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  • MIL-OSI Europe: New Employment Law Review Group

    Source: Government of Ireland – Department of Jobs Enterprise and Innovation

    16th October 2024

    Minister seeks expressions of interest and nominees from representative bodies

    The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment is seeking nominees as representatives of expert, technical, legal, government and regulatory bodies. Also sought are expressions of interest from suitably qualified candidates for appointment to one of the six Ministerial nominations to the Employment Law Review Group (ELRG). 

    Ministerial nominees to the ELRG will be appointed by the Minister arising from a call for expressions of interest which is open to all interested parties.  It is proposed to have a maximum of six such nominees on the ELRG. The deadline for receipt of expressions of interest is 3pm 8 November 2024. 

    Members of the ELRG will give their services voluntarily. All members will be appointed for a four-year term and can be re-appointed for up to two terms.  The Chairperson can serve up to ten years in total. 

    The Programme for Government contains a commitment to “review whether the legal provisions surrounding collective redundancies and the liquidation of companies effectively protect the rights of workers”. Following discussions with the Social Partners, the ‘Plan for Action on Collective Redundancies following Insolvency’ was published on 9 June 2021. This set out several commitments to further safeguard the rights of workers including the setting up on a statutory basis of an Employment Law Review Group.

    The ELRG has been established on a statutory basis by the enactment of the Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Act 2024, which was commenced on 1 July 2024. 

    The ELRG’s function will be to monitor, review, and advise on all aspects of employment and redundancy law, with a specific focus on promoting good workplace relations in the State, simplifying the operation of employment and redundancy law in the State, and ensuring that the State’s suite of employment rights and redundancy legislation remains relevant and fit for purpose and is updated to reflect international developments. 

    The ELRG will comprise of members who have expertise and an interest in the development of employment and redundancy law, including practitioners (the legal profession and accountants/liquidators), users (business and unions), regulators (implementation and enforcement bodies) and representatives from government departments.  

    The ELRG’s focus will be more expert, technical, and legal rather than representative of stakeholders’ interests. Members will engage with the work programme of the ELRG and contribute to ELRG reports. 

    The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Peter Burke TD said: 

    “The ELRG will provide a valuable resource in conducting ongoing assessments of employment law to ensure our legal framework is fit for purpose. Emerging trends will be examined to ensure that our employment legislation adapts to changes in the evolving contemporary workplace.” 

    Membership of the ELRG will consist of representatives of the bodies and agencies listed in Appendix 1 below.  

    Welcoming the call for nominees and expressions of interest, Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Emer Higgins TD said: 

    “The ELRG will be comprised of members with an interest and expertise in the development of employment and redundancy law. This will include members from the legal, accountancy and insolvency professions; representatives from business, unions and regulators; as well as Ministerial nominees.” 

    The legislative enactments that will be kept under review by the ELRG are listed in Appendix 2 below. 

    See: Call for Expressions of Interest – Appointment as Ministerial Nominees to the Employment Law Review Group

    APPENDIX 1 

    Nominating Body 

    1. Chairperson – a member of ELRG who is appointed by Minister to be Chairperson
    2. The Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC)
    3. The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME)
    4. Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU)
    5. The Law Society of Ireland
    6. The Employment Bar Association
    7. Restructuring and Insolvency Ireland
    8. Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment
    9. Department of Social Protection
    10. Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
    11. Workplace Relations Commission
    12. Labour Court
    13. The Courts Service
    14. Office of the Attorney General
    15. Chief State Solicitor’s Office
    16. Ministerial Nominees

    APPENDIX 2

    List of relevant employment and redundancy enactments 

    1. Redundancy Payments Acts 1967–2014
    2. Protection of Employment Act 1977
    3. Payment of Wages Act 1991
    4. Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977–2015
    5. Organisation of Working Time Act 1997
    6. European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003
    7. Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973–2005
    8. National Minimum Wage Act 2000
    9. European Communities (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2000
    10. Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act 1996
    11. Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994–2014
    12. Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001
    13. European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003
    14. Protection of Employees (Fixed Term Work) Act 2003
    15. Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Act 2006 (Section 21)
    16. Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Act 2007 (other than section 9(1) and 9(2))
    17. Protection of Employment (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012
    18. Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018
    19. Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015
    20. Workplace Relations Act 2015
    21. European Union (Posting of Workers) Regulations 2016
    22. Registered Employment Agreements (REAs) and Sectoral Employment Orders (SEOs)
    23. Sick Pay Act 2022
    24. Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Act 2022
    25. Part 3 of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023
    26. Part 2 of Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Act 2024

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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Mozambique’s 2024 elections: 9 major challenges that will face the next president

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By David Matsinhe, Losophone Research Specialist/Adjunct Professor in African Studies, Carleton University

    The incoming president of Mozambique faces an array of interconnected problems deeply rooted in historical, socioeconomic and political dynamics. He must balance meeting immediate needs with long-term structural change.

    The 9 October 2024 general election was Mozambique’s seventh since multiparty elections were introduced in 1994. The results are expected to be announced within two weeks from the poll date. International media reports indicate that the ruling Frelimo and its presidential candidate Daniel Chapo are poised for a landslide victory.

    This is likely to be confirmed by the electoral commission even though local media have pointed to widespread and brazen ballot stuffing and fake observers, among other irregularities, in favour of Frelimo.

    Frelimo has been in power since independence in 1975.

    Can the resource-rich but impoverished nation of 35 million expect a redirection of policies and strategies under Chapo to address its multifaceted crises?

    Chapo (47) was born after independence and promises to act with integrity. But the old guard placed him in power to protect and promote their interests.

    Mozambique’s crises stem largely from systemic corruption under Frelimo. It has prioritised political elites over national welfare. Its decades of mismanagement, embezzlement and patronage have left institutions weak and unable to address pressing social and economic issues.

    The country is fragmented. The government has neglected the development of inclusive, accountable governance and equitable infrastructure. Regional disparities are the result. This is especially so in Cabo Delgado province, where disenfranchised citizens have become vulnerable to extremist groups.

    This lack of unity and long-term planning has created a fragile state unable to withstand mounting internal and external pressures.

    As a Mozambican social scientist and human rights specialist, I have spent my adult life wrestling with my country’s complex economic, social, cultural and political dynamics.



    Read more:
    9 million Mozambicans live below the poverty line – what’s wrong with the national budget and how to fix it

    Mozambique stands at a critical point. The new president must confront the deep-rooted challenges with determination and comprehensive reforms.

    In my view, the new leader faces nine key challenges. These are a deep economic crisis, an Islamic insurgency in the north, climate change, drug trafficking, unemployment, corruption, poor infrastructure, kidnappings and unpaid public sector salaries.

    Economic crisis

    Mozambique’s economy has deteriorated, primarily because of structural imbalances and a dependence on extractive industries. GDP growth has declined sharply, from 7% in 2014 to 1.8% in 2023.

    Slower growth has resulted in over 62% of Mozambicans living in poverty.

    A public debt crisis was worsened by the “hidden debt scandal”: the discovery in 2016 of US$2 billion in previously undisclosed debts the government had guaranteed without the knowledge of parliament.

    This has limited the state’s capacity to invest in education, health and sanitation.

    Economic revival must be accompanied by targeted interventions to promote inclusive growth. All Mozambicans must benefit from economic activities to alleviate poverty.

    Insurgency

    Since 2017, extremist groups have used local grievances and regional disenfranchisement to destabilise northern Mozambique. Over 4,000 people have died. Nearly a million have been displaced.

    The conflict is rooted in socio-economic inequalities, made worse by the extraction of natural gas and rubies. Global and local actors compete for control.

    The new president’s role in mediating this crisis requires nuance. He must address the historical marginalisation of Cabo Delgado while balancing military and developmental responses.



    Read more:
    Between state and mosque: new book explores the turbulent history of Islamic politics in Mozambique

    He must also write a new chapter in the country’s deplorable human rights record. This is marked by widespread violations of the right to life, physical integrity, freedom from arbitrary detention, and freedoms of expression, assembly and the press.

    Climate change crisis

    Climate change intersects with Mozambique’s vulnerabilities. The country has been repeatedly struck by increasingly devastating severe cyclones, such as Idai and Kenneth in 2019.

    Deforestation has made it more fragile, reducing its capacity to mitigate flood and erosion risks.

    The new president will need to put in place policies that incorporate mitigation and adaptation strategies. He will also need to secure multilateral cooperation.

    Drug trafficking

    Drug trafficking networks have entrenched themselves. Porous borders, weak governance structures and endemic corruption have made Mozambique a corridor for heroin and cocaine trafficking.

    The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that US$100 million worth of heroin passes through Mozambique annually. This fuels informal economies that sustain political patronage networks.

    Tackling the problem requires stronger state institutions. It also requires regional and global collaboration to disrupt the transnational flow of narcotics.

    Unemployment

    Joblessness stands at over 70%, affecting youth in particular. Youth disenfranchisement risks perpetuating cycles of poverty, social instability and potential radicalisation.

    Policies promoting vocational training and entrepreneurship are essential. So is investment in labour-intensive sectors, such as agriculture and manufacturing.

    Corruption

    Pervasive corruption erodes public trust and stifles economic innovation. New efforts to combat corruption must go beyond superficial reforms. They must uproot the power structures that sustain these systems.

    Poor infrastructure

    Infrastructure is in disrepair. Urban roads are crumbling, public services are inadequate and electricity blackouts are frequent. Rural regions lack basic services such as clean water and healthcare.

    The next president will need to launch an ambitious infrastructure overhaul to improve living conditions and stimulate economic growth.

    Kidnappings

    Kidnappings, especially targeting the wealthy and business people, have created widespread fear and instability. The crime disrupts business operations and deters foreign investment, further harming economic growth.

    The high-profile nature of kidnappings suggests collusion between criminal networks and law enforcement as well as inefficiencies in the justice system.

    The persistence of kidnappings reflects broader governance issues. These include limited state capacity to respond effectively to organised crime.

    Unpaid public servants

    Delays in salary payments for public servants have worsened economic and social problems. The delays reduce public workers’ purchasing power. This has affected household consumption and local economies.

    Morale among employees is sapped, harming productivity and eroding trust in government institutions.



    Read more:
    Mozambique’s transgender history is on display in a powerful photo exhibition

    The new president must make public sector reforms. This includes auditing finances, improving revenue collection, enforcing fiscal discipline, promoting merit-based appointments, implementing probity laws, strengthening anti-corruption bodies, and diversifying the economy.

    The future of Mozambique rests on the ability of its next leader to address these profound and intertwined crises. It’s a huge task.

    Whoever it is will have to break from the Frelimo mould, reverse the damage done and set the country on a new path of clean governance, peace and inclusive economic growth.

    David Matsinhe 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. Mozambique’s 2024 elections: 9 major challenges that will face the next president – https://theconversation.com/mozambiques-2024-elections-9-major-challenges-that-will-face-the-next-president-240923

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What is Temporary Protected Status? A global migration expert explains why the US offers some foreign nationals temporary protection

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Karen Jacobsen, Henry J. Leir Chair in Global Migration, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University

    Haitian students use mobile phones to record an exercise during an English class in Springfield, Ohio, on Sept. 13, 2024. Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images

    Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance, have criticized the Biden administration’s decision to allow Haitian nationals who are in the U.S. to apply for permission to stay under a legal classification called Temporary Protected Status. Here is what this designation means and how it’s made:

    TPS permits foreign nationals who are already in the United States – even if they did not enter the country through an official or legal means – to remain for six, 12 or 18 months at a time if the situation in their home country is deemed too dangerous for them to return. Threats that prompt TPS designations include ongoing armed conflict, natural disasters, epidemics and other extraordinary and temporary conditions.

    The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security designates a foreign country for TPS when conditions there meet requirements spelled out in federal law. Once the secretary determines that the foreign country is safe for its nationals to return, their protected status expires and people who have been granted it are expected to return to their home country.

    Congress created TPS as part of the Immigration Act of 1990. Since then, administrations have used it to protect thousands of people from dozens of countries. The first nations to be designated, in March 1991, were Kuwait, Lebanon and Liberia.

    As of March 2024, there were 863,880 people from 16 countries under Temporary Protected Status in the U.S. Another 486,418 people had initial or renewal applications pending. An estimated 316,000 people may also be eligible under two new extensions since that date.

    TPS beneficiaries may not be detained by federal officials over their immigration status or deported from the United States. They can obtain work permits and apply for authorization to travel outside the U.S. and return to it.

    People who receive TPS don’t automatically become legal permanent residents. But they can petition for an adjustment of their immigration status, such as applying for permanent residency, a student visa or asylum. Applying for a change of immigration status does not necessarily mean their application will be approved.

    Humanitarian measures

    TPS is not the only tool administrations can use to protect people from countries facing disaster or conflict.

    For example, a Haitian person currently living in the U.S. is eligible for TPS under a designation that lasts through Feb. 3, 2026. In contrast, a Haitian who travels through Mexico and applies for entry to the U.S. at the border is not likely to be admitted.

    However, there is a third possibility for Haitians, known as parole. The federal government can give certain groups permission to enter or remain in the U.S. if it finds “urgent humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons” for doing so.

    People who enter through parole programs must have an approved financial supporter in the U.S., undergo a robust security vetting and meet other eligibility criteria. They typically can stay for one to two years, and may apply for authorization to work.

    One current parole program is for people from Latin American countries that are TPS designates. The U.S. government can grant advance permission to enter the U.S. to up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans each month. People fleeing these countries – all of which have been designated for Temporary Protected Status – can seek authorization to travel from their homes to the U.S. for urgent humanitarian reasons, and then stay for a temporary period of parole for up to two years.

    Immigrant rights groups rally at the U.S. Capitol following a federal court ruling that threatened the legal standing of thousands with Temporary Protected Status, Sept. 15, 2020.
    Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

    I’ve studied global migration and asylum policy for 25 years. I see both TPS and parole as legal and carefully considered ways to support people from countries experiencing wrenching conflict, disorder and disaster who are seeking safety in the U.S. Doing away with these programs, as Trump sought to do during his term in office, would make it extremely difficult for people in great danger to escape.

    Neither TPS nor parole programs are automatic roads to citizenship or permanent residence. They are ways to provide humanitarian assistance to people in appalling circumstances, such as rampant gang violence in Haiti and economic hardship and political repression in Venezuela and Nicaragua.

    Certainly, cities need more resources to support large numbers of immigrants. But offering temporary protection to people whose home countries are not safe places to live is a long-standing – and, in my view, crucial – element of U.S. immigration policy.

    Karen Jacobsen 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 Temporary Protected Status? A global migration expert explains why the US offers some foreign nationals temporary protection – https://theconversation.com/what-is-temporary-protected-status-a-global-migration-expert-explains-why-the-us-offers-some-foreign-nationals-temporary-protection-240525

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Elite corruption has the power to ignite mass protests in Nigeria – why police corruption doesn’t

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Jacob Lewis, Assistant Professor, School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Washington State University

    Nigerians took to the streets in August 2024 to voice their frustration at a series of government policies. These policies had been ostensibly designed to make Nigeria more attractive for outside investment.

    The removal of fuel subsidies and the removal of the economic peg between the Nigerian naira and the US dollar have sent the Nigerian economy into a tailspin.

    Many Nigerians rely on government subsidies to make ends meet. The economic policy changes have resulted in a big rise in inflation, adding to the challenges for ordinary Nigerians.

    As economic conditions have worsened, the prominence of government corruption has risen. Protests and riots have exploded in the streets across the country in the form of #EndBadGovernance protests that call out government graft and poor governance.

    Does government corruption drive protests and social movements? While some scholars have argued that it does, others have argued that corruption is often a catch-all term for frustration over broad economic and democratic grievances. Others have noted that in some cases, increased perceptions of corruption correlate with less protest.

    These contradictory results reveal an important puzzle: why does corruption only sometimes seem to generate mass uprisings? If, for example, corruption is enough to generate citizen uprisings, then why do we only rarely see unified anti-police protests in countries like Nigeria, where police corruption is rampant?

    I argue that one key to this puzzle is the way different types of corruption are associated with increased or decreased protest mobilisation.

    I am a political scientist whose work focuses in part on African social movements and issues of corruption. I approach this by merging large statistical models with political psychological approaches.

    I conducted research in 2021 on different types of corruption shaping protests. I found that elite corruption had the power to mobilise protest. But that other forms of corruption – such as corruption in the police force – were less likely to lead people to take protest action.

    The implication of my findings is that anti-corruption protests are an imperfect signal for understanding everyday corruption experiences. The fact that people aren’t protesting doesn’t mean there’s nothing to complain about.

    Why elite corruption sparks protest

    To explain why corruption sometimes corresponds with protest movements and other times does not, I think it is useful to consider two types of corruption. Elite corruption refers to forms of graft and venality performed by political elites who seek to either enrich themselves or reshape the political system to their advantage.

    Police corruption refers to acts of self-enrichment or abuse perpetrated by police officers, often during traffic stops or in the process of police procedure.

    My findings show that citizens are generally more likely to mobilise in response to elite corruption than police corruption. Why?

    First, elite corruption tends to be intertwined with macro-level economic crises and scandals.

    Second, elite corruption provides a universal point of focus for protesters across an entire nation, rather than the highly localised experiences of police and bureaucratic graft.

    Finally, anger over police corruption may be suppressed by the safety concerns associated with demonstrating against armed security forces.

    I tested this argument using two methods. First, drawing from a 2017 household survey experiment that I conducted in five Nigerian states, I examined whether exposure to vignettes describing either elite corruption or police corruption shaped a respondent’s self-reported willingness to participate in a protest.

    The elite corruption vignettes included self-dealing and system-changing forms of corruption perpetrated by political elites. The police corruption vignette focused on the solicitation of bribes and unfair detention of citizens by the police. I then asked respondents:

    Many Nigerians join groups that engage in protests, strikes, or demonstrations. Now I would like to ask you about how willing you would be to join a protest or demonstration.

    Respondents were able to select a response between 1 (“not at all willing”) to 5 (“very willing / I already do”).

    I found that individuals who received the elite corruption vignette were statistically more likely to state that they would join a protest or demonstration.

    I then expanded this analysis via a statistical regression that measured whether perceptions of elite and police corruption (sourced from the Afrobarometer dataset) correlated with different levels of observed conflict (sourced from the Social Conflict Analysis Database).

    I thought it was best to test whether the results of my survey experiment, which capture a moment in time, reflected a broader reality, or whether it was just a fluke.

    Using the Afrobarometer data, I identified regions where citizens expressed particularly high or low perceptions of elite and police corruption. Then, using the social conflict analysis data, I measured the number of protest events in those regions.

    I found that while elite corruption perceptions were positively correlated with an increased number of observed protest events, police corruption perceptions were not.

    Together, these methods suggest that it is not enough to argue that citizens will rise up against corrupt governments. Rather, the ways in which a government is corrupt matter.

    Turning back to the August 2024 protests, one might ask: why now? Why did Nigerians spend ten days protesting against corruption when there had been rampant corruption for so long?

    My research suggests that the nature of the corruption claims – specifically, anger over large-scale government graft – is what counts.

    Recent developments seem to support this.

    What’s changed

    First, corruption perceptions have spiked. In 2021, Afrobarometer polled 1,600 Nigerians, asking them whether levels of corruption had risen, stayed the same, or decreased in the past year. At the time, just over 35% stated that corruption had “increased a lot”. One year later, that number had nearly doubled, jumping to just under 65%.

    This drastic increase in perceived corruption reveals a broader lack of faith in the government and concern over the future of the country.

    Second, tipping points help with mobilisation. The protests in early August arose as the financial crisis crystallised and as a series of economic policies brought into sharp relief the economic disparities between the rich and the poor.

    The removal of fuel subsidies is a particularly touchy subject in Nigerian politics. In 2012, Nigerians took to the streets over the same issue, leading to a week-long “occupation” of major Nigerian cities by protesters.

    Implications

    Protests are a highly visible signal that citizens are frustrated; however, it is easy to overlook the possibility that citizens may be widely upset about a broad array of issues, but only willing to speak out in response to some of those issues.

    There is a knock-on consequence to this; namely, that police corruption has a more direct effect on the lives of Nigerians than elite corruption, but often goes unaddressed.

    Jacob Lewis receives funding from the Department of Defense, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He consults with the Anti-Defamation League on survey-based research.

    – ref. Elite corruption has the power to ignite mass protests in Nigeria – why police corruption doesn’t – https://theconversation.com/elite-corruption-has-the-power-to-ignite-mass-protests-in-nigeria-why-police-corruption-doesnt-239760

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Mozambique’s 2024 elections: 9 major challenges that will face the next president

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By David Matsinhe, Losophone Research Specialist/Adjunct Professor in African Studies, Carleton University

    The incoming president of Mozambique faces an array of interconnected problems deeply rooted in historical, socioeconomic and political dynamics. He must balance meeting immediate needs with long-term structural change.

    The 9 October 2024 general election was Mozambique’s seventh since multiparty elections were introduced in 1994. The results are expected to be announced within two weeks from the poll date. International media reports indicate that the ruling Frelimo and its presidential candidate Daniel Chapo are poised for a landslide victory.

    This is likely to be confirmed by the electoral commission even though local media have pointed to widespread and brazen ballot stuffing and fake observers, among other irregularities, in favour of Frelimo.

    Frelimo has been in power since independence in 1975.

    Can the resource-rich but impoverished nation of 35 million expect a redirection of policies and strategies under Chapo to address its multifaceted crises?

    Chapo (47) was born after independence and promises to act with integrity. But the old guard placed him in power to protect and promote their interests.

    Mozambique’s crises stem largely from systemic corruption under Frelimo. It has prioritised political elites over national welfare. Its decades of mismanagement, embezzlement and patronage have left institutions weak and unable to address pressing social and economic issues.

    The country is fragmented. The government has neglected the development of inclusive, accountable governance and equitable infrastructure. Regional disparities are the result. This is especially so in Cabo Delgado province, where disenfranchised citizens have become vulnerable to extremist groups.

    This lack of unity and long-term planning has created a fragile state unable to withstand mounting internal and external pressures.

    As a Mozambican social scientist and human rights specialist, I have spent my adult life wrestling with my country’s complex economic, social, cultural and political dynamics.

    Read more: 9 million Mozambicans live below the poverty line – what’s wrong with the national budget and how to fix it

    Mozambique stands at a critical point. The new president must confront the deep-rooted challenges with determination and comprehensive reforms.

    In my view, the new leader faces nine key challenges. These are a deep economic crisis, an Islamic insurgency in the north, climate change, drug trafficking, unemployment, corruption, poor infrastructure, kidnappings and unpaid public sector salaries.

    Economic crisis

    Mozambique’s economy has deteriorated, primarily because of structural imbalances and a dependence on extractive industries. GDP growth has declined sharply, from 7% in 2014 to 1.8% in 2023.

    Slower growth has resulted in over 62% of Mozambicans living in poverty.

    A public debt crisis was worsened by the “hidden debt scandal”: the discovery in 2016 of US$2 billion in previously undisclosed debts the government had guaranteed without the knowledge of parliament.

    This has limited the state’s capacity to invest in education, health and sanitation.

    Economic revival must be accompanied by targeted interventions to promote inclusive growth. All Mozambicans must benefit from economic activities to alleviate poverty.

    Insurgency

    Since 2017, extremist groups have used local grievances and regional disenfranchisement to destabilise northern Mozambique. Over 4,000 people have died. Nearly a million have been displaced.

    The conflict is rooted in socio-economic inequalities, made worse by the extraction of natural gas and rubies. Global and local actors compete for control.

    The new president’s role in mediating this crisis requires nuance. He must address the historical marginalisation of Cabo Delgado while balancing military and developmental responses.

    Read more: Between state and mosque: new book explores the turbulent history of Islamic politics in Mozambique

    He must also write a new chapter in the country’s deplorable human rights record. This is marked by widespread violations of the right to life, physical integrity, freedom from arbitrary detention, and freedoms of expression, assembly and the press.

    Climate change crisis

    Climate change intersects with Mozambique’s vulnerabilities. The country has been repeatedly struck by increasingly devastating severe cyclones, such as Idai and Kenneth in 2019.

    Deforestation has made it more fragile, reducing its capacity to mitigate flood and erosion risks.

    The new president will need to put in place policies that incorporate mitigation and adaptation strategies. He will also need to secure multilateral cooperation.

    Drug trafficking

    Drug trafficking networks have entrenched themselves. Porous borders, weak governance structures and endemic corruption have made Mozambique a corridor for heroin and cocaine trafficking.

    The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that US$100 million worth of heroin passes through Mozambique annually. This fuels informal economies that sustain political patronage networks.

    Tackling the problem requires stronger state institutions. It also requires regional and global collaboration to disrupt the transnational flow of narcotics.

    Unemployment

    Joblessness stands at over 70%, affecting youth in particular. Youth disenfranchisement risks perpetuating cycles of poverty, social instability and potential radicalisation.

    Policies promoting vocational training and entrepreneurship are essential. So is investment in labour-intensive sectors, such as agriculture and manufacturing.

    Corruption

    Pervasive corruption erodes public trust and stifles economic innovation. New efforts to combat corruption must go beyond superficial reforms. They must uproot the power structures that sustain these systems.

    Poor infrastructure

    Infrastructure is in disrepair. Urban roads are crumbling, public services are inadequate and electricity blackouts are frequent. Rural regions lack basic services such as clean water and healthcare.

    The next president will need to launch an ambitious infrastructure overhaul to improve living conditions and stimulate economic growth.

    Kidnappings

    Kidnappings, especially targeting the wealthy and business people, have created widespread fear and instability. The crime disrupts business operations and deters foreign investment, further harming economic growth.

    The high-profile nature of kidnappings suggests collusion between criminal networks and law enforcement as well as inefficiencies in the justice system.

    The persistence of kidnappings reflects broader governance issues. These include limited state capacity to respond effectively to organised crime.

    Unpaid public servants

    Delays in salary payments for public servants have worsened economic and social problems. The delays reduce public workers’ purchasing power. This has affected household consumption and local economies.

    Morale among employees is sapped, harming productivity and eroding trust in government institutions.

    Read more: Mozambique’s transgender history is on display in a powerful photo exhibition

    The new president must make public sector reforms. This includes auditing finances, improving revenue collection, enforcing fiscal discipline, promoting merit-based appointments, implementing probity laws, strengthening anti-corruption bodies, and diversifying the economy.

    The future of Mozambique rests on the ability of its next leader to address these profound and intertwined crises. It’s a huge task.

    Whoever it is will have to break from the Frelimo mould, reverse the damage done and set the country on a new path of clean governance, peace and inclusive economic growth.

    – Mozambique’s 2024 elections: 9 major challenges that will face the next president
    – https://theconversation.com/mozambiques-2024-elections-9-major-challenges-that-will-face-the-next-president-240923

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Elite corruption has the power to ignite mass protests in Nigeria – why police corruption doesn’t

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Jacob Lewis, Assistant Professor, School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Washington State University

    Nigerians took to the streets in August 2024 to voice their frustration at a series of government policies. These policies had been ostensibly designed to make Nigeria more attractive for outside investment.

    The removal of fuel subsidies and the removal of the economic peg between the Nigerian naira and the US dollar have sent the Nigerian economy into a tailspin.

    Many Nigerians rely on government subsidies to make ends meet. The economic policy changes have resulted in a big rise in inflation, adding to the challenges for ordinary Nigerians.

    As economic conditions have worsened, the prominence of government corruption has risen. Protests and riots have exploded in the streets across the country in the form of #EndBadGovernance protests that call out government graft and poor governance.

    Does government corruption drive protests and social movements? While some scholars have argued that it does, others have argued that corruption is often a catch-all term for frustration over broad economic and democratic grievances. Others have noted that in some cases, increased perceptions of corruption correlate with less protest.

    These contradictory results reveal an important puzzle: why does corruption only sometimes seem to generate mass uprisings? If, for example, corruption is enough to generate citizen uprisings, then why do we only rarely see unified anti-police protests in countries like Nigeria, where police corruption is rampant?

    I argue that one key to this puzzle is the way different types of corruption are associated with increased or decreased protest mobilisation.

    I am a political scientist whose work focuses in part on African social movements and issues of corruption. I approach this by merging large statistical models with political psychological approaches.

    I conducted research in 2021 on different types of corruption shaping protests. I found that elite corruption had the power to mobilise protest. But that other forms of corruption – such as corruption in the police force – were less likely to lead people to take protest action.

    The implication of my findings is that anti-corruption protests are an imperfect signal for understanding everyday corruption experiences. The fact that people aren’t protesting doesn’t mean there’s nothing to complain about.

    Why elite corruption sparks protest

    To explain why corruption sometimes corresponds with protest movements and other times does not, I think it is useful to consider two types of corruption. Elite corruption refers to forms of graft and venality performed by political elites who seek to either enrich themselves or reshape the political system to their advantage.

    Police corruption refers to acts of self-enrichment or abuse perpetrated by police officers, often during traffic stops or in the process of police procedure.

    My findings show that citizens are generally more likely to mobilise in response to elite corruption than police corruption. Why?

    First, elite corruption tends to be intertwined with macro-level economic crises and scandals.

    Second, elite corruption provides a universal point of focus for protesters across an entire nation, rather than the highly localised experiences of police and bureaucratic graft.

    Finally, anger over police corruption may be suppressed by the safety concerns associated with demonstrating against armed security forces.

    I tested this argument using two methods. First, drawing from a 2017 household survey experiment that I conducted in five Nigerian states, I examined whether exposure to vignettes describing either elite corruption or police corruption shaped a respondent’s self-reported willingness to participate in a protest.

    The elite corruption vignettes included self-dealing and system-changing forms of corruption perpetrated by political elites. The police corruption vignette focused on the solicitation of bribes and unfair detention of citizens by the police. I then asked respondents:

    Many Nigerians join groups that engage in protests, strikes, or demonstrations. Now I would like to ask you about how willing you would be to join a protest or demonstration.

    Respondents were able to select a response between 1 (“not at all willing”) to 5 (“very willing / I already do”).

    I found that individuals who received the elite corruption vignette were statistically more likely to state that they would join a protest or demonstration.

    I then expanded this analysis via a statistical regression that measured whether perceptions of elite and police corruption (sourced from the Afrobarometer dataset) correlated with different levels of observed conflict (sourced from the Social Conflict Analysis Database).

    I thought it was best to test whether the results of my survey experiment, which capture a moment in time, reflected a broader reality, or whether it was just a fluke.

    Using the Afrobarometer data, I identified regions where citizens expressed particularly high or low perceptions of elite and police corruption. Then, using the social conflict analysis data, I measured the number of protest events in those regions.

    I found that while elite corruption perceptions were positively correlated with an increased number of observed protest events, police corruption perceptions were not.

    Together, these methods suggest that it is not enough to argue that citizens will rise up against corrupt governments. Rather, the ways in which a government is corrupt matter.

    Turning back to the August 2024 protests, one might ask: why now? Why did Nigerians spend ten days protesting against corruption when there had been rampant corruption for so long?

    My research suggests that the nature of the corruption claims – specifically, anger over large-scale government graft – is what counts.

    Recent developments seem to support this.

    What’s changed

    First, corruption perceptions have spiked. In 2021, Afrobarometer polled 1,600 Nigerians, asking them whether levels of corruption had risen, stayed the same, or decreased in the past year. At the time, just over 35% stated that corruption had “increased a lot”. One year later, that number had nearly doubled, jumping to just under 65%.

    This drastic increase in perceived corruption reveals a broader lack of faith in the government and concern over the future of the country.

    Second, tipping points help with mobilisation. The protests in early August arose as the financial crisis crystallised and as a series of economic policies brought into sharp relief the economic disparities between the rich and the poor.

    The removal of fuel subsidies is a particularly touchy subject in Nigerian politics. In 2012, Nigerians took to the streets over the same issue, leading to a week-long “occupation” of major Nigerian cities by protesters.

    Implications

    Protests are a highly visible signal that citizens are frustrated; however, it is easy to overlook the possibility that citizens may be widely upset about a broad array of issues, but only willing to speak out in response to some of those issues.

    There is a knock-on consequence to this; namely, that police corruption has a more direct effect on the lives of Nigerians than elite corruption, but often goes unaddressed.

    – Elite corruption has the power to ignite mass protests in Nigeria – why police corruption doesn’t
    – https://theconversation.com/elite-corruption-has-the-power-to-ignite-mass-protests-in-nigeria-why-police-corruption-doesnt-239760

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Edmonton — Fraudster arrested for money laundering offences via hawala system

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    The RCMP Federal Policing Northwest Region’s Provincial Financial Crime Team (PFCT) in Edmonton has charged an Airdrie resident with fraud and money laundering-related offences.

    Between January and July 2023, the accused is alleged to have fraudulently received in excess of $100,000 from domestic and international victims who sent money via e-transfer and wire transfer to purchase goods from online sales platforms. The fraudulent sales included goods such as hay bales, deer antlers, antiseptic cleaning wipes and sea urchins.

    The accused is also believed to have been running an informal value transfer system, known as hawala, using trade-based money laundering methods that contravene the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA).

    Mbua Ngomba Kalla, 49, a resident of Airdrie, was charged was arrested and charged with:

    • Theft over $5,000 contrary to section 380(1)(a) of the Criminal Code;
    • Possession of property obtained by crime contrary to section 355(a) of the Criminal Code;
    • Failure to register as a money service business contrary to section 11.1 of the PCMLTFA;
    • Failure to report large value transactions contrary to section 12 of the PCMLTFA; and,
    • Failure to verify identity contrary to section 74(1) of the PCMLTFA.

    Kalla is scheduled to appear in the Airdrie Provincial Court on Oct. 17, 2024.

    “By working with our partners at the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada and law enforcement agencies across Canada, we found that the individual used the internet to commit multiple frauds with victims across western Canada and abroad.”

    • Insp. John Lamming, RCMP Federal Policing Northwest Region

    If you believe you may be a victim of fraud, or are currently being targeted by fraud, please report it to your local law enforcement and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) at 1-888-495-8501. Instances of compromised personal and/or financial information should be reported to your bank and credit card company. To learn more about the various types of frauds and scams, please visit the CAFC’s scam webpage.

    The Provincial Financial Crime Team is a specialized unit that conducts investigations relating to multi-jurisdictional serious fraud, investment scams and corruption.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Met detectives secure justice following the murder of a teenager in Dagenham

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    Four men have been jailed for a total of 91 years after being found guilty of fatally stabbing an 18-year-old in Dagenham thanks to the work of dedicated Met officers.

    Wazabakana Kukabu, known as Jordan to his loved ones, was tragically murdered last year (May 2023).

    At the Old Bailey on Tuesday, 15 October, Michael Tommy-Mbogba, 21 (13.12.02) of Arkwrights, Harlow was sentenced to 29 years. Toulwalase Odunewu, 18 (22.10.05) of Angel Way, Romford was also sentenced to 23 yea

    rs in prison.

    A 16-year-old boy – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was also sentenced to 16 years for the same murder, while a 17-year-old – who also cannot be named – was sentenced to 23 years.

    Detective Chief Inspector Laura Semple, who led the investigation, said: “I want to extend our deepest condolences to Jordan’s family and those who knew him – our thoughts very much remain with them today.

    “I would also like to thank those witnesses who came forward and provided crucial evidence during the trial, as well as acknowledge the incredible efforts of those Met officers and other emergency service staff who tried so desperately to save Jordan’s life.

    “Knife crime has a devastating impact on our communities and rips families apart – that’s why we’re committed to doing everything in our power to work with partners and charities, such as the Ben Kinsella Trust, to protect young people and make London safer.”

    At around 23:45hrs on Friday, 5 May 2023, Jordan and his friend drove to Dagenham Heathway station, where they parked their car. The four defendants were already nearby and moved towards the vehicle brandishing machetes. One of the defendants stabbed Jordan in the chest while he sat in the back seat.

    He managed to sprint away and stop a passing car for help, but quickly collapsed on the road.

    Police officers on patrol nearby provided CPR but Jordan was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.

    Detectives immediately launched an investigation and pieced together CCTV of the attack and the defendants leaving the scene. They identified witnesses as part of the investigation, who came forward and supplied crucial evidence.

    One explained that he had seen the defendants sitting on the top deck of a bus after the murder re-enacting the fatal attack they had just carried out.

    Met search teams found a blood-stained knife close to the scene, which was tested and matched to Tommy-Mbogba. Fingerprints were also found in a taxi, which the group had used later that night.

    The 17-year-old boy was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Jordan’s friend, while the other three defendants were found guilty of Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) against the same victim.

    All were also found guilty of a separate incident of violent disorder, which had taken place two days previously.

    In a statement Jordan’s father said: “I want to take this opportunity to thank the judge, the prosecution team and the investigation team for all the hard work. My son possessed beauty both inside and out. He had a pure heart and was so gentle he would not harm anyone, yet his life was taken so prematurely. I can only visit Jordan’s grave and mourn the loss of his beautiful presence to this world.”

    In a statement Jordan’s mother said: “Words will never explain the pain and devastation I have writing this. Jordan has a family who love him so much and you took my precious son away from us. He always showed his whole family and everyone who knew him love and affection.”

    If you are concerned about knife crime or know somebody who carries a weapon, has been a victim or is at risk of becoming a victim – please visit the Crimestoppers website or the Met’s ‘Stop Knife Crime’ web pages.

    Note to Editors

    There is no video footage of the incident available for release at the request of Jordan’s family.

    All four defendants were previously found guilty at a trial at Old Bailey on Monday, 17 June 2024.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation — Loon Lake RCMP ask public to report sightings of Christian Mitsuing

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    On October 13, 2024 at approximately 7 p.m., Loon Lake RCMP received a report of a firearm discharge on Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation. Officers immediately responded.

    Officers investigated and determined no injuries were associated with the report.

    During the course of investigation, an officer was out of their police vehicle taking statements. An ATV with a male driver and female passenger suddenly drove toward the officer at high speed. The officer had to quickly move out of the way to avoid being struck. The ATV then fled.

    The officer did not report physical injuries.

    The next day, officers were patrolling on Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation. They observed the ATV from the previous night’s incident. Officers attempted to stop the ATV but it fled.

    As a result of continued investigation, 31-year-old Christian Mitsuing from Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation is charged with:

    – two counts, operation while prohibited, Section 320.18(1)(a), Criminal Code;

    – one count, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, Section 320.13(1), Criminal Code;

    – one count, assault with weapon on police officer, Section 270(1)(a), Criminal Code; and

    – one count, flight from peace officer, Section 320.13, Criminal Code.

    A warrant has been issued for his arrest and Loon Lake RCMP is actively working to locate him. Investigators ask members of the public to report all sightings of Christian Mitsuing and information on his whereabouts.

    Christian Mitsuing is described as approximately 5’10” and 180 lbs. He has black hair and brown eyes. He has numerous small tattoos on his face.

    If you see Christian Mitsuing, do not approach him. Call Loon Lake RCMP by dialling 310-RCMP. Information can also be submitted anonymously by contacting Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or http://www.saskcrimestoppers.com.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Data Center Company CEO Indicted for Major Fraud and Making False Statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

    Source: United States Attorneys General

    A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment yesterday charging a Maryland man with major fraud against the United States and making false statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for his alleged participation in a scheme to deceive the SEC into thinking his company’s data center was certified at the highest rating level for reliability, availability, and security, when it was not.

    According to the indictment, Deepak Jain, 49, of Potomac, was the CEO of an information technology services company (referred to in the indictment as Company A) that provided data center services to customers, including the SEC. From 2012 through 2018, the SEC paid Company A approximately $10.7 million for the use of Company A’s data center in Beltsville, Maryland.

    As alleged in the indictment, Jain created an entity called Uptime Council, which purported to inspect and audit data centers. In order to obtain the SEC data center contract and conceal that Company A did not meet the SEC contract’s requirements, Jain allegedly drafted Uptime Council certification letters, which falsely claimed Uptime Council had certified Company A’s data center as a Tier IV data center, the highest possible rating for reliability, availability, and security. Throughout the pendency of the contract between Company A and the SEC, the SEC experienced several issues with Company A’s data center, including issues with security, cooling, and power — all of which were subjects of the standard referenced in the fraudulent Uptime Council certification letters.

    “As alleged in the indictment, Jain orchestrated a years-long scheme to defraud the SEC by falsely certifying that his company’s data center met the highest rating level, when the actual rating did not satisfy the SEC contract,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Jain allegedly sought to enrich himself and his company at the expense of the reliability, availability, and security of the SEC’s electronic data. Yesterday’s charges make clear that the Criminal Division will not tolerate fraud schemes that threaten the security of the government’s electronic data.”

    “This indictment demonstrates our shared commitment with the Justice Department to hold bad actors accountable for engaging in schemes to defraud the SEC that undermine the integrity and fairness of the government procurement process,” said Inspector General Deborah Jeffrey of the SEC.

    Jain is charged with six counts of major fraud against the United States and one count of making false statements. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count of major fraud and a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the making false statements count.

    The SEC Office of Inspector General is investigating the case.

    Senior Litigation Counsel Vasanth Sridharan and Trial Attorney Spencer Ryan of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

    If you believe you are a victim in this case, please contact the Fraud Section’s Victim Witness Unit toll-free at (888) 549-3945 or by email at victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov.

    An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Data Center Company CEO Indicted for Major Fraud and Making False Statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

    Source: US Justice – Antitrust Division

    Headline: Data Center Company CEO Indicted for Major Fraud and Making False Statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

    A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment yesterday charging a Maryland man with major fraud against the United States and making false statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for his alleged participation in a scheme to deceive the SEC into thinking his company’s data center was certified at the highest rating level for reliability, availability, and security, when it was not.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Lawler Announces Over $32 Million in Federal Funding in FY25, Set to Deliver More Than $70 Million For District in First Term

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Mike Lawler (R, NY-17)

    Yesterday, Congressman Mike Lawler was joined by Rockland County Sheriff Lou Falco and other local elected officials outside the Rockland County Sheriff’s office to highlight major infrastructure and public safety investments for the Hudson Valley secured in federal community project funding for Fiscal Year 2025. Although the appropriations work for Fiscal Year 2025 is still ongoing, Congressman Lawler has already secured more than $32.9 million for fifteen different projects across New York’s 17th Congressional District. This is in addition to $38 million in federal funding for 17 projects in Fiscal Year 2024. With the latest numbers, Congressman Lawler is set to deliver more than $70 million for New York’s 17th Congressional District in his first term in office.

    “When I was elected to represent this district, I promised I would work with my partners at every level of government and in both parties to prioritize the needs of our residents,” said Congressman Lawler. “That’s exactly what I’ve done in working with each of the officials with me here today to ensure funding for each of these important projects.”

    “Projects like these are great examples of what we can accomplish when we put aside politics and focus on meeting the needs of our communities and constituents,” Congressman Lawler concluded. “That’s been my focus as a Congressman, it’s been my focus throughout the appropriations process for both Fiscal Year 2024 and 2025, and it will always be my focus.”

    Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of the 118th Congress and represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties.

    Complete footage of yesterday’s press conference can be viewed here.

    Below is a list and description of each project announced by Congressman Lawler:

    Rockland County Public Safety and Crime Prevention Initiative

    Recipient: Rockland County Sheriff’s Office

    Amount: $4,500,000

    Summary: The funding will be used for necessary law enforcement priorities such as police vehicles, equipment to be utilized at a new reality-based public safety training facility, and the structural analysis and design of the facility. This project will provide necessary support to the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office to ensure effective enforcement of laws, address crimes, and improve the criminal justice system across the County. These priorities closely align with the purposes of the Byrne Justice Grants program.

    Law Enforcement Reality-Based Training Facility

    Recipient: Rockland County Sheriff’s Office

    Amount: $2,600,000

    Summary: The funding will be used to construct a new reality-based training facility for the Rockland County Sheriff Department to grow law enforcement capacity, ensure effective law enforcement operations, and overall enhance public safety throughout the county. This project will increase law enforcement capacity and enhance development of public safety in Rockland County, NY. This new facility will allow the Sheriff’s office to better combat crime, improve community safety, and foster an environment more conducive to economic development.

    Westchester Pleasantville Water District Storage Tank Replacement/Rehabilitation

    Amount: $2,250,000

    Summary: The funding will be used to mitigate risks attached to their leaking North and South Water Storage Tanks. Both 1-million-gallon water storage tanks are housed within the Millwood Water Treatment Plant approximately 3 miles north of the Village and services the entire Pleasantville Water District and approximately 2,000 residents in the Town of Mount Pleasant. Over the course of their 90-year history, both storage tanks have been exposed to natural deterioration, which has led to their useful life cycles coming to an end. Funding for the proposed Water Tank Improvement project will replace both of the Village’s North and South water tanks, which will significantly reduce the tax burden placed on residents. The completion of this project will positively impact the Pleasantville water distribution system, which services all 7,513 residents (U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 Decennial Census) and an additional 2,000+ residents living in the Town of Mount Pleasant. Without funding, Pleasantville’s North and South Water Tanks would continue to suffer from leakage which will compromise the Village’s water supply, further increasing distribution risks that will negatively affect residential quality of life.

    Nanuet TOD Project

    Recipient: Town of Clarkstown

    Amount: $5,000,000

    Summary: The funding will be used for construction of the first phase of its transformative vision for the Nanuet Transit Oriented Development Plan (TOD), including water and sewer infrastructure improvements, road, sidewalk, and pedestrian safety and streetscape enhancements. Bringing this extensive new infrastructure will spark the redevelopment of the area by mitigating the drainage issues plaguing development in the area, enhancing the appeal of the area, and creating the necessary connectivity for a walkable and easily accessible TOD neighborhood. This transformational project will lead to an expansion of workforce housing, parking, and economic opportunity for the community.

    Safer Ramapo Project

    Recipient: Town of Ramapo

    Amount: $5,000,000

    Summary: The funding will be used for installation of pedestrian safety measures, including traffic signals, turning lanes, walking paths, and sidewalks in the Town of Ramapo. Directing funding towards pedestrian safety measures will not only mitigate the risk of accidents but also cultivate a more pedestrian-friendly environment. This will improve accessibility and safety, improve connectedness, and improve ADA compliance. The Town of Ramapo is also home to one of the largest Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish populations in the country, with many of these individuals walking to shul on Saturdays. To ensure the safety of these individuals, the Town of Ramapo requires additional funding for the construction of sidewalks. From 2011-2022, there have been 983 pedestrian injuries, and twenty-seven (27) deaths in the Town of Ramapo. Safer walking conditions continue to be an urgent need for Ramapo residents. 

    Carmel Water District II Water Plant Upgrade and Rehabilitation Project

    Recipient: Town of Carmel

    Amount: $1,250,000

    Summary: The funding will be used to repair/replace a 60-year-old facility and associated equipment to meet federal and state requirements of PFOAs. This project will directly benefit approximately 10,000 individuals on a daily basis. Beyond safeguarding public health, it will also have far reaching positive effects on various institutions and businesses in downtown Carmel, including the Putnam Hospital, and Carmel High School.

    Hallocks Mill Sewer District Extension Project

    Recipient: Town of Yorktown

    Amount: $1,250,000

    Summary: The funding will provide public sewer service to neighborhoods presently serviced by residential septic systems. The properties served by septic systems have generally been installed on small lots with steep slopes and environmental constraints, which are not ideal for septic system performance. The extended district will dramatically improve and enhance the water quality of Sparkle Lake, a major recreational resource for town residents, as well as the Croton Reservoir, which provides drinking water for millions of residents in the metropolitan area. The proposed wastewater infrastructure project, however, protects one of the largest public water systems in the United States. 

    Croton Falls Sewer Project

    Recipient: Town of North Salem

    Amount: $1,250,000

    Summary:  The project will install sewers in the Village of Croton Falls’ General Business district to replace existing septic and cesspools. The Village is struggling because some of its businesses, especially all of the restaurants which have mixed use with residential apartments over them, are on older septic tanks that cannot be upgraded due to a lack of space. Due to its proximity to the Muscoot Reservoir, many of the existing tanks and fields are on New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) property and under roads, some are not fixable if they were to fail. To allow the Village to take advantage of its assets and begin to realize the potential of the community, Croton Falls needs sewers, which this funding will provide.

    Town of Orangetown Sidewalk Improvement Project

    Recipient: Town of Orangetown

    Amount: $1,500,000

    Summary: The funding would be used for streetscaping improvements in the Hamlet of Pearl River in the Town of Orangetown specifically to install sidewalks, curbs, and drainage improvements. This project provides streetscape improvements that meet a compelling local need consistent with the statutory purposes of the Economic Development Initiative. The corridor receiving these improvements has seen three fatalities in the last 15 years and is part of Orangetown’s continued efforts to improve pedestrian safety on Middletown Road. Sidewalks are a critical element of community well-being and serve as a connector between residents, neighborhoods, local economies, and more. Walkable sidewalks will ensure Orangetown is a place that attracts both businesses and new residents, which will surely promote economic development in the community.

    Village of New Square Road Infrastructure Improvements Project

    Recipient: Village of New Square

    Requested Amount: $4,000,000

    Summary: The funding will complete much needed improvements for NYS Route 45, widen Village roads, and complete paving improvements. The project will enhance traffic flow and increase the safety of motorists and pedestrians by addressing long-standing concerns about road conditions and motorist/pedestrian safety in the Village of New Square. Portions of the project area lack adequate sidewalks as a buffer from narrow, congested roads and are inherently dangerous in a fast-growing Village where many pedestrians utilize Village streets to travel to school, shopping, and visits to friends and family. By rectifying roadway deficiencies, the Village will relieve congestion, reduce travel time, and increase vehicle operating benefits.

    Memorial Drive Reconstruction Project

    Recipient: Village of Suffern

    Amount: $1,000,000

    Summary: The funding will be used for the reconstruction of Memorial Drive. The project will reopen a critical thoroughfare for emergency vehicles and for their timely response which can save lives, prevent injuries and protect property. Memorial Drive, which is currently closed due to the continual road deterioration and for the safety of residents, is also a major connection between the local community and US Route 202. Its reconstruction will stabilize the road for the safe use by all traffic including emergency vehicles.

    Downtown Water Main Lining Project

    Recipient: Village of Sleepy Hollow

    Amount: $983,200

    Summary: The funding will support a multi-phase project to address hydraulic inefficiencies in the downtown area, the Village of Sleepy Hollow will reline and replace approximately 1,980 linear feet of existing 8” water main line along a portion of Cortlandt Street and College Avenue. The current downtown water system is over 100 years old. The inner village neighborhoods bordering the downtown area represent the Village’s largest number of public housing units, low-income housing, low-income senior housing, and middle-income housing. This corridor is a critical aspect of public health and safety, connectivity and multi-modal transportation, affordable housing, resilient infrastructure, and overall economic investment. As a result, this project will provide immediate remediation and resiliency to infrastructure that otherwise poses a water quality and economic risk to the community, particularly its most vulnerable residents. 

    Samsondale Avenue Curbs & Sidewalk Replacement Project

    Recipient: Village of West Haverstraw

    Amount: $800,000

    Summary: The funding will be used to construct necessary upgrades of sidewalks and curbing along Samsondale Avenue, which have rapidly deteriorated and become a hazard. The project will unlock critical improvements to a main thoroughfare for a Village operating on a limited budget. Many pedestrians utilize Samsondale Avenue to get to the business district along Railroad Avenue and Route 9W as well as access to and from the Village of Haverstraw. The lack of sidewalks is potentially hazardous to people walking on them. This project will improve accessibility and safety, improve connectedness, and improve ADA compliance.

    Westchester County Public Safety Enhancements

    Recipient: City of Peekskill

    Amount: $520,000

    Summary: The funding will be used for expanding and modernizing the Peekskill police station, which is currently at capacity. The City of Peekskill’s police station is currently at capacity and urgently requires more space. With this necessary facility expansion and modernization, the City will be able to hire 10 more law enforcement officers, which will significantly improve operations.

    North State Road Water Main Replacement Initiative

    Recipient: Town of Ossining

    Amount: $1,000,000

    Summary: The funding will upgrade the community’s water distribution system on North State Road, an area that has a history of water main breaks, including 14 incidents over the last 5 years, that has exposed the general public to health risks and requires expensive repairs. It will improve the Town’s water distribution system as a part of a larger initiative to replace all aged cast iron water mains, significantly reducing the likelihood of water main breaks in a historically problematic area and positively impacting all 37,764 users in the service area.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Marat Khusnullin took part in an extended joint meeting of the State Duma committees in preparation for the government hour

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

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

    Marat Khusnullin took part in a meeting of the State Duma committees in preparation for the government hour

    October 16, 2024

    Marat Khusnullin took part in a meeting of the State Duma committees in preparation for the government hour

    October 16, 2024

    Previous news Next news

    Marat Khusnullin took part in a meeting of the State Duma committees in preparation for the government hour

    Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin took part in an extended joint meeting of three relevant committees in preparation for government hour.

    On the eve of the government hour, the participants discussed the key areas of the new national project “Infrastructure for Life”, the main tasks for the country’s infrastructure development in the coming years, including the housing and utilities sector.

    “On the instructions of the President, we are forming a new national project “Infrastructure for Life”, in which one of the key blocks is the modernization of the public utility infrastructure. We must form a clear plan and a set of specific mechanisms – how exactly we will improve the quality of existing public utilities for Russians and develop housing and communal services in the future. In particular, we must take into account that by 2030 the task is to build 1 billion square meters of housing. Thus, to fulfill all the tasks set in the housing and communal services sector, it is necessary to strictly account for the existing volume of public utility networks, their capacity, improve executive discipline, and develop related infrastructure. As part of the new national project, we will also determine master plans for at least 200 settlements, which, among other things, must have verified schemes of public utility networks. In general, we have a lot of, but very important, work ahead of us. By 2030, we will allocate 4.5 trillion rubles to modernize the public utility infrastructure, which will improve the quality of services provided to about 20 million people,” said Marat Khusnullin.

    Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Utilities Sergey Pakhomov noted that there is a lot of joint work to be done with the Government related to the modernization of the housing and utilities infrastructure. “In addition to choosing the vector of this process, we also need to strengthen the staffing. The industry already uses modern technologies, their implementation will be more widespread, but today there is no one to service the new equipment from both a methodological and practical point of view. Objectively, we need to strengthen the staff, since the housing and utilities industry has a profound impact on many related industries and on the economy of the country as a whole. And most importantly, the state of the industry affects the mood of our residents,” said Sergey Pakhomov.

    According to Nikolai Shulginov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy, in order to improve the reliability of the electric grid complex, the committee ensured the adoption of Federal Law No. 185-FZ “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On Electric Power Industry” and Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation”. It launches a mechanism for creating system-forming territorial grid organizations in each region of Russia, which become single centers of responsibility for the electricity supply of regions and the elimination of accidents on electric grids. “Taking into account law enforcement practice, we consider it appropriate for the Government and the Ministry of Energy of Russia to consider the issue of introducing a similar mechanism for “picking up” heat supply facilities with a high accident rate of regional and municipal owners by owners of heat generation facilities that have heat supply sources, main networks, loops on their balance sheets and operate efficiently,” said Nikolai Shulginov.

    “We continue to actively prepare for the government hour, where during the meeting we will tell our colleagues from the deputy corps about the current national and federal projects, plans, challenges and new solutions aimed at improving the housing and utilities sector, including within the framework of the national project being formed “Infrastructure for Life”. In this part, the Ministry of Construction of Russia has organized work on promptly responding to emerging issues and developing solutions for the effective modernization of the utilities infrastructure and improving the quality of services provided. Thanks to the support of our President, we are preparing a new federal project “Modernization of Utilities Infrastructure”, which includes current and planned support measures,” noted the head of the Ministry of Construction Irek Faizullin.

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

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

    http://government.ru/nevs/53008/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Brown Secures Major Investment for The North Coast Connector

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Ohio Sherrod Brown
    CLEVELAND, OH – Today, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced a new infrastructure investment for the City of Cleveland to connect downtown Cleveland with Lake Erie and improve the downtown transportation network.
    The North Coast Connector project will help transform downtown Cleveland by creating a 120-foot-wide land bridge for pedestrians and reconfigure a two-mile freeway segment that separates Cleveland from its lakefront into a modern and safe boulevard. The City’s project will also construct a new consolidated terminal serving Amtrak, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) and intercity bus service. The project’s expanded connections between downtown Cleveland and Cleveland’s lakefront will provide greater mobility and accelerate plans to build new public green space and redevelop underutilized lakefront property. Brown advocated for the U.S. Department of Transportation to support this project.
    “This investment unlocks an exciting new future for Cleveland’s lakefront and downtown. The Cleveland community and our visitors will have new access to Lake Erie, our greatest natural resource, and a better transportation network that will drive growth,” said Brown. “I want to thank Mayor Bibb, County Executive Ronayne, and Cleveland’s business community who all worked with us to support this project that will be transformational for all of us who call Cleveland home.”
    The City’s North Coast Connector project will redesign a two-mile segment of the Memorial Shoreway (State Route 2) to establish new connections between downtown and improve pedestrian safety. The project’s pedestrian bridge will create a wide, park-like land bridge to allow walkers and bikers to safely travel from the core of downtown at the Cleveland Mall to the lakefront amenities. The City’s plans also include a new multimodal station to serve Amtrak and RTA rail services, and a dedicated, grade-separated truck route that will serve the Port of Cleveland to reduce truck queuing and eliminate pedestrian conflicts, ensuring greater safety and reliability for trucks enter and existing the Port.   
    The Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded the nearly $60 million investment through the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects program (known as the INFRA program) and the funding is being distributed under the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant Program competition. The investment was made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Brown helped write and pass. This funding award will support the design, engineering, and construction of road elements, including the port access road, and Brown is supporting additional federal funding requests to accelerate construction of the overall project. 
    The project’s construction of a new multimodal Amtrak station will also help prepare Cleveland for the expansion of Amtrak service under development. Last December, Brown announced that two routes serving Cleveland were selected as priorities for Amtrak expansion: Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati, the 3C+D corridor, and the Cleveland-Toledo-Detroit corridor. In addition, in May of 2023 Brown announced that the Cleveland RTA received funding for new rail cars, and the new rail cars will give the RTA the ability to provide direct service from across the agency’s network to the new lakefront station.  

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: AG Platkin, Division of Consumer Affairs Announce New Rules Aimed at Promoting Greater Transparency in Prescription Drug Pricing, Including How and Why Prices Are Increased

    Source: US State of New Jersey

    TRENTON –  Advancing the Murphy Administration’s efforts to rein in the high cost of prescription drugs in New Jersey, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Division of Consumer Affairs (“Division”) today announced specially adopted new rules promoting greater transparency in prescription drug pricing.

    The new rules, which became effective upon acceptance for filing by the Office of Administrative Law yesterday, implement P.L. 2023, c. 106, signed into law by Governor Murphy in July 2023 as part of a legislative package to combat the rising costs of prescription drugs in the state.

    “The high cost of prescription drugs is a financial burden that disproportionately impacts the health and well-being of the most vulnerable among us: low-income families, the elderly, the uninsured, and people with disabilities,” said Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. “Until now, we’ve been kept in the dark about the main drivers of high prescription drug costs. The new rules allow us to gain greater insight into prescription drug pricing and a better understanding of how we can help advance the goal of prescription drug affordability and accessibility.”

    The new rules establish registration, reporting, and compliance requirements for five entities across the prescription drug supply chain—manufacturers, insurance carriers, pharmacy benefits managers, wholesalers and pharmacy services administrative organizations. The entities will be required to provide the Division with information and data pertaining to drugs with significant price increases or high launch prices and other drugs of interest. The Division will then use this information to produce an annual report on emerging trends in prescription drug prices.  The report, which will be posted on the Division’s newly created prescription drug pricing webpage, will also be used to help the newly created Drug Affordability Council formulate legislative and regulatory policy recommendations focused on prescription drug affordability.

    “Establishing rules for the collection, analysis, and reporting of information that sheds light on drug pricing is integral to the Division’s core mission of ensuring fairness and transparency in the market for goods and services,” said Cari Fais, Acting Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs. “The information we collect will help us identify factors that contribute to the high cost of prescription drugs and improve oversight of the drug industry to the benefit of New Jersey consumers.”

    Under the new rules:

    • Manufacturers must notify the Division of price increases and new drugs that meet statutory price thresholds, and then report more detailed information on those drugs to the Division;
    • Carriers must report to the Division information on spending for the top 25 prescription drugs and drug groups in certain categories;
    • Pharmacy Services Administrative Organizations (PSAOs) must report negotiated reimbursement rates to the Division; and
    • Wholesalers and Pharmacy Benefits Managers must provide pricing, volume, and discount information for drugs and drug groups identified by the Division as a result of the information provided by the manufacturers, carriers, and PSAOs.

    The specially adopted new rules shall be effective for a period not to exceed 545 days from the date of filing. Concurrently, the provisions of the new rules will be proposed for readoption and published in the NJ Register on November 18, 2024, in accordance with the normal rulemaking requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, N.J.S.A. 52:14B-1 et seq.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Houston Man Guilty in $160 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)

    HOUSTON – A 59-year-old Houston man has been convicted of all 15 counts as charged for heading a massive Medicare fraud scheme involving the fraudulent billing of expensive topical creams, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.  

    The jury deliberated for less than five hours before convicting Mohamad Mokbel following a 10-day trial. 

    From 2014 through 2021, Mohamad Mokbel led a company called 4M Pharmaceuticals which operated 14 pharmacies with straw owners. The jury heard evidence that Mokbel illegally purchased thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, including their identification number, personal health and physician information. Mokbel targeted elderly diabetic patients who are dependent on diabetic testing supplies to manage their blood sugar levels. Mokbel paid $16 to $40 per Medicare beneficiary.  

    To maximize reimbursements and without regard for medical necessity, Mokbel then directed 4M employees to use the Medicare beneficiaries’ patient data to run insurance claims to determine if Medicare or other insurance plans would cover and reimburse at a high rate for the topical creams, Omega-3 pills and other medications that Mokbel intended to sell through 4M pharmacies.

    At Mokbel’s direction, 4M employees would then fax pre-filled prescription requests to the patients’ doctors appearing to be for diabetic testing supplies with topical creams added at the bottom. They also included false representations that the patient was requesting a 4M Pharmacy fill their medications. In reality, Mokbel had previously purchased the patient’s personal information, the patient had not selected a 4M Pharmacy and the patient was often unaware the request was being made on their behalf. 

    Many doctors apparently took the representations in the fax at face value and did sign and send back the prefilled prescription requests to 4M. Mokbel’s call center in Houston and later in Egypt then contacted the patients and made false and misleading statements about the topical cream and their doctor’s order. Mokbel’s pharmacies then shipped out numerous topical creams, often on auto-refill, and excessively billed Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance plans. 

    Mokbel made over $200 million as a result of the scheme. 

    From 2015 through 2020, Mokbel also corruptly gave a series of bribe payments, ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 and totaling over $188,000 an employee of a pharmacy benefits manager – OptumRx – in exchange for favorable treatment for 4M pharmacies. They were credentialed and recredentialed with OptumRx which allowed them to enter into retail network agreements with OptumRx, participate in the Medicare Part D program and submit claims for prescriptions for Medicare beneficiaries. Mokbel also received information and advice about responding to audits and preventing and/or delaying OptumRX termination of many 4M pharmacies.

    U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal accepted the verdict and set sentencing for Jan. 7, 2025. At that time, Mokbel faces up to 20 years for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and health care fraud, 10 years for each of five counts of health care fraud, each of six counts of money laundering and one count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds as well as five years for

    conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute and conspiracy to commit bribery. He could also be ordered to pay up to a total of $4 million in fines and possible restitution in excess of $160 million.      

    Previously released on bond, Mokbel was taken into custody pending sentencing.

    The FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration and the Texas Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Unit conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn Leigh Olson and Adam Laurence Goldman are prosecuting the case.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Two men arrested as victim named following a fatal shooting in Barking

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    Two men have been arrested by detectives investigating a fatal shooting in Barking.

    Police were called at approximately 04:35hrs on Sunday, 13 October to reports of a man injured in Linton Road, Barking.

    Officers and London Ambulance Service attended and found a man suffering a gunshot injury. Despite the best efforts of the emergency services he was pronounced dead on scene.

    He has today been named as Hanif Redwood, who was aged 32. His family continue to be supported by specialist officers.

    A special post mortem revealed that he died of a single gunshot wound to the head.

    Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder, they remain in custody in an East London police station.

    Detective Chief Inspector Mark Rodgers, who is leading the investigation, said: “We continue to work at a fast pace to progress this investigation. We have made two arrests which is a positive step forward into building a picture of what happened on Sunday night.

    “Hanif was an innocent member of the public whose life was tragically taken far too soon. Hanif was a father of two, this painful loss will forever effect his family.

    “We will continue to support Hanif’s family and will update them at every point possible. We ask for you to respect their privacy during this unimaginably difficult time.

    “Despite the two arrests, we are appealing for anyone who was present in the area who may have seen or heard anything relating to this incident to please get in touch. I want to stress to you that Hanif was a hardworking, innocent man – we need to understand why this attack was carried out.

    “You can submit any footage or information via this link.

    “I want to thank the community for their patience as we carried out all our relevant enquiries. Your support does not go unnoticed. We will have extra patrols in the area – please do voice any of your concerns to officers.”

    Anyone with information is asked to call 101 or ‘X’ @MetCC and quote CAD1295/13OCT. You can upload information and material online.

    You can also provide information anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: St. John’s — Impaired drivers arrested by RCMP Traffic Services during Operation Impact

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    During Operation Impact, from October 11-14, 2024, RCMP NL’s Traffic Services Units arrested multiple impaired drivers and ticketed a number of motorists for various traffic offences.

    RCMP Traffic Services Units from East, Central, West and Labrador participated in Operation Impact, an annual 4-day traffic enforcement initiative that occurs over the Thanksgiving long weekend. Operation Impact focusses on the enforcement of impaired drivers, aggressive drivers, distracted drivers and those not wearing a seat belt.

    A total of five drivers were arrested for impaired driving offences, including impairment by alcohol and impairment by drugs. One motorist received a roadside licence suspension for having a blood alcohol concentration that was above the provincial limit but below the criminal threshold. Where appropriate to do so, drivers were released from custody with future court dates to face charges of impaired operation, were issued licence suspensions and their vehicles were seized and impounded.

    During this time frame, 15 check points were conducted in various areas of the province with more than 1600 vehicles checked.

    Road safety should be of priority to all motorists throughout the year. Driving with due care and attention for yourself and all others who share the roadway is always the best decision. RCMP NL’s Traffic Services remains dedicated to the enforcement of those who place others at unnecessary risk on roadways throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: RM of Rockwood — Stonewall RCMP respond to fatal collision

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    On October 15, 2024, at approximately 5:25 pm, Stonewall RCMP received a report of a SUV travelling northbound in the southbound lane of Highway 7 at Stony Mountain and it appeared a collision had occurred. A Stonewall RCMP officer was on scene in under five minutes and found the SUV had collided with a pickup truck on Highway 7, about half a kilometer north of Road 73 North.

    The SUV was on fire and the driver and lone occupant was deceased. The deceased has not yet been identified.

    The driver and lone occupant of the pickup, a 36-year-old male from Teulon, was removed from the vehicle and officers provided CPR. He succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased on scene.

    A RCMP Forensic Collision Reconstructionist attended the scene and is assisting with the ongoing investigation.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Government of Canada National Action Plan results in 19 per cent decline in auto theft

    Source: Government of Canada News

    News release

    October 16, 2024 – Oakville, ON

    Today, the Honourable Anita Anand, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Transport, released an update on the progress made under the National Action Plan on Combatting Auto Theft.

    The Action Plan, which was developed following the National Summit on Combatting Auto Theft, focuses on disrupting, dismantling and prosecuting the organized crime groups involved in auto theft. It is built on the following pillars: Intelligence and information sharing; Intervention; and Legislation, regulations and governance.

    The Government of Canada’s efforts, guided by the Action Plan and done in collaboration with its domestic and international partners, including provinces, territories, municipalities, industry, and law enforcement, are yielding results. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, national auto theft trends for 2024 have shown a 19 per cent decline in auto theft in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year. As well, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has intercepted more than 1,900 stolen vehicles in railyards and ports this year, already exceeding last year’s total. In the Greater Toronto Area alone, 620 stolen vehicles have been intercepted by the CBSA in 2024.

    To date, the following key milestones have been achieved through the Action Plan.

    • Changes to the Criminal Code to provide additional tools for law enforcement and prosecutors to address auto theft, including the addition of new offences targeting the use of violence in the commission of a vehicle theft and links to organized crime, as well as offences for the possession or distribution of electronic tools used to commit auto theft and laundering proceeds of crime for the benefit of a criminal organization. These changes strengthen an already robust framework to address organized crime and auto theft.
    • Enhancements to intelligence and information sharing between municipal, provincial, federal and international police and customs officials.
    • Expansion of scanning technology, data analytics and targeting to increase the examination of shipping containers – including the deployment of additional scanning technology in the Greater Toronto Area.
    • Launch of up-to-date specialized anti-auto theft training for law enforcement, delivered by the Canadian Police College.
    • Radiocommunication Act amendments to regulate the sale, distribution, and importation of radio devices used for auto theft.
    • Establishment of a National Intergovernmental Working Group on Auto Theft to coordinate actions, monitor progress and explore new initiatives to combat auto theft and transnational organized crime.
    • New supports for the development of early-stage, pre-commercial, anti-theft technologies.

    While this downward trend is promising, maintaining it will require continued focus and collaboration. Canadians can rest assured that the Government of Canada, as well as our law enforcement agencies, will continue to be vigilant.

    Quotes

    “When we see that auto theft rates are declining, we know that we’re taking steps in the right direction. Our Government is fighting to keep Canadians safe and implementing our Action Plan, including exploring new anti-theft technologies, regulatory updates, and improving port security.”

    – The Honourable Anita Anand, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Transport

    “Today’s Action Plan update highlights some significant steps forward in our fight to combat this complex crime. Our government will continue to build on this progress to ensure we remain responsive and adaptable in our approach to combat auto theft and the organized crime groups behind it.”

    – The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs

    “We have shown that by working together, we can tackle complex issues and ensure that all people in Canada can feel safe in their communities. We strengthened the Criminal Code to give law enforcement the full range of tools they need to address auto theft and ensure that offenders are held to account, while strengthening penalties to deter crime.”

    – The Honourable Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

    “No Canadian should wake up to discover their means of getting to work, school, or the grocery store has been stolen. We are working with Canadian companies, online retailers and the automotive industry to come up with new initiatives such as Innovative Solutions Canada’ Vehicle Theft Prevention challenge, launched last month. By fostering innovative ideas that will enhance vehicle security and working collaboratively, we can protect our communities and put a stop to auto theft.”

    – The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

    “We have a common goal to prevent and reduce auto theft crimes, enforce the law and keep Canadians safe. The RCMP has been actively sharing intelligence and information between all levels of law enforcement partners across Canada and internationally, and training investigators with the latest techniques to better detect and disrupt this criminal activity.”

    – Michael Duheme, Commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    “Combatting auto theft and the organized crime groups that benefit from it is a priority for the CBSA. So far this year, the CBSA has intercepted more than 1,900 stolen vehicles, already exceeding last year’s total. We have also deployed additional scanning technology in the Greater Toronto Area. Moreover, we continue to act on 100% of referrals by enforcement partners and have expanded data analytics and targeting to increase the targeting of shipping containers. Finally, we have established a 24/7 central point of contact for police to coordinate requests to locate vehicles that may be tracked to a port. While we are pleased with what has already been achieved through the National Action Plan, we know more work needs to be done and we will continue collaborating with our partners to intercept stolen vehicles before they leave the country.”

    – Erin O’Gorman, President of the Canada Border Services Agency

    Quick facts

    • The Government of Canada has been engaging with industry and other stakeholders on auto theft, including port authorities, rail and shipping companies, as well as the automotive and insurance industries, as part of our collective effort to combat this crime.

    • While the investigation of these types of offences falls under the police of jurisdiction, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) are supporting important work being done to make progress on this issue. 

    • The RCMP and CBSA continue to be involved in integrated task forces led by the Ontario Provincial Police and Sûreté du Québec. 

    • The CBSA has established a 24/7 central point of contact for police to coordinate requests to locate vehicles that may be tracked to a marine port or intermodal facility and continues to act on 100% of referrals.

    • The RCMP continues to process international notifications and requests received through INTERPOL’s stolen motor vehicle database to better track stolen vehicles with international partners. From February to August 2024, the RCMP received 2,310 alerts about Canadian vehicles and 424 international collaboration requests.

    • The CBSA, in collaboration with police forces across Ontario and Quebec, announced the recovery of nearly 600 stolen vehicles from the Port of Montreal through Project Vector, in April 2024.

    • The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) continues to produce financial intelligence disclosures to law enforcement in support or investigations into organized crime, including auto theft.

    • Police services have been encouraged to collect information from victims relating to tracking technology present in their vehicles (i.e., Apple AirTag, Tile Tracker, Samsung SmartTracker) and add this information to the Canadian Police Information Centre system.

    • Transnational organized criminal groups are believed to be involved in the export of stolen vehicles from Canada; however, most vehicle thefts involve lower-level threat groups, with violent street gangs being the most prevalent.

    • Most stolen vehicles exported are destined for Africa and the Middle East. Some stolen vehicles also remain in Canada, enabling other crimes to be committed with the vehicles and are destroyed afterwards.

    Related products

    Associated links

    Contacts

    Gabriel Brunet
    Press Secretary
    Office of the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc
    Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs
    819-665-6527
    gabriel.brunet@iga-aig.gc.ca  

    Media Relations
    Public Safety Canada
    613-991-0657
    media@ps-sp.gc.ca

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: $220.98 Million in Federal Funding Now Set for Washington Bridge Replacement

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-02)

    Building on previous Mega award, new $95.5 million INFRA grant is second significant pledge of federal aid totaling $220.98 million

    Providence, RI – The effort to replace the westbound Washington Bridge got a major boost today as U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Representatives Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo today joined with Governor Dan McKee in announcing a $95,589,533 INFRA (Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects program) grant for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT).

    Together, with a previous $125.39 million Mega grant(also known as the National Infrastructure Project Assistance program) that the state was awarded in September, Rhode Island has now received $220.98 million in federal funding to replace the Washington Bridge, fully funding the state’s request for the project.

    The new federal funds are being made available thanks to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law), which Reed and Whitehouse supported and was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021, delivering a 50 percent increase in the amount of available funding for INFRA grants, as well as resources for improving Rhode Island’s roads, bridges, public transportation, and water infrastructure.

    The Washington Bridge, which spans the Seekonk River connecting East Providence to Providence and has a daily traffic volume of 90,000 vehicles, was shut down on December 11, 2023 after RIDOT discovered broken anchor rods that put the bridge at risk of failure.

    “Securing this federal investment has been a top priority.  Now the state must utilize this $220.98 million in federal funding to accelerate progress toward a new bridge that meets capacity and safety needs now and in the future,” said Reed, a leading member of the Appropriations Committee.  “Passing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law paved the way for this funding.  I commend the Biden-Harris administration for its leadership, support, and commitment to a modern and resilient infrastructure system.  The state must put this money to work and keep the public updated with a clear timetable for progress.”

    “This INFRA Program infusion for the Washington Bridge fills in a major missing piece of the funding puzzle to ensure the state can get the job done right,” said Whitehouse, who helped author the INFRA program as a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.  “I am very proud that the INFRA Program is yet again delivering for Rhode Island’s infrastructure.  We will continue to work as a delegation to secure whatever the state needs from the federal government to fix this situation for drivers.”

    “My colleagues in the congressional delegation and I have done everything in our power to secure federal funding to rebuild the Washington Bridge, and with this latest tranche of funding, we have now brought over $220 million dollars for Rhode Island,” said Magaziner. “We are grateful for the Biden-Harris administration for their leadership and support in addressing this urgent matter. We will continue working together to ensure the Washington Bridge is rebuilt safely and properly.”

    “I am excited to build off last month’s announcement that we are bringing home more federal funding to help Rhode Island replace the Washington Bridge,” said Amo. “Led by our state’s appropriator-in-chief, Senator Jack Reed, our delegation has fought tooth and nail to secure the resources our state requested. I thank President Joe Biden and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg for listening to our repeated overtures about the need for resources to alleviate the burden on residents, small businesses, and first responders. I look forward to reviewing the plan from state officials so we can move towards the next chapter of getting our bridge built.”

    “Securing a second major federal grant marks another important milestone in our work to build a brand new Washington Bridge,” said McKee. “We know that ensuring this complex project is done right will take time, but it’s encouraging to see demolition resuming this week, the rebuild bidding process moving forward, and additional federal dollars coming in. We thank the Biden-Harris Administration for their commitment to Rhode Island and our top-notch congressional delegation for helping us secure this crucial funding.”

    Overall, the state requested $220.9 million in federal funds to help replace the Washington Bridge and was initially awarded $125.39 million out of the total pool of about $1 billion of federal funds available for Mega grants of this size and scope nationwide.

    Demolition of the bridge has already begun.  In May of 2024, RIDOT estimated the price tag for replacing the bridge would include $58.2 million for demolition as well as $368.3 million for the design-build process.

    Separate from the demolition and rebuild costs for the Washington Bridge, the state also estimated costs of approximately $46 million for emergency expenses, including work to stabilize the old bridge and estimated funding to account for both state and municipal safety and transportation-related expenses.

    Rhode Island previously received a $60.3 million INFRA grant in 2019 to rebuild the Northbound Providence Viaduct; a $65 million INFRA grant in 2020 to overhaul Route 146; an $82.5 million INFRA grant in 2022 to upgrade the Pell Bridge; and an $81 million INFRA grant earlier this year to create a ‘missing move’ between I-95 and Quonset Business Park.

    Rhode Island has now received two Mega awards to fund the Washington Bridge, totaling $125.39 million, as well as this new INFRA award.

    These grants come on top of a $251 million federal Bridge Investment Grant the delegation secured earlier this year to repair 15 bridges along the I-95 corridor in Providence and Cranston. 

    Additionally, Rhode Island will also receive a total of $255 million in bridge formula funds over the life of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

    With about 50,000 U.S. bridges with very significant issues awaiting attention, an estimated 40 percent of them can be rehabilitated, but at least 35 percent will require a complete replacement due to their condition, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). 

    This level of federal funding for Rhode Island infrastructure improvements stands in stark contrast to the previous administration.  While Donald Trump routinely declared “Infrastructure Week,” his administration had little to show for it, whereas President Joe Biden oversaw passage of the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has delivered hundreds of millions of dollars for bridge improvements across the Ocean State and continues to invest billions annually in America’s transportation network, communities, and workers.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: North Carolina Man Arrested on Criminal Solicitation of a Minor and Related ChargesRead More

    Source: US State of South Carolina

    (COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Joseph Daniel Headrick, 35, of Waynesville, N.C., on three charges connected to the attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Greenville Police Department made the arrest. Investigators with the U.S. Marshals Service, also a member of the state’s ICAC Task Force, and the Waynesville Police Department assisted with the investigation. 

     

    Investigators state Headrick solicited a person he believed to be a minor for sex, encouraged them to produce child sexual abuse material*, and sent sexually explicit images to a person he believed to be a minor.

     

    Headrick was arrested on October 11, 2024. He is charged with one count of criminal solicitation of a minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree (§16-15-395), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment; and one count of attempted dissemination of obscene material to a person under age eighteen (§16-15-345), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.

     

     

    This case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.

     

    Attorney General Wilson stressed all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.

     

     

     

    * Child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, is a more accurate reflection of the material involved in these heinous and abusive crimes. “Pornography” can imply the child was a consenting participant.  Globally, the term child pornography is being replaced by CSAM for this reason.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ERO New York City arrests unlawfully present Venezuelan national convicted of assaulting NYPD officers in Times Square

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    NEW YORK — On Oct. 10, Enforcement and Removal Operations New York City arrested Darwin Andres Gomez Izquiel, an unlawfully present noncitizen and national of Venezuela, who was convicted by the New York County Supreme Court of assault in the second degree with intent to cause injury to an officer/fireman/EMT July 29 for his participation in the widely publicized gang assault on two NYPD officers in Times Square.

    Officers from the Criminal Apprehension Program arrested Gomez upon release from the custody of the New York City Department of Corrections pursuant to an ICE detainer and warrant of arrest. He remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

    “Gomez-Izquiel is a criminal and threat to the public servants, residents and businesses of New York City,” said ERO New York City Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo. “We will not allow our communities to become safe havens for noncitizens who refuse to abide our laws. ERO New York City will continue to work with unending determination to apprehend and remove these violent criminal offenders.”

    On Aug. 23, 2023, the U.S. Border Patrol encountered Gomez near the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, after he unlawfully entered the United States without inspection, admission or parole by an immigration official. U.S. Border Patrol initially processed Gomez as an expedited removal after serving him with an order of expedited removal. Two days later, Gomez withdrew his application for admission to the United States and voluntarily returned to Mexico via the Brownsville Port of Entry.

    U.S. Border Patrol again encountered Gomez near the Del Rio Sector on Oct. 3, 2023, after unlawfully entered the United States at a time and place other than as designated by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. U.S. Border Patrol issued Gomez a notice to appear charging inadmissibility pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act, provided him with an immigration judge hearing date for June 4, 2024, in Memphis, Tennessee, and released him on his own recognizance with specific reporting instructions for the nearest ERO office of his intended destination. There is no indication that he complied with those reporting instructions.

    On Jan. 27, 2024, the NYPD arrested Gomez for the crimes of assault on police officer/fireman/EMT, second-degree gang assault, obstruction of governmental administration and disorderly conduct. The next day, Gomez was arraigned on the charges and released on his own recognizance.

    That same day, ERO New York City lodged an immigration detainer with the New York City Department of Corrections’ Rikers Custody Management Unit against Gomez’s release.

    Gomez did not appear for his removal hearing before an immigration judge in Memphis June 4 due to his incarceration on Rikers Island in the custody of the New York City Department of Corrections. The presiding immigration judge did not take action on his case.

    On July 29, the New York County Supreme Court convicted Gomez of assault in the second degree with intent to cause injury to an officer/fireman/EMT and obstruct governmental administration and sentenced him to a custodial term of 364 days.

    As part of its mission to identify and arrest removable noncitizens, ERO lodges immigration detainers against noncitizens who have been arrested for criminal activity and taken into custody by state or local law enforcement. An immigration detainer is a request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to state or local law enforcement agencies to notify ICE as early as possible before a removable noncitizen is released from their custody. Detainers request that state or local law enforcement agencies maintain custody of the noncitizen for a period not to exceed 48 hours beyond the time the individual would otherwise be released, allowing ERO to assume custody for removal purposes in accordance with federal law.

    Detainers are critical public safety tools because they focus enforcement resources on removable noncitizens who have been arrested for criminal activity. Detainers increase the safety of all parties involved — ERO personnel, law enforcement officials, removable noncitizens and the public — by allowing an arrest to be made in a secure and controlled custodial setting as opposed to at-large within the community. Because detainers result in the direct transfer of a noncitizen from state or local custody to ERO custody, they also minimize the potential that an individual will reoffend. Additionally, detainers conserve scarce government resources by allowing ERO to take criminal noncitizens into custody directly rather than expending resources locating these individuals at-large.

    ERO conducts removals of individuals without a lawful basis to remain in the United States, including at the order of immigration judges with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. The Executive Office for Immigration Review is a separate entity from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case, determining if a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal or eligible for certain forms of relief from removal.

    As one of ICE’s three operational directorates, ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement. ERO’s mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws, and its primary areas of focus are interior enforcement operations, management of the agency’s detained and non-detained populations, and repatriation of noncitizens who have received final orders of removal. ERO’s workforce consists of more than 7,700 law enforcement and non-law enforcement support personnel across 25 domestic field offices and 208 locations nationwide, 30 overseas postings, and multiple temporary duty travel assignments along the border.

    Members of the public can report crimes or suspicious activity by dialing 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the ICE online tip form.

    Learn more about ERO New York City’s mission to increase public safety in our New York City communities on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ERONewYork.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Scholten Announces $1.2 Million Grant to Combat Human Trafficking in West Michigan

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Hillary Scholten – Michigan

    GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Congresswoman Hillary Scholten (MI-03) visited Safe Haven Ministries in Grand Rapids to congratulate the dedicated staff on their recently awarded grant. The $1.2 million investment will be split to fund a joint task force between Safe Haven and the Kent County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO). The grant comes from the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime and is known as an Enhanced Collaborative Model (ECM) Task Force to Combat Human Trafficking Grant. Together, Safe Haven and KCSO will collaborate to combat human trafficking – a local issue that has national implications. Rep. Scholten authored a letter of support to the Department of Justice to bolster Safe Haven’s application.

    “Before serving West Michigan as your representative, I served our community as a social worker and an immigration attorney,”  said Scholten. “Throughout my career, I have helped people – particularly the most vulnerable – who were being trafficked and abused. Make no mistake, human trafficking does not always look like it does in the movies. It is happening right in front of us. We need victim advocates and resources to fight this crisis and break the cycles of violence and abuse. Safe Haven is equipped with the personnel and space to compassionately and effectively serve our most vulnerable neighbors, and with this grant and partnership with KCSO, they will be able to empower survivors.”

    “It is past time that we treat each form of violence as a separate symptom, all violence is interconnected,” said Safe Haven’s CEO Rachel VerWys. “Human trafficking is a serious problem in West Michigan and across the country. With this grant, we will be working to implement Safe Haven’s effective theory of change and deploy our experienced personnel to put an end to this exploitative suffering. And by taking steps to end human trafficking, we’re making strides to reduce harm across the board.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Marat Khusnullin gave the go-ahead for traffic on a number of sections of highways in the Moscow and Sverdlovsk regions, the DPR and LPR

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

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

    Marat Khusnullin gave the go-ahead for traffic on a number of sections of highways in the Moscow and Sverdlovsk regions, the DPR and LPR

    October 16, 2024

    Marat Khusnullin gave the go-ahead for traffic on a number of sections of highways in the Moscow and Sverdlovsk regions, the DPR and LPR

    October 16, 2024

    Marat Khusnullin gave the go-ahead for traffic on a number of sections of highways in the Moscow and Sverdlovsk regions, the DPR and LPR

    October 16, 2024

    Previous news Next news

    Marat Khusnullin gave the go-ahead for traffic on a number of sections of highways in the Moscow and Sverdlovsk regions, the DPR and LPR

    On the eve of Road Workers Day, a ceremonial opening of sections of highways took place in the Moscow and Sverdlovsk regions, as well as in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

    “Thanks to the President’s systemic support, the joint work of the Government and the regions, and the advanced financing of infrastructure development, over the past six years, more than 100 thousand km of roads have been built, reconstructed, and repaired in the regions. Updating the country’s road framework and opening new sections is another important step towards improving the quality of life of our citizens, reducing travel time, connecting cities, and improving road safety. Today, we are launching traffic on new sections of the M-5 Ural highway and the R-242 Perm-Yekaterinburg highway, as well as sections on the R-280 Novorossiya highway in the DPR and two road sections in the LPR. I would also like to express my gratitude to the heads of the regions and builders for their professionalism, responsible attitude, and significant contribution to our common cause,” said Marat Khusnullin.

    Thus, in the Moscow Region, two new sections of the M-5 “Ural” highway, 11 km and 21 km long, were opened: the bypass of the village of Oktyabrsky and Ulyanino – Nepetsino. They complete a large-scale reconstruction of the highway, within the framework of which a new road direction from Moscow to Kolomna was built. More than 2 million people live in the area of attraction of these objects.

    Also in the Sverdlovsk region, sections of the R-242 Perm – Yekaterinburg highway were opened after major repairs, which will become part of the M-12 “East”. Their length is about 34 km. The modernized sections will be among the key ones for the full launch of the M-12 route to Yekaterinburg.

    In addition, road sections in new regions of the country have been opened after major repairs. In particular, 10 km of the R-280 “Novorossiya” highway from the border with the Rostov region to the city of Novoazovsk have been opened in the Donetsk People’s Republic. There, a lot of work is being done to expand the roadway to four lanes. The highway connects Rostov-on-Don with Mariupol, Melitopol and Simferopol and is part of the land route to Crimea. Two more major repairs have been opened in the Lugansk People’s Republic. The first is more than 26 km long on the 43R-21 highway, which reaches the border with the DPR. It has high social significance for the region and connects many settlements that have no other access roads. The second is between Lugansk and Alchevsk, 23.7 km long on the R-150 highway. The road connects Lugansk with Donetsk and is in high demand among local residents.

    “Today we are opening road facilities in several regions of Russia. Federal road workers have done a great deal of work to make the movement of residents of the regions even more comfortable and safe. The road industry is rapidly developing, new highways are being built, and existing ones are being modernized. We are monitoring the development of the regions and trying to provide them with the necessary transport accessibility,” said Transport Minister Roman Starovoit.

    Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov noted that the Moscow Region section was the narrowest section of the M-5 Ural highway and has now been significantly widened.

    “I would like to thank the builders, engineers, and specialists for the early delivery of the facility. And on behalf of the residents, I would like to convey words of gratitude to our President, to whom we once appealed and received support. Today, we are opening two very important sections of the road that will radically change the quality of life of 1.5 million residents of the urban districts of Ramenskoye, Lyubertsy, Zhukovsky, Bronnitsy, and Kolomna. Transport accessibility will improve for both those who travel by public transport and those who drive their own cars. I would like to thank Marat Shakirzyanovich Khusnullin and the Government of Russia for their assistance in financing – today we have the opportunity to deliver this very important facility before 2025. There are a large number of federal and regional highways in the Moscow Region, and we are grateful that much attention is being paid to their modernization. This is of fundamental importance for a huge number of people,” said Andrei Vorobyov.

    The head of the DPR Denis Pushilin emphasized the high social significance of the R-280 “Novorossiya” highway and its influence on the development of the economic, social and infrastructural components of the region.

    “Today we are opening a major overhaul of the R-280 “Novorossiya” highway, which is part of the land route to Crimea and connects the Donetsk People’s Republic with the Rostov and Zaporizhia regions, and also passes through the Kherson region. The first stage is 10 km, and by the end of the year all 37 km will be built and traffic will be launched. This is an unprecedented pace for us, and a significant result for the Russian Federation. Such a speed of construction was achieved due to convenient logistics – inert material is mined here, in the republic,” said Denis Pushilin.

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

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

    http://government.ru/nevs/53016/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Broadview — Broadview RCMP seek public assistance locating missing 26-year-old female

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    On October 15, 2024, Broadview RCMP received a report of a missing 26-year-old female, Shyla Kaysaywaysemat.

    Shyla was last seen on October 12, 2024 at a residence on the Kahkewistahaw First Nation.

    Shyla is described as approximately 5’3″ tall. She has brown eyes and long brown hair.

    Since she was reported missing, Broadview RCMP have been checking places Shyla is known to visit and following up on information received. They are now asking members of the public to report information on Shyla’s whereabouts.

    If you have seen Shyla or know where she is, contact Broadview RCMP at 310-RCMP. Information can also be submitted anonymously by contacting Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or http://www.saskcrimestoppers.com.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Press Release: FDIC Appoints Hansel Cordeiro as Director of New Office of Professional Conduct

    Source: US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation FDIC

    WASHINGTON – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today announced its Board of Directors has approved the appointment of Hansel J. Cordeiro as Director of the agency’s new Office of Professional Conduct (OPC). 

    In June, the Board announced the creation of the OPC to serve as a single point of entry for employee complaints of harassment and other interpersonal misconduct.  In this role, Mr. Cordeiro will lead the OPC’s work to receive, investigate and report on complaints of interpersonal misconduct within the FDIC workplace. OPC will also determine and discipline anyone violating the FDIC’s anti-harassment or anti-retaliation policies.  Mr. Cordeiro will report on the work of the OPC directly to the FDIC Board. 

    Mr. Cordeiro was selected from among several highly qualified candidates after a competitive nationwide public solicitation.  Most recently, he served as Executive Director of Accountability and Strategic Business Management at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  In that role, Mr. Cordeiro led the FAA’s anti-harassment program, the largest program within the U.S. Department of Transportation; established the agency’s anti-harassment policies; and oversaw the receipt and investigation of allegations of harassment, sexual misconduct, and retaliation involving FAA employees and contractors, as well as management actions on substantiated allegations.  In addition, he oversaw anti-harassment training for more than 45,000 FAA employees and contractors. 

    Prior to his role at FAA, Mr. Cordeiro served at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in various executive and leadership positions, including leading efforts to remediate deficiencies in the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, which is responsible for improving personnel and organizational accountability within VA. Mr. Cordeiro also served in the Office of General Counsel as a principal legal advisor to several Secretaries of Veterans Affairs on employment and labor law issues. Mr. Cordeiro began his government career at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, where he developed and implemented several landmark reforms to the federal government’s personnel systems.

    Mr. Cordeiro has a Juris Doctor from the Washburn University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York.

    ###

    MEDIA CONTACT: 
    MediaRequests@fdic.gov

    FDIC: PR-89-2024

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: What’s the story with compliance?

    Source: Environment Canterbury Regional Council

    We often get asked how we do compliance and why it’s important. This page explains how we monitor compliance with resource consents and handle cases of non-compliance.

    A resource consent is an important asset that allows individuals or businesses to do an activity, such as taking water for irrigation or being able to discharge wastewater on to land. Some activities also benefit both the individual and often the wider community too.

    Because these activities can impact the environment, consents usually come with several conditions. Essentially, the consent is a contract between us – as the regulator – and the consent holder and the community.

    The expectation is that the consent holder will meet the conditions of their consent, while we monitor to make sure they are doing so.

    Monitoring is a shared responsibility

    Improving environmental and community outcomes is a shared responsibility between government (central and regional/local), resource users, industry and our communities.

    In Waitaha/Canterbury, there are about 26,000 consents and 416,000 consent conditions across a large geographical area, with a range of activities covered by ever-evolving rules set up at the national, regional and local government level.

    The size and complexity of the monitoring landscape means it’s not possible without considerable cost to us – and to ratepayers – to monitor every consent every year.

    Compliance is one of several tools designed to protect the environment. Others include audited farm environment plans, voluntary efforts from groups or individuals, and peer or community pressure to do the right thing.

    Types of consents and activities we monitor

    Compliance monitoring is a key priority for us – it is required by law under the Resource Management Act, our plans and consent conditions, and it is expected of us by the community.

    Monitoring depends on the type of consent. When we grant a consent we assess the environmental risk of the activity, in particular the magnitude of potential damage and the probability it will occur.

    This is informed by the scale and location of the activity, type of activity and the consent holder’s compliance history.

    Over time, risk levels can change due to regulation changes, new information coming to light, or higher risk at the beginning of an activity, such as one that involves construction.

    For example, an activity may be seen as high risk due to the level of non-compliance. However, once compliance is being demonstrated, the resulting risk level would lower.

    Some consents we assess as being a high priority for monitoring due to their:

    • risk to the environment
    • importance to the community
    • compliance history
    • scale.

    Over the last two years (2023/24) most monitoring done was on water consents (40%), discharge consents (38%) and land-use consents (21%). The remaining (1%) were coastal consents.

    Enforcement for consent condition breaches

    We appreciate that education isn’t always going to work. When a consent holder breaches conditions, we may take enforcement actions, such as:

    • Notice of non-compliance
    • Letter of formal warning
    • Cost recovery
    • Requesting an application for a retrospective resource consent
    • Abatement notice
    • Infringement notice
    • Enforcement order from the Environment Court
    • Alternative Environmental Justice (AEJ)
    • Prosecution.

    Find out more about

    types of enforcement actions.

    Improving our compliance process

    We acknowledge we haven’t always allocated or prioritised our resources effectively for environmental or community outcomes. We are committed to improving the way we manage compliance risks and communicating with consent holders and the community.

    We know that we must do more to enable consent holders to demonstrate their compliance – for example, by ensuring consent conditions are written clearly, so consent holders have a good understanding of what their responsibilities are – including what they should be keeping records of and what monitoring they can expect from us.

    We’ve recently started a project specifically to shift the conversation away from a consent-by-consent approach towards helping resource users to comply and better identifying risk priorities. This will improve both the customer experience and improve environmental outcomes.

    We’re trialling this in Rakaia, where compliance concerns are high and consent complexity is significant.

    We are introducing new processes, roles and measures to focus on key priorities like nutrient management, drinking water protection, and water use compliance.

    Our goal is to create a flexible compliance monitoring programme that uses both human and technological resources efficiently.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Security News: Justice Department and City of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Seek Partial Termination of Consent Decree Covering Albuquerque Police Department

    Source: United States Department of Justice 2

    The Justice Department and City of Albuquerque (City), New Mexico, filed a joint motion today seeking court approval to terminate certain portions of the consent decree covering the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). The joint motion follows the independent monitor’s 20th report, also filed today, which concluded that the City and APD have reached full compliance with 99% of the consent decree’s terms, the highest level of compliance achieved by APD.

    The monitor’s report indicates that APD’s compliance level reflects significant achievement in critical areas such as completing timely and high-quality use-of-force and misconduct investigations. These accomplishments take place against a backdrop of a 37% reduction in APD’s use of serious force in the last four years.

    “Our joint motion to terminate additional provisions of this consent decree demonstrates that the Justice Department has come even closer to its ultimate goal of ensuring constitutional and effective policing in Albuquerque,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Real reform is not only possible, but evident in Albuquerque. Since this consent decree went into effect, the Albuquerque Police Department has made significant and sustained progress in implementing policing practices that respect civil rights and promote public safety. We have seen a 37% decline in use of serious force over the last four years, and continue to move reform efforts forward. The Justice Department will continue to work with the City and its police department toward our shared goal of constitutional and effective policing—the community deserves nothing less.”

    “This partial termination proves that the hard work of the men and women of the Albuquerque Police Department and the persistent advocacy from the community are achieving real results,” said U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez for the District of New Mexico. “Where the existence of a consent agreement is a symptom of dysfunction, every paragraph terminated is evidence of progress. Effective policy, operational observance of those rules, and persistent compliance with reform have set up APD for success. The sustainment period which follows termination will ensure that APD delivers the police department the people of Albuquerque deserve.”

    The joint motion asks the court to terminate 31 consent decree provisions with which APD has fully complied for at least two years. The provisions cover a range of topics, including use of electronic control weapons (commonly known as Tasers); crisis intervention; crisis prevention; and supervision. It is the third joint motion the parties have filed in the last year seeking to terminate a total of 183 paragraphs of the consent decree, or 67% of the enforceable provisions of the agreement.

    APD has made substantial change in reaching compliance with provisions of the consent decree the parties seek to terminate, including:

    • APD has properly trained all officers on using Tasers to ensure that officers only use these weapons when lawful and necessary.
    • APD has trained specialized officers to respond to behavioral health crises and deployed those officers across the department. Albuquerque has also created a new agency called Albuquerque Community Safety to send trained mental health professionals to 911 calls involving behavioral health issues. Through these two initiatives, Albuquerque is working to ensure that people get the help they need.
    • APD has improved supervision across the police department, ensuring that officers receive the guidance, direction and support they need to be effective and comply with the law.

    The District Court for the District of New Mexico entered the consent decree in June 2015. The decree, as well as information about the Civil Rights Division, are available on the Special Litigation Section Cases and Matters website. Additional information about implementation of the consent decree is also available on the U.S. Attorney’s Office website. If you believe your civil rights have been violated, please submit a complaint through our online portal.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Justice Department and City of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Seek Partial Termination of Consent Decree Covering Albuquerque Police Department

    Source: United States Attorneys General

    The Justice Department and City of Albuquerque (City), New Mexico, filed a joint motion today seeking court approval to terminate certain portions of the consent decree covering the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). The joint motion follows the independent monitor’s 20th report, also filed today, which concluded that the City and APD have reached full compliance with 99% of the consent decree’s terms, the highest level of compliance achieved by APD.

    The monitor’s report indicates that APD’s compliance level reflects significant achievement in critical areas such as completing timely and high-quality use-of-force and misconduct investigations. These accomplishments take place against a backdrop of a 37% reduction in APD’s use of serious force in the last four years.

    “Our joint motion to terminate additional provisions of this consent decree demonstrates that the Justice Department has come even closer to its ultimate goal of ensuring constitutional and effective policing in Albuquerque,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Real reform is not only possible, but evident in Albuquerque. Since this consent decree went into effect, the Albuquerque Police Department has made significant and sustained progress in implementing policing practices that respect civil rights and promote public safety. We have seen a 37% decline in use of serious force over the last four years, and continue to move reform efforts forward. The Justice Department will continue to work with the City and its police department toward our shared goal of constitutional and effective policing—the community deserves nothing less.”

    “This partial termination proves that the hard work of the men and women of the Albuquerque Police Department and the persistent advocacy from the community are achieving real results,” said U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez for the District of New Mexico. “Where the existence of a consent agreement is a symptom of dysfunction, every paragraph terminated is evidence of progress. Effective policy, operational observance of those rules, and persistent compliance with reform have set up APD for success. The sustainment period which follows termination will ensure that APD delivers the police department the people of Albuquerque deserve.”

    The joint motion asks the court to terminate 31 consent decree provisions with which APD has fully complied for at least two years. The provisions cover a range of topics, including use of electronic control weapons (commonly known as Tasers); crisis intervention; crisis prevention; and supervision. It is the third joint motion the parties have filed in the last year seeking to terminate a total of 183 paragraphs of the consent decree, or 67% of the enforceable provisions of the agreement.

    APD has made substantial change in reaching compliance with provisions of the consent decree the parties seek to terminate, including:

    • APD has properly trained all officers on using Tasers to ensure that officers only use these weapons when lawful and necessary.
    • APD has trained specialized officers to respond to behavioral health crises and deployed those officers across the department. Albuquerque has also created a new agency called Albuquerque Community Safety to send trained mental health professionals to 911 calls involving behavioral health issues. Through these two initiatives, Albuquerque is working to ensure that people get the help they need.
    • APD has improved supervision across the police department, ensuring that officers receive the guidance, direction and support they need to be effective and comply with the law.

    The District Court for the District of New Mexico entered the consent decree in June 2015. The decree, as well as information about the Civil Rights Division, are available on the Special Litigation Section Cases and Matters website. Additional information about implementation of the consent decree is also available on the U.S. Attorney’s Office website. If you believe your civil rights have been violated, please submit a complaint through our online portal.

    MIL Security OSI –