NewzIntel.com

Category: Politics

  • MIL-OSI Security: Springfield Man Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison for Distribution of Methamphetamine

    Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

    SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A Springfield, Illinois, man Jessie Bates, 38, was sentenced on July 17, 2025, to 17 years in prison, to be followed by a five-year term of supervised release for distribution of methamphetamine.

    At the sentencing hearing, the government presented evidence that Bates sold over 50 grams of methamphetamine to an individual and undercover agent. When law enforcement attempted to arrest Bates, he fled at a high rate of speed proceeding the wrong way down a busy on-way road. He then fled to the state of Georgia where he was ultimately arrested. The government also presented evidence that Bates committed the offense while out on bond for a Sangamon County case involving aggravated discharge of a firearm.

    Also at the hearing, U.S. District Judge Colleen R. Lawless found that the Bates was a career offender and eligible for an obstruction of justice enhancement for recklessly creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another person in the course of fleeing from law enforcement.

    Bates pleaded guilty in March 2025. He remains in the custody of the United States Marshals Service, where he has been since his arrest in January 2024.

    The statutory penalties for distribution of methamphetamine are at least 10 years and up to a life term of imprisonment, , at least five years and up to a life term of supervised release, and up to a $10,000,000 fine.

    “The only thing to be gained from a career as a drug dealer is a prison sentence,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah E. Seberger. “I appreciate the work of the ATF agents who came to central Illinois and went into the field to ensure this was a successful operation. Their work has made our community safer.”

    “This case was a direct result of our Violent Crime Initiative and our strong partnership with the Springfield Police Department,” said ATF Chicago Special Agent in Charge Christopher Amon. “Through our targeted and collaborative enforcement efforts,  and with the unwavering support of retired Chief of Police Ken Scarlette, a violent drug trafficker is now off the streets and behind bars.”

    The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigated the case with assistance from the Springfield Police Department, Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, and the United States Marshals Service. The Illinois State Police provided assistance at sentencing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah E. Seberger represented the government in the prosecution.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: As Canada’s economy faces serious challenges, the Indigenous economy offers solutions

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Mylon Ollila, PhD Candidate in Indigenous Economic Policy, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)

    Canada faces economic headwinds due to geopolitical change, including a trade war with its closest economic partner, the United States.

    Canada’s policymakers are searching for new, sustainable sources of economic strength. One such source is already here and is being overlooked: the emerging Indigenous economy. It has the potential to boost Canada’s economy by more than $60 billion a year.

    But Indigenous Peoples are still largely seen as an economic liability to manage instead of an opportunity for growth. It is time for a mindset shift. For it to happen, the federal government should remove unfair economic barriers and invest in closing the employment and income gap.

    Canada’s future depends on Indigenous Peoples

    Economic growth is projected to decline over the coming years for developed nations, with Canada expected to have the lowest GDP of the 38 OECD countries by 2060. As growth stalls, living standards will decline and governments will face increased fiscal pressure.

    Compounding this challenge is Canada’s aging labour force. The number of people aged 65 and over is growing six times faster than the number of children aged 14 and under — those who will be entering the job market in the coming years. This demographic shift places additional pressure on pensions, the health-care system and the economy.



    Read more:
    Enabling better aging: The 4 things seniors need, and the 4 things that need to change

    But these gloomy projections often overlook one of Canada’s comparative advantages: a young Indigenous population, growing at a rate outpacing the non-Indigenous population. While Indigenous Peoples comprise five per cent of Canada’s population, they only contribute 2.4 per cent of the total GDP.

    A BNN Bloomberg feature about the Indigenous economy in Canada.

    If Indigenous Peoples could participate in the economy at the same rate as non-Indigenous Canadians, their GDP contribution could increase from about $55 billion to well over $100 billion annually.

    Despite this potential, Canada has largely failed to invest in Indigenous Peoples and reform the colonial structures that create inequality.

    While some progress has been made, such as the First Nations Fiscal Management Act that offers communities tools to strengthen their economies, progress is still too slow.

    Economic barriers hold back First Nations

    There are two parts to every economy: economic advantages and the institutions that make those advantages actionable. Some institutions lower the costs of doing business and encourage investment, while others do the opposite. Investment naturally flows to places that have both economic advantages and low costs of doing business.

    In Canada, strong property rights lower the costs of doing business and support the finance of business ventures. An efficient tax system creates predictability and allows governments to provide services. Business-grade infrastructure reduces logistical costs. All these institutions work together to support Canada’s economic development.

    In contrast, First Nations communities are constrained by Canadian institutions. The Indian Act limits First Nations’ authority over their own affairs, segregating them from mainstream finance mechanisms. Unclear legal jurisdiction between federal, provincial and Indigenous governments and weak property rights discourage business investments.

    Limited authority and fiscal powers mean First Nations governments cannot provide services at national standards and must depend on other governments.

    Compounding these issues is the fragmented, insufficient and culturally inappropriate nature of federal support systems. First Nations people have economic advantages and an entrepreneurial spirit, but they are burdened with unfair economic barriers, such as inadequate infrastructure, limited access to capital and administrative hurdles.

    Investing in Indigenous economies is vital

    In 1997, the Royal Bank of Canada predicted that not investing in Indigenous Peoples would widen the socioeconomic gap. As predicted, this is what happened.

    Canada has consistently chosen to manage poverty instead of investing in growth. While financial support for Indigenous Peoples more than doubled over the last decade, it only resulted in modest improvement in living standards.

    The RoadMap Project, a national initiative led by the First Nations Financial Management Board and other Indigenous organizations, proposes a pathway to economic reconciliation. Investing in the Indigenous economy means supporting Indigenous training, providing access to capital for Indigenous organizations and reforming the institutions that continue to impose systemic barriers.

    Education is one of the most effective ways to reduce poverty, improve health outcomes and drive economic development. The federal government should therefore support training programs designed to meet Indigenous needs.

    Online learning could help remote communities achieve educational goals, but its success depends on major investments in high-speed internet access, which remains lacking in many areas.

    Indigenous organizations are best positioned to understand and respond to local training needs. That is why Indigenous control over revenue transfers and program design must be central to any future investments in education. To support this, the federal government should partner with Indigenous education institutions to develop common goals and values.

    Financing and supporting Indigenous growth

    Indigenous Peoples develop new businesses at nine times the Canadian average, but only receive 0.2 per cent of available credit. Most Indigenous enterprises are small and cannot grow without viable financing options.

    Yet, individual Indigenous entrepreneurs and First Nations governments face challenges securing loans and financial support.

    Internationally, development banks have been used to fill credit gaps when the private sector is unable to meet the needs of emerging economies.

    In Canada, the First Nations Financial Management Board and other Indigenous organizations are calling for a similar solution: the creation of an Indigenous Development Finance Organization. By lending to Indigenous governments and businesses, this finance organization could bridge the gap between the financial markets and the Indigenous economy.

    While investments in capacity and development finance are urgent needs, only the dismantling of economic barriers and increased access to effective institutions can assure Indigenous development.

    Legislation such as the First Nations Fiscal Management Act and the Framework Agreement on First Nation Land Management can support Indigenous economies through taxation, budgeting, land codes and financial laws. They offer a pathway between the Indian Act framework and self-government, without waiting on lengthy negotiations.

    Growing stronger together

    Canada’s economic future will remain uncertain if short-term solutions keep being prioritized while ignoring the growth potential of the Indigenous economy. Improvements to the status quo are no longer sufficient.

    The federal government must support Indigenous-led initiatives like the RoadMap Project to foster shared growth and prosperity for Indigenous Peoples and all Canadians alike. Investments are needed to narrow the employment and income gap through new supports for capacity, access to capital and institutional reform.

    Mylon Ollila is a Senior Strategist for the First Nations Financial Management Board.

    Hugo Asselin 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. As Canada’s economy faces serious challenges, the Indigenous economy offers solutions – https://theconversation.com/as-canadas-economy-faces-serious-challenges-the-indigenous-economy-offers-solutions-261252

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: More than just a bad date: Navigating harms on LGBTQ+ dating apps

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Christopher Dietzel, Postdoctoral fellow, the DIGS Lab, Concordia University

    It is crucial to think about what you can do promote your safety while using dating apps, and before you click the download button. (Shutterstock)

    Dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and Grindr have become a ubiquitous part of modern dating for young people looking to meet potential partners. However, many Gen Z users are increasingly forgoing dating apps, feeling burnt out by the whole process.



    Read more:
    Why in-person dating is making a comeback — and why Gen Z is struggling with it

    Dating apps have been plagued with concerns about harassment, sexual and gender-based violence, romance scams and other safety issues. These risks are elevated for LGBTQ+ people who can experience hate crimes, physical violence and other harms when using dating apps.

    With anti-LGBTQ+ movements rising in Canada, the United States and around the world, it is important to understand the potential dangers of online dating and how LGBTQ+ people can promote their safety.

    We recently conducted an online survey that looks into LGBTQ+ people’s experiences with dating apps in Canada as part of a research project at Concordia University’s Digital Intimacy, Gender & Sexuality (DIGS) Lab. We analyzed 624 participant responses that reveal the different harms LGBTQ+ users face and the strategies they use to mitigate those harms.

    Dating today can feel like a mix of endless swipes, red flags and shifting expectations. From decoding mixed signals to balancing independence with intimacy, relationships in your 20s and 30s come with unique challenges. Love IRL is the latest series from Quarter Life that explores it all.

    These research-backed articles break down the complexities of modern love to help you build meaningful connections, no matter your relationship status.

    Harms against LGBTQ+ dating app users

    LGBTQ+ dating users can experience a variety of harms, including unwanted sexual advances, harassment, coercion, discrimination and catfishing.

    The most common types of harms that participants experienced were sexual harms (like receiving unsolicited sexual content, sexual harassment and sexual assault), emotional harms (like bullying and threatening behavior) and social harms (like discrimination and exclusion). Sexual harm was more common online and emotional harm was more common in person.

    Many trans and non-binary participants were insulted with slurs and told their identity was not real by other dating app users. Some people they matched with would also verbally attack them or make death threats. Other trans and non-binary participants reported that people were often nice and friendly online, but then would harass them in person.

    Like other studies have found, objectification and fetishization were also common for trans and non-binary users.

    Racialized LGBTQ+ users said people often made racist comments or used slurs against them. Racial stereotyping and fetishizing was also common. For example, one participant said that she received “comments about my body based on my race and implications of what a Black woman could do with her lips.”

    As an example of the discrimination Asian men experience, one participant said “white people tend to fetishize Asian bodies and assume they’re submissive.” Other research has similarly found that racial exclusion and racial fetishization are common on dating apps.

    There were participants who reported being drugged or sexually assaulted when they met someone in person. Unfortunately, many people who use dating apps say that they have experienced sexual violence online or in person.

    Younger LGBTQ+ users reported feeling pressured or coerced into doing sexual acts by older users. For example, one participant said they felt pushed into doing sexual acts they were not comfortable with.

    Sextortion is on the rise among youth, and dating apps can facilitate sextortion and romance scams.

    Strategies for staying safe

    If you or someone you know uses dating apps, there are steps you can take to make your experience safer.

    The LGBTQ+ people in our study employed strategies like verifying someone’s identity through video calls or by checking out their social media profiles. When meeting someone in person for the first time, participants would choose to meet in a public space and share their location with family or close friends.

    These are some examples of common strategies, often encouraged by dating app companies, that you can employ to promote your safety.

    Safety is not just the individual’s responsibility, however. Dating app companies need to keep their users safe, and participants from the survey gave suggestions to make dating apps safer. For instance, many recommended better content moderation systems to filter out inappropriate messages and problematic users.

    Participants wanted features to make it easier for marginalized communities to connect and avoid people who harass or discriminate. They also wanted better enforcement and stricter consequences for people who violated an app’s community guidelines, like making it impossible, not just harder, for banned users to get back on the apps.

    Some dating apps have recently implemented new safety features, but many users find their moderation systems inadequate.

    Protecting your privacy

    Dating apps have also been criticized for prioritizing profits over users’ security and well-being. That said, users do not want dating apps to police their every move. Too much moderation can impede authenticity and spontaneity.

    Another thing to think about is how new technology is being incorporated into the apps you use and what that means for your safety and privacy. Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more popular and accessible, and dating app companies are integrating this technology into their platforms to help manage user safety.

    However, AI in online dating raises new concerns about data privacy, content moderation and technological bias — all of which can negatively impact the user experience.

    App terms and conditions are notoriously long and difficult to understand, and most people are unlikely to read them at all.

    However, there is information publicly available to help you understand how your data will be used and stored. There are also features in some apps to help you manage your privacy.

    With evolving technologies and changes in the sociopolitical climate, these safety issues are not going away. In fact, they may become more complicated in the future. It is crucial to think about what you can do promote your safety while using dating apps, both online and in person.

    Christopher Dietzel receives funding from Le Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC).

    André Matar 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. More than just a bad date: Navigating harms on LGBTQ+ dating apps – https://theconversation.com/more-than-just-a-bad-date-navigating-harms-on-lgbtq-dating-apps-252297

    MIL OSI –

  • More than 34 crore jobs created in MSME sector since 2014: Centre

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Over 34 crore people have gained employment through micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) since 2014 via the Udyam and Udyam Assist portals, Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi told the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

    Responding to a question in the Upper House, the Minister of MSMEs said there is no shortage of funds or workers in the sector. He also cited examples of traditional workers, such as cobblers, who have received financial support under schemes like the PM Vishwakarma Yojana.

    The government considers MSMEs the backbone of India’s industrial growth and has undertaken a series of measures to strengthen the sector. One major step was the revision of the MSME definition after 14 years, aimed at removing the fear of losing government benefits due to business expansion. The revised definition also makes access to credit easier.

    The number of MSMEs in India has crossed 6 crore, the minister said, adding that lending to the sector has surged from ₹12 lakh crore a decade ago to around ₹30 lakh crore.

    In his Budget speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the guarantee cover for MSME loans would be doubled to ₹20 crore. The government also plans to roll out customised credit cards with a ₹5 lakh limit to meet working capital needs.

    Meanwhile, NITI Aayog has released a report suggesting systemic reforms in financing, skilling, innovation, and market access to unlock the sector’s full potential. It said MSMEs can become a key driver of sustainable growth through targeted interventions and stronger institutional support.

    Between 2020 and 2024, the share of micro and small enterprises accessing credit through scheduled banks rose from 14% to 20%, while access among medium enterprises increased from 4% to 9%, the report noted.

  • More than 34 crore jobs created in MSME sector since 2014: Centre

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Over 34 crore people have gained employment through micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) since 2014 via the Udyam and Udyam Assist portals, Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi told the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

    Responding to a question in the Upper House, the Minister of MSMEs said there is no shortage of funds or workers in the sector. He also cited examples of traditional workers, such as cobblers, who have received financial support under schemes like the PM Vishwakarma Yojana.

    The government considers MSMEs the backbone of India’s industrial growth and has undertaken a series of measures to strengthen the sector. One major step was the revision of the MSME definition after 14 years, aimed at removing the fear of losing government benefits due to business expansion. The revised definition also makes access to credit easier.

    The number of MSMEs in India has crossed 6 crore, the minister said, adding that lending to the sector has surged from ₹12 lakh crore a decade ago to around ₹30 lakh crore.

    In his Budget speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the guarantee cover for MSME loans would be doubled to ₹20 crore. The government also plans to roll out customised credit cards with a ₹5 lakh limit to meet working capital needs.

    Meanwhile, NITI Aayog has released a report suggesting systemic reforms in financing, skilling, innovation, and market access to unlock the sector’s full potential. It said MSMEs can become a key driver of sustainable growth through targeted interventions and stronger institutional support.

    Between 2020 and 2024, the share of micro and small enterprises accessing credit through scheduled banks rose from 14% to 20%, while access among medium enterprises increased from 4% to 9%, the report noted.

  • MIL-OSI USA: Booker, Conaway, New Jersey Congressional Democrats Condemn Defense Secretary Hegseth’s Decision to Detain Undocumented Immigrants at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Cory Booker

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Andy Kim (D-NJ), along with U.S. Representatives Herb Conaway Jr., MD (D-NJ-03), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ-12), Rob Menendez (D-NJ-08), Frank Pallone (D-NJ-06), Nellie Pou (D-NJ-09), Donald Norcross (D-NJ-01), LaMonica McIver (D-NJ-10), and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-05)—issued the following statement after Defense Secretary Hegseth announced his plan to use Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst as a detention site for undocumented immigrants:

    “We condemn in the strongest possible terms the decision by the Trump Administration to use Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst as an immigrant detention center. This is an inappropriate use of our national defense system and military resources. Escalating a radical immigration policy that has resulted in the inhumane treatment of undocumented immigrants and unlawful deportation of U.S. citizens, including children, across the country.

    “We call on our Republican colleagues in New Jersey to join us in urging this Administration to immediately reverse this action. Using our country’s military to detain and hold undocumented immigrants jeopardizes military preparedness and paves the way for ICE immigration raids in every New Jersey community. We have the greatest military in the world and using it as a domestic political tool is unacceptable and shameful.”

    To read the letter Congressman Conaway received from Secretary of Defense Hegseth, click here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Birmingham signs up to West Midlands Growth Plan

    Source: City of Birmingham

    Published: Monday, 21st July 2025

    The West Midlands Growth Plan has been launched by the regional mayor alongside local authority leaders.

    Birmingham City Council leader Cllr John Cotton attended the launch and signed up to the plan that will drive a new era of prosperity in all parts of the region by creating 100,000 good jobs in fast-growing industries, getting tens of thousands of residents into work, improving public transport, and building 120,000 homes.

    The plan also sets out actions to reduce poverty and deprivation and make further progress towards net zero.

    Cllr Cotton said: “This is great news for the people of Birmingham and the wider region. Birmingham is the beating heart of the West Midlands and when we thrive, the whole country thrives.

    “Increasingly, businesses want to invest here and families want to live work here and this growth plan will bring more jobs and skills, better transport and much-needed housing, as well as support our vital net zero ambitions.”

    The Growth Plan will build on new projects and funding secured by the Mayor since he took office.

    This includes hundreds of new social homes, £2.4bn to improve transport, more than £10m of support for local businesses, five million free bus journeys ahead of bringing the network back under public control and a flagship Investment Zone, offering tax breaks and other benefits for companies.

    The Mayor has also agreed a new tram line to East Birmingham which has proved pivotal in landing the £3bn Sports Quarter regeneration project by American financier and Birmingham City FC co-owner Tom Wagner.

    Full details can be found on the WMCA website.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Government of Canada grants $1,859,000 to Just For Laughs Festival

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    Montréal, Quebec, July 21, 2025

    This year, the Just For Laughs Festival is back in Montréal from July 16 to 27 with new diverse programming where festive comic entertainment is front stage!

    Today, the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED), along with the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages, announced a total of $1,859,000 in funding for the Just For Laughs Festival.

    CED is providing a non-repayable contribution of $1,359,000 under its Quebec Economic Development Program (QEDP) for the 2025 and 2026 editions of the festival. This assistance serves to support the promotion and marketing of the event, in addition to fostering the development of new products.

    For its part, Canadian Heritage is providing $500,000 through the Canada Arts Presentation Fund to support the 2025 edition of the festival. This funding will allow audiences to access rich bilingual programming, including comedy shows of all kinds.

    Quotes

    “The Just For Laughs Festival is one of our metropolis’s flagship events which, on top of generating significant economic impacts, helps to position Montréal as the world capital of festivals. That is why our government is today announcing significant funding to attract festivalgoers from all walks of life and to provide the public with a renewed experience. Congratulations to the entire team! I invite Montréalers and tourists from home and abroad to take advantage of a rich program that illustrates our diversity and cultural vitality!”

    – The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for CED

    “The Just For Laughs Festival is an integral part of Montréal’s cultural life. By showcasing both established artists and emerging talents, this major international event reflects the vitality, creativity and strength of our comedy scene. Our new government is proud to support this festival, which perfectly embodies the richness of our culture. Don’t miss this great opportunity to come together and laugh!”

    – The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages

    Quick facts

    • Montréal’s Just For Laughs Festival is the largest comedy festival in the world, a must-attend event that, every summer, transforms the metropolis into the world capital of laughter. For over 40 years, it has been celebrating humour in all its forms, bringing together renowned artists, rising stars and the next generation of talent in a rich, daring, inclusive program.
    • CED’s Quebec Economic Development Program helps communities seize economic development and diversification opportunities that are promising for the future.
    • The Canada Arts Presentation Fund provides financial assistance to organizations that professionally present arts festivals or performing arts series. It also supports organizations that offer support to arts presenters.

    Associated links

    Contacts

    For more information (media only), please contact:

    Isabella Orozco-Madison
    Director of Communications
    Office of the Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
    isabella.orozco-madison@ised-isde.gc.ca

    Media Relations
    Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
    514-283-7443
    media@dec-ced.gc.ca

    Hermine Landry
    Press Secretary
    Office of the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages
    hermine.landry@pch.gc.ca

    Media Relations
    Canadian Heritage
    media@pch.gc.ca

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Planning for end of greyhound racing proceeds

    Source: New Zealand Government

    Planning for the intended ending of greyhound racing in New Zealand is moving forward with animal welfare paramount while also managing the uncertainty for those in the industry, Racing Minister Winston Peters says.

    “We welcome the interim report by the Ministerial Advisory Committee appointed to help plan the intended transition away from greyhound racing in New Zealand.

    “This report sets out a way forward including plans for rehoming the greyhounds currently involved in the sport,” Mr Peters says. 

    In December the Minister announced the Government’s intention to end greyhound racing in New Zealand. An Advisory Committee was appointed to look at the process in detail and make recommendations for how the industry should be wound down. 

    The Committee has been working with representatives of the greyhound racing sector, rehoming agencies, animal welfare groups and government agencies to find practical solutions. 

    The report considers the planning that is underway for the rehoming of dogs, while always recognising this will continue after the intended end of racing on 31 July 2026.  The committee says the current rehoming programme will require reorganization and expansion to achieve finding safe homes for the estimated 1500 dogs remaining when racing is due to end. 

    The Committee also acknowledges the concern of owners and trainers about the financial liability of feeding and caring for dogs once racing ceases. Support is being considered.

    The Committee’s recommendations will be considered by Cabinet before any decisions are taken.

    “We are fully aware of the impact that ending greyhound racing would have on those involved in the industry, and appreciate the feedback owners, trainers and other stakeholders have given the committee. 

    “That is why it is important that we consider everything carefully.

    “The intention is to introduce legislation and members of the industry, and the wider public will get the chance to make submissions to the select committee as part of the process.” 

    The decision to end greyhound racing in New Zealand was made following ongoing concerns about animal welfare and three reviews into the industry which recommended significant change.

    “The imperative to see this through continues with 15 racing greyhounds having to be euthanized so far this season and nearly a further 200 dogs suffering serious injuries keeping them out of racing for weeks and months,” Mr Peters says.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI: Presentation Raises Alarm on Starlink Timeline: “Everything Could Change After August 13”

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Austin, TX, July 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — What if the next major transformation in American communications doesn’t come from Washington or Silicon Valley—but from Earth’s lower orbit?

    That’s the theory bestselling author and entrepreneur James Altucher puts forward in a newly released presentation that connects recent public statements, long-term satellite deployment, and a closed-door meeting involving Elon Musk .

    Momentum Is Building—Fast

    Altucher describes what he believes is an inflection point—not just for Starlink, but for digital sovereignty worldwide. At the center of it all is a moment few are talking about: August 13, 2025.

    According to Altucher, several high-profile media appearances, overlooked interviews, and timing cues are converging toward this date. He claims they suggest Musk may be preparing for a pivotal announcement related to Starlink’s future.

    “This is the moment Elon’s been quietly preparing for—building toward it piece by piece over nearly two decades,” he writes.

    While the outcome of that discussion remains unknown, Altucher believes it ties directly into a broader shift that has already begun—but hasn’t yet made headlines.

    The Power of Unseen Infrastructure

    Altucher suggests that Starlink is more than a tech product. It’s an invisible layer of infrastructure—positioned to become the foundation of a new kind of global network. One that bypasses national grids, local service providers, and even traditional governments.

    What makes this grid different, Altucher argues, is that it exists beyond borders. And that level of control—he warns—could become one of the most powerful tools in modern history.

    Why Timing Matters Now More Than Ever

    Altucher warns that after August 13, the opportunity to understand what’s unfolding may close just as quickly as it opened: “After this date, the window could slam shut—and you may never have this same chance again”.

    About James Altucher

    James Altucher is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, and former hedge fund manager. He has launched more than 20 companies across technology, media, and finance. His books—including Choose Yourself, The Power of No, and Skip the Line—have sold over one million copies globally. Altucher is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and TechCrunch, and frequently appears on CNBC, Fox Business, and other major outlets. His podcast and daily insights have helped millions navigate the shifting world of business, tech, and personal freedom.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: AI and other future technologies will be necessary — but not sufficient — for enacting the UN’s Pact for the Future

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Joyeeta Gupta, Professor, Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam

    In September 2024, members of the United Nations adopted the Pact for the Future at the Summit of the Future, held in New York City. The pact, including its two annexes on the Declaration on Future Generations and the Global Digital Compact, builds on multilateral agreements following the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.



    Read more:
    How the United Nations’ Pact for the Future could help heal a fractured world

    The pact commits to “protect the needs and interests of present and future generations through the actions stated in the pact.” These actions address the digital divide, inclusion, digital space that respects human rights and promotes responsible governance of artificial intelligence (AI).

    Additionally, the Declaration on Future Generations includes 10 principles and some actions. The pact also encourages accelerated development of AI, while considering both its positive and negative aspects within a broader aim to protect human rights.

    A 1972 image of the Earth taken during the Apollo 17 mission. Planetary justice means considering human and non-human life, Earth systems and responsible management of resources.
    (NASA)

    Meeting needs

    As the former co-chair of the Earth Commission and current co-chair of the UN 10-member group, I have worked on incorporating justice issues within environmental studies. Along with my colleagues, we recently published an article where we explain how we have developed Earth system boundaries based on the principle of not causing significant harm to others as part of a broader human rights and Earth systems justice approach.

    While the pact acknowledges and builds on the Sustainable Development Goals, it does not adequately take into account the latest science that shows we have crossed many safe and just Earth system boundaries. There’s also a challenge here: if we were to meet everyone’s minimum needs as required by the social Sustainable Development Goals, we will cross boundaries further.

    A human rights approach

    The pact and its annexes make reference to justice, future generations and Africa. Justice is anchored in a human rights approach. The pact only mentions reducing harm in relation to digital platforms and explosive weapons, but this could be strengthened with the addition of the no-harm principle — not causing significant harm to human and non-human others — in other areas such as climate change. Other forms of justice are scarcely accounted for.

    These include epistemic justice (or how different knowledge systems are included), and data justice (the right to create, control, access, apply and profit from data). Procedural justice — the right to information, decision-making, civic space and courts relating to the allocation of resources and responsibilities — is also vital.

    Other important forms of justice include recognition justice, interspecies, and intragenerational justice. Earth system justice is needed to identify and live within Earth system boundaries and equitably share resources and risks.

    The pact notes that “if we do not change course, we risk tipping into a future of persistent crisis and breakdown,” but it does not make reference to the latest science on planetary boundaries.

    Climate justice

    We argue that implementing the pact requires recognizing how boundaries, foundations and inequality are inextricably are linked together. The Earth Commission argues that safe planetary boundaries are not necessarily just. To minimize significant harm to others, it may be necessary to have more stringent targets.

    For example, 1.5 C is the proposed safe climate boundary for climate change, while 1 C is the proposed just boundary since, at this level, already tens of millions of people are exposed to extreme heat and humidity. Eight safe and just boundaries for climate, water, nutrients, biosphere and aerosols have been identified, seven of which have been crossed.



    Read more:
    What are ‘planetary boundaries’ and why should we care?

    In terms of foundations, theoretically, meeting people’s minimum needs would lead to further crossing these boundaries. We need to recognize that living within safe and just boundaries requires meeting everyone’s minimum needs.

    This requires deploying efficient technologies and redistributing resources to make up the deficit. But governments are reluctant to take this approach, probably because it limits the use of resources and sinks.

    Technological support

    Living within climate boundaries will require a just transition. Globally, if we wish to remain below the safe climate boundary, we will have to completely stop using fossil fuels. Since most remaining fossil fuel reserves are in the developing world, this will put a heavy burden on them. At the same time, climate impacts are considerable, so finance for a just energy transformation is needed.

    While the pact restates the importance of the 2030 agenda in bolstering sustainable development, it lacks a credible mechanism for monitoring whether the national pledges are implemented. This will require strong collaboration among policy, science and the private sector.

    There is a wealth of information in Earth observations from space that can assist in monitoring progress. This information, if made available to researchers and policymakers, can be integrated into national, regional and global environmental risk assessments.

    Digital twins are another technological development that can support these assessments. The European Commission’s Digital Twin of the Ocean, for example, is a virtual model. It integrates diverse ocean data sources and leverages the power of big data, advanced computing and AI to provide real-time insights and scenario simulations under a variety of conditions. Such systems can enhance our ability to cope with environmental challenges.

    As AI is likely to dramatically develop in the few two years, it is critical to be ready to shape and use its potential in a positive way to implement the Pact while reducing its dependence on fossil fuels.

    A ‘cash flow crisis’

    Finally, the pact calls for urgent, predictable and stable funding for the UN and developing countries. This will enable UN bodies to deliver services and administer programs in accordance with international law. The UN Secretariat is facing a severe “cash flow crisis,” as major contributors are paying too late or too little.

    The UN Honour Roll lists member states that have paid membership fees in full: 151 of 193 countries paid in full, but only 51 of them on time in 2024. Among 13 countries with assessed fees of more than US$50 million, only Canada, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Korea, Germany and Italy paid on time.

    With most members paying late, and large ones not paying till later or only partially, this severely constrains the ability of the UN to provide planned, impartial and inclusive services to the global community.

    There is also a need for funding to enable developing countries to adapt and transform. But if such funding comes through loans, this may further exacerbate existing developing country debt: in 2023, developing countries made debt repayments of US$1.4 trillion.

    We need redistribution of resources. Until then, it is critical that new technologies such as AI are deployed to help us return within the boundaries and meet minimum needs without exacerbating climate change through its fossil fuels dependence. The UN plays a critical role in facilitating human, environmental and earthy system justice, but shrinking resources hamper its ability to deliver.

    Joyeeta Gupta receives funding from European Research Council and the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

    – ref. AI and other future technologies will be necessary — but not sufficient — for enacting the UN’s Pact for the Future – https://theconversation.com/ai-and-other-future-technologies-will-be-necessary-but-not-sufficient-for-enacting-the-uns-pact-for-the-future-247511

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: A popular sweetener could be damaging your brain’s defences, says recent study

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Havovi Chichger, Professor, Biomedical Science, Anglia Ruskin University

    Found in everything from protein bars to energy drinks, erythritol has long been considered a safe alternative to sugar. But new research suggests this widely used sweetener may be quietly undermining one of the body’s most crucial protective barriers – with potentially serious consequences for heart health and stroke risk.

    A recent study from the University of Colorado suggests erythritol may damage cells in the blood-brain barrier, the brain’s security system that keeps out harmful substances while letting in nutrients. The findings add troubling new detail to previous observational studies that have linked erythritol consumption to increased rates of heart attack and stroke.

    In the new study, researchers exposed blood-brain barrier cells to levels of erythritol typically found after drinking a soft drink sweetened with the compound. They saw a chain reaction of cell damage that could make the brain more vulnerable to blood clots – a leading cause of stroke.

    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.

    Erythritol triggered what scientists call oxidative stress, flooding cells with harmful, highly reactive molecules known as free radicals, while simultaneously reducing the body’s natural antioxidant defences. This double assault damaged the cells’ ability to function properly, and in some cases killed them outright.

    But perhaps more concerning was erythritol’s effect on the blood vessels’ ability to regulate blood flow. Healthy blood vessels act like traffic controllers, widening when organs need more blood – during exercise, for instance – and tightening when less is required. They achieve this delicate balance through two key molecules: nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels, and endothelin-1, which constricts them.

    The study found that erythritol disrupted this critical system, reducing nitric oxide production while ramping up endothelin-1. The result would be blood vessels that remain dangerously constricted, potentially starving the brain of oxygen and nutrients. This imbalance is a known warning sign of ischaemic stroke – the type caused by blood clots blocking vessels in the brain.

    Even more alarming, erythritol appeared to sabotage the body’s natural defence against blood clots. Normally, when clots form in blood vessels, cells release a “clot buster” called tissue plasminogen activator that dissolves the blockage before it can cause a stroke. But the sweetener blocked this protective mechanism, potentially leaving clots free to wreak havoc.

    The laboratory findings align with troubling evidence from human studies. Several large-scale observational studies have found that people who regularly consume erythritol face significantly higher risks of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes. One major study tracking thousands of participants found that those with the highest blood levels of erythritol were roughly twice as likely to experience a major cardiac event.

    However, the research does have limitations. The experiments were conducted on isolated cells in laboratory dishes rather than complete blood vessels, which means the cells may not behave exactly as they would in the human body. Scientists acknowledge that more sophisticated testing – using advanced “blood vessel on a chip” systems that better mimic real physiology – will be needed to confirm these effects.

    The findings are particularly significant because erythritol occupies a unique position in the sweetener landscape. Unlike artificial sweeteners such as aspartame or sucralose, erythritol is technically a sugar alcohol – a naturally occurring compound that the body produces in small amounts. This classification helped it avoid inclusion in recent World Health Organization guidelines that discouraged the use of artificial sweeteners for weight control.

    Erythritol has also gained popularity among food manufacturers because it behaves more like sugar than other alternatives. While sucralose is 320 times sweeter than sugar, erythritol provides only about 80% of sugar’s sweetness, making it easier to use in recipes without creating an overpowering taste. It’s now found in thousands of products, especially in many “sugar-free” and “keto-friendly” foods.

    Erythritol can be found in many keto-friendly products, such a protein bars.
    Stockah/Shutterstock.com

    Trade-off

    Regulatory agencies, including the European Food Standards Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration, have approved erythritol as safe for consumption. But the new research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that even “natural” sugar alternatives may carry unexpected health risks.

    For consumers, the findings raise difficult questions about the trade-offs involved in sugar substitution. Sweeteners like erythritol can be valuable tools for weight management and diabetes prevention, helping people reduce calories and control blood sugar spikes. But if regular consumption potentially weakens the brain’s protective barriers and increases cardiovascular risk, the benefits may come at a significant cost.

    The research underscores a broader challenge in nutritional science: understanding the long-term effects of relatively new food additives that have become ubiquitous in the modern diet. While erythritol may help people avoid the immediate harms of excess sugar consumption, its effect on the blood-brain barrier suggests that frequent use could be quietly compromising brain protection over time.

    As scientists continue to investigate these concerning links, consumers may want to reconsider their relationship with this seemingly innocent sweetener – and perhaps question whether any sugar substitute additive is truly without risk.

    Havovi Chichger 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. A popular sweetener could be damaging your brain’s defences, says recent study – https://theconversation.com/a-popular-sweetener-could-be-damaging-your-brains-defences-says-recent-study-261500

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  • MIL-OSI Africa: President appoints new DHET Minister, Deputy Minister

    Source: Government of South Africa

    Monday, July 21, 2025

    President Cyril Ramaphosa has removed Dr Nobuhle Nkabane from the role of Minister of Higher Education and Training and has appointed Buti Manamela as Minister of the portfolio.

    Manamela was until this appointment serving as Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, a role he held from the 6th administration.

    The announcement was made in a statement issued by The Presidency on Monday night.

    “Consequently, President Ramaphosa has in terms of Section 93 (b) of the Constitution appointed Dr Nomusa Dube-Ncube, Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training. 

    “Dr Dube’s long government leadership experience includes serving as MEC for Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs and Premier of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, amongst other roles,” said the President’s office.

    Section 93 (b) empowers the President to appoint no more than two Deputy Ministers from outside the Assembly. 

    Last month, the President had requested that Nkabane provide him with a detailed report on the decorum and substance of her engagement with Parliament. This followed media commentary on her appearance before the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training on 30 May 2025. 

    READ I Minister requested to provide a report on decorum in Parliament 

    The Minister was seen in a viral video on social media eating while responding to a question from the Chairperson of the Higher Education committee, Tebogo Letsie. 

    President Ramaphosa said at the time that the request for the report was in view of the President’s expectation that Ministers, Deputy Ministers and senior executives in the public sector conduct themselves professionally, transparently and cordially in engaging with Parliament and other accountability institutions. – SAnews.gov.za

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta Slams USDA Proposal to Share Sensitive Data of SNAP Participants

    Source: US State of California Department of Justice

    OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta, leading a coalition of 14 attorneys general, slammed the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) demand that states turn over personal and sensitive information about millions of food stamp recipients, as well as its proposal to share that information with other federal agencies for purposes that have nothing to do with ensuring the integrity of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP is a federally-funded, state-administered program providing billions of dollars in food assistance to tens of millions of low-income families across the country. SNAP applicants provide their private information to the states on the understanding, backed by long-standing state and federal laws, that their information will not be used for unrelated purposes. In a letter, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that USDA’s unprecedented actions are unnecessary, inefficient, and unlawful.

    “The Trump Administration continues to wage war on some of the most vulnerable members of our communities, deploying invasive and unlawful tactics in the process to intimidate them from accessing services to which they are lawfully entitled,” said Attorney General Bonta. “No Californian should be faced with the choice of having enough to eat or protecting their fundamental right to privacy. As California Attorney General, I will continue to use every tool in the toolbox to push back against any attempts by this administration to upend the rights of Californians. I urge the Trump Administration to reverse course and abandon its unprecedented proposal to share SNAP data for purposes far beyond ensuring the integrity of this program.”

    Since President Trump re-entered the White House in January, public reports indicate that federal officials are amassing huge databases of personal information on Americans and using that data for undisclosed purposes, including immigration enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security has already obtained troves of personal information from both the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Health and Human Services Agency, including private medical information and other personal details on Medicaid recipients, which California has already challenged in court. USDA’s attempts to collect data from states about SNAP applicants and recipients appear to be the next step in this campaign.  

    In May 2025, USDA made an unprecedented demand that states turn over massive amounts of personal information on all SNAP applicants and recipients, including social security numbers and home addresses, dating back five years. In June, USDA published a “System of Records Notice” stating that it intends to “leverage data-sharing across Federal and State systems to identify and rectify” improper payments, and to share information across the federal government, as directed by one of President Trump’s executive orders. 

    As the attorneys general explain in their comment letter, USDA’s actions are unprecedented, threaten the privacy of millions of families, and ignore long-standing restrictions on the use and redisclosure of SNAP data. What’s more, the proposed collection and sharing of SNAP data is wholly unnecessary and inefficient; SNAP fraud rates are already low, thanks to robust auditing mechanisms that states and the federal government have cooperated on for years. And those mechanisms do not, and have never, required that states turn over sensitive, personally identifying information about millions of Americans without any meaningful restrictions on how that information is used or shared with other agencies.

    The attorneys general also highlight The Paperwork Reduction Act, which seeks to “minimize the cost to the Federal Government of the creation, collection, maintenance, use, dissemination, and disposition of information.” USDA purports to seek data to re-verify the eligibility of SNAP participants, a function that is already subject to other quality control mechanisms and already completed by the states. Although USDA’s Notice claims the agency may share data with law enforcement, it overlooks key limits set by the federal Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. § 552a). USDA’s own rules further restrict SNAP data use to program-related purposes, like prosecuting fraud. The letter defends SNAP enrollees’ reasonable expectation of privacy, urging USDA “not to lose sight of the fact that SNAP exists to fight hunger.”

    In submitting this comment letter, Attorney General Bonta is joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington. 

    A copy of the comment letter is available here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Support Grows for Grassley’s Combating Organized Retail Crime Act

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley

    WASHINGTON – Following a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on organized retail crime, Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) welcomed growing support for his bipartisan Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) from retail industry leaders, law enforcement organizations and hundreds of affected businesses.

    Grassley and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev) introduced the bill to establish a multi-agency response to organized retail crime, enhancing coordination between retail industry representatives and law enforcement. The legislation would also strengthen reporting efforts, create new tools to assist in the investigation and prosecution of retail and supply chain crime, and support efforts to recapture stolen goods and their proceeds.

    The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act currently has 26 bipartisan Senate cosponsors and is endorsed by 38 state attorneys general. Additionally, the legislation has garnered significant support from advocacy groups, including the world’s largest retail trade association, major law enforcement organizations and a coalition of over 260 impacted businesses. Reps. David Joyce (R-Ohio) and Susie Lee (D-Nev.) are leading companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

    Watch experts and industry leaders discuss the Judiciary Committee’s hearing and the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act below, followed by statements of support from local, state and federal organizations and businesses.

    [embedded content]

    VIDEO

    The National Retail Federation and a coalition of over 260 impacted businesses:

    “We respectfully urge Congress to advance and pass the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2025 without delay. This bipartisan, commonsense legislation is essential to modernizing our national response to organized retail crime, which threatens not only public safety but also the health and security of America’s supply chains and consumer access to goods. By strengthening coordination, enforcement and prevention, CORCA will help protect American businesses, workers and families. The time to act is now.”

    The National Association of Attorneys General:

    “As Attorneys General of Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois and South Carolina, we are joined by the 34 Attorneys General of the undersigned states to encourage action during the 119th Congress to support our efforts to combat the nationwide organized retail crime epidemic… CORCA would provide the necessary resources at the state and federal level to bring the organizations and individuals behind this nationwide problem to justice.”

    The National Police Association:

    “The [National Police Association] extends its gratitude to Sen. Grassley and Rep. Joyce for introducing the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, a federal bill that would allow the private sector and law enforcement partners at all levels to work in tandem to fight these crime syndicates. The government’s priority is to provide for the safety and welfare of its citizens, and this bill goes a long way in accomplishing this.”

    The American Trucking Association:

    “The trucking industry takes great pride in delivering America’s freight safely and on time; however, the billions of tons of goods transported by trucks from coast to coast have increasingly become a prime target for organized crime rings, including transnational organizations, putting truck drivers at risk and raising costs for consumer. ATA commends this bipartisan group of leaders for addressing this alarming trend and safeguarding our supply chain. By empowering federal agencies to improve cooperation across jurisdictions and ramp up enforcement actions, this bill would strike an effective blow against organized crime.”

    Brenda Neville, President and CEO of the Iowa Motor Truck Association:

    “We commend the Senate Judiciary Committee for shining a spotlight on the growing problem of cargo theft. Chairman Grassley’s legislation is vitally important for Iowa’s trucking industry and the more than 100,000 Iowans who work to keep freight moving safely and efficiently. Cargo theft not only threatens the security of Iowa’s freight—it puts these hardworking men and women at serious risk. We are thankful to Chairman Grassley and the entire committee for their efforts to protect the people and the industry that are vital to Iowa’s economy.”

    Matt Hart, Executive Director of the Illinois Trucking Association:

    “Cargo theft is an epidemic affecting the entire supply chain, and Illinois is at the epicenter of the problem. Our state is among the top three nationally in cargo theft occurrences, and it is critical that Congress pass common-sense legislation that deters these criminal actors and gives law enforcement the tools it needs to combat these sophisticated crimes. On behalf of the nearly 340,000 Illinoisans who work throughout the trucking industry, we call on Senator Durbin to support the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act.”

    Eric Sauer, CEO of the California Trucking Association:

    “Cargo theft is an issue impacting the entire supply nation across the country, but nowhere is it more acute than in California. Without this much-needed legislation, sophisticated criminal organizations will continue to operate with impunity at a great cost to consumers, highway safety, and the hardworking men and women throughout our industry. Senator Padilla’s support of the Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act means law enforcement has the tools it needs to prosecute these criminal actors.”

    The Association of American Railroads:

    “Organized criminal operations continue to evolve and escalate their targeted attacks against our nation’s supply chain and retailers. This alarming trend affects every industry – including the nation’s largest railroads, which experienced a 40 percent spike in cargo theft last year. Disrupting these organized crime networks requires a unified, federally-led response. Chairman Grassley and Rep. Joyce’s bipartisan legislation provides the strategic framework necessary to disrupt these criminal networks and safeguard our supply chain.”

    The Retail Industry Leaders Association:

    “Organized criminal enterprises are endangering communities across the country through brazen and violent criminal acts that put retail employees and customers in harm’s way. Whether stealing mass quantities of products from retail stores or hijacking consumer goods throughout the supply chain, these gangs are wreaking havoc. And these criminal rings use the profits from retail theft to support larger illicit activities such as human trafficking, gun smuggling, narcotics, and terrorism. In order to expose and prosecute these sophisticated criminal rings, we need federal, state and local law enforcement to be coordinated, which is exactly what CORCA will do.”

    The International Council of Shopping Centers:

    “Across the United States, communities small and large are facing an unprecedented number of [organized retail crime] incidents. The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act would provide the necessary resources to bring the people and organizations behind this nationwide problem to justice by establishing formal coordination between law enforcement and the private sector. We applaud Senators Grassley and Cortez Masto, and Representatives Joyce, Lee and Titus, for reintroducing the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act. We believe the bill represents a huge step in the right direction towards addressing this growing issue.”

    The Intermodal Association of North America:

    “The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act offers commonsense solutions to identify and deter organized crime throughout the supply chain by enhancing legal frameworks, improving enforcement capabilities, and fostering collaboration across relevant federal, state and local agencies. The legislation will strengthen the U.S. economy by enhancing supply chain efficiency, penalizing dangerous crime groups and protecting American workers and consumers.”

    The National Insurance Crime Bureau:

    “On behalf of the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), I write to express our strong support of S. 1404, the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2025. As a leader in the fight against insurance fraud and crime, NICB urges the Committee to take up and advance this bipartisan measure, which will deter retail and cargo theft that harms American consumers and job creators; finances organized, transnational criminal networks; and increases costs for all.”

    The Home Depot:

    “The Home Depot strongly supports CORCA, and we are pleased to see that the Senate bill has over 20 bipartisan cosponsors. The bill would create the Organized Retail Crime Coordination Center, bringing together federal, state and local law enforcement and private sector experts to share information and collaborate on strategies to keep our stores, customers, and associates safe and secure. The bill would allow us to expand upon the progress made at the local and state levels and address cases that reach certain thresholds or cross state lines.”

    Ulta Beauty, Inc.:

    “We support CORCA’s goal to establish a coordinated federal approach to fighting these crimes. By enabling real-time data sharing and cross-jurisdictional collaboration between federal, state and local authorities, CORCA would empower law enforcement to pursue and prosecute [organized retail crime] offenders more effectively, deterring future activity and protecting retail workers and consumers. We believe this bill represents a meaningful and necessary step toward a safer, more secure retail environment, and we respectfully urge Congress to advance its passage.”

    Donna Lemm, Chief Strategy Officer, IMC Logistics:

    “It is imperative that action is taken at the federal, state, and local levels to confront and neutralize this growing threat. The trucking industry and our supply chain partners need more cooperation and interagency information-sharing, as well as a more robust investigative and prosecutorial posture, to tackle these challenges head-on. For those reasons, we are proud to support and endorse the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, a bill that will provide the tools and resources necessary to facilitate that unified response.”

    Scott McBride, Chief Global Asset Protection Officer, American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.:

    “As a professional dedicated to protecting customers and associates, I implore all members of the Congress to work together to ensure that the Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act urgently becomes the law of the land. This critical legislation will help us stop these senseless crimes in our communities.”

    -30-

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Grassley Applauds CMS Effort to Crack Down on Duplicative Medicaid Enrollment That’s Costing Taxpayers Billions

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is applauding an announcement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that the agency will stop duplicative enrollment in government health programs, which could save taxpayers approximately $14 billion a year.

    CMS found that an average of 1.2 million Americans were enrolled in Medicaid/CHIP in two or more states for each month in 2024. CMS also found an average of 1.6 million people were enrolled in both Medicaid/CHIP and a subsidized Exchange plan each month.

    “I’m glad to see CMS crack down on the billions in waste, fraud and abuse that I’ve long been calling out. It’s unacceptable that taxpayers have continued to foot the bill for this expensive fraud. CMS’s actions build on Republicans’ successful work in the One Big Beautiful Bill to enact critical measures to strengthen health care, all while curbing fraud,” Grassley said.

    Background:

    Earlier this month, Grassley pressed CMS to look into Obamacare fraud after receiving information that built on independent reports of widespread fraud. Last year, Grassley pushed for answers from top leaders in the Biden administration regarding their efforts to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in the ACA marketplace.

    During Dr. Mehmet Oz’ confirmation hearing, Grassley spoke about his concerns regarding billions in improper payments and the need for CMS to provide timely and complete responses to congressional oversight.

    -30-

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Newly Declassified DOJ Watchdog Report Shows FBI Cut Corners in Clinton Email Investigation

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley

    WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today is bringing to light the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) findings that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) failed to fully investigate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and mishandling of highly classified information during her time as Secretary of State. The newly declassified “Clinton annex” is an appendix to the DOJ OIG’s June 2018 report reviewing the DOJ and FBI’s handling of the Clinton investigation. DOJ, under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi, and other agencies declassified and provided the Clinton annex to Grassley at his request. Grassley has sought information from DOJ and FBI about the document since 2018 and again submitted his request to then-Attorney General Bill Barr in 2019. He, along with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), requested President Donald Trump declassify the document in 2020, and Grassley reiterated the request in 2025.

    “This document shows an extreme lack of effort and due diligence in the FBI’s investigation of former Secretary Clinton’s email usage and mishandling of highly classified information,” Grassley said. “Under Comey’s leadership, the FBI failed to perform fundamental investigative work and left key pieces of evidence on the cutting room floor. The Comey FBI’s negligent approach and perhaps intentional lack of effort in the Clinton investigation is a stark contrast to its full-throated investigation of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, which was based on the uncorroborated and now discredited Steele dossier. Comey’s decision-making process smacks of political infection.”

    “I warned years ago that the Clinton investigation failed to hit the mark, and I’m grateful the American people can finally see the facts for themselves,” Grassley continued. “After nearly a decade in the shadows, this information is now coming to light thanks to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel’s dedicated efforts to fulfill my congressional request. I appreciate their ongoing commitment to transparency and strongly urge them to continue to fully review this matter, including its national security impact.”

    Read the Clinton annex HERE.

    The DOJ OIG’s Clinton annex shows the FBI obtained thumb drives from a source during the Clinton investigation, but then-FBI Director James Comey, as well as then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and others, failed to perform additional, targeted searches of the drives, even though they contained information relevant to the inquiry. The DOJ OIG report illustrates that the FBI failed to thoroughly and completely investigate the Clinton matter as a result, as well as vet the serious national security risks created by Clinton’s careless handling of highly classified information. According to the DOJ OIG, the thumb drives contained highly sensitive information exfiltrated from U.S. government agencies, including the Department of State, as well as then-President Barack Obama’s emails and, potentially, congressional information. The thumb drives were never reviewed as part of the Clinton investigation, contrary to the recommendation of a draft FBI memorandum. The DOJ OIG report also shows the drives should have been immediately reviewed for foreign intelligence purposes, but were not.

    The FBI also obtained intelligence reports discussing purported communications between Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who was chairwoman of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the time, and two different individuals who worked for the Soros Open Society Foundations. The intelligence reports alleged that the Obama administration took efforts to scuttle the investigation into Clinton and protect her candidacy. The DOJ OIG Clinton annex shows Comey, McCabe and Strzok, among others, did not make serious investigative efforts to determine the veracity, or lack thereof, regarding the intelligence reports.

    On July 5, 2016, Comey exonerated Clinton in a public statement regarding the investigation and recommended DOJ take no legal action to hold her accountable. Grassley’s oversight revealed Comey planned to exonerate Clinton even before interviewing her. Weeks later, on July 31, 2016, Comey’s FBI formally opened the bogus Crossfire Hurricane investigation into President Trump’s disproven collusion with Russia. On that day, Strzok texted Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer, saying: “And damn this feels momentous. Because this matters. The other one did, too, but that was to ensure we didn’t F something up. This matters because this MATTERS. So super glad to be on this voyage with you.”

    Grassley cited Comey’s handling of the Clinton investigation as evidence that Comey lacked the ability to maintain the public’s trust in the FBI, and was therefore rightfully terminated.

    -30-

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI – Klobuchar Op-Ed in The Washington Post: Republicans said they would cut waste. Instead, they rewarded it.

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Minnesota Amy Klobuchar

    WASHINGTON — Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) published an op-ed in the Washington Post highlighting how, after Republicans promised to reduce waste, a last-minute carve-out in their “Big Beautiful Bill” actually rewards waste. The bill spares states that have the highest error rates from the bill’s food assistance cuts — ultimately incentivizing states to make mistakes and rewarding waste.

    From the op-ed:

    “Though Republicans came into office this year claiming to prioritize the elimination of waste, fraud and abuse, they have instead done the unthinkable: They passed a policy that actually rewards waste. That’s right — their budget bill explicitly gives states that have the most errors a reprieve from cuts to critical food assistance.

    This provision was added during the sausage-making process behind the budget bill that President Donald Trump signed into law this month. Passed along party lines, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” strips health care from millions, while greatly increasing the debt to pay for extending tax cuts for the wealthiest.

    This food-assistance policy change may not be the bill’s worst provision, but it’s certainly the most baffling — and it cuts directly against the GOP’s supposedly urgent quest to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.

    Here’s how it works. As has been well documented, the legislation drastically reduces the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (known as SNAP). Roughly one-third of the $186 billion in SNAP cuts come from shifting a larger portion of food and administrative costs to the states.

    The stated reason for the cost shift is to incentivize states to lower error rates, which are calculated based on both overpayments and underpayments by states to recipients. Error rates do not measure fraud and are largely unintentional. For example, they can occur when a state miscalculates a household expense or a recipient forgets to update a change in their income. As part of the bill, Republicans included a feature in which states that get their error rates below 6 percent get a portion of their federal funding back as a reward.

    Not every Republican was thrilled with the prospect of cutting their constituents’ food assistance when they are struggling with high grocery prices. To get the vote of one senator, Republicans tried several gambits to carve out a special exemption from the new policy for Alaska. (The state that happens to have the highest SNAP error rate in the country.)

    These kinds of state-specific provisions go against the rules of the budget process. So, to cover their tracks, Republicans added a carve-out for Hawaii in an ill-fated “these states are far away” attempt to gain the approval of the Senate parliamentarian.

    When the parliamentarian saw through the ruse, they instead tried pushing through a carve-out for Alaska and the District of Columbia, which also has a high error rate. When the parliamentarian again said no, Republicans simply rewrote their special exemption in the dead of night to give states with the highest SNAP error rates special treatment across the board, with an up to two-year delay of the cost shift.

    As a result, what started as an effort to lower error rates became a reward for states with the highest error rates, which now have every incentive to further botch their administrative process. This is the maddening hypocrisy of this so-called reform. Upend the very reason you claimed to make reform in the first place by rewarding errors? That happened.”

    Read the full op-ed here.


    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Foreign Secretary statement on the Middle East, 21 July 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Oral statement to Parliament

    Foreign Secretary statement on the Middle East, 21 July 2025

    The Foreign Secretary made a statement to parliament on the Middle East

    With permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the Middle East.

    I’ll begin on Syria.

    We have been horrified by the recent violence in the south, including civilian deaths.

    Clashes between Druze and Bedouin militias have quickly escalated into intense fighting between government forces and further Israeli strikes on the Syrian military.

    As I said directly to Foreign Minister Shaibani we want to see the fighting ended, civilians protected and the rights of all Syrians upheld.

    The violence in Suwayda must be investigated and those responsible held accountable.

    We want humanitarian access to be restored, aid delivered and Syria’s sovereignty must be respected. 

    The UK can be proud of our support to the Syrian people over many, many years.

    And a stable Syria matters to the UK’s national interest, for terrorism, for irregular migration, for regional stability.

    We must work to prevent extremism, sectarianism or lawlessness taking hold now that Assad is gone.

    That’s why we are backing a sustainable ceasefire and that is why we support an inclusive transition.

    And that’s why I visited Damascus recently to support and to press the new government to meet its commitments.

    I will now turn to the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

    It’s two and a half months since Prime Minister Netanyahu restarted offensive operations.

    The IDF has driven Palestinians out of 86 per cent of Gaza, leaving around two million people trapped in an area scarcely over twenty square miles.

    Whatever this Israeli government might claim, repeated displacement of so many civilians is not keeping them safe. In fact, it’s quite the reverse.

    Mr Deputy Speaker, the new Israeli aid system is inhumane, it’s dangerous and it deprives Gazans of human dignity.

    It contradicts long-stablished humanitarian principles. It creates disorder Hamas is exploiting with distribution points reduced from 400 to just four.

    It forces desperate civilians, children among them, to scramble unsafely for the essentials of life.

    It’s a grotesque spectacle, wreaking a terrible human cost.

    Almost 1000 civilians have been killed since May seeking aid, including 100 over this weekend alone.

    There are near daily reports of Israeli troops opening fire on people trying to access food.

    Israeli jets have hit women and children waiting for a health clinic to open.

    An Israeli drone has struck down children filling water containers which Israeli officials blamed on a ‘technical error’.

    Hamas is contributing to the chaos and taking advantage of it.

    I utterly condemn the killing of civilians seeking to meet their most basic needs.

    The Israeli government must answer:

    What possible military justification can there be for strikes that have killed desperate, starving children?

    What immediate actions are they taking to stop this litany of horrors?

    What will they do to hold those responsible to account?

    Mr Deputy Speaker, I have said before I am a steadfast supporter of Israel’s security and right to exist.

    I treasure the many connections between our peoples

    And the horrors of October 7th must never be forgotten.

    But I firmly believe the Israeli government’s actions are doing untold damage to Israel’s standing in the world and undermining Israel’s long-term security.

    Netanyahu should listen to the Israeli people, 82 per cent of whom desperately want a ceasefire.

    And to the hostages’ families because they know it offers the best chance to bring their loved ones home.

    Those hostages may be hidden in cramped tunnels under the ruins of Gaza but we will not forget them or Hamas’s despicable actions and we will continue to demand their unconditional release.

    This offensive puts them in grave danger.

    But still Netanyahu persists.

    Indeed, Minister Katz has gone further proposing to drive Gaza’s entire population into Rafah, imprisoning Palestinians, unless persuaded to emigrate.

    Mr Deputy Speaker, this is a cruel vision which must never come to pass.

    I condemn it unequivocally.

    Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law.

    Many Israelis themselves are appalled.

    A former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said ‘it marches us into the abyss’. He was right.

    Mr Speaker, today I joined a joint statement by 25 Foreign Ministers with a simple, urgent message:

    the war in Gaza must end now.

    There is no military solution.

    Negotiations will secure the hostages.

    Further bloodshed serves no purpose. 

    Hamas and Israel must both commit to a ceasefire now. 

    And the next ceasefire must be the last ceasefire.

    I thank the US, Qatar, and Egypt for their tireless efforts.

    And I am sure all Members share my intense frustration it has not happened.

    Until there is such a breakthrough, we must keep doing all we can to relieve suffering.

    UK aid has saved lives.

    Reaching hundreds of thousands with food, water, hygiene, and sanitation, and essential healthcare.

    And under the most appalling circumstances our aid is saving lives today.

    That includes, the almost nine million pounds the UK has provided to UK-Med, since we entered office,

    reaching half a million patients inside Gaza, 24,000 in the past fortnight alone.

    Like 3-year old Razan.

    UK-funded medics removed a bullet from her neck after nearly three hours of surgery.

    These doctors and nurses working in the most extreme conditions are true heroes.

    They deserve the thanks and admiration of the entire House.

    We are also working, of course, multilaterally.

    The 149 trucks from the World Food Programme and UNICEF entering Gaza in recent day included food supplies funded by the UK.

    And thousands more trucks laden with aid paid for by British taxpayers can enter, the moment the Israeli government lets it.

    Today, I am announcing an extra £40 million for humanitarian assistance in Gaza this year, including seven and a half million for UK-Med to sustain their vital operations in Gaza and save more lives.

    Mr Deputy Speaker, accompanying the horrors in Gaza, there is an accelerating campaign to prevent a future Palestinian state in the West Bank.

    It’s embraced by Netanyahu, it’s encouraged by his Ministers. It’s driven by an extremist ideology which wants to suffocate the two-state solution, the only route to a lasting peace and security.

    We see it in the unprecedented pace of settlement expansion.

    In the shocking levels of settler violence, even settler terrorism,

    for that is what the most egregious ideological attacks are.

    And in the deliberate attempts to squeeze the Palestinian Authority, unjustly denying it access to its own funds, and it harms Israel’s long-term interests.

    Now, the Israeli government is reintroducing plans to construct new units in the E1 area of occupied east Jerusalem.

    If built, this settlement would separate the West Bank’s north from its south and Palestinians in the West Bank from East Jerusalem.

    These plans are wholly unacceptable.

    They are illegal.

    And they must not happen.

    Mr Deputy Speaker, we are also striving to keep open the prospects of a two-state solution.

    UK assistance has been preserving the Palestinian Authority, contributing to essential Palestinian workers’ salaries and supporting them to progress critical reforms.

    Today, I can confirm we are enhancing our support, providing £7 million to strengthen the PA and Palestinian governance, implementing the agreement signed by myself and PM Mustafa earlier this year.

    And we’re delivering the reform plans President Abbas has set out.

    I can also confirm that we are providing £20 million to support UNRWA’s many services for Palestinian refugees.

    And alongside this support, we are leading diplomatic efforts to show there must be a viable peaceful pathway to a Palestinian state, involving the PA, not Hamas, in security and governance of the area.

    Hamas can have no role in the governance of Gaza nor use it as a launchpad for terrorism.

    Israeli Ministers should support the PA – not actively undermine its economy, as Ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are doing.

    The UK is co-leading with Egypt the humanitarian and reconstruction track for the forthcoming Two-State Solution Conference.

    And we are pushing to agree plans for a credible next phase in Gaza with a responsible, reformed PA at their core.

    So we turn any temporary ceasefire into a lasting peace.

    Mr Deputy Speaker, in our year in office, this Labour Government has acted to address this horrendous conflict.

    We restored funding to UNRWA, after the Tories froze it.

    We suspended arms export licenses, when the Tories declined to act.

    We have provided nearly a quarter of a billion in humanitarian assistance, this year and next, getting medical treatment and food to hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza.

    We have stood with the hostage families at every stage.

    We’ve worked with Jordan to fly medicines into Gaza, with Egypt to treat medically evacuated civilians, with Kuwait and UNICEF to help children in Gaza.

    We’ve delivered three sanctions packages on violent settlers, suspended trade negotiations with this Israeli government and sanctioned far-right Israeli Ministers for incitement.

    We have defended the independence of international courts. We signed a landmark agreement with the Palestinian Authority, and hosted the Palestinian Prime Minister in London, pushing for the reform it needs.

    We called for…

    worked for…

    and voted for…

    an immediate ceasefire and the release of the hostages at every possible opportunity.

    And we will keep doing so until this war is over, Hamas release the hostages and we finally have a pathway to a two-state solution.

    I commend this statement to the House.

    Updates to this page

    Published 21 July 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Dreams amid the rubble: Gaza’s women speak of homes, loss and hungry children

    Source: United Nations 2

    In Gaza City, families living in tents reveal a shared, grim reality.

    Many have been forced to flee the fighting dozens of times. Most find themselves homeless and hungry while facing an uncertain future.

    Khadija Manoun and her daughter in the space she uses as a kitchen inside a destroyed building.

    Khadija Manoun: Kitchen of life’s leftovers

    Khadija Manoun said she and her family have moved more than 20 times, from Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip to a destroyed building in western Gaza, in search of shelter. She had owned a new fully furnished house, which she had built with a bank loan.

    “I furnished my house well, with tiles and electrical appliances,” she said. “It had only been three years since I had the house. Then the war came and everything was lost.”

    Today, everything has changed, Ms. Manoun said. Her spacious, fully equipped kitchen is now just a corner in the rubble, where a solitary soap dish borrowed from a neighbour sits. Metal utensils have been replaced with plastic tea containers to serve 10 people.

    The bathroom was reduced to a corner covered with pieces of cloth that had been blankets. Her dressing room is now home to tattered suitcases.

    “This is now my closet where I put everything,” she said. “I had a bedroom that had cost me 10,000 shekels.”

    Her family sleeps on simple mattresses. Clean drinking water is a luxury that Khadija chases after, running between trucks, often returning with empty containers.

    Amid all this, she sometimes reminisces, scrolling through photos on her mobile phone of her old home and the meals they used to eat.

    Badriya Barrawi, a displaced person in Gaza, is living among the ruins of destroyed buildings.

    Badriya Barawi: Exhausted by hunger

    In her modest tent on the beach west of Gaza City, Badriya Barawi, from Beit Lahia, sits, arranging what remains of her life. Tears stream from her eyes.

    “Have mercy on us,” she said. “We are fed up and exhausted, mentally and physically. We can’t bear it any longer. How long will this life go on?”

    She says her children are crying from the heat and hunger.

    “We haven’t had bread for three days. This morning, I fed the children hummus, but is that enough for their stomachs?” said Ms. Barawi, who suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes.

    She said she collapses daily from a lack of food.

    Hiyam Zayed is displaced from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.

    Hiyam Zayed: Trampled garden of dreams

    In a nearby tent, Hiyam Zayed and her eight daughters eat lentil soup without bread. Describing her former home, she said there were six rooms and a garden.

    “I was happy in my home,” she said. “My daughters and I used to have fun there. They played on the roof or inside the rooms. We had a beautiful garden in front of the house, and we grew plants and ate its produce and raised chickens. My daughters were very happy. We fed them the best food and dressed them in the best clothes.”

    She also said she used to have a washing machine, a fully equipped kitchen and a refrigerator “full of goodies”.

    Now, everything is gone.

    “No food, no washing machine, no feelings: we’ve become depressed,” she added.

    “My daughters wear the worst clothes. I can’t find a way to bathe them. I used to turn on the water tap at home and water would run for drinking or bathing. Now, we live in a tent in the sand. I light a fire to cook after I used to have gas. I borrow cooking utensils.”

    “How are we to blame for what happened, and who bears responsibility?” Ms. Zayed asked. “What is my fault and my children’s fault when we are displaced from one place to another and they die of hunger?”

    Hiyam’s daughters eating a lunch of lentil soup, without bread, where they live, inside a destroyed building.

    Mass displacement

    According to UN reports, more than two million Palestinians –the population of Gaza – live in about 15 per cent of the Strip’s area after the war caused widespread destruction of infrastructure and homes.

    International organizations have warned that the continuation of the conflict threatens to have “catastrophic consequences” in the near term.

    That includes a serious impact on children’s mental and physical health, the spread of disease and the disintegration of social structures.

    This amid the absence of any clear path towards a political or humanitarian solution.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Salvaging SDGs still possible, but countries must act now: Guterres

    Source: United Nations 4

    Addressing ministers at UN Headquarters in New York, he called for urgent action to rescue lagging Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) amid war, inequality and fiscal strain.

    “Transformation is not only necessary – it is possible,” he declared, highlighting landmark commitments adopted in recent months: the Pandemic Agreement at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, pledges to expand marine protected areas at the third UN Ocean Conference in Nice, and the new vision for global finance agreed in Sevilla at the fourth International Financing for Development Conference.

    “These are not isolated wins, they are signs of momentum and signs that multilateralism can deliver.”

    The remarks opened the ministerial segment of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the UN’s central platform for reviewing the 2030 Agenda and its 17 SDGs.

    Get back on track

    Mr. Guterres warned that the world remains far off track to meet the 2030 targets.

    “Only 35 per cent of SDG targets are on track or making moderate progress. Nearly half are moving too slowly. And 18 per cent are going backwards,” he said.

    He urged governments to act with urgency and ambition.

    “The Sustainable Development Goals are not a dream. They are a plan – a plan to keep our promises to the most vulnerable people, to each other, and to future generations.”

    Citing gains since 2015, including expanded social protection, declining child marriage and growing women’s representation, he said the SDGs remain “within reach” if world leaders channel resources and political will.

    The Secretary-General also linked development and peace, noting ongoing violence in Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine and elsewhere.

    “At every step, we know sustainable peace requires sustainable development,” he said, calling for immediate ceasefires and renewed commitment to diplomacy.

    UN Photo/Loey Felipe

    ECOSOC President Bob Rae addresses the ministerial segment of the HLPF.

    Double down on multilateralism

    Bob Rae, President of the Economic and Social Council, echoed the Secretary‑General’s call, warning that global disruption – from climate change to economic disarray – requires deeper solidarity.

    “The SDGs are not optional ideals, but rather essential commitments,” he said.

    “Now is not the time for us to abandon our ideals…it is now actually the time to double down on our multilateral obligations to one another.”

    Mr. Rae cautioned that shrinking national budgets and rising nationalist politics are undermining progress but insisted that “multilateralism delivers real, tangible benefits for people at every level of society.”

    He called for closer partnerships with civil society, local governments, and the private sector, stressing that SDGs must be “integrated into budgets and policies around the world, not as at odds, but as the core of how governments should serve their people.”

    Match ambition and delivery

    Philémon Yang, President of the General Assembly, emphasized aligning political commitments with concrete action.

    He praised the Compromiso de Sevilla and last year’s Pact for the Future, which aim to reform global financial systems, scale up climate finance, and strengthen international tax cooperation.

    “The gap between ambition and delivery can only be closed through solidarity, resources and political will,” he said.

    “The deadlines for the 2030 Agenda are fast approaching,” he warned. “Whether we like it or not. And while progress is lagging, we have the tools and ambition to deliver.”

    Accountability and partnership

    The HLPF, established at the landmark Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012, serves as the primary UN platform for monitoring SDG progress, including through Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs).

    This year’s forum, convened under the auspices of the ECOSOC, runs until 23 July with a focus on five goals: health, gender equality, decent work, life below water, and global partnerships.

    More than 150 countries have presented VNRs – with 36 reporting this year – showcasing national efforts and challenges in implementing the 2030 Agenda.

    Mr. Guterres praised the reviews as “acts of accountability” and “templates for other countries to follow and learn from.”

    With just five years left to meet the global goals, he urged ministers to “transform these sparks of transformation into a blaze of progress – for all countries.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Liberia: President Boakai Hails the Kingdom of Belgium on its National Day Observance

    Source: APO


    .

    The President of the Republic of Liberia, His Excellency President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., has sent a congratulatory message to His Majesty King Philippe, King of the Kingdom of Belgium on the occasion of Belgium’s National Day on July 21, 2025.

    According to a Foreign Ministry release, President Boakai, on behalf of the Republic of Liberia and in his own name, extended warmest congratulations and best wishes to the Kingdom of Belgium as they commemorate their National Day.

    The Liberian leader indicated that the occasion provides an opportunity to celebrate the enduring values of unity, democracy and prosperity that Belgium has long upheld. 

    He noted that his government cherishes the long-lasting bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two nations which is built on mutual respect and shared aspirations for peace, development and global solidarity. 

    President Boakai stressed that as the Belgian people mark this important day, Liberia joins in honoring their rich history, cultural heritage and remarkable achievements. 

    “May the future bring continued progress, united, and the well-being to your nation and people”, the Liberia President stated. 

    He then extended best wishes for His Majesty personal well-being, and for the people of Belgium sustained prosperity.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Liberia.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: In Mékro, in central Côte d’Ivoire, sustainable agriculture is giving hope to an entire community

    Source: APO

    Day breaks in Mékro, some 300 km from Abidjan, in central Côte d’Ivoire. The first rays of sun announce the start of what promises to be another sweltering day in a region known for its intense heat. Some women return from the backwaters bringing water to supply the family beehives. Others, armed with brooms made from palm leaves, begin sweeping the compounds, clearing away fallen leaves and scraps from the previous day’s meals.

    A little farther off, domestic animals gradually emerge from their pens, joining the morning hustle and bustle that breathes life back into Mékro’s daily routine. In this area of high food crop production, yams, rice and cassava are produced in abundance. Yet despite its agricultural riches, Mékro has long remained in the shadows, unlike other places.

    For years, farmers here relied on age-old techniques passed down through generations—methods that limited yields and left the population in a state of chronic vulnerability.

    That morning, Koffi Kouakou Charles, known as “KKC,” sharpened his machete, the basic tool he uses to clear his field, under the watchful eyes of his seven children. At 30 years old, he mounted his bicycle and headed to Abokouassikro, five km away, where he has cultivated yams for several years.

    In the past, Koffi grew “Kouba” yams, a popular local variety. Reflecting on those days, he recalls how traditional farming techniques learned and passed down from his ancestors, failed to reward his hard work. “Frankly, the work was exhausting. On top of that, we were using old-fashioned techniques. Despite our efforts, the harvests were poor. It was really hard,” sighs Koffi.

    Hope restored

    In the first half of 2024, his plight worsened when an epidemic known as the peste des petits ruminants (PPR) struck the village and wiped out his hens and goats. Hurting from this new financial blow, Koffi turned to the Project to Improve the Livelihoods of Smallholders and Women (PREMOPEF) (https://apo-opa.co/40ujK40) to regain hope.

    Set up by the government of Côte d’Ivoire, the project is funded by the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) (https://apo-opa.co/4lEIa36) and the African Development Fund (https://apo-opa.co/4o1986y), the concessional financing window of the African Development Bank Group. Its objective is to contribute to improving first, food and nutrition security and secondly, resilience to the effects of climate change among smallholder farmers, women and young people in the N’Zi region.

    The project is focused on three agricultural crops: yams, cassava and vegetables, as well as traditional poultry farming, and aims to improve the living conditions of 60,000 vulnerable people, 50 percent of whom are women and 35 percent young people.

    At the “Farmer Training Field,” one of the project’s initiatives, Koffi and his fellow project beneficiaries were introduced to agroecological techniques for yam production and conservation. Thanks to the training, Koffi has turned his back on “Kouba” yams and old production practices in favour of new varieties called “Anader” and “Cameroun” (also known as “R3” and “C15”), which are more climate-resistant and productive. 

    A twofold increase in yield

    From his first harvest in December 2024, Koffi’s yam yield doubled—from two to four tonnes on the same plot of land. Thinking ahead, he reserved three-quarters of the harvest for his family’s consumption and seed stock for the next season. The remaining quarter was sold at the local market in Mékro, earning him 125,000 CFA francs (around USD 250)—a significant windfall in this rural region.

    “Before, I was just focused on surviving,” Koffi says. “Today, thanks to this project, I can think about my children’s future and even expand my farm.” Energized by his progress, Koffi is now determined to scale up and become one of the region’s leading yam producers. The prospect of mechanizing his work excites him. “I’m thinking of buying a ridging machine and a seed drill to make fieldwork easier and increase my yield,” he says confidently.

    “The Project to Improve the Livelihoods of Smallholders and Women is a powerful tool for reducing household vulnerability and strengthening resilience to economic and environmental shocks,” says Ceserd Waba Akpaud, the project coordinator.

    “PREMOPEF reflects our commitment to transforming rural communities through sustainable, farmer-focused solutions. By applying innovative approaches, we’re putting agriculture at the center of inclusive development,” adds Philip Boahen, GAFSP project coordinator at the African Development Bank.

    To further boost his productivity, Koffi also envisions large-scale storage facilities to cut post-harvest losses. He’s planning to diversify his activities too. After losing his livestock to PPR—a disease he attributes to a lack of proper training—he intends to relaunch his poultry business using improved, safer methods. He is now exploring livestock training courses to build the necessary skills.

    “It’s also a chance for me to make up for the schooling I missed,” he says, determined to turn past setbacks into opportunities.

    With the knowledge he’s gained and the positive impact of the project, a new horizon is opening—not just for Koffi, but for the people of Mékro and the broader economy of the N’Zi region.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

    Media files

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    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Microsoft supports making Europe’s languages and cultures more accessible in the digital realm

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Microsoft supports making Europe’s languages and cultures more accessible in the digital realm

    Editor’s Note: This blog is also available in Italian, Spanish, French, and German.

    Europe is home to more than 200 languages and a rich cultural legacy that spans thousands of years, preserved in millions of cultural assets that tell the story of its people. But these languages are more than carriers of heritage and history—they support both culture and commerce by making it possible for people to connect, create, and do business.

    Yet, as the world digitizes, much of Europe’s linguistic and cultural diversity risks being left behind. The majority of online web content—the primary source of training data for today’s Large Language Models (LLMs)—is in English. Much of it reflects an American perspective. The European Commission has warned that the continent’s ambition to digitize its vast cultural corpus remains “significantly out of reach.” As Europe’s leaders have recognized, without urgent action, this imbalance is not just a cultural concern—it’s a commercial one. AI that doesn’t understand Europe’s languages, histories, and values can’t fully serve its people, its businesses, or its future.

    That’s why today in Paris, we’re deepening our commitment to Europe’s digital future with two new initiatives focused on making what’s uniquely European more open and accessible—its languages and culture. This builds on our European Digital Commitments, announced earlier this year, to expand AI and cloud infrastructure, strengthen digital resilience and data privacy protections, enhance cybersecurity, and support Europe’s digital sovereignty and broader economy.

    First, to support the development of more multilingual LLMs in Europe and for Europe, we’re basing employees from two of our innovation centers in Strasbourg, France—long a crossroads of cultures and now home to key European institutions. These centers will help expand the availability of multilingual data for AI development—leveraging Microsoft Azure, our technical expertise, and partnerships across Europe to promote more inclusive language representation in AI models. As part of this effort, we’re also issuing a call for proposals to help expand the supply of digital content for 10 European languages.

    Second, to help ensure Europe’s cultural richness is represented and accessible in the digital realm, we’re expanding Microsoft’s Culture AI initiative, which helps to safeguard languages, landmarks, and artifacts through digital replicas and data collaboration. Since 2019, Microsoft has digitally preserved heritage including Ancient Olympia in Greece, Mount St. Michel in France, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and the 80th Anniversary of the Allied Beach Landings in Normandy, to name a few. Today we’re announcing that this fall, Microsoft will begin work with the French Ministry of Culture and the French firm Iconem to create a digital replica of Notre Dame—Paris’ newly restored, 862-year-old Gothic masterpiece.

    This type of support for Europe and its diversity is not new to Microsoft. These latest steps to support languages and culture are informed by our more than 40 years of experience serving countries and cultures across Europe and around the world. Early on, we learned that empowering every person on the planet requires that the technologies we offer must be available in the languages the world speaks. That is why today Windows supports over 90 languages, including all official European Union languages as well as languages including Basque, Catalan, Galician, Luxembourgish, Valencian, and more. Microsoft 365 also has a broad reach, with support through Office applications in more than 30 European languages, including all official languages of the European Union.

    The urgency of bridging the language gap

    The European Union has 24 official languages, with dozens more acknowledged at the national or regional level. Yet many of these languages—even those that are part of the official 24, like Danish, Finnish, Swedish, and Greek—represent less than 0.6% of web content. Others, such as Maltese, Irish, Estonian, Latvian, and Slovenian, are barely visible online. While only 5% of the world’s population speaks English as a first language, English text makes up half of web content, dominating the data used to train AI models.

    This digital underrepresentation has real consequences, as LLMs rely heavily on web content for training. When a language lacks sufficient online presence, it risks being excluded from future AI services. While larger, general-purpose models can handle multiple languages, they can still miss the linguistic nuance, cultural context, and regional depth needed for truly inclusive applications. LLMs trained on limited data are less accurate, have higher hallucinations and errors, struggle with vocabulary, and reflect more bias.[1]

    As an example, Llama 3.1, a popular open source model, shows a performance gap of more than 15 percentage points between answering in English and Greek and a gap of more than 25 points when comparing English to Latvian. This mean that if this model was a high school student, she would be at the top of her class in English but at the middle of her class in Greek and at the bottom in Latvian. And this disparity between languages is seen in all major performance LLM tests.[2]

    In many cases, languages with deep cultural heritage, such as Breton, Occitan, and Romansh, which UNESCO classifies as endangered, are largely unsupported in today’s mainstream AI systems.

    The economic power of language

    This lopsided development of language models has real economic consequences. When AI systems can’t understand or respond in a region’s language, they limit access to services and opportunities, undermining both local businesses and broader economic growth.

    Broad AI diffusion—adoption and use across economies—will be one of the most important drivers of innovation and productivity growth over the next decade. Like electricity and other general-purpose technologies in the past, AI represents the next stage of industrialization.

    For communities whose languages are underrepresented online, the benefits of AI risk remaining out of reach. Imagine a small business owner in Malta who speaks only Maltese. Currently, the advanced AI tools for tasks like market analysis or content generation likely don’t operate in Maltese, limiting how this entrepreneur can leverage AI. Or consider a Polish-speaking student in a town outside Warsaw who can’t find AI educational resources in his language, potentially impacting learning opportunities. And even when an AI platform nominally supports a language, the experience may be sub-par.

    European governments and institutions have recognized the importance of addressing this situation. To drive economic competitiveness in the AI era, Europe will need to break down the language barriers and spur AI diffusion across the continent. According to the European Commission, only 13.5% of EU businesses use AI. The EU AI Continent Action Plan notes that breaking down language barriers in the single market could boost intra-EU trade by up to EUR 360 billion.

    New steps to address language gaps

    To help bridge this language gap, Microsoft will collaborate with European partners to increase the availability of multilingual data. In partnership with the ICube Laboratory at the University of Strasbourg—an institution dedicated to engineering, computer science, and imaging—we will support AI training efforts by placing personnel from the Microsoft Open Innovation Center (MOIC) and our AI for Good Lab in Strasbourg, France. This team will be backed by a global internal network of more than 70 Microsoft engineers, data scientists, and policy professionals. This collaboration between the MOIC, Microsoft AI for Good Lab, and the University of Strasbourg will also fund two post-doctoral researchers and provide up to US $1 million in Azure credits.

    This team will start by tapping into Microsoft’s own store of multilingual data, making it accessible and transparent to the European public, including open source developers. This includes, for example, multilingual text data from GitHub and voice data sets. MOIC and GitHub will partner with Hugging Face, a popular collaboration platform for AI model development, to host and make the data broadly accessible. This builds on our existing relationship with Hugging Face to make a broad range of open models in the Hugging Face model collection available for 1-click deployment in the Azure Model Catalogue. This includes last week’s release of the latest contributions toward multilingual AI—the SmoILM3 model, a highly efficient 3B model parameter multi-lingual model with support for 6 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Portuguese.

    MOIC will also partner with Common Crawl, one of the largest free and open repositories of web crawled data. MOIC will fund work at Common Crawl, leveraging native speakers to annotate and seed European language data in the publicly available Common Crawl data set.

    In addition, the MOIC and the AI for Good Lab will issue a call for proposals to help expand the supply of digital content for 10 European languages by making their text collections available responsibly and ethically on their own terms for multilingual AI development and experiences. Applications for grants will be available on the AI for Good Lab website, beginning on 1 September 2025. In selecting recipients, the MOIC and the AI for Good Lab will focus on opportunities to unlock data in languages with relatively low representation in online content, such as Estonian, Alsatian, Slovak, Greek, and Maltese. Grants will provide recipients with Azure credits and engineering and technical support.

    While more multilingual data is essential, better technology tools and know-how can also help. For example, many languages use scripts (writing systems) that currently pose challenges for models originally designed for the Latin alphabet. Cyrillic characters, the Greek alphabet, and Arabic’s cursive script each have different properties. Off-the-shelf “tokenizers” often break these scripts in suboptimal ways. This can hurt a model’s ability to learn long-range context or accurate spelling in those languages. New advances in techniques that enable a model to handle any script uniformly can help. Better mechanisms to create synthetic data and to better process and curate that data can also help, especially when they manage privacy and sensitive data concerns effectively.

    The MOIC and the AI for Good Lab will work to facilitate the development and sharing of knowledge, tools, and capabilities to address these issues and empower European developers. The AI for Good Lab will publish a blueprint to detail how to create high-quality language datasets and train local LLMs to get more power out of the data that exists. These two groups will also support relevant research, organize convenings, co-invest in data commons projects, and ensure that knowledge, tools, and capabilities are available where they’re needed most. These teams also will continue to support efforts such as those of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Basque Center for Language Technology, and the University of Santiago de Compostela to release AI models trained in Spanish, Catalan, Basque, and Galician on Azure AI Foundry. This initiative empowers developers to build AI systems that operate in Spain’s official languages, fostering innovation and inclusivity.

    Finally, to advance responsible AI research and help close the language gap, Microsoft is launching two new academic collaborations in Europe at the University of Strasbourg and IE University School of Science & Technology in Spain. Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab and MOIC will partner with the University of Strasbourg to provide Azure grants to support joint AI research. At IE University School of Science & Technology, the Microsoft AI for Good Lab will provide Azure grants to support joint research targeting low resource languages, including support for related capstone projects to accelerate new solutions focused on language and AI.

    New steps to help digitally safeguard Europe’s cultural legacy

    Since 2019, Microsoft’s Culture AI initiative has focused on using artificial intelligence around the world to help preserve the languages, places, stories, and artifacts that define human history.  Powered by the AI for Good Lab and through partnerships with nonprofits, universities, governments, and cultural institutions, the initiative supports projects that digitize and protect cultural heritage—from endangered languages to iconic landmarks, including in France, Rome, and Greece. Whether it’s creating digital replicas of historic sites or making museum collections more accessible, the goal is to ensure that cultural identity and diversity are not only preserved but made more inclusive and discoverable in the digital age.

    Today we are announcing our next project, building a digital replica in partnership with the French Ministry of Culture and the French firm Iconem. The project will create a digital twin of Notre Dame in Paris, an architectural and cultural landmark shaped over centuries. Construction of Notre Dame began in 1163 and continued for nearly 200 years, resulting in a 128-meter-long Gothic masterpiece with twin towers rising 69 meters above the Seine. After a devastating fire in 2019, Notre Dame re-opened to the public at the end of 2024. The project will use the technology and methods we developed with Iconem to create a digital twin of St. Peter’s Basilica last year, which was based on more than 400,000 photos and advanced AI algorithms, in partnership with the Vatican.

    Just as last year’s project documented for the Vatican every detail of St. Peter’s, this new project will create a digital replica that will preserve permanently in digital form every detail of Notre Dame, ensuring that its structure, story, and symbolism are protected and accessible for generations to come. By combining advanced imaging with AI, we will create and donate to the French State a digital twin that can be used by preservationists and be displayed in the future Musée Notre Dame de Paris.

    In addition to the project at Notre Dame, we are also announcing today a partnership with the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and in collaboration with Iconem to digitize nearly 1,500 cinematic model sets from shows at the Opera National de Paris between 1800 and 1914. The digitized model sets will be made available through interactive, educational experiences and exhibitions and as a dataset made available on the Bibliothèque Nationale de France’s Gallica platform for cultural AI and research projects.

    Finally, we are embarking on new work with the Musée des Arts Décoratifs to make publicly accessible the detailed digital descriptions of approximately 1.5 million artifacts from the Middle Ages to the present day. This step will enable researchers in history, art history, and conservation to access this new information for study and use in their own AI-driven research.

    Looking ahead: Taking a principled approach

    We take these new steps today with humility and respect, recognizing that the preservation of Europe’s linguistic and cultural diversity is a task for Europeans to be led by Europeans. The European Union has already launched a multi-state effort to pool EU language data and digitize all types of cultural heritage. Our role is to contribute to and support these and similar efforts. None of what we are announcing today will create any proprietary data or technology for Microsoft itself.

    Ultimately, the best way to empower more people across Europe to address these needs is to equip them with the AI skills that will enable them to be successful in these fields. As the European Commission recently concluded, a deficit of digital skills in the cultural sector is inhibiting efforts to digitalize cultural heritage works across Europe. To help bridge this skills gap, the MOIC and the AI for Good Lab will share what we know and learn about how to do this critical work.

    Technology should reflect the richness of humanity—not strip it away. By taking intentional steps now, we can help ensure that AI doesn’t erase linguistic and cultural diversity but strengthens it.

    This is one of the defining equity challenges of the AI era. And if we work together—with purpose and urgency—we can close the gap and build a digital future that honors every language, every culture, and every community across Europe.

    [1] P. Rohera, C. Ginimav, G. Sawant, and R. Joshi, “Better To Ask in English? Evaluating Factual Accuracy of Multilingual LLMs in English and Low-Resource Languages,” Apr. 28, 2025, arXiv: arXiv:2504.20022. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2504.20022.

    [2] K. Thellmann et al., “Towards Multilingual LLM Evaluation for European Languages,” Oct. 17, 2024, arXiv: arXiv:2410.08928. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2410.08928.

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Deep sea mining companies exploiting ‘national security’ fears for profit, according to new Greenpeace USA report

    Source: Greenpeace Statement –

    “Deep Deception” report refutes claims that deep sea mining is necessary to source critical minerals for U.S. national security and defense.
    Greenpeace USA activists unfurl a banner calling on the US government to Stop Deep Sea Mining in front of Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in New York City.

    Washington, D.C. (July 21, 2025) — A new report from Greenpeace USA reveals how the deep sea mining industry has strategically exploited geopolitical tensions to fast-track mass-scale mineral extraction in one of the world’s most crucial and pristine frontiers. 

    Until very recently, a re-emergent deep sea mining industry justified its existence by promising to provide minerals to support the green energy transition. However, as this justification fell apart under scientific and financial scrutiny, start-ups like The Metals Company (TMC) shifted their rhetoric to focus on national security. Lobbying records show that TMC spent over half a million dollars across two years to lobby Congress and influence the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets the levels of funding for the U.S. military. Yet while these companies have asserted that the ocean’s minerals are essential for national security and defense readiness, the report found no evidence that the U.S. defense sector was actively looking to deep sea mining for critical resources.  

    Arlo Hemphill, Greenpeace USA’s project lead for the Stop Deep Sea Mining campaign, said: “For TMC, the green transition was always a false narrative. The numbers just didn’t add up to justify opening the world’s last unspoiled wilderness to mass-scale extractive exploitation. Now, the industry is repackaging itself as essential to national security and defense, exploiting real geopolitical tensions for personal profit. It’s a dangerous and unnecessary strategy that could destroy the international seabed to enrich a few.” 

    In April, President Trump, echoing the narrative of The Metals Company (TMC), signed an executive order aimed at accelerating the launch of deep sea mining in both U.S. and international waters. Days later, TMC, which is seeking to secure a contract to mine an area halfway between Hawai`i and Mexico, announced plans to bypass the United Nations’ deep sea regulator, the International Seabed Authority (ISA), by applying for a commercial license under the 1980 U.S. Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA). 

    As the deep sea mining industry attempts to leverage Cold War-era legal loopholes to sidestep international law in pursuit of private gain, the report warns that U.S.-licensed deep sea mining in international waters could undermine decades of multilateral cooperation, ignite global legal conflict, inflame already tense international relations, and inflict irreversible damage on ocean ecosystems.

    Major General (U.S. Army, Ret.) Randy Manner, in his foreword to the report, said: “The bedrock of national security is not simply weapons or minerals — it is global stability, rule of law, and ecological resilience. Mining the deep ocean in defiance of international consensus would degrade all three. It would erode U.S. credibility, fracture alliances, and set a dangerous precedent for unilateral resource exploitation.”

    The battleground for all of this is the Pacific, a region that has already suffered extensive colonization and militarization at the hands of the global powers. Indigenous leaders, regional civil society organizations, and several Pacific states have called for a ban, moratorium, or precautionary pause on the practice.

    Solomon P. Kaho’ohalahala, chair of the Pacific Island Heritage Coalition, said: “The Pacific is not a sacrifice zone. We will not stand by while a neocolonial deep sea land grab takes place that will harm our communities, disrupt our cultural connection to the ocean, and endanger our livelihoods. This July, ISA member States must make it clear where they stand — for their foundational principles of equity, multilateralism, and environmental protection or unbounded corporate greed.” 

    In March 2025, ISA Member States condemned TMC’s push to bypass the ISA and seek applications through the U.S. Today, ISA Member States wrapped up the first Council meeting since TMC submitted the world’s first-ever application to commercially mine the international seabed. Governments responded by pushing back and launching an investigation that could affect TMC’s subsidiaries, Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI) and Tonga Offshore Mining Limited (TOML). With this move, the international community shows that deep sea mining companies attempting to bypass international law will face consequences.

    Hemphill added: “As the Trump Administration recklessly pushes the false solution of deep sea mining to address national security and defense concerns, the ISA and its Member States must hold the line. The ISA must halt exploitation licenses under its authority, and more Member States must voice or reiterate their support for a global moratorium to protect marine ecosystems, uphold international law, and preserve the legitimacy of multilateral ocean governance.”

    Contact: Tanya Brooks, Senior Communications Specialist at Greenpeace USA, [email protected]  

    Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • Russia and Ukraine edge closer to first talks in seven weeks

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Russia and Ukraine appear close to agreeing to hold a new round of peace talks in Turkey this week, although the Kremlin said on Monday that the two sides held “diametrically opposed” positions on how to end the war.

    Two days after Ukraine called for new talks in Istanbul this week, Russian state news agency TASS quoted an unidentified source as saying that negotiators – who have not sat down together for seven weeks – may meet there on Thursday and Friday.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told a gathering of his diplomats in Kyiv: “We need greater momentum in negotiations to end the war.”

    He added: “The agenda from our side is clear: the return of prisoners of war, the return of children abducted by Russia, and the preparation of a leaders’ meeting.”

    Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is under increasing pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to show progress towards ending the conflict, turned down a previous challenge from Zelenskiy to meet him in person.

    Putin has repeatedly said he does not see Zelenskiy as a legitimate leader because Ukraine, which is under martial law, did not hold new elections when his five-year mandate expired last year.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that as soon as there was a definitive understanding of the date for the next round of talks, then Moscow would announce it.

    “There is our draft memorandum, there is a draft memorandum that has been handed over by the Ukrainian side. There is to be an exchange of views and talks on these two drafts, which are diametrically opposed so far,” Peskov said.

    Ukraine and Russia have held two rounds of talks in Istanbul, on May 16 and June 2, that led to the exchange of thousands of prisoners of war and the remains of dead soldiers. But the two sides have made no breakthrough towards a ceasefire or a settlement to end almost three and a half years of war.

    Trump said last week he would impose new sanctions in 50 days on Russia and countries that buy its exports if there is no deal before then to end the conflict.

    -Reuters

  • Centre launches SASCI scheme to develop iconic tourist destinations at global standards

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    The Ministry of Tourism has rolled out operational guidelines for the ‘Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment – Development of Iconic Tourist Centres to Global Scale’ (SASCI) scheme, aimed at transforming select tourist destinations into globally competitive attractions.

    Under the scheme, the Centre intends to provide funding support for comprehensive development of iconic sites, with a focus on enhancing the end-to-end tourist experience. This includes strengthening the entire tourism value chain—from infrastructure to branding, sustainability, and operations.

    Project proposals submitted by state governments were evaluated based on parameters such as site connectivity, ecological sustainability, existing tourism infrastructure, carrying capacity, management models, potential impact, and marketing plans. Final selection and approval of projects have been made in line with the institutional framework laid out in the SASCI guidelines.

    While the government will provide financial support for the projects until March 31, 2026, the implementation and management of the sanctioned projects will rest with the respective State Governments. Each project is expected to be completed within a two-year period.

    The Ministry of Tourism will also support the promotion of these destinations through its ongoing domestic and international campaigns, including digital platforms, events, and social media.

    Union Tourism and Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat shared this information in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: OpenAI to expand UK office and work with government departments to turbocharge the UK’s AI infrastructure and transform public services

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    OpenAI to expand UK office and work with government departments to turbocharge the UK’s AI infrastructure and transform public services

    OpenAI and the UK government have today signed a new strategic partnership.

    OpenAI and UKL sign strategic partnership.

    • One of the world’s leading AI labs inks a new government partnership, revealing plans to explore investing in UK AI infrastructure and regional growth zones to revitalise communities with jobs and growth.

    • Initiative will also see OpenAI share more technical information with UK AI Security Institute to deepen government knowledge of AI capabilities and security risks, as well as supporting the government’s mission to use AI to transform taxpayer-funded services.

    • OpenAI also confirms its intention to increase its footprint in the UK, building up its research and engineering teams to deliver on the partnership arrangement.

    OpenAI and the UK government have today signed a new strategic partnership setting out plans to expand AI security research collaborations, explore investing in UK AI infrastructure like data centres, and find new ways for taxpayer funded services like security and education to make best use of the latest tech.

    It comes as OpenAI deepens its commitment to the UK, with plans to increase the size of its London office to follow. The move will build out what started as the company’s first international location just 2 years ago, where research and engineering teams contribute to the development of frontier AI models, and support is provided to UK business, developers and start-ups.

    The partnership will explore where it can deploy AI in areas such as justice, defence and security, and education technology in line with UK standards and guidelines to demonstrate the opportunity to make taxpayer funded services more efficient and effective.

    Signed today by Technology Secretary Peter Kyle and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ sets out intent to build on the UK’s strengths in science, innovation and talent to “maintain a world-leading UK AI ecosystem rooted in democratic values”.

    Under the partnership, OpenAI will also explore potential routes to deliver the infrastructure priorities laid out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, recognising the importance of UK sovereign capability in achieving the economic benefits of AI. The move could mean that world-changing AI tech is developed in the UK, driving discoveries that will deliver growth.

    It expands to share that OpenAI could look to invest in and support AI Growth Zones, first announced in the AI Opportunities Action Plan which has since been backed by £2 billion in the Spending Review.

    With over 200 bids from across the country, AI Growth Zones are set to become hotbeds for AI infrastructure attracting billions of pounds in investment each. Today’s news follows the UK government confirming that Scotland and Wales will both host AI Growth Zones in its Compute Strategy.

    The initiative follows the UK investing up to £500 million in sovereign AI that will be spent backing national AI champions and partnering with world leading companies like OpenAI. This partnership is an important element of our mission to ensure the UK continues to participate actively in the development of frontier AI, and that UK citizens continue to benefit from the economic growth provided by cutting-edge models.

    Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said:

    AI will be fundamental in driving the change we need to see across the country – whether that’s in fixing the NHS, breaking down barriers to opportunity or driving economic growth. That’s why we need to make sure Britain is front and centre when it comes to developing and deploying AI, so we can make sure it works for us.

    This can’t be achieved without companies like OpenAI, who are driving this revolution forward internationally. This partnership will see more of their work taking place in the UK, creating high-paid tech jobs, driving investment in infrastructure, and crucially giving our country agency over how this world-changing technology moves forward.

    OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, said:

    AI is a core technology for nation building that will transform economies and deliver growth. Britain has a strong legacy of scientific leadership and its government was one of the first to recognise the potential of AI through its AI Opportunities Action Plan.

    Now, it’s time to deliver on the plan’s goals by turning ambition to action and delivering prosperity for all.

    The AI lab could also work with government to identify how advanced AI models could help to improve the public services that millions of people use every day, and driving economic growth across the country.

    OpenAI’s large language model, ChatGPT, already underpins multiple tools in ‘Humphrey’, Whitehall’s AI assistant that aims to speed up the civil service by taking away admin burdens.

    For example, GPT 4o is used in ‘Consult’, the bespoke tool that speeds up the policy making process by automatically sorting public responses to consultations – doing a task that takes officials weeks in minutes, while leaving important decisions to experts.

    In addition to supporting infrastructure plans laid out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, OpenAI may also explore developing state-of-the-art, AI-enabled R&D infrastructure in the UK, focused on shared areas of strategic interest with the UK government.

    Notes to editors

    DSIT media enquiries

    Email press@dsit.gov.uk

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

    Updates to this page

    Published 21 July 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Press Release – Path Forward for Runway Rehabilitation Monday 21 July 2025

    Source: Channel Islands – States of Alderney

    Press Release
    Date: 21st July 2025
    Alderney Charts a Practical Path Forward for Runway Rehabilitation

    Following extensive work by the Chair of the General Services Committee, Iain Macfarlane, and the States of Alderney’s Head of Operations, two fully costed and technically sound proposals for the full rehabilitation of Alderney’s runway, taxiway, and apron infrastructure have now been delivered to, and gratefully received by the States of Guernsey’s Trading Supervisory Board (STSB) President, Mark Helyar.

    This work has been undertaken in alignment with the political direction set by the States of Guernsey’s 11th April 2025 resolution, which called for a pragmatic, cost-effective, Code B-compliant solution.

    These proposals prioritise the urgent airside works — runway, taxiway, and apron — to ensure the airport remains safe and operational. Land-side upgrades, such as the terminal and control tower, remain important and can be addressed once this critical phase is complete.

    “This has been a focused and determined piece of work,” said Mr Macfarlane. “Our goal from the outset was to demonstrate that viable, cost-effective, and deliverable solutions do exist — and we’ve done exactly that. We’ve drawn a line under the years of uncertainty and turned the conversation back to action.”

    He continued: “We now hope for an expedited route forward, building on the diligent work of our Members and Officers. We’re keen to hear the views of STSB and Ports, and we hope they are ready to progress delivery.”

    Mr. Abel, Chair of the Policy & Finance Committee added:
    “I am pleased to see two pragmatic runway rehabilitation proposals that could be delivered in a short space of time that clearly warrant review by STSB.”
    The proposals have been drafted to meet all necessary technical standards, grounded in prior contractor involvement and site knowledge, and are intended to enable the States of Guernsey to assess them against previously commissioned specifications.

    The States is ensuring it is being proactive having been given a seat at the table on the Runway Project Board and stands ready to support the next stage of this vital project as it is eager to see it finally delivered. The States recognizes the increasing pressures on the public purse for both Alderney and Guernsey and we therefore remain committed to being part of the solution to wider Bailiwick challenges by working collaboratively with our colleagues in the States of Guernsey to the benefit of the Bailiwick taxpayer.

    Ends
    Media contact: Publications.Alderney@gov.gg

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Province Finalizes RCMP Lease in North Battleford, Issues RFP for Building Renovations

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Released on July 21, 2025

    The Government of Saskatchewan has finalized a lease agreement with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for space in the former Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) Retail Inc. store in North Battleford and has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to begin planning major tenant improvements.

    “The lease and upcoming renovations show our supports for long-term investment in public safety infrastructure, while making efficient use of existing government-owned property.” SaskBuilds and Procurement Minister David Marit said, “This is infrastructure that will directly strengthen front-line policing in Saskatchewan.”

    To prepare the space for RCMP’s use, the Ministry of SaskBuilds and Procurement is seeking consultant services to lead the design, documentation and contract administration required for the renovation.

    “This lease agreement is great news for our community.” Health Minister and MLA for North Battleford Jeremy Cockrill said. “By bringing the RCMP into this space and investing in needed renovations, we are supporting community safety creating, local jobs and making good use of existing infrastructure.”

    The former SLGA site, located at 1001 – 101 Street, will be repurposed to enable the RCMP expand its Battlefords detachment. Renovation work will include schematic and detailed design, construction drawings, specifications, tender documents and project oversight during construction.

    The RCMP lease was ratified on July 2, 2025. This project represents a strategic reuse of existing government-owned infrastructure and supports the province’s commitment to community safety.

    SLGA owned 19 of its 34 store properties. The North Battleford location was one of four buildings which were identified to be repurposed for other government organizations. Buildings currently for sale are listed on slga.com.

    “The City of North Battleford is very encouraged that this lease has been signed, allowing this prominent downtown building to be put back into productive use. We are extremely pleased that the RCMP will be expanding its presence in the Battlefords region with the development of a regional RCMP training hub.” North Battleford Mayor Kelli Hawtin said. “This project will bring significant economic benefits to our city and the surrounding areas through the addition of permanent RCMP staff and a steady flow of officers travelling to North Battleford to attend training. We want to thank the provincial government for partnering with the RCMP, and we are eager to see this vision become reality.”

    Renovations are expected to take between 18 and 24 months. The RCMP will begin operations in the building once the upgrades are complete.

    -30-

    For more information, contact:

    MIL OSI Canada News –