’s time to focus on those things that do.”

    For real change to occur, well-being should lie at the heart of policymaking.

    The research project about well-being in municipal policy is a product of a partnership between Iryna Khovrenkov at the University of Regina, Tracey Mann at Community Initiatives Fund and Ingrid Cazakoff at Heritage Saskatchewan. The financial support of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Engage Grant number 892-2021-3028 is gratefully acknowledged.

    – ref. Scott Moe won in Saskatchewan promising economic prosperity, but does that truly help citizens? – https://theconversation.com/scott-moe-won-in-saskatchewan-promising-economic-prosperity-but-does-that-truly-help-citizens-242574

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –