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Category: Latin America

  • MIL-OSI: Red Cat Secures $1 Million Contract for its FlightWave Edge 130 Blue

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Oct. 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Red Cat Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: RCAT) (“Red Cat”), a drone technology company integrating robotic hardware and software for military, government, and commercial operations, today announced it secured a $1 million contract for its Edge 130 Blue drones from the United States Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM). The contract was secured through Noble, a leading provider of global sustainment and operations support for the U.S. Military and civilian government agencies, and was coordinated for procurement by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) on behalf of CECOM.

    FlightWave, an industry-leading provider of VTOL drone, sensor and software solutions was acquired by Red Cat in September 2024. The acquisition brings FlightWave’s flagship drone, the Edge 130 Blue into its family of low-cost, portable unmanned reconnaissance and precision lethal strike systems. FlightWave’s size, weight and vertical take off capabilities makes it ideal for maritime operations and littoral environments. FlightWave’s recent TACFI award will accelerate advanced enhancements to the Edge 130 Blue.

    “It is great to deepen our relationship with the U.S. Army and to be part of CECOM’s mission to deliver C5ISR systems that enable full spectrum combat operations at the point of need,” said Jeff Thompson, Red Cat CEO. “We are committed to supporting the U.S. Army’s modernization strategy and transformation into a multi-domain force where small, portable unmanned aerial systems like the Edge 130 play an increasing role in conducting intelligence, maneuver, and strike activities across multiple battlefield formations.”

    The Edge 130 Blue is a UAS-certified military-grade tricopter for long-range mapping, inspection, surveillance, and reconnaissance needs. Designed specifically for government and military applications, the Edge 130 Blue can be assembled and hand-launched in just one minute by a single user to capture high-accuracy aerial imagery with medium-range autonomy. Weighing in at only 1200g, the Edge has a 60+ minute flight time in forward mode, an industry-leading endurance among all other Blue UAS-approved drones available.

    About Red Cat, Inc.
    Red Cat (Nasdaq: RCAT) is a drone technology company integrating robotic hardware and software for military, government, and commercial operations. Through two wholly owned subsidiaries, Teal Drones and FlightWave Aerospace, Red Cat has developed a bleeding-edge Family of ISR and Precision Strike Systems including the Teal 2, a small unmanned system offering the highest-resolution thermal imaging in its class, the Edge 130 Blue Tricopter for extended endurance and range, and FANG™, the industry’s first line of NDAA compliant FPV drones optimized for military operations with precision strike capabilities. Learn more at http://www.redcat.red.

    Forward Looking Statements
    This press release contains “forward-looking statements” that are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “seek,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “target,” “aim,” “should,” “will” “would,” or the negative of these words or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements are based on Red Cat Holdings, Inc.’s current expectations and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully in the section titled “Risk Factors” in the Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 27, 2023. Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as of this date, and Red Cat Holdings, Inc. undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law.

    Contact:

    INVESTORS:
    E-mail: Investors@redcat.red

    NEWS MEDIA:
    Phone: (347) 880-2895
    Email: peter@indicatemedia.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA Spotlight: Felipe Valdez, an Inspiring Engineer

    Source: NASA

    Felipe Valdez is someone who took advantage of every possible opportunity at NASA, working his way from undergraduate intern to his current job as a flight controls engineer. 
    Born in the United States but raised in Mexico, Valdez faced significant challenges growing up.  
    “My mom worked long hours, my dad battled addiction, and eventually, school became unaffordable,” Valdez said. 
    Determined to continue his education, Valdez made the difficult choice to leave his family and return to the U.S. But as a teenager, learning English and adapting to a new environment was a culture shock for him. Despite these changes, his curiosity for subjects such as math and science never wavered.  
    “As a kid, I’d always been good with numbers and fascinated by how things worked. Engineering combined both,” Valdez said. “This sparked my interest.”  
    While he pursued an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from California State University, Sacramento, guidance from his professor, Jose Granda, proved to be pivotal.  
    “He encouraged me to apply for a NASA internship,” Valdez said. “He’d actually been a Spanish-language spokesperson for a [space] shuttle mission, so hearing about someone with my background succeed gave me the confidence I needed to take that step.”  
    Valdez’s hard work paid off – he was selected as a NASA Office of STEM Engagement intern at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. There, he worked on software development for vehicle dynamics, actuators, and controller models for a space capsule in computer simulations. 
    “I couldn’t believe it,” Valdez said. “Getting that opportunity changed everything.”  
    This internship opened the door to a second with NASA this time at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. He had the chance to work on flight computer development for the Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Lower Drag, an experimental flying wing design. 
    After these experiences, he was later accepted as an intern for NASA’s Pathways Program, a work-study program that offers the possibly of full-time employment at NASA after graduation. 
    “That was the start of my career at NASA, where my passion for aeronautics really took off,” he said.  
    Valdez was the first in his family to pursue higher education, earning his bachelor’s degree from Sacramento State and his master’s in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of California, Davis. 
    Today, he works as a NASA flight controls engineer under the Dynamics and Controls branch at Armstrong. Most of his experience has focused on flight simulation development and flight control design, particularly for distributed electric propulsion aircraft. 
    “It’s rewarding to be part of a group that’s focused on making aviation faster, quieter, and more sustainable,” Valdez said. “As a controls engineer, working on advanced aircraft concepts like distributed electric propulsion allows me design algorithms to directly control multiple motors, enhancing safety, controllability, and stability, while enabling cleaner, and quieter operations that push the boundaries of sustainable aviation.”  
    Throughout his career, Valdez has remained proud of his heritage.   “I feel a strong sense of pride knowing that inclusion is one of our core values, opportunities are within reach for anyone at NASA.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Red Cat Introduces ARACHNID™ Family of Small ISR and Precision Strike Systems at AUSA 2024

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Oct. 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Red Cat Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: RCAT) (“Red Cat”), a drone technology company building hardware and software for military, federal, and commercial operations, today introduced its ARACHNID™ family of unmanned intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and precision strike systems. Red Cat unveiled the Family of Systems at AUSA 2024 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington D.C.

    The ARACHNID family of systems is purpose built for the U.S. Army’s roadmap to integrate UAS and long endurance aircraft in a combined arms fight with synchronized fire and maneuver across various command levels. Red Cat currently addresses the needs of warfighters at the platoon and company level with drones that span capabilities and endurance for short and medium-range operations in air, land, and maritime environments. Future potential partnerships will enable long-range reconnaissance.

    Red Cat redefines the future of sUAS for defense applications by combining the capabilities of portable, low-cost, and recoverable ISR drones with precision strike payloads. The company is enabling a shift away from legacy, high-cost UAS to highly interoperable systems that can adapt to a rapidly evolving battlefield. This shift includes layered UAS/LE deployment to shape fires and maneuver, extended reach via networks and autonomy, and reduced cognitive burden with increased safety and survivability for warfighters.

    “The U.S. Army has prioritized integrating UAS across military formations from squad to corps and have specific requirements informed by an understanding of emerging real-world threats,” said Jeff Thompson, Red Cat CEO. “We are introducing the ARACHNID™ family of systems to ensure we can react to the rapidly evolving needs of sUAS for short, medium and long range operations. With future partnerships, our drones can be dropped from long endurance aircraft or integrated into unmanned surface vessels to extend reach and penetration at the battlefield’s tactical edge.”

    ARACHNID advances Red Cat’s established leadership in the sUAS space and brings enhanced capabilities and tech integrations to its existing flagship products from Teal. To reflect this technology evolution and the capabilities of the newest model that Red Cat developed for the U.S. Army’s SRR Program of Record, the company has rebranded its flagship within the ARACHNID family of systems:

    • Black Widow™ (successor to Teal 2) is a highly capable, rucksack portable sUAS designed specifically for operation in Electronic Warfare (EW) environments. A fully modular architecture enables swift adaptation to mission requirements including short range reconnaissance and secondary payload operation. Black Widow™ is significantly enhanced from the Teal 2 model with longer endurance, EW resilience, and advanced autonomy.
    • WEB™ (Warfighter Electronic Bridge) is a Ground Control Station purpose built to operate Red Cat’s entire ARACHNID family of systems for military operations. WEB is fully integrated with Kinesis and ATAK to provide seamless integration with platforms and enhance mission effectiveness. WEB can also function as a stand-alone GCS for other non-Red Cat platforms, offering multi-domain versatility.

    To address the needs of medium-range reconnaissance and persistent strike systems, Red Cat is accelerating the development of its FANG™ line of First-Person View (FPV) drones. Additionally, Red Cat’s product roadmap includes TRICHON™, which will build upon the FlightWave Edge 130 Blue, a military-grade VTOL tricopter for medium-range mapping, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

    “The Pentagon’s Replicator initiative established a bold mission to accelerate the deployment of attritable sUAS to the warfighter. In concert with Replicator’s mission we are accelerating the development of our products that will enhance the effectiveness and safety of military and security operations,” said George Matus, Red Cat CTO. “In many ways, domestic UAS innovation has been spurred by learnings in Ukraine and Israel, where drones have clearly demonstrated asymmetric warfare. The ARACHNID family of systems represents what we believe the future of drones needs to look like.”

    The new family of systems will leverage ongoing industry collaboration, underpinned by the Red Cat Futures Initiative. Both through Red Cat’s agile internal research and development, as well as robust partnerships, the family of systems will continually iterate with new capabilities across hardware and software. Red Cat has the ability to manufacture these systems at a high production rate with superior quality to meet the demands of our customers globally.

    To meet with Red Cat and see the Black Widow™ and rest of the family of systems, visit booth 330 at AUSA October 14-16, 2024.

    For more information about the Red Cat family of systems and capabilities, visit: https://redcat.red/solutions/family-of-systems/.

    About Red Cat, Inc.  
    Red Cat (Nasdaq: RCAT) is a drone technology company integrating robotic hardware and software for military, government, and commercial operations. Through two wholly owned subsidiaries, Teal Drones and Flightwave Aerospace, Red Cat has developed a bleeding-edge Family of ISR and Precision Strike Systems including Black Widow™, a small unmanned system offering the highest-resolution thermal imaging in its class, TRICHON™ Tricopter for extended endurance and range, and FANG™, the industry’s first line of NDAA compliant FPV drones optimized for military operations with precision strike capabilities. Learn more at http://www.redcat.red.

    Forward-Looking Statements 
    This press release contains “forward-looking statements” that are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “seek,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “target,” “aim,” “should,” “will,” “would,” or the negative of these words or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements are based on Red Cat Holdings, Inc.’s current expectations and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully in the section titled “Risk Factors” in the final prospectus related to the public offering filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as of this date, and Red Cat Holdings, Inc. undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law. 

    Contacts:

    INVESTORS:
    E-mail: Investors@redcat.red

    NEWS MEDIA:
    Indicate Media
    Phone: (347) 880-2895
    Email: peter@indicatemedia.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI China: COP16: Forum on Energy Transition Promoting Biodiversity Conservation to kick off

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    The 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will be held in Cali, Colombia, from October 21 to November 2, 2024. GEIDCO will partner with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the World Resources Institute (WRI) to host a forum on energy transition and biodiversity conservation during COP16. The event, scheduled for Oct. 25 from 10-11 a.m. in the Cali Cultural Center’s main auditorium, will unveil research findings titled “Plans and Typical Cases for Promoting Biodiversity Conservation through Energy Transition”.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: No country still uses an electoral college − except the US

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joshua Holzer, Associate Professor of Political Science, Westminster College

    Every four years, Congress gathers to count electoral votes. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

    The United States is the only democracy in the world where a presidential candidate can get the most popular votes and still lose the election. Thanks to the Electoral College, that has happened five times in the country’s history. The most recent examples are from 2000, when Al Gore won the popular vote but George W. Bush won the Electoral College after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, and 2016, when Hillary Clinton got more votes nationwide than Donald Trump but lost in the Electoral College.

    The Founding Fathers did not invent the idea of an electoral college. Rather, they borrowed the concept from Europe, where it had been used to pick emperors for hundreds of years.

    As a scholar of presidential democracies around the world, I have studied how countries have used electoral colleges. None have been satisfied with the results. And except for the U.S., all have found other ways to choose their leaders.

    The Holy Roman Empire had seven electors: Three were members of the Catholic Church and four were significant members of the nobility. This image depicts, from left, the archbishop of Cologne, the archbishop of Mainz, the archbishop of Trier, the count palatine of the Rhine, the duke of Saxony, the margrave of Brandenburg and the king of Bohemia.
    Codex Balduini Trevirorum, c. 1340, Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz via Wikimedia Commons

    The origins of the US Electoral College

    The Holy Roman Empire was a loose confederation of territories that existed in central Europe from 962 to 1806. The emperor was not chosen by heredity, like most other monarchies. Instead, emperors were chosen by electors, who represented both secular and religious interests.

    As of 1356, there were seven electors: Four were hereditary nobles and three were chosen by the Catholic Church. By 1803, the total number of electors had increased to 10. Three years later, the empire fell.

    When the Founding Fathers were drafting the U.S. Constitution in 1787, the initial draft proposal called for the “National Executive,” which we now call the president, to be elected by the “National Legislature,” which we now call Congress. However, Virginia delegate George Mason viewed “making the Executive the mere creature of the Legislature as a violation of the fundamental principle of good Government,” and so the idea was rejected.

    Pennsylvania delegate James Wilson proposed that the president be elected by popular vote. However, many other delegates were adamant that there be an indirect way of electing the president to provide a buffer against what Thomas Jefferson called “well-meaning, but uninformed people.” Mason, for instance, suggested that allowing voters to pick the president would be akin to “refer(ring) a trial of colours to a blind man.”

    For 21 days, the founders debated how to elect the president, and they held more than 30 separate votes on the topic – more than for any other issue they discussed. Eventually, the complicated solution that they agreed to was an early version of the electoral college system that exists today, a method where neither Congress nor the people directly elect the president. Instead, each state gets a number of electoral votes corresponding to the number of members of the U.S. House and Senate it is apportioned. When the states’ electoral votes are tallied, the candidate with the majority wins.

    James Madison, who was not fond of the Holy Roman Empire’s use of an electoral college, later recalled that the final decision on how to elect a U.S. president “was produced by fatigue and impatience.”

    After just two elections, in 1796 and 1800, problems with this system had become obvious. Chief among them was that electoral votes were cast only for president. The person who got the most electoral votes became president, and the person who came in second place – usually their leading opponent – became vice president. The current process of electing the president and vice president on a single ticket but with separate electoral votes was adopted in 1804 with the passage of the 12th Amendment.

    Some other questions about how the Electoral College system should work were clarified by federal laws through the years, including in 1887 and 1948.

    After the 2020 presidential election exposed additional flaws with the system, Congress further tweaked the process by passing legislation that sought to clarify how electoral votes are counted.

    James Madison disliked the idea of an electoral college.
    Chester Harding, via National Portrait Gallery

    Other electoral colleges

    After the the U.S. Constitution went into effect, the idea of using an electoral college to indirectly elect a president spread to other republics.

    For example, in the Americas, Colombia adopted an electoral college in 1821. Chile adopted one in 1828. Argentina adopted one in 1853.

    In Europe, Finland adopted an electoral college to elect its president in 1925, and France adopted an electoral college in 1958.

    Over time, however, these countries changed their minds. All of them abandoned their electoral colleges and switched to directly electing their presidents by votes of the people. Colombia did so in 1910, Chile in 1925, France in 1965, Finland in 1994, and Argentina in 1995.

    The U.S. is the only democratic presidential system left that still uses an electoral college.

    A ‘popular’ alternative?

    There is an effort underway in the U.S. to replace the Electoral College. It may not even require amending the Constitution.

    The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, currently agreed to by 17 U.S. states, including small states such as Delaware and big ones such as California, as well as the District of Columbia, is an agreement to award all of their electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate gets the most votes nationwide. It would take effect once enough states sign on that they would represent the 270-vote majority of electoral votes. The current list reaches 209 electoral votes.

    A key problem with the interstate compact is that in races with more than two candidates, it could lead to situations where the winner of the election did not get a majority of the popular vote, but rather more than half of all voters chose someone else.

    When Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Finland and France got rid of their electoral colleges, they did not replace them with a direct popular vote in which the person with the most votes wins. Instead, they all adopted a version of runoff voting. In those systems, winners are declared only when they receive support from more than half of those who cast ballots.

    Notably, neither the U.S. Electoral College nor the interstate compact that seeks to replace it are systems that ensure that presidents are supported by a majority of voters.

    Editor’s note: This story includes material from a story published on May 20, 2020.

    Joshua Holzer 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. No country still uses an electoral college − except the US – https://theconversation.com/no-country-still-uses-an-electoral-college-except-the-us-240281

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What is a communist, and what do communists believe?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Aminda Smith, Associate Professor of History, Michigan State University

    Seeking social change often requires collective action. champc/iStock / Getty Images Plus

    Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.

    What is a communist? – Artie, age 10, Astoria, New York

    Simply put, a communist is someone who supports communism. I study the history of communism, which is a political and economic view.

    Communism has long been controversial, and in the U.S. today, reputable sources disagree about it. Some experts argue that communist views are well supported by historical evidence about the way societies have developed over time. Others suggest that history has shown communism not to work.

    Many of those appraisals are based on examples of people who tried to establish communism. Communists have launched revolutions in many places including Russia and China. In five countries – China, North Korea, Laos, Cuba and Vietnam – communist parties control the current governments. The economic and political systems in those countries are not fully communist, but some might be working to transition from capitalism to communism.

    In part because the U.S. has difficult relationships with these countries, many Americans have negative views of communists and communism. To evaluate those countries and to decide your own opinions about communism in general, it is important to first be clear about what the principles of communism are.

    Communists believe that people should share wealth so that no one is too poor, no one is too rich, and everyone has enough to survive and have a good life.

    A communist might be a member of a Communist party, which is a political party, or a member of a group of people who want to play a role in government.

    The opening of the 2014 convention of the Communist Party of the United States of America.

    In communism, people work together to produce and distribute the things they need to live, such as food, clothing and entertainment. That does not mean that everything is shared at all times.

    In a communist society, individuals might still live in their own homes and have their own food, clothing and personal items such as televisions and cellphones. However, the places where these items were produced, such as factories and farms, would be owned by everyone.

    Similarly, a person might still create artistic products such as works of literature or craftsmanship on their own. The goal would not be to make money, though, but instead to share for everyone to enjoy.

    Communists support some form of collective ownership. Ownership by everyone would ensure that all members of society have equal rights to the products from the factories and farms because they would all be part owners of the enterprises.

    In such a society, everyone would also have equal political rights and would participate in governance together. Theoretically, communism should entail some form of democracy.

    What is Marxism?

    German philosopher Karl Marx.
    John Jabez Edwin Mayal via Wikimedia Commons

    Throughout history, there have been many different views on what communism is, how it should be organized and how it might be achieved. The most famous theories about communism are probably the ones that were developed by a German philosopher named Karl Marx. His ideas are often called Marxism.

    Marx studied history and observed that the way people produced goods and services was closely related to who held power. For example, in farming societies, those who owned the land had more power than those who did not.

    Marx also noticed that people with less power had often risen up, usually violently, to overthrow the powerful people. He called this concept class struggle. He believed this process was how societies developed from one system of government and economy to another. He claimed that class struggle led societies through a progression toward greater efficiency in the production of goods and services, higher levels of technology and wider distribution of social and political power.

    When Marx was alive in the 1800s, an economic and political system called capitalism had developed in many countries. In capitalist societies, the economy centered on factories. Factory owners had significant political and economic influence.

    Marx observed that in countries such as Germany, England and the United States, factory owners hired laborers who worked long hours producing goods such as shirts or tables. While the factory owners sold these products at high prices, they paid the workers very little. As a result, the factory owners became richer, while many workers struggled to afford the goods they produced or even to provide food for their families.

    Marx believed that this inequality would eventually lead to a worker uprising. During their revolution, Marx predicted, the workers would seize control of the factories, begin running them more fairly, and this would lead to a new political system, known as socialism.

    Where does socialism fit in?

    A campaign poster from 1976, spotlighting the candidates from the Communist Party of the United States of America.
    Library of Congress

    Of course, if the workers staged a revolution, the factory owners would fight back. Marx thought that, immediately after the revolution, the workers would first need to create a strong government to prevent the owners from reestablishing capitalism. During that phase, which Marx called socialism, the workers would run the government while they continued moving away from capitalism and trying to create a more equal society.

    Marx thought people would eventually see that socialism was much better than capitalism because socialism would end exploitation while still allowing a society to continue moving toward better economic and political practices, but without inequality. Once that happened, a government would no longer be necessary.

    The society would become communist. There would still be governance, but not a government that was separated from the people. Rather, in a communist society, the people would govern together, and everyone would do some of the work and receive what they needed.

    There are Communist parties in many places, and many are currently working to move their countries toward communism. At this time, no country has yet made the transition to full communism, but many people still hope that transition will happen somewhere, sometime. Those people are communists. Communists are optimistic that humans can one day create a more fair and equal society.

    Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

    And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

    Aminda Smith 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. What is a communist, and what do communists believe? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-communist-and-what-do-communists-believe-234255

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What does Springfield, Illinois, in 1908 tell us about Springfield, Ohio, in 2024?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joseph Patrick Kelly, Professor of Literature and Director of Irish and Irish American Studies, College of Charleston

    Supporters gather at a campaign rally for Donald Trump in Butler, Pa., on Oct. 5, 2024. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

    Lying about Black people is nothing new in political campaigning.

    Despite the thorough debunking of false rumors that Haitian immigrants were eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, former President Donald Trump and his GOP allies insist on repeating the lies.

    “If I have to create stories,” admitted JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, “that’s what I’m going to do.”

    While many political observers believe that these lies have, as The New York Times columnist Lydia Polgreen described, finally “crossed a truly unacceptable line,” in fact, white politicians have told brazen, fearmongering, racist lies about Black people for over the past 100 years.

    One of the more notorious lies occurred in 1908 in another Springfield, this one in Illinois. As a historian who studies the impact of racism on democracy, it’s my belief that what happened there and in other cities helps to clarify what Trump and Vance are trying to do in Springfield, Ohio, today.

    Lying when everyone knows you’re lying seems to be the point.

    New target, old message

    Springfield, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln’s home town, was, in 1908, a working-class city of just under 50,000 people – about the same size as its modern counterpart in Ohio.

    Because of the city’s manufacturing industries, Springfield was also an attractive place to live and work for Black men and women escaping the social oppression of the Deep South.

    The Black population of Springfield had been growing by about 4% annually, and by 1908, roughly 2,500 Black people were living there to work in the city’s manufacturing plants. As the wealth of some Black families rose, so too did racist fears among whites that Black migrants were taking their jobs.

    Rumors spread through false newspaper reports among white residents that a Black man had raped a white woman.

    As the story went, a Black man broke through the screen door of a modest house in a white neighborhood. He supposedly dragged a 21-year-old white woman by her throat into the backyard, where he raped her. Or so the woman said.

    A couple of weeks after the incident, the woman admitted she lied. There was no Black man. There was no rape. But by then, telling the truth was too late. The rumor had triggered a wave of anti-Black violence.

    William English Walling, a white, liberal journalist from Kentucky, reported that Springfield’s white folks launched “deadly assaults on every negro they could lay their hands on, to sack and plunder their houses and stores, and to burn and murder.”

    For two days, the violence raged, while white “prosperous businessmen looked on” in complicit approval, Walling wrote. Several blocks in Black neighborhoods were burned, and at least eight Black men were killed.

    One of the men killed was William K. Donnegan. The 84-year-old died after his white attackers slit his throat and then hanged him with a clothesline from a tree near his home.

    As a dozen different rioters told Walling: “Why, the n—–s came to think they were as good as we are!”

    Telling the truth about racist tropes

    At the turn of the 19th century, racial tensions were most often expressed in sexual terms – Black men having sex with white women.

    That sexual anxiety was part of what cultural historians call a “master narrative,” a symbolic story that dramatizes white nationalism and the belief that citizenship and its benefits were preserved for one racial group at the expense of all others.

    One of the first to debunk this rape fantasy was Ida B. Wells, the Black editor and owner of the weekly “Memphis Free Press.”

    In 1892, a white mob lynched one of her good friends, Thomas Moss, and two others associated with his cooperative Peoples’ Grocery store. The Appeal Avalanche, a white Memphis newspaper, wrote that the lynching “was done decently and in order.”

    Ida B. Wells was among the NAACP’s founders.
    Library of Congress

    In her May 21, 1892, editorial about Moss’ death, Wells told a different story about “the same old racket – the new alarm about raping a white woman.”

    Wells explained that she worried that people who lived outside of the Deep South might believe the lies about Black people.

    “Nobody in this section of the country,” she wrote, not even the demagogues spreading rumors, “believe the old thread bare lie that Negro men rape white women.”

    Political fearmongering

    What happened in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1898 was based on a deliberate, cynical election strategy of lies.

    At the turn of the 20th century, North Carolina’s disaffected, poor working-class white Populists joined forces with Black Republicans to form what were known as the Fusionists.

    In Wilmington, then the largest city in North Carolina, the Fusionists were able to vote out the white-nationalist Democratic Party in the early 1890s and became a symbol of hope for a democratic South and racial equality.

    They also became a target for Democrats seeking to regain power and restore white nationalism.

    A political cartoon from the Raleigh News & Observer, Aug. 13, 1898.
    North Carolina Collection, UNC Chapel Hill

    The spark came in the summer of 1898 when Rebecca Felton, the wife of a Georgia congressman and a leading women’s rights advocate, gave an address to Georgia’s Agricultural Society on Aug. 11 that sought to protect the virtue of white women.

    “If it needs lynching,” she said, “to protect a woman’s dearest possession from the ravening of beasts – then I say lynch; a thousand times a week if necessary.”

    In response, Alexander Manly, the Black editor of The Daily Record, in Wilmington, followed the lead of Ida B. Wells and attacked the myths of Black men. Manly pointed out in his August 1898 editorial that poor white women “are not any more particular in the matter of clandestine meetings with colored men than are the white men with colored women.”

    Democrats bent on stoking racial fears circulated Manly’s editorial throughout North Carolina before the November 1898 elections, decrying the “Outrageous Attack on White Women!” by “the scurrilous negro editor.”

    If that wasn’t enough to stir up North Carolina Democrats, party officials sent the Red Shirts, their white nationalist militia, to Wilmington to overthrow the city’s biracial government, install all white officials and restore white rule.

    To that end, a white mob destroyed Manly’s newspaper office, chased him and other Black leaders into exile, rampaged through Black neighborhoods and killed an untold number of Black men.

    It was a white nationalist coup d’etat.

    The great white protector

    In his modern-day attempt to divide working-class white people from working-class Black people, Vance has urged his supporters to ignore “the crybabies” in the mainstream media.

    “Keep the cat memes flowing!” he posted on X.

    An estimated 67 million people watched the U.S. presidential debate on ABC and heard Trump angrily proclaim: “They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating … the pets of the people that live there.”

    Once again, the old narrative is resurrected.

    Joseph Kelly is not affiliated with any political party. In the past, he has been a volunteer with the Charleston County (SC) Democratic Party.

    – ref. What does Springfield, Illinois, in 1908 tell us about Springfield, Ohio, in 2024? – https://theconversation.com/what-does-springfield-illinois-in-1908-tell-us-about-springfield-ohio-in-2024-239074

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: AMERICA/HONDURAS – One month after the murder of pastoral worker Juan Antonio López: Three suspects arrested in Honduras

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Monday, 14 October 2024

    by Laura Gomez RuizTocoa (Agenzia Fides) – On September 14, Juan Antonio López (46), married and father of two daughters, coordinator of social pastoral care in the diocese of Trujillo and founding member of the Pastoral Care for Integral Ecology in Honduras, was shot dead in his car after attending a Eucharistic celebration in the Fabio Ochoa colony in the municipality of Tocoa, a city where he was also a councilor, about 300 kilometers from Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.López was known for his commitment to social justice and drew strength and courage from the source of his Christian faith. As the person in charge of preaching the Word of God in his parish and a member of the Ecclesial Ecological Network of Mesoamerica (REMAM), his special vocation also led him to work to protect natural resources for the benefit of the most vulnerable in his country. A commitment that brought him into conflict with the interests of the mining companies operating in Honduras.According to witnesses, armed men on motorcycles approached him as he was leaving the church where he had attended the Eucharist that evening and shot him. López died instantly. He had recently denounced the pollution of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers, which are threatened by illegal mining projects that endanger the water resources on which local communities depend. According to investigators, this may have been the motive for his murder.Local media reported that the crime occurred just hours after a press conference in which López, along with other community leaders, denounced alleged links between members of the Tocoa municipal government and organized crime.The National Police, meanwhile, arrested several suspects, and last Wednesday a court in San Pedro Sula issued an indictment and remanded three alleged perpetrators in custody. The evidence presented included images from security cameras in which the defendants were identified, as well as testimony from protected persons. In addition, the geolocation of the defendants’ phones confirms the suspicion that they had been following the victim for days and planned the murder. The lawyer for Juan López’s family asked prison authorities to guarantee the safety of the defendants in the hope that they would reveal the names of those behind the crime.”Juan’s commitment to ecology was not ideological, but the fruit of his faith,” said the bishop of the diocese of Trujillo, Jenry Ruiz. In a message published after the murder, Ruiz wrote: “For him, social, environmental and political commitment was not a matter of ideology, but an expression of his Christianity. He was a true servant of God and a tireless defender of his people.”López lived with the conviction that faith must be translated into concrete actions in favor of the weakest. His devotion to Saint Oscar Romero and his work in grassroots ecclesial communities drove him to work for social justice and dedicate his life to protecting Honduras’ rural communities and natural resources.”He knew that his commitment to protecting water and rivers put him in danger,” said a relative of the victim, recalling that he had previously received threats. Since 2023, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) had taken precautionary measures to protect him because he had received death threats for his work in defense of the environment.López’s murder is part of a growing repression against human rights activists in Honduras. “This crime is not an isolated case,” said REMAM and the “Laudato Sì” movement in a joint statement: “He is not just another name in the statistics; he was a child of God, a close and kind brother. We honor his testimony of faith and his work for a better common home,” added the Archbishop of Yucatán and President of REMAM, Gustavo Rodríguez Vega.Already in January 2022, there was a similar murder in Honduras: the pastoralworker Pablo Isabel Hernández (see Fides, 12/1/2022), was killed in the parish of San Marcos de Caiquín, in the department of Lempira, on his way to a celebration of the Word of God. In the same year, on March 2, the Catholic priest Enrique Vásquez was also killed on his way to his parents. His body was found north of San Pedro Sula, in Santa Cruz de Yojoa, with multiple gunshot wounds (see Fides, 4/3/2022).The Bishops’ Conference of Honduras, meanwhile, called on the authorities to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation. “We are deeply saddened,” the statement said the Bishops’ Conference, which asks the faithful to pray for López, “a true disciple and missionary”. “Juan Antonio López was a man committed to the truth, honest and courageous, who demonstrated his faith through his concrete actions,” say the bishops.Pope Francis, after the Angelus prayer, on Sunday 22 September, recalled the importance of protecting those who work for the common good. “I join in the grief of this local Church and in the condemnation of all forms of violence,” said the Pope, “I am close to all those who see their basic rights trampled on, as well as to those who work for the common good and in this way respond to the cry of the poor and the earth”, referring to the sad fate of Juan Antonio López. (Agenzia Fides, 14/10/2024)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Gangs’stories: Soraya, the ‘real’ Queen of the South in Nicaragua

    Source: The Conversation – France – By Dennis Rodgers, Research Professor, Anthropology and Sociology, Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID)

    For the past five years, the GANGS project, a European Research Council-funded project led by Dennis Rodgers, has been studying global gang dynamics in a comparative perspective. When understood in a nuanced manner that goes beyond the usual stereotypes and Manichean representations, gangs and gangsters arguably constitute fundamental lenses through which to think about and understand the world we live in.

    Dennis Rodgers describes how “Soraya” became involved in drug trafficking in Luis Fanor Hernández, a poor neighbourhood in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. Known locally as “la Reina del Sur” – the “Queen of the South” – her story shows how drug trafficking is a highly gendered activity, that reinforces macho violence and patriarchal dynamics of domination.

    Seated on a slightly tatty, overstuffed sofa, I watch as Soraya meticulously manicures Wanda’s fingernails. Her face a picture of tense concentration, she begins by carefully tracing red and white stripes along the distal bands of four out of five fingers on each hand, before then delicately dotting small flowers on each index.

    Wanda’s nails.
    D. Rodgers, Fourni par l’auteur

    We are in the barrio Luis Fanor Hernández, a poor urban neighbourhood in Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua, in Central America. I’ve been carrying out longitudinal ethnographic research on gang dynamics there since 1996. I returned in February 2020 to, among other things, interview Wanda about the way that the local drug trade – and particularly her husband Bismarck’s involvement – had impacted her life over the years. Wanda is one of my key research interlocutors in the barrio, whom I’ve known for over 25 years.

    “I can come back to do our interview later,” I say to Wanda.

    “No, no, it’s fine, Dennis,” she replies. “Soraya’s almost finished, and in any case, she’s de confianza, so why don’t we just get started? It’s not as if she doesn’t know about Bismarck and his drug dealing… But you know what? If you want a female perspective on drugs, you should really interview her, not me – I’m just the wife of an ex-drug dealer, but she’s la Reina del Sur!”

    “The Queen of the South?”, I ask, throwing Soraya a querying glance. Looking up from her manicuring labours, she smirks sardonically before saying, “You know, Dennis, like in the telenovela, about that Mexican woman who becomes a narcotraficante (drug dealer).”

    “Yes, I get that, I know the series, but she became a powerful drug dealer, and from what I know you’re not a big-time narco, are you?”

    “Nah, I was just a mulera (street dealer), but people call me la Reina del Sur, because I’m strong-willed and independent, just like the real Reina.”

    Chuckling, I reply, “You do know the Reina isn’t real, yes?”, before then asking her more earnestly, “but would you be willing to do an interview with me about all that, though?” Soraya ponders my request for a few seconds before replying brusquely, “dale, but not today, I’ve got an errand to run. I’ll meet you here at the same time tomorrow”.

    Without waiting for an answer, Soraya then dots a final petal on Wanda’s left index nail, packs up her files and polish, and leaves Wanda and me to our interview.

    The gendered nature of drug dealing in Latin America

    Drug trafficking has become an searing topic in Latin America over the last two decades.

    Every year, this criminal activity results in thousands of violent deaths and tens of thousands of health-related mortalities. Drug trafficking also has profoundly negative effects on economies, political systems, and ecologies in the region.

    Numerous studies have traced the forms of production, the actors involved, the routes and flows, the nature of local and international markets, and the profound but variable social impact that drugs can have.

    One point on which most studies agree is that drug trafficking is a predominantly male activity. Fewer women than men are involved, and they are generally seen through the prism of particular categorisations: either as victims, suffering direct and indirect forms of violence as a result of being the mothers, wives or girlfriends of drug traffickers, or as emancipated and liberated individuals whose involvement in trafficking challenges gender-based structures of power and inequality.

    These kinds of binary representations have long seemed simplistic to me. The interviews conducted with Wanda during the course of my years of research in barrio Luis Fanor Hernández have highlighted how the image of the drug dealer’s wife as a victim of her husband’s trafficking is a caricature. The same was also true of the interview I conducted with Soraya about her career as a drug dealer, which challenged the notion that drug dealing could be emancipating for a woman.

    “Pac-Man” in the barrio

    Soraya was born in barrio Luis Fanor Hernández in 1987. Her mother, Gladys, was from the neighbourhood, while her father, Jorge, was from Villa Cuba, a neighbourhood in the north-east of Managua. They had an on-and-off relationship for the first decade of Soraya’s life, meaning that she moved several times between her father’s home in Villa Cuba, and her maternal family home in barrio Luis Fanor Hernández. Gladys and Jorge split up definitely when Soraya was 13 years old, after Gladys stabbed Jorge with a kitchen knife while defending Soraya, whom he was beating.

    “My mother and I moved back [to barrio Luis Fanor Hernández] after we left my father. There were five of us in the house – me, my mother, my aunt, my cousin, and my cousin’s husband. You know him, Dennis, he’s the one they call ‘Pac-man’ [because of his great appetite], so you know he’s a narcotraficante [drug dealer]. My aunt and my cousin would help him from time to time with his bisnes, but this was when the drug trade was increasing, and he had lots to do, and they started asking me to ‘do them a favour’, to help them. At first it was small things, you know, moving drugs or money from one place to another, or helping them ‘cook’ cocaine into crack, but after a while I started selling for him as a mulera, in the streets, which I could do well because the police were less suspicious of me, as a young girl, you know.”

    Crack doses ready for sale.
    Dennis Rodgers, Fourni par l’auteur

    Neither the way nor the reasons why Soraya became involved in trafficking can be described as particularly emancipatory. Rather, they highlight the way in which drug trafficking in fact responds to very gendered and “intimate” logics. On the one hand, Soraya’s status as a young woman made her useful to her cousin’s husband in carrying out certain drug trafficking operations without attracting suspicion in a wider macho Nicaraguan context, but on the other hand, her family ties to “Pac-Man” also made it difficult for her to refuse to help him.

    Enduring gendered oppression

    Soraya’s involvement in drug trafficking was also profoundly affected by her relationship with Elvis Gomez, with whom she became involved at the age of 15 (when Elvis was 23). Elvis was a failed drug dealer. He had tried unsuccessfully to become involved in drug trafficking several times in the past, and once he was in a relationship with Soraya, he forced her to let him work with her so that he could benefit from the financial windfall that this activity generated for those involved in barrio Luis Fanor Hernández.

    The kind of house a successful drug dealer such as Soraya might have lived in in barrio Luis Fanor Hernández in 2003 (not her real house).
    Dennis Rodgers, Fourni par l’auteur

    One of the reasons Elvis had failed to establish himself as a drug dealer was that he was a drug user, and Soraya often had to cover for him when he consumed the drugs that “Pac-Man” gave him instead of selling them, repaying his loss of earnings through the profits of her own drug dealing.

    In 2010, Elvis used the savings that Soraya had accumulated from her drug dealing to finance his emigration to the United States. He told her he would bring her over later, but he left with another woman, Yulissa, with whom he had been involved simultaneously, along with their daughter. He also took Ramses, the son he had with Soraya in 2007, and cut off all contact with Soraya. She told me poignantly, “I was going crazy, texting him every day, telling him to let me talk to my son, and telling him to bring him back to Nicaragua, that I wanted him to live with me”. He only got back in touch in 2016, to insist that Soraya divorce him and formally transfer legal custody of Ramses to him, which she eventually did, in exchange for being able to be in regular contact with her son.

    This episode clearly illustrates how Soraya’s trafficking activities inscribed themselves within wider structures and practices of gender inequality and male domination. Nicaragua remains a country marked by patriarchy and machismo, something that was strikingly reflected in the law banning abortion under all circumstances passed in 2008, or the adoption of law 779 on gender violence in 2012, which defines all such instances as “domestic violence” that must be resolved through mediation rather than the penal system.

    In the end, although she was known as la Reina del Sur, this nickname had nothing to do with Soraya having a position of dominance in the drug trade in barrio Luis Fanor Hernández. Indeed, the vast majority of (few) women drug dealers in the neighbourhood were at the bottom of the business pyramid.

    Beautician

    Soraya says she stopped selling drugs in 2012, and that she is now a full-time beautician. Several current drug dealers in barrio Luis Fanor Hernández have, however, told me that she continues to deal and that her manicure business provides a convenient cover.

    The fact that Soraya earns no more than 15 to 20 dollars a week from her manicure business could clearly be interpreted as suggesting that this might be the case. Soraya firmly denies it, however, and I believe her. Not only does she take on various odd jobs to make ends meet for herself and her ageing mother, she also lives in very humble conditions. Her current home, in particular, is much less flamboyant than any of those in which she lived in the past.

    The type of house that Soraya lives in today (not her real house).
    Dennis Rodgers, Fourni par l’auteur

    When compared to the trajectories of male traffickers in the barrio – many of whom have greatly benefited, and continue to benefit, from their involvement in trafficking even after they have stopped dealing – it can be argued that Soraya’s involvement in drug trafficking has enhanced patriarchal and macho constraints, contributing to her current situation.

    At the same time, while Soraya’s life has unquestionably been marked by a constant struggle in the face of different forms of domination and oppression, she also frequently and persistently seeks to confront and challenge her predicament. This is perhaps partly linked to her involvement in the drug trade, as the WhatsApp exchange I had with Soraya on 8 March 2021 clearly suggested. She had uploaded a picture of herself drinking at a nightclub, overlaying it with the following text:

    “Today is International Women’s Day, and we celebrate the power of independent and autonomous women! We are beautiful, we are strong, and we can do whatever we want!”.

    I wrote to Soraya to wish her a happy International Women’s Day, and also to tell her that I’d started to write her biography “about when she was la Reina del Sur”. A few minutes later she replied – “por siempre La Reina!” (“forever the Queen!”).

    Dennis Rodgers a reçu une bourse ERC Advanced Grant (no. 787935) du Conseil Européen de la Recherche (https://erc.europa.eu) pour un projet intitulé “Gangs, Gangsters, and Ganglands: Towards a Global Comparative Ethnography” (GANGS).

    – ref. Gangs’stories: Soraya, the ‘real’ Queen of the South in Nicaragua – https://theconversation.com/gangsstories-soraya-the-real-queen-of-the-south-in-nicaragua-233837

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: LPL Financial Welcomes Financial Advisor Ashton Medina

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN DIEGO, Oct. 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LPL Financial LLC, announced today that financial advisor Ashton Medina, CFA®, CFP®, has joined LPL Financial’s broker-dealer and corporate RIA platforms, aligning with existing firm GradePoint Financial Group. He reported having served approximately $155 million in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets* and joins LPL from Synovus Securities.

    Based in Miami, Fla., Medina is in his fifth year as an advisor following an initial career as a portfolio manager at a private bank. He’s committed to delivering a broad spectrum of wealth management and financial planning services, with a focus on education to help his clients better understand the complexities of their financial lives.

    “I am very passionate about the world of investments,” said Medina, who immigrated from Colombia after graduating high school at age 16. “Transitioning from a portfolio manager to a financial advisor has allowed me to provide clients with a more holistic approach to their needs, so that I can address every facet of their finances and offer a higher level of value.”

    Looking for independence and the autonomy to run his business on his own terms, Medina turned to LPL and GradePoint.

    “I’m excited to be part of LPL and GradePoint Financial Group,” said Medina. “I really appreciate LPL’s comprehensive digital platform with single sign-on where I can access everything in one place. This will allow me to expand my service offering and create more positive experiences for clients. I am also impressed with GradePoint’s localized support and dedicated resources.”

    Jeff Hughes, President of GradePoint Financial Group, said, “We’re thrilled to welcome our newest team member, Ashton Medina, to Gradepoint Financial. Ashton excels at transforming intricate challenges into customized solutions, especially in unique situations. With a keen focus on multi-generational wealth and estate planning, his personalized approach and attention to detail make him a great addition to our team. Welcome Ashton!”

    Scott Posner, LPL Executive Vice President, Business Development, said, “We welcome Ashton to LPL and congratulate him on making the move to independence. At LPL, we’re committed to delivering differentiated support services and robust resources, along with the freedom, choice and ability advisors need to build a business of value on their own terms. We look forward to supporting the entire GradePoint Financial Group for years to come.”

    Related

    Advisors, learn how LPL Financial can help take your business to the next level.

    About LPL Financial

    LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LPLA) was founded on the principle that LPL should work for advisors and institutions, and not the other way around. Today, LPL is a leader in the markets we serve, serving more than 23,000 financial advisors, including advisors at approximately 1,000 institutions and at approximately 580 registered investment advisor firms nationwide. We are steadfast in our commitment to the advisor-mediated model and the belief that Americans deserve access to personalized guidance from a financial professional. At LPL, independence means that advisors and institution leaders have the freedom they deserve to choose the business model, services and technology resources that allow them to run a thriving business. They have the flexibility to do business their way. And they have the freedom to manage their client relationships, because they know their clients best. Simply put, we take care of our advisors and institutions, so they can take care of their clients.

    Securities and Advisory services offered through LPL Financial LLC (“LPL Financial”), a registered investment advisor.
     Member FINRA/SIPC. LPL Financial and its affiliated companies provide financial services only from the United States. GradePoint Financial Group and LPL Financial are separate entities.

    Throughout this communication, the terms “financial advisors” and “advisors” are used to refer to registered representatives and/or investment advisor representatives affiliated with LPL Financial.

    We routinely disclose information that may be important to shareholders in the “Investor Relations” or “Press Releases” section of our website.

    *Value approximated based on asset and holding details provided to LPL from end of year, 2023.

    Media Contact: 
    Media.relations@LPLFinancial.com 
    (704) 996-1840

    Tracking #641811

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Turtle Beach Drives Growth in Key International Markets, Including Canada & Key Territories in Latin America

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Canadian Gamers Can Now Find the Latest
    Turtle Beach Gaming Accessories at Best Buy Canada

    Turtle Beach Launches a Variety of New Gaming Accessories
    in Mexico & Colombia & Expands into Chile

    WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Oct. 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Leading gaming accessories maker Turtle Beach Corporation (Nasdaq: HEAR) is bringing its best-selling and award-winning gaming accessories to more gamers in key international markets, including Canada and Latin America.

    In Canada, Turtle Beach’s latest Stealth™ 700, Stealth 600, and Stealth 500 wireless multiplatform headsets, Atlas Air™ wireless PC headset, Vulcan II TKL Pro PC gaming keyboard, and Burst™ II Air PC gaming mouse are now available at Best Buy Canada. Top Canada-based publication CGMag recently gave the Stealth 700 and Atlas Air 9/10 review scores and awarded the Vulcan II TKL Pro a 9.5/10. All three also received CGMag’s Editor’s Choice accolade. CoG Connected – another popular publication based in Canada, also awarded the Stealth 700 a 93/100 score, while the Best Buy Canada Blog recommends both the Stealth 600 and Stealth 500 headsets. French-Canadian fansite GpourGeek reviewed the Atlas Air with a 9.5/10 review score, the Vulcan II TKL Pro with a 9.7/10 review score, and additionally gave the Burst II Air mouse a 9.1/10 score.

    In Latin America, Turtle Beach continues growing in key markets, including adding more gaming accessories to the catalogue of what’s available in Mexico and Colombia, as well as focusing on new growth opportunities in Chile. This Latin America product catalog expansion includes gaming accessories from both Turtle Beach and Performance Designed Products LLC (PDP) – a top gaming accessories maker Turtle Beach acquired earlier in 2024 known for creating premium game controllers and unique, officially licensed products.

    “We’re excited to expand Turtle Beach’s global reach and put our game-changing accessories in more gamers’ hands,” said Cris Keirn, CEO, Turtle Beach Corporation. “With Best Buy Canada, gamers now have another major option to shop for Turtle Beach and PDP gaming accessories, both in stores and online, which we expect to further improve our leading share position in Canada over time.”

    Keirn continued, “In Latin America Turtle Beach has had a steady and growing presence in Mexico, Colombia, and Panama. We’re excited to fill out our range of products with the latest, top-rated accessories, and to now deliver these fantastic Turtle Beach and PDP gaming accessories into Chile.”

    In Mexico and Colombia, Turtle Beach has been an established gaming accessories brand for years and is preparing to launch its latest Stealth 600 and Stealth 500 wireless multiplatform headsets and wired Recon 70 models, as well as the premium wireless Stealth Ultra controller. Also, from Turtle Beach’s PDP brand, gamers in Mexico and Colombia will now also be able to get their hands on a variety of officially licensed REMATCH GLOW and Afterglow Wave wired and wireless controllers for Xbox, PC, and other game systems. In Colombia, the new Turtle Beach and PDP gaming accessories just launched at retailers including Alkosto, Ktronix, Panamericana, and Alkomprar. In Mexico, the new gaming accessories launch October 24, 2024, at retailers including Elektra, Gameplanet, Wal-Mart Mexico, Liverpool, Sanborns, Sears, and Amazon.

    Turtle Beach and PDP are also underway with plans to introduce a variety of proven, top-performing accessories to gamers in Chile. Following the Mexico and Colombia launches, in Chile on November 7, 2024, Turtle Beach is also introducing the Stealth 600 and Stealth 500 wireless headsets, Recon 70 wired headsets, and premium wireless Stealth Ultra controller. Officially licensed REMATCH GLOW and Afterglow Wave controllers from PDP will also be available at participating retailers including Paris and Falabella.

    For more information on the latest Turtle Beach products and accessories available in Canada and Latin America, visit https://ca.turtlebeach.com and https://latam.turtlebeach.com, and be sure to follow Turtle Beach on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. For more information on the latest PDP products and accessories, visit http://www.pdp.com and http://www.victrixpro.com.

    About PDP
    PDP is an industry leader and award-winning provider of high-quality licensed peripherals and accessories for all major video game platforms. PDP believes that design-forward, high-performance gear should be as unique and accessible as the gaming community itself. From beginner to professional, PDP’s product lines offer uncompromising performance and striking designs that transport gamers into seamless, immersive experiences where competition, connection, and personal expression are limitless. Victrix by PDP is purpose built for esports athletes and enthusiasts looking for unmatched performance and competitive advantage. For over 25 years, PDP has been supplying video game peripherals and accessories to major retailers across the world, including retailers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. For more information, visit http://www.pdp.com and http://www.victrixpro.com.

    About Turtle Beach Corporation
    Turtle Beach Corporation (the “Company”) (http://www.turtlebeachcorp.com) is one of the world’s leading gaming accessory providers. The Company’s namesake Turtle Beach brand (http://www.turtlebeach.com) is known for designing best-selling gaming headsets, top-rated game controllers, award-winning PC gaming peripherals, and groundbreaking gaming simulation accessories. Innovation, first-to-market features, a broad range of products for all types of gamers, and top-rated customer support have made Turtle Beach a fan-favorite brand and the market leader in console gaming audio for over a decade. Turtle Beach Corporation acquired Performance Designed Products LLC (http://www.pdp.com) in 2024. Turtle Beach’s shares are traded on the Nasdaq Exchange under the symbol: HEAR.

    Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
    This press release includes forward-looking information and statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Except for historical information contained in this release, statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements regarding assumptions, projections, expectations, targets, intentions or beliefs about future events. Statements containing the words “may,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “estimate,” “target,” “goal,” “project,” “intend” and similar expressions, or the negatives thereof, constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are only predictions and are not guarantees of performance. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. The inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by the Company, or any person, that the objectives of the Company will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs and expectations, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management.

    While the Company believes that its expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurances that its goals and strategy will be realized. Numerous factors, including risks and uncertainties, may affect actual results and may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements made by the Company or on its behalf. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, risks related to logistic and supply chain challenges and costs, the substantial uncertainties inherent in the acceptance of existing and future products, the difficulty of commercializing and protecting new technology, the impact of competitive products and pricing, general business and economic conditions, risks associated with the expansion of our business, including the integration of any businesses we acquire and the integration of such businesses within our internal control over financial reporting and operations, our indebtedness, liquidity, and other factors discussed in our public filings, including the risk factors included in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and the Company’s other periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States and the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Company is under no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement after the date of this release whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

    All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

    CONTACTS:

    North America
    Eric Nielsen
    Step 3 Public Relations
    202.276.5357
    eric@step-3.com

    MacLean Marshall
    Sr. Director, Global Communications
    Turtle Beach Corporation
    858.914.5093
    maclean.marshall@turtlebeach.com

    Europe
    Keith Hennessey
    Sr. Director, Communications &
    Partnerships – International
    Turtle Beach
    +44 (0) 1256 678350
    keith.hennessey@turtlebeach.com

    Investor Information
    ICR
    646.277.1285
    hear@icrinc.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Lujan Grisham issues statement in celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day

    Source: US State of New Mexico

    ​SANTA FE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued the following statement on Monday in commemoration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which the governor established as a state holiday in 2019:

    “Today, I join all New Mexicans in celebrating the Indigenous nations and people of New Mexico and across the country while honoring their sacred languages, cultures, and heritage. Today is about reflecting on history, learning from it, and recognizing the resilience of our indigenous communities. My administration continues to strengthen relationships with the nations, tribes and pueblos in New Mexico built on the premise of honoring tribal sovereignty and self-determination.”

    Indian Affairs Department Secretary Josett Monette, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, issued the following statement:

    “Indigenous Peoples’ Day represents recognition and acknowledgement of Indigenous people in our state as well as our country’s difficult history. Indigenous histories have been repressed, but New Mexico is correcting that and empowering Native American people in New Mexico to be at the forefront of our state’s identity, culture, and future. Indigenous People are resilient and continue to make incredible and valuable contributions throughout New Mexico in every industry. Indigenous Peoples’ Day provides an opportunity to honor and understand those vital contributions and to take some time to learn a little more about our Indigenous partners and relatives in our great state.”

    In April 2019, Gov. Lujan Grisham signed into law the establishment of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, to be celebrated annually on the second Monday in October as an official state holiday.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: GUU at the IX BRICS Legal Forum 2024

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

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

    A representative of the State University of Management took part in the IX BRICS Legal Forum 2024 “Law on Guard of a Just World”.

    Researcher, Associate Professor Anna Churikova presented a report on the topic “Digital Transformation of Local Government in Brazil”. Based on the analysis of foreign law enforcement practice, legislation and scientific literature, the work identified the main problems of legal regulation of the digital transformation of local government in the BRICS countries and proposed ways to solve them.

    The report generated interest among scientists and discussions on the topic of digital transformation of local governments.

    The research, the results of which were presented in the report, was carried out with the help of the grant of the Russian Science Foundation No. 23-28-01252 “Transformation of the institution of local self-government in the Russian Federation in the context of the development of modern digital technologies: legal aspects” with the organizational support of the State University of Management.

    The founders and organizers of the forum are: Brazilian Bar Association, Russian Bar Association, Indian Bar Association, Chinese Law Society, Law Society of South Africa, East China University of Political Science and Law, University of Cape Town.

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 10/14/2024

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

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

    GUU at the IX BRICS Legal Forum 2024

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: John C Williams: All about data

    Source: Bank for International Settlements

    Introduction

    Good morning. I’m so pleased to be here at Binghamton University, a true gem of the SUNY system. Meeting with students, educators, and business and community leaders is a valuable and enjoyable part of my job.

    The New York Fed represents the Federal Reserve System’s Second District, which includes New York State, northern New Jersey, western Connecticut, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This is a diverse region made up of many smaller local economies. Therefore, it’s important for me and my colleagues at the New York Fed to collect data and learn about the challenges and opportunities facing all of the communities we serve.

    That said, monetary policy affects everyone, and the Federal Reserve is committed to using its tools to achieve its dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability. Today, I will talk about monetary policy and how the Fed is working to fulfill this dual mandate. I’ll also give you my outlook on the U.S. economy.

    Before I do, I will give the standard Fed disclaimer that the views I express today are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) or others in the Federal Reserve System.

    Obsessing Over Data

    As I’ve traveled around the Southern Tier region, I’ve enjoyed seeing the emergence of the colors of autumn. Tracking fall foliage is a hobby for many. What I like is that it’s all about data. “Leaf peepers” submit field reports on changing color conditions, and experts pore over the information. One forecast predicts we will hit peak foliage in four days.1

    At the Fed, we’re equally obsessed with data. In our case, we study data about the economy-whether here in the district, across the country, or around the world. So, I’ll highlight some of the data that help my understanding of how the economy is performing relative to our dual mandate goals, as well as what policy actions we can take to achieve these goals.

    When inflation became unacceptably high and the labor market exceptionally tight, the FOMC acted with resolve to bring inflation back down to our 2 percent longer-run target. The Committee’s strong actions have helped bring the economy much closer to our goals. Imbalances between supply and demand in the economy have mostly dissipated, even as the economy and employment have continued to grow. And inflation, as measured by the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, has declined from over 7 percent in June of 2022 to just 2-1/4 percent in the latest reading. There’s still some distance to go to reach our goal of 2 percent, but we’re definitely moving in the right direction.

    The data paint a picture of an economy that has returned to balance, or in a word that the English majors in the room may appreciate, “equipoise.” In light of the progress we have seen in reducing inflation and restoring balance to the economy, the FOMC decided at its most recent meeting to lower the interest rate that it sets. Simply put, this action will help maintain the strength of the economy and labor market while inflation moves back to 2 percent on a sustainable basis.

    Moving to Price Stability

    I’ll go further into our policy decision and what it means for the economic outlook in a minute. But first, I’ll give more details about each side of our dual mandate, starting with inflation. I’ll use an onion analogy that I have found useful over the past two years to demonstrate how inflation’s three distinct layers are normalizing at different rates.2

    The onion’s outer layer represents globally traded commodities. As the economy started to rebound from pandemic shutdowns and demand began to soar, inflation surged, then rose further when Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, supply and demand have come into balance, and these prices have generally been flat or falling.

    The middle onion layer is made up of core goods, excluding commodities. Demand for goods rose sharply as the economy emerged from the pandemic downturn-just as global pandemic-related supply-chain disruptions significantly hampered supply. But, as seen in the New York Fed’s Global Supply Chain Pressure Index, those supply pressures have eased, and core goods inflation has returned to pre-pandemic norms.3

    The inner onion layer comprises core services. Although this category is taking the longest to normalize, the disinflationary process is well underway here too. For example, measures of underlying inflation that tend to be heavily influenced by core services inflation today average around 2-1/2 percent.4

    One positive piece of data that reinforces my confidence that inflation is on course to reach our 2 percent goal is that inflation expectations remain well anchored across all forecast horizons. This is seen in the New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations as well as other surveys and market-based measures.5

    A Labor Market in Balance

    Now I’ll turn to the employment side of our mandate. And no surprise, I’ll point to data. A wide range of metrics-including the unemployment rate; measures of job openings, hiring, quits, and employment flows; and perceptions of job and worker availability-indicate that the very tight labor market of the past few years has now returned to more normal conditions and is unlikely to be a source of inflationary pressures going forward.

    Recent analysis by researchers at the New York Fed provides a useful way to gauge whether the labor market is tight or loose.6 They find that you can effectively summarize the state of the overall labor market in terms of its effect on compensation growth by using just two indicators: the rate at which employees quit their jobs and the ratio of job openings to job seekers. In fact, once you take these two measures into account, other labor market metrics that get a lot of attention-such as the unemployment rate and the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio-don’t provide additional useful information. 

    Combining these two measures into an index of labor market tightness provides two key insights. First, data as of the second quarter of this year indicate that the labor market is about where it was in early 2018-a period of solid labor market conditions and low inflation. Second, compensation growth should soon return to levels that prevailed prior to the pandemic.

    Seasons of Change

    So, the labor market is solid. The economy is in a good place. And inflation is closing in on our 2 percent longer-run goal. With the risks to achieving our goals now in balance, the FOMC decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by half a percentage point, to 4-3/4 to 5 percent. In addition, the Committee continued to normalize the holdings of securities on the Fed’s balance sheet.7

    Looking ahead, based on my current forecast for the economy, I expect that it will be appropriate to continue the process of moving the stance of monetary policy to a more neutral setting over time. The timing and pace of future adjustments to interest rates will be based on the evolution of the data, the economic outlook, and the risks to achieving our goals. We will continue to be data-dependent and attuned to the evolution of economic conditions in making our decisions.

    With monetary policy moving to a more neutral setting over time, I expect real GDP to grow between 2-1/4 and 2-1/2 percent this year and to average about 2-1/4 percent over the next two years. I anticipate the unemployment rate to edge up from its current level of about 4 percent to around 4-1/4 percent at the end of this year and stay around that level next year. With the economy in balance and inflation expectations well anchored, I expect overall PCE inflation to be around 2-1/4 percent this year, and to be close to 2 percent next year.

    Conclusion

    The economy has been on a remarkable journey. In two years, the red-hot labor market has normalized, and inflation has come within striking distance of our 2 percent longer-run goal-all while employment and the economy continue to grow.

    We instituted and maintained a very restrictive monetary policy stance until the data gave us confidence that inflation is sustainably on course to 2 percent. With this progress toward achieving price stability, moving toward a more neutral monetary policy stance will help maintain the strength of the economy and labor market. Although the outlook remains uncertain, we are well positioned to achieve our dual mandate goals.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Frieze 2024: it’s an industry art fair you’re not supposed to like – but here’s why you might

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Martin Lang, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader in Fine Art , University of Lincoln

    The average art lover isn’t supposed to like art fairs because they’re so corporate. When you pay £9 for a sandwich and your wifi is sponsored by a big bank, you can understand the reservations. They’re also too big and crowded. Even the VIPs are left queuing to get in.

    But the fair provides opportunities to see work from galleries from all over the world in London and there is plenty of good art on display. As Frieze describes itself “[it] is one of the world’s most influential contemporary art fairs, focusing only on contemporary art and living artists”. It is primarily for those in the art world, those who create, critique and those who collect, and a lot of money changes hands as the world’s galleries show the best they have. But it has also become a cultural day out.

    Apart from loads of great painting and the occasional noncommercial showpiece, Frieze goes out of its way to balance the corporate with more thoughtful displays. There’s a chance to see big-name artists, international galleries and work by new artists. The “Artist-to-Artist” section returned this year, containing work by emerging talents (selected by established artists). With so much on show, Frieze can be daunting. You can easily spend a whole day at the fair, but with so much on display there is truly something for everybody.

    At this year’s Frieze, international highlights included Proyectos Ultravioleta from Guatemala city, who showed miniature paintings by Rosa Elena Curruchich hung alongside larger works emblazoned with the text “me venden” (they’re selling me) by Edgar Calels. Calels also brought the smell of a forest into the booth by covering the floor with pine needles.

    Jhaveri Contemporary (Mumbai, India) presented work by the Bangladeshi duo Kamruzzaman Shadhin and Gidree Bawlee. The piece Kaal (Pala) consists of seven delightful jute figures – among the most enchanting figurative sculptures I have seen recently. Joydeb Roaja’s pen drawings of people, tanks, and people with tanks on their heads are as enigmatic and disturbing as they are engaging.

    Non-commercial art appeared in Jenkins Van Zyl’s Sweat Exchange at Edel Assanti (London). This video installation housed in what Van Zyl has called a sauna-cum-“sweat extraction brewery”, which features two doppelgangers, who alternate between self-care and abuse. Imagine the Pink Panther crossed with Jar Jar Binks as a drag queen and you’re nearly there.

    Then there was Patrick Goddard’s silver cast bees on the floor of Seventeen Gallery, and Lawrence Lek (winner of the Frieze artist award) who has produced Guanyin: Confessions of a Former Carebot – an interactive videogame installation about an AI created to service self-driving cars.

    Most of the works were are those hung on walls. Gallery booths have a small storage area in which they are able to keep paintings and prints, (but less able to store sculptural works). Collectors also favour paintings, prints and photographs to adorn their walls (or similarly put into storage) over artists’ films or video installations.

    What’s to complain about though when there is so much good painting on display?

    Highlights included Tom Anholt and Ryan Mosley at Josh Lilley Gallery (London); Carl Freedman Gallery (Margate), which showed great paintings by Ben Senior, Laura Footes and Vanessa Raw (as well as Lindsey Mendick’s ceramic sculptures) and Tanya Leighton Gallery (Berlin and LA), which had plenty of good painting on show, including works by Matthew Krishanu. Ingleby (Edinburgh) showed Andrew Cranston and Hayley Barker and Arcadia Missa (London) showed Lewis Hammond’s Schmetterling, an eerie blue interior with an unsettling blue-eyed figure, and Jesse Darling, whose Come on England (up the) takes a novel approach to wall-based work by leaning crowd-control barriers in the corner of the gallery booth.

    Counter Editions (Margate) presented a Tracey Emin solo show. You’re not supposed to like Emin, since she outed herself as a Tory sympathiser. Opposite is a Billy Childish solo show at Lehmann Maupin (London, Seoul, New York), where the artist paints live while wearing a beret next to a dirty stepladder for reaching the tops of the large canvases. You’re not supposed to like Billy Childish either because he is a Stuckist (stuck in the age of Van Gogh and Edvard Munch – his only two art heroes). Funnily enough, Charles Thomson, co-founder of Stuckism, derived the name from an insult by Emin, who told Childish, her ex-lover, that his art was “stuck, stuck, stuck”. Don’t tell anybody, but the Emin and Childish works were quite good.

    With an annual curated section, more solo shows and over 270 Galleries from more than 40 countries, if you love art in all its forms (and can afford it) you should experience Frieze London at least once. If you didn’t go this year, you really should spend a day there next. Despite what people say… you’re bound to find something you like.


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

    Martin Lang 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. Frieze 2024: it’s an industry art fair you’re not supposed to like – but here’s why you might – https://theconversation.com/frieze-2024-its-an-industry-art-fair-youre-not-supposed-to-like-but-heres-why-you-might-241293

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Coming Oct. 17: See the latest games from Xbox partners

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Coming Oct. 17: See the latest games from Xbox partners

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Government’s Support Fuels Transformation of Bioenergy Ecosystem in India: Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Government’s Support Fuels Transformation of Bioenergy Ecosystem in India: Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri

    Minister Puri addresses 12th Edition of the CII Bioenergy Summit

    Posted On: 14 OCT 2024 5:13PM by PIB Delhi

    At the 12th Edition of the CII Bioenergy Summit today, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, underscored India’s remarkable progress in bioenergy, aligning with the summit’s theme, “Fuelling the Future – Securing India’s Green Growth Goals.” Shri Puri highlighted the success of India’s ethanol blending initiative, which has seen the blending percentage rise from 1.53% in 2014 to a projected 15% by 2024. Encouraged by these results, the government has advanced its target for 20% blending to 2025, reinforcing its commitment to sustainable energy. He further revealed that discussions have already started to develop a roadmap for the future, post the attainment of the 20% blending target. This roadmap will guide the country’s next steps in its pursuit of energy sustainability and self-reliance.

    Shri Hardeep Singh Puri commended Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s leadership in transforming India’s bioenergy ecosystem since 2014. He emphasized the crucial role of market dynamics, technology advancements, and supportive government policies in driving this transformation and enhancing sustainability in the energy sector.

    The Minister shared impressive outcomes of the ethanol program, revealing that from 2014 to August 2024, it has generated foreign exchange savings of ₹1,06,072 crore, reduced CO2 emissions by 544 lakh metric tons, and achieved crude oil substitution of 181 lakh metric tons. Payments to distillers by OMCs have reached ₹1,50,097 crore. Furthermore, he said, farmers have been paid ₹90,059 crore, empowering them from being Annadata to being Urjadata. Additionally, he mentioned about the government’s ambitious targets for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), aiming for 1% blending in 2027 and 2% in 2028, positioning India as a leader in bio-mobility.

    At the event, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri emphasized India’s robust economic growth, predicting it will drive 25% of global energy demand over the next two decades. He noted that bioenergy will be crucial in meeting this demand while advancing climate goals and rural development. Currently valued at US$44 billion (as per Wood Mckenzie), the Minister said that the bioenergy market is projected to grow to US$125 billion by 2050. If global net-zero targets are achieved, this figure could surge to US$500 billion.

    Underscoring India’s agricultural strength and its vast biomass potential as critical elements in the country’s transition to clean energy, Shri Puri said that the country recognized as an agricultural powerhouse, is a leading producer of rice, wheat, cotton, sugar, and various horticultural and dairy products. He said that the country has more than 750 million metric tonnes of available biomass, with about two-thirds being used for domestic purposes such as cattle feed and compost fertilizer.  According to a report by PWC, he noted, 32% of India’s total primary energy consumption is derived from biomass, and over 70% of Indians rely on it for energy across the value chain.

    India’s position as a major biofuel producer and consumer has been strengthened through coordinated policies, political support, and abundant feedstocks, said Shri Hardeep Singh Puri. He noted that the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts a growth potential of 3.5 to 5 times for biofuels by 2050 due to Net Zero targets, presenting a substantial opportunity for India. The Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) aims to facilitate knowledge sharing, technological advancement, and policy development, unlocking a $500 billion opportunity in biofuels and accelerating global adoption through technology transfer. He said that the government initiatives, such as the Indian Solar Alliance (ISA) and GBA, aim to accelerate the transition to cleaner energy sources, reduce import dependency, save foreign exchange, promote a circular economy, and move toward a self-reliant energy future.

    The Minister also referred to different incentives introduced by government to support ethanol production.

    Shri Puri also highlighted India’s collaboration with Brazil, emphasizing the importance of joint efforts in sustainable bioenergy and biofuels to enhance energy security and reduce carbon emissions, particularly in hard-to-decarbonize sectors like aviation and shipping.

    In his concluding remarks, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri emphasized that the responsibility for fuelling India’s green growth extends beyond the government to include industry leaders, researchers, innovators, and citizens. He urged all stakeholders to collaborate boldly to establish a sustainable bioenergy sector that meets energy needs and sets a global standard.

    *****

    MN

    (Release ID: 2064696) Visitor Counter : 63

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Human Rights Committee Opens One Hundred and Forty-Second Session in Geneva

    Source: United Nations – Geneva

    The Human Rights Committee today opened its one hundred and forty-second session, during which it will examine the reports of Ecuador, France, Greece, Iceland, Pakistan and Türkiye on their implementation of the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

    In opening remarks, Dimiter Chalev, Chief, Rule of Law, Equality and Non-Discrimination Branch, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Representative of the Secretary-General, said he was pleased that all the annual sessions of the treaty bodies could take place this year despite the current liquidity situation facing the United Nations, including the Committee’s one-week working group on communications.  This session was taking place amidst escalating human rights concerns in the context of widening inequalities throughout the world, war on various continents, and an unprecedented electoral year in which nearly half of the world’s population was called upon to vote.  The Committee’s work was essential in ensuring that the voices of the marginalised were heard, that violations were documented, and that States parties were reminded of their obligations under the Covenant. 

    With respect to developments specifically related to civil and political rights, several key reports were considered by the Human Rights Council during its most recent session that ended last Friday.  The High Commissioner’s report on terrorism and human rights focused on the increased use of administrative measures in counter-terrorism, and drew from the Committee’s recommendations to many States.  The Council was also presented with a study by the Office of the High Commissioner on the role of the rule of law and accountability, at the national and international levels, which emphasised the critical role of the rule of law and accountability in preventing human rights violations and abuses.  

    The High Commissioner also presented his report on racial justice and equality, in which he highlighted multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination experienced by Africans and people of African descent in various regions.  The Expert Mechanism to advance racial justice and equality in law enforcement presented its report on justice, accountability and redress for human rights violations committed by law enforcement officials against Africans and people of African descent.  It was noteworthy that these reports specifically referenced the work of the Committee, including its general comments and Views.  As these reports demonstrated, the work of the Committee provided a vital legal and moral framework that empowered mechanisms to hold States accountable for violations of civil and political rights.

    Mr. Chalev noted the increased collaboration between the Committee and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, demonstrated by the participation of a Committee member in this year’s Expert Mechanism seventeenth annual session.  

    The first report of the Secretary-General on the human rights implications of digital technologies and artificial intelligence in the administration of justice related to the Committee’s mandate.  The report had recently been issued and would be presented to the General Assembly at the current session.  For example, one of the recommendations was that in their reports to treaty bodies, States could provide information on the design, use and deployment of digital technology and artificial intelligence in their justice systems.  Such information would increase transparency and allow the Committee to provide oversight and guidance on the compatibility of such technology with the provisions of the Covenant.  Almost one month ago, the General Assembly adopted the Pact for the Future, described as a “groundbreaking pact . . . to transform global governance.”  While waiting to learn the precise implications of the Pact for the treaty bodies, the renewed commitment to human rights was welcomed.

    This marked the last session of four members whose terms would end at the end of the year and their service was deeply appreciated.  This session, the Committee would examine the implementation of the Covenant in six States parties, adopt one list of issues and six list of issues prior to reporting, and review several individual communications under the Optional Protocol.  Mr. Chalev wished the Committee a successful and productive session.

    The Committee adopted its agenda and programme of work for the session.

    Tania Abo Rocholl, Committee Chairperson, thanked Mr. Chalev for the opening statement and said the issues he had raised were key to the Covenant and the Committee took them very seriously.  The Committee wanted to thank the Office of the High Commissioner for the efforts made for the success of the Committee’s sessions.  Last year had been one of great challenges for the Office, and it was hoped they could work hand in hand towards the common goal of better human rights across the world. 

    Wafaa Bassim, Committee Expert and Chair of the working group on communications, presented the working group’s report for the one hundred and forty-second session.  The working group had considered 19 drafts relating to 297 communications, which was a record number of communications examined at one single session by any Committee.  The Working Group also considered communications raising new and complex issues such as the jurisdiction in situations of sub-contracted immigration detention facilities in another State, the assessment of special penitentiary regimes imposed on specific groups of sentenced individuals, birth registration, and intra-family rape of girls, among others.  The Committee also considered communications and covered issues relating to non-refoulement and deportation, freedom of religion, fair trial, and arbitrary detention, among others.  The Working Group was putting for consideration of the plenary seven drafts of inadmissibility, one simplified draft with a finding of violation, and 11 drafts proposing a violation of the provisions in the Covenant.

    The Human Rights Committee’s one hundred and forty-second session is being held from 14 October to 7 November 2024.  All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage.  Meeting summary releases can be found here.  The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings can be accessed via the UN Web TV webpage.

    The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 15 October, to begin its consideration of the sixth periodic report of Iceland (CCPR/C/ISL/6).

     

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

     

    CCPR24.020E

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Civil Society Organizations Brief the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on the Situation of Women in Chile, Canada, Japan, Cuba and Benin

    Source: United Nations – Geneva

    The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was this afternoon briefed by representatives of civil society organizations on the situation of women’s rights in Chile, Canada, Japan, Cuba and Benin, whose reports will be considered during the second and third weeks of the session.

    In relation to Chile, speakers raised concerns regarding gender-based violence, abortion, and the treatment of trans people.

    Those speaking on Canada raised topics including the treatment of indigenous women and girls, femicide, and harassment of migrant workers. 

    On Japan, speakers addressed the selective surname system, Japan’s military sexual slavery, and women’s pensions.

    Speakers for Cuba raised issues including legislation on femicide, women in poverty, and the treatment of lesbians. 

    In relation to Benin, speakers addressed human trafficking, attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex, queer and transgender people, and discrimination of sex workers. 

    The National Rights Institute of Chile and the Children’s Rights Ombudsperson of Chile spoke on Chile, as did the following non-governmental organizations: Corporation of Opportunity and Jointly Action Opcion – OPCION; Federación Luterana Mundial; and CIMUNIDIS – Círculo Emancipados de Mujeres y Niñas con Discapacidad de Chile.

    The following non-governmental organizations spoke on Canada: Union of BC Indian Chiefs; South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario and Colour of Poverty – Colour of Change; Justice for Girls and Just Planet; Cecile Kazatchkine, on behalf of HIV Legal Network, Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic; Bout du monde; Amnesty International Canada; Aysha Khan, on behalf of International Human Rights Program (IHRP) at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Global Human Rights Clinic (GHRC) at the University of Chicago Law School, and a coalition of almost 50 organizations; Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN); International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Canada (IPPNWC); and Amnesty International Canada. 

    The following non-governmental organizations spoke on Japan: Family Association of the Missing Persons Probably Related to the DPRK; Association to Preserve the Family Bond; People’s Alliance for Protection of Imperial Lineage by Paternal Male Succession to the Imperial Throne; Global Alliance for Anti-Discrimination (GAAD); JNNC (Japan NGO Network for CEDAW); JFBA (Japan Federation of Bar Associations); Be the Change Okinawa, and on behalf of Action Okinawa, Ginowan Churamizu Kai (Clean Water Protection Committee), AIPR, and ACSILs; Warriors Japan; Lawyers and DV Thrivers against Violence and Abuse Japan (LVAJ) and Safe Parents Japan (SPJ); Women’s Political Empowerment; Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace (WAM): and Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) and Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG).

    The following non-governmental organizations spoke on Cuba: Red de Juristas por los Derechos Sexuales, Unión Nacional de Juristas de Cuba, Asociación Cubana de las Naciones Unidas, Museo Virtual de la Memoria contra la violencia basada en Género Iniciativa para la Investigación y la Incidencia; Cuido 60; Red de Mujeres Lesbianas y Bisexuales; CUBALEX; Justicia 11J; FMC; Prisoners Defenders; Mesa de Diálogo de la Juventud Cubana; and Observatorio de Género de Alas Tensas y Museo de la Disidencia en Cuba.

    The following non-governmental organizations spoke on Benin: Right here Right Now 2 and CFMPDH; Synergie Trans Bénin; Association Solidarité; Changement Social Bénin; and Plurielles.

    The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women’s eighty-ninth session is being held from 7 to 25 October.  All documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage.  Meeting summary releases can be found here.  The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings can be accessed via the UN Web TV webpage.

    The Committee will next meet in public at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 15 October, to  consider the eighth periodic report of Chile (CEDAW/C/CHL/8).

    Opening Remarks by the Committee Chair

    ANA PELÁEZ NARVÁEZ, Committee Chairperson, said this was the second opportunity during the session for non-governmental organizations to provide information on States parties that were having their reports reviewed during the second and third weeks of the session, namely Chile, Canada, Japan, Cuba and Benin.

    Statements by Non-Governmental Organizations 

    Chile

    Non-governmental organizations speaking on Chile said sexual violations had increased drastically between 2019 and 2023.  Protection measures continued to be deficient.  It was concerning that violence against girls and adolescents was increasing. As of June 2023, there were 42 pregnant women and 100 children living with their mothers in prison systems. There needed to be a cultural change in the community, whereby gender-based violence was no longer acceptable. There needed to be a comprehensive sexual education law to ensure rights for women and adolescents.  The abortion regime based on legal grounds was insufficient and there were barriers to accessing contraceptives in primary health care.  Warnings had been issued about six defective contraceptive pills with no steps taken to investigate or provide reparations to those affected.  In Chile, around 800,000 migrant women faced violence and hate speech, especially those with irregular migration status.  The humanitarian visa for migrants was not implemented well in practice. 

    Since 2019, there had been a Constitutional Legal Reform Act, establishing the State’s duty to fight gender equality.  The State’s anti-discrimination law had been in congress for five years and was in danger of being rejected.  Chile had yet to fulfil its obligation to repeal laws discriminating against married women or subordinating them to their husbands.  The comprehensive law on violence against women did not include protection measures for women in penitentiary institutions who had suffered violence.  Violence against trans-people had increased by 145 per cent, and trans-femicide was not recognised as a crime.  The State showed no willingness to address issues faced by trans-people.  Women and girls with disabilities in Chile experienced discrimination.  A report by the Office of the High Commissioner found that there were 163 suspicious deaths in short-stay mental health facilities.  There had been reports of electro-shock therapy on girls with disabilities. 

    Canada

    Speakers on Canada said there were genocidal consequences for indigenous women and girls in the country.  These violations were tied to colonial policies. In its 2015 inquiry, the Committee found that indigenous women and girls suffered from the worst socio-economic conditions, as well as systemic racism and violence, which manifested as pervasive poverty, lack of access to housing, high rates of child apprehension, and disproportionate criminalisation.  The Committee had found that sex discrimination in Canada’s Indian Act was a root of violence, marginalising women and their descendants, excluding them from their lands, cultures and communities, and disentitling them to full personhood.  The 2019 National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls issued 231 Calls for Justice.  To-date, only two were complete, and more than half had not been started. Colonialism and the legacy of Residential Schools continued to impact indigenous girls’ access to education. Racialised communities faced oppression in Canada, with Black femicide and forced sterilisations of Black and indigenous women erased due to data gaps and under-reporting. 

    Canada was failing to take serious action on gender-based violence.  Femicides were increasing, with a woman killed every 2.5 days.  But this was not taken into account in the national action plan. Survivors of gender-based violence needed stronger protections and support services.  Law enforcement and judicial officers must receive proper training on these violence dynamics.  Canada needed to ensure survivors were not criminalised for self-defence, and strengthen protections against coercive control and litigation abuse.  In Canada, women who used drugs and indigenous women were disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS and faced increased risk of violence and barriers to healthcare.  Migrant workers and migrant sex workers in Canada faced significant oppression due to restrictive work permits, increasing their vulnerability to workplace abuse, harassment and sexual violence. Canada must remove these restrictions, decriminalise these groups, and establish policies that ensured safe working conditions.

    Canada was also implicated in exploitative deep-sea mining, as Canadian companies sought financial gains through predatory partnerships with some Pacific Island States.  These companies must be investigated.  Pacific women and Canadian indigenous women deeply opposed these projects, as they threatened the ocean and marine life.  Canadian resource extraction projects had also increased violence in Ecuador against indigenous women, which would be exacerbated by a proposed free trade agreement.

    Japan

    Speakers on Japan raised issues including objecting to separate surnames after marriages, which could destroy family unity and have negative impacts on children.  The immediate adoption of a selective surname system for married couples was needed.  The ruling party’s promotion of expanding the use of maiden names did not address gender discrimination.  Half of single-mother households lived in relative poverty, as 70 per cent of them did not receive child support and were unable to escape poverty, due to the significant wage gap between men and women. 

    The issue of Japan’s military sexual slavery had been raised 30 years ago before the Committee in 1994. Measures taken by the State were not victim-centred, and therefore failed.  The Government of Japan was called on to recognise that the “comfort women” issue remained unresolved and to fully implement the previous Committee recommendations.  The Status of Forces Agreement between Japan and the United States should be revised to eliminate violence against women linked to United States’ military bases in Okinawa and elsewhere.  There had been seven cases of gender-based violence against women and girls by the United States’ military within the past 11 months.  Since 1954, over 210,000 crimes and accidents by the military had occurred.  There needed to be comprehensive actions taken to end the culture of impunity. Japan needed to accept that the “comfort women” system was one of sexual slavery, and that it had a legal responsibility to provide reparations to all victims. 

    The ratification of the Optional Protocol should be expedited, and there should be a comprehensive anti-discrimination law.  Japan was also urged to create a permanent gender equality committee, to monitor the implementation of the Convention’s concluding observations.  There was an urgent need for the establishment of an independent, national human rights institution in line with the Paris Principles. It was crucial to eliminate low wages and pensions for women due to the gender wage gap, non-regular employment, and unpaid work.  The Japanese Government was also urged to rescue all abductees from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.  The Committee was urged to recommend that Japan stop dumping radioactive wastewater in the Pacific Ocean and take immediate steps towards safely disposing the waste on land. 

    Cuba

    Those speaking on Cuba said Cuban women were calling for a robust legislative change of gender-based violence. The State needed to work to coordinate actors on gender issues.  The State should systematically assess the impact of legislation and public policies on gender equality.  The Committee was urged to pay special attention to the devastating impacts of the embargo which had a detrimental impact on women’s organizations. 

    There was a comprehensive law against gender-based violence, but the act of femicide should be defined.  The rate of femicide was occurring in Cuba more than 10 times that which was occurring in Spain.  Cuba had serious deficiencies in the reparation system of gender-based violence.  The legislation should be reformed to establish provisional payments which provided immediate support, particularly to women of African descent or those with low income.  The State should strengthen mechanisms for the prevention and punishment of gender-based violence, and redouble efforts to deconstruct gender stereotypes. 

    Poverty in Cuba today had the face of a woman, particularly that of an Afro-descendent, elderly woman.  Social rights had been cut by the State and women were further exposed to food insecurity and poverty.  The health care system lacked regulations to protect lesbians from phobic treatment.  There needed to be training and awareness raising for health professionals to provide care, free of stigma and phobia. 

    Benin

    Organizations speaking on Benin said women were economically and sexually exploited in Benin as part of human trafficking.  Legislation on this was vague.  Benin was a country of origin, transit and destination of women and children for human trafficking.  It was recommended that the definition of procuring be outlined in the Criminal Code. 

    In Benin, lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex, queer and transgender people underwent verbal, physical and sexual attacks. Discrimination undergone by these women worsened their economic positioning.  No specific healthcare programme took these people into account, despite their vulnerability.  Lesbian women were not seen as key members of the population.  Religious beliefs and fear of side effects prohibited access to abortion, despite it being decriminalised in 2020.   It was recommended that Benin set up mobile clinics all over the country to facilitate access to sexual and reproductive services. Safe abortion should be accessible without the need for authorisation from a third party. 

    Sex workers continued to be discriminated against in Benin.  The only existing instruments were oppressive in nature.  The national health development plan excluded the healthcare of sex workers.  Today, some services did not cover the medicine for sexually transmitted diseases for sex workers.   If a sex worker underwent an act of violence, victims were required to submit a medical certificate which came at a cost that was prohibitive for these women. 

    Questions by Committee Experts

    A Committee Expert said since there had been a reshuffle in the cabinet in Japan, what was the status of the Gender Ministry?  Who was heading it?  Was there a COVID-19 response plan that covered gender-based violence?  On Canada, was female genital mutilation still an issue?  What was the gravity of the occurrence of femicide? 

    Another Expert asked if the Japanese organizations had information around restricted access to abortion, including that permission was required from a spouse or partner?  Could information on the lack of sexual reproductive education for young people be provided?

    An Expert asked Cuba what services were available for persons deprived of liberty, which were not available to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons?  What were the rules related to internal migration in Cuba? 

    A Committee Expert asked Chile if the benefits of the Judicial Academy, which aimed to avoid bias and victimisation of women, were being reaped? 

    Another Expert asked Benin about the medical forms for victims of gender-based violence; were these free? What had the Government done to make birth registration free?  Was there a law on legal aid?  If so, what crimes or rights violations qualified for legal aid?  Was there a court to handle family disputes? 

    An Expert asked Cuba whether the labour law included issues of sexual harassment?

    Another Expert asked Canada how many recommendations by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had been met?

    A Committee Expert asked Cuba about the situation of human rights defenders who were women?  In Chile, following the 2017 reform, was abortion still practiced illegally?  Could more information be provided about the extractive and mining industries and their impact on women and communities? 

    An Expert asked Cuba for information around issues pertaining to education? 

    A Committee Expert asked how challenging it was to be a female politician in Benin?

    Statements by the National Human Rights Institution of Chile and the Children’s Rights Ombudsman of Chile

    CONSUELO CONTRERAS LARGO, National Director, National Human Rights Institute of Chile, began by referring to gender-based violence.  According to figures from the National Service for Women and Gender Equity, in the last 10 years, there had been 423 femicides in Chile, with figures per year that fluctuated between 34 and 46 femicides.  In 2024, there were already 29 femicides.  In the last two years, there had been a sharp increase in attempted femicides.  In its 2018 and 2021 Annual Reports, the Institution indicated statistical difficulties in recognising violence that affected women in different contexts, since the State did not disaggregate the information into characterisation variables. Consequently, the treatment of violence against women was addressed in a uniform manner, which homogenised the situation of discrimination and violence, preventing the design of public policies capable of responding to different needs.  The State should implement disaggregation of data, particularly for rural women, women with disabilities, and other groups. 

    The Programme for the Comprehensive Prevention of Violence against Women had a budget which was 2.38 per cent of the budget of the ministerial portfolio, which was limited considering the magnitude of the task.  For the 2024 budget, the authorities announced a growth of 5.2 per cent, as part of their programmatic redesign.  The institution remained concerned at the main task defined in the programme.  The programme did not involve any kind of follow-up and it was not possible to discern if those who received the training continued to develop prevention activities. The programme also did not have a territorial focus without taking into account the different realities of women. It was concerning that the courts did not recognise the identity of trans-women in their sentences, according to current gender identity law. 

    The regulatory framework for violence against women had been bolstered.  On 4 March 2020, law no. 21,212 came into force, which redefined and expanded the concept of femicide in Chile.  On 9 May 2023, law 21,565 was published, which established a regime of protection and comprehensive reparation in favour of victims of femicide and their families; and on 14 June, law 21,675 came into force, which established measures to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women, based on their gender.  There were other legal bodies that had been approved and had entered into force in the country.  Draft bills were moving slowly through the legislature.   Discussions were underway on the bill to reform conjugal partnership and the bill to combat discrimination.  In 2019, a bill was presented that sought to establish the mandatory nature of comprehensive sex education in schools.  This draft was rejected in October 2020 and archived, with no plans for it to be brough back into legislation. 

    As of August 2024, the National Human Rights Institution had registered 19 complaints for human trafficking. During a visit to border regions, the Institute was able to verify the low number of resources of the police units destined to combat trafficking in persons.  The Institute had established the duty of the executive branch to develop and implement a public policy to combat trafficking in persons.  It should also continuously and systematically monitor and evaluate the implementation of new legislation through data collection and analysis and research on internal and cross-border trafficking. 

    ANUAR QUESILLE VERA, Children’s Rights Ombudsperson of Chile, underscored that sexual violence against children and adolescents continued to be one of the most urgent and complex challenges facing the country.  Despite efforts and progress in other areas, the data showed that girls and adolescents continued to be the main victims of this problem.  Between January and June 2024, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Chile reported a total of 25,352 victims entered into its registries for sexual crimes, of which 59.40 per cent were females under 18.  The State addressed sexual exploitation in a disconnected way, with gaps in areas of prevention, criminal prosecution, punishment and reparation for victims.  It was alarming that, despite the growing incidence of this phenomenon, the State had not prioritised this problem in a systemic manner, which reflected in the limitations faced by the different services and institutions.

    The fate of children in the care of the State was concerning.  There were also new challenges in relation to the security of digital environments. Online platforms and digital spaces had become fertile grounds for the perpetration of sexual violence and abuse. Comprehensive regulation that protected children and adolescents in these spaces was essential.  In view of these challenges, since the beginning of 2024, the Children’s Ombudsman’s Office had urged the Government to adhere to the Council of Europe’s Lanzarote Convention, which was seen as a key tool to protect children and adolescents against sexual exploitation and abuse. Unfortunately, no significant progress had been reported in this regard. 

    In terms of sexual and reproductive rights, the limited perspective on the progressive autonomy, ownership of rights, and agency of girls and adolescents continued to affect their access to the benefits of the law on abortion.    Adolescents were mostly seeking abortion due to being raped.  The Committee was called on to prioritise legislative strengthening and intersectoral coordination of State institutions, with a focus on increasing resources and adequate training to respond effectively to the challenges posed.

    Questions by Committee Experts

    A Committee Expert asked if the Ombudsperson had any specific information on early marriage, which continued to be a problem?

    Another Expert asked if light could be shed on the issue of comprehensive sexual education in Chile? What were the obstacles?  What should the Committee look at to allow adolescents to access this information? 

    An Expert asked if there were any statistics on how many women who had suffered rape in Chile had then resorted to abortion, and how often was this denied? 

    A Committee Expert asked about the pension gap in Chile? 

    Another Committee Expert asked about the anti-discrimination bill which was presented to amend the Constitution in regard to multiple discrimination?  What were the social and political drivers which did not allow this bill to pass? 

    An Expert asked about global supply chains which were growing in importance in Chile, which was exporting agricultural products to neighbouring countries.  Had any gender-based violence been identified in the supply chains? 

    Responses by the National Human Rights Institution of Chile and the Children’s Rights Ombudsman of Chile

    In response, JUAN ENRIQUE PI, International Adviser, said the Anti-Discrimination Act did not reform the Constitution; the Constitution of 1980 still prevailed.  There seemed to be no movement to further prohibit discrimination. In 2020, there had been an attempt to bring about an act on comprehensive education, to prevent sexual violence against girls and boys.  However, this bill was rejected by a majority and had been shelved.  There was currently no bill in Chile to address sex education in schools.  There was no initiative under discussion. 

    ANUAR QUESILLE VERA, Children’s Rights Ombudsperson of Chile, said Chile had raised the age of marriage to 18.  However, one of the key problems being faced by the country had to do with informal unions in rural areas.  It was difficult to obtain figures on these. 

    JAVIERA SCHWEITZER GONZÁLEZ, International Affairs Coordinator, said when it came to the law on abortion, there was an information gap.  Almost 99 per cent of cases of young girls and adolescents undergoing abortion did have some support.  When it came to conscientious objection, this was of particular concern.  There was no protocol providing for a lack of equipment and there were no available teams. Civil society said the law enforced did not cover training and guidelines and the rights which should protect medical teams.  Furthermore, in the case of rape, few people went to health centres because of revictimisation.  Some headway had been made in comprehensive sex education, however, there were restrictions in terms of its effective implementation.  There had been a drop in the number of teenage pregnancies, but this was due to a use of contraceptives and not comprehensive sexual education. Teenagers had also identified a gap in comprehensive sexual education. 

     

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

     

    CEDAW24.027E

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: DG Okonjo-Iweala at World Food Forum: Trade is vital for ensuring food security

    Source: World Trade Organization

    The Director-General recalled the strengthened partnership between the WTO and the FAO in the areas of food and agriculture. She highlighted the WTO’s ongoing efforts to update trade rules, stressing that the multilateral trading system must be complemented by domestic policies that reduce distortions and enhance competition. She pointed to the importance of “policies that provide essential public goods to farmers such as research, pest and disease control, efficient water management, and extension services that are needed to improve productivity and sustainability.”

    Her full remarks are below:

    Director-General QU Dongyu,
    Your royal highnesses,
    Excellencies,
    Distinguished delegates,
    Ladies and gentlemen,

    I’m delighted to join you in opening this year’s World Food Forum.

    My main message to you is that trade — and the World Trade Organization — are vital parts of an agrifood system that can deliver good food for people now and in the years ahead.

    My remarks today will look at three areas: the challenges ahead for farming and food security; how trade can help; and the role of the WTO.

    First, the challenges.

    The FAO’s latest figures show around 733 million people are facing hunger — most of them in Africa and South Asia [1]. At our current pace, we won’t meet Sustainable Development Goal to end hunger and malnutrition by 2030.

    Climate change is a growing threat to food security, affecting every aspect of our food systems, and exacerbating the sector’s problems with water and land management, biodiversity loss, and deforestation. 55% of the world’s food production occurs in areas experiencing drying or unstable trends in total water storage.

    Agricultural production and consumption continues to be distorted by trade restrictions and subsidies

    In 54 countries analysed by the OECD, support provided to individual producers averaged USD 630 billion per year [2] from 2020 to 2022.* This support often has environmentally harmful effects, encouraging the overuse of fossil fuels, energy and water.

    The distance between business as usual and truly sustainable food systems is considerable. The FAO has estimated that our current agri-food systems impose “hidden” health, environmental, and social costs equivalent to at least USD 10 trillion per year. [3]

    Turning now to trade, the case for how it can help is straightforward: about one in four calories consumed is traded.

    Between 2000 and 2022, agricultural trade grew five-fold, rising across all world regions. [4] The average applied tariff on agricultural goods has fallen [5] from 13 percent in 2005 to just 5.8 percent in 2022, helping make food more affordable and available, while incentivizing exporters to ramp up production in response to international demand.

    Trade has contributed to food security and resilience: For example, when the war in Ukraine cut off Ethiopia from its traditional source of wheat imports, the existence of deep and diversified global markets meant it could source from Argentina and the United States instead.

    The Global Commission on the Economics of Water, which I co-chair, will issue a report later this week that highlights the role of ‘virtual water trade’ in agriculture, through the water used to grow or make a traded product. It notes that trade can help mitigate water-related pressures, provided water’s price reflects its value and scarcity with targeted subsidies to those who cannot afford to pay, by allowing countries with abundant hydrological resources to specialize in producing water-intensive goods for export to water-scarce nations.

    For example, there are export opportunities here for several African countries who have been found to have abundant and shallow under-utilized ground water resources as well as land resources,  provided  of course these resources are well and innovatively managed.   In fact, based on these land and water resources, Africa not only can and should feed itself, using intra Africa food trade to manage supply and demand gaps but can also respond to external world demand. 

    Beyond trade’s contribution to ensuring that food is available, trade-led growth and income gains have contributed mightily to bringing down hunger in countries including China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, to name a few. [6]

    Now we need to help others replicate this success, sustainably — including elsewhere in Asia and Africa.

    This brings me to the role of the WTO.

    The WTO provides a negotiating forum where members could lower trade barriers and reduce trade-distorting support, helping agricultural markets function better and freeing up billions of dollars’ worth of resources that could be put to better use. But the fact is that at a time when a comprehensive update to the global agricultural trade rulebook is long overdue, we have not been so successful in moving forward agricultural trade negotiations at the WTO. But we will never give up trying. Agriculture and a well- functioning agricultural trading system is too important to the world. 

    This past Thursday, I chaired a meeting of all WTO members, where we looked at how to revitalize the negotiations and set the stage for delivering at least some concrete results by our next Ministerial Conference in Cameroon in early 2026. We have hard work ahead of us and we also need political will. I implore all the Food Security and Agriculture Ministers here to back your Trade ministers and their Geneva based WTO ambassadors to exhibit appropriate flexibility in their negotiating positions so we can move past 2.5 decades of stagnation to a new era of modern agricultural trade rules fit to help feed the 21st century world. 

    In this regard, cotton, both a food and non food commodity, is of paramount importance to several countries worldwide. 

    Last week, I was in the Republic of Benin to mark World Cotton Day. And while we are supporting exciting efforts  there and in the Cotton Four plus countries in West and  Central Africa to add value to their products and tap into global markets for textiles and clothing, particularly in the sports apparel sector, I want to note for all concerned that this does not mean we are paying attention to the issue of trade  distorting domestic support that lowers cotton prices and weighs on the livelihoods of millions of farmers in cotton producing countries  around the world. 

    On the bright side, in pursuing agriculture reforms at the WTO, we have some recent accomplishments to build on.

    At our 12th Ministerial Conference in 2022, members committed to refrain from imposing export controls on humanitarian purchases by the World Food Programme — a step that the agency has said is helping to source food more quickly, and from more countries.

    Our landmark Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies will help ease pressure on the marine fish stocks that millions of people rely on for food and livelihood security. I urge you to help fast-track ratification of this agreement in your countries, and support the rapid conclusion of negotiations on Phase 2 of the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement on some outstanding issues so that the USD 22  billion being spent annually on harmful fisheries subsidies that can be repurposed to more beneficial uses. 

    I want to take a moment here to highlight the WTO’s appreciation for the work we do with the FAO.  In this regard, let me thank DG Qu Dongyu and Chief Economist Maximo Torero Cullen and their team for the excellent collaboration with the WTO. Our joint MoU signed last December ranges from work on fisheries and the associated trust fund, to supporting cotton, the Standards and Trade Development Facility and — last but not least — the Agriculture Market Information System. We look forward to continuing this collaboration whose aim is to assist FAO and WTO members. Collaboration between multilateral organizations brings coherence and congruence to helping members and the people they represent. 

    In conclusion, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. A free, fair, open and predictable MTS and modernized agricultural trade rules are critical to an agrifood system that can deliver good food to the world’s people today and tomorrow. But such a trading system must be complemented by domestic policies that reduce distortions and improve competition. It must be complemented by policies that provide essential public goods to farmers such as research, pest and disease control, efficient water management, and extension services that are needed to improve productivity and sustainability. 

    I am convinced that we can all work together, Multilateral organizations,  Governments, Farmers, Civil Society, Private sector, to enable people around the world to access the food and nutrition they need in a changing climate  and a changing and uncertain world.

    Thank you.

    *(NOTE: “support” is not the same here as “subsidies”, as it includes transfers from consumers to producers that result from border measures such as tariffs, in addition to budgetary outlays.).

    Share

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Audiovisual Co-production Agreement between India and Colombia; To Boost Co-Production and Strengthen Cultural Ties

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Audiovisual Co-production Agreement between India and Colombia; To Boost Co-Production and Strengthen Cultural Ties

    Colombia becomes the 17th country to sign such agreement with India

    Posted On: 14 OCT 2024 8:33PM by PIB Delhi

    The Audiovisual Co-production Agreement between India and Colombia will be signed on 15.10.2024 at 4PM at the National Media Centre, New Delhi. 

    The signatories representing India and Colombia will be Dr. L. Murugan, Hon’ble Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting and His Excellency Mr. Jorge Enrique Rojas Rodriguez, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Colombia respectively.

    About the agreement

    The agreement between India and Columbia is expected to benefit producers from both the countries in pooling their creative, artistic, technical, financial and marketing resources for the co-production. It will also lead to exchange of art and culture among the two countries and create goodwill and better understanding among the people of both the countries thereby boosting cultural ties between the two countries.

    Currently, India has co-production treaties with 16 countries, resulting in 29 projects over the last five years. Colombia is the 17th country with which India is signing a Co-Production Agreement.

    ****

    Dharmendra Tewari/Kshitij Singha

    (Release ID: 2064830) Visitor Counter : 141

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Audiovisual Co-production Agreement between India and Colombia

    Source: Government of India

    Posted On: 14 OCT 2024 8:33PM by PIB Delhi

    An Audiovisual Co-production Agreement between India and Colombia will be signed on 15.10.2024 at 4PM at the National Media Centre, New Delhi. 

    The signatories representing India and Colombia will be Dr. L. Murugan, Hon’ble Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting and His Excellency Mr. Jorge Enrique Rojas Rodriguez, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Colombia respectively.

    ***

    Dharmendra Tewari/Kshitij Singha

    (Release ID: 2064830) Visitor Counter : 25

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – EU aid to curb the decline in fruit production in Guadeloupe – E-001962/2024

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-001962/2024
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    André Rougé (PfE), Rody Tolassy (PfE)

    Fruit production in Guadeloupe has slumped since 2013, by about 50 %, according to a study published by the Ministry of Agriculture’s Statistical Service on 1 October 2024. Production volumes have been particularly poor since 2020: the number of producers has fallen 18% and crop areas 23% in the last three years.

    Several factors are at play here: crop areas have shrunk, diseases such as yellow dragon (also known as ‘citrus greening’) have been circulating and producers have aged. As a result, Guadeloupe has become largely dependent on imports to meet its own demands: 75 % of the fruit consumed there has been produced elsewhere.

    This state of affairs undermines Guadeloupe’s food sovereignty and the very survival of many farms. Generational renewal is insufficient to compensate for ageing producers’ departure from the industry, and climate events and diseases affect most crops except export bananas.

    Against that backdrop, is the Commission planning to take specific steps to support Guadeloupe’s farming sectors, specifically, stronger action to tackle the problem of yellow dragon disease and measures to encourage young farmers to join the industry?

    Submitted: 4.10.2024

    Last updated: 14 October 2024

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Video: Macrofinancial Stability Amid High Global Economic Uncertainty

    Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)

    A panel discussion on Chapter 2 of our latest Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) with:

    – Mario Catalan, Deputy Division Chief, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, IMF
    – Andrea Deghi, Financial Sector Expert, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, IMF
    – José de Gregorio, Dean of the School of Economics and Business at the University of Chile, and former Governor of the Central Bank of Chile and former Minister of Economy, Mining, and Energy in Chile
    – Moderator: Jeanna Smialek, Reporter, New York Times

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eOFJAy4scU

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI: Intermex to Release Third Quarter 2024 Earnings

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MIAMI, Oct. 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — International Money Express, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMXI), also known as Intermex, will release its Third Quarter 2024 earnings before the start of trading on Friday, November 8, 2024. The Intermex management team will be hosting a conference call on the same day at 9:00 am ET.

    Interested parties are invited to join the conference and gain firsthand knowledge about Intermex’s financial performance and operational achievements through the following channels:

    • A live broadcast of the conference call may be accessed via the Investor Relations section of Intermex’s website at https://investors.intermexonline.com/.
    • To participate in the live conference call via telephone, please register HERE. Upon registering, a dial-in number and unique PIN will be provided to join the conference call.
    • Following the conference call, an archived webcast of the call will be available for one year on Intermex’s website at https://investors.intermexonline.com/.

    About International Money Express, Inc.        
    Founded in 1994, Intermex applies proprietary technology enabling consumers to send money from the United States, Canada, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Germany to more than 60 countries. The Company provides the digital movement of money through a network of agent retailers in the United States, Canada, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany; Company-operated stores; our mobile app; and the Company’s websites. Transactions are fulfilled and paid through thousands of retail and bank locations around the world. Intermex is headquartered in Miami, Florida, with international offices in Puebla, Mexico, Guatemala City, Guatemala, London, England, and Madrid, Spain. For more information about Intermex, please visit http://www.intermexonline.com.

    Investor Relations:
    Alex Sadowski
    Investor Relations Coordinator
    Tel: 305-671-8000
    IR@intermexusa.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Gaza: Medical care under fire UPCOMING EVENT Oct 15, 2024

    Source: Doctors Without Borders –

    Palestinian Territories 2023 © Pierre Fromentin/MSF

    UPCOMING EVENT

    Palestinian Territories 2023 © Pierre Fromentin/MSF

    October 15, 2024

    1:00PM-1:45PM ET

    Event type: Live online

    October 15, 2024 | 1:00PM-1:45PM ET

    Gaza: Medical care under fire

    We invite you to join us for a live online event on Tuesday, October 15, from 1:00-1:45 pm ET, with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) aid workers reflecting on the catastrophic health impacts of the war in Gaza.

    MSF teams were already active providing medical care in Gaza when conflict escalated following the horrific attacks by Hamas on Israel on October 7. In response, the Israeli government launched a ferocious military offensive on Gaza. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, tens of thousands more have been injured, and some 1.9 million people have been displaced–often multiple times. Much of the Gaza Strip has been reduced to rubble.

    MSF staff are providing urgent medical care even while facing the personal impacts of the war themselves–the deaths of loved ones, destruction of their homes, and constant dangers everywhere. Hospitals and health facilities have repeatedly come under fire or been forced to evacuate. The medical needs are exploding, including the spread of infectious diseases and the risk of starvation.

    Join us for a conversation with Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim, emergency physician and former medical team leader in Gaza, and Dr. Amber Alayyan, pediatrician and medical program manager for MSF in Palestine, Afghanistan and Haiti. Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, MSF deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, will share testimony directly from Khan Younis, and Avril Benoît, MSF USA chief executive officer, will moderate the live discussion. Together they will bear witness to this unfolding emergency and reflect on the medical challenges ahead.

    Meet the speakers

    Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim

    Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim is an emergency physician and was president of MSF UK from 2017-2021. Born and raised in the UK to Sudanese Iranian parents, Javid volunteered with MSF as a medical student, and later joined MSF as an aid worker for his first assignment to Iraq. Since then, he has worked for MSF in conflict zones, crises and disease outbreaks around the world. He has completed assignments in Ukraine, Haiti, Lebanon/Syria, South Sudan, Sierra Leone (for Ebola), and on the Mediterranean Sea on one of MSF’s search and rescue vessels. Most recently, he worked as an emergency medical team leader in Gaza. 

    Dr. Amber Alayyan

    Dr. Amber Alayyan is a pediatrician and international public health consultant with over 20 years of experience in health care in conflict and post-conflict zones particularly in the Middle East, as well as malnutrition and environmental health in conflict settings. She currently works as MSF’s medical program manager for Afghanistan, Palestine, and Haiti and previously managed medical programs for Peru, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq. In her current role, she manages the medical operational strategy and activities in the West Bank and Gaza. These activities include burn and trauma surgery and multi-disciplinary pre/post-operative care, pediatric inpatient care, antibiotic resistance management, primary health care, mental health, and sexual and gender-based violence. Her work with MSF over the past 13 years includes assignments in the Central African Republic, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan/Syria, Turkey/Syria, Lebanon, Croatia and Greece.

    Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaisib

    Dr. Mohammed (Abu Abed) Abu Mughaisib is the deputy medical coordinator for MSF’s operations in Palestine. He holds degrees in both medicine and mental health and has worked with MSF for nearly 23 years. Last fall, he was forced to flee his home in Gaza City, and was displaced multiple times thereafter. While his wife and children managed to cross the border into Egypt, Abu Abed continues to provide lifesaving care as a critical member of our project team in Palestine. 

    Avril Benoît

    Avril Benoît is the chief executive officer of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in the United States (MSF USA). She has worked with the international medical humanitarian organization since 2006 in various operational management and executive leadership roles, most recently as the director of communications and development at MSF’s operational center in Geneva, a position she held from November 2015 until June 2019. Throughout her career with MSF, Avril has contributed to major movement-wide initiatives, including the global mobilization to end attacks on hospitals and health workers. She has worked as a country director and project coordinator for MSF, leading operations to provide aid to refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants in Mauritania, South Sudan, and South Africa. Avril’s strategic analysis and communications assignments have taken her to countries including Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine. From 2006 to 2012, Avril served as director of communications with MSF Canada. Prior to joining MSF, Avril had a distinguished 20-year career as an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in Canada. She was a documentary producer and radio host with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), reporting from Kenya, Burundi, India, and Brazil on HIV stigma, rapid urbanization, sexual violence in conflict, and political inclusion of women, among numerous other assignments and topics. Recent articles: Surge of humanity needed for migrants and refugees  

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    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-Evening Report: This year’s Nobel prize in economics awarded to team that examined what makes some countries rich and others poor

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra

    Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson Nobel Prize Outreach

    The 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded to three US-based economists who examined the advantages of democracy and the rule of law, and why they are strong in some countries and not others.

    Daron Acemoglu is a Turkish-American economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Simon Johnson is a British economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and James Robinson is a British-American economist at the University of Chicago.

    The citation awards the prize “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity”, making it an award for research into politics and sociology as much as economics.

    At a time when democracy appears to be losing support, the Nobel committee has rewarded work that demonstrates that, on average, democratic countries governed by the rule of law have wealthier citizens.


    Johan Jarnestad/Nobel Prize Outreach

    The committee says the richest 20% of the world’s countries are now around 30 times richer than the poorest 20%. Moreover, the income gap is persistent; although the poorest countries have become richer, they are not catching up with the most prosperous.

    Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson have connected this difference to differences in institutions, and they find this derives from differences in the behaviour of European colonisers in different parts of the world centuries ago.

    The denser the indigenous population, the greater the resistance that could be expected and the fewer European settlers moved there. On the other hand, the large indigenous population – once defeated – ofered lucrative opportunities for cheap labour.

    This meant the institutions focused on benefiting a small elite at the expense of the wider population. There were no elections and limited political rights.



    Read more:
    Sidelined no longer, Claudia Goldin wins the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics for examining why gender pay gaps persist

    In the places that were more sparsely populated and offered less resistance, more colonisers settled and established inclusive institutions that incentivised hard work and led to demands for political rights.

    The committee says, paradoxically, this means the parts of the colonised world that were the most prosperous around 500 years ago are now relatively poor. Prosperity was greater in Mexico under the Aztecs than it was at the same time in the part of North America that is now called Canada and the United States.


    Johan Jarnestad/Nobel Prize Outreach

    More so than in previous years, this year’s winners have written for the public as well as the profession. Acemoglu and Robinson are probably best known for their 2013 best-seller Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty.(It has pictures and no equations.)

    Last year Acemoglu and Johnson published Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity.

    In May this year Acemoglu wrote about artificial intelligence, putting forward the controversial position that its effects on productivity would be “nontrivial but modest”, which is another way of saying “tiny”. Its effect on wellbeing might be even smaller and it was unlikely to reduce inequality.

    Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

    This year’s award makes the cohort of Nobel winners a little less US-dominated.

    Although all three are currently working at American universities, Acemoglu is from Turkey and the others are British. There is even an Australian link. Robinson taught economics at The University of Melbourne between 1992 and 1995.

    Winning the prize is life-changing for more reasons than the 11 million Swedish kroner (about $A 1.5 million) the winners share. As Nobel winners, they will have a higher profile. Their opinions will be accorded more respect by most but not all.

    Sixteen former winners recently issued a widely reported statement saying they were “deeply concerned about the risks of a second Trump administration for the US economy”. Rather than address their arguments, the Trump campaign called them “worthless out-of-touch Nobel prize winners”.

    The new winners might get the same treatment. Johnson has critiqued Trump’s proposal to raise tariffs. Acemoglu has called Trump “a threat to democracy”.

    John Hawkins 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. This year’s Nobel prize in economics awarded to team that examined what makes some countries rich and others poor – https://theconversation.com/this-years-nobel-prize-in-economics-awarded-to-team-that-examined-what-makes-some-countries-rich-and-others-poor-240890

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congresswoman Torres Commemorates Indigenous Peoples’ Day

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Norma Torres (35th District of California)

    October 14, 2024

    Torres is the only Member of Congress to introduce legislation that would replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day

    Washington D.C.  –Today, Congresswoman Norma J. Torres, a member of the Congressional Native American Caucus, commemorates Indigenous Peoples’ Day with her bill, H.R. 5822 of the bicameral Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act alongside Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Sharice Davids (KS-03), and Suzan DelBene (WA-01), and Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), this legislation would would designate Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a legal public holiday and replace the term ‘‘Columbus Day’’ with the term ‘‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day.’’ 

    “It has been a year since the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act was reintroduced, and our nation needs to recognize and work towards addressing the deep-seated historical injustices and suffering experienced by the natives across the country,” said Congresswoman Norma Torres. “The Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act seeks to honor the enduring presence of the tribes that inhabited the Americas long before the arrival of Western explorers. By establishing Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a federal holiday, we can take a meaningful step towards acknowledging the complexities of our nation’s history and celebrating the rich traditions and culture of all Indigenous communities who are an integral part of the United States history. It is time for my colleagues in the House and Senate to unite in passing this critical legislation, ensuring that we pay tribute to the cultures and significant contributions of Indigenous peoples to our nation.”

    “Recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day is an essential step toward honoring the accomplishments and strength of Tribal Nations across New Mexico and the country,” said Senator Luján, a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. “I’m proud to lead this effort to officially designate Indigenous Peoples’ Day and am hopeful that Congress will follow in New Mexico’s footsteps and recognize the holiday federally. Throughout history, Native people have played a vital role in our society and shaping our nation’s history – from serving in the military, educating our children, to boosting our economy – and it is well past time to celebrate their contributions. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this bill and honor all the triumphs of our Tribal communities.” 

    “On Indigenous Peoples’ Day we recognize the immense contributions Indigenous communities have made throughout our country’s history and before its founding,” said Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici. “We also must acknowledge the many injustices that continue to affect Indigenous communities today. I’m pleased to join my colleagues in this important effort to establish Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a federal holiday.”

    “Indigenous People’s Day is not only a time to acknowledge the centuries of discrimination that Native peoples have experienced, but an opportunity to celebrate how much Indigenous peoples’ rich cultures have contributed to our nation’s history,” said Representative Sharice L. Davids. “As one of the first Native American women elected to Congress and a proud member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, I am proud to join my colleagues in calling for the national celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.”

    “Indigenous Peoples’ Day is an opportunity for us to unite in celebration of the rich tapestry of tribal nations, their diverse cultures, and the important contributions they have made to our communities,” said Congresswoman Suzan DelBene. “Cementing this observance also acknowledges the current and historical injustices Indigenous communities face and renews our commitment to preserving their rights as we work toward a more inclusive and equitable society.”

    “As President of the Navajo Nation, I am proud to support Congresswoman Torre’s and Senator Heinrich’s efforts to pass the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act. Indigenous Peoples’ Day is an opportunity for all of us to come together to honor the rich histories, cultures and contributions of Indigenous communities across the country. It is a day to reflect on the resilience of our people, and to promote understanding and respect for our heritage. By recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we celebrate our past and pave the way for a future built on mutual respect and collaboration. This is a day for education, reflection and unity as we work toward healing and progress.” – Dr. Buu Nygren, President of the Navajo Nation

    Full Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act Bill

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Human Rights Education toolkits for Write for Rights 2024

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Amnesty International’s “Write for Rights” campaign takes place annually around 10 December, which is Human Rights Day (marking the day when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948). Write for Rights aims to bring about change to the lives of people or communities that have suffered or are at risk of human rights violations.

    Some 20 years ago, a small group of activists in Poland ran a 24-hour letter-writing marathon. Over the following years, the idea spread. Today, Write for Rights is the world’s biggest human rights event.

    From 2,326 letters in 2001 to more than 6 million letters, tweets, petition signatures and other actions in 2023, people the world over have used the power of their words to unite behind the idea that geography is no barrier to solidarity. In 2023 alone, more than 1.4 million people were engaged through human rights education activities. Together, these individuals have helped transform the lives of more than 100 people over the years, freeing them from torture, harassment or unjust imprisonment.

    The human rights education toolkit for this year’s Write for Rights campaign can help educators and participants to gain more understanding and build solidarity, preparing them to take action. These human rights education activities can take place in a variety of settings, such as a school classroom, a community group, a family or an activist group. As a facilitator, you can adapt the activity to best suit the needs and context of the group you are working with. For example, you may want to consider what knowledge the group already has about the issues discussed, the size and age range of your group and how to best organize the activity to allow for active participation, the physical setting of your activity, delivering it in-person or online and any limitations. When participants want to take action on a case, discuss with them whether it is safe for them to do so.

    The activities are all based on participatory learning methods in which learners are not merely presented with information, they explore, discuss, analyze and question issues relating to the stories they will work with in each activity. This methodology allows participants to:

    • develop key competencies and skills
    • form their own opinions, raise questions, and gain a deeper understanding of the issues presented
    • take control of their learning, and shapes discussions according to their interests, abilities and concerns
    • have the space required for them to engage emotionally and develop their own attitudes

    Write for Rights 2024 General Activity

    Neth Nahara, Angola

    Joel Paredes, Argentina

    Maryia Kalesnikava, Belarus

    Wet’suwet’en Nation land defenders, Canada

    Kyung Seok Park, South Korea

    Manahel al-Otaibi, Saudi Arabia

    Professor Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Türkiye

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Economy – 3 reasons why gold could hit all-time highs in early 2025 – deVere Group

    Source: deVere Group


    October 14 2024 – Gold prices are on track to reach historic levels in the first quarter of 2025, predicts the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory and asset management organizations.


    The bullish prediction from deVere Group’s Nigel Green is driven by a confluence of factors reshaping global markets. 


    He says: “As central banks continue aggressive buying, the US Federal Reserve cuts interest rates, and geopolitical tensions persist, the precious metal is primed for a bullish surge that could shatter previous records.”


    Central banks around the world are accelerating their gold purchases at a pace not seen in decades. This trend, which initially gained momentum following the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, has broadened, with many countries shifting away from US dollar-denominated assets. 


    “Gold buying has now surged to nearly three times the level it was before 2022, and the outlook suggests continued strong demand into 2025,” notes the deVere CEO.


    “This wave of buying is not just about portfolio diversification—it’s a strategic move to mitigate risks. Countries, especially those wary of US financial sanctions, are increasingly turning to gold to shield their reserves from political and economic pressures. 


    “China, for instance, has been a key player in this trend. In 2023, China’s central bank added to its gold holdings for 10 consecutive months, underscoring the nation’s intention to reduce its reliance on the dollar amidst growing geopolitical tensions with the West. 


    “This buying intensity continued well into 2024, with net purchases of 290 tonnes recorded in the first quarter of 2024 – the fourth strongest quarter of purchases since the buying streak began in 2022.”


    Similarly, Turkey, Singapore, Brazil and India have also ramped up their gold reserves, driven by their need to safeguard against currency volatility and potential sanctions.


    The US Federal Reserve’s shift from its aggressive interest rate hiking cycle toward rate cuts is another pivotal factor that will likely fuel a rally in gold. 


    “Higher interest rates make gold less attractive as it doesn’t generate yield. However, with rates poised to fall, the tables are turning. Lower rates can often reduce the appeal of yield-bearing assets, drawing some investors – both retail and institutional – back into the gold market.”


    In today’s fragile global landscape, gold’s role as a portfolio hedge remains as vital as ever. 


    The potential for geopolitical shocks—including escalating trade wars, sanctions, and heightened global tensions—continues to loom large. 


    “Gold offers unparalleled protection in such scenarios, especially as concerns grow around issues such as Fed independence, global debt sustainability, and financial sanctions,” affirms Nigel Green.


    “One scenario that could send gold prices soaring is an escalation in financial sanctions comparable to the surge seen since 2021. Another potential trigger could be worsening debt fears in the US.”


    He concludes, “Against this backdrop, and should the current momentum be maintained, we could see new all-time price highs for gold in the first quarter of 2025.”

    deVere Group is one of the world’s largest independent advisors of specialist global financial solutions to international, local mass affluent, and high-net-worth clients.  It has a network of offices around the world, more than 80,000 clients, and $12bn under advisement.

    MIL OSI – Submitted News –