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Category: Science

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Caught on the jumbotron: How literature helps us understand modern-day public shaming

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jason Wang, Postdoctoral Fellow, Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre, Toronto Metropolitan University

    The scene at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts on July 16 was steeped in irony.

    During Coldplay’s “jumbotron song” — the concert segment where cameras pan over the crowd — the big screen landed on Andy Byron, then-CEO of data firm Astronomer, intimately embracing Kristin Cabot, the company’s chief people officer. Both are married to other people.

    The moment, captured on video and widely circulated on social media, shows the pair abruptly recoiling as Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin says: “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”

    Martin’s comment — seemingly light-hearted at the time — quickly took on a different tone as online sleuths identified the pair and uncovered their corporate roles and marital statuses. Within days, Byron resigned from his position as CEO while Cabot is on leave.

    This spectacle raises a deeper question: why does infidelity, especially among the powerful, provoke such public outcry. Literary tradition offers some insight: intimate betrayal is never truly private. It shatters an implicit social contract, demanding communal scrutiny to restore trust.

    When trust crumbles publicly

    French philosopher Paul Ricoeur’s notion of “narrative identity” suggests we make sense of our lives as unfolding stories. The promises we make (and break) become chapters of identity and the basis of others’ trust. Betrayal ruptures the framework that stitches private vows to public roles; without that stitch, trust frays.

    Byron’s stadium exposure turned a marital vow into a proxy for professional integrity. Public betrayal magnifies public outcry because leaders symbolize stability; their personal failings inevitably reflect on their institutions.

    When Astronomer’s board stated the expected standard “was not met,” they were lamenting the collapse of Byron’s narrative integrity — and, by extension, their company’s.

    This idea — that private morality underpins public order — is hardly new. In Laws, ancient Greek philosopher Plato described adultery as a disorder undermining family and state. Roman philosopher Seneca called it a betrayal of nature, while statesman Cicero warned that breaking fides (trust) corrodes civic bonds.

    The social cost of infidelity in literature

    Literature rarely confines infidelity to the bedroom; its shockwaves fracture communities.

    French sociologist Émile Durkheim’s idea of the “conscience collective” holds that shared moral norms create “social solidarity.” As literature demonstrates, violations of these norms inevitably undermines communal trust.

    ‘Anna Karenina’ by Leo Tolstoy.
    (Penguin Random House)

    Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1875-77) dramatizes the social fracture of betrayal. Anna’s affair with Count Vronsky not only defies moral convention but destabilizes the aristocratic norms that once upheld her status.

    As the scandal leads to her ostracization, Anna mourns the social world she has lost, realizing too late that “the position she enjoyed in society… was precious to her… [and] she could not be stronger than she was.”

    In Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (1857), Emma Bovary’s extramarital affairs unravel the networks of her provincial town, turning private yearning for luxury and romance into public contagion.

    Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850) makes this explicit: Hester Prynne’s scarlet “A” turns her sin into civic theatre. Public shaming on the scaffold, the novel suggests, delineates moral boundaries and seeks to restore social order — a process that prefigures today’s “digital pillories,” where viral moments subject individuals to mass online judgment and public condemnation.

    Domestic crumbs and digital scaffolds

    Contemporary narratives shift the setting but uphold the same principle: betrayal devastates the mundane rituals that build trust.

    ‘Heartburn’ by Nora Ephron.
    (Penguin Random House)

    Nora Ephron’s autobiographical novel Heartburn (1983), based on her own marriage’s collapse to investigative journalist Carl Bernstein, weaponizes domesticity.

    Heartburn’s protagonist Rachel Samstat delivers her emotions through recipes — “Vinaigrette” as a marker of intimacy and betrayal, “Lillian Hellman’s Pot Roast” as a bid for domestic stability and “Key Lime Pie,” hurled at her cheating husband — become symbols of a life undone by public infidelity.

    Ephron’s satire, later adapted into a film, anticipates our digital age of exposure, where private pain fuels public consumption and judgment.

    ‘Dept. of Speculation’ by Jenny Offill.
    (Penguin Random House)

    Jenny Offill’s Dept. of Speculation (2014), which draws from her own life, shows another perspective: betrayal as quiet erosion.

    Offill never depicts the affair directly; instead, the husband’s absences, silences and an off-hand reference to “someone else” create a suffocating dread. This indirection shows betrayal’s power lies in its latent potential, slowly dismantling a life built on trust before any overt act.

    Both works underscore betrayal’s impact on the collective conscience: a lie fractures a family as fundamentally as a CEO’s indiscretion erodes institutional trust. Power magnifies the fallout by turning private failings into public symbols of fragility. Even hidden betrayal poisons the shared rituals binding any group, making the notion of “private” unsustainable long before any public revelation.

    The limits of power

    Literature acknowledges power’s protective veneer from consequence — and its limits.

    Theodore Dreiser’s Trilogy of Desire (1912–47), modelled on the Gilded Age robber baron Charles Yerkes, follows the rise of financier Frank Cowperwood, whose power shields him — until it doesn’t. Even his vast empire proves vulnerable once his adultery becomes public. The very networks that protected him grow wary.

    Though many critics of the elite are themselves morally compromised in the trilogy, Cowperwood’s transgression becomes a weapon to discredit him. His brief exile shows that power may defer, but cannot erase, the costs of betrayal. Once trust fractures, even the powerful become liabilities. They do not fall less often — only more conspicuously.

    Gender also plays a role in shaping these narratives. Male protagonists like Cowperwood rebound as tragic anti-heroes, their moral failings recast as flaws of character. By contrast, women — think Flaubert’s Emma Bovary or Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne — are branded cautionary figures, their transgressions stigmatized rather than mythologized.

    This imbalance in assigning consequences reveals a deeper societal judgment: while broken trust demands repair, the path to restoration often depends on the transgressor’s gender.

    The unblinking eye

    From Tolstoy’s salons to TikTok’s scroll, literature offers no refuge from betrayal’s ripple effects. When private trust visibly fractures, communal reflexes kick in.

    Scarlet letters, exile or a CEO’s resignation all aim to heal the collective trust. The jumbotron, like Hester’s scaffold, is the latest instrument in this age-old theatre of exposure.

    Jumbotrons. Scaffolds. Same operating system. Same shame.

    Jason Wang 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. Caught on the jumbotron: How literature helps us understand modern-day public shaming – https://theconversation.com/caught-on-the-jumbotron-how-literature-helps-us-understand-modern-day-public-shaming-261638

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Could the copper in your diet help prevent memory loss, as new study suggests?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Eef Hogervorst, Professor of Biological Psychology, Loughborough University

    Oysters are rich in copper. Vershinin89/Shutterstock.com

    More and more research suggests that the copper in your diet could play a bigger role in brain health than we once believed. A recent study found that older Americans who ate more copper-rich foods did better on memory and concentration tests.

    The findings, published in Nature Scientific Reports, looked at people’s diets using detailed food diaries and tested their cognitive function. Those who ate more foods that were high in copper – which include shellfish, dark chocolate and nuts – did better on tests that are used to spot early signs of age-related memory loss and dementia.

    But the results aren’t straightforward. People who ate more copper-rich foods were mostly male, white, married and had higher incomes. They were also less likely to smoke or have high blood pressure or diabetes – all factors linked to a lower risk of dementia. People who consumed more copper also had more zinc, iron and selenium in their diets, and consumed more calories overall.

    People with higher incomes often have better access to healthy food, medical care, cleaner environments and more education – all of which help protect against memory loss and dementia.

    It’s hard to separate the effects of diet from these other advantages, although some research we reviewed suggests that improving nutrition might be especially helpful for people from less privileged backgrounds.

    What other research tells us

    The current study’s limitations are notable. It captured brain function at only one point in time and relied on participants’ food diaries rather than blood measurements of copper levels.

    However, long-term studies support the idea that copper might matter for brain health. One study that tracked people over time found that those who had less copper in their diet showed more pronounced declines in memory and thinking.

    More intriguingly, when researchers measured copper levels directly in brain tissue, they discovered that higher concentrations were associated with slower mental deterioration and fewer of the toxic amyloid plaques characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.

    Curiously, brain copper levels bore little relationship to dietary intake, suggesting the body’s processing of this mineral is more complex than simple consumption patterns might indicate.

    There’s a good biological explanation for why copper might help protect the brain. This essential metal plays several important roles: it helps prevent brain cell damage via antioxidant effects, with production of the chemicals (neurotransmitters) that let brain cells talk to each other, and helps the brain produce energy, by working via particular enzymes.

    Copper deficiency is thought to be relatively uncommon, but it can cause noticeable problems. If someone feels tired and weak and has anaemia that doesn’t improve with iron or vitamin B12 supplements, low copper might be to blame. Other signs can include getting sick more often, losing bone strength, and nerve damage that gets worse over time.

    Copper is naturally found in high amounts in foods like beef, offal, shellfish, nuts, seeds and mushrooms. It’s also added to some cereals and found in whole grains and dark chocolate.

    People who have had gastric bypass surgery for obesity or have bowel disorders may have trouble absorbing copper – and these conditions themselves could be linked to a higher risk of dementia.

    It’s best to be cautious about taking copper supplements without careful thought. They body needs a delicate balance of essential minerals – too much iron or zinc can lower copper levels, while too much copper or iron can cause oxidative stress, which may speed up damage to brain cells.

    It’s best not to take copper as a supplement.
    Gabriele Paoletti/Shutterstock.com

    Studies examining mineral supplements in people already diagnosed with Alzheimer’s have shown little benefit.

    Paradoxically, people with Alzheimer’s often have higher copper levels in their blood, but key brain areas like the hippocampus – which is vital for memory – often show lower copper levels. This suggests that Alzheimer’s disrupts how the body handles copper, causing it to get trapped in the amyloid plaques that are a hallmark of the disease.

    Some researchers suggested that after Alzheimer’s develops, eating less copper and iron and more omega-3 fats from fish and nuts might help, while saturated fats seem to make things worse. However, a lack of copper could actually increase plaque build-up before dementia shows up, highlighting the need for balanced nutrition throughout life.

    There seems to be an optimal range of copper for brain function – recent studies suggest 1.22 to 1.65 milligrams a day provides copper’s cognitive benefits without causing harm. This mirrors a broader principle in medicine: for many biological systems, including thyroid hormones, both deficiency and excess can impair brain function.

    The human body typically manages these intricate chemical balances with remarkable precision. But disease and ageing can disrupt this equilibrium, potentially setting the stage for cognitive decline years before symptoms emerge. As researchers continue to unravel the relationship between nutrition and brain health, copper’s role serves as a reminder that the path to healthy ageing may be paved with the careful choices we make at every meal.

    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.

    Eef Hogervorst has received funding from Alzheimer’s Research UK, MRC and Wellcome to investigate diet and dementia risk. She acted as dementia expert on medical panels including ESHRE and NICE. Eef received a consultancy fee from Proctor and Gamble for a review on folate and omega 3 and cognitive funcion

    – ref. Could the copper in your diet help prevent memory loss, as new study suggests? – https://theconversation.com/could-the-copper-in-your-diet-help-prevent-memory-loss-as-new-study-suggests-261494

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Designations to Appellate Division Courts Announced

    Source: US State of New York

    overnor Kathy Hochul today announced six designations to the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, in the First and Second Departments. Under New York’s Constitution, the Governor designates Justices of the Appellate Divisions from among the elected Justices of the State Supreme Court. This class is composed of highly skilled jurists who come from diverse personal and professional backgrounds, underscoring Governor Hochul’s commitment to ensuring New York State’s judiciary reflects the wide array of people who call New York home. The slate consists of four designations to the Appellate Division, First Department and two designations to the Appellate Division, Second Department.

    “These designations to the Appellate Division are part of my continued commitment to building a judiciary that embodies the highest standards of legal excellence and reflects the rich diversity of New York,” Governor Hochul said. “Each of these jurists brings a wealth of experience and perspective that will strengthen our courts and help ensure that justice is served fairly and equitably across our state.”

    As Justices of the Appellate Division, First Department:

    Honorable Troy Webber, Associate Justice

    Justice Troy K. Webber was elected to the Civil Court, New York County, in 1993 and assigned to the county of her birth, Bronx County. In 2002, she was elected to the Supreme Court. In 2009, Justice Webber was appointed Acting Surrogate in New York County, where she served for almost 2 years and then returned to Supreme Court, Bronx County. In 2016, Justice Webber was appointed to the Appellate Division, First Department.

    Justice Webber began her legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in New York County. She then served as a Law Assistant to a State Supreme Court Justice, Assistant New York State Attorney General and Deputy Bureau Chief at the New York City Law Department. Justice Webber was also a litigation associate at a law firm. Justice Webber is a graduate of New York University School of Law, where she serves on the Alumni Board of Directors.

    Justice Webber serves as Co-Chair of the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission and is a member of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, the Association of Women Judges, the Judicial Friends, and the New York County Lawyers Association. She serves on the New York State Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics, the Advisory Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure and is a member of the board of directors of JALBCA (Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert).

    Justice Webber participates in the Scales of Justice Academy, a summer legal educational program for underserved female high school students, as well as the Legal Outreach Program. She mentors students who attend NYU Law School, the City University of New York, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Fordham University School of Law and participates in moot court programs sponsored by NYU Law School and New York Law School. Justice Webber is also an adjunct professor in criminal justice at Monroe University.

    Honorable Saliann Scarpulla, Associate Justice

    Justice Saliann Scarpulla is a graduate of Boston University and Brooklyn Law School, cum laude. After law school, Justice Scarpulla clerked for the Hon. Alvin F. Klein in Supreme Court, New York County. When her clerkship concluded, Justice Scarpulla joined Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn as a litigation associate. Justice Scarpulla later moved to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as Senior Counsel in the New York Legal Services Office. From the FDIC Justice Scarpulla became Senior Vice President and Bank Counsel to Hudson United Bank.

    Justice Scarpulla returned to the New York State court system in 1999, as Principal Court Attorney to the Hon. Eileen Bransten. She was then elected to the New York City Civil Court in 2001, appointed to the New York State Supreme Court in 2009, and elected to the Supreme Court in 2012. From 2014 to 2020, Justice Scarpulla sat in the New York County Commercial Division, and she was responsible for all international commercial arbitration matters pending in the State Supreme Court. In 2020, Justice Scarpulla was appointed to the Appellate Division, First Department.

    Justice Scarpulla is a contributing author to the Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts treatise and has authored numerous articles on technology and commercial litigation. She is a frequent lecturer for, among others, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the New York County Lawyers Association, the New York State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Practicing Law Institute, and the New York State Judicial Institute. Justice Scarpulla has received the Louis J. Capozzoli Gavel award and the Thurgood Marshall award from the New York County Lawyers Association, the Rapallo/Scalia award from the Columbian Lawyers Association, and service awards from the National Association of Italian American Women and the New York Women’s Bar Association.

    Justice Scarpulla is active in several New York City and statewide bar associations and is a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association and Co-Chair of the Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Intellectual Property subcommittee. She is a member of New York’s Commercial Division Advisory Council, and the Co-Chair of the Council’s Subcommittee on Use of Technology in Commercial Division Cases. Justice Scarpulla also sits on the Chief Judge’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee, and, in October 2019, she was appointed for a term to the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board. Justice Scarpulla is a past Co-President and current Board member of Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert (JALBCA).

    Honorable Shlomo Hagler, Additional Justice

    Hon. Shlomo S. Hagler is the current Presiding Justice of the Appellate Term, First Department. He was appointed to the court in 2021. Justice Hagler began his judicial career in 1999, when he was appointed to New York City Housing Court. In 2003, he was elected to the New York City Civil Court, and in 2008, Justice Hagler was designated an Acting Justice of the Supreme Court, Civil Branch, New York County. As an Acting Justice, he established and presided over an “Innovative Guardianship Part” that combined the authority of the Supreme Court under the Mental Hygiene Law with that of the Housing Court. This initiative aimed to protect and empower vulnerable individuals within the community. In 2012, he was elected to the Supreme Court.

    Justice Hagler earned his undergraduate degree from Yeshiva University in 1988, and a Juris Doctor from the City University of New York Law School in 1991. He started his legal career as an associate at Bartlett, Bartlett & Ziegler, P.C., before serving as Court Attorney to Hon. Martin Shulman, currently an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department.

    Justice Hagler recently received an award celebrating his 25 years on the bench from the New York County Lawyers Association and in April 2025, received the Benjamin N. Cardozo award from the Jewish Lawyers Guild for excellence in the legal profession. He is also a member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Lawyers Guild and the Gender Fairness Committee of the Supreme Court, New York County. Justice Hagler has given numerous lectures as a judicial panelist on various legal topics, including protecting tenants with disabilities in housing.

    Honorable Margaret Anne Pui Yee Chan, Additional Justice

    Justice Chan, elected in 2021 to the New York State Supreme Court, serves in the New York County Commercial Division resolving complex business disputes. Before her election, she was an Acting Justice from 2012, handling a wide range of cases from mass torts to constitutional litigation.

    Born in Hong Kong, she immigrated to Canada at age seven and then, at fourteen, to Brooklyn. When she was elected to the New York City Civil Court in 2006, she became the first Asian immigrant woman to become a New York judge. Before ascending to the bench, Justice Chan had an immigration and appellate practice in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Her partner was Benjamin Gim, who co-founded the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund.

    Justice Chan attended Brooklyn College full time, where she majored in economics while also working full-time. She later attended Touro Law Center on a scholarship and was the managing editor of the Law Review. She then completed five years as a senior court attorney at the Appellate Division, Second Department.

    Justice Chan serves on various court committees, including the Committee on AI and the Courts and Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions (PJI) – Civil. She also served as a Fordham University School of Law adjunct professor from 2018-2024, teaching legal research and writing and the judicial-externship seminar.

    As Justices of the Appellate Division, Second Department:

    Honorable Elena Goldberg Velazquez, Additional Justice

    Justice Elena Goldberg Velazquez was appointed to the Appellate Term, 9th and 10th Judicial Districts, in 2024, where she hears appeals from landlord-tenant court, small claims court, civil court and criminal court. Recently, Justice Goldberg Velazquez was elected as the President of the Latino Judges Association.

    In 2022, Justice Goldberg Velazquez was elected to the New York State Supreme Court, 9th Judicial District. Presently, she is assigned to Westchester County where she has presided over a variety of civil hearings and trials. Since her ascension to Supreme Court, she has also been published in the New York Law Journal. Prior to becoming a Supreme Court Justice, Justice Goldberg Velazquez was a Yonkers City Court Judge, where she handled criminal matters from arraignment to disposition, landlord-tenant matters (both residential and commercial), small claims and civil matters. She also presided over trials and felony hearings. In addition, while in City Court she was appointed as an Acting Family Court Judge presiding over the Integrated Domestic Violence Court.

    Prior to being elected to the bench, Justice Goldberg Velazquez worked at the Supreme Court, Appellate Division First Department for nearly a decade. Prior to working at the Appellate Division, Justice Goldberg Velazquez worked at private law firms handling primarily civil matters.

    Justice Goldberg Velazquez is an active member of her community, having founded and served as president of her local neighborhood association. She has served as the President of the Puerto Rican Bar Association, Chair of the Women’s Committee and Chair of the Young Lawyers Committee. She is presently a member of the New York State Bar Association, Hudson Valley Hispanic Bar Association, Puerto Rican Bar Association, New York Women’s Judges Association, Westchester County Bar Association, Westchester Women’s Bar Association and the Yonkers Lawyers Association.

    Justice Goldberg Velazquez is a graduate of CUNY School of Law, where she was the managing editor of the New York City Law Review and now serves on the Board of Visitors. She earned her Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from Syracuse University where she graduated Pi Sigma Alpha. While at Syracuse, Justice Goldberg Velazquez was on the Dean’s List and a member of the nationally ranked Mock Trial Team.

    Justice Goldberg Velazquez resides in Westchester with her husband and two young daughters.

    Honorable Susan Quirk, Additional Justice

    Hon. Susan Quirk was elected to the Civil Court Bench in Brooklyn in 2016, where she served until 2018. She was then assigned to Brooklyn Family Court in 2018 to augment the bench in response to the enactment and implementation of the Raise the Age legislation, where she presided until 2022 when she was elected to the Supreme Court in Brooklyn where she currently presides over all types of criminal matters.

    Prior to becoming a judge, strongly attracted to both public service and the study of law, Judge Quirk began working as a paralegal in 1998 in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office while attending Brooklyn Law School in the evening. She graduated in 2004, receiving the distinction of being awarded the “Cali Excellence for the Future” Award for achieving the highest grade in Trial Advocacy. Upon being admitted to practice in 2005, Judge Quirk continued her career in public service by becoming an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, where she served with distinction until 2013, when she was designated a Court Attorney Referee in Supreme Court, where she continued to serve the public as a Hearing Officer until her election to the bench.

    Active in the legal community, Judge Quirk is a member of the Supreme Court Justices Association of the City of New York; the Puerto Rican Bar Association; the Brooklyn Bar Association; the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association; the Columbian Lawyers Association; the Catholic Lawyers Guild, Kings County Chapter; the Richmond County Bar Association; the Staten Island Women’s Bar Association, where she previously served on the Administrative Board; and the New York City Civil Court Judges Association, where she previously served as the Vice President for Richmond County.

    Judge Quirk is the proud mom of two young daughters, both of whom currently attend her alma mater, St. Joseph Hill Academy.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA News: Wide Acclaim for President Trump’s Visionary AI Action Plan

    Source: US Whitehouse

    Yesterday, the White House unveiled the Trump Administration’s transformative strategy to propel the United States into a new era of artificial intelligence dominance. Under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, this groundbreaking blueprint establishes core tenets to accelerate innovation, fortify essential infrastructure, and assert U.S. leadership in diplomacy and security — cementing our position as the global AI powerhouse.

    As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang put it: “America’s unique advantage that no country could possibly have is President Trump.”

    The AI Action Plan was immediately hailed across the technology industry:

    AI Innovation Association President Steve Kinard: “President Trump’s AI Action Plan is a bold path to global American leadership. Every American citizen, company, university and institution has a role to play. By prioritizing American workers, free speech, and security, it positions the U.S. to win the AI race and usher in a new era of prosperity and strength. The AI Innovation Association stands ready to support this initiative.”

    Alliance for the Future: “The White House just advanced a more unified national AI strategy. States with clear, effective AI policies will be better positioned for federal support. A strong step toward alignment, innovation, and leadership.”

    Amazon: “Amazon supports & continues to work at the state and federal level to establish consistent standards that promote the secure, responsible development of AI. We look forward to continued collaboration to fully realize AI’s potential in driving economic growth & tech advancement.”

    American Beverage: “We applaud President Trump’s action plan to ensure America’s continued leadership in the global pursuit of artificial intelligence innovation and infrastructure. Maintaining our edge in this technology is important to the growth of American manufacturing and the good-paying jobs manufacturers provide in communities across the country.”

    Chevron Corporation Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth: “President Trump’s American AI Action Plan is a bold and necessary step to ensure the United States leads the next great technological revolution. As I’ve said before, America has triumphed in every industrial era—from steel to energy—and we have the power and leadership to do it again in artificial intelligence. This plan recognizes that AI innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum—it demands reliable, scalable energy and infrastructure. By streamlining permitting, investing in data centers, and unleashing American energy, the President is laying the foundation for a future where AI strengthens our economy, our national security, and our global leadership. Chevron stands ready to help power this future.”

    American Edge Project CEO Doug Kelly: “President Trump’s AI Action Plan is a giant leap forward in the race to secure American leadership in artificial intelligence. By prioritizing innovation, infrastructure, talent, and global reach, the plan confronts key barriers to American competitiveness, begins to fill long-standing gaps in our national strategy, and helps position the U.S. to beat China in this high-stakes tech race … Time is of the essence: China has had a national plan for global AI leadership since 2017, and is executing it relentlessly with talent, infrastructure, state-backed investment, and international influence. This is our moonshot moment. Now is the time for the country to rally together behind a shared, national mission to win the AI race. The stakes could not be higher.”

    American Innovators Network: “The American Innovators Network (AIN), a national organization representing American Little Tech companies, commends President Trump and his administration for their bold and decisive action to counter China’s growing influence in the global AI landscape. The new guidelines and recommendations unveiled today mark a pivotal moment in securing America’s dominance in this critical technological race, and we are grateful for President Trump’s leadership in prioritizing policies that empower innovation and strengthen our national competitiveness.”

    American Society of Association Executives President and CEO Michelle Mason: “President Trump’s Artificial Intelligence Action Plan strategically positions the United States as a global leader in the development and deployment of AI technology. ASAE applauds the focus on industry-driven training programs that equip workers with the skills they need to be successful in the workforce of tomorrow. ASAE’s members are eager to support efforts to create these training programs, and we encourage continued collaboration between the federal government and the association community.”

    Americans for Prosperity Chief Government Affairs Officer Brent Gardner: “President Trump’s AI Action Plan will ensure America leads the world in innovation, economic freedom, and technological progress. By removing regulatory roadblocks, empowering innovative small business owners, and embracing open-source development, this plan puts the ingenuity of the American people—not bureaucrats—in the driver’s seat of the AI revolution. This move by the White House rightly course-corrects four years of Biden-era efforts to centrally control AI development and stifle American innovation. We applaud the administration’s commitment to protecting free speech and ensuring private-sector breakthroughs aren’t halted by burdensome regulation. It’s now time for Congress to work alongside the administration to codify these efforts in order to create generational change that will enable AI adoption across industries, remove permitting barriers to build infrastructure, and unleash innovation.” 

    Anthropic: “Today, the White House released ‘Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan’—a comprehensive strategy to maintain America’s advantage in AI development. We are encouraged by the plan’s focus on accelerating AI infrastructure and federal adoption, as well as strengthening safety testing and security coordination. Many of the plan’s recommendations reflect Anthropic’s response to the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) prior request for information … The alignment between many of our recommendations and the AI Action Plan demonstrates a shared understanding of AI’s transformative potential and the urgent actions needed to sustain American leadership. We look forward to working with the Administration to implement these initiatives while ensuring appropriate attention to catastrophic risks and maintaining strong export controls. Together, we can ensure that powerful AI systems are developed safely in America, by American companies, reflecting American values and interests.”

    Arm: “We commend the Administration’s actions to unleash investment in AI, semiconductors, and the energy to power it. Arm, together with our partners, is working rapidly to bring AI to all forms of computing. Today’s announcements will accelerate AI data center and cloud infrastructure deployment in particular, while advancing plans to promote exports of the U.S. AI stack and ensuring American technology innovation. We look forward to continuing to work with the Administration as it enacts and builds on today’s actions.” 

    Box CEO Aaron Levie: “America’s AI Action Plan is quite strong. It has a clear a mission to win the AI race and accelerate the development and use of AI by removing roadblocks or aiding adoption. Importantly, it focuses on the positive benefits of AI, which we’re all seeing every day.”

    Business Roundtable: “BRT supports the @WhiteHouse AI Action Plan’s efforts to strengthen infrastructure, advance permitting reform, invest in workforce development and develop clear frameworks that empower US businesses to accelerate AI innovation and adoption.”

    Business Software Alliance CEO Victoria Espinel: “The White House AI Action Plan offers a roadmap for the United States’ AI future anchored on the adoption of technology. The Business Software Alliance welcomes ‘America’s AI Action Plan’ for addressing a range of issues including talent and workforce development, infrastructure and data, and AI governance that serve as pillars for successful AI adoption and US competitiveness. BSA appreciates the Action Plan’s commitment to creating the essential conditions for widespread AI adoption. The Action Plan advances key BSA recommendations for AI talent, including developing an AI skills curriculum, improving access to training resources, and leveraging real-time workforce data. It emphasizes the development of critical infrastructure and reliable energy resources necessary to scale AI deployment. The Action Plan also reinforces the roles of the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) and NIST in the development of standards and evaluation tools, a foundation for both domestic AI governance and in promoting international collaboration on AI. Additionally, the Action Plan streamlines government procurement processes, enabling public-sector agencies to more effectively access and adopt cutting-edge commercial AI solutions.”

    Center for Data Innovation Senior Policy Manager Hodan Omaar: “The AI Action Plan shows the Trump administration is serious about winning the global AI race. It marks a clear evolution from the President’s 2019 AI initiative and reflects just how dramatically the global AI landscape has shifted over the past six years. The plan rightly recognizes that beating China demands a comprehensive effort—unleashing infrastructure to fuel model development, removing regulatory frictions that slow development and deployment, and promoting the export of American AI technology. These steps put the United States on a path not only to benefit from AI today, but to remain the global leader in the future.”

    Connected Nation Chairman and CEO Tom Ferree: “This marks a transformational moment for American innovation. The release of the National AI Action Plan signals to the world that the United States intends not only to compete—but to lead—in the global race for artificial intelligence. We applaud the Trump Administration’s bold and comprehensive strategy, which rightly prioritizes accelerating innovation, unleashing infrastructure investment, and ensuring our nation’s AI capabilities are second to none. Connected Nation enthusiastically supports the plan’s focus on building out data center capacity, fast-tracking permitting, and expanding our skilled workforce. These are critical steps toward positioning the U.S. as the undisputed hub of next-generation computing.”

    Consumer Choice Center Head of Emerging Technology Policy James Czerniawski: “The AI Action Plan is a bold vision for the future of ensuring AI leadership by the Trump administration. The Golden Age of America is made possible when we position our innovators to be as successful as possible, ensuring American consumers can benefit from the AI revolution happening on our shores. The economy of tomorrow starts with the building blocks laid out in this action plan. The provision which reviews rulemaking of the Federal Trade Commission is especially encouraging, quashing legal theories that would complicate or slow American consumers gaining access to AI technologies. This is a world of difference from the hostile regulatory approach of the Biden Administration, and a welcome breath of fresh air for consumers who want cutting-edge tech.”

    Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro: “Congratulations to @POTUS and the @WhiteHouse team on an AI Action Plan recognizing the U.S. must win the global AI race. The plan cuts red tape for innovators, boosts AI adoption across sectors, supports a future-focused AI workforce, and advances the American AI tech stack as the foundation for global tech growth.”

    Data Center Coalition President Josh Levi: “The Data Center Coalition thanks President Trump for releasing Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan—a bold framework to ensure the United States remains the undisputed global leader in artificial intelligence. The administration’s plan recognizes that developing a robust domestic data center industry is vital to promoting U.S. national security, global economic competitiveness, and continued American AI dominance … Today’s announcement is a major step forward, and we look forward to continuing to work with the administration and lawmakers to ensure the U.S. remains at the forefront of global innovation and digital resilience.”

    Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell: “Proud to see the White House AI Action Plan accelerating innovation, building home‑grown AI infrastructure, and strengthening America’s security. 🇺🇸 Dell Technologies is all‑in—ready to power U.S. ingenuity, create jobs, and keep us leading the future. 🚀”

    GE Vernova Chief Corporate Officer, Chief Sustainability Officer, and Head of Government Affairs Roger Martella: “It was energizing to see the White House release its action plan today on how the U.S. can make significant strides with leading on #ArtificialIntelligence and #datacenters for the nation and its partners, advancing strategic efforts on a most critical part of the #innovation economy.”

    Gecko Robotics: “Gecko Robotics welcomes the AI action plan published by the White House today. The United States must win the global AI race and will only do so by using artificial intelligence to supercharge energy production itself. At the same time, it is critical that we collect and use high-fidelity data to feed AI models, and we remain at the forefront of leading this charge.”

    General Catalyst Institute President Teresa Carlson: “Today, the Trump Administration unveiled their widely-anticipated AI Action Plan. Upon review, I am encouraged by their pro-growth approach that prioritizes American innovation, national security, and federal leadership over bureaucratic barriers. This policy was not crafted in a vacuum. It was part of an inclusive process, where earlier this year the General Catalyst Institute submitted views on behalf of startups as to how best deepen America’s AI leadership through transformative technologies.”

    Heritage Foundation Center for Technology and the Human Person Acting Director Wesley Hodges: “The AI Action Plan is a call for a new industrial renaissance, an ambitious strategy that the Administration should be commended for leading. It charts the course for building significant domestic compute infrastructure—from expanding energy capacity, to constructing data centers and increasing domestic advanced semiconductor manufacturing. At the same time, the plan also emphasizes that American AI technology must be developed free of ideological bias, and ensure working families are benefited and not left behind. We look forward to supporting the administration’s work to align this technology with human flourishing.”

    IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna: “IBM applauds the White House for its bold and timely AI Action Plan, which prioritizes open innovation, strengthens U.S. technological leadership, and proposes a supportive regulatory environment for AI development and deployment. The plan is a critical step towards harnessing AI for sustained economic growth and national competitiveness.”

    Information Technology Industry Council President and CEO Jason Oxman: “President Trump’s AI Action Plan presents a blueprint to usher in a new era of U.S. AI dominance. The administration’s vision takes essential steps to ensure the U.S. can win the global AI race by prioritizing U.S. energy production and infrastructure development to power AI’s growth, promoting U.S. AI leadership internationally by supporting the export of the full stack of American AI technologies to partners and allies, and accelerating adoption of AI across the public and private sectors. Importantly, the President’s Plan includes key directives for agencies and communicates clear U.S. policy objectives that will encourage widespread adoption and fuel U.S. technological and economic competitiveness. As agencies begin implementing the President’s plan, we encourage policymakers to invest in modernizing government technology and to leverage industry’s deep expertise to maintain America’s AI leadership.”

    Internet Works Executive Director Peter Chandler: “As the AI race accelerates globally, it’s encouraging to see policymakers recognize the need for bold investment in innovation, adoption, and infrastructure.  Middle Tech companies, many of whom are deployers and integrators of AI tools, are essential to ensuring that AI benefits reach small businesses, everyday users, and communities across the country. We welcome the Trump Administration’s emphasis on modernizing our digital and energy infrastructure and expanding support for open, responsible AI development and adoption.  To win the AI race, we need policy frameworks that are risk-based and right-sized—supporting trust, safety, and competition across the full tech ecosystem. Internet Works stands ready to partner with leaders at every level to shape an AI future that’s secure, innovative, and built for everyone.”

    Lightspeed Venture Partners Founder Ravi Mhatre: “In AI, you either own the frontier or get commoditized. The AI Action Plan helps ensure that America continues to build by streamlining regulation, identifying opportunities for AI to scale, and getting more energy online. It will help ensure America owns the future of AI while others still try to catch up to what we built yesterday.”

    Lumen Technologies: “Lumen Technologies supports the Administration’s AI Action Plan and its call for a unified framework to accelerate AI innovation and next-generation fiber infrastructure deployment across the U.S. As a leading networking services company building the digital backbone for AI, Lumen is investing heavily to meet the demands of AI-driven enterprises and public-sector modernization and understands the criticality of secure, high-performance networks. We applaud the efforts included in the plan by the FCC, OMB and OSTP that aim to reduce regulatory barriers to innovation, modernize permitting, and streamline the NEPA review process for critical fiber and data center infrastructure. Winning the AI future requires clear, consistent policies that accelerate nationwide deployment of network infrastructure and public-private partnerships that turn this plan into reality. Lumen stands ready to work with federal and state agencies to ensure America leads the AI revolution.”

    Meta Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan: “The AI race is about the future of US economic power & national security. President Trump’s strong leadership on AI will help us keep our foot on the gas. We’re in the middle of a fierce competition with China for AI leadership. The White House’s AI Action Plan is a bold step to create the right regulatory environment for companies like ours to invest in America. @Meta is proud to be investing hundreds of billions of dollars in job-creating infrastructure across the US, including state-of-the-art data centers, creating American jobs in the process.”

    Micron Technology President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra: “We support the White House’s AI Action Plan, which underscores the strategic importance of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing as critical infrastructure for the global AI economy. Memory is foundational to AI — powering technologies across data centers, automotive, telecommunications, defense, and consumer electronics. As the only U.S.-based memory manufacturer and a technology leader, Micron is investing $200 billion in manufacturing and R&D to create 90,000 American jobs and help ensure U.S. leadership in the AI era through a resilient and secure supply chain.”

    National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons: “Reflecting President Trump’s vision for the United States to lead on artificial intelligence, the White House’s AI Action Plan underscores what manufacturers across the country already know: AI is no longer a future ambition—it is already central to modern manufacturing. For years, manufacturers have been developing and deploying AI-driven technologies—machine vision, digital twins, robotics and more—to make shop floors safer, strengthen supply chains and drive growth.”

    National Association of Realtors EVP and Chief Advocacy Officer Shannon McGahn: “We applaud the administration’s release of Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan, which reinforces the U.S. as a global leader in this transformative technology. It’s especially encouraging to see real estate infrastructure recognized as a cornerstone of America’s future. Housing is essential to economic strength and innovation, and we urge policymakers to apply the plan’s smart permitting strategies to help tackle today’s housing supply crisis.”

    National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors: “The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) applauds President Trump’s newly released AI Action Plan, which outlines a comprehensive and forward-looking approach to federal artificial intelligence (AI) policy. We are particularly encouraged to see several of NAW’s recommendations—submitted during the Administration’s Request for Information process in March—reflected in the plan … NAW looks forward to continuing to work with the Administration to ensure the outcomes from the Action Plan support further AI deployment and adoption across the wholesale distribution industry.”

    National Mining Association President and CEO Rich Nolan: “The administration’s recognition of the importance of existing power plants and prioritization of safeguarding them is clear acknowledgement that the coal fleet is essential to U.S. AI leadership. For the U.S. to guide and shape the AI revolution – and seize this tremendous opportunity – we need a grid and energy resources capable of shouldering the enormous new electricity demand now on our doorstep. Prioritizing the ongoing operation of essential coal plants – with the capacity to meet increased demand – combined with reforming our power markets around the goal of grid stability articulated in this action plan puts us firmly on the path for success.”

    NetChoice Director of Policy Patrick Hedger: “NetChoice applauds the White House’s AI Action Plan overall and is encouraged to see the focus on red tape reduction and investment in America’s future. From unleashing energy to embracing regulatory humility and ensuring our AI systems are adopted around the world, we look forward to working with the President to usher in the Golden Age of American innovation. The difference between the Trump administration and Biden’s is effectively night and day. The Biden administration did everything it could to command and control the fledgling but critical sector. That is a failed model, evident in the lack of a serious tech sector of any kind in the European Union and its tendency to rush to regulate anything that moves. The Trump AI Action Plan, by contrast, is focused on asking where the government can help the private sector, but otherwise, get out of the way.”

    Oil and Gas Workers Association: “President Trump’s EO for rapid buildout of data centers means more demand for reliable, affordable natural gas. Demand = Drilling … Drilling = Jobs … Thank you, @POTUS!”

    Palantir: “AI is the birthright of the country that harnessed the atom and put a man on the moon. With today’s AI Action Plan, the Trump Administration has written the source code for the next American century. Palantir is proud to support it.”

    QTS Co-CEO Tag Greason: “The Trump Administration’s AI Action Plan will advance efforts to ensure the United States maintains leadership in AI, including both technology development and critical digital infrastructure. As the digital infrastructure leader, QTS is focused on responsibly and sustainably building the future of our country and economy. We continue to listen and engage with the communities we call home with a steadfast commitment to providing job opportunities, fostering economic growth, working with local suppliers, and operating as trusted neighbors. This historic action and investment will directly benefit communities where we are developing data centers for AI.”

    Salesforce Inc. President and Chief Legal Officer Sabastian Niles: “We welcome the Administration’s strong emphasis on AI adoption, workforce readiness, and government modernization in today’s AI Action Plan. Trusted AI will be a cornerstone of national competitiveness, security, and continued American innovation.  Salesforce is committed to helping the public and private sectors harness its full potential.”

    Siemens USA President and CEO Barbara Humpton: “Excited to join business leaders today for the launch of The White House’s #AIActionPlan boosting American leadership in #AI and innovation to greater heights. Every day, Siemens USA is using #IndustrialAI to revitalize U.S. #manufacturing, build critical #infrastructure, and expand what’s humanly possible for American workers. We’re creating a new industrial tech sector that combines the real and digital worlds, thanks to Industrial AI, digital twins, software-defined automation, and more. Of course, no company can truly lead in AI without a solid foundation of trust. That’s why I was so pleased to see a framework for accelerating innovation while maintaining security included in the AI Action Plan. By focusing on secure infrastructure, industrial R&D, digital transformation, and workforce development, we can help manufacturers of all sizes join the next AI-driven industrial revolution. It’s an exciting time for Industrial AI, and I can’t wait to see where Siemens, our customers, and our partners will go next with this industry-changing technology.”

    Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council President and CEO Karen Kerrigan: “America’s AI future is a powerful and positive one that expands opportunities and unlocks new possibilities and industries. U.S. entrepreneurs are the driving force behind AI innovation, and small business owners are already benefitting from transformative AI tools. The possibilities and opportunities are boundless, but the U.S. must continue to lead and win the AI race. ‘America’s AI Action Plan’ lays out a strategy to make that happen. The plan embraces America’s innovative potential and addresses the incentives and hurdles to fully harness innovation, including the human and physical infrastructure required to cement U.S. leadership. SBE Council congratulates President Trump and the White House team for developing an extraordinary AI Action Plan, and we look forward to working with the Administration and Congress on its implementation.”

    Society for Human Resource Management: “The President’s plan is not just about technology—but about people. The emphasis is on a worker-first approach that addresses American competitiveness in an AI-driven workforce. The plan reflects a fundamental truth that SHRM has long championed: technology alone does not move the workplace forward—people do.”

    Software & Information Industry Association SVP for Global Public Policy Paul Lekas: “The AI Action Plan represents a meaningful strategy to support innovation and security, strengthen U.S. competitiveness, and ensure the benefits of AI are broadly shared. This plan provides the roadmap to cement the United States as the global leader in AI by supporting innovation and security, strengthening U.S. competitiveness, and ensuring the benefits of AI are broadly shared. We’re especially encouraged by the plan’s focus on workforce development and AI literacy as core elements of AI infrastructure. These are key components for building trust and ensuring all communities can participate in and benefit from AI’s potential.”

    Special Competitive Studies Project President Ylli Bajraktari: “Building on the foundational work of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), SCSP has consistently advocated for a comprehensive national strategy to secure America’s technological future. This AI Action Plan provides a critical component for winning the techno-economic competition of the 21st century. It correctly identifies that our national security and economic prosperity, as well as America’s global leadership position, are now intertwined with leadership in AI. We are committed to helping transform this strategic vision into enduring national policy.”

    TechNet CEO Linda Moore: “TechNet strongly supports the administration’s AI Action Plan and is especially grateful for their willingness to work with industry to establish best practices. This policy framework takes critical steps towards developing a strong domestic workforce, building critical AI infrastructure, launching public-private partnerships, removing regulatory barriers to innovation, strengthening the domestic AI stack, and enhancing U.S. global AI diplomacy. The AI Action Plan makes clear that countering Chinese influence and securing America’s leadership in the AI race are top priorities for the United States. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the administration on policies that advance AI innovation while safeguarding the public interest and ensuring America’s global AI dominance.”

    The James Madison Institute Director of National Strategy Edward Longe: “Trump’s AI action plan isn’t just federal policy—it’s a blueprint state lawmakers should follow immediately to root out the regulatory creep that’s strangling AI, even in red states.”

    U.S. Chamber of Commerce EVP and Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley: “We applaud President Trump and his administration for issuing the AI Action Plan to strengthen U.S. global leadership in artificial intelligence. This forward-looking plan takes steps to accelerate innovation by fixing a regulatory landscape hobbled by conflicting state-level laws and activist-driven overreach, streamlining permitting for critical AI infrastructure, ensuring reliable and affordable energy for consumers and businesses, and advancing U.S. leadership in AI diplomacy. These proposed actions will position the United States to tackle our most pressing challenges and lead the global AI race by setting the gold standard for the development and deployment of responsible, transformative technologies. America is counting on this crucial technology to propel economic growth for all sectors, from small business to energy and health care, and the AI Action Plan presents a roadmap to unlock AI’s full potential. We will work with the administration to help implement this plan and foster a competitive, open, and innovation-driven AI ecosystem.”

    USTelecom President and CEO Jonathan Spalter: “The Trump Administration’s AI action plan is a turbo boost for American innovation. From clearing regulatory roadblocks to reforming outdated permitting to doubling down on security, this is the kind of bold leadership we need to win the AI race. But even the best-engineered AI needs a track built for speed—and that’s where fiber comes in. Fiber broadband is the fast lane for America’s AI future: powerful, secure, scalable, and built to go the distance, whether you’re in a big city or a heartland town. Broadband providers are tuned up, fully fueled, and ready to work with the Administration to help America stay a lap ahead in the competition for AI leadership.”

    Workday VP of Corporate Affairs Chandler Morse: “Workday has long advocated for federal action that drives critical AI innovation and builds trust. The Administration’s AI Action Plan, announced today, seeks to avoid excessive regulatory hurdles, elevate human potential through targeted and timely reskilling, and accelerate AI adoption at the federal level. This sends a strong message to federal agencies, the U.S. economy, and global stakeholders on the benefits of driving AI competitiveness.”

    xAI: “Today’s announcement by the White House is a positive step toward removing regulatory barriers and enabling even faster innovation for the benefit of Americans and for humanity as a whole. We are pleased to see the White House prioritize AI innovation.”

    Zoom Chief Global Affairs Officer Josh Kallmer: “Just got back from an inspiring day where I had the opportunity to be part of the conversation around the President’s #AI Action Plan. It was energizing to see so many leaders across industries coming together to talk about the future of AI in the U.S.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Porn websites now require age verification in the UK – the privacy and security risks are numerous

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Eerke Boiten, Professor of Cybersecurity, Head of School of Computer Science and Informatics, De Montfort University

    As of July 25 2025, people in the UK accessing web services with pornographic content will have to prove they are over 18 years of age. This development has been in the works for a while. It was proposed in 2014 by the video-on-demand regulator, and legislated for introduction in 2019 through the British Board of Film Classification.

    It is of course important to stop children from accessing inappropriate material online. But, as often with technological solutions to societal problems, all available methods of age checking come with significant downsides in terms of privacy, security and human rights.

    A strict separation between sites that do or do not have pornography means the definition of pornography, (not in itself illegal in the UK, becomes crucial. Tech companies are likely to use conservative algorithms (“overblocking”) in response. Historically this has affected sex education online, making it harder for young people to find sexual health advice or explore LGBT+ identities.

    The failure to implement the law in 2019 was blamed on an administrative error, but the problems with technological solutions also played a role. Technology in this area has barely progressed, but nevertheless the regulator Ofcom ghas now said that several methods are capable of being highly effective.

    The methods Ofcom suggests now come into two categories, which I will describe here as direct and indirect.

    With direct methods, visitors will have to prove to the website that they are over 18. The most obvious way is by sharing both photo ID, such as a passport, and then also a selfie as proof that the passport belongs to them (in cybersecurity terminology, the passport is a “credential” and the selfie serves to “bind” the credential to the user).

    Most people would obviously object to submitting these to a porn site. Part of the reason for this is that this would fully identify users, and allow the site to associate their identity to their preferences in browsing.

    Anonymity on the internet may have got a bad name because of online “trolls”, but it has a serious positive human rights dimension, particularly also for children. Freedom of expression and association can be exercised much more safely if online anonymity is an option.

    Anonymous access to any sites relating to sex can be viewed as liberating people to exercise their right to a sex life without interference or shame. Most age verification methods undermine anonymity to some extent, even if not as obviously and completely as passports and selfies do.

    Indirect methods use an intermediary organisation to verify the person’s age. There are lobby groups associated with these organisations that have been influential in policy making for UK online safety for the last decade. Another strong influence has been politicians’ belief in the economic potential of the UK “safety tech” sector.

    Users prove their age once with the intermediary, leading to a credential that may be used – typically multiple times – on the website without providing personal data. This looks like a nice clean solution, requiring trust in the intermediary but not in the “porn site”, until you consider “binding” – how do you know it’s the same user?

    Borrowing or stealing of such credentials may be minor risks, but a black market in them could provide ways for teenagers to circumvent age restrictions (alongside virtual private networks VPNs, an encryption method which stop a user’s internet traffic from being intercepted by third parties).

    Any method to “detect abuse” would involve surveillance, such as tracking IP addresses or using information about the person’s electronic device). This raises further challenges about fairness.

    Intermediaries do all promise to delete or protect the information used for the proof of age, after varying periods. This limits the associated security and hence privacy risks, but does not eliminate them.

    There are also incidental indirect methods, where an existing third party happens to know we are over 18. This includes banks (the “open banking” verification method), credit cards (not allowed under 18 in the UK), or mobile phone companies that can confirm a person has been able to get their porn filter removed, proving they must be over 18.

    All indirect methods have so-called “linkability” privacy issues. The credential becomes an identifier, which allows the website, the intermediary, or both to link different visits to the same site or to other sites, and build up a picture like a browsing history that will become more individual and more intrusive over time.

    Age estimation

    Finally there are methods that do not actually verify your age but only estimate it. One way is via your email address and detecting how much “adult behaviour”, such as buying insurance, it has been involved with.

    For most of us who do not use throw-away email addresses, it drives home the extent to which our main email address forms the key to mass online surveillance of everything we do. Maybe we would rather not be reminded. It certainly seems excessive for proving our age.

    A lot of commercial effort has also gone into face-based age estimation technology. As with human age checking for alcohol in supermarkets, it is very approximate and unfair on people who do not look their age. In both cases, another verification method needs to be added as a backup.

    To make the online world safer for kids, technological measures have had adverse effect on freedom that go beyond just removing porn. As a result, additional online surveillance gets put in place for many of us. Creating additional sensitive databases of information also sets up targets for cybercriminals.

    Even more seriously, the “database state” offers potential for the kind of repressive mass surveillance that privacy activists have been warning of for decades. In that context, can we really afford to add to internet surveillance?

    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.

    Eerke Boiten has in the past received funding from various research funding organisations, none of it relating to the topic of this article.

    – ref. Porn websites now require age verification in the UK – the privacy and security risks are numerous – https://theconversation.com/porn-websites-now-require-age-verification-in-the-uk-the-privacy-and-security-risks-are-numerous-261592

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Could climate anxiety be a form of pre-traumatic stress disorder? A psychologist explains the research

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Geoff Beattie, Professor of Psychology, Edge Hill University

    Malchevska/Shutterstock

    We are living in an age of anxiety. People face multiple existential crises such as climate change and conflicts that could potentially escalate into nuclear war.

    So how do people cope with competing threats like this? And what happens to climate anxiety when wars suddenly erupt and compete for our attention?

    Climate change affects our physical and mental health, directly through extreme climate-related droughts, wildfires and intense storms. It also affects some people indirectly through so-called “climate anxiety”. This term covers a range of negative emotions and states, including not just anxiety, but worry and concern, hopelessness, anger, fear, grief and sadness.

    A team of researchers led by Caroline Hickman from the University of Bath surveyed 10,000 children and young people (aged 16 to 25 years) in ten countries (Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, India, Nigeria, Philippines, Portugal, the UK and the US). They found that 45% of respondents said their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily lives. It was worse for respondents from developing countries.

    Climate anxiety can potentially serve a positive function. Anger, for example, can push people to act to help mitigate the effects of climate change.

    But it can also lead to “eco-paralysis”, a feeling of being overwhelmed, inhibiting people from taking any effective action, affecting their sleep, work and study, as a result of them dwelling endlessly on the problem.

    Climate anxiety is not included in the American Psychiatric Association’s authoritative guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders. In other words, it is not officially recognised as a mental disorder.

    Climate anxiety relates to other forms of clinical anxiety.
    Malchevska/Shutterstock

    Some say this is a good thing. The author and Stanford academic Britt Wray wrote: “The last thing we want is to pathologise this moral emotion, which stems from an accurate understanding of the severity of our planetary health crisis.”

    But if it is not officially recognised, will people take it seriously enough? Will they just dismiss people who suffer from it as “snowflakes” – too sensitive and too easily hurt by the hard realities of life. This is a major dilemma.

    I explore how climate anxiety relates to other types of clinical anxiety in my recent book, Understanding Climate Anxiety, recognising that there are adaptive and non-adaptive forms of anxiety.

    According to Steven Taylor, a clinical psychologist from the University of British Columbia, adaptive anxiety can “motivate climate activism, such as efforts to reduce one’s carbon footprint”. Maladaptive anxiety, however, may “take the form of anxious passivity”, he warned, where the person feels anxious but utterly helpless.

    Identifying different types of climate anxiety, understanding their precursors and how they interact with personality is a major psychological challenge. Identifying ways of alleviating climate anxiety and making it more adaptive, and focused on possible climate mitigation, is a major societal challenge.

    But there’s another important issue. Some global leaders, including Donald Trump, don’t believe in human-induced climate change, claiming it’s “one of the great scams”. He seems to view climate anxiety as an overblown reaction to propaganda pumped out by a biased media.

    This can make the experience much worse for those who feel anxious but then having their feelings dismissed.

    Some psychologists argue that climate anxiety can be a form of pre-traumatic stress disorder. This hypothesis arose from observations of climate scientists and their growing feelings of anger, distress, helplessness and depression as the climate situation has worsened.

    In 2015, researchers devised a new clinical measure to assess pre-traumatic stress reactions using items found in the diagnostic and statistical manual for post-traumatic stress disorder, but now focused on the future rather than the past, asking about “repeated, disturbing dreams of a possible future stressful experience”, for example.

    They tested Danish soldiers before their deployment in Afghanistan and found that “involuntary intrusive images and thoughts of possible future events … were experienced at the same level as post-traumatic stress reactions to past events before and during deployment”.

    They also found that soldiers who experienced higher levels of pre-traumatic stress before deployment had an increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder after their return from the war zone. Their hypervigilance primed their nervous system to react more strongly when anything untoward occurred.

    This would suggest that we need to take stress reactions to future anticipated events such as climate change very seriously.

    The crisis response

    But how important is climate anxiety in the context of these other threats? Researchers assessed the emotional state and mental health of people aged 18 to 29 years in five countries (China, Portugal, South Africa, the US and UK) focusing on three global issues: climate change, an environmental disaster (the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan), and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

    They found the strongest emotional engagement was with the ongoing wars, with climate change a close second, and the radiation leak third. The strongest emotional responses to the wars were concern, sadness, helplessness, disgust, outrage and anger. For climate change, the strongest responses were concern, sadness, helplessness, disappointment and anxiety.

    All three crises made young people feel concerned, sad, and very importantly helpless, but climate change has this burning level of anxiety added into the bubbling mix.

    It seems that climate anxiety still has this undiminished power regardless of all the other awful things that are currently happening in the world, and I suspect the stigma of being dismissed as “snowflakes” makes this particular fear response all the more unbearable.

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

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

    Geoff Beattie has received funding from the British Academy and the AHRC to investigate psychological barriers to climate change mitigation and the effects of climate change on emotional responses.

    – ref. Could climate anxiety be a form of pre-traumatic stress disorder? A psychologist explains the research – https://theconversation.com/could-climate-anxiety-be-a-form-of-pre-traumatic-stress-disorder-a-psychologist-explains-the-research-260849

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Gaza and Ukraine are both waiting for action

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor

    For the past few weeks the headlines about Gaza have focused on the hundreds of people who have been killed while queueing for food. The aid distribution system put in place in May, backed by the US and Israel and run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has proved to be chaotic and allegedly resulted in violence, with both Israel Defense Forces personnel and armed Palestinian gangs blamed for killing about 1,000 people in the two months the new system has been operating.

    Now the headlines are focusing on the growing number of people dying of starvation.

    Harrowing reports from the Gaza Strip report almost daily on the children dying of malnutrition in hospitals and clinics that simply don’t have the food to keep them alive. Writing in the Guardian this week, a British volunteer surgeon working in one of Gaza’s hospitals, Nick Maynard, described patients who “deteriorate and die, not from their injuries, but because they are too malnourished to survive surgery”.

    The UK and 27 other countries this week has condemned the “drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians” who are trying to get food and water. And yet, writes Simon Mabon, still the world’s leaders look on: “Most are apparently content to condemn – but little action has been taken.”

    Mabon, a professor of international relations at Lancaster University, quotes the latest report from the IPC, which monitors food security in conflict situations. It estimates that 500,000 people in Gaza are considered to be facing “catastrophe”, while a further 1.1 million fall into the “emergency” risk category. Both categories anticipate a steadily rising death rate among civilians in Gaza.

    So how can Israel’s allies apply pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to bring an end to the violence and allow Palestinian civilians access to the food, water and medical supplies they so desperately need?

    Mabon canvasses a range of options. First of all, countries that have yet to recognise the state of Palestine can do so. It’s nonsense, Madon believes, to talk of a two-state solution – as the UK government does – when you haven’t actually recognised the second state in the equation.

    Then they could stop selling arms to Israel. Many countries already have. But the US still issues export licenses for some weapons that are sold to Israel.

    There are a plethora of other things world leaders could do to pressure Israel. Mabon recommends having a look at what the world did to isolate South Africa during the apartheid years, measures which eventually helped bring about meaningful change there.



    Read more:
    Gaza is starving – how Israel’s allies can go beyond words and take meaningful action

    As for Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister is reported to be considering an early election. In previous months this looked like a move freighted with jeopardy. An election loss brought on by a disenchanted electorate, heartbroken at the hostage situation and exhausted by the conflict, would probably mean having to face the charges of corruption which have hung over him for more than five years.

    But recent polls have suggested a bump in popularity following his 12-day campaign against Iran. Netanyahu is nothing if not a clever political manipulator. But Brian Brivati, a professor of contemporary history and human rights at Kingston University, believes that to have a chance of winning, the prime minister will need to fight a campaign on three narratives of his government’s success: securing the release of the hostages, defeating Hamas and delivering regional security. “It is a tall order,” Brivati concludes.



    Read more:
    Israel: Netanyahu considering early election but can he convince people he’s winning the war?

    Anyone following the situation in Gaza over the past 18 months will have encountered Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for Palestine’s occupied territories. For three years she has monitored the human rights situation in Gaza and the West Bank, delivering trenchant criticism of Israel’s conduct and those who, by their inaction – and sometimes contrivance – have enabled it.

    Earlier this months, the US government imposed sanctions on Albanese, because – as US secretary of state Marco Rubio insisted – she has engaged with the International Criminal Court (also subject to US sanctions) “in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel”. Also she has written “threatening letters to dozens of entities worldwide, including major American companies”.

    Alvina Hoffman, an expert in diplomatic affairs and human rights at SOAS, University of London, explains what a special rapporteur does and why their work is so valuable in the defence of human rights.



    Read more:
    The US has sanctioned UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese – here’s why she’s the wrong target

    Dispatches from Ukraine

    To Istanbul, where delegations from Russia and Ukraine met yesterday for their third round of face-to-face talks. All 40 minutes of them. There was another agreement of prisoner swaps and the two sides decided to set up some working groups to look into various political, military and humanitarian issues – but online rather in person.

    The brevity of the talks came as no surprise to Stefan Wolff. Wolff, an expert in international security at the University of Birmingham who has provided commentary for The Conversation throughout the conflict in Ukraine, points out that both sides remain wedded to their maximalist war aims. For Russia, this is for Ukraine to accept Russia’s annexation of Crimea and four provinces of eastern Ukraine, a ban on Ukraine’s membership of Nato and a much reduced military capacity. For Ukraine, it is getting their territory back and Russian acceptance of their national sovereignty, meaning it gets to determine for itself what alliances it seeks.

    Donald Trump has told Vladimir Putin that, if there’s no ceasefire in 50 days, he’ll apply harsh secondary sanctions on the countries buying Russian oil and that he plans to supply Ukraine with American weapons (via Nato’s European member states, that is). Wolff believes both sides will now play the waiting game. They will calculate their next move after September 2, when the 50 days run out, and when they know more about what the US president plans to do.



    Read more:
    Russia-Ukraine talks: both sides play for time and wait for Donald Trump’s 50 days to run out

    Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, faces pressure from his own people. There have been days of protest at his decision to bring two formerly independent anti-corruption organisations under the direct control of the government. He argues that this was necessary to prevent Russian infiltration, while critics are saying that the Ukrainian president has launched a power grab designed to prevent independent investigation of alleged corruption against people close to him.

    Jenny Mathers says these protests, which involve people from all political shades, including people who have fought in the defence of Ukraine since 2022, some with visible injuries, represents a fracture of the “informal agreement between the government and society to show a united front to the world while the war continues”.

    Ukrainians protest after Zelensky signs law clamping down on anticorruption agencies.

    It’s not as if Zelensky is in clear and present danger of losing his job. His party holds a majority of seats in the Ukrainian parliament, so he governs without having to depend on coalition partners. And the country’s constitution prohibits the holding of elections in wartime – whatever Putin, who regularly insists that Zelensky is an illegitimate leader because he is governing past his term limit, might think. Plus his approval rating sits at 65%.

    Zelensky has been quick to soften his stance on this. Mathers says that political corruption is a very sore point in Ukraine, where there was decades of it until the Maidan protests of 2013-14 unseated the pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. As she writes here, “the ‘Revolution of Dignity’ that rejected Yanukovych’s leadership and his policies was also a resounding demonstration of the strength of Ukraine’s civil society and its determination to hold its elected officials to account. Zelensky would be rash not to heed that.

    He also knows it’s important for him to present a squeaky clean image to his supporters in the west. So while the protests may not present an immediate threat to his own position, he knows that unless he acts to root out corruption in Ukraine, it’ll be a threat to the future of the country itself.



    Read more:
    Ukrainian protests: Zelensky faces biggest threat to his presidency since taking power

    But ethicist Marcel Vondermassen from the University of Tübingen believes another recent decision by the Ukrainian government is storing up trouble for the future. Ukraine has recently announced its decision to pull out of the Ottawa convention, the treaty that forbids the use of anti-personnel landmines.

    In doing so, he’s following the example of Finland, Poland, Lithuania and Estonia which have all also quite the treaty in recent months for fear of Russian aggression.

    But as Vondermassen points out, landmines don’t usually switch themselves off when a conflict ends and people are still being killed an maimed in former conflict zones around the world. Often it is farmers at work or children at play who are the victims. If other ways to protect countries from aggression aren’t pursued, as he puts it, in future decades we’ll still be “counting thousands of child casualties … from the landmines laid in the 2020s”.



    Read more:
    Ukraine joins other Russian neighbours in quitting landmines treaty: another deadly legacy in the making

    Thailand-Cambodia: centuries-old dispute flares again

    A dispute between the two south-east Asian countries that has been simmering since May flared into life yesterday when five Thai soldiers patrolling the border region were injured after stepping on a landmine – the second such incident in the past week. Both countries have sealed their border and there have been tit-for-tat ambassadorial expulsions.

    Cambodia fired rockets and artillery into Thailand, killing 12 civilians. Thailand in turn has launched airstrikes against Cambodia. Both countries are blaming the other for starting it.

    Petra Alderman, an expert in south-east Asian politics from London School of Economics and Political Science, traces the origins of this row, which go back to the colonial era in the 19th and early 20th centuries.



    Read more:
    Thailand and Cambodia’s escalating conflict has roots in century-old border dispute

    World Affairs Briefing from The Conversation UK is available as a weekly email newsletter. Click here to get updates directly in your inbox.

    – ref. Gaza and Ukraine are both waiting for action – https://theconversation.com/gaza-and-ukraine-are-both-waiting-for-action-261894

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Nipple-covered sea creatures and aquariums filled with tears – Sea Inside’s alternative perspective on oceans in crisis

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Pandora Syperek, Tutor, History of Design, V&A/Royal College of Art, and Teaching Fellow, Institute for Creative Futures, Loughborough University

    There has been a conspicuous turn to the sea as inspiration for art and exhibitions since the mid-2010s. This is a trend we have charted in our ongoing collaborative research project, Curating the Sea. So prolific has this become, that there are even gallery spaces dedicated entirely to the sea in contemporary art.

    The sea has, of course, been the subject of art throughout history. However, our investigation into contemporary art and exhibitions has revealed a shift from celebrations of oceanic abundance and wonder towards more political projects.

    In our research, we have argued for the importance of curation as a way to confront the issues facing the oceans today. So it was only natural that we turn our hands to curating our own exhibition about the sea, based on our extensive collaborative research.

    Sea Inside is part of the current season at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, which asks, “can the seas survive us?”

    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    Western art has tended to frame the ocean as an unfathomable and formidable force in the tradition of the sublime: art that produces or is inspired by the strongest emotions the mind is capable of feeling, often arising from the encounter with the natural world. Sea Inside counters this perspective. Collectively, artworks in the exhibition portray the sea not as a surreal or alien space, but as an entity that is intimately connected to humans.

    Many Indigenous and diasporic communities have long been aware of the profound human connection to the sea. In our exhibition, Shuvinai Ashoona’s coloured pencil drawings illustrate the intermingling of Inuit mythology with everyday life in the Canadian Arctic. In one scene, mythical marine creatures populate a dentist’s office.

    Meanwhile, Tyler Eash’s sculpture features a shell of the critically endangered abalone mollusc. They are known as “grandmother shells” among North American west coast Indigenous cultures as they are commonly passed down through families by female elders. The work speaks to ties of kinship (human and animal), their fragility and resilience.

    A new sculpture we commissioned by the artist Gabriella Hirst explores tales of men being swallowed by whales alongside the industrial exploitation of whales in the 19th century. This inside-out journey from the whale’s belly to lighting up European cities (as whale blubber was used in oil lamps) aligns the perceived threat of these animals with capitalistic justifications for their slaughter. The sculpture is made from agricultural plastic, itself a product of the petrochemical industry that largely replaced whaling as a source of energy, lighting and everyday objects.

    Beyond eco-realism

    The perspective Sea Inside offers is found not only in the artworks’ subject matter but also their approach.

    There has been a tendency towards a documentary approach within ecologically oriented exhibitions. This risks relegating art to a tool of climate communication and even replicating the sort of technological interventions into the landscape – and seascape – that the respective artworks and exhibitions call into question.

    The artworks in Sea Inside examine the uses and limits of visual mediums for understanding the sea. Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photograph of a natural history diorama reframes this three-dimensional reconstruction of a seabed from hundreds of millions of years before the advent of humans, whereas Kasia Molga’s miniature aquaria entangle human tears and marine life.

    Artists in the exhibition play with historical display practices and their ability to bring ocean life into human spaces while endeavouring to overcome the sense of detachment they have at times created.

    In a video work by El Morgan, the artist aligns jellyfish breeding in a lab with her own experience of assisted reproduction. In doing so she momentarily suspends the distance from such radically different lifeforms and expands our understandings of gestation.

    Likewise, Laure Prouvost’s speculative “cooling system” for global warming – a beautiful Murano glass shower-head that looks like an amorphous sea creature covered in nipples – reimagines models of care as both more-than-human and global.

    Works such as these provide playful and humorous approaches to thinking through a topic with a serious undercurrent: our fragile ocean ecologies.

    The artworks in Sea Inside offer ways of engaging with the existential threats facing our oceans that are emotive, imaginative and often very funny. They reflect on material culture, architecture and technology to acknowledge the aesthetic dimensions of an era that has been termed the Anthropocene, after the human impact on the planet, and even the Hydrocene in recognition of the centrality of water to our current epoch.

    These subtler responses to the sea within offer visions of promise for the oceans’ and our own mutual survival.

    Sea Inside is on show at the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, until October 26 2025.

    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.

    Sarah Wade works in the Department of Art History & World Art Studies, University of East Anglia, based at the Sainsbury Centre. Her ocean related research has received funding from University of East Anglia and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. She is a member of the Museums Association.

    Pandora Syperek 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. Nipple-covered sea creatures and aquariums filled with tears – Sea Inside’s alternative perspective on oceans in crisis – https://theconversation.com/nipple-covered-sea-creatures-and-aquariums-filled-with-tears-sea-insides-alternative-perspective-on-oceans-in-crisis-260146

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Online Safety Act: what are the new measures to protect children on social media?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jess Scott-Lewis, PhD Candidate, Sheffield Institute of Social Sciences, Sheffield Hallam University

    MNStudio/Shutterstock

    Technology platforms operating in the UK now have a legal duty to protect young people from some of the more dangerous forms of online content. This includes pornography, content that encourages, promotes, or provides instructions for violence, promotion of self-harm and eating disorders. Those failing to comply face hefty fines.

    Until now, parents have had the unenviable role of navigating web content filters and app activity management to guard their children from harmful content. As of 25 July 2025, the Online Safety Actputs greater responsibility on platforms and content creators themselves.

    In theory, this duty requires tech organisations to curb some of the features that make social media so popular. These include changing the configuration of the algorithms that analyse a user’s typical behaviour and offer content that other people like them usually engage with.

    This is because the echo chambers that these algorithms create can push young people towards unwanted (and crucially, unsolicited) content, such as incel-related material.

    The Online Safety Act directly acknowledges the impact of algorithms in targeting content to young people. It forms a key part of Ofcom’s proposed solutions. The act requires platforms to adjust their algorithms to filter out content likely to be harmful to young people.

    It’s yet to become clear exactly how tech companies will respond. There has been pushback over negative attitudes to algorithms, though. A response from Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, to Ofcom’s 2024 consultation on protecting children from harms online counters the idea that “recommender systems are inherently harmful”.

    It states: “Algorithms help to sort information and to create better experiences online and are designed to help recommend content that might be interesting, timely or entertaining. Algorithms also help to personalise a user’s experience, and help connect a user with their friends, family and interests. Most importantly, we use algorithms to help young people have age-appropriate experiences on our apps.”

    Age verification

    A further safety measure is the use of age checks. Here, Ofcom is enforcing platforms to make “robust age checks” and, in the case of the most serious of content creation sites, these must be “highly effective”.

    Users will need to prove their age. Traditionally, age-verification checks involve the submission of government-issued documents – often accompanied by a short video to verify the accuracy of the submission. There have been technological advances which some platforms are embracing. Age-estimation services involve uploading a short video or photo selfie which is analysed by AI.



    Read more:
    Porn websites now require age verification in the UK – the privacy and security risks are numerous

    Age verification can include uploading a selfie that is analysed by AI.
    Miljan Zivkovic/Shutterstock

    If enforced, the Online Safety Act may not only restrict access to pornography and other recognised extreme content, but it could also help stem the flow of knife sales.

    Research shows exposure to knife crime news on social media is linked to symptoms similar to PTSD. Research by one of us (Charlotte Coleman) and colleagues has previously shown that negative effects of seeing knife imagery may be more severe for girls and those who already feel unsafe.

    Even on strongly regulated platforms, though, some harmful material can seep through the algorithm and age checks net. Active moderation is therefore a further requirement of the act. This means platforms need to have processes in place to look at user-generated content, assess the potential harm and remove it if appropriate to ensure swift action is taken against content harmful to children.

    This may be through proactive moderation (assessing content before it is published), reactive moderation based on user reports, or more likely, a combination of the two.

    Even with these changes, invisible online spaces remain. A host of private, encrypted end-to-end messaging services, such as messages on Whatsapp and snaps on Snapchat, are impenetrable to Ofcom and the platform managers, and rightly so. It is a vital fundamental right that people are free to communicate with their friends and family privately without fear of monitoring or moderation.

    However, that right may also be abused. Negative content, bullying and threats may also be circulated through these services. This remains a significant problem to be addressed and one that is not currently solved by the Online Safety Act.

    These invisible online spaces may be an area that, for now, will remain in the hands of parents and carers to monitor and protect. It is clear that there are still many challenges ahead.

    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.

    Charlotte Coleman has previously received funding from UKRI to understand the negative online experiences of UK police staff.

    Jess Scott-Lewis 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. Online Safety Act: what are the new measures to protect children on social media? – https://theconversation.com/online-safety-act-what-are-the-new-measures-to-protect-children-on-social-media-261126

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Always on, always tired, sometimes rude – how to avoid the ‘triple-peak trap’ of modern work

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Marc Fullman, Docotoral Researcher in Organisational Behaviour, University of Sussex Business School, University of Sussex

    A groaning inbox by 6am? Nanci Santos Iglesias/Shutterstock

    If your first task of the day is triaging a bulging inbox at 6am, you are not alone. A recent Microsoft report headlined “Breaking down the infinite workday” found that 40% of Microsoft 365 users online at this hour are already scanning their emails – and that an average worker will receive 117 emails before the clock rolls around to midnight.

    But that’s not all. By 8am, Microsoft Teams notifications outstrip email for most workers, and the typical employee is hit with 153 chat messages during the day.

    The report states that, while meetings swallow the prime 9am–11am focus window, interruptions arrive every two minutes throughout the day. This perpetual work overload means a third of professionals reopen their inbox to answer more emails at 10pm.

    In short, Microsoft’s telemetry of this “triple-peak” day (first thing, mid-morning and late at night) paints a vivid picture of a work rhythm that never stops.

    From an occupational psychology perspective, these statistics are more than curious trivia. They signal a cluster of psychosocial hazards.

    Boundary Theory holds that recovery depends on clear and solid boundaries – both psychologically and in terms of time – between work and the rest of life. Microsoft’s findings show those limits dissolving. This includes 29% of users checking email after 10pm.

    Similarly, a four-day diary study of Dutch professionals found that heavier after-hours smartphone use predicted poorer psychological detachment and exhaustion the next day.

    This can have wider consequences. When people are busy, rushed or harried, one of the first things to suffer is their regulation of online behaviour. Large-scale survey research shows that ambiguous or curt digital messages occur when we are depleted. These can obviously sap wellbeing in recipients.

    In a 2024 study of workers in the UK and Italy, incivility in emails between colleagues predicted work-life conflict and exhaustion via “techno-invasion”, as workers reported being exposed to an ongoing torrent of unpleasant messaging.

    So-called ‘techno-invasion’ could lead to work-life conflict and emotional exhaustion.
    fizkes/Shutterstock

    My ongoing doctoral research examines how workers respond to messages they receive, and exposes the nuance on different communication platforms. Among the 300 UK workers involved, identical messages were rated as more uncivil on email than on Teams, particularly when they were informal. Frustration on the part of a recipient (in terms of how they interpret a message) accounted for nearly 50% of perceived incivility on email, but only 30% on Teams.

    These findings suggest that choice of platform significantly influences how messages are received and interpreted. Using these insights, organisations can make informed decisions about communication channels, and potentially reduce workplace stress and improve employee wellbeing in the process.

    Microsoft suggests that AI “agent bosses” will rescue workers. These tools could summarise inboxes, draft replies and free up humans for higher-order work.

    The data, however, exposes a cultural contradiction. Managers tell staff to switch off, yet their appraisal spreadsheets tell a different story. In one set of experiments, the same bosses who praised weekend digital detoxing also ranked the detoxers as less promotable than colleagues who were glued to their inboxes.

    Little wonder Microsoft’s own data shows the same late-night peak, despite widespread wellbeing guidance to switch off after hours. Without changing how commitment is signalled and rewarded, faster tools risk accelerating the treadmill rather than dismantling it.

    What organisations can do

    1. Individual level – let people feel they have control

    Encourage “quiet hours” and teach employees to disable non-urgent notifications. Boundary-control research shows that when workers feel they have control over connectivity, it creates a buffer against fatigue caused by after-hours email.

    2. Team level – communication charters

    Teams should agree explicit norms for communication. This could include capping the numbers invited to meetings and insisting on agendas. Simple charters along these lines restore predictability for workers and cut “decision fatigue”.

    3. Organisational level – redesign metrics

    Organisations could shift from visibility (green dots and instant replies) to outcome-based metrics for productivity. This removes the incentive for workers to stay online and aligns with evidence that autonomy is a key resource.

    4. Technological level – AI for elimination, not acceleration

    Workplaces should deploy AI assistants to remove low-value tasks (for example, sorting email or drafting minutes), not just speed them up. Then they should conduct workload audits to ensure the time saved is reinvested in deep work, not simply swallowed up by extra meetings.

    The Microsoft dataset is enormous, but there are two important points to note. First, European jurisdictions with “right to disconnect” laws may be missing from the figures. Second, some metrics (for example, interruptions) are calculated on the most active fifth of users, potentially overstating a typical experience.

    But if the numbers in Microsoft’s report feel familiar, that is precisely the point. The technology designed to liberate workers is now scripting their day minute-by-minute. Occupational psychology researchers warn that without deliberate boundary setting, rising digital job demands will continue to tax wellbeing and dull performance.

    AI can be a circuit breaker, but only if it is accompanied by cultural and structural change that gives employees permission to disconnect.

    The infinite workday is not a law of nature, it is a design flaw. Fixing it will take more than faster software – it will demand a collective decision to prize focus, recovery and civility as fiercely as workers currently prize availability.

    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.

    Marc Fullman 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. Always on, always tired, sometimes rude – how to avoid the ‘triple-peak trap’ of modern work – https://theconversation.com/always-on-always-tired-sometimes-rude-how-to-avoid-the-triple-peak-trap-of-modern-work-261514

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Why it matters who owns a newspaper

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Steven Barnett, Professor of Communications, University of Westminster

    Steve Travelguide/Shutterstock

    The House of Lords this week approved government legislation that will allow foreign states to hold up to a 15% stake in British newspaper publishers.

    This vote clears the way for the American investment company Redbird to take control of the troubled Telegraph newspaper group following two years of uncertainty. An integral element of that bid is a 15% stake by the sovereign investment fund IMI which is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates.

    The heated Lords debate raised fundamental questions about who should own newspapers, and the link between ownership and editorial content. On one side were those who argued that Britain’s newspapers faced an “existential threat” without outside investment. On the other were those who warned against the potential influence of a foreign power on one of the UK’s longest standing publishers.

    Media mergers and acquisitions are often contentious. But given the parlous state of the newspaper industry, they are likely to become more frequent.

    A very different kind of newspaper deal was completed last December, when news website Tortoise Media bought The Observer. Tortoise, which was founded in 2018 by former Times editor and BBC director of news James Harding, startled analysts and journalists alike by taking over a newspaper first published in 1791.

    The deal prompted strong opposition from some Observer and Guardian journalists. But from a business perspective, the deal suited both sides.

    The Scott Trust, owners of the Observer since 1993, never seemed wholly committed to the Observer. (There was, for example, no dedicated Observer website). Tortoise, meanwhile, was keen to exploit the brand values of an established print product. It saw the Observer as a suitable vehicle for its approach of news analysis and explanation rather than breaking stories.

    The media world has also been fixated on the succession story of the Murdoch family and its implications for his UK newspapers. The Sun, News of the World (until its closure in 2011), the Times and Sunday Times have been the bedrock of Rupert Murdoch’s economic and political power in the UK for decades.

    In December, he lost the battle to give his eldest son Lachlan exclusive control of his media empire.

    Speculation has grown as to whether any of Rupert’s progeny will want to continue the family’s print tradition after his death. His empire has suffered repeated financial and reputational hits since the phone hacking scandal. It is perfectly feasible that, once he goes, all the Murdoch press interests will be up for sale.

    These various battles beg the question: why does it matter who owns a newspaper? In short, it matters because ownership, to a large extent, determines content.

    Who owns the news?

    From the very beginning of printed news, proprietors have exercised control over their title’s political direction and journalistic values. Prewar Britain saw Lord Beaverbrook famously exploiting his Express newspapers to campaign for free trade within the British empire.

    Meanwhile, fellow newspaper baron Lord Rothermere turned his Mail newspapers into propaganda sheets for Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts, and cheerleaders for Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini during the 1930s.

    The Rothermere family’s continued ownership of the Mail has guaranteed a consistent anti-immigration, anti-Europe rightwing worldview to the present day. How this consistent framing has been transmitted through the Mail’s editors has been well documented by journalist Adrian Addison.

    Murdoch’s UK newspaper empire has also pursued his personal free market, anti-EU political vision. He has used his papers to attack the publicly funded BBC and the regulator Ofcom. Murdoch has, however, been slightly more flexible in adjusting his papers’ party political allegiance (guaranteeing a succession of prime ministerial genuflections from Margaret Thatcher through to Keir Starmer).

    At the other end of the political spectrum, the Scott Trust – owners of the Guardian – was conceived by the son of C.P. Scott as a vehicle for sustaining his father’s liberal mission for the paper. It has a policy of no editorial interference, apart from continuing the paper’s editorial policy on “the same lines and in the same spirit as heretofore”. Editors are therefore enjoined to focus on the kind of progressive news agenda championed by Scott.

    The trust model allows a level of freedom from traditional commercial oversight. Editors can pursue the Guardian’s well-established liberal tradition without worrying about shareholders driven by short-term profit maximisation, or an individual owner with a specific ideological agenda. This partly explains the hostility of Observer journalists to the Tortoise takeover.

    Why it matters

    The Lords debate focused on the risks of foreign state investment in British newspapers. But all commercial ownership models – and all owners – have their problems. Whether it be greedy shareholders, a power-hungry narcissist, an ideologically-driven family or a foreign state seeking influence in the UK, commercial models all involve editorial compromises.

    One approach to the problems raised by commercial ownership is an insistence, through legislation, on a plurality of owners. But this is increasingly difficult in an industry whose traditional advertising-funded business model is under severe pressure. This context is precisely why the Telegraph’s new owner was desperate to access IMI funds.

    Upmarket publications such as the Financial Times and the Times can monetise subscriptions, but paywalls discourage easy access and diminish journalistic reach. Subscriptions are also a much less attractive proposition for tabloids whose readers are less willing to pay.

    Another approach is to diversify ownership models. Non-profit and charitable publishers, such as OpenDemocracy or the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, can leverage donations and are less vulnerable to the whims of corporate owners or powerful individuals. But this model is much less developed in the UK than the US.

    I and colleagues have argued elsewhere that there are strong arguments for making charitable journalism easier. These models can enhance journalistic freedom, but they also come with potential downsides that need to be acknowledged.

    All these options presuppose, of course, that newspapers and their online sites still have sufficient relevance and reach for us to continue to worry about ownership at all – a topic for another article.

    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.

    Steven Barnett is on the management and editorial boards of the British Journalism Review. He is a member of the British Broadcasting Challenge which campaigns for Public Service Broadcasting. He is on the Advisory Board of the Charitable Journalism Project which campaigns for public interest journalism and on the board of Hacked Off which campaigns for a free and accountable press.

    – ref. Why it matters who owns a newspaper – https://theconversation.com/why-it-matters-who-owns-a-newspaper-257785

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI: Mark Cuban Foundation Launches 2025 AI Bootcamps

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    DALLAS, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Mark Cuban Foundation today announced significant updates and a nationwide expansion of its free AI Bootcamps, designed to bring advanced artificial intelligence education to underserved high school students and educators. The program will operate in 29 cities across the U.S. this fall, reinforcing the foundation’s commitment to closing the digital divide and nurturing future innovators.

    Applications are now open for high school students (grades 9–12) and educators interested in the Teacher Bootcamp, a year-long, free professional development initiative. The AI Bootcamps are open to all high school students, and prioritize accepting girls, students of color, first-generation college-goers, and students from low-income backgrounds. Applications will be accepted through September 30, 2025.

    “As AI becomes an integral part of daily life, it’s essential that all young people have access to this powerful technology,” said Mark Cuban, Founder of the Mark Cuban Foundation. “Our goal is to ensure that every interested student, regardless of background or resources, can explore AI and its limitless possibilities.”

    The updated curriculum includes hands-on experience with generative AI tools, modules on ethical AI, and specialized tracks covering healthcare, arts and entertainment, business and entrepreneurship, computer science, sports science, and future readiness. Participants will complete capstone projects under mentorship from industry professionals. Additionally, each location will now have a dedicated Teacher Fellow to further enhance educational outcomes and community involvement. Applications for the Teacher Fellowship program open in January.

    All student bootcamps will take place over three Saturdays (November 1, 8, and 15, 2025, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.), with meals, transportation assistance, and technology provided at no cost.

    Charlotte Dungan, Chief Learning Officer at the Mark Cuban Foundation, emphasized, “By equipping underserved students and educators with practical AI skills and ethical insights, we’re actively working toward equity in education and preparing young people for the future.”

    Confirmed 2025 Bootcamp Locations:

    • Arizona: Tempe
    • California: Mountain View
    • Colorado: Denver
    • Connecticut: Hartford
    • Florida: Melbourne, Miami
    • Georgia: Atlanta
    • Illinois: Chicago
    • Indiana: Fort Wayne, Indianapolis
    • Iowa: Johnston (Des Moines area)
    • Kansas: Hutchinson
    • Michigan: Pontiac
    • Minnesota: Minneapolis
    • Missouri: St. Louis
    • Nebraska: Omaha
    • New York: New York City
    • North Carolina: Charlotte, Raleigh
    • Ohio: Cleveland
    • Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
    • Rhode Island: Providence
    • Texas: Houston, Richardson, San Antonio, Plano
    • Utah: Salt Lake City
    • Virginia: Richmond

    Key local partnerships include Girls Inc. in San Antonio, Miami Dade College in Florida, Electric Works in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Perficient in St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Plano, TX.

    Since 2019, the Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamp has successfully provided AI education to thousands of students in over 30 cities nationwide. The Teacher Fellowship, which began in March 2025 and runs through May 2026, supports 30 selected educators with stipends, mentorship, and national opportunities to showcase their achievements. Teacher Bootcamps have participants in 48 states and impact over 100,000 students.

    Interested students and educators can apply for bootcamps now at markcubanai.org. 

    Companies interested in hosting a future bootcamp can complete our interest form.

    Watch Mark Cuban’s message about Mark Cuban Foundation’s AI bootcamps and access the full media kit here.

    This bootcamp is facilitated with support from Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamp Program’s media partner, Notified, a globally trusted technology partner for investor relations, public relations and marketing professionals.

    About Mark Cuban Foundation’s AI Bootcamp Initiative
    The Mark Cuban Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private non-profit led by entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban. The AI Bootcamps Program at MCF seeks to inspire young people with emerging technology so that they can create more equitable futures for themselves and their communities. Over 3 consecutive Saturdays, underserved 9th – 12th grade students learn what AI is and isn’t, where they already interact with AI in their own lives, the ethical implications of AI systems, and much more. Learn more about the no-cost AI Bootcamp program at markcubanai.org.

    Media Contact:
    bishop.wash@markcubanai.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Arterial Cannula Recall: Edwards Lifesciences Removes Arterial Cannula due to Risk of Wire Exposure

    Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 3

    This recall involves removing devices from where they are used or sold. The FDA has identified this recall as the most serious type. This device may cause serious injury or death if you continue to use it.
    Affected Product

    Product Family
    Model Number
    UDI-DI

    OptiSite Arterial Perfusion Cannula
    OPTI16
    00690103180558

    OptiSite Arterial Perfusion Cannula 
    OPTI18
    00690103180565

    Peripheral Femoral Arterial Cannula
    FEMII016A
    00690103031232

    Peripheral Femoral Arterial Cannula
    FEMII016AS
    00690103168341

    Peripheral Femoral Arterial Cannula
    FEMII018A
    00690103031256

    Peripheral Femoral Arterial Cannula
    FEMII018AS
    00690103168358

    What to Do
    Do not use the identified affected products listed in the table above.

    On May 16, 2025, Edwards Lifesciences began sending all affected customers a “Field Corrective Action #192” letter recommending the following actions:

    Search your inventory for and remove the affected product.
    Share this notice with appropriate clinical staff at your site.
    Ensure no patient follow-up or notification is necessary.
    Work with your Edwards enableCV (eCV) Representative to return affected product and receive a credit.
    Distributors should notify all customers who have purchased the affected product by sending the customer notification they received.

    Reason for Recall
    Edwards Lifesciences has identified occurrences in which a 3mm to 4mm section of wire, from the wire-reinforcement coil at the cannula tip of the OptiSite Arterial Perfusion Cannula devices, was found to be exposed (released from the cannula body). Since some Femoral Arterial Cannula models are made of the same components as the impacted OptiSite Arterial Perfusion Cannula, Edwards has included those Femoral Arterial Cannula models as affected product to be removed from use.
    Risks to the patient of using the affected product with exposed wire include major tissue damage, puncturing the artery which could cause bleeding, inadequate perfusion, and hemolysis.
    As of May 20, 2025, Edwards Lifesciences has not reported any serious injuries or deaths associated with this issue.
    Device Use
    The Edwards Lifesciences arterial perfusion cannulae are indicated for adult patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass. They are intended to provide arterial perfusion of oxygenated blood in the extracorporeal circuit for up to six hours.
    Contact Information
    Customers in the U.S. with adverse reactions, quality problems, or questions about this recall should contact their Edwards eCV Representative or Edwards Customer Service at FCA_ECV@edwards.com or 888-943-2783.
    Unique Device Identifier (UDI)
    The unique device identifier (UDI) helps identify individual medical devices sold in the United States from distribution to use. The UDI allows for more accurate reporting, reviewing, and analyzing of adverse event reports so that devices can be identified more quickly, and as a result, problems potentially resolved more quickly.

    How do I report a problem?
    Health care professionals and consumers may report adverse reactions or quality problems they experienced using these devices to MedWatch: The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program.

    Content current as of:
    07/24/2025

    Regulated Product(s)

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Innovation Saskatchewan Issues Request for Proposal for West Galleria Redevelopment Project to Advance Research Strategy Priority Sectors

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Released on July 24, 2025

    Innovation Saskatchewan has released a Request for Proposal (RFP) to support the construction of the West Galleria Redevelopment project at its Research and Technology (R+T) Park in Saskatoon.  

    The project will transform the west wing of the Galleria building into a purpose-built space for scaling companies in priority sectors identified in Saskatchewan’s Research Strategy agriculture, life sciences, energy and mining and critical minerals. It aims to accelerate commercialization, strengthen the innovation pipeline and support companies on the path to manufacturing.  

    “Saskatchewan is an established hub for innovation,” Minister Responsible for Innovation Saskatchewan Warren Kaeding said. “We are building on the strengths and opportunities to support our priority sectors’ needs to scale and succeed. This project is about investing in spaces that help Saskatchewan companies scale, collaborate and drive economic growth.”  

    Scaling companies in these sectors often face longer development timelines and more complex growth challenges compared to other early-stage, innovating companies due to the physical infrastructure required for testing, validation and production. These factors can slow innovation and deter investment.  

    By identifying specialized space and shared infrastructure, Innovation Saskatchewan aims to help close this gap, reduce risk for scaling companies and help innovators focus on delivering global solutions.  

    “We are adapting our R+T Parks to meet the unique and evolving needs of the ecosystem,” Innovation Saskatchewan CEO Kari Harvey said. “This redevelopment aligns with Saskatchewan’s Research Strategy and will create the infrastructure needed to elevate our province’s leadership in research and technological innovation.”  

    The West Galleria Redevelopment project was a key initiative of the agency’s 2024-25 Budget and directly supports Saskatchewan’s 2030 Growth Plan goal to triple the growth of the tech sector.  

    The project will leverage approximately 44,000 square feet of space and is anticipated to accommodate five to eight scaling companies and will include specialized facilities like a shared laboratory and pilot plant that are critical but largely inaccessible to priority sector companies at this growth stage.  

    The RFP outlines details relating to criteria, process, timelines and other relevant information, and can be found at www.sasktenders.ca. 

    The submission deadline is Aug. 21, 2025 at 2 p.m. 

    -30-

    For more information, contact:

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congressional AI Caucus Democrats’ Statement on President Trump’s AI Action Plan and AI Executive Orders

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Don Beyer (D-VA)

    Congressional Artificial Intelligence (AI) Caucus Chair Don Beyer (D-VA), Vice Chair Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Democratic Members of the Caucus Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Valerie Foushee (D-NC), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Sarah McBride (D-DE), Jim McGovern (D-MA), and Rob Menendez (D-NJ) today issued the following statement on the Trump Administration’s AI Action Plan and executive orders on AI:

    “We are deeply concerned about the impacts of President Trump’s AI Action Plan and the executive orders announced yesterday. 

    “The President’s Executive Order on “Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government” and policies on ‘AI neutrality’ are counterproductive to responsible AI development and use, and potentially dangerous. To be clear, we support true AI neutrality—AI models trained on facts and science—but the administration’s fixation on ‘anti-woke’ inputs is definitionally not neutral. This sends a clear message to AI developers: align with Trump’s ideology or pay the price. We have already seen private technology companies rewarded for catering to the Administration, including the Administration awarding a wildly inappropriate $200 million Pentagon contract for Elon Musk’s Grok AI despite that platform’s recent history of racist misinformation, antisemitism, and support for Adolf Hitler – which were prompted by the very ‘anti-woke’ training this order envisions.

    “We are also alarmed by the absence of regulatory structure in this AI Action Plan to ensure the responsible development, deployment, or use of AI models, and the apparent targeting of state-level regulations. As AI is integrated with daily life and tech leaders develop more powerful models, such as Artificial General Intelligence, responsible innovation must go hand in hand with appropriate safety guardrails.  In the absence of any meaningful federal alternative, our states are taking the lead in embracing common-sense safeguards to protect the public, build consumer trust, and ensure innovation and competition can continue to thrive. We are deeply concerned that the AI Action Plan would open the door to forcing states to forfeit their ability to protect the public from the escalating risks of AI, by jeopardizing states’ ability to access critical federal funding. And instead of providing a sorely needed federal regulatory framework that promotes safe model development, deployment, and use, Trump’s plan simultaneously limits states and creates a ‘wild west’ for tech companies, giving them free rein to develop and deploy models with no accountability. 

    “Finally, we are concerned about the implications of the Executive Order on ‘Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure’ for energy costs, demand on the grid, and the environment. AI training and inferencing have already driven up energy demand in the U.S, with ratepayers seeing higher utility prices due to the development of data centers. Trump recently signed partisan legislation that will significantly undercut clean energy projects, driving up costs and leaving us more reliant on dirty, polluting energy sources – trends which this plan will worsen considerably. At a time when Trump himself has increased the need for energy efficiency in AI development and deployment, this plan will do the opposite while increasing harm on the environment.

    “While there are policies in the Action Plan that we agree with, including support for AI-driven science, improving AI evaluations and providing testing resources, and putting our American workforce first, we are deeply concerned about the partisan policies included in the Action Plan and Executive Orders that poison what should have been a good-faith, non-partisan effort. We will closely monitor the implementation of these policies, and will continue to advocate for the responsible development, deployment, and use of AI.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Thailand and Cambodia’s escalating conflict has roots in century-old border dispute

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Petra Alderman, Manager of the Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science

    There has been a dramatic escalation in a long-running border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. On July 23, five Thai soldiers from a border patrol unit in Ubon Ratchathani province were seriously injured after stepping on a land mine – a second such incident in a week.

    This prompted the Thai government to expel Cambodia’s ambassador from the country and recall its own ambassador from Cambodia. The following morning, Cambodia retaliated by expelling the Thai ambassador and recalling its embassy staff from Bangkok. Both sides have exchanged increasingly lethal fire.

    Cambodia has fired rockets and artillery across the Thai border into several provinces, killing at least 11 civilians and one soldier. Thailand launched air strikes at Cambodia in return, reportedly targeting military bases in the disputed area around the Preah Vihear Hindu temple. Verified information is currently scarce as both sides are blaming each other for starting the fight.

    The current flare-up started in late May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a exchange of fire between the two armies. But the roots of the conflict date back to the colonial era in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

    Before European powers expanded their colonial interests to south-east Asia, the concept of a bordered nation-state was alien to local rulers. Life in pre-colonial south-east Asia was organised into loosely structured polities that had no clear boundaries.

    There were several larger cities, which served as important centres of power and trade, and many smaller towns and villages that maintained relations with these cities. The further these towns and villages were from the cities, the less control and influence the cities had over them.

    The British and French introduced the concept of nations with borders to mainland south-east Asia, drawing the first official maps of Thailand (then known as Siam) and Cambodia. In the case of Thailand, the only south-east Asian nation never to be formally colonised, the mapping was also done at the request of the Siamese kings.

    Thailand’s current borders were shaped by several different maps and treaties that followed the 1893 Paknam incident, during which two French gunboats sailed up the Chao Praya River and blockaded Bangkok.

    To preserve its sovereignty as an emerging nation, Siam ceded considerable territorial claims to France after this incident. This included several provinces in present-day Cambodia, which are home to ancient temples.

    A 1907 map drawn by the French defined these territories, although with a considerable degree of vagueness. The map became a sore point in Cambodia-Thai relations following Cambodia’s independence in 1953, especially in regard to disputes over the Preah Vihear temple.

    Preah Vihear temple

    Following France’s withdrawal from south-east Asia in 1954, Thailand occupied Preah Vihear. Cambodia raised the issue of Thai occupation with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia based on the French map. Thailand reluctantly accepted the ruling, but continued to dispute the area surrounding the temple.

    The conflict flared up again in 2008 when the UN world heritage body Unesco awarded the temple world heritage status. Cambodia’s application initially received support from the then new Thai government of prime minister Samak Sundaravej, a close ally of the recently ousted Thaksin Shinawatra.

    Anti-Thaksin groups used the government’s support to drive an ultra-nationalist campaign against the Samak government. This eventually contributed to large-scale domestic political protests that saw Samak’s government and that of his successor, Somchai Wongsawat, both ousted from power in 2008 in a series of judicial coups.

    The period from 2008 to 2011 was marked by high tensions between the two countries, with sporadic armed clashes between their respective armies in the areas surrounding the temple.

    The newly appointed Thai government of Abhisit Vejjajiva was sympathetic towards the ultra-nationalist anti-Thaksin groups. So there was no de-escalation of the conflict from the Thai side. Hun Sen, who was then Cambodia’s prime minister, also benefited from the conflict as it helped buttress his nationalist credentials.

    But a particularly violent round of armed clashes followed in February 2011, resulting in at least eight civilian fatalities, 20 injured soldiers and many displaced civilians on both sides. Hun Sen then raised the issue of Cambodian sovereignty over the temple and its surrounding area with the ICJ.

    The ICJ issued a provisional ruling favouring Cambodia and ordered both sides to withdraw military personnel from the area. Despite the initial refusal of Thai troops to leave, the two countries agreed to withdraw their forces in December 2011.

    The final ICJ ruling came in late 2013, again affirming Cambodia’s sovereignty of the area. It coincided with another period of domestic political instability in Thailand. The government of Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin’s younger sister, was facing mass public protests from anti-Thaksin groups.

    While the ruling did not play a decisive role in the eventual downfall of her government, it added fuel to the already explosive political environment. The border conflict went largely dormant after the 2013 ICJ ruling, until the new round of clashes broke out in May 2025.

    Thai and Cambodian troops have periodically clashed in the area surrounding the Preah Vihear temple.
    Kim Za / Shutterstock

    Given the history of tensions and armed disputes over territory between Cambodia and Thailand, the recent escalation is not without precedent. What is new, though, is that this round is as much between two countries as it is between two ruling families.

    Over the past 20 years, a close personal relationship formed between Hun Sen and Thaksin. But this relationship unravelled when Hun Sen, who remains a hugely influential figure in Cambodian politics, released a private audio recording of his call with Thaksin’s daughter, Paetongtarn. The leak put her premiership on the line.

    Paetongtarn has since been suspended from office pending a court ruling, with Cambodia-Thai relations reaching new lows. Given the intermixing of personal animosities, a quick diplomatic resolution to the escalating conflict seems unlikely.



    Read more:
    A border conflict may cost the Thai prime minister her job

    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.

    Petra Alderman 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. Thailand and Cambodia’s escalating conflict has roots in century-old border dispute – https://theconversation.com/thailand-and-cambodias-escalating-conflict-has-roots-in-century-old-border-dispute-261873

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Ukraine joins other Russian neighbours in quitting landmines treaty: another deadly legacy in the making

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Marcel Vondermassen, Scientific Coordinator and Deputy Executive Manager of the IZEW, University of Tübingen

    Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, recently signed a decree to withdraw from the Ottawa convention banning the use of anti-personnel landmines. This move follows the example of Finland, Poland, Estonia and Lithuania, who all quit the treaty in recent months.

    The logic behind these states withdrawing from the treaty is mostly because of the threat posed by Russia. At first glance landmines seem like a cost-effective way to deter or slow an invader. Proponents see them as a necessary evil to protect national sovereignty against the threat from a much larger conventional force deployed by an aggressive neighbour.

    But this short-term thinking can be dangerous, because it doesn’t consider the long-term cost of putting explosive devices into the ground. According to the Landmine Monitor for 2024, more than 110,000 people were killed by landmines and explosive remnants of war in the past 25 years, and over 5,700 died just last year. Eight out of ten of those killed were civilians, many of whom were children.

    Sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter from The Conversation UK. Every Thursday we’ll bring you expert analysis of the big stories in international relations.

    Although it is cheap to lay landmines, demining is expensive and creates a financial burden for future generations. The UN estimates that it can cost between five and 100 times more to clear a mine than to lay one, depending on the circumstances.

    In Angola, for example, demining efforts continue nearly 50 years after the civil war broke out and 23 years after it ended. Encouragingly, Angola has reduced the threat with help of Halo Trust, a UK-based nongovernmental organisation. In 30 years they destroyed over 123,000 landmines. But to get Angola landmine free will require about US$240 million (£177 million) in additional funding.

    While Angola aims to be landmine-free within a few years, the current scale of contamination in Ukraine will pose a deadly hazard to civilians for generations, as Sarah Njeri – a landmines expert at SOAS, University of London, wrote in 2023.

    Looking through the prism of peace

    What Europe needs today is better analysis and more public awareness of the current crisis and its long-term effects. This is a tricky task, especially for the media, because the violence is “asynchronous”. This means that mines can be laid years before anyone is harmed by them. It’s important to have open and honest conversations in public so that both politicians and the public have something clear and trustworthy to rely on when making these fateful decisions.

    This means accepting that the concerns of the Baltic nations, Poland and Finland are valid. Their actions are a response the threat posed by Russia and the uncertainty surrounding America’s future role on the world stage. But there’s also an opportunity. Nobody in these countries takes the decision to use landmines lightly. This means, that if their European allies can provide credible security guarantees, these countries might change their plans.

    Nevertheless, the Peace Report 2025, compiled by four leading German peace research institutes, highlights that this way of thinking remains rooted in a military mindset. The planned increase in military budgets among Nato countries should be complemented by greater investment in diplomacy, peace research and peace building.

    The Peace Report lists nine recommendations for a more peaceful world, which are not pacifist. They recognise the need to close the gaps in European defence capabilities – but this is not enough. To create a peaceful Europe the legitimate security interests of all sides need to be considered. This includes Russia. At the same time, the report emphasises the need to strengthen, not weaken, the rules-based order. Abandoning the Ottawa treaty will further weaken that order.

    Withdrawing from the landmine treaty is not just a military calculation, and it affects more than just eastern European countries. It’s an issue that presents a real challenge to Europe as a whole. Laying mines would litter future farmland and forests with an indiscriminate threat that recognises no ceasefire and cannot distinguish friend from enemy, combatant from civilian or adult from child.

    If we don’t learn from the past, future reports will still be counting thousands of child casualties, but from the landmines laid in the 2020s.

    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.

    Marcel Vondermassen 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. Ukraine joins other Russian neighbours in quitting landmines treaty: another deadly legacy in the making – https://theconversation.com/ukraine-joins-other-russian-neighbours-in-quitting-landmines-treaty-another-deadly-legacy-in-the-making-261684

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Gaza is starving – how Israel’s allies can go beyond words and take meaningful action

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Simon Mabon, Professor of International Relations, Lancaster University

    In the past two months, more than 1,000 people seeking food have been killed, according to the UN Human Rights Office. While the figure has been disputed by Israel and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation which was set up to distribute aid, 28 nations this week condemned the “horrifying” killing of Gazans trying to get food.

    As the Israel Defense Forces continues its assault in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, including an attack on the staff residence of the World Health Organization on July 21, UN bodies are warning that the besieged strip’s last lifelines are collapsing.

    Already around 60,000 Gazans have been killed and growing numbers are now dying from hunger and malnutrition, according to the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry. More than 90% of the private homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.

    For all the talk of a ceasefire – one that is long overdue – there is little hope. Israeli military operations continue and Gazans must risk their lives in search of food and aid.

    Sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter from The Conversation UK. Every Thursday we’ll bring you expert analysis of the big stories in international relations.

    Malnutrition is rife. According to the IPC’s report in May – the international organisation that monitors food security – “goods indispensable for people’s survival are either depleted or expected to run out in the coming weeks” with nearly 500,000 people considered to be facing “catastrophe”, with a further 1.1 million in an “emergency” risk category.

    For the IPC, the catastrophe category is one of extreme food shortages, critical malnutrition leading to starvation and high death rates. The emergency category is one of severe food shortages, very high malnutrition and even death.

    Israeli officials continue to speak of moving Gazans into what has been termed a “humanitarian city” but what former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert described as a “concentration camp”. In the same interview Olmert called decision to move Gazans into the camp as “ethnic cleansing”.

    All the while, the world’s leaders look on. Most are apparently content to condemn – but little action has been taken.

    The clamour for Israel’s allies to take a harder stance on its actions in Gaza is growing louder by the day. On July 23, a group of 38 former EU ambassadors published an open letter to EU heads of states and senior officials accusing Israel of taking “calculated steps towards ethnic cleansing” and calling out the EU’s failure to “respond meaningfully to these horrific events”.

    But what do actions look like? Pressure must be applied to the Netanyahu government. In the UK, both prime minister Keir Starmer and foreign minister David Lammy have been quick to stress that the UK has urged Israel to respect international law.

    They point to the sanctions the UK has imposed on Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, two rightwing ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, as a result of their repeated incitements of violence against Palestinians. While Lammy suggests that further sanctions could follow if Israel does not change its behaviour in Gaza and bring about an end to the suffering, the atrocities continue.

    Practical steps to pressure Israel

    Pressure is growing on the UK government to recognise Palestine as a state – something that I was told by a contact in the Labour government more than a year ago was on Labour’s agenda before October 7. Lammy insists the government is committed to a two-state solution, but this is not diplomatically viable given that the UK only recognises one state involved in these events.

    The state of Palestine is recognised as a sovereign entity by 147 other members of the UN. That’s 75% of all members.

    Other steps could be a full arms embargo, something that has long been called for but rejected by the UK government, which has banned some, but by no means all arms sales to Israel. A number of countries have properly banned arms sales to Israel since October 2023, including Italy, Spain, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and Japan.

    There are other more incendiary options. One would be for the UK and others to properly adhere to their obligations under international law.

    The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in November 2024. There are 125 countries that have signed up to the ICC (the US isn’t one of them). They could arrest Netanyahu if he enters their countries.

    There are a range of other things that could be tried. A look at what the international community did to make South Africa a pariah during the later years of apartheid would be worthwhile.

    EU should use its diplomatic muscle

    As Israel’s biggest trading partner, the EU has the potential to wield considerable clout, so the question must be asked: why has so little been done, beyond mere words.

    In June, the EU found Israel to be in breach of its human rights commitments under the terms of the EU-Israel association agreement. Yet to date there have been as yet no moves to suspend trade.

    Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief declared that “all options remain on the table if Israel doesn’t deliver” on its pledges. These include full or partial suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, sanctions on members of government, military or settlers, trade measures, arms embargoes, or the suspension of academic cooperation – including the prestigious Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme.

    Of course, getting all 27 member states to agree to such an approach is easier said than done. And national leaders will obviously have to consider that taking steps to put pressure with Israel could damage relations with the Trump administration in the US.

    But all the while, the situation on the ground is deteriorating, with the world watching while Gaza burns. The failure by Israel’s allies to take meaningful steps to pressure Israel to prevent the wanton killing and displacement is a stain on humanity.

    After the horrors of the second world war, Rwanda, Myanmar and Srebrenica, the world said “never again”. Without action, there’s a risk it will shrug its shoulders and say “never mind”.

    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.

    Simon Mabon receives funding from Carnegie Corporation of New York and The Henry Luce Foundation.

    – ref. Gaza is starving – how Israel’s allies can go beyond words and take meaningful action – https://theconversation.com/gaza-is-starving-how-israels-allies-can-go-beyond-words-and-take-meaningful-action-261783

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI: Cegedim: Like-for-like revenues grew 2.8% in the first half

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

         

    PRESS RELEASE

    First-half financial information as of June 30, 2025
    IFRS – Regulated information – Not audited

    Cegedim: Like-for-like revenues grew 2.8% in the first half

    • Revenue grew 1.1% as reported and 2.8% LFL to €322.5 million in the first half of 2025.
    • The HR, marketing, health insurance, and digitalization businesses delivered the most solid growth.

    Boulogne-Billancourt, France, July 24, 2025, after the market close

    Revenue

      First half Change H1 2025 / 2024
    in millions of euros 2025 2024 Reported Life for like(1)(2)
    Software & Services 144.4 152.1 (5.1)% (1.5)%
    Flow 53.4 49.5 +7.8% +7.7%
    Data & Marketing 63.4 59.3 +6.9% +6.8%
    BPO 43.2 39.9 +8.1% +8.1%
    Cloud & Support 18.2 18.1 +0.3% +0.3%
    Cegedim 322.5 319.0 +1.1% +2.8%

    Cegedim’s consolidated first-half 2025 revenues rose to €322.5 million, up 1.1% as reported and 2.8% like for like(1) compared with the same period in 2024.

    The HR, marketing, health insurance, and invoice & procurement digitalization businesses delivered the most solid growth over the first half. The deconsolidation of INPS in the UK on December 10, 2024, following its voluntary placement in administration, weighed on reported growth at the Software & Services division and Group level.

    Analysis of business trends by division

    • Software & Services
    Software & Services First half Change H1 2025 / 2024
    in millions of euros 2025 2024 Reported Like for like(1)
    Cegedim Santé 38.4 38.9 (1.3)% (5.7)%
    Insurance, HR, Pharmacies, and other services 87.5 86.7 +0.9% +1.0%
    International businesses 18.5 26.5 (30.3)% (3.2)%
    Software & Services 144.4 152.1        (5.1)% (1.5)%

    Revenues at Cegedim Santé fell 1.3% as reported in the first half, and 5.7% like for like. Visiodent contributed over the entire first half, vs just four months in 2024. Maiia software and the Claude Bernard database both performed well, whereas orders for more established offerings were somewhat subdued. Sales mainly slowed because a data service agreement came to an end in late 2024 and was renewed in the second quarter of 2025 at a lower rate.

    The division’s other French subsidiaries saw revenue growth of 0.9% as reported and 1.0% like for like. The division was propelled by a surge in HR business across all client segments and by Health insurance, thanks to robust project-based sales, with new signings and the start of projects won in 2024. On the other hand, business with pharmacists in France was a drag on growth.

    International businesses posted reported revenues down 30.3% owing to the deconsolidation of INPS in the UK from December 10, 2024, following its voluntary placement in administration. Like-for-like revenues fell 3.2%. The decline was again due to the UK: the Pharmacy First program in H1 2024 created a challenging comparison for pharmacy activities and a client of Activus, a UK subsidiary selling software for health and provident insurance for expats, went out of business. Even so, both businesses have clear prospects that will reverse the downward trend in the months ahead. Other international activities had a positive quarter—particularly in Spain—and remain on track.

    Flow First half Change H1 2025 / 2024
    in millions of euros 2025 2024 Reported Like for like(2)
    e-business 32.1 30.0 7.1% 7.0%
    Third-party payer 21.3 19.5 8.8% 8.8%
    Flow 53.4 49.5 7.8% 7.7%

    First-half growth in e-business, e-invoicing, and digitized data exchanges was 7.1% as reported and 7.0% like for like. Both of the division’s two main business lines contributed: “Invoicing & Procurement” (France and UK) and “Healthcare Flows” (notably in pharmaceutical supply chain security for hospitals).

    The Third-party payer business experienced 8.8% growth in H1. It was boosted by strong growth in demand for its fraud and long-term illness detection offerings, a trend that began in the second half of 2024 and continued in H1 2025 with the signing of a fourteenth client.

    • Data & Marketing
    Data & Marketing First half Change H1 2025 / 2024
    in millions of euros 2025 2024 Reported Like for like(1)
    Data 28.7 28.0 2.5% 2.3%
    Marketing 34.7 31.3 10.8% 10.8%
    Data & Marketing 63.4 59.3 6.9% 6.8%

    Data businesses were up 2.5% in the first half on the back of a strong performance in France, which offset a mixed showing abroad.

    The Marketing segment posted robust H1 growth of 10.8% owing to strong sales after new client wins and brisk business with existing clients.

    BPO First half Change H1 2025 / 2024
    in millions of euros 2025 2024 Reported Like for like(1)
    Insurance BPO 31.2 28.7 8.8% 8.8%
    Business Services BPO 12.0 11.2 6.4% 6.4%
    BPO 43.2 39.9 8.1% 8.1%

    The Insurance BPO business grew by 8.8% over the first half, chiefly owing to its overflow business, which has been flourishing because it serves a critical need for clients.

    Business Services BPO (HR and digitalization) reported growth of 6.4% in the first half, again on the back of a popular compliance offering, which is winning new clients.

    • Cloud & Support
    Cloud & Support First half Change H1 2025 / 2024
    in millions of euros 2025 2024 Reported Like for like(1)
    Cloud & Support 18.2 18.1 0.3% 0.3%

    Cloud & Support division revenues grew 0.3% in the first half. The non-renewal of a significant outsourcing contract in the second quarter was a drag on growth and obscured the fact that an expanded range of products backed by Cegedim’s sovereign cloud has been very successful.

    Highlights

    • SBTi validates Cegedim’s decarbonization targets

    The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) officially validated Cegedim Group’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets on June 12, 2025. SBTi is the global standard for measuring companies’ carbon footprints and certifying their stated action plans for reducing emissions in line with the ambitious goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Cegedim is now part of the select group of about 8,000 companies whose plans have been validated. This major step reflects the strong commitment of Cegedim’s senior management, also mobilizing all subsidiaries, to the sustainable development of the Group’s activities.

    • Switch to Euronext Growth

    At its meeting on June 13, 2025, the Board of Directors decided to move forward with the resolution approved that same day by the general shareholders’ meeting to transfer Cegedim’s shares to the Euronext Growth stock exchange. The Group is currently completing formalities so it can make the switch in early September 2025. The Group discussed the rationale for the move and its impacts in a press release dated June 13, 2025.

    • Conversion of the credit facility into a sustainability-linked loan

    On June 16, 2025, the Group negotiated an addendum with all of the parties to its loan agreement to add performance clauses related to 2030 ESG commitments, making this a sustainability-linked loan. By adhering to the annual Scopes 1 & 2 and Scope 3 decarbonization trajectory validated by SBTi, and by making progress on gender equality in senior management, the Group will be able to lower interest rate by up to 0.05 percentage points for the bank portion and by 0.10 to 0.40 percentage points for the non-bank portion. Conversely, failure to respect those commitments will increase the interest rate by a commensurate amount. The first milestone for applying this arrangement will be the 2025 ESG performance as reported in 2026.

    Significant transactions and events post June 30, 2025

    • Workforce restructuring at the pharmacy business

    The Group has decided to restructure the workforce at its pharmacy management software business in France, which will result in making around 100 positions redundant. By rethinking its organization and reconfiguring to align with market trends and client needs, the company hopes to return to a level of performance that ensures a solid foundation for its employees and allows it to innovate for its clients.
    After the semester close, the Group received approval from France’s regional labor and economics agency, DRIEETS, for the collective agreement it negotiated in the second quarter of 2025 with employee representatives. The Group is now determining what level of provision will be earmarked in the H1 2025 financial statements.

    To the best of the company’s knowledge, apart from the impact of the above items, there were no post-closing events or changes after June 30, 2025, that would materially alter the Group’s financial situation.

    Outlook

    Based on the currently available information, the Group expects 2025 like-for-like revenue(3) growth to be in the range of 2-4% relative to 2024. Recurring operating income should continue to improve, following a similar trajectory as in 2024.

    These targets are not forecasts and may need to be revised if there is a significant worsening of geopolitical, macroeconomic, or currency risks.

    ——————-

    WEBCAST ON JULY 24, 2025, AT 6:15 PM (PARIS TIME)
    The webcast is available at: www.cegedim.fr/webcast
    The H1 2025 revenues presentation is available here:
    https://www.cegedim.fr/documentation/Pages/presentation.aspx

    Financial calendar

    2025 September 25 after the close

    September 26 at 10:00 am

    October 23 after the close

    		 H1 2025 Earnings

    SFAF meeting

    Q3 2025 revenues

    Financial calendar: https://www.cegedim.fr/finance/agenda/Pages/default.aspx

    Disclaimer
    This press release is available in French and in English. In the event of any difference between the two versions, the original French version takes precedence. This press release may contain inside information. It was sent to Cegedim’s authorized distributor on July 24, 2025, no earlier than 5:45 pm Paris time.
    The figures cited in this press release include guidance on Cegedim’s future financial performance targets. This forward-looking information is based on the opinions and assumptions of the Group’s senior management at the time this press release is issued and naturally entails risks and uncertainty. For more information on the risks facing Cegedim, please refer to Chapter 7, “Risk management”, section 7.2, “Risk factors and insurance”, and Chapter 3, “Overview of the financial year”, section 3.6, “Outlook”, of the 2024 Universal Registration Document filled with the AMF on April 7, 2025, under number D.24-0233.

    About Cegedim:
    Founded in 1969, Cegedim is an innovative technology and services group in the field of digital data flow management for healthcare ecosystems and B2B, and a business software publisher for healthcare and insurance professionals. Cegedim employs nearly
    6,700 people in more than 10 countries and generated revenue of over €654 million in 2024.
    Cegedim SA is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: CGM).
    To learn more please visit: www.cegedim.fr
    And follow Cegedim on X: @CegedimGroup, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

    Aude Balleydier
    Cegedim
    Media Relations
    and Communications Manager

    Tel.: +33 (0)1 49 09 68 81
    aude.balleydier@cegedim.fr

    		 Damien Buffet
    Cegedim
    Head of Financial
    Communication

    Tel.: +33 (0)7 64 63 55 73
    damien.buffet@cegedim.com

    		 Céline Pardo
    Becoming RP Agency
    Media Relations Consultant

    Tel.:        +33 (0)6 52 08 13 66
    cegedim@becoming-group.com

    		  

    ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Annexes

    Breakdown of revenue by quarter and division

    in millions of euros   Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
    Software & Services   72.4 72.0     144.4
    Flow   27.6 25.8     53.4
    Data & Marketing   29.9 33.5     63.4
    BPO   21.1 22.1     43.2
    Cloud & Support   10.3 7.8     18.2
    Consolidated Group revenue   161.3 161.2     322.5
    in millions of euros   Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
    Software & Services   74.4 77.8 75.6 80.1 307.8
    Flow   25.4 24.2 23.7 27.0 100.3
    Data & Marketing   27.0 32.3 28.2 38.4 125.9
    BPO   20.2 19.7 21.6 21.2 82.7
    Cloud & Support   9.0 9.1 7.7 12.0 37.8
    Consolidated Group revenue   155.9 163.1 156.8 178.7 654.5

    Revenue breakdown by geographic zone, currency, and division at June 30, 2025

    as a % of consolidated revenues   Geographic zone   Currency
      France EMEA
    ex. France    		 Americas   Euro GBP Other
    Software & Services   87.2% 12.7% 0.1%   91.0% 7.0% 2.0%
    Flow   91.7% 8.3% 0.0%   94.2% 5.8% 0.0%
    Data & Marketing   97.7% 2.3% 0.0%   98.2% 0.0% 1.8%
    BPO   100.0% 0.0% 0.0%   100.0% 0.0% 0.0%
    Cloud & Support   97.2% 2.8% 0.0%   97.2% 0.0% 2.8%
    Cegedim   92.3% 7.6% 0.1%   94.5% 4.1% 1.4%

    (1)   At constant scope and exchange rates.

    (2)   The positive currency impact of 0.1% was mainly due to the pound sterling. The negative scope effect of 1.8% was attributable to the deconsolidation of INPS as of December 10, 2024, which the consolidation of Visiodent starting March 1, 2024, only partly offset.
    (2)At constant scope and exchange rates.

    (3)At constant scope and exchange rates.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Who Will Bury You? Short stories from Zimbabwe about women who refuse to be easily defined

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Gibson Ncube, Senior Lecturer, Stellenbosch University

    Zimbabwe-born, Canada-based Chido Muchemwa’s debut short story collection, Who Will Bury You?, was published late in 2024 and immediately attracted the right kind of attention.

    Here was an unexpected range of themes: queer identity, dislocation in the diaspora, the lingering complexities of family and cultural belonging. The 12 stories, set between Zimbabwe and Canada, trace moments of rupture and reconnection across time and geography. And they’re mostly about women. Women, selfhood, loss and love.

    Gibson Ncube, who researches queer African fiction, unpacks why it’s such a good read.

    What are some of the stories about?

    The recurring questions in Who Will Bury You? are: who will remain when we are gone – who will understand us, who will grieve for us, and who will honour the truths we live by? These questions are animated through emotionally layered stories that centre the lives of Zimbabwean women and queer characters.

    Written with subtlety and care, some of the stories draw on Zimbabwean folklore, allowing Muchemwa to bridge the mythical and the present-day. She demonstrates how ancestral narratives continue to shape how people experience love, loss and belonging.

    House of Anansi Press

    The title story introduces a Zimbabwean “church going woman” and her daughter, who is living in Canada and has embraced a lesbian identity. In Zimbabwe, same-sex relationships remain criminalised under laws inherited from colonial rule and reinforced by state-sponsored homophobia. Political leaders often frame queerness as un-African or morally deviant.

    The story is told through alternating perspectives and offers a portrait of intergenerational estrangement, cultural friction, and love strained by silence. What one of the characters calls “things that might never feel sayable”. The theme of queerness recurs in several other stories like This Will Break My Mother’s Heart and If It Wasn’t for the Nights.

    Muchemwa allows these stories to gather meaning through multiple vantage points. She seems to resist resolution in favour of complexity. The collection is a significant contribution to the small but growing body of Zimbabwean literature that openly addresses queerness.

    What’s Muchemwa saying about queer African life?

    One of Muchemwa’s most powerful acts in the book is to treat queer life not as peripheral, but as central to the cultural, emotional and political worlds her characters inhabit. Queer desire, intimacy and estrangement are not exceptional disruptions. They are ordinary realities that are woven into everyday life. In these stories, queerness is at once a site of tenderness, conflict and hope. The effects of religion and colonial morality continue to shape how love is expressed and denied.

    Read more: 7 queer African works of art: new directions in books, films and fashion

    The stories challenge the erasure of queer voices by positioning them at the heart of families and communities. Queer characters are neither idealised nor victimised. They are allowed to simply be joyful, ambivalent, flawed, and resilient.

    Aside from identity, what are some of the other themes?

    The book also grapples with questions of memory, history and myth. In Finding Mermaids, Muchemwa blends contemporary reportage with folklore. A journalist and her grieving mother investigate the disappearance of young girls in a rural Zimbabwean town who are suspected to have been captured by njuzu, water spirits.

    Other stories, like Kariba Heights and The Captive River, explore the legacies of colonialism and the spiritual power of the Zambezi River. In these stories, Muchemwa is attentive to how land, history and belief have an impact on personal experiences.

    Living away from home, in the diaspora, is also a theme. Zimbabwe’s collapsing economy and ongoing political instability have driven many to seek better lives abroad, looking for jobs or educational opportunities.

    Characters in Toronto grapple with cultural dislocation. They long for home as they tackle the challenges of forging new forms of kinship abroad. The Toronto that Muchemwa renders is richly textured. It’s far from a generic western backdrop. It is portrayed as a space of possibility and tension in which characters remake themselves in the face of displacement.

    Why is it a special book to you as a scholar?

    Muchemwa’s prose is precise, controlled, and emotionally resonant. She writes with confidence, trusting the power of implication and delicate shifts in tone. The plots of the stories are simple. They are not driven by dramatic revelations. Rather, by accumulative emotional insight. Her characters often seem to border on the edge of decision or reconciliation. In fact, their silences are as revealing as their speech.

    Throughout the collection, there’s a sense of hushed intensity. The question of who will be there – at the end, in crisis, in love – lingers and ties the stories together. Even as her characters move between countries, generations and identities, they remain tied by their desire for recognition and care.

    Read more: Books: folklore and fantasy combine in Langabi, a supernatural historical epic from Zimbabwe

    Muchemwa’s debut contributes to a growing body of contemporary African writing that focuses on intimacy, friendship and queerness as legitimate and urgent narrative concerns. Who Will Bury You? offers a fresh take that avoids the clichés and stereotypes often associated with African literature – what Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has famously called the single story.

    Rather than dwelling on recurrent tropes of suffering or political crisis, Muchemwa’s stories place a spotlight on private lives and emotional entanglements. They compel us to be attentive to the quiet yet consequential turmoil that takes place within families and intimate relationships.

    The collection does not avoid the cultural and religious violences that have an impact on everyday life. But Muchemwa faces them through the perspective of those who survive, and remake, these constraints on their own terms.

    Who Will Bury You? is a carefully crafted collection that demands close attention. It’s a book about women who refuse to be easily defined. With this collection, Muchemwa asserts herself as a compelling new voice in Zimbabwean and African literature. Her debut represents new African storytelling which continues to expand the narratives of African writers. It dares to centre the personal, the queer, and the emotionally complex.

    – Who Will Bury You? Short stories from Zimbabwe about women who refuse to be easily defined
    – https://theconversation.com/who-will-bury-you-short-stories-from-zimbabwe-about-women-who-refuse-to-be-easily-defined-261291

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: What makes a person cool? Global study has some answers

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Todd Pezzuti, Associate Professor, Business School, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez

    From Lagos to Cape Town, Santiago to Seoul, people want to be cool. “Cool” is a word we hear everywhere – in music, in fashion, on social media. We use it to describe certain types of people.

    But what exactly makes someone cool? Is it just about being popular or trendy? Or is there something deeper going on?

    In a recent study I conducted with other marketing professors, we set out to answer a simple but surprisingly unexplored question. What are the personality traits and values that make someone seem cool – and do they differ across cultures?

    We asked nearly 6,000 people from 12 countries to think of someone they personally knew who was “cool”, “not cool”, “good”, or “not good”. Then we asked them to describe that person’s traits and values using validated psychological measures. We used this data to examine how coolness differs from general likeability or morality.

    Read more: What makes a person seem wise? Global study finds that cultures do differ – but not as much as you’d think

    The countries ranged from Australia to Turkey, the US to Germany, India to China, Nigeria to South Africa.

    Our data showed that coolness is uniquely associated with the same six traits around the world: cool people tend to be extroverted, hedonistic, adventurous, open, powerful, and autonomous.

    These findings help settle a long debate about what it means to be cool today.

    A brief history of cool

    Early writing on coolness described it as emotional restraint: being calm, composed and unbothered. This view, rooted in the metaphor of temperature and emotion, saw coolness as a sign of self-control and mastery.

    Some of these scholars trace this form of cool to slavery and segregation, where emotional restraint was a survival strategy among enslaved Africans and their descendants, symbolising autonomy and dignity in the face of oppression. Others propose “cool” restraint existed long before slavery.

    Regardless, jazz musicians in the 1940s first helped popularise this cool persona – relaxed, emotionally contained, and stylish – an image later embraced by youth and various countercultures. Corporations like Nike, Apple and MTV commercialised cool, turning a countercultural attitude into a more commercially friendly global aesthetic.

    This is what makes someone cool

    Our findings suggest that the meaning of cool has changed. It’s a way to identify and label people with a specific psychological profile.

    Cool people are outgoing and social (extroverted). They seek pleasure and enjoyment (hedonistic). They take risks and try new things (adventurous). They are curious and open to new experiences (open). They have influence or charisma (powerful). And perhaps most of all, they do things their own way (autonomous).

    This finding held remarkably steady across countries. Whether you’re in the US, South Korea, Spain or South Africa, people tend to think that cool individuals have this same “cool profile”.

    We also found that even though coolness overlaps with being good or favourable, being cool and being good are not the same. Being kind, calm, traditional, secure and conscientious were more associated with being good than cool. Some “cool” traits were not necessarily good at all, like extroversion and hedonism.

    What about South Africa and Nigeria?

    One of the most fascinating aspects of our study was seeing how consistent the meaning of coolness was across cultures – even in countries with very different traditions and values.

    In South Africa, participants viewed cool people as extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous – just like participants from Europe to Asia. In South Africa, however, coolness is especially distinct from being good. South Africa is one of the countries in which being hedonistic, powerful, adventurous and autonomous was much more cool than good.

    Read more: Which African countries are flourishing? Scientists have a new way of measuring well-being

    Nigeria was the only country in which cool and uncool people were equally autonomous. So basically, individuality wasn’t seen as cool. That difference might reflect cultural values that place a greater emphasis on community, respect for elders, or collective identity. In places where tradition and hierarchy matter, doing your own thing might not be cool.

    Social sciences, like all science, however, are not perfect. So, it’s reasonable to speculate that autonomy might still be cool in Nigeria, with the discrepancy resulting from methodological issues such as how the Nigerian participants interpreted and responded to the survey.

    Nigeria was also unique because the distinction between cool and good wasn’t as notable as in other countries. So coolness was seen more as goodness than in the other countries.

    Why does this matter?

    The fact that so many cultures agree on what makes someone cool suggests that “coolness” may serve a shared social function. The traits that make people cool may make them more likely to try new things, innovate new styles and fashions, and influence others. These individuals often push boundaries and introduce new ideas – in fashion, art, politics, or technology. They inspire others and help shape what’s seen as modern, desirable, or forward-thinking.

    Coolness, in this sense, might function as a kind of cultural status marker – a reward for being bold, open-minded and innovative. It’s not just about surface style. It’s about signalling that you’re ahead of the curve, and that others should pay attention.

    So what can we learn from this?

    For one, young people in South Africa, Nigeria, and around the world may have more in common than we often think. Despite vast cultural differences, they tend to admire the same traits. That opens up interesting possibilities for cross-cultural communication, collaboration and influence.

    Second, if we want to connect with or inspire others – whether through education, branding, or leadership – it helps to understand what people see as cool. Coolness may not be a universal virtue, but it is a universal currency.

    And finally, there’s something reassuring in all this: coolness is not about being famous or rich. It’s about how you live. Are you curious? Courageous? True to yourself? If so, chances are someone out there thinks you’re cool – no matter where you’re from.

    – What makes a person cool? Global study has some answers
    – https://theconversation.com/what-makes-a-person-cool-global-study-has-some-answers-261266

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI USA: USGS and state partners to test bait platforms to catch invasive carp in Upper Mississippi River

    Source: US Geological Survey

    LA CROSSE, Wis. — Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the Minnesota and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources, will install floating bait platforms and monitoring equipment to test a new method for capturing invasive carp. The equipment will be in place from July 28 to Oct 3, 2025 in Pool 8 of the Mississippi River, near La Crosse, WI.

    Installed bait delivery platform on the Sandusky River, Ohio used in a prior study for applying grass carp bait.

    Invasive carp, including silver and bighead carp are found throughout much of the Mississippi River basin. These fish pose a threat to native aquatic ecosystems by outcompeting native fish for food and habitat, disrupting food webs and altering water quality. Silver carp, which can jump 10 feet out of the water, can also pose a risk to boaters. Invasive carp are wide-ranging and difficult to capture with traditional fishing gear.

    Late summer is a particularly difficult time of year to capture invasive carp in Minnesota-Wisconsin border waters because the fish tend to disperse widely throughout the river. Past trials have shown that baits made from algae attract silver and bighead carps. Floating bait platforms could draw invasive carp into favorable locations to make them easier to capture.

    The floating platforms will be equipped with automatic feeders that dispense bait at scheduled intervals. The bait, previously tested in laboratory and field trials, is made from chlorella and spirulina, nutrient-rich algae commonly used in aquaculture. Feeding platforms will be monitored for fish abundance and movement in response to the bait. Commercial fishers contracted by the Minnesota DNR will capture fish before and after baiting periods. The data will help researchers to evaluate bait effectiveness and capture methods.

    An invasive silver carp jumps out of the water. Silver carp can sometimes reach heights of ten feet in the air.

    Precautionary measures are in place to ensure project success and public safety. Community cooperation is appreciated. If you observe damaged property or suspicious activity near the platforms, please contact the Minnesota DNR at 651-587-2781 or invasivecarp.dnr@state.mn.us. Hunting, fishing, and recreation will not be restricted near platforms, but the public is asked not to moor to or stand on them. Boaters are also asked to stay clear of commercial fishing operations that will be taking place around the platforms during the weeks of Aug 4 – 8, Sept 2 -5, and Sept 30 -3.

    This project is supported by a 2023 Minnesota state legislative appropriation for invasive carp prevention and management, Upper Mississippi River Invasive Carp Grants administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area, Biological Threats & Invasive Species Research Program.

    # # #

    The USGS provides science for a changing world. Learn more at www.usgs.gov or follow us on Facebook @USGeologicalSurvey, YouTube @USGS, Instagram @USGS, or X at @USGS.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: What makes a person cool? Global study has some answers

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Todd Pezzuti, Associate Professor, Business School, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez

    From Lagos to Cape Town, Santiago to Seoul, people want to be cool. “Cool” is a word we hear everywhere – in music, in fashion, on social media. We use it to describe certain types of people.

    But what exactly makes someone cool? Is it just about being popular or trendy? Or is there something deeper going on?

    In a recent study I conducted with other marketing professors, we set out to answer a simple but surprisingly unexplored question. What are the personality traits and values that make someone seem cool – and do they differ across cultures?

    We asked nearly 6,000 people from 12 countries to think of someone they personally knew who was “cool”, “not cool”, “good”, or “not good”. Then we asked them to describe that person’s traits and values using validated psychological measures. We used this data to examine how coolness differs from general likeability or morality.



    Read more:
    What makes a person seem wise? Global study finds that cultures do differ – but not as much as you’d think

    The countries ranged from Australia to Turkey, the US to Germany, India to China, Nigeria to South Africa.

    Our data showed that coolness is uniquely associated with the same six traits around the world: cool people tend to be extroverted, hedonistic, adventurous, open, powerful, and autonomous.

    These findings help settle a long debate about what it means to be cool today.

    A brief history of cool

    Early writing on coolness described it as emotional restraint: being calm, composed and unbothered. This view, rooted in the metaphor of temperature and emotion, saw coolness as a sign of self-control and mastery.

    Some of these scholars trace this form of cool to slavery and segregation, where emotional restraint was a survival strategy among enslaved Africans and their descendants, symbolising autonomy and dignity in the face of oppression. Others propose “cool” restraint existed long before slavery.

    Regardless, jazz musicians in the 1940s first helped popularise this cool persona – relaxed, emotionally contained, and stylish – an image later embraced by youth and various countercultures. Corporations like Nike, Apple and MTV commercialised cool, turning a countercultural attitude into a more commercially friendly global aesthetic.

    This is what makes someone cool

    Our findings suggest that the meaning of cool has changed. It’s a way to identify and label people with a specific psychological profile.

    Cool people are outgoing and social (extroverted). They seek pleasure and enjoyment (hedonistic). They take risks and try new things (adventurous). They are curious and open to new experiences (open). They have influence or charisma (powerful). And perhaps most of all, they do things their own way (autonomous).

    This finding held remarkably steady across countries. Whether you’re in the US, South Korea, Spain or South Africa, people tend to think that cool individuals have this same “cool profile”.

    We also found that even though coolness overlaps with being good or favourable, being cool and being good are not the same. Being kind, calm, traditional, secure and conscientious were more associated with being good than cool. Some “cool” traits were not necessarily good at all, like extroversion and hedonism.

    What about South Africa and Nigeria?

    One of the most fascinating aspects of our study was seeing how consistent the meaning of coolness was across cultures – even in countries with very different traditions and values.

    In South Africa, participants viewed cool people as extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous – just like participants from Europe to Asia. In South Africa, however, coolness is especially distinct from being good. South Africa is one of the countries in which being hedonistic, powerful, adventurous and autonomous was much more cool than good.



    Read more:
    Which African countries are flourishing? Scientists have a new way of measuring well-being

    Nigeria was the only country in which cool and uncool people were equally autonomous. So basically, individuality wasn’t seen as cool. That difference might reflect cultural values that place a greater emphasis on community, respect for elders, or collective identity. In places where tradition and hierarchy matter, doing your own thing might not be cool.

    Social sciences, like all science, however, are not perfect. So, it’s reasonable to speculate that autonomy might still be cool in Nigeria, with the discrepancy resulting from methodological issues such as how the Nigerian participants interpreted and responded to the survey.

    Nigeria was also unique because the distinction between cool and good wasn’t as notable as in other countries. So coolness was seen more as goodness than in the other countries.

    Why does this matter?

    The fact that so many cultures agree on what makes someone cool suggests that “coolness” may serve a shared social function. The traits that make people cool may make them more likely to try new things, innovate new styles and fashions, and influence others. These individuals often push boundaries and introduce new ideas – in fashion, art, politics, or technology. They inspire others and help shape what’s seen as modern, desirable, or forward-thinking.

    Coolness, in this sense, might function as a kind of cultural status marker – a reward for being bold, open-minded and innovative. It’s not just about surface style. It’s about signalling that you’re ahead of the curve, and that others should pay attention.

    So what can we learn from this?

    For one, young people in South Africa, Nigeria, and around the world may have more in common than we often think. Despite vast cultural differences, they tend to admire the same traits. That opens up interesting possibilities for cross-cultural communication, collaboration and influence.

    Second, if we want to connect with or inspire others – whether through education, branding, or leadership – it helps to understand what people see as cool. Coolness may not be a universal virtue, but it is a universal currency.

    And finally, there’s something reassuring in all this: coolness is not about being famous or rich. It’s about how you live. Are you curious? Courageous? True to yourself? If so, chances are someone out there thinks you’re cool – no matter where you’re from.

    Todd Pezzuti received funding from ANID Chile to conduct this research.

    – ref. What makes a person cool? Global study has some answers – https://theconversation.com/what-makes-a-person-cool-global-study-has-some-answers-261266

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: What makes a person cool? Global study has some answers

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Todd Pezzuti, Associate Professor, Business School, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez

    From Lagos to Cape Town, Santiago to Seoul, people want to be cool. “Cool” is a word we hear everywhere – in music, in fashion, on social media. We use it to describe certain types of people.

    But what exactly makes someone cool? Is it just about being popular or trendy? Or is there something deeper going on?

    In a recent study I conducted with other marketing professors, we set out to answer a simple but surprisingly unexplored question. What are the personality traits and values that make someone seem cool – and do they differ across cultures?

    We asked nearly 6,000 people from 12 countries to think of someone they personally knew who was “cool”, “not cool”, “good”, or “not good”. Then we asked them to describe that person’s traits and values using validated psychological measures. We used this data to examine how coolness differs from general likeability or morality.



    Read more:
    What makes a person seem wise? Global study finds that cultures do differ – but not as much as you’d think

    The countries ranged from Australia to Turkey, the US to Germany, India to China, Nigeria to South Africa.

    Our data showed that coolness is uniquely associated with the same six traits around the world: cool people tend to be extroverted, hedonistic, adventurous, open, powerful, and autonomous.

    These findings help settle a long debate about what it means to be cool today.

    A brief history of cool

    Early writing on coolness described it as emotional restraint: being calm, composed and unbothered. This view, rooted in the metaphor of temperature and emotion, saw coolness as a sign of self-control and mastery.

    Some of these scholars trace this form of cool to slavery and segregation, where emotional restraint was a survival strategy among enslaved Africans and their descendants, symbolising autonomy and dignity in the face of oppression. Others propose “cool” restraint existed long before slavery.

    Regardless, jazz musicians in the 1940s first helped popularise this cool persona – relaxed, emotionally contained, and stylish – an image later embraced by youth and various countercultures. Corporations like Nike, Apple and MTV commercialised cool, turning a countercultural attitude into a more commercially friendly global aesthetic.

    This is what makes someone cool

    Our findings suggest that the meaning of cool has changed. It’s a way to identify and label people with a specific psychological profile.

    Cool people are outgoing and social (extroverted). They seek pleasure and enjoyment (hedonistic). They take risks and try new things (adventurous). They are curious and open to new experiences (open). They have influence or charisma (powerful). And perhaps most of all, they do things their own way (autonomous).

    This finding held remarkably steady across countries. Whether you’re in the US, South Korea, Spain or South Africa, people tend to think that cool individuals have this same “cool profile”.

    We also found that even though coolness overlaps with being good or favourable, being cool and being good are not the same. Being kind, calm, traditional, secure and conscientious were more associated with being good than cool. Some “cool” traits were not necessarily good at all, like extroversion and hedonism.

    What about South Africa and Nigeria?

    One of the most fascinating aspects of our study was seeing how consistent the meaning of coolness was across cultures – even in countries with very different traditions and values.

    In South Africa, participants viewed cool people as extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous – just like participants from Europe to Asia. In South Africa, however, coolness is especially distinct from being good. South Africa is one of the countries in which being hedonistic, powerful, adventurous and autonomous was much more cool than good.



    Read more:
    Which African countries are flourishing? Scientists have a new way of measuring well-being

    Nigeria was the only country in which cool and uncool people were equally autonomous. So basically, individuality wasn’t seen as cool. That difference might reflect cultural values that place a greater emphasis on community, respect for elders, or collective identity. In places where tradition and hierarchy matter, doing your own thing might not be cool.

    Social sciences, like all science, however, are not perfect. So, it’s reasonable to speculate that autonomy might still be cool in Nigeria, with the discrepancy resulting from methodological issues such as how the Nigerian participants interpreted and responded to the survey.

    Nigeria was also unique because the distinction between cool and good wasn’t as notable as in other countries. So coolness was seen more as goodness than in the other countries.

    Why does this matter?

    The fact that so many cultures agree on what makes someone cool suggests that “coolness” may serve a shared social function. The traits that make people cool may make them more likely to try new things, innovate new styles and fashions, and influence others. These individuals often push boundaries and introduce new ideas – in fashion, art, politics, or technology. They inspire others and help shape what’s seen as modern, desirable, or forward-thinking.

    Coolness, in this sense, might function as a kind of cultural status marker – a reward for being bold, open-minded and innovative. It’s not just about surface style. It’s about signalling that you’re ahead of the curve, and that others should pay attention.

    So what can we learn from this?

    For one, young people in South Africa, Nigeria, and around the world may have more in common than we often think. Despite vast cultural differences, they tend to admire the same traits. That opens up interesting possibilities for cross-cultural communication, collaboration and influence.

    Second, if we want to connect with or inspire others – whether through education, branding, or leadership – it helps to understand what people see as cool. Coolness may not be a universal virtue, but it is a universal currency.

    And finally, there’s something reassuring in all this: coolness is not about being famous or rich. It’s about how you live. Are you curious? Courageous? True to yourself? If so, chances are someone out there thinks you’re cool – no matter where you’re from.

    Todd Pezzuti received funding from ANID Chile to conduct this research.

    – ref. What makes a person cool? Global study has some answers – https://theconversation.com/what-makes-a-person-cool-global-study-has-some-answers-261266

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Who Will Bury You? Short stories from Zimbabwe about women who refuse to be easily defined

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Gibson Ncube, Senior Lecturer, Stellenbosch University

    Zimbabwe-born, Canada-based Chido Muchemwa’s debut short story collection, Who Will Bury You?, was published late in 2024 and immediately attracted the right kind of attention.

    Here was an unexpected range of themes: queer identity, dislocation in the diaspora, the lingering complexities of family and cultural belonging. The 12 stories, set between Zimbabwe and Canada, trace moments of rupture and reconnection across time and geography. And they’re mostly about women. Women, selfhood, loss and love.

    Gibson Ncube, who researches queer African fiction, unpacks why it’s such a good read.

    What are some of the stories about?

    The recurring questions in Who Will Bury You? are: who will remain when we are gone – who will understand us, who will grieve for us, and who will honour the truths we live by? These questions are animated through emotionally layered stories that centre the lives of Zimbabwean women and queer characters.

    Written with subtlety and care, some of the stories draw on Zimbabwean folklore, allowing Muchemwa to bridge the mythical and the present-day. She demonstrates how ancestral narratives continue to shape how people experience love, loss and belonging.

    The title story introduces a Zimbabwean “church going woman” and her daughter, who is living in Canada and has embraced a lesbian identity. In Zimbabwe, same-sex relationships remain criminalised under laws inherited from colonial rule and reinforced by state-sponsored homophobia. Political leaders often frame queerness as un-African or morally deviant.

    The story is told through alternating perspectives and offers a portrait of intergenerational estrangement, cultural friction, and love strained by silence. What one of the characters calls “things that might never feel sayable”. The theme of queerness recurs in several other stories like This Will Break My Mother’s Heart and If It Wasn’t for the Nights.

    Muchemwa allows these stories to gather meaning through multiple vantage points. She seems to resist resolution in favour of complexity. The collection is a significant contribution to the small but growing body of Zimbabwean literature that openly addresses queerness.

    What’s Muchemwa saying about queer African life?

    One of Muchemwa’s most powerful acts in the book is to treat queer life not as peripheral, but as central to the cultural, emotional and political worlds her characters inhabit. Queer desire, intimacy and estrangement are not exceptional disruptions. They are ordinary realities that are woven into everyday life. In these stories, queerness is at once a site of tenderness, conflict and hope. The effects of religion and colonial morality continue to shape how love is expressed and denied.



    Read more:
    7 queer African works of art: new directions in books, films and fashion

    The stories challenge the erasure of queer voices by positioning them at the heart of families and communities. Queer characters are neither idealised nor victimised. They are allowed to simply be joyful, ambivalent, flawed, and resilient.

    Aside from identity, what are some of the other themes?

    The book also grapples with questions of memory, history and myth. In Finding Mermaids, Muchemwa blends contemporary reportage with folklore. A journalist and her grieving mother investigate the disappearance of young girls in a rural Zimbabwean town who are suspected to have been captured by njuzu, water spirits.

    Other stories, like Kariba Heights and The Captive River, explore the legacies of colonialism and the spiritual power of the Zambezi River. In these stories, Muchemwa is attentive to how land, history and belief have an impact on personal experiences.

    Living away from home, in the diaspora, is also a theme. Zimbabwe’s collapsing economy and ongoing political instability have driven many to seek better lives abroad, looking for jobs or educational opportunities.

    Characters in Toronto grapple with cultural dislocation. They long for home as they tackle the challenges of forging new forms of kinship abroad. The Toronto that Muchemwa renders is richly textured. It’s far from a generic western backdrop. It is portrayed as a space of possibility and tension in which characters remake themselves in the face of displacement.

    Why is it a special book to you as a scholar?

    Muchemwa’s prose is precise, controlled, and emotionally resonant. She writes with confidence, trusting the power of implication and delicate shifts in tone. The plots of the stories are simple. They are not driven by dramatic revelations. Rather, by accumulative emotional insight. Her characters often seem to border on the edge of decision or reconciliation. In fact, their silences are as revealing as their speech.

    Throughout the collection, there’s a sense of hushed intensity. The question of who will be there – at the end, in crisis, in love – lingers and ties the stories together. Even as her characters move between countries, generations and identities, they remain tied by their desire for recognition and care.



    Read more:
    Books: folklore and fantasy combine in Langabi, a supernatural historical epic from Zimbabwe

    Muchemwa’s debut contributes to a growing body of contemporary African writing that focuses on intimacy, friendship and queerness as legitimate and urgent narrative concerns. Who Will Bury You? offers a fresh take that avoids the clichés and stereotypes often associated with African literature – what Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has famously called the single story.

    Rather than dwelling on recurrent tropes of suffering or political crisis, Muchemwa’s stories place a spotlight on private lives and emotional entanglements. They compel us to be attentive to the quiet yet consequential turmoil that takes place within families and intimate relationships.

    The collection does not avoid the cultural and religious violences that have an impact on everyday life. But Muchemwa faces them through the perspective of those who survive, and remake, these constraints on their own terms.

    Who Will Bury You? is a carefully crafted collection that demands close attention. It’s a book about women who refuse to be easily defined. With this collection, Muchemwa asserts herself as a compelling new voice in Zimbabwean and African literature. Her debut represents new African storytelling which continues to expand the narratives of African writers. It dares to centre the personal, the queer, and the emotionally complex.

    Gibson Ncube receives funding from the National Research Foundation.

    – ref. Who Will Bury You? Short stories from Zimbabwe about women who refuse to be easily defined – https://theconversation.com/who-will-bury-you-short-stories-from-zimbabwe-about-women-who-refuse-to-be-easily-defined-261291

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: Ranking Member Frankel Passes Amendment to Strengthen U.S.-Africa Partnership, Introduces Amendment to Improve Foreign Assistance Staffing at State Dept

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lois Frankel (FL-21)

    Today, during the full committee markup of the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations funding bill, Ranking Member Frankel introduced two amendments to safeguard American leadership on the world stage.

    The first ensures that no less than 15% of economic development funds in the bill be directed toward programs in Africa. The amendment passed with unanimous bipartisan support. From Rep. Frankel’s remarks: “By 2050, Africa will be home to a quarter of the world’s population—and nearly half of all global youth. Some cities are booming. Startups are thriving. And across the continent, countries are leapfrogging traditional development paths through mobile banking, financial technology, and energy innovation. By 2030, Africa’s consumer market is expected to top $2.5 trillion. The question is: will the United States be at the table, or will we let others, like China, steer the ship?

    At the same time, we must be clear-eyed. Diseases still ravage vulnerable communities. Young people need access to quality education, job training, and opportunity—so that success is not reserved for elites alone. And while we weigh our options, China is not waiting. It is investing billions in African infrastructure, digital networks, mining operations, and military influence. China is writing the rules of the road—and we’re at real risk of being left behind. We cannot afford to cede this ground. Because this is about more than development assistance—it’s about protecting our shared future.”

    The second amendment aimed to ensure proper staffing at the State Department to effectively take on what remains of USAID programs after they were dismantled by the Trump Administration. The amendment directed the State Department to prioritize rehiring USAID experts who the Administration previously fired. The amendment did not pass. 

    From Rep. Frankel’s remarks: “Babies are dying—not because we lack the science or the resources—but because the Trump Administration chose to dismantle the very programs that could have saved them. The systems that once monitored health outcomes are shutting down, and the true scope of the harm—and the risk to our own national security—is becoming harder to measure.

    We may never be able to fully undo the catastrophic damage caused by the Trump Administration and its DOGE acolytes. But we can start to put things right. That’s what this amendment does. It ensures that the State Department isn’t set up to fail. It brings back the experts. It restores some measure of accountability and gives us the eyes and ears on the ground we need to ensure our humanitarian investments are effective, transparent, and actually reaching the people who need help most. This isn’t just a bureaucratic fix—it’s a moral imperative.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: War victory anniversary talk held

    Source: Hong Kong Information Services

    The Civil Service Bureau and the Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Bureau jointly organised a talk at the Central Government Offices today to commemorate the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and in the World Anti-Fascist War.

    The talk was delivered by Professor at the Institute of World History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the School of History of the University of the CASS Prof Wang Chaoguang and Associate Vice President of Lingnan University Prof Lau Chi-pang.

    During the talk, Prof Wang gave a comprehensive analysis of the history of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, delving into the historical status, major contributions and the significance of the war as the main Eastern battlefield of the World Anti-Fascist War, as well as the Communist Party of China’s role as the pillar of the War of Resistance.

    Prof Lau also shared with participants the heroic deeds of the East River Column and the Hong Kong-Kowloon Brigade during the war period.

    Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung, politically appointed officials and civil servants in the directorate, senior and middle ranks attended the talk today. Together with those participating via video conferencing, over 200 participants attended the talk.

    Delivering the opening remarks, Mrs Yeung pointed out that civil servants should learn from history, firmly safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, uphold the spirit of “patriots administering Hong Kong”, and make greater contributions to the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and the lasting peace and stability of the country.

    She encouraged civil servants to actively participate in the thematic seminars and learning activities organised to commemorate the 80th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Deep-sea must not turn into ‘Wild West’ of rare minerals exploitation, agency head says

    Source: United Nations 2

    Marking its 30th anniversary, ISA is the world’s authority on the deep-sea beyond national jurisdiction. Washington may have passed an order on deep-sea licensing in international waters earlier this year, but the authority’s chief Leticia Carvalho said the United States, which is not an ISA member, “is going at it alone”.

    “The rest of the world is united and cohesive and all behind of the rule of the law and the International Seabed Authority,” Ms. Carvalho told UN News. “ISA is a super power. We have all the knowledge, we have the ability given by the law, we have the mandate.”

    Indeed, under international law, the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction belongs to no single nation, Ms. Carvalho said, inviting the United States to join ISA.

    To address these concerns, ISA has been drafting a mining code as a way to ensure that the deep-sea remains protected and does not turn into the “Wild West” of exploitation, she said.

    Read our explainer on ISA and why it matters now here.

    Costly search for rare minerals

    Rare minerals needed to satiate demands for producing tech items from batteries to solar panels have driven interest in the deep-sea and what it offers. From cobalt to zinc, a plethora of rare earth minerals have been observed by explorations of the ocean floor.

    ISA has issued 31 contracts for mineral exploration to 21 firms from 20 countries as of 2024, according to the UN’s World Economic Situation and Report 2025. While commercial mining in international waters has not yet commenced, pending the finalisation of an international code for deep-sea mining by the ISA, right now, countries can pursue deep-sea mining within their own territorial waters or “exclusive economic zones”.

    Even after the international code is in place, those engaged in deep-sea mining will continue to face major challenges due to high capital requirements and operational costs relative to conventional mining and the enormous technical uncertainties associated with the unique problems surrounding mining on the ocean floor, according to the UN report.

    ‘One of our last frontiers’

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the international seabed is “the common heritage of humankind, a principle enshrined in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which must continue to guide us”.

    “We must bring together our global efforts in climate action, biodiversity preservation and marine protection,” he said in a message marking ISA’s anniversary, commending its commitment to finding balanced and effective solutions. “The deep ocean remains one of our last frontiers. It holds great promise, but also requires great caution.”

    For 30 years, the authority has helped protect this shared realm through peaceful, sustainable and inclusive governance, and today, it is navigating complex challenges with care and clarity, he said, emphasising that “as we mark this milestone, let us advance cooperation grounded in science, and keep working together to safeguard the ocean for the benefit of all people, everywhere.”

    The deep-sea contains a plethora of life and rare earth minerals.

    Mining code and more

    In addition to achieving progress on a draft mining code at its ongoing annual session at headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, ISA launched its Deep-Sea Biobank last month in a bid to preserve and share knowledge.

    The initiative aims to collect and preserve samples from the ocean floor that will benefit all nations, especially developing countries, Ms. Carvalho said, adding that the goal is to study the minerals, exploration and exploitation potential, but also to preserve and to study biodiversity and genetics.

    “The future that I see is we need to really take care, cherish [and] nurture the deep-sea,” Ms. Carvalho said. “The future of ISA is stronger, enhanced, wider and wiser. We will know much more than we know now.”

    Learn more about ISA here.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI: Clear Street Launches Specialty Finance Franchise with the Addition of Mickey Schleien

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Clear Street, (“Clear Street”, “the Company”) a cloud-native financial technology firm on a mission to modernize the brokerage ecosystem, today announced the appointment of Mickey Schleien, CFA, as Managing Director and Senior Analyst, leading equity research coverage of Business Development Companies (BDCs) and Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO) closed-end funds. He will report to Director of Research Mara Goldstein.

    Mr. Schleien brings three decades of capital markets experience to Clear Street, with deep expertise in BDCs and CLOs. He joins the firm from Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., where he spent more than 18 years producing comprehensive research coverage across the BDC and CLO fund sectors. Prior to that, Mr. Schleien held senior research positions at several prestigious financial institutions, including Lehman Brothers, UBS, James Capel (HSBC) and Morgan Stanley.

    Mara Goldstein, Director of Research at Clear Street, said, “We are delighted to welcome Mickey to our equity research team, where his extensive experience and deep understanding of BDCs and CLO funds will be invaluable. Mickey’s long-standing tenure in the space, along with his well-established relationships and sharp investment analysis, enhances our ability to serve clients—particularly as this sector plays a vital role in funding the growth of small- and medium-sized businesses. His appointment underscores our commitment to delivering exceptional research and insights across key market segments.”

    “I’m thrilled to join Clear Street at this exciting time in the firm’s growth,” said Mr. Schleien. “The combination of Clear Street’s innovative technology platform and commitment to excellence in equity research creates a unique opportunity to deliver exceptional value to clients. I look forward to leveraging my BDC and CLO experience, as well as my relationships with institutional investors, management teams, regulators and sector organizations to contribute to the firm’s continued success.”

    Mr. Schleien holds an MBA from Loyola Marymount University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from UCLA. He is also a CFA charter holder.

    Media Contact:

    Ashley DeSimone

    Chief Marketing Officer, Clear Street, adesimone@clearstreet.io

    About Clear Street:

    Clear Street is modernizing the brokerage ecosystem with financial technology and services that empower market participants with real-time data and best-in-class products, tools and teams, to navigate capital markets around the world. Complemented by white-glove service, Clear Street’s cloud-native, proprietary product suite delivers financing, derivatives, execution and more to power client success, adding efficiency to the market and enabling clients to minimize risk, redundancy and cost. Clear Street’s goal is to create a single platform for every asset class, in every country and in any currency. For more information, visit https://clearstreet.io.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Clear Street Launches Specialty Finance Franchise with the Addition of Mickey Schleien

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Clear Street, (“Clear Street”, “the Company”) a cloud-native financial technology firm on a mission to modernize the brokerage ecosystem, today announced the appointment of Mickey Schleien, CFA, as Managing Director and Senior Analyst, leading equity research coverage of Business Development Companies (BDCs) and Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO) closed-end funds. He will report to Director of Research Mara Goldstein.

    Mr. Schleien brings three decades of capital markets experience to Clear Street, with deep expertise in BDCs and CLOs. He joins the firm from Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., where he spent more than 18 years producing comprehensive research coverage across the BDC and CLO fund sectors. Prior to that, Mr. Schleien held senior research positions at several prestigious financial institutions, including Lehman Brothers, UBS, James Capel (HSBC) and Morgan Stanley.

    Mara Goldstein, Director of Research at Clear Street, said, “We are delighted to welcome Mickey to our equity research team, where his extensive experience and deep understanding of BDCs and CLO funds will be invaluable. Mickey’s long-standing tenure in the space, along with his well-established relationships and sharp investment analysis, enhances our ability to serve clients—particularly as this sector plays a vital role in funding the growth of small- and medium-sized businesses. His appointment underscores our commitment to delivering exceptional research and insights across key market segments.”

    “I’m thrilled to join Clear Street at this exciting time in the firm’s growth,” said Mr. Schleien. “The combination of Clear Street’s innovative technology platform and commitment to excellence in equity research creates a unique opportunity to deliver exceptional value to clients. I look forward to leveraging my BDC and CLO experience, as well as my relationships with institutional investors, management teams, regulators and sector organizations to contribute to the firm’s continued success.”

    Mr. Schleien holds an MBA from Loyola Marymount University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from UCLA. He is also a CFA charter holder.

    Media Contact:

    Ashley DeSimone

    Chief Marketing Officer, Clear Street, adesimone@clearstreet.io

    About Clear Street:

    Clear Street is modernizing the brokerage ecosystem with financial technology and services that empower market participants with real-time data and best-in-class products, tools and teams, to navigate capital markets around the world. Complemented by white-glove service, Clear Street’s cloud-native, proprietary product suite delivers financing, derivatives, execution and more to power client success, adding efficiency to the market and enabling clients to minimize risk, redundancy and cost. Clear Street’s goal is to create a single platform for every asset class, in every country and in any currency. For more information, visit https://clearstreet.io.

    The MIL Network –