NewzIntel.com

Category: Natural Disasters

  • MIL-Evening Report: A 3-tonne, $1.5 billion satellite to watch Earth’s every move is set to launch this week

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steve Petrie, Earth Observation Researcher, Swinburne University of Technology

    Artist’s concept of the NISAR satellite in orbit over Earth. NASA/JPL-Caltech

    In a few days, a new satellite that can detect changes on Earth’s surface down to the centimetre, in almost real time and no matter the time of day or weather conditions, is set to launch from India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre near Chennai.

    Weighing almost 3 tonnes and boasting a 12-metre radar antenna, the US$1.5 billion NISAR satellite will track the ground under our feet and the water that flows over and through it in unprecedented detail, providing valuable information for farmers, climate scientists and natural disaster response teams.

    Only when the conditions are right

    Satellites that image the Earth have been an invaluable scientific tool for decades. They have provided crucial data across many applications, such as weather forecasting and emergency response planning. They have also helped scientists track long-term changes in Earth’s ecosystems and climate.

    Many of these Earth observation satellites require reflected sunlight to capture images of Earth’s surface. This means they can only capture images during daytime and when there is no cloud cover.

    As a result, these satellites face challenges wherever cloud cover is very common, such as in tropical regions, or when nighttime imagery is required.

    The NISAR satellite – a collaboration between the national space agencies of the United States (NASA) and India (ISRO) – overcomes these challenges by using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology to take images of the Earth. This technology also gives the satellite its name. NISAR stands for NASA-ISRO SAR.

    So what is SAR technology?

    SAR technology was invented in 1951 for military use. Rather than using reflected sunlight to passively image the Earth’s surface, SAR satellites work by actively beaming a radar signal toward the surface and detecting the reflected signal. Think of this as like using a flash to take a photo in a dark room.

    This means SAR satellites can take images of the Earth’s surface both during the day and night.

    Since radar signals pass through most cloud and smoke unhindered, SAR satellites can also image the Earth’s surface even when it is covered by clouds, smoke or ash. This is especially valuable during natural disasters such as floods, bushfires or volcanic eruptions.

    Radar signals can also penetrate through certain structures such as thick vegetation. They are useful for detecting the presence of water due to the way that water affects reflected radar signals.

    The European Space Agency used the vegetation-penetrating properties of SAR signals in its recent Biomass mission. This can image the 3D structure of forests. It can also produce highly accurate measurements of the amount of biomass and carbon stored in Earth’s forests.

    Sang-Ho Yun, Director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore’s Remote Sensing Lab, is a key proponent of using SAR for disaster management. Yun has previously used SAR data to map disaster-affected areas across hundreds of natural disasters over the last 15 years, including earthquakes, floods and typhoons.

    NISAR, which is due to launch on June 18, will significantly build on this earlier work.

    NISAR data will be used to create images similar to this 2013 image of a flood-prone area of the Amazonian jungle in Peru that’s based on data from NASA’s UAVSAR satellite.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Monitoring Earth’s many ecosystems

    The NISAR satellite has been in development for over a decade and is one of the most expensive Earth-imaging satellites ever built.

    Data from the satellite will be supplied freely and openly worldwide. It will provide high-resolution images of almost all land and ice surfaces around the globe twice every 12 days.

    This is similar in scope to the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 SAR satellites. However, NISAR will be the first SAR satellite to use two complementary radar frequencies rather than one, and will be capable of producing higher resolution imagery compared with the Sentinel-1 satellites. It will also have greater coverage of Antarctica than Sentinel-1 and will use radar frequencies that penetrate further into vegetation.

    The NISAR satellite will be used to monitor forest biomass. Its ability to simultaneously penetrate vegetation and detect water will also allow it to accurately map flooded vegetation.

    This is important for gaining a deeper understanding of Earth’s wetlands, which are important ecosystems with high levels of biodiversity and massive carbon storage capacity.

    The satellite will also be able to detect changes in the height of Earth’s surface of a few centimetres or even millimetres, because changes in height create tiny shifts in the reflected radar signal.

    The NISAR satellite will use this technique to track subsidence of dams and map groundwater levels (since subsurface water affects the height of the Earth’s surface). It will also use the same technique to map land movement and damage from earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity.

    Such maps can help disaster response teams to better understand the damage that has occurred in disaster areas and to plan their response.

    Improving agriculture

    The NISAR satellite will also be useful for agricultural applications, with a unique capability to estimate moisture levels in soil with high resolution in all weather conditions.

    This is valuable for agricultural applications because such data can be used to determine when to irrigate to ensure healthy vegetation, and to potentially improve water use efficiency and crop yields.

    Further key applications of the NISAR mission will include tracking the flow of Earth’s ice sheets and glaciers, monitoring coastal erosion and tracking oil spills.

    We can expect to see many benefits for science and society to come from this highly ambitious satellite mission.

    Steve Petrie has previously received funding for satellite data analysis projects from XPrize Foundation, from Ernst & Young, and from the Cooperative Research Centre for Smart Satellite Technologies and Analytics (SmartSat CRC, which is funded by the Australian Government).

    – ref. A 3-tonne, $1.5 billion satellite to watch Earth’s every move is set to launch this week – https://theconversation.com/a-3-tonne-1-5-billion-satellite-to-watch-earths-every-move-is-set-to-launch-this-week-258283

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Millions rally against authoritarianism, while the White House portrays protests as threats – a political scientist explains

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeremy Pressman, Professor of Political Science, University of Connecticut

    Protesters parade through the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans as part of the nationwide No Kings protest against President Donald Trump, on June 14, 2025. Patt Little/Anadolu via Getty Images

    At the end of a week when President Donald Trump sent Marines and the California National Guard to Los Angeles to quell protests, Americans across the country turned out in huge numbers to protest Trump’s attempts to expand his power. In rallies on June 14, 2025, organized under the banner “No Kings,” millions of protesters decried Trump’s immigration roundups, cuts to government programs and what many described as his growing authoritarianism.

    The protests were largely peaceful, with relatively few incidents of violence.

    Protests and the interactions between protesters and government authorities have a long history in the United States. From the Boston Tea Party to the Civil Rights movement, LBGTQ Stonewall uprising, the Tea Party movement and Black Lives Matter, public protest has been a crucial aspect of efforts to advance or protect the rights of citizens.

    But protests can also have other effects.

    In the last few months, large numbers of anti-Trump protesters have come out in the streets across the U.S., on occasions like the April 5 Hands Off protests against safety net budget cuts and government downsizing. Many of those protesters assert they are protecting American democracy.

    The Trump administration has decried these protesters and the concept of protest more generally, with the president recently calling protesters “troublemakers, agitators, insurrectionists.” A few days before the June 14 military parade in Washington, President Donald Trump said of potential protesters: “this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.”

    Trump’s current reaction is reminiscent of his harsh condemnation of the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020. In 2022, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that Trump had asked about shooting protesters participating in demonstrations after the 2020 shooting of George Floyd.

    As co-director of the Crowd Counting Consortium, which compiles information on each day’s protests in the U.S., I understand that protests sometimes can advance the goals of the protest movement. They also can shape the goals and behavior of federal or state governments and their leaders.

    Opportunity for expressing or suppressing democracy

    Protests are an expression of democracy, bolstered by the right to free speech and “the right of the people peaceably to assemble” in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

    At the same time, clamping down on protests is one way to rebut challenges to government policies and power.

    For a president intent on the further centralization of executive power, or even establishing a dictatorship, protest suppression provides multiple opportunities and pitfalls.

    Widespread, well-attended demonstrations can represent a mass movement in favor of democracy or other issues as well as serve as an opportunity to expand participation even further. Large events often lead to significant press coverage and plenty of social media posting. The protests may heighten protesters’ emotional connection to the movement and increase fundraising and membership numbers of sponsoring organizations.

    Though it is not an ironclad law, research shows that when at least 3.5% of the total population is involved in a demonstration, protesters usually prevail over their governments. That included the Chilean movement in the 1980s that toppled longtime dictator Augusto Pinochet. Chileans used not only massive demonstrations but also a wide array of creative tactics like a coordinated slowdown of driving and walking, neighbors banging pots outside homes simultaneously, and singing together.

    Protests are rarely only about protesting. Organizers usually seek to involve participants in many other activities, whether that is contacting their elected officials, writing letters to the editor, registering to vote or running a food drive to help vulnerable populations.

    In this way of thinking, participation in a major street protest like No Kings is a gateway into deeper activism.

    Risks and opportunities

    Of course, protest leaders cannot control everyone in or adjacent to the movement.

    Other protesters with a different agenda, or agitators of any sort, can insert themselves into a movement and use confrontational tactics like violence against property or law enforcement.

    In one prominent example from Los Angeles, someone set several self-driving cars on fire. Other Los Angeles examples included some protesters’ throwing things like water bottles at officers or engaging in vandalism. Police officers also use coercive measures such as firing chemical irritants and pepper balls at protesters.

    When leaders want to concentrate executive power and establish an autocracy, where they rule with absolute power, protests against those moves could lead to a mass rejection of the leader’s plans. That is what national protest groups like 50501 and Indivisible are hoping for and why they aimed to turn out millions of people at the No Kings protests on June 14.

    But while the Trump administration faces risks from protests, it also may see opportunities.

    Misrepresenting and quashing dissent

    Protests can serve as a justification for a nascent autocrat to further undermine democratic practices and institutions.

    Take the recent demonstrations in Los Angeles protesting the Trump administration’s immigration raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

    Autocrats seek to politicize independent institutions like the armed forces. The Los Angeles protests offered the opportunity for that. Trump sent troops from the California National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles to contain the protests. That domestic deployment of the military is rare but not unheard of in U.S. history.

    And the deployment was ordered against the backdrop of the president’s partisan June 10 speech at a U.S. military base in North Carolina. The military personnel in attendance cheered and applauded many of Trump’s political statements. Both the speech and audience reactions to it appeared to violate the U.S. military norm of nonpartisanship.

    This deployment of military personnel in a U.S. city also dovetails with the expansion of executive power characteristic of autocratic leaders. It is rare that presidents call up the National Guard; the Guard is traditionally under the control of the state governor.

    Yet the White House disregarded that Los Angeles’ mayor and California’s governor both objected to the deployment.

    The state sued the Trump administration over the deployment. The initial court decision sided with California officials, declaring the federal government action “illegal.” The Trump administration has appealed.

    Autocrats seek to spread disinformation. In the case of the Los Angeles protests, the Trump administration’s narrative depicted a chaotic, gang-infested city with violence everywhere. Reports on the ground refuted those characterizations. The protests, mostly peaceful, were confined to a small part of the city, about a 10-block area.

    More generally, a strong executive leader and their supporters often want to quash dissent. In the Los Angeles example, doing that has ranged from the military deployment itself to targeting journalists covering the story to arresting and charging prominent opponents like SEIU President David Huerta or shoving and handcuffing U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat.

    The contrast on June 14 was striking. In Washington, D.C., Trump reviewed a parade of troops, tanks and planes, leaning into a display of American military power.

    At the same time, from rainy Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to sweltering Yuma, Arizona, millions of protesters embraced their First Amendment rights to oppose the president. It perfectly illustrated the dynamic driving deep political division today: the executive concentrating power while a sizable segment of the people resist.

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

    – ref. Millions rally against authoritarianism, while the White House portrays protests as threats – a political scientist explains – https://theconversation.com/millions-rally-against-authoritarianism-while-the-white-house-portrays-protests-as-threats-a-political-scientist-explains-258963

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: SPC Severe Thunderstorm Watch 418

    Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

    Note:  The expiration time in the watch graphic is amended if the watch is replaced, cancelled or extended.Note: Click for Watch Status Reports.
    SEL8

    URGENT – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
    Severe Thunderstorm Watch Number 418
    NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
    215 PM MDT Sun Jun 15 2025

    The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a

    * Severe Thunderstorm Watch for portions of
    Central and eastern Montana
    North central Wyoming

    * Effective this Sunday afternoon and evening from 215 PM until
    1100 PM MDT.

    * Primary threats include…
    Scattered damaging winds and isolated significant gusts to 80
    mph likely
    Scattered large hail and isolated very large hail events to 3
    inches in diameter likely
    A tornado or two possible

    SUMMARY…Thunderstorms are expected to increase in coverage and
    intensity through the afternoon while spreading eastward from the
    higher terrain. The storm environment initially favors supercells
    with very large hail (2-3 inch diameter), while upscale growth into
    clusters is expected this evening with an increasing threat for
    60-80 mph outflow winds. Favorable storm interactions could also
    support an isolated tornado or two this evening.

    The severe thunderstorm watch area is approximately along and 100
    statute miles north and south of a line from 30 miles west of
    Harlowton MT to 10 miles east northeast of Baker MT. For a complete
    depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline update
    (WOUS64 KWNS WOU8).

    PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

    REMEMBER…A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are
    favorable for severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area.
    Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening
    weather conditions and listen for later statements and possible
    warnings. Severe thunderstorms can and occasionally do produce
    tornadoes.

    &&

    AVIATION…A few severe thunderstorms with hail surface and aloft to
    3 inches. Extreme turbulence and surface wind gusts to 70 knots. A
    few cumulonimbi with maximum tops to 550. Mean storm motion vector
    27020.

    …Thompson

    SEL8

    URGENT – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
    Severe Thunderstorm Watch Number 418
    NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
    215 PM MDT Sun Jun 15 2025

    The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a

    * Severe Thunderstorm Watch for portions of
    Central and eastern Montana
    North central Wyoming

    * Effective this Sunday afternoon and evening from 215 PM until
    1100 PM MDT.

    * Primary threats include…
    Scattered damaging winds and isolated significant gusts to 80
    mph likely
    Scattered large hail and isolated very large hail events to 3
    inches in diameter likely
    A tornado or two possible

    SUMMARY…Thunderstorms are expected to increase in coverage and
    intensity through the afternoon while spreading eastward from the
    higher terrain. The storm environment initially favors supercells
    with very large hail (2-3 inch diameter), while upscale growth into
    clusters is expected this evening with an increasing threat for
    60-80 mph outflow winds. Favorable storm interactions could also
    support an isolated tornado or two this evening.

    The severe thunderstorm watch area is approximately along and 100
    statute miles north and south of a line from 30 miles west of
    Harlowton MT to 10 miles east northeast of Baker MT. For a complete
    depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline update
    (WOUS64 KWNS WOU8).

    PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

    REMEMBER…A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are
    favorable for severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area.
    Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening
    weather conditions and listen for later statements and possible
    warnings. Severe thunderstorms can and occasionally do produce
    tornadoes.

    &&

    AVIATION…A few severe thunderstorms with hail surface and aloft to
    3 inches. Extreme turbulence and surface wind gusts to 70 knots. A
    few cumulonimbi with maximum tops to 550. Mean storm motion vector
    27020.

    …Thompson

    Note: The Aviation Watch (SAW) product is an approximation to the watch area. The actual watch is depicted by the shaded areas.
    SAW8
    WW 418 SEVERE TSTM MT WY 152015Z – 160500Z
    AXIS..100 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF LINE..
    30W 3HT/HARLOWTON MT/ – 10ENE BHK/BAKER MT/
    ..AVIATION COORDS.. 85NM N/S /51SW LWT – 59WSW DIK/
    HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT..3 INCHES. WIND GUSTS..70 KNOTS.
    MAX TOPS TO 550. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27020.

    LAT…LON 47881046 47860406 44970406 44981046

    THIS IS AN APPROXIMATION TO THE WATCH AREA. FOR A
    COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE WOUS64 KWNS
    FOR WOU8.

    Watch 418 Status Report Message has not been issued yet.

    Note:  Click for Complete Product Text.Tornadoes

    Probability of 2 or more tornadoes

    Low (20%)

    Probability of 1 or more strong (EF2-EF5) tornadoes

    Low (5%)

    Wind

    Probability of 10 or more severe wind events

    Mod (60%)

    Probability of 1 or more wind events > 65 knots

    Mod (60%)

    Hail

    Probability of 10 or more severe hail events

    Mod (60%)

    Probability of 1 or more hailstones > 2 inches

    Mod (60%)

    Combined Severe Hail/Wind

    Probability of 6 or more combined severe hail/wind events

    High (>95%)

    For each watch, probabilities for particular events inside the watch (listed above in each table) are determined by the issuing forecaster. The “Low” category contains probability values ranging from less than 2% to 20% (EF2-EF5 tornadoes), less than 5% to 20% (all other probabilities), “Moderate” from 30% to 60%, and “High” from 70% to greater than 95%. High values are bolded and lighter in color to provide awareness of an increased threat for a particular event.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Iran Launches New Missile Attack on Israel

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

    JERUSALEM, June 15 (Xinhua) — Iran launched a new missile attack on Israel on Sunday, triggering air raid sirens across the Jewish state, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, sending millions of people running for cover.

    There have been no reports of casualties or damage yet.

    The IDF said “several” rockets were fired from Iranian territory toward Israel, most of which were intercepted.

    “There were no reports of any projectiles falling,” the statement said.

    The attack began at around 4pm local time /1300 GMT/, marking the first Iranian attack in daylight since Israel’s surprise strikes on the Islamic republic on June 13 triggered the current escalation.

    The body of another victim was pulled from the rubble of a building hit by a rocket overnight on Sunday, police said, and the search continues for three other people still missing.

    The death toll from Iranian attacks since June 13 has reached 14, according to Israeli state television Kan. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: One person killed in drone attack on enterprise in Tatarstan

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

    Moscow, June 15 /Xinhua/ — One person was killed and 13 others were injured in an attack by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on an enterprise in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, the head of the republic Rustam Minnikhanov reported on Telegram.

    “Today, another attack by enemy drones was carried out on the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan. When the UAV was destroyed, the debris fell on the checkpoint building of the automobile plant in the Yelabuga district. As a result, a worker died. A total of 13 people were injured,” wrote R. Minnikhanov.

    He added that a fire broke out at the site and was quickly extinguished by the relevant services. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Millions rally against authoritarianism, while the White House portrays protests as threats – a political scientist explains

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jeremy Pressman, Professor of Political Science, University of Connecticut

    Protesters parade through the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans as part of the nationwide No Kings protest against President Donald Trump, on June 14, 2025. Patt Little/Anadolu via Getty Images

    At the end of a week when President Donald Trump sent Marines and the California National Guard to Los Angeles to quell protests, Americans across the country turned out in huge numbers to protest Trump’s attempts to expand his power. In rallies on June 14, 2025, organized under the banner “No Kings,” millions of protesters decried Trump’s immigration roundups, cuts to government programs and what many described as his growing authoritarianism.

    The protests were largely peaceful, with relatively few incidents of violence.

    Protests and the interactions between protesters and government authorities have a long history in the United States. From the Boston Tea Party to the Civil Rights movement, LBGTQ Stonewall uprising, the Tea Party movement and Black Lives Matter, public protest has been a crucial aspect of efforts to advance or protect the rights of citizens.

    But protests can also have other effects.

    In the last few months, large numbers of anti-Trump protesters have come out in the streets across the U.S., on occasions like the April 5 Hands Off protests against safety net budget cuts and government downsizing. Many of those protesters assert they are protecting American democracy.

    The Trump administration has decried these protesters and the concept of protest more generally, with the president recently calling protesters “troublemakers, agitators, insurrectionists.” A few days before the June 14 military parade in Washington, President Donald Trump said of potential protesters: “this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.”

    Trump’s current reaction is reminiscent of his harsh condemnation of the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020. In 2022, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that Trump had asked about shooting protesters participating in demonstrations after the 2020 shooting of George Floyd.

    As co-director of the Crowd Counting Consortium, which compiles information on each day’s protests in the U.S., I understand that protests sometimes can advance the goals of the protest movement. They also can shape the goals and behavior of federal or state governments and their leaders.

    Opportunity for expressing or suppressing democracy

    Protests are an expression of democracy, bolstered by the right to free speech and “the right of the people peaceably to assemble” in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

    At the same time, clamping down on protests is one way to rebut challenges to government policies and power.

    For a president intent on the further centralization of executive power, or even establishing a dictatorship, protest suppression provides multiple opportunities and pitfalls.

    Widespread, well-attended demonstrations can represent a mass movement in favor of democracy or other issues as well as serve as an opportunity to expand participation even further. Large events often lead to significant press coverage and plenty of social media posting. The protests may heighten protesters’ emotional connection to the movement and increase fundraising and membership numbers of sponsoring organizations.

    Though it is not an ironclad law, research shows that when at least 3.5% of the total population is involved in a demonstration, protesters usually prevail over their governments. That included the Chilean movement in the 1980s that toppled longtime dictator Augusto Pinochet. Chileans used not only massive demonstrations but also a wide array of creative tactics like a coordinated slowdown of driving and walking, neighbors banging pots outside homes simultaneously, and singing together.

    Protests are rarely only about protesting. Organizers usually seek to involve participants in many other activities, whether that is contacting their elected officials, writing letters to the editor, registering to vote or running a food drive to help vulnerable populations.

    In this way of thinking, participation in a major street protest like No Kings is a gateway into deeper activism.

    Risks and opportunities

    Of course, protest leaders cannot control everyone in or adjacent to the movement.

    Other protesters with a different agenda, or agitators of any sort, can insert themselves into a movement and use confrontational tactics like violence against property or law enforcement.

    In one prominent example from Los Angeles, someone set several self-driving cars on fire. Other Los Angeles examples included some protesters’ throwing things like water bottles at officers or engaging in vandalism. Police officers also use coercive measures such as firing chemical irritants and pepper balls at protesters.

    When leaders want to concentrate executive power and establish an autocracy, where they rule with absolute power, protests against those moves could lead to a mass rejection of the leader’s plans. That is what national protest groups like 50501 and Indivisible are hoping for and why they aimed to turn out millions of people at the No Kings protests on June 14.

    But while the Trump administration faces risks from protests, it also may see opportunities.

    Misrepresenting and quashing dissent

    Protests can serve as a justification for a nascent autocrat to further undermine democratic practices and institutions.

    Take the recent demonstrations in Los Angeles protesting the Trump administration’s immigration raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

    Autocrats seek to politicize independent institutions like the armed forces. The Los Angeles protests offered the opportunity for that. Trump sent troops from the California National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles to contain the protests. That domestic deployment of the military is rare but not unheard of in U.S. history.

    And the deployment was ordered against the backdrop of the president’s partisan June 10 speech at a U.S. military base in North Carolina. The military personnel in attendance cheered and applauded many of Trump’s political statements. Both the speech and audience reactions to it appeared to violate the U.S. military norm of nonpartisanship.

    This deployment of military personnel in a U.S. city also dovetails with the expansion of executive power characteristic of autocratic leaders. It is rare that presidents call up the National Guard; the Guard is traditionally under the control of the state governor.

    Yet the White House disregarded that Los Angeles’ mayor and California’s governor both objected to the deployment.

    The state sued the Trump administration over the deployment. The initial court decision sided with California officials, declaring the federal government action “illegal.” The Trump administration has appealed.

    Autocrats seek to spread disinformation. In the case of the Los Angeles protests, the Trump administration’s narrative depicted a chaotic, gang-infested city with violence everywhere. Reports on the ground refuted those characterizations. The protests, mostly peaceful, were confined to a small part of the city, about a 10-block area.

    More generally, a strong executive leader and their supporters often want to quash dissent. In the Los Angeles example, doing that has ranged from the military deployment itself to targeting journalists covering the story to arresting and charging prominent opponents like SEIU President David Huerta or shoving and handcuffing U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat.

    The contrast on June 14 was striking. In Washington, D.C., Trump reviewed a parade of troops, tanks and planes, leaning into a display of American military power.

    At the same time, from rainy Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to sweltering Yuma, Arizona, millions of protesters embraced their First Amendment rights to oppose the president. It perfectly illustrated the dynamic driving deep political division today: the executive concentrating power while a sizable segment of the people resist.

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

    – ref. Millions rally against authoritarianism, while the White House portrays protests as threats – a political scientist explains – https://theconversation.com/millions-rally-against-authoritarianism-while-the-white-house-portrays-protests-as-threats-a-political-scientist-explains-258963

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Millions rally against authoritarianism, while the White House portrays protests as threats – a political scientist explains

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jeremy Pressman, Professor of Political Science, University of Connecticut

    Protesters parade through the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans as part of the nationwide No Kings protest against President Donald Trump, on June 14, 2025. Patt Little/Anadolu via Getty Images

    At the end of a week when President Donald Trump sent Marines and the California National Guard to Los Angeles to quell protests, Americans across the country turned out in huge numbers to protest Trump’s attempts to expand his power. In rallies on June 14, 2025, organized under the banner “No Kings,” millions of protesters decried Trump’s immigration roundups, cuts to government programs and what many described as his growing authoritarianism.

    The protests were largely peaceful, with relatively few incidents of violence.

    Protests and the interactions between protesters and government authorities have a long history in the United States. From the Boston Tea Party to the Civil Rights movement, LBGTQ Stonewall uprising, the Tea Party movement and Black Lives Matter, public protest has been a crucial aspect of efforts to advance or protect the rights of citizens.

    But protests can also have other effects.

    In the last few months, large numbers of anti-Trump protesters have come out in the streets across the U.S., on occasions like the April 5 Hands Off protests against safety net budget cuts and government downsizing. Many of those protesters assert they are protecting American democracy.

    The Trump administration has decried these protesters and the concept of protest more generally, with the president recently calling protesters “troublemakers, agitators, insurrectionists.” A few days before the June 14 military parade in Washington, President Donald Trump said of potential protesters: “this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.”

    Trump’s current reaction is reminiscent of his harsh condemnation of the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020. In 2022, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that Trump had asked about shooting protesters participating in demonstrations after the 2020 shooting of George Floyd.

    As co-director of the Crowd Counting Consortium, which compiles information on each day’s protests in the U.S., I understand that protests sometimes can advance the goals of the protest movement. They also can shape the goals and behavior of federal or state governments and their leaders.

    Opportunity for expressing or suppressing democracy

    Protests are an expression of democracy, bolstered by the right to free speech and “the right of the people peaceably to assemble” in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

    At the same time, clamping down on protests is one way to rebut challenges to government policies and power.

    For a president intent on the further centralization of executive power, or even establishing a dictatorship, protest suppression provides multiple opportunities and pitfalls.

    Widespread, well-attended demonstrations can represent a mass movement in favor of democracy or other issues as well as serve as an opportunity to expand participation even further. Large events often lead to significant press coverage and plenty of social media posting. The protests may heighten protesters’ emotional connection to the movement and increase fundraising and membership numbers of sponsoring organizations.

    Though it is not an ironclad law, research shows that when at least 3.5% of the total population is involved in a demonstration, protesters usually prevail over their governments. That included the Chilean movement in the 1980s that toppled longtime dictator Augusto Pinochet. Chileans used not only massive demonstrations but also a wide array of creative tactics like a coordinated slowdown of driving and walking, neighbors banging pots outside homes simultaneously, and singing together.

    Protests are rarely only about protesting. Organizers usually seek to involve participants in many other activities, whether that is contacting their elected officials, writing letters to the editor, registering to vote or running a food drive to help vulnerable populations.

    In this way of thinking, participation in a major street protest like No Kings is a gateway into deeper activism.

    Risks and opportunities

    Of course, protest leaders cannot control everyone in or adjacent to the movement.

    Other protesters with a different agenda, or agitators of any sort, can insert themselves into a movement and use confrontational tactics like violence against property or law enforcement.

    In one prominent example from Los Angeles, someone set several self-driving cars on fire. Other Los Angeles examples included some protesters’ throwing things like water bottles at officers or engaging in vandalism. Police officers also use coercive measures such as firing chemical irritants and pepper balls at protesters.

    When leaders want to concentrate executive power and establish an autocracy, where they rule with absolute power, protests against those moves could lead to a mass rejection of the leader’s plans. That is what national protest groups like 50501 and Indivisible are hoping for and why they aimed to turn out millions of people at the No Kings protests on June 14.

    But while the Trump administration faces risks from protests, it also may see opportunities.

    Misrepresenting and quashing dissent

    Protests can serve as a justification for a nascent autocrat to further undermine democratic practices and institutions.

    Take the recent demonstrations in Los Angeles protesting the Trump administration’s immigration raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

    Autocrats seek to politicize independent institutions like the armed forces. The Los Angeles protests offered the opportunity for that. Trump sent troops from the California National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles to contain the protests. That domestic deployment of the military is rare but not unheard of in U.S. history.

    And the deployment was ordered against the backdrop of the president’s partisan June 10 speech at a U.S. military base in North Carolina. The military personnel in attendance cheered and applauded many of Trump’s political statements. Both the speech and audience reactions to it appeared to violate the U.S. military norm of nonpartisanship.

    This deployment of military personnel in a U.S. city also dovetails with the expansion of executive power characteristic of autocratic leaders. It is rare that presidents call up the National Guard; the Guard is traditionally under the control of the state governor.

    Yet the White House disregarded that Los Angeles’ mayor and California’s governor both objected to the deployment.

    The state sued the Trump administration over the deployment. The initial court decision sided with California officials, declaring the federal government action “illegal.” The Trump administration has appealed.

    Autocrats seek to spread disinformation. In the case of the Los Angeles protests, the Trump administration’s narrative depicted a chaotic, gang-infested city with violence everywhere. Reports on the ground refuted those characterizations. The protests, mostly peaceful, were confined to a small part of the city, about a 10-block area.

    More generally, a strong executive leader and their supporters often want to quash dissent. In the Los Angeles example, doing that has ranged from the military deployment itself to targeting journalists covering the story to arresting and charging prominent opponents like SEIU President David Huerta or shoving and handcuffing U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat.

    The contrast on June 14 was striking. In Washington, D.C., Trump reviewed a parade of troops, tanks and planes, leaning into a display of American military power.

    At the same time, from rainy Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to sweltering Yuma, Arizona, millions of protesters embraced their First Amendment rights to oppose the president. It perfectly illustrated the dynamic driving deep political division today: the executive concentrating power while a sizable segment of the people resist.

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

    – ref. Millions rally against authoritarianism, while the White House portrays protests as threats – a political scientist explains – https://theconversation.com/millions-rally-against-authoritarianism-while-the-white-house-portrays-protests-as-threats-a-political-scientist-explains-258963

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Family pays tribute as victim of Hammersmith shooting named

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    The 30-year-old who was fatally shot in an incident in Claxton Grove, Hammersmith, on Wednesday, 11 June, has been named as Northolt resident Jordan Oliver Rodney.

    In a statement, Mr Rodney’s family said: “It is with unimaginable heartbreak that we confirm the tragic loss of our beloved Jordan Olivier Rodney, who was taken from us far too soon.

    “Jordan was a man who touched the lives of everyone who knew him. He was warm, funny, and loving. Always quick with a smile or a joke that could brighten the dark day.

    “His kindness, generosity, and humour left a lasting impression on friends and family alike. Our son, brother, uncle, and friend was so much more than the circumstances of his death. He brought joy to our lives every single day, and his absence leaves a hole that can never be filled.

    “We will remember Jordie for the love he shared so freely, the laughter he inspired, and the way he made us all feel seen and valued. We ask for privacy as we grieve this devastating loss and whilst we work to come to terms with what has happened.

    “We are eternally grateful for the outpouring of love and support during this incredibly difficult time.”

    A post-mortem examination has taken place.

    A second victim, also in his 30s, has been discharged from hospital.

    Jahmel Joseph, 28 (05.12.1996), of Eaton Rise, Ealing, has been charged with murder, attempted murder, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, possession of a prohibited weapon and dangerous driving.

    Joseph appeared in custody at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, 14 July. He has been remanded to appear before the Old Bailey on Wednesday, 18 July.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Habitat loss and over-exploitation are leading to a decline in salmon populations

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Kyleisha Foote, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland

    One-quarter of freshwater animals are now threatened with extinction, and population declines in fresh waters outpace those in marine and terrestrial systems. Reports of salmonid fish decline are stark, with many populations and species listed as threatened or endangered.

    Salmonids are a large family of ray-finned fish. In North America, it includes Pacific salmon on the west coast, Atlantic salmon on the east, and trout and char species such as brook trout and the introduced brown trout.

    Salmonid fish are extremely important. Ecologically, they provide food and nutrients for other animals and are indicators of ecosystem health. Culturally, they hold places in stories and worldviews, provide sustenance for humans and foster a deep connection to our rivers, lakes and oceans.



    Read more:
    Learning from Indigenous knowledge holders on the state and future of wild Pacific salmon

    Economically, they sustain communities around the world, as people travel to see these captivating creatures. Beyond all this, they have intrinsic value within river ecosystems.

    Although the salmonid family is undoubtedly one of the most studied groups of fish, we still don’t know much about the relative abundance of these fishes globally.

    We did a systematic review of published literature for reports of salmonid biomass (the total weight of fish in a particular area) in rivers around the world. The result was the largest dataset of salmonid biomass as we know it: more than 1,000 rivers across 27 countries, with fish sampling spanning 84 years (1937-2021).

    Habitat degradation

    This unique dataset enabled us to test several hypotheses, including temporal trends in salmonid populations. We found that average biomass declined 38 per cent from pre-1980 levels compared to post-2000 levels. Real declines are likely to be even higher, due to a publication bias towards reporting on rivers with higher biomass.

    Reasons for the decline will be unique to each population and often due to a combination of factors that include habitat loss and degradation, river regulation, over-exploitation, aquaculture and climate change.

    Freshwater ecosystems are among the most threatened and degraded environments in the world. The way we use the land surrounding waterways can have devastating impacts on aquatic life.

    Excessive nutrient loads from agriculture can lead to harmful algal blooms, which can choke waterways and lead to oxygen depletion, killing fish.

    Contaminants from pesticides, mining waste, oil and gas production, and urban areas can lead to decreased abundance and growth, declines in genetic diversity and effects on reproductive potential.

    Forest clearing destroys stream habitat by removing shade and shelter-providing plants along stream banks. Without this vegetation, excessive sediment can be washed into the stream, filling gaps between rocks and stones and further degrading important fish habitats and increasing water temperatures.

    Human activity disrupting migrations

    Many salmonid species are anadromous, meaning they migrate from freshwater to the sea and return to freshwater to complete their life cycle. Adult salmon will swim into the headwaters of streams to spawn, so access to these habitats is essential.

    Dams and other structures sever the pathway for many migratory fish and are perhaps the most significant disturbance in river ecosystems. Sixty-three per cent of large rivers (over 1,000 kilometres) are no longer connected across their whole length.

    While many salmonids may be able to scale small waterfalls, a dam or structure with smooth surfaces and no water are virtually impossible to pass. Fish passes (human-made pathways alongside barriers that fish can move through) can provide access upstream of dams. However, not all fish passes work as intended, and older dams will likely lack these facilities.

    Even if fish can migrate above a dam, the natural flow of water and movement of substrate is disrupted, causing major effects downstream. These natural regimes of water and substrate are crucial for maintaining habitat for aquatic species.

    Dam removal is becoming more common as a restoration technique, which leads to improved connectivity of sediment and fish. For example, fish numbers increased after removal of two dams on the Elwha River in Washington state, which reconnected 60 kilometres of previously inaccessible salmonid habitat.

    Climate change

    A warming climate, with more frequent droughts and flood events, is predicted to have negative impacts on salmon growth and survival, leading to deteriorating habitats and a reduction in abundance.

    Warming waters may cause shifts in salmonid abundance and distribution, with some species unable to adapt or move in time. Warming can also lead to increased stress and mortality for these cold-water fishes, reductions in body size and spawning success.

    Unfortunately, it was not possible to include temperature in our global dataset, as it is not systematically reported in studies.

    A salmon run on the Humber River in October 2023.
    (Shutterstock)

    Biomass not evenly distributed

    In our study, we found that salmonid biomass is not evenly distributed. Most streams have a relatively low biomass (average of 5.2 g/m2). However, a few outstanding streams exhibit much higher biomass than average (over 36.5 g/m2).

    It remains difficult to determine which variables contribute the most to this high productivity. High biomass may be related to local factors (temperature, flow, rock sizes in the river, presence of wood), which are not represented in our global dataset.

    Investigating what makes these streams so productive is a key question for scientists. Our dataset can help fuel researchers curiosity and promote habitat restoration and enhancement for all freshwater life.

    The dataset, which currently includes biomass data for 11 salmonid species and contains multiple variables that could affect biomass (stream width, season, sampling methods, area sampled and elevation), is publicly available. Scientists around the world can update the dataset in the coming years with additional data, such as temperature, which will help us understand the impact of climate change.

    Restoring habitats

    A lot of effort has gone into restoring and enhancing the habitats of salmonid species.

    While we are seeing local improvements in some populations — for example after habitat restoration with large wood or boulders — restoration efforts are often short-lived and target very small areas. These efforts should encompass whole watersheds to be most effective.

    Rivers are naturally dynamic, shifting their course as they move across floodplains. Improving river mobility, by allowing a river to restore itself and providing it space to move, will lead to more long-term sustainable restoration. This will be beneficial for not only salmonids but other aquatic animals.

    Kyleisha Foote received funding from Fonds de recherche du Québec Nature et technologies (FRQNT) – Bourses de doctorat en recherche (https://doi.org/10.69777/) and Groupe de Recherche Interuniversitaire en Limnologie (GRIL).

    James W.A. Grant receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

    Pascale Biron receives funding from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council and Natural Resources Canada.

    – ref. Habitat loss and over-exploitation are leading to a decline in salmon populations – https://theconversation.com/habitat-loss-and-over-exploitation-are-leading-to-a-decline-in-salmon-populations-257782

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Innovative water treatment technology to address KZN water challenges

    Source: South Africa News Agency

    Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, David Mahlobo, has commended the Water Research Commission’s (WRC) ongoing investment and efforts to provide innovative technological solutions to water challenges through the launch of the Vortex Settling Basin (VSB).

    Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, David Mahlobo, has commended the Water Research Commission (WRC) for its continued investment in innovative technologies to address South Africa’s water challenges.

    A VSB is a type of water treatment system that utilizes a vortex flow pattern to remove sediments, suspended solids, and other pollutants from water. 

    It operates on the principle of centrifugal force, allowing heavier particles to settle at the bottom of the basin while cleaner water is discharged from the top. 

    The VSB effectively removes heavy sediment particles through its vortex action, causing the sediments to settle in a cone shape. These particles can then be extracted by gravity, while the clearer water flows out over a discharge weir. 

    “This technology will help the municipality with an energy-efficient solution for sediment removal, ensuring a reliable water supply with minimal maintenance. The vortex is at 90% efficiency, which means there will be more water to treat, thus increasing water security in the area. The technology will also ensure good water quality because the turbidity of water will be addressed,” the Deputy Minister said.

    Mahlobo made the remarks at the recent official handover and launch of the VSB demonstration at the Thukela River abstraction works in Middledrift, Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal.

    The launch marked the beginning of a demonstration phase, during which the system’s effectiveness will be closely monitored for potential wider implementation. 

    The VSB has a pump capacity of 8.6 mega-litres per day and will benefit a wide range of stakeholders, particularly those reliant on surface water abstraction for agricultural, municipal, and industrial purposes. 

    The Deputy Minister assured community members that the municipality has gained a cost-effective technology, to be used also to facilitate more desilting by removing sedimentation in the dams. 

    He highlighted that Madungela was chosen for the demonstration for several reasons, including the large contributing catchment downstream of the existing Spioenkop Dam, resulting in high sediment concentrations; the pump station abstracts raw water directly from the Thukela River and has no gravel trap, and current sediment extrusion is by hydro-cyclones; therefore, a good comparison with VSB performance will be possible. 

    Mahlobo urged the community to protect the VSB as it will be beneficial to them. 

    WRC Chief Executive, Dr Jennifer Molwantwa, emphasised that the work done by the commission has important implications, especially for rural communities who will now have access to reliable potable water. 

    “This kind of work is critically important for the WRC, as it demonstrates our ability to translate theoretical scientific innovations into practical applications—not just at laboratory scale, but also in real-world settings. 

    “We are hopeful that this innovation will culminate in an economy where all municipalities and bulk water suppliers recognise and adopt it as a groundbreaking technology that has the potential to significantly improve the efficiency and capacity of water treatment systems across the country—particularly benefiting rural communities, where access to reliable and sustainable water services is often limited,” Molwantwa said. –SAnews.gov.za

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Egypt: President El-Sisi Speaks with President of Cyprus Christodoulides

    Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

    Download logo

    Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received a phone call from President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides.

    Spokesman for the Presidency, Ambassador Mohamed El-Shennawy, said the call focused on regional developments. President El-Sisi emphasized Egypt’s categorical rejection of any expansion of the cycle of conflict in the region, underscoring the crucial importance of ending Israel’s military operations across all regional fronts. President El-Sisi warned that the continuation of the current approach will inflict grave and formidable harm on all peoples of the region, with no exception.

    President El-Sisi affirmed the vital necessity for the international community to assume a more effective role in compelling regional parties to act responsibly. The President asserted that peaceful solutions remain the sole viable means to ensure security and stability in the region. President El-Sisi underlined the urgent need to resume the US-Iranian negotiations, under the auspices of the Sultanate of Oman, which represents the best solution to the current tension. President El-Sisi reiterated Egypt’s unequivocal stance with regard to the imperative for establishing a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, encompassing all states of the region.

    President El-Sisi emphasized that a just and comprehensive resolution to the Palestinian issue remains the sole guarantor for achieving enduring peace and stability in the Middle East. This necessitates an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the release of hostages and detainees, the establishment of an independent Palestinian State along the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as well as providing security for all peoples of the region.

    – on behalf of Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: 6 killed, at least 140 injured in Iranian missile strikes in central Israel – authorities

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

    JERUSALEM, June 15 (Xinhua) — At least six people were killed and 140 others were wounded in Iranian airstrikes on Israel early Sunday, Israeli authorities said.

    Air raid sirens and explosions sent millions of people fleeing for shelters in dozens of cities across Israel, the military said in a statement.

    A rocket hit a residential building in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, causing it to collapse. Another rocket hit a residential area in Rehovot, a city in central Israel, injuring dozens of people.

    A police statement said at least two of the dead were children, adding that at least seven people were still missing.

    Several buildings on the Weizmann Institute of Science campus in Rehovot were damaged by Iranian rocket fire, but there were no reports of casualties, the institute said in a statement.

    At least 140 people were wounded in the two attacks, Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said, adding that the vast majority were lightly injured.

    Also overnight, the death toll from a rocket attack on Tamra, an Arab town in Israel’s Northern District, on Saturday night rose to four, Magen David Adom reported. Among the dead were a mother, her two daughters and another relative. Dozens were injured.

    On Sunday morning, the Israeli Air Force said it had intercepted seven drones launched toward northern and southern Israel in about an hour.

    Israeli warplanes continued to strike targets in Iran overnight, including the capital Tehran, fuel tankers and suspected nuclear sites, the Israeli military said in a statement. A second wave of airstrikes targeted missile launchers and storage facilities in western Iran. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Small towns are growing fast across Ghana – but environmental planning isn’t keeping up

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Seth Asare Okyere, Visiting lecturer, University of Pittsburg and Adjunct Associate Professor, Osaka University, University of Pittsburgh

    Africa’s urban future will be shaped not only by large cities and capitals but also by its many small and medium-sized towns.

    Large capital cities are no longer the hotspots of rapid urban growth. According to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat), small and medium-sized towns are growing faster than large cities. These smaller towns often start as rural settlements.

    Despite their rapid growth, many small towns lack infrastructure and planning capacity, leaving them vulnerable to environmental risks.

    Ghana offers a telling example. While the spotlight is often on the rapid growth of the two major cities, Accra or Kumasi, dozens of smaller towns across the country are booming. At the same time, they are struggling with environmental problems such as decline in green spaces, flooding and pollution, usually associated with much larger cities.

    Our research examined this issue, arguing that overlooking small towns has put them on an unsustainable path. In Ghana, small towns often “rest in the shadows” of bigger cities when it comes to resource distribution and development priorities. They receive less funding, fewer services, and scant regulatory oversight compared to major urban centres.

    We conducted research in Somanya, Ghana. It lies in the eastern region, about 70km from Accra, the national capital. Our aim was to establish whether emerging sites of urbanisation like Somanya were developing in ways that made them sustainable, or replicating environmental problems seen in large cities.

    To identify the drivers of environmental risks in the town, we used geographic information data and interviewed residents, institutional representatives and local assembly members.

    We found that the urban growth of Somanya was linked with a decline in vegetation cover and loss of biodiversity. The main factors at play were: pollution from mining, political neglect, and lack of infrastructure facilities and services.

    We concluded that current realities pointed towards unsustainable futures where environmental problems will become pronounced and the impacts on everyday life will be destructive. Based on our findings we recommend that Ghana’s national urban sustainable development policies and international development programmes must not fixate solely on big cities. Small towns require attention and investment commensurate with their growth.

    Environmental risks in a rapidly growing small town

    Somanya’s population grew from 88,000 people in 2010 to over 122,000 by 2021. The proportion of the municipality’s population living in urban areas jumped from 31% to 47% in that period.

    Local leaders and officials we interviewed painted a worrying picture of a town rapidly growing without proactive environmental planning, grappling with multiple hazards at once.

    Declining ecological resources: Rapid expansion has led to the loss of green spaces and forests around Somanya. Hillsides that used to be covered with vegetation have been cleared for large mango plantations or speculative estate development. This situation has made the area more prone to erosion and flash floods. One community elder observed:

    The trees on the hills are almost all gone now. Without those natural buffers, flooding has become more frequent and severe, threatening homes built in low-lying areas.

    Pollution and toxicity from industry: Somanya’s growth has attracted extractive industries, notably stone quarries and small-scale mining. These bring jobs, but also environmental hazards. Residents described clouds of dust hanging over communities near a quarry. There are also reports of chemical runoff polluting local streams and soil. Heavy dust and particulate pollution have become part of daily life, and people worry about the health effects. One resident said:

    The dusty conditions are not only an infrastructure problem, but also an environmental risk for us, especially if you have underlying health conditions.

    Strained and inadequate infrastructure: Basic environmental infrastructure in Somanya has not kept pace with its growth. The town’s drains and gutters are few and often clogged, so even moderate rainstorms result in street flooding. Proper sewage and waste treatment facilities are non-existent. Piles of uncollected refuse are commonly seen, sometimes burnt in the open, posing health risks. One community leader remarked that:

    It is only when there’s a major flood or disaster outbreak that they pay us attention.

    These infrastructure deficits mean that as the town grows, so do the environmental health risks – from water-borne diseases to flooding and pollution.

    Governance lapses and political indifference: Underlying many of these problems is a sense of neglect and weak institutional capacity. Local authorities in Somanya operate with limited funding and fragmented responsibilities, and higher-level support from the central government is minimal. As an Assembly member put it:

    We live in a constant state of perpetual waiting for the crumbs after big cities have taken their lion’s share of available funding. If you are not connected to the ruling party, it’s hard to get the support you need.

    All these factors put small towns on a path to unsustainable futures.

    Steering towards sustainable urban futures

    Our research highlights the need to adopt a cross-sector, integrated approach to environmental planning at the local level. In practice, that means urban planners, environmental agencies, and community leaders all working together on development plans. For example, in Koa Hill settlement, Solomon Islands, a community-led development team with support from local groups and university experts led to the successful pilot of nature-inspired disaster risk reduction programmes.

    Therefore, communities should be involved in co-designing solutions, from problem identification to experimenting strategies and evaluating outcomes. After all, residents know the local risks and resources best.

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

    – ref. Small towns are growing fast across Ghana – but environmental planning isn’t keeping up – https://theconversation.com/small-towns-are-growing-fast-across-ghana-but-environmental-planning-isnt-keeping-up-257766

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Small towns are growing fast across Ghana – but environmental planning isn’t keeping up

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Seth Asare Okyere, Visiting lecturer, University of Pittsburg and Adjunct Associate Professor, Osaka University, University of Pittsburgh

    Africa’s urban future will be shaped not only by large cities and capitals but also by its many small and medium-sized towns.

    Large capital cities are no longer the hotspots of rapid urban growth. According to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat), small and medium-sized towns are growing faster than large cities. These smaller towns often start as rural settlements.

    Despite their rapid growth, many small towns lack infrastructure and planning capacity, leaving them vulnerable to environmental risks.

    Ghana offers a telling example. While the spotlight is often on the rapid growth of the two major cities, Accra or Kumasi, dozens of smaller towns across the country are booming. At the same time, they are struggling with environmental problems such as decline in green spaces, flooding and pollution, usually associated with much larger cities.

    Our research examined this issue, arguing that overlooking small towns has put them on an unsustainable path. In Ghana, small towns often “rest in the shadows” of bigger cities when it comes to resource distribution and development priorities. They receive less funding, fewer services, and scant regulatory oversight compared to major urban centres.

    We conducted research in Somanya, Ghana. It lies in the eastern region, about 70km from Accra, the national capital. Our aim was to establish whether emerging sites of urbanisation like Somanya were developing in ways that made them sustainable, or replicating environmental problems seen in large cities.

    To identify the drivers of environmental risks in the town, we used geographic information data and interviewed residents, institutional representatives and local assembly members.

    We found that the urban growth of Somanya was linked with a decline in vegetation cover and loss of biodiversity. The main factors at play were: pollution from mining, political neglect, and lack of infrastructure facilities and services.

    We concluded that current realities pointed towards unsustainable futures where environmental problems will become pronounced and the impacts on everyday life will be destructive. Based on our findings we recommend that Ghana’s national urban sustainable development policies and international development programmes must not fixate solely on big cities. Small towns require attention and investment commensurate with their growth.

    Environmental risks in a rapidly growing small town

    Somanya’s population grew from 88,000 people in 2010 to over 122,000 by 2021. The proportion of the municipality’s population living in urban areas jumped from 31% to 47% in that period.

    Local leaders and officials we interviewed painted a worrying picture of a town rapidly growing without proactive environmental planning, grappling with multiple hazards at once.

    Declining ecological resources: Rapid expansion has led to the loss of green spaces and forests around Somanya. Hillsides that used to be covered with vegetation have been cleared for large mango plantations or speculative estate development. This situation has made the area more prone to erosion and flash floods. One community elder observed:

    The trees on the hills are almost all gone now. Without those natural buffers, flooding has become more frequent and severe, threatening homes built in low-lying areas.

    Pollution and toxicity from industry: Somanya’s growth has attracted extractive industries, notably stone quarries and small-scale mining. These bring jobs, but also environmental hazards. Residents described clouds of dust hanging over communities near a quarry. There are also reports of chemical runoff polluting local streams and soil. Heavy dust and particulate pollution have become part of daily life, and people worry about the health effects. One resident said:

    The dusty conditions are not only an infrastructure problem, but also an environmental risk for us, especially if you have underlying health conditions.

    Strained and inadequate infrastructure: Basic environmental infrastructure in Somanya has not kept pace with its growth. The town’s drains and gutters are few and often clogged, so even moderate rainstorms result in street flooding. Proper sewage and waste treatment facilities are non-existent. Piles of uncollected refuse are commonly seen, sometimes burnt in the open, posing health risks. One community leader remarked that:

    It is only when there’s a major flood or disaster outbreak that they pay us attention.

    These infrastructure deficits mean that as the town grows, so do the environmental health risks – from water-borne diseases to flooding and pollution.

    Governance lapses and political indifference: Underlying many of these problems is a sense of neglect and weak institutional capacity. Local authorities in Somanya operate with limited funding and fragmented responsibilities, and higher-level support from the central government is minimal. As an Assembly member put it:

    We live in a constant state of perpetual waiting for the crumbs after big cities have taken their lion’s share of available funding. If you are not connected to the ruling party, it’s hard to get the support you need.

    All these factors put small towns on a path to unsustainable futures.

    Steering towards sustainable urban futures

    Our research highlights the need to adopt a cross-sector, integrated approach to environmental planning at the local level. In practice, that means urban planners, environmental agencies, and community leaders all working together on development plans. For example, in Koa Hill settlement, Solomon Islands, a community-led development team with support from local groups and university experts led to the successful pilot of nature-inspired disaster risk reduction programmes.

    Therefore, communities should be involved in co-designing solutions, from problem identification to experimenting strategies and evaluating outcomes. After all, residents know the local risks and resources best.

    – Small towns are growing fast across Ghana – but environmental planning isn’t keeping up
    – https://theconversation.com/small-towns-are-growing-fast-across-ghana-but-environmental-planning-isnt-keeping-up-257766

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • Iranian Missile Strikes Kill 10 in Israel as Israeli Warplanes Hit Tehran Oil Depot

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Iran and Israel have entered their deadliest phase of direct conflict yet, with at least 10 people killed in Israeli cities and massive fires reported at an oil depot in Tehran following reciprocal strikes on June 15. This marks the third consecutive day of military exchanges, as both governments vow further action amid a rising humanitarian toll and growing regional instability.

    Devastation in Israeli Cities

    Emergency services in Israel are racing against time to locate seven individuals still trapped beneath rubble. Ongoing rocket fire has hampered rescue operations, even as more than 300 Israelis have been injured since Iran launched its missile barrage on Friday. Hospitals in central and northern Israel are operating at full capacity.

    Air raid sirens wailed throughout the day across Israeli cities as residential areas suffered direct hits. In Bat Yam, six people were killed after an Iranian missile struck an apartment building. Rescue workers sifted through collapsed concrete and twisted metal to reach survivors. In Tamra, near Haifa, four individuals were confirmed dead after a two-story home was destroyed in the attacks.

    The Weizmann Institute of Science, a leading research university located in Rehovot, also sustained damage during the missile onslaught, with several of its facilities reportedly hit.

    Israeli Strikes on Tehran

    In retaliation, Israeli warplanes launched a barrage of airstrikes on key infrastructure in Iran, including a major oil facility in Tehran. The attack sparked massive fires that sent thick plumes of black smoke over the city. The Israeli military dubbed the retaliatory operation “Operation Rising Lion,” targeting Iran’s Defense Ministry headquarters and other nuclear-linked sites.

    Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made his first public appearance since the strikes began, stating, “If Israeli attacks cease, our responses will also stop.”

    Regional Fallout

    Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen claimed responsibility for coordinating their own strikes on Israeli targets, signaling the potential expansion of the conflict into a broader regional confrontation.

    The violence has already disrupted diplomatic processes. Oman confirmed the cancellation of the sixth round of U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations scheduled in Muscat today, citing the “ongoing hostilities” as the reason.

    The Israeli intelligence operation that preceded Iran’s retaliation reportedly led to the deaths of three senior Iranian military commanders and two nuclear scientists—described by analysts as one of the most significant Israeli blows to Iran in years.

    Although no nuclear accidents have been confirmed, international observers have voiced concern over potential radiation and chemical exposure due to strikes on sensitive Iranian sites.

    Escalating Rhetoric and Military Posture

    Both countries have enacted military censorship and closed parts of their respective airspaces. In a stark warning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “Iran has seen only a fraction of what Israel is capable of.” Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have promised a “far more forceful” response should Israeli attacks continue.

  • MIL-Evening Report: Israel’s attacks on Iran are already hurting global oil prices, and the impact is set to worsen

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joaquin Vespignani, Associate Professor of Economics and Finance, University of Tasmania

    The weekend attacks on Iran’s oil facilities – widely seen as part of escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran – represent a dangerous moment for global energy security.

    While the physical damage to Iran’s production facilities is still being assessed, the broader strategic implications are already rippling through global oil markets. There is widespread concern about supply security and the inflationary consequences for both advanced and emerging economies.

    The global impact

    Iran, which holds about 9% of the world’s proven oil reserves, currently exports between 1.5 and 2 million barrels per day, primarily to China, despite long-standing United States sanctions.

    While its oil output is not as globally integrated as that of Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, any disruption to Iranian production or export routes – especially the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil supply flows – poses a systemic risk.

    Markets have already reacted. Brent crude prices rose more than US 6%, while West Texas Intermediate price increased by over US 5% immediately after the attacks.

    These price movements reflect not only short-term supply concerns but also the addition of a geopolitical risk premium due to fears of broader regional conflict.

    International oil prices may increase further as the conflict continues. Analysts expect that Australian petrol prices will increase in the next few weeks, as domestic fuel costs respond to international benchmarks with a lag.

    Escalation and strategic intentions

    There is growing concern this conflict could escalate further. In particular, Israel may intensify its targeting of Iranian oil facilities, as part of a broader strategy to weaken Iran’s economic capacity and deter further proxy activities.

    Should this occur, it would put even more upward pressure on global oil prices. Unlike isolated sabotage events, a sustained campaign against Iranian energy infrastructure would likely lead to tighter global supply conditions. This would be a near certainty if Iranian retaliatory actions disrupt shipping routes or neighbouring producers.

    Countries most affected

    Countries reliant on oil imports – especially in Asia – are the most exposed to such shocks in the short term.

    India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh rely heavily on Middle Eastern oil and are particularly vulnerable to both supply interruptions and price increases. These economies typically have limited strategic petroleum reserves and face external balance pressures when oil prices rise.

    China, despite being Iran’s largest oil customer, has greater insulation due to its diversified suppliers and substantial reserves.

    However, sustained instability in the Persian Gulf would raise freight and insurance costs even for Chinese refiners, especially if the Strait of Hormuz becomes a contested zone. The strait, between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, provides the only sea access from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.

    Australia’s exposure

    Australia does not import oil directly from Iran. Most of its crude and refined products are sourced from countries including South Korea, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

    However, because Australian fuel prices are pegged to international benchmarks such as Brent and Singapore Mogas, domestic prices will rise in response to the global increase in oil prices, regardless of whether Australian refineries process Iranian oil.

    These price increases will have flow-on effects, raising transport and freight costs across the economy. Industries such as agriculture, logistics, aviation and construction will feel the pinch, and higher operating costs are likely to be passed on to consumers.

    Broader economic impacts

    The conflict could also disrupt global shipping routes, particularly if Iran retaliates through its proxies by targeting vessels in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, or Hormuz Strait.

    Any such disruption could drive up shipping insurance, delay delivery times, and compound existing global supply chain vulnerabilities. More broadly, this supply shock could rekindle inflationary pressures in many countries.

    For Australia, it could delay monetary easing by the Reserve Bank of Australia and reduce consumer confidence if household fuel costs rise significantly. Globally, central banks may adopt a more cautious approach to rate cuts if oil-driven inflation proves persistent.

    The attacks on Iran’s oil fields, and the likelihood of further escalation, present a renewed threat to global energy stability. Even though Australia does not import Iranian oil, it remains exposed through price transmission, supply chain effects and inflationary pressures.

    A sustained campaign targeting Iran’s energy infrastructure by Israel could amplify these risks, leading to a broader energy shock that would affect oil-importing economies worldwide.

    Strategic reserve management and diplomatic engagement will be essential to contain the fallout.

    Joaquin Vespignani is affiliated with the Centre for Australian Macroeconomic Analysis, Australian National University.

    – ref. Israel’s attacks on Iran are already hurting global oil prices, and the impact is set to worsen – https://theconversation.com/israels-attacks-on-iran-are-already-hurting-global-oil-prices-and-the-impact-is-set-to-worsen-259013

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: China earmarks 40 mln yuan for provinces’ disaster response as typhoon hits

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

    BEIJING, June 15 — China has earmarked 40 million yuan (about 5.57 million U.S. dollars) from the central government funding to support emergency rescue and disaster relief efforts in Hainan and Guangdong provinces as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Sunday.

    The funding support came as Typhoon Wutip brought heavy rains and caused floods in parts of the southern region, the ministry said in a statement.

    The funds, allocated by the MOF and the Ministry of Emergency Management, will be used for the evacuation and resettlement of affected people, the removal of hazardous objects and risk mitigation, as well as inspections on the risks of secondary disasters, it said.

    Multiple authorities convened on Saturday to put in place precautionary measures against Typhoon Wutip, as the first typhoon of the year made its first landfall on Friday evening in Dongfang City in Hainan. It then made a second landfall around noon on Saturday in Leizhou City, Guangdong, located just north of Hainan.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • Southwest monsoon intensifies, water level rises in key reservoirs in two TN districts

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    The intensification of the southwest monsoon has brought continuous rainfall to the Western Ghats region, leading to a significant rise in the water levels of key reservoirs in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts.

    According to Public Works Department (PWD) officials, sustained showers over the past several days have contributed to increased inflow into the region’s main water bodies, notably the Papanasam, Servalar, and Manimuthar reservoirs.

    The Papanasam reservoir, one of the major sources of irrigation and drinking water in the region, recorded a water level of 126.55 feet as of Saturday. It received an inflow of 2,845.43 cubic feet per second (cusecs), while the outflow was maintained at 1,400 cusecs to meet agricultural and domestic water needs.

    The Servalar reservoir also witnessed a steady rise in water level, reaching 135.17 feet.

    Meanwhile, the Manimuthar reservoir stood at 93.43 feet, with water levels gradually climbing due to persistent monsoon showers. Authorities noted that the ongoing rainfall in the upper catchment areas of the Western Ghats is expected to further elevate water levels in the coming days.

    Officials are closely monitoring inflows and managing reservoir releases to ensure sufficient water availability for irrigation while simultaneously taking precautionary measures to prevent flooding in downstream areas.

    “We are releasing water in a controlled manner to support agricultural activities and drinking water supply, while also ensuring that there is no overflow or threat to low-lying areas,” said a senior PWD engineer overseeing water management in the region.

    Local farmers have welcomed the timely rains, expressing hope for a productive cropping season ahead.

    The increased reservoir levels are also likely to bring relief to communities that have faced water scarcity during the summer months.

    With the southwest monsoon expected to remain active in the region for the next few weeks, the PWD and district administrations remain on alert to manage both water conservation and flood risk mitigation effectively.

    (IANS)

  • Heavy rain to lash Kerala till June 18, IMD issues red alert for five districts

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast widespread heavy to very heavy rainfall across Kerala till June 18, prompting authorities to issue red, orange, and yellow alerts for multiple districts.

    Squally weather conditions are also expected along the state’s coastline, leading to a ban on fishing activities.

    A red alert, indicating extremely heavy rainfall exceeding 20 cm in 24 hours, has been issued for Malappuram and Kozhikode on June 17. The alert is extended to Wayanad, Kannur, and Kasaragod on June 18, as monsoon activity intensifies in the northern districts. The red alert represents the most severe weather warnings, indicating extremely heavy rainfall within 24 hours.

    An orange alert, which signals very heavy rain ranging from 11 to 20 cm, has been announced for Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, and Palakkad on June 16,17.

    The weather department has also issued an orange alert on June 18 in Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur, and Kasaragod.

    Several other districts are under yellow alert, which is issued for expected heavy rainfall between 6 and 11 cm. The IMD has issued a yellow alert for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, and Alappuzha on June 17, while on June 18 yellow alert is issued for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, and Thrissur.

    In addition to rainfall alerts, the IMD has warned of squally weather with wind speeds of 40 to 50 kmph, gusting up to 60 kmph along and off the Kerala coast.

    These conditions are expected to prevail until June 18.

    Fishermen have been strictly advised not to venture into the sea during this period due to the risk of rough sea conditions.

    State disaster management officials have urged residents in vulnerable areas to exercise caution, particularly in hilly regions prone to landslides and flooding.

    Local administrations have been instructed to stay on high alert and prepare for emergency response as needed. The government has also asked the public to stay updated through official weather bulletins and follow safety instructions issued by authorities.

    (IANS)

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Chinese government allocates 40 million yuan to eliminate the consequences of the typhoon

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

    BEIJING, June 15 (Xinhua) — A total of 40 million yuan (about 5.57 million U.S. dollars) has been allocated from the central government’s fund to support emergency rescue and disaster relief efforts in Hainan, Guangdong and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Ministry of Finance said Sunday.

    The financial support is being provided in connection with heavy rains and floods caused by Typhoon Wutip in southern China, according to an official statement.

    The funds, allocated by the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China and the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People’s Republic of China, will be used for the evacuation and accommodation of victims, the identification and elimination of hazardous factors, and the implementation of measures to prevent secondary disasters.

    Typhoon Wutip, the first typhoon of the year, made landfall in Dongfang, Hainan Province, on Friday evening. It made landfall again in Leizhou City, neighboring Guangdong Province, on Saturday afternoon. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Woman killed, 13 wounded in northern Israel after Iranian rocket attack

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

    JERUSALEM, June 15 (Xinhua) — A woman was killed and 13 others were injured on Sunday night after a rocket fired from Iran hit a two-story building in the northern Israeli town of Tamra, Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said.

    The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that rockets were fired from Iran at large areas in northern Israel. Local media reported that more than 40 rockets were involved in the attack.

    After the rockets were launched, people in Haifa, the Galilee salient and other northern parts of the country received warnings on their phones and sirens were activated, forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to seek shelter.

    The IDF said the Israeli Air Force also struck military targets in Tehran while intercepting incoming missiles. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • After day of nationwide protests, Trump’s military parade rolls through D.C.

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    President Donald Trump’s long-sought military parade rolled though the streets of downtown Washington on Saturday, but the celebration of the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary was marred by a day of violence and discord.

    In the hours before the parade began, hundreds of thousands of Americans marched and rallied in streets in cities from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles, protesting Trump’s actions while in office, in the largest such actions since his return to power in January.

    Earlier in the day, a gunman assassinated a Democratic lawmaker and wounded another in Minnesota and remained at large.

    Meanwhile, Israel and Iran exchanged further attacks early on Sunday, stoking fears of a mushrooming conflict between the two nations.

    All of it followed a week of tension in Los Angeles, where protests over federal immigration raids resulted in Trump calling in National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to help keep the peace, over the objections of the state’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.

    The parade, which fell on Trump’s 79th birthday, kicked off earlier than expected with thunderstorms forecast in the Washington area.

    Tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery rumbled down the parade route along storied Constitution Avenue, an unusual sight in the U.S. where such displays of military might are rare.

    “Every other country celebrates their victories, it’s about time America did too,” Trump told the crowd following the parade.

    Thousands of spectators lined up along the route. Trump watched the proceedings from an elevated viewing stand behind bulletproof glass.

    Some of the president’s opponents also managed to find a spot along the parade route, holding signs in protest. Other demonstrators were kept separate from the parade crowd by local police.

    The U.S. Army has brought nearly 7,000 troops into Washington, along with 150 vehicles, including more than 25 M1 Abrams tanks, 28 Stryker armored vehicles, four Paladin self-propelled artillery vehicles, and artillery pieces including the M777 and M119.

    ARMY’S HISTORY

    The parade traced the history of the Army from its founding during the Revolutionary War through modern day. Trump frequently stood and saluted troops as they marched by.

    Members of Trump’s cabinet including Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio looked on.

    Trump had first expressed interest in a military parade in Washington early in his first 2017-2021 term in office.

    In 1991, tanks and thousands of troops paraded through Washington to celebrate the ousting of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait in the Gulf War.

    The celebrations were expected to cost the U.S. Army between $25 million and $45 million, U.S. officials have told Reuters. That includes the parade itself as well as the cost of moving equipment and housing and feeding the troops.

    Critics have called the parade an authoritarian display of power that is wasteful, especially given Trump has said he wants to slash costs throughout the federal government.

    Bryan Henrie, a Trump supporter, flew in from Texas to celebrate the Army’s anniversary and did not see any issues with tanks rolling down the streets of Washington.

    “I don’t see a controversy. I will celebrate safety and stability any day over anarchy,” 61-year-old Henrie said.

    ‘SHAME! SHAME!’

    Earlier in the day, thousands marched in Washington and other cities in protest of Trump’s policies. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, and marked the largest outpouring of opposition to Trump’s presidency since he returned to power in January.

    In Los Angeles, however, the situation remained tense. About an hour before a downtown curfew, police officers mounted on horses were aggressively pushing back demonstrators, using gas, flash bangs and other less lethal munitions, causing large groups to panic and flee.

    Protesters were firing what police called commercial-grade fireworks against officers, along with rocks and bottles. Some demonstrators wore gas masks and helmets and vowed to stay in the area for many more hours.

    A crowd earlier had confronted soldiers guarding a federal building, yelling “Shame! Shame!” and “Marines, get out of LA!”

    Anti-Trump groups planned nearly 2,000 demonstrations across the country to coincide with the parade. Many took place under the theme “No Kings,” asserting that no individual is above the law.

    Thousands of people of all ages turned out in and around Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan, many carrying homemade signs that played off the “No Kings” theme. “No crown for a clown,” said one. Actor Mark Ruffalo was among the demonstrators, wearing a hat that read “immigrant.”

    “We’re seeing dehumanizing language towards LGBT people, towards people with autism, towards people with other disabilities, racial minorities, undocumented people,” said Cooper Smith, 20, from upstate New York. “Somebody’s got to show that most Americans are against this.”

    Protesters in downtown Chicago stood off against police on Saturday, with some waving upside-down American flags and chanting: “Who do you protect? Who do you serve?” and “No justice, no peace.”

    Members of the far-right Proud Boys, ardent Trump supporters, appeared at an Atlanta “No Kings” protest, wearing the group’s distinctive black and yellow colors.

    About 400 protesters, organized by a group called RefuseFascism.org, marched through Washington and gathered for a rally in a park opposite the White House. Trump had warned people against protesting at the parade itself, saying that “they’re going to be met with very big force.”

    Sunsara Taylor, a founder of RefuseFascism, told the crowd, “Today we refuse to accept Donald Trump unleashing the military against the people of this country and in the streets of this country. We say, ‘Hell no.’”

    (Reuters)

  • Israel and Iran strike at each other in new wave of attacks

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, stoking fears of a wider conflict after Israel expanded its surprise campaign against its main rival with a strike on the world’s biggest gas field.

    Tehran called off nuclear talks that Washington had said were the only way to halt Israel’s bombing, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks were nothing compared with what Iran would see in the coming days.

    The latest wave of Iranian attacks began shortly after 11:00 p.m. on Saturday (2000 GMT), when air raid sirens blared in Jerusalem and Haifa, sending around a million people into bomb shelters.

    Around 2:30 a.m. local time (2330 GMT Saturday), the Israeli military warned of another incoming missile barrage and urged residents to seek shelter. Explosions echoed through Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as missiles streaked across the skies as interceptor rockets were launched in response. The military lifted its shelter-in-place advisory nearly an hour after issuing the warning.

    The ambulance service said at least seven people were killed overnight, including a 10-year-old boy and a woman in her 20s, and more than 140 injured in multiple attacks.

    Search and rescue worked combed through the rubble of residential buildings destroyed in multiple strikes, using flashlights and dogs to look for survivors.

    Israeli media said at least 35 people were missing after a strike hit Bat Yam, a city south of Tel Aviv. A spokesperson for the emergency services said a missile hit an 8-storey building there and while many people were rescued, there were fatalities.

    It was unclear how many buildings were hit overnight.

    So far, at least nine people in Israel have been killed and over 300 others injured since Iran launched its retaliatory attacks on Friday.

    Iran has said 78 people were killed there on the first day of Israel’s campaign, and scores more on the second, including 60 when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Tehran, where 29 of the dead were children.

    The Shahran oil depot in Tehran was targeted in an Israeli attack, Iran said, but added the situation was under control. A fire had erupted after an Israeli attack on an oil refinery near the capital while Israeli strikes also targeted Iran’s defence ministry building, causing minor damage, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Sunday.

    U.S. President Donald Trump had warned Iran of worse to come, but said it was not too late to halt the Israeli campaign if Tehran accepted a sharp downgrading of its nuclear programme.

    A round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks that was due to be held in Oman on Sunday was cancelled, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi saying the discussions could not take place while Iran was being subjected to Israel’s “barbarous” attacks.

    GAS FIELD ATTACK

    In the first apparent attack to hit Iran’s energy infrastructure, Tasnim news agency said Iran partially suspended production at South Pars, the world’s biggest gas field, after an Israeli strike caused a fire there on Saturday.

    The South Pars field, offshore in Iran’s southern Bushehr province, is the source of most of the gas produced in Iran.

    Fears about potential disruption to the region’s oil exports had already driven up oil prices 9% on Friday even though Israel spared Iran’s oil and gas on the first day of its attacks.

    An Iranian general, Esmail Kosari, said on Saturday that Tehran was reviewing whether to close the Strait of Hormuz controlling access to the Gulf for tankers.

    With Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and Netanyahu urging Iran’s people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers.

    B’Tselem, a leading Israeli human rights organization, said on Saturday that instead of exhausting all possibilities for a diplomatic resolution, Israel’s government had chosen to start a war that puts the entire region in danger.

    Tehran has warned Israel’s allies that their military bases in the region would come under fire too if they helped shoot down Iranian missiles.

    However, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon last year have decimated Tehran’s strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, reducing its options for retaliation.

    Israel sees Iran’s nuclear programme as a threat to its existence, and said the bombardment was designed to avert the last steps to production of a nuclear weapon.

    Tehran insists the programme is entirely civilian and that it does not seek an atomic bomb. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, however, reported Iran this week as violating obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty.

    (Reuters)

  • Delhi: Rain brings relief from heatwave; IMD forecasts thunderstorm, strong winds

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    After a prolonged spell of scorching temperatures for several days, people in the national capital received a gradual respite from heatwave conditions on Sunday, as several parts of the city experienced light rainfall, thunderstorm and strong winds.

    The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted a severe thunderstorm and strong winds for the city, advising residents in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) to stay indoors.

    According to the IMD, “Moderate to intense spell of rainfall with thunderstorms and lightning, and squally winds reaching speeds of 80-100 kmph” swept through the capital during the early Sunday hours.

    Two thunder squalls along with hailstorm activity were recorded at Safdarjung between 0348 to 0350 hrs IST and 0358 to 0400 hrs IST.

    The first squall saw gusty winds reaching 82 kmph, while the second saw a peak wind speed of 104 kmph, said the IMD.

    The weather department urged residents to take precautions.

    “Stay indoors and avoid travel unless necessary,” the IMD advisory said, as flying debris and low visibility posed risks on the roads.

    The Safdarjung observatory, Delhi’s official weather station, recorded a maximum temperature of 41.2 degrees Celsius on Friday – a dip of 2.7 degrees from Thursday, but still 1.3 degrees Celsius above normal. The minimum temperature remained high at 31.0 degrees Celsius, marking a departure of 3 degrees Celsius from the seasonal average. Humidity levels oscillated between 51 per cent and 69 per cent, making conditions hot and uncomfortable throughout the day.

    According to IMD officials, the national capital is set to witness generally cloudy skies with very light to moderate rainfall, thunderstorms, dust storms, and lightning till June 19. Gusty winds are also expected during thunderstorms.

    This comes after a red alert – a severe warning – was issued for Delhi, as the capital experienced extreme heatwave conditions. Daytime temperatures climbed to between 41°C and 45°C, while the minimum temperature reached 31°C, marking a rise of four degrees above the seasonal average.

    The weather department has predicted partly cloudy skies with a chance of a thunderstorm and rain early Sunday morning, potentially bringing some relief from the intense heat.

    The IMD, in its extended range forecast, has said that the southwest monsoon is likely to advance over the remaining parts of central and eastern India, along with some areas in northwest India, between June 12 and 18. It is further expected to reach most parts of northwest India, including Delhi, between June 19 and 25.

    The normal date for the monsoon to arrive in Delhi is around June 30.

    This year, it arrived in Kerala on May 24 – well ahead of the usual onset date of 1 June – and reached Mumbai by May 26, which is 16 days earlier than normal.

    According to IMD data, the monsoon reached Delhi on June 28 last year, and on June 26 in 2023.

    In previous years, it arrived on June 30 (2022), July 13 (2021), and June 25 (2020).

    After a nearly 10-day pause, the monsoon has picked up pace again, especially over southern India.

    Since Wednesday, several parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Konkan, and Maharashtra have been receiving heavy to very heavy rainfall. This renewed activity marks a strong push northwards, indicating rapid progress of the monsoon across the country.

    The IMD has also said the second phase of the monsoon is expected to spread across eastern India, bringing rainfall to West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, and eastern Uttar Pradesh within the next week.

    (With inputs from IANS)

  • Delhi: Rain brings relief from heatwave; IMD forecasts thunderstorm, strong winds

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    After a prolonged spell of scorching temperatures for several days, people in the national capital received a gradual respite from heatwave conditions on Sunday, as several parts of the city experienced light rainfall, thunderstorm and strong winds.

    The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted a severe thunderstorm and strong winds for the city, advising residents in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) to stay indoors.

    According to the IMD, “Moderate to intense spell of rainfall with thunderstorms and lightning, and squally winds reaching speeds of 80-100 kmph” swept through the capital during the early Sunday hours.

    Two thunder squalls along with hailstorm activity were recorded at Safdarjung between 0348 to 0350 hrs IST and 0358 to 0400 hrs IST.

    The first squall saw gusty winds reaching 82 kmph, while the second saw a peak wind speed of 104 kmph, said the IMD.

    The weather department urged residents to take precautions.

    “Stay indoors and avoid travel unless necessary,” the IMD advisory said, as flying debris and low visibility posed risks on the roads.

    The Safdarjung observatory, Delhi’s official weather station, recorded a maximum temperature of 41.2 degrees Celsius on Friday – a dip of 2.7 degrees from Thursday, but still 1.3 degrees Celsius above normal. The minimum temperature remained high at 31.0 degrees Celsius, marking a departure of 3 degrees Celsius from the seasonal average. Humidity levels oscillated between 51 per cent and 69 per cent, making conditions hot and uncomfortable throughout the day.

    According to IMD officials, the national capital is set to witness generally cloudy skies with very light to moderate rainfall, thunderstorms, dust storms, and lightning till June 19. Gusty winds are also expected during thunderstorms.

    This comes after a red alert – a severe warning – was issued for Delhi, as the capital experienced extreme heatwave conditions. Daytime temperatures climbed to between 41°C and 45°C, while the minimum temperature reached 31°C, marking a rise of four degrees above the seasonal average.

    The weather department has predicted partly cloudy skies with a chance of a thunderstorm and rain early Sunday morning, potentially bringing some relief from the intense heat.

    The IMD, in its extended range forecast, has said that the southwest monsoon is likely to advance over the remaining parts of central and eastern India, along with some areas in northwest India, between June 12 and 18. It is further expected to reach most parts of northwest India, including Delhi, between June 19 and 25.

    The normal date for the monsoon to arrive in Delhi is around June 30.

    This year, it arrived in Kerala on May 24 – well ahead of the usual onset date of 1 June – and reached Mumbai by May 26, which is 16 days earlier than normal.

    According to IMD data, the monsoon reached Delhi on June 28 last year, and on June 26 in 2023.

    In previous years, it arrived on June 30 (2022), July 13 (2021), and June 25 (2020).

    After a nearly 10-day pause, the monsoon has picked up pace again, especially over southern India.

    Since Wednesday, several parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Konkan, and Maharashtra have been receiving heavy to very heavy rainfall. This renewed activity marks a strong push northwards, indicating rapid progress of the monsoon across the country.

    The IMD has also said the second phase of the monsoon is expected to spread across eastern India, bringing rainfall to West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, and eastern Uttar Pradesh within the next week.

    (With inputs from IANS)

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Matariki mā Puanga

    Source: NZ Department of Conservation

    With all eyes on the stars, what are people looking at and why? Let’s introduce the stars of Matariki and Puanga.

    Matariki and Puanga are stars that sit in the night sky together to signal the start of the Māori new year for different iwi.

    📷: Fraser Gunn 

    The pre-dawn rising of Matariki, the cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades, marks for many Māori the arrival of The New Year.

    Puanga is a single star. It’s not part of the Matariki cluster but appears in the evening sky shortly before Matariki rises each year. Puanga rises higher in the sky than Matariki so it’s recognised by iwi and hapū that can’t see Matariki from their location. 

    This year’s theme of Matariki mā Puanga also highlights communities who observe Puanga astronomical traditions and is all about celebrating and learning about the Māori new year together.  

    This is a time to slow down and reflect, come together with family and friends, to feast and remember our loved ones who have passed. It is also a time to plan, look forward to the future, and, most importantly, connect with nature.

    Traditionally tohunga would look to the stars and use Matariki and Puanga as an indicator to predict things such as the upcoming year’s harvest and weather. For example, if Tupuānuku was shining bright, this could indicate a plentiful harvest of kumara or crops from the māra kai (food gardens) in the upcoming season, but if Waipunarangi was difficult to see and hazy a wet and rainy season was to be expected.

    The nine stars of Matariki, are each intrinsically connected to the natural world around us:

    Matariki is the star that signifies reflection, hope, our connection to the environment and the gathering of people.

    Matariki is also the Mother of the other stars in the cluster.

    Pōhutukawa is the star connected with the dead, particularly those who have passed since the last rising of Matariki.

    Tupuānuku is the star connected with food that grows in or on the ground. ‘Tupu’ means to grow, whilst ‘nuku’ is short for ‘Papatuanuku,’ meaning earth. When Matariki sets in May, the food stores are full from the harvest, ready for winter.

    Tupuārangi is the star connected with food from above or in the sky. During the rising of Matariki, kererū are at their fattest. Traditionally they were harvested, cooked, preserved and stored as another food source.

    Waitī is the star connected to fresh water and the creatures that live in our rivers, lakes and streams. The rising of Matariki signals the migration of the korokoro or lamprey. This eel-like creature held special significance to Māori as another essential food source.

    Waitā is the star connected to the ocean and the many foods gathered from the sea. Waitā is also closely linked to the tides and floodwaters.

    Waipunarangi is the star connected to the rain, and its name means “water that pools in the sky.”

    Ururangi is the star connected to winds, and its name means “the winds of the sky.”

    Hiwa-i-te-rangi is the star connected to the promise of a prosperous season. It is also known as the wishing star and would be used to set intentions with people sending Hiwa-i-te-rangi their hopes and dreams for the year ahead.

    Read more on Matariki here.

    Puanga would often be connected to food and the harvest. If the star was low down and dim in the nightsky then the coming year would be a year of abundance. If the star was bright and high in the sky then it would be a bad year for crops.

    The best time to view the rise of Matariki this year is between 19 June – 22 June before sunrise. Watch below for tips on spotting Matariki by using identifiable stars as markers.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Employers and employees should make prior work arrangements in times of tropical cyclones and rainstorms

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    Employers and employees should make prior work arrangements in times of tropical cyclones and rainstorms 
         “In drawing up and implementing the work arrangements and contingency measures 
         To avoid misunderstandings, disputes and confusion, employers should consult and engage employees when drawing up the arrangements and make appropriate updates or amendments based on the experience of each occasion and the needs of both employers and employees, as well as the actual situations. The work arrangements should cover the following matters:
     
    * arrangements in respect of reporting for duty;
    * arrangements in respect of early release from work;
    * arrangements in respect of resumption of work (e.g. the number of hours within which employees should resume duty after the warning concerned is cancelled or when the extreme conditions come to an end, and when safety and traffic conditions allow);
    * arrangements in respect of remote work such as work from home (if applicable) (e.g. duty and work arrangements during and after tropical cyclone warnings, rainstorm warnings or extreme conditions);
    * arrangements regarding working hours, wages and allowances (e.g. calculation of wages and allowances in respect of reporting for duty and absence); and
    * special arrangements in respect of staff required to report for duty in times of adverse weather and extreme conditions.
     
         “Employers should conduct a timely and realistic assessment of whether there is any need for requiring staff to report for duty     at workplaces    
         When a Pre-No. 8 Special Announcement is issued during working hours, within two hours before the Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8 is expected to take effect, employers should release employees from workplaces or from work in stages or arrange for them to work remotely according to the agreed work arrangements. To ensure the safety of employees and to enable them to arrive home before suspension of public transport services, employees who have mobility problems (for example, pregnant employees or those with a disability), employees who rely on transport services which are prone to being affected by adverse weather conditions (for example, ferry services) to get home, and those who work in or are living in remote areas (for example, outlying islands) should be given priority to leave. Other employees should be released from workplaces or from work in stages according to their travelling distance or the time required for returning home.
     
    If an Amber, Red or Black Rainstorm Warning Signal is issued during working hours, employees working indoors should continue to work as usual unless it is dangerous to do so. Supervisors of employees working outdoors or in exposed areas should suspend outdoor duties as soon as practicable. They should arrange for their employees to take shelter temporarily and resume duty only when weather conditions permit. If the Black Rainstorm Warning Signal is still in force by the end of working hours, employees should stay in a safe place until the heavy rain has passed. A suitable area in the workplace should be made available by employers as temporary shelter for employees.
       
    If it is necessary for employees to report for duty at workplaces under adverse weather or extreme conditions, employers should discuss and agree with them in advance on the duty arrangements and contingency measures. If public transport services are suspended or limited when Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8 (T8) or higher, Black Rainstorm Warning Signal or extreme conditions are in force, employers should provide safe transport services for employees travelling to and from workplaces, or grant them an extra travelling allowance.
     
    The spokesman also reminded employers to observe the statutory liabilities and requirements under the Employment Ordinance, Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance, Employees’ Compensation Ordinance and Minimum Wage Ordinance.
     
        “As natural calamities cannot be avoided, for employees who are not able to report for duty or resume work on time due to adverse weather or extreme conditions, employers should neither deduct their wages, good attendance bonuses or allowances, nor reduce employees’ entitlement to annual leave, statutory holidays or rest days under the Employment Ordinance, or ask for additional hours of work from employees to compensate for the loss of working hours when they are unable to report for duty,” he said.
     
    Employers should note that they have an obligation to provide and maintain a safe working environment for their employees under the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance. If employees are required to work in times of tropical cyclone warnings, rainstorm warnings or extreme conditions, employers should ensure that the risks at work are reduced as far as reasonably practicable. Moreover, under the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance, employers are liable to pay compensation for injuries or deaths incurred when employees are travelling by a direct route from their residence to their workplace, or from their workplace back to their residence after work, four hours before or after working hours on a day when there is a T8 signal or higher, a Red or Black Rainstorm Warning Signal or extreme conditions are in force.
     
         The LD has published the “Code of Practice in Times of Adverse Weather and ‘Extreme Conditions’”, which provides the major principles, reference guidelines and information on relevant legislation on making work arrangements for the reference of employers and employees. The booklet can be obtained from branch offices of the Labour Relations Division or downloaded from the department’s webpage (    www.labour.gov.hk/eng/public/wcp/Rainstorm.pdfIssued at HKT 12:20

    NNNN

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: SBA Offers Disaster Relief to Florida Small Businesses and Private Nonprofits Affected by May Drought

    Source: United States Small Business Administration

    ATLANTA – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the availability of low interest federal disaster loans to small businesses and private nonprofit (PNP) organizations in Florida who sustained economic losses caused by the drought beginning May 6. 

    The disaster declaration covers the counties of Charlotte, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Martin, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, St. Lucie and Sumter. 

    Under this declaration, the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program is available to eligible small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, nurseries, and PNPs with financial losses directly related to this disaster. The SBA is unable to provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers, or ranchers, except for aquaculture enterprises. 

    EIDLs are available for working capital needs caused by the disaster and are available even if the small business or PNP did not suffer any physical damage. The loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills not paid due to the disaster. 

    “Through a declaration by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, SBA provides critical financial assistance to help communities recover,” said Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA. “We’re pleased to offer loans to small businesses and private nonprofits impacted by these disasters.”  

    The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates as low as 4% for small businesses and 3.62% for PNPs, with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not accrue, and payments are not due until 12 months from the date of the first loan disbursement. The SBA sets loan amounts and terms based on each applicant’s financial condition. 

    To apply online visit sba.gov/disaster. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services. 

    The deadline to return economic injury applications is Feb. 2, 2026. 

    ### 

    About the U.S. Small Business Administration 

    The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: SBA Opens Disaster Loan Outreach Centers in Several Michigan Counties

    Source: United States Small Business Administration

    ATLANTA – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the opening of Disaster Loan Outreach Centers (DLOCs) in Charlevoix, Emmet, Otsego and Presque Isle counties to assist small businesses, private nonprofits and residents affected by the severe winter storms occurring March 28-30.

    Beginning Monday, June 16, SBA customer service representatives will be on hand at the Disaster Loan Outreach Centers to answer questions about SBA’s disaster loan program, explain the application process and help individuals complete their application. Walk-ins are accepted, but you can schedule an in-person appointment in advance at appointment.sba.gov.

    The DLOCs hours of operation are listed below:

    Disaster Loan Outreach Center (DLOC)

    Charlevoix County

    Charlevoix County Sheriff’s office

    1000 Grant Street

    Charlevoix, MI 49720

    Opening:     Monday, June 16, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

    Hours:    Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

                     Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 
    Closed:         Sunday

    Closed: Thursday, June 19 in Observance of the Juneteenth Holiday

    Permanently Closing: Saturday, June 21 at 2 p.m.

    Disaster Loan Outreach Center (DLOC)

    Emmet County  

    Little Traverse Township

    8288 S. Pleasantview Road    

    Harbor Springs, MI 49740

    Opening:     Monday, June 16, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

    Hours:    Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

                     Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 
    Closed:         Sunday

    Closed: Thursday, June 19 in Observance of the Juneteenth Holiday

    Permanently Closing: Saturday, June 28 at 2 p.m.

    Disaster Loan Outreach Center (DLOC)

    Otsego County

    United Way of Otsego County

    116 E. 5th Street

    Gaylord, MI 49735

    Opening:     Monday, June 16, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

    Hours:    Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

                     Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 
    Closed:         Sunday

    Closed: Thursday, June 19 in Observance of the Juneteenth Holiday

    Permanently Closing: Saturday, June 28 at 2 p.m.

    Disaster Loan Outreach Center (DLOC)

    Presque Isle County

    Huron State Bank Annex Building

    192 N. 2nd Street

    Rogers City, MI 49779

    Opening:     Monday, June 16, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

    Hours:    Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

                     Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 
    Closed:         Sunday

    Closed: Thursday, June 19 in Observance of the Juneteenth Holiday

    Permanently Closing: Saturday, June 21 at 2 p.m.

    “When disasters strike, SBA’s Disaster Loan Outreach Centers play a vital role in helping small businesses and their communities recover,” said Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA. “At these centers, SBA specialists assist business owners and residents with disaster loan applications and provide information on the full range of recovery programs available.”

    Disaster survivors should not wait to settle with their insurance company before applying for a disaster loan. If a survivor does not know how much of their loss will be covered by insurance or other sources, SBA can make a low-interest disaster loan for the total loss up to its loan limits, provided the borrower agrees to use insurance proceeds to reduce or repay the loan.

    To apply online, visit sba.gov/disaster. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

    The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is Aug. 8, 2025. The deadline to return economic injury applications is Mar. 9, 2026.

    ###

    About the U.S. Small Business Administration

    The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/MYANMAR – Appeal from the Diocese of Myitkyina: humanitarian aid for displaced persons

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Myitkyina (Agenzia Fides) – In Myanmar, the urgency of humanitarian assistance and aid to internally displaced persons is worsening day after day, driven by the ongoing civil conflict and recent natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. The Catholic Diocese of Myitkyina, in Kachin State – an area affected by ancient conflicts between the central government and ethnic minorities – had already created the “Diocesan Relief Team” in 2011 to better organize aid and provide assistance to refugees.”Today it is necessary to increase efforts. We ask volunteers and workers to join our work. Brothers and sisters, we ask you to donate according to your means to help the internally displaced and the victims,” urges Father Don Bosco Nlam Hkun Seng, secretary of the diocese and an active member of the humanitarian team, in a message sent to Fides.In Kachin State, low-intensity warfare had already been recorded since 2011 and since then thousands of refugees have gone through great difficulties. “Associations, local communities and NGOs have contributed to their sustenance for a long time”, the priest recalls.“Today, after four years of civil conflict since the military coup in 2021, people are exhausted. The constant flow of newly displaced people puts even more pressure on already limited local capacities. Humanitarian organizations and donors are working tirelessly, but it is not enough,” the priest explains.In Myanmar, especially in regions governed by ethnic minorities, humanitarian aid arrives primarily thanks to the commitment of religious communities. “It is only thanks to the work of associations and organizations like the Catholic Church that the basic needs of citizens can be met,” emphasizes Fr. Bosco Nlam Hkun Seng.The Diocese of Myitkyina has welcomed thousands of displaced people, regardless of their faith, in camps organized by parishes. Through priests and religious, they are provided with material assistance and spiritual comfort. “Humanitarian work continues. But we need more help,” insists the priest, who also expresses his hope that international organizations can intervene with resources and skills to respond more effectively to this humanitarian emergency. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 14/6/2025)
    Share:

    MIL OSI Europe News –