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  • MIL-OSI Global: Germany’s young Jewish and Muslim writers are speaking for themselves – exploring immigrant identity beyond stereotypes

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Agnes Mueller, Carol Kahn Strauss Fellow in Jewish Studies at the American Academy in Berlin, Professor of German and American Literature, University of South Carolina

    A Muslim guest sits next to a Jewish one during an ordination ceremony at the Rykestrasse Synagogue in Berlin in September 2024. Omer Messinger/Getty Images

    The consequences of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and Israel’s war in Gaza have reverberated far beyond the zones of conflict.

    In the United States, for example, a growing number of people, including some Jewish groups, assert that political leaders are exploiting concerns about antisemitism for their own political goals, from cracking down on academic freedom to deporting pro-Palestinian activists.

    Debate about the war in Gaza feels fraught in Germany, too, where concerns about rising antisemitism have been used to criticize some Muslim communities. The Holocaust looms over discussions about Israel, with many claiming the country’s sense of historical guilt has made it, until recently, reluctant to criticize Israeli politics.

    In the wake of the country’s reunification in the early 1990s, about 200,000 Jews from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union came to Germany. In more recent years, waves of predominantly Muslim refugees from the Middle East have entered a space that already had a large population of Turkish immigrants and their descendants. However, many Germans oppose these more open immigration policies, with widespread backlash against Muslim migrants.

    In recent decades, some of Germany’s migrants and their children – some Jewish, and some Muslim – have used fiction to explore their identity and these contested issues in new ways, challenging simple narratives. As a scholar of German literature and Jewish studies, I have studied how literature creates new spaces for readers to explore the similarities between their experiences, building solidarity beyond stereotypes.

    ‘The Prodigal Son’

    Many of today’s young Jewish writers were born in the former Soviet Union and arrived in Germany with their parents as part of the “quota refugee” program. Initiated in the early 1990s, this program invited Jewish migrants into a newly unified Germany – intended to show that the country was taking responsibility for the atrocities of the past. The newcomers were flippantly called “Wiedergutmachungsjuden,” “make-good-again Jews,” referring to Germans’ desire to atone.

    One of them was Olga Grjasnowa. Born in 1984, Grjasnowa came from Azerbaijan to Germany at age 11. She has written about Holocaust memory, as in her 2012 novel “All Russians Love Birch Trees,” and said in a 2018 interview that all her books are “Jewish books.”

    Olga Grjasnowa during the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Aug. 22, 2019, in Scotland.
    Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Images

    Her 2021 book “Der verlorene Sohn,” “The Prodigal Son,” echoes Holocaust memory, but in a historical novel set in 19th-century Russia.

    The protagonist Jamaluddin – the name derives from the Arabic word for “beauty of the faith” – is born in the Caucasian region of Dagestan, as the son of a powerful Muslim imam. To negotiate a peace deal, the boy is given as a hostage to Russia, where he grows up in the Orthodox Christian court of the czar. Though initially treated as an outsider, Jamaluddin assimilates and becomes a high-ranking officer, a life that ends when he must return to Dagestan. But there, too, he now feels homeless, regarded with suspicion as a stranger.

    “The Prodigal Son” deals with abduction, deportation, exile and constant wandering. Jamaluddin’s fate is shaped by authoritarianism, repression, war and discrimination – themes that are familiar in Holocaust literature, though here they befall a Muslim boy in another time and place.

    Repeatedly, the novel makes mention of Jewish communities and their own suffering under the czar. As Jewish boys are being forced to march from remote villages to Saint Petersburg, Jamaluddin is “furious and ashamed” of his fellow officers. But he also begins to feel self-pity, flooded with memories of his own departure from home.

    This scene depicts a historical reality under Czar Nicholas I, who ruled from 1825-1855: Russian Jewish boys were conscripted, sometimes kidnapped, to serve in the army. For contemporary audiences, the description can also evoke the death marches of Jewish prisoners during the Shoah, the Hebrew term for the Holocaust. Several additional moments in the book connect Jamaluddin’s experiences with images of Jewish flight and expulsion.

    New conversations

    Jamaluddin’s fate as an outsider between cultures can also bring to mind migrants’ experiences and emotions today. In 2022, one-quarter of Germans were either migrants themselves or had a parent who was not born in Germany. The largest minority group are Muslim-born Germans of Turkish descent, who are still routinely discriminated against.

    Antisemitism, meanwhile, is pervasive but less obvious. The Germans’ relationship with Jews was long dominated by silence and guilt – and Jews themselves were mostly invisible until the end of the Cold War, when Jewish migration from the former Soviet states picked up. My 2015 book “The Inability to Love” describes how mainstream German authors, fueled by guilt and shame over the Nazi past, fell into a philosemitic antisemitism: Outward displays of repentance for the Holocaust and public policies that ostensibly embraced Jews clashed with privately held prejudice.

    Many examples of new German literature show contemporary Jewish and Muslim characters with complex identities – protagonists who are not seen as simply Jewish, Muslim or belonging to only one culture, pushing back on reductive stereotypes.

    For example, Kat Kaufmann’s 2015 novel “Superposition” tells the story of the young, popular and charismatic Izy, a Russian Jew who lives in Berlin as a jazz pianist. Her love interest is Timur, an Eastern European man with a typically Muslim name. When Izy thinks of her and Timur’s future son, she imagines him growing up with the luxury to conceal where he is from – to define his identity as he wishes, unlike previous generations.

    Writer Fatma Aydemir speaks at a reading in Cologne, Germany, on March 21, 2022.
    Oliver Berg/picture alliance via Getty Images

    Stories by novelists such as Dmitrij Kapitelman, Lena Gorelik, Marina Frenk and Dana Vowinckel also depict moments of connection between Jews and other Germans, or between Jews and Muslims.

    Turkish and/or Muslim writers such as Fatma Aydemir and Nazlı Koca – who now lives in America, writing in English – tell similar stories of young characters navigating German culture as marginalized individuals. They often depict young women who struggle to reconcile their culture of origin with German social expectations and xenophobia today.

    “I wanted to question the idea that we all have one single identity and that’s it,” Aydemir told the literary site K24 about her novel “Ellbogen,” whose protagonist finds herself fleeing to Turkey, her family’s original home, after a personal crisis. “I think things are way more complex, more fluid than most of us want to believe.”

    This younger generation of German Jewish and Muslim writers is recasting entrenched debates, showing characters whose identities are multidimensional and more open than the burdened past or fraught present politics would suggest. Today’s young writers are creating new, brave spaces for conversation and empathy.

    Agnes Mueller 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. Germany’s young Jewish and Muslim writers are speaking for themselves – exploring immigrant identity beyond stereotypes – https://theconversation.com/germanys-young-jewish-and-muslim-writers-are-speaking-for-themselves-exploring-immigrant-identity-beyond-stereotypes-252968

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Gay Men’s Health Crisis showed how everyday people stepped up when institutions failed during the height of the AIDS epidemic – providing a model for today

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sean G. Massey, Associate Professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Binghamton University, State University of New York

    GMHC was the world’s first AIDS service organization.
     Sean Massey, CC BY-ND

    The story of the AIDS movement is one of regular people: students, bartenders, stay-at-home mothers, teachers, retired lawyers, immigrants, Catholic nuns, newly out gay men who had just arrived in New York, and many others. Some had lost friends or lovers. Some felt a moral calling. Some were just trying to balance their sexual karma. Many were angry. Most had no medical background or professional credentials – just a sense of urgency, tenacity and an unwillingness to look away.

    When Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the world’s first AIDS service organization, was founded in 1982, it was regular people trying to meet the needs of all people living with AIDS. Its workforce of volunteers provided HIV prevention education as well as physical, emotional and legal support.

    At the start of the epidemic, AIDS was considered a “gay plague,” and to be openly queer was to risk abandonment, eviction, assault or worse. Families disowned their children. Hospitals turned patients away. Funeral homes refused bodies. And many people with AIDS found themselves alone and in need.

    Public officials didn’t just fail to act – they refused to acknowledge that anything was happening at all. Elected leaders such as President Ronald Reagan and Sen. Jesse Helms stoked the moral panic guiding public policy by declaring people with AIDS “perverted human being(s).”

    In 2025, with the Trump administration cutting federal funding for HIV research and support services and restricting protections and services for LGBTQ+ people, studying how everyday people approached the early AIDS crisis provides a model for surviving through innovation, commitment and community.

    Stories informing the present

    “I think 26,000 people died before (Reagan) even bothered to utter the word ‘AIDS,’” said Tim Sweeney, former executive director of Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

    This quote is featured in the GMHC Stories Oral History Project, a collection of over 100 interviews with former volunteers, staff and donors from the first 15 years of the organization. Along with our colleague Julia Haager, we and our team at Binghamton University’s Human Sexualities Lab compiled these interviews. Acquired by the Manuscripts and Archives Division of The New York Public Library, the collection is scheduled to open in fall 2025, showcasing how everyday people responded to the AIDS crisis.

    These stories document how a community presented with a set of circumstances threatening their very existence built a self-sustaining organization to advocate for and provide care to each other outside institutional support. They did this while enduring grief, standing up to external threats and navigating internal tensions.

    The GMHC stood up for the community when other institutions would not.
    Sean Massey, CC BY-ND

    Improvisation for survival

    The work was an ongoing challenge. Organizations dedicated to aiding people affected by AIDS such as Gay Men’s Health Crisis were left to fund their own survival – and defend their right to do the work. When North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms moved in 1988 to eliminate federal support for AIDS service programs that mentioned homosexuality, it severely limited AIDS prevention efforts nation wide. However, GMHC had the foresight to fund its more explicit education materials with private donations.

    At the beginning of the epidemic, queer New Yorkers and their allies had to improvise new systems of care in the absence of state and federal support. “People often (ask) me, what was the model you worked off of?” said Sweeney. “And I said, there was no model, there was just a muddle. We just made it up the whole time.”

    What they created almost overnight was staggering. “There were over 1,000 volunteers in the agency,” recalled staff member Tom Weber, who started at GMHC as an office volunteer in 1988. “We would have orientations every single week, and they would flood in.”

    One of the most well-known expressions of that volunteer labor was the buddy program, where lay caregivers provided emotional and practical support to people living with AIDS. “A lot of people were not alone in their death because of the work that we did,” said Barbara Danish, who led the buddy program from 1996 to 2002.

    Community members took it upon themselves to educate each other about AIDS.
    AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler

    Education and prevention were also grounded in queer culture and community. Unlike early depictions of AIDS in the media that reduced patients to “vectors” of transmission, it was defiantly sex-positive. “We came up with shit that no one in the world had ever done,” Sweeney said. “Because finally it was gay men saying … we’re going to talk to each other about how to stay safe, healthy and sexy.”

    When that sense of mission extended to emotional survival, humor and unapologetically queer culture were critical to bearing the weight of the work. “Sometimes you just break down and cry for an hour. But that’s how you survive it – by staying authentic to your emotions,” said Tommy Thomson, former director of client programs. She recalled how staff member “Carolotta,” or Carl, would sometimes put condoms and chocolate in a basket and go from office to office, frequently in drag. He would offer either or both to make people feel better. “He’d make you remember that you weren’t alone, and that we all know how hard it is. That’s part of what held you together.”

    Internal tensions

    Although Gay Men’s Health Crisis remained mission-driven, its internal politics were never simple. As it grew in size and national stature, it confronted the limits of its founding identity.

    Founded by, and initially serving, primarily white gay men, GMHC sometimes struggled to adapt to the emerging realities of the epidemic. While AIDS also affected people of color, women and intravenous drug users from the outset, much of the agency’s early prevention and outreach work was designed with gay men in mind.

    By the late 1980s, the increase in AIDS cases among white gay men had begun to plateau, while rates among Black and Latino people, women and IV drug users continued to rise sharply into the next decade. Women and people of color who were deeply embedded in GMHC’s operations nonetheless had to navigate assumptions about whose needs were prioritized – assumptions that often manifested in how resources were allocated and services were designed. As GMHC expanded its outreach to Black and Latino populations, it struggled to be culturally responsive and build trust in communities that had long been underserved and stigmatized.

    Racial disparities in HIV persist.

    As GMHC grew, it became more and more successful in fundraising and visibility, while smaller organizations sometimes struggled to access resources. This led to growing tensions, particularly in communities of color, where local groups feared that GMHC’s expansion would limit funding and undercut their efforts at community-specific approaches to care and prevention. In addition, efforts to address racism, sexism and cultural insensitivity encountered both support and indifference.

    Yet, staff and volunteers continued to push – reshaping messaging, fighting for inclusive programming, and holding conversations about race, gender, power and public health. For staff and volunteers, the agency was a complicated institution that could both empower and marginalize. Its strength, and its struggle, was learning how to expand without losing sight of the legacy and history it was built on.

    A guide for today

    Forty years later, LGBTQ+ people face a new set of crises in a landscape riddled with dangers.

    Trans health care is being banned in multiple states. Book bans and surveillance laws are targeting queer youth. Anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric is fueling violence and censorship. Funding for HIV prevention and research is disappearing even as new infections persist. Black and brown communities still face disproportionate barriers to health care and housing. Decades of scientific progress and medical discoveries are coming to a halt with funding cuts under the Trump administration.

    Protesters at the Iowa state Capitol in February 2025, demonstrating against a bill that would remove protections based on gender identity from the state civil rights code.
    AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

    And yet many of the same questions and challenges remain: Who gets left behind when public health systems collapse under political pressure or moral panic? Who will do the work when institutions fail? What does it mean to care for one another in the midst of the wreckage? How do people come together across differences?

    The history of GMHC is more than memory – it is a lesson in the possibility of care, creativity and community, especially in the face of fear and uncertainty today. It shows how people can come together – not just to demand policy change, but to directly meet one another’s needs with whatever resources they have. It is a reminder that mutual aid is powerful; that grief can coexist with joy; and that queer resilience has always included laughter, desire and shared vulnerability. In a time of renewed political backlash and public health failures, GMHC’s story is more than history – it’s a guide. Today, the staff and volunteers at GMHC continue their work to confront the epidemic and uplift the lives of all people affected by AIDS.

    “We’d say to them, ‘You’re just ordinary citizens doing extraordinary things,’” Sweeney said. “And we really meant that.”

    Sean G. Massey was a volunteer and staff member at Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), the organization that is being discussed in this article, from 1988-1998.

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

    – ref. Gay Men’s Health Crisis showed how everyday people stepped up when institutions failed during the height of the AIDS epidemic – providing a model for today – https://theconversation.com/gay-mens-health-crisis-showed-how-everyday-people-stepped-up-when-institutions-failed-during-the-height-of-the-aids-epidemic-providing-a-model-for-today-258139

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: ECHR “must evolve” to restore public confidence in rule of law, says Lord Chancellor

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

    Press release

    ECHR “must evolve” to restore public confidence in rule of law, says Lord Chancellor

    The European Convention of Human Rights “must evolve” to restore public confidence in the rule of law, the Lord Chancellor told European ambassadors in a speech today (Wednesday 18 June).

    Speaking to the Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg, the Lord Chancellor said that while the UK is resolutely committed to the ECHR, the trust of the public is beginning to erode as the application of rights “feels out of step with common sense.”   

    Making her argument for reform, she said that “the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law – once widely assumed – now face distortion, doubt, even hostility.”   

    Speaking at the meeting, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Shabana Mahmood, said:   

    Across Europe, public confidence in the rule of law is fraying.  

    There is a growing perception – sometimes mistaken, sometimes grounded in reality – that human rights are no longer a shield for the vulnerable, but a tool for criminals to avoid responsibility. That the law too often protects those who break the rules, rather than those who follow them.  

    This tension is not new. The Convention was written to protect individuals from the arbitrary power of the state. But in today’s world, the threats to justice and liberty are more complex. They can come from technology, transnational crime, uncontrolled migration, or legal systems that drift away from public consent.

    This comes as the Government commits to legislation to clarify the law around Article 8, the right to private and family life, which many foreign offenders have exploited in order to avoid deportation. In her speech, the Lord Chancellor said that “if a foreign national commits a serious crime, they should expect to be removed from the country.”  

    While this Government has ramped up removals of foreign national offenders with more than 4,400 removed since the election – up 14% compared to the same period 12 months ago – further action is being taken forward to increase removals even further.

    The Lord Chancellor went on to highlight the changes being made in the UK to tackle immigration – including tightening the application of Article 8 to give courts the clarity they need so our immigration rules are no longer abused. This is particularly important as the Government introduces sentencing reforms to tackle a prison system at breaking point.   

    The Lord Chancellor set out that:  

    In the UK, we are restoring the balance we pledged at the birth of our Convention: liberty with responsibility, individual rights with the public interest. There must be consequences for breaking the rules.  

    Which is why we are clarifying how Convention rights – particularly Article 8 – operate in relation to immigration rules. The right to family life is fundamental. But it has too often been used in ways that frustrate deportation, even where there are serious concerns about credibility, fairness, and risk to the public.  

    We’re bringing clarity back to the distinction between what the law protects and what policy permits. Prisoners claiming a right to socialise – under Article 8 – is not just a legal stretch. It damages the public perception of human rights altogether.

    Legislation brought forward by the Home Office will strengthen the public interest test to make it clear that Parliament needs to be able to control the country’s borders and make decisions over who comes to, and stays in the UK, striking the right balance between individual family rights and the wider public interest.  

    It will clarify Article 8 rules and set out how they should apply in different immigration routes so that fewer cases are treated as “exceptional”.    

    She went on to say that:  

    These are the reforms we are pursuing at home. The question for all of us now is whether the Convention system, as it stands, has the tools to resolve these tensions in a way that keeps the public with us. 

    As I have said, our Convention has evolved before, through new protocols, new rights, and new interpretations. Always to reflect changing times, while staying true to its purpose. 

    However, reform of the ECHR must be “a shared political endeavour among us as member States”, the Lord Chancellor told the Council of Europe.

    The Lord Chancellor concluded by saying:  

    The European Convention on Human Rights is one of the great achievements of post-war politics. It has endured because it has evolved. Now, it must do so again. 

    NOTES TO EDITORS: 

    • The full speech can be found here.

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Global: South Africa’s cricket team just made history: how the ‘chokers’ became world champions

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Mogammad Sharhidd Taliep, Associate Professor, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

    When Kyle Verreynne hit the winning runs at the “home of cricket” (Lord’s Cricket Ground in London) on 14 June, South Africa erupted in celebration. The Proteas had just claimed their first major cricket cup in history. And nothing less than the International Cricket Council World Test Championship at that, the premier international competition for five-day (test) cricket that’s played over two years.

    Branded as “chokers” for 26 years for underperforming or spoiling their advantage in crunch situations in major tournaments, the national men’s cricket team has transformed to become world champions.

    I’m a sport scientist with a focus on cricket. Research can help us understand how the Proteas have managed to do this and what core qualities of a winning team they’ve embodied on their way to turning things around.

    What is choking?

    The term “chokers” started being used to describe the Proteas team after the 1999 International Cricket Council Men’s Cricket World Cup semi-finals for games played over one day. The Proteas gave up a commanding position against Australia. This curse tormented them in high-stakes games, particularly world cups, where they often ended second best.

    In sports psychology, choking has been defined as:

    An acute and considerable decrease in skill execution and performance when self-expected standards are normally achievable, which is the result of increased anxiety under perceived pressure performance decline when highly motivated individuals are subjected to pressure.

    Anxiety disrupts a player’s automatic motor response, leading to poor decisions and inaccurate skill execution. This happens at critical moments of the game. And the aftermath of these continued inferior performances can lead to a long-lasting stigma.

    Proteas captain Temba Bavuma emphasised this in his match-winning speech:

    We have gone through the heartache, we have gone through the pain, seeing it with past players.

    Clutch performance

    The opposite to choking is clutch performance. This can be defined as improved or maintained performance under pressure. Some of the contributing characteristics of clutch performances are confidence, complete and deliberate focus, automatic movements, and the absence of negative thoughts.

    I believe the shift towards these clutch characteristics was the difference in the Proteas shrugging off their “choker” curse.

    What made the difference?

    Bavuma, in the post-match interview, recounted how teammate Aiden Markram embodied those clutch qualities, calmly telling Bavuma after every over:

    Lock in and give them nothing.

    In interviews Proteas coach Shukri Conrad stressed how calm the players were. He pointed out Markram and Bavuma for their poise and reliability under pressure, another defining trait of expert performers.

    Conrad emphasised the importance of removing distraction by telling them to “play the conditions” and not the situation. This allows players to focus on the moment and not be overwhelmed by the broader context of the match.

    The calm and composed demeanour of Bavuma and Markram as they prepared to face the barrage of deliveries during their match-defining partnership also relates to a phenomenon scientists refer to as the “quiet eye”.



    Read more:
    What is cricket’s World Test Championship and how did Australia qualify for the final?

    The quiet eye is the period of visual fixation or visual tracking of the body cues of the bowler and the early ball flight trajectory before the execution of a motor task. It’s been associated with superior performance under pressure.

    Bavuma and Markram were able to sustain long periods of quiet eye while processing critical information from the bowlers’ action and early ball path, while remaining focused on task-relevant cues, all the while blocking out anxiety-related distractions.

    Conrad succeeded because he was able to combine cultural wisdom and emotional intelligence to truly transform the psychology and ability of the Proteas team.

    His philosophy of selection, “character first then matching up the skill”, pays tribute to his vision of peaking when it counts – a quality lacking in Proteas teams of the past.

    When Conrad was first appointed as Proteas coach, he made two big decisions. He selected Bavuma as captain and he recalled a struggling test batter, Markram. Conrad explained:

    Obviously Temba, a quiet leader, leads from the back, but certainly from the front with the bat … Aiden Markram was always going to be my opening bat. He always delivers on the big stage.

    The vision of Conrad to appoint Bavuma captain has resulted in a record 10 successive test wins. In the winning match Bavuma led from the front and held firm. He was up to the task with the bat, and despite suffering a hamstring injury during the game, was able to join forces with Markram in the fourth innings to set up a match-winning third wicket partnership of 143 runs.

    Three of the most experienced players for South Africa in test matches, Bavuma, Markram and Kagiso Rabada, stood out as true champions in this final. Markram scored a match-winning 136 runs in the fourth innings, while Rabada laid the foundation for victory by taking a decisive nine wickets.



    Read more:
    T20 World Cup: South Africa reached its first final ever – but staying at the top will take a rethink of junior cricket

    For the first time in 26 years, the senior Proteas players all stepped up when it mattered most to secure a world championship. Conrad bore testimony to this in the post-match interview:

    When our two senior pros in Aiden and Temba put that big stand together, I felt that is obviously where the game was won for us.

    The Proteas’ victory on 14 June 2025 lifted a 26-year choker curse. With the visionary leadership of Conrad and the composed stewardship of Bavuma, the Proteas revealed that mental clarity, cultural cohesion, and emotional intelligence were key to their success. The “chokers” tag is buried beneath the turf of the “home of cricket”.

    Mogammad Sharhidd Taliep 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. South Africa’s cricket team just made history: how the ‘chokers’ became world champions – https://theconversation.com/south-africas-cricket-team-just-made-history-how-the-chokers-became-world-champions-259167

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: South Africa’s cricket team just made history: how the ‘chokers’ became world champions

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Mogammad Sharhidd Taliep, Associate Professor, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

    When Kyle Verreynne hit the winning runs at the “home of cricket” (Lord’s Cricket Ground in London) on 14 June, South Africa erupted in celebration. The Proteas had just claimed their first major cricket cup in history. And nothing less than the International Cricket Council World Test Championship at that, the premier international competition for five-day (test) cricket that’s played over two years.

    Branded as “chokers” for 26 years for underperforming or spoiling their advantage in crunch situations in major tournaments, the national men’s cricket team has transformed to become world champions.

    I’m a sport scientist with a focus on cricket. Research can help us understand how the Proteas have managed to do this and what core qualities of a winning team they’ve embodied on their way to turning things around.

    What is choking?

    The term “chokers” started being used to describe the Proteas team after the 1999 International Cricket Council Men’s Cricket World Cup semi-finals for games played over one day. The Proteas gave up a commanding position against Australia. This curse tormented them in high-stakes games, particularly world cups, where they often ended second best.

    In sports psychology, choking has been defined as:

    An acute and considerable decrease in skill execution and performance when self-expected standards are normally achievable, which is the result of increased anxiety under perceived pressure performance decline when highly motivated individuals are subjected to pressure.

    Anxiety disrupts a player’s automatic motor response, leading to poor decisions and inaccurate skill execution. This happens at critical moments of the game. And the aftermath of these continued inferior performances can lead to a long-lasting stigma.

    Proteas captain Temba Bavuma emphasised this in his match-winning speech:

    We have gone through the heartache, we have gone through the pain, seeing it with past players.

    Clutch performance

    The opposite to choking is clutch performance. This can be defined as improved or maintained performance under pressure. Some of the contributing characteristics of clutch performances are confidence, complete and deliberate focus, automatic movements, and the absence of negative thoughts.

    I believe the shift towards these clutch characteristics was the difference in the Proteas shrugging off their “choker” curse.

    What made the difference?

    Bavuma, in the post-match interview, recounted how teammate Aiden Markram embodied those clutch qualities, calmly telling Bavuma after every over:

    Lock in and give them nothing.

    In interviews Proteas coach Shukri Conrad stressed how calm the players were. He pointed out Markram and Bavuma for their poise and reliability under pressure, another defining trait of expert performers.

    Conrad emphasised the importance of removing distraction by telling them to “play the conditions” and not the situation. This allows players to focus on the moment and not be overwhelmed by the broader context of the match.

    The calm and composed demeanour of Bavuma and Markram as they prepared to face the barrage of deliveries during their match-defining partnership also relates to a phenomenon scientists refer to as the “quiet eye”.



    Read more:
    What is cricket’s World Test Championship and how did Australia qualify for the final?

    The quiet eye is the period of visual fixation or visual tracking of the body cues of the bowler and the early ball flight trajectory before the execution of a motor task. It’s been associated with superior performance under pressure.

    Bavuma and Markram were able to sustain long periods of quiet eye while processing critical information from the bowlers’ action and early ball path, while remaining focused on task-relevant cues, all the while blocking out anxiety-related distractions.

    Conrad succeeded because he was able to combine cultural wisdom and emotional intelligence to truly transform the psychology and ability of the Proteas team.

    His philosophy of selection, “character first then matching up the skill”, pays tribute to his vision of peaking when it counts – a quality lacking in Proteas teams of the past.

    When Conrad was first appointed as Proteas coach, he made two big decisions. He selected Bavuma as captain and he recalled a struggling test batter, Markram. Conrad explained:

    Obviously Temba, a quiet leader, leads from the back, but certainly from the front with the bat … Aiden Markram was always going to be my opening bat. He always delivers on the big stage.

    The vision of Conrad to appoint Bavuma captain has resulted in a record 10 successive test wins. In the winning match Bavuma led from the front and held firm. He was up to the task with the bat, and despite suffering a hamstring injury during the game, was able to join forces with Markram in the fourth innings to set up a match-winning third wicket partnership of 143 runs.

    Three of the most experienced players for South Africa in test matches, Bavuma, Markram and Kagiso Rabada, stood out as true champions in this final. Markram scored a match-winning 136 runs in the fourth innings, while Rabada laid the foundation for victory by taking a decisive nine wickets.



    Read more:
    T20 World Cup: South Africa reached its first final ever – but staying at the top will take a rethink of junior cricket

    For the first time in 26 years, the senior Proteas players all stepped up when it mattered most to secure a world championship. Conrad bore testimony to this in the post-match interview:

    When our two senior pros in Aiden and Temba put that big stand together, I felt that is obviously where the game was won for us.

    The Proteas’ victory on 14 June 2025 lifted a 26-year choker curse. With the visionary leadership of Conrad and the composed stewardship of Bavuma, the Proteas revealed that mental clarity, cultural cohesion, and emotional intelligence were key to their success. The “chokers” tag is buried beneath the turf of the “home of cricket”.

    Mogammad Sharhidd Taliep 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. South Africa’s cricket team just made history: how the ‘chokers’ became world champions – https://theconversation.com/south-africas-cricket-team-just-made-history-how-the-chokers-became-world-champions-259167

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: G20 countries could produce enough renewable energy for the whole world – what needs to happen

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Sven Teske, Prof. Dr. | Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

    The world’s most developed economies have also burnt the most oil and coal (fossil fuels) over the years, causing the most climate change damage. Preventing further climate change means a global fossil fuel phase-out must happen by 2050. Climate change mitigation scientists Sven Teske and Saori Miyake analysed the potential for renewable energy in each of the G20 countries. They concluded that the G20 is in a position to generate enough renewable energy to supply the world. For African countries to benefit, they must adopt long term renewable energy plans and policies and secure finance from G20 countries to set up renewable energy systems.

    Why is the G20 so important in efforts to limit global warming?

    The G20 group accounts for 67% of the world’s population, 85% of global gross domestic product, and 75% of global trade. The member states are the G7 (the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Canada), plus Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Russia, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

    We wanted to find out how G20 member states could limit global warming. Our study examined the solar and wind potential for each of G20 member countries (the available land and solar and wind conditions). We then compared this with projected electricity demands for 2050. This is, to our knowledge, the first research of its kind.



    Read more:
    G20 is too elite. There’s a way to fix that though – economists

    We found that the potential for renewable energy in G20 countries is very high – enough to supply the projected 2050 electricity demand for the whole world. They have 33.6 million km² of land on which solar energy projects could be set up, or 31.1 million km² of land on which wind energy projects could be set up.

    This potential varies by geography. Not all G20 countries have the same conditions for generating solar and wind energy, but collectively, the G20 countries have enough renewable energy potential to supply the world’s energy needs.

    But for the G20 countries to limit global warming, they also need to stop emitting greenhouse gases. Recent figures show that the G20 countries were responsible for generating 87% of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming.

    On the other hand, African Union countries (apart from South Africa, which is a high greenhouse gas emitter), were responsible for only 1.2% of the global total historical emissions until 2020.

    The G20 countries with the highest renewable energy potential (especially Australia and Canada) are major exporters of the fossil fuels that cause global warming. Along with every other country in the world, the G20 nations will need to end their human-caused carbon emissions by 2050 to prevent further climate change.

    Where does Africa fit into the picture?

    African countries cannot set up new electricity plants based on burning fossil fuels, like coal. If they do that, the world will never end human-caused greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The continent must generate electricity for the 600 million Africans who do not currently have it but will need to move straight past fossil fuels and into renewable energy.

    For this, Africa will need finance. The African Union hosts the G20 summit later this year. This meeting begins just after the world’s annual climate change conference (now in its 30th year and known as COP30). These two summits will give Africa the chance to lobby for renewable energy funding from wealthier nations.

    Africa already has the conditions needed to move straight into renewable energy. The continent could be generating an amount of solar and wind power that far exceeds its projected demand for electricity between now and 2050.

    We are launching an additional analysis of the solar and wind potential of the entire African continent in Bonn, Germany on 19 June 2025 at a United Nations conference. This shows that only 3% of Africa’s solar and wind potential needs to be converted to real projects to supply Africa’s future electricity demand.



    Read more:
    Africa’s power pools: what the G20 can do to help countries share electricity

    This means that Africa has great untapped potential to supply the required energy for its transition to a middle-income continent – one of the African Union’s goals in Agenda 2063, its 50 year plan.

    But to secure enough finance for the continent to build renewable energy systems, African countries need long-term energy policies. These are currently lacking.

    So what needs to be done?

    The countries who signed up to the 2015 international climate change treaty (the Paris Agreement) have committed to replacing polluting forms of energy such as coal, fuelwood and oil with renewable energy.

    South Africa, through its G20 presidency, must encourage G20 nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and support renewable energy investment in Africa.



    Read more:
    Fossil fuels are still subsidised: G20 could push for the funds to be shifted to cleaner energy

    Because financing the global energy transition is already high on the priority list of most countries, South Africa should push for change on three fronts: finance, sound regulations and manufacturing capacity for renewable technologies. These are the among the main obstacles for renewables, particularly in Africa.

    Finance: Financing the energy transition is among the highest priorities for COP30. Therefore, the COP30 meeting will be an opportunity for the African Union to negotiate finance for its renewable energy infrastructure needs.

    For this, fair and just carbon budgets are vital. A carbon budget sets out how much carbon dioxide can still be emitted in order for the global temperature not to rise more than 2°C higher than it was before the 1760 industrial revolution.

    A global carbon budget (the amount of emissions the whole world is allowed) has been calculated, but it needs to be divided up fairly so that countries that have polluted most are compelled to limit this.

    To divide the global carbon budget fairly, energy pathways need to be developed urgently that consider:

    • future developments of population and economic growth

    • current energy supply systems

    • transition times for decarbonisation

    • local renewable energy resources.

    The G20 platform should be used to lobby for fair and just carbon budgets.



    Read more:
    Wealthy nations owe climate debt to Africa – funds that could help cities grow

    Sound regulations that support the setting up of new factories: Governments must put policies in place to support African solar and wind companies. These are needed to win the trust of investors to invest in a future multi-billion dollar industry. Long-term, transparent regulations are needed too.

    These regulations should:

    • say exactly how building permits for solar and wind power plants will be granted

    • prioritise linking renewable energy plants to national electricity grids

    • release standard technical specifications for stand-alone grids to make sure they’re all of the same quality.

    Taking steps now to speed up big renewable energy industries could mean that African countries end up with more energy than they need. This can be exported and increase financial income for countries.

    Sven Teske receives funding from the European Climate Foundation and Power Shift Africa (PSA).

    Saori Miyake receives funding from European Climate Foundation and Power Shift Africa.

    – ref. G20 countries could produce enough renewable energy for the whole world – what needs to happen – https://theconversation.com/g20-countries-could-produce-enough-renewable-energy-for-the-whole-world-what-needs-to-happen-258463

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Iran’s long history of revolution, defiance and outside interference – and why its future is so uncertain

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University; and Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Fellow, Victoria University

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone beyond his initial aim of destroying Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons. He has called on the Iranian people to rise up against their dictatorial Islamic regime and ostensibly transform Iran along the lines of Israeli interests.

    United States President Donald Trump is now weighing possible military action in support of Netanyahu’s goal and asked for Iran’s total surrender.

    If the US does get involved, it wouldn’t be the first time it’s tried to instigate regime change by military means in the Middle East. The US invaded Iraq in 2003 and backed a NATO operation in Libya in 2011, toppling the regimes of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, respectively.

    In both cases, the interventions backfired, causing long-term instability in both countries and in the broader region.

    Could the same thing happen in Iran if the regime is overthrown?

    As I describe in my book, Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic, Iran is a pluralist society with a complex history of rival groups trying to assert their authority. A democratic transition would be difficult to achieve.

    The overthrow of the shah

    The Iranian Islamic regime assumed power in the wake of the pro-democracy popular uprising of 1978–79, which toppled Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s pro-Western monarchy.

    Until this moment, Iran had a long history of monarchical rule dating back 2,500 years. Mohammad Reza, the last shah, was the head of the Pahlavi dynasty, which came to power in 1925.

    In 1953, the shah was forced into exile under the radical nationalist and reformist impulse of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. He was shortly returned to his throne through a CIA-orchestrated coup.

    Despite all his nationalist, pro-Western, modernising efforts, the shah could not shake off the indignity of having been re-throned with the help of a foreign power.

    The revolution against him 25 years later was spearheaded by pro-democracy elements. But it was made up of many groups, including liberalists, communists and Islamists, with no uniting leader.

    The Shia clerical group (ruhaniyat), led by the Shah’s religious and political opponent, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, proved to be best organised and capable of providing leadership to the revolution. Khomeini had been in exile from the early 1960s (at first in Iraq and later in France), yet he and his followers held considerable sway over the population, especially in traditional rural areas.

    When US President Jimmy Carter’s administration found it could no longer support the shah, he left the country and went into exile in January 1979. This enabled Khomeini to return to Iran to a tumultuous welcome.

    Birth of the Islamic Republic

    In the wake of the uprising, Khomeini and his supporters, including the current supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, abolished the monarchy and transformed Iran to a cleric-dominated Islamic Republic, with anti-US and anti-Israel postures. He ruled the country according to his unique vision of Islam.

    Khomeini denounced the US as a “Great Satan” and Israel as an illegal usurper of the Palestinian lands – Jerusalem, in particular. He also declared a foreign policy of “neither east, nor west” but pro-Islamic, and called for the spread of the Iranian revolution in the region.

    Khomeini not only changed Iran, but also challenged the US as the dominant force in shaping the regional order. And the US lost one of the most important pillars of its influence in the oil-rich and strategically important Persian Gulf region.

    Fear of hostile American or Israeli (or combined) actions against the Islamic Republic became the focus of Iran’s domestic and foreign policy behaviour.

    A new supreme leader takes power

    Khomeini died in 1989. His successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has ruled Iran largely in the same jihadi (combative) and ijtihadi (pragmatic) ways, steering the country through many domestic and foreign policy challenges.

    Khamenei fortified the regime with an emphasis on self-sufficiency, a stronger defence capability and a tilt towards the east – Russia and China – to counter the US and its allies. He has stood firm in opposition to the US and its allies – Israel, in particular. And he has shown flexibility when necessary to ensure the survival and continuity of the regime.

    Khamenei wields enormous constitutional power and spiritual authority.

    He has presided over the building of many rule-enforcing instruments of state power, including the expansion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its paramilitary wing, the Basij, revolutionary committees, and Shia religious networks.

    The Shia concept of martyrdom and loyalty to Iran as a continuous sovereign country for centuries goes to the heart of his actions, as well as his followers.

    Khamenei and his rule enforcers, along with an elected president and National Assembly, are fully cognisant that if the regime goes down, they will face the same fate. As such, they cannot be expected to hoist the white flag and surrender to Israel and the US easily.

    However, in the event of the regime falling under the weight of a combined internal uprising and external pressure, it raises the question: what is the alternative?

    The return of the shah?

    Many Iranians are discontented with the regime, but there is no organised opposition under a nationally unifying leader.

    The son of the former shah, the crown prince Reza Pahlavi, has been gaining some popularity. He has been speaking out on X in the last few days, telling his fellow Iranians:

    The end of the Islamic Republic is the end of its 46-year war against the Iranian nation. The regime’s apparatus of repression is falling apart. All it takes now is a nationwide uprising to put an end to this nightmare once and for all.

    Since the deposition of his father, he has lived in exile in the US. As such, he has been tainted by his close association with Washington and Jerusalem, especially Netanyahu.

    If he were to return to power – likely through the assistance of the US – he would face the same problem of political legitimacy as his father did.

    What does the future hold?

    Iran has never had a long tradition of democracy. It experienced brief instances of liberalism in the first half of the 20th century, but every attempt at making it durable resulted in disarray and a return to authoritarian rule.

    Also, the country has rarely been free of outside interventionism, given its vast hydrocarbon riches and strategic location. It’s also been prone to internal fragmentation, given its ethnic and religious mix.

    The Shia Persians make up more than half of the population, but the country has a number of Sunni ethnic minorities, such as Kurds, Azaris, Balochis and Arabs. They have all had separatist tendencies.

    Iran has historically been held together by centralisation rather than diffusion of power.

    Should the Islamic regime disintegrate in one form or another, it would be an mistake to expect a smooth transfer of power or transition to democratisation within a unified national framework.

    At the same time, the Iranian people are highly cultured and creative, with a very rich and proud history of achievements and civilisation.

    They are perfectly capable of charting their own destiny as long as there aren’t self-seeking foreign hands in the process – something they have rarely experienced.

    Amin Saikal 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. Iran’s long history of revolution, defiance and outside interference – and why its future is so uncertain – https://theconversation.com/irans-long-history-of-revolution-defiance-and-outside-interference-and-why-its-future-is-so-uncertain-259270

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Iran’s long history of revolution, defiance and outside interference – and why its future is so uncertain

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University; and Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Fellow, Victoria University

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone beyond his initial aim of destroying Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons. He has called on the Iranian people to rise up against their dictatorial Islamic regime and ostensibly transform Iran along the lines of Israeli interests.

    United States President Donald Trump is now weighing possible military action in support of Netanyahu’s goal and asked for Iran’s total surrender.

    If the US does get involved, it wouldn’t be the first time it’s tried to instigate regime change by military means in the Middle East. The US invaded Iraq in 2003 and backed a NATO operation in Libya in 2011, toppling the regimes of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, respectively.

    In both cases, the interventions backfired, causing long-term instability in both countries and in the broader region.

    Could the same thing happen in Iran if the regime is overthrown?

    As I describe in my book, Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic, Iran is a pluralist society with a complex history of rival groups trying to assert their authority. A democratic transition would be difficult to achieve.

    The overthrow of the shah

    The Iranian Islamic regime assumed power in the wake of the pro-democracy popular uprising of 1978–79, which toppled Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s pro-Western monarchy.

    Until this moment, Iran had a long history of monarchical rule dating back 2,500 years. Mohammad Reza, the last shah, was the head of the Pahlavi dynasty, which came to power in 1925.

    In 1953, the shah was forced into exile under the radical nationalist and reformist impulse of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. He was shortly returned to his throne through a CIA-orchestrated coup.

    Despite all his nationalist, pro-Western, modernising efforts, the shah could not shake off the indignity of having been re-throned with the help of a foreign power.

    The revolution against him 25 years later was spearheaded by pro-democracy elements. But it was made up of many groups, including liberalists, communists and Islamists, with no uniting leader.

    The Shia clerical group (ruhaniyat), led by the Shah’s religious and political opponent, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, proved to be best organised and capable of providing leadership to the revolution. Khomeini had been in exile from the early 1960s (at first in Iraq and later in France), yet he and his followers held considerable sway over the population, especially in traditional rural areas.

    When US President Jimmy Carter’s administration found it could no longer support the shah, he left the country and went into exile in January 1979. This enabled Khomeini to return to Iran to a tumultuous welcome.

    Birth of the Islamic Republic

    In the wake of the uprising, Khomeini and his supporters, including the current supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, abolished the monarchy and transformed Iran to a cleric-dominated Islamic Republic, with anti-US and anti-Israel postures. He ruled the country according to his unique vision of Islam.

    Khomeini denounced the US as a “Great Satan” and Israel as an illegal usurper of the Palestinian lands – Jerusalem, in particular. He also declared a foreign policy of “neither east, nor west” but pro-Islamic, and called for the spread of the Iranian revolution in the region.

    Khomeini not only changed Iran, but also challenged the US as the dominant force in shaping the regional order. And the US lost one of the most important pillars of its influence in the oil-rich and strategically important Persian Gulf region.

    Fear of hostile American or Israeli (or combined) actions against the Islamic Republic became the focus of Iran’s domestic and foreign policy behaviour.

    A new supreme leader takes power

    Khomeini died in 1989. His successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has ruled Iran largely in the same jihadi (combative) and ijtihadi (pragmatic) ways, steering the country through many domestic and foreign policy challenges.

    Khamenei fortified the regime with an emphasis on self-sufficiency, a stronger defence capability and a tilt towards the east – Russia and China – to counter the US and its allies. He has stood firm in opposition to the US and its allies – Israel, in particular. And he has shown flexibility when necessary to ensure the survival and continuity of the regime.

    Khamenei wields enormous constitutional power and spiritual authority.

    He has presided over the building of many rule-enforcing instruments of state power, including the expansion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its paramilitary wing, the Basij, revolutionary committees, and Shia religious networks.

    The Shia concept of martyrdom and loyalty to Iran as a continuous sovereign country for centuries goes to the heart of his actions, as well as his followers.

    Khamenei and his rule enforcers, along with an elected president and National Assembly, are fully cognisant that if the regime goes down, they will face the same fate. As such, they cannot be expected to hoist the white flag and surrender to Israel and the US easily.

    However, in the event of the regime falling under the weight of a combined internal uprising and external pressure, it raises the question: what is the alternative?

    The return of the shah?

    Many Iranians are discontented with the regime, but there is no organised opposition under a nationally unifying leader.

    The son of the former shah, the crown prince Reza Pahlavi, has been gaining some popularity. He has been speaking out on X in the last few days, telling his fellow Iranians:

    The end of the Islamic Republic is the end of its 46-year war against the Iranian nation. The regime’s apparatus of repression is falling apart. All it takes now is a nationwide uprising to put an end to this nightmare once and for all.

    Since the deposition of his father, he has lived in exile in the US. As such, he has been tainted by his close association with Washington and Jerusalem, especially Netanyahu.

    If he were to return to power – likely through the assistance of the US – he would face the same problem of political legitimacy as his father did.

    What does the future hold?

    Iran has never had a long tradition of democracy. It experienced brief instances of liberalism in the first half of the 20th century, but every attempt at making it durable resulted in disarray and a return to authoritarian rule.

    Also, the country has rarely been free of outside interventionism, given its vast hydrocarbon riches and strategic location. It’s also been prone to internal fragmentation, given its ethnic and religious mix.

    The Shia Persians make up more than half of the population, but the country has a number of Sunni ethnic minorities, such as Kurds, Azaris, Balochis and Arabs. They have all had separatist tendencies.

    Iran has historically been held together by centralisation rather than diffusion of power.

    Should the Islamic regime disintegrate in one form or another, it would be an mistake to expect a smooth transfer of power or transition to democratisation within a unified national framework.

    At the same time, the Iranian people are highly cultured and creative, with a very rich and proud history of achievements and civilisation.

    They are perfectly capable of charting their own destiny as long as there aren’t self-seeking foreign hands in the process – something they have rarely experienced.

    Amin Saikal 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. Iran’s long history of revolution, defiance and outside interference – and why its future is so uncertain – https://theconversation.com/irans-long-history-of-revolution-defiance-and-outside-interference-and-why-its-future-is-so-uncertain-259270

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Resetting the High Speed Two (HS2) programme

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Oral statement to Parliament

    Resetting the High Speed Two (HS2) programme

    A statement outlining the future of High Speed Two (HS2), including new management and a bold reset plan.

    Mr Speaker, with permission, I’d like to make a statement on HS2.

    As a London Councillor over 15 years ago, I remember hearing the then Labour government’s bold plans for high-speed rail.

    To link our major cities, to address the capacity needs of the future and in the words of then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown: ‘to join the high-speed revolution sweeping the world’.

    It was a vision of a confident nation, a clear signal our great towns and cities in the Midlands and the North.

    With potential that had been untapped at best and ignored at worst, could be places of opportunity and aspiration again.

    That was the promise of HS2.

    Inheritance

    But after [political redaction].

    Routes drawn up then cancelled, budgets calculated then blown, promises made then broken, we inherited a project that had lost the trust of the public.

    That created an image of a Britain woefully unable to deliver big infrastructure projects. And that axed swathes of the country it was originally meant to serve.

    Phase 1 could end up becoming one of the most expensive railway lines in the world.

    With projected costs soaring by £37 billion [political redaction]. And £2 billion of taxpayers’ money sunk into phase 2 work before it was cancelled by the previous government.

    There was also clear evidence of poor management [political redaction].

    Gripping the project

    It has been no less than a litany of failure.

    And today (18 June 2025), I’m drawing a line in the sand – calling time on years of mismanagement, flawed reporting and ineffective oversight.

    It means this government will get the job done between Birmingham and London.

    We won’t reinstate cancelled sections we can’t afford.

    But we will do the hard, but necessary, work to rebuild public trust – and we’ve not wasted any time.

    Since July, we have:

    • appointed new leadership of HS2 Ltd to turn this project around
    • we’ve made clear to the new Chief Executive, Mark Wild, that the priority is building the rest of the railway safely, at the lowest reasonable cost – even if this takes longer
    • we’ve started the year long task of fundamentally resetting the project, including commissioning infrastructure expert James Stewart to lead a review into governance and oversight
    • as part of the reset, we have reduced financial delegations to HS2 Ltd – placing a lid on spiralling costs until the reset is complete and we regain confidence
    • and we’ve supported Mark Wild’s review of the size and cost of HS2 as an organisation

    But today we’re going further.

    James Stewart review

    Mr Speaker, I can confirm we’ve published the landmark James Stewart review and the department’s response.

    The review, commissioned in October of last year by my predecessor, was a tough independent look at how Department for Transport and government delivers major projects.

    The government not only welcomes the review, but we have accepted all its recommendations.

    My department is already delivering on these, specifically across 5 key areas.

    First, the lack of oversight and scrutiny.

    Quite simply, there have been too many dark corners for failure to hide in.

    [Political redaction].

    This government has re-established the taskforce, with full senior attendance, as per the review’s recommendation.

    And new performance, programme and shareholder boards will offer much needed oversight and accountability.

    Secondly, the report highlights HS2 could cost the taxpayer billions more than planned.

    We’ll stop this spiralling any further by delivering all the recommendations on cost control.

    That starts with HS2 fundamentally changing their approach to estimating costs.

    It includes certainty over funding – which the Spending Review has given.

    And it also means HS2 working with suppliers so their contracts incentivise saving costs for taxpayers.

    As far as I’m concerned, suppliers should make a better return the more taxpayer money they save.

    Thirdly, the review identified a deficit in capability and skills, with a fundamental lack of trust between my department and HS2 Ltd. 

    I am clear, both capability and cultural issues within HS2 must be addressed.

    The new chief executive is already strengthening the organisation, including filling critical gaps in areas such as commercial expertise. And he will be backed by Mike Brown, announced today as the new chair.

    This is a new era of leadership the project desperately needs, with Mike bringing significant experience as a former TfL Commissioner.

    Mark and Mike were part of the team, with me, that turned Crossrail into the Elizabeth Line.

    We have done it before, we will do it again.

    Fourthly, Euston Station.

    Between 2019 and 2023, HS2 Ltd provided initial designs for Euston Station, coming in almost £2 billion over budget.

    When asked for a more affordable option, they offered one costing £400 million more than the first attempt.

    The word ‘affordable’ was clearly not part of the HS2 lexicon.

    The combined costs for these 2 failed designs, which has now been written off, was more than a quarter of a billion pounds.

    What’s more, the previous government announced a Euston ministerial taskforce.

    Unbelievably, the taskforce never met.

    Mr Speaker, this government recognises Euston’s huge potential.

    And we’ve already committed funding to start the tunnelling from Old Oak Common to Euston and we’ll set out more details in our 10-year Infrastructure Strategy.

    And finally, we will use James Stewart’s findings to transform infrastructure delivery across government.

    Implementing real change in how we deliver infrastructure is not just for the Department for Transport.

    This government is committed to implementing these recommendations and adopting a new approach to delivering infrastructure, as will be set out in our upcoming 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy.

    In that spirit, the Prime Minister has also asked the Cabinet Secretary to consider the implications for the Civil Service and wider public sector of the issues raised in the report, including whether further action or investigation is warranted.

    Mr Speaker, we’re wasting no time in delivering on this review.

    And I will update Parliament on our progress through my 6-monthly reports, even if the information is uncomfortable.

    Because for a government that, last week, pledged billions in capital investment for new major projects.

    That believes in the power of transport infrastructure to improve lives and deliver on our Plan for Change.

    This level of failure cannot stand.

    We will learn the lessons of the past 15 years and restore our reputation of delivering world-class infrastructure projects.

    Mark Wild assessment

    Mr Speaker, I’ve spoken about our inheritance; I’ve spoken about James Stewart’s review.

    Let me finally turn to Mark Wild’s initial assessment, [political redaction].

    I will place a copy of his interim findings in the library.

    He stated, in no uncertain terms, the overall project with respect to cost, schedule and scope is unsustainable.

    Based on this advice, I see no route by which trains can be running by 2033 as planned.

    He reveals costs will continue to increase if not taken in hand, further outstripping the budget set by the previous government.

    And he cannot be certain that all cost pressures have yet been identified.

    Mr Speaker, it gives me no pleasure to deliver news like this.

    Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been wasted by constant scope changes, ineffective contracts and bad management.

    There are also allegations that parts of the supply chain have been defrauding taxpayers, and I have been clear these need to be investigated rapidly and rigorously.

    If fraud is proven, the consequences will be felt by all involved.

    Mr Speaker, I have to be honest: it’s an appalling mess. But it’s one we will sort out.

    We need to set targets which we can confidently deliver – that the public can trust – and that will take time.

    But rest assured, where there are inefficiencies – we will root them out.

    Where further ministerial interventions are needed – I’ll make them without fear or favour.

    HS2 will finally start delivering on our watch.

    Conclusion

    Mr Speaker, years of mismanagement and neglect have turned HS2 into a shadow of the vision put forward 15 years ago.

    But this government was elected on a mandate to restore trust to our politics.

    That’s why we won’t shirk away from this challenge and why today, we turn the page on infrastructure failures. 

    I can think of no better mission than delivering new economic opportunities, new homes and commercial regeneration, of an upskilled supply chain, all of which HS2 can still unlock.

    But no one should underestimate the scale of the reset required.

    Passengers and taxpayers deserve new railways the country can be proud of.

    The work to get HS2 back on track is firmly underway under this government.

    And I commend this statement to the House.

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Sergei Sobyanin launched the tunnel boring for the Biryulevskaya metro line

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    Sergei Sobyanin took part in the ceremony to mark the start of tunnel boring for the Biryulevskaya Line of the Moscow Metro.

    The first (right) transfer tunnel, 1.67 kilometers long and six meters in diameter, will be built between the Ostrov Mechty and Klenovy Bulvar stations. In addition, construction of the second (left) tunnel between them is planned to begin in the coming months. Part of the tunnels will pass under the Moskva River, which is a complex engineering task. Their construction is planned to be completed in the spring of 2026.

    “A historic event in Moscow metro construction: today we are launching the tunneling of a new radius of the Moscow metro – the Biryulevskaya line. Long awaited. Residents of the Biryulyovo Zapadnoye and Biryulyovo Vostochnoye districts have long asked for the metro to be built in their districts,” noted Sergei Sobyanin.

    The new metro line will be put into operation in stages. The construction of the first stage – the ZIL – Kuryanovo section (8.65 kilometers, four stations) is expected to be completed in 2028, and the second stage on the Kuryanovo – Biryulevo section (13.55 kilometers, six stations) – in 2030.

    “Today, the active phase of work begins: the first shield, in a couple of months the second shield will go. In general, of course, the project is very complex. 22 kilometers, 10 stations, four passages under the Moscow River. But I am sure that the builders will cope,” added the Mayor of Moscow.

    It is expected that the first four stations of the line will be used by 32 thousand passengers per day, and after full commissioning, the daily passenger flow will increase to 170 thousand people.

    At the first stage, the Yuzhnoye electric depot will service the trains on the line, and from 2030, the new Biryulevskoye electric depot will service them.

    Biryulevskaya metro line

    “The excavation of the right tunnel of the Biryulevskaya line between the stations “Dream Island” and “Klenovy Bulvar” has begun – the first stage of a large-scale and complex engineering project. As a result, 10 stations will be built. The length of the entire line is 22 kilometers. The first three stations – “ZIL”, “Dream Island” and “Klenovy Bulvar” – have already begun to be built,” Sergei Sobyanin wrote in

    on your telegram channel.

    Source: Sergei Sobyanin’s Telegram channel @mos_sobyanin

    The Biryulevsky radius will be the seventh new line on the Moscow metro map since 2014. It will mainly serve residents of the south of the capital. The long-awaited metro will first come to the territory of the Biryulevo Vostochnoye and Biryulevo Zapadnoye districts, where about 260 thousand people will live by 2030.

    The first plans to build a metro line in Biryulyovo appeared half a century ago, in the early 1970s, when mass residential construction began on the site of the workers’ settlement of the same name and the adjacent territory, which became part of the capital in 1960. Then, the construction of the Biryulevskaya metro line was included in the General Plan of the City of Moscow for the period up to 2025, approved in 2010. On the instructions of Sergei Sobyanin, projects for the planning of sections of the Biryulevskaya line were developed and approved in 2021–2023.

    It will stretch from ZIL to the Biryulevo East and West districts and as a result will allow:

    — improve transport services for residents (including new neighborhoods being built as part of the renovation program) and the operating developing areas of ZIL, the Danilovsky, Nagatinsky Zaton, Nagatino-Sadovniki, Pechatniki, Moskvorechye-Saburovo, Tsaritsyno, Biryulevo Vostochnoye and Biryulevo Zapadnoye districts with a population of over one million people;

    — improve transport accessibility of the Dream Island amusement park;

    — reduce the load on sections of the Zamoskvoretskaya and Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya metro lines;

    — reduce the intensity of traffic on adjacent streets, which in turn will improve the environmental situation in the listed areas of the city;

    — provide transfers for passengers to the Moscow Central Circle (MCC), the Big Circle, Zamoskvoretskaya and Troitskaya metro lines, as well as to the Paveletskaya direction of the Moscow Railway.

    By 2030, it is planned to create more than 400 thousand jobs at the stations of the Biryulevskaya line.

    The new radial line, more than 22 kilometers long, will include 10 stations:

    — “ZIL” — at the intersection of Likhachev Avenue and Bratyev Ryabushinskikh Street, near the MCC station of the same name (transfer to the MCC and the Troitskaya metro line under construction);

    — “Dream Island” — near the theme park of the same name, between Andropov Avenue and the Southern Landscape Park (transfer to the Zamoskvoretskaya metro line);

    — “Klenovy Boulevard” — along the boulevard of the same name at the intersection with Novinki Street (transfer to the Big Circle Line of the metro);

    — “Kuryanovo” — near the junction of 4th Kuryanovskaya Street and Batyuninskaya Street;

    — “Moskvorechye” – near the junction of Koshkina Street and Kashirskoe Highway;

    — “Kavkazsky Boulevard” — along Kavkazsky Boulevard near the junction with Yerevanskaya Street;

    — “Caspian” — near the intersection of 6th Radial Street and Projected Driveway No. 6631;

    — “Lipetskaya” — along the street of the same name near the junction with Pedagogical Street;

    — “Lebedyanskaya” — along Lipetskaya Street near the junction with Lebedyanskaya Street;

    — “Biryulevo” — along Bulatnikovskaya Street near the junction with Bulatnikovsky Proezd, not far from the Biryulevo-Passazhirskaya railway station.

    Three stations are currently under construction: ZIL, Ostrov Mechty, and Klenovy Bulvar. Work is underway to install enclosing structures and excavate the soil for the pits.

    At all other future stations of the Biryulevskaya line, preparatory work is underway.

    Monument to Russian metro builders to be erected on Sokolnicheskaya SquareSergei Sobyanin: Four more stations of the Troitskaya metro line will open in 2025Moscow Metro Turns 90 — Sergei Sobyanin

    Results of the implementation of the Moscow metro construction program

    Since 2011, 255.5 kilometers of lines, 123 stations, 13 electric depots of the Moscow Metro and the Moscow Central Circle have been built and reconstructed in the capital. Jointly with JSC Russian Railways, the MCD-1, MCD-2, MCD-3 and MCD-4 ground metro lines were also put into operation: 303 kilometers of tracks and 137 stations.

    New lines and stations of the Moscow metro, MCC and MCD

    Lublin-Dmitrovskaya line:

    — section from Maryino station to Zyablikovo station (three stations);

    — the section from the Maryina Roshcha station to the Fiztekh station (nine stations).

    Kalininskaya and Solntsevskaya lines:

    — section from Novogireevo station to Novokosino station (one station);

    — section from Delovoy Tsentr station to Vnukovo Airport station (14 stations).

    Zamoskvoretskaya line:

    — section from Krasnogvardeyskaya station to Alma-Atinskaya station (one station);

    — Technopark station;

    — section from Rechnoy Vokzal station to Khovrino station (two stations).

    Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line:

    — section from Mitino station to Pyatnitskoe Shosse station (one station).

    Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya line:

    — section from Vykhino station to Kotelniki station (three stations);

    — Spartak station.

    Butovskaya line:

    — section from the station “Ulitsa Starokachalovskaya” to the station “Bitsevsky Park” (two stations).

    Sokolnicheskaya line:

    — the section from the Yugo-Zapadnaya station to the Potapovo station (eight stations).

    Nekrasovskaya line: eight stations.

    Large Circle Line: 31 stations.

    Trinity Line:

    — section from Novatorskaya station to Novomoskovskaya station (seven stations).

    Moscow Central Circle: 31 stations.

    Moscow Central Diameters (MCD-1, MCD-2, MCD-3, MCD-4): 137 stations, of which 53 are transfer stations to metro, MCC and MCD lines.

    Electric depots (including reconstruction): Mitino, Brateevo, Pechatniki, Vykhino, Planernoye, Nizhegorodskoye, Likhobory, Solntsevo, Vladykino, Rudnevo, Sokol, Aminyevskoye, Yuzhnoye (Brateevo-2).

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

    Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect

    HTTPS: //vv.mos.ru/mayor/tkhemes/12957050/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General James Applauds Passage of Legislation to Protect Consumers and Small Businesses

    Source: US State of New York

    EW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today applauded the passage of legislation to protect consumers and small businesses. The Fostering Affordability and Integrity through Reasonable Business Practices Act, or FAIR Business Practices Act, sponsored by Senator Leroy Comrie and Assemblymember Micah Lasher, and advanced by Attorney General James in March 2025, updates New York’s consumer protection law, GBL §349, for the first time in 45 years. The bill protects New Yorkers from a wide array of common schemes and scams, including artificial intelligence (AI)-based schemes, deed theft, predatory lending, data breaches, and more.

    “Too many New Yorkers are being taken advantage of by mortgage servicers charging unnecessary high fees, debt collectors stealing Social Security benefits, and health insurance companies with unfair billing practices,” said Attorney General James. “The FAIR Business Practices Act will close loopholes that make it easy for New Yorkers to be cheated out of their time and hard-earned money. This legislation advanced by Senator Comrie and Assemblymember Lasher will help us protect working families and their wallets from predatory lenders, abusive debt collectors, scammers, and more. I applaud Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie for their support in passing this legislation at a time when the federal government is abandoning its responsibility to protect consumers and small businesses.”

    “For too long, New York’s consumer protection laws have lagged behind the fast-moving tactics used to exploit our communities,” said Senator Leroy Comrie. “By updating General Business Law §349, we are giving consumers and small businesses the tools they need to fight back against predatory practices and modern-day scams. I’m proud to have sponsored the FAIR Business Practices Act alongside Attorney General James and Assemblymember Lasher, and I thank my colleagues for recognizing the urgency of protecting New Yorkers in this evolving digital and economic landscape.” 

    “Since the general business law was enacted in 1970, our entire society has grown dramatically more complicated, and we have seen the complete revolution of commerce,” said Assemblymember Micah Lasher. “In all that time, we have done nothing to modernize our laws to protect New Yorkers from being taken advantage of. That stasis comes to a welcome end with the passage of the FAIR Business Practices Act, a critical step forward to protect New Yorkers, their pocketbooks, and affordability in our great state. I am grateful to Attorney General James and her team for their leadership, and to Senator Comrie for his partnership in passing this long overdue legislation.”

    The FAIR Business Practices Act would help stop lenders, including auto lenders, mortgage servicers, and student loan servicers, from deceptively steering people into higher cost loans. It would reduce unnecessary and hidden fees, stop unfair billing practices by health care companies, and prevent companies from taking advantage of New Yorkers with limited English proficiency. New York’s current consumer protection law, GBL §349, was passed in 1970 and only prohibits deceptive business acts and practices, leaving consumers vulnerable to unfair or abusive acts by companies. The FAIR Business Practices Act will protect New Yorkers from unfair and abusive business acts, such as: 

    • Student loan servicers that steer borrowers into the most expensive repayment plans;
    • Car dealers that refuse to return a customer’s photo ID until a deal is finalized and charge for add-on warranties that the customer did not actually purchase;
    • Nursing homes that routinely sue relatives of deceased residents for their unpaid bills despite not having any basis for liability;
    • Companies that take advantage of consumers with limited English proficiency and obscure pricing information and fees;
    • Debt collectors that collect and refuse to return a senior’s Social Security benefits, even though they are exempt from debt collection; and
    • Health insurance companies that use long lists of in-network doctors who turn out not to accept the insurance. 

    With the federal government rolling back protections for consumers and small businesses, the FAIR Business Practices Act authorizes OAG to take action to protect vulnerable New Yorkers.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Nearly Three Million New Yorkers to Receive Tax Relief

    Source: US State of New York

    overnor Kathy Hochul today announced that nearly three million New Yorkers will receive $2.2 billion in tax relief this summer and fall through New York’s School Tax Relief (STAR) program. STAR provides property tax relief to eligible homeowners and seniors statewide. While some STAR recipients have already received their benefit in the form of a tax exemption this year, many other recipients will receive their benefit as a tax credit and will be sent a check in the mail this summer and fall. Check deliveries will begin next week and will continue statewide throughout the coming months. Most homeowners eligible for a STAR credit will receive a check between $350 and $600. Most seniors eligible for an Enhanced STAR credit will receive a check between $700 and $1,500. STAR recipients can visit ny.gov/STAR to track their check delivery or enroll in direct deposit.

    “Summer is here — and it’s also the start of STAR tax relief season for millions of New Yorkers,” Governor Hochul said. “From tax credits to child care assistance and much more, we’re continuing to put more money back in New Yorkers’ pockets.”

    New York State Department of Taxation and Finance Acting Commissioner Amanda Hiller said, “The STAR program delivers welcome tax relief, and we want every eligible homeowner to take advantage of it. If you’re a new homeowner, or you are currently not receiving a STAR benefit on your primary residence, check out the Tax Department’s website to see how you can enroll and start saving.”

    Regional breakdown of this year’s $2.2 billion in STAR tax relief for nearly 3 million New Yorkers:

    REGION STAR TAX RELIEF RECIPIENTS
    Capital District $144.5 million 242,000
    Central New York $131.1 million 176,000
    Finger Lakes $205.2 million 279,000
    Long Island $698.4 million 582,000
    Mid-Hudson $488.5 million 404,000
    Mohawk Valley $66.3 million 101,000
    New York City $158.6 million 483,000
    North Country $47.2 million 88,000
    Southern Tier $109.6 million 156,000
    Western New York $178.5 million 320,000
    TOTAL $2.2 BILLION 2.83 MILLION

    Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said, “While Washington advances tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and mega-corporations at the expense of millions of working Americans, we in New York continue to champion the well-being of the middle class. The Senate Democratic Majority has worked with Governor Hochul and the Assembly to put more money back in the pockets of everyday New Yorkers. We look forward to continuing the fight to make New York more affordable.”

    Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said, “As we head into the summer, millions of homeowners and seniors across the state will get these STAR tax relief checks, putting money back into their pockets and allowing them to spend their hard-earned money in the best way for their family. We will continue working together with our partners in government to find commonsense ways to ease the financial burden on New York families.”

    Homeowners and seniors who are eligible and enrolled in the STAR program receive their benefit each year in one of two ways: as an exemption that reduces their school tax bill, or as a credit issued as a check or direct deposit.

    The STAR benefits received by each recipient are based in part on local school taxes and vary based on the county in which the individual resides, among other factors.

    Homeowners who are registered and eligible for the STAR credit can expect to receive their STAR credit before the deadline for their school taxes. Some parts of the state — including New York City, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse — have due dates in July and will receive their STAR benefits between the end of June and mid-July. Benefits across other parts of the state will continue to roll out statewide throughout the summer and fall.

    Those who receive the STAR credit as a check or direct deposit can visit the STAR Credit Delivery Schedule to learn when credits will be issued in their area. Property owners who are looking for details about STAR credits that have already been issued should visit the Property Tax Credit Lookup.

    Enroll in STAR Direct Deposit

    Homeowners can enroll in the STAR Credit Direct Deposit program through the Homeowner Benefit Portal within the Tax Department’s secure Online Services system. Homeowners will also be able to use the Homeowner Benefit Portal to manage their STAR benefits easily and efficiently.

    The direct deposit option enables eligible STAR credit recipients to get their STAR credits without having to wait for and cash a check. To ensure homeowners receive their STAR credit by direct deposit this year, they should enroll as soon as possible. Homeowners who enroll fewer than 15 days before STAR credits are issued will receive a check this year and direct deposit will begin next year.

    For more information about the STAR program, visit the Tax Department’s STAR Resource Center.

    State Senator José M. Serrano said, “The New York State School Tax Relief (STAR) program is a vital resource for homeowners and seniors throughout New York State. I am happy that this year’s program will provide much needed property tax relief to nearly three million people statewide. My sincere thanks to Governor Kathy Hochul and my colleagues in government for their continued investment in our homeowners.”

    State Senator Leroy Comrie said, “As the cost of living continues to rise, property tax relief through the STAR program is a lifeline for working families and seniors across New York. I commend Governor Hochul for prioritizing this critical support, which will provide meaningful relief to nearly three million homeowners statewide. Including thousands in Southeastern Queens. These investments help keep our communities stable and our residents secure in their homes”

    State Senator Roxanne J. Persaud said, “I encourage all eligible individuals to enroll in the STAR program. The STAR tax relief program puts money back into the hands of hardworking homeowners and seniors, which helps to ease the burden of rising costs and ensure families can continue to thrive in the communities they love.”

    State Senator Jamaal T. Bailey said, “With the cost of living continuing to rise, this year’s STAR tax relief program delivers real and timely support for millions of New Yorkers. Whether it’s helping seniors on fixed incomes or working families trying to stay afloat, these checks offer critical relief and stability. I thank Governor Hochul for her work in supporting this program that puts money back into the pockets of homeowners and strengthens our communities.”

    State Senator Shelley B. Mayer said, “I am pleased that millions of New Yorkers, including over 400,000 residents in the Hudson Valley, receive tax relief this summer and fall through the New York School Tax Relief (STAR) program. Many families in Westchester struggle with the high cost of living, and the STAR program will offer much-needed assistance. I encourage those eligible for STAR to enroll in direct deposit to simplify the process of receiving your STAR checks. I would also like to thank Governor Kathy Hochul for her commitment towards a hassle-free program that helps alleviate the burden of property taxes.”

    State Senator Pete Harckham said, “At a time when every dollar counts, New York State is proactively helping seniors and middle-class New Yorkers. The disbursement of $2.2 billion in STAR property tax relief funds this summer and fall will make an important difference in the lives of taxpayers and support the local economy of the Hudson Valley.”

    State Senator Monica R. Martinez said, “Thanks to the STAR program, nearly 3 million New York State families, including more than 580,000 on Long Island, are seeing meaningful tax relief this year. Providing $2.2 billion in assistance will ease a financial burden on New Yorkers, improve homeownership affordability, and give families more flexibility in managing their household budgets. I thank Governor Hochul for working with the Legislature to continue providing this support for property owners across our state.”

    State Senator Rachel May said, “The STAR program helps make homeownership more affordable for seniors and families across New York. In Central New York, this kind of targeted tax relief makes a real difference. I’m grateful to Governor Hochul for continuing to support a program that helps so many of our neighbors stay in their homes.”

    State Senator Robert Jackson said, “In a time when working families are being priced out of the very neighborhoods they helped build, the STAR program is not a luxury—it’s a lifeline. I commend Governor Hochul for delivering $2.2 billion in direct relief to nearly 3 million New Yorkers, including seniors who have spent decades strengthening our communities. This is how government should work: putting public dollars back into the hands of the people. Tax justice is housing justice—and STAR is helping keep that promise real, one check at a time.”

    State Senator Jeremy Cooney said, “The STAR program is one of many ways we are tackling affordability in New York and making our state a place where everyone is able to live and thrive. With billions in relief being sent out, including over $205 million for the Finger Lakes region, I want to thank Governor Hochul for putting money back in the pockets of New Yorkers and for her commitment to increasing the quality of life across our state.”

    State Senator Samra Brouk said, “Working families in New York State need our support. Through New York School’s Tax Relief (STAR) program, more homeowners and older adults will receive property tax relief so they can keep money in their pockets. I applaud Governor Hochul for investing in New Yorkers and helping our families thrive.”

    State Senator Michelle Hinchey said, “Delivering over $630 million in property tax relief for homeowners across the Mid-Hudson Valley and Capital Region is a big deal. At a time when the cost of everything is up—from groceries to utilities—putting more money back into people’s pockets is critical to easing the pressure on working families and seniors. The STAR program is a big help in reducing that financial strain, and we’ll continue to push for the tax relief New Yorkers deserve through this and other state initiatives.”

    State Senator Lea Webb said, The STAR program is a lifeline for hardworking families and seniors across the Southern Tier and I’m proud to see $109.6 million for residents in my district. This year’s tax relief means more money in the pockets of nearly 3 million New Yorkers and for our communities, that makes a real difference. Whether it’s covering heating bills, groceries, or home repairs, this support helps people stay rooted in the homes they’ve worked hard to build.”

    State Senator Nathalia Fernandez said, “At a time when working families’ budgets are being stretched in every direction, this STAR tax relief serves as a real lifeline. I appreciate Governor Hochul’s commitment to getting this done, and for ensuring that New Yorkers can access the relief they deserve.”

    State Senator April N.M. Baskin said, “The STAR program provides real relief to seniors and eligible homeowners in our great state. In her State of the State address, Governor Hochul emphasized the need for affordable housing. I commend the governor for her follow through, ensuring that Western New York receives nearly $180 million and that many other areas across the state are benefiting from this essential program.”

    Assemblymember William Colton said, “The STAR tax credit is a great way for homeowners to save money on their property tax bill for their primary residence. If you haven’t applied, but think you might be eligible, based on income level, I urge you to do so. In particular, seniors who meet eligibility requirements may be entitled to the benefits of the Enhanced STAR program, which are extremely meaningful to those on a fixed income. Because the maximum income for eligibility for Enhanced STAR has been raised this year, more seniors who previously didn’t qualify will be able to claim the added tax relief, which is really important as prices have continued to rise on so many necessities.

    Assemblymember Charles D. Lavine said, “I am grateful to Governor Hochul for supporting this wonderful program and making it easier than ever to get real money back in the pockets of New Yorkers. She continues to prioritize the economic needs of hard-working families and seniors, and I commend her for that. I encourage everyone to use the online STAR resource center to determine eligibility.”

    Assemblymember Steven Otis said, “Governor Hochul and the State Legislature have again funded the popular STAR tax relief program. This is an important part of the effort in this year’s state budget to address issues of affordability for families. Established decades ago, Basic STAR and Enhanced STAR help reduce the burden of school property taxes across the state. Each year I support continued state commitment in our enacted state budgets for STAR.”

    Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon said, “As the cost of living goes up, the STAR program continues to provide much-needed relief for seniors and homeowners. For many, it is the difference between buying groceries and going hungry. I’m grateful to Governor Hochul for ensuring this vital relief reaches New Yorkers in need.”

    Assemblymember Latrice Walker said, “I hear almost daily from constituents about their ongoing struggles to pay for food, utilities, and other necessities. They live in a day-to-day affordability crisis where every dollar counts. I applaud Gov. Kathy Hochul for her leadership in bringing tax relief to nearly 3 million New Yorkers, including 483,000 right here in the five boroughs. Homeowners, especially our beloved seniors, need this type of relief now.”

    Assemblymember Rebecca A. Seawright said, “As Chair of the Aging Committee and Assembly Member of the largest cohort of older adults in Manhattan, I am grateful to Governor Hochul for her enduring leadership on affordability in our city and state, particularly for aging New Yorkers. The STAR and Enhanced STAR Credits provide invaluable tax relief to qualifying homeowners and elders. They also enable aging in place for elder New Yorkers – including over sixty thousand constituents in my district – which enhances their health and advances quality of life at significant, taxpayer cost savings over institutionalized care. The STAR program is both compassionate and common sense.”

    Assemblymember Clyde Vanel said, “As New Yorkers continue to feel the pressure of a rising cost of living, Governor Hochul’s commitment to the STAR program ensures that millions of families and seniors in the state can keep more of their hard-earned money. This critical tax relief will continue to strengthen communities across our state and I applaud the Governor for her unwavering support of this vital program.”

    Assemblymember Harvey Epstein said, “As the cost of living continues to increase in our state, it is important to put money back in the pockets of New Yorkers. The STAR tax credit will offer property tax relief to many homeowners who need it.”

    Assemblymember Charles D. Fall said, “Many of our homeowners—particularly seniors on fixed incomes—depend on the STAR program to help offset the burden of rising property taxes. That’s why I’ve remained a strong advocate for increasing public awareness and ensuring our community understands how to access this vital benefit. With nearly three million New Yorkers set to receive STAR credits this summer and fall, the impact of this program is undeniable. Whether the relief amounts to $350 or $1,500, every dollar matters—especially as the cost of living continues to rise. I remain committed to making sure no one in our district is left behind when it comes to receiving the support they’re entitled to.”

    Assemblymember Jen Lunsford said, “The STAR and Enhanced STAR credits are some of the most effective tools we have to put money back in the pockets of New Yorkers. We don’t levy school or property taxes at the state level so we have to get creative about providing relief. The improvements we’ve made in this year’s budget will mean hundreds, and in some cases over a thousand, dollars to our homeowners and seniors, helping them make ends meet at a time when they need it most.”

    Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas said, “I commend the Governor Hochul, Speaker Heastie, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and my colleagues in the Legislature for ensuring New York homeowners get the support they need in our rapidly changing economy. New Yorkers are navigating challenging circumstances and need all the relief they can get. The STAR rebate check disbursement by Governor Hochul is a great opportunity to support homeowners in our city and state as budgets have only gotten tighter, and bills have gone higher. Thank you to all who helped make this happen so we can provide more economic relief to all New Yorkers.”

    Assemblymember Nily Rozic said, “Property tax relief is one of the most direct and meaningful ways we can support the working and middle-class. This investment through the STAR program will provide real relief for homeowners and seniors across Queens and throughout the state. I thank Governor Hochul for making affordability a priority and putting money back into the pockets of New Yorkers.”

    Assemblymember Yudelka Tapia said, “At a time when so many families and seniors are feeling the strain of rising costs, the STAR relief program is meaningful assistance that puts money back in people’s pockets. I’m proud to support programs like STAR that make it easier for New Yorkers to stay in their homes and build financial stability. I thank Governor Hochul for continuing to prioritize assistance for seniors and homeowners across our state.”

    Assemblymember Dana Levenberg said, “The STAR program provides incredibly important tax relief in my district. I am proud to have protected it and fought for more middle-class tax relief in this year’s state budget, and pleased that my constituents will begin seeing some relief in the coming months. As the country’s economic outlook becomes more uncertain, I will continue working with my colleagues and the Governor to provide whatever relief we can to New York’s working and middle-class households.”

    Assemblymember Gabriella A. Romero said, “I’m proud to share that this year, over 242,000 homeowners in the Capital Region will see $144.5 million in STAR property tax relief. This vital investment prioritizes those hit hardest by the rising cost of living and delivers lasting relief where it’s needed most. I’m honored to stand with Governor Hochul and my colleagues in the State Legislature who ensured this was included in this year’s budget.”

    Assemblymember George Alvarez said, “At a time when the cost of living continues to burden working families and seniors across our state, the STAR program provides critical relief that puts money directly back into the hands of homeowners. I applaud Governor Hochul’s commitment to easing the financial pressure on nearly three million New Yorkers, including many in my district, through this meaningful investment in property tax relief”.

    Assemblymember Steven Raga said, “Homeownership should be a reward for a lifetime of work — but in New York, the high cost of living is putting that dream in jeopardy. That’s why I’m happy that under Governor Hochul’s leadership, eligible homeowners and seniors are receiving $2.2 billion worth of tax relief this year. From working-class families in Elmhurst to seniors on fixed incomes in Westside, eligible residents of New York will receive checks between $350-$1,500 — a much relief to our tax burdened communities. I thank Governor Kathy Hochul for her commitment to strengthening this program, and for recognizing the importance of preserving and expanding efforts that meet the evolving needs of our communities.”

    Assemblymember MaryJane Shimsky said, “STAR provides desperately needed property tax relief to New York’s homeowners. With major funding cuts coming from Washington, these benefits will be even more crucial as our households struggle harder to make ends meet. I urge our homeowners to check their eligibility for both Basic STAR and Enhanced STAR, and to consult the delivery schedule for their area. Thanks to Governor Hochul for getting the word out!”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Fintech and Global Growth in Focus as Russia National Centre Hosts Key Session at SPIEF 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MOSCOW, RUSSIA, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) 2025 opened in St. Petersburg on June 18 with a high-level session hosted by the Russia National Centre, highlighting fintech innovation and strategies for global economic growth.

    The forum’s business program opened on June 18 with the session “Shaping a New Platform for Global Growth,” where the final report on the results of the International Open Dialogue of the Russia National Centre was presented. The discussion focused on key challenges of modernity: economic and political fragmentation, demographic shifts, the implementation of breakthrough technologies, and the growing social and technological gap within and between states.

    The CEO of Tanssi Foundation, Tiago Rudiger (Brazil), emphasised that the real fintech revolution is happening in Global South countries.

    “Forget Wall Street – the fintech revolution is happening in Global South countries. Thanks to blockchain, money and assets are becoming programmable, and combined with artificial intelligence, this provides a powerful impulse for transforming the entire financial sector. Fintech is changing the game’s rules, affecting traditional banks and opening new opportunities for millions of people,” believes Tiago Rudiger.

    He noted that Brazil and Russia are sharing their experiences in these areas with each other.

    “I read that this will help people reduce transaction costs in global financial markets. I’m ready to discuss this with enthusiasm. I look forward to when these processes arrive in Brazil and worldwide,” emphasised Tiago Rudiger.

    Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, moderated the session. He emphasised that this year, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is taking place against turbulent world events.

    “This year, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is taking place against turbulent world events. This includes the situation in the Middle East and trade wars. Much time will be devoted to this current agenda at the forum. We must not forget which long-term trends and challenges are basic and defining. It is important to conduct an open dialogue about how we build the world of the future and how to form a new platform for global growth. In which countries does this global growth occur, on which technologies will it be built, and on which principles and cultural code? Our task is to ensure that forward movement benefits people in all countries that, like Russia, are working on the future. It is through open dialogue that our future and its understanding are built,” emphasised Maxim Oreshkin.

    At the session organised by the Russia National Centre, speakers also discussed the report on the results of the Open Dialogue prepared by the Centre for Cross-Industry Expertise “Third Rome.” The session took place in sequential discussions, in which speakers discussed economics, technologies, and people in a rapidly changing world.

    The results of the session “Shaping a New Platform for Global Growth” became the foundation for the subsequent business program of SPIEF-2025. The recording of the session can be viewed on the Russia National Centre website.

    Media contact

    Brand: Russia National Centre

    Contact person name: Vadim Samodurov

    E-mail: info@russia.ru

    Website: https://future.russia.ru

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Fintech and Global Growth in Focus as Russia National Centre Hosts Key Session at SPIEF 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MOSCOW, RUSSIA, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) 2025 opened in St. Petersburg on June 18 with a high-level session hosted by the Russia National Centre, highlighting fintech innovation and strategies for global economic growth.

    The forum’s business program opened on June 18 with the session “Shaping a New Platform for Global Growth,” where the final report on the results of the International Open Dialogue of the Russia National Centre was presented. The discussion focused on key challenges of modernity: economic and political fragmentation, demographic shifts, the implementation of breakthrough technologies, and the growing social and technological gap within and between states.

    The CEO of Tanssi Foundation, Tiago Rudiger (Brazil), emphasised that the real fintech revolution is happening in Global South countries.

    “Forget Wall Street – the fintech revolution is happening in Global South countries. Thanks to blockchain, money and assets are becoming programmable, and combined with artificial intelligence, this provides a powerful impulse for transforming the entire financial sector. Fintech is changing the game’s rules, affecting traditional banks and opening new opportunities for millions of people,” believes Tiago Rudiger.

    He noted that Brazil and Russia are sharing their experiences in these areas with each other.

    “I read that this will help people reduce transaction costs in global financial markets. I’m ready to discuss this with enthusiasm. I look forward to when these processes arrive in Brazil and worldwide,” emphasised Tiago Rudiger.

    Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, moderated the session. He emphasised that this year, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is taking place against turbulent world events.

    “This year, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is taking place against turbulent world events. This includes the situation in the Middle East and trade wars. Much time will be devoted to this current agenda at the forum. We must not forget which long-term trends and challenges are basic and defining. It is important to conduct an open dialogue about how we build the world of the future and how to form a new platform for global growth. In which countries does this global growth occur, on which technologies will it be built, and on which principles and cultural code? Our task is to ensure that forward movement benefits people in all countries that, like Russia, are working on the future. It is through open dialogue that our future and its understanding are built,” emphasised Maxim Oreshkin.

    At the session organised by the Russia National Centre, speakers also discussed the report on the results of the Open Dialogue prepared by the Centre for Cross-Industry Expertise “Third Rome.” The session took place in sequential discussions, in which speakers discussed economics, technologies, and people in a rapidly changing world.

    The results of the session “Shaping a New Platform for Global Growth” became the foundation for the subsequent business program of SPIEF-2025. The recording of the session can be viewed on the Russia National Centre website.

    Media contact

    Brand: Russia National Centre

    Contact person name: Vadim Samodurov

    E-mail: info@russia.ru

    Website: https://future.russia.ru

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Huawei and China Mobile win TM Forum’s 2025 Excellence Award for Autonomous Networks

    Source: Huawei

    Headline: Huawei and China Mobile win TM Forum’s 2025 Excellence Award for Autonomous Networks

    [Copenhagen, Denmark, June 18, 2025] During DTW 2025, Huawei and China Mobile won the Excellence Award for Autonomous Networks for the End-to-End Autonomous Network Operation Center (Dark NOC) solution. This project focuses on high-value Autonomous Networks scenarios, leveraging telecom foundation model and agents, and has achieved significant achievements in end-to-end automation, quality & revenue enhancement, and efficient operations & maintenance, which has effectively accelerated the advancement of the telecom industry towards level 4.

    Huawei and China Mobile win TM Forum’s Excellence Award for Autonomous Networks

    To achieve the L4 industry goal of “end-to-end automation of NOC operations in high-value scenarios and self-service site operations”, Huawei and China Mobile have jointly created the End-to-End Autonomous Network Operation Center (Dark NOC) solution. Focusing on high-value scenarios such as fault handling and customer complaint resolution, the solution leverages telecom foundation model to build two main types of agents: role-based Copilots and scenario-based Agents. This solution was first deployed in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces, achieving significant results including a 30% improvement in maintenance efficiency and a 30% reduction in average MTTR. Currently, the solution has been commercially deployed across fault management and complaint handling scenarios in China Mobile Guangdong and Zhejiang, covering mobile bearer, wireless, core, and home broadband networks. It is now being promoted to other provincial subsidiaries, empowering operators to serve tens of millions of users.
    The successful implementation of the End-to-End Autonomous Network Operations Center (Dark NOC) Solution provides a valuable practical reference for global operators accelerating their journey toward L4. In the future, Huawei and China Mobile will continue to deepen innovation and practical exploration in high-value scenarios, injecting new impetus into the automation and intelligent transformation of the telecoms industry.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Global: China positions itself as a stable economic partner and alternative to ‘unpredictable’ Trump

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Chee Meng Tan, Assistant Professor of Business Economics, University of Nottingham

    After the second world war, the US and its western allies created a set of international agreements and institutions to govern attitudes to mutual defence, economics and human rights. For decades this created stable alliances and predictable economic plans.

    But, unlike his predecessors, Donald Trump believes that international organisations undermine US interests and sovereignty. He has withdrawn the US from the World Health Organization, and there is speculation he could reduce US commitment to the UN. US investment in Nato’s mutual defence pact remains under discussion.

    But while Washington is busy sounding the retreat from the very world order it had a hand in building, Beijing is looking to increase its international role. Chinese leadership in international agencies affiliated with the UN has increased over the years, and so has its financial commitment to international institutions.

    That’s not all. China is also a prominent member of trade coalitions such as the
    15-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the ten-member Brics group (led by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). These groups not only promote greater economic integration among its members, but may reduce members’ reliance on the US economy and the US dollar. Amid an increasingly volatile US, China’s presence as the second largest economy in the world in these trade groups would be useful.

    Now with the whole world negotiating new US trade deals, most nations see their relationship with the US as unstable. China sees this as a golden opportunity to position itself as a global counterbalance to the US. One of its policies is to “deliver greater security, prosperity and respect for developing countries”, and this is particularly relevant in African nations, where US aid is being reduced rapidly.

    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.

    A US-Sino trade deal was reached in London on June 10 2025. US tariffs on Chinese goods now stand at 55%, while Chinese tariffs on US imports will remain at 10%. But how long this trade deal will last remains uncertain, when Trump has a tendency to change his mind.

    There are few details of the US trade deal with China so far.

    Just a month earlier, on May 12, Washington and Beijing concluded a major trade accord in Geneva aimed at diffusing massive trade tensions. Unfortunately, this deal only lasted for 18 days before Trump started accusing China of violating the agreement.

    But Trump’s tendency to escalate trade tensions and then diffuse them is not just China’s problem. His allies are also a victim of his frequent wavering. This leaves nations around the world, whether traditional US partners or not, in a crisis of not knowing what the US’s next move will be, and whether their economy will suffer.

    In February 2025, Trump imposed 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada but temporarily called off the tariffs a month later. Then in early April 2025, Trump raised tariffs on 60 countries and trading blocs, including traditional US allies such as the EU (20%), Japan (24%), South Korea (25%) and Taiwan (32%). Hours later, Trump unexpectedly rescinded these tariffs, but that caused massive damage to the global economy.

    If there is a time that the world needs a more predictable partner it would be now. But it isn’t a Trump-helmed US. A recent annual report on democracy and national attitudes indicates that for first time, respondents across 100 countries view China more favourably than they do the US. So, could China be the partner that the world seeks?

    Why China needs trade

    While the world needs a stable environment to promote economic growth, Beijing needs this stability for reasons that go beyond economics.

    Unlike liberal democracies that derive their legitimacy through elections, a large part of Beijing’s legitimacy comes from its ability to deliver sustained economic prosperity to the Chinese people. But with a battered economy that was first triggered by a real estate crisis in 2021, this task of maintaining legitimacy has become more difficult.

    Exporting its way of out the economic slump may have been on Beijing’s books, as this was one of China’s traditional methods for promoting economic growth. But Trump’s trade war has made this an increasingly difficult prospect, especially to the US which imports 14.8% of total Chinese exports.

    As a result, fixing China’s economy has become a priority for the Chinese government, and it is because of this that Xi tours neighbouring Asean countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia to promote trade and strategic plans to maintain economic stability.

    Obstacles for China

    Despite everything that China is doing, its image remains a problem, for some. For instance, China has claimed sovereignty over the South China Sea and has built ports, military installations and airstrips on artificial islands across the region, despite territorial disputes with its neighbours including Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

    But there are other concerns about China. The country’s rapid advancements in military technology, for example, have the potential to destabilise security within the Indo Pacific, potentially allowing China to take control of strategically placed islands to use as bases for its navy. China is also becoming a dominant hacking threat, according to UK cyber expert Richard Horne, which is likely to cause problems for worldwide cybersecurity.

    Polish prime minister Donald Tusk once remarked: “With a friend like Trump, who needs enemies?” Many other national leaders are likely to share Tusk’s sentiment today, and may see opportunities to extend trade deals with China as an alternative to a turbulent relationship with Trump.

    Chee Meng Tan 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. China positions itself as a stable economic partner and alternative to ‘unpredictable’ Trump – https://theconversation.com/china-positions-itself-as-a-stable-economic-partner-and-alternative-to-unpredictable-trump-258443

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Another public inquiry into institutional abuses – why they so often fail to deliver justice for victims

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Anne Marie McAlinden, Professor, School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast

    House of Commons/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

    Public inquiries have become the standard political response to scandals and public crises, including allegations of institutional abuses.

    At the time of writing, there are multiple ongoing inquiries (or calls for them) into forms of abuse throughout the UK and elsewhere. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Ireland have ongoing institutional abuse inquiries or commissions of investigation. Victims of the late Mohamed Al Fayed are calling for an inquiry into abuses suffered while they were employed at Harrods.

    And the government has just announced a further national inquiry into grooming gangs in England and Wales. There has also been a concentration of institutional abuse inquiries globally over the last 30 years.

    Want more politics coverage from academic experts? Every week, we bring you informed analysis of developments in government and fact check the claims being made.

    Sign up for our weekly politics newsletter, delivered every Friday.

    Ireland in particular has had a lengthy history of such official investigations. Over the last two decades, it has had at least eight. In England and Wales, the issues of grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation have already been examined as part of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse led by child protection expert Alexis Jay. With 19 reports and evidence from over 6,000 victims within its Truth Project alone, it was the largest ever public inquiry in the UK.

    Frequently demanded by victims and the public, inquiries have symbolic value in signifying official acknowledgement of wrongdoing and abuses. However, they arguably fail to deliver truth, justice, accountability and healing for victims in several ways.

    The failures of abuse inquiries

    Inquiries are inevitably constrained by their narrow terms of reference. This sets the parameters of the inquiry and shapes the scope and scale of their investigations and any eventual outcomes.

    Terms of reference are frequently focused on how authorities responded to emerging allegations of abuses – whether churches, police or social services. A fuller examination of the systemic and structural issues that made abuses possible or allowed them to go unchecked for so long would be more useful.

    The investigations are also usually focused on fact-finding at an institutional level. As a result, they often fail to deliver the comprehensive truth of specific cases or hold individual perpetrators to account, which is what many victims seek.

    In older cases of abuse, things are even more difficult because so much time has passed and there may be no witnesses or records left to help prove what happened.



    Read more:
    How to make sure the new grooming gangs inquiry is the last

    Previous research shows that the inquiry process is often deeply traumatising for victims. Even if the emphasis is purportedly non-adversarial, the presence of lawyers and the dominance of legal culture and cross-examination effectively requires them to prove or justify their experiences. The basic effect becomes one of disbelief of victims or dismissal of their experiences of abuse.

    Added to this are the significant costs of inquiries – in terms of money and time. The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse is said to have cost more than £180 million. As with many large investigations, it took seven years to produce its final report.

    Inevitably, victims are left waiting years for outcomes and any sense of justice. Monetary redress (or compensation), if it comes at all, only usually happens once the inquiry has concluded.

    Above all, public inquiries are severely limited in their capacity to produce meaningful, systemic and lasting change. Research shows that successive child abuse inquiries, decades apart, continue to make the same or similar recommendations. The lack of action by governments and institutions on recommendations means the issues remain unaddressed.

    Over two and a half years later, many of the Jay report’s 20 recommendations remain unimplemented.

    The collective failures of past abuse inquiries should prompt the government to pause and consider whether another is truly needed – or whether a different approach is required.

    Rethinking public inquiries

    With colleagues at the Transforming Justice Project, I’ve researched justice responses to historical institutional abuses over many years. Our work, based on extensive primary research with victims, as well as advocates and church and state representatives on the island of Ireland, has highlighted some of the failings of inquiries. We have also uncovered an appetite for doing things differently.

    On one level, it is possible to reform inquiries by focusing more centrally on victims and the trauma they have experienced. This could include, for example, adopting themed approaches to inquiries, perhaps related to particular contexts or abuses, which report sooner as standard.

    It might also mean specialist support services for victims running in parallel to inquiries. Or, it might mean involving victims in the design of the inquiry process from the outset.

    It is also worth exploring alternative models of truth recovery, such as non-statutory independent panel in Northern Ireland. This panel focuses specifically on mother and baby institutions, Magdalene laundries, and workhouses. Here, the accumulated testimony of victims and their experiences will feed into the full statutory public inquiry on these forms of institutional abuse.

    More broadly, rather than commissioning yet another inquiry, the government needs to follow up on existing recommendations from previous inquiries, including on child abuse. It is only by addressing the systemic issues underlying institutional abuse – including cultural attitudes and responses to victims – that we will prevent a recurrence of abuse in the longer term.

    Anne Marie McAlinden received funding from the AHRC and, with colleagues on the Transforming Justice Project, from the British Academy and the Higher Education Authority.

    – ref. Another public inquiry into institutional abuses – why they so often fail to deliver justice for victims – https://theconversation.com/another-public-inquiry-into-institutional-abuses-why-they-so-often-fail-to-deliver-justice-for-victims-259103

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Welfare bill will protect the most vulnerable and help households with income boost

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    Welfare bill will protect the most vulnerable and help households with income boost

    Additional protections for millions of vulnerable people on benefits are set to be written into law, under new measures being introduced to Parliament today [18 June 2025].

    • New welfare legislation to ensure there are robust protections in place to support the most vulnerable and severely disabled.
    • Nearly 4 million households to benefit from uprating of Universal Credit standard rate, the largest, permanent real-terms increase to basic out of work support since 1980, according to the IFS.
    • More than 200,000 people with most severe, lifelong conditions to be protected from future reassessment for Universal Credit entitlement.
    • 13-week period of financial support for those affected by PIP changes as part of upcoming welfare reforms.
    • Comes alongside £1 billion employment support package that will unlock opportunity and grow the economy as part of the Plan for Change.

    The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill will provide 13-weeks of additional financial security to existing claimants affected by changes to the PIP daily living component, including those who their lose eligibility to Carers Allowance and the carer’s element of Universal Credit.

    The 13-week additional protection will give people who will be affected by the changes time to adapt, access new, tailored employment support, and plan for their future once they are reassessed and their entitlement ends.

    This transitional cover is one of the most generous ever and more than three times the length of protection provided for the transition from DLA to PIP.

    This government inherited a broken social security system, with costs spiralling at an unsustainable rate and millions of people trapped out of work. The case for change is stark:

    • Since the pandemic, the number of PIP awards has more than doubled – up from 13,000 a month to 34,000 a month. That is around 1,000 people signing on to PIP every day – that is roughly the size of Leicester signing up every year.
    • The surge has been largely by driven by a substantial increase in the number of people who report anxiety and depression as their main condition. Before the pandemic (in 2019), 2,500 people a month were awarded PIP for these conditions, this has more than tripled to 8,200 a month in 2023.
    • Almost 1 million young people – 1 in 8 – are not in education, employment or training.
    • 1-in-10 people of working age are now claiming a sickness or disability benefit.
    • Without reform, the number of working age people on disability benefits is set to more than double this decade to 4.3 million.
    • Spending on working age disability and incapacity benefits is up £20 billion since the pandemic and is set to increase by almost that much again by the end of this Parliament, to a staggering £70 billion a year.

    That’s why, through the introduction of this Bill; the government is fixing our broken social security system so it supports those who can work to do so while protecting those who cannot – putting welfare spending on a more sustainable path to unlock growth as part of our Plan for Change.

    Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said:

    Our social security system is at a crossroads. Unless we reform it, more people will be denied opportunities, and it may not be there for those who need it.

    This legislation represents a new social contract and marks the moment we take the road of compassion, opportunity and dignity.

    This will give people peace of mind, while also fixing our broken social security system so it supports those who can work to do so while protecting those who cannot – putting welfare spending on a more sustainable path to unlock growth as part of our Plan for Change.

    As part of our commitment to protect the most vulnerable and severely disabled, peace of mind will also be given to 200,000 individuals in the Severe Conditions Criteria group – individuals with the most severe and permanently disabling conditions who will never be able to work – as they will not be called for reassessed for Universal Credit (UC) under new legislation.

    Those protected from reassessment will also be paid the higher rate of UC health top up of £97 per week, so they can live with dignity and security, knowing the reforms to the welfare system mean it will always be there to support them.

    In the coming weeks, legislation will also be drafted for a Right to Try Guarantee. This will ensure that trying work will not, in and of itself, lead to a reassessment or award review, breaking down barriers to employment.

    Reforms being delivered by the legislation introduced today go hand in hand with a £1 billion employment support package to support more people with health conditions back into work, unlocking opportunity and growing the economy as part of the Plan for Change.

    Funding will offer personalised employment and health support for individuals on out of work benefits, with 500,000 people having already been supported into employment. This is a quadrupling the level of annual spend on supporting sick and disabled people into work, from the £275m in 2024/25 we inherited, to over £1bn in 2029/30.

    Nearly 4 million households will also receive an income boost with the main rate of Universal Credit set to increase above inflation every year for the next four years – estimated to be worth £725 by 2029/30 for a single household 25 or over. This is around £250 higher than an inflation only increases.

    The Bill will also rebalance Universal Credit rates by reducing the health element for new UC claims to £50 from April 2026, fixing a system which encourages sickness by paying health element recipients more than double the standard amount.

    To open up opportunities to work, everyone affected by changes to the UC health element from April 2026 will be offered support from a dedicated Pathways to Work adviser, with 1,000 advisers in place across Britain.

    All of those affected by reforms will be actively contacted and given the offer of a conversation about their support needs, goals and aspirations; offered one-to-one follow-on support, and given help to access additional work, health and skills support that can meet their needs.

    The reforms build on the Get Britain Working White Paper that will overhaul Jobcentres, empower Mayors and local leaders to tackle inactivity, and deliver a Youth Guarantee so every young person is either earning or learning, as part of the Government’s ambition to deliver an 80% employment rate.

    Additional information

    • The Bill will introduce a new additional eligibility requirement for the daily living component of PIP so that a minimum of 4 points must be scored on at least one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living component. It will also rebalance Universal Credit.
    • The Work and Pensions Secretary gave a speech at the IPPR on setting out the case for reforming the welfare system: Welfare reform: Speech to the IPPR by Work and Pensions Secretary – GOV.UK
    • Based on current forecasts, the rebalancing mean single households 25 or over, will see their standard allowance rise to around £106pw by the end of this parliament.
    • Current UC health top up is more than double the UC standard allowance for a single claimant.

    There are 4 criteria for the healthcare professional to consider, all of which must apply for the claimant to meet the SCC, namely whether:

    • The individual’s level of function will always meet LCWRA
    • The individual’s condition will last for the rest of their life
    • There is no realistic prospect of recovery of function, and
    • The condition has been diagnosed by an appropriately qualified healthcare professional in the course of the provision of NHS services.

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: 23 residential buildings to be built in 13 districts of Moscow as part of renovation program

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    The Moscow Fund for the Renovation of Residential Development has identified contractors for the design and construction of housing under the renovation program at 23 sites in four administrative districts of the capital. This was reported by the Minister of the Moscow Government, Head of the Department of Urban Development Policy Vladislav Ovchinsky.

    Plots with a total area of more than 18.8 hectares are located inWestern, South-East, Eastern AndSouth administrative districts of the capital in the districts Nizhny Novgorod, Izmailovo, Novogireevo, Vostochny, Nagatinsky Zaton, Yuzhnoye Chertanovo, Zapadnoye Biryulevo, Tsaritsyno, Vykhino-Zhulebino, Textile workers, Yuzhnoportovy, Mozhaisk and Filevsky Park.

    “In 13 districts of Moscow, 23 residential buildings will be built to implement the renovation program. The area of apartments in all buildings will be more than 382.8 thousand square meters. Most of them will appear on the site of old buildings from the first period of industrial housing construction, which will also be demolished by contractors. Thus, in Izmailovo, five-story buildings built in 1958-1961 will be replaced by three new modern residential complexes. The same number will be built in Bulatnikovsky Proezd in Biryulyovo Zapadny. Contractors were determined as part of the bidding for five lots,” said Vladislav Ovchinsky.

    The houses will be built according to individual projects with unique layouts and facade solutions that match the architectural appearance of the area. All of them will correspond to a high energy efficiency class, they will be equipped with video surveillance cameras for the safety of residents. The territories of new buildings will be landscaped taking into account the principles of a barrier-free environment.

    Earlier, Sergei Sobyanin spoke about the inclusion of more in the renovation program 131 sites for the construction of houses.

    The renovation program was approved in August 2017. It concerns about a million Muscovites and provides for the resettlement of 5,176 houses. Earlier, Sergei Sobyanin ordered to increase the pace of implementation of the renovation program intwice.

    Moscow is one of the leaders among regions in terms of construction volumes. High rates of housing construction correspond to the goals and initiatives of the national project “Infrastructure for life”.

    Get the latest news quicklyofficial telegram channel the city of Moscow.

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

    Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect

    https: //vv.mos.ru/nevs/ite/155433073/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Smartphones are once again setting the agenda for justice as the Latino community documents ICE actions

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Allissa V. Richardson, Associate Professor of Journalism, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

    Smartphone witnessing helped spur the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. AP Photo/Ethan Swope

    It has been five years since May 25, 2020, when George Floyd gasped for air beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer at the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. Five years since 17-year-old Darnella Frazier stood outside Cup Foods, raised her phone and bore witness to nine minutes and 29 seconds that would galvanize a global movement against racial injustice.

    Frazier’s video didn’t just show what happened. It insisted the world stop and see.

    Today, that legacy continues in the hands of a different community, facing different threats but wielding the same tools. Across the United States, Latino organizers are raising their phones, not to go viral but to go on record. They livestream Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, film family separations and document protests outside detention centers. Their footage is not merely content. It is evidence, warning – and resistance.

    Here in Los Angeles where I teach journalism, for example, several images have seared themselves into public memory. One viral video shows a shackled father stepping into a white, unmarked van as his daughter sobs behind the camera, pleading with him not to sign any official documents. He turns, gestures for her to calm down, and blows her a kiss. In another video, filmed across town, Los Angeles Police Department officers on horseback charge into crowds of peaceful protesters, swinging wooden batons with chilling precision.

    In Spokane, Washington, residents form a spontaneous human chain around their neighbors mid-raid, their bodies and cameras erecting a barricade of defiance. In San Diego, a video shows white allies yelling “Shame!” as they chase a car full of National Guard troops from their neighborhood.

    The impact of smartphone witnessing has been immediate and unmistakable – visceral at street level, seismic in statehouses. On the ground, the videos helped inspire a “No Kings” movement, which organized protests in all 50 states on June 14, 2025.

    Lawmakers are intensifying their focus on immigration policy as well. As the Trump administration escalates enforcement, Democratic-led states are expanding laws that limit cooperation with federal agents. On June 12, the House Oversight Committee questioned Democratic governors about these measures, with Republican lawmakers citing public safety concerns. The hearing underscored deep divisions between federal and state approaches to immigration enforcement.

    The legacy of Black witnessing

    What’s unfolding now is not new – it is newly visible. As my research shows, Latino organizers are drawing from a playbook that was sharpened in 2020 and rooted in a much older lineage of Black media survival strategies that were forged under extreme oppression.

    In my 2020 book “Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones and the New Protest Journalism,” I document how Black Americans have used media – slave narratives, pamphlets, newspapers, radio and now smartphones – to fight for justice. From Frederick Douglass to Ida B. Wells to Darnella Frazier, Black witnesses have long used journalism as a tool for survival and transformation.

    Latino mobile journalists are building on that blueprint in 2025, filming state power in moments of overreach, archiving injustice in real time, and expanding the impact of this radical tradition.

    Their work also echoes the spatial tactics of Black resistance. Just as enslaved Black people once mapped escape routes during slavery and Jim Crow, Latino communities today are engaging in digital cartography to chart ICE-free zones, mutual aid hubs and sanctuary spaces. The People Over Papers map channels the logic of the Black maroons – communities of self-liberated Africans who escaped plantations to track patrols, share intelligence and build networks of survival. Now, the hideouts are digital. The maps are crowdsourced. The danger remains.

    Likewise, the Stop ICE Raids Alerts Network revives a civil rights-era tactic. In the 1960s, organizers used wide area telephone service lines and radio to circulate safety updates. Black DJs cloaked dispatches in traffic and weather reports – “congestion on the south side” signaled police blockades; “storm warnings” meant violence ahead. Today, the medium is WhatsApp. The signal is encrypted. But the message – protect each other – has not changed.

    Layered across both systems is the DNA of the “Negro Motorist Green Book,” the guide that once helped Black travelers navigate Jim Crow America by identifying safe towns, gas stations and lodging. People Over Papers and Stop ICE Raids are digital descendants of that legacy. Where the Green Book used printed pages, today’s tools use digital pins. But the mission remains: survival through shared knowledge, protection through mapped resistance.

    The People Over Papers map is a crowdsourced collection of reports of ICE activity across the U.S.
    Screenshot by The Conversation U.S.

    Dangerous necessity

    Five years after George Floyd’s death, the power of visual evidence remains undeniable. Black witnessing laid the groundwork. In 2025, that tradition continues through the lens of Latino mobile journalists, who draw clear parallels between their own community’s experiences and those of Black Americans. Their footage exposes powerful echoes: ICE raids and overpolicing, border cages and city jails, a door kicked in at dawn and a knee on a neck.

    Like Black Americans before them, Latino communities are using smartphones to protect, to document and to respond. In cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles and El Paso, whispers of “ICE is in the neighborhood” now flash across Telegram, WhatsApp and Instagram. For undocumented families, pressing record can mean risking retaliation or arrest. But many keep filming – because what goes unrecorded can be erased.

    What they capture are not isolated incidents. They are part of a broader, shared struggle against state violence. And as long as the cameras keep rolling, the stories keep surfacing – illuminated by the glow of smartphone screens that refuse to look away.

    Allissa V. Richardson receives funding from the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

    – ref. Smartphones are once again setting the agenda for justice as the Latino community documents ICE actions – https://theconversation.com/smartphones-are-once-again-setting-the-agenda-for-justice-as-the-latino-community-documents-ice-actions-258980

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Expansion of marriage rights to same-sex couples also expanded access to the psychological benefits that come with tying the knot

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Alana L. Riso, Ph.D. Student in Clinical Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York

    Marriage and the ability to start a family are human rights. Ten years ago, on June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Obergefell v. Hodges case extended the right to marry to same-sex couples.

    With 7.6% of Americans identifying as LGBTQ+, this decision continues to have an impact beyond legal benefits.

    Marriage provides unique advantages – a reality we have come to know as psychology researchers who focus on couples. The right to marry allowed same-sex couples the opportunity to experience these advantages.

    Benefits of a healthy marriage

    Although evidence largely comes from different-sex couples, psychology research documents the numerous benefits healthy marriage confers on well-being. Married people experience more positive emotions. They also have many physical health advantages, such as being more likely to survive cancer or major surgery. Children of married couples seem to benefit as well.

    A healthy marriage brings benefits that are distinct even from what couples in long-term relationships experience. Those who are married have better psychological well-being, such as less depression and better physical health than people in nonmarital romantic relationships, even those who live with their partner.

    Not surprisingly, the benefits of being married do not extend to unhappy marriages. The effects of marriage on physical well-being, life satisfaction, depression and mental health more broadly depend on marital quality, and so do outcomes for children.

    What’s so special about marriage?

    What makes a happy marriage different from a happy cohabiting, stable relationship when it comes to well-being? Social scientists don’t know, but there are a few theories.

    The one with the most empirical support involves a concept from physics called inertia. Applied in relationship science, inertia describes the idea that a relationship will remain the same or continue moving along the same trajectory unless some outside force acts upon it.

    As relationships progress, they naturally gain momentum. Partners invest more into their relationship over time. They exchange gifts, meet each others’ friends, and start staying at each others’ homes. Eventually, a natural step in this progression is either cohabitation or marriage.

    Marriage is a milestone, marking a new stage in life. Deciding to get married is a long-term commitment that often takes years of planning. Cohabitation, on the other hand, is easy to slide into due to the forward trajectory of a relationship. Cohabitors tend to stay together less as an intentional choice but for convenience.

    The intentional lifelong commitment of marriage may explain why it offers more benefits than cohabitation.

    Same-sex marriage has been legal nationwide in the U.S. since June 26, 2015.
    Justin Sullivan via Getty Images

    10 years of same-sex marriage

    As more same-sex couples have married, are they seeing the same marriage benefits that other-sex couples always had? Research on the topic is only just beginning. Still, there is some preliminary evidence that they are.

    In a 2024 survey, respondents with same-sex spouses largely felt closer to their partner and more satisfied with life in general after getting married. Findings from one research study indicate that married same-sex couples see greater benefits to psychological well-being than do same-sex couples in registered domestic partnerships. Another study on same-sex relationships found that marriage was linked to greater happiness and fewer depression symptoms than cohabitation.

    As for children of same-sex parents, they do just as well as those with other-sex parents. There’s not much data yet on the impact on kids of same-sex parents divorcing.

    Do marriage benefits differ for same-sex couples?

    The happiness of same- and other-sex relationships is largely determined by the same factors, but there are two key differences: gender composition of the couple and stress from discrimination.

    In other-sex relationships, women tend to fall into subordinate positions. Same-sex couples are free from traditional male-female gender dynamics, allowing more of a balance of power. For instance, they have a more even division of household chores, and partners have a more equal say when resolving conflicts. Greater equality may improve the quality of same-sex relationships.

    The other distinguishing feature of same-sex couples is that their relationships are negatively affected by discrimination, a known stressor. In research done mostly on different-sex couples, even support from a partner does not ameliorate the downstream effects of discrimination and – as is the case with other stressors – can make relationship problems seem worse.

    Societal disapproval may lead someone to internalize negative ideas about their own sexuality and relationship. In other words, buying into society’s message that one’s relationship is morally wrong harms their own mental health and consequently their relationship. Psychology researchers theorize that societal disapproval is a key factor standing in the way of same-sex couples experiencing the full benefits of marriage.

    More societal acceptance post-Obergefell

    As an increasing number of U.S. states, and eventually the federal government, legalized same-sex marriage, greater societal acceptance has followed. In 2025, 67% of LGBTQ+ adults agree that the country has become more accepting of same-sex couples due to the legalization of same-sex marriage.

    This trend is not unique to the U.S. Around the world, countries where same-sex marriage is legal tend to have a higher percentage of the population say they favor same-sex marriage. Although the causal direction is opaque, evidence from multiple countries indicates that same-sex marriage bans reinforce nonacceptance of LGBTQ+ people, while legal recognition fosters societal approval. Acceptance lowers stress for same-sex couples, allowing them to enjoy the benefits of marriage.

    Although societal acceptance in the United States has improved dramatically over the past couple of decades, it is important to note that 19% of Americans still strongly oppose same-sex marriage. Legalization was a major step, but it has by no means eliminated discrimination altogether.

    Matthew D. Johnson was an unpaid consultant on an amicus brief in support of the petitioners in Obergefell v Hodges that was submitted by Owen C. Pell of White & Case LLP.

    Alana L. Riso 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. Expansion of marriage rights to same-sex couples also expanded access to the psychological benefits that come with tying the knot – https://theconversation.com/expansion-of-marriage-rights-to-same-sex-couples-also-expanded-access-to-the-psychological-benefits-that-come-with-tying-the-knot-257950

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Schools in Edinburgh adopt Scottish Government guidance on school uniforms

    Source: Scotland – City of Edinburgh

    Last week, Councillors agreed at Education, Children and Families Committee that the Scottish Government guidance on school uniform will apply to all City of Edinburgh Council schools.

    In line with the decision, schools in the city should not require branded school items as a compulsory part of their uniform policy. Uniform policies should be flexible and include plain and non-branded uniform items that match school colours. Blazers and branded items of uniform will no longer be compulsory, encouraged or promoted by schools.

    Schools in Edinburgh will continue to have uniforms but parents and carers will have wider choice on where they choose to purchase school uniform items and on how much they wish to spend.

    In recent years the cost of school uniform has steadily increased and for some families, uniform costs, especially for higher priced branded and embroidered items, represent a significant impact on household budgets. Schools are expected to do all that they can to limit school clothing costs for families.

    In line with this new guidance, parents or carers should not be directed to specialist suppliers to purchase branded items.

    Councillor James Dalgleish, Education, Children and Families Convener said:

    We are committed to tackling poverty and inequality in our schools and it is clear that the cost of school uniform items has, for some, created a barrier to school education. One of the ways we are addressing this is by removing the need for parents and carers to be compelled to spend more money than is necessary on school uniform.

    The Scottish Government guidance makes clear the rationale behind the new approach to school uniforms. It is the right thing to do make changes that will have a positive financial impact on families by reducing the cost of the school day, while also creating a more inclusive school environment and promoting sustainability. I am pleased that members of the Education, Children and Families Committee have agreed this positive step forward which is focused on supporting all pupils to come to school feeling comfortable, confident and ready to learn.

    Published: June 18th 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Security: FBI Honors Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program with National Award

    Source: US FBI

    CLARKSBURG, WV—On Tuesday, June 17, 2025, FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division Assistant Director Timothy A. Ferguson presented the Harrison County (West Virginia) Deputy Reserve Program with the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA) for its service to citizens in West Virginia. The Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program is dedicated to strengthening relationships between law enforcement and the community.

    The FBI established the DCLA in 1990 to publicly acknowledge the achievements of those working to make a difference in their communities through the promotion of education and the prevention of crime and violence.

    “The FBI’s successes are built on our connections with our law enforcement partners and our communities,” said CJIS Division Assistant Director Ferguson. “Having partner organizations such as the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program that engage with the public ensures we are able to maintain public trust and accountability, crush violent crime, and defend the homeland.”

    The Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program is a non-profit organization comprised of volunteers who support law enforcement and the community in a myriad of ways. The organization’s members are trained to assist in missing persons’ searches and traffic incident management. They hold monthly meetings that provide opportunities to connect state, local, and federal law enforcement. They also provide platforms for the FBI’s CJIS Division to reach community members via the CJIS Community Outreach Program’s Child ID Fingerprinting—a service that gives parents and guardians copies of their children’s fingerprints. The family can then turn over the fingerprints and accompanying headshots, which are not stored in any FBI system, to police in the event a child goes missing. Inspired by the FBI CJIS Division’s Citizens Academy, the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program created the Harrison County Citizens Academy to connect with, and better educate, community leaders about aspects of law enforcement and the judicial system. As with the FBI’s citizen academies, these opportunities enable frank discussion to enhance communities.

    Multiple members of the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program attended the award ceremony.

    “I want to extend our sincere gratitude to the FBI for this tremendous honor,” said former Harrison County Sheriff Robert Matheny. “Thank you for your unwavering commitment to strengthening the bond between federal and local law enforcement and thank you recognizing the power of partnership in building safer communities. This award is a testament to what can be accomplished when ordinary citizens step forward to do extraordinary things. The men and women of our Reserve Unit have answered that call time and again, without hesitation and without expectation. We are honored to accept this award, not just as a unit, but as part of the greater law enforcement family—united by purpose, service, and the unwavering belief that communities are worth protecting.”

    “This award was totally unexpected, but I am proud of how our unit has come together to give back to the community and to assist the sheriff’s office and deputies as they fulfill their duties,” said Deputy Sheriff Reserve Michael Lambiotte.

    Learn more about the Director’s Community Leadership Award program, the FBI’s general outreach efforts, and the FBI’s CJIS Division online.

    Photo Courtesy: Federal Bureau of Investigation – CJIS Division Assistant Director Timothy A. Ferguson (far left) and CJIS Division Section Chief Scott E. Schubert (far right) are joined by Harrison County Sheriff Robert Matheny II (center left) and members of the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: FBI Honors Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program with National Award

    Source: US FBI

    CLARKSBURG, WV—On Tuesday, June 17, 2025, FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division Assistant Director Timothy A. Ferguson presented the Harrison County (West Virginia) Deputy Reserve Program with the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA) for its service to citizens in West Virginia. The Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program is dedicated to strengthening relationships between law enforcement and the community.

    The FBI established the DCLA in 1990 to publicly acknowledge the achievements of those working to make a difference in their communities through the promotion of education and the prevention of crime and violence.

    “The FBI’s successes are built on our connections with our law enforcement partners and our communities,” said CJIS Division Assistant Director Ferguson. “Having partner organizations such as the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program that engage with the public ensures we are able to maintain public trust and accountability, crush violent crime, and defend the homeland.”

    The Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program is a non-profit organization comprised of volunteers who support law enforcement and the community in a myriad of ways. The organization’s members are trained to assist in missing persons’ searches and traffic incident management. They hold monthly meetings that provide opportunities to connect state, local, and federal law enforcement. They also provide platforms for the FBI’s CJIS Division to reach community members via the CJIS Community Outreach Program’s Child ID Fingerprinting—a service that gives parents and guardians copies of their children’s fingerprints. The family can then turn over the fingerprints and accompanying headshots, which are not stored in any FBI system, to police in the event a child goes missing. Inspired by the FBI CJIS Division’s Citizens Academy, the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program created the Harrison County Citizens Academy to connect with, and better educate, community leaders about aspects of law enforcement and the judicial system. As with the FBI’s citizen academies, these opportunities enable frank discussion to enhance communities.

    Multiple members of the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program attended the award ceremony.

    “I want to extend our sincere gratitude to the FBI for this tremendous honor,” said former Harrison County Sheriff Robert Matheny. “Thank you for your unwavering commitment to strengthening the bond between federal and local law enforcement and thank you recognizing the power of partnership in building safer communities. This award is a testament to what can be accomplished when ordinary citizens step forward to do extraordinary things. The men and women of our Reserve Unit have answered that call time and again, without hesitation and without expectation. We are honored to accept this award, not just as a unit, but as part of the greater law enforcement family—united by purpose, service, and the unwavering belief that communities are worth protecting.”

    “This award was totally unexpected, but I am proud of how our unit has come together to give back to the community and to assist the sheriff’s office and deputies as they fulfill their duties,” said Deputy Sheriff Reserve Michael Lambiotte.

    Learn more about the Director’s Community Leadership Award program, the FBI’s general outreach efforts, and the FBI’s CJIS Division online.

    Photo Courtesy: Federal Bureau of Investigation – CJIS Division Assistant Director Timothy A. Ferguson (far left) and CJIS Division Section Chief Scott E. Schubert (far right) are joined by Harrison County Sheriff Robert Matheny II (center left) and members of the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: $112K Is Not Bitcoin’s Peak: PFMCrypto’s Unique BTC Mining Plan Becomes a Must-Have for Holders

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LOS ANGELES, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As Bitcoin (BTC) prices begin to stabilize, both experts and traders agree that the $112,000 mark is far from its peak. In response to growing investor interest and momentum across the BTC network, global mining leader PFMCrypto has introduced a unique Bitcoin mining strategy that is rapidly gaining popularity among BTC holders. This high-performance mining contract is designed to help users earn passive income—even outside of bull markets—without any technical expertise or complex equipment. PFMCrypto’s cloud mining approach provides secure and consistent BTC rewards.

    Key Highlights of PFMCrypto’s BTC Mining Strategy
    – Exclusive BTC Contracts Now Live: Tailored for Bitcoin holders seeking passive mining income growth.
    – No Lock-in Risk: Withdraw earnings daily. Once the contract ends, the full principal is returned—ensuring liquidity and security.
    – Proven High ROI: PFMCrypto’s BTC mining contracts are based on real performance, not speculative promises. Historical returns have reached up to 55.6% in 30 days.

    Visit PFMCrypto’s homepage: https://pfmcrypto.net

    AI + BTC Mining: Smart Technology for Savvy Investors
    PFMCrypto’s BTC mining platform integrates cutting-edge artificial intelligence to optimize block verification efficiency and automatically reallocate computing power to maximize profits. With 20 mining centers operating around the clock globally, users enjoy consistent BTC earnings without downtime or maintenance.
    Unlike traditional mining, PFMCrypto’s cloud mining model eliminates the costs and complexities of hardware management, making it accessible to everyone—from newcomers to seasoned investors.

    What Makes PFMCrypto’s BTC Mining Plans So Attractive?
    – Zero Hardware Investment: No need to purchase mining rigs to access industrial-grade computing power.
    – All-Inclusive Operation: PFMCrypto handles electricity, cooling, maintenance, and hardware upgrades.
    – Instant Access: New users can start mining BTC within minutes using an intuitive dashboard with real-time earnings tracking.
    – Security & Transparency: All contracts guarantee daily returns, principal repayment, and detailed performance analytics.

    Join PFMCrypto now and receive a $10 welcome bonus to kickstart your BTC mining journey.

    Why Now? BTC’s Road Beyond $112,000
    Market analysts forecast that sustained institutional adoption, ETF integration, and declining exchange reserves could propel BTC to an all-time high of $120,000 by Q3 2025. As PFMCrypto’s CEO puts it:
    “Bitcoin is more than a store of value—it’s a catalyst for wealth accumulation. Our BTC mining strategy empowers users to earn consistent returns amid unprecedented market momentum.”

    PFMCrypto’s BTC Mining Contracts: Proven Performance
    With the recent launch of its 2-day BTC mining contract, PFMCrypto has opened its high-performance cloud mining infrastructure to all users, dramatically lowering the technical and financial barriers to entry. Since its founding in 2018, the platform has grown to support over 9.2 million active users across 192 countries, delivering impressive returns:
    2-Day Strategy: +6.6% ROI
    5-Day Strategy: +6.15% ROI
    15-Day Strategy: +20.7% ROI
    30-Day Strategy: +55.6% ROI
    These figures represent actual average user returns, powered by PFMCrypto’s AI-enhanced infrastructure.

    Click here to view the full BTC mining contract catalog.

    How to Start BTC Cloud Mining with PFMCrypto
    1. Register: Sign up now to receive a $10 bonus and $0.60 daily sign-in reward.
    2. Choose Your Plan: Select from a range of flexible BTC contracts suitable for both short- and long-term investors.
    3. Earn BTC Daily: Let PFMCrypto’s intelligent engine handle everything and start earning Bitcoin instantly.

    About PFMCrypto
    PFMCrypto is a global pioneer in cloud mining services, offering secure and user-friendly cryptocurrency mining tools to millions of users. Since 2018, the company has processed over $1 billion in mining expenditures and operates mining centers across Europe, Asia, and North America. PFMCrypto continues to reshape how individuals and institutions engage with crypto by delivering transparent, reliable, and profit-driven solutions.

    Visit https://pfmcrypto.net to learn more, claim your $10 welcome bonus and start your BTC mining journey today.

    Media Contact:
    Amelia Elspeth
    PFMcrypto
    info@pfmcrypto.net

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4f5332cc-14f1-4752-b2a7-d8329cab344a
    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e1aba1e0-a162-4358-9dd3-b665fd7e11d4

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: $112K Is Not Bitcoin’s Peak: PFMCrypto’s Unique BTC Mining Plan Becomes a Must-Have for Holders

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LOS ANGELES, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As Bitcoin (BTC) prices begin to stabilize, both experts and traders agree that the $112,000 mark is far from its peak. In response to growing investor interest and momentum across the BTC network, global mining leader PFMCrypto has introduced a unique Bitcoin mining strategy that is rapidly gaining popularity among BTC holders. This high-performance mining contract is designed to help users earn passive income—even outside of bull markets—without any technical expertise or complex equipment. PFMCrypto’s cloud mining approach provides secure and consistent BTC rewards.

    Key Highlights of PFMCrypto’s BTC Mining Strategy
    – Exclusive BTC Contracts Now Live: Tailored for Bitcoin holders seeking passive mining income growth.
    – No Lock-in Risk: Withdraw earnings daily. Once the contract ends, the full principal is returned—ensuring liquidity and security.
    – Proven High ROI: PFMCrypto’s BTC mining contracts are based on real performance, not speculative promises. Historical returns have reached up to 55.6% in 30 days.

    Visit PFMCrypto’s homepage: https://pfmcrypto.net

    AI + BTC Mining: Smart Technology for Savvy Investors
    PFMCrypto’s BTC mining platform integrates cutting-edge artificial intelligence to optimize block verification efficiency and automatically reallocate computing power to maximize profits. With 20 mining centers operating around the clock globally, users enjoy consistent BTC earnings without downtime or maintenance.
    Unlike traditional mining, PFMCrypto’s cloud mining model eliminates the costs and complexities of hardware management, making it accessible to everyone—from newcomers to seasoned investors.

    What Makes PFMCrypto’s BTC Mining Plans So Attractive?
    – Zero Hardware Investment: No need to purchase mining rigs to access industrial-grade computing power.
    – All-Inclusive Operation: PFMCrypto handles electricity, cooling, maintenance, and hardware upgrades.
    – Instant Access: New users can start mining BTC within minutes using an intuitive dashboard with real-time earnings tracking.
    – Security & Transparency: All contracts guarantee daily returns, principal repayment, and detailed performance analytics.

    Join PFMCrypto now and receive a $10 welcome bonus to kickstart your BTC mining journey.

    Why Now? BTC’s Road Beyond $112,000
    Market analysts forecast that sustained institutional adoption, ETF integration, and declining exchange reserves could propel BTC to an all-time high of $120,000 by Q3 2025. As PFMCrypto’s CEO puts it:
    “Bitcoin is more than a store of value—it’s a catalyst for wealth accumulation. Our BTC mining strategy empowers users to earn consistent returns amid unprecedented market momentum.”

    PFMCrypto’s BTC Mining Contracts: Proven Performance
    With the recent launch of its 2-day BTC mining contract, PFMCrypto has opened its high-performance cloud mining infrastructure to all users, dramatically lowering the technical and financial barriers to entry. Since its founding in 2018, the platform has grown to support over 9.2 million active users across 192 countries, delivering impressive returns:
    2-Day Strategy: +6.6% ROI
    5-Day Strategy: +6.15% ROI
    15-Day Strategy: +20.7% ROI
    30-Day Strategy: +55.6% ROI
    These figures represent actual average user returns, powered by PFMCrypto’s AI-enhanced infrastructure.

    Click here to view the full BTC mining contract catalog.

    How to Start BTC Cloud Mining with PFMCrypto
    1. Register: Sign up now to receive a $10 bonus and $0.60 daily sign-in reward.
    2. Choose Your Plan: Select from a range of flexible BTC contracts suitable for both short- and long-term investors.
    3. Earn BTC Daily: Let PFMCrypto’s intelligent engine handle everything and start earning Bitcoin instantly.

    About PFMCrypto
    PFMCrypto is a global pioneer in cloud mining services, offering secure and user-friendly cryptocurrency mining tools to millions of users. Since 2018, the company has processed over $1 billion in mining expenditures and operates mining centers across Europe, Asia, and North America. PFMCrypto continues to reshape how individuals and institutions engage with crypto by delivering transparent, reliable, and profit-driven solutions.

    Visit https://pfmcrypto.net to learn more, claim your $10 welcome bonus and start your BTC mining journey today.

    Media Contact:
    Amelia Elspeth
    PFMcrypto
    info@pfmcrypto.net

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4f5332cc-14f1-4752-b2a7-d8329cab344a
    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e1aba1e0-a162-4358-9dd3-b665fd7e11d4

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Traliant wins prestigious Telly Award for inclusion training, launches 2025 update to reflect latest laws and guidance

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Traliant, a leader in online compliance training, today announced an enhanced version of its Creating Inclusive Workplaces training course – recently honored with a Telly Award for Immersive & Interactive Content. The 2025 update incorporates the latest federal, state and local laws, along with current guidance from the Department of Justice (DOJ), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and recent Executive Orders related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

    Traliant’s Creating Inclusive Workplaces explores core concepts that promote inclusive values and behaviors. Rooted in anti-discrimination and inclusive leadership principles, the course is aligned with evolving compliance requirements and best practices. Learners are guided by an AI learning assistant, Mira, through realistic workplace scenarios — such as team meetings, coffee chats and group messages — where inclusion challenges often arise. A newly introduced adaptive learning format provides learners with the opportunity to complete the training in as little as seven minutes, allowing for greater flexibility for today’s fast-paced work environments.

    “Inclusion is key to creating workplaces where people feel respected, engaged and ready to do their best,” said Casey Heck, Senior Vice President of HR at Traliant. “With our new adaptive course format, employees can demonstrate what they know and wrap up training in under seven minutes — making it easier for HR teams to efficiently build inclusive habits without impacting productivity.”

    The Creating Inclusive Workplaces is one of several inclusion-focused training courses refreshed for 2025. Updated in collaboration with in-house legal experts, these courses provide HR and compliance leaders with impactful tools to support inclusion programs through legally sound, timely content that reflect current regulations and evolving workplace expectations, including:

    A recent Traliant study underscores the ongoing need for meaningful inclusion efforts: while most employers and employees view inclusion as vital to retention, innovation, and performance, nearly a third of employees still report feeling excluded or marginalized at work. Traliant’s continuously monitored and maintained training courses help close this gap with engaging, modern solutions that align inclusive values with everyday workplace behavior and decision-making.

    To learn more about Traliant, visit: https://www.traliant.com/.

    About Traliant
    Traliant, a leader in compliance training, is on a mission to help make workplaces better, for everyone. Committed to a customer promise of “compliance you can trust, training you will love,” Traliant delivers continuously compliant online courses, backed by an unparalleled in-house legal team, with engaging, story-based training designed to create truly enjoyable learning experiences.
      
    Traliant supports over 14,000 organizations worldwide with a library of curated essential courses to broaden employee perspectives, achieve compliance and elevate workplace culture, including sexual harassment training, inclusion training, code of conduct training, and many more.  
      
    Backed by PSG, a leading growth equity firm, Traliant holds a coveted position on Inc.’s 5000 fastest-growing private companies in America for four consecutive years, along with numerous awards for its products and workplace culture. For more information, visit http://www.traliant.com and follow us on LinkedIn. 

    Contact
    Reagan Bennet
    traliant@v2comms.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Traliant wins prestigious Telly Award for inclusion training, launches 2025 update to reflect latest laws and guidance

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Traliant, a leader in online compliance training, today announced an enhanced version of its Creating Inclusive Workplaces training course – recently honored with a Telly Award for Immersive & Interactive Content. The 2025 update incorporates the latest federal, state and local laws, along with current guidance from the Department of Justice (DOJ), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and recent Executive Orders related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

    Traliant’s Creating Inclusive Workplaces explores core concepts that promote inclusive values and behaviors. Rooted in anti-discrimination and inclusive leadership principles, the course is aligned with evolving compliance requirements and best practices. Learners are guided by an AI learning assistant, Mira, through realistic workplace scenarios — such as team meetings, coffee chats and group messages — where inclusion challenges often arise. A newly introduced adaptive learning format provides learners with the opportunity to complete the training in as little as seven minutes, allowing for greater flexibility for today’s fast-paced work environments.

    “Inclusion is key to creating workplaces where people feel respected, engaged and ready to do their best,” said Casey Heck, Senior Vice President of HR at Traliant. “With our new adaptive course format, employees can demonstrate what they know and wrap up training in under seven minutes — making it easier for HR teams to efficiently build inclusive habits without impacting productivity.”

    The Creating Inclusive Workplaces is one of several inclusion-focused training courses refreshed for 2025. Updated in collaboration with in-house legal experts, these courses provide HR and compliance leaders with impactful tools to support inclusion programs through legally sound, timely content that reflect current regulations and evolving workplace expectations, including:

    A recent Traliant study underscores the ongoing need for meaningful inclusion efforts: while most employers and employees view inclusion as vital to retention, innovation, and performance, nearly a third of employees still report feeling excluded or marginalized at work. Traliant’s continuously monitored and maintained training courses help close this gap with engaging, modern solutions that align inclusive values with everyday workplace behavior and decision-making.

    To learn more about Traliant, visit: https://www.traliant.com/.

    About Traliant
    Traliant, a leader in compliance training, is on a mission to help make workplaces better, for everyone. Committed to a customer promise of “compliance you can trust, training you will love,” Traliant delivers continuously compliant online courses, backed by an unparalleled in-house legal team, with engaging, story-based training designed to create truly enjoyable learning experiences.
      
    Traliant supports over 14,000 organizations worldwide with a library of curated essential courses to broaden employee perspectives, achieve compliance and elevate workplace culture, including sexual harassment training, inclusion training, code of conduct training, and many more.  
      
    Backed by PSG, a leading growth equity firm, Traliant holds a coveted position on Inc.’s 5000 fastest-growing private companies in America for four consecutive years, along with numerous awards for its products and workplace culture. For more information, visit http://www.traliant.com and follow us on LinkedIn. 

    Contact
    Reagan Bennet
    traliant@v2comms.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Moomoo Gears Up to Celebrate New York Mets’ 50th Victory with a $20,000 Fan Giveaway, Announces 25th Win Prize Recipient with $10,000

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    JERSEY CITY, N.J., June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Moomoo, a global investment and trading platform, is getting ready to celebrate with New York Mets fans with a $20,000 giveaway as the Mets approach the exciting 50th win of the 2025 MLB season. Moomoo also congratulates the Mets on achieving their 25th win by giving $10,000 to the sweepstakes winner – H Smith from Queens, New York. This milestone also activated the first major prize in moomoo’s season-long fan engagement campaign.

    As part of the strategic partnership with the Mets, moomoo pledged to contribute $10,000 to a special prize fund for every team victory. With the Mets reaching 25 wins, H Smith becomes the first moomoo user to win the first prize of this ongoing sweepstakes. As the season progresses, subsequent milestone achievements including 50, 75, and 100 wins will lead to increased prizes for each milestone and a potential $1 million grand prize for a lucky moomoo investor.

    At this time, fans are encouraged to create their moomoo account and make a qualifying deposit soon for a chance to win the $20,000 prize after the team records its 50th win.

    “We’re excited to officially kickoff the prize portion of this special partnership with the Mets, and reward Mets fans and moomoo users by creating special experiences like this,” said Neil McDonald, moomoo US’s CEO. “Our partnership with the Mets aims at creating memorable experiences for fans and investors alike and we can’t wait to see what the rest of the season will bring.”

    In addition to the cash awards, moomoo will host Moomoo Mondays at Mets games: every Monday home game during the 2025 regular season moomoo will be giving away up to 500 free tickets to fans. To be eligible, fans will simply show the moomoo Monday Mets ticket offer on their moomoo app at the Mets Box Office at the ballpark. Each Monday, fans can expect prizes and surprises during their Citi Field experience, including free promotional items.

    About moomoo
    Moomoo is a leading global investment and trading platform dedicated to empowering investors with user-friendly tools, data, and insights. Our platform is designed to provide essential information and technology, enabling users to make more-informed investment decisions. With advanced charting tools, pro-level analytical features, moomoo evolves alongside our users, fostering a dynamic community where investors can share, learn, and grow together.
    Founded in the U.S., moomoo operates globally, serving investors in countries such as the US, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Canada and Malaysia. As a subsidiary of a Nasdaq-listed Futu Holdings (FUTU), we take pride in our role as a global strategic partner of the Nasdaq, earning numerous international accolades from renowned industry leaders such as Benzinga and Fintech Breakthrough. Moomoo has also received multiple awards in the US, Singapore, and Australia for its innovative, inclusive approach to investing.

    For more information, please visit moomoo’s official website at www.moomoo.com or feel free to email us: pr@us.moomoo.com.

    Purchase will not improve chances of winning. Void where prohibited. 18+. Open to permanent legal U.S. residents residing in NY, NJ, CT, or PA. Starts 4/4/2025. Various deadlines may apply. Entries must be received by 11:59 pm ET on 9/28/2025 or earlier if the Mets win 100 games. Enter for free at Free entry link. Prize restrictions apply. For details/Official Rules visit bit.ly/moomoomillion_Rules

    The Mets are not affiliated with moomoo or its affiliates. Moomoo is a financial information and trading app offered by Moomoo Technologies Inc. Securities offered through Moomoo Financial Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. Investing is risky.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3d63025a-3e11-40b6-9a13-20cfa71d5a5e

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Satellogic Poised to Deliver Its NextGen Satellite and Technology Transfer for Malaysia’s Earth Observation Satellite Program

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Satellogic, Inc. (NASDAQ: SATL), a leader in satellite manufacturing and high-resolution Earth observation data, is pleased to announce that Uzma Berhad, and by extension Satellogic as Uzma’s Technology Partner, has been selected as the successful bidder to lead the Malaysian High-Resolution Earth Observation Satellite Project (MHREOSP) for the Government of Malaysia.

    As a technology partner, Satellogic will design, develop, assemble, integrate and test a state-of-the-art high resolution satellite with active involvement of Malaysian personnel. This newest evolution of Satellogic’s proven platform, is built on the extensive heritage from over 50 NewSat satellites and features key upgrades, including superior National Imagery Interpretability Rating Scales (NIIRS) ratings, larger optics and enhanced sensor design, to deliver 50cm resolution across all spectral bands. Final integration and testing are planned to take place in Malaysia in collaboration with Uzma and local parties to support meaningful homegrown capacity development.

    This collaboration builds on the successful deployment of UzmaSAT-1 and underscores Satellogic’s commitment to delivering agile space solutions to its customers around the world. “Satellogic brings proven satellite technology and a commitment to agile innovation that aligns with our goals and the nation’s space aspirations, supporting the Malaysia Space Exploration 2030 Action Plan,” said Dato’ Kamarul Redzuan Muhamed, Group CEO of Uzma Berhad. “With the Government’s guidance, Satellogic’s expertise, and our homegrown talents, we are enabling Malaysia to leap forward in its geospatial intelligence capabilities and supporting the long-term sustainability of our national infrastructure and environment by nurturing local talent through knowledge sharing, technology transfer, and exposure to satellite technology. We look forward to help grow the ecosystem further, guided by the Malaysian Government and its agencies, including Malaysia’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), MYSA, the Public-Private Partnership Unit (UKAS), and Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT).”

    The selection strengthens Satellogic’s expanding presence in Asia and reinforces its mission to democratize access to state-of-the-art space technology.
    “This partnership harnesses the power of commercial space to strengthen national sovereignty through proprietary space access,” said Emiliano Kargieman, CEO & Co-Founder of Satellogic. “We’re proud to support Malaysia’s forward-looking vision for space and to work alongside Uzma and GeospatialAI in delivering capabilities that will drive national resilience and innovation”

    About Satellogic

    Founded in 2010 by Emiliano Kargieman and Gerardo Richarte, Satellogic (NASDAQ: SATL) is the first vertically integrated geospatial company, driving real outcomes with planetary-scale insights. Satellogic is creating and continuously enhancing the first scalable, fully automated EO platform with the ability to remap the entire planet at both high-frequency and high-resolution, providing accessible and affordable solutions for customers.

    Satellogic’s mission is to democratize access to geospatial data through its information platform of high resolution images to help solve the world’s most pressing problems including climate change, energy supply, and food security. Using its patented Earth imaging technology, Satellogic unlocks the power of EO to deliver high-quality, planetary insights at the lowest cost in the industry.

    With more than a decade of experience in space, Satellogic has proven technology and a strong track record of delivering satellites to orbit and high-resolution data to customers at the right price point.

    To learn more, please visit: http://www.satellogic.com

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws. The words “anticipate”, “believe”, “continue”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intends”, “may”, “might”, “plan”, “possible”, “potential”, “predict”, “project”, “should”, “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements are based on Satellogic’s current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on Satellogic and include statements concerning Satellogic’s strategic realignment as a U.S. company, and the visibility and high growth opportunities it will provide in connection therewith. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve, and must not be relied on by an investor as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ
    from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of Satellogic. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) our ability to generate revenue as expected, including due to challenges created by macroeconomic concerns, geopolitical uncertainty (e.g., trade relationships), financial market fluctuations and related factors, (ii) our ability to effectively market and sell our EO services and to convert contracted revenues and our pipeline of potential contracts into actual revenues, (iii) risks related to the secured convertible notes, (iv) the potential loss of one or more of our largest customers, (v) the considerable time and expense related to our sales efforts and the length and unpredictability of our sales cycle, (vi) risks and uncertainties associated with defense-related contracts, (vii) risk related to our pricing structure, (viii) our ability to scale production of our satellites as planned, (ix) unforeseen risks, challenges and uncertainties related to our expansion into new business lines, (x) our dependence on third parties, including SpaceX, to transport and launch our satellites into space, (xi) our reliance on third-party vendors and manufacturers to build and provide certain satellite components, products, or services and the inability of these vendors and manufacturers to meet our needs, (xii) our dependence on ground station and cloud-based computing infrastructure operated by third pirates for value-added services, and any errors, disruption, performance problems, or failure in their or our operational infrastructure, (xiii) risk related to certain minimum service requirements in our customer contracts, (xiv) market acceptance of our EO services and our dependence upon our ability to keep pace with the latest technological advances, including those related to artificial intelligence and machine learning, (xv) our ability to identify suitable acquisition candidates or consummate acquisitions on acceptable terms, or our ability to successfully integrate acquisitions, (xvi) competition for EO services, (xvii) challenges with international operations or unexpected changes to the regulatory environment in certain markets, (xviii) unknown defects or errors in our products, (xix) risk related to the capital-intensive nature of our business and our ability to raise adequate capital to finance our business strategies, (xx) uncertainties beyond our control related to the production, launch, commissioning, and/or operation of our satellites and related ground systems, software and analytic technologies, (xxi) the failure of the market for EO services to achieve the growth potential we expect, (xxii) risks related to our satellites and related equipment becoming impaired, (xxiii) risks related to the failure of our satellites to operate as intended, (xxiv) production and launch delays, launch failures, and damage or destruction to our satellites during launch, (xxv) the impact of natural disasters, unusual or prolonged unfavorable weather conditions, epidemic outbreaks, terrorist acts and geopolitical events (including the ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, in the Gaza Strip and the Red Sea region) on our business and satellite launch schedules and (xxvi) the anticipated benefits of the domestication may not materialize. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the “Risk Factors” section of Satellogic’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents filed or to be filed by Satellogic from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Satellogic assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Satellogic can give no assurance that it will achieve its expectations.

    Contacts

    Investor Relations:

    Ryan Driver, VP of Strategy & Corporate Development 

    ryan.driver@Satellogic.com

    Media Relations:

    Satellogic

    pr@Satellogic.com

    Uzma Berhad

    communications@uzmagroup.com

    The MIL Network –