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  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addresses Republic Plenary Summit 2025

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addresses Republic Plenary Summit 2025

    India’s achievements and successes have sparked a new wave of hope across the globe: PM

    India is driving global growth today: PM

    Today’s India thinks big, sets ambitious targets and delivers remarkable results: PM

    We launched the SVAMITVA Scheme to grant property rights to rural households in India: PM

    Youth is the X-Factor of today’s India, where X stands for Experimentation, Excellence, and Expansion: PM

    In the past decade, we have transformed impact-less administration into impactful governance: PM

    Earlier, construction of houses was government-driven, but we have transformed it into an owner-driven approach: PM

    Posted On: 06 MAR 2025 10:08PM by PIB Delhi

    The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi participated in the Republic Plenary Summit 2025 in the Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi today. Addressing the gathering, he congratulated Republic TV for its innovative approach for involving youth at the grassroots level and organizing a significant hackathon competition. He remarked that when the nation’s youth get involved in the national discourse, it brings novelty to ideas and fills the entire environment with their energy. He emphasized that this energy was being felt at the summit. He further stated that the involvement of youth helps break all barriers and go beyond boundaries, making every goal achievable and every destination reachable. He appreciated Republic TV for working on a new concept for this summit and extended his best wishes for its success. Shri Modi reiterated his idea of bringing one lakh youth without any political background to the politics of India

    “World is now recognizing this century as India’s century and India’s achievements and successes have sparked new hope globally”, highlighted Shri Modi. He stated that India, once perceived as a nation that would sink itself and others, is now driving global growth. He added that the direction of India’s future is evident from the work and accomplishments of today, pointing out that even 65 years after independence, India was the world’s eleventh-largest economy. However, in the past decade, India has become the fifth-largest economy and is now rapidly moving towards becoming the third-largest economy in the world. 

    Recalling the situation 18 years ago, in 2007, when India’s annual GDP reached US $1 trillion, the Prime Minister highlighted that back then, the economic activity in India for an entire year was US $1 trillion. He added that today, the same amount of economic activity is happening in just one quarter, which demonstrates the rapid pace at which India is progressing. He provided examples to show the significant changes and results achieved in the past decade, highlighting that in the last 10 years, India has successfully lifted 25 crore people out of poverty, a number greater than the population of many countries. Shri Modi also reminded the audience of the time when only 15 paise out of one rupee sent by the government reached the poor, with 85 paise lost to corruption. In contrast, over the past decade, more than ₹42 lakh crore have been transferred directly to the accounts of the poor through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), ensuring that the entire amount reaches the beneficiaries.

    Underlining that 10 years ago, India lagged behind in solar energy, the Prime Minister remarked, “today, India is among the top 5 countries in solar energy capacity, having increased it 30 times, while solar module manufacturing has also seen a 30-fold increase”. He also stated that 10 years ago, even children’s toys like Holi water guns were imported, while today, India’s toy exports have tripled. He also pointed out that 10 years ago, India imported rifles for its army, but in the past decade, India’s defense exports have increased 20 times.

    Prime Minister further highlighted that in the past 10 years, India has become the world’s second-largest steel producer, the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer, and the third-largest startup ecosystem. He remarked that in the same period, India’s capital expenditure on infrastructure has increased fivefold and the number of airports in the country has doubled, and the number of operational AIIMS has tripled. He further emphasized that in the past decade, the number of medical colleges and medical seats has nearly doubled.

    “Today’s India thinks big, sets ambitious targets, and achieves significant results”, emphasised the Prime Minister, remarking that this is happening because the nation’s mindset has changed, and India is moving forward with great aspirations. He highlighted that previously, the mindset was to accept the status quo, but now, people know who can deliver results. He cited examples of how the aspirations of the people have evolved, from requesting drought relief work to demanding Vande Bharat connectivity and international airports. He pointed out that the previous dispensations had crushed the aspirations of the people, leading them to lower their expectations. However, today, the situation and mindset have changed rapidly, and people are now driven by the goal of a Viksit Bharat. 

    Underscoring that the strength of any society or nation increases when barriers and obstacles are removed for its citizens, Shri Modi said that this enhances the capabilities of the citizens, making even the sky seem small. He pointed out that the Government is continuously removing the obstacles placed by previous administrations and cited the example of the space sector, where earlier everything was under ISRO’s purview. While ISRO did commendable work, the potential of space science and entrepreneurship in the country was not fully utilized. He remarked that the space sector has now been opened up for young innovators, resulting in the creation of over 250 space startups in the country. These startups are now developing rockets like Vikram-S and Agnibaan, he added. The Prime Minister also mentioned the mapping sector, where previously government permission was required to create maps in India. This restriction has been removed, and today, geospatial mapping data is paving the way for new startups. Pointing out that the nuclear energy sector was previously under government control with various restrictions, the Prime Minister said that this year’s budget has announced the opening of this sector to the private sector, paving the way for adding 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy capacity by 2047. 

    Prime Minister emphasized that there was over ₹100 lakh crore of untapped economic potential in India’s villages and that this potential was present in the form of houses in villages, which lacked legal documents and proper mapping, preventing villagers from availing bank loans. He pointed out that this issue is not unique to India, as many large countries also lack property rights for their citizens. International organizations state that countries providing property rights to their citizens see a significant boost in GDP, he added. “The Swamitva Scheme has been launched to provide property rights for village houses in India and drones are being used to survey and map each house in villages”, remarked the Prime Minister, emphasising that property cards are being distributed across the country, with over 2 crore property cards already issued. He pointed out that the lack of property cards previously led to numerous disputes and court cases in villages, which have now been resolved. He further stated that villagers are now able to obtain bank loans using these property cards, enabling them to start businesses and pursue self-employment.

    Adding that the biggest beneficiaries of the examples he provided were the youth of the country, Shri Modi said, “youth are the largest stakeholders in a Viksit Bharat and the X-Factor of today’s India, where X stands for Experimentation, Excellence, and Expansion”. He explained that the youth have created new paths by moving beyond old methods, set global benchmarks, and scaled up innovations for 140 crore Indians. He pointed out that the youth could provide solutions to the country’s major problems, but this potential was not utilized earlier. The Prime Minister mentioned that the government now organizes the Smart India Hackathon every year, with 10 lakh youth participating so far. He remarked that various ministries and departments have presented numerous problem statements related to governance to these young participants, who have developed around 2,500 solutions. He expressed his happiness that the hackathon culture was being promoted further by Republic TV too. 

    “In the past decade, the country has experienced new-age governance, transforming impact-less administration into impactful governance”, stated the Prime Minister. He added that people often say they are benefiting from government schemes for the first time, even though these schemes existed before. The difference now is the ensured last-mile delivery, he said. Emphasising that previously, houses for the poor were sanctioned on paper, but now, houses are being built on the ground, Shri Modi remarked that the entire process of house construction was government-driven, deciding the design and materials. However, the government has now made it owner-driven, transferring money to the beneficiary’s account, allowing them to decide the house’s design, he mentioned. The Prime Minister said that competitions were held across the country for house designs, involving public participation, which improved the quality and speed of house construction. He highlighted that earlier, incomplete houses were handed over, but now, the government is providing dream homes for the poor, complete with water connections, gas connections under the Ujjwala scheme, and electricity connections under the Saubhagya scheme. “We have not just built four walls but have brought life to these homes”, he added.

    Stressing the importance of national security for a country’s development, the Prime Minister underlined the significant work done in the past decade to enhance security. He recalled that earlier, serial bomb blast breaking news and special programs on sleeper cell networks were common on TV, but today, such incidents are absent from both TV screens and Indian soil. He remarked that Naxalism is now on its last breath, with the number of affected districts reduced from over a hundred to less than two dozen. This was achieved by working with a “nation first” spirit and bringing governance to the grassroots level in these areas, he added. Shri Modi highlighted the construction of thousands of kilometers of roads, schools, hospitals, and the reach of 4G mobile networks in these districts and the results are evident for all to see.

    Shri Modi highlighted that decisive government actions have cleared Naxalism from the jungles, but it is now spreading to urban centers. He remarked that Urban Naxals have rapidly infiltrated political parties that were once opposed to them and inspired by Gandhian ideology, rooted in India’s heritage. He said that the voices and language of Urban Naxals are now heard within these political parties, indicating their deep-rooted presence, and warned that Urban Naxals are staunch opponents of India’s development and heritage. He acknowledged Shri Arnab Goswami’s efforts in exposing Urban Naxals and stressed that both development and strengthening heritage are essential for a developed India, urging caution against Urban Naxals.

    “Today’s India is reaching new heights by facing every challenge”, said Shri Modi, expressing confidence that the Republic TV network will continue to elevate journalism with a “nation first” spirit. He concluded by saying that Republic TV’s journalism will continue to catalyze the aspirations of a developed India. 

     

     

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    MJPS/SR

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    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: WA, RI attorneys general condemn Bondi’s threats to undermine American justice

    Source: Washington State News

    OLYMPIA — Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha released the following statement in response to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s character attacks on prosecutors and illegal threats to fire them for their political beliefs. Brown and Neronha are both former U.S. Attorneys who worked for the U.S. Department of Justice that Bondi now oversees.

    “Not only is firing someone for their political beliefs blatantly illegal, it is deeply un-American. As former DOJ attorneys, we both worked with qualified individuals of integrity, honesty and transparency, some of whom held political beliefs different from our own. An ideological purge of the Justice Department directly undermines the diversity of opinion and expertise that helps promote justice consistently across presidential administrations.

    “President Trump spent his campaign openly threatening to weaponize the Justice Department; an institution that we were proud to work for. Attorney General Bondi’s intent to ‘find’ and ‘root out’ DOJ employees whose personal views don’t align with the president’s make plain that she is willing to dismantle American principles of justice to satisfy a lawless president. Those of us who still believe in the rule of law, at every leadership level, must come together to protect the Constitution, because it is abundantly clear that this administration seeks to disregard it.”

    -30-

    Washington’s Attorney General serves the people and the state of Washington. As the state’s largest law firm, the Attorney General’s Office provides legal representation to every state agency, board, and commission in Washington. Additionally, the Office serves the people directly by enforcing consumer protection, civil rights, and environmental protection laws. The Office also prosecutes elder abuse, Medicaid fraud, and handles sexually violent predator cases in 38 of Washington’s 39 counties. Visit www.atg.wa.gov to learn more.

    Media Contact:

    Email: press@atg.wa.gov

    Phone: (360) 753-2727

    General contacts: Click here

    Media Resource Guide & Attorney General’s Office FAQ

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ‘Orgasms are a marvellous happiness’. Shere Hite gave voice to female sexuality in a landmark book – but the backlash was fierce

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Camilla Nelson, Associate Professor in Media and Journalism, University of Notre Dame Australia

    Owen Franken/Corbis via Getty Images

    In our feminist classics series we revisit influential works.

    Shere Hite’s The Hite Report was quickly dubbed a “sexual revolution in 600 pages”. It did something nobody had considered worth doing: investigating women’s sexuality by asking them to share their thoughts and feelings, then relaying those reflections to readers in women’s own words.

    This might not sound unusual today. But in 1976, it was incendiary.

    Based on a survey of 3,000 women distributed by the New York Chapter of the National Organisation for Women (the feminist group co-founded by Betty Friedan), more than 75% of the book comprises narrative responses to open ended survey questions.

    It includes a plethora of startlingly frank – for its time – and explicitly detailed opinions, anecdotes, complaints and criticisms about sex, masturbation and orgasm. The book is an extraordinarily rich cultural artefact in the archive of human intimacy.

    Unsurprisingly, the women who responded to Hite’s survey thoroughly enjoyed sex. “Orgasm is the ultimate pleasure – which women often deny themselves, but men never do,” claimed one. “Orgasms are a marvellous happiness”, added another. “Orgasm cancels out rage and longing for at least 48 hours,” said yet another.

    But it was the manner in which Hite’s respondents got their orgasms that made the book a scandal. “I think masturbation is essential to one’s health,” said one respondent. “[A]s I learned in my marriage – a partner is not always good sexually, though he may be wonderful in other ways.”

    Masturbation is better than “bad sex with an incompatible partner”, explained another respondent. “The only way I can have an orgasm is by masturbating,” said another.

    ‘A complex nature’

    The Hite Report did not attempt to define a sexual norm, or produce a representative survey sample, or pretend its data could be generalised to an entire population. But it did contain some statistical findings.

    The most significant of these – the source of the book’s notoriety – was that only 30% of women surveyed reported being able to regularly or reliably reach orgasm through heterosexual intercourse. And yet, 80% reported they could easily and regularly reach orgasm through clitoral stimulation, which was frequently obtained through masturbation, either alone, or with their partner.

    In her preface Hite argued that the canonical sexological works of the past 100 years – including the works of Sigmund Freud, Alfred Kinsey, and William Masters and Virginia Johnson – had constructed female sexuality “as essentially a response to male sexuality and intercourse”. She set out to demonstrate that “female sexuality might have a complex nature of its own”.

    Hite argued sex was a cultural institution, not a biological one. Historically, men had defined sex in terms of their own needs and preferences, then mandated their preferences as biological.

    Freud, for example, knew female orgasm could be reliably obtained through clitoral stimulation, but defined clitoral orgasm as an “immature orgasm” and orgasm arising from heterosexual intercourse as a “mature orgasm”. He then labelled women who could not achieve orgasm in the required way “frigid” and “hysterical”.

    The Hite Report is organised into eight chapters or themes, starting with “Masturbation”, followed by “Orgasm”, “Intercourse”, “Clitoral Stimulation”, “Lesbianism”, “Sexual Slavery”, “The Sexual Revolution” and “Older Women”. In a concluding chapter, Hite reflects on the issues raised by survey participants.

    In the chapter “Lesbianism”, a significant number of heterosexual-identified women confess same sex attraction, or else identify as bisexual. They also describe lesbian sexuality as “more variable”, and the “physical actions more mutual”.

    “The basic difference with a woman is that there’s no end,” claimed one respondent, “[…] it’s like a circle, it goes on and on.”

    “Lesbianism” sits in stark contrast to the chapter on “Sexual Slavery”, where Hite seeks to investigate why women pursue unequal sexual relationships, especially where respondents claim to receive little or no sexual pleasure.

    “Having a man love me and want to have sex with me is necessary to my happiness,” claimed one respondent. “Sex makes me feel I am a woman to my husband instead of just a live-in maid,” added another.

    “I’ve never heard a word of praise from my husband in 21 years except while having intercourse,” claimed yet another. “While I resent this, I still love him […] ”

    Wildly successful

    Many women applauded the book. Author Erica Jong, writing in The New York Times, called it a “revelation”. Others warned of a possible male backlash. “It seems that women are finally reporting the facts of their own sex,” wrote journalist Ellen Willis in the Washington Post, “and men are putting on the earmuffs of fear and retreating to deeper fantasies.”

    This backlash was not long in coming. Playboy apocryphally dubbed it “The Hate Report”, a label regularly recycled in media outlets around the world, including by female journalists. One male journalist, writing in the Miami Herald, argued women could not be regarded as truthful or reliable witnesses to their own lives. “What annoys me about The Hite Report,” he wrote, “is its smug assumption that just because women made these comments, they’re true”.

    Despite – or perhaps because of – this controversy, the book was wildly successful. It was translated into ten different languages – including French, Spanish, German, Italian, Hebrew and Japanese – and sold over 2 million copies within the first 12 months.

    It remains the 30th bestselling book of all time, with 50 million copies sold in 45 countries, including two recently translated editions in China, where it sparked conversations among intellectuals interested in formerly taboo western culture.

    Faking orgasms

    Born in smalltown Missouri, Hite gained a masters degree in social history and in 1967 moved to New York to enrol in a PhD program at Columbia University. She left when conservative faculty members refused to allow her to complete her dissertation on female sexuality. Hite worked as a model to pay her tuition fees. She joined the National Organisation for Women when they protested the sexism of the Olivetti advertising campaigns, after Hite was cast as an “Olivetti girl” for the typewriter company.

    Increasingly tagged as a “man-basher” after the publication of her book, Hite’s public persona was conventionally, almost theatrically feminine. She revelled in a contemporary Baroque aesthetic; a mirage of red lipstick, froufrou dresses, pancake-style makeup and tousled orange or platinum curls. And she spoke about sex in explicit detail, in a voice that was earnest, articulate and unembarrassed.

    Hite did not “discover” the clitoral orgasm. Instead, by centring women’s experiences, and taking their reflections seriously, her work threw into question centuries of sexological studies. These studies had either pathologised normal female sexual functioning or else insisted any pleasure women derived from sex had to be a by-product of conventional heterosexual intercourse.

    Even Masters and Johnson, who, in their reports from 1966 onwards, clinically proved all female orgasms were the result of clitoral stimulation, had insisted on the centrality of coitus.

    As Hite told television show host Geraldo in 1977,

    Masters and Johnson made a tremendous step forward in that they studied, and showed clinically, for the first time, that all orgasms are caused by clitoral stimulation, and we really have them to thank for that. However, when they described how it’s done – the thrusting of the penis causes the vaginal lips to move, which causes the skin that’s connected to the clitoris to move, which causes the glands to move over the clitoris, which supposedly gives you orgasm. But that doesn’t work for most women.

    And yet, although the participants in Hite’s study were overwhelmingly educated and politically progressive, many confessed they felt compelled to fake an orgasm during intercourse to please a man.

    “I ‘perform’ and boost his ego and confidence,” claimed one. “I do not like to think of myself as a performer but I feel judged and also judge myself when I don’t have an orgasm.” “[M]en do expect it, so I often force myself […],” said another.

    Participants also claimed how a woman was seen to orgasm mattered. “I don’t show the signs you’re supposed to,” worried one. “They think because I don’t pant, scream and claw I haven’t had one,” said another. “I used to go out of my way to offer all the mythical Hollywood signs,” revealed another.

    One participant even suggested the whole issue of sex was so politically fraught that, “Maybe sex would be better if we’d never heard of orgasm”.

    Respondents also told Hite the “sexual revolution” of the 1960s and 1970s had intensified, rather than reduced, gender prejudices and double standards.

    Sexual violence

    Another breathtaking aspect of the book is the way participants’ answers are shot through with sexual violence. On the issue of sexual coercion, for example, one participant replied, “I’m not supposed to say ‘no’ since I’m legally married”.

    On a question about the use of force in sex, another replied, “Only with my husband.” (In 1976, marital rape was legal and “acceptable” in most western nations.)

    Rape myths are also common. “I define as rape someone you don’t know who attacks you,” said one respondent. “I never defined it as […] someone you know. If you define rape that way, every woman has been raped over and over.”

    Another suggested rape wasn’t rape if a victim gave up fighting. “He really raped me, but not in the legal way. I couldn’t prevent him, in other words.”

    Hite identified toxic gender stereotypes as the major driver of sexual violence, especially the belief that “a man’s need for ‘sex’ is a strong and urgent ‘drive’” which women were obligated to satisfy. “Women aren’t always free to not have sex,” explained one respondent.

    Archival insights

    The Hite archive is housed in the Schlesinger Library of the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. It comprises over 250 filing boxes and folios, occupying more than 30 metres of shelf space. Most of the material relates to Hite’s public career as a sex researcher, with a small scattering of personal papers.

    I was at Harvard doing research for a book on Hite’s contemporary Andrea Dworkin. Although the two feminists exist as polar opposites in the public imagination, they thoroughly agreed with one another, and enjoyed a supportive working relationship. And so I wanted to take a look.

    Among the publishing agreements, speaking invitations, publicity material and the copies of the edited and revised questionnaires that formed the basis of the 1976 report – which are printed in vermillion – an occasional note flips out.

    One, a seemingly unpublished open letter titled “Dear Women”, bears the traces of the intense, frequently misogynistic and overtly hostile media scrutiny that marked Hite’s wild catapult to fame.

    “Sometimes I feel I am dying here in the midst of all this,” she writes, “without the support of anyone”.

    Another, scrawled in a flamboyant purple felt tip pen in the midst of her 1977 book tour of France, reads, “I know that I have done something good – but somehow I feel evil […] When did that start?”

    There are also letters from readers. One, sent from Milan in the wake of the controversy that accompanied the Italian edition of the book, bears the typewritten subject line “Personal”. It reads:

    Dear Ms Hite,
    I am 43 years old and have never written a fan letter in my life until today. But I feel a moral obligation to tell you that your ‘Report’ has rehabilitated me in my own eyes. After years of thinking there was something wrong with me, your book has shown me I’m normal.

    Hite’s “Dear Women” letter describes the extraordinary challenges, including the financial challenges, she faced both before and after the book was published.

    Macmillan, after purchasing the rights to the book, went cold on the project when the commissioning editor resigned or, as Hite phrases it, “quit/was fired depending on your point of view”. The publisher made no plan to promote the book and assigned a 22-year-old man to answer any media queries.

    Hite decided to step in, when, working in the publisher’s offices late one evening, she found a letter from her male publicist declining an invitation to discuss The Hite Report on TV as “he thought my book/subject might be too ‘ticklish’ for television”.

    Hite’s contract with Macmillan gave her little or no control over international editions of the book (and severely limited the income she could take from royalties, before it was ruled unconscionable by a court). In 1978, she “flew around the world twice” attempting to stop the book from being sensationalised.

    In France, the publisher had promised Hite a plain print cover, but was overruled by an all-male advertising department who “printed a cover with a nude woman”. In the second printing, the publisher agreed to revert to plain text.

    In Israel, entire sections of the first edition text were censored. Protests by local journalists led to the publisher engaging an Israeli feminist to re-translate the work.

    In Japan, the male translator produced a translation that was “so embarrassed and vague that it made absolutely no sense”. But on this occasion, a sympathetic female editor stepped in to rewrite entire sections of the manuscript.

    Hite’s Australian reception ranked among the most hostile. Her research assistant described the trip as “hideous”, alleging Hite had “never before encountered” such “vicious attitudes” as those exhibited by male journalists.

    Hite’s research assistant revealed in a separate letter that Hite’s doctors had “absolutely forbid her to do anything but rest for the next few months” after the Australian trip.

    Later life

    In her preface, Hite writes that she hoped to start a conversation through which men and women might “begin to devise more kind, generous, and personal ways of relating”.

    Sadly, this was not what happened. Hite went on to release four major reports on human sexuality, including a report on male sexuality, one on women and love, and one on the family. Then in 1996, she revoked her US citizenship and moved to Germany, saying the media’s hostility towards her made it impossible to continue working.

    Living in Germany, and later in Paris and London, she published her autobiography, The Hite Report on Shere Hite, and The Hite Reader, containing a selection of her published work. She died in 2020, aged 77.

    What marks the Hite Report as an artefact from another era is less the peculiar patois of the “Age of Aquarius”, than the way in which Hite’s respondents so often defined their identities through their husband’s, whether as a wife, former wife, or woman destined to be a wife. “Wifedom” is the default state.

    Equally, what makes the book disturbing, is the reality of sexual violence and coercion that lurks in so many answers, even when respondents are not being questioned about violence or coercion directly.

    With shocked recognition, the reader realises society has not changed nearly as much as some would like to think. The fact it has changed at all is partly due to the second sexual revolution ignited by Hite’s work.

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

    – ref. ‘Orgasms are a marvellous happiness’. Shere Hite gave voice to female sexuality in a landmark book – but the backlash was fierce – https://theconversation.com/orgasms-are-a-marvellous-happiness-shere-hite-gave-voice-to-female-sexuality-in-a-landmark-book-but-the-backlash-was-fierce-246150

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Risch Leads Bill to Protect Law-Abiding Gun Owners and Hold ATF Accountable

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Idaho James E Risch
    WASHINGTON – U.S Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) introduced legislation today with U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) to improve the fairness, speed, and transparency of background checks and application processes for National Firearms Act (NFA) items. The ATF Transparency Act will ensure law-abiding gun owners experience a fair and speedy application process when exercising their Second Amendment rights.
    “Law-abiding gun owners wrongfully denied their Second Amendment rights should be able to appeal their case through an efficient, transparent process,” said Risch. “My ATF Transparency Act is simple. It codifies the current appeals process, holds the ATF to a higher standard, and gives Idaho’s lawful gun owners a faster, fairer process for firearm applications.”
    “Lawful gun owners should not be denied their constitutional right to own a firearm because of unchecked bureaucratic rulings,” Crapo said. “A more transparent review and appeals process for those improperly flagged by the ATF will give individuals the due process they rightly deserve.”
    “The Second Amendment is an integral part of our Montana way of life, and law-abiding citizens should not have to worry about their constitutional rights being denied because of a processing error,” said Daines.“This legislation will create a quick and transparent appeals process for Montanans who have been wrongfully flagged by the ATF, and I’ll continue to stand up for our right to keep and bear arms.”
    “No system is infallible, including the federal bureaucracy. The ATF Transparency Act would help ensure law-abiding Americans aren’t denied their Second Amendment rights due to mistakes in their background checks that may wrongfully prevent them from owning a firearm,” Hyde-Smith said. “I credit Senator Risch for leading the charge to fix this injustice.”
    “Unelected D.C. bureaucrats at the ATF should not be able to criminalize law-abiding gun owners nor throw up roadblocks for appealing unfair rulings,” said Lummis. “I’m proud to work with my Senate colleagues to bring much needed accountability and transparency to the ATF and enhance Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms.”
    “As a lifelong gun owner and supporter of the Second Amendment, I came to the Senate with the mission of protecting this sacred Constitutional right of all Kansans,” said Marshall. “The ATF Transparency Act furthers this mission by requiring the ATF to develop an appeals process to protect Americans’ background checks from being wrongfully denied. This is a commonsense step forward to safeguard the Second Amendment, and I am proud to stand alongside my colleagues in support.”
    The ATF Transparency Act has received support from Gun Owners of America and National Rifle Association.
    “Gun Owners of America is proud to endorse Sen. Risch’s legislation to eliminate ATF’s bureaucratic loopholes in the already unconstitutional National Firearms Act. ATF has deceived Congress and the American public with inaccurate NFA approval estimates for far too long. There is no reason that a NFA approval time should take longer than a normal background check, especially since ATF has shown they are able to rapidly approve forms after Congress instructed them to. A Right Delayed is a Right Denied” said Aidan Johnston, Director of Federal Affairs, Gun Owners of America.
    “The ATF Transparency Act is a crucial piece of legislation that will allow individuals the opportunity to appeal their denied application of National Firearms Act items. The ambiguity of denials is an issue that must be resolved and the NRA thanks and applauds Sen. Risch for reintroducing this important legislation and standing up for all Americans’ Second Amendment rights,” said John Commerford, Executive Director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.
    The ATF Transparency Act would:

    Codify the appeals process to protect law-abiding Americans’ background checks from being wrongfully denied;

    Require the ATF to process applications within 3 days. If the ATF fails to do so, applications will be automatically approved; and

    Requires the Government Accountability Office and DOJ to report on the number of NFA items involved in unresolved background checks, recommend ways to reduce unresolved checks, and report on the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System involvement.?

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Crapo Reintroduces Legislation to Preserve Idaho’s 190th Fighter Squadron

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Idaho Mike Crapo
    Washington, D.C.–Since 1991, the U.S. Air Force fighter fleet has been severely reduced.  U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado) reintroduced the Fighter Force Preservation and Recapitalization Act, S. 873, to preserve U.S. Air Force (USAF) fighter force structure and prioritize the recapitalization of the 39 service-retained, combat-coded fighter squadrons available to the U.S. Secretary of Defense to respond globally to world events.
    “Highly-trained, experienced and prepared forces are a key component of our country’s national defense,” said Crapo.  “Closures of fighter squadrons within the U.S. Air Force’s Reserve component mean a permanent loss of these experienced pilot and maintainers.  We must preserve and protect National Guard fighter squadrons, like the Idaho Air National Guard’s 190th Fighter Squadron, from force reductions that could harm our national security.  This is a critical priority as we continue to face threats from foreign adversaries like Russia, China and Iran.”
    “A strategy for the future of our Air National Guard fighter fleets strengthens our national security,” said Hickenlooper.  “Our bipartisan bill directs the Air Force to update all National Guard fighter squadrons, including the Buckley-based 140th Wing, in order to preserve their flying missions and retain their experienced pilots.”
    “Passage of the Fighter Force Preservation and Recapitalization Act of 2025 is crucial to ensuring our Air Force remains ready and lethal,” said Major General Tim Donnellan, Adjutant General of Idaho and Commander of the Idaho National Guard.  “The Idaho Air National Guard’s 190th Fighter Squadron has a long history of operational excellence, and sustaining its capabilities and the expertise of its pilots is vital to protecting and defending America and its interests. As threats continue to evolve, maintaining a modernized and fully equipped fighter fleet is critical to preventing conflict and winning wars. We appreciate the continued support of our leaders in Congress who recognize the indispensable role the Air National Guard plays in delivering security around the globe.”
    “Air National Guard fighter wings operate at 1/3rd the cost of their active-duty counterparts but still provide the same ‘fight-tonight’ capability,” said Major General Laura Clellan, Adjutant General of Colorado.  “By acting as a retention net for talent exiting active duty and serving as a cost-effective model to both develop and retain fighter pilots, the Air National Guard presents the nation with an unrivaled value proposition. Throw in the secondary uses of Air Guardsman domestically such as wildfire mitigation, homeland airspace defense, and manpower for civil support all for a fraction of the cost of an active-duty Wing; the Air Guard’s value proposition truly is unparallelled. By providing 30% of the fighter force, for 1/3rd the cost, Air National Guard fighter wings operate as a shining example of efficient and effective use of taxpayer dollars. It’s simple, we provide more for less, without sacrificing capability.”
    “Our ability to fight and win the wars of the future will require robust combat air power,” said Major General Francis McGinn (Ret.), National Guard Association of the United States President.  “The Air National Guard is a critical part of that equation, making up 30 percent of USAF combat air power with only 7 percent of the total Air Force budget. The Fighter Force Preservation and Recapitalization Act will ensure the Air National Guard, the USAF reserve, and the active component have the modernized fleet they need to deter and deny our enemies. I thank Sen. Crapo, Sen. Hickenlooper, and their colleagues for their continued support of our the National Guard community.”
    Idaho’s 190th Fighter Squadron has deployed frequently, supporting combat operations across Southwest Asia.  Notable missions include its largest deployments, which occurred in 2020 in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel and in 2016 in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, as well as past support for Operations Enduring Freedom (2008), Iraqi Freedom (2007, 2003) and Southern Watch (2003).  The unit is set to deploy again in 2025.
    Crapo and Hickenlooper led introduction of the bill in the 118th Congress.  The Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act contained a portion of the previous version of the Fighter Force Preservation and Recapitalization Act that requires the U.S. Air Force to develop a plan to sustain and recapitalize fighter fleets for the Air National Guard.
    Of the 25 ANG Fighter Squadrons in existence today, 15 do not have a recapitalization or modernization plan to replace retiring legacy fighters.  The Fighter Force Preservation and Recapitalization Act would:
    Raise the minimum number of fighters in the Air Force inventory, requiring nearly two-thirds of aircraft to be combat capable;
    Establish a robust reporter requirement to track Air Force Fighter force structure, giving Congress oversight authority of force structure modifications;
    Prioritize recapitalization of Active Duty, Reserve and ANG units that are “service-retained” (i.e. not assigned to combatant commander) to maximize fighter assets; and
    Require a report on recapitalization of ANG fighter squadrons.
    Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), Jim Banks (R-Indiana), Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan), Rick Scott (R-Florida), Gary Peters (D-Michigan), Todd Young (R-Indiana), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Maryland), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), Alex Padilla (D-California), Tina Smith (D-Minnesota) and Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) joined as original co-sponsors.
    Representatives Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) and Jason Crow (D-Colorado) are leading identical companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
    The Fighter Force Preservation and Recapitalization Act is supported by the National Guard Association of the Untied States (NGAUS) and the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS).
    Bill text available HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hickenlooper, Colleagues Call on Pres. Trump to Reinstate Fired Veterans

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Colorado John Hickenlooper
    30% of federal workforce pre-Trump admin were veterans
    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper, along with 20 of his Senate colleagues, called on President Donald Trump to reinstate veterans that the administration illegally fired. More than 640,000 veterans work for federal agencies, approximately 30% of the federal workforce. The Trump administration has fired an estimated 5,800 veterans so far.
    “Your Administration’s actions are damaging the economic security and morale of our military and veteran families, the federal government’s ability to recruit and retain high-quality talent, and ultimately, our national security,” wrote the senators. “We demand that you cease your attacks on our nation’s heroes, who have already given so much in defense of our country, and immediately reinstate those who have been illegally fired with their full back pay and benefits.”
    Veterans perform crucial work for American people, our national security, and our way of life. Specifically, veterans make up 50% of the Department of Defense (DOD) workforce and 30% of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) workforce. Colorado is home to over 400,000 veterans.
    Yesterday, it was reported that the Trump administration has plans to fire over 80,000 employees, including veterans, from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
    The senators continued: “Among those fired are veterans, military spouses, caregivers, survivors, and Guard and Reserve members with exemplary performance reviews – including 2,400 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and thousands of employees at the Department of Defense (DOD). These men and women have dedicated their careers to serving veterans and their nation.”
    Full text of the letter is available HERE and below.
    Dear President Trump,
    We are increasingly concerned by the real-life negative impacts your Administration’s directives are having on our nation’s military and veteran community. This includes the abrupt and indiscriminate termination of more than 30,000 employees across the federal government. Among those fired are veterans, military spouses, caregivers, survivors, and Guard and Reserve members with exemplary performance reviews – including 2,400 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and thousands of employees at the Department of Defense (DOD). These men and women have dedicated their careers to serving veterans and their nation. In return, your Administration has upended their lives and casually discarded their service without any notice or justification – all for a statistic on a press release.
    Federal civil service has long been a preferred path for military-affiliated populations, allowing them to continue serving our country while offering competitive wages, benefits, and much-needed stability. In return, every single agency in our government and every single taxpayer benefits from these experienced, talented, and dedicated employees. Across the federal government, veterans make up approximately 30 percent of the workforce – more than 640,000 veterans. At DOD, where you have announced the imminent firing of 5,400 employees, with plans to cut anywhere from 35,000 to 56,000 in the near future – the percentage of veterans is nearly 50 percent. And at VA, where veterans are able to do work directly impacting their fellow veterans, the percentage of veteran employees is nearly 30 percent. Each and every day, these veterans perform duties vital to the American people, our national security and our way of life.
    Rather than leading these employees and utilizing their talents to better serve veterans and taxpayers, you have chosen to fire them in an abrupt, inconsistent, unjustified, and unlawful way with no consultation with Congress and absolutely no transparency or accountability to the American people. Your Administration’s actions are damaging the economic security and morale of our military and veteran families, the federal government’s ability to recruit and retain high-quality talent, and ultimately, our national security. We demand that you cease your attacks on our nation’s heroes, who have already given so much in defense of our country, and immediately reinstate those who have been illegally fired with their full back pay and benefits.
    Sincerely,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Highland Council road order outlines 2025 closure dates for Infirmary Bridge, Inverness

    Source: Scotland – Highland Council

    A new road order, which covers the entire year, has been created to detail the dates on which Inverness’s Infirmary Bridge will be closed to the public in 2025.

    lnfirmary Bridge, Inverness, will be closed between its junction with the Ness Bank and CavelI Gardens Road and its junction with the Ness Walk Upper as follows:

    • Inverness Half Marathon and Inverness 5K Events – 10:30 to 15:30 on Sunday 9 March 2025
    • Etape Loch Ness – 05:00 to 15:00 on Sunday 27 April 2025
    • The Gathering Event – 10:00 on Saturday 24 May 2025 to 08:00 on Sunday 25 May 2025
    • Cancer Research UK, Race for Life 5K & 10K Events – 08:00 to 14:00 on Sunday 1 June 2025
    • Scottish Fiddle Orchestra (Inverness Leisure concert) 16:00 to midnight on Saturday 14 June 2025
    • Concert (provisional) at Inverness Leisure – 18:00 to midnight on Wednesday 18 June 2025
    • Concert (provisional) at Inverness Leisure – 18:00 to midnight on Thursday 19 June 2025
    • Concert (provisional) at Inverness Leisure – 18:00 to midnight on Friday 20 June 2025
    • Inverness Highland Games – 09:00 to midnight on Saturday 12 July 2025
    • Inverness Comic Con (Inverness Leisure) – 09:00 to 17:00 on Saturday 2 August 2025
    • Loch Ness Marathon, River Ness 10K And River Ness 5K Events – 08:30 to 17:00 on
    • Sunday 28 September 2025
    • Inverness Bonfire and Fireworks Display – 16:00 to 20:00 on Wednesday 5 November 2025
    • Concert (provisional) at Inverness Leisure – 18:00 to midnight on Friday 7 November 2025
    • Concert (provisional) at Inverness Leisure – 18:00 to midnight on Saturday 8 November 2025
    • Concert (provisional) at Inverness Leisure – 18:00 to midnight on Sunday 9 November 2025
    • Remembrance Day Parade – 13:00 to 18:00 on Sunday 9 November 2025
    • LCC Live (Inverness Leisure concert) – 16:30 to midnight on Friday 5 December 2025.
    • LCC Live (Inverness Leisure concert) – 16:30 to midnight on Saturday 6 December 2025
    • LCCLive (Inverness Leisure concert) – 16:30 to midnight on Sunday 7 December 2025
    • Concert (provisional) at Inverness Leisure – 18:00 to midnight on Friday 19 December 2025
    • Concert (provisional) at Inverness Leisure – 18:00 to midnight on Saturday 20 December 2025

    6 Mar 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Yemen: ‘Fear of a return to full conflict is palpable’, says UN envoy

    Source: United Nations 2

    Peace and Security

    After several years of fragile truce, there is a “palpable” fear of a return to all-out war in Yemen, said Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen Hans Grundberg on Thursday, briefing the Security Council.

    The “current trajectory is deeply concerning,” he told ambassadors, updating them on the latest political developments in the country, where Houthi rebels – formally known as Ansar Allah – have been battling Government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition, for more than a decade.

    He spoke alongside UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher who updated on the recent humanitarian constraints and emphasised the impact of the worsening situation facing women in the country.

    Recent developments

    While a resumption of large-scale ground operations in Yemen has not occurred since the UN-mediated truce of April 2022, military activity continues – and the cessation of hostilities is increasingly at risk.

    “We have seen a rise in rhetoric from the parties to the conflict, pre-positioning themselves publicly for military confrontation,” explained Mr. Grundberg.

    “We must not allow this to happen. Words matter. Intent matters. Signals matter. Mixed messaging and escalatory discourse can have real impacts,” he underscored.

    The Special Envoy described recent reports of shelling, drone attacks, infiltration attempts and mobilisation campaigns recently witnessed in Ma’rib as well as in other areas such as Al Jawf, Shabwa and Ta’iz.

    He also deplored the Houthis’ arbitrary detention of UN personnel and workers from other organizations – some for years – calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees.

    “Some colleagues’ parents have passed away while they have been in detention, without knowing the fate of their children,” he gravely noted.

    UN Photo/Loey Felipe

    Hans Grundberg (on screen), Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, briefs the Security Council on the situation in Yemen.

    Humanitarian constraints

    Tom Fletcher brought ambassadors’ attention to the recent funding cuts UN agencies have been facing, which “have been a body blow” to aid workers efforts to save lives.

    “It is the pace at which so much vital work has been shut down that adds to the perfect storm that we face”, he said.

    The Humanitarian Coordinator explained the implications of such cuts, which will put aid workers in impossible situations where they have to choose “which lives not to save”.

    Assault on equality

    As the world readies itself to celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March, Mr. Fletcher emphasised the “deliberate pushback against equality” witnessed in Yemen.

    The crisis has disproportionately and devastatingly impacted women and girls. In 2021, Yemen ranked second to last in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index. And “there is no sign of progress for them,” Mr. Fletcher noted.

    Yemen’s maternal mortality rate is the highest in the Middle East – more than ten times that of Saudi Arabia or Oman. Meanwhile, 1.5 million girls remain out of school, denying them their right to education and preventing them from breaking the cycles of discrimination and violence.

    As funding for Yemen evaporates, “the numbers in my next briefings will be worse,” Mr. Fletcher put to the room. And yet, despite bearing the greatest burdens of war, displacement and deprivation, women remain on the frontlines of survival and recovery.

    “We will do what we can to support them with the dwindling resources we have,” Mr. Fletcher said.

    It is a tough time to be a humanitarian but “much tougher for the people we serve,” he continued. “The decisions you take will determine whether it gets worse,” he told ambassadors.

    UN Photo/Loey Felipe

    Tom Fletcher (on screen), Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefs the Security Council on the situation in Yemen.

    ‘The only way forward’

    The now unfolding US designation of Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization has complicated international cooperation in peace efforts.

    Preserving “the mediation space for the Yemenis” under the auspices of the UN to reach a just and inclusive peace is crucial, Mr. Grundberg said.

    Reiterating his office’s commitment to its role, Mr. Grundberg highlighted that it would convene “the parties at any opportunity to bring an end to this decade-long conflict,” emphasising that any political process needs to include a “broad spectrum of Yemenis”.

    “While this is possible to achieve, the environment for this to happen must be conducive,” he said. “Positive developments must be put on a more permanent footing.”

    “We owe it to the millions of Yemenis not to waver or falter in our determination on this,” he concluded.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Minister Sajjan announces funding to British Columbia for 2024 wildfires

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    From Public Safety Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2025/03/minister-sajjan-announces-funding-to-british-columbia-for-2024-wildfires.html

    French version: https://www.canada.ca/fr/securite-publique-canada/nouvelles/2025/03/le-ministre-sajjan-annonce-loctroi-dun-financement-a-la-colombiebritannique-pour-les-feux-de-foret-survenus-en-2024.html

    In 2024, British Columbia saw over 1,600 wildfires burn approximately one million hectares of land. Between April 21 and October 7, 2024, over seven thousand residents were evacuated from their homes. Multiple residences, provincial infrastructure, provincial recreation sites and trails, and range fencing were destroyed.

    Today, the Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, announced payments of over $35 million to British Columbia through the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) program, to assist with response and recovery costs resulting from the wildfires in 2024.

    When a large-scale natural disaster happens, the Government of Canada can provide financial assistance to provinces and territories through the DFAA program. Through this support, the Government of Canada covers eligible disaster response and recovery expenses that have been submitted by the province or territory and that exceed what they could reasonably be expected to bear on their own.

    Extreme weather events and natural disasters are a growing threat to the safety and economic stability of Canadian communities. The Government of Canada has and will continue to work closely with the Government of British Columbia to respond to and recover from disastrous events such as the recent wildfires.

    Quotes:

    “In the last few years, we have seen the effects of climate change increase the frequency of disasters. This funding will help support British Columbia with their recovery and rebuilding efforts, as we work together to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Prioritizing our resiliency towards recurring disasters will help strengthen our adaptability and our ability to better recover.”

    – The Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada

    “Wildfires last summer impacted many people and communities throughout British Columbia. This funding from the Government of Canada for damage to uninsurable infrastructure from large-scale climate emergencies is critical to helping support B.C.’s response and recovery and our ongoing work to build more resilient communities.”

    – The Honourable Kelly Greene, Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness for British Columbia

    Quick Facts:

    • In Canada, emergencies are managed first at the municipal level and if assistance is needed, the municipality requests it from the province or territory. If the emergency escalates further, provinces or territories can get help from the federal government.
    • Eligible expenses under the DFAA include, but are not limited to, evacuation operations, restoring public works and infrastructure to their pre-disaster condition, as well as restoration or replacement of individuals’ uninsurable principal dwellings, restoration of small businesses, and farmsteads and mitigation measures to reduce the future vulnerability of repaired or replaced infrastructure.
    • Federal government payments are calculated on a per capita basis and cost-shared with the province or territory. Under the current DFAA program, the amount cost-shared is determined by an established formula and ranges from 50 to 90 percent of the costs of eligible expenses.
    • Under the DFAA, provinces and territories have six months following the end of a disaster event to request financial assistance from the federal government. Once an event has been designated under the DFAA, provinces and territories have up to five years to submit their final claim.
    • A request for payment under the DFAA is processed immediately following receipt of the required documentation of provincial and territorial expenditures and a review by federal auditors. Advance payments or interim payments, up to 50 or 60 percent of the projected federal share, can also be requested within the five-year timeframe.
    • On January 29, 2025, Minister Sajjan announced additional details on the upcoming modernization of the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) program, which is anticipated to come into effect on April 1, 2025. 
    • For eligible disasters occurring on or after April 1, 2025, the modernized DFAA program ensures that in the face of increasing disaster costs and impacts to Canadians and all levels of government, financial assistance to provinces and territories will not only be delivered quickly and efficiently in the aftermath of a disaster, but also provide:
      • Increased investments in strategic disaster mitigation and building back better to minimize disaster impacts on communities and the risk of future disasters;
      • Incentives for risk reduction, pre-disaster planning, and improved hazard awareness to reduce the risks and impacts of disasters;
      • Expanded support for people hardest hit by the impacts of significant disasters.
    • The DFAA Guidelines for the modernized program are now posted, along with the DFAA Guidelines for eligible disasters occurring before April 1, 2025 (the former program). Since it can take a number of years after a disaster for final payments under the DFAA to be processed, the former program Guidelines will remain active until those events are fully closed and finalized. The DFAA Guidelines for the modernized program will be finalized when they come into effect on April 1, 2025. 
    • Since the inception of the program in 1970, the DFAA has been a reliable source of support for provinces and territories. As of November 2024, the Government of Canada has provided over $9 billion in post disaster assistance to help provinces and territories with the costs of response and returning infrastructure and property to pre-disaster condition.

    Associated links:

    Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/mrgnc-mngmnt/rcvr-dsstrs/dsstr-fnncl-ssstnc-rrngmnts/index-en.aspx

    Modernizing the DFAA: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/mrgnc-mngmnt/rcvr-dsstrs/dsstr-fnncl-ssstnc-rrngmnts/dfaa-mdrnzng-en.aspx

    Contacts:

    Emily Heffernan
    Director of Communications
    Office of the President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada
    Emily.Heffernan@kpc-cpr.gc.ca

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

    B.C. Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness
    Media Relations
    Ashley.1.Taylor@gov.bc.ca
    250 880-6430

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Suspicious fire at Blair Athol

    Source: South Australia Police

    Police are investigating a suspicious fire at Blair Athol early this morning.

    About 4.20am on Friday 7 March, police and MFS were called to a business on Barton Street after reports of smoke coming from the back door.

    When patrols arrived, they found the fire had self-extinguished. There was no apparent structural damage, but there was significant smoke damage caused to the property.

    Crime Scene investigators and Western District CIB attended the scene.

    Police believe the fire was deliberately lit and are investigating if it is linked to Operation Eclipse.

    Anyone with information on the incident or saw any suspicious activity is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at www.crimestopperssa.com.au on 1800 333 000. You can remain anonymous.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: We simulated the upcoming AFL season four different ways – here’s what was predicted

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tara Lind, PhD Candidate, La Trobe University

    The 2025 AFL season is just around the corner and fans are pondering the big questions: who will play finals? Who will finish in the top four? Who’s getting the wooden spoon?

    The start of a new season brings with it many unknowns, hopes, and in some cases, trepidation.

    Hawthorn finished 2024 playing some of the most exciting footy in the competition – can they keep that momentum going?

    Collingwood enters 2025 with the oldest and most experienced list – will that be the key to another deep finals run? Or are they over the hill?

    Can Carlton finally break its premiership drought? Can West Coast, North Melbourne, or Richmond get back on track? What can Fremantle do with its young list and high expectations?

    With so many unknowns, we turned to data.

    Simulations and predictions

    In La Trobe University’s Master of Sport Analytics, students need to build their own footy tipping algorithms and use them to simulate future matches.

    We’ve seen lots of different approaches to this problem. Each comes with its own set of assumptions and blind spots.

    One straightforward way to try to forecast what will happen in the upcoming season is to just look at history: how often does a team that finishes first on the ladder stay on top the next?

    That’s happened seven times since 1990, so about 20% of the time.

    We can model probabilities like this for every ladder position to get a gauge on how rankings typically shift from season to season, and apply this to the end-of-season 2024 ladder to predict the 2025 standings.

    This approach does not take into account last year’s finals results, the different age profiles of teams, the 2025 fixture, or other team changes such as trades, retirements, or injuries.

    Taking age into account

    How about if we consider player ages as well? This should give us a better sense of a team’s expected change between seasons.

    Research has suggested AFL players reach their peak performance levels at around 24-25.

    A quick look at team median ages since 1990 agrees: teams with a median player age over 25 typically have a worse winning percentage the following year, and teams younger than 24 usually improve (with plenty of exceptions).

    Combining last year’s ladder with age profiles gives a different view of the upcoming season.

    There is more shuffling, with older teams like Collingwood and Melbourne expected to fall, while the younger Fremantle, Gold Coast and Adelaide lists are given higher probabilities of finishing near the top.

    We’re still left with some important blind spots though: information from last year’s finals (Brisbane performed far better than a typical fifth-place finisher), and the difficulty of the upcoming fixture, have not been considered.

    The Elo rating system

    To take the full 2025 fixture into account, we need to simulate the entire season game by game.

    That can be done if we use the Elo rating system to get a “strength” rating for each team.

    Elo ratings track team strength over time: ratings go up with a win and down with a loss. The amount it changes depends on the opponent – beating a strong team boosts the rating more than beating a weak one, and the ratings update after every game played.

    We’ll use the Elo ratings that each team ended up on at the end of last year (including finals) as a baseline for 2025.

    With these ratings, we can calculate the probability of one team beating another in any given matchup. The method also considers home ground advantage by giving the home team a small rating boost.

    Once we have probabilities for each match outcome, we can simulate the entire season. Here’s how it works:

    • Each game needs a winner. To decide, we use a computer function that picks a winner based on probability, kind of like flipping a weighted coin. If a team has a 70% probability of winning, it’s more likely to be chosen, but there’s still a 30% chance they lose
    • This is done for every game in the season
    • We then repeat this 10,000 times – simulating 10,000 different versions of the season
    • In each version, we create an end-of-season ladder, based on the simulated games results
    • After all the simulations, we can see how often each team finishes in each ladder position. This gives us a prediction for their chances of finishing first, second, third and so on.

    The Elo approach favours Brisbane much more and is less kind to West Coast (35% chance of finishing last).

    It does not predict the decline of Collingwood and Melbourne because, although it takes into account the finals and fixture, it doesn’t have an age component.

    The ‘wisdom of the crowd’

    If each approach comes with its own set of limitations, then we might expect to get a better forecast by combining lots of predictions from different sources because of the “wisdom of the crowd”.

    The idea is that you get more accurate predictions if you combine multiple independent sources.

    Luckily for us, each season, several AFL stats experts build models to estimate the probability of each match outcome and generously post them online.

    What goes into each model is not always known, but they consider a mixture of different factors such as attacking and defending strengths, in-game statistics, home ground advantage, player lists and trades, last season’s performance and more.

    For our analysis, we’ll combine the Elo model with the average of all these expert tips to get a “wisdom of the crowd” prediction for each game’s probability. The ladder can then be simulated using the same method as above.

    Four groups emerge from the wisdom of the crowd:

    • Brisbane, Hawthorn, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs are predicted to lead the pack, surpassing last year’s top three
    • Sydney, Port Adelaide, GWS, Carlton, Fremantle, Collingwood and Adelaide have a wide spread of predicted finishes, skewed more towards finishing in the top eight – but there won’t be enough room for all of them
    • Essendon, Melbourne, St Kilda and Gold Coast might challenge for a spot in the finals, but the models are less confident in their chances
    • West Coast, North Melbourne and Richmond are hard to separate from each other, a cut below the rest.

    Uncertainty and excitement

    Each table tells a potentially different story but the most universal theme is uncertainty.

    Team sports are hard to predict, especially before we’ve had a chance to observe any games, and even the most confident predictions are under 40% (meaning they are more likely not to happen).

    Uncertainty leads to excitement, and this data only makes us more excited to see what will play out this season.

    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. We simulated the upcoming AFL season four different ways – here’s what was predicted – https://theconversation.com/we-simulated-the-upcoming-afl-season-four-different-ways-heres-what-was-predicted-249475

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Louisville Felon Sentenced to Over 3 Years in Federal Prison for Illegally Possessing a Firearm

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Louisville, KY – A local man was sentenced today to 3 years and 1 month in federal prison for illegally possessing a firearm after having previously been convicted of a felony offense.  

    U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Acting Special Agent in Charge A.J. Gibes of the ATF Louisville Field Division, and Chief Paul Humphrey of the Louisville Metro Police Department made the announcement.

    According to court documents, Cameron Lester, 29, was sentenced to 3 years and 1 month in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, for illegally possessing a Springfield Arms, .45 caliber pistol, and ammunition, on August 30, 2024. Lester was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he had previously been convicted of the following felony offenses.

    On July 21, 2023, in Jefferson Circuit Court, Lester was convicted of assault in the fourth-degree domestic violence third or greater offense within 5 years, strangulation in the second degree, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

    On July 30, 2021, in Jefferson Circuit Court, Lester was convicted of two counts of possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, wanton endangerment in the first-degree, and assault in the fourth-degree domestic violence third or greater offense within 5 years.

    There is no parole in the federal system.

    This case was investigated by the ATF and the Louisville Metro Police Department.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Porter prosecuted the case.

    This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent

    violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Warren, Senators Call for Investigation into Trump’s Purge of Workers Protecting Americans’ Health and Safety

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
    March 06, 2025
    Air travel, flood and wildfire response, infectious disease control, nuclear safety, veterans’ healthcare and benefits, food safety are all at risk after massive layoffs
    “Congress and the public need to better understand the full impact of these terminations on our health and safety, given that the Administration and Musk clearly do not.”  
    Text of Letter (PDF) 
    Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting an investigation into how the recent mass firings of probationary federal workers have impacted Americans’ health and safety. 
    In recent weeks, President Trump has fired at least 25,000 probationary federal employees. Despite termination letters from many agencies citing “poor performance,” probationary employees appear to have been fired in indiscriminate batches, regardless of their individual performance. 
    Thousands of these fired workers were responsible for protecting Americans’ health and safety, across areas like air travel, flood and wildfire response, infectious disease control, nuclear safety, veterans’ healthcare and benefits, food safety, and managing the opioid epidemic. 
    The Trump Administration has since called some of the firings an “accident” and scrambled to rehire certain workers — including people who’d worked on the bird flu outbreak, nuclear security, veterans’ health, and health services in Tribal communities. To date, agencies have not been able to rehire all of the workers affected and continue to face critical workforce shortages. 
    “Rather than make government more efficient, these firings appear to have created massive inefficiencies and put the American people at risk,” wrote the senators. 
    As the Trump administration implements its “plans for large-scale reductions in force,” over 200,000 probationary workers are expected to be laid off, and private companies are expected to benefit. In fact, some private companies, including some owned by or connected to Elon Musk and other Trump officials, have begun entering agencies to take the role of fired workers. 
    “Unlike the federal government, those companies are not responsible for prioritizing Americans’ health and safety interests, and we are concerned that they will not do so,” said the senators. 
    The senators requested that GAO’s investigation cover the duties of fired probationary workers, attempts to hire those workers back, data on how the terminations are impacting Americans’ health and safety, and more. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Presidential Message on the 255th Anniversary of the Boston Massacre, 2025

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    Today our Nation commemorates the 255th anniversary of the Boston Massacre—the singular event that ignited the movement for American independence.  To this day, it stands as a defining crucible of the American Revolution.
    The years leading up to this tragic moment were marked by escalating tensions between the Patriots and the British Parliament.  The imposition of unjust global trade regimes and burdensome taxes, including the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts, inspired the American Colonies in their bid for Freedom. 
    On the wintry evening of March 5, 1770, a fight broke out in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, between the British Redcoats and unarmed American Colonists.  The violence escalated as the soldiers fired their muskets into the crowd at the Custom House.  When the smoke cleared on King Street, three civilians were dead, two fatally wounded, and six more injured. 
    This massacre sparked outrage among the Colonists.  It has echoed throughout history as a seminal moment in the long and fraught battle for American liberty.  Roughly five years later, the first shots were fired in Revolutionary War—and the American Colonists ultimately secured their independence, paving the way for the birth of the greatest Nation in the history of the world. On this, the 255th Anniversary of the Boston Massacre, we pay tribute to and honor those who have paid the ultimate price in defense of America’s cherished values.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: New Data Shows Black Infants Are Dying at Rates Three Times Higher Than White Infants

    Source: US State of North Carolina

    Headline: New Data Shows Black Infants Are Dying at Rates Three Times Higher Than White Infants

    New Data Shows Black Infants Are Dying at Rates Three Times Higher Than White Infants
    jwerner

    The 2023 Infant and Child Mortality Data from the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force Report shows non-Hispanic Black and American Indian children have higher mortality rates compared to other racial and ethnic groups. In 2023, the disparity worsened, with Black infants dying at rates three times higher than white infants. When compared to other states, North Carolina had the 10th highest infant mortality rate in the country, highlighting the critical need for the Department of Health and Human Services efforts to ensure the health and well-being of children and families.

    “All babies born in North Carolina deserve a healthy start to life,” said NC Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai. “We are committed to ensuring women and families have the care and support they need prior to, during and after pregnancy, no matter where they live or how much money they make.”

    NCDHHS recently released an updated NC Perinatal Health Strategic Plan that details efforts currently underway to improve maternal health and birth outcomes as well as recent accomplishments, including paid parental leave for state employees, Medicaid reimbursement for group prenatal care and increased postpartum health care coverage for NC Medicaid beneficiaries. North Carolina’s Healthy Opportunity Pilots have also been critical to address non-medical drivers of health like housing, food and transportation to improve the health of women and children in our state. 

    Additionally, Medicaid Expansion is improving health outcomes for children and families in North Carolina. In just over one year since North Carolina became the 41st state to expand Medicaid, more than 640,000 people have gained health care coverage, giving more people access to necessary and critical care, ultimately leading to healthier pregnancies. Studies show states that have expanded Medicaid have better maternal and infant outcomes than states that have not.

    Other key points of the 2023 Infant and Child Mortality Data include:

    • The 2023 overall infant mortality rate in North Carolina rose slightly in 2023 from 2022 to 6.9 deaths per 1,000 births. There have only been slight fluctuations in this number since 2010.
    • The youth suicide rate has increased over the past 20 years, with suicide being one of the leading causes of death for youth ages 10-18.
    • The child homicide rate remains high due to the substantial increase in firearm-related homicides.

    NCDHHS is working closely with NCDPS and the state’s Office of Violence Prevention to address the alarming trend of increased firearm related injuries and deaths in North Carolina. Together with partners, the state launched a safe storage campaign that includes the distribution of gun locks and safes to community organizations and local health departments. The Office of Violence Prevention has invested in the expansion of community and hospital-based violence prevention programs.  

    “By working together to address and prevent violence as a public health issue, we can create safer communities where our most vulnerable populations – especially infants and children – can thrive,” said Dr. Kelly Kimple, Interim State Health Director and NCDHHS Chief Medical Officer. “By offering proven, evidence-based solutions like safe gun storage that meet children and families where they are in North Carolina’s communities, we’re working to reverse the trends in preventable child fatalities related to violence and injury.”

    NCDHHS remains steadfast in its commitment to create a healthier North Carolina for all and ensuring every person in North Carolina has access to the right care, when and where they need it. 

    Los datos de mortalidad infantil y de niños de 2023 del Informe del Grupo de Trabajo de Fatalidad Infantil de Carolina del Norte muestran que los niños negros no hispanos e indios americanos tienen tasas de mortalidad más altas en comparación con otros grupos raciales y étnicos. En 2023, la disparidad empeoró, y los bebés negros murieron a tasas tres veces más altas que los bebés blancos. En comparación con otros estados, Carolina del Norte tuvo la décima tasa de mortalidad infantil más alta del país, lo que destaca la necesidad crítica de los esfuerzos del Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos (NCDHHS, por sus siglas en inglés) para garantizar la salud y el bienestar de los niños y las familias.

    “Todos los bebés nacidos en Carolina del Norte merecen un comienzo de vida saludable”, dijo el secretario de Salud y Servicios Humanos de Carolina del Norte, Dev Sangvai. “Estamos comprometidos a garantizar que las mujeres y las familias tengan la atención y el apoyo que necesitan antes, durante y después del embarazo, sin importar dónde vivan o cuánto dinero ganen”.

    NCDHHS publicó recientemente un Plan Estratégico de Salud Perinatal de Carolina del Norte actualizado que detalla los esfuerzos actualmente en curso para mejorar los resultados de la salud materna y nacimientos, así como los logros más recientes, entre ellos la licencia parental remunerada para empleados estatales, el reembolso de Medicaid para la atención prenatal grupal y el aumento de la cobertura de atención médica posparto para los beneficiarios de Medicaid de Carolina del Norte. Los programas Pilotos de Oportunidades Saludables de Carolina del Norte también han sido fundamentales para abordar los factores no médicos de la salud, como la vivienda, la alimentación y el transporte, para mejorar la salud de las mujeres y los niños en nuestro estado.

    Además, la expansión de Medicaid está mejorando los resultados de salud para los niños y las familias en Carolina del Norte. En poco más de un año desde que Carolina del Norte se convirtió en el estado número 41 en expandir Medicaid, más de 640,000 personas han obtenido cobertura de atención médica, lo que brinda a más personas acceso a la atención necesaria y crítica, lo que en última instancia conduce a embarazos más saludables. Los estudios muestran que los estados que han expandido Medicaid tienen mejores resultados para las madres y bebés que los estados que no lo han hecho.

    Otros puntos clave de los datos de mortalidad infantil y de niños de 2023 incluyen:

    • La tasa general de mortalidad de bebés de 2023 en Carolina del Norte aumentó ligeramente en 2023 de 2022 a 6.9 muertes por cada 1.000 nacimientos. Solo ha habido fluctuaciones leves en este número desde 2010.
    • La tasa de suicidio juvenil ha aumentado en los últimos 20 años, siendo el suicidio una de las principales causas de muerte entre los jóvenes de 10 a 18 años.
    • La tasa de homicidios de niños sigue siendo alta debido al aumento cuantioso de los homicidios relacionados con armas de fuego.

    NCDHHS está trabajando en estrecha colaboración con el Departamento de Seguridad Pública (NCDPS, por sus siglas en inglés) de Carolina del Norte y la Oficina de Prevención de la Violencia del estado para abordar la alarmante tendencia de aumento de lesiones y muertes relacionadas con armas de fuego en Carolina del Norte. Junto con sus colaboradores, el estado lanzó una campaña de almacenamiento seguro que incluye la distribución de cerraduras y cajas fuertes para armas a organizaciones comunitarias y departamentos de salud locales. La Oficina de Prevención de la Violencia ha invertido en la expansión de programas de prevención de la violencia basados en la comunidad y hospitales.

    “Al trabajar juntos para abordar y prevenir la violencia como tema de salud pública, podemos crear comunidades más seguras donde nuestras poblaciones más vulnerables, especialmente los bebés y los niños, puedan prosperar”, dijo la Dra. Kelly Kimple, directora de Salud Estatal Interina y directora Médica de NCDHHS. “Al ofrecer soluciones basadas en evidencia de datos empíricos, como el almacenamiento seguro de armas, que responden a las necesidades de las familias y niños allí en las comunidades de Carolina del Norte, estamos trabajando para revertir las tendencias en las muertes infantiles evitables relacionadas con la violencia y las lesiones”.

    NCDHHS se mantiene firme en su compromiso de crear una Carolina del Norte más saludable para todos y garantizar que todas las personas en Carolina del Norte tengan acceso a la atención adecuada, cuando y donde la necesiten.

    Mar 6, 2025

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta, Newsom Administration: La Cañada Flintridge Agrees to End Legal Battle Over Affordable Housing Project

    Source: US State of California

    Thursday, March 6, 2025

    Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

    OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Director Gustavo Velasquez released the following statements in response to the City of La Cañada Flintridge’s request to dismiss its appeal concerning a mixed-use affordable housing project that would bring 80 mixed-income residential dwelling units, 14 hotel units, and 7,791 square feet of office space to the community. 

    “Subject to court approval, our legal battle against La Cañada Flintridge has come to an end for now. It should not have taken them this long to follow the law,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “California desperately needs more affordable housing, and every city and county must be part of the solution — no exceptions. If La Cañada Flintridge tries to illegally delay this project any further, we will not hesitate to hold them accountable once again.”

    “We are pleased to hear that La Cañada Flintridge leaders made the right choice to end these costly legal delays,” said HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez. “In the end, we were able to hold the city accountable to state housing law and to its constituents at a time when the region needs new housing more than ever to help so many neighbors displaced by fire.”

    On December 12, 2023, Attorney General Bonta, Governor Gavin Newsom, and HCD Director Velasquez requested that the court allow them to intervene in the case originally brought by California Housing Defense Fund to uphold California’s housing laws and reverse La Cañada Flintridge’s illegal denial of the mixed-use affordable housing project. On March 4, 2024, the Los Angeles County Superior Court held that La Cañada Flintridge unlawfully denied the project. The city decided to appeal the decision. On June 17, 2024, Attorney General Bonta filed a brief in support of the right of project applicants under the Housing Accountability Act (HAA) to secure a bond pending appeal, writing that “[l]engthy litigation, even if it is meritless, can result in the cancelation of a housing development due to inflation, changing interest rates, carrying costs, and expiring affordability funding.” On February 28, 2025, the Los Angeles County Superior Court ordered La Cañada Flintridge to “post a bond of $14 million within thirty (30) days or to dismiss its appeal” and the La Cañada Flintridge City Council voted to dismiss its appeal.  

    A copy of the city’s dismissal can be found here.

    # # #

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: US trade wars with China – and how they play out in Africa

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Johnston, Associate Professor, China Studies Centre, University of Sydney

    Since taking office, US president Donald Trump has implemented policies that have been notably hostile towards China. They include trade restrictions. Most recently, a 20% tariff was added to all imports from China and new technological restrictions were imposed under the America First Investment Policy. This isn’t the first time US-China tensions have flared. Throughout history the relationship has been fraught by economic, military and ideological conflicts.

    China-Africa scholar and economist Lauren Johnston provides insights into how these dynamics may also shape relations between Africa and China.

    How has China responded to hostile US policies?

    First, China tends to have a defiant official response. It expresses disappointment, then states that the US policy position is not helpful to any country or the world economy.

    Second, China makes moves domestically to prioritise the interests of key, affected industries.

    Third, China will sometimes impose retaliatory sanctions.

    In 2018, for instance, China imposed a 25% tariff on US soybeans, a critical animal feed source. The US Department of Agriculture had to compensate US soybean farmers for their lost income.

    Another example is how, following US tech sanctions, China took a more independent technology path. It has channelled billions into tech funds. The goal is to make financing available for Chinese entrepreneurs and to push technological boundaries in areas of US sanction, such as semiconductors. These efforts are backed up by subsidies and tax reductions. In some cases, the Chinese state will invest directly in tech companies.

    More recently, China retaliated to the US trade war by
    announcing tariffs on 80 US products. China is set to place 15% tariffs on certain energy exports, including coal, natural gas and petroleum. An additional 10% tariffs will be placed on 72 manufactured products including trucks, motor homes and agricultural machinery.

    Agricultural trade has been hard hit. The day the US announced a 10% tariff on Chinese imports, China announced “an additional 15% tariff on imported chicken, wheat, corn and cotton originating from the US”. Also, “sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables and dairy products will be subject to an additional 10% tariff”.

    How have these Chinese responses affected Africa?

    We can’t say for certain that China’s response to US trade tensions has explicitly affected its Africa policy, but there are some notable coincidences.

    Less than one month after Trump’s return to the White House in 2025, and soon after the first tariffs were slapped on China’s exports to the US, China announced new measures to foster China-Africa trade efforts. The policy package aims to “strengthen economic and trade exchanges between China and Africa.”

    This is the latest in a series of Chinese actions.

    In January 2018 trade hostilities began to escalate after Trump imposed a first round of tariffs on all imported washing machines and solar panels. These had an impact on China’s exports to the US.

    Later the same year, China imposed 25% tariffs on US soy bean imports and took steps to reduce dependence on US agricultural products. China also took steps to expand trade with Africa, agricultural trade in particular.

    In September 2018, Beijing hosted the Forum on China and Africa Cooperation summit, a triennial head of state gathering. It was announced that China would set up a China-Africa trade expo and foster deeper agricultural cooperation. In the days after the summit, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs was already acting on this. A gathering of African agricultural ministers took place in Changsha, Hunan province.

    Hunan province has since taken centre stage in China-Africa relations. It’s now the host of a permanent China-Africa trade exhibition hall and a larger biennial China-Africa economic and trade exhibition (known as CAETE).

    Hunan also hosts the pilot zone for In-Depth China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation. The zone has numerous initiatives designed to overcome obstacles to China-Africa trade and investment, like support in areas of law, technology and currency, and vocational training.

    Finally, the zone is located in a bigger free-trade zone that is better connected to Africa by air, water and land corridors. African agricultural exports to China pass through Hunan, where local industry either uses these imports or distributes them across the country to retailers.

    Companies in Hunan are well placed to play a key role in supporting China-Africa trade, capitalising on the opportunities left by China-US hostilities.

    Hunan’s agritech giant Longping High-Tech, for instance, is investing in Tanzanian soybean farmers.

    Hunan is also home to China’s construction manufacturing and electronic transportation frontier. This includes global construction giant Sany, which produces heavy industry machinery for the construction, mining and energy sectors. China’s global electronic vehicle manufacturing BYD and its electronic railway industry are also in Hunan. They have deep and increasing interests in Africa and can also support China’s key minerals and tech race with the US.

    As US-China hostility enters a new era, what are the implications for China-Africa relations?

    As my new working paper sets out, African countries are, for example, responding to the new opportunities from China.

    At the end of 2024, while the world waited for Trump’s second coming, various African countries made moves to strengthen economic ties with China, Hunan province especially.

    In December 2024, Tanzania became the first African country to open an official investment promotion office in the China-Africa Cooperation Pilot Zone in Changaha.

    In November 2024, both the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Africa and the China Engineering Technology Exhibition were held in Abuja, Nigeria. Equivalent events were hosted in Kenya.

    Early in 2025 in Niamey, Niger, a joint pilot cooperation zone was inaugurated , and which is direct partner of the China-Africa Pilot zone in Hunan.

    As China moves away from US agricultural produce, for instance, African agricultural producers can benefit. Substitute African products and potential exports will enjoy a price boost, and elevated Chinese support.

    China’s newly elevated interest in African development and market potential will bring major prospects. The question will be whether African countries are ready to grasp them, and to use that potential to foster an independent development path of their own.

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

    – ref. US trade wars with China – and how they play out in Africa – https://theconversation.com/us-trade-wars-with-china-and-how-they-play-out-in-africa-249609

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Russia launching ‘suicide missions’ across strategic Dnipro river as pause in US aid hampers defence

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Veronika Poniscjakova, Deputy Director, Porstmouth Military Education Team, University of Portsmouth

    After publicly belittling Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in a White House meeting, Donald Trump has suspended US military aid to Ukraine and paused intelligence sharing. It is now clear that Ukraine is in trouble in both its political and military situations, and the latter will only worsen as the effects of the US aid suspension hit.

    Trump’s outburst has, to some extent, reinvigorated European support for the war-torn country. But Zelensky’s recent statement that “Ukraine is ready to negotiate about an end to the conflict” suggests that he recognises how precarious the situation has become.

    In Trump’s address to the US Congress on February 4, the US president welcomed this shift, and claimed that Russia was also ready for a truce.

    What would a negotiated peace look like? The side that holds the upper hand, both politically and militarily, will have a stronger position at the negotiating table.

    At the moment, the advantage is overwhelmingly with Russia, which is striving to press home its battlefield advantage and occupy as much territory as it can before a potential ceasefire. This is likely to mean a freezing of the conflict on its current lines of contact.

    The war has now lasted more than three years, and since Ukraine’s failed summer 2023 counteroffensive, there have been no major changes on the battlefield, except for Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August 2024. Kyiv had hoped that seizing this territory could serve as a bargaining chip in future peace negotiations.

    But even this has not gone according to plan, as Russia has been steadily reclaiming the area, aided by North Korean troops.

    Recent battlefield developments reaffirm the ongoing stalemate. According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) (as of March 4), Russian forces continued offensives along various key strategic points in the east and south. While Russian advances continue to be slow, it’s a situation that could change quickly, particularly with the dramatic shutdown of US assistance.

    One of the key areas where Russia is now putting intense pressure on Ukrainian troops is in the Kherson oblast in the south of the country. Russian forces are reportedly attempting to cross the Dnipro river, aiming to establish footholds on the west (right) bank at four locations to allow them a clear run at the strategically important port city of Kherson.

    Russia has successfully negotiated river crossings during the three-year war, but this time, the situation seems more challenging. Recent reporting from the frontlines has described Russian assaults on Dnipro crossings as “suicide missions”, causing heavy Russian casualties.

    A high Russian body count is nothing new in this conflict. But why is Russia willing to sacrifice so many of its soldiers, particularly when the political prospects favour Putin and the Russians?

    Oleksandr Prokudin, the governor of Kherson, suggests that Russia is desperate to establish a foothold as crossing the Dnipro would open up Kherson oblast for further advances and could be used in negotiations to strengthen Russia’s claim over the entire region. The occupation of Kherson was listed by Russian defence minister, Andrei Belousov, as a key strategic goal for 2025.

    Strategic barrier

    Crossing the Dnipro will not be easy. Ukraine has tried and failed in the opposite direction on several occasions for example, in April and August 2023.

    At that stage, as part of the (ultimately unsuccessful) spring-summer offensive, Kyiv hoped crossing the river would be a major breakthrough that would lead to easier access to Crimea. This now looks like a lost cause – at least militarily.

    State of the conflict in Ukraine, March 5 2024.
    Institute for the Study of War

    The Dnipro is not only a natural barrier dividing the country into two parts. It’s also vital as a transport artery through the country and its dams provide energy.

    Russia realises this, and it has seen the river as one of Ukraine’s “centres of gravity”. On day one of the invasion, Russian forces made a beeline for the Dnipro, crossing and taking up positions that they were later forced to abandon as Ukraine fought back.

    Now, as Prokudin observed, Russia is once again throwing its troops at the river. A series of assaults in December 2024 were successfully repelled, but things have changed even in the few months since. Ukraine is in an increasingly difficult position.

    Ukraine’s military is facing increasingly critical troop shortages and has a far smaller population to draw on than Russia – something which is beginning to tell.

    And each day seems to bring further bad news. The US decision to pause intelligence sharing will mean its forces in the field will be virtually deaf and blind and at the mercy of Russian attacks on their positions (although there is reason to believe the pause may be reasonably shortlived).

    But, with the decision to halt military aid, it’s an indication of the Trump administration’s determination to force Kyiv into a peace deal – whether or not it’s acceptable to Ukraine.

    At this stage it looks almost inevitable that Ukraine will be unable to reclaim all the territory it has lost to Russia since 2014. Its best chance may be to secure what it still does control and go all-out to prevent further Russian advances. One of the ways it needs to do that right now is to ensure Russia does not establish a foothold across the Dnipro river.

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

    – ref. Russia launching ‘suicide missions’ across strategic Dnipro river as pause in US aid hampers defence – https://theconversation.com/russia-launching-suicide-missions-across-strategic-dnipro-river-as-pause-in-us-aid-hampers-defence-251439

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senator Murray Blasts Trump’s Plans to Decimate the Department of Education

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray
    Murray: “It does not take a former teacher to tell you how obliterating the Department of Education hurts students. I think even a preschooler could tell you this is a terrible, terrible idea.”
    Murray: “Trump and Musk don’t know what it’s like to count on their local public school having the resources to get their kids a great education. They don’t know why Pell Grants are so important. And they don’t care to learn why. They want to break the Department, break our government, and enrich themselves.”
    ICYMI: Ahead of Confirmation Vote, Senator Murray Blasts Linda McMahon’s Nomination: “We Cannot Have a Secretary of Education Who Doesn’t Believe in Having a Secretary of Education”
    ICYMI: Murray sends letter this morning demanding answers about Education Department’s reckless personnel plans
    ***VIDEO HERE***
    Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Democratic colleagues at a press conference to blast President Donald Trump’s expected Executive Order calling for the abolition of the Department of Education—and his plans to begin gutting the Department with mass firings.
    Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
    “Let’s be clear: We may not know when, but we absolutely do know Trump is preparing to ask the Department of Education to slam every door they can in the face of our students.
    “And let’s not pretend for one single second we think he is serious about doing so while following the law—because the very premise of his plan—shuttering the Department of Education—fundamentally goes against the bipartisan laws we’ve passed establishing and funding it.
    “And it goes against a very basic principle in this country that we put our kids first, that we do everything we can to set them up for success, and that our future depends on whether our kids get the support they need to grow and thrive.
    “It does not take a former teacher to tell you how obliterating the Department of Education hurts students. I think even a preschooler could tell you this is a terrible, terrible idea.
    “Trump and Elon Musk want to do to the Department of Education what they did to USAID.
    “They don’t care what they can legally do—they will act first and not care about the consequences.
    “Trump’s move to dismantle the Department of Education, fire the people who keep it running, and terminate funding will mean fewer teachers at public schools.
    “It will mean students stuck with outdated technology.
    “It will mean less access to special education for students with disabilities—and states and schools will have to pick up the costs.
    “It will mean no enforcement of basic education standards and no data helping us know what is working, and what is not.
    “It will also mean more barriers keeping students out of higher education, fewer career training opportunities, and fewer watchdogs protecting our students from predatory for-profit colleges, from predatory student lenders, and from discrimination, harassment, and sexual assault on campus.
    “That is all just the reality, and get ready for the disinformation now. Because you can bet when they realize how painful and unpopular this is: they are going to try and pretend everything is roses. They will say ‘oh this won’t go away’ and ‘oh we’ll just move this somewhere else.’ As if we haven’t already seen how they operate—with as much chaos, and pain, and damage as they can inflict.
    “We know that playbook. We are seeing it everywhere.
    “And as we saw from Trump last time, just because a program won’t disappear—that doesn’t mean it will still work! In Trump’s first term, he didn’t “abolish” Public Student Loan Forgiveness, it is also written in federal law, but he broke it as badly as he possibly could—to the point where 99 percent of applications were rejected—so how is that functionally any different?
    “And that’s what Trump, Musk, and McMahon are planning to do to the entire Department: break it up into pieces and then break the pieces.
    “Trump and Musk don’t know what it’s like to count on their local public school having the resources to get their kids a great education. They don’t know why Pell Grants are so important. And they don’t care to learn why. They want to break the Department, break our government, and enrich themselves.
    “However, we are not going to let the Department and the programs it supports for our kids go down without a fight.
    “I first got into politics many years ago to save an education program. I was told I couldn’t make a difference because I was just a mom in tennis shoes. But here is the thing: there are a lot of moms and dads in tennis shoes out there, and they do not play when it comes to their kids’ futures.
    “I saved that program back then by getting moms and dads to join with me, speak up, and say ‘wait, our kids come first.’
    “And we are going to fight for our students, teachers, and schools the same way by getting moms and dads—and, yes, students too—to speak up, by making clear: this is not some program you play politics with. This is about our kids. And we will not let anyone—not if they are the President, not if they are the richest man in the world—put our kids’ futures on the chopping block.”
    _______________________________________
    Senator Murray has been calling out the Trump administration’s devastating plans to worsen public education in America. She’s pressed the Trump administration on its plans to shutter the Department, blasted its dismantling of its research arm, and forcefully opposed Linda McMahon’s nomination and plans to execute Trump’s disastrous agenda. This morning, she sent a letter to the Department demanding answers about its reckless personnel plans that will hurt students, parents, and schools.
    Senator Murray has championed students and families at every stage of her career—fighting to help ensure every child in America can get a high-quality public education. Among other things, Senator Murray negotiated the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), landmark legislation that she got signed into law, replacing the broken No Child Left Behind Act. As a longtime appropriator, she has successfully fought to boost funding to support students and invest in our nation’s K-12 schools, and she has secured significant increases to the Pell Grant so that it goes further for students pursuing a higher education. Senator Murray also successfully negotiated the FAFSA Simplification Act, bipartisan legislation to reform the financial aid application process, simplify the FAFSA form for students and parents, and significantly expand eligibility for federal aid.
    In March 2020, Senator Murray introduced the Supporting Students in Response to Coronavirus Act to support students as COVID-19 spread, and she proceeded to work across the aisle to deliver resources to schools to support students in the CARES Act in March 2020 and in December 2020 through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA). In March 2021, Senator Murray helped secure critical resources for K-12 schools in the American Rescue Plan, which was passed without any Republican votes. She also worked to require a portion of the resources are specifically used to address learning loss—and has pushed to ensure the resources are being used effectively to help students get back on track. In the years since, Senator Murray has fought to renew federal investments in our schools, ensure resources are used effectively and consistent with federal laws, and successfully defeated House Republicans’ efforts to gut federal educational funding as Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee in the 118th Congress.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Defense News: Amphibious Assault Ships – LHD/LHA(R)

    Source: United States Navy

    Description

    Amphibious warships are designed to support the Marine Corps tenets of Operational Maneuver From the Sea (OMFTS) and Ship to Objective Maneuver (STOM). They must be capable of sailing in harm’s way and enable rapid combat power buildup ashore in the face of opposition. Because of their inherent capabilities, these ships have been and will continue to be called upon to also support humanitarian and other contingency missions on short notice. The United States maintains the largest and most capable amphibious force in the world.

    LHAs are the largest of all amphibious warfare ships, resembling a small aircraft carrier. They are capable of Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing (V/STOL), Short Take-Off Vertical Landing (STOVL), Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) tilt-rotor and Rotary Wing (RW) aircraft operations. LHA Flight 0 will enhance Marine Corp aviation with greater maintenance capability and JP-5 fuel capacity in lieu of a well deck. LHA Flight 1 will reincorporate a well deck to enhance expeditionary war fighting capabilities while maintaining the principal aviation characteristics of the Flight 0.

    Features
    Modern U.S. Navy Amphibious Assault Ships project power and maintain presence by serving as the cornerstone of the amphibious ready group (ARG) or expeditionary strike group (ESG). These ships transport and land elements of the Marine expeditionary unit (MEU) or Marine expeditionary brigade (MEB) with a combination of aircraft and landing craft.

    Background
    The America-class LHAs and Wasp-class LHDs provide the Marine Corps with a means of ship-to-shore movement by helicopter in addition to movement by landing craft. LHAs (and later LHDs) have been participants in major humanitarian-assistance, occupation and combat operations in which the United States has been involved. Such operations have included participating as launch platforms for Marine Corps expeditionary forces into Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001 and 2002, Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and humanitarian support after the catastrophic Tsunami in 2004. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, two LHDs served as “Harrier carriers,” launching an air group of AV-8B attack aircraft against targets inside Iraq. In 2004, LHDs were used to transport thousands of Marines and their equipment to Iraq and Afghanistan for combat operations. Post Hurricane Katrina support was provided in New Orleans by LHD 7 (Iwo Jima) where thousands of police, fire and rescue personnel were hosted onboard during recovery operations and Iwo Jima operated as the central command and control hub.

    The lead ship, USS WASP (LHD 1) was commissioned in July 1989 in Norfolk, Virginia. The delivery of LHA AMERICA Class ships is the next step in the incremental development of the “Big Deck Amphib.”

    LHAs are the largest of all amphibious warfare ships, resembling a small aircraft carrier. They are capable of Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing (V/STOL), Short Take-Off Vertical Landing (STOVL), Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) tilt-rotor and Rotary Wing (RW) aircraft operations.

    The current LHA Class (AMERICA Class) consists of two Flights: Flight 0 (USS AMERICA (LHA 6), USS TRIPOLI (LHA 7) and Flight 1 (PCU BOUGAINVILLE (LHA 8), PCU FALLUJAH (LHA 9), PCU HELMAND PROVINCE (LHA 10).

    The AMERICA Class LHAs ships replace the original TARAWA-Class LHAs, which have now all been decommissioned. The AMERICA Class LHAs are LHD variants designed to accommodate the Marine Corps’ future Air Combat Element (ACE) including F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and MV-22 Osprey.

    The AMERICA Class LHAs incorporate the gas turbine propulsion plant, electrical distribution and auxiliary systems designed and built for USS MAKIN ISLAND (LHD 8). Flight 0 AMERICA Class ships contain key differences from the LHD Class to include: an enlarged hangar deck, enhanced aviation maintenance facilities, increased aviation fuel capacity, additional aviation storerooms, removal of the well deck, and an electronically reconfigurable C4ISR suite. PCU BOUGAINVILLE (LHA 8) will be the first of the Flight 1 ships and will reincorporate a well deck to enhance expeditionary war fighting capabilities while maintaining the principal aviation characteristics of Flight 0 via a reduced island structure.

    USS AMERICA (LHA 6) and USS TRIPOLI (LHA 7) were commissioned on October 11, 2014, and July 15, 2020, respectively. PCU BOUGAINVILLE (LHA 8) and PCU FALLUJAH (LHA 9) are currently under construction at Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) in Pascagoula, Mississippi. PCU BOUGAINVILLE (LHA 8) is scheduled to deliver to the Navy in 2026, and PCU FALLUJAH (LHA 9) is scheduled to launch in 2027. PCU HELMAND PROVINCE (LHA 10) is under contract for the advanced procurement of long lead items and advanced planning and engineering to support a planned start of construction at HII in 2026.

    General Characteristics, America Class LHA(R) Flight 0
    Builder: Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., Ingalls Operations, Pascagoula, Mississippi
    Date Deployed: July 7, 2017 (USS America)
    Propulsion: Two marine gas turbines, two shafts, 70,000 total brake horsepower, two 5,000 horsepower auxiliary propulsion motors.
    Length: 855 feet (260.7 meters)
    Beam: 106 feet (32.3 meters)
    Displacement: Approximately 43,745 long tons full load (44,449 metric tons)
    Speed: 20+ knots.
    Crew: 1204 (102 officers)
    Load: 1,687 troops (plus 184 surge)
    Armament: Two RAM launchers; two NATO Sea Sparrow launchers (with Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM)); two 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts; seven twin .50 cal. machine guns.
    Aircraft: A mix of: F-35B Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) STOVL aircraft; MV-22 Osprey VTOL tiltrotors; CH-53E Sea Stallion helicopters; UH-1Y Huey helicopters; AH-1Z Super Cobra helicopters; MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter
    Ships:
    USS America (LHA 6), Sasebo, Japan
    USS Tripoli (LHA 7), San Diego, California

    General Characteristics, America Class LHA(R) Flight 1 Builder: Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., Ingalls Operations, Pascagoula, Mississippi
    Propulsion: Two marine gas turbines, two shafts, 59,000 total brake horsepower, two 5,000 horsepower auxiliary propulsion motors.
    Length: 855 feet (260.7 meters).
    Beam: 106 feet (32.3 meters).
    Displacement: Approximately 43,335 long tons full load (44,030 metric tons).
    Speed: 20+ knots.
    Crew: 1204 (102 officers)
    Load: 1462 (150 surge)
    Armament: Two RAM launchers; two NATO Sea Sparrow launchers (with Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM)); two 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts; seven twin .50 cal. machine guns.
    Aircraft: A mix of: F-35B Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) STOVL aircraft; MV-22 Osprey VTOL tiltrotors; CH-53E Sea Stallion helicopters; UH-1Y Huey helicopters; AH-1Z Super Cobra helicopters; MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopters.
    Landing/Attack Craft: A mix of: Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) and Landing Craft Utility (LCU)
    Ships:
    PCU Bougainville (LHA 8) – Under Construction
    PCU Fallujah (LHA 9) – Under Construction
    PCU Helmand Province (LHA 10) – LLTM Under Procurement

    General Characteristics, Wasp Class Builder: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems Ingalls Operations, Pascagoula, Mississippi
    Date Deployed: July 29, 1989 (USS Wasp)
    Propulsion: (LHDs 1-7) two boilers, two geared steam turbines, two shafts, 70,000 total brake horsepower; (LHD 8) two gas turbines, two shafts; 70,000 total shaft horsepower, two 5,000 horsepower auxiliary propulsion motors
    Length: 844 feet (253.2 meters)
    Beam: 106 feet (31.8 meters)
    Displacement: LHDs 1-4: 40,650 tons full load (41,302.3 metric tons)
    LHDs 5-7: 40,358 tons full load (41,005.6 metric tons)
    LHD 8: 41,772 tons full load (42,442.3 metric tons)
    Speed: 20+ knots (23.5+ miles per hour)
    Crew: Ships Company: 66 officers, 1,004 enlisted
    LHD 8: 65 officers, 994 enlisted
    Marine Detachment: 1,687 troops (plus 184 surge)
    Armament: Two RAM launchers; two NATO Sea Sparrow launchers; three 20 mm Phalanx CIWS mounts (two on LHD 5-8); four .50 cal. machine guns; four 25 mm Mk 38 machine guns (LHD 5-8 have three 25 mm Mk 38 machine guns)
    Aircraft: 12 CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters; 4 CH-53E Sea Stallion helicopters; 6 AV-8B Harrier attack aircraft; 3 UH-1N Huey helicopters; 4 AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters (planned capability to embark MV-22 Osprey VTOL tilt-rotors) and F-35B Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) STOVL aircraft)
    Landing/Attack Craft: 3 LCACs or 2 LCUs
    Ships:
    USS Wasp (LHD 1), Norfolk, Virginia
    USS Essex (LHD 2), San Diego, California
    USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), Norfolk, Virginia
    USS Boxer (LHD 4), San Diego, California
    USS Bataan (LHD 5), Norfolk, Virginia
    USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), Norfolk, Virginia
    USS Makin Island (LHD 8), San Diego, California  

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: What is the World Health Organization and why does it matter?

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    By Eileen Travers

    Health

    When the plague, cholera and yellow fever rippled deadly waves across a newly industrialised and interconnected world in the mid-19th century, taking a global approach to health became an imperative. Doctors, scientists, presidents and prime ministers urgently convened the International Sanitary Conference in Paris in 1851, a precursor to what is now the largest of its kind: the World Health Organization, known as WHO.

    From laboratories to battlefields, the United Nations specialised health agency has been dedicated to the wellbeing of all people since 1948. It is guided by science and supported by its 194 member nations, including the United States, a co-founder that on Monday announced plans to withdraw.

    What has WHO done for the world? The short answer is – a lot. The UN agency currently works with its membership and on the health frontlines in more than 150 locations and has achieved many public health milestones.

    © WHO/Neil Nuia

    WHO and partners provide COVID-19 and other vaccines to remote communities, including in Kuvamiti in the Solomon Islands. (file)

    Here’s what you need to know about the planet’s biggest health body:

    Tackling emergencies

    Amid crises, conflict, the continuing threat of disease outbreaks and climate change, WHO has responded, from wars in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine to ensuring lifesaving vaccines and medical supplies arrive in remote or dangerous areas.

    With healthcare facing unprecedented risks, WHO documented in 2023 over 1,200 attacks affecting workers, patients, hospitals, clinics and ambulances across 19 countries and territories, resulting in over 700 deaths and nearly 1,200 injuries.

    Indeed, WHO teams often go where others do not. They routinely evacuate injured patients and provide lifesaving equipment, supplies and services in conflict or disaster-ravaged areas.

    Watch below as WHO teams helped to unroll a multi-agency polio vaccination campaign in war-torn besieged Gaza in September 2024, when the fast-spreading virus reappeared 25 years after it had been eradicated:

    Tracking and addressing health crises

    Every day and through the night, teams of WHO experts sift through thousands of pieces of information, including scientific papers and disease surveillance reports, scanning for signals of disease outbreaks or other public health threats, from avian flu to COVID-19.

    WHO mobilises to prevent, detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks while also strengthening access to essential health services.

    That includes bolstering hospital capacity to do everything from delivering new babies to treating war injuries and training healthcare workers.

    © WHO/Ploy Phutpheng

    A laboratory scientist works at a WHO collaborating research centre in Thailand. (file)

    Eliminating diseases around the world

    A wide range of diseases and conditions are ripe for elimination given the right public health policies, including neglected infectious and vector-borne diseases, sexually transmitted infections, diseases passed from mother to child and those that vaccines can prevent.

    The UN health agency supplies essential medicines and medical equipment while working to enable – and where possible, strengthen – laboratory capacity to diagnose diseases.

    In 2024, WHO Member States achieved several milestones in tackling these major global health challenges. Seven countries (Brazil, Chad, India, Jordan, Pakistan, Timor-Leste, and Viet Nam) eliminated a range of tropical diseases, including leprosy and trachoma.

    Mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis have been eliminated in Belize, Jamaica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Namibia reached a key milestone towards elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and hepatitis B.

    WHO has also played a key role over the past seven decades, including in eradicating smallpox in 1980, achieving the near eradication of polio and providing lifesaving assistance in Gaza during the recent war.

    © WHO/Sebastian Meyer

    A WHO mobile clinic provides services in Duhok, Iraq. (file)

    AI and digital health

    WHO is embracing new frontiers, including artificial intelligence (AI), in digital health.

    As the influence of emerging AI technologies continues to grow, WHO is working to ensure its safety and effectiveness for health.

    That includes new guidance published last October listing key regulatory considerations on such issues as harnessing the potential of AI to treat or detect conditions like cancer or tuberculosis while minimising risks like unethical data collection, cybersecurity threats and amplifying biases or misinformation.

    WHO/Blink Media/Juliana Tan

    In Singapore, digital devices help patients reach their healthcare providers. (file)

    Taking on deadly climate-related health crisis

    The climate-related health crisis affects at least 3.5 billion people – nearly half of the global population.

    Extreme heat, weather events and air pollution caused millions of deaths in 2023, putting enormous pressure on health systems and the working population, from current wildfires burning across the US west coast to deadly flash floods in Indonesia.

    WHO/J.D.Kannah

    An Ebola virus survivor in the Democratic Republic of Congo has his eyes checked at a WHO-supported eye clinic in North Kivu. (file)

    Part of WHO’s response has been to protect health from the wide range of impacts of climate change, which includes assessing vulnerabilities and developing plans.

    The UN agency has also worked on implementing response systems for key risks, such as extreme heat and infectious disease and supporting resilience and adaptation in health-determining sectors such as water and food.

    What’s WHO working on now?

    WHO is leading efforts for a global treaty take a further, deeper step to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, much along the lines of the founders of the 1851 International Sanitary Conference.

    The UN agency is also currently working to achieve its “triple billion targets”.

    Set in 2019, the targets are that by 2025, one billion more people will be benefitting from universal health coverage, one billion more people will be better protected from health emergencies and one billion more people will be enjoying better health and wellbeing.

    Who leads WHO?

    The leadership is truly international.

    Based in Geneva, the UN agency is headed by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

    The current approved biennium programme budget for 2024-2025 is $6.83 billion, coming from member assessments, alongside voluntary contributions.

    WHO’s decision-making body, the World Health Assembly, is made up of its member nations, which meet annually to agree on WHO priorities and policies.

    Members make decisions on health goals and strategies that will guide their own public health work and the work of the WHO Secretariat to move the world towards better health and wellbeing for all. That includes implementing reform measures that have made WHO more effective.

    Learn more about WHO here and in our latest video below:

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: First INTERPOL iARMS ‘hit’ on stolen firearm links previously unrelated cases in Costa Rica and Panama

    Source: Interpol (news and events)

    20 November 2013

    LYON, France – The INTERPOL illicit Arms Records and Tracing Management System (iARMS) has recorded its first ‘hit’, matching a firearm seized by police in Panama to one stolen in Costa Rica 18 months earlier.

    Launched at the start of 2013, iARMS which currently contains more than 288,000 records provided by nearly 100 countries, provides a centralized system for the reporting and querying of lost, stolen, trafficked and smuggled firearms by all 190 INTERPOL member countries.

    In January 2012, a cache of 216 firearms were reported stolen by the Costa Rican authorities. To alert other countries of the possible threat posed by the missing firearms, INTERPOL issued an Orange Notice warning that the weapons could potentially be smuggled into other countries in the region.

    When Costa Rica joined iARMS in April 2013, its authorities recorded details of the missing firearms for inclusion in the database. It was one of the first countries from the region to add its records into the iARMS system.

    In a separate case, in August 2013 police in Panama seized a handgun during a raid on a residence in relation to suspected drug crimes. A check against the iARMS database revealed that the weapon recovered in the raid was a match to one of those stolen in Costa Rica in 2012.

    “This first hit in iARMS demonstrates the importance of this tool for uncovering links between cases which at first appear unrelated,” said Jeffrey Stirling, Head of INTERPOL’s Firearms Programme.

    “We hope this example of the success of iARMS encourages more member countries to add their records of stolen, lost, trafficked, smuggled and crime-related firearms to the database, making it an even stronger tool for law enforcement,” concluded Mr Stirling.

    Authorities in Costa Rica and Panama are now working closely to share information, identify potential firearm trafficking and smuggling routes between the two countries, and the organizations which could be involved.

    In addition to assisting countries match illicit firearms, iARMS also enables law enforcement to check when and where a weapon was manufactured which can assist in tracing its movements from initial circulation to seizure.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Henderson Man Sentenced to Over Five and a Half Years on Firearm Charge After Daytime Shootout at Gas Station

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    RALEIGH, N.C. – Jaymon Gibson, of Henderson, was sentenced today to 71 months in prison for possessing a firearm as a felon.  Gibson, 26, pled guilty to the charges on October 10, 2024.

    According to court documents and other information presented in court, law enforcement investigated two gang-related shooting incidents where Gibson possessed or fired guns.  On May 10, 2022, at around 11:15 pm, the Henderson Police Department (HPD) responded to reports of a gunshot wound at a house on Powell Street in Henderson.  The 911 caller led officers to Gibson, who was sitting in a car with gunshot wounds to his left arm.  The 911 caller reported that she had seen someone shooting at Gibson from a black sedan. Officers canvassed the area and found a Glock 19 9mm handgun with an American flag pattern on it lying in the yard. They also found a 50-round drum magazine.  Doorbell camera footage from the home showed Gibson walking with the Glock 9mm.

    The next day, co-defendant Monica Ellis called HPD and reported that a Glock 19 and a drum magazine had been stolen from her car. Officers later confirmed with a firearms store that Ellis had purchased the firearm on March 8, 2022.  Gibson was in prison in March 2022, following a state conviction for voluntary manslaughter, and officers were able to obtain jail calls between him and Ellis.  These calls revealed that Gibson had directed Ellis to straw purchase the Glock 9mm for him, even placing a three-way phone call with Gibson and a gun store clerk.

    On May 28, 2022, eighteen days after the Powell Street shooting, the HPD responded to a shots-fired call at the Gate City Foods gas station.  Surveillance video revealed that a little after 4 p.m., a car with Gibson driving and a juvenile male in the front passenger seat pulled into a gas pump away from the store.  A few minutes later, a white car with four occupants arrived and pulled up to a gas pump closer to the store.  The front passenger, later identified as Jordan Turnage, walked into the store.  Then a rear passenger, a juvenile, stepped out of the white car holding a long gun with a drum magazine.  Gibson, who had moved to the front passenger seat, then stepped out of the car also holding a firearm.  Moments later, gunfire erupted.  Turnage fired a handgun from inside Gates City Foods through the window towards Gibson.  At the same time, from the middle of the parking lot, the juvenile with the long gun began firing toward Gibson.  The white car’s driver also stepped out with a long gun and shot several rounds, striking himself in the foot in the process.  Gibson returned fire, shooting several rounds while crouching behind his car. Both groups then fled from the scene. Later investigation found that gunshots had damaged multiple nearby cars and apartments, including one gunshot that had struck a bedroom window while a resident was sleeping.  Miraculously, no one was hurt in the incident.  Five days later, law enforcement located and arrested Gibson at an apartment in Durham. They found a 22-caliber rifle with a high-capacity magazine that matched shell casings from where he had been parked at Gates City Foods.

    “Keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals that endanger public safety remains a top priority for our office,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Daniel P. Bubar.  “We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute those that are the most significant contributors to violence.”

    “Our partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina has been vital in our ongoing efforts to combat gun violence in our community,” said Henderson Police Chief Marcus W. Barrow. “Throughout my tenure as Chief of Police, the ATF has maintained a steadfast presence in Henderson, demonstrating unwavering support and commitment to our shared goals. Their consistent presence is having a profound and lasting impact on our region. This case serves as yet another testament to our collective dedication in the fight against gun violence, and we remain resolute in our commitment to securing a safer future for all.”

    Co-defendant Monica Ellis pled guilty to a felony offense of lying to a federal agent for statements she made related to straw-purchasing the Glock firearm.  On March 14, 2024, she was sentenced to time served and two years of supervised release. Jordan Turnage, who was not a felon at the time of the shooting, was prosecuted in state court for related felony offenses and received an active sentence of 38 to 58 months.

    Daniel P. Bubar, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III.  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Henderson Police Department, Durham Police Department, and N.C State Bureau of Investigation investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jake D. Pugh prosecuted.

    Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:23-cr-0043-D.

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Hunters urged to be extra sure this Roar

    Source: New Zealand Police (National News)

    With the main deer hunting season – the Roar – about to go into full swing, New Zealand’s firearms regulator is reminding hunters everywhere of the need to identify their target beyond all doubt.

    Te Tari Pūreke – Firearms Safety Authority, in co-ordination with members of the Recreational Firearms User Group, is running a hunter safety advertising campaign prompting hunters everywhere to “be extra sure this Roar”.

    Te Tari Pureke Director of Partnerships and Communities, Mike McIlraith, says while the campaign offers a number of simple actions related to hunter safety, the core message responds to the risk of mis-identifying a target.

    “We want all hunters to have a great Roar and for everyone to come home safely,” he says. “Hunting deer whether for food or sport is an activity enjoyed by many, but we know firearms can be unforgiving.

    “That’s why we are urging hunters to be 100 percent sure they have identified their target. If they have any doubts, then don’t shoot. Hunters shouldn’t feel pressured to take the shot – no meat or no trophy is better than no mate!”

    Mike McIlraith says hunters are lucky to be hunting in a time of high deer numbers in many parts of New Zealand, with lots of opportunities for deer. This means hunters don’t need to be in a rush to shoot the first deer they see, they should take their time, and wait until they see the whole animal.

    “Keeping themselves and others in their hunting area safe takes more than luck,” says Mike McIlraith. “We’ve boiled it down to three key reminders for hunters this year – make a plan for your hunt and stick to it; always treat every firearm as loaded; and identify your target beyond all doubt.

    “Whether they are using optical or thermal imaging devices, they must follow Firearms Safety Rule 4 and identify their target beyond all doubt before firing. That’s what we mean when we say, be extra sure this Roar.”

    ENDS.

    Notes for Editors:

    The Recreational Firearms Users Working Group was formed to help align the important messaging of the various stakeholder groups involved in recreational hunting in New Zealand.

    This group consists of Department of Conservation, Federated Farmers of New Zealand, Fish & Game NZ, Game Animal Council, Mountain Safety Council, NZ Deerstalkers Association and Te Tari Pūreke.

    The Roar is the name given to the time of year when hunters target Red Deer stags which are at their most vocal attracting mates.

    Other great resources can be found on:

    Te Tari Pūreke has a ‘Roar safety’ webpage

    The Mountain Safety Council website – Big Game hunting section

    The Game Animal Council of New Zealand – ‘Hunter Safety’ page

    New Zealand Deerstalkers Association

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: SBA Relief Still Available to West Virginia Small Businesses and Private Nonprofits Affected by April Storms

    Source: United States Small Business Administration

    ATLANTA – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is reminding small businesses and private nonprofit (PNP) organizations in West Virginia of the April 3, 2025, deadline to apply for low interest federal disaster loans to offset economic losses caused by the severe storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides occurring on April 11-12, 2024. 

    The disaster declaration covers the counties of Boone, Brooke, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Fayette, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Marshall, Monongalia, Nicholas, Ohio, Pleasants, Putnam, Raleigh, Ritchie, Roane, Tyler, Wetzel, Wirt, Wood and Wyoming in West Virginia, as well as Athens, Belmont, Columbiana, Jefferson, Meigs, Monroe and Washington in Ohio, and Beaver, Greene and Washington in Pennsylvania.  

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

    EIDLs are available for working capital needs caused by the disaster and are available even if the 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. 

     “SBA loans help eligible small businesses and PNPs cover operating expenses after a disaster, which is crucial for their recovery,” said Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA. “These loans not only help business owners get back on their feet but also play a key role in sustaining local economies in the aftermath of a disaster.”  

    The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates as low as 4% for small businesses and 3.25% 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 April 3, 2025. 

    ### 

    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 USA: NEWS: Sanders Calls for Committee Investigation into DOGE, Subpoena for Musk

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Vermont – Bernie Sanders
    WASHINGTON, March 6 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), today called for a formal committee investigation into the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and a subpoena of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, to testify about his plans for running the federal government.
    Sanders’ remarks, as prepared for delivery, are available below:
    Mr. Chairman, for a wide variety of reasons, I am strongly opposed to President Trump’s Deputy Secretary of Labor nominee, Keith Sonderling. But more importantly than my views on Mr. Sonderling is the reality that it really does not matter who becomes Deputy Labor Secretary.
    In a few moments, we will be hearing from President Trump’s nominee to be the next Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Martin Makary. Truthfully, and with respect to Dr. Makary, it does not matter who the next FDA commissioner is.
    I think everybody on this committee and the people of America understand who is running the government, and it’s not going to be the Secretary of Labor. It’s not going to be the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. With all due respect to President Trump’s nominees, the person who is running the government right now is Elon Musk.
    Mr. Musk has taken it upon himself, with the support of President Trump, to virtually dismantle the United States government. Yesterday, shockingly – and I speak as the former chairman of the Veterans Committee – it is outrageous and beyond belief that while veterans put their lives on the line to defend our country, yesterday, we heard that 80,000 employees at the V.A. are going to be terminated.
    Virtually all Americans understand how important Social Security is to the well-being of our seniors. Yesterday, we learned they are on their way to get rid of half of Social Security employees, at a time when Social Security is now grossly understaffed. Mr. Musk has ordered HHS, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Education to fire employees, hand over confidential and sensitive data and defy judicial orders.
    Mr. Chairman, if we are serious about exercising our constitutional responsibilities, which I hope all of us are, it is critical for our committee to hear from the person who is in fact in charge of the federal government.
    Yesterday, it was reported that Mr. Musk met with Republican senators, at a private meeting for 90 minutes, and plans to do the same with Republican members of the House. That’s fine.
    The Washington Post reported Mr. Musk gave his cell phone number to Republican senators and promised to communicate more effectively with congressional Republicans. That’s fine.
    But you know what? My constituents in Vermont and constituents all over this country want to know what the hell is going on with the federal government right now. And it’s not going to be the next Deputy Secretary of Labor who is going to tell them.
    So if we are serious, Mr. Chairman, about our oversight responsibilities, we must find out what is going on in the federal government. And the way we do that is bringing Mr. Musk before this committee.
    Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I would like to make a motion.
    I move that pursuant to its authority under Rules 25 and 26 of the Standing Rules of the Senate, and Rule 17 of the Rules of Procedure of the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hereby authorizes an investigation into the actions of the United States DOGE Service at agencies within the committee’s jurisdiction, and pursuant to the same authority, authorizes the chairman to subpoena Mr. Elon Musk for testimony regarding those actions.
    I ask for the yeas and nays.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cantwell-Led Coast Guard Reauthorization Bill Unanimously Passes Senate

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
    03.06.25
    Cantwell-Led Coast Guard Reauthorization Bill Unanimously Passes Senate
    Bill would authorize USCG “Whale Desk” for additional 2 years to help ships steer clear of Puget Sound Orcas and other whales; Legislation would establish first-ever tribal advisor to increase collaboration with WA state tribes on native issues and conservation efforts
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the United States Senate unanimously passed the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2025 that would reauthorize $30.45 billion for the U.S. Coast Guard for Fiscal Years 2025 and 2026. The bill was introduced last month by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee.
    The bill now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.
    Ahead of the bill’s passage, Sen. Cantwell delivered a speech on the Senate floor:
    “The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025 provides the tools that our Coast Guard needs now to protect our shores, keep our maritime [industry] moving,” said Sen. Cantwell. “It includes [investments] in Base Seattle, the home port to our nation’s current icebreakers, the future of our heavy icebreaker fleet […] The bill also reauthorizes the Puget Sound Whale Desk for another two years, [which] helps ship steer clear of our cherished orca and whale populations, and it also increases collaboration between Washington tribes and the Coast Guard. And the bill invests in critical safety programs.”
    “Moving forward, we have more to do to support the Coast Guard. They needed our help with their assets, and they need access to shipyards,” she said.
    Among many important provisions, the legislation includes historic protections for service members from sexual assault and harassment, boosts workforce development programs and availability of affordable housing, increases funding to help the U.S. Coast Guard deliver on critical priorities such as icebreakers and 52-foot heavy-weather lifeboats, raises penalties for abandoned and derelict vessels, and encourages more collaboration with tribes.
    The legislation authorizes $14.93 billion for FY25 and $15.51 billion for FY26. The full bill text of the bipartisan U.S. Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025 is available HERE. 
    Sen. Cantwell secured language for programs critical to Washington state in the legislation. Among those provisions, her bipartisan legislation:
    Expands Affordable Housing Opportunities: Allows the Coast Guard to acquire housing that is available both on the market and in new housing construction programs. This is particularly important in coastal areas — like Cape Disappointment, Grays Harbor, and Port Angeles — where Coast Guard families face a difficult time accessing affordable, quality housing due to competition with seasonal rentals and other challenges associated with remote units. This bill also expands the Coast Guard’s ability to enter into long-term leases for medical facilities, child development centers, and training facilities to expand access to services for Coast Guard families while reducing administrative overhead expenses and allowing for additional improvements to these facilities.
    Increases Federal Funding to Deliver on Icebreakers and Heavy Weather Lifeboats: The legislation increases authorized funding by 30% compared to 2024 appropriated funding levels, which will help the Coast Guard deliver on critical priorities such as polar icebreakers, 52-foot heavy-weather lifeboats, and other priority acquisition programs.
    Seattle will be home for the Coast Guard’s fleet of 3 polar icebreakers.
    Sen. Cantwell recently toured U.S. Coast Guard Station Disappointment, where the future fleet of heavy-weather lifeboats will be homeported to support search and rescue missions, which is critical to safety of people working in the fishing and maritime sector in Pacific and Grays Harbor counties. In 2023, Sen. Cantwell secured a downpayment of $12 million to replace the heavy-weather boats in the 2023 Appropriations Act.
    Creates the First-Ever Tribal Advisor: Creates a new senior position within the Coast Guard to advise the Commandant and other Coast Guard leaders on how the Coast Guard can work more closely with tribes. The new Special Advisor would also be charged with ensuring the Coast Guard upholds trust responsibilities to tribal governments, improving tribal engagement and consultation activities, and ensuring that tribes have a voice on Coast Guard programs that impact tribes including oil spill preparedness and response, fisheries oversight, and the protection of natural resources.
    Boosts Local Tribal Partnerships to Improve Conservation: Provides the Coast Guard with new authorities to support habitat conservation and other resilience projects with state, local, and tribal governments. This important new authority would ensure tribes and other organizations can partner with the Coast Guard to protect treaty fishing rights and maintain access to cultural and natural resources.
    Reauthorizes the Whale Desk: Extends the Whale Desk at Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound by two years, through FY2028. Authored by Senator Cantwell in the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2022, the “Whale Desk” at Sector Puget Sound gives vessel operators and mariners near real-time data about the location of whales to reduce encounters that disturb whales, including noise pollution and ship strikes. The pilot program also includes a “hotline” where callers can report whale sightings in real time. The data collected will be valuable for researchers who track whale migration patterns.
    According to the Coast Guard, 75 whale sightings have been reported to the Sector Puget Sound Whale Desk since its opening in December 2023.
    Sen. Cantwell helped celebrate the launch of the Whale Desk in February 2024. Photos and videos are available HERE and HERE.
    Supports the Commercial Fishing and Maritime Industries: Continues to authorize the use of a satellite tracking system to mark fishing gear locations, which ensures gear is not lost and avoids potential damage by derelict gear. It also supports fishing vessels engaging in temporary towing operations as part of salmon hatchery development in Alaska.  The bill also creates new training and credentialing opportunities for qualified mariners, veterans, and the general public seeking to become mariners. It also expedites processing times for merchant mariner licensing documents to help close this critical workforce gap.
    Maps Arctic Maritime Routes: The Bering Sea is expected to see increased fishing, commercial, and other vessel traffic over the coming decades. As a key international trade and maritime route, this bill requires an analysis of projected traffic in the Bering Strait, and the emergency response capabilities and infrastructure needed to support this increased vessel traffic and prevent oil spills in the Bering Sea and the Arctic.
    Boosts International Pacific Cooperation: Requires the Coast Guard to develop a plan to increase international training opportunities in the Pacific, including with the Taiwan Coast Guard. This coordination will strengthen American relations, combat illegal fishing, and boost international security in the Pacific.
    Cracks Down on Abandoned Vessels: Improves oversight of derelict and abandoned vessels by requiring the Coast Guard to develop and maintain an inventory list of these vessels to improve tracking, management, and coordination between federal, state, tribal, and other relevant entities. It authorizes a new federal penalty of $500 a day for abandoning vessels.
    Abandoned and derelict vessels pose unique and costly threats to coastal communities and ecosystems by leaking pollutants and imperiling marine traffic. According to the WA Department of Natural Resources, DNR removed 319 derelict and abandoned boats from Washington state waterways between 2021 and 2023.
    Protects Personnel from Illicit Drug/Fentanyl Exposure: As the Coast Guard carries out important drug interdiction missions to stop the flow of illegal drugs, this bill requires all installations to maintain a supply of naloxone or similar medication to treat opioid or fentanyl overdoses or exposure by Coast Guard members and the public in search and rescue or response calls.
    Requires Stronger Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment (SASH) Prevention and Response: The bill would establish or update numerous Coast Guard and Academy authorities and programs to improve reporting, oversight, prevention, and accountability related to sexual misconduct. These provisions were drafted in response to Operation Fouled Anchor, which revealed gross mishandling of sexual assault and sexual harassment cases of U.S. Coast Guard personnel.
    A full breakdown of these protections is available HERE.
    Supports Coast Guard Families Stationed in Washington:
    Creates the First Vice Admiral of Personnel: To support the more than 40,000 active service members, the bill establishes a new Vice Admiral leadership position solely focused on supporting the needs of personnel and their families, from housing to health care, investments in childcare, and improving recruitment and training programs.
    Jump Starts Hiring of Health and Family Service Providers Across Entire Service: Provides direct hiring authority to swiftly fill more than a hundred vacancies, including behavioral and mental health professionals, medical specialists, childcare service providers, housing supervisors, criminal investigators, and other positions to protect the health and wellbeing of Coast Guard members and their families. It also adds two new telemedicine rooms at the Coast Guard Academy.
    Improves College-to-Service Career Pathways: Updates the College Student Pre-Commissioning Program to allow more colleges and universities to participate and to increase recruitment of students interested in commissioning into a Coast Guard career. 
    Prepares Tsunami Evacuation Plans: Requires the development of tsunami evacuation and preparedness plans for Coast Guard units in tsunami zones, including across the West Coast and Pacific Northwest. It also requires the Coast Guard to consider vertical evacuation as a lifesaving option for Coast Guard members.
    Bolsters National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
    Supports NOAA Corps Officers: To support the hundreds of NOAA’s commissioned officers, the bill makes improvements to personnel management, education assistance programs, pilot recruitment programs, and more. NOAA Corps members help manage maritime research, support disaster response, and monitor weather forecasting including hurricanes and atmospheric rivers, as well as performing other cutting-edge weather forecast and research needs.
    Modernizes NOAA Vessel Fleet: Authorizes replacement and modernization of the NOAA research vessel fleet and improves oversight of the fleet, which helps maintain our nation’s weather and scientific buoy network, conducts fisheries research, maps the ocean floor including in the Arctic, and supports other important oceanographic and conservation priorities.
    Removes Aging NOAA Vessels: Allows NOAA to use the proceeds of obsolete vessel sales to support the acquisition or repair of other NOAA vessels to help make the fleet more resilient in the future.
    Video of Sen. Cantwell’s speech on the Senate floor today is HERE; audio is HERE; and a transcript is HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Climate change: La Niña fades, as global heat keeps rising

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI b

    Climate and Environment

    The weak but significant La Niña weather event that began in December is likely to be brief, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has announced. 

    La Niña, a natural climate phenomenon, results in cooler Pacific Ocean temperatures and influences weather conditions worldwide. The latest forecasts from WMO indicate sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific are expected to return to normal.  

    The agency says that there is a 60 per cent chance conditions will shift back to what scientists call an ENSO-neutral temperature range during March-May 2025, increasing to 70 per cent for April-June 2025.  

    ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation)-neutral simply means the ocean is neither unusually warm (El Niño) nor unusually cool (La Niña). Likewise, the probability of El Niño developing is very low during this period, the agency said.  

    According to WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo, El Niño and La Niña associated forecasts are critical for early warnings and taking preemptive action.  

    “These forecasts translate into millions of dollars’ worth in economic savings for key sectors like agriculture, energy and transport, and have saved thousands of lives over the years by enabling disaster risk preparedness”.

    La Niña, with its large-scale cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific, changes wind, pressure, and rainfall. Typically, it brings climate impacts opposite to El Niño, especially in tropical regions.  

    For instance, during El Niño, Australia often experiences drought, whereas La Niña can bring increased rainfall and flooding. In contrast, parts of South America may experience drought during La Niña but wetter conditions during El Niño.

    Bringing the heat

    Notably, these natural climate events are currently occurring alongside human-caused climate change, which is warming the planet and causing more extreme weather. According to WMO, January 2025 was the warmest January on record, despite the cooler La Niña conditions.

    The agency looks at ENSO but also issues regular Global Seasonal Climate Updates (GSCU) that provide a more comprehensive climate outlook based on other key patterns such as those in the Atlantic and Arctic. These updates also track sea temperatures, global and regional temperature and rainfall changes.

    With most maritime regions set to be warmer than normal, except in the eastern Pacific, WMO forecasts above-average temperatures across nearly all land areas worldwide during the upcoming season.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI: Saritasa Introduces VR Foundations to Deliver Fast, Cost-effective Experiences for Companies Considering VR

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    IRVINE, Calif., March 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Saritasa today announced the release of VR Foundations, two pre-built, customizable virtual reality experiences that allow organizations to experiment with virtual reality with minimal investment. The two VR Foundations offerings are built and delivered by Saritasa and are designed to enable businesses to test VR technology and create immersive experiences.

    Saritasa’s VR Trade Show Experience is an immersive VR solution designed to engage, entertain, and educate conference and trade exhibition attendees. The VR Trade Show experience is intended to draw attention and spark meaningful interactions through a variety of engaging mini-games.

    Saritasa’s VR Product Display Experience provides an interactive approach to demonstrate products that would otherwise be logistically challenging or impossible to demo. With VR Product Display, companies can bring their products to life for prospects and customers anywhere in the world.

    “Saritasa specializes in developing custom VR and AR applications for clients from the ground up, but we recognize that not all businesses have the budget or time for fully custom VR builds,” said Aaron Franko, Vice President of Immersive Technology for Saritasa. “By offering these VR Foundation platforms we have lowered the barrier to entry for VR. Our customizable, pre-built VR frameworks make it easy for any organization to harness VR to showcase products and services in a way that delivers interactive impact, stronger customer engagement, and enhanced brand recognition. It’s the ideal way to assess the value and potential of VR.”

    The VR Trade Show Experience includes four customizable mini-games that can be adapted for specific goals and brand messages. The games are designed to be interactive, fun, and engaging to make them particularly memorable. Saritasa’s VR Trade Show Experience also supports seamless brand integration with custom logos, colors, fonts, and gameplay content. Fees for the VR Trade Show Experience start at $10,000, and the VR application can be built and delivered in less than a month.

    Saritasa’s VR Product Display enables businesses to create an immersive product experience for customers, investors, trade shows, or other uses, providing an in-depth and up-close view of a product in action. VR Product Display can highlight up to seven key product features using a stunning 360-degree view. Participants feel as though they are directly interacting with the product with the help of text callouts and voiceovers. The VR Product Display incorporates custom branding tailored with corporate logos, colors, and fonts. The standard VR Product Display experience starts at $15,000 and can be delivered in less than a month. Additional customizations, animations, product models, and other features are also available.

    About Saritasa
    Saritasa is a full-service custom software development firm offering mobile app, web, backend, IoT, and AR/VR development services. The company’s clients include a variety of innovative startups and enterprises across multiple verticals, including life sciences, commercial, industrial, and high technology. Saritasa strives to bridge the gap between technology and business by creating a technology company with a business mindset. Saritasa prides itself on being a reliable technology partner with its team of experts, consultants, and advisors who bring innovative solutions to businesses. Learn more at www.saritasa.com.

    Media Contact
    Kristen Hoff
    Firecracker PR
    Kristen@firecrackerpr.com  

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/303a3ae9-466f-4a19-9378-b202a0e97730

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f60c2052-765e-4679-8fb3-77c737d4da9a

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Investing in sustainable education and wellbeing: Transformative upgrades at Paddington Recreation Ground | Westminster City Council

    Source: City of Westminster

    • New facilities to provide local schoolchildren with access to outdoor learning
    • £195k investment in tennis courts, £80k gym refurbishment and £20k for new playground equipment among the recent improvements to leisure facilities

    Westminster City Council has celebrated the official launch of the refurbished Forest School at Paddington Recreation Ground.

    The Forest School provides children of inner-city schools the opportunity to engage in outdoor learning, something they would otherwise have very limited experience of. The facility has proved so popular that an extension was required, and the Forest Gardens currently offers a mix of education and intrigue with its information boards, windy paths and biodiversity.

    The facilities have been used by nearly 3,000 children from 11 Westminster schools this year so far.

    A key feature of the expansion is the new sustainable classroom, located near the Forest Garden and Bluebell Glade. Constructed using recycled materials repurposed from an old cycle storage unit from Queen Mother Sports Centre, this innovative structure significantly reduces the project’s carbon footprint while providing a dedicated learning space for children to engage with nature in more extreme weather conditions.

    Other improvements at Paddington Recreation Ground include an £80k refurbishment of the gym, a community suite upgrade featuring new equipment, flooring and paintwork, and the £195k tennis courts refurbishment. Following the successful refurbishment of the astroturf tennis courts, the synthetic surface tennis courts were also due a full refurbishment, this is because it became worn and with water not draining properly anymore.

    These investment has ensured the council can continue to provide world class facilities for residents and local communities.

    Works have also undertaken to the main pathways around the grounds to improve accessibility for those with disabilities, repair tree root damage, and increase permeability to reduce ponding, flooding and waterlogging.

    On top of these capital works, the council continue to make improvements and repairs as needed such as the new self-closing gates in the playground, £20k in new playground equipment and repairs, and additional bike racks to promote greener transport to the grounds, among many others.

    Paddington Recreation Ground is an award winning leisure facility, retaining the Green Flag Award, The London In Bloom award – Gold, and a Quest Excellent award in the past year.

    Cabinet Member for Communities, Councillor Cara Sanquest, said:

    It has been incredibly exciting to see the ongoing improvements to the award-winning Paddington Recreation Ground over the past few years.

    I hope these upgrades not only encourage more residents to take advantage of what’s available but also enhance the experience for those who already use their local facilities.

    Leisure facilities provide much more than just opportunities for physical exercise. I’m proud that we’ve been able to deliver improvements that also enrich outdoor learning for children from inner-city schools.

    The ActiveWestminster Discount Pass – ActiveWestminster is free for all residents, providing fantastic discounts of up to 40% off and benefits for all our residents, and children and young people who live or study in Westminster.

    For more information on Paddington Recreation Ground visit: Paddington Recreation Ground | Gym & Fitness Classes | Everyone Active

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –