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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Hong Kong’s light fades as another pro-democracy party folds

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Brendan Clift, Lecturer in Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney

    Thomas Yau/Shutterstock

    The demise of one of Hong Kong’s last major pro-democracy parties, the League of Social Democrats, is the latest blow to the city’s crumbling democratic credentials.

    The league is the third major opposition party to disband this year. The announcement coincides with the fifth anniversary this week of the national security law, which was imposed by Beijing to suppress pro-democracy activity.

    The loss of this grassroots party, historically populated by bold and colourful characters, vividly illustrates the dying of the light in once-sparkling Hong Kong.

    The city is now greyed and labouring under a repressive internal security regime that has crushed civil society’s freedoms and democratic ambitions.

    Authoritarian crackdown

    The world witnessed Hong Kong at its brightest during the 2014 Umbrella Movement, when hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters camped out on city streets for several months.

    We also saw the brutal sequel in 2019, when paramilitarised police sought to put down further civil unrest and protesters fought back.

    Since then, “lawfare” has been the preferred strategy of China’s national government and its Hong Kong satellite. The new approach has included a vast security apparatus and aggressive prosecutions.

    When Beijing intervened in July 2020, it was nominally about national security. In reality, the new law was designed and used to bring Hongkongers to heel.

    Civil freedoms were further curtailed by a home-grown security law, introduced last year to fill the gaps.

    International standards such as the Johannesburg Principles, endorsed by the United Nations, require national security laws to be compatible with democratic principles, not to be used to eliminate democratic activity.

    Prison or exile

    The League of Social Democrats occupied the populist left of the pro-democracy spectrum. It stood apart from contemporaries such as the Democratic Party and the Civic Party, which were dominated by professionals and elites, and have since been disbanded.

    The League was most notably represented by the likes of “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung– known for his Che Guevara t-shirts and banana-throwing – and broadcaster and journalism academic Raymond Wong Yuk-man, also known as “Mad Dog”.

    Despite their rambunctious styles, these men had real political credentials and were repeatedly elected to legislative office. But Leung is now imprisoned for subversion, while Wong has left for Taiwan.

    Leung Kwok-hung was sentenced to subversion under the national security law.
    Edwin Kwok/Shutterstock

    Party leaders such as Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit and Figo Chan Ho-wun were also prominent within the Civil Human Rights Front. It was responsible for the annual July 1 protest march that attracted hundreds of thousands of people every year. The front is yet another pro-democracy organisation that has dissolved.

    Sham and Chan have been jailed for subversion and unlawful assembly under the colonial-era Public Order Ordinance, which has been used to prosecute hundreds of activists.

    Zero tolerance

    The demise of these diverse organisations are not natural occurrences, but the result of a deliberate authoritarian programme.

    Under China, Hong Kong’s political system has been half democratic at best. But it now resembles something from the darkest days of colonialism, with pre-approved candidates, appointed legislators and zero tolerance for critical voices.

    The effort to eliminate opposition has seen the pro-independence National Party formally banned and scores of pro-democracy figures jailed after mass trials.

    Activists and watchdogs are stymied by the national security law. It criminalises – among other things – engagement and lobbying with international organisations and foreign governments.

    Distinctive voices such as law professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting, media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and firebrand politician Edward Leung Tin-kei have been jailed and silenced, as have many moderates and lesser-known figures.

    Shattered dreams

    Then there are the millions of ordinary Hongkongers whose dreams of a liberal and self-governing region under mainland China’s umbrella – as promised in the lead up to the 1997 handover – have been shattered.

    Some activists have fled overseas. The more outspoken are the subjects of Hong Kong arrest warrants.

    But countless ex-protesters remain in the city, where it is impermissible to speak critically of power, and where mandatory patriotic education may ensure new generations will never even think to speak up.

    Much blame lies with the British, who failed to institute democratic elections until the last gasp of their rule in Hong Kong. This was despite the colony tolerating liberalism and habit-forming democratic activity over a longer period.

    Now China, after almost three decades in charge, has responded to democratic challenges by defaulting to authoritarian control. Hong Kong can only be grateful it has been spared a Tiananmen-style incident. Nor has it experienced the full genocidal extent of the so-called “peripheries playbook” Beijing has used in Tibet and Xinjiang.

    Turmoil and authoritarian swings in the United States and elsewhere give China an opportunity to present as a voice of reason on the international stage.

    But we should not forget its commitment to repressive politics at home, nor what its support of belligerent regimes such as Putin’s Russia might mean for Taiwan, the region and the world.

    Above all, we should not forget the people, in Hong Kong and elsewhere, who made it their life’s work to achieve democracy only to be rewarded with prison or exile.

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

    – ref. Hong Kong’s light fades as another pro-democracy party folds – https://theconversation.com/hong-kongs-light-fades-as-another-pro-democracy-party-folds-260186

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Conservatives notch 2 victories in their fight to deny Planned Parenthood federal funding through Medicaid

    Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Rachel Rebouché, Professor of Law, Temple University

    Conservatives have won two important battles in their decades-long campaign against Planned Parenthood, a network of affiliated clinics that are the largest provider of reproductive health services in the U.S.

    One of these victories was a U.S. Supreme Court ruling handed down on June 26, 2025. The other is a provision in the multitrilion-dollar tax-and-spending package President Donald Trump has made his top legislative priority. Both follow the same strategy: depriving Planned Parenthood – and all other providers of abortion care – from getting reimbursed by Medicaid, the government health insurance program that mainly covers low-income adults and children, as well as people with disabilities.

    Because Medicaid covers nearly 80 million Americans, this bill, and the Supreme Court’s decision, will sever federal support for health care that has nothing to do with abortion, such as annual exams, birth control and prenatal care. Abortions account for 3% of all of Planned Parenthood’s services.

    As a scholar of reproductive rights, I have studied how abortion politics shape the broader provision of reproductive health care.

    I see in both the legislation and the court’s ruling a culmination of a strategy to defund Planned Parenthood that was in full swing by 2007, toward the end of the George W. Bush administration. This campaign hinges on a strategy of insisting that federal and state dollars are supporting abortion care when they do not.

    A clinic escort assists a patient at a Planned Parenthood health center in Philadelphia in 2022.
    Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

    Congress and the Supreme Court

    Trump’s package of tax breaks, spending increases and safety net changes passed in the House and the Senate by razor-thin margins.

    One of the bill’s provisions will make it impossible for patients with Medicaid coverage to get any health care services at clinics like Planned Parenthood.

    The provision will last only for a year.

    The House approved the same version of the package that the Senate had passed a week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states cannot be sued by patients if they make it impossible for Planned Parenthood clinics to be reimbursed by Medicaid.

    The case, Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, arose when a South Carolina woman wanted to get gynecological care at her local Planned Parenthood clinic. The rationale South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster gave for the state’s policy was that Planned Parenthood is an abortion provider.

    South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster stands outside the Supreme Court building in Washington in April 2025 and speaks about his state’s legal dispute regarding Medicaid funding for health care at Planned Parenthood clinics.
    Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

    Medicaid and abortion

    To be clear, neither the legal dispute nor the provision in the legislative package had anything to do with the use of federal or state dollars to fund abortion.

    Although Planned Parenthood offers abortion where and when it is legal, this provision and the court’s decision concern Medicaid reimbursement for all other services. Abortion care is not covered by Medicaid under federal law except in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the pregnant patient’s life.

    Medicaid patients instead have relied on their plan at Planned Parenthood clinics when they get annual exams, prenatal care, mental health support, birth control, treatment for sexually transmitted infections, cervical cancer screenings and fertility referrals.

    None of those services will be covered by Medicaid for a year. Patients will have to find another health care provider – as long as one is available.

    While that provision is in effect, Medicaid won’t be allowed to reimburse Planned Parenthood for any services, mirroring what states just won the right to do in the Supreme Court ruling – but at the national level.

    Although the bill blocks Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood for only 12 months, the ruling lets states exclude any provider from its Medicaid program because they also provide abortions.

    In other words, people who rely on Medicaid funding will lose access to all of those essential services not just at Planned Parenthood but potentially at any other providers that also offer abortion care.

    Given the number of states that ban almost all abortion, I have no doubt that more states will do that, especially if this Medicaid funding provision expires after a year without being renewed.

    Abortion-rights demonstrators holds a sign in front of the Supreme Court building in Washington as the Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic case is heard on April 2, 2025.
    Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images

    Roots of this defunding strategy

    Politicians began to call for defunding Planned Parenthood about 20 years ago, following efforts by anti-abortion activists to discredit the organization altogether.

    U.S. Rep. Mike Pence introduced the first federal legislation aimed at “defunding” Planned Parenthood in 2007. It failed to muster enough support in Congress to become law. States such as Texas then started down that path.

    The first national legislative success came in 2015. Both houses of Congress passed a budget reconciliation measure with a provision to defund Planned Parenthood that year, but President Barack Obama vetoed it. Republicans had threatened to shut down the government over those demands. A year later, the GOP included a call to defund Planned Parenthood in its presidential campaign platform.

    Before Obama left office, his administration passed a rule in December 2016 protecting federal funds for family planning for health care facilities that also provided abortion. The Trump administration rolled back that rule in 2017.

    The Trump administration relied on an argument that any support for a health care provider that offers patients abortion services, no matter how segregated the sources of funding, is tantamount to subsidizing abortion.

    What to expect next

    Nationally, 16 million women of reproductive age rely on Medicaid, and 1 in 5 women will visit a Planned Parenthood clinic for health care at least once in their lives. Those clinics depend on Medicaid reimbursement to offer an array of reproductive health care services, such as prenatal care, that are not tied to abortion.

    If Planned Parenthood clinics can’t bill Medicaid for those services, many will close. Planned Parenthood estimates that it could see almost 200 closures – 90% of them in states where abortion is legal. That means over 1 million low-income people risk losing access to their health care provider.

    And once clinics close, they may never reopen, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, recently predicted.

    Should the number of Planned Parenthood clinics plummet, it will threaten access to contraceptives, which are all the more important in preventing unwanted pregnancies for people living in states that have banned abortion. Researchers have repeatedly found that unwanted pregnancies, when people are denied access to abortion services, are correlated with increased debt, missed educational and employment opportunities, mental health problems, and diminished care for a family’s older children.

    In addition, pregnant patients and new parents may have more limited options for prenatal and postnatal care. That could cause the country’s already-high rates of maternal and infant mortality to increase.

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

    – ref. Conservatives notch 2 victories in their fight to deny Planned Parenthood federal funding through Medicaid – https://theconversation.com/conservatives-notch-2-victories-in-their-fight-to-deny-planned-parenthood-federal-funding-through-medicaid-260233

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Salmonella cases are at ten-year high in England – here’s what you can do to keep yourself safe

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rob Kingsley, Professor, Microbiology, Quadram Institute

    _Salmonella_ causes salmonellosis — an infection that typically results in vomiting and diarrhoea. Lightspring/ Shutterstock

    Salmonella cases in England are the highest they’ve been in a decade, according to recent UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data. There was a 17% increase in cases observed from 2023 to 2024 – culminating in 10,388 detected infections last year. Children and older adults accounted for around a fifth of cases.

    Although the number of infections caused by foodborne diseases such as Salmonella had broadly decreased over the last 25 years, this recent spike suggests a broader issue is at play. A concurrent increase in Campylobacter cases points to a possible common cause that would affect risk of both foodborne pathogens – such as changes in consumer behaviour or food supply chains.

    While the UK maintains a high standard of food safety, any increase in the incidence of pathogens such as Salmonella warrants serious attention.

    Salmonella is a species of bacteria that is one of the most common causes of foodborne illnesses globally. The bacteria causes salmonellosis – an infection that typically causes vomiting and diarrhoea.

    Most cases of salmonellosis don’t require medical intervention. But approximately one in 50 cases results in more serious blood infections. Fortunately, fatalities from Salmonella infections in the UK are extremely rare – occurring in approximately 0.2% of all reported infections.

    Salmonella infections are typically contracted from contaminated foods. But a key challenge in controlling Salmonella in the food supply chain lies in the diverse range of foods it can contaminate.

    Salmonella is zoonotic, meaning it’s present in animals, including livestock. This allows it to enter the food chain and subsequently cause human disease. This occurs despite substantial efforts within the livestock industry to prevent it from happening – including through regular testing and high welfare practices.

    Salmonella can be present on many retail food products – including raw meat, eggs, unpasteurised milk, vegetables and dried foods (such as nuts and spices). When present, it’s typically at very low contamination levels. This means it doesn’t pose a threat to you if the product is stored and cooked properly.

    Vegetables and leafy greens can also become contaminated with Salmonella through cross-contamination, which may occur from contaminated irrigation water on farms, during processing or during storage at home. As vegetables are often consumed raw, preventing cross-contamination is particularly critical.

    Spike in cases

    It’s premature to draw definitive conclusions regarding the causes of this recent increase in Salmonella cases. But the recent UKHSA report suggests the increase is probably due to many factors.

    Never prepare raw meat next to vegetables you intend to eat without cooking, as cross-contamination can lead to Salmonella.
    kathrinerajalingam/ Shutterstock

    One contributing factor is that diagnostic testing has increased. This means we’re better at detecting cases. This can be viewed as a positive, as robust surveillance is integral to maintaining a safe food supply.

    The UKHSA also suggests that changes in the food supply chain and the way people are cooking and storing their food due to the cost of living crisis could also be influential factors.

    To better understand why Salmonella cases have spiked, it will be important for researchers to conduct more detailed examinations of the specific Salmonella strains responsible for the infections. While Salmonella is commonly perceived as a singular bacterial pathogen, there are actually numerous strains (serotypes).

    DNA sequencing can tell us which of the hundreds of Salmonella serotypes are responsible for human infections. Two serotypes, Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium, account for most infections in England.

    Although the UKHSA reported an increase in both serotypes in 2024, the data suggests that Salmonella enteritidis has played a more significant role in the observed increase. This particular serotype is predominantly associated with egg contamination.

    Salmonella enteritidis is now relatively rare in UK poultry flocks thanks to vaccination and surveillance programmes that were introduced in the 1980s and 1990s. So the important question here is where these additional S enteritidis infections are originating.

    Although the numbers may seem alarming, what the UKHSA has reported is actually a relatively moderate increase in Salmonella cases. There’s no reason for UK consumers to be alarmed. Still, this data underscores the importance of thoroughly investigating the underlying causes to prevent this short-term increase from evolving into a longer-term trend.

    Staying safe

    The most effective way of lowering your risk of Salmonella involves adherence to the “4 Cs” of food hygiene:

    1. Cleaning

    Thoroughly wash hands before and after handling any foods – especially raw meat. It’s also essential to keep workspaces, knives and utensils clean before, during and after preparing your meal.

    2. Cooking

    The bacteria that causes Salmonella infections can be inactivated when cooked at the right temperature. In general, foods should be cooked to an internal temperature above 65°C – which should be maintained for at least ten minutes. When re-heating food, it should reach 70°C or above for two minutes to kill any bacteria that have grown since it was first cooked.

    3. Chilling

    Raw foods – especially meat and dairy – should always be stored below 5°C as this inhibits Salmonella growth. Leftovers should be cooled quickly and also stored at 5°C or lower.

    4. Cross-contamination

    To prevent Salmonella passing from raw foods to those that are already prepared or can be eaten raw (such as vegetables and fruit), it’s important to wash hands and clean surfaces after handling raw meat, and to use different chopping boards for ready-to-eat foods and raw meat.

    Most Salmonella infections are mild and will go away in a few days on their own. But taking the right steps when storing and preparing your meals can significantly lower your risk of contracting it.

    Rob Kingsley receives funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

    – ref. Salmonella cases are at ten-year high in England – here’s what you can do to keep yourself safe – https://theconversation.com/salmonella-cases-are-at-ten-year-high-in-england-heres-what-you-can-do-to-keep-yourself-safe-260032

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: A surprisingly effective way to save the capercaillie: keep its predators well-fed – new research

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Chris Sutherland, Reader in Statistical Ecology, University of St Andrews

    A male capercaillie showing off its colours. Rolands Linejs/Shutterstock

    Conserving species can be a complicated affair. Take this dilemma.

    After being hunted to near extinction, numbers of a native predator are recovering and eating more of an endangered prey species, whose own numbers are declining as a result. Should conservationists accept that some successes mean losing other species, or reinstate lethal control of this predator in perpetuity?

    Or perhaps there is a third option that involves new means of managing species in the face of new conditions. This issue is playing out globally, as land managers grapple with predators such as wolves and lynx reclaiming their historic ranges.

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

    In the ancient Caledonian pine forests of Scotland there are fewer than 500 capercaillie remaining. This grouse is beset by multiple threats, not least shifts in spring weather caused by climate change that are driving its Europe-wide decline, relating to changes in when chicks are reared and available nutrition.

    Additionally, and in common with other ground-nesting birds, capercaillie lose eggs and chicks to carnivores. As such, the recovery of the pine marten (a relative of weasels and otters) from its own near extinction in Scotland is contributing to the decline of capercaillie.

    A capercaillie cock displaying for a hen.
    Jack Bamber

    Internationally, little has been achieved to slow the heating of Earth’s climate, and decades of dedicated conservation efforts have not arrested the decline of capercaillie. Extinction will follow unless new solutions are found.

    Killing pine martens, the capercaillie’s predators, might offer short-term relief, but it is socially and politically contested and scientific evidence on its effectiveness is meagre. Most importantly, it risks undermining the recovery of species conservationists have worked hard to restore. Instead, the challenge is to reduce the effects of predators, not their numbers, and encourage coexistence between species.

    We have tried one such method in Scotland – with incredibly positive results.

    A non-lethal alternative for controlling predators

    Our idea is simple: predators have to be efficient, so when given access to a free meal, they are less likely to hunt for harder-to-find prey like capercaillie nests.

    Taking the bait: a pine marten eating carrion.
    Jack Bamber

    Satiated predators are less likely to kill and eat prey that is of concern to conservationists. This is called diversionary feeding: giving predators something easy to eat at critical times, such as during the time when capercaillie build their ground nests and rear chicks between April and July.

    To test this idea we systematically dumped deer carrion across 600 square kilometres of the Cairngorms national park in north-eastern Scotland, during eight weeks in which capercaillie are laying and incubating eggs. This area is home to the last Scottish stronghold of capercaillie. We also made artificial nests across the same area that contained chicken eggs, to represent capercaillie eggs.

    Through this landscape-scale experiment, we showed that the predation rate of pine marten on artificial nests fell from 53% to 22% with diversionary feeding. This decrease from a 50% chance of a nest being eaten by a pine marten, to 20%, is a massive increase in nest survival.

    A capercaillie brood, with chicks and hen highlighted.
    Jack Bamber

    This was a strong indication that the method worked. But we were unsure whether the effect seen in artificial nests translated to real capercaillies, and the number of chicks surviving to independence.

    Counting chicks in forests with dense vegetation is difficult, and land managers are increasingly reluctant to use trained dogs. Our innovation was to count capercaillie chicks using camera traps (motion-activated cameras which can take videos and photos) at dust baths, which are clear patches of ground where chicks and hens gather to preen.

    We deployed camera traps across the landscape in areas with and without diversionary feeding and measured whether a female capercaillie had chicks or not, and how many she had. Chicks are fragile and many die early in life. The number of chicks in a brood declined at the same rate in the fed and unfed areas.

    However, in areas where predators received diversionary feeding, 85% of the hens we detected had chicks compared to just 37% where predators were unfed. That sizeable difference mirrored the improvement seen in artificial nest survival.

    Fewer nests being predated led to more hens with broods, such that by the end of the summer, we observed a staggering 130% increase in the number of chicks per hen in fed areas – 1.9 chicks per hen were seen compared to half that in unfed areas.

    So, does diversionary feeding provide a non-lethal alternative to managing conservation conflict and promoting coexistence? Our work suggests it does.

    A mature capercaillie brood.
    Jack Bamber

    Diversionary feeding is now a key element of the capercaillie emergency plan, which is the Scottish government’s main programme for recovering the species. Diversionary feeding will probably be adopted across all estates with capercaillie breeding records in the Cairngorms national park by 2026.

    This rapid implementation of scientific evidence is a direct result of working closely, from conception, with wildlife managers and policy makers. For capercaillie, diversionary feeding has real potential to make a difference, a glimmer of hope in their plight (some nicer weather in spring might help too).

    More broadly, for conservationists, land managers, gamekeepers, farmers, researchers and anyone else involved in managing wildlife, this work is testament to the fact that, with the right evidence and a willingness to adapt, we can move beyond the binaries of killing or not killing. Instead, finding smarter ways to promote the coexistence of native predators and native prey.

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

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

    Jack Anthony Bamber received funding from the SUPER DTP.

    Xavier Lambin would like to credit the academic contribution of Kenny Kortland, environment policy advisor for Scottish Forestry.

    Chris Sutherland 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. A surprisingly effective way to save the capercaillie: keep its predators well-fed – new research – https://theconversation.com/a-surprisingly-effective-way-to-save-the-capercaillie-keep-its-predators-well-fed-new-research-259925

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: The NHS ten-year health plan is missing a crucial ingredient: nature

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Andrea Mechelli, Professor of Early Intervention in Mental Health, King’s College London

    mimagephotography/Shutterstock

    The UK government has finally unveiled its much anticipated ten-year Plan for improving England’s health. It contains a long overdue focus on prevention, after years of sidestepping by previous administrations.

    The plan rightly recognises that preventing illness before it begins is the most effective way to improve people’s wellbeing. It should have the added benefit of reducing strain on the NHS and easing the nation’s financial burden.

    Mental health, too, is given the attention it deserves. Recognised as integral to our overall health, its inclusion couldn’t be more timely. A 2023 international study found that one in two people will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime — a much higher figure than previously estimated.

    But one striking omission threatens to undermine the plan’s success: nature. Evidence tells us that it’s one of the most powerful means of supporting physical and mental health. And yet is not mentioned once in the plan’s 168 pages.

    If this plan is about prevention, then nature should be central to it. The science is unequivocal: contact with the natural world supports human health in wide ranging and profound ways. It lowers stress, improves mood, and alleviates symptoms of anxiety.

    For children, time in nature can even aid brain development. Nature helps reduce exposure to air pollution, moderates urban heat, and fosters physical activity and social connection.

    It can also reduce feelings of loneliness, improve the diversity of our gut microbiota – by exposing us to a wider range of environmental microbes that help train and balance the immune system – and support the immune system by reducing inflammation. All of these play a vital role in protecting against chronic disease.



    Read more:
    People feel lonelier in crowded cities – but green spaces can help

    Then there are the intangible yet no less important benefits. Nature provides a sense of awe and wonder – feelings that help us gain perspective, boost emotional resilience and find deeper meaning in everyday life.

    Our own research shows that even small, everyday moments in nature, watching birds from your window, for example, or pausing under a blooming tree on your way to the shop, can significantly boost mental wellbeing.

    Consider this: a Danish study found that growing up near green spaces during the first ten years of life reduces the risk of developing mental health problems in adulthood by a staggering 55%. A UK study similarly showed that people living in greener neighbourhoods were 16% less likely to experience depression and 14% less likely to develop anxiety.

    And as heatwaves become more frequent and intense – with soaring illness and mortality rates – the cooling effects of trees and parks will become more vital than ever for protecting our health.

    Not all green space is equal

    But it’s not just access to green space that matters – it’s also the quality of that space.

    Green areas rich in biodiversity, with a wide variety of plant life, birds, insects and fungi, provide much greater health benefits than sparse or manicured lawns. Biodiversity builds resilience not just in ecosystems, but in our bodies and minds.

    A recent study in The Lancet Planetary Health found that people living in areas with greater bird diversity were significantly less likely to experience depression and anxiety, even after accounting for socioeconomic and demographic factors.

    This research underlines a simple but urgent truth: we cannot talk about human health without talking about biodiversity.



    Read more:
    Why diversity in nature could be the key to mental wellbeing

    To deliver true prevention and resilience, we need a joined-up approach across government: one that aligns health policy with environmental protection, housing, urban design, education and transport. This means rethinking how we plan and build our communities: what kind of housing we develop, how we move around, what we grow and eat and how we live in relationship with the ecosystems that support us.

    There are many ways this vision can be put into action. The Neighbourhood Health Service outlined in the ten-year plan could be tied directly to local, community-led efforts such as Southwark’s Right to Grow campaign, which gives residents the right to cultivate unused land. This kind of initiative improves access to fresh food, promotes physical activity, strengthens community bonds and increases green cover – all of which support long-term health.

    School curricula could be revised to give children the opportunity to learn not just about nature, but also in nature – developing ecological literacy, emotional resilience and healthier habits for life. Health professionals could be trained to understand and promote the value of time outdoors for managing chronic conditions and supporting recovery. Green social prescribing – already gaining ground across the UK – should be fully integrated into standard care, with robust resourcing and cross-sector support.

    Learning from success

    Scotland’s Green Health Partnerships show what’s possible. These initiatives bring together sectors including health, environment, education, sport and transport to promote nature-based health solutions – from outdoor learning and physical activity in parks, to conservation volunteering and nature therapy.

    They don’t just improve health; they strengthen communities, build climate resilience and create cost-effective, scaleable solutions for prevention.

    The ten-year plan is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. It could help remove departmental silos and unify national goals across health, climate, inequality and economic recovery, while saving billions in the process. But in its current form, it misses a crucial ingredient.

    By failing to recognise the centrality of nature in our health, the government overlooks one of the simplest and most effective ways to build resilience – both human and ecological. Surely it is not beyond a nation of nature lovers to put nature at the heart of our future health?

    Andrea Mechelli receives funding from Wellcome Trust.

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

    – ref. The NHS ten-year health plan is missing a crucial ingredient: nature – https://theconversation.com/the-nhs-ten-year-health-plan-is-missing-a-crucial-ingredient-nature-260508

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Ageing isn’t the same everywhere – why inflammation may be a lifestyle problem

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Samuel J. White, Associate Professor & Head of Projects, York St John University

    The Orang Asli age differently. Azami Adiputera/Shutterstock.com

    For years, scientists have believed that inflammation inevitably increases with age, quietly fuelling diseases like heart disease, dementia and diabetes. But a new study of Indigenous populations challenges that idea and could reshape how we think about ageing itself.

    For decades, scientists have identified chronic low-level inflammation – called “inflammaging” – as one of the primary drivers of age-related diseases. Think of it as your body’s immune system stuck in overdrive – constantly fighting battles that don’t exist, gradually wearing down organs and systems.

    But inflammaging might not be a universal feature of ageing after all. Instead, it could be a byproduct of how we live in modern society.

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

    The research, published in Nature Aging, compared patterns of inflammation in four very different communities around the world. Two groups were from modern, industrialised societies – older adults living in Italy and Singapore.

    The other two were Indigenous communities who live more traditional lifestyles: the Tsimane people of the Bolivian Amazon and the Orang Asli in the forests of Malaysia.

    The researchers analysed blood samples from more than 2,800 people, looking at a wide range of inflammatory molecules, known as cytokines. Their goal was to find out whether a pattern seen in earlier studies – where certain signs of inflammation rise with age and are linked to disease – also appears in other parts of the world.

    The answer, it turns out, is both yes and no.

    Among the Italian and Singaporean participants, the researchers found a fairly consistent inflammaging pattern. As people aged, levels of inflammatory markers in the blood, such as C-reactive protein and tumour necrosis factor, rose together. Higher levels were linked to a greater risk of chronic diseases including kidney disease and heart disease.

    But in the Tsimane and Orang Asli populations, the inflammaging pattern was absent. The same inflammatory molecules did not rise consistently with age, and they were not strongly linked to age-related diseases.

    In fact, among the Tsimane, who face high rates of infections from parasites and other pathogens, inflammation levels were often elevated. Yet this did not lead to the same rates of chronic diseases that are common in industrialised nations.

    Despite high inflammatory markers, the Tsimane experience very low rates of conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and dementia.

    Inflammaging may not be universal

    These results raise important questions. One possibility is that inflammaging, at least as measured through these blood signals, is not a universal biological feature of ageing. Instead, it may arise in societies marked by high-calorie diets, low physical activity and reduced exposure to infections.

    In other words, chronic inflammation linked to ageing and disease might not simply result from an inevitable biological process, but rather from a mismatch between our ancient physiology and the modern environment.

    The study suggests that in communities with more traditional lifestyles – where people are more active, eat differently and are exposed to more infections – the immune system may work in a different way. In these groups, higher levels of inflammation might be a normal, healthy response to their environment, rather than a sign that the body is breaking down with age.

    Another possibility is that inflammaging may still occur in all humans, but it might appear in different ways that are not captured by measuring inflammatory molecules in the blood. It could be happening at a cellular or tissue level, where it remains invisible to the blood tests used in this research.

    Chronic low-level inflammation may be a lifestyle problem.
    Nattakorn_Maneerat/Shutterstock.com

    Why this matters

    If these findings are confirmed, they could have significant consequences.

    First, they challenge how we diagnose and treat chronic inflammation in ageing. Biomarkers used to define inflammaging in European or Asian populations might not apply in other settings, or even among all groups within industrialised nations.

    Second, they suggest that lifestyle interventions aimed at lowering chronic inflammation, such as exercise, changes in diet, or drugs targeting specific inflammatory molecules, might have different effects in different populations. What works for people living in cities might be unnecessary, or even ineffective, in those living traditional lifestyles.

    Finally, this research serves as an important reminder that much of our knowledge about human health and ageing comes from studies conducted in wealthy, industrialised nations. Findings from these groups cannot automatically be assumed to apply worldwide.

    The researchers are clear: this study is just the beginning. They urge scientists to dig deeper, using new tools that can detect inflammation not just in the blood, but within tissues and cells where the real story of ageing may be unfolding. Just as important, they call for more inclusive research that spans the full range of human experience, not just the wealthy, urbanised corners of the world.

    At the very least, this study offers an important lesson. What we thought was a universal truth about the biology of ageing might instead be a local story, shaped by our environment, lifestyle and the way we live.

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

    – ref. Ageing isn’t the same everywhere – why inflammation may be a lifestyle problem – https://theconversation.com/ageing-isnt-the-same-everywhere-why-inflammation-may-be-a-lifestyle-problem-260322

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: I survived the 7/7 London bombings, but as a British Muslim I still grew up being called a terrorist

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Neema Begum, Assistant Professor in British Politics, University of Nottingham

    Twenty years ago, I was walking through central London with my history teacher when a bus exploded behind us. We were in London for an awards ceremony at Westminster where I was to pick up the award for best opposition speaker in the Youth Parliament competition.

    We had arrived at Euston station and all local transport had been cancelled. At this point, we heard that there’d been a bomb scare.

    We bought a map at the station and set off to walk to Westminster when the number 30 bus exploded on Tavistock Square. It was the loudest sound I’d ever heard. People were running and screaming. We ran too and took shelter in a nearby park.

    We later learned that four bombs had been detonated on London’s transport system. The attack, carried out by British-born Islamist extremists on July 7 2005, claimed the lives of 52 people and injured hundreds. My teacher and I were far enough away from the bus to be physically unhurt.

    Four years on from the attacks on 9/11, this was a time when, in the minds of many, Muslims were already associated with terrorism. Despite going to a state school where the pupils were predominantly Muslim, we were called terrorists in the playground.

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    In the aftermath of 7/7, there was no space for Muslim survivors like me. No headlines about our fear, our trauma or our belonging – only suspicion. While I was lucky to walk away physically unscathed, I carried a different kind of wound: being part of a community that was treated with collective blame.

    My academic research focuses on ethnic minority voting behaviour, political participation and representation in Britain. The events of 7/7 marked a critical moment in how British Muslims are still viewed as inherently suspect today.

    Over the last 25 years, Muslim communities have been viewed as places where terrorism is fostered. Following 7/7, British Muslims were viewed as a security threat by politicians, the media and many non-Muslims.

    One stark example was the implementation of the Prevent counter-terrorism programme after 7/7. Prevent has contributed to increased surveillance and marginalisation of Muslim communities in the UK.

    Fear of Muslims and especially “home-grown terrorists” has meant that Muslims are made to feel that they must condemn terrorist acts. Despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of Muslims in the UK identify as British and are proud to be British citizens, British Muslims often feel they must prove their “Britishness” and distance themselves from stereotypes of Muslims as terrorists or terrorist sympathisers.

    Post-7/7 arguments that British Muslims were at odds with “British values” and fears that Britain was sleepwalking into segregation have persisted in politics and the media. Negative portrayals of Islam and Muslims in media, including stigmatising, offensive and biased news reports have not helped.

    In 2013, a device exploded outside the mosque I attended as a child, carried out by an extreme right-wing white supremacist. In 2025, hate crimes against Muslims have reached record levels.

    Stereotypes of Muslims in politics

    Twenty years after the London bombings, there are more Muslim voices in politics and media, and a greater awareness of Islamophobia. The idea that London could have a Muslim mayor, as it does today with Sadiq Khan, may have been unthinkable in the immediate aftermath of 7/7.

    But the fear that gripped the country in 2005 never disappeared, it just changed shape. Today it shows up in political attacks and increases in anti-Muslim hate crimes in the context of the war in Gaza. It also shows up in attacks on the religious freedoms of British Muslims – like calls for a burka ban – under the guise of “British values”.

    While there are more Muslims in politics at every level, they are not exempt from stereotypes. In my research on ethnic minority local councillors, I’ve found Muslim women councillors were often stereotyped as submissive and oppressed in white council spaces.

    A hijab-wearing Muslim woman councillor received comments that she wasn’t “westernised enough” and that she needed to be “more modernised”. Another Muslim woman councillor had a white male journalist remark that she was “very confident” in a way she felt was derisive.

    Working against ingrained stereotypes of how a Muslim woman would behave, these councillors often faced a double burden: having to constantly prove their “modernity” and competence while simultaneously navigating accusations of being either too passive or too assertive – never quite fitting the narrow expectations imposed upon them.

    The 7/7 memorial in London’s Hyde Park.
    Chris Dorney/Shutterstock

    In research on ethnic minority voting behaviour in the EU referendum, I found that campaign groups for Brexit such as Muslims for Britain drew on “good Muslim” narratives to buttress their claims to Britishness. For example, they have referred to the sacrifices Muslim soldiers made for Britain in the two world wars, to position British Muslims – particularly those with south Asian heritage – as established and loyal members of the nation.

    Even as a survivor of terrorism, I – like many British Muslims – am constantly made to prove my distance from it. I have particularly noticed this as a woman of Bangladeshi heritage, sharing a surname with Shamima Begum, who joined Islamic State as a teenager and had her UK citizenship stripped.

    Begum is also my mother’s name, my classmates’ name, and shared by many British Bengali women. It belongs to Nadiya Hussain (née Begum), winner of The Great British Bake Off and Halima Begum, chief executive of Oxfam. Behind every headline are real, complex communities still hoping to be seen beyond the shadow of suspicion.

    Neema Begum receives funding from the British Academy.

    – ref. I survived the 7/7 London bombings, but as a British Muslim I still grew up being called a terrorist – https://theconversation.com/i-survived-the-7-7-london-bombings-but-as-a-british-muslim-i-still-grew-up-being-called-a-terrorist-259316

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Agatha Christie’s mid-century ‘manosphere’ reveals a different kind of dysfunctional male

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gill Plain, Professor of English Literature and Popular Culture, University of St Andrews

    This piece contains spoilers for Towards Zero.

    Agatha Christie, a middle-class English crime writer who preferred to be known as a housewife, is the world’s bestselling novelist. Since her death in 1976, her work has been translated into over 100 languages and adapted for cinema, TV and even video games.

    Her writing is characterised by its cheerful readability and ruthless dissection of hypocrisy, greed and respectability. Christie is fascinated by power and its abuse, and explores this through the skilful deployment of recognisable character types. The suspects in her books are not just there for the puzzle – they also exemplify the attitudes, ideals and assumptions that shaped 20th-century British society.

    If we want to know about the mid-century “manosphere”, then, there is no better place to look than in the fiction of Agatha Christie. What did masculinity mean to this writer, and would we recognise it in the gender types and ideals of today? Some answers might be found through the recent BBC adaptation of Towards Zero, which confronts viewers with a range of dysfunctional male types.

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    Chief among these is Thomas Royde, a neurotic twitching figure driven to breakdown by the shame of having his word doubted. Gaslit by his pathologically perfect cousin Nevile, Thomas has been dispatched to the colonies, where he has compounded his injuries through financial failure. Broke and broken, the adaptation imagines him returning to the family home with trauma quite literally written on his body.

    This is not the Thomas Royde of Christie’s original 1944 novel. That figure was stoic, silent and perfectly capable of managing his failure to live up to the spectacular masculinity of cousin Nevile. Christie’s Thomas may have regretted his romantic losses and physical limitations, but the idea of exposing his pain in public would have horrified him.

    This is not a case of repression; rather it speaks to a world in which pain is respected, but simply not discussed. Thomas’s friends, we are told, “had learned to gauge his reactions correctly from the quality of his silences”. The stoical man of few words is a recurrent type within Christie’s fiction. It’s a mode of masculinity of which she approves – even while poking fun at it – and one recognised by her mid-20th century audience.

    These are men who embody ideal British middle-class values: steady, reliable, resilient, modest, good humoured and infinitely sensible. They find their fictional reward in happy unions, sometimes with sensible women, sometimes with bright young things who benefit from their calm assurance.

    Christie also depicted more dangerous male types – attractive adventurers who might be courageous, or reckless and deadly. These charismatic figures present a troubling mode of masculinity in her fiction, from the effortlessly charming Ralph in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), to Michael Rogers, the all too persuasive narrator of Endless Night (1967).

    Superficially, these two types of men might be mapped onto Christie’s own experiences. Her autobiography suggests that she was irresistibly drawn to something strange and inscrutable in her first husband, Archie. By contrast, her second husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan, brought friendship and shared interests.

    Yet while it’s possible to see biographical resonances in these types, it is equally important to recognise them as part of a middle-class world view that set limits on acceptable masculinities. In my book, Agatha Christie: A Very Short Introduction, I explore these limits, examining a cultural climate riven with contradictions.

    A different time

    Mid-20th century culture insisted that men be articulate when discussing public matters – science, politics, sport – but those who extended this to the emotions were not to be trusted. They were seen to be glib, foolish or possibly dangerous.

    British masculinity acts rather than talks and does a decent job of work. As a result, work itself is a vital dimension of man-making in Christie’s novels, and in the fiction of contemporaries like Nigel Balchin, Hammond Innes and Nevil Shute.

    These writers witnessed the conflicting pressures on men, expected to be both soldiers and citizens, capable of combat and domestic breadwinning. They saw the damage caused by war, unemployment and the loss of father figures. But the answer wasn’t talking. Rather, the best medicine for wounded masculinity was the self-respect that comes with doing a good day’s work.

    This ideology still resonates within understandings of “healthy” masculinity, but there are limits to the problems that can be solved through a companionable post-work pint. Which brings us back to the BBC’s Towards Zero. Contemporary adaptations often speak to the preoccupations of their moment, and the plot is driven by one man’s all-consuming hatred of his ex-wife.

    With apologies for plot spoilers, perfect Nevile turns out to be a perfect misogynist, scheming against the woman who has – to his mind – humiliated him. But the world of his hatred is a long way from the online “manosphere” of our contemporary age.

    Quite aside from the technological gulf separating the eras, Christie does not imagine misogyny as an abusive mass phenomenon, a set of echo chambers which figure men as the victims of feminism. Rather, Nevile, like all Christie’s murderers, kills for reasons that can clearly be defined, detected and articulated: he is an isolated madman, not a cultural phenomenon.

    Towards Zero’s topicality – its preoccupation with celebrity, resentment of women and a manipulative gaslighting villain – does much to explain its adaptation, but it does not account for the radical revision of Thomas Royde. Is it an indication that stoicism is out of fashion? Or simply a desire to convert Christie’s cool-tempered fictions into melodramas appropriate for a social-media age?

    Whatever the thinking, there is a familiar consolation for Thomas’s pain. He might not get the girl of his dreams, but he does get something better: a steady, reliable woman whose modest virtues illustrate that, in Christie’s world, “ideal masculinity” is unexpectedly non-binary. Women can be just as stoic, reserved and resilient as men.

    Christie’s “manosphere”, then, has its share of haters, but they are isolated figures forced to disguise their resentments. They also, frequently, meet untimely ends – another reason why Christie remains a bestseller to this day.

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

    Gill Plain 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. Agatha Christie’s mid-century ‘manosphere’ reveals a different kind of dysfunctional male – https://theconversation.com/agatha-christies-mid-century-manosphere-reveals-a-different-kind-of-dysfunctional-male-254726

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: How Donald Trump’s economic policies, including uncertainty around tariffs, are damaging the US economy

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By John Whittaker, Senior Teaching Fellow in Economics, Lancaster University

    Donald Trump set a deadline of July 9 2025 for trade deals to be made before he hits some of the world’s biggest economies with his controversial tariffs. It’s impossible to predict what will happen on the day, but it is already clear that his economic policies are damaging American interests.

    Just look at the state of US government debt for example. Currently it stands at US$36 trillion (£26 trillion). And with total economic output (GDP) worth US$29 trillion per year, that debt is 123% of GDP, the highest it has been since 1946.

    Government debts are alarmingly high in other countries too (the UK’s is at 104% of GDP, with France at 116% and China at 113%), but the US is towards the top of the range.

    The recently passed budget reconciliation bill (what Trump calls the “big beautiful bill”) is projected to add US$3 trillion to that debt over the next decade. With these sorts of numbers, there is little prospect of putting US debt on a downward track.

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    In 2024, the US government had to borrow an additional US$1.8 trillion to cover spending not supported by tax revenue (the budget deficit). This is equivalent to 6.2% of GDP, a number that is officially predicted to rise to 7.3% during the next 30 years.

    The predictable consequence of this fiscal profligacy and the chaotic tariff programme is the high rates of interest that the US government is having to pay for its borrowing.

    For instance, the interest rate on ten-year US government debt (otherwise known as its yield) has risen from 0.5% in mid-2020 to 4.3% now. And as government debt yields rise, so do interest rates on mortgages and corporate borrowing.

    The power of the dollar

    For decades, the United States has enjoyed a high level of trust in the strength, openness and stability of its economy.

    As a result, US bonds or “treasuries”, the financial assets that the government sells to raise money for public spending, have long been considered safe investments by financial institutions around the world. And the US dollar has been the dominant currency for international payments and debts.

    Sometimes referred to as “exorbitant privilege”, this status of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency brings big advantages. It benefits US consumers by making imported goods cheaper (albeit contributing to the trade deficits (when US imports to a country are worth more than its exports) which bother the president so much).

    It also means the US government can borrow a lot of money before doubts arise about its ability to repay. Investors will generally buy as many bonds as the US govt needs to issue to pay for its spending.

    The dominance of the dollar in international transactions also brings political power, such as the ability to exclude Russia from major global payment systems.

    But this privilege is being eroded by the US president’s tariff agenda. Economic motives aside, it is the way they are being applied – their size and the unpredictability – that is really sapping investor confidence.

    It’s costly to adjust trading patterns and supply chains in response to tariffs. So when the scope of future tariffs is unknown, the rational response is to stop investing while awaiting greater certainty.

    The dollar has lost 8% in value since the beginning of the year, reflecting investor doubts about the US economy, and making imports even more expensive.

    Financial markets are vulnerable

    But perhaps the biggest danger to US financial markets is a sudden rise in yields on government debt. No investor wants to be left holding a bond when its yield rises because – as with all fixed-interest debt – the rise in yield causes the bond’s market value to fall. This is because new bonds are issued with a higher yield, making existing bonds less attractive and less valuable.

    A bond holder expecting a rise in yield therefore has an incentive to sell it before the rise occurs. But the rise in yield can become self-reinforcing if the scramble to sell becomes a stampede.

    Indeed, there was a jump in US yields after the increases in trade tariffs announced on “liberation day” in early April, with the yield on ten-year treasuries rising by 0.5% in just four days.

    Damaged dollar?
    Dilok Klaisataporn/Shutterstock

    Fortunately, this rise was halted on April 10 when the tariffs were abruptly paused, allegedly in response to the fall in bond prices and an accompanying fall in share prices. The opinion of a senior central banker, that financial markets had been close to “meltdown”, was one of several such warnings.

    The dollar is unlikely to be quickly dislodged from its pedestal as the world’s reserve currency, as the alternatives are not attractive. The euro is not suitable because it is the currency of 20 EU countries, each with its own separate government debt. Nor is the Chinese yuan a likely contender, given the Chinese government involvement in managing the yuan exchange rate.

    But since March, foreign central banks have been selling off US treasuries, often choosing to hold gold instead.

    On Trump’s watch, the reputation of the US dollar as the ultimate safe asset has been tarnished, leaving the financial system more vulnerable – and borrowing more expensive.

    John Whittaker 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. How Donald Trump’s economic policies, including uncertainty around tariffs, are damaging the US economy – https://theconversation.com/how-donald-trumps-economic-policies-including-uncertainty-around-tariffs-are-damaging-the-us-economy-259809

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Underwater lake heatwaves are on the rise, threatening aquatic life

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Iestyn Woolway, Reader and NERC Independent Research Fellow, Bangor University

    A view of Lake Superior, one of the Great Lakes. Travis J. Camp/Shutterstock

    Lakes are essential to ecosystems, providing freshwater, supporting biodiversity and offering crucial habitat for fish and other aquatic species.

    But a recent study by my colleagues and I shows that lakes around the world are warming, not just at the surface, but deep below as well. Subsurface heatwaves in lakes, defined as extreme periods of high water temperature below the surface, are increasing in frequency, duration and intensity.

    These hidden extremes could have serious consequences for lake ecosystems. Despite that, the issue remains largely unmonitored and poorly understood.

    Lake heatwaves are similar to those in the atmosphere or ocean. They are prolonged periods of excessive warmth. Most research to date has focused on surface temperatures, where climate change has already caused more frequent and intense heatwaves over recent decades.

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    These surface events can disrupt the chemical and physical balance of lakes, damage food webs and, in some cases, cause mass fish die-offs.

    Aquatic species respond to surface heatwaves in different ways. Some benefit if the warming expands their preferred temperature range. But many others, particularly those already living near their thermal limits, face significant stress.

    In lakes that stratify during summer – where warm surface water sits above a cooler bottom layer – some species seek refuge from the heat by migrating to deeper water. But what happens when that deeper refuge is no longer cool?

    A closer look beneath the surface

    To investigate, we analysed temperature data from tens of thousands of lakes worldwide. These included one-dimensional lake models, high-resolution simulations for the Great Lakes of North America, and local models calibrated to specific lake conditions.

    By analysing how temperature varies with depth and time, we identified when and where subsurface waters crossed extreme heat thresholds.

    We defined subsurface heatwaves as periods when temperatures at particular depths exceeded their typical seasonal range. We also tracked how these events have changed since 1980, and how they might evolve under different emissions scenarios by the end of this century.

    Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes.
    Craig Sterken/Shutterstock

    Subsurface heatwaves are already common and they’re becoming more so.

    Since 1980, bottom heatwaves (those occurring at the deepest parts of lakes) have increased by an average of more than seven days per decade in frequency, more than two days per decade in duration and they have risen by around 0.2C per decade.

    Although these deep-water events tend to be slightly less intense than surface ones, they often last longer.

    We also found a rise in “vertically compounding” heatwaves. This is when extreme temperatures happen simultaneously at the surface and bottom of a lake.

    These doubled-up events are now happening more than three days per decade more frequently. When they strike, aquatic species can be left with no place to escape the heat.

    Even more concerning, the deep-water refuges that once offered shelter during surface heatwaves are shrinking or disappearing altogether. In some lakes, the distance fish need to travel to find cooler water has increased by nearly a metre per decade.

    Our simulations suggest that these trends will intensify, especially under high-emission scenarios. By the end of this century, some bottom heatwaves could last for months, with temperature extremes not seen in the historical record.

    Why this matters

    Lake ecosystems rely on thermal structure. When extreme heat reaches deeper into the water column, it can trigger cascading ecological effects, from shifting fish habitats and altering species distribution, to increased nutrient cycling and algal blooms. It could even affect the release of greenhouse gases like methane from lake bed sediments.

    Subsurface heatwaves pose a particular risk to bottom-dwelling species, which may be less mobile or already adapted to cold, stable conditions. The loss of thermal refuges during surface heatwaves also jeopardises species that would otherwise escape to deeper waters.

    By ignoring what’s happening below the surface, we risk underestimating the true ecological effects of climate change on freshwater systems.

    Our study highlights the urgent need to expand lake monitoring efforts to include subsurface temperatures. While satellites have transformed our understanding of surface warming, they can’t capture what’s happening below.

    Future research should examine how different species respond to these deep-water and vertically compounding heatwaves. It should explore how changes in lake thermal structure affect different processes like nutrient cycling and methane production.

    For conservation planners, that means incorporating subsurface heatwaves into risk assessments and habitat models. For climate modellers, it means better representing vertical processes in lakes within global Earth system models.

    As lakes continue to warm, managing and understanding these hidden heat extremes will be critical to protecting biodiversity and the vital ecosystem services lakes provide.

    Iestyn Woolway receives funding from UKRI NERC.

    – ref. Underwater lake heatwaves are on the rise, threatening aquatic life – https://theconversation.com/underwater-lake-heatwaves-are-on-the-rise-threatening-aquatic-life-258885

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: From glass and steel to rare earth metals, new materials have changed society throughout history

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Peter Mullner, Distinguished Professor in Materials Science and Engineering, Boise State University

    Steel played a large role in the Industrial Revolution. Monty Rakusen/DigitalVision via Getty Images

    Many modern devices – from cellphones and computers to electric vehicles and wind turbines – rely on strong magnets made from a type of minerals called rare earths. As the systems and infrastructure used in daily life have turned digital and the United States has moved toward renewable energy, accessing these minerals has become critical – and the markets for these elements have grown rapidly.

    Modern society now uses rare earth magnets in everything from national defense, where magnet-based systems are integral to missile guidance and aircraft, to the clean energy transition, which depends on wind turbines and electric vehicles.

    The rapid growth of the rare earth metal trade and its effects on society isn’t the only case study of its kind. Throughout history, materials have quietly shaped the trajectory of human civilization. They form the tools people use, the buildings they inhabit, the devices that mediate their relationships and the systems that structure economies. Newly discovered materials can set off ripple effects that shape industries, shift geopolitical balances and transform people’s daily habits.

    Materials science is the study of the atomic structure, properties, processing and performance of materials. In many ways, materials science is a discipline of immense social consequence.

    As a materials scientist, I’m interested in what can happen when new materials become available. Glass, steel and rare earth magnets are all examples of how innovation in materials science has driven technological change and, as a result, shaped global economies, politics and the environment.

    How innovation shapes society: Pressures from societal and political interests (orange arrows) drive the creation of new materials and the technologies that such materials enable (center). The ripple effects resulting from people using these technologies change the entire fabric of society (blue arrows).
    Peter Mullner

    Glass lenses and the scientific revolution

    In the early 13th century, after the sacking of Constantinople, some excellent Byzantine glassmakers left their homes to settle in Venice – at the time a powerful economic and political center. The local nobility welcomed the glassmakers’ beautiful wares. However, to prevent the glass furnaces from causing fires, the nobles exiled the glassmakers – under penalty of death – to the island of Murano.

    Murano became a center for glass craftsmanship. In the 15th century, the glassmaker Angelo Barovier experimented with adding the ash from burned plants, which contained a chemical substance called potash, to the glass.

    The potash reduced the melting temperature and made liquid glass more fluid. It also eliminated bubbles in the glass and improved optical clarity. This transparent glass was later used in magnifying lenses and spectacles.

    Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press, completed in 1455, made reading more accessible to people across Europe. With it came a need for reading glasses, which grew popular among scholars, merchants and clergy – enough that spectacle-making became an established profession.

    By the early 17th century, glass lenses evolved into compound optical devices. Galileo Galilei pointed a telescope toward celestial bodies, while Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovered microbial life with a microscope.

    The glass lens of the Vera Rubin Observatory, which surveys the night sky.
    Large Synoptic Survey Telescope/Vera Rubin Observatory, CC BY

    Lens-based instruments have been transformative. Telescopes have redefined long-standing cosmological views. Microscopes have opened entirely new fields in biology and medicine.

    These changes marked the dawn of empirical science, where observation and measurement drove the creation of knowledge. Today, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory continue those early telescopes’ legacies of knowledge creation.

    Steel and empires

    In the late 18th and 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution created demand for stronger, more reliable materials for machines, railroads, ships and infrastructure. The material that emerged was steel, which is strong, durable and cheap. Steel is a mixture of mostly iron, with small amounts of carbon and other elements added.

    Countries with large-scale steel manufacturing once had outsized economic and political power and influence over geopolitical decisions. For example, the British Parliament intended to prevent the colonies from exporting finished steel with the iron act of 1750. They wanted the colonies’ raw iron as supply for their steel industry in England.

    Benjamin Huntsman invented a smelting process using 3-foot tall ceramic vessels, called crucibles, in 18th-century Sheffield. Huntsman’s crucible process produced higher-quality steel for tools and weapons.

    One hundred years later, Henry Bessemer developed the oxygen-blowing steelmaking process, which drastically increased production speed and lowered costs. In the United States, figures such as Andrew Carnegie created a vast industry based on Bessemer’s process.

    The widespread availability of steel transformed how societies built, traveled and defended themselves. Skyscrapers and transit systems made of steel allowed cities to grow, steel-built battleships and tanks empowered militaries, and cars containing steel became staples in consumer life.

    White-hot steel pouring out of an electric arc furnace in Brackenridge, Penn.
    Alfred T. Palmer/U.S. Library of Congress

    Control over steel resources and infrastructure made steel a foundation of national power. China’s 21st-century rise to steel dominance is a continuation of this pattern. From 1995 to 2015, China’s contribution to the world steel production increased from about 10% to more than 50%. The White House responded in 2018 with massive tariffs on Chinese steel.

    Rare earth metals and global trade

    Early in the 21st century, the advance of digital technologies and the transition to an economy based on renewable energies created a demand for rare earth elements.

    Offshore turbines use several tons of rare earth magnets to transform wind into electricity.
    Hans Hillewaert/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    Rare earth elements are 17 chemically very similar elements, including neodymium, dysprosium, samarium and others. They occur in nature in bundles and are the ingredients that make magnets super strong and useful. They are necessary for highly efficient electric motors, wind turbines and electronic devices.

    Because of their chemical similarity, separating and purifying rare earth elements involves complex and expensive processes.

    China controls the majority of global rare earth processing capacity. Political tensions between countries, especially around trade tariffs and strategic competition, can risk shortages or disruptions in the supply chain.

    The rare earth metals case illustrates how a single category of materials can shape trade policy, industrial planning and even diplomatic alliances.

    Mining rare earth elements has allowed for the widespread adoption of many modern technologies.
    Peggy Greb, USDA

    Technological transformation begins with societal pressure. New materials create opportunities for scientific and engineering breakthroughs. Once a material proves useful, it quickly becomes woven into the fabric of daily life and broader systems. With each innovation, the material world subtly reorganizes the social world — redefining what is possible, desirable and normal.

    Understanding how societies respond to new innovations in materials science can help today’s engineers and scientists solve crises in sustainability and security. Every technical decision is, in some ways, a cultural one, and every material has a story that extends far beyond its molecular structure.

    The National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, NASA, and other national and regional agencies have funded former research of Peter Mullner.

    – ref. From glass and steel to rare earth metals, new materials have changed society throughout history – https://theconversation.com/from-glass-and-steel-to-rare-earth-metals-new-materials-have-changed-society-throughout-history-258244

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Elon Musk says he may launch his own party: but US history tells us that’s not a recipe for success

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Matthew Mokhefi-Ashton, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Nottingham Trent University

    To paraphrase a very old joke, how do you make a small fortune in America? Start with a large fortune and fund a third political party. American political history is littered with the wrecks of challengers who thought they could break the two-party system and failed.

    This makes Elon Musk’s tease that he may launch his own new political party as an act of defiance following his falling out with Donald Trump even more intriguing.

    What do we mean by a two-party system though? Since the 1860s, the Democrats and Republicans have dominated the US political landscape, holding the presidency, Congress and the vast majority of elected positions. Attempts at third parties have usually floundered at the ballot box.

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

    Some have lasted only for a few electoral cycles, including the Progressive Party in the 1910s and the Citizens Party of the 1980s, while others like the Libertarian Party and Green Party have lasted decades and, in some cases, managed some electoral success at the local level.

    But this is where an important distinction has to be made between third parties and third-party candidates. Because the US system is so personality-driven rather than party focused compared to Europe, quite often third parties have been built around a single person.

    A good example is the previously mentioned Progressive Party. It was founded in 1912 by former president Theodore Roosevelt after he split from the Republicans. Without him it quickly faded away.

    The Reform Party was created by billionaire Ross Perot in 1995 after he managed to get 18.9% of the vote in the 1992 presidential election. While it continued without him for some years, it was a shell of its former self. Other parties like the Socialist, Libertarian and Green parties have sprung from more organic movements and thus have been more successful at a local or state level.

    When you look at recent polling though, it seems strange that the two parties continue to dominate. Public dissatisfaction with politics as usual seems at an all-time high. In a recent Pew Research poll when asked whether “I often wish there were more political parties to choose from” describes their views, 37% of respondents answered: “Very well” and 31% answered: “Somewhat well”.

    In another poll, 25% of respondents said that neither of the two main parties represented their interests.

    So if there is an appetite for some sort of change, why have so few challengers succeeded? The two main parties seem entrenched to the point where it resembles a cartel.

    Odds stacked against third-party insurgency

    The first and arguably most important reason is the electoral system. First past the post does not guarantee a two-party system (look at Britain, for instance). But political scientist Maurice Duverger argued that it does mean that the two main parties have a significant advantage. There are prizes for coming first and second, nothing for third place.

    Equally, many of the big prizes in American politics such as the presidency and state governorships are indivisible and cannot be shared. So it has become received wisdom that voting for anyone other than Democrats or Republicans is a wasted vote.

    In these cases, people either vote for what they perceive to be the lesser of two evils or stay at home, rather than voting for a candidate with no chance or that they may not support.

    The other multi-billion dollar elephant in the room is money. The sheer cost of running for elections in recent years means that any third party is unlikely to be able to raise the funds to be truly competitive. At the last election, the Democrats and Republicans spent hundreds of millions of dollars (which isn’t even counting all of the super-PAC money spent on their behalf).

    Whenever billionaires like Perot have attempted to self-fund a party, they have left themselves open to the accusation that it’s a vanity project, or lacks true mass appeal.

    There is also the fact that to run successfully you must have media coverage. The media tends to focus almost exclusively on the two main parties. This creates a “chicken and egg” situation where you need success to help raise money and media coverage, but it’s difficult to be successful without first having money and media coverage.

    The final reasons are that of the open primary and ideological flexibility of the main parties. Donald Trump briefly considered running as president for the Reform Party back in 2000. In 2016, the open primary system that both main parties use meant that he could impose himself on the Republican Party despite most of the party elite despising him.

    Why bother starting your own party when you can run for one that already exists? It could now be argued that the Republicans have effectively become the Trump or Maga party, although whether this will survive his presidency is open to debate.

    Money, money, money

    Elon Musk has, for the moment, money to burn. Whether he’s willing to invest in the long term to turn this into more than a vanity project remains to be seen.

    He also has charisma and a national platform to amplify his voice like few others. But, having been born outside America, he can’t run for president.

    If he’s serious about electoral success, he’d have to find someone to run, and that would mean, effectively, they’d lead his party. Musk’s public persona suggests that he does not play well with others.

    Founding a third party isn’t impossible, but unless there is a political earthquake it seems difficult to see how one could succeed.

    Matthew Mokhefi-Ashton 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. Elon Musk says he may launch his own party: but US history tells us that’s not a recipe for success – https://theconversation.com/elon-musk-says-he-may-launch-his-own-party-but-us-history-tells-us-thats-not-a-recipe-for-success-260480

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: War, politics and religion shape wildlife evolution in cities

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Elizabeth Carlen, Living Earth Collaborative Postdoctoral Fellow, Washington University in St. Louis

    A Buddhist monk in Hong Kong releases fish and chants prayers during a ceremony to free the spirits of tsunami victims. Samantha Sin/AFP via Getty Images

    People often consider evolution to be a process that occurs in nature in the background of human society. But evolution is not separate from human beings. In fact, human cultural practices can influence evolution in wildlife. This influence is highly pronounced in cities, where people drastically alter landscapes to meet their own needs.

    Human actions can affect wildlife evolution in a number of ways. If people fragment habitat, separated wildlife populations can evolve to be more and more different from each other. If people change certain local conditions, it can pressure organisms in new ways that mean different genes are favored by natural selection and passed on to offspring – another form of evolution that can be driven by what people do.

    In a recent review, evolutionary biologists Marta Szulkin, Colin Garroway and I, in collaboration with scientists spread across five continents, explored how cultural processes – including religion, politics and war – shape urban evolution. We reviewed dozens of empirical studies about urban wildlife around the globe. Our work highlights which human cultural practices have and continue to shape the evolutionary trajectory of wild animals and plants.

    Religious practices

    If you’ve traveled internationally, you may have noticed the menu at any one McDonald’s restaurant is shaped by the local culture of its location. In the United Arab Emirates, McDonald’s serves an entirely halal menu. Vegetarian items are common and no beef is served in Indian McDonald’s. And in the United States, McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish is especially popular during Lent when observant Catholics don’t consume meat on Fridays.

    Similarly, ecosystems of cities are shaped by local cultural practices. Because all wildlife are connected to the environment, cultural practices that alter the landscape shape the evolution of urban organisms.

    Populations of fire salamanders have different genes depending on which side of city walls in Oviedo, Spain, they live on.
    Patrice Skrzynski via Getty Images

    For example, in Oviedo, Spain, people constructed walls around religious buildings between the 12th and 16th centuries. This division of the city led to different populations of fire salamanders inside and outside the walls. Because salamanders can’t scale these walls, those on opposite sides became isolated from each other and unable to pass genes back and forth. In a process that scientists call genetic drift, over time salamanders on the two sides became genetically distinct − evidence of the two populations evolving independently.

    Imagine dumping out a handful of M&Ms. Just by chance, some colors might be overrepresented and others might be missing. In the same way, genes that are overrepresented on one side of the wall can be in low numbers or missing on the other side. That’s genetic drift.

    Introducing non-native wildlife is another way people can alter urban ecosystems and evolutionary processes. For example, prayer animal release is a practice that started in the fifth or sixth century in some sects of Buddhism. Practitioners who strive to cause no harm to any living creature release captive animals, which benefits the animal and is meant to improve the karma of the person who released it.

    However, these animals are often captured from the wild or come from the pet trade, thereby introducing non-native wildlife into the urban ecosystem. Non-natives may compete with local species and contribute to the local extinction of native wildlife. Capturing animals nearby has downsides, too. It can diminish local populations, since many die traveling to the release ceremony. The genetic diversity of these local populations in turn decreases, reducing the population’s ability to survive.

    More than a thousand sparrows killed by peasants in 1958 are displayed on a cart near Beijing, China.
    Sovphoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    Influence of politics

    Politically motivated campaigns have shaped wildlife in various ways.

    Starting in 1958, for instance, the Chinese Communist Party led a movement to eliminate four species that were considered pests: rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows. While the first three are commonly considered pests around the world, sparrows made the list because they were “public animals of capitalism” due to their fondness for grain. The extermination campaign ended up decimating the sparrow population and damaging the entire ecosystem. With sparrows no longer hunting and eating insects, crop pests such as locusts thrived, leading to crop destruction and famine.

    In the United States, racial politics may be shaping evolutionary processes in wildlife.
    For instance, American highways traverse cities according to political agendas and have often dismantled poor neighborhoods of color to make way for multilane thoroughfares. These highways can change how animals are able to disperse and commingle. For example, they prevent bobcats and coyotes from traveling throughout Los Angeles, leading to similar patterns of population differentiation as seen in fire salamanders in Spain.

    Wildlife during and after war

    Human religious and political agendas often lead to armed conflict. Wars are known to dramatically alter the environment, as seen in current conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.

    The Russia-Ukraine war affected migration of greater spotted eagles.
    Nimit Virdi via Getty Images

    While documenting evolutionary changes to urban wildlife is secondary to keeping people safe during wartime, a handful of studies on wildlife have come out of active war zones. For example, the current Russia-Ukraine war affected the migration of greater spotted eagles. They made large diversions around the active war zone, arriving later than usual at their breeding grounds. The longer route increased the energy the eagles used during migration and likely influenced their fitness during breeding.

    Wars limit access to resources for people living in active war zones. The lack of energy to heat homes in Ukraine during the winter has led urban residents to harvest wood from nearby forests. This harvesting will have long-term consequences on forest dynamics, likely altering future evolutionary potential.

    A similar example is famine that occurred during the Democratic Republic of Congo’s civil wars (1996-1997, 1998-2003) and led to an increase in bushmeat consumption. This wildlife hunting is known to reduce primate population sizes, making them more susceptible to local extinction.

    Even after war, landscapes experience consequences.

    For example, the demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea is a 160-mile (250-kilometer) barrier, established in 1953, separating the two countries. Heavily fortified with razor wire and landmines, the demilitarized zone has become a de facto nature sanctuary supporting thousands of species, including dozens of endangered species.

    The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War led to the establishment of the European Green Belt, which runs along the same path as the Iron Curtain. This protected ecological network is over 7,800 miles (12,500 kilometers) long, allowing wildlife to move freely across 24 countries in Europe. Like the Korean DMZ, the European Green Belt allows for wildlife to move, breed and exchange genes, despite political boundaries. Politics has removed human influence from these spaces, allowing them to be a safe haven for wildlife.

    While researchers have documented a number of examples of wildlife evolving in response to human history and cultural practices, there’s plenty more to uncover. Cultures differ around the world, meaning each city has its own set of variables that shape the evolutionary processes of wildlife. Understanding how these human cultural practices shape evolutionary patterns will allow people to better design cities that support both humans and the wildlife that call these places home.

    Ideas for this article were developed as part of a NSF funded Research Coordination Network (DEB 1840663). Elizabeth Carlen was funded by the Living Earth Collaborative.

    – ref. War, politics and religion shape wildlife evolution in cities – https://theconversation.com/war-politics-and-religion-shape-wildlife-evolution-in-cities-260184

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Astronomers have discovered another puzzling interstellar object − this third one is big, bright and fast

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Darryl Z. Seligman, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University

    The Haleakala Observatory, left, houses one telescope for the ATLAS system. That system first spotted the object 3I/ATLAS, which isn’t visible in this image. AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson

    Astronomers manning an asteroid warning system caught a glimpse of a large, bright object zipping through the solar system late on July 1, 2025. The object’s potentially interstellar origins excited scientists across the globe, and the next morning, the European Space Agency confirmed that this object, first named A11pl3Z and then designated 3I/ATLAS, is the third ever found from outside our solar system.

    Current measurements estimate that 3I/ATLAS is about 12 miles (20 kilometers) wide, and while its path won’t take it close to Earth, it could hold clues about the nature of a previous interstellar object and about planet formation in solar systems beyond ours.

    On July 2 at 3 p.m. EDT, Mary Magnuson, an associate science editor at The Conversation U.S., spoke to Darryl Z. Seligman, an astrophysicist at Michigan State University who has been studying 3I/ATLAS since its discovery.

    What makes 3I/ATLAS different from its predecessors?

    We have discovered two interstellar objects so far, ’Oumuamua and Comet 2I/Borisov. ’Oumuamua had no dust tail and a significant nongravitational acceleration, which led to a wide variety of hypotheses regarding its origin. 2I/Borisov was very clearly a comet, though it has a somewhat unique composition compared to comets in our solar system.

    All of our preparation for the next interstellar object was preparing for something that looked like a ’Oumuamua, or something that looked like Borisov. And this thing doesn’t look like either of them, which is crazy and exciting.

    This object is shockingly bright, and it’s very far away from the Earth. It is significantly bigger than both of the interstellar objects we’ve seen – it is orders of magnitude larger than ’Oumuamua.

    For some context, ’Oumuamua was discovered when it was very close to the Earth, but this new object is so large and bright that our telescopes can see it, even though it is still much farther away. This means observatories and telescopes will be able to observe it for much longer than we could for the two previous objects.

    It’s huge and it’s much farther away, but it is also much faster.

    When I went to bed last night, I saw an alert about this object, but nobody knew what was going on yet. I have a few collaborators who figure out the orbits of things in the solar system, and I expected to wake up to them saying something like “yeah, this isn’t actually interstellar.” Because a lot of times you think you may have found something interesting, but as more data comes in, it becomes less interesting.

    Then, when I woke up at 1 a.m., my colleagues who are experts on orbits were saying things like “no, this is definitely interstellar. This is for real.”

    How can astronomers tell if something is an interstellar object?

    The eccentricity of the object’s orbit is how you know that it’s interstellar. The eccentricity refers to how noncircular an orbit is. So an eccentricity of zero is a pure circle, and as the eccentricity increases, it becomes what’s known as an ellipse – a stretched out circle.

    A hyperbolic orbit isn’t a closed loop, as this rendering of ‘Oumuamua’s trajectory shows. All the planets have oval-shaped elliptical orbits, which close in a loop. The interstellar object instead passes through but doesn’t come back around.
    Tomruen/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    And then once you get past an eccentricity of one, you go from an ellipse to a hyperbolic orbit, and that is unbound. So while an elliptical orbit is stretched out, it still orbits and comes back around. An object with a hyperbolic orbit comes through and it leaves, but it never comes back. That type of orbit tells you that it didn’t come from this solar system.

    When researchers are collecting data, they’re getting points of light on the sky, and they don’t know how far away they are. It’s not like they see them and can just tell, “oh, that’s eccentric.” What they’re seeing is how far away the object is compared with other stars in the background, what its position is and how fast it’s moving. And then from that data, they try to fit the orbit.

    This object is moving fast for how far away it is, and that’s what’s telling us that it could be hyperbolic. If something is moving fast enough, it’ll escape from the solar system. So a hyperbolic, unbound object inherently has to be moving faster.

    This is a real-time process. My collaborators have preexisting software, which will, every night, get new observations of all the small bodies and objects in the solar system. It will figure out and update what the orbits are in real time. We’re getting data points, and with more data we can refine which orbit fits the points best.

    What can scientists learn from an interstellar object?

    Objects like this are pristine, primordial remnants from the planet formation process in other planetary systems. The small bodies in our solar system have taught us quite a lot about how the planets in the solar system formed and evolved. This could be a new window into understanding planet formation throughout the galaxy.

    As we’re looking through the incoming data, we’re trying to figure out whether it’s a comet. In the next couple of weeks, there will likely be way more information available to say if it has a cometary tail like Borisov, or if it has an acceleration that’s not due to a gravitational pull, like ’Oumuamua.

    If it is a comet, researchers really want to figure out whether it’s icy. If it contains ices, that tells you a ton about it. The chemistry of these small bodies is the most important aspect when it comes to understanding planet formation, because the chemical composition tells you about the conditions the object’s solar system was in when the object formed.

    For example, if the object has a lot of ices in it, you would know that wherever it came from, it didn’t spend much time near a star, because those ices would have melted. If it has a lot of ice in it, that could tell you that it formed really far away from a star and then got ejected by something massive, such as a planet the size of Jupiter or Neptune.

    Fundamentally, this object could tell astronomers more about a population of objects that we don’t fully understand, or about the conditions in another solar system.

    We’ve had a couple of hours to get some preliminary observations. I suspect that practically every telescope is going to be looking at this object for the next couple of nights, so we’ll get much more information about it very soon.

    Darryl Z. Seligman is supported by an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship under award AST-2303553. This research award is partially funded by a generous gift of Charles Simonyi to the NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences. The award is made in recognition of significant contributions to Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

    – ref. Astronomers have discovered another puzzling interstellar object − this third one is big, bright and fast – https://theconversation.com/astronomers-have-discovered-another-puzzling-interstellar-object-this-third-one-is-big-bright-and-fast-260391

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  • MIL-OSI United Nations: The Republic of Korea contributes USD 37 million to WFP’s humanitarian assistance through the REACH initiative

    Source: World Food Programme

    SEVILLE, Spain – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a USD 37 million contribution from the Republic of Korea (ROK) through a new joint initiative to support WFP’s humanitarian operations in crisis areas.

    Launched in 2025, the REACH initiative (Responding with Emergency Assistance for Conflict-affected Households) is designed to provide emergency support to vulnerable households impacted by conflict and disaster. The new initiative allows the Republic of Korea to support global humanitarian response in a more strategic and impactful way.

    The ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs and WFP held a meeting on the sidelines of the 4th Development Finance Conference in Seville, Spain, on 1 July, reaffirming their shared commitment to addressing global food crises. The meeting was attended by Rania Dagash-Kamara, WFP Assistant Executive Director for Partnerships and Innovation, and Jina Kim, Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the ROK.

    “The Republic of Korea-WFP REACH initiative is more than a funding mechanism – it is a strategic partnership built on trust and shared values,” said Rania Dagash-Kamara, WFP Assistant Executive Director. “The ROK’s continued solidarity helps WFP’s response in unprecedented humanitarian crises, delivering life-saving assistance to communities in places like Palestine, Sudan, and Syria.”

    Under the REACH initiative, WFP will deliver emergency relief, including food assistance, cash-based transfers, and nutrition support with a focus on helping vulnerable households stabilize their livelihoods. The initiative showcases ROK’s humanitarian leadership and commitment to global solidarity, playing a critical role in saving lives and delivering hope in times of crisis.

    In 2024, the Republic of Korea contributed over USD 200 million to WFP, becoming one of WFP’s top five government donors. Having once received assistance from WFP more than 60 years ago, ROK has transitioned into a leading donor – an inspiring testament to progress in the fight against hunger.

    #              #            #

    The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

    Follow us on X via @wfp_media and on Instagram via @worldfoodprogramme, @wfpkorea
     

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: 4 July 2025 GOARN impact in the field: Brazil implements Go.Data for enhanced contact tracing

    Source: World Health Organisation

    Training sessions on Go.Data for health professionals from various states of Brazil to support the response to outbreaks and health emergencies [2022]. © Pan American Health Organization, Brazil.

    Brazil, a vast country covering approximately 8.5 million km², is divided into 27 states and 5570 municipalities across five regions: North, Northeast, Central-West, Southeast, and South. These regions are home to about 212 million people. Given this extensive territory, implementing new technologies and innovations to ensure quality healthcare access throughout the country is a significant challenge. 

    The COVID-19 pandemic exposed several gaps in the public health system, particularly the need for an effective contact tracing strategy. In Brazil, there were no specific tools available for this purpose, prompting many localities to rely on monitoring spreadsheets or develop their own strategies. 

    In response, the first implementations of the Go.Data tool began in August 2021. Developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with partners at the Global Alert and Response Network (GOARN), Go.Data is a software designed to support outbreak response, particularly contact tracing efforts. It enables users to identify exposed individuals, monitor their health status, and visualize transmission chains. Two municipalities stood out in their use of the tool, applying it to investigate contacts in various situations, including within educational institutions. In these instances, more than 30 000 contacts were recorded. The implementation of the tool facilitated standardized contact tracing, allowing multiple professionals to collaborate concurrently. Furthermore, it supported the real-time creation of transmission chains, thereby offering crucial support in informed decision-making. 

    Following the success of various initiatives and the emergence of mpox in Brazil in 2022, efforts were made to implement state-level servers with support from the National Council of Health Secretaries. As a result, approximately 15 states installed the tool within their infrastructures, expanding its use across different contexts. Subsequently, the Ministry of Health also adopted the tool, integrating it into its infrastructure while complying with all necessary security protocols and requirements. This marked a significant milestone for Brazil, enabling all states to access the tool. 

    In 2023, once the server was established at the Ministry of Health, Go.Data was utilized to monitor individuals exposed to animals with avian influenza. During this process, a centralized server was recommended to consolidate information, allowing 15 states to access the same server. This model represented progress in hierarchical access management and the geographic distribution of information, thereby strengthening epidemiological surveillance in the country. 

    Building on this experience, since 2024, the Ministry of Health, in partnership with the states, has been working to structure the national adoption of the tool in the context of measles and other diseases. To support this effort, two focal points have been trained in each state to ensure a timely response to epidemiological investigations in November 2023 by Pan American Health Organization (WHO Regional Office for the Americas or PAHO) and the Ministry of Health. 

    Epidemiology team from the state of Rio de Janeiro using Go.Data in response to an outbreak [2025]. © Pan American Health Organization, Brazil.

    The implementation of Go.Data has streamlined contact investigations by providing a single online platform with regional access permissions, which enhances tracking and monitoring efforts. Brazil has successfully integrated this tool into its official case notification system, ensuring alignment with national guidelines. Furthermore, Go.Data is equipped with integrations for Power BI and Shiny, which improve data analysis and visualization capabilities. The development of guides and training courses focused on operational procedures has standardized processes and strengthened user competencies. 

    Felipe Lopes Vasconcelos, a national consultant for PAHO, reflects on the tool’s progress in the country. “We had the opportunity to understand the various realities at the state level in Brazil. Before introducing Go.Data, contact tracing was slow and lacked standardization. Today, we have already seen significant advances at different levels, and I believe we are moving toward a more timely response to outbreaks,” Felipe says.  

    The technical support provided by the WHO has been crucial in this process. Since 2020, the WHO team has offered continuous assistance, addressing all questions, needs, and suggestions from Brazil, which has contributed to the tool’s development over the years. 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: In Dialogue with Haiti, Experts of the Human Rights Committee Welcome Efforts to Establish a New Constitution, Raise Questions on Measures to Combat Gang-Related Gender-Based Violence and Lynchings

    Source: United Nations – Geneva

    The Human Rights Committee today concluded its consideration of the second periodic report of Haiti on how it implements the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights . Committee Experts appreciated the referendum to establish a new national Constitution, while raising questions as to how the State was tackling the high level of violence against women and girls perpetuated by gang members and lynchings carried out by citizens, against a backdrop of distrust in the police.

    One Committee Expert said they saw the referendum to establish a new Constitution in a positive light, as an attempt to reestablish the institutionality of the country.

    Another Expert said that the scale of violence against women and girls was reportedly considerable, with sexual violence, including rape of children as young as five years old, gang rape, and forced prostitution, used as a weapon of control by gangs. According to reports, the judiciary were not sensitive to cases of gender-based violence and victims were hesitant to report cases. What measures were taken to encourage women to file complaints? Was there a fund to help survivors of violence? How were they supported by State services?

    Lynchings continued to be regular and numerous, another Expert said, citing reports of more than 500 cases in 2023. These were often the work of self-defence groups in or around Port-au-Prince, who did not trust the police, mainly due to corruption. Was this violence investigated, including when the police were accused of supporting or encouraging it? Had the perpetrators of lynchings, stonings and mutilations been prosecuted and punished proportionately? How could trust be restored between the police and the civilian population?

    Pedrica Saint Jean, Minister for the Status of Women and Women’s Rights and head of the delegation, introducing the report, said from 2020 to 2025, Haiti was confronted with repeated political crises, marked by lockdown operations and successive protests. The COVID-19 pandemic, frequent floods and the earthquake of 14 August 2021, which devastated part of the Great South region, were additional challenges faced by the country. This complex situation was further aggravated by the assassination of the Haitian President on 6 July 2021.

    Ms. Saint Jean said an agreement for a peaceful transition was reached on 3 April 2024, establishing a transition period with a nine-member Transitional Presidential Council and a Prime Minister, with the aim of restoring security, continuing constitutional reform, and organising democratic elections.

    The delegation said several strategies had been undertaken to combat gender-based violence, including a national strategy that spanned from 2017 to 2024. An assessment of the strategy was almost completed. A gender-based violence cell had been established to train police officers to take the needs of female victims of violence into account. The Office to Combat Gender-Based Violence streamlined services for victims, enabling them to receive legal, psychosocial and medical assistance in one place. In areas with armed gangs, women were typically the primary victims. Violence was used as a weapon of repression.

    The delegation also said the Government had always condemned lynchings, which were not part of the country’s culture. Incidents needed to be reported at a police station so perpetrators could be incarcerated and tried for their crimes. The community police were carrying out an awareness raising campaign to progressively build trust with the general population. Training sessions were being organised for police officers, with a view to protecting the population. When complaints were made against the police force, the national inspector for the police carried out investigations and measures were taken as necessary.

    In concluding remarks, Ms. Saint Jean thanked the Committee for the kindness it had shown to the Haitian delegation, and the Experts for their insights. Haiti had taken due note of all recommendations and was determined to take further steps to develop effective, concrete responses to the Committee’s concerns relating to the implementation of the Covenant. Everybody was working to see the day when Haiti could leave the crisis behind.

    Changrok Soh, Committee Chairperson, in concluding remarks, said the Committee acknowledged the profound political, economic and humanitarian challenges facing Haiti, which had hampered efforts to protect human rights. Haiti was encouraged to take this opportunity to advance necessary reforms to ensure that the rights enshrined in the Covenant were fully recognised for all Haitians.

    The delegation of Haiti was made up of representatives of the Ministry for the Status of Women and Women’s Rights; the Ministry of Justice and Public Security; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of Social Affairs and Work; the Cabinet; the Government of Port-au-Prince; the Prime Minister’s Office; the Haitian National Police; the Anti-Violence Unit; and the Permanent Mission of Haiti to the United Nations Office at Geneva. Some members of the delegation were unable to attend the meeting in person due to travel restrictions.

    The Human Rights Committee’s one hundred and forty-fourth session is being held from 23 June to 17 July 2025. All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage . Meeting summary releases can be found here . The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings can be accessed via the UN Web TV webpage .

    The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m., Monday 7 July to begin its consideration of the fourth periodic report of Viet Nam (CCPR/C/VNM/4). 

    Report

    The Committee has before it the second periodic report of Haiti (CCPR/C/HTI/2).

    Presentation of Report

    PEDRICA SAINT JEAN, Minister for the Status of Women and Women’s Rights and head of the delegation , said between 2020 to 2025, Haiti had experienced both positive and negative developments. From a positive perspective, the Government had multiplied efforts in many areas to improve the rule of law and respect for human rights. However, the country had been plagued by unprecedent insecurity that required the intervention of a foreign force, through the deployment of the Multinational Security Support Mission on October 2, 2024. This force intervened in the context of an agreement signed between Haiti and Kenya on police and security cooperation in March 2024, following the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2699.

    From 2020 to 2025, Haiti was confronted with repeated political crises, marked by lockdown operations and successive protests which accompanied them. The COVID-19 pandemic, frequent floods and the earthquake of 14 August 2021, which devastated part of the Great South region, were additional challenges faced by the country. This complex situation was further aggravated by the assassination of the Haitian President on 6 July 2021.

    An agreement for a peaceful transition was reached on 3 April 2024, establishing a transition period with a nine-member Transitional Presidential Council and a Prime Minister, with the aim of restoring security, continuing constitutional reform, and organising democratic presidential elections. The Council was also tasked with economic and judicial reforms and combating corruption. The agreement provided for the establishment of three key bodies, including the Body for the Control of Government Action, in charge of controlling the acts of the Executive, since Parliament was currently non-existent; the National Security Council, to respond to the various aspects of the country’s security crisis; and the National Conference, accompanied by a steering committee. The Government had already established the National Security Council and the National Conference and its steering committee. The referendum decree, resulting from the work of the National Conference and the steering committee, would allow Haiti to have a new Constitution. Currently, efforts were underway to strengthen the capacities of the Haitian National Police and the Armed Forces of Haiti, which had a budget increase of 11 per cent in 2024-2025. An agreement was concluded with Colombia to monitor the Haitian coast, to curb the illicit trafficking of firearms.

    The Government had attached great importance to the judicial reform already initiated by its predecessors. Six new Courts of First Instance and the corresponding Public Prosecutor’s Offices were created between September 2024 and April 2025. The law of 10 September 2018 created the National Council for Legal Assistance and established legal aid offices in 18 jurisdictions in Haiti, aiming to provide free legal assistance to those who were financially struggling. The Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure had previously been criticised by civil society in 2020. Following the revision of the two texts by a special commission, they were adopted on 24 June 2025. This marked an important step in the fight against insecurity, corruption and impunity.

    Two other important decrees had been adopted in the context of judicial reform. The first, adopted on 16 April 2025, which created two specialised judicial poles: one for the repression of complex financial crimes and offences and the other for the repression of mass crimes and sexual violence. The second decree of 4 May 2023 sanctioned money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in Haiti.

    Despite Government efforts, due to the deteriorating security situation, the majority of prisons in Port-au-Prince had been vandalised, leading to the uncontrolled release of a number of detainees. The Government had been forced to relocate several jurisdictions to allow the resumption of judicial activities in minimum security conditions and the normal application of appropriate sentences and sanctions.

    The Haitian State aimed to follow up on complaints against police officers for excessive use of force, and it organised human rights training sessions for police personnel. However, it was regrettable that, despite the Government’s efforts, some citizens, driven by anger at the atrocities committed by criminal groups, resorted to extreme methods, including the lynching of captured gang members, instead of handing them over to the authorities. The Government recognised the severity of these acts and strongly condemned all forms of mob justice.

    The crisis in the country led to an increase in gender-based violence, particularly for displaced persons in camps. The Haitian State was working to protect and facilitate access to justice for survivors of violence, including through the creation of the Office for Combatting Gender-Based Violence as well as the organization of training adapted to the needs of survivors for police officers and judges. Medical, legal and psychosocial assistance were also offered to women and girls at internal displacement camps.

    Article 262 of the Penal Code, adopted by decree on 23 June 2025, punished the perpetrators of acts of torture and barbarism, with sentences ranging from 15 to 20 years in prison. Prison overcrowding remained a major problem, especially with the destruction of the main prisons in March 2024. Instructions had been issued to the Public Prosecutor’s Offices and Courts of First Instance to carry out regular criminal hearings, with the aim of relieving overcrowding in the prisons in provincial cities.

    The Transitional Presidential Council was making every effort to organise general elections in 2025 and to install a President elected on 7 February 2026. Despite its efforts, the Haitian State was aware that the implementation of the provisions of the Covenant had not yet reached a satisfactory level. However, Haiti pledged to do everything in its power to implement the provisions on the Covenant.

    Questions by Committee Experts

    A Committee Expert acknowledged how difficult it was for the State party to participate in person in the dialogue and expressed gratitude to the delegation in Geneva. The Committee was aware of the grave humanitarian crisis suffered by Haiti for decades, compounded with the assassination of the President in 2021. In that context, the Committee noted an increase in widespread human rights violations and growing control of armed gangs in significant parts of Port-au-Prince, leaving the population more vulnerable to violence and human rights abuses, and leading to the displacement of more than one million people.

    Were courts in Haiti directly applying the Covenant? Could examples be provided? Were courses on international human rights law and the Covenant provided in training to judges? The Committee had been informed of situations where civil servants had opposed the execution of orders handed down by judges to free individuals. Could this be explained? What role did these civil servants play in the judicial system? Had steps been taken to ratify the Optional Protocol of the Covenant on individual communications? In May 2025, a bill of law was presented on the development of a new constitution, with a decree adopted to hold a referendum on the issue. Was this bill in line with the rights enshrined in the Covenant? Was it realistic to carry out a referendum in the context of violence? When was the state of emergency ordered? Was it still in force? Which articles of the Covenant were suspended?

    Did the current budget of the Office for Citizen Protection allow it to carry out its functions and extend its activities to the most remote parts of the country? Were there plans to expand the powers of the Office to allow it to consider human rights violations that had their origin in the acts of private entities?

    What steps had been taken to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons? Were there laws in place to punish acts of discrimination against these groups? Had the State taken actions been to allow these people to carry out public demonstrations and to protect them? Had it adopted measures to change discriminatory cultural attitudes in Haitian society, to end stigmatisation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons? 

    Another Expert said despite the crisis in the country, Haiti remained bound by its international obligations. The dialogue would address problems such as insecurity, the deep humanitarian crisis that the population was experiencing, the endemic violence of gangs, the forced displacement of the population, the dysfunction of the justice system, chronic impunity and serious challenges to the rule of law. All these problems were linked to corruption. The report published in 2023 by the United Nations Expert on Human Rights in Haiti stated that corruption in Haiti was “public enemy number one” and found that more than 90 per cent of Haitian civil servants did not comply with the national anti-corruption law. The Anti-Corruption Unit and the Central Financial Intelligence Unit, which were suspected of lacking independence, had brought nearly 100 major cases of corruption to justice, but these had not led to any convictions.

    Did the State plan to set up a financial prosecutor’s office or judges specialised in the fight against corruption? Could more information be provided on the decree adopted on the creation of financial judicial units? What measures were being taken to support the work of the Anti-Corruption Unit and the Central Financial Intelligence Unit and to ensure that the cases referred were followed up independently?

    Haiti had expressed its commitment to ensuring accountability for the serious violations committed during Jean-Claude Duvalier’s presidency. However, a case assessing these violations had been in the courts of cassation since 2014, and there had not been any progress. What explained the delay? Could the delegation enlighten the Committee on the situation of Jean Gabriel Robert, who was convicted in absentia in the case of the “Raboteau massacre”?

    Information showed that the scale of violence against women and girls was considerable, with sexual violence, including rape, which was sometimes perpetrated against children as young as five years old; gang rape; and forced prostitution, used as a weapon of control by gangs. According to reports, the judiciary were not sensitive to cases of gender-based violence and victims were hesitant to report cases. What measures were taken to encourage women to file complaints? Was there a fund to help survivors of violence? How were they supported by State services?

    According to information received by the Committee, lynchings continued to be regular and numerous, with more than 500 in 2023. These were often the work of self-defence groups in or around Port-au-Prince, who did not trust the police, mainly due to corruption. In addition, the 2024 report of the United Nations Expert on Human Rights in Haiti noted that police were passive, and it appeared that some murders were encouraged, supported or facilitated by the police forces. Was this violence investigated, including when the police were accused of supporting or encouraging it? Had the perpetrators of lynchings, stonings and mutilations been prosecuted and punished proportionately? How could trust be restored between the police and the civilian population?

    Another Expert said specific steps had not been taken to combat impunity. What hope existed, looking forward to the immediate and long-term future, regarding a reversal of the situation? There were several cases in which there had been impunity for human rights violations. Attacks against the population in the La Saline suburb in 2018 had not been condemned by the Government and no steps had been taken to provide support to victims. What measures had been taken against the involvement of political agents in these cases? Why was the La Saline case withdrawn from the original judge?

    Data showed that 28 percent of civil servants in Haiti were women. In 2019 a strategy was presented to ensure equality for women by 2030. What progress had been made? How would the State party solve the problem of the low rate of political representation of women in Haiti?

    What actions were being taken to guaranteed women’s access to health care, in situations where criminal groups took control of health centres? How was access to medicines ensured?

    Another Expert asked what Haiti’s prospects were looking forward? What urgent measures were envisaged to protect women and girls in areas under gang control? What mechanisms had been established to guarantee security and safety for survivors of sexual violence, and to encourage the reporting of cases? Could Haiti provide updated information on the draft law preventing violence against women and girls? Was there a timeline for its adoption? What had been done to bolster the amount of medical, legal and psychosocial services for survivors, particularly in areas under gang control? What measures were envisaged to protect the right to life of those in extreme poverty? Was there an intersectional strategy to prevent avoidable deaths linked to poverty?

    What measures were taken to protect civilians living in areas under the control of armed gangs? What had been the result of the assistance from Kenya? Was it meeting the challenges? What guarantees existed when it came to the investigation of its own officers by the Haitian police? How was it ensured that the police did not carry out disproportionate use of force during protests? How was action being bolstered in areas under gang control?

    Was there a road map regarding ratification of the Covenant’s Second Optional Protocol concerning the death penalty? How did the State party intend to ensure that those who had served their sentence were properly released? Had the system for monitoring judicial cases been reactivated? What efforts were underway to improve detention conditions? Were construction projects for new prisons still planned? How many women had access to shelters in the last three years? What measures were envisaged to guarantee all police stations should have trained personnel, particularly in areas most affected by police insecurity?

    Responses by the Delegation

    PEDRICA SAINT JEAN, Minister for the Status of Women and Women’s Rights and head of the delegation , said the Government had priorities outlined in the April 2024 agreement on the peaceful transition, including combatting insecurity, conducting the referendum and bringing the country to elections to appoint a robust Government. To combat insecurity, the budget allocated to the police and armed forces had been increased, allowing them to better contain the problems they were confronting. The police, the Haitian armed forces, and the security mission needed to work together to combat insecurity to allow for the milestone referendum to be held. Nine electoral commissioners were currently out in the field assessing the requirements. Haiti was not waiting for the security issues to subside before moving to the referendum.

    Haiti was doing its utmost to implement its commitments under the Covenant through a raft of measures. Six new courtrooms had been established in the country, allowing proximity between those needing to access the justice system and the infrastructure in place. Bureaus had been established to work on specific criminal areas, including mass crimes which had remained unpunished. For some time, courts had not been operational because they were in the hands of gangs. Two bureaus would be responsible for crimes of sexual violence, and another was responsible for financial crimes. Some 34 new judges and prosecutors had been appointed to support the justice system.

    The method of choosing judges for the Anti-Corruption Unit had not hindered its independence. Cases were currently going ahead at the Court of First Instance. Three prisons had been built to international standards, with one dedicated to female inmates. Institutional measures had been put in place to freeze the funds of certain agencies which were found to be corrupt but had impunity from the Anti-Corruption Unit, and those responsible were being brought before the court.

    The Government of Haiti had always condemned lynchings, which were not part of the country’s culture. Incidents needed to be reported at a police station so perpetrators could be incarcerated and tried for their crimes.

    The delegation said several assessment missions had been established to gain an understanding of the situation of detention centres and propose tangible solutions. One of the main challenges was the provision of food, due to lack of access to main roads. To address this situation, the Justice Ministry sought to ensure that providers of food should be placed directly in situ. In the last few months, prisons had greater autonomy and managed their needs themselves, providing a better and tailored approach to local realities.

    Haiti had done a lot to combat gender-based violence. This phenomenon was topical in Haiti, particularly when it came to displaced women. Several strategies had been undertaken to combat gender-based violence, including a national strategy that spanned from 2017 to 2024. An assessment of the strategy was almost completed. A gender-based violence cell had been established within the police, to train police officers to take the needs of female victims of violence into account. The Office to Combat Gender-Based Violence streamlined services for victims, enabling them to receive legal, psychosocial and medical assistance in one place. Psychosocial support services had been set up for women victims in internal displacement camps. Several initiatives had been adopted to bolster protections for minors, including host families and prevention and readaptation programmes for children recruited by armed games. Training and awareness raising sessions were organised for judges.

    In areas with armed gangs, women were typically the primary victims. The number of victims was increasing, particularly against younger women, but violence by armed gangs was also affecting children and the elderly. Violence was used as a weapon of repression. There were still people in Haiti who did not want to report. During times of political turbulence, the phenomenon of violence against women was heightened. There was a need for awareness raising to eradicate the phenomenon. Women should not be used as an instrument to place pressure on the Government.

    Incest had never been part of Haitian culture, but it did not mean this phenomenon did not exist. When incest occurred, people usually preferred to solve the issue in the family. Attention needed to be paid to the phenomenon of incest involving displaced people. The State sanctioned based on the relevant 2006 decree and used case law when dealing with these offences. It was important to continue legislating to bring tangible solutions to this phenomenon.

    For 15 years, judges had been receiving training on the Covenant from the Government and the Haitian police.

    Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons had been looked down on in Haiti; they were formerly not given the right to complain. While progress was not significant, these people were now considered to be fully fledged citizens who needed to be protected by the State and to enjoy their full human rights.

    Quotas had been implemented calling for at least 30 per cent of decision-making posts to be held by women. This issue had been poorly addressed. In the new Constitution, the State was advocating for parity. Until there was a critical mass of women in decision-making posts, the problems they faced would persist. A series of consultations had been launched with officials to create incentive measures to promote equality regarding candidate lists.

    The law on the organization of the Ministry on the Status of Women had not properly been reformed, which was why the Ministry had difficulties in playing its primary role. The Ministry submitted a law on its reorganization to ensure it could achieve its goals. By the start of next year, the State would launch its first national action plan covering the participation of women in restoring peace and security in Haiti. Work was being done with survivors in internal displacement camps to transform them into fully-fledged actors. Women, including young girls and survivors of violence in these camps, had been appointed as peace ambassadors, to sensitise the message of peace throughout Haiti.

    Haiti was relying on the work of the Multinational Security Support Mission and the international community to help the police and armed forces overcome the corruption and security issues in the country.

    Follow-up Questions by Committee Experts

    A Committee Expert asked follow-up questions, including on the functions to be undertaken by the bureaus on mass crimes, sexual crimes and financial crimes. This was a fantastic idea, but the bureaus needed to have the resources to operate properly. Other questions were asked on measures planned to restore the trust between the police and the justice system; lynchings committed by the police force; steps to tackle the circulation of weapons; and the mandate of the Office for Citizens’ Protection.

    An Expert said they saw the referendum to establish a new Constitution in a positive light, as an attempt to reestablish the institutionality of the country. Who drafted this bill? Did it go through various sectors, with participation from civil society? What did the “green and red zones” mean? Were green zones under Government control? Did red zones mean there was no State control? What happened if there was a referendum in the red zones?

    More questions were asked on how the long tradition of impunity could be alleviated; alternative measures to detention; detention beyond the lengths of sentences; efforts to prevent discrimination against women; and access to voluntary interruption of pregnancy. What was the Government’s perception of the processes involving the participation of the international community that aimed to improve the situation for the population of Haiti?

    According to information received by the Committee, around 40 per cent of births enjoyed the proper medical support. How did midwives treat risky pregnancies? Did the State intend to include the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol in the planned reform of the draft Constitution?

    Responses by the Delegation

    The delegation said the death penalty was abolished in Haiti through a decree adopted in 1987.

    Regarding the red and green zones, there were currently zones under gang control, where the State was doing everything possible to convert them to green zones. Green zones were placed where the State could provide appropriate services to the population. The police were trying to gain access to the red zones to bring about peace and security. Progress had been made in penetrating many of the red zones; it was expected that there would be further progress in this area.

    The referendum was a compulsory, milestone measure to lay the groundwork for national elections and allow the population to get their new Constitution. All different sectors of society had been consulted in the drafting of the new Constitution.

    Haiti had implemented measures that aimed to provide a structure to prevent the free circulation of weapons, including weapons of mass destruction.

    The delegation said there was a legal bureau on mass crimes and sexual violence in Port-au-Prince and another on financial crimes. The bureaus were comprised of 10 judges who worked with the police and financial oversight and regulatory bodies. Their operations were ensured by donors from the international community and the State.

    The community police were carrying out an awareness raising campaign to progressively build trust with the general population. Training sessions were being organised for police officers, with a view to protecting the population. When complaints were made against the police force, the national inspector for the police carried out investigations and measures were taken as necessary.

    Haiti had a plan to set up scanners at customs to prevent the flow of illegal weapons into the country. Controls at the border with the Dominican Republic and checks of containers coming from the United Staes had been strengthened, and strict checks were being conducted on private vehicles, including motorbikes. Authorities had also suspended land imports from the Dominican Republic, ensuring seizures of illegal imports. Despite this, Haiti was facing increased criminal activity and corruption, with the need for increased international support to reduce the weapons flow into Haiti.

    Green zones were safe zones while red zones were ones where there was a heightened risk.

    A draft of the new Constitution had been shared across different sectors to receive their inputs, which had been sent to the Committee responsible for the drafting of the new Constitution.

    Haitian midwives played a key role in early detection of illnesses and in responding to complications during birth. They carried out post monitoring operatives in rural areas, while caesarean procedures were performed by obstetric doctors.

    Questions by Committee Experts

    A Committee Expert asked if there were obstacles preventing Haiti from ratifying the Covenant’s Second Optional Protocol? Murderous attacks by gangs against ambulances had been reported, and health staff had fled the country. Did the Government have any plans to confront these problems? Haiti had an astonishing overcrowding rate in its prisons, at allegedly over 300 per cent. There was a lack of access to the appellate procedure for all inmates and for persons with disabilities. How did Haiti plan to resolve this problem?

    Another Expert appreciated Haiti’s delegation comprised of high-level women. It was reported that police agents or persons acting with their complicity tortured inmates on a daily basis in prisons and police custody facilities. Why had the perpetrators of cases of torture not been prosecuted and brought to justice? Had there been capacity building of law enforcement in the area of torture? Why had the State not ratified the Convention against Torture?

    Reports received by the Committee stated that forced evictions had become widespread since the earthquake in 2010, but this was denied by the State. It was alleged that these evictions affected a wide number of families and were not addressed by the State. What information was available about three resident families who had not taken up possession of reconstructed homes? Which Government civil servants were responsible for these families’ forced evictions? How had the Government taken steps to prosecute those involved?

    Hurricane Matthew had affected more than 2.6 million people, including 600,000 children; what measures had been taken to protect them? Could information be provided on the distribution of financial aid and the resources used to reconstruct infrastructure following this natural disaster? During the imposed state of emergency, was it only economic rights which were affected? What solutions were available for those still awaiting assistance from the damage 10 years ago? What resources had been allocated to address housing issues?

    A Committee Expert asked about the implementation of the National Plan to Combat Child Labour, adopted in 2019; what was the duration of the plan? Was it still in force or had a new plan been adopted? Could data on the number of children exploited and those in situations of begging be provided? What work had been done specifically on the exploitation of children by the Committee to Combat Human Trafficking?

    Various reports had documented violence against children, who were recruited and used by the gangs and injured or killed as a result. An even more severe impact was felt by children with disabilities. The Secretary-General’s report had outlined 383 grave violations against children in 2024. In December 2024, the gangs had committed a high number of abductions, including of 17 girls and 10 boys. What measures had been taken by the State to combat these grave violations? To help minors, child soldiers and victims of armed groups, a Commission had been created to support the creation of a national network of shelters and rehabilitation centres. How did the State ensure that the Commission had the human and financial resources necessary to support its functions? What did its work consist of? Was the National Committee for Combatting Human Trafficking able to carry out its functions? What measures had been adopted along the Dominican-Haitian border to prevent trafficking of children who were then sold in the Dominican Republic?

    It was understood that a commission to implement criminal reform was created in July 2024. What were the main reforms being carried out? What measures had been adopted to deal with the firebomb attacks on judges? How was the safety and security of judges being ensured? What was the current situation of the National Council for Legal Assistance? Regarding the appointment of judges in the Cassation Council, how was it ensured that the involvement of the Senate did not affect the Council’s independence? What role did the Council play in combatting corruption in the judicial sphere?

    Another Committee Expert said people who were displaced often lost their identification documents. What was the State party doing to resolve this issue? Two journalists reporting on insecurity in Haiti had been executed in 2022. The Committee had also received information that five journalists were murdered in 2024, with no investigations carried out. Gang violence had also led to the closure and restriction of media, including the suspension of popular programmes on suspicion of serving as platforms for gangs. Journalists had also been threatened by gangs. How could elections take place if the State could not facilitate the free circulation of ideas? How did Haiti intend to combat impunity surrounding executions or ill-treatment of journalists? What was done to protect human rights defenders? How was it ensured that social media platforms were regulated?

    In March 2025, anti-Government protests were held to decry the security context and inaction by the State. What measures had been taken to establish the responsibility of police directly involved in the use of force in suppressing peaceful demonstrations? What had been done to guarantee the work of non-governmental organizations in full security and free from harassment?

    Responses by the Delegation

    The delegation said overcrowding in prisons remained a major issue for the Government which it was working to address. Instructions had been issued to the prosecution offices and tribunals of the Courts of First Instance to encourage the holding of more criminal sessions, including sessions in which a jury was not present, with a view to relieving overcrowding in provincial prisons. In 2023 and2024, this occurred in 14 jurisdictions, leading to 159 convictions. In 2024, the total number of people detained in the country was around 12,000. The State had managed to capture around 12 prisoners who had escaped. The drop in the number of detainees in 2025 was explained primarily due to the escapes that followed the armed attacks carried out against certain penitentiary infrastructure. Courts had been actively engaged to implement non-custodial measures when appropriate, as a means of alleviating prison overcrowding. The Government recognised the need to prevent arbitrary arrests. Men, women and children were placed in different prisons. Despite the State’s efforts, there was only one police officer per every 14 detainees.

    The Government remained committed to improving prison conditions, despite security constraints. The mortality rate had dropped between 2024 and 2025 thanks to coordinated action to provide medical care and humanitarian aid. Healthcare services had been established in several penitentiaries. In 2017, a Presidential Commission was established to shed light on deaths in the Port-au-Prince prison. It highlighted aggravating factors including severe overcrowding, insufficient hygiene and a lack of medical support, among others. Measures were implemented to improve nutrition, detention conditions and investigate causes of deaths.

    The internal regulations of the penitentiary administration outlawed all forms of torture and inhumane treatment. Finances had been provided to the National Anti-Trafficking Committee to support the implementation of its national action plan. A protocol had been signed to guarantee legal aid to victims of trafficking. Some 100 students from the University of Haiti had received training on the issue of human trafficking. Several human traffickers had been prosecuted, however following the mass escapes in March 2024, a number of these traffickers were unfortunately able to escape.

    The Constitution guaranteed that judges could not be dismissed. In the judicial hierarchy in Haiti, the Constitution had the highest ranking, followed by international conventions. In Haiti, the Constitution outlawed the death penalty in all areas, meaning there was no need to fear its reinstation. The ratification of the Second Optional Protocol could be discussed when the legislature was functional.

    Families who were forcibly evicted due to the development of road infrastructure or for airport security purposes had a right to fixed compensation, as well as the right to appeal decisions blocking their access to redress.

    A State project had been launched to combat domestic labour by children, in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The project had been launched in 16 regions in the country and included a concrete list of jobs banned for children. Twenty-three surveys of young people had been conducted, allowing them to express themselves on themes including domestic labour, birth registration, violence against children, and education. A social protection project ensured monetary transfers for children under the age of five, pregnant women and persons with disabilities. The project was financed by the World Bank and allowed vulnerable families to provide care to their children. Around 25,000 homes received regular monetary transfers to the value of 40 United States dollars per month.

    A professional training programme had been launched in conjunction with the International Labour Organization, allowing for the training of more than 800 vulnerable teenagers in various technical and farming activities. Some 9,200 children had received support for school re-enrolment. Four thousand vulnerable homes at risk of family separation received monetary transfers to support income-generating activities, as well as financial education. A pilot programme had been launched in targeted communes with the United Nations Children’s Fund, which had developed a foster programme for children taken out of situations of domesticity to support their reintegration.

    Legal assistance officers had been established in 12 jurisdictions and the rollout was ongoing. A decision would be made on the draft Constitution based on a participatory process. A Commission had been established to follow up on gender-based violence cases in the country.

    Steps had been taken to prevent the phenomenon of forced evictions, but results were still limited. The Government had not been encouraging forced evictions and had taken new steps to support victims. Demolished homes had been rebuilt and several previous owners had already taken ownership of their new homes. Authorities ensured that no one living in camps or informal housing was evicted without a humane alternative provided.

    The Haitian State reiterated its commitment to freedom of the press and its respect for the work of human rights defenders. Efforts were made to ensure journalists could freely conduct their work, including by strengthening protection mechanisms. Haitian authorities reaffirmed their desire to shed light on the murders of several journalists, which were currently at being investigated by the Public Prosecutor.

    The courts did not all apply the Covenant in the same way, but it was often evoked in individual cases. Alternative measures to prison were allowed for in the new Criminal Code, which had been adopted in June 2025. Judges were equipped with armed vehicles and would have security details at their disposal for their personal safety. The police force was taking steps to bolster security in zones with a heightened level of insecurity and ensure that the referendum could take place. The Government was engaged in an intense campaign to fight the armed violence being perpetrated by gangs.

    Follow-up Questions by Committee Experts

    Committee Experts asked follow-up questions regarding identification papers, which more than 70 per cent of the population did not have, as well as the role of the Government Commissioners within the courts of justice.

    A Committee Expert expressed hope that the programme being laid out by the State for elections would bring about the enjoyment of rights by the population. It seemed impossible to bring this about given the current insecurity in Haiti. Was the State in a position to achieve peace given the current context? The context in Haiti required international, shared responsibility, with involvement from all States parties.

    Closing Statements

    PEDRICA SAINT JEAN, Minister for the Status of Women and Women’s Rights and head of the delegation , thanked the Committee for the kindness it had shown to the Haitian delegation, and the Experts for their insights. Haiti had taken due note of all recommendations and was determined to take further steps to develop effective, concrete responses to the Committee’s concerns relating to the implementation of the Covenant. One day, in the not-too-distant future, the country would exit the crisis. Everybody was working to see the day when Haiti could leave the crisis behind. Despite the efforts it had made, the Haitian State was aware that the implementation of the Covenant and progress in bolstering of the rule of law had not yet reached a satisfactory level. Haiti had a massive raft of problems to resolve, including travel restrictions, which had prevented some members of the delegation from traveling to Geneva. The State of Haiti was committed to doing its utmost to implement the provisions of the Covenant.

    CHANGROK SOH, Committee Chairperson, expressed sincere gratitude to all who had contributed to the dialogue. The Committee acknowledged the profound political, economic and humanitarian challenges facing Haiti, which had hampered efforts to protect human rights. The Committee underscored the importance of continued diligence and commitment to the rights enshrined in the Covenant, especially in times of crisis. During the dialogue, the Committee had raised serious issues regarding the right to life, gang violence, lynchings, protection of vulnerable populations, corruption, protection of journalists and the need to combat impunity, among other concerns. Despite these challenges, the Committee appreciated the State party’s willingness to engage in dialogue. Haiti was encouraged to take this opportunity to advance necessary reforms to ensure that the rights enshrined in the Covenant were fully recognised for all Haitians.

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    Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media; 
    not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently. 

    CCPR25.015E

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Marat Khusnullin: General plan for the city of Severodonetsk in the LPR has been approved

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    For the comprehensive infrastructure and economic development of the reunited regions, the Russian construction complex uses various tools. In particular, master plans and general plans are used in this work. Thus, the main urban development document – the general plan – has been developed and approved for the urban district of the city of Severodonetsk in the Luhansk People’s Republic, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin reported.

    “At the beginning of the year, the Strategy for Spatial Development of the country was approved. The document is important for the formation of a balanced system of spatial development of territories and the search for optimal forms of territorial organization of the economy. Also, within the framework of the national project “Infrastructure for Life”, a list of 98 key settlements has been determined. The tools that we will use for a comprehensive approach to work on their development are master plans and general plans. To date, 15 master plans have been developed and approved for the reunited regions, as well as a general plan for Severodonetsk in the LPR, and general plans have been developed and approved for the cities of its agglomeration, which together form a large industrial hub of the republic,” said Marat Khusnullin.

    The Deputy Prime Minister added that, first of all, the document, which was developed by the Unified Research and Design Institute for Spatial Planning of the Russian Federation, takes into account the needs of Severodonetsk residents for a renovated housing stock: by 2035, the city plans to restore and build more than 2 million square meters. Also, in parallel, work is planned to update the social infrastructure: repair of schools, kindergartens, reconstruction of the city drama theater building, construction of the Ice Palace, art school and a new museum building with a library. In addition, it is planned to create high-tech and environmentally friendly production in existing industry areas – the chemical industry and mechanical engineering. The general plan also pays attention to the development of the road network, which is aimed at increasing the connectivity of territories both within the urban district and with the administrative centers of adjacent areas and neighboring regions.

    Similar work was carried out to develop and approve general plans for five more municipal entities of the LPR: Stakhanov, Pervomaysk, Kirovsk, Rubezhnoye and Lisichansk.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Denis Manturov assessed the prospects for lithium mining in the Republic of Tyva

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    Denis Manturov’s working visit to Tuva

    July 4, 2025

    Denis Manturov’s working visit to Tuva

    July 4, 2025

    Denis Manturov’s working visit to Tuva

    July 4, 2025

    Previous news Next news

    Denis Manturov’s working visit to Tuva

    First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, as part of a working visit to the Republic of Tyva, visited a construction materials production facility, reviewed an exhibition of key industrial enterprises in the region, and held a working meeting with the head of the republic, Vladislav Khovalyg.

    OOO Vostok is engaged in the construction of housing and social institutions. With the help of the individual development program, the enterprise has established the production of reinforced concrete products and building blocks. The volume of goods shipped in 2024 reached more than 5 billion rubles. The share of Russian equipment at the enterprise is 75%.

    At the industrial products exhibition, Denis Manturov got acquainted with the production potential of the region and the work of existing enterprises. One of them is JSC Tekhmashservis (part of the Rostec State Corporation), where in November 2023, thanks to government support measures, a plant for the production of emulsion explosives for the development of deposits was put into operation. The company cooperates with local mining enterprises and supplies them with products. The plant’s capacity is 5 thousand tons per year.

    The First Deputy Prime Minister and the head of the republic also flew over a number of deposits by helicopter, including Tastygskoye and Kyzyl-Tashtygskoye. Denis Manturov emphasized that the development of the Tastygskoye deposit for the production of lithium concentrate is not only a promising direction for supplies to the domestic market, but also has export potential. The Tastyg deposit in Tyva is one of the largest lithium deposits in Russia and one of the key ones for ensuring Russia’s technological sovereignty in the field of modern capacious power sources and energy storage.

    At a meeting with Vladislav Khovalyg, Denis Manturov recommended that the region more actively use the tools of the Industrial Development Fund, including to attract local investors. In addition, the First Deputy Prime Minister instructed the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, together with the government of the republic and the management companies of private industrial parks, to work out the issue of their inclusion in the register of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. This will allow companies to apply for support measures from the ministry in the future.

    Vladislav Khovalyg reported to Denis Manturov on the start of the development of a preliminary feasibility study for the creation of the Central Eurasian Transport Corridor (CETC). At SPIEF-2025, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Khakassia and Tuva signed a memorandum, according to which the Center for Strategic Research Foundation began assessing the prospective cargo base. The technical specifications were approved by a working group formed on the initiative of Denis Manturov.

    Let us recall that the order to determine the feasibility of forming the Central Eurasian Transport Corridor was given by President Vladimir Putin within the framework of new strategic directions of Russia’s development. The Central Eurasian Transport Corridor provides an additional opportunity for the transit of goods to the Northern Sea Route via the Yenisei River and creates the basis for the northern branch of the New Silk Road.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Update 10: Alberta wildfire update (July 4, 3 p.m.)

    Source: Government of Canada regional news (2)

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Iran Committed to Diplomacy, Calls for Retaliatory Actions: President

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

    TEHRAN, July 4 (Xinhua) — Iran still views diplomacy as an effective means of settling disputes, provided the other side is sincerely committed to these solutions in practice, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday.

    As noted in a statement published on the website of the Iranian presidential office, M. Pezeshkian made the corresponding judgment at a meeting with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in Khankendi, Azerbaijan, where he attended the 17th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) earlier that day.

    M. Pezeshkian recalled that while Iran was seeking to resolve existing problems through negotiations with the West, especially with the United States, Israel began to carry out airstrikes against it.

    “Iran continues to see negotiations and diplomacy as effective solutions to resolve differences, provided that the other side shows in practice that it is committed to these solutions,” he added.

    The Tajik president, for his part, condemned Israel’s “aggression” against Iran, stressing that all parties need to return to the negotiating table and remain committed to diplomacy to resolve differences.

    The statement said the presidents also called for accelerating the implementation of previously signed bilateral cooperation agreements in various fields, especially in the economy, trade and culture. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Morocco: Ecuador Inaugurates Its Embassy in Rabat

    Source: APO


    .

    Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccan Expatriates, Mr. Nasser Bourita, and Ecuadorian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, Mrs. Gabriela Sommerfeld, inaugurated the Embassy of the Republic of Ecuador in Rabat on Friday.

    In an address delivered during the ceremony, Mr. Bourita said the inauguration follows Ecuador’s historic decision to sever all ties with the so-called “sadr” on October 22, 2024, and to further strengthen its relations with the Kingdom of Morocco.

    He highlighted that Morocco is home to 165 diplomatic missions, including 50 representations of international organizations. With 14 Latin American embassies now established in Rabat, Morocco is well-positioned to serve as a “bridge” between Latin America and Africa, offering unique advantages—cultural, geographic, and strategic. This growing diplomatic presence, he added, reflects the importance Morocco attaches to its ties with Latin America within the framework of its foreign policy.

    The emerging “win-win” partnership between Morocco and Ecuador aims to set an example of effective and solidarity-based South-South cooperation, Mr. Bourita stressed, emphasizing that the two countries are committed to expanding cooperation across multiple sectors, aspiring to build a strong and dynamic South-South partnership that serves the shared interests of their peoples.

    On this occasion, Mr. Bourita also congratulated the Government of Ecuador on the appointment of an ambassador to lead its diplomatic mission in Morocco.

    For her part, Sommerfeld stated that the opening of the embassy marks the beginning of a new era of dynamism in Morocco-Ecuador cooperation. She reaffirmed her country’s commitment to deepening bilateral relations, strengthening ties across strategic sectors, and facilitating the exchange of expertise in various fields.

    She pointed out that this is Ecuador’s first diplomatic mission in the Maghreb region.

    Sommerfeld added that the embassy in Rabat is intended to serve as a “gateway to African markets” and reflects her government’s determination to elevate bilateral cooperation with Morocco.

    The inauguration took place following talks between Mr. Bourita and Mrs. Sommerfeld, during which the Ecuadorian foreign minister reiterated her country’s support for the Autonomy Initiative presented by Morocco in 2007, which Ecuador views as the basis for a lasting solution to this regional dispute.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Kingdom of Morocco – Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Saskatchewan Wildfire Update – July 4

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Released on July 4, 2025

    As of 11:00 a.m. on Friday, July 4, there are 64 active wildfires in Saskatchewan. Of those active fires, eight are categorized as contained, 20 are not contained, 25 are ongoing assessment and 11 are listed as protecting values. 

    This year, Saskatchewan has had 334 wildfires, which is well above the five-year average of 195 to date. 

    Four communities are currently under an evacuation order: Resort Subdivision of Lac La Plonge, La Plonge Reserve, Northern Village of Beauval and Kinoosao. Effective at noon on July 4, 2025, the evacuation order for the Northern Settlement of Bear Creek was lifted. 

    Any evacuees should register through the Sask Evac Web Application and then call 1-855-559-5502 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to have their needs assessed for additional assistance. Individuals who need help registering through the application can call the 855 Line for assistance.   

    Evacuees supported by the Canadian Red Cross should call 1-800-863-6582. 

    The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency’s (SPSA) Recovery Task Team continues to meet with community leaders to discuss recovery efforts. Their current focus is working with communities to support debris management, living accommodations and mental health supports.    

    Distribution of the $500 Government of Saskatchewan payments to evacuees 18 years of age and older continues. To date, over $5.5 million has been distributed. This financial support will reach over 10,000 individuals who qualify, including the recent evacuees. The SPSA continues to coordinate with communities that have asked for its support in distributing this financial assistance. 

    The SPSA is also offering retroactive food security support for those communities supported by the SPSA, where the residents are not staying in SPSA provided hotels. The agency will provide those who qualify $40 per day for the head of household, plus $20 for each additional member, up to a maximum of $200 daily.  

    A full list of evacuated communities can be found on the Active Evacuations webpage. 

    The latest information, an interactive fire ban map, frequently asked questions, fire risk maps and fire prevention tips can be found at saskpublicsafety.ca. 

    -30-

    For more information, contact:

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Protecting consumers when they are automatically connected to non-European telephone networks – E-002062/2025(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    The Commission considers that the current Roaming Regulation[1] adequately ensures end-users’ protection from inadvertent roaming.

    According to Articles 13(5) and 14(6) of the Roaming Regulation, roaming providers are obliged to take all reasonable steps to protect their customers from paying roaming charges due to inadvertently accessed roaming services while situated in their home Member State.

    This includes informing customers on how to effectively avoid inadvertent roaming in border regions. Equally, according to Article 4(2) of the Roaming Regulation, roaming providers should ensure that, w hen roaming within the EU, roaming customers are able to use the retail services to which they subscribe and benefit from the same level of quality of service as at home .

    National regulatory authorities and, where applicable, other competent authorities are expected to be alert to situations of inadvertent roaming in the border regions. They should monitor and collect information on inadvertent roaming and take appropriate measures where necessary.

    Moreover, roaming providers are, pursuant to Article 14(4) of the Roaming Regulation, obliged to grant to their customers at least the default financial or volume limits in value of EUR 50 and 100[2] for regulated data roaming services that the customers consume, including outside the EU, when technically possible.

    In light of the above, the Commission considers that the current Roaming Regulation’s framework provides adequate protection for end-users against inadvertent roaming.

    More efforts though could be taken at national level to implement, monitor, and enforce the existing Roaming Regulation’s framework, for the benefit of end-users.

    • [1] Regulation (EU) 2022/612 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 April 2022 on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union (OJ L 115, 13.4.2022, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/612/oj).
    • [2] Per monthly billing period, excluding VAT.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – European Oceans Pact and the emissions trading system covering buildings, road transport and additional sectors (ETS2). – E-002014/2025(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    All sectors, including waterborne activities, need to contribute to the EU climate neutrality goal by 2050.

    The Commission announced in the European Ocean Pact[1] that it will propose measures to decarbonise and modernise the fisheries fleet, supported by the Energy Transition Partnership for the fisheries and aquaculture sector.

    In addition, it recalled the importance of the recent extension of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) to maritime and the implementation of the FuelEU Maritime Regulation[2] to accelerate the decarbonisation of the EU maritime transport sector.

    Furthermore, the Commission is launching a study on greenhouse gas emission reduction costs and pathways for EU fisheries to achieve net zero by 2050[3].

    The ETS2 — which will be fully operational from 2027 onwards — will cover and address the CO2 emissions from fuel combustion in buildings, road transport and industry not covered by the existing EU ETS.

    While emissions from waterborne activities are not included in its scope, Member States can decide, on a voluntary basis, to opt-in additional emissions. Some Member States, including Austria, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, have already decided to include, within the scope of ETS2, emissions from some smaller vessels, inland navigation and/or fishing.

    In addition, the Commission will examine, no later than end of 2026, the feasibility and economic, environmental and social impacts of including ships below 5 000 gross tonnage within the scope of the ETS Directive[4].

    The Commission will notably build its analysis on its recent report[5] looking at the potential inclusion of small ships, including fishing vessels, in the scope of the EU regulation for the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) of maritime emissions.

    • [1]  COM(2025) 281 final — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=comnat:COM_2025_0281_FIN.
    • [2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1805/oj/eng.
    • [3] The study is expected to be published by the end of 2025 and will explore complementary scenarios, including the introduction of fisheries into the MRV and ETS systems.
    • [4] Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC (OJ L 275, 25.10.2003, p. 32).
    • [5]  COM(2025) 109 final — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52025DC0109&qid=1749048682099.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Briefing – AI and the energy sector – 04-07-2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising many sectors of the economy, including the energy sector. The exponential growth of data centres around the world and in Europe is driving up electricity demand, raising questions about its impact on existing infrastructure and on sustainability. At the same time, AI can help transform energy systems by boosting energy efficiency, facilitating the integration of renewables and optimising electricity networks. According to the International Energy Agency, data centres currently account for only 1.5 % of global electricity consumption, but their electricity demand is expected to more than double by 2030. In the EU, data centres account for around 3 % of total electricity demand, but this varies between countries and is over 20 % in Ireland. AI-focused data centres tend to cluster in geographical locations, contributing to pressure on local grids and involving trade-offs with climate goals, land use and energy affordability. A ChatGPT query uses 10 times more electricity than a traditional Google search, although that depends on the complexity of the question and the format used (text vs. multimedia). A large data centre is estimated to consume as much electricity annually as 100 000 households. Data centres use energy not only to train and run AI models but also to cool servers and maintain equipment. Renewables and natural gas are the main energy sources used to power data centres globally, although nuclear (and, in the future, small modular reactors) is also on the rise. The EU’s 2020 digital strategy called for data centres to become climate neutral by 2030. The 2023 EU Energy Efficiency Directive requires data centres to report on their energy consumption, water usage and use of renewable energy, and a 2024 EU scheme for rating the sustainability of data centres requires them to report on key performance indicators on energy and sustainability. Upcoming EU initiatives aim to balance ambitions on competitiveness and concerns over decarbonisation. The Cloud and AI Development Act, expected in the coming months, will aim to triple EU data centre capacity in the next 5-7 years, while the ‘strategic roadmap for digitalisation and AI for the energy sector’ and the ‘data centre energy efficiency package’, planned for early 2026, will address the energy impacts.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Minister of National Defence to visit 8 Wing Trenton

    Source: Government of Canada News

    July 4, 2025 – Ottawa, Ontario – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces

    The Honourable David McGuinty, Minister of National Defence, will visit 8 Wing Trenton  alongside Chris Malette, Member of Parliament for Bay of Quinte, to mark the start of construction on a major new infrastructure project supporting Canada’s Strategic Tanker Transport Capability, strengthening Canada’s operational reach at home and abroad. During the visit, Minister McGuinty will also meet with personnel at a townhall and tour key facilities at the Wing.

    • Date and time: July 7, 2025 13:30 EST
    • Location: 8 Wing Trenton

    Media are asked to arrive 30 minutes before the announcement with identification. Parking is at 2 Air Movements Squadron Passenger Terminal, 6 Northstar Drive. Access is off South Perimeter Road and Highway 2. Media will be escorted into the secure area prior to the announcement.

    Notes to editor / news director: 

    Media interested in attending the event are asked to contact National Defence’s media relations office at mlo-blm@forces.gc.ca to confirm their attendance.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Newsom proclaims Independence Day 2025

    Source: US State of California 2

    Jul 4, 2025

    Sacramento, California – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring July 4, 2025, as “Independence Day” in the State of California.

    The text of the proclamation and a copy can be found below:

    PROCLAMATION

    Each year on the Fourth of July, we celebrate the day our founders stood up to tyranny and formed a new nation founded on the principles of equality, freedom, and opportunity. Since then, Americans have fought and died to safeguard the promise of our democracy and all its ideals.

    From its very beginning, though, America did not guarantee equality, freedom, and opportunity to all. The struggles and triumphs of generations of Americans have continued our progress toward this goal, and the work is far from over. Relentless attacks across the country, from the highest levels, try to weaken and erase our fundamental rights and freedoms, threatening to undo decades of hard-won progress we’ve made as a nation.

    Today and every day, California reaffirms our commitment to fully realizing our nation’s founding ideals, that all are created equal, with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We will never back down from the fight to protect freedom, we will protect the rights of all who call this country home, and we will never again allow this country and its people to be subject to a king or autocrat.  

    As we celebrate July Fourth, let us pay tribute to those in uniform, our civil rights leaders, advocates, and others who have made great strides to safeguard liberty and equality, and recognize the urgent work ahead of us to create a more perfect union. At this critical juncture, let us recommit to keeping the dream of this country alive for all Americans.

    NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim July 4, 2025 as “Independence Day.”

    IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 1st day of July 2025.

    GAVIN NEWSOM
    Governor of California

    ATTEST:
    SHIRLEY N. WEBER, Ph.D.
    Secretary of State

    Recent news

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Newsom proclaims Independence Day 2025

    Source: US State of California 2

    Jul 4, 2025

    Sacramento, California – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring July 4, 2025, as “Independence Day” in the State of California.

    The text of the proclamation and a copy can be found below:

    PROCLAMATION

    Each year on the Fourth of July, we celebrate the day our founders stood up to tyranny and formed a new nation founded on the principles of equality, freedom, and opportunity. Since then, Americans have fought and died to safeguard the promise of our democracy and all its ideals.

    From its very beginning, though, America did not guarantee equality, freedom, and opportunity to all. The struggles and triumphs of generations of Americans have continued our progress toward this goal, and the work is far from over. Relentless attacks across the country, from the highest levels, try to weaken and erase our fundamental rights and freedoms, threatening to undo decades of hard-won progress we’ve made as a nation.

    Today and every day, California reaffirms our commitment to fully realizing our nation’s founding ideals, that all are created equal, with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We will never back down from the fight to protect freedom, we will protect the rights of all who call this country home, and we will never again allow this country and its people to be subject to a king or autocrat.  

    As we celebrate July Fourth, let us pay tribute to those in uniform, our civil rights leaders, advocates, and others who have made great strides to safeguard liberty and equality, and recognize the urgent work ahead of us to create a more perfect union. At this critical juncture, let us recommit to keeping the dream of this country alive for all Americans.

    NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim July 4, 2025 as “Independence Day.”

    IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 1st day of July 2025.

    GAVIN NEWSOM
    Governor of California

    ATTEST:
    SHIRLEY N. WEBER, Ph.D.
    Secretary of State

    Recent news

    Jul 3, 2025

    News SACRAMENTO – A day after announcing California has more than doubled its Film and Television Tax Credit Program, Governor Gavin Newsom today signed legislation to further strengthen the state’s commitment to film and television production:AB 1138 by…

    Jul 3, 2025

    News What you need to know: As we approach the Fourth of July holiday and weekend, California is taking steps to keep communities safe during festivities by increasing outreach and highlighting resources. Sacramento, California — As Californians gear up to celebrate…

    Jul 3, 2025

    News SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom issued the following statement after House Republicans passed President Trump’s Big, Beautiful Betrayal: “This bill is a tragedy for the American people, and a complete moral failure. The President and his MAGA enablers are…

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Public procurement: when Brussels finances a company penalised for dumping – E-002587/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-002587/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Virginie Joron (PfE)

    In 2016, the Commission imposed a definitive anti-dumping duty of 4 % on imports of tubes and pipes of ductile cast iron originating in India. On 22 November 2023, Ursula von der Leyen and her administration decided to impose anti-dumping duties of 16 % on Electrosteel. According to the Commission, this Indian company has a 30 % share of the water pipe market in France and benefits from export subsidies of 6 % at home[1].

    The Commission found evidence that the weight of the goods had been misreported. Despite the fact that correct reporting of weights is essential to ensure that dumping margins are accurately calculated, the Commission has refused to check the previous imports for possible fraud and recover any duties not collected since 2016.

    • 1.By underreporting the weight of its pipes, the company evaded the duties it should have paid. Why has the Commission refused to carry out an investigation and recover the cost of this fraud?
    • 2.One project in Isère – funded by Brussels and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, and valued at EUR 8 million – has purchased pipes from this non-EU company[2]. Why is the Commission financing a non-EU company that has committed subsidy fraud and that it has penalised for dumping?
    • 3.Why does the Commission not prohibit, in EU public procurement, purchases of products from non-EU companies found to have engaged in dumping or fraud?

    Submitted: 26.6.2025

    • [1] Recitals 4, 80, 168, 209 and 233 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2605 of 22 November 2023: countervailing duty of 9 % and anti-dumping duty of 7 %, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202302605.
    • [2] Albenc – https://caeau.fr/creation-du-reseau-d-irrigation-asl-d-irrigation-de-l-albenc-38; https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cabinet-ca-eau_retour-sur-le-projet-dirrigation-des-terres-activity-7155144143210446848-X7rJ/?originalSubdomain=fr.
    Last updated: 4 July 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –