Iraqi lawmakers must drop amendments to the Personal Status Law, which would violate women and girls’ rights, further entrench discrimination and could allow for girls as young as nine to be married, Amnesty International said today, ahead of an imminent parliamentary vote on the changes.
“Iraqi lawmakers must heed the warnings of civil society and women’s rights groups on the devastating impact of these amendments, which would eliminate the current legal marriage age of 18 for both girls and boys, paving the way for child marriages, as well as stripping women and girls of protections regarding divorce and inheritance, said Razaw Salihy, Amnesty International’s Iraq researcher.
“Not only does child marriage deprive girls of their education, but married girls are more vulnerable to sexual and physical abuse, and health risks related to early pregnancy. It is alarming that these amendments to the Personal Status Law are being pushed so vehemently when completely different urgent legal reforms are needed to protect Iraqi women and girls’ rights.
“Iraq’s parliament must reject these harmful proposed amendments and instead focus their efforts on addressing woeful shortcomings in the Penal Code, which permits ‘honour’ as a mitigating factor for the killings of women and girls and allows for the corporal punishment of the wife and children by the husband, as well as failing to criminalize marital rape.”
The current Personal Status Law applies to all Iraqis irrespective of their religion. The proposed amendments would grant religious councils of the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam in Iraq the authority to develop their own “code of Sharia rulings on personal status matters” within six months of the law being passed, effectively threatening women’s and girls’ rights and their equality before the law.
The amendments would also open the door to legalizing unregistered marriages, which are often used to circumvent child marriage laws, and removing penalties for adult men who enter such marriages and clerics who conduct them. It would also remove critical protections for divorced women, such as the right to remain in the marital home or receive financial support from the former husband.
“The amendments violate international treaties that Iraq has ratified, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Ensuring the safety, dignity and rights of women and girls is not only a state obligation under international human rights law but also a moral imperative that all Iraqi institutions must uphold,” said Razaw Salihy.
Evacuation warnings issued by the Israeli military to residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut and south Lebanon were inadequate, and in some cases also misleading, said Amnesty International today, highlighting that these warnings do not absolve Israel of its obligations under international humanitarian law to never target civilians and to take all possible measures to minimize harm to them.
Under international humanitarian law, parties to a conflict have a clear obligation to take all feasible precautions to avoid, or at least minimize, harm to civilians when carrying out attacks; this includes giving effective advance warning of attacks to civilians in affected areas unless circumstances do not permit.
“The warnings issued by the Israeli military to residents of Dahieh, the densely populated southern suburbs of Beirut, were inadequate. Our analysis shows that not only did the warnings issued by the Israeli military include misleading maps, but they were also issued at short notice – in one instance less than 30 minutes before strikes began – in the middle of the night, via social media, when many people would be asleep, offline or not following media reports,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“Furthermore, instructing the residents of entire towns and villages in south Lebanon to evacuate is an overly general warning that is inadequate and raises questions around whether this is intended to create the conditions for mass displacement. Regardless of the efficacy of the warnings, they do not mean that Israel can treat any remaining civilians as targets. People who choose to stay in their homes or are unable to leave because members of their household have limited mobility, due to disability, age or other reasons, continue to be protected by international humanitarian law. Israel must at all times abide by its obligations under international law, including by taking all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians, wherever they are.”
Our analysis shows that not only did the warnings issued by the Israeli military include misleading maps, but they were also issued at short notice – in one instance less than 30 minutes before strikes began – in the middle of the night, via social media, when many people would be asleep, offline or not following media reports
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General
To be effective a warning must be timely and provide information on safe routes and destinations. Amnesty International examined two warnings issued to residents of the crowded urban area of Dahieh overnight on 27/28 September, after the surprise strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The airstrikes demolished entire residential buildings in the densely populated area. Each warning identified three military targets and requested that residents evacuate a 500-metre radius around that location. The warnings were issued through the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson on X (formerly Twitter), at night, without a clear timeline or details on safe routes.
In the two warnings issued to residents of Dahieh, the maps published by the Israeli military alongside the evacuation warnings, covering six different areas, were misleading. In each of these cases the area highlighted on the maps to indicate the danger zone for civilians covered a much smaller area than the 500-metre radius that the Israeli military had advised civilians was the minimum distance civilians should evacuate.
The Israeli military also issued evacuation warnings to residents of around 118 towns and villages in south Lebanon between 1 -7 October, following the start of its ground invasion. These warnings, which included towns that were more than 35 km from the border with Israel and outside the UN-declared buffer zone, do not make south Lebanon a free-fire zone.
To be effective, warnings must give clear instructions for civilians on moving away from military objectives that are going to be targeted. While warnings can, in some circumstances, be general in character, the definition of what constitutes general does not include overly broad warnings that ask civilians to evacuate entire areas (see for instance the 1987 Commentary on Protocol I).
Israel’s warnings in southern Lebanon covered large geographical areas, raising concerns as to whether they were designed instead to trigger mass relocation. Principle 5 of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement states that, in all circumstances, authorities and international actors must abide by their obligations under international law so as “to prevent and avoid conditions that might lead to displacement of persons”.
Methodology
Israel’s Operation Northern Arrows began on 23 September with intense aerial bombardment of several areas across Lebanon, including the south, the Bekaa valley and Dahieh, in the southern suburbs of Beirut. According to the Lebanese government, the number of displaced people fleeing Israeli airstrikes has risen to 1.2 million – the vast majority in the last three weeks alone.
Amnesty International reviewed over a dozen evacuation warnings by the Israeli military and conducted interviews with 12 residents who fled Dahieh following the Israeli evacuation warnings on 27/28 September 2024, including al- Laylaki, Hay El Sellom, Hadi Nasrallah highway, and Burj al-Barajneh. The organization also interviewed three residents of villages in south Lebanon.
Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab mapped the areas covered by Israel’s evacuation warnings to analyse the areas impacted by the strikes.
In its analysis of these warnings, Amnesty International is not seeking at this time to determine whether Israel struck military objectives in their attacks, but rather to investigate whether or not the warnings that Israel issued were effective at protecting civilians and adhered to international law.
Southern suburbs of Beirut: ‘This is not a warning, it’s torture’
Starting at 11:06 pm on 27 September, the Israeli military began to issue evacuation warnings to residents of Dahieh. In the first warning, the Israeli military instructed residents via X (formerly Twitter) to move 500 metres away from three buildings in the neighbourhoods of al-Laylaki and al-Hadath, both of which are densely populated areas, alleging residents there are “located near Hezbollah interests”. The order did not give a timeframe for evacuation.
The map published alongside this warning highlights an area around the buildings to indicate what was supposedly the 500-metre radius that residents should leave. However, the highlighted area in fact only covered approximately a 135-metre radius. While the map showed 30 buildings within the red circle, there are in fact 500 buildings within the 500-metre radius.
Caption: A map published by the Israeli military on X misrepresents the area affected by an evacuation warning. The text over the red dotted line reads “500 metres” in Arabic, but the line covers approximately 135 metres.
Caption: Satellite imagery shows the al-Laylaki neighborhood, in southern Beirut. The red circle shows the area highlighted by the Israeli military on the map published on social media. The wider area shows the full 500 metre radius impacted by the evacuation warning.
The same is true for the evacuation warnings in the al-Hadath neighbourhood: the areas highlighted on the maps warning residents to stay 500 metres away from the Sheet building and the Al-Salam Complex, showed only approximately 125m and 100m radiuses respectively.
Caption: Satellite imagery shows the al-Hadath neighbourhood, in southern Beirut. The red circles show the area highlighted in the map published by the Israeli military on social media. The wider circles show the area impacted by the evacuation warning.
At around 12:36am, just an hour and a half later, local media reported an Israeli strike on al-Laylaki. Over the next hour and 10 minutes, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported 11 further strikes on Dahieh, including on buildings and areas that had not received an evacuation warning.
Fatima, a journalist who lives in al-Laylaki, told Amnesty International that her brother called her at around 11:15pm while she was covering news of the strike on Nasrallah, warning her to leave the area:
“I jumped in the car and drove erratically… I arrived to al-Laylaki and found that everyone was acting as crazily as I was. If people could throw themselves off the balcony to leave faster [they would]. Screaming, running, cars honking, motorcycles, plastic bags…I quickly helped my parents down the stairs to my car, and I only took my cat with me… I currently have no belongings at all.”
Fatima explained that Al-Laylaki is a crowded residential area that remained fully populated until that night because it is on the outskirts of Dahieh and residents did not expect it to be targeted.
Abir, who resides with her mother close to al-Laylaki, told Amnesty International that she could not immediately evacuate her house because her mother is older and sick, and needs to be carried down the stairs: “It was a night from hell. I laid my mother on the floor in the safest room, which is the old bathroom, we hid our heads with our arms [throughout the bombardment].” They were only able to leave a few hours later after a friend helped carry her mother down from the sixth floor.
It was a night from hell. I laid my mother on the floor in the safest room, which is the old bathroom, we hid our heads with our arms
Abir, whose mother is older and sick and needed to be carried down from the sixth floor to be evacuated
At 3am on 28 September, the Israeli military issued another evacuation warning via X to residents in the neighbourhoods of Burj al-Barajneh and al-Hadath, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, instructing them to move 500 metres away from three other identified buildings. The warning did not state a timeframe for evacuation and maps of the affected areas were similarly misleading, highlighting areas much smaller than the indicated 500 metre radius.
Caption: Satellite imagery shows the Burj al-Barajneh and al-Hadath, in Beirut’s southern suburbs. The red circles show the area highlighted in the map published by the Israeli military on social media. The wider circles show the actual area impacted by the evacuation warning.
At 5:47 am, the National News Agency reported that Israeli strikes targeted al-Hadath and al-Laylaki as well as the Chouiefat and al-Kafaat neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which were not listed in the evacuation warning. Local media reported continued strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs throughout the day.
Taghreed, a resident of Hay el-Sellom, said that she had not heard about the Israeli warning and took the decision to flee after the major attack that killed Hassan Nasrallah. “We were hiding and couldn’t reach the television. I don’t have social media so I don’t know what the Israelis said,” she told Amnesty International.
Ahmad, a resident of Burj al-Barajneh, also said that he made the decision to leave Dahieh immediately after the strike that killed Nasrallah, as he lives with his elderly parents. “While we were still stuck on the road out of Dahieh, with all the ambulances trying to prioritize the wounded people, we heard about the warning on the radio in the van. I felt bitter. This is not a warning; it’s torture. It’s a sadistic game: ‘we will kill you and your family soon. Show us how you can escape’.”
On 30 September 2024, the Israeli military issued a warning to evacuate from the surroundings of residential buildings in al-Laylaki, Haret Hreik, and Burj al-Barajneh. The Israeli military launched a series of strikes just 30 minutes later. Similarly, on 3 October 2024, at 10:51 pm, the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for the residents of Burj al-Barajneh, urging them to leave immediately. Local media reported a “heavy strike” minutes after the evacuation order was issued, and at least four strikes by 11:30 pm.
Under international law, Hezbollah and other armed groups must, to the extent feasible, avoid locating military objectives, including fighters, ammunition, weapons, and military infrastructure, in or near densely populated areas. However, the presence of military objectives in populated areas does not absolve Israeli forces of their obligations under international humanitarian law to avoid indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks as well as to take all feasible precautions to spare all civilians, including civilians who fail to leave the area after an evacuation warning. Failure to provide effective advance warnings of attacks which may affect civilians, unless circumstances do not permit, and not taking all other feasible precautions to protect civilians, constitute violations of international humanitarian law.
En masse evacuation warnings to residents of south Lebanon
On 1 October, the Israeli military issued two evacuation warnings to residents of south Lebanon. The first, at 9:21am, instructed residents not to move vehicles south of the Litani River “until further notice,” alleging that Hezbollah is using “the civilian environment and the population as human shields.”
At 12:18 pm, the Israeli military instructed residents of over 25 towns across southern Lebanon to evacuate and move north of the Awwali River, some 58 km from the border with Israel and about 30km farther than the Litani River, which marks the UN buffer zone created after the 2006 war.
On 2 October 2024, at 9:11 am and then at 11:15 am, the Israeli military issued warnings for a further 24 towns and villages across southern Lebanon, telling residents to “save their lives and leave their homes immediately,” ordering them to move north of the Awwali River, and saying that any movement south could expose them to danger. The Israeli military issued a similar warning at 12:49 pm on 3 October for a further 25 towns and villages, at 9:11 am on 4 October for a further 35 villages, and at 12:58 pm on 7 October for 25 additional villages.
None of the “orders” offered safe and effective evacuation, just instructing residents to leave “immediately”.
Caption: A map showing the towns and villages impacted by evacuation warnings across southern Lebanon
Amnesty International’s concerns about the warnings to civilians in south Lebanon are heightened by some statements from Israeli political and military leaders indicating that they considered Lebanese civilians and property to be legitimate targets. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said on 27 September 2024 there is “a missile in every kitchen, a rocket in every garage”. The Israeli Education Minister said on television on 21 September 2024 that there was no difference between Hezbollah and Lebanon and that Lebanon “would be annihilated”. The Israeli Defense Minister has also previously warned in June 2024 that Israel is capable of returning Lebanon “to the stone age”.
“The massive loss of life in Lebanon in recent days raises fears that Israeli forces may be flouting their obligation to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians wherever they are, including through issuing effective warnings. Having spent the last 12 months investigating Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, Amnesty International is extremely concerned that Israel may be seeking to replicate the approach it followed in Gaza, resulting in unprecedented civilian harm,” said Agnes Callamard.
The south Lebanon warnings and the instructions that vehicles do not travel south of the Litani River also raise serious concerns over civilians’ access to essential supplies and services, including food, medication, healthcare and fuel.
The mukhtar of Rmeich, a village south of the Litani river close to the border with Israel, which did not receive an evacuation warning but is within the area in which Israel has said vehicles are prohibited from travelling, told Amnesty International that supplies in the town were rapidly dwindling. “The area is going to become destitute. How can we continue? It’s like they want to displace us,” he said.
The conditions being created by Israel’s actions in south Lebanon risk forcibly displacing the majority of the civilian population there.
One of the towns in southern Lebanon that the Israeli military warned must be evacuated is Ain Ebel, where the majority of residents are Christian and have no known affiliation with Hezbollah.
Rakan Diab, an Ain Ebel resident, told Amnesty International that residents of the village were surprised when Ain Ebel was included in the Israeli military’s evacuation warning on X (formerly Twitter) on 1 October. Shortly afterwards, the mayor of the village received a call from an individual purporting to be a member of the Israeli military warning residents to flee within around 45 minutes because there were weapons in the village.
“People panicked… we needed to pack and leave immediately,” he said explaining how the majority fled to the nearby village of Rmeich and the Lebanese army and the Lebanese Red Cross facilitated safe passage for a convoy of around 100 cars from Rmeich to north of the Awwali River.
“Amnesty International is calling on Israel’s allies, including the United States, to suspend all arms transfers and other forms of military assistance to Israel due to the significant risk that these weapons could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international law. The organization is also calling for a suspension of all arms transfers to Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon,” said Agnès Callamard.
Background
Israel’s Operation Northern Arrows began on 23 September. During the first day, Israeli forces carried out at least 1,600 strikes in areas across Lebanon, killing more than 500 people and injuring over 1800 in the first 24 hours. Hezbollah also launched more than 200 rockets towards Israel that day, with around 10 people sustaining shrapnel or debris wounds.
Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in ongoing cross-border hostilities since the group launched attacks into northern Israel following the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and the occupied Gaza Strip in October 2023.
Many of Hezbollah’s rockets are unguided and cannot be aimed at a specific target. Firing inherently inaccurate rockets into areas where civilians are present are indiscriminate attacks, and thus violate international humanitarian law. Direct attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks which kill or injure civilians constitute war crimes.
Since 8 October 2023, Hezbollah and other armed groups have launched thousands of missiles at northern Israel, killing 16 civilians. A further 12 civilians, all children, were killed on 27 July in an attack on Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights. Around 63,000 residents of northern Israel have been evacuated since 8 October.
In one Hezbollah attack, on 12 November 2023, an anti-tank missile hit a group of electricity company workers who were doing infrastructure work near Dovev. One worker was killed in the attack, and another lightly injured.
In another attack, on 9 July 2024, two civilians were killed when a missile hit their car while driving on highway 91 in the Occupied Golan Heights. In a statement released that day, Hezbollah took responsibility and said that it targeted the nearby Nafah military base in response to the assassination of one of its members.
We were forced to stop outpatient care for 5,000 children with acute malnutrition living in Zamzam camp for displaced people at the end of September without the supplies necessary for care.
Warring parties have blocked the delivery of food, medicines, and supplies to Zamzam camp for months.
All parties to the conflict and their allies must do everything to facilitate the delivery of aid to Zamzam camp.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been forced to stop outpatient treatment for 5,000 children with acute malnutrition in Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, Sudan, because the warring parties have blocked deliveries of food, medicines, and other essential supplies for months.
As supplies ran low at the end of September, MSF was forced to stop care for 5,000 children on an outpatient basis, including 2,900 children with severe acute malnutrition. Only MSF’s 80-bed hospital remains functioning in the camp to treat children at the greatest risk of dying.
“There is an urgent need for a massive supply of nutritional products and food to help people, it is currently a catastrophic situation,” says Michel-Olivier Lacharité, MSF’s head of emergency operations. “MSF is calling on the various stakeholders, the governments, the allies of the parties to the conflict, the Rapid Support Forces, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Joint Forces, to facilitate humanitarian aid delivery to the camp.”
Some limited supplies have arrived in recent weeks, including medical supplies that MSF was able to transport, but the quantities remain far too low to meet the needs of people suffering from malnutrition in Zamzam camp, which has a population of approximately 450,000.
The crisis has attracted broader international attention as the IPC Famine Review Committee concluded in August that a famine was underway in Zamzam camp. MSF’s own malnutrition assessments found that 30 percent of children were malnourished in multiple surveys earlier this year, estimating that a child was dying of causes linked to malnutrition every two hours on average. As the current crisis also limits MSF’s ability to collect new data, the current rate of death among children is not known.
“In the last few days, we’ve seen some positive signs, with trucks arriving after months of almost complete blockade around the camp. However, these quantities are insufficient,” says Lacharité. “These are positive signs, and we can see that the parties to the conflict recognise the seriousness of the situation and are starting to let trucks arrive. If we are to have a massive response, the aid agencies will also have to significantly step up their efforts and all diplomatic stakeholders negotiating with the parties to the conflict will have to convince them to ensure that this delivery continues over the coming months.”
For example, providing a month’s worth of emergency food rations (around 500 calories a day per person) to the 450,000 people in Zamzam represents around 2,000 tons of rations. It would take 100 trucks a month to deliver them.
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Source: United Kingdom – Prime Minister’s Office 10 Downing Street
The Prime Minister hosted Mark Rutte, the new Secretary General of NATO, at Downing Street this morning.
The Prime Minister hosted Mark Rutte, the new Secretary General of NATO, at Downing Street this morning.
The Prime Minister thanked Secretary General Rutte for travelling to the United Kingdom so early on in his tenure.
Both leaders discussed the importance of a strong and united NATO in the face of ongoing Russian aggression. The Prime Minister set out the UK’s steadfast contribution to Allied forces, including through the UK’s nuclear deterrent, and said he said he looked forward to working closely with the NATO Secretary General in the coming months and years.
Turning to broader conflicts, the leaders agreed that the security of the Indo-Pacific and Euro Atlantic regions was indivisible, and that strong relationships between NATO and its Indo-Pacific partners were vital to global stability.
The leaders also discussed the situation in the Middle East and the importance of de-escalation and a ceasefire.
Source: United Kingdom – Prime Minister’s Office 10 Downing Street
The Prime Minister hosted President Zelenskyy in Downing Street this morning to discuss his victory plan for Ukraine.
The Prime Minister hosted President Zelenskyy in Downing Street this morning to discuss his victory plan for Ukraine.
The Prime Minister welcomed the opportunity to be briefed by the President, and underscored the UK’s steadfast commitment to a sovereign Ukraine. He added that he looked forward to hearing reflections from President Zelenskyy and the other international partners he was visiting this week.
Looking ahead to the winter, and the challenges that would bring, they both agreed on the need to ensure Ukraine was in the best possible position.
The leaders also discussed Ukraine’s long-term future, and how investment in the country’s security today would support Europe’s broader security for generations to come.
Both looked forward to seeing one another again soon.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
The Prime Minister hosted President Zelenskyy in Downing Street this morning to discuss his victory plan for Ukraine.
The Prime Minister hosted President Zelenskyy in Downing Street this morning to discuss his victory plan for Ukraine.
The Prime Minister welcomed the opportunity to be briefed by the President, and underscored the UK’s steadfast commitment to a sovereign Ukraine. He added that he looked forward to hearing reflections from President Zelenskyy and the other international partners he was visiting this week.
Looking ahead to the winter, and the challenges that would bring, they both agreed on the need to ensure Ukraine was in the best possible position.
The leaders also discussed Ukraine’s long-term future, and how investment in the country’s security today would support Europe’s broader security for generations to come.
Both looked forward to seeing one another again soon.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Government appoints leading industry and academic experts to the Clean Power 2030 Advisory Commission to help accelerate UK’s mission to decarbonise the electricity grid.
Eight energy and nature experts have been appointed to accelerate UK’s mission for clean power by 2030
the 8 commissioners have almost 200 years’ worth of experience across energy policy, environment, industry and academia
experts will form new Advisory Commission for Mission Control, with Energy Secretary Ed Miliband attending their first meeting today
Eight leading figures from across industry and academia have been appointed to help accelerate the government’s world leading target to deliver clean power by 2030.
The Clean Power 2030 Advisory Commission will support Chris Stark, Head of Mission Control, in developing a Clean Power 2030 system – providing expertise to deliver the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, expected later this year.
The Action Plan will set out the path to decarbonise the electricity grid, helping protect billpayers from volatile gas prices and strengthening Britain’s energy security.
The 8 commissioners come from across industry and academia with a wealth of expertise and experience to advise on specific aspects of developing a clean power system, including planning, infrastructure, nature, and supply chains.
The full list of commissioners include:
Nick Winser: Over 30 years’ experience in the energy sector, including having been CEO of National Grid across UK and Europe, and President of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity.
Tim Pick: Over 25 years in the energy sector and is a passionate advocate for offshore wind having been the UK’s first Offshore Wind Champion.
Juliet Davenport: Founder of the Good Energy company and President of the Energy Institute. Juliet has been an innovator for over 20 years, working on ideas to fight climate change and transform the energy sector for the better.
Robert Gross: As well as being Director of the UK Energy Research Centre since 2020, Rob is Professor of Energy Policy and Technology at Imperial College.
Craig Bennett: Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trust and former CEO of Friends of the Earth, Craig has 20 years’ experience of designing and contributing to executive education and leadership programmes at numerous universities and business schools.
Jo Coleman: 35 years’ experience in the energy industry. Board member of several energy organisations, with a background in engineering and major project delivery in the oil and gas sector.
Lucy Yu: CEO and founder at Centre for Net Zero, Octopus Energy Group’s not-for-profit AI and data-driven research institute, which was set up to advance tech-driven energy systems that benefit humanity.
Dr Simon Harrison: A leading voice in public policy around the ways engineering can help with the energy transition and decarbonisation. Was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2023 – the highest accolade in the profession.
The Energy Secretary chaired the first Advisory Commission meeting this afternoon, emphasising the importance of the new group for removing barriers and accelerating the energy system towards clean power by 2030.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said:
The best way to take back control of our energy security and create highly skilled jobs is to speed up the rollout of renewables and transition towards clean homegrown power.
The Clean Power 2030 Advisory Commission, benefiting from decades of experience across industry and academia, under Chris Stark’s leadership, will have a laser-like focus on delivering our mission for clean power by 2030.
Head of Mission Control Chris Stark said:
The Clean Power by 2030 is a statement of our ambition. This mission will unlock good jobs and protect the consumer, and it is key to our energy security.
We will work closely with our partners in industry to deliver this mission at pace – these are 8 leading figures in their field to drive that partnership.
I’m looking forward to working with all 8 commissioners to unblock barriers, spot the opportunities, and deliver a clean power system by 2030.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
The Prime Minister hosted Mark Rutte, the new Secretary General of NATO, at Downing Street this morning.
The Prime Minister hosted Mark Rutte, the new Secretary General of NATO, at Downing Street this morning.
The Prime Minister thanked Secretary General Rutte for travelling to the United Kingdom so early on in his tenure.
Both leaders discussed the importance of a strong and united NATO in the face of ongoing Russian aggression. The Prime Minister set out the UK’s steadfast contribution to Allied forces, including through the UK’s nuclear deterrent, and said he said he looked forward to working closely with the NATO Secretary General in the coming months and years.
Turning to broader conflicts, the leaders agreed that the security of the Indo-Pacific and Euro Atlantic regions was indivisible, and that strong relationships between NATO and its Indo-Pacific partners were vital to global stability.
The leaders also discussed the situation in the Middle East and the importance of de-escalation and a ceasefire.
Education is essentially an “industry of industries,” with K-12 and higher education enterprises handling data that could include health records, financial data, and other regulated information. At the same time, their facilities can host payment processing systems, networks that are used as internet service providers (ISPs), and other diverse infrastructure. The cyberthreats that Microsoft observes across different industries tend to be compounded in education, and threat actors have realized that this sector is inherently vulnerable. With an average of 2,507 cyberattack attempts per week, universities are prime targets for malware, phishing, and IoT vulnerabilities.¹
Security staffing and IT asset ownership also affect education organizations’ cyber risks. School and university systems, like many enterprises, often face a shortage of IT resources and operate a mix of both modern and legacy IT systems. Microsoft observes that in the United States, students and faculty are more likely to use personal devices in education compared to Europe, for example. Regardless of ownership however, in these and other regions, busy users do not always have a security mindset.
This edition of Cyber Signals delves into the cybersecurity challenges facing classrooms and campuses, highlighting the critical need for robust defenses and proactive measures. From personal devices to virtual classes and research stored in the cloud, the digital footprint of school districts, colleges, and universities has multiplied exponentially.
We are all defenders.
A uniquely valuable and vulnerable environment
The education sector’s user base is very different from a typical large commercial enterprise. In the K-12 environment, users include students as young as six years old. Just like any public or private sector organization, there is a wide swath of employees in school districts and at universities including administration, athletics, health services, janitorial, food service professionals, and others. Multiple activities, announcements, information resources, open email systems, and students create a highly fluid environment for cyberthreats.
Virtual and remote learning have also extended education applications into households and offices. Personal and multiuser devices are ubiquitous and often unmanaged—and students are not always cognizant about cybersecurity or what they allow their devices to access.
Education is also on the front lines confronting how adversaries test their tools and their techniques. According to data from Microsoft Threat Intelligence, the education sector is the third-most targeted industry, with the United States seeing the greatest cyberthreat activity.
Cyberthreats to education are not only a concern in the United States. According to the United Kingdom’s Department of Science Innovation and Technology 2024 Cybersecurity Breaches Survey, 43% of higher education institutions in the UK reported experiencing a breach or cyberattack at least weekly.²
QR codes provide an easily disguised surface for phishing cyberattacks
Today, quick response (QR) codes are quite popular—leading to increased risks of phishing cyberattacks designed to gain access to systems and data. Images in emails, flyers offering information about campus and school events, parking passes, financial aid forms, and other official communications all frequently contain QR codes. Physical and virtual education spaces might be the most “flyer friendly” and QR code-intensive environments anywhere, given how big a role handouts, physical and digital bulletin boards, and other casual correspondence help students navigate a mix of curriculum, institutional, and social correspondence. This creates an attractive backdrop for malicious actors to target users who are trying to save time with a quick image scan.
Recently the United States Federal Trade Commission issued a consumer alert on the rising threat of malicious QR codes being used to steal login credentials or deliver malware.³
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 telemetry shows that approximately more than 15,000 messages with malicious QR codes are targeted toward the educational sector daily—including phishing, spam, and malware.
Legitimate software tools can be used to quickly generate QR codes with embedded links to be sent in email or posted physically as part of a cyberattack. And those images are hard for traditional email security solutions to scan, making it even more important for faculty and students to use devices and browsers with modern web defenses.
Targeted users in the education sector may use personal devices without endpoint security. QR codes essentially enable the threat actor to pivot to these devices. QR code phishing (since its purpose is to target mobile devices) is compelling evidence of mobile devices being used as an attack vector into enterprises—such as personal accounts and bank accounts—and the need for mobile device protection and visibility. Microsoft has significantly disrupted QR code phishing attacks. This shift in tactics is evident in the substantial decrease in daily phishing emails intercepted by our system, dropping from 3 million in December 2023 to just 179,000 by March 2024.
Source: Microsoft incident response engagements.
Universities present their own unique challenges. Much of university culture is based on collaboration and sharing to drive research and innovation. Professors, researchers, and other faculty operate under the notion that technology, science—simply knowledge itself—should be shared widely. If someone appearing as a student, peer, or similar party reaches out, they’re often willing to discuss potentially sensitive topics without scrutinizing the source.
University operations also span multiple industries. University presidents are effectively CEOs of healthcare organizations, housing providers, and large financial organizations—the industry of industries factor, again. Therefore, top leaders can can be prime targets for anyone attacking those sectors.
The combination of value and vulnerability found in education systems has attracted the attention of a spectrum of cyberattackers—from malware criminals employing new techniques to nation-state threat actors engaging in old-school spy craft.
Microsoft continually monitors threat actors and threat vectors worldwide. Here are some key issues we’re seeing for education systems.
Email systems in schools offer wide spaces for compromise
The naturally open environment at most universities forces them to be more relaxed in their email hygiene. They have a lot of emails amounting to noise in the system, but are often operationally limited in where and how they can place controls, because of how open they need to be for alumni, donors, external user collaboration, and many other use cases.
Education institutions tend to share a lot of announcements in email. They share informational diagrams around local events and school resources. They commonly allow external mailers from mass mailing systems to share into their environments. This combination of openness and lack of controls creates a fertile ground for cyberattacks.
AI is increasing the premium on visibility and control
Cyberattackers recognizing higher education’s focus on building and sharing can survey all visible access points, seeking entry into AI-enabled systems or privileged information on how these systems operate. If on-premises and cloud-based foundations of AI systems and data are not secured with proper identity and access controls, AI systems become vulnerable. Just as education institutions adapted to cloud services, mobile devices and hybrid learning—which introduced new waves of identities and privileges to govern, devices to manage, and networks to segment—they must also adapt to the cyber risks of AI by scaling these timeless visibility and control imperatives.
Nation-state actors are after valuable IP and high-level connections
Universities handling federally funded research, or working closely with defense, technology, and other industry partners in the private sector, have long recognized the risk of espionage. Decades ago, universities focused on telltale physical signs of spying. They knew to look for people showing up on campus taking pictures or trying to get access to laboratories. Those are still risks, but today the dynamics of digital identity and social engineering have greatly expanded the spy craft toolkit.
Universities are often epicenters of highly sensitive intellectual property. They may be conducting breakthrough research. They may be working on high-value projects in aerospace, engineering, nuclear science, or other sensitive topics in partnership with multiple government agencies.
For cyberattackers, it can be easier to first compromise somebody in the education sector who has ties to the defense sector and then use that access to more convincingly phish a higher value target.
Universities also have experts in foreign policy, science, technology, and other valuable disciplines, who may willingly offer intelligence, if deceived in social-engineering cyberattacks employing false or stolen identities of peers and others who appear to be in individuals’ networks or among trusted contacts. Apart from holding valuable intelligence themselves, compromised accounts of university employees can become springboards into further campaigns against wider government and industry targets.
Nation-state actors targeting education
Peach Sandstorm
Peach Sandstorm has used password spray attacks against the education sector to gain access to infrastructure used in those industries, and Microsoft has also observed the organization using social engineering against targets in higher education.
Mint Sandstorm
Microsoft has observed a subset of this Iranian attack group targeting high-profile experts working on Middle Eastern affairs at universities and research organizations. These sophisticated phishing attacks used social engineering to compel targets to download malicious files including a new, custom backdoor called MediaPl.
Mabna Institute
In 2023, the Iranian Mabna Institute conducted intrusions into the computing systems of at least 144 United States universities and 176 universities in 21 other countries.
The stolen login credentials were used for the benefit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and were also sold within Iran through the web. Stolen credentials belonging to university professors were used to directly access university library systems.
Emerald Sleet
This North Korean group primarily targets experts in East Asian policy or North and South Korean relations. In some cases, the same academics have been targeted by Emerald Sleet for nearly a decade.
Emerald Sleet uses AI to write malicious scripts and content for social engineering, but these attacks aren’t always about delivering malware. There’s also an evolving trend where they simply ask experts for policy insight that could be used to manipulate negotiations, trade agreements, or sanctions.
Moonstone Sleet
Moonstone Sleet is another North Korean actor that has been taking novel approaches like creating fake companies to forge business relationships with educational institutions or a particular faculty member or student.
One of the most prominent attacks from Moonstone Sleet involved creating a fake tank-themed game used to target individuals at educational institutions, with a goal to deploy malware and exfiltrate data.
Storm-1877
This actor largely engages in cryptocurrency theft using a custom malware family that they deploy through various means. The ultimate goal of this malware is to steal crypto wallet addresses and login credentials for crypto platforms.
Students are often the target for these attacks, which largely start on social media. Storm-1877 targets students because they may not be as aware of digital threats as professionals in industry.
A new security curriculum
Due to education budget and talent constraints and the inherent openness of its environment, solving education security is more than a technology problem. Security posture management and prioritizing security measures can be a costly and challenging endeavor for these institutions—but there is a lot that school systems can do to protect themselves.
Maintaining and scaling core cyberhygiene will be key to securing school systems. Building awareness of security risks and good practices at all levels—students, faculty, administrators, IT staff, campus staff, and more—can help create a safer environment.
For IT and security professionals in the education sector, doing the basics and hardening the overall security posture is a good first step. From there, centralizing the technology stack can help facilitate better monitoring of logging and activity to gain a clearer picture into the overall security posture and any vulnerabilities.
Oregon State University
Oregon State University (OSU), an R1 research-focused university, places a high priority on safeguarding its research to maintain its reputation. In 2021, it experienced an extensive cybersecurity incident unlike anything before. The cyberattack revealed gaps in OSU’s security operations.
“The types of threats that we’re seeing, the types of events that are occurring in higher education, are much more aggressive by cyber adversaries.”
—David McMorries, Chief Information Security Officer at Oregon State University
In response to this incident, OSU created its Security Operations Center (SOC), which has become the centerpiece of the university’s security effort. AI has also helped automate capabilities and helped its analysts, who are college students, learn how to quickly write code—such as threat hunting with more advanced hunting queries.
Arizona Department of Education
A focus on Zero Trust and closed systems is an area that the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) takes further than the state requirements. It blocks all traffic from outside the United States from its Microsoft 365 environment, Azure, and its local datacenter.
“I don’t allow anything exposed to the internet on my lower dev environments, and even with the production environments, we take extra care to make sure that we use a network security group to protect the app services.”
—Chris Henry, Infrastructure Manager at the Arizona Department of Education
Follow these recommendations:
The best defense against QR code attacks is to be aware and pay attention. Pause, inspect the code’s URL before opening it, and don’t open QR codes from unexpected sources, especially if the message uses urgent language or contains errors.
Consider implementing “protective domain name service,” a free tool that helps prevent ransomware and other cyberattacks by blocking computer systems from connecting to harmful websites. Prevent password spray attacks with a stringent password and deploy multifactor authentication.
Educate students and staff about their security hygiene, and encourage them to use multifactor authentication or passwordless protections. Studies have shown that an account is more than 99.9% less likely to be compromised when using multifactor authentication.
Corey Lee has always had an interest in solving puzzles and crimes. He started his college career at Penn State University in criminal justice, but soon realized his passion for digital forensics after taking a course about investigating a desktop computer break-in.
After completing his degree in security and risk analysis, Corey came to Microsoft focused on gaining cross-industry experience. He’s worked on securing everything from federal, state, and local agencies to commercial enterprises, but today he focuses on the education sector.
After spending time working across industries, Corey sees education through a different lens—the significantly unique industry of industries. The dynamics at play inside the education sector include academic institutions, financial services, critical infrastructure like hospitals and transportation, and partnerships with government agencies. According to Corey, working in such a broad field allows him to leverage skillsets from multiple industries to address specific problems across the landscape.
The fact that education could also be called underserved from a cybersecurity standpoint is another compelling challenge, and part of Corey’s personal mission. The education industry needs cybersecurity experts to elevate the priority of protecting school systems. Corey works across the public and industry dialogue, skilling and readiness programs, incident response, and overall defense to protect not just the infrastructure of education, but students, parents, teachers, and staff.
Today, Corey is focused reimagining student security operations centers, including how to inject AI into the equation and bring modern technology and training to the table. By growing the cybersecurity work force in education and giving them new tools, he’s working to elevate security in the sector in a way that’s commensurate with how critical the industry is for the future.
Next steps with Microsoft Security
To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Security) and X (@MSFTSecurity) for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.
¹The Institutional Impacts of a Cyberattack, University of Florida Information Technology. January 18, 2024.
²Cyber security breaches survey 2024: education institutions annex, The United Kingdom Department for Science, Innovation & Technology. April 9, 2024
³Scammers hide harmful links in QR codes to steal your information, Federal Trade Commission (Alvaro Puig), December 6, 2023.
Methodology: Snapshot and cover stat data represent telemetry from Microsoft Defender for Office 365 showing how a QR code phishing attack was disrupted by image detection technology and how Security Operations teams can respond to this threat. Platforms like Microsoft Entra provided anonymized data on threat activity, such as malicious email accounts, phishing emails, and attacker movement within networks. Additional insights are from the 78 trillion daily security signals processed by Microsoft each day, including the cloud, endpoints, the intelligent edge, and telemetry from Microsoft platforms and services including Microsoft Defender. Microsoft categorizes threat actors into five key groups: influence operations; groups in development; and nation-state, financially motivated, and private sector offensive actors. The new threat actors naming taxonomy aligns with the theme of weather.
Source: United States Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore)
October 10, 2024
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said today he is cosponsoring legislation that would provide tax credits to generate incentives for new investments and additional resources for single-family home construction and renovations for working families in Oregon and nationwide.
Senator Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., who led the New Homes Tax Credit Act, released a report on housing supply in America, which found that underbuilding, restrictive zoning policies, and home financing hurdles have caused the supply of starter homes to shrink and prices to rise. High interest rates and mangled supply chains have also contributed to increased home prices. The legislation would address the lack of housing inventory for individuals and families whose incomes are up to 120 percent of the area median income, particularly in areas where middle-income families have historically been priced out.
“Democrats are focused on attacking the cost of living, and with rents and home prices climbing every year, the key to solving our housing crisis is to build, build, build. That’s what this bill is all about,” said Wyden. “The housing crisis is no longer just about big cities like Portland, it’s all over Oregon and the entire country – urban centers, suburban communities, even a lot of rural areas. Congress needs to look at every available solution that’ll get more housing built so that families don’t have to break the bank to pay the rent every month.”
The New Homes Tax Credit would be administered under the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. That fund certifies Housing Development Entities, which can be Community Development Financial Institutions, government and quasi-governmental entities, or non-profits. Following certification, Housing Development Entities will use the capital raised from exchanging their tax credits with investors to provide funds for construction companies that build or renovate single-family homes.
Along with Wyden, The New Homes Tax Credit Act is cosponsored by Senators Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
The legislation is supported by the Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Home Builders, National Association of Realtors, Housing New Mexico, Homewise, Yes Housing, Inc., and Strong Towns Albuquerque.
The text of the bill is here.
Source: United States Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore)
October 10, 2024
In the last two decades, Supreme Court justices have accepted hundreds of gifts valued at nearly $5 million
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said today he is cosponsoring legislation that would ban Supreme Court justices from receiving gifts valued at more than $50, aimed at strengthening the ethical standards of the Court.
Senators Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., led the introduction of the High Court Gift Ban Act. In addition to Wyden, Senators Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., cosponsored the bill. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., introduced companion legislation in the House.
“American democracy can only work if the public has trust in its institutions,” said Wyden, who recently introduced sweeping reforms to restore public trust in the Supreme Court. “With more and more Supreme Court ethics violations being uncovered, the public’s trust in the Court has been shaken to its core. It’s not just unacceptable but morally wrong that those sitting on our nation’s highest court can get away with accepting lavish gifts from just about anybody. Supreme Court justices should be held to the same standards as other federal officials so that faith can begin to be restored in one of America’s most powerful institutions.”
Under current law, Supreme Court justices are not held to the same restrictions on accepting gifts that apply to members of Congress, federal judges, and other federal officials. A recent analysis by Fix the Court estimated that in the last two decades, Supreme Court justices have accepted hundreds of gifts valued at nearly $5 million.
The High Court Gift Ban Act does the following:
Bans Supreme Court justices and all 2,300 lower court judges from receiving gifts valued at more than $50 in a single instance or more than $100 in aggregate in a year;
Caps gifts of personal hospitality, which are currently unregulated, at a value equal to the tax threshold for personal gifts, currently about $18,000;
Contains exemptions in line with those for members of Congress;
Enforces prohibitions by requiring referrals to the attorney general for investigation;
Aligns civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance with the government-wide financial disclosure law, the Ethics in Government Act:
Up to $50,000 for civil violations;
Fines and up to one year in prison for criminal penalties.
The High Court Gift Ban Act is endorsed by Accountable.US, AFT, Alliance for Justice, American Humanist Association, Center for American Progress, Clean Elections Texas, Common Cause, Courage California, Court Accountability, Courts Matter Illinois, Demand Justice, DemCast USA, Demos Action, End Citizens United/Let America Vote Action Fund, Enough of Gun Violence, Faithful Democracy, Fix the Court, Free Speech For People, FRFF Action Fund, Get Money Out – Maryland, Greenpeace USA, Indivisible, League of Conservation Voters, Michiganders for Fair & Transparent Elections, MoveOn, National Association of Consumer Advocates, National Association of Social Workers, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Ohio Fair Courts Alliance, P Street, People For the American Way, People Power United, Project on Government Oversight, Public Citizen, Reproductive Freedom for All, Secular Coalition for America, Secure Elections Network, Stand Up America, Supreme Court Integrity Project, Take Back the Court Action Fund, True North Research, United Church of Christ, Voices for Progress, and Walking To Fix Our Democracy.
The text of the bill is here.
Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe – OSCE
Headline: Dialogue and partnership across religious and belief communities vital to strengthen human rights and security
Susan Kerr, ODIHR Senior Advisor on Freedom of Religion or Belief and John Kinahan from Forum 18, speaking at the ODIHR’s launch of the Belief, Dialogue and Security Guide (OSCE/Piotr Dziubak) Photo details
Dialogue and partnership across religious or belief communities play an invaluable role in strengthening human rights and security, participants agreed at the launch of a new guide entitled Belief, Dialogue and Security by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) during the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference this week.
“Dialogue is essential to respond to the ever-changing challenges to human rights and democracy and finding ways to work together peacefully,” said Susan Kerr, ODIHR’s Senior Adviser on Freedom of Religion or Belief. “Our thanks go to the many people from across the OSCE area who helped make the guide’s recommendations relevant to all OSCE states.”
Interfaith and interreligious dialogue can help to combat fear, prejudice and hatred by promoting mutual understanding. Participants noted that meaningful dialogue is only possible when based on freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief and underscored the need for governments to demonstrate real commitment to protecting this right for all. They concluded that states must be even-handed in engaging with religious and belief communities, and work hard to build trust if they are to fully realise the potential of dialogue and joint action.
“Full respect for human rights, equality and the autonomy of religious and belief communities should be central to every dialogue. It is the obligation of every stakeholder involved, but primarily of the state, to respect fundamental human rights. The success of the Council of Religions, which has been functioning under the Ombudsperson’s umbrella in Georgia for almost two decades, is an excellent example of this. The equality of every member has been the key to its success and can inspire other interfaith and inter-religious dialogue initiatives,” said Mariam Gavtadze from Georgia’s Tolerance and Diversity Institute.
The new guide was made possible by the knowledge and experience of ODIHR’s panel of experts on freedom of religion or belief. The launch brought together state representatives, civil society, and members of religious and belief communities to discuss dialogue and joint action partnerships in the OSCE area. The discussions illustrated the benefits of the guide’s practical recommendations, which are designed to assist OSCE states in implementing their commitments to interfaith dialogue and freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
The Deputy Prime Minister shares her wishes for a meaningful Yom Kippur to all our Jewish communities.
As we come to the end of Rosh Hashanah, I would like to take this opportunity to send my best wishes to our Jewish communities around the country for a meaningful Yom Kippur and renewal in the year ahead.
I know that these High Holy Days, which bring their moments of reflection and celebration, have been particularly pertinent this year in what has been an incredibly challenging time for the Jewish community.
In the midst of the ten days spanning Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we commemorated one year since the horrific October 7th Hamas terror attacks – the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust.
In the 12 months following these attacks, so many people continue to be wracked by pain and anguish: for many, this is from the loss of a loved one and for many more, it is also from the hatred and intolerance they’re subjected to for simply existing as a person of Jewish faith.
I would like to take this moment to reaffirm our commitment to the pursuit of peace, the safe return of all those still held hostage in Gaza and for a better future for the Middle East. And to our Jewish communities: we stand with you.
I wish you all well over the fast, and that you find strength and hope in each other.
Source: United Kingdom – Prime Minister’s Office 10 Downing Street
The King has been pleased to approve the appointment of Poppy Gustafsson OBE as Minister of State (Minister for Investment) jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury.
The King has been pleased to approve the appointment of Poppy Gustafsson OBE as Minister of State (Minister for Investment) jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury.
His Majesty has also been pleased to signify His intention of conferring a Peerage of the United Kingdom for Life on Poppy Gustafsson OBE.
MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Dmitry Chernyshenko held a meeting of the board of directors of JSC Corporation “Tourism.RF”
October 10, 2024
Dmitry Chernyshenko held a meeting of the board of directors of JSC Corporation “Tourism.RF”
October 10, 2024
Dmitry Chernyshenko held a meeting of the board of directors of JSC Corporation “Tourism.RF”
October 10, 2024
Dmitry Chernyshenko held a meeting of the board of directors of JSC Corporation “Tourism.RF”
October 10, 2024
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Dmitry Chernyshenko held a meeting of the board of directors of JSC Corporation “Tourism.RF”
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko held a meeting of the board of directors of JSC Corporation Tourism.RF. At the meeting, the participants reviewed and adopted a master plan for the development of the tourist territory Novaya Anapa in Krasnodar Krai. The launch of the first stage of infrastructure facilities is scheduled for 2030.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Alexander Kozlov, the Minister of Construction and Housing and Public Utilities Irek Faizullin, the Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dmitry Vakhrukov, the Deputy Minister of Finance Pavel Kadochnikov, the General Director of Tourism.RF Sergey Sukhanov, the General Director of the ANO Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects Svetlana Chupsheva, the Deputy Governor of Krasnodar Krai Alexander Ruppel and others.
Dmitry Chernyshenko recalled that in March of this year the project of the resort “New Anapa” was presented to the President by the Governor of Krasnodar Krai Veniamin Kondratyev and the head of state supported it.
“The project will be implemented on the instructions of President Vladimir Putin and will become part of the federal project “Five Seas and Lake Baikal” of the new national project “Tourism and Hospitality”. In November last year, an open all-Russian architectural competition with international participation for the development of the tourist territory “New Anapa” was held. The competition became a platform for joint work of experts, government representatives and potential investors. More than 60 applications from 11 countries were submitted. The original architectural solutions of the winner and finalists of the competition became the basis for the formation of the external appearance of the resort and were taken into account when developing the master plan,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko.
The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that the master plan for “New Anapa” was developed by the corporation over the course of a year and was approved by the coordinating council, which included leading Russian experts in urban development, architecture, ecology, representatives of interested federal and regional authorities, including the administration of Krasnodar Krai and the resort city of Anapa.
“The project of the family resort “New Anapa” provides for the construction of more than 15 thousand rooms of categories from three to five stars. 100 investment lots have been formed for investors: 69 lots of collective accommodation facilities, 31 lots of tourist and service infrastructure. The facilities will be introduced in stages until 2034,” said Sergey Sukhanov, General Director of “Tourism.RF”.
The investment volume is estimated at 457.9 billion rubles, of which 148.9 billion rubles is provisional infrastructure, 309 billion rubles is tourist infrastructure created by private investors.
The master plan provides for the creation of a thematic aqua complex and amusement park, health and balneological centers, schools of water and wind sports, a congress and exhibition center, a phygital center and other modern infrastructure facilities on the resort territory. It also provides for the construction of a multi-level embankment, the arrangement of a large number of recreational areas, squares and parks.
The master plan includes solutions to issues of supporting and transport infrastructure, such as the reconstruction and expansion of the flat structures of the Vityazevo airport, the construction of access and internal roads to the resort, electricity, gas, water supply and sanitation networks, the creation of sports, recreational, health, educational and event centers.
In implementing the project, it is planned to use government support measures from the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Construction with the assistance of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
The next stage of work on the project should be the joint development with the region of documentation on the planning of the territory of the future resort.
The all-Russian beach family resort “New Anapa” will be located near the village of Blagoveshchenskaya, 36 km from Anapa and 24 km from the international airport Anapa (Vityazevo) named after V.K. The resort will be built on an area of 940 hectares, along the sand spit between the Black Sea and picturesque estuaries.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
The King has been pleased to approve the appointment of Poppy Gustafsson OBE as Minister of State (Minister for Investment) jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury.
The King has been pleased to approve the appointment of Poppy Gustafsson OBE as Minister of State (Minister for Investment) jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury.
His Majesty has also been pleased to signify His intention of conferring a Peerage of the United Kingdom for Life on Poppy Gustafsson OBE.
The following text contains opinion that is not, or not necessarily, that of MIL-OSI –
Kamalanomics Continues To Crush Americans
Washington, October 10, 2024
American families are having to choose between filling up their gas tanks, heating their homes, or putting food on the table because of failed Kamalanomics. In September, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed Kamalaflation remains a tax on all Americans, and it isn’t going away anytime soon. Since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office, inflation has risen by 20.5%. The failed economic policies of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden continue to put Americans last.
MAKE NO MISTAKE: We cannot afford another four years of failed Far Left Democrat policies. We must return to the successful economic agenda Republicans implemented under President Trump which created the strongest economy in history and put Americans first.
KAMALANOMICS BY THE NUMBERS:
Inflation is a tax on ALL Americans.
When Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office, inflation was at just 1.4%.
Since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office, inflation has risen by 20.5%.
Americans are paying more for just about everything because of inflation. Since Biden and Harris took office:
Food at elementary and secondary schools 69.7%.
Eggs are UP 69.2%.
Motor vehicle insurance is UP 56.5%.
Admission to sporting events is UP 46.4%.
Lodging away from home including hotels and motels is UP 42.4%.
Gasoline (all types) is UP 38.4%.
Baby food and formula are UP 31.0%.
Veterinarian services are UP 29.9%.
Cookies are UP 29.1%.
Uncooked ground beef is UP 28.2%.
Bakery products are UP 27.2%.
Chicken is UP 25.0%.
Airline fares are UP 24.5%.
Bread is UP 23.9%.
Pork chops are UP 23.0%.
Lunchmeats are UP 22.3%.
Milk is UP 16.2%.
Americans are spending $13,300 more annually to buy the basics because of Kamalaflation, compared to three years ago.
Real wages remain lower than when Biden-Harris first took office.
Inflation-adjusted average weekly earnings were $397.90 when Biden-Harris took office and are now $384.29 – the Bureau of Labor Statistics adjusts to 1982-1984 dollars – meaning Americans have seen a 3.4% decrease under Biden-Harris.
Kamalaflation outpaced wages for a majority of Biden’s presidency – both year-over-year real average hourly earnings and real average weekly earnings were negative for 25 months.
Interest rates have remained at a 23-year high.
Nearly half of Americans consider themselves “broke.”
Two-thirds of Americans report living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Americans need a six-figure salary to afford a typical home in nearly half of U.S. states
In September, the unemployment rate remained high, at 4.1%.
Over the past 12 months, 825,000 native-born Americans lost employment, while 1.2 million foreign-born workers found jobs.
There are over 6.8 million Americans who are unemployed which is up from a year ago at 6.3 million.
The labor force participation rate remains well below pre-pandemic levels.
In September, the labor force participation rates decreased for the following demographics:
Women, 16 years and over.
White women, 20 years and over.
Black or African American women, 20 years and over.
Asian Americans.
Hispanic or Latino Americans.
Hispanic or Latino men, 20 years and over.
Hispanic or Latino women, 20 years and over.
Since July of 2023 versus July of 2024, there has been a net zero job growth.
In August, it was announced that 818,000 jobs that the Harris-Biden Administration claimed to have created aren’t there.
The BLS revised down its total tally of jobs created from March 2023 through March 2024 by 818,000.
This included 115,000 manufacturing jobs.
The revision is the largest in 15 years.
In addition to these revisions, the August jobs report revealed the employment in June and July combined is 86,000 lower than previously reported.
The Biden-Harris Administration deserves no credit for economic growth.
Republican-led states are leading the way creating jobs and leading economic growth.
The latest state jobs report shows that 16 of the top 20 states for jobs recovered since the coronavirus pandemic began are led by Republican governors, and 16 of the states have Republican-controlled legislatures.
The U.S. government has released the National Spectrum Research and Development Plan, a crucial step forward in maintaining America’s global leadership in wireless spectrum innovation. The Wireless Spectrum Research and Development Interagency Working Group of the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development program developed the plan on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The U.S. National Science Foundation was pivotal in creating the National Spectrum R&D Plan, co-chairing the working group with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and contributing expertise and guidance on key research areas.
NSF’s involvement underscores its leadership in fostering interdisciplinary research, including critical innovations in agile antennas, spectrum sharing and interference resilience. The plan authoring team also included members from various U.S. government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, Federal Communications Commission and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The National Spectrum R&D Plan aligns with President Joe Biden’s memorandum on Modernizing United States Spectrum Policy, which called for a coordinated national strategy to address the increasing demand for spectrum access, further cementing spectrum’s role in driving U.S. economic growth, national security and technological advancement. It also responds to the National Spectrum Strategy, which emphasizes the need for innovation in spectrum management and sharing technologies.
The innovation areas and organizational improvements detailed in the National Spectrum R&D Plan will offer research opportunities across multiple disciplines, from communications and networking to economics and policy. The cross-disciplinary nature of spectrum R&D will also pave the way for new commercialization pathways, offering industry leaders a blueprint to develop next-generation wireless technologies. Furthermore, the work described in the plan will improve data-driven decision-making and international cooperation to enhance U.S. competitiveness in the global spectrum landscape.
OVERVIEW The NASA chief technologist’s team, within the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS), is hosting a Lunar Autonomy Mobility Pathfinder (LAMP) workshop on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, to provide a community forum to discuss modeling and simulation testbeds in this domain. The workshop is in coordination with NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. With the Artemis campaign, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. Technologies like trusted autonomy are necessary to support these types of sustained operations. Trusted autonomy is a more robust level of autonomy designed for long-term operational use. The LAMP workshop will be held on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) Black Fire Innovation Facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Black Fire Innovation Center Building is located at 8400 W. Sunset Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89113, approximately 20 minutes from the UNLV main campus. This workshop has been designed to coincide with the 2024 Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium fall meeting (also taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada). The OTPS solver-in-residence is the main organizer and facilitator for this workshop. PROGRAM The LAMP workshop will provide a forum for a discussion on topics that include:
A modeling and simulation (M&S) pathfinder to explore an integrated sim environment for lunar stakeholders from commercial industry, other U.S. government agencies, international partners and academia, to simulate their systems that would eventually operate in the lunar environment and to test interoperability between systems. How to leverage the planned rover missions to 1) calibrate and improve this M&S environment over time, and 2) potentially use them as autonomy testbeds to safely mature algorithms in a relevant environment.
Please RSVP for in-person or virtual attendance by registering at the following site: https://nasaevents.webex.com/weblink/register/rdf4dd38bc3bf176dc32d147513f7b77c *Please note registration is on an individual basis. If attending with multiple guests, each guest must register for the event separately. LAMP Workshop Agenda (All times listed are in PST and subject to change)
10:00 a.m. – 12:00p.m. Modeling and Simulation (M&S) showcase (In-person only & optional)This is an opportunity for interested participants to show their lunar simulation capabilities inside of UNLV’s Blackfire Innovation esports arena. Space is limited. Please indicate if you are interested in participating when you register, and we will reach out with additional information.
1:00 –2:00p.m. Challenges to Developing Trusted Autonomy NASA will discuss the challenges of maturing autonomy that can be trusted to operate over long periods of time and how we can work together to overcome those challenges.
2:00 –3:00p.m. Pre-Formulation Discussion of a Lunar Autonomy Mobility Pathfinder Modeling and Simulation EnvironmentSubject matter experts (SMEs) from NASA will layout thoughts on what a digital transformation pathfinder would look like that benefits lunar autonomy efforts across the globe.
3:00 – 3:15p.m. Break
3:15 – 4:15p.m. Lunar Testbeds DiscussionThis will be a discussion focused on how assets on the moon could be used as testbeds to generate truth data for Earth-based simulations and to validate that autonomy can be trusted in the lunar environment.
4:15 – 5:00p.m. Polling and DiscussionsAudience feedback will be solicited on various topics. This will include a pre-formulated series of questions and real time polls.
CONTACT For questions, please email:
Dr. Adam Yingling2024 OTPS Solver-in-ResidenceOffice of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) NASA Headquarters Email: adam.j.yingling@nasa.gov The Solver-in-Residence (SiR) program is a one-year detail position with the chief technologist in NASA’s Office of Technology Policy and Strategy. The program enables a NASA civil servant to propose a one-year investigation on a specific technology challenge and then work to identify solutions to address those challenges.
The New Mexico State Council of Machinists and Aerospace Workers recently met in Ruidoso, N.M., to strengthen their Political Action Committee and prepare the political activists for upcoming state legislative priorities.
The Council also completed necessary business to finetune its bylaws and operating procedures.
“I continue to be extremely proud of the advances our New Mexico State Council is making through increased transparency and modernizing how we operate our Council,” said New Mexico State Council of Machinists President John Dyrcz. “Building real power for working people is a team effort, and New Mexico Council delegates have rolled up their sleeves and are doing the real work needed to increase our footprint in both New Mexico policy and politics.”
The Council discussed its upcoming winter meeting and the legislative issues they’ll be lobbying on in-state, including pursuing a ban on captive audience meetings, safe-staffing hospital ratios, and a bill for paid family medical leave.
They also reviewed endorsements for U.S. Congressional candidates and New Mexico’s House and Senate races, and decided on support for New Mexico constitutional amendments.
IAM Western Territory Chief of Staff Bobby Martinez spoke on behalf of the Territory and General Vice President Allen, voicing the Western Territory’s support for the New Mexico State Council and congratulating them on the positive progress they’ve made so far.
“The New Mexico State council is a shining example of bringing diverse members together to build on the common purpose of building people to enhance their power, bringing meaningful change for working families in the state of New Mexico,” said Martinez.
IAM Legislative and Political Assistant Director Loren Ameroth gave an overview of the political landscape in New Mexico right now, laying out where the IAM’s priorities lie.
IAM Veterans Services Assistant Coordinator Bryan Stymacks informed Council members about the many member support services the IAM provides to members, like the Employee Assistance Program, Veterans Affairs claims processing, and alcohol and addiction resources.
IAM Grand Lodge Auditor Suzette Trout spoke to the Council about legal compliance in managing their finances.
The Council also examined the outlook for its endorsed candidate, Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, in his swing-seat congressional race.
We are excited about what the changing of the season has brought us so far and with that, the Law Library of Congress is offering more educational webinars in November. The Law Library of Congress’s next offerings will be a Lunch and Learn webinar concerning the use of secondary sources, an Orientation to Legal Research webinar on federal legislative history, and an Orientation to Law Library Collections webinar with a special guest from the Alaska State Court Law Library. We hope you can join us.
Flyer announcing the Lunch and Learn Webinar titled, “Using Secondary Sources in Legal Research.” The webinar will take place on November 5, 2024 at 1:00 PM EST. Created by Taylor Gulatsi.
A Lunch and Learn Webinar: Using Secondary Sources in Legal Research
Date: Tuesday, November 5, 2024, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. EST
Content: This webinar will provide an overview of secondary sources such as legal encyclopedias, treatises, and dictionaries. In addition, the webinar will provide examples to show how these resources are used in practice. The presentation will demonstrate how secondary sources are an important step in the legal research method and how they can guide researchers to primary sources. Many of the materials and content for this webinar have come from the Law Library’s research guide, Legal Research: A Guide to Secondary Resources.
Instructors: Olivia Kane-Cruz and Linnea Eberhart. Olivia Kane-Cruz is a legal reference librarian at the Law Library of Congress. Olivia holds a B.A. in political science from Humboldt State University (Cal Poly Humboldt), a J.D. and a master of environmental law and policy from Vermont Law School, and an M.L.I.S. from the University of Washington. Linnea holds a B.A. in international studies and criminology from the University of South Florida Judy Genshaft Honors College, a J.D. from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, and an M.S.I. from Florida State University. She is currently a Librarian-in-Residence at the Law Library.
Register here.
An Orientation to Legal Research Webinar: Federal Legislative History
Date: Thursday, November 7, 2024, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. EST
Content: This entry in the series provides an overview of U.S. federal legislative history resources, including information about the methods of identifying and locating them. In tackling this area of research, the focus will largely be on finding these documents online.
Instructor: Jason Zarin. Jason is a legal reference specialist at the Law Library. Jason has a B.A. in economics from Tufts University, an M.A. in economics from UCLA, a J.D. from the University of Southern California, an LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University, and a Master of Science in information systems from the University of Texas at Austin.
Register here.
An Orientation to Law Library Collections Webinar feat. the Alaska State Court Law Library
Date: Thursday, November 14, 2024, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. EST
Content: This webinar is designed for patrons who are familiar with legal research, and would instead prefer an introduction to the collections and services specific to the Law Library of Congress. Some of the resources attendees will learn about include the Law Library’s research guides, digital collections, and the Guide to Law Online, among others. This Orientation to Law Library Collections webinar will feature a special appearance by Susan Falk, State Law Librarian for the Alaska State Court Law Library as part of our 50 State Outreach Program.
Instructor: Anna Price. Anna is a legal reference librarian at the Law Library. Anna holds a B.S. in communications from Ithaca College, a J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law, and an M.L.I.S. from the University of Washington iSchool.
Register here.
To learn about other upcoming classes on domestic and foreign law topics, visit the Legal Research Institute.
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
October 10, 2024
Senator Warren has beaten special interests, fought for workers and consumers, and worked across the aisle to lift up the middle class in Massachusetts and beyond
Senator Warren has passed 44 bills into law; 60% of passed bills are bipartisan
Text of Report (PDF)
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released a new report detailing her record of fighting — and winning — for consumers and working families in Massachusetts and across the country. The report, titled “From Plans to Law: Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Record of Accomplishments from 2013 – 2024,” provides a comprehensive overview of Senator Warren’s record of success in the Senate, from taking on special interests, to fighting for workers and consumers, to working across the aisle to lift up the middle class.
Senator Warren has passed 44 bills into law by both Democratic and Republican administrations. Over 60% of these bills passed into law were bipartisan. In addition to standalone legislation, Senator Warren secured 110 provisions in the annual National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAAs) signed into law by Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden. Senator Warren has also secured more than $50 billion in federal investments for Massachusetts, including more than $20 billion during the Biden-Harris Administration.
Senator Warren has attended hundreds of hearings and served as the chair of three subcommittees: the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee’s Economic Policy subcommittee, the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Personnel subcommittee, and the Senate Finance Committee’s Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth subcommittee. She has chaired 28 subcommittee hearings over the last three and a half years — including three held in Massachusetts.
Senator Warren has also aggressively used the power of congressional oversight to fight for working families, writing thousands of oversight letters to government officials and private sector CEOs, and using the information she obtains to effect change by the private sector and by the executive branch, and to inform her legislative work. She has released over 40 investigative reports exposing issues from broken policies in U.S. trade agreements to the failure of big banks to rein in scams to the failure of the pharmaceutical industry to meet its promises to provide lower-cost insulin for patients.
Key accomplishments include:
Senator Warren made corporations pay a fairer share — and used the revenue to combat the climate crisis. Senator Warren introduced legislative proposals to make big corporations pay their fair share, and published a report showing how multi-billion-dollar corporations exploit loopholes to pay pennies on the dollar of what they should owe. Congress enacted Senator Warren’s 15 percent corporate alternative minimum tax (CAMT) as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, meaning the CAMT helped pay for the largest climate package in U.S. history. It was the first corporate tax increase in three decades.
This year, Senator Warren worked across the aisle to guarantee automatic cash refunds for canceled flights. Senator Warren worked with Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) to pass a bipartisan amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act, requiring airlines to guarantee automatic cash refunds for canceled or significantly delayed flights — defeating airline lobbyists’ efforts to block the provision.
Senator Warren pushed to get rid of junk pharma patents, paving the way for more generics to come to market. In response to Big Pharma’s abuse of the patent system, which keeps generic competitors from entering the market and lowering costs for consumers, Senator Warren pushed the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and FDA to strengthen their oversight of pharmaceutical companies and close regulatory loopholes that these companies exploit to limit competition. She also pushed the FTC to crack down on junk patents. The FTC’s subsequent enforcement caused multiple companies to remove junk patents from the FDA’s Orange Book and contributed to the overwhelming public pressure on inhaler manufacturers that led them to slash costs for patients from hundreds of dollars to just $35.
Read the full report here.
Senator Warren has used her legislative power to score major wins for working people, including:
Securing $50 billion in federal investment for Massachusetts through the American Rescue Plan Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Chips and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act.
Preventing a collapse in child care infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic by rapidly developing a plan to inject $50 billion in emergency funding into the child care system and leading the Child Care is Essential Act.
Breaking the hearing aid monopoly in partnership with Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), lowering costs for people with hearing loss.
Securing $100 million to fight the opioid crisis and passing her slate of five bipartisan bills, as part of the SUPPORT Act.
Safeguarding abortion care for military veterans and servicemembers.
Protecting servicemembers from blast overpressure with a bipartisan bill (co-led with Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)), many elements of which the Department of Defense later incorporated into its updated blast overpressure policies.
Defending servicemembers’ rights by requiring the Department of Defense to create the first-ever military housing complaint database and investigate sexual assault and harassment of students in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (JROTC).
Securing investments in scientific research and development, and passed her bipartisan proposal to increase the inclusion of women participants in medical research, which was adopted as part of the 21st Century Cures Act.
Passing a bipartisan bill (co-led with Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.)) to help workers and retirees keep track of their retirement accounts across jobs.
Cracking down on wealthy tax cheats by introducing a bill to increase funding for the IRS — a priority which was later included in the Inflation Reduction Act, which appropriated a historic $80 billion increase in IRS funding over ten years.
Lowering prescription drug costs by championing key provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act that directly reduced the cost of insulin, limited out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs for seniors, and allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers for the first time.
Senator Warren’s oversight work has reined in corporate abuse, including:
Pressuring Wells Fargo CEOs John Stumpf and Tim Sloan, as well as members of the Wells Fargo Board of Directors, to resign after cheating consumers..
Pressuring Zelle to reimburse defrauded customers and change policies to protect consumers.
Helping to block powerful mergers that would have raised costs, including Jet Blue / Spirit, Choice Hotels / Wyndham Hotels, Aetna / Humana, and Lockheed Martin / Aerojet.
Securing relief for victims of Corinthian College and other predatory for-profit schools.
Holding student loan servicers accountable, leading to Navient exiting the federal student loan system.
Protecting renters by opening an investigation into RealPage, a software that helped corporate landlords engage in apparent price fixing.
Prompting the delisting of key sham patents in FDA’s Orange Book, paving the way for more generic competition for critical drugs.
Helping return $16.1 million of taxpayer money to the Department of Defense from military contractor TransDigm.
Securing ethics commitments from high-level nominees to avoid conflicts of interest and shut the revolving door.
Senator Warren has influenced executive actions and policy-making to advance key priorities, including:
Laying the groundwork for regulators to put money back in Americans’ pockets by curbing overdraft fees and credit card late fees.
Successfully encouraging the FDA to follow the science and reduce barriers to accessing mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortion, including by allowing the medication to be dispensed at certified pharmacies and by mail.
Helping to ban non-competes, making wages and benefits more competitive for workers.
Helping establish a program for millions of Americans to file their taxes directly with the IRS, for free.
Protecting seniors by securing a minimum staffing requirement for nursing homes, which will save over 13,000 lives each year.
Protecting retirees from bad advice from investment brokers by leading an investigation into conflicts of interest.
Fighting against the FDA’s discriminatory blood donation ban for men who have sex with men, leading FDA to replace the policy with one that better reflects the most up-to-date science.
Working to stop Big Tech’s attempt to sneak unfair practices into digital trade agreements.
Leading the charge to cancel student loan debt for almost 5 million Americans.
Sounding the alarm about bank consolidation for years, contributing to President Biden’s action to strengthen DOJ bank merger guidelines.
Read the full report here.
But some risks of AI are still poorly understood. These include the very particular risks to Indigenous knowledges and communities.
There’s a simple reason for this: the AI industry and governments have largely ignored Indigenous people in the development and regulation of AI technologies. Put differently, the world of AI is too white.
AI developers and governments need to urgently fix this if they are serious about ensuring everybody shares the benefits of AI. As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people like to say, “nothing about us, without us”.
Indigenous concerns
Indigenous peoples around the world are not ignoring AI. They are having conversations, conducting research and sharing their concerns about the current trajectory of it and related technologies.
A well-documented problem is the theft of cultural intellectual property. For example, users of AI image generation programs such as DeepAI can artificially generate artworks in mere seconds which mimic Indigenous styles and stories of art.
This demonstrates how easy it is for someone using AI to misappropriate cultural knowledges. These generations are taken from large data sets of publicly available imagery to create something new. But they miss the storying and cultural knowledge present in our art practices.
AI technologies also fuel the spread of misinformation about Indigenous people.
The internet is already riddled with misinformation about Indigenous people. The long-running Creative Spirits website, which is maintained by a non-Indigenous person, is a prominent example.
Generative AI systems are likely to make this problem worse. They often conflate us with other global Indigenous peoples around the world. They also draw on inappropriate sources, including Creative Spirits.
During last year’s Voice to Parliament referendum in Australia, “no” campaigners also used AI-generated images depicting Indigenous people. This demonstrates the role of AI in political contexts and the harm it can cause to us.
Another problem is the lack of understanding of AI among Indigenous people. Some 40% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in Australia don’t know what generative AI is. This reflects an urgent need to provide relevant information and training to Indigenous communities on the use of the technology.
We must think more expansively about AI and all the other computational systems in which we find ourselves increasingly enmeshed. We need to expand the operational definition of intelligence used when building these systems to include the full spectrum of behaviour we humans use to make sense of the world.
Key to achieving this is the idea of “Indigenous data sovereignty”. This would mean Indigenous people retain sovereignty over their own data, in the sense that they own and control access to it.
The National Agreement on Closing the Gap also affirms the importance of Indigenous data control and access.
This is reaffirmed at a global level as well. In 2020, a group of Indigenous scholars from around the world published a position paper laying out how Indigenous protocols can inform ethically created AI. This kind of AI would centralise the knowledges of Indigenous peoples.
For example, the guardrails include the need to ensure additional transparency and make extra considerations when it comes to using data about or owned by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to “mitigate the perpetuation of existing social inequalities”.
Indigenous Futurisms
Grace Dillon, a scholar from a group of North American Indigenous people known as the Anishinaabe, first coined the term “Indigenous Futurisms”.
Ambelin Kwaymullina, an academic and futurist practitioner from the Palyku nation in Western Australia, defines it as:
visions of what-could-be that are informed by ancient Aboriginal cultures and by our deep understandings of oppressive systems.
These visions, Kwaymullina writes, are “as diverse as Indigenous peoples ourselves”. They are also unified by “an understanding of reality as living, interconnected whole in which human beings are but one strand of life amongst many, and a non-linear view of time”.
So how can AI technologies be informed by Indigenous ways of knowing?
A first step is for industry to involve Indigenous people in creating, maintaining and evaluating the technologies – rather than asking them retrospectively to approve work already done.
Governments need to also do more than highlight the importance of Indigenous data sovereignty in policy documents. They need to meaningfully consult with Indigenous peoples to regulate the use of these technologies. This consultation must aim to ensure ethical AI behaviour among organisations and everyday users that honours Indigenous worldviews and realities.
AI developers and governments like to claim they are serious about ensuring AI technology benefits all of humanity. But unless they start involving Indigenous people more in developing and regulating the technology, their claims ring hollow.
Tamika Worrell 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.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor (Practice), Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, Monash University
The report provides a global snapshot of the abuse women athletes experience, who is most likely to perpetrate the violence, and makes recommendations on what should been done to promote safety of women and girls.
Off the back of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic games, where Australia cheered on the record-breaking success of women athletes, the report should be a wake-up call for Australian sports and clubs.
Abuse of women and girls in sport
Drawing on more than 100 submissions and consultations with 50 people, the report finds:
Women and girls in sport face widespread, overlapping and grave forms and manifestations of violence at all levels.
These abusive behaviours include coercive control, physical violence, corporal punishment, verbal abuse, social exclusion, bullying and identity abuse.
The impacts of this violence are wide-ranging: physical injuries, insomnia, fear and anxiety, reduced self-confidence, substance misuse, eating disorders, self harm, and decline in athletic performance and participation.
These impacts can extend well beyond the athlete’s involvement in their sport.
Women and girls also experience economic violence in sport. For example, when women athletes do not have control over their earnings, or when they are coerced into signing exploitative contracts.
The report notes women athletes also experience heightened rates of abusive and harassing behaviours in online settings. This includes sexual harassment and threats, racism, ridicule, body shaming, sexualised comments, stalking, doxing and revenge porn.
Perpetrators are wide-ranging. They include coaches, managers, spectators, teachers, peers, sports lawyers, referees and medical staff.
The report describes sexual harassment and abuse as “rampant” and acknowledges the high rate of sexual violence, in particular with relationships between coaches and athletes.
This includes grooming of younger athletes, where power and control dynamics, combined with an abuse of trust between an adult and child athlete, provide the conditions for sexual abuse to proliferate.
It follows a 2023 report from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and UN Women, which estimates 21% of girls worldwide have experienced at least one form of sexual abuse as a child in sport.
Is this a problem in Australia?
Australians often pride themselves on how sports bring the nation, communities and families together but we too have a wide-reaching problem in this area.
In 2021, a review of Swimming Australia found women athletes and coaches had experienced physical and mental abuse while the “Change the Routine” review of Gymnastics Australia revealed child abuse and neglect, misconduct, bullying, abuse, sexual harassment and assault towards gymnasts.
More recently, a review by Sports Integrity Australia into Australian volleyball, which revealed systemic verbal and physical abuse of athletes, prompted a formal apology to past athletes.
And a 2024 Deakin University study showed 87% of Australian sportswomen had experienced online harm within the past year.
A lack of accountability and consequence
In the traditionally male-dominated culture of sport, abusers have often gone unsanctioned, while those who experience abuse often leave their sport early and with significant consequences to their careers, financial stability, and mental and physical wellbeing.
There are examples where abuse has been minimised or ignored by those in leadership to protect the reputation of the team or the sporting code, and where coaches have been able to move between teams without consequence.
The first complaint against Nassar was made in 1997. Despite this, and the numerous other complaints which followed, Nassar remained in his coaching position with USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University until 2015. In December 2017 he was convicted of numerous counts of sexual abuse of minors.
Outcomes of investigations by sporting bodies often remain confidential. For example, in 2017 the Fremantle Dockers and the AFL were criticised for their use of a “confidentiality agreement” in settling a sexual harassment matter.
This impunity demonstrates a significant lack of accountability.
The barriers to reporting abuse in sport
There are significant barriers to reporting.
Women elite athletes may fear losing their funding and sponsorship deals if they report abuse.
In Australia, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard child athletes are most at risk of experiencing abuse by a person of authority (such as a coach) when they are about to achieve their best performance.
As the UN Report states, it is at this time that “there is very little to gain by revealing the abuse and too much to lose”.
This must change.
When sporting codes put a desire to win above safeguarding and accountability, the clear message sent to victims is that violence is excusable, and that sporting heroes are immune to the consequences of their abusive actions.
Raising awareness around early identification of abusive behaviours is key.
The UN report reveals athletes often feel uncertain and uncomfortable in identifying early forms of abusive behaviours and lack information on what supports are available to them when they do.
Ensuring a suite of reporting pathways is also critical. There is no one-size-fits-all model.
Why Australia should take the lead
Participating in sport has significant benefits. But sport settings must be safe for all.
Many sporting organisations and clubs have recognised the problem of abuse of women and girls in sport, rolling out respect and responsibility programs, sexual harassment policies, as well as clearer reporting and investigation policies.
This is a good start but must be built on.
Indeed, the safety of women and girls must be a key focus of the Australian High Performance “Win Well” strategy for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Recent initiatives and policy changes should be monitored to examine how they work and whether they deliver safer outcomes for women and girls in sport at all levels.
Responses to proven allegations of abuse must hold perpetrators to account. And critically, investigations must be independent, transparent and timely.
The UN report reminds us “sports is a microcosm of society”.
Violence against women and children in Australia has been declared a national emergency – ensuring the safety of women and girls in all sport settings is one critical component of addressing that crisis.
Kate has received funding for family violence-related research from the Australian Research Council, Australian Institute of Criminology, Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, the Victorian, Queensland and ACT governments, the Commonwealth Department of Social Services and the Victorian Women’s Trust. This piece is written by Kate Fitz-Gibbon in her role at Monash University and is wholly independent of Kate Fitz-Gibbon’s role as Chair of Respect Victoria.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Eric Sorensen (IL-17)
ROCKFORD, IL– Today, Congressman Eric Sorensen (IL-17) announced $200,000 for law enforcement in Winnebago County to improve access to mental health and wellness services.
“When our police are out keeping our neighborhoods safe, they see and encounter problems that we can’t even imagine dealing with,” said Sorensen. “Making sure they have access to proper mental health care is giving our law enforcement the tools they need to thrive. I am grateful that this funding will have a huge impact on improving the daily lives of our brave men and women in law enforcement. I will continue fighting to bring home more resources from the federal government to support our police in Northern Illinois.”
“Law enforcement professionals, police officers, correctional officers, telecommunicators and support staff face unique challenges that can impact their mental well-being, making it essential to provide them with the necessary resources and support,” said Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana. “This grant will enable us to implement comprehensive mental health programs, wellness training, and peer support initiatives. We are committed to fostering a supportive environment where our members can prioritize their mental health, ensuring they can serve the community effectively and safely. We greatly appreciate the support from our congressional partners and the community as we work toward this important goal.”
The $200,000 in funding for Winnebago County is coming from the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Program under the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office, which provides funding to improve the delivery of and access to mental health and wellness services for law enforcement through training and technical assistance, demonstration projects, and implementation of promising practices related to peer mentoring programs that are national in scope.
This past May, Sorensen led a group of 24 of his colleagues in calling on Congress to fully fund the COPS program in direct response to roundtable discussions and meetings he has hosted with law enforcement from across Central and Northwestern Illinois.
Congressman Eric Sorensen serves on the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Prior to serving in Congress, Sorensen was a local meteorologist in Rockford and the Quad Cities for nearly 20 years. His district includes Illinois’ Quad Cities, Rockford, Peoria, and Bloomington-Normal.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11) joined U.S. Representatives Randy Weber (TX-14), Chip Roy (TX-21), and other Texas Republican lawmakers in calling on the Biden-Harris Administration to immediately provide the necessary data to protect the integrity of Texas elections and ensure that only U.S. citizens are registered to vote in the State of Texas. The letter to the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) follows Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson’s request for citizenship verification data and the federal government’s failure to meet the deadline for providing this crucial information.
“Americans deserve confidence in knowing that only legal citizens are casting their vote in the United States of America,” said Congressman August Pfluger. “I am proud to work alongside other Texans in demanding that the Biden-Harris Administration protect the integrity of our elections.”
“The Harris-Biden administration’s refusal to provide Texas with crucial information is a clear dereliction of duty,” said Rep. Weber. “They’re turning a blind eye to noncitizens influencing our elections, and they even killed the SAVE Act, which would have barred noncitizens from voting. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting, so why won’t they hand over the voter rolls Texas needs to keep our elections clean? My Texas Republican colleagues and I demand they release the information without delay.”
“Texas has a duty to prevent noncitizens from voting. The Biden-Harris administration is trying to prevent that for the same reason they fought the SAVE Act (H.R. 8281): they want noncitizens — especially illegal aliens — to vote,” said Rep. Roy. “Public confidence in elections is a necessary cornerstone of any representative government. That confidence must be earned through diligence and transparency.”
In recent weeks, Governor Greg Abbott announced the removal of 6,500 potential noncitizens from Texas voter rolls, highlighting the critical need for further verification before the upcoming election. The federal government has thus far failed to comply with an urgent request made by the State of Texas for access to USCIS data, which is crucial in verifying voter eligibility.
Other Texas Republicans who signed the letter include Representatives Lance Gooden (TX-5), Ronny Jackson (TX-13), Troy Nehls (TX-22), John Carter (TX-31), Beth Van Duyne (TX-24), Pete Sessions (TX-17), Brian Babin (TX-36), Keith Self (TX-3), Wesley Hunt (TX-38), Pat Fallon (TX-4), and Morgan Luttrell (TX-8).
Read the letter here or below.
We write to you today as Members of Congress, and as Texans, in support of Secretary of State Jane Nelson’s September 18, 2024 request to your agency to assist the State of Texas in verifying that noncitizens are not registered to vote in our great state of Texas. Governor Greg Abbott has already announced the removal of 6,500 potential noncitizens from Texas voter rolls; given this unsettling reality, the federal government has a duty to ensure that Texas can accurately verify the citizenship of its voters.
As you know, and as Secretary Nelson notes in her letter to you, both federal and Texas law prohibit noncitizens from registering to and casting a vote in the State of Texas. Although the Biden-Harris administration refuses to take any action to protect states against the influx of illegal aliens at our southern border-1,254 miles of which borders Texas-you still retain a constitutional, statutory, and moral imperative to assist the state in doing what is right.
The request submitted by the state to obtain USCIS citizenship data regarding voter registration in Texas is not only legal, but urgent. The election is around the corner, with the deadline for voter registration already passed on October 7th, and the deadline for absentee and mail-in ballots is October 25th. It is paramount that the state’s county registrars can check and confirm the eligibility of each voter, and your agency is the only entity with the data to help. The deadline provided by the state, October 2nd, left your agency with ample time to provide that information. On the afternoon of October 2nd, Secretary of State Nelson informed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that, “my office has not received any reply from the federal government.”
This is an unacceptable dereliction of your duty.
Texas’s situation is not an isolated case. The Biden-Harris administration has consistently dismissed the prospect of non-citizens voting, erroneously claiming, “current laws to prevent noncitizen voting are working.” Yet the administration is preventing states from enforcing those laws, as evidenced by the failure to provide Texas with citizenship data, and its recent lawsuit against Alabama’s removal of noncitizens from its voter rolls. In June 2012, the State of Florida was forced to sue DHS to gain access to the SAVE System to help verify the citizenship status of voters in Florida.
We reiterate our intent that you expeditiously provide the data requested by the state-data that you are required to provide under federal law. To that end, please provide our offices with copies of your correspondence with Secretary of State Nelson. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
International Day of the Girl provides an opportunity to celebrate the leadership of girls around the world and recommit to addressing the barriers that continue to limit their full participation. Today, to commemorate International Day of the Girl, First Lady Jill Biden will host the second “Girls Leading Change” event at the White House to recognize outstanding young women from across the United States who are making a difference in their communities. This year’s event will honor 10 young women leaders, selected by the White House Gender Policy Council, who are leading change and shaping a brighter future for generations to come.
The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that girls can pursue their dreams free from fear, discrimination, violence, or abuse; and to advancing the safety, education, health, and wellbeing of girls everywhere. Investing in young people means investing in our future; and they should have the opportunity and resources they need to succeed.
That’s why, since day one in office, this Administration has taken action to advance the safety, education, health, and well-being of girls, including:
Accelerating Learning and Improving Student Achievement. The American Rescue Plan, the largest one-time education investment in our history, included $130 billion to help schools address the impact of the pandemic on student well-being and academic achievement. To sustain these efforts, the Biden-Harris Administration increased funding and targeting of federal grants to better support academic recovery—from the Education Innovation and Research program to extended-day and afterschool programming through 21st Century Community Learning Centers. And the Administration’s Improving Student Achievement Agenda for 2024 is helping accelerate academic performance for every child in school.
Canceling Student Debt. President Biden and Vice President Harris vowed to fix the federal student loan program and make sure higher education is a ticket to the middle class—not a barrier to opportunity. The Biden-Harris Administration has approved nearly $170 billion in loan forgiveness for almost 5 million borrowers through more than two dozen executive actions with the goal of helping these borrowers get more breathing room in their daily lives, access economic mobility, buy homes, start businesses, and pursue their dreams.
Cutting Child Poverty Nearly in Half in 2021. President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that no child should grow up in poverty. Their expansion of the Child Tax Credit helped cut child poverty nearly in half in 2021 to a record low of 5.2%. President Biden and Vice President Harris are fighting to restore this expansion, which would lift over a million girls out of poverty and narrow racial disparities. The Biden-Harris Administration has also lifted hundreds of thousands of girls out of poverty by updating the Thrifty Food Plan and creating SunBucks, a new program that helps low-income families afford groceries over the summer when they don’t have access to school meals.
Supporting Youth Mental Health. President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that health care is a right, not a privilege, and that mental health care is health care—period. That’s why they invested almost $1.5 billion to strengthen the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and launched the National Mental Health Strategy, with ongoing investments to strengthen the mental health workforce, ensure parity for mental health and substance use care, connect Americans to care, and better protect youth from the harms of social media. The Biden-Harris Administration is also delivering the largest investments in school-based mental health services ever, bringing 14,000 new mental health professionals into schools across the country and making it easier for schools to leverage Medicaid to deliver care.
Preventing Gun Violence, Including Domestic Violence with Firearms. Gun violence is the leading killer of children and teenagers in the United States. President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken historic executive action to reduce gun violence and violent crime. In 2022, President Biden signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the most significant new gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years. The intersection between guns and domestic violence can be especially deadly, and BSCA expanded background checks to keep guns out of the hands of more domestic abusers, narrowed the “boyfriend loophole” so an individual convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence against a dating partner is prohibited from purchasing a firearm, and expanded funding for red flag laws that allow for temporary removal of firearms from an individual who is a danger to themselves or others. President Biden established the first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention, overseen by Vice President Harris. The Biden-Harris Administration has made historic investments in law enforcement and community-led crime prevention and intervention strategies and has announced more executive actions to reduce gun violence than any other administration. Most recently, building on life-saving actions that the Administration has already taken, President Biden signed a new Executive Order in September 2024 to improve school-based active shooter drills and combat emerging firearms threats. The President and Vice President also announced new actions to support survivors of gun violence, promote safe gun storage, fund community violence intervention, and improve the gun background check system, among other actions.
Launching the American Climate Corps. President Biden launched the American Climate Corps to give a diverse new generation of young people the tools to fight the impacts of climate change today and the skills to join the clean energy and climate-resilience workforce of tomorrow. The American Climate Corps is tackling the climate crisis, including by restoring coastal ecosystems, strengthening urban and rural agriculture, investing in clean energy and energy efficiency, improving disaster and wildfire preparedness, and more. More than 15,000 young Americans have already been put to work in high-quality, good-paying clean energy and climate resilience workforce training and service opportunities through the American Climate Corps—putting the program on track to reach President Biden’s goal of 20,000 members in the program’s first year ahead of schedule.
Providing Children with Healthier, More Sustainable Environments. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program has awarded nearly $3 billion and funded approximately 8,700 electric and low-emission school buses nationwide, protecting children from air pollution by transforming school bus fleets across America. The Biden-Harris Administration also invested $15 billion toward replacing every toxic lead pipe in the country within a decade, protecting children and schools from lead exposure that can cause irreversible harm to cognitive development and hamper children’s learning. And earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency provided $58 million to protect children from lead in drinking water at schools and child care facilities.
Fighting Online Harassment and Abuse. Online harassment and abuse is increasingly widespread in today’s digitally connected world and disproportionately affects women, girls, and LGBTQI+ individuals. President Biden established the White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse to coordinate comprehensive actions from more than a dozen federal agencies, and his Executive Order on artificial intelligence directs federal agencies to address deepfake image-based abuse. The Department of Justice also funded the first-ever national helpline to provide 24/7 support and specialized services for victims of online harassment and abuse, including the non-consensual distribution of intimate images; raised awareness of new legal protections against the non-consensual distribution of intimate images that were included in the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022; and funded a new National Resource Center on Cybercrimes Against Individuals.
Keeping Students Safe and Addressing Campus Sexual Assault. The Department of Education restored and strengthened vital Title IX protections against discrimination on the basis of sex for students and employees. The Department of Justice awarded more than $20 million in FY 2024 to support colleges and universities in preventing and responding to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. And the Department of Education—in collaboration with the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services—launched a Task Force on Sexual Violence in Education that has released data on sexual violence at educational institutions and is working to improve sexual violence prevention and response on campus.
Supporting Vulnerable Youth. The Biden-Harris Administration has taken action to support the needs of vulnerable and underserved youth—from helping prevent youth homelessness and human trafficking to supporting employment initiatives for youth with disabilities. This includes $800 million in dedicated funding to support students experiencing homelessness through the President’s American Rescue Plan. The Department of Health and Human Services also issued landmark rules to improve the child welfare system, particularly for the most vulnerable children, and to advance the safety and wellbeing of families across the country, including for LGBTQI+ children in foster care. And the Department of Justice has funded programs to help communities develop, enhance, or expand early intervention programs and treatment services for girls who are involved in the juvenile justice system.
The Biden-Harris Administration has also taken action to support girls around the globe by fighting to advance the human rights of women and girls and promote access to education, health, and safety, including:
Promoting Girls’ Education Globally. The United States is investing in girls’ education around the world, which in turn advances health and economic development. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) invested more than $2.5 billion from FY 2021-2023 to increase access to quality basic and higher education, and reached 18.7 million girls and women in 69 countries in FY23 alone to advance gender equality in and through education. The Departments of State and Labor have also supported efforts to promote girls’ education through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education programs in Kenya and Namibia, as well as technical and vocational education training centers for adolescent girls in Ethiopia. The United States has strongly condemned the restriction of girls’ education in Afghanistan, including by restricting visas for individuals believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, repressing women and girls by limiting or prohibiting access to education.
Closing the Gender Digital Divide. Last year, Vice President Harris launched the Women in the Digital Economy Fund (Wi-DEF) to accelerate progress towards closing the gender digital divide. To date, Wi-DEF has raised over $80 million, including an initial $50 million commitment from USAID. Building on the success of the Fund, the Women in the Digital Economy Initiative includes commitments from governments, private sector companies, foundations, civil society, and multilateral organizations that have pledged more than $1 billion to accelerate gender digital equality. This Initiative supports girls’ access to digital learning opportunities, provides employment and educational skills, and helps fulfill the historic commitment of G20 Leaders to halve the digital gender gap by 2030. Since the launch of Wi-DEF, the United States has invested $102 million in direct and aligned commitments to closing the gender digital divide and accelerating gender digital equality.
Preventing and Responding to Online Harassment and Abuse Globally. To address the scourge of online harassment and abuse against girls and women, the Biden-Harris Administration launched the 15-country Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, which has advanced international policies to address online safety and supported programs to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence. Since the Global Partnership was launched in 2022, the Department of State has supported projects in every region to prevent, document, and address technology-facilitated gender-based violence, cultivate safe online use, and respond to survivors’ needs.
Championing Girls’ Leadership in Addressing the Climate Crisis. In 2023, Vice President Harris announced the Women in the Sustainable Economy Initiative—an over $2 billion public-private partnership to promote women’s access to jobs in the green and blue industries of the future—including by advancing girls’ access to STEM education. Through WISE, the Department of State is investing more than $12 million in programs to benefit girls, including programs that promote girls’ economic skills and opportunities in STEM and that foster girls’ roles in leading, shaping, and informing equitable and inclusive climate policies and actions.
Strengthening HIV Prevention Services for Girls. To address key factors that make adolescent girls and young women particularly vulnerable to HIV, the United States launched the DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe) public-private partnership as part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2014. Announced in 2023, PEPFAR’s DREAMS NextGen program is the next phase of DREAMS that will take a more nuanced approach that is responsive to the current context within each of the 15 DREAMS countries. PEPFAR has invested more than $2 billion in comprehensive HIV prevention programming for girls through DREAMS—including $1.3 billion since the start of the Administration—and the program reaches approximately 2.5 to 3 million girls annually.
Increasing Efforts to End Child Marriage Globally. To address the global scourge of child, early, and forced marriage, USAID and the Department of State invested $86 million in 27 countries to support programs that prevent and respond to this harmful practice, including by equipping girls and young women with education and workforce readiness skills; providing education, health, legal, and economic support; and raising awareness. Under the leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration, the United States also made its first-ever contribution to the UNICEF-UNFPA Global Programme to End Child Marriage, which works in 12 countries in Africa and South Asia to promote the rights of adolescent girls, and is contributing more than $2 million in FY 2024 to UNFPA to help reach refugee adolescent girls and prevent child marriages in humanitarian settings.
Leading Programs to End Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting. To address the harmful practice of female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C), USAID invested in programs to address this issue in Djibouti, Egypt, Mauritania, and Nigeria. The United States is a long-standing donor to the UNICEF-UNFPA Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation, and invested $20 million from FY 2020-FY 2023 in this partnership, which has succeeded in advocating for legal and policy frameworks banning FGM/C in 14 of 17 countries and supported more than 6.3 million women and girls with FGM/C-related protection and care services.
Promoting Young Women’s Civic and Political Participation. The Biden-Harris Administration has advanced the political and civic participation of women and girls as a pillar of democracy promotion efforts worldwide. The Administration launched Women LEAD, a $900 million public-private partnership focused on building the pipeline of women leaders around the world, including by supporting programs to reach girls and young women. Under this umbrella, the USAID-led Advancing Women’s and Girls’ Civic and Political Leadership Initiative provides more than $25 million to identify and dismantle the individual, structural, and socio-cultural barriers to the political empowerment of women and girls in ten focus countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Kyrgyz Republic, Yemen, and Fiji. Furthermore, the State Department is launching a new $1.25 million program in Africa that will empower and equip young women leaders to take on decision-making roles in democratic transition processes.
Protecting Girls in Humanitarian Emergencies. The United States government has increased its support for girls in humanitarian and fragile contexts. Since 2021, USAID has more than doubled the percentage of its humanitarian budget allocated to the protection sector, which includes child protection and gender-based violence activities serving girls. In FY 2023, USAID provided $163 million specifically towards addressing gender-based violence in humanitarian emergencies. In 2022, USAID and the Department of State launched Safe from the Start: ReVisioned, which seeks to better address the needs of girls and women from the onset of a conflict or crisis.
Combatting Child Trafficking. To combat child trafficking, including trafficking of girls, the Department of State has committed $37.5 million through Child Protection Compacts, building capacity in Jamaica, Peru, and Mongolia, and establishing new partnerships with Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, and Romania. These partnerships strengthen country responses to child trafficking to more effectively prosecute and convict traffickers, provide comprehensive trauma-informed care for child victims—including girls—and prevent child trafficking in all its forms.
The Biden-Harris Administration has worked to strengthen our ties with ASEAN and deliver on our commitments to the region. Over the past three and a half years, we have pursued an unprecedented expansion in the breadth and depth of U.S.-ASEAN relations, including upgrading our relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and institutionalizing cooperation in five new areas—health, transportation, women’s empowerment, environment and climate, and energy—as well as deepening our cooperation in foreign affairs, economics, technology, and defense. To date, we have made significant progress in fulfilling 98.37 percent of our commitments in the ASEAN-U.S. Plan of Action (2022-2025) and its Annex. The United States will continue working with ASEAN, including through ASEAN-led mechanisms, to build an open, inclusive, transparent, resilient, and rules-based regional architecture in which ASEAN is its center.
DELIVERING ON OUR COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
This year, the United States and ASEAN are celebrating 47 years of U.S.-ASEAN relations. President Biden and Vice President Harris remain committed to ASEAN centrality and supporting the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, which shares fundamental principles with the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy. ASEAN is at the heart of the U.S. approach to the Indo-Pacific, as reflected in numerous U.S. initiatives to promote economic prosperity and regional stability. Through the U.S.-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the United States has demonstrated that we are a reliable and enduring partner for our combined one billion people. Key U.S.-ASEAN accomplishments under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership include:
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) extended the U.S.-ASEAN Regional Development Cooperation Agreement to 2029 enabling the launch of the new five-year ASEAN USAID Partnership Program in March 2024.
The United States plans to conduct a second U.S.-ASEAN maritime exercise in 2025, co-hosted by Indonesia. U.S. and ASEAN Member States’ navies will exercise communication, information sharing, and the implementation of maritime security protocols in accordance with international law.
In August 2024, the United States and ASEAN agreed to formalize U.S.-ASEAN health cooperation, elevating our engagement to a biennial U.S.-ASEAN Health Ministers Dialogue. USAID also officially launched the U.S.-ASEAN-Airborne Infection Defense Platform to bolster the region’s tuberculosis response capacity.
The United States is launching a cybersecurity training program for the ASEAN Secretariat that will enhance the cybersecurity awareness, knowledge, and skills of our partners who are the backbone of ASEAN institutions.
At the third U.S.-ASEAN High-Level Dialogue on Environment and Climate this year, the United States unveiled the U.S.-ASEAN Climate Solutions Hub to help ASEAN members states develop and implement their contributions under the Paris Agreement.
In 2023, the United States and ASEAN held the inaugural Dialogue on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to advance human rights for persons with disabilities across Southeast Asia, including working with private sector to find ways to support accessibility across Southeast Asia.
As a reflection of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership reaching its full potential, the United States and ASEAN celebrated the launch of the U.S.-ASEAN Center in Washington, DC in December 2023. The Center has already hosted several high-profile ASEAN-related events and is on track to become the key hub for ASEAN’s engagement with the United States.
In June 2024, the Center hosted the Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, for his first working visit to the United States, where he launched a speaker series.
In August 2024, the Center hosted an ASEAN Day celebration, showcasing a wide array of cultural activities from ASEAN Member States.
The Center is also partnering with the Antiquities Coalition to host a Cultural Property Agreement workshop.
The U.S.-ASEAN Smart Cities Partnership (USASCP) is a key mechanism for our engagement on innovating sustainable cities of the future. Since it was launched in 2018, USASCP has invested more than $19 million in over 20 projects across urban sectors throughout the region. USASCP tackles the varied challenges of rapid urbanization, including accelerating climate action and promoting sustainable urban services.
In 2024, the USASCP Smart Cities Business Innovation Fund 2.0 will grant $3 million for net-zero urban innovation projects to strengthen private sector investment in sustainability and climate action across the ASEAN region.
In 2022, the Smart Cities Business Innovation Fund 1.0 granted a total of $1 million to six awardees across the region, including a solar panel recycling facility in Da Nang Vietnam and a seaweed/bioplastics manufacturer in Tangerang Indonesia.
The United States paired municipal water and wastewater facility operators from five cities across the United States and the ASEAN Smart Cities Network to share their expertise.
This year marks the Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative’s (YSEALI) second decade of building youth leadership capabilities across Southeast Asia to promote cross-border cooperation on regional and global challenges. YSEALI’s 160,000 strong digital network and 6,000 plus alumni community is creating new opportunities for its members to shape YSEALI’s next 10 years of impact. The State Department is well on its way to doubling the number of Southeast Asian youth participating in the YSEALI Academic and Professional Fellowships by 2025, in line with the commitments laid out by President Biden and Vice President Harris during the May 2022 U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit.
The United States has invested over $1.8 million to empower nearly 500 young women as part of the YSEALI Women’s Leadership Academy (WLA). In celebration of the WLA’s 10th anniversary, the U.S. Mission to ASEAN granted $44,000 to alumni groups to foster collaboration and find innovative ways to close the gender leadership gap.
The YSEALI Seeds for the Future Program—a grant program intended to support innovative initiatives in Southeast Asia—has provided nearly $3 million for more than 500 young leaders to carry out projects that improve their communities.
The Department of State’s YSEALI Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund supported 16 YSEALI alumni-led public service projects in 2024.
ENHANCING CONNECTIVITY AND RESILIENCE
The Biden-Harris Administration continues to build greater connectivity with ASEAN and enhancing regional resilience to bolster economic development and integration. The United States is ASEAN’s number one source of foreign direct investment, and U.S. goods and services trade totaled an estimated $500 billion in 2023. Since 2002, the United States has provided more than $14.7 billion in economic, health, and security assistance to Southeast Asian allies and partners. During that same period, the United States provided nearly $1.9 billion in humanitarian assistance, including life-saving disaster assistance, emergency food aid, and support to refugees throughout the region. As a durable and reliable partner of ASEAN, the United States supports the governments and people of Southeast Asia in enhancing the region’s connectivity and resilience. In addition to U.S. companies’ substantial investments, the United States is cooperating with the private sector to equip the region’s workforce with the skills needed to succeed in Southeast Asia’s burgeoning digital economy. Other key U.S. initiatives supporting this effort include:
USAID announces $2 million of new funding to support the sustainable development of critical minerals, supporting ASEAN’s goal of raising environmental, social, and governance standards for mineral sector development.
Through the Japan-U.S.-Mekong Power Partnership (JUMPP), the U.S. Department of State has implemented over 60 technical assistance activities to strengthen national power sectors and regional electricity market, enhancing the clean energy export potential of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam to the ASEAN market.
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency is supporting a feasibility study to develop two cross-border interconnections, further expanding our longstanding support to connect the ASEAN Power Grid.
USAID is expanding cooperation with the ASEAN Center for Energy to support private sector and multilateral development bank investment to operationalize regional connectivity through the ASEAN Power Grid.
Through the ASEAN Digital Ministers’ Meeting and Digital Senior Officials’ Meeting, we are intensifying our cooperation on trusted information and communications technology infrastructure – including undersea cables, cloud computing, and wireless networks, artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and combatting online scams.
The United States supported development of the ASEAN Responsible AI Roadmap and provided AI technical assistance for the Digital Economy Framework Agreement. Our collective effort ensures ASEAN can foster an inclusive environment where affirmative, safe, secure, and trustworthy AI innovation can flourish.
Under the U.S.-ASEAN Connect framework, the U.S. Mission to ASEAN is leveraging the U.S. government and private sector expertise to advance economic engagement, including through workshops covering topics such as best practices to strengthen cybersecurity and how to harness digital technologies.
Over the past three and a half years, the Biden-Harris Administration has also spurred investment and economic growth through the advancement of over $1.4 billion in private sector investments in the ASEAN region. This past year alone, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has invested over $341 million in ASEAN markets. To further our cooperation and support, DFC has announced that it will open new offices in Vietnam and the Philippines to source more opportunities and further advance private sector investment. DFC’s key initiatives and investments have included:
Loaning up to $126 million loan to power company PT Medco Cahaya Geothermal to strengthen Indonesia’s energy security.
Initiating DFC’s first investment in Lao PDR with a $4 million loan portfolio guarantee to Phongsavanh Bank, which will work with Village Funds to give farmers financing to scale their businesses, increase their incomes, and improve their livelihoods.
Initiating DFC’s first investment in East Timor with a $3 million loan to microfinance institution Kaebauk Investimentu No Finansas, which will provide financing to small businesses, especially rural and unbanked ones.
We look forward to continue advancing our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with ASEAN in 2025 by formulating a new plan of action to guide the next five years of our enduring partnership as we work to further the prosperity of our combined one billion people.
In Plant City, 20 miles inland from Tampa, at least 35 people had been rescued by dawn, City Manager Bill McDaniel said. While the storm wasn’t as extreme as feared, McDaniel said his city had flooded in places and to levels he had never seen. Traffic signals were out. Power lines and trees were down. The sewage plant had been inundated, affecting the public water supply.
Evacuating might seem like the obvious move when a major hurricane is bearing down on your region, but that choice is not always as easy as it may seem.
Evacuating from a hurricane requires money, planning, the ability to leave and, importantly, a belief that evacuating is better than staying put.
I recently examined years of research on what motivates people to leave or seek shelter during hurricanes as part of a project with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Natural Hazards Center. I found three main reasons that people didn’t leave.
Evacuating can be expensive
Evacuating requires transportation, money, a place to stay, the ability to take off work days ahead of a storm and other resources that many people do not have.
With 1 in 9 Americans facing poverty today, many have limited evacuation options. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, for example, many residents did not own vehicles and couldn’t reach evacuation buses. That left them stranded in the face of a deadly hurricane. Nearly 1,400 people died in the storm, many of them in flooded homes.
Two days ahead of landfall, Milton was a Category 5 hurricane. About 5 million people were under evacuation orders, and highways were crowded.
Gas shortages and traffic jams can leave people stranded on highways and unable to find shelter before the storm hits. This happened during Hurricane Floyd in 1999 as 2 million Floridians tried to evacuate.
People who experienced past evacuations or saw news video of congested highways ahead of Hurricane Milton might not leave for fear of getting stuck.
Health, pets and being physically able to leave
The logistics of evacuating are even more challenging for people who are disabled or in nursing homes. Additionally, people who are incarcerated may have no choice in the matter – and the justice system may have few options for moving them.
Evacuating nursing homes, people with disabilities or prison populations is complex. Many shelters are not set up to accommodate their needs. In one example during Hurricane Floyd, a disabled person arrived at a shelter, but the hallways were too narrow for their wheelchair, so they were restricted to a cot for the duration of their stay. Moving people whose health is fragile, and doing so under stressful conditions, can also worsen health problems, leaving nursing home staff to make difficult decisions.
At least 700 people stayed in chairs or on air mattresses at River Ridge Middle/High School in New Port Richey, Fla., during Hurricane Milton. AP Photo/Mike Carlson
But failing to evacuate can also be deadly. During Hurricane Irma in 2017, seven nursing home residents died in the rising heat after their facility lost power near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In some cases, public water systems are shut down or become contaminated. And flooding can create several health hazards, including the risk of infectious diseases.
In a study of 291 long-term care facilities in Florida, 81% sheltered residents in place during the 2004 hurricane season because they had limited transportation options and faced issues finding places for residents to go.
Some shelters allow small pets, but many don’t. This high school-turned-shelter in New Port Richey, Fla., had 283 registered pets. AP Photo/Mike Carlson
People with pets face another difficult choice – some choose to stay at home for fear of leaving their pet behind. Studies have found that pet owners are significantly less likely to evacuate than others because of difficulties transporting pets and finding shelters that will take them. In destructive storms, it can be days to weeks before people can return home.
Risk perception can also get in the way
People’s perceptions of risk can also prevent them from leaving.
If people have experienced a hurricane before that didn’t do significant damage, they may perceive the risks of a coming storm to be lower and not leave.
Video from across Florida after Hurricane Milton shows flooding around homes, trees down and other damage. At least five people died in the storm, and more than 3 million homes lost power.
People had fears about safety and whether shelter environments could meet their needs. For example, religious minorities were not sure whether shelters would be clean, safe, have private places for religious practice, and food options consistent with faith practices. Diabetics and people with young children also had concerns about finding appropriate food in shelters.
How to improve evacuations for the future
There are ways leaders can reduce the barriers to evacuation and shelter use. For example:
Building more shelters able to withstand hurricane force winds can create safe havens for people without transportation or who are unable to leave their jobs in time to evacuate.
Arranging more shelters and transportation able to accommodate people with disabilities and those with special needs, such as nursing home residents, can help protect vulnerable populations.
Opening shelters to accommodate pets with their owners can also increase the likelihood that pet owners will evacuate.
Public education can be improved so people know their options. Clearer risk communication on how these storms are different than past ones and what people are likely to experience can also help people make informed decisions.
Being prepared saves lives. Many areas would benefit from better advance planning that takes into account the needs of large, diverse populations and can ensure populations have ways to evacuate to safety.
Carson MacPherson-Krutsky works for the Natural Hazards Center (NHC) at the University of Colorado Boulder. She receives grant and contract funding for her work at NHC through the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other funders.
In Plant City, 20 miles inland from Tampa, at least 35 people had been rescued by dawn, City Manager Bill McDaniel said. While the storm wasn’t as extreme as feared, he said his city had flooded in places and to levels he had never seen. Traffic signals were out. Power lines and trees were down. The sewage plant had been inundated, affecting the public water supply.
Evacuating might seem like the obvious move when a major hurricane is bearing down on your region, but that choice is not always as easy as it may seem.
Evacuating from a hurricane requires money, planning, the ability to leave and, importantly, a belief that evacuating is better than staying put.
I recently examined years of research on what motivates people to leave or seek shelter during hurricanes as part of a project with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Natural Hazards Center. I found three main reasons that people didn’t leave.
Evacuating can be expensive
Evacuating requires a car, gas money, a place to stay, the ability to take off work days ahead of a storm and other resources that many people do not have.
With 1 in 9 Americans facing poverty today, many have limited evacuation options. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, for example, many residents did not own vehicles and couldn’t reach evacuation buses. That left them stranded in the face of a deadly hurricane. Nearly 1,400 people died in the storm, many of them in flooded homes.
Two days ahead of landfall, Milton was a Category 5 hurricane. About 5 million people were under evacuation orders, and highways were crowded.
Gas shortages and traffic jams can leave people stranded on highways and unable to find shelter before the storm hits. This happened during Hurricane Floyd in 1999 as 2 million Floridians tried to evacuate.
People who experienced past evacuations or saw news video of congested highways ahead of Hurricane Milton might not leave for fear of getting stuck.
Health, pets and being physically able to leave
The logistics of evacuating are even more challenging for people who are disabled or in nursing homes. Additionally, people who are incarcerated may have no choice in the matter – and the justice system may have few options for moving them.
Evacuating nursing homes, people with disabilities or prison populations is complex. Many shelters are not set up to accommodate their needs. In one example during Hurricane Floyd, a disabled person arrived at a shelter, but the hallways were too narrow for their wheelchair, so they were restricted to a cot for the duration of their stay. Moving people whose health is fragile, and doing so under stressful conditions, can also worsen health problems, leaving nursing home staff to make difficult decisions.
At least 700 people stayed in chairs or on air mattresses at River Ridge Middle/High School in New Port Richey, Fla., during Hurricane Milton. AP Photo/Mike Carlson
But failing to evacuate can also be deadly. During Hurricane Irma in 2017, seven nursing home residents died in the rising heat after their facility lost power near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In some cases, public water systems are shut down or become contaminated. And flooding can create several health hazards, including the risk of infectious diseases.
In a study of 291 long-term care facilities in Florida, 81% sheltered residents in place during the 2004 hurricane season because they had limited transportation options and faced issues finding places for residents to go.
Some shelters allow small pets, but many don’t. This high school-turned-shelter in New Port Richey, Fla., had 283 registered pets. AP Photo/Mike Carlson
People with pets face another difficult choice – some choose to stay at home for fear of leaving their pet behind. Studies have found that pet owners are significantly less likely to evacuate than others because of difficulties transporting pets and finding shelters that will take them. In destructive storms, it can be days to weeks before people can return home.
Risk perception can also get in the way
People’s perceptions of risk can also prevent them from leaving.
If people have experienced a hurricane before that didn’t do significant damage, they may perceive the risks of a coming storm to be lower and not leave.
Video from across Florida after Hurricane Milton shows flooding around homes, trees down and other damage. At least five people died in the storm, and more than 3 million homes lost power.
People had fears about safety and whether shelter environments could meet their needs. For example, religious minorities were not sure whether shelters would be clean, safe, have private places for religious practice, and food options consistent with faith practices. Diabetics and people with young children also had concerns about finding appropriate food in shelters.
How to improve evacuations for the future
There are ways leaders can reduce the barriers to evacuation and shelter use. For example:
Building more shelters able to withstand hurricane force winds can create safe havens for people without transportation or who are unable to leave their jobs in time to evacuate.
Arranging more shelters and transportation able to accommodate people with disabilities and those with special needs, such as nursing home residents, can help protect vulnerable populations.
Opening shelters to accommodate pets with their owners can also increase the likelihood that pet owners will evacuate.
Public education can be improved so people know their options. Clearer risk communication on how these storms are different than past ones and what people are likely to experience can also help people make informed decisions.
Being prepared saves lives. Many areas would benefit from better advance planning that takes into account the needs of large, diverse populations and can ensure populations have ways to evacuate to safety.
Carson MacPherson-Krutsky works for the Natural Hazards Center (NHC) at the University of Colorado Boulder. She receives grant and contract funding for her work at NHC through the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other funders.
