NewzIntel.com

Category: Politics

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Craighead County Clerk Federally Indicted

    Source: US FBI

          LITTLE ROCK – A federal grand jury has indicted former Craighead County Clerk Jacob Kade Holliday for allegedly taking more than $1.4 million in county money for his personal use. Cody Hiland, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Diane Upchurch, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Little Rock Field Office, announced the indictment of Holliday, 32, of Jonesboro.

          The indictment, which was returned by the grand jury late on December 1, 2020, alleges that Holliday, as the elected County Clerk in Craighead County, served as the official bookkeeper of county government. In that capacity, Holliday was tasked with keeping an accurate account of all financial transactions within the county. The funds Holliday controlled included county payroll tax obligations as well as employment retirement contributions.

          According to the indictment, from January 29, 2020, to June 24, 2020, Holliday transferred money from the Craighead County Clerk’s banking account to his own personal and business accounts. He then allegedly obtained cashier’s checks in approximately the same amounts and further converted them to his own use.

          “We take all allegations of undermining public trust very seriously,” stated U.S. Attorney Hiland. “In this case and in all potential cases, any reports of public corruption will be thoroughly investigated by our office with the help of our law enforcement partners.”

          “Without the diligent efforts of our partners at the Arkansas State Police, Mr. Holliday’s alleged theft of over $1.4 million from the citizens of Craighead County would not have been uncovered,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Upchurch. “Every day, we work closely with our state partners to protect Arkansans from crimes like the ones alleged in this case.”

          Holliday is charged with 11 counts of wire fraud; one for each of the 11 transactions he made during the time alleged in the indictment. Holliday will appear before United States Magistrate Judge Joe J. Volpe for plea and arraignment on December 17, 2020. The maximum penalty for wire fraud is not more than 20 years’ imprisonment, a fine of not more than $250,000, and not more than three years of supervised release.

          The FBI and the Arkansas State Police conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Allison W. Bragg is prosecuting the case.

          An indictment only contains allegations. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

    # # #

    This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the

    United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, is available online at

    https://www.justice.gov/edar

    Twitter:

    @EDARNEWS

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Belarus: Joint Statement to the OSCE, May 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Speech

    International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Belarus: Joint Statement to the OSCE, May 2025

    UK and 37 other countries call for immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners in Belarus.

    I am delivering this statement on behalf of the following participating States, who are members of the Informal Group of Friends of Democratic Belarus: Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and my own country Poland. 

    The following participating States are also joining this statement: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Liechtenstein, Malta, Moldova, North Macedonia, San Marino and Switzerland.  

    Since the death of political prisoner and activist Vitold Ashurak in prison on 21 May 2021, we mark the International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Belarus annually.  

    Since May 2021, at least seven more political prisoners have died in the regime’s captivity: Mikalai Klimovich, Ales Pushkin, Vadzim Khrasko, Ihar Lednik, Aliaksandr Kulinich, Dmitry Schletgauer and Valiantsin Shtermer. They were unjustly persecuted for their political opinions, and failed to receive adequate medical attention and care. 

    In June last year, a group of 38 participating states invoked the Vienna Human Dimension mechanism and questioned many individual cases related to prisoners’ dignity, access to medication and medical care, to legal counsel of their own choosing, to effective remedies and a fair legal trial, as well as contacts with their families. The Belarus authorities did not bring any meaningful response to these questions nor has Belarus made progress on the recommendations of either the 2020 or 2023 Moscow Mechanism reports. 

    Some of those prisoners have since then been released, after completion of their sentences or through pardons, however the arbitrary detention of citizens for exercising their human rights persists. As of May 15, 2025, VIASNA estimates that there were 1189 political prisoners in Belarus. Many of them have serious health issues, disabilities, are over the age of 60, and are suffering from mental disorders. Many of them are subjected to torture and ill-treatment, including deprivation of necessary medical assistance. The UN Committee against Torture reported that torture in these prisons is systemic, habitual, widespread and deliberate with a pattern of impunity for perpetrators. 

    This is the day to remember them all. A day to reiterate our call for the Belarusian authorities:  

    • to stop repressing individuals for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, to freedom of association and to peaceful assembly;  

    • to release all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally, and to ensure their rehabilitation.  

    This is also the day to express our solidarity with relatives and friends of political prisoners, who are subject to political and administrative repression in Belarus and in exile, as part of a wider brutal crackdown on opposition figures, human rights defenders, civil society representatives, journalists and other media actors, and other citizens who dare voice any opposition or dissent.  

    In the face of this disregard of OSCE principles and commitments by the Belarusian authorities, we will continue to support the Belarusian people’s aspiration for a free, democratic and independent Belarus.

    Updates to this page

    Published 23 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Frontex Executive Director Hans Leijtens Participated in European Police Congress 2025 Panel on Migration and Security

    Source: Frontex

    The Executive Director of Frontex, Hans Leijtens, took part in the 2025 European Police Congress in Berlin, highlighting the Agency’s growing role in shaping a united European approach to migration and internal security. 

    Hans Leijten’s participation in the high-level panel “Asylum Policy and Homeland Security” reflected the evolving role of Frontex as more than an operational body. The Agency is becoming a key strategic partner for Member States, law enforcement and European institutions alike. 

    “In the face of growing migration pressures and shifting geopolitical realities, it is vital that Europe acts with unity, foresight and shared responsibility,” said Leijtens. “Managing migration is not just about reacting to arrivals at our borders. It is about building trust, fostering partnerships and ensuring our actions reflect our values.” 

    Moderated by Rainer Wendt, Chairman of the German Police Union, the panel brought together leading voices from law enforcement, government and academia. It addressed how Europe can maintain both internal security and respect for fundamental rights amid ongoing migration challenges. 

    Frontex also hosted an information stand at the Congress, offering insight into its work on border surveillance, returns, anti-smuggling operations and support for national authorities. 

    The presence of the Frontex Executive Director at the European Police Congress underlines a broader shift. European border management today is not only about protecting borders. It is also about working together to build a coherent, rights-based approach to migration and security across Europe. 

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: African Mining Week 2025 to Set the Stage for Investment and Innovation

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

    CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 23, 2025/APO Group/ —

    With global demand for critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and copper reaching unprecedented heights, Africa’s vast mineral reserves have placed the continent at the center of the global energy transition. From powering electric vehicles to supplying renewable energy infrastructure, these resources are essential to the world’s low-carbon future – and Africa holds many of the keys. As the world races to secure stable, long-term access to these minerals, the spotlight is increasingly turning toward African markets.

    African Mining Week (AMW), taking place on October 1–3, 2025 in Cape Town, arrives at a critical moment. The event serves as a high-level, pan-African platform designed to unlock new investment flows, accelerate technological adoption and promote sustainable, inclusive growth across the continent’s mining landscape. By convening government leaders, mining executives, financiers and technology providers under one roof, AMW will shape strategic dialogue and dealmaking that define the next era of African mining.

    Driving Investment and Economic Growth

    AMW 2025 represents more than a conference; it’s a strategic platform designed to attract and mobilize investment into Africa’s mining industry. By bringing together policymakers, industry leaders and investors, the event will facilitate discussions on creating favorable regulatory environments, showcasing investment-ready projects and highlighting the continent’s untapped mineral potential, given that it holds about 30% of the world’s proven critical mineral reserves. The focus on value addition and local content development underscores the commitment to ensuring that mining activities translate into tangible economic benefits for African nations.

    Fostering Innovation and Technological Advancement

    In an era where technology is revolutionizing industries, AMW 2025 will spotlight the latest advancements in mining technology. The dedicated Technology Forum will showcase how digital solutions, such as artificial intelligence and data analytics, are enhancing exploration and operational efficiency. By connecting African mining projects with global tech providers, the event will promote the adoption of innovative practices that can drive productivity and sustainability in the sector.

    Promoting Sustainable Development and Responsible Mining

    Sustainability is at the heart of AMW 2025’s agenda. The event will address the importance of responsible mining practices, environmental stewardship and community engagement. Discussions will explore strategies for minimizing environmental impact, ensuring fair labor practices and integrating artisanal and small-scale mining into the formal economy. In Ghana, for example, small-scale mining generates $5 billion in foreign earnings alone. By emphasizing sustainability, AMW aims to align Africa’s mining sector with global best practices and standards.

    Enhancing Knowledge Sharing and Regional Collaboration

    AMW 2025 will serve as a hub for knowledge exchange, offering a series of sessions, workshops and panel discussions led by experts and stakeholders from across the continent and beyond. Topics will range from regulatory frameworks and investment opportunities to technological innovations and sustainable practices. The event will also feature country-specific spotlights, providing insights into the unique mining landscapes of nations like Gabon, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Tennessee Father and Son Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement with a Weapon During January 6 Capitol Breach

    Source: US FBI

                WASHINGTON— A Father and son from Tennessee were sentenced to prison today after they were both previously convicted of assaulting law enforcement and other charges stemming from their conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. Their actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

                Mark Waynick, 53, of Charlotte, Tennessee, was sentenced to 54 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.

                Jerry McKane Waynick, 21, also of Charlotte, Tennessee, was sentenced to 30 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.

                Both men were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly.

                Mark and Jerry Waynick were each convicted of 11 felony offenses and three misdemeanors, including, among other charges, assaulting law enforcement with a dangerous weapon. The men were found guilty following a bench trial before Judge Kelly.

                According to the evidence presented during the trial, on Jan. 6, 2021, the Waynicks attended the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C., near the Ellipse. After the rally, the two men made their way to the U.S. Capitol building wearing helmets, tactical vests, gloves, and goggles. The pair then entered the closed U.S. Capitol grounds shortly after the initial breach of the Peace Circle at 12:55 p.m. The men then made their way to the West Front, where a line of Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and United States Capitol Police (USCP) officers were attempting to prevent rioters from breaching the Capitol.

                On the West Front, the Waynicks joined other rioters’ efforts to push against a line of police officers just before 1:36 p.m.  During that time, McKane Waynick saw that police officers were attempting to detain another rioter and rushed to the barricade to grab the rioter and pull him away from the officers, interfering with the detention. While grabbing the other rioter, Jerry Waynick swiped at an officer’s riot baton.

                At the same time that McKane Waynick reached for the baton, Mark Waynick swung an American flag attached to a metal pole with a metal finial into the line of police officers. Before the pole hit any officers, an officer intercepted the pole by grabbing it from Mark and throwing it behind the line of police officers. Minutes later, McKane Waynick returned to the metal barricades and joined with at least four other rioters to separate one metal bicycle rack from the others and pull it into the crowd to create an opening in the barricade; however, police prevented them from achieving their intent.

                Less than a minute later, at 1:40 p.m., McKane Waynick picked up a large plastic construction marker, aimed it at police, and hurled it with both hands, striking two officers. Court documents say that this marker weighed approximately ten pounds and was three feet tall. After hurling the object at police, McKane Waynick retreated back into the crowd.

                The Waynicks entered the Capitol building from the Senate Wing Door at 2:20 p.m., just minutes after the initial breach at 2:13 p.m. Once inside, they moved throughout the building for approximately 35 minutes, entering the Will Rogers Hallway, which was outside the House Chamber, and joining with a mob of rioters who pushed past the handful of officers guarding that hallway.

                At approximately 2:35 p.m., the mob pushed through police officers and entered the House Chamber’s Main Door. The Waynicks followed the advancing rioters and moved to within a few feet of the House Chamber as the mob repeatedly chanted, “Break it down!” An individual recording video captured the scene afterward and asked McKane Waynick about what he had seen, to which he replied that he saw “guns” and said, “We’re an imminent threat to the people inside.”

                The Waynicks exited the Capitol building at 2:55 p.m. via the Upper House Door.

                The FBI arrested the Waynicks on Feb. 17, 2022, in Tennessee.

                This case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.

                This case was investigated by the FBI’s Memphis Field Office and the FBI’s Washington Field Office, which identified Jerry McKane Waynick as #157 on its seeking information photos. Valuable assistance was provided by the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police.

                In the 46 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,561 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 590 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.

                Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Lame Deer Man Sentenced to Over 15 Years in Prison for Rape on Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation

    Source: US FBI

    BILLINGS – A Lame Deer man who raped a woman on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation was sentenced today to 188 months in prison to be followed by15 years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

    Adriano Sparkxxx LeBeaux, 21, was found guilty at trial in October 2024 of aggravated sexual abuse as charged in an indictment.

    U.S. District Judge Susan Watters presided.

    In court documents and at trial, the government alleged that on March 8, 2023, the victim, identified as Jane Doe, met up with LeBeaux at a residence in Lame Deer, on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. LeBeaux told Doe the police were on their way to search the house and that they needed to hide in the basement. Jane Doe had been drinking and did not want to be arrested because Northern Cheyenne is a dry reservation. Hiding in the basement seemed like a good idea to Jane Doe.

    While in the basement, LeBeaux told Jane Doe to lie down in a corner on the floor, and she fell asleep or passed out. At some point, Jane Doe awoke to LeBeaux holding a knife to her throat and then he raped her. Jane Doe left the residence and went to the Indian Health Service Clinic where she underwent a sexual assault exam. An analysis of DNA indicated LeBeaux was the contributor to male DNA identified in the sexual assault exam.

    Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lori Suek and Paul Vestal prosecuted the case, and the investigation was conducted by the FBI, BIA and Northern Cheyenne Investigative Services.

    This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.

    XXX

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Altana Federal Credit Union Employee Sentenced to More Than One Year in Prison for Embezzlement and Ordered to Pay Over $65,000 in Restitution

    Source: US FBI

    BILLINGS – A Billings woman who formerly served as the Operations Manager for Altana Federal Credit Union in 2023 was sentenced yesterday to 12 months and 1 day in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release and ordered to immediately pay full restitution of $65,046.37, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

    Kelly Jo Muzzana, 40, pleaded guilty in July 2024 to embezzlement by a credit union employee.

    U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.

    The government alleged in court documents that throughout 2023, Muzzana served as the Operations Manager for Altana Federal Credit Union in Billings, Montana. In that role, Muzzana had access to customer data and was responsible for managing Altana’s entire fraud-alert process. This included supervising the employees who documented customers’ fraud claims and facilitating what funds were reimbursed by Altana. Muzzana also managed the fraud reporting system and was entrusted to independently authorize bank cards that were re-issued to customers or returned to the bank through the mail.

    During her time as Operations Manager, Muzzana created duplicate bank cards for customers’ accounts and took them home with her. She did the same with cards that Altana received in the mail that were undelivered to customers. Muzzana took numerous bank cards from Altana and used them to make purchases online and in retail stores around Billings, Montana such as Target and Walmart. After using their cards to finance her private spending, Muzzana personally handled many of the subsequent fraud claims to prevent detection by law enforcement.

    Eventually, an Altana customer reported one of Muzzana’s fraudulent purchases to law enforcement. When a detective called Altana to investigate, Muzzana downloaded a recording of the call and, upon learning of the investigation, fled the building and never returned.

    Altana reimbursed its customers all of the money Muzzana stole. In a victim impact statement, Altana’s CEO, Jason Hagadone explained that the credit union “suffered significant reputation risk from this incident. As a financial institution, our members entrust us with one of the most important aspects of their life: their finances. Kelly breached that trust by stealing and using their debit cards.”

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Hargrove prosecuted the case. The investigation was conducted by the Billings Police Department and FBI.

    XXX

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Tennessee Man Convicted of Assaulting Law Enforcement and Other Charges for Actions During January 6 Capitol Breach

    Source: US FBI

                WASHINGTON – A Tennessee man was convicted of assaulting law enforcement and other felony and misdemeanor charges related to his conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

                Edward Kelley, 35, of Maryville, Tennessee, was found guilty of three felonies, including civil disorder, one count of destruction of government property in an amount over $1,000, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers.

                In addition to the felonies, Kelley was convicted of eight misdemeanor offenses, including of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, entering and remaining in the Gallery of Congress, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings, destruction of government property under $1,000, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

                Kelley was convicted of these charges following a bench trial before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly and will be sentenced on April 7, 2025.

                According to evidence presented during the trial, Kelley was identified in open-source images and video footage outside the West Front of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. There, Kelley is seen moving to the scaffolding over a set of stairs and becomes involved in an altercation with a United States Capitol Police (USCP) officer where he and two other men throw the officer to the ground.

                Kelley then moves to the top of the stairs with a crowd of rioters before being stopped by law enforcement. However, Kelley is seen in open-source video footage pushing and pulling on a metal barricade with police on the other end. The crowd and Kelley eventually pushed past police and made their way closer to the Capitol building. Kelley arrived just outside the Senate Wing Door and is then seen in an open-source video using a piece of wood to smash and breach the window adjacent to the door. Kelley then entered the building through this window at approximately 2:13 p.m. Evidence showed that Kelley was the fourth person to enter the building through this breached window.

                After entering into the building, Kelley moved to the still-closed Senate Wing Door and kicked it open. As the crowd of rioters poured into the building, Kelley moved further into the building and can be seen in an open-source video confronting Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman. Kelley then made his way through several areas of the Capitol, including the Ohio Clock Corridor, the Crypt, the Senate Gallery, and the Rotunda. In another open-source video, Kelley is identified in the Senate Gallery.

                Kelley exited the Capitol through the Rotunda Door at 2:54 p.m. and was inside the building for approximately 40 minutes.

                Kelley was arrested on May 5, 2022, in Tennessee.

                This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

                The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Knoxville and Washington Field Offices. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

                In the 46 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,561 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 590 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.

                Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: HTX Crypto Gem Hunt Report #5: Meme Coins Keep Soaring as A-Rated Restaking and L1 Projects Gain Steady Momentum

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SINGAPORE, May 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As Bitcoin soared to an unprecedented high of over $110,000 today, sending ripples of positive sentiment across the entire cryptocurrency market, HTX, a leading global cryptocurrency exchange is proud to announce the release of its 5th Crypto Gem Hunt Report. The latest report meticulously highlights eight tokens that have demonstrated substantial wealth creation across various narratives, including meme coins, Layer 1 solutions, restaking protocols, and data tools.

    Notably, MOODENG emerged as the top performer, delivering an astonishing surge of up to 567% as of May 19. This remarkable performance underscores the platform’s belief that carefully selecting high-quality projects and responding swiftly to market shifts are paramount for identifying and capitalizing on the most profitable opportunities.

    Meme Coins Dominate Yet Again and Deliver Explosive Gains Across Blockchains

    Meme coins remain the hottest narrative in crypto, delivering standout returns regardless of their chain origin. Whether rooted in the Solana or Ethereum networks, both legacy names and emerging narratives have posted significant breakouts.

    According to HTX data, top Solana meme coins like MOODENG and POPCAT have skyrocketed by 567% and 447%, respectively. MOODENG in particular, jumped from 0.036 USDT to 0.24 USDT, demonstrating remarkable narrative resilience. HOUSE, a new Solana meme coin launched exclusively on HTX on April 27, surged 179% shortly after listing, further validating the strength and capital flow into the Solana meme coin space.

    On the Ethereum side, NEIROCTO—a meme coin initially listed on HTX on September 7, 2024—recently rallied 400%. Meanwhile, the AI meme coin DARK gained 246%, demonstrating the strong appeal of combining AI with the meme coin narrative.

    In short, meme coins that combine strong narratives, engaged communities, and cultural virality continue to outperform. As market sentiment recovers, meme coins are often the first to ignite retail enthusiasm, acting as the catalysts for broader market rallies.

    A-Rated Infrastructure Projects Earn Their Spot: Restaking, L1, and Data Tools

    Beyond meme coins, HTX’s 5th Crypto Gem list also includes high-quality projects StakeStone (STO), Initia (INIT), and Bubblemaps (BMT), representing the restaking, Layer 1, and data tool sectors, respectively. They were all awarded A ratings by HTX analysts, reflecting their high potential and broad market recognition.

    StakeStone has quickly emerged as a star in the restaking space. Unlike PoS staking or existing restaking protocols, StakeStone focuses on cross-chain liquidity infrastructure with efficient liquidity distribution and dynamic yield strategies for ETH, BTC, and stablecoins. Since listing on HTX on April 6, STO has gained 314%, outperforming most restaking peers.

    Initia, one of 2025’s most anticipated Layer 1 launches, fuses a robust Layer 1 chain with a flexible, interconnected Layer 2 ecosystem. It aims to offer production-grade modular blockchain services for developers and users alike. INIT was listed on HTX on April 23 and has rallied 155% to date. Bubblemaps offers next-gen data visualization tools that bring clarity to complex on-chain relationships. Its innovative data presentation and user-friendly design for DeFi users position it as a differentiated contender in the data infrastructure sector.

    HTX Crypto Gem Hunt Offers High Standards for Project Selection

    Since its inception, the HTX Crypto Gem Hunt program has focused on identifying tokens with strong upside potential, leveraging deep analysis across technology, narrative strength, and user experience. The program has continually selected only the most promising opportunities for user wealth growth by zeroing in on narratives like meme coins, public chains, restaking protocols, AI memes, data tooling, and the Solana ecosystem.

    Across its five phases, the program has featured projects that delivered an average return of over 8 times, with seven “super cryptos” achieving more than 10x growth. The program’s first two phases (phase 1 and phase 2) focused on the on-chain meme coin boom. Phase 3 targeted the AI meme coin sector, yielding excellent performance, and phase 4 expanded to sectors including meme coins, Layer 1, and AI-powered social media, achieving consistent results.

    HTX empowers investors to unlock significant financial gains with its innovative Crypto Gem list. By tracking HTX’s latest asset listings, users gain early access to high-potential tokens before they surge. This proactive approach allows investors to strategically position themselves in undervalued opportunities, maximizing returns in the current market cycle. The next list may include your prized assets. HTX’s rigorous project selection and market expertise ensure a continuous stream of lucrative investment opportunities for its valued users.

    About HTX

    Founded in 2013, HTX has evolved from a virtual asset exchange into a comprehensive ecosystem of blockchain businesses that span digital asset trading, financial derivatives, research, investments, incubation, and other businesses.

    As a world-leading gateway to Web3, HTX harbors global capabilities that enable it to provide users with safe and reliable services. Adhering to the growth strategy of “Global Expansion, Thriving Ecosystem, Wealth Effect, Security & Compliance,” HTX is dedicated to providing quality services and values to virtual asset enthusiasts worldwide.

    To learn more about HTX, please visit HTX Square or https://www.htx.com/, and follow HTX on X, Telegram, and Discord.

    For further inquiries, please contact Ruder Finn Asia, glo-media@htx-inc.com.

    Disclaimer: This is a paid post and is provided by HTX. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform or its publisher. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. We do not guarantee any claims, statements, or promises made in this article. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or trading advice.Investing in crypto and mining-related opportunities involves significant risks, including the potential loss of capital. It is possible to lose all your capital. These products may not be suitable for everyone, and you should ensure that you understand the risks involved. Seek independent advice if necessary. Speculate only with funds that you can afford to lose. Readers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. However, due to the inherently speculative nature of the blockchain sector—including cryptocurrency, NFTs, and mining—complete accuracy cannot always be guaranteed.Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release. In the event of any legal claims or charges against this article, we accept no liability or responsibility. Globenewswire does not endorse any content on this page.

    Legal Disclaimer: This media platform provides the content of this article on an “as-is” basis, without any warranties or representations of any kind, express or implied. We assume no responsibility for any inaccuracies, errors, or omissions. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information presented herein. Any concerns, complaints, or copyright issues related to this article should be directed to the content provider mentioned above.

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a8d8fea5-0beb-4272-a507-e228bd85537e

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b7b4efe0-bae5-4dfe-8e6c-2353e73016e4

    The MIL Network –

  • How Pakistan Undermines Judicial Process and Denies Justice from being Served

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    India defines any act as terrorism under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA): “Whoever does any act with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security (including economic security), or sovereignty of India or with intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country.” Whoever is involved in these activities is a terrorist, including Pakistan-based terrorists Hafiz Saeed and Sajid Mir (Lashkar-e-Taiba), Masood Azhar (Jaish-e-Mohammed) and others from Pakistan on India’s most-wanted list.

    The United Nations defines it, “Terrorism involves the intimidation or coercion of populations or governments through the threat or perpetration of violence. This may result in death, serious injury or the taking of hostages.”

    Definition of terrorism as accepted in the United States follows the pattern. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) divides it into “international” and “domestic” terrorism. International terrorism means “violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups who are inspired by, or associated with, designated foreign terrorist organizations or nations (state-sponsored)”, whereas domestic terrorism pertains to violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.

    Threatening unity, integrity, security or sovereignty of a nation, intimidating its people or the governing machinery, by individuals, or designated foreign terrorists – the core of these definitions – applies to all of the terrorists and their terror groups operating from Pakistan.

    For this, they have been designated as terrorists not just by India but by the United States, the United Nations and many other countries, including Pakistan.

    The United States designated LeT and JeM as foreign terrorist organisations in December 2001. UN sanctions for JeM came in October 2001; for LeT, they came in May 2005. Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), another Pakistan-based terrorist organisation targeting India, was designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States in August 2017.

    Hafiz Saeed was sanctioned as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the United States in May 2008 with a USD 10 million bounty after the Mumbai terror attack which killed 166 people including six Americans. Saeed was seen as the main perpetrator. Over the next few years, many other terrorists from Pakistan were also included as SDGT: Masood Azhar in November 2010, Sajid Mir in August 2012, and Syed Salahudeen in June 2017. Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, LeT’s operations commander and another key perpetrator behind the Mumbai 26/11 attack, was also designated as a global terrorist. Except Syed Salahudeen, who heads the HM, all others are banned under the ISIL/Al-Qaeda Committee sanctions by the United Nations as well.

    These designated terrorists were living a free life in Pakistan, raising funds, radicalising and recruiting terrorists more and more, linking with other terror groups and launching terror attacks against India and other places across the world.

    After overwhelming international pressure and financial sanctions, Pakistan was forced to jail some of them, but under much-diluted charges. The way Pakistan has made a mockery of the judicial process becomes evident from how these terrorists were always given the upper hand of supportive governance machinery.

    The jail-in and jail-out of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed is a case in point here.

    Pakistan was forced to arrest LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 13 December 2001 terror attack on the Indian Parliament. LeT and JeM jointly carried out this attack. After international pressure, Saeed was briefly detained, for three months, but no formal charges were filed against him and a Pakistan court ordered his release.

    The mastermind of the terror operations at the sovereign sign of a nation’s identity, its Parliament, was let off without charge, for an incident that got wide condemnation from across the world.

    He was again detained in May 2002 after two terror attacks killed 30 people and soldiers in Jammu & Kashmir. In October 2002, Saeed was shifted to his house and kept under house arrest. No charges were filed and the court ordered his release in November 2002.

    Saeed was detained for the third time in 2006, reports available show. This time, he was detained after the July 2006 Mumbai train bombing attack. Put under house arrest in August 2006 for badly affecting Pakistan’s ties with other governments through his activities, a court order released him in December 2006.

    He was detained for the fourth time in 2008, after the Mumbai terror attack on 26 November, after the United Nations listed him as a terrorist under the resolutions on the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List. LeT was blamed for the multiple terror acts in Mumbai that killed 166 people including six Americans and under United States pressure, Pakistan cracked down on Jamaat-ud-Dawa, LeT’s front that called itself a religious charity and that was headed by Saeed. He was again detained (placed under house arrest). The JuD was sanctioned by the United Nations.

    What was the end result? Pakistan again failed to provide any evidence and Saeed was released from jail by an order of the Lahore High Court in June 2009.

    The international voices post-the Mumbai 26/11 outrage though forced Pakistan to file terror charges against Hafiz Saeed this time, in September 2009, though his formal arrest was years away, past developments show. Also, he was not charged for the Mumbai terror attacks case. The charges filed were for inciting riots through his speeches and terror financing through JuD. Saeed went to court and petitioned against them. Next month, in October 2009, the Lahore High Court quashed those terror charges. The court said as his outfit JuD was not banned in Pakistan, Hafiz Saeed could not be charged as a terrorist. Before it, Pakistan had claimed that JuD was banned inside the country but the high court order clarified it was not.

    His next sham arrest came after eight years, in 2017. Pakistan slapped a case against him under the anti-terrorism act, again under international pressure, but diluted it by placing him under house arrest on 30 January 2017. Like in the past, Pakistan again failed to collect and present evidence and the Lahore High Court released him on 24 November 2017. He was put under house arrest after US President Donald Trump called Pakistan a terror haven with his strong anti-terrorism response. The United States government vehemently criticised his release, appealing to Pakistan to re-arrest Saeed again for the terror crimes he committed.

    In July 2019, Hafiz Saeed was arrested again, booked under the anti-terrorism laws for terror financing. The trigger this time was from multiple fronts. Global attention, including the pressure put by the United States, initially failed to check the terror tentacles in the country unless it was put under stricter norms of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines. It was coupled with the deteriorating economy of the nation and its rising external debt. Pakistan was inching towards economic default and only IMF loans were its lifeline as being on the FATF Grey List meant a difficult flow of external money and investment to Pakistan, either by other countries or by many other multilateral lending institutions. External loans from some friendly countries were not able to help much. Also, these loans were raising Pakistan’s external debt even more.

    For Pakistan, it needed to come out of the FATF Grey List, as its repeated inclusion in the Grey List was giving it a bad reputation, with misguided economic governance and endemic corruption factors pushing money-laundering and terror financing, the lifeline of terror networks like LeT, JeM and many others existing in Pakistan. No investor, be it an organisation, or a country, would like to loan such a nation or invest there.

    Saeed was charged with collecting funds that were routed through religious charities to recruit and fund terrorism. It coincided with the next FATF meeting slated to happen soon on Pakistan’s performance on the corrective guidelines given by the financial watchdog.

    The October 2019 FATF Plenary retained Pakistan on the Grey List. Post that, Saeed was formally indicted just within two months, in December 2019, unusually fast for the terrorist who roamed freely in Pakistan in spite of committing grave terror offences. He was jailed for 11 years in a February 2020 verdict for two terror financing cases. The verdict came just one week before the FATF Plenary which again retained Pakistan on the Grey List. In another terror financing case, he was sentenced to fifteen and a half years’ imprisonment in a court verdict in December 2020. It was followed by another two separate five-year prison terms given to him in two more terror finance cases in November 2020.

    On 7 April 2022, he was sentenced to 31 years in prison in two other terror finance cases. According to the United Nations Security Council, the terrorist has been handed down a cumulative prison term of 78 years in different terror finance cases. All of these prison terms will run concurrently, but so far he has not been convicted for perpetrating the Mumbai 26/11 terror case, despite India’s innumerable calls, the USD 10-million bounty by the United States and the continued global outrage. Three years are now over and there has been no update on it while Hafiz Saeed, earlier this month, challenged his convictions in a petition filed in the Lahore High Court.

    And Hafiz Saeed is not alone. There are many other similar examples that show how Pakistan undermines the judicial process to save terrorist groups and their members operating from its soil. Before the FATF Plenary in March 2021, Pakistan saw another high-profile terrorist, LeT’s Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, convicted in January 2021. He was jailed for three concurrent five-year terms, again for terror financing. As LeT’s operations commander, he was one of the main perpetrators behind the 26/11 terror strike.

    Lakhvi was out on bail. He was arrested in December 2008, under intense international pressure, after Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving terrorist of the Mumbai terror attack, identified Lakhvi as the one who indoctrinated him and other terrorists. He got bail in April 2015 and remained on bail, in spite of the grave charges against him. According to a BBC report, while in jail, he was given more luxurious facilities than a common prisoner. Just next to the office, he was given several rooms, television, mobile phone and internet access with dozens of visitors daily visiting him, day or night.

    LeT terrorist Sajid Mir, who planned the outfit’s external terror operations and was one of the handlers sitting in Pakistan operating terrorists during the Mumbai 26/11 terrorist attack, was first declared missing and then dead by Pakistan. Before the FATF Plenary in Berlin in June 2022, Sajid Mir was quietly arrested in April 2022 and sentenced to 15 years in prison in May 2022, again for terror financing. Pakistan claimed it had taken effective measures to meet all of the FATF corrective measures, including these high-profile arrests. FATF, after the Plenary, decided to visit Pakistan to verify its claims.

    All delayed convictions, under unrelated charges, on terror financing, and not for masterminding and implementing the Mumbai terror attack or other such similar barbaric attacks – the United Nations, the United States, the FATF, the IMF, and the other global community at large – should raise questions and look into it. HM is not even proscribed in Pakistan even if the United States calls it a foreign terrorist organisation and Syed Salahudeen a specially designated global terrorist.

    The heinous Pahalgam terror attack of 22 April is a living example – of the audacity shown by Pakistan’s state-supported terror groups, in spite of the country’s claims of successfully curbing money-laundering and terror financing and imprisoning big terror names. Twenty-six innocent civilians were killed and many others injured and a LeT proxy, the Resistance Front (TRF), was behind the attack. The global community needs to see how Pakistan keeps on distorting and undermining the judicial process and keeps on denying the justice India and the world community need.

     

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Scottish shipbuilding security and economy boost as warship named

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    Scottish shipbuilding security and economy boost as warship named

    Ceremony attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales. Smashing a whisky bottle against the hull for good luck, Her Royal Highness formally named HMS Glasgow

    Thousands of Scottish shipbuilders are delivering innovative warships that will protect Britain’s vital interests for decades to come, as HMS Glasgow was officially named in a ceremony at BAE Systems’ Glasgow shipyards (Thurs 22 May).

    HMS Glasgow is the first of eight Type 26 frigates, representing a £7.9 billion investment in British shipbuilding, directly supporting 1,700 skilled jobs in Glasgow and a further 2,300 roles across the UK maritime supply chain until 2035.

    Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry Maria Eagle said:

    The Type 26 programme demonstrates how Scotland’s world-class shipbuilding expertise contributes to both our national security and economic prosperity, delivering on the government’s Plan for Change. With thousands of high-skilled jobs supported in Glasgow and beyond, this programme showcases Scotland’s vital role in UK defence manufacturing.

    HMS Glasgow will provide critical protection for the UK’s continuous at-sea deterrent and Carrier Strike Group with unparalleled anti-submarine warfare capabilities, ensuring maritime security well into the 2060s.

    The Type 26 programme has transformed into a 29-ship global endeavour after Australia and Canada selected the design for their future frigates, creating significant export opportunities for the UK supply chain.

    Defence spending in Scotland currently totals £2.1 billion annually, supporting over 11,000 industry jobs and employing more than 14,000 military and civilian personnel across strategic sites including HMNB Clyde, RAF Lossiemouth and the Clyde shipbuilding centre.

    Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said:

    It was an honour to represent the UK Government at the naming of the first of the Royal Navy’s new Type 26 frigates, HMS Glasgow. Scotland is the beating heart of military shipbuilding, with eight Type 26 ships being built by BAE Systems in Glasgow and five Type 31 frigates by Babcock International in Rosyth.

    Economic growth and national security are UK Government priorities and our multi-billion pound investment in Scotland’s best in world shipbuilding and wider defence sectors will play a crucial role in delivering our Plan for Change by supporting thousands of skilled jobs and investing in our communities for years to come. The skills, expertise and innovation in Scottish shipyards is clear to see and our new Brand Scotland campaign will build on that success and help the sector export its world-class technology internationally.

    The eight City class frigates will form the backbone of the Royal Navy’s surface fleet once construction is completed by the mid-2030s, replacing the aging Type 23 ASW frigates with vessels equipped with sophisticated weapons systems, advanced sensors and state-of-the-art communications technology.

    As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, the defence industry will continue to drive innovation and job creation across Scotland, supporting a broad range of economic benefits including apprenticeships, skills development and regional prosperity.

    All eight Type 26 frigates will be based at HMNB Devonport in Plymouth following completion, with HMS Glasgow expected to be operational by 2028.

    Updates to this page

    Published 23 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Do shorter prison sentences make society less safe? What the evidence says

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Daniel Alge, Senior Lecturer in Criminology & Criminal Justice, Brunel University of London

    The final report of the Independent Sentencing Review has proposed the most significant reform of sentencing and punishment in England and Wales since the 1990s.

    The review, chaired by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke, calls for a number of changes to address the crisis of overcrowding in prisons. These include using fewer and shorter prison sentences, enhanced opportunities for early release based on good behaviour, and more use of community sentences.

    The government has already accepted most of the recommendations in principle, though many will require legislation to bring them into effect. The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has said that the most serious offenders should not be eligible for an earlier release under the proposals.

    Prisons in England and Wales have been at or near capacity for a number of years, and frequently exceed their safe capacity. Official data shows that the current adult prison population is estimated to be around 87,700, compared with a maximum operational capacity of around 88,800. However, maximum capacity figures are only recorded annually, and the poor conditions of the prison estate mean the usable maximum may often be lower at any given time.

    Without reforms to sentencing, the prison population is projected to increase to up to 105,000 by 2029.

    Want more politics coverage from academic experts? Every week, we bring you informed analysis of developments in government and fact check the claims being made.

    Sign up for our weekly politics newsletter, delivered every Friday.

    In September 2024, prison overcrowding resulted in the emergency early release of around 1,700 prisoners serving sentences of less than five years who had served 40% of their sentence. They would ordinarily have not been eligible for early release until they had served 50% of their sentences.

    The Gauke review was commissioned to create a more sustainable solution to prevent further emergency measures. However, both the review and the emergency measures have come under criticism, namely that dangerous offenders will be released and communities and victims will be at risk. The shadow home secretary, Robert Jenrick, has claimed that the most recent proposals will “spark a crime wave”.

    So, will shorter sentences make communities less safe?

    What does the evidence say?

    A core recommendation is that custody should be used only as last resort. It calls for sentences of less than 12 months to only be given in exceptional circumstances, for example, where the offender is known to pose a high level of risk to a specific victim despite being sentenced for a less serious offence.

    The research on short-term imprisonment consistently shows that it is ineffective for a number of reasons. Short prison sentences are disproportionately expensive, especially when compared with community sentences. The offenders serving them have committed relatively minor offences, so pose a low risk other than in exceptional cases.

    Perhaps the most significant finding is the fact that the shorter the sentence, the higher the reoffending rate. Reoffending is around 55% for prisoners sentenced to less than 12 months, compared with an overall rate of 27.5%. If reoffending can be reduced by using more effective sentences, communities will be safer.



    Read more:
    How a doubling of sentence lengths helped pack England’s prisons to the rafters

    Another key proposal is the “earned progression model”. Under this, most prisoners (except those sentenced for specified serious sexual or violent offences) would be eligible for release after serving one-third of their sentence. They must have engaged constructively with the prison regime.

    They would then be supervised intensively in the community by probation services until they had served two-thirds of their sentence. After this, they would not be actively supervised.

    Prisoners who fail to engage constructively would not be eligible for release until the halfway point of their sentence. Under the early release policy introduced by the government in September 2024, these prisoners would be released after serving just 40% of their sentences.

    There is a sound evidence base for incentivising good behaviour in prison, rather than simply punishing bad behaviour. It is shown to help prisoners develop a sense of autonomy and accountability for their actions. This can help them abstain from reoffending once released.

    A focus on effective rehabilitation, rather than punishment alone, runs through the review. For example, recommendations for improved and targeted substance abuse and mental health treatment.

    There is widespread evidence across jurisdictions which suggests that a focus on rehabilitation, and not longer prisons sentences, is what reduces overall crime levels and makes communities safer. It also makes economic sense.

    The chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, made clear in his most recent annual report in September 2024 that a fundamental reorientation of prisons towards rehabilitation is needed in order to reduce overall crime levels.

    The Howard League for Penal Reform has also welcomed the proposals in the sentencing review.

    Concerns

    Victims groups have raised concerns about the risk of sex offenders or domestic abusers being released early, even under the current regime. The review recommends strengthening protections for victims, for example by expanding specialist domestic abuse courts and tagging for all perpetrators of violence against women and girls.

    More controversially, it recommends increasing trials into the use of voluntary chemical castration for serious sex offenders. The justice secretary is reported to be considering the use of mandatory chemical castration.

    Other questions remain around the implementation of the reforms, not least how they would be funded in the current economic climate. The chief inspector of probation, Martin Jones, has warned that without better funding and other reforms in the probation service, the proposals in the Gauke review would be “catastrophic”. The review recommends investing in the strained probation service, and bringing in third-sector organisations to support it.



    Read more:
    How to stop released prisoners reoffending: what the evidence says

    These are ambitious reforms that would require a considerable investment in the probation service, prisons, community rehabilitation and technology. There are also emerging human rights concerns about the adoption of advanced AI by probation services, as is recommended by the review.

    Ultimately, there is little evidence to suggest that fewer prisoners and shorter sentences will make communities less safe. It is ineffective rehabilitation leading to reoffending which comes at a considerable social and economic cost.

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

    – ref. Do shorter prison sentences make society less safe? What the evidence says – https://theconversation.com/do-shorter-prison-sentences-make-society-less-safe-what-the-evidence-says-257279

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Anniversary Statement: G-DJMD, Discus B, and G-DCTB, Standard Cirrus

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    Anniversary Statement: G-DJMD, Discus B, and G-DCTB, Standard Cirrus

    Investigation of Discus B fatal accident while landing at Hinton-in-the-Hedges Airfield, Northamptonshire on 25 May 2024

    This statement provides an update on the AAIB investigation into the collision between gliders Discus B, G-DJMD and Standard Cirrus, G-DCTB, while landing at Hinton-in-the-Hedges Airfield, Northamptonshire, on 25 May 2024. 

    The gliders were competing in an inter-club event that involved navigating a fixed course task with designated turning points.  On returning to land, the gliders collided immediately to the west of the thresholds of Runways 06 and 09.  

    The investigation into this event is complete and a final report will be issued in due course.

    Updates to this page

    Published 23 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UKSPF adds £39 million to local economy

    Source: City of York

    City of York Council is celebrating the success of its UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) investment programme, which has delivered significant benefits to businesses, communities, and residents.

    The funding has added £6.30 to York’s economy for every £1 invested – a total of £39 million. 

    City of York Council invested £5,507,510 from the Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, in addition to £384,817 from the Rural England Prosperity Fund. The funds aimed to boost productivity and living standards, increase pride in place and build strong communities.

    The funding has been invested through a wide-ranging programme of grant and support schemes, aimed at supporting businesses and local communities.

    You can find out more about the achievements of the fund by watching our video.

    Cllr Pete Kilbane, Executive Member at City of York Council for Economy and Culture, said:

    The impacts of this investment have touched all parts of our city – from supporting entrepreneurs to turn their dreams into reality and enabling people to gain employable skills, to regenerating Acomb’s Front Street and bringing diverse cultural opportunities to York. 

    “I’m extremely proud to see that 125 jobs have been created or safeguarded as a direct result of this funding, with hundreds more people benefiting from opportunities to build the skills and confidence they need to secure rewarding, well-paid employment. 

    “The fact that this investment has contributed £39 million to York’s economy, is due in no small part to the energy and passion that I’ve seen demonstrated time and again by the people and organisations, who we’ve worked with throughout this programme and who have turned this funding into real change and opportunity for our people, places and communities.”

    One of the 41 providers funded through the UKSPF programme was Next Door But One, which has delivered new and accessible performances for all ages, and offered free career development support for early-career creatives in York.

    Matt Harper-Hardcastle, CEO and Artistic Director of Next Door But One, said: 

    As a small but rapidly growing theatre company in York, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund has been central to our ability to strengthen the infrastructure of our work, respond to local need and take brave steps forward with initiatives that make the arts accessible, meaningful and relevant to the diverse communities we serve. 

    “Through this funding, we’ve been able to reach new audiences and support early-career performing arts professionals to develop their businesses and practice.”

    Since the launch of the programme in 2022, City of York Council has supported 41 programmes across three priority investment areas: Communities and Place, People and Skills and Supporting Local Businesses.

    The Fund provided £2.6 billion of new funding for local investment between April 2022 and March 2025, and allowed Local Authorities to target funding where it was needed most, building pride in place, supporting high quality skills training, supporting pay, employment and productivity growth and increasing life chances.

    A single-year UKSPF extension has been announced by Government, covering the 2025 to 2026 financial year. Due to changes in the way government funding is allocated, the UKSPF programme will now be delivered at the wider York and North Yorkshire level, via the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.  

    York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority will receive £8,782,899 (£2,914,393 capital and £5,868,506 revenue) of investment to be committed in the 2025 to 2026 financial year, and the Combined Authority is currently working to allocate the funding to projects spread across the region.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: 22 May 2025 Departmental update Millions lack access to basic eyeglasses

    Source: World Health Organisation

    The findings, published in The Lancet Global Health, reveal that progress towards the global target of a 40% increase in eyeglasses coverage by 2030 set at the World Health Assembly in 2021 needs to be accelerated. 

    “Universal access to vision care is entirely achievable but only if we act with urgency and unity,” said Dr Stuart Keel, WHO Technical Officer. “Eyeglasses are among the most cost-effective tools in global health. It is unacceptable that millions still live with poor vision when a simple, affordable solution is within reach. We cannot allow another generation to be left behind.” 

     

    Uneven access to eyeglasses  

    The newly released data reveals that the burden of uncorrected vision loss is not equally shared — it weighs far more heavily on low-income countries, women, and older adults. 

    In low-income countries, two out of every three people who need eyeglasses are unable to get them — a crisis that directly undermines their ability to learn, work, stay safe, and live with dignity. This widespread lack of access to such a simple solution continues to limit opportunities and deepen cycles of poverty and exclusion.  

    Women and older people are consistently less likely to receive the vision correction they need, often sidelined by systemic barriers to access and affordability. 

    The situation is particularly severe in the African region, where around 70% of people with refractive errors do not have access to eyeglasses, leaving millions with avoidable vision impairment that impacts their education, livelihoods, and quality of life.  

    “In 2024, WHO included effective refractive error coverage in its monitoring framework for the 14th General Programme of Work, a clear signal that the world is beginning to recognize the critical importance of accessible, high-quality vision care,” said Professor Rupert Bourne, Principal Investigator from the Vision Loss Expert Group. 

    “Data from over 815 000 people across 76 countries shows that we are off track. Urgent global action is needed to reach the goal of a 40% increase in eyeglasses coverage by 2030,” added Professor Bourne. 

     

    Evidence of progress amidst persistent gaps 

    Despite the challenges, the data shows some encouraging trends. Between 2000 and 2023, there was a 50% improvement in the number of people receiving the correct prescription for eyeglasses — a meaningful step toward reducing avoidable vision loss. 

    While the global burden of refractive error has surged over the past two decades — largely driven by lifestyle-related risk factors, for example increased screen time and reduced outdoor activities during childhood — eyeglasses coverage has still risen by an average of 5% per decade, demonstrating steady progress despite the challenges. 

    Dr Keel added “These improvements demonstrate that progress is possible when vision care is prioritized. Meeting global vision targets will require coordinated action across governments, global organizations, donors, and the private sector. WHO calls on all actors to join forces to ensure that everyone, everywhere, gets the vision care they need.” 

     

    Note to Editors 
    In response to the continued unmet need, WHO launched SPECS 2030 in 2024. This initiative aims at supporting countries to meet the 2030 target by scaling up access to affordable and quality refractive error services  focused on five key strategic pillars: Service design, Personnel development, public Education, Costing, Surveillance and research. 

    “,”datePublished”:”2025-05-22T22:00:00.0000000+00:00″,”image”:”https://cdn.who.int/media/images/default-source/topics/health-and-well-being/disability/blindness-and-vision-impairment/refractive-errorbba5b62c44eb47259668cec45976df40.jpg?sfvrsn=e27c9f_3″,”publisher”:{“@type”:”Organization”,”name”:”World Health Organization: WHO”,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”url”:”https://www.who.int/Images/SchemaOrg/schemaOrgLogo.jpg”,”width”:250,”height”:60}},”dateModified”:”2025-05-22T22:00:00.0000000+00:00″,”mainEntityOfPage”:”https://www.who.int/news/item/22-05-2025-millions-lack-access-to-basic-eyeglasses”,”@context”:”http://schema.org”,”@type”:”NewsArticle”};
    ]]>

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Statement on behalf of the thirteenth Tata Steel / Port Talbot Transition Board

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    News story

    Statement on behalf of the thirteenth Tata Steel / Port Talbot Transition Board

    The thirteenth Tata Steel / Port Talbot Transition Board met on 22nd May 2025.

    The Secretary of State for Wales, Rt Hon Jo Stevens MP, in her role as Chair of the Transition Board sought endorsement from the Board for three regeneration projects, which will be supported with over £21.2million of Transition Board funding. These projects include:

    • Advanced Manufacturing Production Facility/National Net Zero Centre of Excellence
    • Redevelopment of business premises at Metal Box and Sandfields Business Centre

    Today’s release of money is the sixth announcement from the UK Government’s £80m Tata Steel / Port Talbot Transition Board fund and should support over 270 jobs and add a total of over £119m Gross Value Added to the local economy over the next decade. This latest major investment means more than £70 million has been announced by the Transition Board in the last nine months.  

    Investment from the Transition Board compliments UK Government’s action to secure new trade deals with the US and India, including seeking agreement to eradicate tariffs on core steel products imported into the US. This will protect tens of millions of pounds worth of steel exports from Wales every year.

    The Board also received updates on:

    • Tata Steel UK’s decarbonisation programme;
    • The Department of Business and Trade’s plans for a steel strategy;
    • Mental health and well-being interventions;
    • The Transition Board funds that have already been announced, including applications received for the Supply Chain fund, and support being provided from the Employment and Skills fund.

    Those in attendance included: Rt Hon Jo Stevens MP, Secretary of State for Wales; Rebecca Evans MS, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy & Planning in the Welsh Government; Cllr Alun Llewelyn, Deputy Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council; Frances O’Brien, CEO of Neath Port Talbot Council; Stephen Kinnock, MP for Aberafan Maesteg; David Rees, MS for Aberavon; Anne Jessopp CBE & Katherine Bennett CBE, independent members of the Board; Alun Davies, National Officer for Steel & Metals, Community Union; Tom Hoyles, Politics, Press and Research Officer, GMB Wales & Jason Bartlett Regional Officer of Unite the Union Wales.

    -ends-

    Updates to this page

    Published 23 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/PHILIPPINES – National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies: “There is a need to embody faith in political action”

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    PPCRV

    Rome (Agenzia Fides) – “After the 2025 midterm elections, we can say that there is still much to be done to create an authentic political consciousness in the nation. We use the word ‘politics’ in the noblest and highest sense of the word, namely, as the administration and care of the common good,” Father Esteban Lo, a priest from Manila and National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) in the Philippines, one of the participants in the General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies currently taking place in Rome, told Fides. “When it comes to political elections, the phenomena of vote-buying, corruption, political dynasties, and factionalism affect the entire people, which is, of course, predominantly Catholic. From this, it can be deduced that in these moments, the Catholic conscience, illuminated by faith, struggles to emerge,” the National Director added.”Today, the Filipino people demonstrate great popular piety, but when it comes to issues and practices such as politics, a dichotomy arises. Therefore, we must deepen and assimilate the vision of the Church’s social teaching, which we know is a focus of the apostolic ministry of Pope Leo XIV. We must embody faith in political action,” he notes.In the May 12 elections, with a record turnout of nearly 69 million voters, more than 18,000 public offices at all levels of government were filled: Of the 354 seats in the lower house of parliament, the majority went to the coalition formed by the Lakas Party and other parties supporting incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos. In particular, the 12 Senate seats up for grabs (half of the 24 seats that make up the assembly) attracted political and media attention, and at least five went to candidates supporting the Duterte family. The Philippine political system is dominated by two political dynasties, which also faced each other in this election. They are the families of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (son of the former dictator of the same name) and his Vice President Sara Duterte (daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte). The two clans, which had formed an alliance with a view to the 2022 presidential elections, are now in open conflict, and in this context, the midterm elections have become a kind of “referendum” on the dominance of one side or the other. Meanwhile, Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested and is on trial before the International Criminal Court in The Hague for “crimes against humanity” committed during the “war on drugs” launched during his presidency. And his daughter, Sara, the current Vice President, was impeached by the House of Representatives on February 7, which must be confirmed or overturned by the Senate. Five candidates close to the Marcos alliance won seats in the Senate, five other elected candidates are close to Duterte, while two “independents” received the support of the Duterte clan in the final stages of the campaign, thus being considered part of the opposition. After the election, President Marcos Jr. admitted – also based on polls that showed a significant decline in his popularity and public approval – that people were dissatisfied with the government’s performance. “The scenarios are open, and we will see how the political situation evolves,” the National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies told Fides. “Surely, we are in a time when even the Catholic Church, as a historic institution, no longer has the influence on the conscience of citizens that it had in the past: just think of the non-violent revolution of 1986. The context and culture have changed rapidly.” “Our hope,” Father Lo concluded, “remains firm because it is anchored in Christ. Our commitment and our mission in society will continue. Ultimately, we can say that everything depends on the Christian witness of our lives.” (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 23/5/2025)
    Share:

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: US solar manufacturers lag skyrocketing market demand

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti, Associate Research Scientist, University of Michigan

    Americans continue to want solar energy. AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

    U.S. consumer demand for renewable energy continues to grow, with more solar panel capacity installed in 2024 than in 2023, which saw more than in 2022. But U.S. trade policy is in flux, and high tariffs have been imposed on imported solar panels, which may cause shortages.

    I am a scholar who studies the Sun, as well as an entrepreneur who is working to harness its power here on Earth by creating new designs for generating solar electricity. As part of that effort, I’ve studied market trends and manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. and abroad. Right now, U.S. manufacturers do not produce enough solar panels to meet the nation’s demand, but industry investments and federal tax incentives have been making progress, though recent federal moves have created uncertainty.

    In 2024, U.S. installers put up enough solar panels to generate 50 gigawatts of electricity – enough to power New York City for a year.

    U.S. manufacturers made only a small fraction of that – 4.2 GW of solar modules in the first half of 2024. That was a big boost, though – a 75% increase compared with the same period in 2023. And the prices were roughly three times the cost of imports.

    A look at recent imports

    In 2024, the U.S. imported far more panels than the country needed, suggesting developers may be stockpiling panels for future projects.

    Most of those imported panels were made in Asia, particularly Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. In fact, nearly all of the U.S.-made panels used at least some components from overseas. China currently makes about 97% of the world’s supply of photovoltaic wafers, which are building blocks of solar panels.

    The effects of proposed U.S. trade policies on the solar industry remain unclear. Through 2024, manufacturing continued a yearslong ramp-up to take advantage of government policies favoring domestic manufacturing. And imported panels seem slated to suffer from ever-increasing tariffs, which drive up costs.

    Domestic production rises

    Since 2010, U.S. solar panel production has increased about eightfold. But U.S.-made panels are more expensive than imported alternatives. In 2024, U.S.-made panels typically cost 31 cents per watt, but imported panels, even including tariffs that existed before President Donald Trump’s second term, cost about one-third of that: 11 cents per watt.

    But domestic manufacturers are bringing costs down by ramping up production while relying on the government to maintain or increase tariffs on imports, which may make U.S. panels more competitive domestically in the future.

    Reliance on overseas sources

    Despite that increase in domestic production, U.S. demand for solar panels has grown even faster. To meet demand, the U.S. imports a substantial portion of its solar photovoltaic modules.

    Tariffs, including a 30% tariff on solar cells and solar panels starting in 2018, aimed to boost domestic manufacturing.

    But those tariffs and falling global prices made solar installations more costly in the U.S. than in the rest of the world. The average global cost of installed solar systems dropped from $1.15 per watt in 2012 to $0.72 per watt in 2016, nearly half that of U.S. installations.

    The 2018 tariffs, as well as earlier rounds in 2012 and 2014, have shifted the source of U.S. imports of solar panels – from China and Taiwan to Malaysia and South Korea. Manufacturers are also building solar panels in Singapore and Germany to maintain access to the U.S. market. And Chinese companies are even investing in U.S. solar manufacturers to take advantage of federal incentives and avoid tariffs.

    New tariffs emerge

    Trump’s proposal for new tariffs on foreign-made solar goods, including panels and components, particularly target Chinese-owned companies in Southeast Asia.

    They could include a potential 375% tariff on Thai products – nearly quadrupling prices – and a 3,500% tariff on products from Cambodia.

    In contrast, U.S.-made solar panels will be cheaper. But a reduced supply of solar panels will raise prices even of domestic-made panels, at least until U.S. manufacturing can catch up with the demand. Some developers have begun to delay or cancel solar installations to address rising costs.

    Domestic investment

    Due in large part to the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, enacted in 2022, the U.S. solar panel industry has seen significant investments.

    Since the law’s enactment, more than 95 GW of manufacturing capability have been added across the solar supply chain in the U.S., including new facilities that in a year can construct enough solar panels to produce nearly 42 GW, beyond existing manufacturing levels. This growth in manufacturing capabilities is largely located in Texas and Georgia.

    Still, the new administration’s shifting priorities and trade policies make the landscape uncertain. Before Trump began discussing various solar-related trade policies, the industry projected it would install an average of 45 GW of solar panels every year for the next decade.

    Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti owns shares in APT Solar Solutions Inc. in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He receives funding from public and private organizations to develop and commercialize three-dimensional solar modules.

    – ref. US solar manufacturers lag skyrocketing market demand – https://theconversation.com/us-solar-manufacturers-lag-skyrocketing-market-demand-256944

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How abortion laws focusing on fetal viability miss the mark on women’s experiences

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Katrina Kimport, Professor of Sociology, University of California, San Francisco

    Abortion policy in the U.S. often focuses on fetal viability and fails to address the concerns of actual pregnant people. John Fedele/Tetra Images via GettyImages

    During the 2024 presidential campaign, politicians and their surrogates repeatedly raised concerns about abortion later in pregnancy. The topic grabbed media attention and continues to inspire strong emotions, but most of the discussions include numerous misunderstandings.

    These debates tend to focus almost exclusively on the status of a presumed healthy fetus: Does it have a heartbeat? Can it feel pain? Can it survive outside of the pregnant person’s body? Laws in the U.S. routinely use these fetal development markers to restrict abortion rights.

    The problem with this framing, however, is that the preoccupation with these fetal development markers originated in law and politics, not in science or medicine. And, most importantly, not from the lives, needs and experiences of pregnant people.

    We are medical sociologists who specialize in research on abortion. We noticed that fetal development markers shape the experience of pregnant patients. But that doesn’t mean these markers feel meaningful to people who get abortions.

    We wanted to understand how patients who have abortions later in pregnancy, including from states with laws banning abortion after specified markers like “viability,” thought about their pregnancy and abortion. Do they think about abortion in terms of the development of their fetus? We analyzed interviews with 30 women who obtained abortions later in pregnancy to answer this question.

    A history of limitations

    Long before the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned the constitutional right to abortion, thousands of people each year in the U.S. were denied abortion services. Often, this was because they were beyond the pregnancy gestational limit imposed by their state’s abortion laws.

    These limits were rooted in fetal development markers. For instance, some states such as Maine and Washington allow abortion until a particular developmental point, such as presumed fetal viability. This is the point in pregnancy when the fetus might survive outside the uterus. Even in states considered supportive of abortion rights, such as California and Illinois, limits based on fetal development are still in force today.

    Since the Dobbs ruling, more abortion seekers are being denied the chance to get the procedure or facing long delays because of laws based on ideas about fetal development markers. But in fact, laws focused on fetal markers often end up jeopardizing the life and health of pregnant patients and furthering suffering, our study shows.

    Fetal development markers explained

    Fetal development markers sound like they are established clinical terms, but they aren’t. Some, like “potential fetal viability,” are concepts that started in legal thinking in the early 1970s. Then, when they were incorporated into limits on legal abortion, clinicians had to figure out how to apply them in a health care setting.

    Laws premised on fetal development markers around the U.S. have led to a host of lawsuits and general confusion among medical practitioners, as the language they use often doesn’t translate into medical contexts.

    It’s worth noting that common shorthand is to assign a specific gestation to a particular marker – for example, saying that viability starts at 24 weeks. But this ignores the fact that fetal viability depends on many factors, including fetal weight, sex, genetics and availability of neonatal intensive care resources.

    Only about half of infants born at 24 weeks of gestation will even survive long enough to be discharged from the hospital. Among infants born at 28 weeks, that rises to more than 90%. And of course, just looking at whether a baby was discharged from the hospital does not capture the acute impairments that babies born this prematurely experience and ongoing medical care they will require for much, if not all, of their lives.

    Focusing on the fetus’s viability overlooks the baby’s viability

    When we interviewed women who had abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy, it became evident that these legal definitions were entirely irrelevant to the realities of their fetuses’ health.

    Some described carrying a fetus with a serious health issue that doctors told them would lead to its death soon after birth, just not during pregnancy. For instance, one woman we interviewed learned that a child with her fetus’s diagnosis would be born alive but would have regular seizures, cognitive disabilities and an inability to control its own movement.

    “I couldn’t imagine bringing a child into this world who would suffer and not have cognition of why, or be able to understand a good day from a bad day,” she said. To her, having an abortion was a way to protect her son: “I can’t give him that life of pain if I have a choice.”

    Women in similar situations struggled with the way their states’ laws focused on fetal viability but ignored the fact that the life their baby would have would be very brief and characterized by deep, sometimes constant pain. To them, the law reduced “viability” to the ability to survive birth, without consideration of the quality of their child’s life and the degree of its suffering.

    Overlooking women’s health

    Research and journalism have documented harrowing obstetric emergencies and their physical consequences in states where abortion has been banned. These traumatic events are often directly linked to laws that, in effect, leave little to no room to protect the pregnant patient’s life and health. The women in our study repeatedly highlighted that when a state’s law emphasizes “fetal viability” at the time an abortion is sought, the pregnant patient’s future health – both emotional and physical – takes a back seat.

    One woman we interviewed explained that she was so desperate not to be pregnant that she considered suicide because the fetal development-based law in her state meant she would not have access to a needed abortion. She had to travel out of state for her abortion. In her interview, she said the staff at the abortion clinic “saved my life. They definitely did. If it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t be here.”

    We also interviewed a woman who had a medical condition that made pregnancy and laboring very dangerous for her, but she decided to take that risk to start a family. Once it was clear that her fetus had a serious health issue and would die in utero or shortly after birth, she no longer wanted to risk her own health.

    “Never mind the suffering, like needless suffering for the baby — I would also have to go through a cesarean surgery for that,” she said. But in her state, a fetal development-based law prohibited her from receiving an abortion. She, too, had to travel in order to get one.

    Ultimately, the women we interviewed found the laws based in fetal development markers to be nonsensical and cruel when applied to their pregnancies. One woman we interviewed, whose fetus’s severe medical condition was only diagnosable by doctors after her state’s 24-week viability cutoff, put the issue in stark terms.

    She was denied an abortion even after multiple specialists told her there was “100% certainty” her baby would have a bad outcome – an outcome that one specialist gently told her “no parent wants.” She had to fly halfway across the country to get the abortion she needed, far away from her support system.

    She said, “What sense does that make? I can’t imagine anybody looking at that and saying, ‘Yes, that was the desired outcome of this policy.’”

    Katrina Kimport receives funding from the Society of Family Planning and an anonymous private foundation.

    Tracy A. Weitz receives funding from the Society of Family Planning, Education Foundation of America, and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. She is affiliated with Cambridge Reproductive Health Consultants, Fund Access Forward, Democracy Forward, Abortion Bridge Collaborative (Women’s Donors Network), Breast Cancer Action.

    – ref. How abortion laws focusing on fetal viability miss the mark on women’s experiences – https://theconversation.com/how-abortion-laws-focusing-on-fetal-viability-miss-the-mark-on-womens-experiences-245998

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Like many populist leaders, Trump accuses judges of being illegitimate obstacles to safety and democracy

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Michael Gregory, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Clemson University

    The front entrance of the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Court House, the workplace of Judge James Boasberg, along with other federal and appeals court judges, is seen in Washington, D.C. Philip Yabut/Getty Images

    Federal judges and at times Supreme Court justices have repeatedly challenged – and blocked – President Donald Trump’s attempts to reshape fundamental aspects of American government.

    Many of Trump’s more than 150 executive orders, including one aimed at eliminating the Department of Education, have been blocked by injunctions and lawsuits.

    When a majority of Supreme Court justices ruled on May 16, 2025, that the Trump administration could not deport a group of Venezuelan immigrants without first giving them the right to due process in court, Trump attacked the court.

    “The Supreme Court of the United States is not allowing me to do what I was elected to do,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This is a bad and dangerous day for America!” he continued in the post.

    As the Trump administration faces other orders blocking its plans, the president and his team are framing judges not just as political opponents but as enemies of democracy.

    Trump, for example, has called for the impeachment of James Boasberg, a federal judge who also issued orders blocking the deportation of immigrants in the U.S. to El Salvador. Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that Boasberg was “trying to protect terrorists who invaded our country over American citizens,” and Trump has also called Boasberg and other judges who ruled against him or his administration “left-wing activists.”

    “We cannot allow a handful of communist, radical-left judges to obstruct the enforcement of our laws and assume the duties that belong solely to the president of the United States,” Trump said at a rally in April 2025. “Judges are trying to take away the power given to the president to keep our country safe.”

    As a scholar of legal and political theory, I believe this kind of talk about judges and the judicial system is not just misleading, it’s dangerous. It mirrors a pattern seen across many populist movements worldwide, where leaders cast independent courts and judges as illegitimate obstacles to what they see as the will of the people.

    By confusing the idea that the people’s will must prevail with what the law actually says, these leaders justify intimidating judges and their sound legal rulings, a move that ultimately undermines democracy.

    President Donald Trump shakes hands with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts at his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
    Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

    Thwarting ‘the will of the American people’?

    In the face of judicial rulings against them, Trump and other administration officials have suggested on multiple occasions that judges are antagonistic to what the American people voted for.

    Yet these rulings are merely a reflection of the rule of law.

    Trump and supporters such as Elon Musk have characterized the rulings as a sign that a group of elite judges are abusing their power and acting against the will of the American people. The rulings that enforce the law, according to this argument, stand in opposition to the popular mandate American voters give to elected officials like the president.

    “If ANY judge ANYWHERE can stop EVERY Presidential action EVERYWHERE, we do NOT live in a democracy,” Elon Musk posted on X in February 2025. “When judges egregiously undermine the democratic will of the people, they must be fired,” Musk added.

    And U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, said in March 2025, “We do have the authority over the federal courts, as you know. We can eliminate an entire district court.”

    Framing judges as enemies of democracy or as obstacles to the people’s will departs sharply from the traditional view – held across political lines – that the judiciary is an essential, nonpartisan part of the American constitutional system.

    While previous presidents have expressed frustration with specific court decisions or judges’ political leanings, their critiques mostly focused on specific legal reasoning.

    Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned against the Trump administration’s charge that judges were actively undermining democracy. In late April 2025, she said during a conference for judges that “relentless attacks on judges are an attack on democracy.”

    So, are judges obstructing democracy – or protecting it?

    Are unelected judges a sign of democracy?

    The U.S. Constitution established an independent judiciary as a coequal branch of government, alongside the legislative and executive branches. Federal judges are appointed for life and cannot be removed for political reasons. The country’s founders thought this protection could insulate judges from political pressures and ensure that courts uphold the Constitution, not the popularity of a given policy.

    Yet as the federal judiciary has expanded in size and power, the arguments about the relationship between democracy and judicial independence have become louder among some political scientists and legal philosophers.

    Some critics take issue with the fact that federal judges are appointed by politicians, not elected to their positions – a fact that others argue contributes to their independence.

    Federal judges often serve longer on the bench than many elected officials.

    Why, some critics argue, should a small group of unelected experts be allowed to overturn decisions made by elected officials?

    Other democratic theorists, however, say that federal judges can act as a check on elected leaders who may misuse or abuse their power, or pass laws that violate people’s legal rights. This indirectly strengthens democracy by giving people a meaningful way to have recourse against laws that go against their rights and what they actually voted for.

    A common story across countries

    The argument that judges are an enemy to democracy is not unique to the U.S.

    Authoritarian leaders from across the world have used similar language to justify undermining the courts.

    In the Philippines, then-President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018 told Maria Lourdes Sereno, a top judge who was an outspoken critic of Duterte’s war on drugs, “I am now your enemy.” Shortly after, the Philippines Supreme Court voted to oust Sereno from the court. These judges cited Sereno’s failure to disclose personal financial information when she was first appointed to the court as the reason for her removal.

    Filipino protesters and outside critics alike viewed Sereno’s removal as politically motivated and said it undermined the country’s judicial independence.

    El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s allies in the legislative assembly similarly voted in May 2021 to remove the government’s attorney general as well all five top judges for obstructing Bukele’s plans to imprison, without proper due process, large numbers of people. Bukele replaced the attorney general and judges with political loyalists, violating constitutional procedure.

    Kamala Harris, then vice president of the U.S., was among the international observers who said the removal of judges in El Salvador made her concerned about El Salvador’s democracy. Bukele justified the judges’ removal by saying he was right and that he refused to “listen to the enemies of the people” who wanted him to do otherwise.

    And in April 2024, a minister in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet called Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara an “enemy of the people,” blaming her for protests outside Netanyahu’s home. This disparagement was part of Netanyahu’s broader efforts to weaken judges’ role and independence and to remove judicial constraints on executive power.

    Judge James Boasberg is one example of a judge who was personally attacked by President Donald Trump for issuing various rulings on the administration’s plans to deport Venezuelan immigrants.
    Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images

    Pushing against democracy

    In the name of weakening what they call undemocratic institutions, these and other leaders try to discredit independent judges. This attempt helps these leaders gain power and silence dissent.

    Their attempts to disparage and discredit judges misrepresent judges’ work by asserting that it is political in nature – and thus subject to political criticism and even intimidation. But in the U.S., judges’ constitutionally mandated work takes place in the realm of law, not politics.

    By confusing the idea that the people’s will must prevail with what the law actually says, these leaders justify intimidating judges and their rulings, a move that ultimately undermines democracy.

    Independent judges may not always make perfect decisions, and concerns about their interpretations or potential biases are legitimate. Judges sometimes make decisions that are objectionable from a moral and legal standpoint.

    But when political leaders portray judges as the problem, I believe it’s crucial to ask: Who truly benefits from silencing judges?

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

    – ref. Like many populist leaders, Trump accuses judges of being illegitimate obstacles to safety and democracy – https://theconversation.com/like-many-populist-leaders-trump-accuses-judges-of-being-illegitimate-obstacles-to-safety-and-democracy-255472

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hickenlooper, Cantwell, Lummis, Wicker Reintroduce Bill to Clear Space Junk, Protect Space Exploration

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator John Hickenlooper – Colorado
    ORBITS Act would create landmark program to clean up dangerous orbital debris threatening space exploration, satellites, and commercial space operations
    Bill unanimously passed Senate last Congress
    WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper, Maria Cantwell, Cynthia Lummis, and Roger Wicker reintroduced the bipartisan Orbital Sustainability (ORBITS) Act to establish a first-of-its-kind demonstration program that would reduce the nearly 1 million pieces of space junk in orbit.
    “Dangerous debris in Earth’s orbit threatens American satellites and jeopardizes future space exploration missions,” said Hickenlooper. “It’s time we clean up the clutter and protect our critical space operations.”
    “The Orbital Sustainability or ORBITS Act will jumpstart the technology development we need to address the very serious problem of orbital debris that threatens our scientific satellites, human space exploration and commercial space services,” said Cantwell.  “The longer we delay in taking meaningful action, the less safe our activities in orbit become.”
    “Space is getting more and more crowded with debris that poses a real threat to our satellites,” said Lummis. “People in Wyoming and across the country depend on satellites for our national security, weather forecasting, wildfire monitoring, GPS navigation, and communications essential for our way of life. The ORBITS Act addresses this growing challenge and helps maintain safe human spaceflight operations above the earth. This bipartisan solution will protect America’s interests in space for generations to come.”
    “The ORBITS Act would address a key aspect of the complex space debris problem. We should be empowering NASA to partner with the U.S. space industry in active debris removal technology to tackle space junk threats. The United States is the world’s premier spacefaring nation, and I look forward to continuing our leadership,” said Wicker.
    The ORBITS Act passed the Senate in the 118th Congress.
    Space junk, or orbital debris, currently threatens human space exploration, scientific research missions, and emerging commercial space services. There are approximately 8,000 metric tons of debris currently in orbit, including at least 900,000 individual pieces of debris that are potentially lethal to satellites. Because of the threats from debris already in orbit, simply preventing more debris in the future is not enough. The ORBITS Act will jumpstart a program focused on research, development, and the demonstration of technologies capable of safely carrying out successful Active Debris Remediation (ADR) missions to create a robust commercial market for these services.
    In recent years, NASA canceled a planned spacewalk and maneuvered the International Space Station (ISS) to avoid colliding with orbital debris. Due to growing amounts of debris, the ISS has performed numerous Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuvers (PDAM) in the past year alone. 
    Specifically, the bill contains the following provisions:
    Orbital Debris Remediation List
    Directs NASA, in coordination with the Departments of Commerce, Defense, and the National Space Council, to publish a list of debris objects that pose the greatest risk to the safety of orbiting spacecraft and on-orbit activities

    Active Orbital Debris Remediation Demonstration Program
    Directs NASA to establish a demonstration program to partner with industry in developing technology for remediating debris objects through repurposing or removal from orbit
    The NASA program will promote competition by incentivizing  two or moreteams of technology developers to conduct demonstrations of successful debris remediation

    Asks NASA to partner with other nations to address debris in orbit that belongs to them

    Active Debris Remediation (ADR) Services
    Encourages the U.S. government to buy ADR services from  industry partners once they succeed in the demonstration and are commercially available
    Requires an economic assessment of the long-term demand for ADR services

    Uniform Orbital Debris Standards
    Directs the National Space Council to update the Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices (ODMSP) used by U.S. government space missions
    Encourages the FAA and FCC to use the updated standards and practices as the basis for federal regulations applicable to all space activities
    Directs the U.S. to encourage other nations to align their regulations with ours to encourage effective and non-discriminatory regulation worldwide

    Space Traffic Coordination Standard Practices
    Directs the Department of Commerce, in coordination with the National Space Council and the FCC, to develop and promote standard practices for avoiding near misses and collisions between spacecraft in orbit

    Key supporters of the bill include the Aerospace Industry Association, Secure World Foundation, and CONFERS.
    Full text of the ORBITS Act is available HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: A Reset Relationship and New Opportunities for Northern Ireland

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    A Reset Relationship and New Opportunities for Northern Ireland

    Secretary of State Hilary Benn MP underlines the benefits for Northern Ireland of recent trade deals, and a new intended partnership agreement with the European Union.

    Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn.

    It has been a momentous month – both for Northern Ireland and for the entire United Kingdom. First came the Government’s trade deals with India and the USA which will open up new opportunities for Northern Ireland exporters. 

    Next, on Monday, the UK played host to the first-ever UK-EU summit at Lancaster House in London as we set out to build a new partnership with the European Union. In recent years, our relationship with the EU has – at times – been strained, but in an era in which global instability is rising, it makes sense to build stronger ties with our European friends and neighbours.

    And then, on Thursday, we marked the anniversary of the referenda on the 1998 Good Friday Agreement held in Northern Ireland and Ireland. By voting ‘yes’, the people chose and secured a chance for peace in Northern Ireland; a peace which has lasted in the almost three decades since and helped pave the way for Northern Ireland’s transformation. It was an agreement which remains to this day proof of the power of courageous political leadership, and people’s willingness to compromise in hope of a better future.

    The agreement with the European Union will help to create growth and lower household bills across the UK as a whole. 

    It is a particularly good deal for Northern Ireland. Our economy is already vibrant – think of our aerospace, life sciences, manufacturing, and film and television industries – and this agreement will further help Northern Ireland which experienced stronger growth than the United Kingdom as a whole last year. Peace has delivered real economic benefits.

    Of particular significance will be the deal we reached on agrifood and plants, which will smooth flows of trade, ease the frictions for businesses and protect the UK internal market. Applying the same rules across the UK will give businesses greater certainty, and mean we can eliminate paperwork and mandatory identity and physical checks on goods moving under these arrangements. 

    All of this will save up to £1 million a month for those firms using the ‘red lane’ and we’ll see a real difference in garden centres, with bans on so-called ‘high risk’ plants being eliminated – a commitment made in Safeguarding the Union – and plants being able to move within the UK without barriers. 

    This deal will also maintain Northern Ireland’s unique access to both the UK and EU markets and the advantages that the Windsor Framework offers to businesses and the economy. So, it’s no surprise that businesses have welcomed it. The Ulster Farmers Union called it ‘a major step forward for Northern Ireland’s agri-food industry’. The Horticultural Trades Association have said that their sector will save millions. And big name retailers such as Asda and M&S have praised the removal of frictions too. The message is clear from business – this is good news for Northern Ireland and good news for you.

    The other outcomes of Monday’s summit are also good for Northern Ireland. Our new security and defence partnership with the EU will support our national security and the aerospace, defence and space industry which is already home to more than 9,000 jobs in Northern Ireland. Our closer law enforcement relationship with the EU will help prevent crime. Closer cooperation on decarbonisation and energy will lower prices and make our country greener and more resilient. And it’ll become easier to travel to mainland Europe through e-Gates. 

    Northern Ireland’s prosperity is intrinsically linked to its strong relationship with the rest of the UK, and it can only benefit further from our new partnership with the EU. The steps we are taking will bring practical benefits, and Monday’s summit makes me even more confident that Northern Ireland’s economy will continue to flourish as a thriving and growing part of the UK.

    This article also featured in the Belfast Telegraph.

    Updates to this page

    Published 23 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: AI experiments see “Humphrey” help townhalls cut costs and improve services

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Press release

    AI experiments see “Humphrey” help townhalls cut costs and improve services

    AI experts are experimenting to build new AI within “Humphrey” to help speed up admin in areas like planning and social care, as 25 councils trial new AI tech from Whitehall.

    • AI experts are experimenting to build new AI within “Humphrey” to help speed up admin in areas like planning and social care, as 25 councils trial new AI tech from Whitehall.
    • Early research on the tech shows officials are saved from 60-minutes of admin for each hour-long meeting, saving staff from what half say is the worst thing about their job.
    • Comes as “Humphrey” is taking notes in the Prime Minister’s Council of Nations and Regions meeting taking place today, with talks covering recent trade deals and how AI can improve public services.

    Local councils across the country are trialling a new AI tool called ‘Minute’ – part of the “Humphrey” suite being rolled out across Whitehall – to cut burdensome admin tasks to improve services for citizens as part of the UK government’s Plan for Change.

    It comes as the Prime Minister brings together Heads of the devolved governments and elected English Mayors today at the Council of the Nations and Regions for talks on recent trade deals, as well as how AI can improve public services and maximise the technology’s benefits for people across UK. ‘Minute’ has been used to take notes in the meeting, marking the first time AI has been used in a meeting chaired by a UK Prime Minister.

    25 local councils are currently taking part in the early-stage trial of ‘Minute’ to speed up note taking across the services they provide, including West Berkshire Council and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. This includes streamlining burdensome admin tasks in the planning process to help hit the government’s target of building 1.5 million homes by 2030.

    This could help speed up actions after planning meetings, allowing officers to focus on the task at hand, rather than paperwork, and make informed decisions to get homes built. This will support approvals, so bricks can be laid and homes built faster.

    The tool also helps take detailed notes in meetings between social care workers and their supervisors, allowing workers to focus on offering more support instead of being bogged down by bureaucracy.

    The trial comes as alongside a push from government to help local councils use technology to improve the dozens of essential services they are responsible for delivering to local residents – from planning approvals to housing, pest control and parking permits. It includes a new AI Knowledge Hub published today, sharing exciting examples of how local councils are using technology so others can learn from them – such as an AI assistant that speeds up the reporting of fly-tipping and graffiti in central London.

    ‘Minute’ is part of ‘Humphrey’, the package of AI tools built to help civil servants deliver for ministers and the public more effectively. It uses generative AI to turn meetings into notes and adds unique tools to help tweak and correct summaries more efficiently. Early tests of the technology in central government showed that officials were saved, on average, from one hour of admin per one hour meeting, with nearly half of them saying note-taking is the least enjoyable part of their job.

    In the pilot, the tool helps local councils automate requirements for note taking and record keeping so officials can focus on helping residents more quickly.

    The trial announced today follows the Prime Minister setting out that he will “push forward with the digitisation of government services” to find £45 billion worth of productivity savings to make the state more productive and agile and deliver the Plan for Change.

    AI and Digital Government Minister Feryal Clark said:

    From parking permits and planning permission, local councils handle some of the services that impact our daily lives most. For too long, they have been left to fend for themselves when keeping up with rapid innovations in AI and digital technology – when we know it has huge potential to help solve many of the challenges they face.

    That’s why “Humphrey”, a suite of exciting AI tools built in my department, is being sent to townhalls to help them fast track planning decisions, build 1.5 million homes and take meeting notes more quickly. This is just the first step as we are also going to work with local councils to help them buy and build the technology they need to deliver our Plan for Change and support their local communities more effectively.

    Lords Minister for Housing and Local Government Baroness Taylor said:

    Local councils are on the frontline of housing delivery, and we’re backing them with cutting-edge AI technology like ‘Minute’, so officers can spend less time buried in admin and more time helping to get Britain building.

    This is alongside our landmark reforms to deliver 1.5 million homes, including the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which will get working people and families in to secure homes and boost economic growth right across the country.

    Earlier this year, the government’s State of Digital Government Review unveiled that local councils were spending £5 billion per year on technology, despite employing half the number of digital specialists they should be. The report also found that each of the 320 local authorities negotiate technology contracts with big tech companies independently – when many are buying exactly the same tools – making this spending much less effective.

    Work has also begun to look at how technology built by the UK government, like the upcoming GOV.UK App which will give people access to public services on their phones, can help councils save money while delivering a better, more consistent service for citizens. It will also aim to improve data sharing between councils and other public bodies, as well as helping councils negotiate contracts together and share best practices.

    It comes alongside a new AI Knowledge Hub being published, sharing practical examples of how AI is being used in government and across local councils so other organisations across the UK can take their work forward. The publication of the website delivers against a recommendation made in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, aiming to help the public sector adopt AI more quickly and effectively.

    Other areas set to be discussed today include how by working with devolved governments and mayors the UK can ensure it has the infrastructure and capability needed to power AI, and ways to facilitate better data sharing.

    DSIT media enquiries

    Email press@dsit.gov.uk

    Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 6pm 020 7215 3000

    Updates to this page

    Published 23 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: China makes stern representation to Japan over detention of Taiwanese fishing vessel

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

    BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) — China has made stern representations to Japan over the detention of Taiwan’s fishing vessel Hongzaitou 6 and demanded immediate correction of mistakes and effective measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Friday.

    A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman made the remarks at a regular press conference when asked about China’s reaction to Japan’s actions.

    “The Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese fishermen, including those from the Taiwan region. In accordance with the China-Japan Fisheries Agreement, the Japanese side has no right to take law enforcement measures against Chinese vessels in the relevant waters,” Mao Ning emphasized. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Five ways to inspire ocean connection: reflections from my 40-year marine ecology career

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Martin Attrill, Professor of Marine Ecology, University of Plymouth

    For 40 years, I’ve worked as a marine ecologist and, since 1992, I’ve been based in Plymouth, Devon – a global hub for coastal marine research and teaching. As I think back to how our understanding of life in our oceans has changed over that time, here are five lessons I have learnt.

    1. Start with the basics

    Back in the 1970s, the band America wrote: “The ocean is a desert with its life underground, and the perfect disguise above”. Many people I speak to actually don’t see much beyond that grey-blue surface.

    Back in 2014 my colleagues and I were quite shocked at the response to a big survey we did on public perception of the marine environment in the UK, particularly when we break out of our marine bubbles. If an organism was remotely colourful or interesting, most people assumed it didn’t live in UK waters.

    That reminded me not to underestimate how little most people know, or care, about UK seas. Make no assumptions.

    While Blue Planet and other beautiful TV series have undoubtedly helped raise the profile of the world’s seas, some have potentially reinforced this view of local waters – that you have to travel to far-off exotic locations to find any interesting and spectacular life.

    2. Inspire deep connection

    Research shows the almost unparalleled restorative power of being in, on, under or by the sea. You do not need to dive to feel a strong ocean connection – building sandcastles, catching crabs on a line in a harbour, skimming stones or letting the cold water wash over your feet can work wonders.

    Rockpooling is also an incredible window into the underwater world – suddenly all this weird and wonderful life opens up to us in a small, simple and accessible puddle.

    Rockpooling is a fun and easy way to explore marine life.
    Laura Schwormstedt/Shutterstock

    People need to be given more opportunities to form lasting connections with the ocean. Organisations such as Plymouth’s Ocean Conservation Trust and Devon Wildlife Trust are bringing young people to the sea, sometimes for the first time.

    Enabling ocean connection is just as important for people who don’t have the chance or ability to physically be there, for example through virtual reality. I’ve also been involved in transforming Plymouth Sound into the UK’s first national marine park – this concept is all about engaging people with this stretch of coastline, getting them connected to the ocean and inspiring them to care. And the marine park model could be replicated around the UK.


    Local science, global stories.

    This article is part of a series, Secrets of the Sea, exploring how marine scientists are developing climate solutions.

    In collaboration with the BBC, Anna Turns travels around the West Country coastline to meet ocean experts making exciting discoveries beneath the waves.

    3. Take the pressure off

    If you leave the ocean alone, it can recover. Very few shallow areas of our global ocean remain untouched. But, as demonstrated so well in David Attenborough’s latest film, Ocean, if you remove all the most damaging impacts (particularly physical fishing damage), then the sea has great powers of recovery.

    In the UK, bluefin tuna and humpback whales have returned as the pressure to hunt them has been better managed. The cold water reefs on the seabed in Lyme Bay off the south coast of England have recovered remarkably just four years after a ban on towed fishing gear was introduced.

    Today, there are so few properly protected areas where all damaging or extractive activities are completely removed to give nature a chance, particularly in the UK. Some habitats may need a bit of help from us – active restoration or replanting of seagrass beds and oyster reefs will help kickstart regrowth.

    What is seagrass? The Ocean Conservation Trust explains.

    4. Plastic is a distraction

    The flow of plastics into the ocean must certainly be stopped. But I worry that the plastic pollution problem is a bandwagon that so many businesses, media outlets and governments have jumped on. Has a decade-long focus on “solving” the plastic crisis been a troublesome distraction? Banning single-use straws can seem like an easy win because leaders can be seen to be taking action – but it does little to solve the ocean’s biggest problems.

    Meanwhile, the most complex and hard to resolve activities that seriously harm our seas, such as industrial overfishing, are still not being dealt with. The most damaging fishing practices such as trawling and dredging continue legally, astonishingly even within designated marine protected areas. Such highly damaging activities have no place near sensitive habitats and this has been so well demonstrated in Ocean.

    The recent UK ban on sandeel fishing gives me hope. This landmark decision was made to benefit nature (protecting food supply for seabirds), restricting a fishery that does not even supply food for humans. Sandeels are used to make fishmeal and fish oil to feed farmed fish and livestock.

    Yet, damaging fishing practices such as trawling and dredging continue legally, even within designated marine protected areas. Such highly damaging activities have no place near sensitive habitats.

    I firmly believe that the most effective and straightforward solution for the UK is to prohibit all towed fishing gear from within at least three miles of the coast – including developing a series of fully protected marine reserves.

    In Lyme Bay, this approach has led to a real win-win because the seas are now recovering, and local fishers, holidaymakers and coastal communities are benefiting too.



    Read more:
    David Attenborough’s Ocean reveals how bottom trawling is hurting sealife in horrifying detail

    5. Add a dose of ocean optimism

    Rising eco-anxiety, particularly in younger people, is not surprising given the state of the world. Faced with the nature and climate crisis, it is easy to feel utter despair.

    Climate change will undoubtedly change our planet. Yet, without oceans absorbing most of the carbon (while producing half the oxygen we breathe), this planet would already be uninhabitable for human civilisation. Making our oceans as healthy and resilient as possible is therefore crucial.

    Right now, we need some ocean optimism. Sharing the stories of progress and innovation that show how patches of the sea are recovering can demonstrate what’s possible and inspire further positive action. By showcasing areas now rich with diverse marine life now that industrial-scale damage has been stopped or whale populations that are booming now that harpoons are a thing of the past, a vision for a better, bluer future can become reality at scale.

    Listen to episode one of Secrets of the Sea here on BBC Sounds, presented by Anna Turns for The Conversation.

    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Martin Attrill receives and has received funding from a series of government, NGO and private sector bodies, all of which is directed to the University of Plymouth, not personally. Current and recent funding includes from UK Government (NEIRF), Heritage Lottery Fund, Natural Environmental Research Council, EU INTERREG and ERDF. He is affiliated with Ocean Conservation Trust (Chief Scientific Advisor) and a trustee of the Manta Trust.

    – ref. Five ways to inspire ocean connection: reflections from my 40-year marine ecology career – https://theconversation.com/five-ways-to-inspire-ocean-connection-reflections-from-my-40-year-marine-ecology-career-250162

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: West Nile virus found in the UK for the first time – what you need to know

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Paul Hunter, Professor of Medicine, University of East Anglia

    Kwangmoozaa/Shutterstock.com

    For the first time, traces of the West Nile virus have been found in mosquitoes in the UK, according to a report published this week by the UK Health Security Agency.

    Here’s what you need to know about the virus and the disease it causes.

    What is West Nile virus?

    West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne virus first identified in Uganda in 1937. It belongs to the same viral family as dengue and yellow fever. The virus is most commonly transmitted by Culex mosquitoes, particularly the species Culex pipiens, which mainly feeds on birds.

    Birds are the primary host for West Nile virus, and the virus spreads in a cycle from infected birds to mosquitoes and then back to birds. Occasionally, mosquitoes can transmit the virus to humans or other animals.

    Most human infections – around 80% – cause no symptoms. When symptoms do occur, they are usually mild: fever, fatigue, headaches, body aches and sometimes nausea. But in rare cases, around one in 150 infections, the virus can cause severe illness, including encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) or meningitis. Older adults, especially those over 50, are most at risk of serious complications.

    The virus cannot normally be spread from person to person, though rare cases of transmission have occurred through blood transfusions or from mother to baby during pregnancy.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    How did it get to the UK?

    Although the exact route isn’t known, experts believe the virus may have arrived in the UK via migratory birds infected elsewhere. The mosquitoes probably picked up the virus after feeding on these birds during their northward journey.

    The detection was made as part of a routine mosquito surveillance programme run by the Animal and Plant Health Agency. Mosquitoes collected from marshlands in south-east England tested positive in PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, which detect fragments of the virus’s genetic material.

    It’s important to note that a positive PCR test doesn’t necessarily mean the virus is infectious. After a mosquito becomes infected, the virus needs time – several days – to multiply inside the mosquito before it can be transmitted. And this process is highly temperature dependent.

    Can the virus spread in the UK?

    The UK’s relatively cool climate has, until now, helped keep mosquito-borne diseases at bay. At summer temperatures of around 15°C, it can take up to 100 days for the virus to develop inside a mosquito – longer than the insect’s lifespan. In contrast, in hotter climates (above 30°C), this process can take just a few days.

    For a local outbreak to occur, there would need to be a critical mass of infected birds and mosquitoes, with enough warm weather to sustain multiple cycles of transmission. So far, that hasn’t happened in the UK.

    But climate change could alter the equation. With rising global temperatures and longer, hotter summers, the conditions that allow viruses such as West Nile to spread may become more common in the UK.

    What’s happening elsewhere?

    West Nile virus was once limited to Africa and the Middle East but has spread significantly in recent decades. Large outbreaks have been recorded in countries including Greece, Romania, Israel, Russia and the US.

    The US outbreak began in New York City in 1999 when an unusual number of birds were found dead in a city zoo. A veterinary pathologist at the Bronx Zoo, Tracey McNamara, helped link the bird deaths to the human illnesses being reported.

    Since then, the virus has spread across most of the US, Canada and parts of South America, resulting in over 60,000 reported human cases, 28,000 hospitalisations and more than 3,000 deaths.

    In 2024, 19 European countries reported a total of 1,436 local cases, most in men over 65, with 125 deaths. Most were in Italy, Greece and Spain – countries with hot, mosquito-friendly summers.

    Outbreaks were also reported in birds and horses, which are both susceptible to the virus.

    Should UK residents be concerned?

    While the detection of West Nile virus in UK mosquitoes is noteworthy, experts emphasise that the public health risk remains very low. No human cases have been reported in the UK to date, and current summer temperatures are not yet conducive to sustained transmission.

    The greater risk for most British people probably comes from travel – particularly to southern Europe, where cases are rising.

    Travellers are advised to take standard mosquito precautions: wear light-coloured clothing, long sleeves and trousers, and use insect repellent, especially in the evening when mosquitoes are most active.

    For now, the virus is unlikely to spread widely in the UK. But as climate patterns shift, continued surveillance and public awareness will be key to staying ahead of the risk.

    Paul Hunter consults for the World Health Organization. He receives funding from National Institute for Health Research and has received funding from the World Health Organization and the European Regional Development Fund.

    – ref. West Nile virus found in the UK for the first time – what you need to know – https://theconversation.com/west-nile-virus-found-in-the-uk-for-the-first-time-what-you-need-to-know-257295

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What’s it like being a raven or a crow?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Walter Veit, Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University of Reading

    Corvids are no birdbrains. Mimmo Lusito/Pexels, CC BY-SA

    Many of us as children may have wondered what’s going on inside the mind of an animal – what are they thinking and feeling? Most animal researchers study science because of their fascination with animals, but for a long time scientific norms made it impossible to even raise the question of animal consciousness without losing scientific credibility.

    Fortunately, those days have ended, thanks in large part to pioneering work by scientists such as Donald Griffin, who argued from the 1980s to his death in 2003 that animal minds should be a topic for scientific study.

    We are philosophers who study consciousness, and in our recent research we worked with other scientists to explore what the world might be like from the point of view of corvids, the family of birds that includes ravens, crows, jays and magpies.

    “Birdbrain” used to be a common insult but corvids have such surprising intelligence that they are sometimes described by scientists and journalists as “feathered apes”. But we wanted to go beyond intelligence. To do this we examined five dimensions of their experience by combing through studies on their behaviour, cognition, brains, emotions and consciousness.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    Corvids’ eyes have incredibly sharp resolution that allows them to navigate while flying at high speeds and to find potential sources of food. Their hearing is excellent, perhaps unsurprising for songbirds, allowing them to even distinguish reliable from unreliable group members by assessing and remembering their alert calls.

    They also have a good sense of smell, which they use to help them find nuts and other food they have hidden. Unfortunately, we do not know how their smell compares to a lot of other animals, because there are not enough studies on corvids’ sense of smell yet.

    Emotional lives

    Corvids show cognitive biases, similar to humans. They have negative moods and show signs of pessimism after observing similar states in others.

    But they also show positive moods after successfully using tools – just like humans. And they can also show neophobia – wariness of new objects.

    Even if you come with treats to give them, corvids are reluctant to fly close to someone they haven’t met before, but are confident with humans they know well – another common human trait.

    It is common for people to only attribute emotional lives to mammals, but corvids show that we should study the emotions of birds in more detail.

    Integrated experiences

    We humans have one stream of consciousness. But birds lack a corpus callosum, the structure that connects the two brain hemispheres in us and other mammals.

    Their brain halves show a lot of division of labour, such as using their different eyes to focus on different tasks. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that their experience is split into two selves – it could suggest a kind of partial unity different from our own.

    Perhaps their consciousness is more like split-brain human patients who have had their corpus callosum cut to reduce the effects of seizures. When two pictures are presented in their respective left and right visual fields, these people will draw what they see on the left side with their left hand, whereas they will verbally describe what is on the right, giving the appearance of two selves in one body.

    Consciousness across time

    Corvids show remarkable abilities in their sense of self across time. Because they often hide food (scientists call this caching), they can remember not just where they hid food, but also what kind of food it was and how long ago they hid it – which is relevant for more perishable foods such as insects, compared to longer-lasting nuts.

    Here their memory far outstrips our own or, for that matter, most other animals when it comes to hiding objects, with some corvids caching and remembering over a thousand food items in a month for later consumption. No human would be able to remember that many hiding spots.

    Corvids can even plan, collecting and storing a tool such as a spoon for future use.

    Is this magpie waiting for the photographer to go away before it hides its nut?
    Fercast/Shutterstock

    A rich sense of self

    They not only recognise themselves in mirrors, but also understand other minds. Research has shown corvids go back to remove cached food and hide it elsewhere if they know they have been observed – but only if they have stolen from others in the past.

    Male jays will watch the feeding behaviour of a female they want to court, so they can bring their preferred food. Even more solitary corvids, such as ravens, seem to have well-developed social skills, which scientists used to think were largely restricted to mammals.

    In all of this, there is still a great deal of uncertainty. Learning about the minds of other animals requires a great deal of inference from sparse and often ambiguous data. But we believe that there is scientific evidence for rich conscious experiences in corvids. For most species, it is a lack of research, not a lack of capacity, that keeps us silent on what their subjective experiences are like.

    This research also has implications for corvid welfare. Understanding what the world is like for an animal means understanding what feels good and bad for them. Their good memories may mean they suffer longer from a negative experience, neophobia will mean novel objects should be introduced slowly, their social abilities mean they should be housed in groups. Giving them tools could allow them enriching experiences.

    All this should be taken into account when deciding how to care for these birds when kept in cavity, and how to minimise welfare risks in other interactions with them.

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

    – ref. What’s it like being a raven or a crow? – https://theconversation.com/whats-it-like-being-a-raven-or-a-crow-257171

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Oscar Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a work of art activism beloved by Banksy

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sondeep Kandola, Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Cultural History, Liverpool John Moores University

    Oscar Wilde photographed by Napoleon Sarony (c. 1882). Library of Congress

    In 2021, Banksy revealed a mural of Oscar Wilde, clad in prisoner garb, making an escape from the abandoned Reading jail. The artist claimed that he would donate profits from the sale of the stencil he used to create the work (a projected £10 million) to set up an arts hub in the Grade II listed building.

    This hasn’t yet taken place, but speaking about the work at the time, Banksy dubbed Wilde “the patron saint of smashing two contrasting ideas together to create magic. Converting the place that destroyed him into a refuge for art feels so perfect we have to do it.”

    In 1895, Wilde was sentenced to two years of hard labour for “gross indecency” after being convicted of “homosexual acts”. He was posthumously pardoned in 2017 under the Turing Law.

    The Ballad of Reading Gaol, which he wrote two years after his release, hypnotically details the psychological and physical horrors of living in isolation in unsanitary single-cells for 23 hours a day.

    It also reveals the mind-numbing conditions and physically exhausting jobs that were relentlessly inflicted on prisoners in Wilde’s day. They were required to ascend 56 steps a minute for nine hours a day on a treadmill, break stones and pick oakum (fibres from the ropes used on ships). And to do so in complete silence.

    This article is part of Rethinking the Classics. The stories in this series offer insightful new ways to think about and interpret classic books and artworks. This is the canon – with a twist.

    In the poem, Wilde details the intense surveillance techniques and harsh punishments adopted by the prison wardens against the “outcast men”.

    Oscar Wilde’s prison cell in Reading Gaol as it appears today.
    Jack1956/Wiki Commons

    “Like ape or clown, in monstrous garb,” he writes, the inmates silently trudge the prison yard in their one allotted hour of exercise per day. The poem focuses on one prisoner in particular, named only as CTW, who is sentenced to death for murdering his wife. It traces his walk to the “hideous” shed where he is to be executed, which ghoulishly sees him “cross his own coffin”.

    More gothic images abound. CTW’s impending burial in an unhallowed and anonymous grave is described as “with yawning mouth the horrid hole / Gaped for a living thing” while “the very mud cried out for blood”.

    Wilde also references a scene from Coleridge’s 1797 masterpiece The Rime of the Ancient Mariner as he envisions phantoms dancing a “grisly masque” in which they sing of inexorable triumph of sin in prison, “the Secret House of Shame”.

    Moreover, Wilde denies that the sacrifice that CTW has offered to the prison with his execution is ultimately redemptive for him as:

    He did not pass in purple pomp

    Nor ride a moon-white steed

    Three yards of cord and a sliding board

    Are all the gallows need.

    In the ballad, Wilde represents the prison experience as sadistic and unrelenting. Much like Banksy over a century later, Wilde used the degree of anonymity the poem afforded (he published it under his cell number, C33) to berate an inhumane society and the distressing penal policy of “hard labour, hard fare, hard board” that he was forced to endure.

    The Ballad of Reading Gaol can ultimately be read as a celebration of compassion, resilience and art activism. Through the poem and letters he wrote to the Daily Chronicle, Wilde publicly attempted to “try and change [prison life] for others”.

    Wilde and his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas in 1893.
    British Library

    Despite Wilde’s public notoriety, Irish MPs Michael Davitt and T.P. O’Connor even went as far as to quote the ballad in parliamentary debates, which led to the adoption of some of the recommendations that Wilde had made in his letters in the 1898 Prison Reform Act.

    Although Wilde, himself, was to suffer the psychological and physical effects of his imprisonment until the end of his short life two years later, the 1898 Act saw the treadmill abolished, ensured solitary confinement could only be used for a maximum of 28 days and children were separated from adult prisoners. And yet, sadly, Wilde’s description of “the foul and dark latrine” of “humanity’s machine” continues to reverberate today.

    On August 22 2024, “independent monitors” into the conditions at Wandsworth Prison (where Wilde was briefly held) found it to be “crumbling, overcrowded and vermin-infested, with inmates living in half the cell space available when it was first opened in 1851”.

    While Wilde’s “swan song” joins with Banksy’s escaped prisoner to expose the failings of modern penal practices, it also reminds us of the enduring power of art and imagination to foster change.

    Beyond the canon

    As part of the Rethinking the Classics series, we’re asking our experts to recommend a book or artwork that tackles similar themes to the canonical work in question, but isn’t (yet) considered a classic itself. Here is Sondeep Kandola’s suggestion:

    If you are looking for further reading on the topic of prison life and the prison experience, Andy West’s memoir The Life Inside (2022) offers a sobering and often witty reflection on living in the carceral state today. A philosophy teacher in prison, West explores the notion of freedom, redemption and our broken prison system.

    You might also be interested to read Brendan Behan’s powerful 1958 autobiography Borstal Boy and Bobby Sands’ courageous Writings from Prison (2020), two incarcerated Irish writers who shared Wilde’s republican sympathies and similarly questioned the ethics and integrity of the British government who imprisoned them.

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

    – ref. Oscar Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a work of art activism beloved by Banksy – https://theconversation.com/oscar-wildes-the-ballad-of-reading-gaol-is-a-work-of-art-activism-beloved-by-banksy-237581

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company Sentenced

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Martin Elling to Serve Six Months in Federal Prison for Obstructing Justice Related to his Work with Purdue Pharma

    ABINGDON, Va. – A former senior partner at McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm based in New York, N.Y., that agreed in 2024 to pay $650 million to resolve criminal and civil investigations into the firm’s consulting work with opioids manufacturers, including Purdue Pharma, L.P., was sentenced yesterday to six months in federal prison for obstructing justice related to his work on Purdue matters. In addition, Elling was ordered to serve two years of supervised release following his incarceration, which includes a requirement that he perform 1,000 hours of community service. The court also imposed a $40,000 fine.

    Martin Elling, 60, a U.S. citizen most recently residing in Bangkok, Thailand, pled guilty in January 2025 to a one-count Information charging him with knowingly destroying records with the intent to impede, obstruct, and influence the investigation and proper administration of a matter within the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice.

    “Martin Elling willfully destroyed records in order to obstruct a Department of Justice investigation related to the actions of McKinsey & Company, Purdue Pharma and the opioid crisis that has devastated communities in this region. He will now have six months to fully comprehend the consequences of those actions,” Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee said today. “This sentence should be an example to all individuals considering similar actions – if you destroy records, if you impeded a Department of Justice investigation, you will go to jail.”

    “Today’s sentencing sends a resounding message: those who attempt to obstruct justice and conceal the truth – no matter how senior, sophisticated, or well-connected – will be held accountable,” said Leah B. Foley, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. “Mr. Elling’s efforts to erase evidence tied to McKinsey’s work with Purdue Pharma were not just a breach of corporate integrity – they were a calculated effort to hinder a federal investigation into one of the most devastating public health crises in our nation’s history. Justice requires the truth, and our office will continue to pursue it wherever the facts lead.”

    “Knowingly destroying records and documents to impede a government investigation into the unlawful prescribing of opioids impairs the ability of law enforcement to do its job and endangers the public health,” said Special Agent in Charge George A. Scavdis of the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Metro Washington Field Office. “We will continue to investigate and bring to justice those who attempt to thwart these important investigations and whose actions put profits over patient safety.”

    “The opioid epidemic has left a trail of heartbreak across Virginia and the nation,” said Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares. “I commend both the US Department of Justice and my office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for their exemplary efforts and partnership to ensure justice is served.”

    According to court documents, in May 2013, Purdue engaged McKinsey to recover lost OxyContin sales. Purdue retained McKinsey to conduct a rapid assessment of the underlying drivers of OxyContin performance, identify key opportunities to increase near-term OxyContin revenue and develop plans to capture priority opportunities. This 2013 effort was called Evolve to Excellence, or “E2E,” and included McKinsey advising Purdue on how to “turbocharge” the sales pipeline for OxyContin by, among other strategies, intensifying marketing to High Value Prescribers.

    Elling served as the director of the client services team for approximately 30 of McKinsey’s engagements with Purdue. He had a senior, relationship-focused role with respect to the E2E engagement and was involved in securing the engagement for McKinsey.

    On July 4, 2018, Elling emailed another senior partner: “Just saw in the FT that [Purdue board member] is being sued by states attorneys general for her role on the [Purdue] Board. It probably makes sense to have a quick conversation with the risk committee to see if we should be doing anything other [than] eliminating all our documents and emails. Suspect not but as things get tougher there someone might turn to us.”

    According to court documents, forensic analysis of Elling’s McKinsey-issued laptop found that Elling in fact deleted materials related to McKinsey’s work for Purdue from the laptop, as well as a Purdue-related folder from his Outlook email account. On August 22, 2018, Elling emailed himself an apparent to-do list, with the subject line, “When home.” The items listed included: “delete old pur [Purdue Pharma] documents from laptop[.]” Forensic analysis of Elling’s laptop by the Department of Justice’s Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section determined that between approximately April 2018 and September 2018, Elling removed a folder titled “Purdue” (which included a subfolder entitled “Strategy”) from his Windows operating system that contained more than 100 items for whom the filenames indicate they were from as far back as 2004 and included the name of the Purdue Pharma CEO at the time of the origination of the Purdue Pharma engagements with McKinsey. The CEO was among the former Purdue Pharma executives who, in 2007, pled guilty and was convicted of misbranding in United States District Court in Abingdon.

    On August 25, 2018, Elling emailed himself the following, “Remove Pur[due] folder from garbage[.]” Elling was aware of the investigations into Purdue Pharma’s conduct and knowingly deleted folders, documents, and emails from his McKinsey-issued laptop knowing these documents would be pertinent to those investigations.

    The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Randy Ramseyer of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia; Assistant United States Attorneys Amanda P. Masselam Strachan and William B. Brady of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts; Senior Trial Counsel Kristen M. Echemendia of the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch (Fraud Section); Trial Attorneys Jessica Harvey and Steven R. Scott of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch; and Special Assistant United States Attorneys and Assistant Attorneys General Kristin Gray and Kimberly Bolton of the Virginia Office of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

    The matter was investigated by the Food and Drug Administration – Office of Criminal Investigations, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Offices of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Office of Personnel Management, with assistance from the Department of Justice’s Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: IMF Reaches Staff-Level Agreement with São Tomé and Príncipe on the First Review under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement and Completes 2025 Article IV Mission

    Source: IMF – News in Russian

    May 23, 2025

    End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board. Based on the preliminary findings of this mission, staff will prepare a report that, subject to management approval, will be presented to the IMF’s Executive Board for discussion and decision.

    • IMF staff and the São Toméan authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on the first review of the economic policies underpinned by the 40-month ECF-supported program. Most quantitative targets for the first review have been met and significant progress was made on a range of macro-structural issues.
    • The authorities have made progress in re-building macroeconomic stability, improving the fiscal position, and advancing the government’s reform agenda. Inflation has declined from recent highs, due to global disinflation and a tight monetary stance. Growth is expected to pick up and inflation to further decelerate over the medium term.
    • The authorities remain committed to the objectives established in the ECF-supported program approved by the IMF Executive Board in December 2024.

    Washington, DC: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team, led by Mr. Slavi Slavov, Mission Chief for São Tomé and Príncipe, held meetings in São Tomé during May 8-21, 2025, to discuss progress on the authorities’ reforms and policy priorities in the context of the first review of São Tomé and Príncipe’s 40-month program supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). The arrangement was approved by the IMF Executive Board for a total amount of SDR18.5 million (around US$25 million) on December 19, 2024. The team also conducted discussions on the 2025 Article IV consultation.

    At the conclusion of the visit, Mr. Slavov issued the following statement:

    “The São Toméan authorities and IMF staff team have reached a staff-level agreement on the first review of São Tomé and Príncipe’s economic program supported by the ECF arrangement. Subject to approval by the IMF’s Executive Board, São Tomé and Príncipe would have access to about SDR 4 million (US$5.3 million), bringing the total IMF financial support disbursed under the current arrangement to around SDR 8 million (about US$10.6 million).

    “Against an increasingly challenging global economic backdrop, the São Toméan economy remains relatively resilient, with growth of 1.1 percent in 2024 despite stubbornly high inflation, a tight policy mix, and the country’s vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters. Inflation remains in the low double digits, while core inflation has declined significantly. The pegged exchange rate has served as an anchor to support domestic stability, but the inflation differential with the Euro Area has put pressures on the fragile external position of the country.

    “Growth is expected to reach 2.9 percent in 2025, accelerate further to 4.7 percent in 2026, and remain at around 3.5 percent over the medium term. This reflects the recovery of the agriculture sector and tourism, while private and public investments are expected to boost growth going forward. The IMF-supported program plays a catalytic role in mobilizing financial support and technical assistance from the country’s main development partners. Declining international oil prices are expected to reduce fiscal and external sector pressures, improving reserves accumulation and macroeconomic stability. Reforming the energy sector remains key to unlocking growth and alleviating pressures on public debt and foreign exchange reserves. The government has made significant strides in fiscal consolidation, reaching a domestic primary balance of zero in 2024, better than the targeted deficit of 0.5 percent of GDP.

    “Discussions on the 2025 Article IV consultation focused on the importance of investing in resilient infrastructure and improving public investment management to reduce the country’s vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters. Discussions also covered improving inflation forecasting, liquidity management, and strengthening financial inclusion.

    “The IMF staff team met President Carlos Vila Nova; Prime Minister Américo d’Oliveira dos Ramos; Minister of State for Economy and Finance Gareth Haddad do Espírito Santo Guadalupe; Acting Governor of the Central Bank Lara Simone Beirão; other government officials; representatives of the private sector including banks; and development partners. The mission expresses its deep appreciation to the authorities for their cooperation, hospitality, and constructive policy discussions.”

    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER: Pavis Devahasadin

    Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

    https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2025/05/22/pr25157-sao-tome-and-principe-imf-reaches-sla-1st-rev-under-ecf-completes-2025-aiv-mission

    MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Russia News –