From September 27 to 29, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be in Winnipeg to talk about the Artemis II mission, during which he will be the first Canadian to fly by the Moon. He will then be in the Montreal area on October 1.
Longueuil (Quebec), September 24, 2024 – From September 27 to 29, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be in Winnipeg to speak about the Artemis II mission during which he will be the first Canadian to fly over the Moon. He will then pass through the Montreal region on October 1.
He will speak to students, give presentations to the general public and give interviews to the media.
Journalists wishing to attend one of the presentations or request an interview with CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen should contact the Media Relations Office.
Winnipeg
Friday, September 27, 2024
Hour
What
Or
12:30 p.m. (CT)
Presentation to 350 Chamber of Commerce members and Winnipeg students
RBC Convention Centre375 York AvenueWinnipeg, ManitobaR3C 3J3
7:00 p.m. (CT)
Presentation to the general public (approximately 200 people) at the Manitoba Museum
Exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 integrated U.S. Airmen, Guardians, Sailors, Marines, and allies from Australia and the United Kingdom into a combined force to train for a possible conflict in the era of Great Power Competition. Last month, the exercise conducted live-fly operations in the eastern Pacific and a simultaneous 24-hour live, virtual, and constructive, or LVC, rolling scenario, tackling issues involving distributed command and control, communications degradation, logistics and sustainment challenges, and fighting through the tyranny of distance.
Bamboo Eagle 24-3 provided advanced expeditionary airbase training in a combat-representative environment utilizing distributed locations, or spokes, along the western United States. Red Flag and Agile Flag units were dispersed from hubs into spokes while maintaining sortie generation utilizing a centralized C2 force element, or C2FE. Agile combat employment, or ACE, concepts were incorporated into the exercise to provide full spectrum movement and maneuver and multi-hub operations under a singular operational C2 structure.
“The Bamboo Eagle exercise series is so much more than Red Flag over water,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Power, 505th Combat Training Squadron commander, Hurlburt Field, Florida. “The combination of an LVC environment spanning more than 850,000 square miles in a synthetic battlespace delivers the scope and scale necessary to prepare both tactical-level and operational-level warfighters for competition with the pacing challenge.”
During Bamboo Eagle 24-1, the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center-led exercise focused on tactical operations while operational-level of war elements such as the air operations center, or AOC, Air Force forces staff and the Commander, AFFOR and Combined/Joint Forces Air Component Commander, were replicated by 505th CTS from Hurlburt Field. In a first for the Bamboo Eagle exercise series, the USAFWC called for the deployment of a fully resourced combat representative AOC and AFFOR to exercise and support multi-domain operations in a disaggregated high-end conflict during Bamboo Eagle 24-3.
“Bamboo Eagle 24-3 built upon 24-1 in the operational C2 structure that assured the C2FEs had the operational echelon above them to provide critical guidance, support, and sustainment as the ACE scheme of maneuver was executed,” said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Jesse Friedel, USAFWC deputy commander and Bamboo Eagle COMAFFOR and C/JFACC, Nellis AFB, Nevada. “The large-scale combat-representative exercise was successful at executing the C2 structure for Great Power Competition, focusing on mission command where there was centralized command and key distributed control, along with critical decentralized execution to assure we were synchronizing efforts to improve interoperability with our Nation’s joint force.”
Another first for the Bamboo Eagle exercise series in 24-3 was incorporating operational-level planning and execution by subject matter experts from the entire wing and wing staff, including the 505th Training Squadron and 705th Training Squadron. Instructors from both training squadrons supported the AOC, AFFOR, air expeditionary wings, and COMAFFOR and C/JFACC.
U.S., Australian, and U.K., tactical and operational C2 experts integrated to provide national expertise, independent/contingency communications, and to further development of tactics, techniques and procedures within Bamboo Eagle’s AOC.
Air Operations Center
“Generally, as an Air Force, we focus on the tactical aspect of war; exercises like Red Flag focus on tactics, but the level above that is the operational level of war, which we don’t practice very well,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Ryan Hayde, 505th Command and Control Wing commander and Bamboo Eagle AOC director. “Standing up a fully manned AOC allowed us the ability to synchronize efforts over time and space and to focus on the scale and scope in an Indo-Pacific large-scale conflict, which only the operational level of war is going to be able to solve, which is critical to winning the logistics fight, C2 fight, and long-range kill chain fight against a peer-to-peer adversary.”
Exercise Bamboo Eagle saw momentous progress towards coalition integration within operational C2 since its first iteration in January 2024.
“The significance of our coalition partners’ involvement during Bamboo Eagle cannot be overstated,” remarked Hayde. “Due to some breakthroughs in access, our partners were able to fight on our systems and lead AOC shifts, filling the top three AOC leadership roles.”
During the exercise, simulated combat scenarios and live joint training operations provided a unique opportunity for military personnel from the U.S., Australia, and the U.K., to work closely together and enhance their collective capabilities.
“U.K. and Royal Australian Air Force participants benefitted from unprecedented access to U.S. systems. This demonstrated the strength and effectiveness of multinational cooperation in achieving shared military objectives,” said Royal Air Force Wing Commander Richard Kinniburgh, U.K. exchange officer to the 505th CCW and Bamboo Eagle U.K. Detachment commander. “I, alongside my Australian counterpart, will endeavor to build upon these successes into exercise BE 25-1 and support the U.S. Air Force in sharing the access processes as best practice to enhance FVEY [Five Eyes] integration as widely as possible.”
RAAF Squadron Leader Sean Bedford, Bamboo Eagle RAAF detachment commander, said, “The access to U.S. systems was beneficial. Individual (AOC) divisions seemed to appreciate the fact that we were there and actively working to integrate with our U.S. and U.K. counterparts. The opportunity to network and be inside the 613th AOC was a high point. Learning about and actively experiencing working within a U.S. AOC was an important aspect of the exercise. The good relationships between the three nations present were evident. U.S. members were happy to listen and consider what we had to say”.
“Bamboo Eagle 24-3 has set a new standard for coalition integration for exercises and methodology that will be shared across the U.S. Air Force as best practice,” said Hayde.
Air Force forces staff, also known as the AFFOR battle staff
To provide a more robust combat-representative training environment for the AEWs, an AFFOR staff supported the dual-hatted COMAFFOR and C/JFACC’s operational and administrative control over Bamboo Eagle’s forces from the Shadow Operations Center-Nellis’ operations floor.
“While the AOC and live-fly garner a lot of attention in these exercises, our ability to successfully operate ACE in the Indo-Pacific is critically reliant on the ability of the AFFOR. No longer is the AFFOR staff able to just focus on ‘deploy, sustain, and redeploy’…they are now more than ever critical to the employment of airpower!” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Benjamin Lee, 705th TRS commander, Hurlburt Field, Florida
“During a high-end conflict, communication between the deployed combat wings, the AOC and AFFOR battle staff is going to be critical to synchronize operations and maintain initiative,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Jason Wild, 99th Air Base Wing deputy commander, and Bamboo Eagle AFFOR battle staff director, Nellis AFB, Nevada. “Bamboo Eagle provided the perfect training ground to get much-needed repetition in executing operational C2.”
Scope and Scale
While Bamboo Eagle’s live environment introduced mission generation FEs, or MGFEs, to the challenges of ACE and synchronization of multi-domain effects, the virtual and constructive environments stressed the challenges of logistics and resource management for both the air component and subordinate wings and associated C2FEs.
“If the all-domain combat power pulses answer the ‘so what?’ of generating combat air power, the operational environment at the scope and scale of the Indo-Pacific AOR [area of responsibility] of the synthetic battlespace begs the question ‘so how?’” said Power.
Power continued, “…the complex live environment of Bamboo Eagle presented wing commanders with significant MG and combat application challenges. Yet, sortie generation and mission planning alone do not provide the combat-representative environment our warfighters need in preparation for Great Power Competition. Pairing live training audiences with a broad constructive and virtual wrap-around replicates the look and feel of major combat operations.”
Live, Virtual, and Constructive
The 705th Combat Training Squadron, also known as the Distributed Mission Operations Center, at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, synchronized LVC environments and delivered robust training. The DMOC provided reps and sets for the entire C2 battle management enterprise, including aircrew flying strike aircraft and C2 platforms within a realistic combined scenario at a scope and scale not possible in the live-fly alone.
This exercise included the first-ever lead wing participants at the DMOC, connected through a simultaneous LVC environment. During the exercise, the training audience addressed the challenges of tyranny of distance, time, and logistical strains of an Indo-Pacific Command fight within the constructive and virtual components, which were spread out over prolonged vulnerability periods or pulses.
The 1st Fighter Wing participated as an expeditionary Lead Wing, engaging with live participants through a virtual environment representing realistic USINDOPACOM basing at the DMOC. The 1st FW managed dispersed operations while maintaining C2 and sortie generation through a centralized C2FE. ACE concepts were incorporated into the exercise to provide maneuver and multi-hub operations under a singular operational C2 structure.
“In this iteration of Bamboo Eagle, we were able to provide a unique and challenging venue to train a lead wing C2FE, I think this is definitely a growth area for the DMOC that will meet an unfilled training need for wings as they prepare to for high-end conflict,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. David Jones, 705th CTS/DMOC commander, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.
Network Architecture
The 805th Combat Training Squadron’s, also known as the ShOC-N, ability to manage the network architecture in real time ensures that the LVC blends seamlessly into a single common operational picture. This ability took constructive data from the 505th CTS and virtual data from the 705th CTS and combines that with live instrumented range data from across multiple live-fly operating areas.
“Exercise participants, regardless of echelon, are participating in a training construct that mimics adversary orders of battle, blue dispositions, and the tyranny of distance like no other exercise has to date,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Shawn Finney, 805th CTS/ShOC-N commander, Nellis AFB, Nevada. “The result is a combat-representative depiction of the scope and scale of peer conflict.”
Importance of Communications
Bamboo Eagle 24-3 marked the first utilization of the 613th AOC C2 Training Suite with strong support and collective ownership provided by the 56th Air and Space Communications Squadron and 505th Communications Squadron teams. The effective coordination and collaboration between these units played a crucial role in two main aspects. Firstly, it facilitated the development of Mission Ready Airmen, through scale and speed, with training focused on command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence, or C4I, skillsets needed for critical wartime operations. Secondly, it accelerated the development, integration, and testing of the communications and intelligence capabilities by utilizing models and simulations overlays into a comprehensive battlespace picture, becoming more combat representative by displaying unfolding events.
“Meeting operational demands in an era of Great Power Competition by ensuring that the C2 architecture (systems, networks, satellite communications, and warfighting applications) captures evolving air, sea, space, and cyberspace challenges is my team’s goal,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Crystal Lusardi, 505th CS commander, Hurlburt Field, Florida.
Mission Under Test
A key part of the 605th Test and Evaluation Squadron effort involved developing and executing the squadron’s first-ever mission-under-test observation and tactics investigation plan. This plan provided an end-to-end look at the complex process of planning and executing long-range kill-chains across 11 different lines of effort.
“Executing our first-ever Mission Under Test observation and tactics investigation plan during Bamboo Eagle was a significant step forward for the 605th TES. This comprehensive approach allowed us to gain an unprecedented understanding of the complexities involved in planning and executing long-range kill chains, ultimately enabling us to identify vulnerabilities and improve coordination across the entire battlespace,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Brad Short, 605th TES commander, Hurlburt Field, Florida. “Our team’s efforts in evaluating non-traditional C2 and ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] tactics demonstrated the incredible adaptability and ingenuity of our Airmen. We witnessed firsthand how these innovations can dramatically improve targeting and execution speeds on the battlefield.”
Future of Bamboo Eagle
“As the Air Force is reoptimizing for Great Power Competition, with a focus on realistic scenarios and large-scale exercises to identify gaps and weaknesses, the 505th Command and Control Wing must adopt an all-in mindset to address operational C2 potential peer-to-peer threats,” said Hayde. “As we prepare for REFORPAC [exercise Return of Forces Pacific], we will continue to robust our AFFOR and AOC contribution to further integrate operational-level C2 into future iterations of Bamboo Eagle to ensure that we practice how we’re going to fight.”
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—At 9:30AM today, Governor DeSantis was joined by Kevin Guthrie, Executive Director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), for a press conference at the State Emergency Operations Center to provide updates on Tropical Storm Helene. Governor DeSantis issued Executive Order 24-209 on September 24, updating EO 24-208 and declaring a state of emergency for 61 counties, which allows for state officials to make critical resources available to communities ahead of any potential storm impacts.
As of 11AM ET, Tropical Storm Helene officially formed over the Northwestern Caribbean Sea.
Watches and warnings in effect include:
Hurricane Watch: Bay, Calhoun, Charlotte, Coastal Collier, DeSoto, Gulf, Hardee, inland Hillsborough, Lake, Lee, inland Manatee, eastern Marion Mainland Monroe and Middle Keys (Monroe County), Orange, Osceola, Polk inland Sarasota, Seminole, and Sumter counties
Tropical Storm Watch: Citrus, eastern Columbia, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Hernando, Coastal Hillsborough, Jefferson, Liberty, Leon, Levy, Coastal Manatee, western Marion, Pasco, Pinellas, Coastal Sarasota, Suwannee, Taylor and Wakulla counties
Floridians are encouraged to know their risks from hurricane hazards and prepare for potential impacts from Tropical Storm Helene. To learn more, residents can visit FloridaDisaster.org/Guide.
Counties have begun their preparation efforts including measures like sandbag stations. For updates on county resources available visit FloridaDisaster.org/Counties for a list of all 67 county emergency management contacts.
State Preparedness Efforts
The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) activated the State Emergency Operations Center to a Level 1 on Tuesday, September 24 and is leading coordination efforts for the State Emergency Response Team.
FDEM is hosting twice-daily calls with all 67 counties to identify needs and to ensure the state is prepared to respond quickly and efficiently.
Additionally, FDEM is coordinating with state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private sector partners to facilitate ongoing resource requests for counties, including requests for water, generators and support personnel.
Nearly 500 missions are being facilitated by the State Emergency Response Team to assist counties in their preparation efforts. These missions accomplish vital tasks like prestaging response resources, protecting critical infrastructure facilities like hospitals and utility stations, and coordinating personnel statewide.
The Florida State Guard (FSG) has prepared the following:
250+ Soldiers ready to deploy.
10 shallow water vessel boat teams
7 flat-bottom-flood rescue skiffs
2 amphibious rescue vehicles
12 UTV’s
15 Cut and toss crews
7 search and rescue teams
1 UH-60 Blackhawk for daytime aerial assessment and logistics missions
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is making plans to ensure continuity of operations in several critical areas including Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse and the Watch Desk.
FDLE logistics teams are moving and staging assets.
FDLE is identifying squads for deployment and staffing for local emergency operations centers.
FDLE’s mutual aid team is at the State Emergency Operations Center coordinating law enforcement missions.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has readied high-water vehicles and all other storm response resources statewide so they may be rapidly deployed to assist Floridians in need in the event of damage or flooding.
The FWC is fully integrated into the State Emergency Operations Center, and local FWC law enforcement representatives are coordinating closely with county and city emergency operations centers.
FWC officers are ready to deploy and respond with a variety of specialized equipment as necessary, such as:
Airboats
Shallow draft boats
ATVs/Side-by-sides
Larger platform vessels
Four-wheel vehicles
FWC Special Operations Group (SOG) teams will serve as reconnaissance units for the State EOC and report on damage after the storm has made landfall.
FWC Aviation Section has been placed on standby and has readied all appropriate aircraft for potential deployment for EOC aerial assistance, reconnaissance, and post-storm damage assessments when needed.
The Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) is monitoring the storm and preparing mitigation measures, including:
Mobilizing evacuation assets
Locating areas of evacuation
Establishing liaisons in our local county and municipal EOCs for storm assistance
The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) offices and facilities are finalizing storm preparations to ensure the safety and security of staff and youth.
These actions include fueling all vehicles, moving vehicles in low-lying and flood-prone areas to higher ground, testing and ensuring adequate fuel supplies for generators in the event of loss of power, and ensuring food, medicine, and emergency supplies are stocked and ready.
The Florida Department of State has been monitoring the storm for potential impacts and making preparations to secure historical properties.
The Florida Department of State, Division of Elections has been monitoring the storm and has been providing updates and information to Supervisors of Elections about potential impacts and resources available to their offices.
All Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) 7 Districts, Central Office, and FDOT’s Turnpike Enterprise initiated statewide internal preparedness conference calls beginning Monday, September 23, which continue daily.
FDOT continues close coordination with State EOC officials and partners.
FDOT team members have begun staffing the State EOC.
Responding to county requests for personnel and assets.
FDOT Statewide Preparedness Efforts Include:
667 team members working in offices, and EOCs conducting pre-storm preparations.
490 team members working in the field conducting pre-storm preparations.
193 pieces of heavy equipment being used for pre-storm preparations.
164 team members staged for cut and toss operations
90 bridge inspectors staged for deployment
28 team members staged for UAV (drone) deployment
20 large pumps staged
634 generators staged to assist with traffic signal power
4 ITS trailers staged.
Clearing shoulders in preparation for potential Emergency Should Use (ESU).
Currently analyzing flooding vulnerabilities for major roadways and bridges.
Inspecting and clearing drainage systems, monitoring flood-prone and currently saturated areas, and pre-positioning pumps as appropriate.
Securing high mast lighting, maintenance yards, active construction projects, rest areas/welcome centers, service plazas, and weigh stations.
Howard Frankland Bridge barges and cranes anticipated to be fully secured by Wednesday, 9/25
Replenishing fuel reserves, checking generator readiness, and pre-positioning assets as appropriate.
Completing repairs on malfunctioning vehicles and equipment in preparation for deployment.
Initiated communication with modal partners – seaports, airports, railroads, transit, and spaceports. All partners are currently in monitoring posture.
Staging ITS trailers, as well as drone teams and equipment are being prepped and ready to deploy as needed.
FDOT encourages drivers to download the FL511 app or visit FL511.com for road/bridge closures and potential detours that may be activated. Remember to always follow the direction of local law enforcement and emergency personnel.
Seaports are open and preparing for storm.
Airports are open and monitoring the storm.
Railroads are open and monitoring the storm.
Transit agencies are open and monitoring the storm.
Spaceport partners are open and monitoring the storm.
The Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs (FDVA) has alerted the home administrators of its nine State Veterans’ Homes of the approach of the coming storm. They are implementing their hurricane preparation checklists.
FDVA’s facilities have main generators in case of loss of power.
FDVA is in contact with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs leadership in Florida to coordinate potential clinic closure announcements.
Volunteer Florida has begun the following preparation efforts:
Daily Coordination calls with Florida Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD);
Identifying partner capabilities, needs and gaps;
Ongoing coordination efforts with Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT); and
Identifying pre-staging locations of flood/cleanup kits, hygiene kits and tools.
Key Messaging to Partners:
Emphasizing the importance of “Cash, Confirm, Connect” strategy.
Promoting volunteer opportunities through Volunteer Connect.
Encouraging documentation of all donated resources and Volunteer hours.
Current rate of volunteer hours in the state of Florida is $31.61.
Florida Department of Management Services (FDMS) are working to identify potential evacuation shelter sites for special needs and pet friendly evacuees as far east as Lake City and west as Panama City.
FDMS identified a specific location to land helicopters and staff to potentially COOP from the EOC to Escambia County
FDMS is making early preparations with their vendors and have commenced for commodities as well as services.
Health and Human Services
The Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) is hosting calls with regional leadership and partners to provide storm information and determine any anticipated unmet needs.
APD is preparing policy documentation for anticipated storm event actions and providing regional staff with curfew letters for providers in potential counties with issued curfews.
The Florida Department of Health’s (DOH) Office of Communications is distributing information on social media platforms regarding emergency health topics, including flood water safety, special needs shelters, boil water notices and more.
DOH and the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) sent information regarding early prescription refills permitted under Executive Order 24-209. This information was sent to the public, health insurers, managed care organizations, pharmacy benefit managers, pharmacy chains and health care providers.
DOH is deploying over 130 emergency response vehicles. Staging is currently in Leon and Osceola counties.
The Pinellas County WIC office will close at 12:00 p.m. on 09/24/2024 and plan to re-open on 09/26/2024.
DOH’s Healthy Start program is reaching out to coalitions and providers located in areas of potential impact to ensure continuity of care for clients. Additionally, Healthy Start is alerting clients of potential weather impacts and connecting them to resources.
DOH’s Bureau of Women, Infant and Children (WIC) is alerting coordinators in areas of potential impact and preparing for remote operations, if needed.
DOH’s Bureau of Childcare Food is alerting providers in areas of potential impact and having them prepare for grab-and-go meals for clients post-landfall.
The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) has been in communication with health care facilities as they are evaluating any potential evacuation plans.
AHCA will hold and participate in provider calls for TS9 preparation ahead of landfall. As of 10am today there are 4 facilities (3 ALFs and 1 nursing home) reporting that they are evacuating.
E-PLUS update:
34 of the 41 (83%) counties in the EO have access to E-PLUS
Outreach is being conducted for counties with no access
Monitoring of the system will ramp up today
ENS Subscribers were notified of Special Needs Shelters Encounters that they may receive
Infrastructure, Roads and State Closures
The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) is Relocating FHP command bus from Jacksonville to Washington County for staging for post-landfall use due to the State EOC possibly being in the storm’s path.
Communication established with Troop Commander’s in the potential impacted areas.
FHP is staffing ESF-16 with four (4) sworn members and one (1) non-sworn member effective today 7:00 a.m.
FHP high-water rescue vehicles are prepared for use.
FHP is preparing high-water rescue vehicles.
Florida Highway Patrol’s Quick Reaction Force teams consisting of more than 120 members statewide stand ready to provide immediate response.
FHP remains in close communication with law enforcement and transportation partners and stands ready to assist with any potential impacts across the state.
FLHSMV issued Emergency Order 24-05, which: waives specific requirements for commercial motor vehicles providing emergency relief; and waives the replacement fees for driver’s license and identification credentials, vehicle registrations and titles, vessel registrations and titles and temporary parking permits for impacted individuals.
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) is preparing for Tropical Storm Helene and has secured supplies should the Hope Bus need to be deployed.
DCF is working with the Community-Based Care Lead Agencies to contact foster families and group home providers to ensure preparedness.
The State Mental Health Treatment Facilities have activated their disaster preparation plans and are assessing facility readiness.
DCF has begun contacting adult protective services clients to assess any needs and to ensure they have a plan in place.
DCF has begun contacting Continuums of Care, licensed child care facilities, and licensed Substance Use Disorder treatment facilities to ensure they are prepared.
DCF’s behavioral health staff and the Managing Entities stand ready to deploy behavioral health resources, as needed.
Through ESF 6, DCF is making preliminary preparations for staffing shelters, delivering emergency supplies, and directing generators to critical human services infrastructure.
The Department of Elder Affairs (DOEA) contacted all our Area Agencies on Aging partners and received the following updates:
Elder Options (PSA 3)
Staff have initiated call-downs to clients to assess their needs.
Providers have ordered emergency meals in case meal sites close.
You Thrive Florida meal sites in Hernando, Lake, and Sumter counties will be closed on Thursday and Friday, and clients will receive shelf-stable meals.
ElderSource (PSA 4)
Staff have initiated call-downs to clients to assess their needs.
Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas, Inc. (PSA 5)
Staff have initiated call-downs to clients to assess their needs.
Clients who require assistance with registering for the special needs registry are receiving assistance.
Senior Connection Center (PSA 6)
Staff have initiated call-downs to clients to assess their needs.
Shelf-stable meals are being provided to individuals who express a need in case meal delivery services are disrupted later this week.
Area Agency on Aging for Southwest Florida, Inc. (PSA 8)
Staff have initiated call-downs to clients to assess their needs.
The Florida Department of Education (FDOE) is contacting all school districts to assess needs in preparation for Tropical Storm Helene. For more information on school closures, visit https://www.fldoe.org/em-response/storm-info.stml.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is working with Florida’s Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network, the Florida Rural Water Association and other response agencies to ensure preparations are underway to support drinking and wastewater facilities ahead of the anticipated heavy rains.
All significant hazardous waste facilities in potentially affected counties are being notified to ensure all pre-storm preparations are being made.
DEP has completed pre-storm beach surveys in all shoreline counties and staff are beginning to develop their post-storm response plan.
Florida’s water management districts are engaging to engage local governments and drainage operators throughout the state and are available to provide technical and other support, including deploying temporary pumps to alleviate localized flooding. As part of standard operations, DEP and Florida’s water management districts continue to monitor water systems and river levels as the storm’ develops.
DEP published a storm updates webpage to keep state park visitors updated of closures: FloridaStateParks.org/StormUpdates. Visitors with existing camping and cabin reservations at closed parks have been notified of their reservation status.
Resources for Employees, Businesses and Consumer
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) has organized Emergency Response Teams across 13 offices statewide, who are ready to deploy once it is safe to complete damage assessments and disaster inspections of licensed establishments.
DBPR has begun preparing personnel and securing and preparing fleet and resources ahead of potential impacts. DBPR is positioned to initiate continuity of operations protocols in all offices statewide.
Today, DBPR has proactively communicated with more than 137,000 restaurant and lodging licensees to provide storm preparation and food safety resources.
DBPR encourages Florida’s licensed contractors who provide post-storm construction-related services to register with its Florida Disaster Contractors Network at DCNOnline.org.
FloridaCommerce is communicating and coordinating with private sector partners, encouraging them to review their emergency plans for their businesses and prepare their employees in advance of the weather event.
Updates on business closures and business resources are consistently being updated at FloridaDisaster.biz/CurrentDisasterUpdates.
CareerSource Florida hosted a call with 21 Local Workforce Development Boards and 38 Community Action Agencies across the state to prepare teams to assist local employees and employers after the weather event. To find your local career center visit careersourceflorida.com.
FloridaCommerce is working with private sector partner, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, to assist with sheltering needs in advance of the storm.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) is coordinating with Florida’s ports and fuel industry partners to ensure adequate fuel supplies are available across Florida, as well as with Florida’s agricultural partners to ensure producers have adequate resources and support.
The Florida Forest Service is staging equipment, like high-water vehicles, to support recovery operations.
The Insurance Commissioner Yaworsky of the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has begun calling property and casualty insurance companies with consumers in the projected path of Tropical Storm Helene and directed insurers to be prepared to implement their disaster claims-handling procedures and be able to provide prompt and efficient claims-handling service to impacted policyholders.
Insurers have been put on notice that the OIR is monitoring for appropriate and timely claims handling, and reminded of OIR’s fine authority for noncompliance.
The OIR, in coordination with the Florida Department of Health (DOH), sent information regarding early prescription refills permitted under Executive Order 24-208. This information was sent to the public, health insurers, managed care organizations, pharmacy benefit managers, pharmacy chains, and health care providers.
The OIR’s IMT has been activated.
Follow FDEM on X, Instagram, and Facebook for updates and visit FloridaDisaster.org/Updates for information relating to Tropical Storm Helene.
MIL OSI Translation. Government of the Republic of France statements from French to English –
The Council of Ministers adopted the following individual measures:
On the proposal of the Prime Minister:
– the functions of Director of International, Strategic and Technological Affairs at the General Secretariat for Defense and National Security exercised by Ms. Caroline FERRARI, State Administrator, are terminated as of September 16, 2024.
On the proposal of the Minister of the Interior:
– the functions of Prefect of Eure exercised by Mr. Simon BABRE, State Administrator, are terminated as of September 16, 2024;
– the functions of delegated prefect for equal opportunities with the prefect of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, prefect of the South defense and security zone, prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, exercised by Mr. Baptiste ROLLAND, State administrator, are terminated as of September 9, 2024.
On the proposal of the Minister of National Education and the Minister of Higher Education and Research:
– the functions of rector of the Grand Est academic region, rector of the Nancy-Metz academy, exercised by Mr. Richard LAGANIER, chancellor of universities, are terminated as of September 16, 2024.
On the proposal of the Minister of Labor and Employment:
– the functions of general delegate for employment and vocational training exercised by Mr. Jérôme MARCHAND-ARVIER, State Councilor, are terminated as of September 17, 2024.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jim Banks (IN-03)
Today, Rep. Jim Banks (IN-03), Chairman of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee announced his probe into the U.S. Air Force’s apparent use of race and sex-based quotas for its officer applicant pool. Find a copy of Chairman Banks’ letter to Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Alex Wagner here.
Said Rep. Banks: “The Biden-Harris DOD’s use of race and sex based quotas is un-American and it should be illegal. It is difficult to understand how the Air Force could aim to cut recruiting of Americans who don’t check the right demographic boxes during the worst recruiting crisis in the history of the All-Volunteer Force. Republicans must work to put merit back at the center of our armed services. It is the right thing to do and it is the only way we will be able to compete with Communist China.”
Rep. Banks submitted amendments to the 2025 NDAA to end affirmative action at service academies and prohibit the consideration of race in military accessions.
The full text of the letter is below:
Dear Mr. Wagner,
I’m writing to you regarding the United States Air Force’s apparent use of race and sex quotas for its officer applicant pool.
On August 9, 2022, the office of the Secretary of the Air Force (SECAF) sent a memorandum titled “Officer Source of Commission Applicant Pool Goals.” The memorandum sets race and sex quotas, referred to as “Diversity & Inclusion goals,” for commissioned officer applicants to the Air Force at a proportion of 64 percent male and 36 percent female, 67.5 percent white, 15 percent Hispanic, 10 percent Asian, 14 percent African American, 1.5 percent American Indian/Native Alaskan, and 1 percent Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, and directs Air Force leadership to develop a plan to reach these goals within 30 days.
Air Force documents from 2023 recently obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) show that, in response to the August 2022 memorandum, the Air Force developed even more granular race and gender quotas. For example, a slide that was presented to the SECAF as part of its “Office Accession Applicant Pool Goals D&I Outreach Plan” includes a graph that shows white male ROTC officer applicants declining from about sixty percent in 2019 to a goal of approximately 43% by fiscal year 2029.
Internal Air Force email correspondence obtained by the DCNF suggest that you personally advocated for presenting the SECAF with a specific timeline for implementing these quotas. An email relaying your feedback on the draft “Applicant Pool Goals D&I Outreach Plan” slide deck reads: “Mr. Wagner would like to know specifically and what we are doing for and the timeline to meet goals for each specific demographic, for example, black males, white females, etc.” Another email shows that efforts were made to delay the briefing “to give us more time to meet Mr. Wagner’s intent.”
At a 2023 House Armed Services Committee Military Personnel Subcommittee hearing, I asked you if you would personally commit to opposing any effort to promote or recruit servicemembers based on their race or gender. You responded that, “I will commit to you to do everything possible to reach the broadest segment of America, whether it means increasing the number of women in our force or people of color, and I commit to you that we will continue those efforts, to have a more diverse force.”
Please respond to the following questions no later than October 20, 2024:
How does reducing the proportion of white male ROTC applicants by seventeen percent in ten years compatible with your stated goal of “reach[ing] the broadest segment of America”?
Why would the Air Force advocate for reduced recruiting of certain demographics while it struggled to meet its recruiting goals?
What is the difference between the “Diversity & Inclusion goals” you set and race and gender quotas?
Do you believe that race- and sex-based discrimination should be tolerated within the United States Air Force?
Source: Switzerland – Department of Foreign Affairs in English
Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports
Bern, 24.09.2024 – In her speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, 24 September, President Viola Amherd focused on peacebuilding and international humanitarian law. She emphasised Switzerland’s commitment to strong and effective multilateralism.
In various conflicts around the world civilian populations and infrastructure are not only afforded inadequate protection, but are being deliberately targeted, explained the President. International law, as the foundation of all joint efforts for peace, security and prosperity in the world, must serve as the basis for action. She cited Switzerland’s commitment to peacebuilding, including the Conference on Peace in Ukraine at the Bürgenstock, and called for focused and effective multilateralism. She warned against the fragmentation of the world into blocs and paid tribute to the central role of the UN as the only universal organisation to address common challenges.
The UN General Assembly was preceded by the Summit of the Future, which was aimed at strengthening international cooperation. Switzerland welcomes the Pact for the Future adopted at the summit as an important commitment to multilateralism. The Pact draws on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a reference framework, sets priorities in peacebuilding and places human rights at the heart of each chapter. The Pact for the Future is a call for action by all UN member states, said President Amherd at the weekend.
UN Security Council debate and bilateral meetings
The president’s programme during her visit to New York continues with her participation in a high-level debate of the UN Security Council on the topic of ‘Leadership for Peace’ on Wednesday. Ms Amherd will give a speech at an event on the equal participation of women in political decision-making processes, which will be attended by other female presidents and heads of government. An event on the inclusion of women in the peace process in Afghanistan has already taken place.
President Amherd is taking advantage of her time at the UN to meet with heads of state and government. She met with Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah and the new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday. The talks with the Kuwaiti Crown Prince covered bilateral relations while focusing on the Middle East conflict; this subject was also addressed at the meeting with President Pezeshkian alongside the human rights situation in Iran, Switzerland’s protecting power mandate and the 2015 nuclear agreement.
A meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres is scheduled for Tuesday evening, which is set to address issues including multilateralism and Switzerland’s presidency of the UN Security Council in October.
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin
09.24.24
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced $10,906,668 in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) medical research grants for Illinois institutions. The federal funding through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be put toward research programs across the state to support medical advancement in various fields, ranging from lung diseases to mental health research.
“Federal investments in medical research pushes our society forward, bringing us new treatments for the serious conditions that impact so many American families,” said Durbin. “Illinois’ world-class research institutions will make good use of this federal funding to make devastating diseases more treatable.”
“Investing in our world-renowned medical research facilities and institutions is a critical part in helping ensure high quality health care for all Illinoisans,” Duckworth said. “I will keep working with Senator Durbin to make sure our health organizations have the federal support they need to continue improving mental health research and advancing medical treatments for patients and families across Illinois.”
Recipients of HHS grants include:
Chestnut Health Systems, Inc (Drug Abuse and Addiction Research Programs): $759,748
Northwestern University at Chicago (Research for Mothers and Children): $718,900
Northwestern University at Chicago (Nursing Research): $827,872
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Research and Training in Complementary and Alternative Medicine): $671,176
Northwestern University at Chicago (Lung Diseases Research): $2,803,961
Northwestern University at Chicago (Human Genome Research): $745,930
Northwestern University (Aging Research): $388,067
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (Mental Health Research Grants): $535,696
Northwestern University at Chicago (Aging Research): $1,536,774
Northwestern University at Chicago (Cancer Treatment Research): $90,538
Durbin has long been a strong advocate for robust medical research.? His legislation, the American Cures Act, would provide annual budget increases of five percent plus inflation at America’s top four biomedical research agencies: NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense Health Program, and the Veterans Medical and Prosthetics Research Program. Thanks to Durbin’s efforts to increase medical research funding, Congress has provided NIH with a 60 percent funding increase over the past nine years.
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The government meeting took place today in a unique format. In the public part of the meeting, the ministers presented reports on the activities of their ministries in connection with the flood. El primer minister Donald Tusk announced that this formula will be in force during the next government meetings. Later in the meeting, the Council of Ministers adopted a draft act amending the Act on special solutions related to removing the effects of floods. Tomorrow the government will present information on its activities in the Sejm. In the afternoon, the head of government went to a meeting of the crisis staff in Wrocław. Concrete actions Today’s government meeting was devoted to the situation in southwestern Poland after the flood. In the public part, Prime Minister Donald Tusk asked ministers to present the activities of their ministries and propose specific solutions. “My intention is that each government meeting – in this dramatic time of flood and post-flood reconstruction – should begin with a specific report that should reach people immediately,” explained the head of government. The second part of the meeting of the Council of Ministers was devoted to the draft act amending the act on special solutions related to removing the effects of floods. “Para bromear 100 pages of amendments that will improve the existing law; they will make assistance easier and more flexible,” announced Donald Tusk. The government will be able to secure – together with European funds – up to PLN 23 billion for the “Reconstruction Plus” program. “It was very important for us to provide financing for aid and then reconstruction for the coming months and years – because some projects will last for many years,” the Prime Minister said. The government remains directly involved in supervising activities in the areas affected by the disaster – a meeting of the crisis staff will be held in Wrocław this afternoon. Los dos ministros se multiplican Internal Affairs and Administration The first information during the meeting of the Council of Ministers was presented by the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration. Tomasz Siemoniak emphasized that the State Fire Service and the army are currently focusing on two goals. The first is to ensure safety in connection with the peak wave on the Odra River. “We are moving forces and resources, moving helicopters and various types of equipment, so that we have forces and resources in all places of danger – especially backwaters, seepage through embankments or water pouring through embankments in some places” – reported the head of the Ministry of Interior and Administration. The second priority is to support residents in restoring normal functioning in the affected municipalities. “Here we do not reduce our commitment in any way. As for the forces of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, the Bromear couple approximately 25,000. professional firefighters, volunteer firefighters and policemen,” said Tomasz Siemoniak. The police continue to ensure the safety of residents of flooded areas, including: guarding their property against looters, running mobile posts and providing psychological support. The Central Office for Combating Cybercrime is also carrying out intensified activities. It focuses primarily on the fight against disinformation and the practice of conducting false collections. “I am asking you to follow our announcements carefully. Please check carefully whether this is a fake collection. This is what we are trying to eliminate,” the Minister of Interior and Administration emphasized the importance of the problem. The Ministry of Interior and Administration cooperates with voivodes in the field of paying benefits to the injured. Nearly 20,000 families have already received such support. The aid is also organized by the Government Agency of Strategic Reserves, which has released funds in the amount of PLN 12 million and provides, among others, temporary housing. Ministrosdos of National Defense Prime Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz reminded that from the very beginning, all the armed forces of the Republic of Poland were involved in the fight against the flood: land forces, air forces, navy, special forces and Territorial Defense Forces. “The lines of effort of the army: help and evacuation of the population, taking care of life and health – the most important thing is para bromear. The second thing is securing the embankments, strengthening them as the wave moves. The third issue is the tidying up of the area – matters related to cleaning, unblocking communication routes,” the Minister of National Defense listed the activities of the services subordinated to him. The army also got involved, among others: in the organization of the field hospital in Nysa and the disinfection process. On Monday, September 23, the Feniks military operation began. “We immediately launched another operation – Operation Phoenix, aimed at reconstruction, returning to normality. In fact, it is about raising the level of reconstruction to an even better infrastructure than what was destroyed,” announced the head of the Ministry of Defense. The operation is scheduled at least until the end of the year. Soldiers will be present in areas at risk and affected by flooding until the effects of the flood are removed. The cost of Operation Feniks is estimated at approximately PLN 175 million. Our NATO and EU partners offer their help, for example by sending engineering teams to rebuild roads and bridges. “Para bromear is an expression of solidarity that Poland has always shown to countries in need,” noted the Minister of National Defense. El primer ministro Donald Tusk thanked for the information about offers of international assistance. “Good comes back in different situations, in different forms. We helped the Turks, we helped the Swedes not so long ago… The Greeks, of course, with forest fires. Today, the Swedes are sending us dehumidifiers, the Turks and Germans want to build bridges…” Poland will definitely benefit from the offer of help wherever it is useful. Ministrosdos of Digitization Primer Ministro y Ministro of Digitization Krzysztof Gawkowski presented, among others: actions his ministry took to launch satellite communications. 160 Starlink terminals were handed over to the State Fire Service, and 70 terminales – to the Police. The Ministry of Digitization also cooperates with mobile network operators to provide residents of disaster-affected areas with access to mobile networks. “We have gone from several tens of thousands of people cut off from the mobile network to less than a thousand” – político Krzysztof Gawkowski. Audit activities were commissioned to develop solutions that will avoid disconnection in similar situations in the future. The ministry cooperates with the Police in the fight against disinformation. Recently, increased hostile actions have been recorded on the Russian and Belarusian sides. 80-90% of this false content is removed as soon as it appears. Another important action is to launch flood alerts in the MObywatel application. Thanks to this, residents of individual voivodeships can quickly obtain information about the situation in the region. Citizens are also provided with information by the government-created website podz2024.gov.pl. Together with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the Minister of Digitization decided to donate 16,000 laptops to the affected areas to be used by children. Ministrosdos Infraestructura El ministro Dariusz Klimczak announced that all roads in Lower Silesia have already been made passable. The situation is worse in the Opole Voivodeship. The head of the ministry reported, among others, from activities aimed at rebuilding the bridge in Głuchołazy. The section of the Kłodzko Główny – Kłodzko Miasto railway route is still impassable. “We anticipate that we will clear traffic on this section by September 30,” Dariusz Klimczak reported the good news. The railway organizes detours on some sections. We appeal to travelers to
analyze the information provided by carriers. The head of the Ministry of Infrastructure provided detailed data on alarm and warning states, meteorological and hydrological warnings and the condition of reservoirs. He paid particular attention to hydrological warnings against third-degree floods for the Lubusz, West Pomeranian, Lower Silesian and Greater Poland voivodeships. Ministrosdos of Finance El ministro Andrzej Domański reminded that his ministry had secured PLN 2 billion in the state budget for the implementation of the most urgent aid tasks related to combating the effects of the flood and was working to increase this amount. “We regularly issue decisions activating funds for voivodes, including the payment of flood benefits. We are also working together with the local government to provide direct assistance to the affected municipalities. We have, among other things, funds at our disposal from the reserve in the amount of PLN 738 million. The decision on the division of this reserve will be made together with the local government,” said Andrzej Domański. They can count on support, among others: borrowers whose mortgage obligation will be taken over by the state for 12 months, as well as entrepreneurs – it is possible, for example, to apply for a waiver of tax liabilities. Ministros dos Funds and Regional Policy The Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy, in accordance with the Prime Minister’s instructions, carried out a comprehensive review of the Cohesion Funds. “Up to several billion zlotys can be transferred for reconstruction and resilience purposes,” informed Minister Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz. The ministry she manages is creating a new priority within the Cohesion Funds. Dedicated to Bromea Sobre rebuilding in flooded areas and at the same time building resilience to such events. “These will be funds for energy infrastructure, water and sewage infrastructure, road infrastructure, but also funds for private beneficiaries, supporting budget funds for the reconstruction of houses that were destroyed during the flood,” said the Minister of Funds and Regional Policy. The process of redirecting funds is consulted with local government officials from flood regions. Ministry of Climate and Environment Led by Minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska, the ministry clima observes, among others, the situation of environmental infrastructure and the state of groundwater. The State Geological Service has introduced a state of hydrogeological threat for the period from September 17 to 30 for the Lower Silesian and Opole voivodeships and the southern parts of the Lubuskie and Greater Poland voivodeships. The Ministry of Climate and Environment directed resources and forces to post-flood areas, thanks to which the number of households without access to electricity significantly decreased. “1,738 customers remain without electricity. At its peak there were almost 80,000 households. The biggest problem in this respect is still the Lower Silesian Voivodeship,” said Paulina Hennig-Kloska. At the request of the Ministry of Climate and Environment, the Council of Ministers adopted an amendment to the regulation on the state of natural disaster, which is intended to facilitate the removal of waste from areas affected by flooding. The ministry also launched subsidies for local governments for the purchase of, among others, aggregates, pump, dryers. Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, the Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy, reminded what the activities of her ministry focus on. “While the ministries and services directly involved in the fight against the element are putting a stop to it, we at the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy have been looking from the very beginning where the wave is already receding, where the water is receding and where the people of the flooded areas need immediate, urgent social assistance and financial assistance” – emphasized Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk. The total funds paid for these benefits are 100 million 409 thousand. PLN. This number is still growing. The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy has facilitated access to aid by simplifying the form for flood victims. The application may be submitted orally, and the entire procedure works according to the so-called one window. Social workers often come to injured people themselves. El primer ministro Donald Tusk thanked Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk for the initiative to introduce paid leave for those who clean the homes of their loved ones. “A couple of pretty obvious help. Everyone who gets involved and devotes their time, is not at work, but helps their loved ones and family in drying, cleaning, pumping water, etc., will be able to count on state support,” assured the Prime Minister. A provision on this form of assistance will be included in the draft bill developed by the government. Minister of Health Izabela Leszczyna announced that the main task of her ministry is to provide residents of flooded areas with access to medical services. Ministrosdos has launched 3 hotlines. “One, the general one, where the patient can find out where the nearest clinic is, where the nearest pharmacy that has not been flooded is; where to go for help. And two more hotlines that concern people in mental health crisis – separately for adults and separately for children and adolescents,” explained Izabela Leszczyna. Psychological and psychiatric help also reaches flood victims through the mobile center. The Minister of Health thanked the employees of all hospitals and clinics who are showing great commitment during the crisis. The hospital in Nysa is at the stage of drying and disinfection. “There is great determination of the employees of the local community, the starosta of Nysa, to open this hospital. Both the Ministry of Health and the National Health Fund absolutely support these efforts,” emphasized the head of the ministry. The State Sanitary Inspection focuses on collecting water samples, conducting laboratory tests and issuing disinfectants. Anyone can call the district sanitary and epidemiological station to ask for water testing or help with disinfection. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Adam Nowak, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, informed that according to data collected by the Restructuring Agency, 4,318 farmers who had a registered farm number were affected by the flood. “In accordance with the Prime Minister’s instruction to ensure that this assistance is quick and well-addressed, the first program will be support of approximately PLN 5,000 for a hectare of field containing unharvested agricultural produce, unharvested cereals – mainly corn, partly also soybeans, corn, potatoes and sugar beets” – Adam Nowak presented one of the proposals to help farmers. The ministry will also support farmers, among others: ensuring the possibility of remission of rents for arable land, exemption and remission of social security contributions in KRUS, and compensation for cereals and other agricultural produce that came into contact with flood waters. Another solution is quick advance payments for direct payments to farmers from flood-affected areas. The Minister of Agriculture, Czesław Siekierski, requested the European Commission to activate the crisis reserve at the disposal of the Commissioner for Agriculture, and also asked voivodes for support in initiating the work of estimating commissions. Ministrosdos of National Education Thanks to the determination of school principals and teachers, currently only 63 institutions have suspended classes. Remote teaching is conducted in 9 schools. “In no case is the safety of the educational course of children and young people at risk at this time. All exams and all activities will take place as planned,” assured Barbara Nowacka, the Minister of National Education. Affected schools have formal and legal options to organize classes in other places. The Ministry of Education has prepared a number of supports for those affected. “To meet
the needs reported by teachers and parents, we organize green schools for children from flood areas. There is a special website at zielonaszkoly.gov.pl with a 24-hour hotline where you can report schools that need help and appropriate assistance. Currently, nearly 850 people have registered – students from schools in flood areas – and are ready to leave,” said Barbara Nowacka. The Ministry plans to extend the program until the holidays. There is a special telephone line of the Ministry of National Education for psychological support. More than 40 psychologists provide assistance around the clock. The ministry, headed by Barbara Nowacka, also coordinates the “Schools for Schools” project, under which willing school communities in the country can support students and institutions from flood-affected areas. Ministros dos Sportu i Turystyki El Ministro Sportu i Turystyki Sławomir Nitras presented information on the forms of support prepared by his ministry. The Ministry will allocate funds for the reconstruction of sports infrastructure, especially school facilities, as well as public and tourist facilities – tourist trails and parks. 50 millones de was secured to support tourist institutions and enterprises that suffered losses due to the cancellation of their stay or the impossibility of carrying it out. “We have secured 2 million PLN in the tourist budget for a program to promote Lower Silesia as a safe place for organizing tourism,” declared Sławomir Nitras. The resort will also support sports clubs. The government’s plans for the coming days. Today, the Prime Minister will take part in a meeting of the crisis staff in Wrocław. During Wednesday’s session of the Sejm, the government will present information on actions in the flood-affected areas. On Thursday, the first reading of the special act that was discussed by the Council of Ministers should take place in the Sejm. . So I am asking for full mobilization,” the Prime Minister asked the politicians. The head of government thanked the heads of ministries for urgently preparing legislative projects and announced the next meeting of the Council of Ministers, which will be held next Saturday.
Comunicado lun24/09/2024The Council of Ministers adopted a draft act amending certain acts in order to support entrepreneurs employing Territorial Defense soldiers or Active Reserve soldiers, submitted by the Minister of National Defense.
The draft law introduces tax preferences for entrepreneurs who employ soldiers of the Territorial Defense and Active Reserve. Business owners who apply for a public contract – for the implementation of which they employ the above-mentioned military – will also be able to take advantage of preferential conditions. The idea is to increase the attractiveness of territorial military service, increase the number of soldiers in the Polish Armed Forces and reduce the burden on employers. Soldiers of the Territorial Defense (OT) and Active Reserve (AR) who are called to perform military service cannot perform duties under the employment relationship. A sudden call may affect the rhythm of the company’s work and constitute a burden for the employer. Preferences for entrepreneurs may encourage the employment of OT and AR soldiers. Key solutions An entrepreneur who employs Territorial Defense or Active Reserve soldiers may take advantage of a tax relief. The tax relief applies to every employed OT or AR soldier. Its amount depends on the number and period of employment of soldiers. If a soldier has been in continuous service for 1 year, the employer may deduct PLN 12,000 from the tax base. The amount of the relief increases with each year of continuous service by the soldier. The maximum relief is PLN 24,000 if the length of service is 5 years.
The possibility of deducting the tax relief will be valid until 2026.
An entrepreneur who applies for a public procurement contract and will employ OT and/or AR soldiers for its implementation will be able to benefit from preferential treatment. This applies to public procurement contracts below the EU threshold (below PLN 25,680,260 in the case of construction works and PLN 663,105 in the case of supplies and services). The employment of OT and AR soldiers will be treated as a “quality criterion” that will apply in organizational units subordinate to and supervised by the Minister of National Defense. The value of this criterion will not be lower than 10%.
The current severance pay paid to an employee who was called up for territorial military service will be replaced by an initial benefit. The initial benefit will be paid by the military unit. This will relieve employers who will not have to pay the severance pay and then apply for its refund. The benefit will be due after the soldier completes basic training. It will amount to 50% of the average salary in the second quarter of the previous year. In the second quarter of 2023, the average salary was PLN 7,005.76, so the benefit will amount to PLN 3,502.88. It will be exempt from personal income tax.
The new regulations are to enter into force after 14 days from the date of publication in the Journal of Laws.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Cory Mills Florida (7th District)
Washington, D.C. —H.R. 5867, introduced by Congressman Cory Mills (FL-07), to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 109 Live Oaks Boulevard in Casselberry, Florida, as the “Colonel Joseph William Kittinger II Post Office Building,” unanimously passed the House of Representatives.
“I am proud to share that my bill, H.R. 5867, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 109 Live Oaks Boulevard in Casselberry, Florida, as the “Colonel Joseph William Kittinger II Post Office Building,” has passed the House of Representatives. This bill will officially rename the Casselberry Post Office in honor of Colonel Joseph Kittinger, a true American legend from Florida’s 7th Congressional District. I’m honored to help recognize Colonel Kittinger’s incredible legacy through this bill. Colonel Kittinger, an Air Force hero, set the world record for the highest parachute jump at 102,800 feet, endured nearly a year as a POW in Vietnam’s infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton,’ and became the first person to solo balloon across the Atlantic. His bravery, resilience, and legacy will continue to inspire future generations to push the limits of what’s possible. As he said, ‘Life is an adventure, and I’m an adventurer,’” said Congressman Cory Mills.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Mireille Rebeiz, Chair of Middle East Studies & Associate Professor of Francophone & Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Dickinson College
Israeli soldiers in armored vehicles drive through a Lebanese village in 1982.Bryn Colton/Getty Images
Their fear, echoed by many onlookers, is that Israel will accompany the airstrikes with something that has the potential to have far worse consequences: a ground invasion of south Lebanon.
The rational behind such a move, from the Israeli government’s perspective, is that a ground offensive may be its best chance to push Hezbollah fighters beyond the Litani River in the middle of the country. This would achieve an Israeli war goal of securing its northern borders and allowing an estimated 60,000 residents who have been forced to flee northern Israel to go back to their homes.
Irrespective of motive, a ground invasion and potential occupation is more than wild speculation. Israel has placed thousands of soldiers on standby close to the Lebanon border for such an eventuality.
Nor is such a move without precedent.
As a scholar of Lebanese history, I know Israel and Lebanon have been here before. In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon in the middle of the latter’s civil war, imposing a siege on the capital Beirut. The results were catastrophic for the whole region. Not only did the ground invasion result in the death of thousands of civilians, the occupation of Lebanon plunged an already fragile nation into lasting political and economic chaos and led to the birth of Hezbollah, the very group that threatens northern Israel today.
Refuge and armed resistance
The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 had its roots in the Palestinian–Israeli conflict, much as the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel does today.
The creation of the state of Israel in 1948 was accompanied by the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” for the Palestinians. In the violent birth pangs of a Jewish state on land inhabited by, among others, Arab populations with deep ancestral ties to villages, more than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled.
Many refugees entered Lebanon, where in 1964 the Palestine Liberation Organization was born. By the mid-1970s, the armed resistance group had recruited and trained over 20,000 fighters who actively participated in launching attacks on Israel from Lebanese soil.
By 1982, Lebanon was already seven years into its civil war, with violence flaring between Lebanese Christians and Lebanese and Palestinian Muslims. On June 6, 1982, Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, a future leader of the country, launched Operation Peace for Galilee and invaded Lebanon with the purpose of eliminating the PLO.
More than 40,000 Israeli troops with hundreds of tanks entered Lebanon from three points: by land across the border into south Lebanon; by sea from the coast of Sidon; and by air as the Israeli forces bombed the Beqaa Valley, Beirut and its Palestinian refugee camps.
For two months, Beirut was under siege, with water and electricity cut off. As a result of the heavy bombardment and lack of access to basic needs, an estimated 19,000 Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian civilians and combatants died, of which 5,500 were civilians from West Beirut.
The Lebanese authorities appealed to the United States, France, Italy and the United Kingdom for help. These countries formed the multinational peacekeeping force, which was designed to restore peace in Lebanon, assist the Lebanese armed forces and evacuate PLO fighters to Tunisia.
By August 1982, the multinational force had successfully relocated PLO fighters and began pulling out of Lebanon. They were called back, however, as violence flared.
After the assassination of Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel on Sept. 14, 1982, the Christian Phalangist militia entered the two Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila and killed over 2,000 Palestinian civilians. The Israeli government later set up the Kahan Commission of Inquiry to look into the killings, which concluded that Israel was indirectly responsible for the massacres.
The birth of Hezbollah
All of this history remains relevant to the current situation in the region. Israel’s invasion and occupation of Lebanon, its siege on Beirut and the massacres that followed all led to the birth of Hezbollah.
While members of Lebanon’s marginalized Shiite community in the south had long sought to mobilize through pan-Arab political parties and militias, it was Israel’s invasion that galvanized members of the community to ultimately create Hezbollah in 1985. As former Israeli Defense Minister and Prime Minister Ehud Barak noted in a 2006 interview: “It was our presence there that created Hezbollah.”
From 1982 onward, Americans and other Westerners became a target. In the following decade, more than 80 Americans and Europeans were taken hostage by Hezbollah fighters. Some were tortured for months; others died in custody.
And on Oct. 23, 1983, a terrorist attack targeted the American barracks in Beirut, killing over 300 people, including 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers. Minutes later, a second suicide attack killed 58 French paratroopers. The Islamic jihad claimed responsibility for the two attacks; some of its members are thought to be among those who officially founded Hezbollah in February 1985.
Aiding Hezbollah recruitment
Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon failed to accomplish its goals of stemming attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon. If anything, it had the opposite effect by turning many Lebanese against Israel and creating the conditions in which Hezbollah could recruit.
Although Israel retreated from Beirut in August 1982, it continued to occupy south Lebanon until 2000. During that period it unlawfully detained many Lebanese suspected of resisting the Israeli occupation. Some were detained without charges in inhumane conditions, while others were illegally transferred into Israel.
The debris at the site of an overnight Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Akbiyeh on Sept. 24, 2024. Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP via Getty Images
With such a backdrop, Hezbollah’s legitimacy in the eyes of many Lebanese grew – as did its support. So much so that in 1989, at the end of the Lebanese civil war, the authorities signed an agreement that, although not referencing Hezbollah directly, asserted Lebanon’s right to resist the Israeli occupation in the south.
This clause was interpreted by Hezbollah as legitimizing its armed fight against occupation.
After occupation ended in 2000, Hezbollah had to reinvent its role, claiming that it would continue fighting against Israel until the liberation of the disputed Shebaa Farms, the Golan Heights and occupied Palestine.
Until Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, there had been hopes that decades of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel could be on the cusp of turning. In October 2022, Lebanon and Israel signed a maritime border agreement brokered by the U.S – interpreted as the beginning of normalizing relations between two countries technically at war.
But the magnitude of the human crisis in Gaza and the series of events that followed in Lebanon have ended such hopes for now. Hezbollah’s vow of solidarity with Hamas has resulted in a running series of tit-for-tat attacks with Israel that have escalated over the past year.
The attack using booby-trapped pagers that targeted Hezbollah fighters and killed several civilians across Lebanon on Sept. 17, 2024, has set off a chain of events that have now seen nearly 500 Lebanese killed and Hezbollah extend the geographical scope of its missile attacks in Israel. Its long-range ballistic missiles can reach 250-300 kilometers (155-186 miles) and have reached Haifa and the city’s Ramat David Airbase.
The next step in this deadly escalation could well be a ground invasion. But in 1982, such an operation resulted only in catastrophic results for all concerned – and set in place the conditions for decades of hostilities across the Lebanon-Israel border. A similar offensive today would almost certainly have similar results – especially for the people of Lebanon.
Mireille Rebeiz is affiliated with American Red Cross.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-02)
VA awards federal grants through first-of-its-kind program to help veterans and their spouses make employment transition from military service
JOHNSTON, RI — Today, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse along with Congressmen Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo saluted Operation Stand Down Rhode Island’s (OSDRI) for winning a new $100,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) through its new Veteran and Spouse Transitional Assistance Grant Program.
This federal funding will help OSDRI target employment-based assistance to support recently separated members of the Armed Forces and their spouses. The funding may be used for a variety of activities, such as: resume assistance, interview training, job recruitment training, employment placement services, employment education and training, and referrals to employment.
“I salute Operation Stand Down Rhode Island for empowering those who serve and their families. I am excited that OSDRI will be among the first non-profits to partner with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on this new program aimed at expanding job counseling services and enhancing the post-service transition experience for veterans and military spouses. The men and women of our Armed Forces and their families make tremendous sacrifices to defend our freedom. It’s important that we help them effectively transition to civilian life,” said Senator Reed, a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Milcon-VA, who attended OSDRI’s annual veterans outreach event last week. “OSDRI does a great job offering tailored support to military families to help people achieve their career and life goals. This new federal grant will help them extend their reach and help more veterans and their spouses make a smooth transition from service to success.”
“We have a sacred commitment to honor and support our veterans long after they return home,” said Senator Whitehouse. “This new funding for Operation Stand Down Rhode Island will provide veterans and their spouses with resources to land well-paying jobs and achieve their career goals. Well done to the team at Operation Stand Down Rhode Island for all of their work to help veterans adjust to civilian life.”
“It is our solemn duty to take care of veterans who have bravely answered the call to serve,” said Rep. Seth Magaziner. “Operation Stand Down Rhode Island has long been a vital resource for veterans and their families, and as a testament to their work, they are among the first organizations in the country to receive this federal funding that will help connect veterans to good-paying jobs and improve the transition to civilian life.”
“I applaud Operation Stand Down Rhode Island for securing these federal funds to bolster their work as a key partner and a critical lifeline for veterans and military families.” said Congressman Gabe Amo. “As they heroically strive to ease the transition from service to civilian life, their selection by the Department of Veterans Affairs for this first-in-the-nation grant is an endorsement of their proven track record of success in our state.”
“This award represents crucially needed employment-based resources and tools to support recently separated Rhode Islanders of the Armed Forces and, notably, for the first time, their spouses as well. OSDRI’s employment and training program is a crucial part of its wraparound services intended to provide veterans a “hand up – not a handout.” Being able to help unemployed and underemployed members of the veteran household helps secure a promising and self-sustaining future for those who have placed the needs of our nation ahead of their own and their families,” said Erik B. Wallin, Executive Director of Operation Stand Down Rhode Island.
Over 200,000 men and women leave U.S. military service every year and transition to civilian life. The Veteran and Spouse Transitional Assistance Grant Program is a first-of-its kind grant program that is being extended to support the spouses of veterans.
OSDRI is one of 13 organizations to be awarded funding under this program aimed at enhancing career stability and expanding employment resources for veteran and military families, including improving transition assistance support for spouses. These grants require a 1 to 1 local match.
In addition to OSDRI, the other inaugural grant recipients that provide transition services to former members of the U.S. Armed Forces who are separated, retired, or discharged and their spouses, include:
American Corporate Partners
Corporate America Supports You
Greater New Bedford Workforce Investment Board
Jacksonville State University
Jewish Vocational Service
Kansas City Scholars Inc.
National University
Operation Stand Down Tennessee
Orange County United Way
The Commit Foundation
The Houston Launch Pad
University Of Massachusetts
The Veteran and Spouse Transitional Assistance Grant Program is made possible thanks to the bipartisan Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act (P.L. 116–315), which was enacted in 2021.
Separating troops and their spouses who need assistance navigating the transition to civilian life may access Military OneSource services through the U.S. Department of Defense for one year after they leave the service.
Michigan National Guard Soldiers from the 1437th Multi-Role Bridge Company conduct sling load operations during a bridging exercise over Lake Huron near St. Ignace, Mich., Sept. 14, 2024. The training, involving airlifting 22-foot bridge sections and assembling a 220-foot floating bridge raft, enhances readiness for transporting equipment across water. (U.S. Army video by Sgt. 1st Class Christy Van Drunen)
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-02)
VA awards federal grants through first-of-its-kind program to help veterans and their spouses make employment transition from military service
JOHNSTON, RI — Today, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse along with Congressmen Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo saluted Operation Stand Down Rhode Island’s (OSDRI) for winning a new $100,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) through its new Veteran and Spouse Transitional Assistance Grant Program.
This federal funding will help OSDRI target employment-based assistance to support recently separated members of the Armed Forces and their spouses. The funding may be used for a variety of activities, such as: resume assistance, interview training, job recruitment training, employment placement services, employment education and training, and referrals to employment.
“I salute Operation Stand Down Rhode Island for empowering those who serve and their families. I am excited that OSDRI will be among the first non-profits to partner with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on this new program aimed at expanding job counseling services and enhancing the post-service transition experience for veterans and military spouses. The men and women of our Armed Forces and their families make tremendous sacrifices to defend our freedom. It’s important that we help them effectively transition to civilian life,” said Senator Reed, a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Milcon-VA, who attended OSDRI’s annual veterans outreach event last week. “OSDRI does a great job offering tailored support to military families to help people achieve their career and life goals. This new federal grant will help them extend their reach and help more veterans and their spouses make a smooth transition from service to success.”
“We have a sacred commitment to honor and support our veterans long after they return home,” said Senator Whitehouse. “This new funding for Operation Stand Down Rhode Island will provide veterans and their spouses with resources to land well-paying jobs and achieve their career goals. Well done to the team at Operation Stand Down Rhode Island for all of their work to help veterans adjust to civilian life.”
“It is our solemn duty to take care of veterans who have bravely answered the call to serve,” said Rep. Seth Magaziner. “Operation Stand Down Rhode Island has long been a vital resource for veterans and their families, and as a testament to their work, they are among the first organizations in the country to receive this federal funding that will help connect veterans to good-paying jobs and improve the transition to civilian life.”
“I applaud Operation Stand Down Rhode Island for securing these federal funds to bolster their work as a key partner and a critical lifeline for veterans and military families.” said Congressman Gabe Amo. “As they heroically strive to ease the transition from service to civilian life, their selection by the Department of Veterans Affairs for this first-in-the-nation grant is an endorsement of their proven track record of success in our state.”
“This award represents crucially needed employment-based resources and tools to support recently separated Rhode Islanders of the Armed Forces and, notably, for the first time, their spouses as well. OSDRI’s employment and training program is a crucial part of its wraparound services intended to provide veterans a “hand up – not a handout.” Being able to help unemployed and underemployed members of the veteran household helps secure a promising and self-sustaining future for those who have placed the needs of our nation ahead of their own and their families,” said Erik B. Wallin, Executive Director of Operation Stand Down Rhode Island.
Over 200,000 men and women leave U.S. military service every year and transition to civilian life. The Veteran and Spouse Transitional Assistance Grant Program is a first-of-its kind grant program that is being extended to support the spouses of veterans.
OSDRI is one of 13 organizations to be awarded funding under this program aimed at enhancing career stability and expanding employment resources for veteran and military families, including improving transition assistance support for spouses. These grants require a 1 to 1 local match.
In addition to OSDRI, the other inaugural grant recipients that provide transition services to former members of the U.S. Armed Forces who are separated, retired, or discharged and their spouses, include:
American Corporate Partners
Corporate America Supports You
Greater New Bedford Workforce Investment Board
Jacksonville State University
Jewish Vocational Service
Kansas City Scholars Inc.
National University
Operation Stand Down Tennessee
Orange County United Way
The Commit Foundation
The Houston Launch Pad
University Of Massachusetts
The Veteran and Spouse Transitional Assistance Grant Program is made possible thanks to the bipartisan Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act (P.L. 116–315), which was enacted in 2021.
Separating troops and their spouses who need assistance navigating the transition to civilian life may access Military OneSource services through the U.S. Department of Defense for one year after they leave the service.
A rule based international order and the primacy of the global institutions are imperatives for maintaining peace in the emerging multipolar and multilateral world. This was stated by Lieutenant General JP Mathew, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC), in the Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defence conference titled ‘The Future Indo-Pacific : Building a Resilient and Interconnected Region’, from 18 to 20 September 2024 at Hawaii, United States.
The CISC in his address stated that all stakeholders, and especially the developing countries, want peace, stability, and prosperity in the region. With international organisations undergoing much needed reforms, flexible and dynamic councils could present solutions to deal with contemporary challenges, he stressed. The future of the Indo-Pacific, safeguarding the international system, regional capacity building, and threats and opportunities of emerging technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence were some of the major issues discussed.
In the conference, convergence emerged on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a general purpose technology, having a multiplier effect on other technologies and functions. A robust AI model, which is under constant training, could give policy fidelity and maintain checks and balances, especially in matters related to the use of strategic weapons. Imposition of strict regulations on AI would be a regressive step as it could lead to denial of this critical technology to developing countries.
A total of 28 countries and multilateral organisations participated in the Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defence. The primary objective of the conference was improving military to military cooperation. This annual event is a forum for building consensus and aligns with the commitment to a rule based world order.
A rule based international order and the primacy of the global institutions are imperatives for maintaining peace in the emerging multipolar and multilateral world. This was stated by Lieutenant General JP Mathew, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC), in the Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defence conference titled ‘The Future Indo-Pacific : Building a Resilient and Interconnected Region’, from 18 to 20 September 2024 at Hawaii, United States.
The CISC in his address stated that all stakeholders, and especially the developing countries, want peace, stability, and prosperity in the region. With international organisations undergoing much needed reforms, flexible and dynamic councils could present solutions to deal with contemporary challenges, he stressed. The future of the Indo-Pacific, safeguarding the international system, regional capacity building, and threats and opportunities of emerging technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence were some of the major issues discussed.
In the conference, convergence emerged on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a general purpose technology, having a multiplier effect on other technologies and functions. A robust AI model, which is under constant training, could give policy fidelity and maintain checks and balances, especially in matters related to the use of strategic weapons. Imposition of strict regulations on AI would be a regressive step as it could lead to denial of this critical technology to developing countries.
A total of 28 countries and multilateral organisations participated in the Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defence. The primary objective of the conference was improving military to military cooperation. This annual event is a forum for building consensus and aligns with the commitment to a rule based world order.
The fifth edition of Goa Maritime Symposium (GMS) 2024 was hosted by the Indian Navy from 23-24 September 24 under the aegis of Naval War College, Goa. This edition of the Goa Maritime Symposium was conducted in the newly inaugurated, state-of-the-art Chola building of the Naval War College. This year’s GMS edition theme was ‘Common Maritime Security Challenges in the IOR – Progressing Lines of Effort to Mitigate Dynamic Threats such as IUU Fishing and Other Illegal Maritime Activities’. The theme was underpinned by the idea of ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region’ (SAGAR), as enunciated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, to ensure prosperity in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Delegations from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Kenya and Tanzania participated in this edition of the Symposium.
Goa Maritime Symposium 24 brought together regional stakeholders to discuss strategies for addressing non-traditional threats in the maritime domain in the IOR. The GMS participants comprised officers of Captain/ Commander equivalent rank from the Navies/ Maritime Security Agencies of Friendly Foreign Countries. The Symposium featureddiscussions on collaborative information-sharing mechanisms, various measures to strengthen regional cooperation, and mitigating emerging non-traditional threats. Deliberations during Goa Maritime Symposium will act as a feeder for the Goa Maritime Conclave scheduled in 2025.
Thanks to the RNZRSA, a small piece of New Zealand is on its way to every member of the New Zealand Defence Force deployed overseas this Christmas.
Those serving personnel can expect some festive cheer from home, thanks to 140 RNZRSA Forces Gift Parcels which are now on the way to deployments around the world including in the Republic of Korea, South Sudan, Egypt, the Middle East and Antarctica.
The parcels were packed near Trentham Military Camp yesterday by a busy production line of `elves’ including the Minister for Veterans Hon Chris Penk, Commander Joint Forces New Zealand Major General Rob Krushka, RNZRSA National President Sir Wayne Shelford, staff from the RNZRSA’s National Office and volunteers from the New Zealand Defence Force.
Christmas boxes were filled with treats and Kiwi classics donated by the wonderful team from Pams. Each box also contained a poppy and a card handmade by students from Mt Cook and Silverstream Primary Schools in Wellington, to let those serving overseas know the country’s thoughts are with them.
Commander Joint Forces New Zealand Major General Rob Krushka, who helped to pack the boxes, said that these small packages make a big difference to those away from home at Christmas.
“We know it’s incredibly tough for our service personnel to be away from their families during special occasions such as birthdays and Christmas. The NZDF are very grateful to the RNZRSA for the packages which bring a little bit of joy to our personnel at what can be a challenging time.”
RNZRSA National President, Sir Wayne Shelford said the RNZRSA are proud to continue to support NZDF personnel around the world.
“This is the 84th year the RSA has sent these parcels to our military personnel overseas at Christmas. It’s a small thing we can do to thank them for the sacrifice they are making, and to brighten their day a little.
We are committed to continuing our support to New Zealand’s veterans of military service, including the more than 60,000 that have served since 1990.”
Background
The RSA is incredibly grateful for the generosity of Pams New Zealand and Packaging Products. Pams donate the majority of goodies inside the parcels, and this year included items such as microwave popcorn, party mix lollies, roasted and salted deluxe nut mix, packets of biscuits and much more. Packaging Products print and donate the boxes the goodies are packed in to.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement that will resolve its suit filed on behalf of former Utah Army National Guardsman and current Air Force Reservist Matthew T. Denning against Stonescape Pavers LLC. The settlement must be approved by the federal court in Las Vegas. The Department’s complaint, filed in June 2009, alleges that Stonescape violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) by terminating Denning during his statutorily protected reemployment time period. Under the terms of the settlement, embodied in an agreement that has been submitted to the court, Stonescape must provide Denning with $10,000 to compensate him for his lost wages and benefits as a result of Stonescape’s actions.
In its complaint, the Justice Department alleged that Denning was a salesman for Stonescape when he was called to active duty to deploy to Iraq with the Utah Army National Guard in January 2006. After he was honorably discharged in June 2006, he was reemployed by Stonescape. According to the complaint, Stonescape terminated Denning without cause in August 2006 during his statutorily-protected reemployment time period. The lawsuit was filed after the Labor Department’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service completed an investigation of Denning’s complaint. Congress enacted USERRA in 1994 to protect service members from being disadvantaged in their civilian careers due to serving in the uniformed services. Among other things, USERRA prohibits employers from terminating a service member except for cause for 180 days after the employee’s date of reemployment if his or her recent period of uniformed service was more than 30 days but less than 181 days.
“We all have a duty to ensure the brave men and women who serve our country in uniform can land on their feet after they return from active duty. This settlement demonstrates our vigilant protection of the employment rights of our servicemembers, and our commitment to vigorous enforcement of the laws that protect them,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has given a high priority to the enforcement of servicemembers’ rights under USERRA. During 2009, the Civil Rights Division has filed 20 USERRA lawsuits on behalf of service members. Additional information about USERRA can be found on the Justice Department’s Web sites at http://www.justice.gov/crt/emp and http://www.servicemembers.gov/, as well as on the Labor Department’s Web site at http://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/userra/main.htm
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A Highland Falls, N.Y., woman pleaded guilty today for her role in a scheme to defraud and embezzle funds from the U.S. government by authorizing nearly $3 million in payments from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., to a bogus corporation she controlled.
Bobbie Cyana Ryan, 51, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to a three-count information charging her with devising a scheme to defraud, and transmitting funds in interstate commerce for the purpose of executing the scheme; embezzlement and conversion by Ryan of government funds; and executing a financial transaction with criminally derived funds.
According to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, Ryan worked in the Information, Education and Technology division in the Office of the Dean at West Point. Ryan was responsible for coordinating information technology training programs for West Point staff. According to court documents, based on irregularities found during a routine audit, U.S. Army investigators discovered that Ryan, acting as the requesting and approving official, used her government purchase card and cards of her unknowing subordinates to authorize approximately $2.9 million in payments to CWG Enterprises. The payments were purportedly for either on-site training instructors or training reference materials when, in fact, no personnel were ever trained and no materials were ever provided.
U.S. Army investigators subsequently discovered that Ryan conducted financial transactions and identified herself as doing business as CWG Enterprises. Ryan used a rented mail box as the company address for CWG Enterprises. Based on false invoices created by Ryan, transfers of government funds were allegedly made from a bank in Washington to a bank account in the name of “Bobbie C. Ryan dba CWG Enterprises” at a bank in New Windsor, N.Y. Once the funds arrived in the purported CWG Enterprises bank account, Ryan withdrew the funds and paid personal and family expenses.
At sentencing, scheduled for Feb. 19, 2010, Ryan faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison a fine of up to twice the pecuniary gain from the scheme.
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, Hartford Fraud Resident Agency. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Andrew Levchuk of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section.
Responding to reports that Lesotho Defence Forces (LDF) soldiers tortured at least four people and killed at least two others during the ongoing Operation Hard Fist to confiscate illegal firearms from gang members, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Khanyo Farise, said:
“These incidents are the latest in a series of grave allegations about the conduct of LDF soldiers. Torturing and unlawfully killing people can never be justified, even in the context of a crackdown on gangs.
“Lesotho’s authorities must urgently investigate all incidents of torture and unlawful killings by the army, bring to justice anyone suspected to be responsible in fair trials and adequately compensate the victims and their families.
These incidents are the latest in a series of grave allegations about the conduct of LDF soldiers.
Khanyo Farise, Amnesty International Deputy Director for East and Southern Africa
“Lesotho’s Prime Minister must publicly condemn cases of torture, arbitrary detention and unlawful killings by the army and affirm his commitment to ending alleged army abuses.”
Film obtained from Birmingham trade fair shows staff at UK company The Squad Group Ltd demonstrating electric-shock gloves which deliver painful electric shocks
Call on West Midlands Police and HM Revenue & Customs to urgently investigate
‘It’s disturbing that a UK company led by three former police officers has openly promoted these devices’ – Dr Michael Crowley
‘No-one should be allowed to profit from the sale of torture equipment’ – Sacha Deshmuk
A British company led by retired police officers – including a former Assistant Chief Constable – has been caught on camera demonstrating electric-shock torture equipment at a trade fair in Birmingham.
The revelations, made by Amnesty International UK and the Omega Research Foundation, raise serious questions about the enforcement of laws in relation to the prohibition of torture equipment as well as the staging of security equipment trade events, with campaigners saying it should prompt an urgent investigation by West Midlands Police and HM Revenue & Customs, as well as the trade fair organisers, Nineteen Group Ltd.
In one video, filmed yesterday at the Emergency Services Show at the Birmingham NEC, representatives of the company, The Squad Group Limited – which markets itself as the “Sole UK & Ireland partner of Compliant Technologies”, a US company promoting a range of electric-shock devices – are seen demonstrating devices (known as the “G.L.O.V.E.”), direct-contact devices which emit a painful electric charge on contact with a restrained person’s skin. The Squad Group Limited are seen demonstrating the glove device while emphasising that its electrical charge setting was only at “one tenth” of what the device is capable of. The person volunteering to receive the shock – apparently a serving police officer – is seen grimacing in pain when the glove is used to grab his arm.
In addition, the company has also promoted a body-worn electric-shock device, the “E-Band Restrictor”, on its website. This device, which is designed to be worn around the ankle of a prisoner, can deliver painful electric shocks repeatedly via a remote control.
In a briefing document to accompany the video, Amnesty and Omega explain that the trade in direct-contact and body-worn electric-shock weapons is illegal under laws regulating the arms and security trade, with UK companies and nationals banned from importing, exporting or in any way promoting these goods anywhere in the world. Electric-shock weapons are prohibited under The Trade in Torture etc. Goods (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, and current Government export control guidance clearly states that all trading activity, including promotion and marketing of these goods anywhere in the world, is prohibited.
Due to their design and purpose, these electric-shock weapons are inherently abusive and can be used to carry out torture, including through the application of multiple or continuous electric shocks, as well as electric shocks to vulnerable areas of the body such as the head, neck and genitals. In the UK, police use of Tasers is the only permissible use of electric-shock weapons, and then only under strict licensing conditions. The G.L.O.V.E. is a conductive energy distraction device, the means of that distraction via the application of electric shocks, and as such Amnesty International UK and the Omega Research Foundation believe it falls clearly within the scope of prohibited torture goods.
The Squad Group Limited is a new company, only registered in May 2023, and its three company directors are all retired police officers. The company’s founder, Adam Conn, is a former police officer and emergency services worker; its CEO, Matthew Nicholls, is a former Assistant Chief Constable with the Hertfordshire Constabulary; and its chief operating officer, Simon Thompson, is a former police officer with the Metropolitan Police. On the company website all three detail their extensive police experience, with two citing their knowledge of weapons deployment in policing.
Last year, The Squad Group Ltd representatives appeared in photographs and videos demonstrating the use of the G.L.O.V.E. and E-Band Restrictor devices to members of the Royal Gibraltar Police at a two-day seminar event in Gibraltar. Officers from UK police forces, UK Border Force and officials from the Ministry of Defence attended the event, either in person or remotely.
After yesterday’s discovery, Amnesty International UK and the Omega Research Foundation alerted the trade fair organisers Nineteen Group Ltd and the relevant UK authorities. At the time of writing, it is unclear what action – if any – has been taken.
Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said:
“It’s alarming in the extreme that torture equipment is openly being demonstrated at a UK trade fair, and West Midlands Police should urgently investigate this.
“Bringing any direct-contact electric-shock weapon into the UK must surely be a serious breach of import-export controls, and HMRC should investigate to see if the rules banning torture equipment are being properly enforced.
“The organisers of this trade fair have serious questions to answer about how they allowed torture equipment to be touted at their event. No-one should be allowed to profit from the sale of torture equipment.”
Dr Michael Crowley, Researcher at the Omega Research Foundation, said:
“The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has specifically identified direct-contact electric-shock weapons and body-worn electric-shock weapons as inherently-abusive goods that should be completely prohibited.
“It’s disturbing that a UK company led by three former police officers has openly promoted these devices on its website and demonstrated direct-contact electric-shock weapons at an international trade fair.
“The Squad Group’s ability to attend and demonstrate inherently-abusive devices to a seminar of UK and Gibraltar police officers is also deeply concerning, and should be investigated to establish if UK law was broken and whether serving UK law-enforcement officers or Government officials knew of or facilitated these actions.
“The UK now also needs to become a global champion in the fight against torture by supporting the call for an international Torture-Free Trade Treaty to end the global trade in these abhorrent products.”
On Valentine’s Day eve, BNZ is warning Kiwis to be wary of scammers with its customers reporting a 43% increase in relationship and romance scams over the past year.
“There were 167 reported cases in 2023 – and they’re only the ones that we know about as many of these sorts of scams go unreported,” says BNZ’s Head of Financial Crime Ashley Kai Fong.
This is up from 117 reported cases in 2022.
“This shows that despite the headline grabbing nature of these types of scams, relationship scams are still very fertile ground criminals are using to exploit vulnerable Kiwis,” says Kai Fong.
Relationship scams are a type of fraud where criminals pretend to be interested in a relationship with another person, sometimes for romance and occasionally simply for companionship, most commonly online, and then victims are conned out of their money or tricked into sharing personal details.
“All scams can be devastating for victims, but relationship scams are particularly heinous given the time criminals invest in building the relationship with their victims. It can be months before the scammer hints or asks directly for money. They steal your heart, then they steal your money,” says Kai Fong.
In a recent romance scam case, Barry (details have been changed) came to a BNZ branch wanting help to make an international payment to Italy. Barry revealed that the funds were going to his girlfriend’s friend for an airline ticket to New Zealand. They had been dating online for almost a year and he recently started sending his “girlfriend” money. The girlfriend had asked for the money to be sent to her “friend’s account” as her friend had the credit card to purchase the airline ticket.
“There is so much social engineering involved in romance scam cases, and victims often don’t believe that they are caught up in a scam. That is what has happened in this case. Barry refused to believe this was a scam and despite being warned of the risks, he sent the money,” says Kai Fong.
In another case, romance scam victim Sally (details have been changed) believed she was sending money to her US Army surgeon boyfriend stationed in Syria. But Sally’s “boyfriend” said he couldn’t access his bank account due to a poor internet connection and needed the money urgently to fly to NZ. This customer had already sent considerable funds to her “boyfriend” from a number of banks, despite being warned of the risks. The funds for the latest transaction were the proceeds of a personal loan from a finance company.
“As in this case, criminals can go to great lengths to provide evidence to support their fake personas,” says Kai Fong.
“They set up bogus social media profiles, and often share doctored documents such as boarding passes or letters from fake employers. While relationship scams primarily involve romantic relationships, criminals can also exploit friendships built up online too.
“So, while we’ve got an eye out for red roses this Valentine’s Day, and I know it’s not very romantic, my plea is that New Zealanders keep an eye out for the red flags of romance scams this year too.”
How to recognise a romance scam:
Strong emotions are expressed within a short timeframe.
The scammer gives you excuses as to why they cannot meet in person or video call.
They’ve asked you to keep the relationship a secret.
You’re asked to provide financial assistance.
You’re asked to receive money on their behalf and forward it to them.
Top tips to protect yourself from romance scams:
Never send money or give personal or financial information to someone you have just met or have not met in person.
Do not trust someone who claims to be in love with you after a short time without meeting you.
Do not trust someone who asks you to communicate only through email, phone, or chat apps and avoids video calls or social media.
Do not trust someone who has a lot of excuses for not meeting you in person or who cancels plans at the last minute.
The internet is your friend – use reverse image search to check if their photos are stolen from someone else. Search for their name, email, phone number, or other details on the internet and see if they match what they have told you.
A great relationship isn’t a secret! Talk to your friends and family about your new relationship. They may be able to spot the signs of a scam that you may have missed.
Report any suspicious or fraudulent activity to the online platform where you met the person. If you’ve sent any funds, contact your bank immediately.
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurates 41st Indian Coast Guard Commanders’ Conference in New Delhi “ICG is India’s foremost guard ensuring security of our vast coastline”
RM exhorts ICG to become a technology-oriented force to deal with conventional & future threats
Reiterates Govt’s resolve to build an Aatmanirbhar Coast Guard; 31 ICG ships, worth over Rs 4,000 crore, being built by Indian shipyards
Posted On: 24 SEP 2024 1:32PM by PIB Delhi
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 41st edition of Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Commanders’ Conference in New Delhi on September 24, 2024. The three-day meeting serves as a vital forum for ICG Commanders to engage in meaningful discussions on strategic, operational & administrative matters in the backdrop of the evolving geopolitical landscapes and complexities of maritime security.
Addressing the senior Commanders at the Coast Guard Headquarters, the Raksha Mantri described ICG as India’s foremost guard, ensuring the security of the country’s vast coastline through constant monitoring of the Exclusive Economic Zone, and prevention of illegal activities such as terrorism and trafficking of arms, drugs & humans. Commending the bravery & dedication with which the ICG personnel serve the nation in the times of distress, he paid tributes to the bravehearts who lost their lives in a recent operation near Porbandar.
Shri Rajnath Singh termed the contribution of ICG in protecting the nation from internal disasters as unparalleled. He extolled its quick response during an oil spill off Chennai after Cyclone Michaung, which averted a major damage to the coastal ecosystem of the area.
Sharing his vision to make ICG as one of the strongest Coast Guards, the Raksha Mantri emphasised the need to move forward from being a human-oriented to a technology-oriented force to deal with conventional as well as emerging threats in today’s unpredictable times. He underlined the importance of ultra-modern technology on maritime borders, stating that it acts as a force multiplier to further strengthen the security system of the country.
“The world is going through a phase of technological revolution. In this era of Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Technology and drones, the field of security is witnessing significant changes. Given the current geopolitical situation, maritime threats will increase in the future. We need to be alert and ready. The importance of manpower will always remain, but the world should know us as a technology-oriented Coast Guard,” Shri Rajnath Singh said.
While the Raksha Mantri stressed on the benefits of incorporating latest technology, he exhorted the Commanders to remain wary of its negative side. He termed technology as a double-edged sword and called upon ICG to be proactive, vigilant and prepared to tackle the potential challenges.
Shri Rajnath Singh reiterated the commitment of the Government, led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, to modernise & bolster the Armed Forces and ICG with indigenous platforms & equipment. On the efforts being made to attain ‘Aatmanirbharta’, he stated that 31 ships for ICG, worth more than Rs 4,000 crore, are being built by Indian shipyards. He also highlighted the approvals accorded by the Defence Acquisition Council to enhance the capabilities of ICG, which include procurement of Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft, Software Defined Radios, Interceptor Boats, Dornier aircraft and Next Generation Fast Patrol Vessels. Asserting that the three Services are evolving themselves with changing times, the Raksha Mantri urged the ICG to continue improving itself, creating a unique identity, gaining expertise in its domain, and moving forward with renewed vigour.
The Raksha Mantri also paid tributes to late ICG DG Rakesh Pal who passed away due to a heart attack in Chennai recently. He described him as a kind-hearted and capable officer whose untimely death, he said, is an irreparable loss.
Defence Secretary Shri Giridhar Aramane, Secretary (Defence Production) Shri Sanjeev Kumar and Secretary (Ex-Servicemen Welfare) Dr Niten Chandra were among the senior officers present on the occasion.
During the course of the conference, the ICG Commanders will also interact with the Chief of Defence Staff, as well as the Chief of the Naval Staff and the Engineer-in-Chief. The discussions are designed to foster collaboration among the Services across the full spectrum of maritime security, while also promoting the growth and infrastructure development of ICG.
The conference provides a platform for senior ICG leaders to meticulously evaluate key operational, material, logistical, HR development, training, and administrative initiatives undertaken over the past year. They will also deliberate on vital milestones essential for the protection of the maritime interests of the nation. The Commanders will assess ongoing ICG projects designed to bolster Indigenisation through the ‘Make in India’ initiative, harmonising with the Government’s vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.
Indian Navy’s frontline stealth frigate, INS Talwar, arrived in Mombasa, Kenya, on 22 Sep 24. The visit aims to strengthen ties further and reaffirm India’s commitment to constructive collaboration and mutual growth.
During the ship’s stay in the harbour, personnel from both navies will engage in a wide range of professional interactions and cross-exchange visits to enhance cooperation and bolster interoperability.
India and Kenya share a strong bond built on a foundation of centuries-old historical ties. As geographic neighbours linked by the Indian Ocean, the two nations cherish a natural partnership, further strengthened over the years by regular high-level visits, increasing trade and investment, and extensive people-to-people contact.
Maritime cooperation between India and Kenya is guided by the Vision Statement ‘BAHARI’, meaning ‘Ocean’ in Swahili. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto released the Joint Vision Statement in December 2023 during the Kenyan president’s state visit to India.
INS Talwar was commissioned on 18 June 2003 and is part of the Indian Navy’s Western Fleet, based in Mumbai under the Western Naval Command. Captain Jithu George commands the ship, which has a complement of approximately 300 personnel.
Karen Mollica (BA Honours [Political Science], McMaster University, 2000; MA [International Affairs], Carleton University, 2003) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2003 after completing internships in Guyana and Costa Rica.
Karen Mollica (BA Honours [Political Science], McMaster University, 2000; MA [International Affairs], Carleton University, 2003) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2003 after completing internships in Guyana and Costa Rica. Her early assignments included serving as coordinator of the Landmine Action Team and as a case officer for several West and Central African countries. She then worked at the Canadian International Development Agency, serving as First Secretary at the High Commission in South Africa and as Counsellor and Head of Cooperation at the Embassy in Jordan. Upon her return to headquarters in 2019, she was appointed Director of Policy, Planning and Operations for Latin America and the Caribbean, a position she held until 2022. Most recently, she served as Director and Senior Ministerial Advisor in the Office of the Minister of International Development and Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy to the Holy See.
Ajit Singh (BA [Communications], University of Winnipeg, 2003; BA Honours [Political Science], University of Winnipeg, 2004; MA [International Law], United Nations University for Peace, 2006; JD, Osgoode Hall Law School, 2012) has lived, studied and worked in a multilingual environment in 6 countries on 4 continents. He joined the Government of Canada in 2008 after working in media, education, the United Nations and civil society organizations. He then practised private law in Toronto and was called to the Ontario Bar as a barrister. In 2013, he joined the Privy Council Office in the Intergovernmental Affairs Secretariat. He subsequently worked at the Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat, where he was responsible for relations with Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Latin America, as well as legal files. In 2017, he joined Global Affairs Canada as Deputy Director in the Foreign Policy Planning Division, where he led the Foreign Ministers’ Events team during Canada’s G7 Presidency in 2018. He then worked in the Conflict Prevention, Stabilization and Peacebuilding Division. In 2021, he joined the Department of National Defence as Director of Operations. He returned to the Privy Council Office in 2022, this time to become the first person to hold the position of Director of International Crisis Response.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
NAVAL AIR STATION SIGONELLA, Sicily (Sept. 4, 2024) – Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Jose Navarro, 25, from Bremen, Indiana, joined the Navy in 2016 to be part of something bigger than himself. He arrived at Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella in March 2023.
“I show up and take care of my Sailors, day in, day out,” said Navarro, who was recently selected as U.S. Naval Medical Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Sigonella’s Senior Sailor of the Quarter. According to his leadership, Navarro has demonstrated exceptional leadership and worth ethic as the Human Resources department leading petty officer.
Four junior Sailors have benefitted from Navarro’s mentorship; two have been promoted and two have earned college degrees. He has also managed more than 1,000 pieces of correspondence, more than 100 permanent change of station transfer transactions, ten awards boards, five awards ceremonies, and one command physical readiness assessment as the command fitness leader.
“Petty Officer Navarro’s dedication and achievements exemplify his outstanding performance in his leadership role,” said Lt. Julius C. Wiseman III, human resources department head, U.S. Naval Hospital Sigonella. “Furthermore, he recently achieved the milestone of graduating with a Master of Healthcare Administration from Louisiana State University Shreveport.”
In addition to his administrative duties, Navarro holds several collateral duties, including: serving as Morale, Welfare and Recreation president; supply officer; assistant command fitness leader; and command, pay and personnel administrator. Navarro feels these roles help the command improve and help Sailors.
“Serving means making sacrifices to help others,” said Navarro.
Navarro’s proudest achievement in the Navy is promoting quickly and proving to himself that he can get what he wants if he works hard for it.
U.S. Naval Hospital Sigonella ensures maximum readiness by providing high-quality, safe patient and family-centered care to maximize force health protection for all beneficiaries, to included NATO and transient DoD forces in the U.S. Fifth Fleet and U.S. Sixth Fleet areas of operation.
NAS Sigonella provides consolidated operational, command and control, administrative, logistical and advanced logistical support to U.S. and other NATO forces. The installation’s strategic location enables U.S., allied, and partner nation forces to deploy and respond as required, ensuring security and stability in Europe, Africa and Central Command.
For more news and information from NAS Sigonella, visit https://cnreurafcent.cnic.navy.mil/Installations/NAS-Sigonella/ or https://www.facebook.com/nassigonella/.
This post originally appeared on theTransform with Google Cloud blog. It was first published April 12, 2024; last updated with new use cases September 24, 2024.
Since generative AI first captured the world’s attention, there’s been a vigorous discussion about what, exactly, the new technology is best used for. While we all enjoyed those early funny chats and witty limericks, we’ve quickly discovered that many of the biggest AI opportunities are clearly in the enterprise, government, and with exciting new companies.
When we first published this post during Google Cloud Next ‘24, we showcased 101 of the best use cases out of the hundreds featured across the event. Now, we’re adding another 84 to the list as customers across the globe continue to put generative AI to work.
[If you’ve visited this post in the past, you can find the newest use cases listed at the top of each section.]
In a matter of months, organizations have gone from AI helping answer questions, to AI making predictions, to generative AI agents. What makes AI agents unique is that they can take actions to achieve specific goals, whether that’s guiding a shopper to the perfect pair of shoes, helping an employee looking for the right health benefits, or supporting nursing staff with smoother patient hand-offs during shifts changes.
In our work with customers, we keep hearing that their teams are increasingly focused on improving productivity, automating processes, and modernizing the customer experience. These aims are now being achieved through the AI agents they’re developing in six key areas: customer service; employee empowerment; code creation; data analysis; cybersecurity; and creative ideation and production.
Hundreds of Google Cloud customers have now put AI agents and gen-AI solutions into production throughout their businesses and the world — with many seeing a tangible return on investment. They have come to rely on Google Cloud technologies that include our AI infrastructure, Gemini models, Vertex AI platform, Google Workspace, and Google Distributed Cloud.
Here’s a snapshot of how 185 of these industry leaders are putting AI to use today, creating real-world use cases that will transform tomorrow.
Customer agents
Similar to great sales and service people, customer agents are able to listen carefully, understand your needs, and recommend the right products and services. They work seamlessly across channels including the web, mobile, and point of sale, and can be integrated into product experiences with voice and video.
1.Alaska Airlines is developing natural language search, providing travelers with a conversational experience powered by AI that’s akin to interacting with a knowledgeable travel agent. This chatbot aims to streamline travel booking, enhance customer experience, and reinforce brand identity.
2. Bennie Health uses Vertex AI to power its innovative employee health benefits platform, providing actionable insights and streamlining data management in order to enhance efficiency and decision-making for employees and HR teams.
3. Beyond 12, a tech-enabled nonprofit focused on student empowerment, has developed an AI-powered college coach to offer scalable coaching to first-generation students that’s available over text, app, and the web.
4. CareerVillage is building an app called Coach to empower job seekers, especially underrepresented youth, in their career preparedness; already featuring 35 career development activities, the aim is to have more than 100 by next year.
5. Character.ai built its realistic conversational chat platform using the full stack of Google Cloud AI services, including for model training and daily operations, allowing it to manage terabytes of conversations each day without interruption.
6. Click Therapeutics develops prescription digital therapeutics designed to treat disease. Its Clinical Operations team leverages Gemini for Google Workspace to transform complex operations data into actionable insights, so they can quickly pinpoint ways to streamline the patient experience in clinical trials.
7. Formula E can now summarize a two-hour long race commentary into a 2-minute podcast in any language, incorporating driver data and ongoing seasonal storylines.
8. General Motors’ OnStar has been augmented with new AI features, including a virtual assistant powered by Google Cloud’s conversational AI technologies that are better able to recognize the speaker’s intent.
9. Gojek, an Indonesia-based super app, launched “Dira by GoTo AI,” a Bahasa Indonesia AI-powered voice assistant integrated into their GoPay service, allowing customers to use voice command to eliminate typing and scrolling, and complete tasks like bill payments and money transfers with fewer steps.
10. GroupBy, an ecommerce service provider, developed an AI-first Search and Discovery Platform powered by Vertex AI Search for Retail. This solution is meticulously designed to optimize revenue, strengthen brand loyalty, and drive sales growth for B2C and B2B retailers.
11. Hotelplan Suisse built a chatbot trained on the business’s travel expertise to answer customer inquiries in real-time, and, following that success, it plans to use gen AI to create travel content.
12. Justicia Lab is developing an AI-powered assistant that will simplify legal processes for asylum seekers and immigrants; by uploading a picture from a legal letter or document, users can extract valuable information and then receive personalized guidance and next steps.
13. Mercado Libre has incorporated semantic search into its digital shopping platforms, using AI embeddings from the Vertex AI Agent Builder, which greatly improved product recommendations and discoverability for more than 200 million consumers across Latin America.
14. Motorola’s Moto AI leverages Gemini and Imagen to help smartphone users unlock new levels of productivity, creativity, and enjoyment with features such as conversation summaries, notification digests, image creation, and natural language search — all with reliable responses grounded in Google Search.
15. mRelief has built an SMS-accessible AI chatbot to simplify the application process for the SNAP food assistance program in the U.S., featuring easy-to-understand eligibility information and direct assistance within minutes rather than days.
16. Personal AI offers a “personal language model” using only the data of one individual or brand and allowing them to control and own how it is used. Built on your own data, facts, and opinions, it creates a responsive and interactive messaging experience that helps people be more productive and deepen relationships.
17. PODS worked with the advertising agency Tombras to create the “World’s Smartest Billboard” using Gemini — a campaign on its trucks that could adapt to each neighborhood in New York City, changing in real-time based on data. It hit all 299 neighborhoods in just 29 hours, creating more than 6,000 unique headlines.
18. Quora developed Poe, its own generative AI platform for people to discover and chat with AI-powered bots, including Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, Meta’s Llama, and Mistral’s Large 2 — many of which are hosted on Google Cloud’s purpose-built AI infrastructure.
19. ScottsMiracle-Gro built an AI agent on Vertex AI to provide tailored gardening advice and product recommendations for consumers.
20. Snap has deployed the multimodal capability of Gemini within its “My AI” chatbot and has since seen over 2.5-times as much engagement within Snapping to My AI in the United States.
21. Tabiya has built a conversational interface, Compass, that helps young people find employment opportunities; the platform asks questions and requests information, drawing out skills and experiences and matching those to appropriate roles.
22. Telecom Italia (TIM) implemented a Google-powered voice agent to address many customer calls, increasing efficiency by 20%.
23. UPS Capital launched DeliveryDefense Address Confidence, which uses machine learning and UPS data to provide a confidence score for shippers to help them determine the likelihood of a successful delivery.
24. Volkswagen of America built a virtual assistant in the myVW app, where drivers can explore their owners’ manuals and ask questions, such as, “How do I change a flat tire?” or “What does this digital cockpit indicator light mean?” Users can also use Gemini’s multimodal capabilities to see helpful information and context on indicator lights simply by pointing their smartphone cameras at the dashboard.
25. ADT is building a customer agent to help its millions of customers select, order, and set up their home security.
26. Alaska Airlines is developing a personalized travel search experience using advanced AI techniques, creating hyper-personalized recommendations that engage customers early and foster loyalty through AI-generated content.
27. Best Buy is using Gemini to launch a generative AI-powered virtual assistant this summer that can troubleshoot product issues, reschedule order deliveries, manage Geek Squad subscriptions, and more; in-store and digital customer-service associates are also gaining gen-AI tools to better serve customers anywhere they need help.
28. The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is using Vertex AI to modernize transportation operations for a smoother, more efficient journey.
29. Etsy uses Vertex AI training to optimize their search recommendations and ads models, delivering better listing suggestions to buyers and helping sellers grow their businesses.
30. IHG Hotels & Resorts is building a generative AI-powered chatbot to help guests easily plan their next vacation directly in the IHG One Rewards mobile app.
31. ING Bank aims to offer a superior customer experience and has developed a gen-AI chatbot for workers to enhance self-service capabilities and improve answer quality on customer queries.
32. Magalu, one of Brazil’s largest retailers, has put customer service at the center of its AI strategy, including using Vertex AI to create “Lu’s Brain” to power an interactive conversational agent for Lu, Magalu’s popular brand persona (the 3D bot has more than 14 million followers between TikTok and Instagram).
33. Mercedes Benz will infuse e-commerce capabilities into its online storefront with a gen AI-powered smart sales assistant. Mercedes also plans to expand its use of Google Cloud AI in its call centers and is using Vertex AI and Gemini to personalize marketing campaigns.
34. Oppo/OnePlus is incorporating Gemini models and Google Cloud AI into their phones to deliver innovative customer experiences, including news and audio recording summaries, AI toolbox, and more.
35. Samsung is deploying Gemini Pro and Imagen 2 to their Galaxy S24 smartphones so users can take advantage of amazing features like text summarization, organization, and magical image editing.
36. The Minnesota Division of Driver and Vehicle Services helps non-English speakers get licenses and other services with two-way real-time translation.
37. Pepperdine University has students and faculty who speak many languages, and with Gemini in Google Meet, they can benefit from real-time translated captioning and notes.
38. Sutherland, a leading digital transformation company, is focused on bringing together human expertise and AI, including boosting its client-facing teams by automatically surfacing suggested responses and automating insights in real time.
39. Target uses Google Cloud to power AI solutions on the Target app and Target.com, including personalized Target Circle offers and Starbucks at Drive Up, their curbside pickup solution.
40. Tokopedia, an Indonesian ecommerce leader, is using Vertex AI to improve data quality, increasing unique products being sold by 5%.
41. US News saw a double-digit impact in key metrics like click-through rate, time spent on page, and traffic volume to its pages after implementing Vertex AI Search.
42-45. IntesaSanpaolo, MacquarieBank, and Scotiabank are exploring the potential of gen AI to transform the way we live, work, bank, and invest — particularly how the new technology can boost productivity and operational efficiency in banking.
Employee agents
Employee agents help workers be more productive and collaborate better together. These agents can streamline processes, manage repetitive tasks, answer employee questions, as well as edit and translate critical communications.
46. 2bots offers technology solutions, such as chatbots and virtual agents, built with Google Cloud’s AI solutions; these intelligent chatbots and content generation tools are transforming the way companies interact with their customers.
47. Augment is building an AI personal assistant that offers enhanced note-taking and collects information across your apps, including calendar, email, texts, and social media, so users can more quickly and easily find personal information and keep their lives organized.
48. Bayes Impact builds AI products to support nonprofits, and its flagship product, CaseAI, is a digital case manager that integrates with an NGO’s current system to add smart features to draft action plans tailored to a beneficiary’s unique history; caseworkers have saved 25 hours of work per week on average.
49. Bell Canada has built customizable contact center solutions for its business customers that offer AI-powered agents to address callers, and Agent Assist, which listens when a human agent is on, offering suggestions and sentiment analysis. AI has contributed $20 million in savings across customer operations.
50. Best Buy can generate conversation summaries in real time using Contact Center AI, allowing live agents to give their full attention to understanding and supporting customers, resulting in a 30-to-90-second reduction in average call time and after-call work. Both customers and agents have cited improved satisfaction.
51. Camanchaca, a Chilean seafood company, took only six weeks to develop Elon, a virtual assistant that aims to provide more efficient customer service through digital channels, enhancing Camanchaca’s customer interactions.
52. Certify OS is automating credentialing, licensing, and monitoring of medical providers for healthcare networks, relieving the burden of time-consuming and often siloed information.
53. Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs widely uses Gemini for Google Workspace, estimating that employees are saving an average five hours per week just with AI capabilities in Gmail. Gemini is also streamlining time-consuming, manual processes through uses like AI-generated transcriptions and auto-formatting of pharmaceutical lab results or FDA compliance documentation.
54. Dun & Bradstreet built an email-generation tool with Gemini that helps sellers create tailored, personalized communications to prospects and customers for its research services. The company also developed intelligent search capabilities to help users with complex queries like, “Find me all the companies in this area with a high ESG rating.”
55. England’s Football Association is training Vertex AI on the FA’s historical and current scouting reports so they can be transformed into concise summaries, helping national teams discover future talent.
56. Fireflies.ai can transcribe, summarize, and analyze meetings, recordings, and other voice conversations to save time and improve collaboration and information sharing across teams.
57. Fluna, a Pan-African digital services company, has automated the analysis and drafting of legal agreements using Vertex AI, Document AI, and Gemini 1.5 Pro, achieving an accuracy of 92% in data extraction while ensuring security and reliability for sensitive information.
58. Hemominas, Brazil’s largest blood bank, partnered with Xertica to develop an omnichannel chatbot for donor search and scheduling, streamlining processes and enhancing efficiency. The AI solution has the potential to save half-a-million lives annually by attracting more donors and optimizing blood supply management.
59. Hiscox used BigQuery and Vertex AI to create the first AI-enhanced lead underwriting model for insurers, automating and accelerating the quoting for complex risks from three days down to a few minutes.
60. LiveX AI delivers AI Agents that swiftly enhance product education, boost customer conversion, reduce churn, and provide personalized customer support, with the goal of offering everyone a seamless VIP experience across their customer journey.
61. Opportunity@Work is applying gen AI to scale a suite of software tools and APIs that help employers identify “STAR” job candidates — “skilled through alternative routes” such as community college, military service, and on-the-job experience — helping fill roles in a tight market and expand opportunities.
62. QuantumMetric has introduced Felix AI, powered by Gemini Pro, to simplify digital analytics and decision making. Felix AI automatically summarizes a user’s web or mobile session and consolidates the moments that matter most into short, readable summaries for customer service workers.
63. Randstad, a large HR services and talent provider, is using Gemini for Workspace across its organization to transform its work culture, leading to a more culturally diverse and inclusive workplace that’s seen a double-digit reduction in sick days.
64. Sprinklr built Sprinklr AI+ into its unified customer experience management platform, giving brands gen-AI capabilities for customer service, insights, social media management, and marketing that has enterprise-grade governance, security, and data privacy built-in.
65. Thomson Reuters added Gemini Pro to its suite of large language models approved for employee use; with its 2-million-token context window, Gemini makes some tasks as much as 10-times faster to process and can process entire documents in context.
66. Warner Bros. Discovery built an AI captioning tool with Vertex AI and saw a 50% reduction in overall costs, and an 80% reduction in the time it takes to manually caption a file without the use of machine learning.
67. The U.S. Air Force built a new proof-of-concept portal for searching, browsing, and reading e-published PDFs — all within a 90-day deadline that leveraged the prebuilt tools and speed of Vertex AI Search and Conversation.
68. Avery Dennison empowered their employees with generative AI to enable secure, flexible, and borderless collaboration for enhanced productivity to drive growth.
69. Bank of New York Mellon built a virtual assistant to help employees find relevant information and answers to their questions.
70. Bayer is building a radiology platform that will assist radiologists with data analysis, intelligent search, and to create documents that meet healthcare requirements needed for regulatory approval. The bioscience company is also harnessing BigQuery and Vertex AI to develop additional digital medical solutions and drugs more efficiently.
71. Bristol Myers Squibb is transforming its document processes for clinical trials using Vertex AI and Google Workspace. Now, documentation that took scientists weeks now gets to a first draft in minutes.
72. BenchSci develops generative AI solutions empowering scientists to understand complex connections in biological research, saving them time and financial resources and ultimately bringing new medicine to patients faster.
73. Cintas is using Vertex AI Search to develop an internal knowledge center for customer service and sales teams to easily find key information.
74. Covered California, the state’s healthcare marketplace, is using Document AI to help improve the consumer and employee experience by automating parts of the documentation and verification process when residents apply for coverage.
75. Dasa, the largest medical diagnostics company in Brazil, is helping physicians detect relevant findings in test results more quickly.
76. DaVita leverages DocAI and Healthcare NLP to transform kidney care, including analyzing medical records, uncovering critical patient insights, and reducing errors. AI enables physicians to focus on personalized care, resulting in significant improvements in healthcare delivery.
77. Discover Financial helps their 10,000 contact center representatives to search and synthesize information across detailed policies and procedures during calls.
78. HCA Healthcare is testing Cati, a virtual AI caregiver assistant that helps to ensure continuity of care when one caregiver shift ends and another begins. They are also using gen AI to improve workflows on time-consuming tasks, such as clinical documentation, so physicians and nurses can focus more on patient care.
79. The Home Depot has built an application called Sidekick, which helps store associates manage inventory and keep shelves stocked; notably, vision models help associates prioritize which actions to take.
80. Los Angeles Rams are utilizing AI across the board from content analysis to player scouting.
81. McDonald’s will leverage data, AI, and edge technologies across its thousands of restaurants to implement innovation faster and to enhance employee and customer experiences.
82. Pennymac, a leading US-based national mortgage lender, is using Gemini across several teams including HR, where Gemini in Docs, Sheets, Slides and Gmail is helping them accelerate recruiting, hiring, and new employee onboarding.
83. Robert Bosch, the world’s largest automotive supplier, revolutionizes marketing through gen AI-powered solutions, streamlining processes, optimizing resource allocation, and maximizing efficiency across 100+ decentralized departments.
84. Symphony, the communications platform for the financial services industry, uses Vertex AI to help finance and trading teams collaborate across multiple asset classes.
85. Uber is using AI agents to help employees be more productive, save time, and be even more effective at work. For customer service representatives, they’ve launched new tools that summarize communications with users and can even surface context from previous interactions, so front-line staff can be more helpful and effective.
86. The U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs is using AI at the edge to improve cancer detection for service members and veterans. The Augmented Reality Microscope (ARM) is deployed at remote military treatment facilities around the world. The prototype device is helping pathologists find cancer faster and with better accuracy.
87. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has improved the quality and efficiency of their patent and trademark examination process by implementing AI-driven technologies.
88. Verizon is using generative AI to help teams in network operations and customer experience get the answers they need faster.
89. Victoria’s Secret is testing AI-powered agents to help their in-store associates find information about product availability, inventory, and fitting and sizing tips, so they can better tailor recommendations to customers.
90. Vodafone uses Vertex AI to search and understand specific commercial terms and conditions across more than 10,000 contracts with more than 800 communications operators
91. WellSky is integrating Google Cloud’s healthcare and Vertex AI capabilities to reduce the time spent completing documentation outside work hours.
92. Woolworths, the leading retailer in Australia, boosts employees’ confidence in communications with “Help me write” across Google Workspace products for more than 10,000 administrative employees. It’s also using Gemini to create next-generation promotions, as well as for quickly assisting customer service reps in summarizing all previous customer interactions in real time.
93-97. Box, Typeface, Glean, CitiBank, and Securiti AI discuss developing AI-powered apps across the enterprise, with measurable returns on investment for marketing, financial services, and HR use cases.
98-99. Highmark Health and Freenome join Bristol Myers Squibb to explore how AI can improve efficiency and innovation across care delivery, drug discovery, clinical trial planning, and bringing medicines to market.
Code agents
Code agents are helping developers and product teams to design, create, and operate applications faster and better, and to ramp up on new languages and code bases. Many organizations are already seeing double-digit gains in productivity, leading to faster deployment and cleaner, clearer code.
100. Labelbox has built a fully managed AI model evaluation solution directly integrated into the Vertex AI platform, allowing Google Cloud users to seamlessly launch human evaluation jobs and set specific criteria for evaluation, such as question-answering and summarization; this eases and accelerates the ability to deploy human-in-the-loop AI systems with higher levels of trust and authority.
101. Leroy Merlin, a global home improvement retailer, developed its Pull Request Analyzer using Vertex AI. This generative AI solution summarizes code changes, helping developers understand projects faster and improve code review efficiency.
102. Linear, a product development platform, built Similar Issues, a feature that uses AI to detect and prevent duplicate or overlapping tickets and ensures cleaner and more accurate data representation.
103. Magic is building a developer platform with a 100-million-token context window, so organizations can upload extremely large code bases and more easily query and build on them using gen AI assistance.
104. Pinecone provides infrastructure for developers to build accurate, secure, and scalable AI applications, allowing companies to easily ground gen AI apps in their proprietary data for use in AI search, retrieval-augmented generation, coding agents, and more.
105. Regnology built its Ticket-to-Code Writer tool with Gemini 1.5 Pro to automate the conversion of bug tickets into actionable code, significantly streamlining the software development process.
106. Weights & Biases, a creator of AI tools for developers, created W&B Weave, a lightweight toolkit to track, evaluate, and debug gen AI applications built with Gemini, so teams can confidently go from demo to production.
107. Capgemini has been using Code Assist to improve software engineering productivity, quality, security, and developer experience, with early results showing workload gains for coding and more stable code quality.
108. Commerzbank is enhancing developer efficiency through Code Assist’s robust security and compliance features.
109. Quantiphi saw developer productivity gains of more than 30% during their Code Assist pilot.
110. Replit developers will get access to Google Cloud infrastructure, services, and foundation models via Ghostwriter, Replit’s software development AI, while Google Cloud and Workspace developers will get access to Replit’s collaborative code editing platform.
111. Seattle Children’s hospital is using AI to boost data engineering productivity and accelerate development.
112. Turing is customizing Gemini Code Assist on their private codebase, empowering their developers with highly personalized and contextually relevant coding suggestions that have increased productivity around 30 percent and made day-to-day coding more enjoyable.
113. Wayfair piloted Code Assist, and those developers with the code agent were able to set up their environments 55 percent faster than before, there was a 48 percent increase in code performance during unit testing, and 60 percent of developers reported that they were able to focus on more satisfying work.
Data agents
Data agents are like having knowledgeable data analysts and researchers at your fingertips. They can help answer questions about internal and external sources, synthesize research, develop new models — and, best of all, help find the questions we haven’t even thought to ask yet, and then help get the answers.
114. 180Seguros is powering its data management platform for employees with Google Cloud AI and BigQuery to improve operational metric tracking, allowing for 3X faster query times.
115. Addy AI is helping mortgage lenders and banks automate their lending processes with custom AI models trained on Vertex AI. For example, the platform can extract loan opportunity details from lengthy email threads with numerous attachments.
116. Bayer Crop Science has developed Climate FieldView, a comprehensive agricultural platform with more than 250 layers of data and billions of data points; AI-powered recommendations allow farmers to design and monitor their fields for greater yields and efficient fertilization, with the added benefit of reduced carbon emissions.
117. CME Group is building a first-of-its-kind cloud-based commodities trading platform with AI tools built-in, offering CME’s trading customers access to deeper insights and smarter trades as well as rapid experimentation on new trading strategies that won’t interrupt existing trade flows.
118. Digits is developing next-gen accounting software for startups and small businesses; using AI-driven bookkeeping, expense management, and financial analysis, Digits enables business owners to achieve financial clarity and focus on growth.
119. Elanco, a leader in animal health, has implemented a gen AI framework supporting critical business processes, such as Pharmacovigilance, Customer Orders, and Clinical Insights. The framework, powered by Vertex AI and Gemini, has resulted in an estimated ROI of $1.9 million since launching last year.
120. Full Fact, a UK-based nonprofit working in 18 countries to combat misinformation, is now using gen AI to actively monitor stories so its 30 fact-checking partner organizations can focus on addressing specific claims and harmful information.
121. Fullstory, a digital behavioral data platform, is building the ability to analyze and summarize user behavior on a site to create more informed and enriching chatbot experiences; responses are more relevant and accurate, ultimately improving virtual agent performance and customer experience
122. GamudaBerhad, a Malaysian infrastructure and property management company, has integrated a Gemini-powered conversational agent into its cloud-based Tunnel Insight platform, providing faster information and insights during construction projects.
123. IntelligenciaAI is using AI models to research novel new drugs, relying on Google Cloud’s AI-optimized infrastructure to deliver scalable research that is accurate and transparent to meet the stringent needs of medicine.
124. IPRally built a custom machine-learning platform that uses natural language processing on the text of more than 120 million global patent documents, creating an accurate, easily searchable database that adds more than 200,000 new sources a week.
125. Ipsos built a data analysis tool for its teams of market researchers, eliminating the need for time-consuming requests to data analysts, which is powered by Gemini 1.5 Pro and Flash models as well as Grounding with Google Search to enhance real-world accuracy from contemporaneous Search information.
126. Materiom, a startup researching zero-waste, bio-based alternatives to fossil-fuel-made products like plastics, is creating a gen AI tool that enables entrepreneurs to develop novel compostable materials with broad applications; AI offers faster research and information gathering to speed up the development process.
127. Mendel has built a clinical AI system designed to break down the longstanding silos in medical data, boosting accuracy, accessibility, and ultimately patient health outcomes.
128. NeuroPace, a medical device company, built a solution to quickly identify effective epilepsy treatment options best suited to different patients; by analyzing brainwave patterns, it can find similar patients and apply successful therapies, streamlining personalized care.
129. NotCo, a Chilean food tech company, partnered with Eleven Solutions to develop a conversational AI chatbot powered by Gemini; the chatbot has revolutionized data access, allowing employees to instantly query their SAP system and gain real-time insights for faster, data-driven decision-making.
130. SURA Investments, the largest asset manager in Latin America, developed an AI-based analysis model for employees that allows them to better understand customer needs and improve customer experience and satisfaction.
131. AI21 Labs offers a BigQuery integration called Contextual Answers that allows users to query data conversationally and get high-quality answers quickly.
132. Anthropic has partnered with Google Cloud to offer its family of Claude 3 models on Vertex AI — providing organizations with more model options for intelligence, speed, cost-efficiency, and vision for enterprise use cases.
133. The Asteroid Institute is using AI to discover hidden asteroids in existing astronomical data. This is a major focus for astronomers researching the evolution of the Solar System, investors and businesses hoping to fly missions to asteroids, and for all of us who want to prevent future large asteroid impacts on Earth.
134. Contextual is working with Google Cloud to offer enterprises fully customizable, trustworthy, privacy-aware AI grounded in internal knowledge bases.
135. Cox 2M, the commercial IoT division of Cox Communications, is able to make smarter, faster business decisions using AI-powered analytics.
136. Essential AI, a developer of enterprise AI solutions, is using Google Cloud’s AI-optimized TPU v5p accelerator chips to train its own AI models.
137. Generali Italia, Italy’s largest insurance provider, used Vertex AI to build a model evaluation pipeline that helps ML teams quickly evaluate performance and deploy models.
138. Globo, one of Brazil’s largest media networks, is using Service Extensions and Media CDN to fight piracy during live events by blocking pirated streams in real time.
139. Golden State Warriors are using AI to improve the fan experience content in their Chase Center app.
140. Hugging Face is collaborating with Google across open science, open source, cloud, and hardware to enable companies to build their own AI with the latest open models from Hugging Face and Google Cloud hardware and software.
141. Kakao Brain, part of Korean technology company Kakao Group, has built a large-scale AI language model that is the largest Korean language-specific LLM in the market, with 66 billion parameters. They’ve also developed a text-to-image generator called Karlo.
142. Mayo Clinic has given thousands of its scientific researchers access to 50 petabytes worth of clinical data through Vertex AI search, accelerating information retrieval across multiple languages.
143. McLaren Racing is using Google AI to get up-to-the-millisecond insights during races and training to gain a competitive edge.
144. Mercado Libre is testing BigQuery and Looker to optimize capacity planning and reservations with delivery carriers and airlines to fulfill shipments faster.
145. Mistral AI will use Google Cloud’s AI-optimized infrastructure, to further test, build, and scale up its LLMs, all while benefiting from Google Cloud’s security and privacy standards.
146. MSCI uses machine learning with Vertex AI, BigQuery and Cloud Run to enrich its datasets to help our clients gain insight into around 1 million asset locations to help manage climate-related risks.
147. NewsCorp is using Vertex AI to help search data across 30,000 sources and 2.5 billion news articles updated daily.
148. Orange operates in 26 countries where local data must be kept in each country. They are using AI on Google Distributed Cloud to improve network performance and deliver super-responsive translation capabilities.
149. Spotify leveraged Dataflow for large-scale generation of ML podcast previews, and they plan to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with data engineering and data science to build better experiences for their customers and creators.
150. UPS is building a digital twin of its entire distribution network, so both workers and customers can see where their packages are at any time.
151. Workday is using natural language processing in Vertex Search and Conversation to make data insights more accessible for technical and non-technical users alike.
152. Woven — Toyota‘s investment in the future of mobility — is partnering with Google to leverage vast amounts of data and AI to enable autonomous driving, supported by thousands of ML workloads on Google Cloud’s AI Hypercomputer. This has resulted in resulting in 50% total-cost-of-ownership savings to support automated driving.
152-153. Broward County, Florida, and Southern California Edison are using geospatial capabilities and AI to improve infrastructure planning and monitoring, generate new insights, and create regional resilience for communities facing climate challenges today and tomorrow.
154-155. Kinaxis and Dematic are building data-driven supply chains to address logistics use cases including scenario modeling, planning, operations management, and automation.
156-157. NOAA and USAID are among the U.S. government agencies using Google Cloud AI to unlock critical data insights to streamline operations and improve mission outcomes — all with an emphasis on responsible AI.
Security agents
Security agents assist security operations by radically increasing the speed of investigations, automating monitoring and response for greater vigilance and compliance controls. They can also help guard data and models from cyberattacks, such as malicious prompt injection.
158. Apex Fintech is using Gemini in Security to accelerate the writing of complex threat detections from hours to a matter of seconds.
159. Exabeam has built a generative AI copilot for security analysts into its New-Scale Security Operations Platform.
160. Fiserv, a developer of financial services technology, can now summarize threats, find answers, and detect, validate, and respond to security events faster with the Gemini in Security Operations platform.
161. NetRise developed Trace to provide software supply chain security by introducing AI-powered intent-driven searches; these allow users to search their assets based on the underlying motives or purposes behind the code and configurations, rather than solely relying on signature-based methods.
162. Palo Alto Networks is using Gemini to create a grounded AI assistant for 24/7 security platform support in order to improve agent efficiency and response time; grounding the assistant in organizational data and security protocols has greatly improved the accuracy of responses.
163. BBVA uses AI in Google SecOps to detect, investigate, and respond to security threats with more accuracy, speed, and scale. The platform now surfaces critical security data in seconds, when it previously took minutes or even hours, and delivers highly automated responses.
164. Behavox is using Google Cloud technology and LLMs to provide industry leading regulatory compliance and front office solutions for financial institutions globally.
165. Charles Schwab has integrated their own intelligence into the AI-powered Google SecOps, so analysts can better prioritize work and respond to threats.
166. Fiserv’s security operations engineers create detections and playbooks with much less effort, while analysts get answers more quickly.
167. Grupo Boticário, one of the largest beauty retail and cosmetics companies in Brazil, employs real-time security models to prevent fraud and to detect and respond to issues.
168. Palo Alto Networks’ Cortex XSIAM, the AI-driven security operations platform, is built on more than a decade of expertise in machine-learning models and the most comprehensive, rich, and diverse data store in the industry. Backed by Google’s advanced cloud infrastructure and advanced AI services, including BigQuery and Gemini models, the combination delivers global scale and near real-time protection across all cybersecurity offerings.
169. Pfizer can now aggregate cybersecurity data sources, cutting analysis times from days to seconds.
Creative agents
Creative agents can expand your organization with the best design and production skills, working across images, slides, and exploring concepts with workers. Many organizations are building agents for their marketing teams, audio and video production teams, and all the creative people that can use a hand. With creative agents, anyone can become a designer, artist, or producer.
170. AdoreMe marketers write differentiated product descriptions in one hour, a tedious task which used to take 30-40 hours a month thanks to Gemini for Google Workspace.
171. Globo, the largest media group in Latin America, is using Google Cloud’s AI to hyper-personalize content for its streaming users, and create a better experience for spectators.
172. Higgsfield.ai built a number of text-to-video apps for consumers, including Diffuse 2.0, which can combine users photos, videos, and texts through AI models to create more realistic avatars.
173. Jasper trains its suite of creativity-, writing-, and marketing-focused AI models on Google’s AI infrastructure, delivering on-brand, data-optimized assets faster and at scale to teams large and small.
174. Puma is using Imagen to customize product photos on its website, saving time and ensuring they are locally relevant across markets; PUMA India has already seen a 10% increase in click through rate.
175. RadissonHotel Group personalized its advertising at scale in collaboration with Accenture and using Vertex AI and Gemini models, training them on extensive datasets stored in BigQuery; ad teams saw productivity rise around 50% while revenue increased from AI-powered campaigns by more than 20%
176. SquareEnix is using customer data to develop AI-optimized marketing assets to keep its gamers engaged, sharing personalized emails suited to each player’s preferences, leading to a 20% increase in email opens and a 10% increased retention rate.
177. Urmobo, a mobile-device management platform, created a virtual agent, Odin, that significantly improved user experience and reduced support tickets by enabling clients to interact with the platform using natural language.
178. The World Bank is developing a tool to extract key information from research literature on the causal impact of development interventions, with the ultimate goal to empower decision-makers to allocate the $220B in annual aid and trillions in annual impact investing more effectively.
179. Belk ECommerce is using generative AI to craft better product descriptions, a necessary yet time-consuming task for digital retails that has often been done manually.
180. Canva is using Vertex AI to power its Magic Design for Video, helping users skip tedious editing steps while creating shareable and engaging videos in a matter of seconds.
181. Carrefour used Vertex AI to deploy Carrefour Marketing Studio in just five weeks — an innovative solution to streamline the creation of dynamic campaigns across various social networks. In just a few clicks, marketers can build ultra-personalized campaigns to deliver customers advertising that they care about.
182. Major League Baseball continues to innovate its Statcast platform, so teams, broadcasters, and fans have access to live in-game insights.
183. Paramount currently relies on manual processes to create the essential metadata and video summaries used across its Paramount+ platform for showcasing content and creating personalized experiences for viewers. VertexAI Text Bison is now helping to streamline this process.
184. Procter & Gamble used Imagen to develop an internal gen AI platform to accelerate the creation of photo-realistic images and creative assets, giving marketing teams more time to focus on high-level planning and delivering superior experiences for its consumers.
185. WPP will integrate Google Cloud’s gen AI capabilities into its intelligent marketing operating system, called WPP Open, which empowers its people and clients to deliver new levels of personalization, creativity, and efficiency. This includes the use of Gemini 1.5 Pro models to supercharge both the accuracy and speed of content performance predictions.
To find even more customers using our AI tools to build agents and solutions for their most important enterprise projects, visit the Google Cloud customer hub.
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Coventry City Council has received an award for the way it works to support the Armed Forces.
The Council received the Silver Award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme.
Cllr Linda Bigham, the Council’s Armed Forces Champion, received the award at the National Memorial Arboretum from Air Vice Marshall Adam Sansom.
Cllr Bigham said: “The Council and the city of Coventry are proud supporters of our Armed Forces.
“They have done so much for us over the years, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. We are honoured to receive the Silver Award and we promise we will continue our work to help those who wear, or have worn their uniforms with such pride and courage.
“This award will help us to show them we are there for them and we care, and it will help us to inspire others to offer their support to the Forces, families, their veterans and cadets.
“Coventry is a city of peace and reconciliation and that work is supported so well by the Armed Forces. We look forward to building closer links in the years ahead.”
The Employer Recognition Scheme works to encourage employers to support the Armed Forces and their personnel and inspire others through their work. The award is open to all companies and businesses, as well as public organisations such as the emergency services, local authorities, and NHS trusts.
To earn the Silver Award, employers must have pledged to support the Armed Forces, including existing or prospective employees who are members of the community, and they must have signed the Armed Forces Covenant.
They have to promote being Armed Forces-friendly and be open to employing reservists, veterans (including the wounded, injured and sick), cadet instructors and military spouses/partners.
They have to proactively demonstrate that service personnel and the Armed Forces community are not unfairly disadvantaged as part of their recruiting and selection processes; and ensure that the workforce is aware of their positive policies towards defence people issues. They must also show support to training by providing at least five days’ additional unpaid/paid leave and demonstrate support to the Cadet movement.
The Council has been a long-time supporter of the Armed Forces and is proud to be signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant.
The Covenant is a promise to acknowledge and understand that those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect in the communities, economy, and society they serve with their lives.