NewzIntel.com

Category: Science

  • MIL-OSI China: Entrepreneur forum highlights China-UK AI cooperation

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

    Participants at the 2025 Sino-UK Entrepreneur Forum on Wednesday praised China’s rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and emphasized the boundless opportunities for deepening cooperation between the two countries.

    The forum, co-organized by The 48 Group in Britain and China Daily, was held under the theme “Smart Decisions for Smart Technologies.”

    Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom (UK) Zheng Zeguang highlighted the growing collaboration between the two countries in the AI sector. He noted that both nations have actively participated in bilateral meetings and exchanges, which have yielded tangible benefits on both sides. Zheng underscored the importance of continued science and technology cooperation.

    According to official data, China is home to over 4,500 AI-related enterprises, with the core AI industry valued at nearly 600 billion yuan. In 2024, Chinese entities accounted for more than 61 percent of global AI patent applications, while new industries, business formats, and digital models contributed over 18 percent to China’s gross domestic product (GDP).

    Jack Perry, Chairman of The 48 Group, commended the current high-tech collaboration between China and the UK. He cited successful examples such as BYD’s leadership in electric mobility, Alibaba Cloud’s role in smart infrastructure, and Octopus Energy’s efforts in clean energy transformation. Perry noted that the UK, now attracting more venture capital in AI than any other European country, offers complementary strengths to China’s capabilities.

    Panel discussions featured insights from experts and industry leaders on how AI is transforming a wide range of sectors, including power supply, green growth, finance, language technologies, automotive design, cloud computing, and advertising.

    “China and Britain are two global engines of innovation with deeply complementary strengths,” said Rebecca Yang, editor-in-chief of China Daily Europe. She pointed to the UK’s excellence in fundamental research, fintech, and regulatory frameworks, and China’s expansive market, digital infrastructure, and real-world application capabilities as a foundation for strategic bilateral collaboration. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Dmitry Chernyshenko proposed publishing a jubilee collection of Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s works

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    The State Duma held the second meeting of the organizing committee for the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the birth of the founder of the LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky

    May 14, 2025

    Dmitry Chernyshenko during a meeting of the organizing committee for the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the birth of the founder of the LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky

    May 14, 2025

    Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin

    May 14, 2025

    Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov

    May 14, 2025

    Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov

    May 14, 2025

    Previous news Next news

    The State Duma held the second meeting of the organizing committee for the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the birth of the founder of the LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky

    The State Duma held the second meeting of the organizing committee for the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the birth of the founder of the LDPR, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, where the plan for the main events was considered.

    Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, noting the scale of Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s personality, emphasized the importance of perpetuating his memory: “We must do everything so that the memory of him, as a person who did a lot to create the party-political system of our state, who headed the faction in the State Duma throughout his entire time, lives and is passed on from generation to generation.” He recalled that Vladimir Zhirinovsky did a lot to strengthen the Russian state.

    Vyacheslav Volodin told what has already been done within the framework of the memorial events: “Starting September 1, scholarships named after Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky will be paid to the most gifted, talented students who have achieved high results in the field that Vladimir Volfovich loved – in oriental studies. He was a specialist in it.”

    The Chairman of the State Duma noted the efforts made by the leader of the LDPR faction Leonid Slutsky: “Leonid Eduardovich and his colleagues are doing a lot to ensure that the Vladimir Volfovich museum is opened next year. It will be located in the headquarters of the LDPR party. This is a home place for Vladimir Volfovich.”

    Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko took part in the meeting. He emphasized that Vladimir Zhirinovsky left behind a significant scientific and literary legacy, and put forward an initiative to publish a jubilee collection of his works.

    “Considering that Vladimir Volfovich left behind a significant scientific, literary, journalistic legacy, if Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin supports it, I propose considering the possibility of creating a commission at the State Duma, which could include scientists, historians and sociologists from the country’s leading universities, such as Moscow State University, Russian State University for the Humanities, and St. Petersburg State University. It would analyze the existing legacy, propose a publication structure and select works and documentation to publish a collection of his works,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

    Dmitry Chernyshenko also noted that on the eve of the committee meeting he discussed preparations for the anniversary with LDPR Chairman Leonid Slutsky. As a result, the draft plan of events was significantly expanded: federal ministries and departments, the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as major public organizations and media will participate in the implementation of 56 events.

    In conclusion, the Deputy Prime Minister thanked all members of the Government and personally the Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin for their active participation in the preparation of the anniversary. The Deputy Prime Minister added that all work is under the control of the Chairman of the Government Mikhail Mishustin.

    The meeting of the organizing committee was also attended by the Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov, the Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov, the Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova, the Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, the Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit, the Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs Denis Ashirov, State Duma deputies, senators and other members of the organizing committee.

    The 80th anniversary of Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s birth will be celebrated on April 25, 2026. By decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin dated November 6, 2024, State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin was appointed head of the organizing committee. The committee includes parliamentarians, government representatives, scientists, representatives of the university community and major media.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Zinke and Neguse Introduce Bill to Extend Successful Forest Management Program

    Source: US Congressman Ryan Zinke (Western Montana)

    Originally authorized in 2009, the program has treated and restored 5.7 million acres of forests

    Washington, D.C. – Today, Representatives Ryan Zinke (R-MT-01) and Joe Neguse (D-CO-02) introduced the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) Program Reauthorization Act of 2025, which would extend and expand a successful program focused on reducing wildfire risk, restoring forest health, and supporting rural economies through proven, locally driven strategies. Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

    Originally authorized in 2009, the CFLR program is a model of how communities, industry partners, landowners, and local governments can work together to improve forest conditions and prevent catastrophic wildfires. In its first decade, CFLR projects treated and restored 5.7 million acres of forest, improved 1,000 miles of trails, and maintained over 25,000 miles of forest roads helping keep public lands open and safe.

    The CFLR Program Reauthorization Act of 2025 will:

    • Extend the program for ten years.
    • Increase support for collaborative, science-based forest projects.
    • Expand the program’s reach to more high-risk areas.
    • Improve project flexibility and reduce bureaucratic delays.

    “Every year hundreds of thousands of acres of forest burn to the ground destroying landscapes, watersheds and homes. We can’t prevent every fire, but we can certainly manage our forests, so they are in better health and more resilient against catastrophic fires,” said Congressman Zinke. “The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program was a proven success that leverages public and private entities to grow more resilient forests. When a program works, we should extend it. Montana forests must be multi-use. Recreation, conservation, and resource development all have their place and must be part of the conversation, but none of them can exist if our forests are unhealthy or burning down. The continuation of this program will promote the collaboration needed preserve more of our forests for use by the communities around them.”

    “In Colorado and across the Rocky Mountain West, we know that protecting our forests and lands benefits our communities,” said Congressman Neguse. “The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program is a successful partnership program that bolsters community-based stewardship, supporting efforts to promote cooperative, science-based wildfire mitigation. I’m incredibly proud to lead my colleagues in the House to champion its reauthorization.”

    “The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program has a proven track record of improving forest health and reducing wildfire risk in Montana. Collaborative fuel reduction work completed as part of the Colt Summit Project in Seeley Lake protected homes and infrastructure during the 2023 Colt Fire,” said Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Director Amanda Kaster. “Montana DNRC thanks Representative Zinke for his leadership in working to maintain this impactful work that directly helps communities in Montana.”

    “Wildfire doesn’t recognize state or county lines, and the Kootenai National Forest in Montana and the Panhandle National Forest in Idaho share the same fire shed, the Kootenai Complex. The 80,000-acre Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative project on the Panhandle National Forest funded under the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) Program has benefitted our residents here in neighboring Lincoln County, Montana in several ways,” said Jim Hammons, Lincoln County Commissioner. “Treatments under the project have reduced the risk of wildfire crossing into the county from Idaho and has sustained one of the few local mills vital to our timber infrastructure, while providing jobs to our local logging contractors, many that work in Idaho forests. The CFLR program addresses the values that large landscapes have in providing wildlife habitat, timber products and the large-scale wildfire threats that exist in our neck-of-the-woods.”

    “I’m grateful to Congressman Zinke for sponsoring this critical legislation,” said Beaverhead County Commissioner, Mike McGinley. “Beaverhead County has already seen a 1,500-acre wildfire this spring, a clear sign that we’ve got to get control of our forest management.” 

    The legislation is also co-led by Representatives Andrea Salinas (OR-06) and Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08) and the companion is additionally supported by Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jim Risch (R-ID), and Steve Daines (R-MT).

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Lankford Continues Push to Safeguard Conscience Rights of Health Care Workers

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Lankford

    WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) introduced the Conscience Protection Act to protect health care providers and insurance plans from government discrimination if they decline to participate in abortions. The Conscience Protection Act provides enforcement for existing conscience laws by providing a private right of action for victims of conscience discrimination. 

    “When conscience protections aren’t enforced, health care workers are forced to decide if they should lose their job or violate their beliefs by performing an abortion. Many health care professionals went into their careers to protect life, not take life. Doctors and nurses should never have to make the choice between their career and their conscience. The Conscience Protection Act defends health care workers and empowers them to stand by convictions as they care for their community,” said Lankford.

    Lankford first introduced the Conscience Protection Act in 2019 and again in 2021 and 2024.  He spoke on the Senate floor after Democrats blocked his bill to protect all Americans’ conscience rights.

    Lankford is joined on the bill by Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Jim Risch (R-ID), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Steve Daines (R-MT), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Ted Budd (R-NC), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Todd Young (R-IN), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Mike Lee (R-UT), Jim Banks (R-IN), and Mike Crapo (R-ID). Representative August Plfuger (R-TX) is leading the legislation in the House of Representatives.

    This legislation is also supported by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Students for Life, American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists Action, Alliance Defending Freedom, Eagle Forum, National Right to Life Committee, First Liberty Institute, CatholicVote, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, and March for Life.

    Background

    Congress has enacted more than 25 laws to protect conscience rights for individuals who have a religious or moral objection to performing certain medical procedures, including abortion. Yet, courts have consistently declined to find that these laws provide a “private right of action” for an individual to commence litigation to defend their right of conscience—thereby leaving victims of conscience discrimination unable to defend their rights in court. Currently, if a health care worker refuses to provide abortions, the only recourse available is to file a complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR). 

    In 2014, California required that health plans must cover abortions, which forced religious employers to offer plans that violate their religious beliefs. In December 2014, under the Obama Administration, HHS opened an investigation. Despite the then-current laws protecting conscience rights, in June 2016, HHS declared that California could force all its health plans to cover elective abortions, which President Biden’s nominee for HHS Secretary has advocated for and enforced as Attorney General of California.

    During the first Trump Administration, several landmark actions were taken to enforce current law and protect conscience: (1) created the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, (2) partnered with the Department of Justice to notice and enforce conscience violations in Vermont and California, resulting in the disallowance of $200 million per quarter from the state due to former Attorney General Becerra’s refusal to comply with the law, and (3) issued the final rule “Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights In Health Care” to enforce existing statutory protections, which Lankford supported. Unfortunately, a federal court vacated the conscience rule in November 2019. Litigation on the final rule continued at the Second Circuit in New York v. HHS, and seventy-eight Members of Congress filed an amicus brief led by Senator Lankford in the case.

    In response to the Biden Administration’s proposed rule that would insufficiently enforce conscience protections for medical professionals, Lankford led his colleagues in filing a public comment letter demanding greater implementation and enforcement of all of the statutory conscience protections enacted by Congress, as reflected in the previous rule issued under the Trump Administration. 

    This week, President Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it is initiating a compliance review under the Church Amendments, which is central to the legislation. This key development pairs perfectly with the Conscience Protection Act and underscores the need for further action to protect conscience rights.

    You can read the exclusive in the Daily Signal HERE, and can read the full text of the Conscience Protection Act HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Bipartisan Jewish American Heritage Month Resolution Passes the House

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23)

    “As we celebrate the 20th year of Jewish American Heritage Month, I am proud to open the doors of understanding to everyone about all the remarkable contributions that generations of Jewish Americans made to shape our nation’s history, culture and society,” said Wasserman Schultz. “This celebration is also one of the most effective ways to combat rising antisemitism, as Jews and non-Jews alike come to learn about all the amazing Jewish Americans who served in pivotal government and military posts, won Nobel prizes, led universities and corporations, developed lifechanging inventions, authored great American novels, and worked to advance America’s noble experiment in democracy. I am so proud to join my bipartisan House colleagues in this effort.”

    Washington D.C. – Today, a resolution led by U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01), Troy A. Carter, Sr. (LA-02), and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) to recognize Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) passed the House of Representatives in a 421 to 1 vote. JAHM aims to recognize the significant contributions of Jewish Americans to the society and culture of the United States.

    “As we celebrate the 20th year of Jewish American Heritage Month, I am proud to open the doors of understanding to everyone about all the remarkable contributions that generations of Jewish Americans made to shape our nation’s history, culture and society,” said Wasserman Schultz. “This celebration is also one of the most effective ways to combat rising antisemitism, as Jews and non-Jews alike come to learn about all the amazing Jewish Americans who served in pivotal government and military posts, won Nobel prizes, led universities and corporations, developed lifechanging inventions, authored great American novels, and worked to advance America’s noble experiment in democracy. I am so proud to join my bipartisan House colleagues in this effort.”

    “Jewish Americans have helped shape every corner of our nation—from science and technology to public service and the arts. As antisemitism rises at home and abroad, we must lead with strength, clarity, and unity,” said Miller-Meeks. “I’m proud to cosponsor this resolution to honor the contributions of Jewish Americans and to reaffirm our commitment to combating hate in all its forms.”

    “Jewish American Heritage Month is a time to celebrate the rich contributions of Jewish Americans to our nation. As we continue to see antisemitism and other forms of hatred on the rise, this resolution both honors Jewish American heritage and sends a powerful message of solidarity and support to Jewish communities across the country,” said Carter. “By educating ourselves about Jewish history and culture, we deepen our understanding of America’s diversity and reaffirm our commitment to combatting prejudice in all its forms.”

    “Jewish American heritage is woven into the fabric of our nation’s history. With the House’s passage of this bipartisan resolution, we’re not just recognizing those contributions—we’re making clear that antisemitism has no place in our country,” said Fitzpatrick. “As Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, I’ll continue leading efforts to ensure Jewish history is honored, Jewish communities are protected, and hate is confronted head-on.”

    This year’s JAHM resolution was endorsed by AJC, ADL, The Jewish Federations of North America, National Council on Jewish Women, and Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

    The United States observes JAHM annually each May to encourage all Americans to learn more about Jewish culture and pay tribute to the generations of Jewish Americans who have helped shape American history. With antisemitism on the rise in our country, fueled by the spread of hatred, disinformation, and Holocaust distortion online, JAHM provides an opportunity to celebrate Jewish voices and bring together all our communities in the fight against antisemitism and hate.

    JAHM was first introduced as a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives by Wasserman Schultz, and in the U.S. Senate by the late Arlen Specter in 2006. Passing unanimously, it was then established by presidential proclamation and has since been renewed every May by Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joseph Biden.

    Read the full resolution here.

    Watch Rep. Wasserman Schultz’s floor speech on the resolution here.

    ####

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Launching the Auckland University of Technology Innovation Fund

    Source: NZ Music Month takes to the streets

    Tēnā koutou katoa,
    Thank you for inviting me to join you today. 
    Vice-Chancellor Damon Salesa, AUT Council Members, leadership, AUT Ventures staff and the start up community joining us here this morning – I appreciate your warm welcome. 
    It’s a real pleasure to help launch the AUT Innovation Fund.
    This fund is exactly the kind of initiative we want to see more of under the Government’s Going for Growth plan. New Zealand needs to back smart ideas, new technology, and the people behind them. That’s how we create better jobs, stronger businesses, and a more diverse economy.
    Our universities are central to this. They’re not just places of teaching and learning—they’re also where innovation happens. That’s why I’m pleased to see this fund focusing on turning research into real-world outcomes, including new companies, products, and services.
    It’s also good to see the fund supports sharing the benefits with researchers and students through intellectual property. When people know their ideas can go somewhere—and that they’ll be recognised and rewarded—it encourages creativity, ambition, and impact.
    AUT already has a track record in this space through AUT Ventures. It’s great to see that work now expanding, with new backing to support ideas like Spherelose and businesses like Conical. These are just some of the early examples of what’s possible.
    As Minister for Universities—and also for Science, Innovation and Technology—I see a big opportunity to better connect our universities with the wider research and business community. That’s why we’re making some of the biggest changes to our science system in 30 years. And we’re doing it in a way that recognises the vital role universities play.
    At the same time, we’re also updating the Tertiary Education Strategy—a roadmap for the future of our universities and vocational providers. It will set out the Government’s priorities for the sector and the changes we’d like to see over the next few years.
    We expect to focus on four main areas:

    Access and Participation – making sure people from all backgrounds can get the skills they need.
    Achievement – supporting students to complete their study and succeed afterwards.
    Impact and Innovation – making sure research and teaching support the economy and wider society.
    Integration and Collaboration – encouraging stronger links between universities, business, and other research groups.

    We’re also considering a fifth area: international partnerships, to grow our global connections.
    Early engagement is already underway, including with Universities New Zealand. Wider consultation will follow later this year.
    I know the changes underway in the sector are big. I want to acknowledge that. But small steps won’t deliver the kind of transformation New Zealand needs—especially in how we grow our economy and support our people.
    We’ve always had world-class ideas in this country. The challenge has been turning them into world-class outcomes that benefit New Zealanders. The AUT Innovation Fund is a practical step toward solving that challenge—taking great ideas and helping them go further.
    So, I want to thank AUT for stepping up, and I look forward to seeing what comes from this work.
    Ngā mihi nui, and all the best for the fund and its future success.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Chinese Foreign Minister Meets with LAC Colleagues

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –

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

    BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday held separate meetings with the foreign ministers of Honduras Eduardo Enrique Reyna, Bolivia Celinda Sosa Lunda and Mexico Juan Ramon de la Fuente.

    The above-mentioned senior diplomats arrived in China to attend the 4th Ministerial Meeting of the China-CELAC Forum (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States).

    During the meeting with E.E. Reyna, Wang Yi, also a member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee, said China highly appreciates Honduras’ firm commitment to the one-China principle and supports the country in safeguarding its sovereignty, independence and national dignity.

    As Wang Yi emphasized, China is willing to share its experience in public administration with Honduras, help the country choose a development path that suits national conditions and is supported by the people, and will continue to assist Honduras within its capabilities in improving the well-being of its people and building up its potential.

    The Honduran Foreign Minister, for his part, pointed out that the Latin American and Caribbean countries (LAC) are deeply encouraged by the important cooperation initiatives put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping. He noted that Honduras will firmly adhere to the one-China principle and translate the important agreements reached by the two heads of state into new practical results.

    During the meeting with S. Sosa Lunda, the head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry pointed out that China highly appreciates Bolivia’s resolute commitment to defending national dignity, legitimate rights and interests without fear of external interference.

    Wang Yi congratulated Bolivia on joining BRICS as a partner country and said that China hopes to expand communication and cooperation with the Bolivian side within the framework of multilateral mechanisms. The Chinese diplomat also called on both sides to further advance the high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road.

    S. Sosa Lunda, for her part, stressed that Bolivia is a strong defender of multilateralism and the right to national self-determination, attaches great importance to cooperation within the BRICS framework and wishes to use this platform to strengthen cohesion and mutual assistance among the countries of the Global South. She also emphasized that the commitment to the one-China principle is an unshakable position of Bolivia.

    During his meeting with J.R. de la Fuente, Wang Yi said that China places relations with Mexico at the center of its diplomacy with LAC countries. He noted that, guided by the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, China is willing to share with Mexico its experience in comprehensively promoting Chinese-style modernization and the opportunities offered by the Chinese mega-market.

    China welcomes more high-quality products from Mexico to enter its market and will encourage Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Mexico, the Chinese foreign minister added.

    J. R. de la Fuente, in turn, pointed out that Mexico firmly adheres to sovereignty and independence and will continue to strictly adhere to the one-China principle. According to him, Mexico expects to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in areas such as connectivity, science and technology, agriculture, tourism and direct flights, and continuously enrich the content of Mexico-China relations. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Statement from the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson congratulating the new Minister of Finance and National Revenue

    Source: Government of Canada News

    OTTAWA, May 14, 2025 – I would like to congratulate the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance and National Revenue, on his added responsibilities in Cabinet.

    I look forward to working with Mr. Champagne to improve services at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The CRA has the dual responsibility of administering tax legislation and distributing benefit payments to those who need them most. I trust that he will give both aspects of this role the attention they require.

    Mr. Champagne brings a wealth of experience. He has held a variety of ministerial portfolios, from Minister of Infrastructure and Communities to Minister of Foreign Affairs to Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. I am sure that his variety of expertise will be an important asset in his dual role as Minister of Finance and National Revenue.

    As well, I would like to extend my congratulations to the Honourable Wayne Long, Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions). He brings an interesting perspective acquired through his active engagement with numerous parliamentary committees, notably the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. I am therefore confident he will be proactive in making sure the CRA pursue its dual role, especially for the most vulnerable among us.

    I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the Honourable Élisabeth Brière. Although I was her special advisor for only a short period of time, it was a pleasure working with her to improve the CRA’s services.

    During her time as Minister, our Office released two systemic examination reports—Timing Is Everything, about how the CRA administers the Canada child benefit, and Unintended Consequences, about the CRA’s administration of the bare trust filing requirements. Between these two reports, we made a total of 16 recommendations. I was pleased to see that she provided thoughtful responses for how the CRA could improve the areas we identified. I wish her the best in her work as a member of Parliament for Sherbrooke.

    I am looking forward to working with both the Minister and the Secretary of State in implementing the aforementioned recommendations made in our last two systemic reports.

    Mr. François Boileau, Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson

    Background information

    The Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson works independently from the CRA. Canadians can submit complaints to the Office if they feel they are not receiving the appropriate service from the CRA. Our main objective is to improve the service the CRA provides to taxpayers and benefit recipients by reviewing individual service complaints and service issues that affect more than one person or a segment of the population.

    The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson assists, advises and informs the Minister of Finance and National Revenue about matters relating to services provided by the CRA. The Ombudsperson ensures, in particular, that the CRA respects eight of the service rights outlined in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: As Historic Measles Outbreak Worsens, Murphy Blasts RFK Jr. On Vaccine Lies

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy
    [embedded content]
    WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, on Wednesday questioned U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2026 skinny budget request for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Murphy pressed Kennedy on broken promises made during his confirmation hearing and accused him of misleading the Committee and the public about his support for vaccines, especially for the measles vaccine.
    “I want to talk to you about the statements that you made to the Chairman of this committee and to members of this committee during your confirmation hearing about vaccines,” said Murphy. “You did not tell the truth. I find that to be really dangerous for our relationship. If I were the Chairman, who believes in vaccines and voted for you because he believed what you said about supporting vaccines, my head would be exploding. In the hearing, you told us ‘I will not work to impound, divert, or otherwise reduce any funding appropriated by Congress for the purpose of vaccination programs.’ That is not the truth. You have canceled $12 billion in public health grants to states. Whether you know this or not, that funding is used by the states in part to be able to administer and dispense information about vaccines.”
    Murphy called out Kennedy for putting public health at risk by lying to Congress during his nomination hearing and spreading misinformation that undermines trust in vaccines: “You also promised Chairman Cassidy that the FDA would not change vaccine standards from ‘historical norms.’ But what happened as soon as you were sworn in? You announced new standards for vaccine approvals that you proudly referred to in your own press release as a radical departure from current practice. And experts say that that departure will delay approvals. You also said, specific to the measles vaccine, that you support the measles vaccine, but you have consistently been undermining the measles vaccine. You told the public that the vaccine wanes very quickly. You went on the Dr. Phil show and said the measles vaccine was never fully tested for safety. You said there was fetal debris in the measles vaccine.”
    “Just this morning, in front of the House of Representatives, you also said that you in fact would not recommend that kids get vaccinated for measles,” Murphy continued. “You said you would just lay out the pros and cons. This is the summation of everything that you have said to compromise people’s faith in the measles vaccine in particular. It is contrary to what you said before this committee. You said you support the measles vaccine, but then you have laid out a set of facts that are contested, and I will submit information for the record from experts who contest what you have said about the vaccine. And the result is to undermine faith in the vaccines. Kind of like saying ‘Listen, I think you should swim in that lake, but, you know, the lake is probably toxic, and there are probably a ton of snakes and alligators in that lake, but I think you should swim in it.’ Nobody is going to swim in that lake, if that’s what you say. And so I want you to acknowledge that when you say you support the measles vaccine and then go out and repeatedly undermine the vaccine with information that is contested by public health experts, that is not supporting the vaccine.”
    After Kennedy refused to say he supports the measles vaccine, Murphy concluded: “I think you’re answering the question, and that’s really dangerous for the American public and for families in this country. The Secretary of Health and Human Services is no longer recommending the measles vaccine.”
    As of early May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have confirmed over 1,000 measles cases across the country, making this the single largest measles outbreak in the 21st century. Those cases have led to 126 hospitalizations and three deaths.
    A full transcript of Murphy’s exchange with RFK Jr. can be found below:
    MURPHY: “Thank you very much, Madame Chair. Secretary Kennedy, I want to talk to you about your relationship with this committee and this Congress. I want to talk to you about the statements that you made to the Chairman of this committee and to members of this committee during your confirmation hearing about vaccines. You did not tell the truth. I find that to be really dangerous for our relationship. If I were the Chairman, who believes in vaccines and voted for you because he believed what you said about supporting vaccines, my head would be exploding.
    “In the hearing, you told us ‘I will not work to impound, divert, or otherwise reduce any funding appropriated by Congress for the purpose of vaccination programs.’ That is not the truth. Let me finish my question.”
    KENNEDY: “I didn’t hear what you said. I’m just asking you to repeat it so I can understand your question.”
    MURPHY: “I’ll repeat it. During the hearing you said to this committee, and to the Finance Committee, ‘I will not work to impound, divert, or otherwise reduce funding appropriated by Congress for the purpose of vaccination programs.’ That is not what happened. You have done the opposite. You canceled $12 billion in grants to the states, including my state, that are used to administer and track vaccines. You promised Chairman Cassidy– ”
    KENNEDY: “When did I do that?”
    MURPHY: “Madam Chair, would you allow me to finish my question?”
    MURKOWSKI: “Keep going with your question.”
    KENNEDY: “When did I do that?”
    MURPHY: “Let me finish my question.”
    KENNEDY: “You’re making these accusations, just tell me when I did it so I can understand what the question is.”
    MURPHY: “You have canceled $12 billion in public health grants to states. Whether you know this or not, that funding is used by the states in part to be able to administer and dispense information about vaccines. Mr. Secretary, let me give you the full panoply of things you said before this Committee that didn’t turn out to be true. You also promised Chairman Cassidy that the FDA would not change vaccine standards from ‘historical norms.’ But what happened as soon as you were sworn in? You announced new standards for vaccine approvals that you proudly referred to in your own press release as a radical departure from current practice. And experts say that that departure will delay approvals. You also said, specific to the measles vaccine, that you support the measles vaccine, but you have consistently been undermining the measles vaccine. You told the public that the vaccine wanes very quickly. You went on the Dr. Phil show and said the measles vaccine was never fully tested for safety. You said there was fetal debris in the measles vaccine. And this morning–”
    KENNEDY: “All true! All true. Do you want me to lie to the public?”
    MURPHY: “None of that is true.”
    KENNEDY: “Of course it’s true. Of course it’s true, Senator. Senator, begging your pardon, but you do not know what you are talking about.”
    MURKOWSKI: Let’s have a little bit of order so that you can get your question and that he can get his answer.
    MURPHY: “I didn’t ask for a response yet. I’d like to lay out the predicate of my question before I’m interrupted by the witness. He should have some respect for this Committee.”
    MURKOWSKI: “Go ahead.”
    MURPHY: “Just this morning, in front of the House of Representatives, you also said that you in fact would not recommend that kids get vaccinated for measles. You said you would just lay out the pros and cons. This is the summation of everything that you have said to compromise people’s faith in the measles vaccine in particular. It is contrary to what you said before this committee. You said you support the measles vaccine, but then you have laid out a set of facts that are contested, and I will submit information for the record from experts who contest what you have said about the vaccine. And the result is to undermine faith in the vaccines. Kind of like saying ‘Listen, I think you should swim in that lake, but, you know, the lake is probably toxic, and there are probably a ton of snakes and alligators in that lake, but I think you should swim in it.’ Nobody is going to swim in that lake, if that’s what you say. And so I want you to acknowledge that when you say you support the measles vaccine and then go out and repeatedly undermine the vaccine with information that is contested by public health experts, that is not supporting the vaccine. 
    “And so I guess I have two simple questions for you. One is, can you clarify what you said in the House this morning? Are you or are you not recommending that families get their children vaccinated? Or are you just giving people the pros and cons? And do you understand that when you say these things about the measles vaccine, what ends up happening is less people get the vaccine. That may be what you want, but do you understand that the result of constantly questioning the efficacy or safety of the vaccine results in less people getting the vaccine? I don’t necessarily want to spend the remaining 20 seconds in an argument over the science. But do you at least understand that that is the consequence of what you are saying? And are you actually still recommending people get the vaccine or are you not?”
    KENNEDY: “Senator, if I advise you to swim in a lake that I knew there to be alligators in, wouldn’t you want me to tell you there were alligators in it?”
    MURPHY: “So are you recommending the measles vaccine or not?”
    KENNEDY: “What I have said, and what I said in–”
    MURPHY: “It doesn’t sound like you are, if that’s–”
    KENNEDY: “Are you going to let me answer, or are you going to keep interrupting me?”
    MURPHY: “Are you, or are you not?”
    KENNEDY: “Are you going to let me answer? What I pledged before this committee during my confirmation is that I would tell the truth, and that I would have radical transparency. I’m going to tell the truth about everything we know and we don’t know about vaccines.”
    MURPHY: “Are you recommending the measles vaccine or not?”
    KENNEDY: “I am not going to just tell people everything is safe and effective if I know that there’s issues. I need to respect people’s intelligence.”
    MURPHY: “I think you’re answering the question. I think you’re answering the question, and that’s really dangerous for the American public and for families in this country.”
    KENNEDY: “The reason people have lost faith in this program is because they’ve been lied to by public officials for year after year after year.”
    MURPHY: “The Secretary of Health and Human Services is no longer recommending the measles vaccine.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Kaleido Life Introduces the Third Way to Fund Your Future: Cash. Credit. Kaleido.

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Photo Courtesy of Craig Du Bruyn

    ATLANTA, May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Forget cash or credit. Kaleido Life is pioneering a third way to fund your life—by inheriting from your future self, today.

    Currently in pre-launch, Kaleido Life is an Atlanta-based insurtech company building a new category in life insurance: interest-free, upfront cash benefits delivered at the start of a policy—not at the end of life. Designed for today’s generation of value-seekers, the platform uses AI, biometrics, and behavioral science to offer hyper-personalized liquidity with no loans, no interest, and no credit checks.

    “Our product is the bridge between people’s dreams and their reality,” said Craig Du Bruyn, Founder and CEO of Kaleido Life. “Life insurance is simply how we deliver it. It’s not a loan—it’s your money, unlocked.”

    Not Borrowed. Not Earned. Inherited.

    Through Kaleido’s proprietary Life Liquidity Score™, qualified customers receive up to 25% of their death benefit in cash at policy inception. The system dynamically evaluates mortality, health behaviors, and lifestyle to determine eligibility and tiered benefit levels. The funds can be used for real needs—paying off student debt, funding a first home, starting a business, or taking a life-changing leap—without sacrificing long-term protection.

    Unlike traditional life insurance, which only pays out after death, or loans that burden the future with interest, Kaleido offers an immediate and debt-free bridge between aspiration and reality.

    Built for Living, Not Just Leaving

    Kaleido’s tech stack eliminates the typical friction in life insurance onboarding. Its AI-powered underwriting engine delivers real-time decisions, while its 360º Wellness Matrix integrates with wearables like Apple Watch and Oura Ring to promote long-term engagement. Healthier habits can lead to increased benefits, cashback rewards, and lower premiums over time.

    The result: a feedback loop that makes financial well-being and physical well-being mutually reinforcing.

    “We don’t just predict risk—we predict potential,” said Craig Du Bruyn. “Even if someone doesn’t qualify today, we guide them toward it. Our system reflects real lives—not just data points—and we build life insurance around what people actually need to live better now.”

    From Passive Product to Active Platform

    Kaleido Life isn’t competing on price—it’s competing on access, immediacy, and relevance. With 125 million Americans uninsured and 50% of policyholders saying they’d switch providers for a better experience, the company is positioning itself not just as an insurer—but as a financial wellness ally.

    Distribution is designed for the modern world: embedded finance partners, AI-powered influencer ecosystems, and social distribution models that scale trust—not just impressions.

    “Kaleido isn’t just another fintech—they’re building what legacy institutions can’t,” said Gary Bennett, former CEO and Chairman of CreditAccess Life and Seguros Monterrey New York Life. “This is the transformation the industry has been waiting for.”

    About Kaleido Life, Inc.

    Kaleido Life, Inc. is a pre-launch insurtech company based in Atlanta, Georgia, redefining the purpose of life insurance. Through AI, biometric data, and a proprietary liquidity engine, Kaleido enables policyholders to access future value today. With no loans, no interest, and no credit checks, the company’s Life Benefits™ platform is transforming life insurance from a passive promise into an active tool for financial and personal freedom.

    Contact Information:

    Contact Person’s Name: Craig Du Bruyn
    Organization / Company: Kaleido Life, Inc.
    Company website: https://kaleido-life.com/
    Contact Email Address: craig@kaleido-life.com
    City, State / Province, Country, Zip Code: Atlanta, GA

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3d771b7b-7e67-4f33-ba2b-77e66bc622d2

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Whatever happened to Barbie’s feet? Podiatrists studied 2,750 dolls to find out

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cylie Williams, Professor, School of Primary and Allied Health Care, Monash University

    elinaxx1v/Shutterstock

    What do you get when a group of podiatrists (and shoe lovers) team up with a Barbie doll collector? A huge opportunity to explore how Barbie reflects changes in the types of shoes women wear.

    It all started with the blockbuster Barbie movie in 2023. In particular, we discussed a scene when Barbie was distressed to find she didn’t have to walk on tip-toes. She could walk on flat feet.

    Soon, we had designed a research project to study the feet of Barbie dolls on the market from her launch in 1959 to June 2024. That’s 2,750 Barbies in all.

    How this scene from the Barbie movie inspired our research project.

    In our study published today, we found a general shift away from Barbie’s iconic feet – on tip-toes, ready to slip on high-heeled shoes – to flat feet for flat shoes.

    We found, like many women today, Barbie “chooses” her footwear depending on what she has to do – flats for skateboarding or working as an astronaut but heels when dressing up for a night out.

    We also question whether high heels that Barbie and some women choose to wear are really as bad for your health as we’ve been led to believe.

    The movie that sparked the #barbiefootchallenge

    Barbie’s feet – in particular her tip-toe posture – triggered TikTok’s #barbiefoottrend and #barbiefootchallenge. When the movie was released, fans made videos to re-create how Barbie stepped out of her high-heeled shoes, yet stayed on tip-toes. Margot Robbie, the Australian actor who played Barbie in the movie, was even interviewed about it.

    Despite the obvious interest in Barbie’s iconic foot stance, there had been no specific research on her feet or choice of footwear.

    So our research team decided to look at how Barbie’s feet had changed over the years to reflect the kinds of shoes she’s worn, and how that ties in with her different jobs and growing diversity.

    What we did

    One of our research team has an extensive Barbie doll collection. This guided our search through online catalogues to examine the foot positions of 2,750 Barbie dolls.

    Our custom-made audit tool allowed us to classify Barbie’s foot posture as tip-toe (known as equinus) or flat.

    We also looked at when the dolls were made, whether they were diverse or inclusive (for instance, represented people with disabilities), and whether Barbie was employed.

    Our device allowed us to classify Barbie’s feet as (a) tip-toe (equinus) or (b) flat.
    Cylie Williams, CC BY-NC-ND

    What we found

    We were surprised that Barbie’s high-heel wearing foot posture was no longer the norm. Barbie does, however, still wear high heels when dressed for fun.

    We found, just like Barbie in the movie, she’s made a transition from high heels (equinus foot posture) to flat shoes (flat foot posture), especially when employed.

    We suggest this mirrors broader societal changes. This includes how women choose footwear according to how much they have to move in the day, and away from only wearing high heels in some workplaces.

    Barbie ditched her high-heel wearing foot posture as she climbed the career ladder. In the 1960s, all Barbies tip-toed around, but by the 2020s, only 40% did.

    Meanwhile, her resume expanded, going from not being represented as having a job to 33% representing real-world jobs.

    Barbie’s been an astronaut since before the Moon landing.
    8th.creator/Shutterstock

    She was an astronaut in 1965, before the Moon landing, and a surgeon when the vast majority of doctors in the United States were men.

    US laws changed in the late 80s, supporting women to own businesses without a man’s permission. And Barbie mirrored this.

    She started trading stilettos for flats and strutting into male-dominated fields. Barbie didn’t just break the mould, she kicked it off with low-heeled shoes.

    Barbie also evolved to better reflect the population. We found a moderate link between her having flat feet and representing diversity or disability.

    For example, she chooses a stable flat shoe when using a prosthetic limb. But it was also great to see her break footwear stereotypes by wearing high heels when using a wheelchair.

    Are high heels so bad?

    Some celebrities, the media and public health advice warn against wearing high heels. But we know women (and Barbie) choose to wear them from time to time. In fact it’s discussions about women’s shoe choices that also gave us the idea for this fun research.

    For instance, health professionals often link high-heeled shoes with developing bunions, knee osteoarthritis, back pain or being injured.

    However bunions, and knee and back pain are just as common in people who don’t wear high heels.

    Studies exploring the risk of high heels are also often performed with people who don’t usually wear high heels, or during competitive sports.

    We couldn’t find any investigations exploring the long-term effect of wearing high heels.

    Research does show that high-heeled shoes make you walk slower and make it harder to balance.

    But high heels have different features, such as heel height or shape. So different types of high heels probably present a different risk. That risk also probably differs from person to person, including how often they walk in heels.

    Lessons for all shoe lovers

    But back to Barbie and lessons we learned. We know Barbie is a social construct that reflects some aspects of the real world. She chooses heels when fashion is the goal and flat shoes when needing speed and stability.

    Rather than demonise high heels, messages about footwear need to evolve to acknowledge choice, and trust women can balance their own priorities and needs.

    As Barbie’s journey shows, women already make thoughtful shoe choices based on comfort, function and identity.

    Cylie Williams receives funding from the Medical Research Future Foundation. In the past five years, she has previously received research funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Department of Health and Aged Care (Australia), Bobux International Limited, Department of Health (Victoria) and Sports and Exercise Podiatry Australia.

    Helen Banwell is a practitioner member of the Podiatry Board of Australia.

    – ref. Whatever happened to Barbie’s feet? Podiatrists studied 2,750 dolls to find out – https://theconversation.com/whatever-happened-to-barbies-feet-podiatrists-studied-2-750-dolls-to-find-out-256211

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: This 6-point plan can ease Australia’s gambling problems – if our government has the guts

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University

    WHYFRAME/Shutterstock

    We have a refreshed and revitalised Australian government, enriched with great political capital.

    During the last term of parliament before the election, opportunities to address Australia’s raging gambling habit were neglected.

    Could this government now have enough authority and courage to take on the gambling ecosystem?

    A massive issue

    Australians are the world’s biggest gambling losers.

    Many attribute this to some inherent Australian trait. But what it really comes down to is the proliferation of gambling operators and their products.

    They’re everywhere, along with their marketing and promotion.

    Half of the gambling problems in Australia are associated with poker machines, ubiquitous in all states and territories other than Western Australia (WA).

    Consequently, and unsurprisingly, WA has the lowest rate of gambling harms. The state has 2,500 pokies at a single Perth casino and none in clubs or pubs.

    New South Wales boasts nearly 90,000 pokies, the highest pokie “density” in Australia, and its clubs and pubs make $8.1 billion a year.

    Overall, pokie losses in Australia total $15.8 billion per year.

    Wagering (betting on sport, racing and even elections), is now mainly online, and reaps another $8.4 billion in Australia. This is the fastest growing gambling sector, with growth, adjusted for inflation, of more than 45% between 2018-19 and 2022-23.

    Pokies grew by a more modest 7.6% during the same period. Only casinos went backwards.

    Overall, gambling costs Australians more than $32 billion annually.

    This has been fuelled by relentless promotion and marketing and the expansion of the gambling ecosystem: the network of commercial actors who reap a major dividend from gambling losses.

    It includes the bookies, pub and club chains as well as sporting leagues, financial services providers, software and game developers, charitable organisations, broadcasters, and state and territory governments.

    Of course, gambling comes at a cost: it is strongly linked to broken relationships, loss of assets, employment and educational opportunities, and crime rates.

    Intimate partner violence and neglect of children, along with poor mental and physical health, are also connected to gambling accessibility. As, unfortunately, is suicide.

    However, there are ways to reduce gambling harm.

    Six ways to tackle the problem

    1. First up, we need a national gambling regulator. This was an important recommendation in the 2023 report of the all-party parliamentary committee chaired by the late Peta Murphy.

    Currently, gambling is regulated by each state and territory. Some have reasonably robust systems in place. Others, somewhat less so. None are best practice.

    A national system is long overdue, as many gambling businesses operate across multiple Australian jurisdictions.

    In the absence of national regulation, the Northern Territory has become the de facto national regulator for online wagering. It offers a low-tax and arguably low intervention regulatory system.

    Yet the vast majority of losses from punters come in other jurisdictions.

    National regulation would also assist in standardising tax rates and maintaining reasonable uniform standards of regulation and enforcement.

    2. Poker machines are Australia’s biggest gambling problem, but a national precommitment scheme would provide a tool for people to manage their gambling.

    This proposal has been frequently mooted in Australia since the Productivity Commission recommended it in 2010.

    It has worked well in Europe: forms of it now operate in 27 European countries.

    Both Victoria and Tasmania have proposed it, as did the Perrottet government in the lead into the last NSW election.

    Unfortunately, the power of the pokie lobby, supercharged by the addiction surplus it reaps from punters, has slowed or stopped its implementation.

    But it’s eminently feasible and is highly likely to significantly reduce the harm of pokies.

    The technical challenges are far from insurmountable, despite what industry interests argue.



    Read more:
    Pokies line the coffers of governments and venues – but there are ways to tame this gambling gorilla

    3. Limiting accessibility to pokies is an important way to reduce harm.

    Nothing good happens in a pokie room after midnight, yet they are often open until 4am, with reopening time only a little later.

    Closing down venues after midnight and not opening until 10am would help a lot of people.

    4. We can’t talk about political access without considering some key tools of the gambling ecosystem.

    Pokie operators have enormous ability to influence politicians. Donations are a typical method to ensure access, backed up by the “revolving door” of post-politics jobs.

    Politicians also enjoy a stream of freebies from the gambling ecosystem, which allow these businesses to bend the ear of a guest for hours at a time, at lunch, over drinks, or during an event.

    To address this, we need better rules around acceptance of hospitality and gifts. Some states have moved towards such arrangements but there has been little action on the national front.

    5. Another major recommendation from the Murphy committee was the banning of online gambling ads.

    The majority of Australians want it to happen, and gambling ads are banned for almost all other forms of gambling.

    The special treatment for this rapidly growing, highly harmful gambling product makes no sense.

    6. Finally, we need to properly resource research into gambling harm and its prevention.

    Much gambling research (and its conferences) are funded by the gambling ecosystem, either directly or via representative organisations.

    This raises massive conflicts and has lead to a poor evidence base for policy making.

    The time is now

    Anything that stops people getting into trouble with gambling will be opposed by the gambling ecosystem because their best customers are those with the biggest losses.

    But nobody is saying we should do away with gambling.

    The evidence-based ideas above would help people with existing problems, and stop many more from ending up in trouble.

    Gambling is a problem we can solve.

    It does need political effort – but the Albanese government has the political capital to solve this problem.

    Charles Livingstone has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Finnish Alcohol Research Foundation, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, the Turkish Red Crescent Society, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He was a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government’s Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Lancet Public Health Commission into gambling, and of the World Health Organisation expert group on gambling and gambling harm. He made a submission to and appeared before the HoR Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs inquiry into online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm.

    Angela Rintoul holds a postdoctoral fellowship funded by Suicide Prevention Australia. In the past she has received funding from the Victoria Responsible Gambling Foundation, which was supported by allocations from the Community Support Fund, a government administered trust fund constituted from direct taxes on EGMs in hotels. She has also received funding from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and ANROWS. She is a member of the WHO meeting on gambling and received travel funding from the Turkish Green Crescent Society and consultancy funding from WHO. She has been paid to review grants by the British Academic Forum for the Study of Gambling, which administered via Gambling Research Exchange Ontario, funded by regulatory settlements from gambling companies who have breached the law.

    – ref. This 6-point plan can ease Australia’s gambling problems – if our government has the guts – https://theconversation.com/this-6-point-plan-can-ease-australias-gambling-problems-if-our-government-has-the-guts-256442

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Should AD stand for Alzheimer’s disease, or for Auguste Deter, the patient whose case was first described?

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Donald Weaver, Professor of Chemistry and Senior Scientist of the Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network, University of Toronto

    Alzheimer’s disease is named for Alois Alheimer (left), but his patient, Auguste Deter (right), should not be overlooked. (Wikimedia Commons)

    Auguste Deter was born 175 years ago on May 16, 1850. Though the story of her life is not widely known, it should be. Through her suffering and dignity, Deter puts a much-needed human face on the tragedy of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), one of the most important medical problems currently confronting humankind. Auguste Deter reminds us that AD is a disease of people, not proteins.

    Often, scientists reduce AD to a disorder of shrunken brain cells or misfolded proteins. However, AD is so much more.

    It is a disease that impairs thought processes and personal memories — the very essence of what makes each one of us an individual capable of hopes, dreams, love and being loved. AD is a very human disease and a very human struggle for individuals, their families and society as a whole. Deter is a crucial reminder of the human aspects of this devastating disease.

    ‘I have lost myself’

    Although dementia had been recognized for centuries, Deter was the first person officially diagnosed with the type of dementia now recognized as Alzheimer’s disease.

    Auguste Deter was a patient of Alois Alzheimer. His report on her case was the first description of what is now Alzheimer’s disease.
    (Wikimedia Commons)

    Born Auguste Hochmann into a working-class family, the financial hardships imposed by her father’s early death forced Deter into full-time employment as a seamstress at age 14. She continued this work until marrying Karl Deter, a railway clerk. The couple moved to Frankfurt, Germany where they lived as a happy and harmonious family with their daughter, Thekla.

    Tragically in the spring of 1901, this loving and caring 51-year-old woman began to be incapable of routine household activities. Soon, due to her progressive memory loss and intellectual impairment, she was no longer able to function on her own. She was admitted to the Frankfurt Psychiatric Hospital under the care of Dr. Alois Alzheimer.

    Alzheimer asked her many questions to which she would sometimes quietly reply “Ich habe mich verloren.” (“I have lost myself.”) Sadly, her relentless cognitive decline continued. On July 12, 1905, Alzheimer recorded that Deter’s deterioration had progressed such that she was lying on her side in a pool of urine, knees drawn up, unable to communicate. She died on April 8, 1906 from pneumonia and infected bed sores.

    Definitive features

    Alois Alzheimer.
    (Provided by U.S. National Library of Medicine)

    During the subsequent autopsy, Alzheimer identified not only Deter’s marked brain shrinkage but also localized clumps (“plaques”) of an unknown deposited substance as well as dense bundles of tangled fibres in what were once healthy brain cells.

    These latter two observations — now recognized as amyloid plaques and tau tangles — have become the diagnostic features that define the pathology of AD. In 1907, Alzheimer published a scientific paper in which he described Deter’s brain and her “new” type of dementia.

    Unfortunately, Alzheimer was unable to dedicate a long career to a more comprehensive understanding of this disease. He contracted rheumatic fever in 1912, dying of its complications three years later at age 51. Nonetheless, the Deter case report was sufficient to establish his legacy as the discoverer of Alzheimer’s disease.

    As an inquisitive psychiatrist and pathologist, Alzheimer had been interested in medicine and science, not fame. He was not seeking to name a disease after himself. In 1910, Alzheimer’s boss, the renowned German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin, wrote the influential Handbook of Psychiatry – a textbook in which he named this newly identified type of dementia “Alzheimer’s Disease.” In doing so, Kraepelin’s textbook ultimately transformed Alzheimer’s name into a household word.

    Meanwhile, in Prague

    But does Alzheimer’s disease truly deserve to be called Alzheimer’s disease? There are other people who can claim contributions to the discovery of Alzheimer’s disease.

    In 1907, the same year that Alzheimer published his single case description of Deter, a Czech psychiatrist named Oskar Fischer independently published a thorough structural analysis of plaques in the brains of 12 people with dementia. Between 1910-1912, he went on to analyze plaques and pathological brain changes in another 58 cases of dementia.

    Oskar Fischer.
    (Wikimedia Commons)

    Arguably, Fischer made more important contributions than Alzheimer to the comprehensive description of the disease. Yet it is called Alzheimer’s disease, not Fischer’s disease.

    There are many reasons for this. Fischer was Jewish and subject to antisemitism. He was not at a prominent German university and did not have a powerful ally like Emil Kraepelin promoting his career. And science is, after all, a very human activity.

    Unfortunately, Fischer later became trapped in occupied Prague under the oppression of authoritarian Nazi rule. Fischer was arrested in 1941 and died in the Gestapo’s notorious Small Fortress prison on Feb. 28, 1942.

    It seemed likely that Fischer’s seminal contributions to our understanding of dementia would be lost. Thankfully in 2008, Michel Goedert of Cambridge University rediscovered Fischer’s significant contributions stored in the archives of Charles University in Prague. This has restored Fischer to his rightful position as one of the discoverers of AD and retrospectively raises questions about the correct naming attribution of AD.

    However, when considering the naming of AD, we must not forget Patient No. 1: Auguste Deter. Interestingly and fortuitously, her initials are AD. So, should AD signify Auguste Deter disease rather than Alzheimer’s disease? Should the Alzheimer-Fischer controversy be resolved by simply reassigning the AD abbreviation to Auguste Deter? Should the disease be named after its “first patient,” rather than the physician(s) who discovered it?

    Medicine has a penchant for naming signs, symptoms and diseases after the physicians who first described them. We typically tend not to name them after the afflicted person. Perhaps this is done to preserve patient confidentiality; perhaps not.

    But AD is a disease like no other. It’s very personal. It affects the memories, thoughts and emotions that define us as human beings. We must never forget that AD is a disease of people and families, not just proteins and fibrils. Deter tragically yet courageously embodies the human heartbreak of this dreadful disease.

    Deter’s contribution to the 1907 single case report study by Alzheimer was immense: Deter’s life, illness and death are the story of AD. Deter should be remembered. It was and is her disease.

    Donald Weaver 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. Should AD stand for Alzheimer’s disease, or for Auguste Deter, the patient whose case was first described? – https://theconversation.com/should-ad-stand-for-alzheimers-disease-or-for-auguste-deter-the-patient-whose-case-was-first-described-255942

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: PMGC Holdings Inc. Announces Filing of Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — PMGC Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ELAB) (the “Company,” “PMGC,” “we,” or “our”) today announced that it has filed its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (“Quarterly Report”) for the three months ended March 31, 2025, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

    The Quarterly Report is available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov under the company’s filings, as well as on the Company’s investor relations website.

    Management believes the Company is well-capitalized, with a strong balance sheet and a clearly defined business focus. Through its operating subsidiaries, the Company is advancing its strategic growth priorities and actively pursuing acquisitions of operating B2B businesses and assets with the potential to drive meaningful revenue growth and enhance shareholder value.

    Current Operating Subsidiaries:

    • NorthStrive Biosciences Inc. – A biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and acquisition of cutting-edge aesthetic medicines. Its lead asset, EL-22, leverages an engineered probiotic approach to address a pressing issue in the obesity market by preserving muscle in patients undergoing weight loss treatments, including GLP-1 receptor agonists. For more information, visit northstrivebio.com.

    • PMGC Research Inc. – A research and development subsidiary that utilizes Canadian research grants and partners with leading Canadian universities to accelerate scientific discovery and transform cutting-edge technologies into commercially viable products.

    • PMGC Capital LLC – A multi-strategy investment firm focused on direct investments, strategic lending, and the acquisition of undervalued companies and assets across diverse markets. Its mission is to identify and seize high-potential opportunities to deliver sustainable growth and maximize returns on capital.

    • Pending Acquisition – On April 16, 2025, the Company announced the signing of a non-binding Letter of Intent (“LOI”) to acquire a U.S.-based, cash-flow-positive information technology (“IT”) custom packaging company.

    About PMGC Holdings Inc.

    PMGC is a diversified holding company that manages and grows its portfolio through strategic acquisitions, investments, and development across various industries. Currently, our portfolio consists of three wholly owned subsidiaries: Northstrive Biosciences Inc., PMGC Research Inc., and PMGC Capital LLC. We are committed to exploring opportunities in multiple sectors to maximize growth and value. For more information, please visit https://www.pmgcholdings.com.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Words such as “believes,” “expects,” “plans,” “potential,” “would” and “future” or similar expressions such as “look forward” are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy, activities of regulators and future regulations and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and the Company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. These and other risks are described more fully in PMGC’s filings with the SEC, including the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the SEC on March 26, 2025, and its other documents subsequently filed with or furnished to the SEC. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made. Except to the extent required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

    IR Contact:
    IR@pmgcholdings.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA’s Magellan Mission Reveals Possible Tectonic Activity on Venus

    Source: NASA

    Using archival data from the mission, launched in 1989, researchers have uncovered new evidence that tectonic activity may be deforming the planet’s surface.
    Vast, quasi-circular features on Venus’ surface may reveal that the planet has ongoing tectonics, according to new research based on data gathered more than 30 years ago by NASA’s Magellan mission. On Earth, the planet’s surface is continually renewed by the constant shifting and recycling of massive sections of crust, called tectonic plates, that float atop a viscous interior. Venus doesn’t have tectonic plates, but its surface is still being deformed by molten material from below.
    Seeking to better understand the underlying processes driving these deformations, the researchers studied a type of feature called a corona. Ranging in size from dozens to hundreds of miles across, a corona is most often thought to be the location where a plume of hot, buoyant material from the planet’s mantle rises, pushing against the lithosphere above. (The lithosphere includes the planet’s crust and the uppermost part of its mantle.) These structures are usually oval, with a concentric fracture system surrounding them. Hundreds of coronae are known to exist on Venus.
    Published in the journal Science Advances, the new study details newly discovered signs of activity at or beneath the surface shaping many of Venus’ coronae, features that may also provide a unique window into Earth’s past. The researchers found the evidence of this tectonic activity within data from NASA’s Magellan mission, which orbited Venus in the 1990s and gathered the most detailed gravity and topography data on the planet currently available.
    “Coronae are not found on Earth today; however, they may have existed when our planet was young and before plate tectonics had been established,” said the study’s lead author, Gael Cascioli, assistant research scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “By combining gravity and topography data, this research has provided a new and important insight into the possible subsurface processes currently shaping the surface of Venus.”

    As members of NASA’s forthcoming VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy) mission, Cascioli and his team are particularly interested in the high-resolution gravity data the spacecraft will provide. Study coauthor Erwan Mazarico, also at Goddard, will co-lead the VERITAS gravity experiment when the mission launches no earlier than 2031.
    Mystery Coronae
    Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Magellan used its radar system to see through Venus’ thick atmosphere and map the topography of its mountains and plains. Of the geological features the spacecraft mapped, coronae were perhaps the most enigmatic: It wasn’t clear how they formed. In the years since, scientists have found many coronae in locations where the planet’s lithosphere is thin and heat flow is high.
    “Coronae are abundant on Venus. They are very large features, and people have proposed different theories over the years as to how they formed,” said coauthor Anna Gülcher, Earth and planetary scientist at the University of Bern in Switzerland. “The most exciting thing for our study is that we can now say there are most likely various and ongoing active processes driving their formation. We believe these same processes may have occurred early in Earth’s history.”
    The researchers developed sophisticated 3D geodynamic models that demonstrate various formation scenarios for plume-induced coronae and compared them with the combined gravity and topography data from Magellan. The gravity data proved crucial in helping the researchers detect less dense, hot, and buoyant plumes under the surface — information that couldn’t be discerned from topography data alone. Of the 75 coronae studied, 52 appear to have buoyant mantle material beneath them that is likely driving tectonic processes.
    One key process is subduction: On Earth, it happens when the edge of one tectonic plate is driven beneath the adjacent plate. Friction between the plates can generate earthquakes, and as the old rocky material dives into the hot mantle, the rock melts and is recycled back to the surface via volcanic vents.

    On Venus, a different kind of subduction is thought to occur around the perimeter of some coronae. In this scenario, as a buoyant plume of hot rock in the mantle pushes upward into the lithosphere, surface material rises and spreads outward, colliding with surrounding surface material and pushing that material downward into the mantle.
    Another tectonic process known as lithospheric dripping could also be present, where dense accumulations of comparatively cool material sink from the lithosphere into the hot mantle. The researchers also identify several places where a third process may be taking place: A plume of molten rock beneath a thicker part of the lithosphere potentially drives volcanism above it.
    Deciphering Venus
    This work marks the latest instance of scientists returning to Magellan data to find that Venus exhibits geologic processes that are more Earth-like than originally thought. Recently, researchers were able to spot erupting volcanoes, including vast lava flows that vented from Maat Mons, Sif Mons, and Eistla Regio in radar images from the orbiter.
    While those images provided direct evidence of volcanic action, the authors of the new study will need sharper resolution to draw a complete picture about the tectonic processes driving corona formation. “The VERITAS gravity maps of Venus will boost the resolution by at least a factor of two to four, depending on location — a level of detail that could revolutionize our understanding of Venus’ geology and implications for early Earth,” said study coauthor Suzanne Smrekar, a planetary scientist at JPL and principal investigator for VERITAS.
    Managed by JPL, VERITAS will use a synthetic aperture radar to create 3D global maps and a near-infrared spectrometer to figure out what the surface of Venus is made of.  Using its radio tracking system, the spacecraft will also measure the planet’s gravitational field to determine the structure of Venus’ interior. All of these instruments will help pinpoint areas of activity on the surface.
    For more information about NASA’s VERITAS mission, visit:

    VERITAS

    News Media Contacts
    Ian J. O’NeillJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-354-2649ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov
    Karen Fox / Molly WasserNASA Headquarters, Washington202-358-1600karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
    2025-068

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Another First: NASA Webb Identifies Frozen Water in Young Star System

    Source: NASA

    Is frozen water scattered in systems around other stars? Astronomers have long expected it is, partially based on previous detections of its gaseous form, water vapor, and its presence in our own solar system.
    Now there is definitive evidence: Researchers confirmed the presence of crystalline water ice in a dusty debris disk that orbits a Sun-like star 155 light-years away using detailed data known as spectra from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. (The term water ice specifies its makeup, since many other frozen molecules are also observed in space, such as carbon dioxide ice, or “dry ice.”) In 2008, data from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope hinted at the possibility of frozen water in this system.
    “Webb unambiguously detected not just water ice, but crystalline water ice, which is also found in locations like Saturn’s rings and icy bodies in our solar system’s Kuiper Belt,” said Chen Xie, the lead author of the new paper and an assistant research scientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
    All the frozen water Webb detected is paired with fine dust particles throughout the disk — like itsy-bitsy “dirty snowballs.” The results published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
    Astronomers have been waiting for this definitive data for decades. “When I was a graduate student 25 years ago, my advisor told me there should be ice in debris disks, but prior to Webb, we didn’t have instruments sensitive enough to make these observations,” said Christine Chen, a co-author and associate astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. “What’s most striking is that this data looks similar to the telescope’s other recent observations of Kuiper Belt objects in our own solar system.”
    Water ice is a vital ingredient in disks around young stars — it heavily influences the formation of giant planets and may also be delivered by small bodies like comets and asteroids to fully formed rocky planets. Now that researchers have detected water ice with Webb, they have opened the door for all researchers to study how these processes play out in new ways in many other planetary systems.

    The star, cataloged HD 181327, is significantly younger than our Sun. It’s estimated to be 23 million years old, compared to the Sun’s more mature 4.6 billion years. The star is slightly more massive than the Sun, and it’s hotter, which led to the formation of a slightly larger system around it.
    Webb’s observations confirm a significant gap between the star and its debris disk — a wide area that is free of dust. Farther out, its debris disk is similar to our solar system’s Kuiper Belt, where dwarf planets, comets, and other bits of ice and rock are found (and sometimes collide with one another). Billions of years ago, our Kuiper Belt was likely similar to this star’s debris disk.
    “HD 181327 is a very active system,” Chen said. “There are regular, ongoing collisions in its debris disk. When those icy bodies collide, they release tiny particles of dusty water ice that are perfectly sized for Webb to detect.”

    Water ice isn’t spread evenly throughout this system. The majority is found where it’s coldest and farthest from the star. “The outer area of the debris disk consists of over 20% water ice,” Xie said.
    The closer in the researchers looked, the less water ice they found. Toward the middle of the debris disk, Webb detected about 8% water ice. Here, it’s likely that frozen water particles are produced slightly faster than they are destroyed. In the area of the debris disk closest to the star, Webb detected almost none. It’s likely that the star’s ultraviolet light vaporizes the closest specks of water ice. It’s also possible that rocks known as planetesimals have “locked up” frozen water in their interiors, which Webb can’t detect.
    This team and many more researchers will continue to search for — and study — water ice in debris disks and actively forming planetary systems throughout our Milky Way galaxy. “The presence of water ice helps facilitate planet formation,” Xie said. “Icy materials may also ultimately be ‘delivered’ to terrestrial planets that may form over a couple hundred million years in systems like this.”
    The researchers observed HD 181327 with Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph), which is super-sensitive to extremely faint dust particles that can only be detected from space.
    The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
    To learn more about Webb, visit:
    https://science.nasa.gov/webb
    Downloads
    Click any image to open a larger version.
    View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
    View/Download the research results from the journal Nature.

    Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.govNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
    Claire Blome – cblome@stsci.eduSpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
    Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.eduSpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.

    View Webb images of other debris disks around Vega, Fomalhaut, Beta Pictoris, and AU Microscopii
    Learn more about spectroscopy
    Read more: Webb’s Near-infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec)
    More Webb News
    More Webb Images
    Webb Science Themes
    Webb Mission Page

    What is the Webb Telescope?
    SpacePlace for Kids
    En Español
    Ciencia de la NASA
    NASA en español 
    Space Place para niños

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA Glenn Engineer Highlights Research for Hubble Servicing Missions 

    Source: NASA

    April 24 marked the 35th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The iconic space observatory remains a household name —the most well-recognized and scientifically productive telescope in history. Engineers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland played a significant role in how the telescope functions today.  

    NASA Glenn researchers assisted in all five Hubble servicing missions by testing damaged insulation, determining why it degraded in space, and recommending replacement materials.  

    [embedded content]

    One of those researchers, Kim de Groh, senior materials research engineer, shared some of that research in a special presentation at Great Lakes Science Center, home of the NASA Glenn Visitor Center, in Cleveland on May 8. She chronicled her Hubble experience with a presentation, a show-and-tell with samples directly from the telescope, and a Q&A addressing the audience’s Hubble-related questions. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA Glenn Shows Students Temperature-Cooling Technology

    Source: NASA

    Water is essential for life, and it is an important engineering tool as well. On March 21, NASA’s Glenn Research Center staff joined Great Lakes Science Center in celebrating World Water Day at the science center, home of the NASA Glenn Visitor Center, in downtown Cleveland. Staff conducted hands-on demonstrations highlighting NASA’s Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment during the free day for students.

    This interactive activity helped students discover how NASA uses water to regulate the body temperatures of astronauts during spacewalks.  
    Approximately 450 students and educators attended the event.   

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA to Participate in Next Private Astronaut Mission Teleconference

    Source: NASA

    NASA will join a media teleconference hosted by Axiom Space at 10:30 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, May 20, to discuss the launch of Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station.
    Briefing participants include:

    Dana Weigel, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA
    Allen Flynt, chief of mission services, Axiom Space
    Sarah Walker, director, Dragon mission management, SpaceX
    Sergio Palumberi, mission manager, ESA (European Space Agency)
    Aleksandra Bukała, project manager, head of strategy and international cooperation, POLSA (Polish Space Agency)
    Orsolya Ferencz, ministerial commissioner of space research, HUNOR (Hungarian to Orbit)

    To join the call, media must register with Axiom Space by 12 p.m., Monday, May 19, at:
    https://bit.ly/437SAAh
    The Ax-4 launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket is targeted no earlier than 9:11 a.m., Sunday, June 8, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
    During the mission aboard the space station, a four-person multi-national crew will complete about 60 research experiments developed for microgravity in collaboration with organizations across the globe.
    Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission, while ISRO astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as pilot. The two mission specialists are ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
    The first private astronaut mission to the station, Axiom Mission 1, lifted off in April 2022 for a 17-day mission aboard the orbiting laboratory. The second private astronaut mission to the station, Axiom Mission 2, also was commanded by Whitson and launched in May 2023 for eight days in orbit. The most recent private astronaut mission, Axiom Mission 3, launched in January 2024; the crew spent 18 days docked to the space station.
    The International Space Station is a springboard for developing a low Earth economy. NASA’s goal is to achieve a strong economy off the Earth where the agency can purchase services as one of many customers to meet its science and research objectives in microgravity. NASA’s commercial strategy for low Earth orbit provides the government with reliable and safe services at a lower cost, enabling the agency to focus on Artemis missions to the Moon in preparation for Mars while also continuing to use low Earth orbit as a training and proving ground for those deep space missions.
    Learn more about NASA’s commercial space strategy at:
    https://www.nasa.gov/commercial-space
    -end-
    Claire O’SheaHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1100claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
    Anna SchneiderJohnson Space Center, Houston281-483-5111anna.c.schneider@nasa.gov
    Alexis DeJarnetteAxiom Space, Houstonalexis@axiomspace.com

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA Observes First Visible-light Auroras at Mars

    Source: NASA

    On March 15, 2024, near the peak of the current solar cycle, the Sun produced a solar flare and an accompanying coronal mass ejection (CME), a massive explosion of gas and magnetic energy that carries with it large amounts of solar energetic particles. This solar activity led to stunning auroras across the solar system, including at Mars, where NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover made history by detecting them for the first time from the surface of another planet.

    “This exciting discovery opens up new possibilities for auroral research and confirms that auroras could be visible to future astronauts on Mars’ surface.” said Elise Knutsen, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oslo in Norway and lead author of the Science Advances study, which reported the detection.
    Picking the right aurora
    On Earth, auroras form when solar particles interact with the global magnetic field, funneling them to the poles where they collide with atmospheric gases and emit light. The most common color, green, is caused by excited oxygen atoms emitting light at a wavelength of 557.7 nanometers. For years, scientists have theorized that green light auroras could also exist on Mars but suggested they would be much fainter and harder to capture than the green auroras we see on Earth.
    Due to the Red Planet’s lack of a global magnetic field, Mars has different types of auroras than those we have on Earth. One of these is solar energetic particle (SEP) auroras, which NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) mission discovered in 2014. These occur when super-energetic particles from the Sun hit the Martian atmosphere, causing a reaction that makes the atmosphere glow across the whole night sky.
    While MAVEN had observed SEP auroras in ultraviolet light from orbit, this phenomenon had never been observed in visible light from the ground. Since SEPs typically occur during solar storms, which increase during solar maximum, Knutsen and her team set their sights on capturing visible images and spectra of SEP aurora from Mars’ surface at the peak of the Sun’s current solar cycle.
    Coordinating the picture-perfect moment
    Through modeling, Knutsen and her team determined the optimal angle for the Perseverance rover’s SuperCam spectrometer and Mastcam-Z camera to successfully observe the SEP aurora in visible light. With this observation strategy in place, it all came down to the timing and understanding of CMEs.
    “The trick was to pick a good CME, one that would accelerate and inject many charged particles into Mars’ atmosphere,” said Knutsen.
    That is where the teams at NASA’s Moon to Mars (M2M) Space Weather Analysis Office and the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), both located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, came in. The M2M team provides real-time analysis of solar eruptions to the CCMC for initiating simulations of CMEs to determine if they might impact current NASA missions. When the simulations suggest potential impacts, the team sends out an alert.
    At the University of California, Berkeley, space physicist Christina Lee received an alert from the M2M office about the March 15, 2024, CME. Lee, a member of the MAVEN mission team who serves as the space weather lead, determined there was a notable solar storm heading toward the Red Planet,which could arrive in a few days. She immediately issued the Mars Space Weather Alert Notification to currently operating Mars missions.
    “This allows the science teams of Perseverance and MAVEN to anticipate impacts of interplanetary CMEs and the associated SEPs,” said Lee.
    “When we saw the strength of this one,” Knutsen said, “we estimated it could trigger aurora bright enough for our instruments to detect.”
    A few days later, the CME impacted Mars, providing a lightshow for the rover to capture, showing the aurora to be nearly uniform across the sky at an emission wavelength of exactly 557.7 nm. To confirm the presence of SEPs during the aurora observation, the team looked to MAVEN’s SEP instrument, which was additionally corroborated by data from ESA’s (European Space Agency) Mars Express mission. Data from both missions confirmed that the rover team had managed to successfully catch a glimpse of the phenomenon in the very narrow time window available.
    “This was a fantastic example of cross-mission coordination. We all worked together quickly to facilitate this observation and are thrilled to have finally gotten a sneak peek of what astronauts will be able to see there some day,” said Shannon Curry, MAVEN principal investigator and research scientist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder).
    The future of aurora on Mars
    By coordinating the Perseverance observations with measurements from MAVEN’s SEP instrument, the teams could help each other determine that the observed 557.7 nm emission came from solar energetic particles. Since this is the same emission line as the green aurora on Earth, it is likely that future Martian astronauts would be able to see this type of aurora.
    “Perseverance’s observations of the visible-light aurora confirm a new way to study these phenomena that’s complementary to what we can observe with our Mars orbiters,” said Katie Stack Morgan, acting project scientist for Perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “A better understanding of auroras and the conditions around Mars that lead to their formation are especially important as we prepare to send human explorers there safely.”

    More About Perseverance and MAVEN
    The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio and NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
    The MAVEN mission, also part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio, is led by LASP at CU Boulder. It’s managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and was built and operated by Lockheed Martin Space, with navigation and network support from NASA’s JPL.
    —
    By Willow ReedLaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), University of Colorado Boulder
    Media Contact: 
    Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
    Headquarters, Washington
    202-358-1600
    karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov  
    Nancy N. JonesNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
    DC AgleJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-9011agle@jpl.nasa.gov

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Director General in Ecuador to Support Nuclear Power Plans, the Galapagos and More

    Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

    Alongside energy, the Director General and Foreign Minister Sommerfeld also discussed how IAEA initiatives to promote the benefits of nuclear science are supporting Ecuador’s progress in many key development areas.  

    High on the agenda was cancer care, where IAEA flagship initiative Rays of Hope is increasing  access to radiotherapy in the country. During his trip, Mr Grossi visited Carlos Andrade Marin Hospital where he was pleased to see “how IAEA efforts and local investment in cancer care — including access to radiotherapy — are making a life-changing difference.” 

    Nuclear science is also a powerful tool to boost food security and strengthen food export potential, and the IAEA’s Atoms4Food is helping Ecuador and other countries battle invasive insect pests like Mediterranean Fruit Fly, make banana crops more resilient to disease and map water resources to ensure a sustainable supply. 

    NUTEC Plastics, the IAEA initiative to use nuclear science to monitor and reduce marine plastic pollution, is also of relevance to the coastal country. During his trip, the Director General exchanged on the importance of tackling plastic pollution in valuable ecosystems, such as Antarctica where he recently launched microplastics research, and the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador where the IAEA has helped establish one of the world’s leading laboratories in microplastics. He also met with a range of local partners already working with the IAEA on the archipelago to preserve biodiversity and work for a healthier ocean. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Released lists shed light on Japanese germ warfare units’ activities in China

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

    TOKYO, May 14 (Xinhua) — The National Archives of Japan on Wednesday released lists of personnel of three biological warfare units of the Imperial Japanese Army.

    The documents contain detailed personal information on members of Units 1644, 8604 and 8609, including names, dates of birth, family register details, addresses and assignment details.

    These lists, originally under the control of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, were transferred to the National Archives in March 2024 and were included in the list of documents to be released to the public in March 2025.

    The documents were released at the request of researchers, including renowned bacteriological warfare expert and professor emeritus at the Shiga Prefectural University of Medical Sciences, Katsuo Nishiyama.

    Kazuo Nishiyama said Wednesday that the discovery of the lists disproves previous claims that the germ warfare units existed.

    During the invasion of China, the Japanese army formed several biological warfare units, including the infamous “Unit 731.” –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Decades of neglect: Migrant farm worker housing needs national regulatory standards

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By C. Susana Caxaj, Associate Professor, Nursing, Western University

    Housing for migrant workers in Western Canada. Many workers live in poorly maintained housing and face surveillance and harassment from employers. (Elise Hjalmarson/RAMA Okanagan)

    In today’s political climate, temporary migrants in Canada are being scapegoated for everything from rising grocery bills to the affordable housing crisis. Yet migrant workers, particularly farm workers, face a hidden housing crisis that needs urgent attention.

    Much of Canada’s ability to produce food hinges on hiring migrant agricultural workers from countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Jamaica and elsewhere. Yet, housing for migrant agricultural workers in Canada is often overcrowded, dangerous and undignified.

    Amid government inaction, our group of 29 researchers, clinicians and advocates with the Coalition for National Housing Standards for Migrant Agricultural Workers (CoNaMi), have developed a proposal for national housing standards. This work is backed by clinical experience, hundreds of interviews and surveys and migrant agricultural workers’ own advocacy.

    Inadequate housing

    When two of us — Anelyse and Susana — interviewed 151 migrants in Ontario and British Columbia as part of our research, workers described conditions of isolation, crowding, inadequate ventilation, poor maintenance and close proximity to hazards such as agrochemicals.

    Both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, many workers struggled to access health care, groceries and social services. In addition, their phone and internet access was often unreliable.

    Some workers reported employer-imposed restrictions on leaving the property, and bans on visitors. These living conditions pose serious risks to workers.

    Similarly to research led by the Centre for Climate Justice in British Columbia, we also encountered several workers who endured significant hardships as a result of extreme weather events.

    Consistent with recent research in Nova Scotia, we found that a lack of meaningful union representation, precarious status and low wages created coercive conditions in which workers felt forced to accept poor living conditions.

    Marginalization and exploitation

    As migrant workers typically live on the farms where they work, the lines between work and home can be blurred. This living arrangement often contributes to isolation and surveillance by employers. It may also enable harassment and abuse.

    Furthermore, migrants are geographically separated from their families for months or years at a time. Research that Adam has conducted in Atlantic Canada and Ontario, Jill in Québec and Susana in Ontario and British Columbia, outlines how poor housing conditions not only threaten workers’ health and well-being, but also contribute to their marginalization and exploitation.

    Workers often describe feeling demeaned and controlled, and they wonder why Canada, a country so willing to accept their labour, is so reluctant to accept their common humanity.

    In 2024, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery has described Canada’s temporary foreign worker program, accessed by migrant agricultural workers to come to Canada, as “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery,” a statement echoed by international human rights watchdog Amnesty International.

    Yet the federal government has failed to meaningfully improve housing conditions or establish clear, enforceable and mandatory standards. This inaction persists despite years of reviews, consultations and recommendations.

    In fact, a study commissioned by the federal government to review the possibility of a national housing standard for migrant agricultural workers in 2018 called for greater consistency in housing quality assessments.

    Academic experts have long called for a national housing standard, as well as proactive and unannounced housing inspections. Other professional and labour organizations have identified the need for greater inter-jurisdictional co-ordination and attention to issues of safety, pandemic preparedness, privacy and dignity.

    Furthermore, safeguarding housing quality requires policy changes that provide meaningful status and adequate collective bargaining representation to migrant workers, as these conditions underlie their vulnerability in housing.

    In the 2020 Auditor General of Canada report, the need for national minimum accommodation requirements for migrant agricultural workers was identified. However, housing remains a key concern for these workers who have not yet benefited from such proposed recommendations.

    National housing standard

    A national housing standard for migrant agricultural workers is a crucial step towards protecting their rights and mitigating their vulnerability. These standards must include:

    1. Appropriate and enforced housing standards: Ensure robust and proactive enforcement of housing standard. Living quarters must be well-constructed, safe and dignified.

    2. Privacy, security, access and freedom: Guarantee workers’ rights to privacy, movement, access to health and social services and freedom from surveillance. Workers must have access to transportation and be able to enjoy rest, leisure and a social life.

    3. Dignified living conditions: Safeguard basic rights to comfort, storage and personal care by prescribing minimum standards and ratios for private bedrooms, common areas, laundry and cooking facilities. Workers should have private bedrooms and reliable internet access.

    4. Health and safety in housing: Protect workers from the spread of illness, extreme weather events and other hazards through proper air conditioning, ventilation and reduced occupancy ratios for bathrooms and kitchens.

    5. Co-ordinated government leadership: Prevent different jurisdictions passing the buck by mandating co-ordination, data-sharing and training among federal, provincial and municipal governments. For example, inspectors should be trauma-informed and armed with strategies to mitigate implicit bias and to anticipate barriers this group faces because of their precarious status. The federal government must lead with adequate funding and policy reform to address barriers that prevent workers from advocating for decent housing.

    The evidence is clear. Canadian governments must raise the bar from the floor, and create national standards for migrant agricultural workers’ housing.

    C. Susana Caxaj has received Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to carry out this research. Previously, her work has been funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research, Vancouver Foundation and Western University. She is a co-founder and member of the Migrant Worker Health Expert Working Group.

    Anelyse Weiler receives funding from SSHRC and the Hari Sharma Foundation. She is a board member with the B.C. Employment Standards Coalition and is involved with the Worker Solidarity Network.

    J. Adam Perry receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    Jill Hanley receives funding from SSHRC and CIHR for her research on farmworkers. She is affiliated with the Immigrant Workers Centre and the SHERPA University Institute.

    – ref. Decades of neglect: Migrant farm worker housing needs national regulatory standards – https://theconversation.com/decades-of-neglect-migrant-farm-worker-housing-needs-national-regulatory-standards-255709

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Trade and Gender Group discusses new work programme, potential MC14 outcomes

    Source: WTO

    Headline: Trade and Gender Group discusses new work programme, potential MC14 outcomes

    The co-Chairs of the Informal Working Group (IWG), Ambassador Clara Delgado of Cabo Verde, Ambassador Patricia Benedetti of El Salvador and Ambassador Simon Manley of the United Kingdom, reported on the consultations held with members to shape the Group’s priorities ahead of MC14. They highlighted the importance of agreeing on the Work Plan for 2025-26, which will help identify practical ways to move the substantive work of the IWG forward.
    Key themes raised by members included gender-disaggregated trade data, digitalization as a tool for women’s empowerment, support for women entrepreneurs, and mainstreaming gender issues across WTO bodies. Members also called for continued collaboration with other international organizations. A draft work plan will be finalized in the coming weeks.
    International Prize for Gender Equality in Trade
    The WTO launched the second edition of the International Prize for Gender Equality in Trade, which recognizes impactful gender-responsive trade policies. The deadline for applications has been extended to 15 May, with eight submissions received so far. Winners will be announced in June 2025, with further details on the award ceremony to follow. The Prize, first introduced to mark International Women’s Day in 2024, will now be awarded annually, following a decision made by the IWG in November 2024.
    WEIDE Fund
    The WTO Secretariat and the International Trade Centre (ITC) provided an update on the implementation of the Women Exporters in the Digital Economy (WEIDE) Fund. Launched at the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference in February 2024, the Fund has raised USD 22 million in donations and pledges, aiming to bridge resource and skills gaps for women-led businesses in the digital economy.
    The Fund targets micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and offers grants of up to USD 30,000, alongside technical support, to enhance digital competence and market access. The Fund aims to foster growth in digital skills and financial readiness, with a focus on empowering women entrepreneurs globally.
    With applications now open for women entrepreneurs, the initiative has already selected four business support organizations (BSOs), following a competitive call for proposals, to help administer grants in four countries: Dominican Republic, Jordan, Mongolia and Nigeria. Over 2,000 applications have been received from all four countries following a call launched on 22 April 2025.
    Presentations
    The Dominican Republic presented progress and lessons learned from its gender-responsive programme ProDominicana, supporting women exporters since 2020. Key initiatives include a national plan for export promotion, gender equality policies, and the development of a platform to track women-led export businesses.
    ProDominicana organizes annual events, such as Women in Export meetings, fostering partnerships and expanding business-to-business (B2B) opportunities. It has also launched a comprehensive institutional strategy to strengthen women’s participation in exports, with collaboration from government bodies, women’s associations and international partners. Additionally, ProDominicana provides training programmes with a focus on export and trade development, which have benefitted hundreds of women.
    These initiatives reflect the Dominican Republic’s commitment to promoting gender equality and enhancing opportunities for women entrepreneurs. For this purpose, ProDominicana has been working with ITC on various projects including the SheTrades Hub and the WEIDE Fund.
    The Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA) updated members about its work on data on women involved in trade in Central America, noting the importance of women’s participation in economic activities. Central America has made strides in integrating gender into trade agreements, with policies promoting gender equality and specific measures supporting women in e-commerce and access to financing.
    The region’s population is predominantly female, and efforts are focused on reducing gender gaps, particularly in leadership roles within businesses and political participation. The need for better gender-disaggregated data and more support for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields was underlined. The region’s gender equality policy emphasizes democratic security, economic integration, and the need for continued efforts to ensure women’s participation in decision-making processes.
    The WTO Secretariat informed the IWG that due to budgetary constraints, the length of the second edition of the World Trade Congress on Gender has been adjusted. In this regard, there will be a one-day symposium organized back-to-back with the next IWG meeting in July. A programme will be communicated in due course.

    Share

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Russia: Sentencing of election observer Grigory Melkonyants a brazen attack on peaceful activism

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Reacting to the sentencing of Russian civil society activist and prisoner of conscience Grigory Melkonyants to five years in prison, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:

    “The Russian authorities instigated this criminal case in order to silence one of the country’s most respected election observers. Grigory Melkonyants has committed no crime – his only ‘offence’ was defending the right to free and fair elections in Russia. This is nothing more than a brazen and politically motivated clampdown on peaceful activism.

    Grigory Melkonyants has committed no crime – his only ‘offence’ was defending the right to free and fair elections in Russia

    Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director

    “Grigory Melkonyants must be released unconditionally and his conviction quashed. The legislation that was used to target him must be repealed. The international community cannot remain silent – neither on this appalling verdict nor on the outrageous assault on civic space that is taking place in Russia.”

    Background

    The Basmanny District Court of Moscow also imposed a 9-year ban on Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the independent election watchdog Golos, participating in any civic activity. He was charged with purportedly organizing the activities of an “undesirable organization” – a nebulous term arbitrarily used by the Russian authorities to ban any organization they regard as a threat and to criminalize any association with said organizations.

    The charges stem from Grigory Melkonyants’s alleged links to the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO), which was declared “undesirable” in Russia in 2021. Melkonyants and Golos have consistently denied any institutional connection to ENEMO.

    Grigory Melkonyants was arrested in August 2023. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience, prosecuted and imprisoned solely for his peaceful activism.

    Throughout its 25-year history, Golos and its activists have faced harassment and persecution by the authorities. In 2013, it became the first organization in Russia to be labelled a “foreign agent” and was dissolved in 2016. Following the “foreign agent” designation, a movement under the same name was founded, which also engaged in election monitoring. In 2021, the movement and 20 of its activists and coordinators were declared “foreign agents.” 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Looking for mental health or wellness advice in a book? Check the author’s credentials first

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Joanna Pozzulo, Chancellor’s Professor, Psychology, Carleton University

    Not all the suggestions provided in self-help books are evidence-based or written by professionals with advanced training in psychology or have a medical degree. (Shutterstock)

    Self-help books are a mainstay of the non-fiction market. According to a 2022 study by BookNet Canada, self-help titles account for 17 per cent of non-fiction book sales.

    Some of these books can go on to sell millions of copies, but popularity doesn’t always equal credibility. Achieving bestseller status can reflect effective marketing campaigns, a large social media following or the appeal of personal storytelling rather than academic or clinical credentials.

    To better understand the current self-help landscape, my graduate student and I are reviewing New York Times bestsellers under the “Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous” category, which includes self-help books.

    Our preliminary analysis for April 2025 identified 22 relevant books, with only three written by authors with advanced training in psychology or medicine:

    This isn’t a new issue. A 2008 study examining 50 top-selling books directed at anxiety, depression and trauma found that more than half contained strategies that were not supported by evidence.

    Can self-help books help? It depends

    The effectiveness of a self-help book depends largely on the quality of its content and how it is used by readers.

    Books that draw on peer-reviewed research are more likely to offer reliable, evidence-based strategies for improving well-being.

    Peer review is a process in academic publishing where experts in a given field vet a research study’s quality before it’s published. This process helps ensure the research is of high quality and adheres to the standards of the discipline.



    Read more:
    Explainer: what is peer review?

    Evidence-based books are ones that rely on peer-reviewed research to support their claims and suggestions for improved well-being. Having psychological science make its way to the general public via self-help books can provide a useful resource to support well-being and self-improvement.

    In contrast, books that are based on someone’s opinion or their lived experiences have not had their ideas tested or verified. Although these books can contain useful information that were helpful to the author, they can also be problematic, as the ideas have not been empirically examined.

    Risks of non-evidence-based self-help books

    Relying on untested self-help strategies can delay people from seeking appropriate support for the challenges they face. When they turn to self-help books instead of seeking professional care, it can lead to worsening symptoms and missed opportunities for effective treatment.

    This can have serious consequences, particularly for those dealing with complex mental health challenges like anxiety, depression or trauma.

    Relying on untested self-help strategies can delay individuals from seeking appropriate support for the challenges they face.
    (Shutterstock)

    In addition, exposure to misinformation or disinformation can make matters worse. When such content circulates widely, like through best-selling books, it can reinforce harmful stereotypes or downplay the seriousness of psychological distress.

    This can perpetuate stigma and make people feel ashamed or reluctant to seek therapy, medical treatment or other professional help.



    Read more:
    Why do we fall for wellness scams? Our cultural biases and myths are often to blame

    At the same time, the booming global wellness industry has created new risks for consumers. In 2023, the wellness industry was valued at an estimated US$6.3 trillion.

    The size and growth of the industry has created fertile ground for wellness grifters to financially exploit people’s desire for better health and happiness.

    Community for science-based self-help readers

    If you’re interested in more evidence-based books for well-being and self-improvement, consider joining my Reading for Well-Being Community Book Club.

    Each month, members receive a newsletter announcing “Professor Pozzulo’s Pick” — an evidence-based book chosen by me that is focused on some dimension of well-being or self-improvement.

    The newsletter also provides access to a digital platform where my review will be posted, along with a discussion board where club members can share their thoughts about the book.

    Membership is free and sign-up is located here. You can also hear directly from the authors of the selected books through the Reading for Well-Being Podcast, which provides deeper insight into the evidence and ideas behind each book.

    Summer reading recommendations

    For readers seeking self-help books supported by research, here are four accessible and evidence-based suggestions:

    The Positive Shift: Mastering Mindset to Improve Happiness, Health, and Longevity by Psychologist Catherine A. Sanderson (2019, Published by BenBella Books).

    ‘The Positive Shift: Mastering Mindset to Improve Happiness, Health, and Longevity’ by Catherine A. Sanderson.
    (BenBella Books)

    Sanderson explains that our level of happiness, physical health and even our longevity is connected to how “we think about ourselves and our world around us.” In other words, our mindset.

    By making small changes, Sanderson shows how we can improve our happiness and physical and mental health. The book is full of straightforward, science-backed strategies to “shift your mindset.”

    One study Sanderson highlights found that people who read for more than 3.5 hours per week tended to live longer.

    Chatter: The Voice in our Head, Why it Matters, and How to Harness It by Ethan Kross (2021, Published by Crown Publishing Group).

    ‘Chatter: The Voice in Our Head’ by Ethan Kross.
    (Crown Publishing Group)

    Anyone who has found themselves lying awake in the middle of the night with endless thoughts of potential doom can likely relate to this book. In Chatter, psychologist Ethan Kross examines this inner voice.

    According to Kross, by changing the dialogue we have with ourselves, we can potentially change our lives and ultimately improve our health and well-being.

    The last section of the book, titled “The Tools,” includes several evidence-based strategies to reduce the negative loops that can run in our minds.

    Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most by Cassie Holmes (2022, published by Gallery Books).

    ‘Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most’ by Cassie Holmes.
    (Gallery Books)

    Do you ever feel like you never have the time for the things you want or need to do? Management professor Cassie Holmes writes that people who are “time poor” can “feel less happy and less satisfied with life.”

    Several studies have found that when people make time to do the things they want, they feel they have more time to do the things they need.

    Holmes encourages readers to reflect on how they spend their time. Although we can’t change the amount of time we have, we can re-prioritize how we spend it, and by doing so, improve our sense of well-being and life satisfaction.

    How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Katy Milkman (2021, published by Portfolio).

    ‘How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be’ by Katy Milkman.
    (Portfolio)

    If you feel like you need a change or find it hard to make a change last, you might be using an ineffective strategy or approach.

    Economist Katy Milkman reviews the science of how to make behaviour change last with several evidence-based strategies to help you reach your goals.

    Each chapter examines an internal obstacle that stands between people and their goals. By the end of the book, you’ll learn how to recognize these obstacles and what you can do to overcome them.

    Joanna Pozzulo receives funding from the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. Looking for mental health or wellness advice in a book? Check the author’s credentials first – https://theconversation.com/looking-for-mental-health-or-wellness-advice-in-a-book-check-the-authors-credentials-first-256082

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: $86M in Capital Funding for Non-profit Arts and Cultural

    Source: US State of New York

    overnor Kathy Hochul today announced $86 million has been awarded through the New York State Council on the Arts’ Capital Projects Fund to support 134 projects in every region of the state. This investment in non-profit arts and cultural organizations across New York supports crucial building renovations, accessibility improvements and new spaces for creative and cultural work. Organizations outside of New York City received 75 percent of the awards, while 75 percent of the awards went to organizations with budgets under $3 million.

    “Our arts and culture sector is a powerhouse, inspiring the world with innovation and creativity,” Governor Hochul said. “By investing in our museums, our theaters and our arts centers, we enrich our communities, strengthen local economies and improve tourism all over the State.”

    NYSCA’s Capital Projects for Arts and Culture are strategic investments that empower organizations to better serve and engage their communities. They enable arts and cultural venues to become more physically accessible and sustainable, enhancing organizations’ abilities to connect with their audiences and become essential destinations for residents and visitors alike. Strong projects combine excellence in design with informed decisions that will serve and strengthen New York’s arts and cultural sector, stimulate local economies, catalyze investment in our communities, and help to ensure the vibrancy of our cultural organizations.

    NYSCA awards announced today include three grant categories: Small and Midsized Capital Improvement Grants, which range from $10,000-$2,000,000; Large Capital Improvement Grants, which range from $2 million-$10 million and focus on large-scale capital projects that prioritize community development and placemaking; and Capital Design Grants, a new opportunity that supports the development of mid-stage and advanced design documents to advance capital projects for arts and cultural nonprofits with awards of $50,000-$500,000. This year, NYSCA also increased the cap on no-match midsize grants to $99,000, greatly expanding access to these critical state dollars.

    NYSCA funding will support a variety of projects, including:

    Small Capital Improvement Grants

    Upper Jay Art Center (North Country)

    The Upper Jay Arts Center will replace its outdated and aging lighting system with a more energy efficient and flexible system, enabling the organization to improve safety and sustainability and better execute its artistic mission.

    New York State Old Tyme Fiddler’s Association, Inc. (Central New York)

    The project will replace the roof and make improvements to the door panels in the organization’s pavilion and drill a new well to provide a reliable source of potable water for the facility. The project will allow visitors and guests to enjoy an attractive, accessible, and safe venue to revel in the presentation of historical music.

    Stitch Buffalo (Western New York)

    This project will include essential site enhancements including soundproofing and improved security measures

    Mid-Sized Capital Improvement Grants

    Gateway Playhouse/Performing Arts Center of Suffolk County (Long Island)

    The Gateway Playhouse will add a 3,525 square-foot addition to its lobby, including a new grand entrance foyer with incorporated patron drop access, a large, multi-purpose gathering room with an updated bar and concession area, a box office and management office space, and a basement below the addition. A LULA elevator will improve access throughout the facility. The project also includes an expansion and renovation of Gateway’s parking facilities, and improvements to patron walkways.

    Klinkhart Hall Arts Center, Inc. (Mohawk Valley)

    This project will complete the first-floor theater, which will feature a stage extension, orchestra pit, restored original seating, new lighting and sound, floor stabilization, and mechanicals, as well as the completion of the basement classrooms.

    The Thomas Poole and Charles Scott Griesa Center Foundation – Veterans Repertory Theater (Mid-Hudson)

    The project will transform a historic bank building and former church into a professional mainstage theater specifically for performances that amplify the voices of military veterans in the American performing arts.

    Large Capital Improvement Grants

    Afro-Latin Jazz Alliance of NY (New York City)

    Inspired by the East Harlem Neighborhood Plan and the Community Visioning Report, the project will create an arts and cultural center that offers youth music education, celebrates local artists, and attracts tourists; provides workforce development opportunities to youth and community; supports small businesses and promotes the local economy; and activates Park Avenue with commercial and community facility uses that serve the neighborhood.

    Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council (Finger Lakes)

    The GO Barn! Arts & Cultural Center is a new construction project designed to serve as a dynamic hub for arts, culture, and community engagement in Orleans County, including: a multipurpose arts and cultural center inspired by the historic Wells Barn design; a dedicated space for fiber arts, workshops, and artisan programming; and a greenhouse, designed to grow plants for fabric dyeing and art creation.

    Goodwill Theatre, Inc. (Southern Tier)

    The project will completely renovate the basement, 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors of the 1899 Firehouse to adapt the structure into a 2-stage performance facility, increasing occupancy by 400% and drawing an additional estimated 45,000 patrons annually to the Village Johnson City’s Central Business District.

    Capital Design Grants

    Prattsville Art Project (Capital Region)

    The grant will support the completion of the design process for the transformation of the flood-damaged, unused barn on the Prattsville Art Center property into an open-air studio for the arts.

    Roberson Museum and Science Center (Southern Tier)

    The grant will support the completion of the design process for the Roberson Museum’s future renovation project, which seeks to enhance sustainability, modernize facilities, and optimize the care of exhibits and collections.

    A complete list of grantees is available online.

    New York State Council on the Arts Executive Director Erika Mallin said, “These transformative projects will improve their communities, increase tourism, expand accessibility, create jobs and strengthen New York’s position as the global epicenter of arts and culture. Thanks to the Governor and the Legislature’s continued support of this critical program, we are building a thriving future for our renowned creative sector, as they continue to deliver the measurable benefits of arts and culture all across the state.”

    State Senator Jose Serrano said, “The arts and cultural sector is vitally important for the spirit and economy of New York State and contributes greatly to job creation, cultural enrichment, and economic development in communities. I am happy that Governor Hochul and my colleagues in government are making this critical investment, and I congratulate NYSCA on today’s announcement and its continued commitment to supporting the arts in New York State.”

    Assemblymember Ron Kim said, “Capital projects are critical investments in our health and prosperity: creating jobs, enriching our communities and creating a stronger New York for our residents and visitors. Congratulations to all the grantees: we look forward to seeing these projects grow and expand all over our great state.”

    Since the NYSCA Capital Projects Fund began in 2018, the agency has awarded 607 capital grants, totaling $300 million, across all 10 state regions through the support of the Governor and Legislature. These projects increase employment capacity and advance cultural venues as tourism destinations, strengthening New York’s hospitality, food and beverage, and retail sectors. In addition to the Capital Projects Fund, NYSCA has awarded $62 million in non-capital grants to nearly 1500 arts organizations and more than 500 individual artists for FY 2025.

    Governor Hochul continues to make record investments to grow New York’s national-leading arts and cultural sector. The FY 2026 Enacted Budget includes over $81 million for NYSCA general operating support to non-profit organizations and individual artists, and another $80 million in capital funding to allow NYSCA to offer an additional round of grants for projects of all sizes, ranging from $10,000 to $10 million.

    About the New York State Council on the Arts
    The mission of the New York State Council on the Arts is to foster and advance the full breadth of New York State’s arts, culture, and creativity for all. To support the ongoing recovery of the arts across New York State, the Council on the Arts will award over $161 million in FY 2026, serving hundreds of arts organizations and artists across all 10 state regions. The Council on the Arts further advances New York’s creative culture by convening leaders in the field and providing organizational and professional development opportunities and informational resources. Created by Governor Nelson Rockefeller in 1960 and continued with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Council is an agency that is part of the Executive Branch. For more information on NYSCA, please visit www.arts.ny.gov, and follow NYSCA’s Facebook page, on X @NYSCArts and Instagram @NYSCouncilontheArts.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Fiera Capital Corporation announces increase to previously announced bought deal offering of 7.75% Senior Subordinated Unsecured Debentures to $70 million

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MONTREAL, May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Fiera Capital Corporation (“Fiera Capital” or the “Company”) (TSX: FSZ) is pleased to announce that, due to strong demand, it has entered into a revised agreement with Scotiabank, CIBC Capital Markets, Desjardins Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets, as joint bookrunners, on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters which also included National Bank Financial Inc., BMO Capital Markets, TD Securities Inc., Canaccord Genuity Corp., iA Private Wealth Inc. and Raymond James Ltd. (collectively, the “Underwriters”), to increase the size of its previously announced bought deal offering of senior subordinated unsecured debentures due June 30, 2030  (the “Debentures”) at a price of $1,000 per Debenture (the “Offering”) to $70 million. Fiera Capital has also granted the Underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional $10.5 million aggregate principal amount of Debentures, on the same terms and conditions, exercisable in whole or in part, for a period of 30 days following closing of the Offering. The Offering is expected to close on or about June 3, 2025.

    The Debentures will bear interest at a rate of 7.75% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears on June 30 and December 31 of each year, with the first interest payment on December 31, 2025. The December 31, 2025 interest payment will represent accrued interest from the closing of the Offering, to but excluding December 31, 2025. The Debentures will mature on June 30, 2030 (the “Maturity Date”).

    The Debentures will not be redeemable prior to June 30, 2028 (the “First Call Date”), except upon the occurrence of a change of control of the Company in accordance with the terms of the indenture (the “Indenture”) governing the Debentures. On and after the First Call Date and prior to June 30, 2029, the Debentures will be redeemable in whole or in part from time to time at the Company’s option at a redemption price equal to 103.875% of the principal amount of the Debentures redeemed plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, up to but excluding the date set for redemption. On and after June 30, 2029 and prior to the Maturity Date, the Debentures will be redeemable, in whole or in part, from time to time at the Company’s option at par plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, up to but excluding the date set for redemption. The Company shall provide not more than 60 nor less than 30 days’ prior notice of redemption of the Debentures.

    The Company will have the option to satisfy its obligation to repay the principal amount of the Debentures due at redemption or maturity by issuing and delivering that number of freely tradeable Class A subordinate voting shares (the “Class A Shares”) in accordance with the terms of the Indenture.

    The Debentures will not be convertible into Class A Shares at the option of the holders at any time.

    The net proceeds of the Offering will be used to fund the redemption of the Company’s 8.25% Senior Subordinated Unsecured Debentures due December 31, 2026 (the “2026 Debentures”) that the Company intends to effect on the first call-date, December 31, 2025, and for general corporate purposes. Pending such use, the net proceeds from the Offering will temporarily be used by the Company to reduce indebtedness under the Company’s unsecured revolving credit facility. The foregoing is not a redemption notice with respect to the 2026 Debentures. Any redemption of the 2026 Debentures will be made pursuant to a notice of redemption under the indenture governing those securities.

    The Debentures will be direct, senior subordinated unsecured obligations of the Company which will rank pari passu with one another and will rank (a) effectively subordinate to any existing and future secured indebtedness of the Company but only (other than with respect to the Senior Credit Facilities (as defined in the Indenture)) to the extent of the value of the assets securing such secured indebtedness, (b) subordinate to the obligations under the current and future Senior Credit Facilities (as defined in the Indenture), (c) pari passu with the Company’s existing 2026 Debentures and 6.00% Senior Subordinated Unsecured Debentures due June 30, 2027 and, except as prescribed by law, all existing and future unsecured indebtedness (other than the Senior Credit Facilities) that by its terms is not subordinated in right of payment to the Debentures, including indebtedness to trade creditors, and (d) senior to all existing and future unsecured indebtedness that by its terms is subordinated in right of payment to the Debentures, including any convertible unsecured subordinated debentures which may be issued by the Company in the future. In addition, the Debentures will be structurally subordinated to all existing and future indebtedness and other liabilities of the Company’s subsidiaries.

    A preliminary short form prospectus will be filed with securities regulatory authorities in all provinces of Canada. The Offering is subject to customary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

    The securities to be offered have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of such Act. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

    Legal advisors

    Legal advice is being provided to Fiera Capital by Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. Legal advice is being provided to the Underwriters by Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This document may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to future events or, future performance reflecting management’s expectations or beliefs regarding future events, including, without limitation, business and economic conditions, outlook and trends, Fiera Capital’s growth, results of operations, performance, business prospects and opportunities, objectives, plans and strategic priorities, new initiatives, such as those related to sustainability and other statements that do not refer to historical facts. In particular, this press release includes forward-looking statements relating to the proposed timing of completion of the Offering and the anticipated use of the net proceeds of the Offering. Such forward-looking statements reflect management’s current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. These forward-looking statements may typically be identified by words and expressions such as “assumption, “continue”, “estimate”, “forecast”, “goal”, “guidance”, “likely”, “plan”, “objective”, “outlook”, “potential”, “foresee”, “project”, “strategy”, “target”, and other similar words or expressions or future or conditional verbs (including in their negative form), such as “aim”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “could”, “expect”, “foresee”, “intend”, “may”, “plan”, “predict”, “seek”, “should”, “strive” and “would”.

    Forward-looking statements, by their very nature, are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties and are based on several assumptions, which make it possible for actual results or events to differ materially from management’s expectations and that predictions, forecasts, projections, expectations, conclusions or statements will not prove to be accurate. As a result, Fiera Capital does not guarantee that any forward-looking statement will materialize and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, the failure or delay in satisfying any of the conditions to the completion of the Offering. Additional factors include, but are not limited to, market and general economic conditions, the nature of the financial services industry, and the risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in Fiera Capital’s interim condensed and annual consolidated financial statements, and its latest Annual Report and Annual Information Form filed on www.sedarplus.ca. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document, and Fiera Capital assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.

    About Fiera Capital Corporation

    Fiera Capital is a leading independent asset management firm with a growing global presence. The Company delivers customized and multi-asset solutions across public and private market asset classes to institutional, financial intermediary and private wealth clients across North America, Europe and key markets in Asia and the Middle East. Fiera Capital’s depth of expertise, diversified investment platform and commitment to delivering outstanding service are core to our mission of being at the forefront of investment management science to create sustainable wealth for clients. Fiera Capital trades under the ticker FSZ on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

    Headquartered in Montreal, Fiera Capital, with its affiliates in various jurisdictions, has offices in over a dozen cities around the world, including New York (U.S.), London (UK), Hong Kong (SAR) and Abu Dhabi (ADGM).

    Each affiliated entity (each an “Affiliate”) of Fiera Capital only provides investment advisory or investment management services or offers investment funds in the jurisdictions where the Affiliate is authorized to provide services pursuant to the relevant registrations, an exemption from such registrations and/or the relevant product is registered or exempt from registration.

    Fiera Capital does not provide investment advice to U.S. clients or offer investment advisory services in the U.S. In the U.S., asset management services are provided by Fiera Capital’s Affiliates who are investment advisers that are registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or exempt from registration. Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training. For details on the particular registration of, or exemptions therefrom relied upon by, any Fiera Capital entity, please consult https://www.fieracapital.com/en/registrations-and-exemptions

    Additional information about Fiera Capital, including its Annual Information Form, is available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca

    SOURCE Fiera Capital Corporation

    The information contained in press releases and company news is valid as of the date indicated. You should not assume that statements remain accurate or valid after the date.

    For more information: Analysts and investors, Marie-France Guay, Senior Vice President, Treasury and Investor Relations, Fiera Capital Corporation, 514 294-5878, mguay@fieracapital.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Speech by CE at Partnering for Success – Hong Kong as a “Super Connector” and “Super Value-adder” High-level Business Luncheon in Kuwait (English only)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    Following is the speech by the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, at the Partnering for Success – Hong Kong as a “Super Connector” and “Super Value-adder” High-level Business Luncheon in Kuwait today (May 14):

    Your Excellency Khalifa Abdullah Dhahi Al-Ajeel Al-Askar (Minister of Commerce and Industry of Kuwait), Excellency Ambassador Zhang Jianwei (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the State of Kuwait), Excellency Mr Rabah Al-Rabah (Director General of Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, 

    As-salamu alaykum. Good afternoon. It is a great pleasure to be with you today in Kuwait, home to one of the world’s largest oil reserves, and a country as committed to talent development as it is to economic diversification. 

    This is our second day in your resplendent capital, Kuwait City, where past, present and future – in design, culture, lifestyle and so much more – come together like no other city in the world.

    Yesterday, I was honoured to have met with His Highness Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Amir of Kuwait; His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, the Crown Prince of Kuwait; His Excellency Sheikh Fahad Yousuf Saud Al-Sabah, Acting Prime Minister of Kuwait, and other senior government officials. I thanked them sincerely for the time, interest and hospitality they have shown us, from the moment we arrived in Kuwait. Kuwait has generously arranged for our government delegates to stay at Bayan Palace, a majestic landmark in Kuwait City. I reaffirmed to them the commitment, and sincerity, of Hong Kong and Mainland China in strengthening relations with Kuwait.  

    Yes, I am delighted to be here. So too, are the business and professional leaders with me, a delegation counting some 30 Hong Kong business and institutional heads, together with high-profile representatives of over 20 Chinese Mainland companies from seven provinces and municipalities across the country.

    The delegation brings with them wide-ranging expertise, and invaluable experience, from both Hong Kong and Mainland China, in green development, and innovation and technology, including advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, new energy and materials, health and smart city evolution. They also offer Hong Kong’s wealth of experience in finance, infrastructure, transport and logistics, as well as global business operations and deal-making.

    We are here to better understand the opportunities of Kuwaiti business and investment. To explore how Hong Kong, Mainland China and Kuwait, working together, can create long-term mutual opportunities.

    We’re also here to explore closer ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council (Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, GCC), which, as all of you know, includes Kuwait. Kuwait currently holds the presidency of the GCC, wielding significant influence in the region’s development.

    Our ties run deep and far. China, our country, and Kuwait established diplomatic ties in 1971 – making Kuwait the first GCC country to do so. Last year, trade between China and Kuwait reached well over US$16 billion. 

    Kuwait, I’m pleased to note, was the first country in the Middle East to sign a Belt and Road co-operation document with China. From of the Central Bank of Kuwait’s headquarters building and housing projects, to telecommunications and smart city developments, Chinese enterprises have participated in numerous infrastructure and business projects here.

    Hong Kong treasures its trade ties with Kuwait, too. Last year, our bilateral merchandise trade totalled US$200 million, up more than 21 per cent over the year before. 

    Hong Kong’s trade with the GCC last year reached nearly US$20 billion, up 53 per cent over the past four years. And that robust growth is underpinned by our mutual will to advance trade ties.

    Thanks to our internationally recognised professional services sector, Hong Kong is a pivotal player in the Belt and Road Initiative. In 2023, we included a Middle East Forum, for the first time, at our annual Belt and Road Summit. And we continue to feature Middle East speakers and guests at the Summit. 

    Hong Kong’s Belt and Road Summit will take place in September this year. As earlier the Chairman of the Trade Development Council (Hong Kong Trade Development Council) said, it’s our 10th anniversary Summit, and I invite you all to join us, to take part in a world of Belt and Road opportunities – in business, investment and more.

    And the Asian Financial Forum, Hong Kong’s flagship event bringing together prominent leaders in finance and business sectors, hosted its first GCC Chapter this January. 

    Yes, the ties between Hong Kong and the Middle East continue to grow and diversify. 

    They include the launching of the Middle East’s first two exchange-traded funds tracking Hong Kong stocks. Hong Kong is partnering with a Middle East sovereign wealth fund, too. Together, we are committed to jointly establishing a US$1 billion fund, investing in companies connected to Hong Kong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.  

    The Greater Bay Area, let me add, is a cluster city development that brings together Hong Kong, Macao and nine southern cities in China. The fast-integrating regional economic powerhouse presents a collective GDP (Gross Domestic Product) that closely rivals the world’s 10th largest economy.

    Hong Kong has much to offer Kuwait. Asia’s financial hub and one of the world’s three biggest financial centres, Hong Kong is also the world’s largest offshore Renminbi business centre. Coupled with our Islamic finance experience, Hong Kong is a trusted partner in your project financing – today and long down the road. 

    Free trade is among our great competitive advantages, fuelling our success for the past two centuries. Hong Kong is a free port, and we will continue to be a free port. Like our country, we are a vocal advocate of a multilateral, rules-based global economy, in spite of mounting protectionism and geopolitical tensions.

    And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a testament to our “one country, two systems” governing principle at work. 

    Under the principle, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has its own legal, legislative and judicial systems. Our legal system is a common law system, similar to that in many major financial hubs around the globe. We maintain our own currency, with no capital or foreign exchange controls. Information, capital, goods and people flow freely in Hong Kong. 

    The principle of “one country, two systems” also gives Hong Kong unparalleled access to our country’s markets and wide-ranging opportunities. It allows us, as well, to pursue our longstanding ties with the world at large, the Middle East very much included. 

    As today’s luncheon title, Partnering for Success: Hong Kong as a “super connector” and “super value-adder” emphasises, we do more than connecting companies and people. We also add value to their businesses, their services and their future.

    With companies and investors from Mainland China, and all over the world, looking for a financial haven in this time of global economic uncertainty, Hong Kong is flourishing, and keen to work with you, our partners. 

         An international financial newspaper, spotlighting the Hong Kong Exchange and its record quarterly profits, recently noted that Hong Kong has, and I quote, “benefited from a spate of initial public offerings and rising interest from Mainland Chinese and global investors in Hong Kong-listed shares, especially of technological-related companies, driven by optimism over China’s progress in artificial intelligence”. 

    That speaks of Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” advantages working for you – linking a world of investors to the secure and rapidly growing Chinese market.

    It helps, and greatly, that Hong Kong’s economy is inextricably tied to our common law system and a judiciary that exercises its powers independently, a legal regime that resembles many of the world’s leading financial hubs. They give international companies and investors – Kuwait certainly included – all the confidence and the certainty they need to do business, in Hong Kong and throughout China. Kuwait certainly included.

    Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to note that during our visit, Hong Kong and Kuwait have reached consensus on 24 concrete deliverables, through MOUs and related agreements. A ceremony will take place in just a moment.  

    The agreements cover a broad range of collaboration, from trade and the economy, to investment promotion, financial services, aviation and the maritime industries, post-secondary education, the legal profession, sports and more. 

    And our customs authorities will commence negotiations on the mutual recognition of respective Authorized Economic Operator Programmes. This will create smoother, more convenient international links for our respective companies, making it much easier to do business together.  

    Our Airport Authority Hong Kong will soon sign a new MOU with Kuwait Airways, aimed at enhancing air connectivity between the two regions, fostering operational excellence, supporting sustainability, and advancing talent development in the aviation sector.  

    They will lay a solid foundation for long-term collaboration between our two economies and our two peoples. 

    That just touches on our growing co-operation. Indeed, we are now looking into opening a second Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the GCC region, to manage our many ongoing Middle East projects and prospects in the offering.

    One key area is boosting merchandise trade between our economies. Hong Kong, I’m pleased to say, has signed Comprehensive Double Taxation Agreements (IPPA) with five of the six GCC states. We have also entered into Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements with three of the states, with Kuwait being the first. We have also substantially concluded negotiations on an IPPA with Qatar, our previous stop on this trip, and commenced negotiations with another state. 

    Indeed, our burgeoning trade and investment co-operation, I believe, could well add momentum to the possibility of a free trade agreement between Hong Kong and the GCC. I look forward to our continuing discussions with the Council.

    Beyond business and investment connectivity, there is boundless promise, too, in co-operating in sectors such as arts and culture. 

    Yesterday, we had the pleasure of visiting the dazzling Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre, one of the world’s largest museum complexes. Seeing, firsthand, Kuwait’s compelling commitment to arts, culture and science. I must add that Kuwait is this year’s Arab Culture Capital, presenting nearly 100 activities as part of the country’s cultural celebration.

    Like Kuwait, Hong Kong believes in the primacy of arts and culture. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District is rising as one of the world’s largest cultural developments. And we are committed to becoming the world’s East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange. That very much includes Kuwait and the Middle East in general.

    My thanks to our Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the Middle East and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council for organising today’s welcome gathering. And to the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority and the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry for kindly supporting us on this memorable occasion.

    Ladies and gentlemen, I know you will enjoy today’s luncheon. Including, let me add, a musical performance by TroVessional, a Hong Kong group dedicated to Cantonese and Chinese ethnic music, brought to engaging life with classic Chinese instruments.

    Enjoy it and thank you!

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: King Lashes Out at Administration’s Decision to Cut Critical Research Budgets

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King
    WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), in a hearing of the Energy and Natural Resource (ENR) Committee, pressed Connor Prochaska, nominee to serve as the Director of Advanced Research Projects Agency within the Department of Energy, and Dr. Ned Mamula to serve as the Director of U.S. Geological Survey within the Department of the Interior, on extreme budget cuts impacting critical research programs at both departments. During his exchange with Prochaska, Senator King repeatedly asked him to justify drastic budget cuts to the Advanced Research Project Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) after he touted the value of its work, and grilled him on the Trump Administration’s attacks on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.
    “One of the sages of New England, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘what you do speak so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.’ I have never been at a hearing where what’s being done is at such variance with what is being said. Mr. Prochaska, you waxed eloquent about the talented and dedicated staff of ARPA-E and all the great work that they’ve done. Their budget’s being cut by 57%. How do you justify all this nice talk about what you’re going to do when your agency’s being cut more than in half? You can talk until you’re blue in the face, but what speaks here is 57% cut. Tell me. And you went through your entire testimony, all of your answers to your questions, until you got to Senator Cortez-Masto, and never once mentioned renewables, the fastest growing, cheapest source of electricity in the United States today. And let me read from the budget document, ‘green new scam technologies are not supported.’ That’s in the ARPA-E budget document, green new scam technology are not supported. That means no renewables, right? You’ve got an order from the President of the United States, no renewables. Is that correct,” began Senator King.
    “That is not correct,” said Prochaska.
    “So what? What does he mean? Green, new scam technologies. He’s talking about solar and wind. Everybody knows that,” replied Senator King.
    “Senator, I can’t opine on what the definition of that language is. I can commit to, if confirmed, that the ARPA-E and the portfolio that we investigate and we look into will include all technologies,” Prochaska responded.
    “So, it was just a coincidence that when you listed the technologies, the nearest you got to renewables was a mention of geothermal. You never mentioned solar and wind, and you use the code word reliable, which is a new code word for we don’t like solar and wind because they’re intermittent, but as you indicated in your answer to Senator Cortez-Masto, when you have batteries with solar and wind, it’s base load. Is that correct,” asked Senator King.
    “Senator, it very well could be. It depends on the situation. But the portfolio that we will investigate will include all technologies and reliable is important to the energy that we need for the future, to fund some of the some of the emerging technologies that we’ve talked about,” Prochaska replied.
    “I appreciate what you’re saying here. What I’m going to watch is what you do. Understood, budgets are policy, and this budget, the policy of this budget, is a drastic cut, a drastic cut, more than half in the in ARPA-E, I think, one of the most important agencies the United States government. It’s where fracking started. The shale revolution started with research funds for the Department of Energy, and we’re talking about a more than half cut. So, I’m going to watch what you do and not what you say,” concluded Senator King.
    Later in the hearing, Senator King raised his concerns to Dr. Mamula about the Trump Administration’s attempts to downsize the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) biology and hydrology research, including the stream gauge program which provides data on river and stream flow that is critical to ensure adequate water supply and safety. During the exchange, Dr. Mamula refused to provide satisfactory answers about his familiarity with the Administration’s slashes to the USGS’ budget.
    “Now, Mr. Mamula, you talked about the importance of data and science and all of those kinds of things. And yet, there have been reports in the last few weeks that biological research in the in the USGS is being cut entirely, and 25 water science centers, which are stream gages measuring storms. I get the feeling this is like, if we don’t measure anything on climate change, it will go away. Is that what’s going on here,” asked Senator King.
    “I don’t think so, Senator, thanks for the question. Let’s discuss it. Again, I’m not at the survey, but I want to take a look, if confirmed, I want to go out and look at each and every single program, its budget and cuts proposed,” replied Dr. Mamula.
    “Somebody has already done that and cut your budget 37% before you even walk in the door. Assuming Congress agrees, which I hope they won’t,” said Senator King.
    “Yeah, I don’t know about that either, but I’m not familiar. But the program, the contents of the program that has a cut associated with it, I’m not familiar. I don’t know what’s in, what’s being cut,” responded Dr. Mamula.
    “I thought you’re pretty familiar with USGS,” questioned Senator King.
    “I am, but I don’t know what —,” said Dr. Mamula.
    “Do you believe it’s appropriate to cut all of their biological research programs,” pressed Senator King.
    “Well, I have to see what they’re talking about, if they’re talking about,” replied Dr. Mamula.
    “All means all as I understand it,” finished Senator King.
    As a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator King has advocated for climate solutions that deliver on the clean energy potential of the historic Inflation Reduction Act. He has repeatedly emphasized the importance of permitting reform to deliver carefully considered, timely approvals of sorely-needed clean energy projects. Senator King has also been one of the Senate’s most vocal advocates for improving energy storage technologies and development and worked to include significant storage investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. Earlier this year, Senator King reiterated the importance of an “all of the above” energy policy strategy during an ENR hearing considering the nominations of Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. In a recent ENR hearing, he received agreement from two nominees to prioritize renewable energy storage technology.

    MIL OSI USA News –