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Category: Science

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK organisations selected in first AUKUS Innovation Challenge

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Projects from 4 UK organisations will share £2m in the inaugural AUKUS Pillar 2 Electronic Warfare (EW) Innovation Challenge.

    Through AUKUS Pillar 2, Australia, the UK and the US are pooling the talents of their defence sectors to develop at pace the delivery of advanced capabilities. Four UK companies have been selected by the UK’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) to receive a share of the funding to develop solutions in electromagnetic targeting and protection. 

    The competition was run to find low cost, disposable, high volume and highly autonomous electromagnetic technology that can detect enemy actions or protect against them.

    The four successful UK organisations to receive research funding are:

    • Amiosec Ltd
    • Autonomous Devices Ltd
    • Roke Manor Research Ltd
    • University of Liverpool

    The trilateral AUKUS EW Challenge was run as 3 individual competitions by DASA in the UK; the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA), in Australia; and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) in the US. The EW competition was the first in what will be a series of AUKUS Innovation Challenges, setting the template for future advanced defence technology competitions run by the 3 partners.

    National winners of the 3 EW Challenge competitions were announced at the AUKUS Defence Ministers’ Meeting on 26 September in London by UK Secretary of State for Defence, the Right Honourable John Healey MP; Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, the Honourable Richard Marles MP; and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III. The three Defence Ministers together emphasised the value of the collaboration to a free and open Indo-Pacific, with the potential to enhance joint defence capabilities, ensuring national, regional and global stability.

    The 3 innovation competitions called for proposals to identify electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) technology solutions to help give the AUKUS nations a strategic edge in targeting and to provide protection against adversarial electromagnetic-targeting capabilities. EMS is a heavily congested, contested, complex and competitive environment and there is an increasing need for low cost, disposable, high volume and highly autonomous capabilities to achieve advantage.

    In total, across all 3 national innovation challenges, 173 qualified suppliers applied, in a show of strength of the AUKUS nations’ defence innovation capabilities.

    The winning UK supplier organisations:

    • Amiosec Ltd: This project is seeking to create fake radio activity, masking the true location of friendly military forces to support missions. The research will focus on extending previous work on AI-generated traffic to boost realism to defeat adversary EW systems. It will be delivered by Amiosec in conjunction with its Australian defence technology partner, Penten.
    • Autonomous Devices Ltd: Is developing and flight-demonstrating the novel combination of a radar Electronic Counter Measure and a small Uncrewed Air System platform.
    • Roke Manor Research Ltd: The ability to transmit and receive on identical frequencies simultaneously has been an operational and technical challenge for decades. The Smart STAR Jammer project sets out to combine a Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (STAR) Transceiver jointly developed by Roke and the University of Bristol.
    • University of Liverpool: This project aims to improve the ability to detect multiple individual faint signals in close geometric proximity to one another. This will be achieved using a combination of machine learning and statistics.

    AUKUS is a landmark security and defence partnership to support a free and open Indo-Pacific by strengthening regional global security. A major part of the partnership, named Pillar 1, is helping Australia to acquire its first conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine fleet.

    Through AUKUS Pillar 2 which includes advanced capabilities such as Artificial Intelligence, autonomy, quantum technologies and electronic warfare – the 3 national partners seek to strengthen trilateral capabilities in cutting-edge military technologies, increase interoperability, and drive knowledge-sharing and innovation. One of the aims of Pillar 2 is to “foster deeper integration of security and defence-related science, technology, industrial bases, and supply chains”.

    Find out more about the first ever UK-hosted meeting of AUKUS Defence Ministers held on 26 September 2024.

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    Published 26 September 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: News Briefs: July-September 2024

    Source: US Geological Survey

    Breadcrumb

    1. News

    News Briefs: July-September 2024

    News Briefs – featuring coastal and ocean science from across the USGS.

    Check out recent news highlights below!

     

    Connect with us on Social Media

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    MIL OSI USA News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: How the ‘New Right’ in Latin America differs from other emerging far-right movements

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Juan Manuel Morales, PhD Candidate, Political Science, Université de Montréal

    Following the end of the progressive wave of the 2000s and 2010s in Latin America, the right has reinvented itself and regained political space.

    There is the self-styled libertarianism of Javier Milei in Argentina, the protests against leftist president Gustavo Petro in Colombia and the increasingly authoritarian government of Nayib Bukele in El Salvador.

    There’s also a plethora of influencers and media personalities that vociferously defend conservative positions in the region.

    “New Right” candidates are running in municipal elections in Chile and general elections in Uruguay in October.

    What is the New Right?

    Research defines the New Right as “a diverse set of individuals and organizations aiming to maintain societal hierarchies that are perceived as traditional or natural.”

    Whereas the traditional right often showed no interest in democracy and was more concerned with economic issues and fighting communism, the new right uses the tools of democracy to obtain power and govern, and focuses more on cultural issues.

    Chief among these issues is the control of sexuality and gender, which differentiates the new Latin American right from its western counterparts, which are prioritizing the issue of migration.



    Read more:
    Why the ideology of the ‘New Right’ is so dangerous

    The issues

    Researchers have observed the focus on sexuality in the new Latin American right. While conducting field work last year in Colombia with right-wing activists, it became clear to me that groups as diverse as economic libertarians, evangelical anti-abortionists and security hardliners with military backgrounds shared a desire to control the sexuality of others.

    Earlier this year, El Salvador’s Bukele ordered gender-related content removed from the public education system. Argentina’s Milei routinely attacks women’s reproductive rights, and the Peruvian government defined transgender identities as a “mental health problem.”

    These varied efforts seek to maintain heterosexual and binary gender models at the top of the social hierarchy, while people with diverse identities are marginalized. These authoritarian tendencies are aligned with another of the new right’s favourite issues: a tough-on-crime approach to security.

    Bukele has become an inspiration on this matter.



    Read more:
    ‘Bukelism,’ El Salvador’s flawed approach to gang violence, is no silver bullet for Ecuador

    The Argentine and Ecuadorian governments have expressed an interest in building Bukele-style mega-prisons to curb crime.

    Likewise, politicians in different countries market themselves as the local Bukele to win votes.

    Sexuality, crime

    Except for a few countries, migration is not a particularly relevant issue for adherents of the New Right in Latin America.

    This is not due to a lack of migration. More than six million Venezuelans have migrated to other countries in the region as of 2023; several Latin American countries are transit points for migrants trying to reach the United States; internal migration and forced displacement are an ongoing issue for some countries.

    Nevertheless, anti-migrant and nativist views are not commonplace. There is, however, an effort by the New Right to preserve white and white/mixed-race populations as well as western Christian values at the top of the social hierarchy — to the detriment of Latin America’s Indigenous and Black communities.

    The strategies

    The traditional right in Latin America resorted to coups d’état and military dictatorships as part of its repertoire of action. This happened in particular before the 1990s, but it’s also occurred in the last three decades.

    Conversely, the New Right prefers to leverage the tools of democracy to erode the democratic system from within and prolong its grip on power.

    New Right figures now become leaders by winning elections. But once in office, they often try to concentrate power in the executive branch by undermining the separation of powers.

    Bukele, for example, controls the legislative and judicial branches in El Salvador. Jair Bolsonaro took a similar path in Brazil but was ultimately thwarted by the victory of leftist Lula da Silva in 2022.

    The New Right has also become adept at using judicial activism to advance its agenda and curtail the rights of marginalized citizens.

    Grassroots organizing and social activism — tactics traditionally associated with the left — are now part of the New Right’s playbook in Latin America. Social movements were instrumental in the fall of Brazil’s Dilma Roussef and the subsequent 2018 victory of Bolsonaro.

    Right-wing social movement entities have systematically taken to the streets in Colombia to protest the leftist government.

    Evangelical churches have also taken on a more visible role within the New Right, disputing the traditional leadership of the Catholic Church among conservatives. While evangelicals have long been an important electoral force in places like Brazil, they have had more mixed results in other countries.

    Future implications

    The New Right continues to influence the public debate and society at large in Latin America through street and social media activism, as well as institutional politics.

    In 2025, the New Right could make further electoral gains in countries like Chile and Ecuador.

    Because many existing New Right governments regularly undermine democracy and the rights of marginalized communities, it’s important to better understand their strategies and priorities — particularly in a region marred by exclusion and inequality.

    Juan Manuel Morales 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. How the ‘New Right’ in Latin America differs from other emerging far-right movements – https://theconversation.com/how-the-new-right-in-latin-america-differs-from-other-emerging-far-right-movements-239267

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: ThoughtSpot Appoints Ketan Karkhanis as new Chief Executive Officer

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ThoughtSpot, the AI-Powered Analytics Company, today announced that the Company has appointed Ketan Karkhanis as Chief Executive Officer.

    Ketan is joining ThoughtSpot from Salesforce, where he has spent over a decade of his career. He most recently served as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Salesforce Sales Cloud business, leading one of the company’s largest cloud businesses that generated more than $7 billion last fiscal year. He returned to Salesforce in March 2022 after his time as the COO of Turvo, a supply-chain collaboration platform that was acquired by Lineage Logistics in 2022. Before that, Ketan was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Salesforce Einstein Analytics, incubating the business from launch to over $300 million and a 30,000 strong user community.

    “During this time of accelerated transformation driven by the advent of generative AI, there is no better person to lead ThoughtSpot than Ketan,” said Ajeet Singh, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of ThoughtSpot. “He is a customer-obsessed, employee-focused business leader with a deep experience in analytics and has built and led world-class SaaS businesses of significant scale. The ThoughtSpot Board believes that Ketan is the right leader to help ThoughtSpot capitalize on its foundational innovation and capture the massive market opportunity that lies ahead in AI-powered analytics.”

    Singh added, “Over the last six months, ThoughtSpot has made significant progress in accelerating its product roadmap, delivering genAI-driven value to customers that are migrating away from legacy visualization platforms, and centering its focus on durable growth at scale, all setting the table for our next CEO.”

    “Ketan has the passion and experience to lead ThoughtSpot in its next chapter,” said Ravi Mhatre, Founder and Managing Director of Lightspeed Venture Partners and the founding investor on ThoughtSpot’s Board of Directors. “This appointment comes at a perfect time for the market as analytics is redefined by genAI, and ensures that ThoughtSpot is best positioned to scale rapidly.”

    “ThoughtSpot has built a fundamentally different approach to analytics since its inception, squarely focused on democratizing data and empowering everyone to make data-driven decisions with its AI and search-driven analytics platform,” said Ketan Karkhanis, CEO of ThoughtSpot. “ThoughtSpot has a significant head start in innovation that is required for truly delivering on the expectations that genAI has created, with a proven solution that is delivering value to some of the largest and most complex enterprises in the world. I am extremely honored to have the opportunity to lead the company that finds itself intersecting with the genAI tailwinds at a perfect time, and is in a strong position to capitalize on this market opportunity by bringing unparalleled value to over a thousand customers across the globe.”

    Ketan has a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from PICT (Pune Institute of Computer Technology, India) and an MBA from Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business.

    About ThoughtSpot
    ThoughtSpot is the AI-Powered Analytics company. Our mission is to create a more fact-driven world with the easiest to use analytics platform. With ThoughtSpot, anyone can leverage natural language search to ask and answer data questions with confidence. ThoughtSpot enables everyone within an organization to limitlessly engage with live data in any major cloud data platform, making it easy to create and interact with granular, hyper-personalized, and actionable insights. Customers can take advantage of both ThoughtSpot’s web and mobile applications to improve decision-making for every employee, wherever and whenever decisions are made. With ThoughtSpot’s low-code developer-friendly platform, ThoughtSpot Embedded, customers can also embed AI-Powered Analytics to their products and services, monetizing their data and engaging users to keep them coming back for more. Organizations like Capital One, Daimler, Comcast, Cigna, Royal Bank of Canada, Nasdaq, and Unilever rely on ThoughtSpot to transform how their employees and customers take advantage of data. Try ThoughtSpot today and see for yourself.

    PR Contact:

    Lindsay Noonan
    Director of Communications, ThoughtSpot
    press@thoughtspot.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/88088950-4082-42c9-b99f-a944c31c28c8

    The MIL Network –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why do we yawn when we see someone else yawn?

    Source: The Conversation – France – By Astrid Thébault Guiochon, Ingénieure et Enseignante, Université Lumière Lyon 2

    After a hearty lunch at work, you and your co-workers go into a meeting. First one colleague starts to yawn, then a second and finally it’s your turn. Many biological explanations have been put forward for this, but what is the scientific consensus?

    Yawning is a universal phenomenon, observed in many vertebrate species, from wolves to parrots, and, of course, humans, from a very early age. But why do we tend to yawn when we see someone else doing it?

    The reason why yawning has been present in so many species for so long is that it seems to be a necessary survival mechanism. But what is its real purpose? Whether it’s to oxygenate the brain, regulate body temperature or provide a social signal, there is no shortage of hypotheses, both among the general public and in the scientific community.

    The widespread idea that yawning increases oxygenation of the brain has not been confirmed. Another explanation suggests that yawning helps maintain attention. Again, there is no consensus on this either.

    What seems more certain is the link between yawning and circadian rhythm, our biological clock. The majority of yawns occur at rest, generally concentrated around the phases of waking and falling asleep. More precisely, they occur when the body is less alert, as when it’s working to digest a meal.

    A means of communication?

    Although the reasons behind yawning have yet to be confirmed, it’s “contagious” nature is generating significant discoveries in various disciplines, both in biology and social psychology.

    Yawning could play an important role in social interactions, as observed in ostriches, which use it to synchronise group behaviour. As in humans, they often yawn when they shift from waking to resting, or vice versa. Yawning can then serve as a signal indicating a change in activity or alertness, ensuring that all members of the group are alert or at rest at the same time, increasing collective safety and maintaining the group’s rhythm.

    However, the contagion of the yawn seems to be a predominantly human characteristic, with a few exceptions, such as chimpanzees or the lion monkey. This specificity reinforces the idea that human yawning, over and above its purely physiological functions, is a means of non-verbal communication. The main hypothesis is that yawning helps to synchronise group behaviour, a function similar to that observed in ostriches.

    Indeed, seeing or hearing someone yawn stimulates brain regions involved in imitation and empathy, thanks in particular to mirror neurons. These neurons are activated by observing actions – for example when a child follows his parent’s movements to tie her or his shoes. However, certain areas of the brain specifically involved in contagious yawning are part of neural networks linked to empathy and social interaction.

    A predisposition to contagious yawning?

    Empathy appears to play a key role in susceptibility to contagious yawning. Individuals with social disorders, such as autism or schizophrenia, seem less receptive to picking up yawning from others. Research even shows that external factors such as breathing and body temperature could respectively reduce and increase contagious yawning.

    This observation reinforces the idea that the perception of contagion may be exaggerated, partly because studies often involve observing individuals in groups. This dynamic could influence the observed frequency of yawning, suggesting that it is not necessarily seeing someone yawn that triggers the reaction, but rather the presence and interactions within the group.

    So if you find yourself yawning when your colleague yawns after lunch, it may well be that it’s not his or her yawning that’s influencing you. Instead, it could simply be the shared context – in this case, having eaten well together – that provokes this synchronised reaction.

    Astrid Thébault Guiochon ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

    – ref. Why do we yawn when we see someone else yawn? – https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-yawn-when-we-see-someone-else-yawn-239762

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Egypt: call for UK national Alaa Abdel Fattah to be released at end of jail term

    Source: Amnesty International –

    The prominent blogger, writer and human rights activist is due to be released on Sunday after five years of arbitrary imprisonment

    Egypt has track record of submitting political detainees to ‘rotation’, where bogus reasons are found to deny their release  

    ‘The UK government should pull out all the stops to ensure Alaa walks free this Sunday’ – Sacha Deshmukh  

    The Egyptian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release the prominent Egyptian-British blogger, writer and human rights activist Aala Abdel Fattah who will have completed his unjust five-year prison sentence in three days’ time (29 September), said Amnesty International today. 

    In reprisal for his activism, the Egyptian authorities arrested Alaa Abdel Fattah on 29 September 2019, and subsequently – following a grossly unfair trial – sentenced him to five years in prison on charges that included “spreading false news”. 

    Amnesty is warning that there is a risk that the authorities will refuse to release the prominent political activist despite his having served the full five years in prison, by refusing to count time spent in pre-trial detention as part of his prison sentence already served. The authorities may also seek to extend his arbitrary detention by bringing fresh charges against him. The Egyptian authorities have a track record of indefinitely detaining people imprisoned for political reasons by bringing new bogus identical or similar charges, even after a court has ordered their release or they’ve completed their sentence – a highly abusive practice known as “rotation”. 

    For years, Abdel Fattah was detained in deplorable conditions and security officials subjected him to torture and other ill-treatment in custody. In May 2022, following a public outcry, he was transferred to Wadi al-Natroun Prison where his health and detention conditions improved. It was only recently that the authorities finally allowed him access to reading materials, as well as television and written correspondence. 

    However, the prison authorities have continued to deny him access to fresh air and sunlight for the past five years, only allowing him to exercise in an indoor hall. The authorities also continue to deny him access to his lawyer as well as to consular visits from the UK authorities. 

    Mahmoud Shalaby, Amnesty International’s Egypt Researcher, said:

     “Alaa Abdel Fattah has spent most of the last decade being repeatedly arrested and unjustly imprisoned simply for peacefully exercising his human rights.

    “He is a prisoner of conscience – he should never have been forced to spend a single minute behind bars. 

    “Egyptian authorities have a dreadful track record of indefinitely detaining political dissidents by concocting new reasons to keep them locked up. 

    “The prospect that the authorities could further extend his unlawful imprisonment instead of releasing him is appalling.

    “If the authorities fail to release Alaa Abdel Fattah this would further compound the cruelty and injustice he has already suffered in custody. 

    “The Egyptian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release him and allow him to reunite with his loved ones at long last.” 

    Jailed for ‘spreading false news’ 

    On 20 December 2021, an Emergency State Security Court convicted Alaa Abdel Fattah on charges which included “spreading false news” and sentenced him to five years in prison following a grossly unfair trial in reprisal for his activism. Human rights lawyer Mohamed Baker and blogger Mohamed Radwan “Oxygen” were also convicted on similar charges, and sentenced to four years in prison. On 19 July 2023, following sustained campaigning for his release, Mohamed Baker received a presidential pardon after nearly four years of arbitrary detention. Abdel Fattah is a prominent political activist and government critic who has been repeatedly targeted for his role in the country’s 2011 uprising. He is among thousands of people who continue to be arbitrarily detained without legal basis in Egypt solely for exercising their human rights. The Egyptian authorities continued to carry out arrests of actual or perceived critics as part of an unrelenting crackdown on dissent.

    Long-running UK campaign

    Alaa Abdel Fattah is a UK national and his family have mounted a long-running campaign – supported by Amnesty – calling on the UK government to help secure his freedom. In June, the family marked Father’s Day by unfurling a giant banner down the side of Brighton Pier to draw attention to Abdel Fattah’s links to Brighton, the city in which his young son lives. In October and November 2022, Abdel Fattah’s family staged various protests outside the Foreign Office and Downing Street to highlight the fact that Alaa was conducting a lengthy hunger strike in prison in the lead-up to the COP27 climate change summit in Egypt. Amnesty has been calling on the UK government to develop a coherent strategy for how it acts over cases where UK nationals such as Abdel Fattah are arbitrarily detained overseas. Amnesty believes the new strategy should include, as a minimum, the Government calling for an arbitrarily-detained person’s immediate release (including publicly where requested by the family), pressing for access to a lawyer, a fair trial and medical care where relevant, demanding consular access, insisting that UK officials be able to attend trials, and regularly meeting with family members to outline the Government’s overall approach in the case.

    Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said: 

    “Alaa’s a courageous democracy activist who should never have spent a single day behind bars never mind five years, and the UK government should pull out all the stops to ensure Alaa walks free this Sunday and is guaranteed safe passage to the UK.

    “The family have campaigned long and hard on Alaa’s case and we share their frustration that the previous Government has appeared to ‘coast’ for long periods over his case rather than exerting sustained diplomatic pressure on his behalf. 

    “The UK government must press hard for Alaa’s release on Sunday and see this as an opportunity to turn a corner on how it deals with the cases of British nationals arbitrarily detained overseas.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Translation: Government of Canada launches Autism Canada Framework, Autism Canada Strategy, and call for applications for National Autism Network

    MIL OSI Translation. Canadian French to English –

    Source: Government of Canada – in French 1

    The Government of Canada is committed to meeting the needs of all persons with disabilities in Canada, including people with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, and those who care for them.

    September 26, 2024 | Ottawa, Ontario | Public Health Agency of Canada

    The Government of Canada is committed to meeting the needs of all persons with disabilities in Canada, including people with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, and those who care for them.

    The Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, tabled in Parliament today: Autism Framework in Canada (Framework). The Framework describes the principles and benchmark practices that will guide autism policy, programs and activities in Canada. It leverages the Government of Canada’s leadership role in advancing best practices to support autistic people of all ages, their families and caregivers.

    The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has also launched the Autism Strategy in Canada(Strategy). The Strategy is a multi-year action plan that supports the federal government’s implementation of the Framework. It outlines short- and medium-term initiatives specific to the federal government and builds on existing programs and measures to address key priority areas. The Strategy will be updated regularly, based on the evolving needs and priorities of autistic people of all ages living in Canada.

    The Framework and Strategy were developed by the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group in collaboration with autistic people, their families, caregivers, provinces, territories, Indigenous organizations and other stakeholders. Implementation will require coordinated efforts from governments across Canada, as well as many partners, organizations and individuals whose work touches on autism initiatives. The Government of Canada will continue to work with provinces and territories to address the needs of autistic people in Canada.

    Finally, today we officially launched the process of creating a National Autism Network. This Network is intended to bring together the skills and resources of organizations and stakeholders in the field of autism, including people with lived experience, in order to support the implementation of activities guided by the Framework and the Strategy. We invite eligible organizations to respond to the call for applications linked to the Network by November 25, 2024.

    This sets out a vision to improve screening, diagnosis and services across Canada; strengthen economic inclusion; improve data collection, public health surveillance and research; increase public awareness, understanding and acceptance; and facilitate access to evidence-based autism resources and tools.

    “Through this Framework and Strategy, our government is taking concrete steps to break down the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in Canada. In the spirit of ‘Nothing Without Us,’ we are working with the autism community to create a strategy that meets the diverse needs of the community, which will better support and equip autistic persons, their families and caregivers.”

    The Honourable Kamal KheraMinister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities

    Autism (also known as autism spectrum disorder or ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that lasts throughout life. People with autism may communicate and connect with others differently, have differences in sensory processing, or focus intensely on certain interests or activities. People with autism may also have other physical, intellectual, learning, or mental health conditions that can create additional complexities and challenges.

    It is estimated that 1 in 50 children and youth aged 1 to 17 years have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in Canada. The Government of Canada is exploring options to measure and report on autism in adults living in Canada. This information will help build the evidence base needed to inform public health actions to improve the health and well-being of people with autism across the lifespan.

    Since 2018, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research has invested approximately $88 million in autism research. This research increases our understanding of autism and guides the development of innovative tools and more effective ways to support people on the autism spectrum and their families.

    Budget 2021 provided an investment of $15.4 million over two years for PHAC to work collaboratively with provinces, territories, families and stakeholders to create an autism strategy.

    In 2022, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences published aevaluation reporton autism in which she highlights gaps in knowledge about the needs and situation of autistic adults, particularly with regard to quality of life, daily activities, loneliness and mental health.

    The Framework is aligned with other disability-related activities, such as the Action Plan for the Inclusion of People with Disabilities (DIAP), which was presented on October 7, 2022. The DIAP is a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to disability inclusion that integrates disability considerations into government programs while identifying targeted investments in important areas to drive change.

    The National Autism Network will be a not-for-profit organization, working independently from the Government of Canada to share expertise, knowledge and resources, supporting key autism priorities and providing a forum for ongoing engagement on federal policies and programs. The Network will work directly with provinces and territories on specific provincial/territorial initiatives and will coordinate and integrate autism investments, while bringing together the knowledge and experience of local autism organizations and partners, as well as the perspectives of people with lived experience of autism. It will also lead targeted national public awareness campaigns and provide sustainable, accessible and culturally relevant resources (available online and elsewhere) to support autistic people in Canada, their families and caregivers.

    PHAC hosted two national autism conferences in November 2022 and August 2024. The first to bring together people from across Canada to identify potential short-, medium- and long-term priority actions for an autism strategy and the second to discuss the five priority areas of the Framework and the actions needed to advance them.

    There Act respecting a federal framework relating to autism spectrum disorder received Royal Assent on March 30, 2023. This Act sets out a commitment to the development of a federal framework to support autistic people in Canada, as well as their families and caregivers.

    Matthew KronbergPress SecretaryOffice of the Honourable Mark HollandMinister of Health343-552-5654

    Media RelationsHealth Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada613-957-2983media@hc-sc.gc.ca

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.

    MIL Translation OSI

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Scientists discover gene responsible for rare, inherited eye disease

    Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 2

    News Release

    Thursday, September 26, 2024

    NIH-supported findings pave the way for genetic testing, clinical trials, and therapy development.

    Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and their colleagues have identified a gene responsible for some inherited retinal diseases (IRDs), which are a group of disorders that damage the eye’s light-sensing retina and threatens vision. Though IRDs affect more than 2 million people worldwide, each individual disease is rare, complicating efforts to identify enough people to study and conduct clinical trials to develop treatment. The study’s findings published today in JAMA Ophthalmology.

    In a small study of six unrelated participants, researchers linked the gene UBAP1L to different forms of retinal dystrophies, with issues affecting the macula, the part of the eye used for central vision such as for reading (maculopathy), issues affecting the cone cells that enable color vision (cone dystrophy) or a disorder that also affects the rod cells that enable night vision (cone-rod dystrophy). The patients had symptoms of retinal dystrophy starting in early adulthood, progressing to severe vision loss by late adulthood.

    “The patients in this study showed symptoms and features similar to other IRDs, but the cause of their condition was uncertain,” said Bin Guan, Ph.D., chief of the Ophthalmic Genomics Laboratory at NIH’s National Eye Institute (NEI) and a senior author of the report. “Now that we’ve identified the causative gene, we can study how the gene defect causes disease and, hopefully, develop treatment.”

    Identifying the UBAP1L gene’s involvement adds to the list of more than 280 genes responsible for this heterogeneous disease.

    “These findings highlight the importance of providing genetic testing to our patients with retinal dystrophy, and the value of the clinic and lab working together to better understand retinal diseases,” said co-senior author on the paper, Laryssa A. Huryn, M.D., an ophthalmologist at the NEI, part of the National Institutes of Health.

    Genetic evaluation of the six patients revealed four variants in the UBAP1L gene, which encodes for a protein that is abundantly expressed in retina cells, including retinal pigment epithelium cells and photoreceptors. More research is needed to understand the UBAP1L gene’s exact function, but scientists were able to determine that the identified variants likely cause the gene to produce protein that lacks function.

    Future studies will also be informed by the fact that variants appear to be distinctive to geographic regions. Five of the six families in this study were from South or Southeastern Asia, or Polynesia, regions that have been underrepresented in genetic studies.

    The research was co-led by investigators at Moorfields Eye Hospital and University College London.

    The study was funded by the Intramural Research Program at the NEI, and by NEI grants R01EY022356 and R01EY020540. Researchers at the University of Liverpool (UK), and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tx also contributed to this report.

    This press release describes a basic research finding. Basic research increases our understanding of human behavior and biology, which is foundational to advancing new and better ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease. Science is an unpredictable and incremental process— each research advance builds on past discoveries, often in unexpected ways. Most clinical advances would not be possible without the knowledge of fundamental basic research. To learn more about basic research, visit https://www.nih.gov/news-events/basic-research-digital-media-kit.

    NEI leads the federal government’s research on the visual system and eye diseases. NEI supports basic and clinical science programs to develop sight-saving treatments and address special needs of people with vision loss. For more information, visit https://www.nei.nih.gov.

    About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

    NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

    Reference

    Ullah E, Lin S, Lu J, Bender C, Webster AR, Malka S, Madusudhan S, Rees E, Williams D, Agather AR, Cukras CA, Hufnagel RB, Chen R, Huryn LA, Arno G, Guan B. “Biallelic loss-of-function variants in UBAP1L and nonsyndromic retinal dystrophies,” September 26, 2024, JAMA Ophthalmology. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2024.3836

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Dingell, Mast Reintroduce Bipartisan Forage Fish Conservation Act to Protect Marine Ecosystem and Fishing Economy

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (12th District of Michigan)

    Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Brian Mast (R-FL) today introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen key protections for fisheries and promote responsible management of forage fish. The Forage Fish Conservation Act improves protections for forage fish – including herring and shad – that support marine ecosystems as well as other recreationally and commercially important species such as tuna, salmon, and cod. These populations have experienced substantial decline because of human activity, which threatens the viability of marine ecosystems as well as opportunities for recreational fisherman. Currently, there are few management measures in place to address this decline.

    “Safeguarding fish stocks from further decline is critical to protecting marine ecosystems and strengthening coastal economies,” said Dingell. “This legislation’s science-based conservation framework for forage fish will both help promote sustainable fisheries and preserve marine wildlife for the enjoyment of future generations.”

    “On the Treasure Coast we know firsthand how irresponsible management of our marine ecosystem devastating ripple effects on our environment can have, food supply, fishing industry and overall economy,” Mast said. “This is important and bipartisan sustainability legislation that will help protect our coastal health, environment and economy.”

    The bill is endorsed by the National Audubon Society and Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

    “Forage fish are essential for seabirds, larger fish, marine life, and our economy,” said Romaric Moncrieffe, marine conservation policy manager for the National Audubon Society. “This legislation builds on nearly 50 years of successful fisheries management to protect these small but important fish.”

    “The Forage Fish Conservation Act seeks to strengthen the Magnuson-Stevens Act by prioritizing the protection of forage fish, which are crucial for sustaining recreationally important fish populations, and ensuring that fisheries management supports vibrant fishing communities and a healthy marine ecosystem,” says Joel Pedersen, President and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “We thank Representative Dingell and Representative Mast for their commitment to bolstering our coastal economies and ecosystems.”

    The Forage Fish Conservation Act builds upon the successes of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary federal law governing marine fisheries management. To improve the conservation of forage fish and strengthen the marine ecosystem, the legislation:

    1. Requires the Secretary of Commerce to develop a science-based definition for forage fish in federal waters with advice from the fisheries councils;
    2. Assesses the impact a new commercial forage fish fishery could have on existing fisheries, fishing communities, and the marine ecosystem prior to the fishery being authorized;
    3. Account for predator needs in existing management plans for forage fish;
    4. Specifies that managers consider forage fish when establishing research priorities;
    5. Ensures scientific advice sought by fishery managers includes recommendations for forage fish;
    6. Conserves and manages river herring and shad in the ocean; and
    7. Preserves state management of forage fish fisheries that occur within their jurisdiction.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Team Maryland Looks to the Future of the Chesapeake Bay After Current Multi-State Agreements Expire in 2025

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Glenn Ivey – Maryland (4th District)

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, and Congressmen Steny Hoyer, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Kweisi Mfume, Jamie Raskin, and Glenn Ivey met Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol with senior representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of the Interior and Maryland Department of Natural Resources to discuss planning for the next stage of the Chesapeake Bay program and restoration efforts. This is a critical time for the Bay and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, which was signed in 2014. Many of the goals and outcomes for the Bay had a target of 2025. As this date approaches, the Chesapeake Bay Program is determining how best to meet these goals and outcomes, incorporate new science and strategies, and strengthen the multi-state partnership.

    At the meeting, members of the Maryland delegation heard from key federal agency and state leaders working towards the next stage of the agreement. Leading the discussion was Adam Ortiz, who serves as the Administrator for EPA Region 3, which governs the Mid-Atlantic Region. In this role Administrator Ortiz is deeply involved in EPA’s role in the Chesapeake Bay Program. The delegation also heard from Department of Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, Matt Strickler, who serves at the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Principal’s Staff Committee Chair. In 2022, the Chesapeake Executive Council tasked its Principal’s Staff Committee with making recommendations for the future of the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program’s work. Representing senior state leadership was Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz, who directs Maryland’s role in the multi-state partnership and has deep expertise in the stakeholder community.

    The planning effort marked a milestone this summer when the Chesapeake Bay Program Beyond 2025 Steering Committee released its Beyond 2025 Draft Report and invited public feedback.

      

    “Team Maryland will always fight for the Bay. The Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure, and its restoration is a model for regional, multi-jurisdictional landscape stewardship. It is a model for other regions and other environmental protection efforts at many scales – and it is not simple,” said Senator Cardin. “As the Chesapeake Bay program is recalibrated for the next phase of action, we are committed to securing additional federal resources. We have high expectations for future results.”

    “We have a responsibility to protect the Chesapeake Bay – our people, our economy, and our environment depend on it. That’s why we’ve fought to deliver major federal investments to improve the Bay’s health – and while we know they’re making a real difference, the watershed states have more work to do to reach our restoration goals. As we near the Bay Agreement’s 2025 benchmark, we must take stock of the challenges faced in meeting its goals and work together to drive further progress toward a healthier Chesapeake Bay,” said Senator Van Hollen.

    “I’ve been proud to work with our delegation to support the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries throughout my career – especially in the past decade since we secured the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement,” Congressman Hoyer said. “I was pleased our delegation could meet with our partners in federal and state government to discuss the progress we’ve made toward fulfilling the various goals we laid out in that agreement and to assess the important work that remains. The Chesapeake Bay is the beating heart of Maryland and a true national treasure, and we will continue working to preserve it for generations to come.”

    “Ten years ago, we set aggressive but necessary goals to restore and protect our treasured Chesapeake Bay, which has taken an all-hands-on-deck approach from every level of government,” Congressman Ruppersberger said. “As we approach our deadline, we must ensure we are leveraging new technologies and sciences and collaborating with our other watershed states as effectively as possible. I appreciated this opportunity to come together and discuss our long and short-term strategies, especially as my own time in office draws to a close.”

    “Today’s discussions provided an opportunity to reaffirm our collective vision for the future of the Chesapeake Bay. It is imperative that the next phase of watershed restoration is centered around achieving goals and outcomes that reflect the current, best available science to ensure the health of our communities, the vitality of our region and a sustainable future for Bay ecosystems and natural resources. We look forward to sustained collaboration with federal, state and local government partners as we continue to support Beyond 2025 planning,” said Congressman Sarbanes.

    “Marylanders across our state depend on a healthy Chesapeake Bay — the largest estuary in the United States — for food, recreation, and to make a living,” said Congressman Kweisi Mfume. “Continued collaboration at the federal, state, and local levels is vital to ensure this national treasure flourishes and effective restoration and conservation projects are enacted throughout the Bay and its ecosystem,” he concluded.

    “Team Maryland is united in our efforts to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay, a treasured natural resource and cornerstone of our local ecosystem,” said Congressman Raskin. “I’m grateful to our EPA and Maryland state government partners for their continued collaboration with the Maryland Congressional delegation to preserve the Bay for generations to come.”

    “Protecting the Chesapeake Bay is everyone’s responsibility.  We are grateful for our longtime Maryland advocates now on the federal and state level, Adam Ortiz, and Josh Kurtz, respectively.  Local, state, and federal partnerships can help keep our national treasure, the Chesapeake Bay, available for all to appreciate and partake in.  Crabbing, fishing, sailing and otherwise being active in and around its shores are activities we want to cherish well into the future and our actions today will make sure that our kids and grandkids can benefit from the Bay in their tomorrow’s,” said Congressman Ivey.

    EPA Region 3 Administrator, Adam Ortiz

    “The Moore-Miller administration thanks the Maryland congressional delegation for their continued strong leadership on the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. Their efforts have resulted in improvements in water quality and the health of the ecosystem,” said Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz. “It was an honor today to discuss our plans to focus our work post-2025 on rebuilding habitat, creating resiliency in the face of climate change, and charting a new future for the Chesapeake Bay.”

          

    The Chesapeake Executive Council consists of the governors of the six watershed states, the mayor of the District of Columbia, the chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It establishes the policy direction for the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay.

    The Principals Staff Committee (PSC) acts as the policy advisors to the Executive Council, accepting items for Council consideration and approval, and setting agendas for Council meetings. Individual members of the PSC arrange and provide briefings to their principals, the Agreement signatories. The PSC also provides policy and program direction to the Management Board.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Government of Canada launches Framework for Autism in Canada, Canada’s Autism Strategy, and National Autism Network call for applications

    Source: Government of Canada News

    The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the needs of all persons with disabilities in Canada, including people with neurodevelopmental conditions like autism, and those who care for them.

    September 26, 2024 | Ottawa, Ontario | Public Health Agency of Canada

    The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the needs of all persons with disabilities in Canada, including people with neurodevelopmental conditions like autism and those who care for them.

    The Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, tabled the Framework for Autism in Canada (Framework) in Parliament today. The Framework outlines principles and best practices to guide national autism policy, programs and activities in Canada. It leverages the Government of Canada’s leadership role to advance best practices that support Autistic people of all ages, their families and caregivers.

    The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) also launched Canada’s Autism Strategy (Strategy). The Strategy is a multi-year action plan that supports federal implementation of the Framework. It outlines federal-specific short- and medium-term initiatives and builds on existing programs and measures to address key priority areas. The Strategy is intended to be updated on a regular basis, as the needs and priorities of Autistic people of all ages living in Canada evolve over time.

    Through the Federal-Provincial-Territorial working group, these were developed collaboratively with Autistic people, their families, caregivers, provinces, territories, Indigenous organizations and other stakeholders. Implementation will require coordinated efforts across governments in Canada, as well as many partners, organizations, and individuals whose work touches on autism-related initiatives. The Government of Canada will continue to work with provinces and territories to advance the needs of Autistic people in Canada.

    Lastly, we officially launched the process for the creation of a National Autism Network today. The Network is intended to bring together the skills and resources of autism organizations and stakeholders, including people with living experience, to support the implementation of activities guided by the Framework and Strategy. We invite eligible organizations to respond to the call for applications for the Network by November 25, 2024.

    This sets out a vision to improve screening, diagnosis and services across Canada; strengthen economic inclusion; enhance data collection, public health surveillance and research; increase public awareness, understanding and acceptance; and facilitate access to evidence-informed autism resources and tools.

    • Autism (also known as autism spectrum disorder or ASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition. Autistic people may communicate and connect with other people differently, have sensory processing differences, or focus intensely on certain interests or activities. Autistic people may also have other physical, intellectual, learning, or mental health conditions which can introduce further complexities and challenges.  

    • It is estimated that 1 in 50 children and youth aged 1 to 17 years have been diagnosed with autism in Canada. The Government of Canada is exploring options to measure and report on autism in adults living in Canada. This information will build the evidence base required to inform public health actions aimed at improving the health and well-being of Autistic people across the life course.

    • Since 2018, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research have invested approximately $88 million in research on autism. This research is increasing our understanding of autism and guiding the development of innovative tools and more effective ways to support people on the autism spectrum and their families.

    • Budget 2021 provided PHAC with $15.4 million over two years to work collaboratively with provinces, territories, families and stakeholders toward the creation of an autism strategy. 

    • In 2022, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) published an assessment report on autism highlighting gaps in knowledge regarding the needs and outcomes of Autistic adults, including quality of life, activities of daily living, loneliness, and mental health. 

    • The Framework is aligned with other disability related activities, such as the Disability Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP), which was released on October 7, 2022. The DIAP is a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to disability inclusion, which embeds disability considerations across Government programs while identifying targeted investments in key areas to drive change. 

    • The National Autism Network will be a non-profit organization, working independently from the Government of Canada to share their skills, knowledge and resources, supporting key autism priorities and providing a forum for ongoing engagement on federal policies and programs. The Network will work directly with provinces and territories on specific initiatives at the provincial/territorial level and coordinate and integrate autism investments, while bringing together the knowledge and experience of local autism organizations, partners and the perspectives of those with living experience. It will also lead targeted national public awareness campaigns and provide sustained, accessible and culturally relevant resources (available online and elsewhere) to support Autistic people in Canada, their families and caregivers.

    • PHAC hosted two national conferences on autism in November 2022 and August 2024. The first, to bring together people from across Canada to identify potential short-, medium- and long-term priorities for action under an autism strategy and the second, to discuss the Framework’s five priority areas and the actions needed to advance them.

    • The Federal Framework on Autism Spectrum Disorder Act received Royal Assent on March 30, 2023. This legislation outlines a commitment for the development of a framework designed to support Autistic people in Canada, their families, and caregivers. 

    Matthew Kronberg
    Press Secretary
    Office of the Honourable Mark Holland
    Minister of Health
    343-552-5654

    Media Relations
    Health Canada and Public Health Agency of Canada
    613-957-2983
    media@hc-sc.gc.ca

    MIL OSI Canada News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Pioneer of Change: America Reyes Wang Makes NASA Space Biology More Open

    Source: NASA

    4 min read

    America Reyes Wang, the lead of the the Space Biology Biospecimen Sharing Program at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, stands beside a spacesuit display.
    Photo courtesy of America Reyes Wang

    As humans return to the Moon and push on toward Mars, scientists are ramping up research into the effects of space on the body to make sure astronauts stay healthy on longer missions. This research often involves spaceflight studies of rodents, insects, and other models in orbiting laboratories such as the International Space Station. However, space-related biological samples are difficult to get, meaning that researchers who want to study space biology are frequently out of luck.

    America Reyes Wang, a KBR employee and the lead of the Space Biology Biospecimen Sharing Program at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, oversees the team that has changed that. Birthed from an initiative first pioneered in the 1960s, the Biospecimen Sharing Program collects samples and data from NASA non-human space biology studies and makes them available in the public, open NASA Open Science Data Repository (OSDR). 

    To derive the most benefit from the precious few biology studies taking place in space, Reyes Wang arranges collaborations on space biology dissections with NASA-funded researchers so that her team can collect and preserve unutilized biospecimens for others to use. Outside researchers can request the samples to study in person by writing and submitting proposals. Once analyzed, researchers share their data back with the NASA OSDR for other investigators to access and study.

    The ethos of open science is central to Reyes Wang’s approach to her work. “The samples that we work with are so precious,” she said. “To me, it’s a no-brainer — why not share what we can share?”

    America Reyes Wang wears personal protective equipment (PPE) while working on an activity for NASA’s Biospecimen Sharing Program.
    Photo courtesy of America Reyes Wang

    Reyes Wang aspired to work in the scientific or medical field from a young age, driven by her desire to help people. Her father, who was born in El Salvador and dreamed of being an astronaut after watching the 1969 Moon landing, inspired Reyes Wang to fall in love with space. She also credited her Salvadoran and Mexican family with teaching her the value of understanding different experiences. 

    “To me, being Hispanic, especially as a Latina in STEM, means recognizing and building upon the hard work and sacrifices of those who came before me, as well as extending a helping hand to those around me for the betterment of us all,” Reyes Wang said. “It also means enjoying and sharing our vibrant cultures.” 

    As a student at Stanford University, Reyes Wang conducted neurobiology research with rodents, but assumed she would have to choose her love of biology over her love of space. The field of space biology allowed her to combine those interests. Having quietly dreamed of working for NASA for years, she was also thrilled to find that she could work on NASA missions as a space biologist.

    If we want to keep up with the pace of humanity’s aspirations to travel further and for longer … open science is one of the best tools we have for achieving those dreams.

    America Reyes Wang
    Biospecimen Sharing Program Lead

    Reyes Wang first found a role supporting NASA as an experiment support scientist for the agency’s Rodent Research Program. While she no longer facilitates research on the International Space Station in her current position, she uses her scientific expertise and collaborative outlook to guide the Biospecimen Sharing Program in a direction that will most help advance science. 

    Despite space biology’s status as a relatively niche field, Reyes Wang has noted its tremendous impact on the biological sciences, medicine, and technology as a whole. For example, spaceflown biological samples are often used to investigate diseases that affect people on Earth. Reyes Wang’s involvement in accelerating these studies captures her long-held desire to help people.

    “Open science gives the world an opportunity to get these important answers much more quickly,” Reyes Wang said. “If we want to keep up with the pace of humanity’s aspirations to travel further and for longer, we need to pick up the pace when it comes to getting the answers, and I think open science is one of the best tools we have for achieving those dreams.”

    By Lauren Leese Web Content Strategist for the Office of the Chief Science Data Officer

    MIL OSI USA News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Ukraine war: Zelensky’s pleas for help are getting drowned out in the clamour from the Middle East

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham

    While Russia continues its nuclear sabre rattling, with renewed threats to use its arsenal if attacked, fighting on the frontlines in Ukraine and in Russia’s Kursk region remains intense. But the diplomatic centre of gravity of the war recently shifted to New York and Washington.

    Discussions at the UN and meetings scheduled between the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the US president Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris are by no means unimportant for the outcomes of the conflict. But it is unlikely that they will constitute the pivotal moment in accelerating the pace towards a Ukrainian victory that Zelensky might envisage.

    At meetings at the UN general assembly and security council, Zelensky appealed to world leaders to support his country and force Russia to make peace with Ukraine. His vision to achieve this is via a second global peace summit. This time he wants Russia to participate after the first effort in Switzerland in June achieved very little.



    Read more:
    Ukraine summit fails to provide a path to peace for Kyiv and its allies

    But with Zelensky continuing to push his ten-point peace plan and Putin insisting on Ukraine recognising Russia’s annexation of Crimea and four regions on the mainland, the two sides are as far apart as ever. So prospects of any meaningful negotiations virtually non-existent.

    This has not deterred Zelensky from promoting to Ukraine’s allies what he is calling his “victory plan”.

    The plan “envisages quick and concrete steps by our strategic partners … from now until the end of December”. These concrete steps are likely to include more western military support and the permission to use longer-range western weapons against targets deeper inside Russia.

    This latter point is something on which the western alliance is divided – and the US sceptical on its strategic value. Putin’s insistence that Russia will respond by using its nuclear arsenal if it detects any western missiles crossing its border will have added to this uncertainty.

    Even if more decisive western support were suddenly forthcoming, it is unlikely that it would offset other disadvantages that Ukraine and its allies are facing on the battlefield and beyond. Russia has consolidated its alliances with Iran, North Korea and China. All of these countries have supplied mission-critical ammunition and equipment that has enabled the Kremlin to sustain its war effort in Ukraine.

    Russia, so far, has also maintained its advantage in numbers. It appears to be determined to push this even harder following Putin’s order to increase the number of combat troops of the Russian army by another 180,000 soldiers.

    Meanwhile, a relentless Russian air campaign against Ukrainian infrastructure has also caused lasting damage, especially to the country’s energy supply network. This is likely to have a particularly adverse effect on Ukraine’s civilian population. It is likely to seriously dent morale during the coming winter.

    Other plans (and priorities)

    As discussions at the UN this week have underlined, there is also some diplomatic momentum building up behind a joint proposal by Brazil and China that was initially launched in May. Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, pushed the plan during his speech at the UN general assembly on September 24, as did China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi.

    Like previous proposals from China and Brazil individually, as well as from Indonesia, a group of African states and Saudi Arabia, the joint Brazilian-Chinese plan calls for a ceasefire along the current frontlines. Negotiations would then follow.

    Ukraine fears, rightly, that this would entrench the status quo and effectively amount to Kyiv giving up territory illegally annexed by Russia. It would not guarantee any fruitful negotiations but give Russia time and space to regroup and rebuild its armed forces for a likely future escalation. None of this is acceptable to Ukraine and its allies as Zelensky made clear in his speech at the UN.

    Volodymr Zelensky criticises the Brazil-China plan at the UN general assembly.

    China’s previous effort to promote this joint initiative with Brazil just before the peace summit in Switzerland last June, did not go very far. It may not go much further this time either.

    But attention and resources are now much more focused on the Middle East and – to a lesser extent – the civil war in Sudan. So the very fact of this plan’s resurrection may be enough for Russia and its allies to prevent the rest of the world from uniting behind the western-backed Ukrainian proposal for a second global peace summit.

    This is clearly a concern for Ukraine. Zelensky, with a clear eye on countries in the global south, not only rejected the proposal but also argued that forcing Ukraine to make territorial concessions to Russia would be akin to reimposing a version of the brutal colonial past of the Soviet era on his country.

    Will Zelensky be Trumped in November?

    While the stars are thus hardly aligning in Ukraine’s favour at the UN in New York, things did not go much better as far as US domestic politics is concerned ahead of presidential elections in November. Questioning whether Donald Trump really has a credible plan to end the war, Zelensky triggered the notoriously short-fused Republican contender into lashing out at him at campaign rallies.

    Donald Trump takes aim at Volodymr Zelensky.

    Trump is both accusing Zelensky of refusing to make a deal and expressing doubts about Ukraine’s ability to win the war. Meanwhile, a recent opinion piece penned by Robert F. Kennedy Jnr and Donald Trump Jnr for The Hill, an influential political newspaper, urges that Ukraine be pushed to make a deal with Russia to prevent nuclear escalation.

    And Trump’s running-mate J.D. Vance has made clear his opposition to the US continuing to supply aid to Ukraine if elected in November. So it’s pretty clear that there is a very real prospect that Washington may soon cease to be Kyiv’s most important global ally.

    All of this explains the urgency behind Zelensky’s push for more and more decisive western support in the coming months, and his pleas to the wider international community to back efforts for a just peace for Ukraine. But it also indicates that Russia and its allies have, for now, done enough to further frustrate any progress towards a Ukrainian victory both on the battlefield and at the negotiation table.

    Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU’s Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.

    – ref. Ukraine war: Zelensky’s pleas for help are getting drowned out in the clamour from the Middle East – https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-zelenskys-pleas-for-help-are-getting-drowned-out-in-the-clamour-from-the-middle-east-239752

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: How history can teach us to prevent deaths at sea

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Guy Collender, Post Doctoral Senior Research Associate, Centre for Port Cities and Maritime Cultures, University of Portsmouth

    AndriiKoval/Shutterstock

    The rapid sinking of the Bayesian superyacht and the loss of seven lives, including tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, in August 2024 cruelly emphasised the potentially lethal perils of the sea. This tragedy, although much publicised, is far from unusual. Globally, accidents at sea lead to thousands of deaths every year – but the true scale of the problem is unknown.

    Undoubtedly, life at sea remains hard and dangerous in the 21st century, but this is difficult to quantify. There were 215 shipping industry related deaths at sea recorded in 2022. However, due to a lack of standardised data and under-reporting this figure is likely to be an underestimate.

    Efforts to raise awareness and improve safety at sea today have much to learn from historic and successful safety initiatives in the UK’s docks. My research on early 20th century docks shows that proper data is a prerequisite to understanding a problem and identifying trends. Such an assessment can then lead to the allocation of resources, targeted safety measures – and life-saving change.

    These steps all apply to improving safety at sea, but the lack of accurate data is a real stumbling block.

    Life and death at sea

    Fishing is widely recognised as the “most dangerous occupation globally”, but estimates of deaths among the fishing community vary enormously from 32,000 to more than 100,000 deaths per year. Of course, such deaths also occur inland in lakes and rivers, as well as at sea.

    Twenty-six vessels of over 100 gross tonnes were recorded lost in 2023, with 13 sinking beneath the waves. This is low when compared with the loss of more than 200 vessels a year in the 1990s, but there have also been recent worrying trends such as attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. So far in 2024, four Red Sea seafarers have been killed by Houthi rebels from Yemem, with others injured and held hostage.

    Desperation and war are also leading to deaths and risks elsewhere. A total of 3,155 migrants crossing the Mediterranean were recorded as missing or dead in 2023.

    Nevertheless, such challenges and risks to life are increasingly being recognised and efforts are underway to address them. Importantly, better data collection and monitoring is in the pipeline.

    An amendment to the 2006 international maritime labour convention is expected to come into force in December 2024. It will require countries that have agreed to the convention to report deaths of seafarers on an annual basis to the UN’s International Labour Office.

    These will be published in a global register, and they will be investigated. It remains to be seen how such reporting will operate in practice and how deaths will be categorised – but it will be a good start.

    History lessons

    This is where it is helpful to learn from the past. I have researched the historic reduction of the dangers of dock work in the UK for Hindsight Perspectives for a Safer World – a collaboration between History and Policy and Lloyd’s Register Foundation.

    My study shows how progress was linked to gathering better data, and recognising the risks of loading and unloading cargo. The counting and scrupulous categorisation of accidents helped identify the problems and appropriate safety measures.

    In 1900, factory inspectors identified five causes of dock accidents, including falls (into the ship’s hold, or into the water), and shunting accidents involving trains. The docks were classified as one of the “dangerous trades” in the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901.

    Under the dock regulations of 1904, “life-saving appliances” – chains or floats – were introduced to prevent drownings. Lifting machinery was also subject to stringent checks to prevent deaths from falling loads.

    And more and more proactive inspections took place as the number of inspectors rose from 137 in 1900 to 320 by 1939. All these safety measures and others contributed to dock deaths falling from 115 a year in 1899 to 69 a year in 1939.

    Today’s safety initiatives at sea often echo the work of those safety pioneers in the early 20th century. Together in Safety, a consortium of companies dedicated to improving safety in the maritime sector, suggests a three-step safety process – assess the situation, act to improve, appraise the progress – which replicates the work of those early legislators and inspectors.

    Together in Safety’s clear and succinct golden safety rules show how to mitigate the risks of maritime work, including working over water and entering enclosed spaces.

    What’s more, Lloyd’s Register Foundation – a charity that helps to protect life and property at sea, on land, and in the air – is undertaking work to “assure the safety of people as the ocean economy grows” as part of its Global Maritime Trends 2050 Research Programme.

    Two million seafarers face daily dangers to keep the global supply chain operating smoothly. Doing more to highlight their safety will hopefully lead to a better understanding of the challenges they face. This, in turn, should lead to better safety procedures and practices to save lives at sea.

    Guy Collender was commissioned and paid to research the history of dock safety in the UK for Hindsight Perspectives for a Safer World – a collaboration between History and Policy and Lloyd’s Register Foundation. He is currently employed by the University of Portsmouth on the ‘Sail to Steam, Carbon to Green’ research project, which is funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation.

    – ref. How history can teach us to prevent deaths at sea – https://theconversation.com/how-history-can-teach-us-to-prevent-deaths-at-sea-237432

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Middle East and North Africa Programme: Drawing Together All Area-Related Initiatives

    Source: Universities – Science Po in English

    Sciences Po’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) programme centralises initiatives relating to the study and research on this region. On 26 September, a one-day launching event was organised on the topic of the wars in the Middle East and their repercussions on the MENA societies.

    As an interdisciplinary and cross-cutting structure, the main mission of the MENA programme is to promote, coordinate, and enhance the institution’s activities relating to the Middle East and North Africa. By strengthening academic, scientific and cultural collaborations with partner universities, the programme supports student work at all levels (bachelor, master, doctorate), while creating a unique space for dialogue between researchers, artists and civil society members, thereby fostering an enriched understanding of the region.

    Interview with the programme’s two co-directors: Léa Albrieux, in charge of the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, the Gulf, and Pakistan at the International Affairs Office, and Bayram Balci, researcher at the Center for International Studies (CERI).

    Can you tell us about your background and your interest in the Middle East and North Africa area?

    We both studied the Middle East and North Africa as part of our studies and spent many years there. Our interest also stems from the fact that this region, its conflicts, but also its culture – including its cuisine – are present in our daily lives in France and even in Europe. So the desire to understand this region, whose conflicts have repercussions that go far beyond its borders, played a central role in our decision to focus on it. This area also forms a bridge between several continents, which makes it all the more interesting to explore collaborations with Sciences Po’s other regional programmes, covering Africa and South Asia. 

    What are the major contemporary challenges facing the region, and how does the new programme intend to tackle them?

    The main challenge is to find a way back towards peace, stability, and democracy, which go hand in hand. As the cradle of three great religions, but also of several great cultures and civilisations, the region has been constantly confronted, since its emergence from colonial domination, with conflicts of varying intensity. Those security and political challenges regularly call into question the progress that has been made. Our programme is humble; it does not claim to resolve the tensions in the region concerned. Contributing to analyse and understand them, through research and teaching, would be our first step. 

    Can you explain your vision and ambitions as co-directors of the programme?

     This structure gathers the diverse people who study and work on the region within Sciences Po’s departments, research centres, campuses, as well as its undergraduate and graduate schools. Its mission is to support and highlight all the institution’s scientific and educational activities and partnerships relating to the MENA area. To this end, we plan to develop a variety of activities combining teaching, research, and partnerships, as well as actions relating to the arts and culture of this region. 

    What topics will be highlighted at the launch event on 26 September?

    Although the aim of our programme is not to comment on every event that shakes the region, the event on 26 September will be devoted essentially to the attack of 7 October 2023 and its effects on Middle Eastern societies. The unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel plunged the Middle East into a new phase of war. While this renewed violence is having profound effects on the regional balance, it is also having major consequences for local societies, in Israel and Palestine, but also in neighbouring countries. This conference will shed a light on this internal and local dimension of the ongoing conflict.

    Sciences Po & MENA

    Sciences Po has particularly strong ties to the vast region stretching from North Africa to Iran. This is reflected in its 35 institutional partnerships across 12 countries, and in a rich research output: with around 20 researchers as well as 20 PhD students and postdocs specialising in the area, Sciences Po is one of the leading European universities for Middle Eastern and North African Studies. The region is also present in academic programmes, for example through the Mediterranean-Middle East minor on the Menton undergraduate campus.

    If 16 nationalities in the MENA region are represented within our student body, Sciences Po hosts about 700 students from the region every year. Meanwhile, about 120 Sciences Po students study abroad and 120 are on an internship in the region every year. At the end of their studies, 5% of our recent graduates employed abroad work in the area.

    Cover image caption: Doha, Qatar, mars 2019. (credits: Jaanus Jagomägi / Unsplash)

    MIL OSI Europe News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: New Application Informs Users About Reprocessed Landsat Products

    Source: US Geological Survey

    Apart from planned large-scale reprocessing events (i.e., entire dataset reprocessing), only a small percentage of Landsat products are reprocessed. Satellite, sensor, or processing systems can all experience disconnects or anomalies that can cause issues during Landsat product generation – these can include instances where data storage or distribution systems experience unexpected outages that disrupt the flow of data during processing and causes data corruption. Additionally, some products received in support of the Landsat Global Archive Consolidation (LGAC) effort replace products already in the Landsat archive. 

    A screenshot of the Landsat Reprocessing Application.

    The Landsat Reprocessing Events application allows users to query and view a list of Landsat products that have been removed, along with products that have been reprocessed and added back into the inventory. 

    The application contains records for Landsat Level-1, U.S. Analysis Ready Data (ARD), Level-2 and Level-3 science products from October 1, 2023, to present and is updated monthly. 

    Individual search results can be downloaded, and a spreadsheet containing all records can be downloaded for further investigation.

    Data users are encouraged to review the Landsat Reprocessing Events webpage to learn more about the contents of the search application. USGS EROS User Services staff are available to answer questions and help you understand your search results of the application. 

    Return to all Landsat Headlines

    Related Content

    MIL OSI USA News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA’s Hubble Finds that a Black Hole Beam Promotes Stellar Eruptions

    Source: NASA

    6 min read

    Download this image

    In a surprise finding, astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the blowtorch-like jet from a supermassive black hole at the core of a huge galaxy seems to cause stars to erupt along its trajectory. The stars, called novae, are not caught inside the jet, but apparently in a dangerous neighborhood nearby.

    The finding is confounding researchers searching for an explanation. “We don’t know what’s going on, but it’s just a very exciting finding,” said lead author Alec Lessing of Stanford University. “This means there’s something missing from our understanding of how black hole jets interact with their surroundings.”

    A nova erupts in a double-star system where an aging, swelled-up, normal star spills hydrogen onto a burned-out white dwarf companion star. When the dwarf has tanked up a mile-deep surface layer of hydrogen that layer explodes like a giant nuclear bomb. The white dwarf isn’t destroyed by the nova eruption, which ejects its surface layer and then goes back to siphoning fuel from its companion, and the nova-outburst cycle starts over again.

    Hubble found twice as many novae going off near the jet as elsewhere in the giant galaxy during the surveyed time period. The jet is launched by a 6.5-billion-solar-mass central black hole surrounded by a disk of swirling matter. The black hole, engorged with infalling matter, launches a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma blazing through space at nearly the speed of light. Anything caught in the energetic beam would be sizzled. But being near its blistering outflow is apparently also risky, according to the new Hubble findings.
    Download this image

    The finding of twice as many novae near the jet implies that there are twice as many nova-forming double-star systems near the jet or that these systems erupt twice as often as similar systems elsewhere in the galaxy.

    “There’s something that the jet is doing to the star systems that wander into the surrounding neighborhood. Maybe the jet somehow snowplows hydrogen fuel onto the white dwarfs, causing them to erupt more frequently,” said Lessing. “But it’s not clear that it’s a physical pushing. It could be the effect of the pressure of the light emanating from the jet. When you deliver hydrogen faster, you get eruptions faster. Something might be doubling the mass transfer rate onto the white dwarfs near the jet.” Another idea the researchers considered is that the jet is heating the dwarf’s companion star, causing it to overflow further and dump more hydrogen onto the dwarf. However, the researchers calculated that this heating is not nearly large enough to have this effect.

    “We’re not the first people who’ve said that it looks like there’s more activity going on around the M87 jet,” said co-investigator Michael Shara of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. “But Hubble has shown this enhanced activity with far more examples and statistical significance than we ever had before.”

    Shortly after Hubble’s launch in 1990, astronomers used its first-generation Faint Object Camera (FOC) to peer into the center of M87 where the monster black hole lurks. They noted that unusual things were happening around the black hole. Almost every time Hubble looked, astronomers saw bluish “transient events” that could be evidence for novae popping off like camera flashes from nearby paparazzi. But the FOC’s view was so narrow that Hubble astronomers couldn’t look away from the jet to compare with the near-jet region. For over two decades, the results remained mysteriously tantalizing.

    Compelling evidence for the jet’s influence on the stars of the host galaxy was collected over a nine-month interval of Hubble observing with newer, wider-view cameras to count the erupting novae. This was a challenge for the telescope’s observing schedule because it required revisiting M87 precisely every five days for another snapshot. Adding up all of the M87 images led to the deepest images of M87 that have ever been taken.

    [embedded content]

    In a surprise finding, astronomers, using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the jet from a supermassive black hole at the core of M87, a huge galaxy 54 million light years away, seems to cause stars to erupt along its trajectory.NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; Lead Producer: Paul Morris

    Hubble found 94 novae in the one-third of M87 that its camera can encompass. “The jet was not the only thing that we were looking at — we were looking at the entire inner galaxy. Once you plotted all known novae on top of M87 you didn’t need statistics to convince yourself that there is an excess of novae along the jet. This is not rocket science. We made the discovery simply by looking at the images. And while we were really surprised, our statistical analyses of the data confirmed what we clearly saw,” said Shara.

    This accomplishment is entirely due to Hubble’s unique capabilities. Ground-based telescope images do not have the clarity to see novae deep inside M87. They cannot resolve stars or stellar eruptions close to the galaxy’s core because the black hole’s surroundings are far too bright. Only Hubble can detect novae against the bright M87 background.

    Novae are remarkably common in the universe. One nova erupts somewhere in M87 every day. But since there are at least 100 billion galaxies throughout the visible universe, around 1 million novae erupt every second somewhere out there.

    The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, Colorado, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.

    Hubble’s Messier Catalog: M87

    Hubble Black Holes

    Monster Black Holes are Everywhere

    Media Contact:

    Claire AndreoliNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MDclaire.andreoli@nasa.gov

    Ray VillardSpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD

    Science Contact:

    Alec LessingStanford University, Stanford, CA

    Michael SharaAmerican Museum of Natural History, New York, NY

    MIL OSI USA News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Long ago, but not so different

    Source: US Government research organizations

    In a new study, a team of U.S. National Science Foundation-supported researchers suggests that 4 billion years ago, plate tectonics likely looked closer to what we experience today than previously thought. The team published its findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

    The team studied the mineral zircon from two of the oldest pieces of intact crust — dating 4.0 to 2.7 billion years old — and discovered that ancient plate tectonics, or how the continents move around and interact with each other, was likely just as diverse as it is today.

    “Plate tectonics makes our planet uniquely dynamic on a solar system scale,” said Emily Mixon, the study’s lead author and a researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “It has been hypothesized that because plate tectonics is important for moving carbon and water around on long time scales, it might be important for how life evolved on Earth.”

    Credit: Emily E. Mixon

    A cathodoluminescence (CL) image of growth zoning in a 3.75 Ga zircon from the Acasta Gneiss Complex (NW Territories, Canada).

    Moving continents are destructive — crustal rocks are destroyed and recycled. To reveal the ancient processes behind tectonics, the researchers studied zircons, which are physically durable and resistant to chemical alterations.

    More specifically, they studied zircons in the 3.9 – 2.7-billion-year-old Saglek-Hebron Complex and 4.0 – 3.4-billion-year-old Acasta Gneiss Complex and found that instead of a linear progression of tectonic styles, from volcanic lavas and magmas pushing down crust into the mantle followed by plates colliding into each other and pushing oceanic crust down to the mantel, many different styles coexisted, just as they do today.

    “Understanding how tectonics worked early in Earth history is key for identifying when and how we got the styles of modern tectonics we see today, and how these styles might be expected to look early in planetary development for other possibly habitable planets,” Mixon said.  

    MIL OSI USA News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA’s Artemis Science Instrument Gets Tested in Moon-Like Sandbox

    Source: NASA

    On Sept. 9 and 10, scientists and engineers tested NASA’s LEMS (Lunar Environment Monitoring Station) instrument suite in a “sandbox” of simulated Moon regolith at the Florida Space Institute’s Exolith Lab at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

    Lunar regolith is a dusty, soil-like material that coats the Moon’s surface, and researchers wanted to observe how the material would interact with LEMS’s hardware, which is being developed to fly to the Moon with Artemis III astronauts in late 2026.

    Designed and built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, LEMS is one of three science payloads chosen for development for Artemis III, which will be the first mission to land astronauts on the lunar surface since 1972.

    The LEMS instrument package can operate both day and night. It will carry two University of Arizona-built seismometers to the surface to perform long-term monitoring for moonquakes and meteorite impacts.

    Image credits: NASA/UCF/University of Arizona
    Behind the Scenes of a NASA ‘Moonwalk’ in the Arizona Desert

    NASA’s Artemis II Crew Uses Iceland Terrain for Lunar Training

    MIL OSI USA News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: GUU introduced schoolchildren to the RosGeoTech PISh

    MIL OSI Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –

    The State University of Management held a business game “IT – hands and eyes of the engineer of the future” for schoolchildren of grades 10-11 as part of the Advanced Engineering Schools “RosGeoTech” project of GGNTU.

    The meeting was opened by the Head of the Department for Coordination of Scientific Research of the State University of Management, Maxim Pletnev, who introduced the guests to the activities of the RosGeoTech Scientific Research School, which covers such areas as alternative energy, power engineering, oil and gas, autonomous unmanned and robotic innovative systems.

    The head of the RosGeoTech PISh, Andrey Luzhetsky, also addressed the participants with a welcoming speech.

    As part of the business game, schoolchildren learned the basics of programming, computer science concepts, digital technologies, software, operating systems, and much more. The children also tried their hand at testing and system analysis.

    Such events help participants to make an informed choice of specialization and technologies in the future, as well as improve their skills in the chosen direction.

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 09/26/2024

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

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    GUU introduced schoolchildren to the RosGeoTech PISh

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and or sentence structure not be perfect.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Europe: 2024 National Cybersecurity Conference: focus on geopolitics and operational security

    Source: Switzerland – Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport

    National Cyber Security Centre

    Bern, 26.09.2024 – Cyberthreats play an important role in today’s tense geopolitical climate, but they have long been an everyday risk for businesses and governments. The National Cybersecurity Conference held today highlighted how a comprehensive approach can be taken to tackle cyberthreats. In her opening remarks, President Viola Amherd stated that the foundations for cybersecurity are now in place so that emphasis can now be placed on setting strategic priorities. The conference, organised by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Swiss Security Network (SSN), was attended by over 280 participants from business, science, and cantonal and federal offices.

    In an increasingly networked and digital world, the lines between national security and everyday operational security become blurred. Cyberattacks are criminal offences that must be countered through a combination of protective measures and law enforcement. At the same time, the significance of such attacks often extends beyond that of a criminal act, as cyberattacks are deliberately employed as a strategic instrument in conflicts.

    For this reason, the National Cyberstrategy (NCS) covers the entire spectrum of cyberthreats and their effects. It aims to strengthen protection against cyberthreats in Switzerland and promote cooperation between government institutions, the private sector and civil society. This strategy and its challenges were discussed at the 2024 National Cybersecurity Conference. The event was jointly organised by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Swiss Security Network (SSN) in Bern and was attended by leading experts from various areas of cybersecurity.

    Conference opened by President Amherd

    The conference was opened by President Amherd. In her speech, she emphasised that having a national cyberstrategy was a key element of national security policy and that it served as an opportunity to enhance Switzerland’s appeal as a location for business and research. With the National Cyberstrategy and the new structures put in place at the DDPS to address cyber-related matters, a solid foundation has been laid allowing greater attention to now be directed towards setting strategic priorities in cybersecurity. The independent steering committee established in June this year ensures that strategic responses to emerging threats are developed in a timely manner. The reporting requirement for critical infrastructures adopted by Parliament will also make it possible to better assess the threat situation and warn operators at an early stage.

    Talks with cybersecurity experts

    Maya Bundt, Chair of the newly formed NCS steering committee, presented the role and work of her committee. The coordination team then provided a progress report on the implementation of the National Cyberstrategy. The presentations were followed by a lively panel discussion with Pälvi Pulli, Deputy State Secretary for Security Policy, Hannes Gasser, Member of the Board of CH++, and Michel Bonsera of Cargologic AG. The discussion highlighted the importance of addressing cyberthreats both in day-to-day operations and at the security policy level.

    Practical tools and solutions

    In addition to high-level discussions, the 2024 National Cybersecurity Conference provided an insight into the work of the NCSC. Workshops on incident management, vulnerability management, reporting centres and awareness campaigns presented practical tools and solutions to help organisations become more resilient to cyberthreats. The workshops were designed to be interactive, giving participants the opportunity to share their experiences and challenges, and provide feedback on existing tools.

    Importance of cybersecurity training for governments

    Jen Ellis, founder of NextJenSecurity from the UK, closed the conference with a keynote speech. She spoke about the importance of training governments in cybersecurity and emphasised the need for continuous collaboration between external experts, researchers and government institutions to address the ever-changing threats in the digital space.

    The conference served as an important platform for exchanging ideas and strategies, and underlined Switzerland’s commitment to further strengthen its cybersecurity.

    Address for enquiries

    NCSC Communication
    +41 58 465 53 56
    media@ncsc.admin.ch

    Publisher

    National Cyber Security Centre
    https://www.ncsc.admin.ch/ncsc/en/home.html

    MIL OSI Europe News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The VIII season of the All-Russian student Olympiad “I am a professional” has started

    MIL OSI Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –

    A press conference dedicated to the opening of the 8th season of the All-Russian Student Olympiad “I am a Professional” – a project of the presidential platform “Russia – a Country of Opportunities” – was held in Moscow. The All-Russian Olympiad is implemented with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. This is a large-scale career development platform for students of all fields of study: technical, humanitarian, natural science, pedagogical, agricultural and medical.

    In the new season, the Olympiad will traditionally provide young people with a wide range of educational and professional opportunities, and will become a career assistant for each participant. The main theme of the season is “Work and study in Russia”.

    The “I am a professional” ecosystem is constantly developing and growing: this year the Olympiad was included in the events of the national project “Youth and Children”, which is aimed at promoting the comprehensive development of the younger generation. “I am a professional” is a kind of challenge, an opportunity to move to a new level. Every year, hundreds of thousands of students join the Olympiad, and for many, participation becomes a good tradition – an educational norm: from year to year, young people complete practice-oriented tasks, improve their results and reach new heights regardless of their social status and region of residence, – said Olga Petrova, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

    In the new season, it is planned to expand access to the career portal – a platform where each participant can find a vacancy in the profile of interest – the opportunity to respond will also be available to Olympiad participants who have successfully passed the selection stage. Previously, this function was provided only for project diploma winners and participants in the final stage who showed a non-zero result.

    Executive Director of ANO “Russia – Country of Opportunities”, Rector of the Senezh Management Workshop Andrey Betin spoke about the new system of working with diplomas from previous seasons. Points will be counted automatically when summing up the results of the selection stage, participants will only need to select the necessary areas during registration and mark the item with the crediting of diplomas among the options.

    In Russia, the need for professionals is enormous — all industries need fresh ideas and people who can implement them. Today is the best time to study and work in Russia, because it is here that the best opportunities open up, the most interesting professional challenges, and therefore career prospects. “I am a professional” has been helping talented students and their potential employers “find each other” for seven seasons already. The largest and most technologically advanced companies in our country are looking for ambitious interns. This is not just an Olympiad, it is a community where you will be supported, where your potential is revealed and where you grow both as an individual and as a highly competent specialist, — shared Andrey Betin.

    Every year, the Olympiad grows with new areas, taking into account the needs of students and the prospects of the labor market. In the upcoming season, the project will cover 71 subject areas, and new disciplines such as “Project Management” and “Digital Product Management and Innovation” will be presented.

    Today we are opening the 8th season of the Olympiad, a key career navigator that ensures interaction between employers, the academic community and young people. The best companies in Russia are showing great interest in our participants, seeking to fill their teams with promising personnel even before they graduate from universities and enter the labor market. The Russian education system, science and industry are aimed at achieving leadership, and the new national projects initiated by the country’s president provide an opportunity for the realization of the potential of each active student, and the Olympiad participants are direct proof of this, – shared the head of the All-Russian Student Olympiad “I am a Professional” Valeria Kasamara.

    During the press conference, an agreement was signed between the All-Russian Student Olympiad “I am a Professional” and the “Mendeleev Map” project.

    Two large-scale projects for students are starting to work together to pave new paths for the development of our country’s youth and to accumulate efforts for the common good. “I am a professional” makes a significant contribution to the popularization of science among young people. I am sure that the capabilities of the “Mendeleev Map” will help students in their profession, in preparation for Olympiad assignments, and in self-development, – believes the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Science and Higher Education, curator of the “Mendeleev Map” project Alexander Mazhuga.

    Participation in the Olympiad is a great opportunity to test your knowledge and skills, make new acquaintances, and decide on a career direction. Such competitions develop critical thinking, creativity, and the ability to work in a team. St. Petersburg Polytechnic University traditionally organizes several areas in the “I am a professional” Olympiad. Last season, our university entered the TOP-3 universities in St. Petersburg in terms of the number of diploma winners. I wish good luck to all participants of the new season! Let me remind you that the winners of the Olympiad receive additional points when entering a master’s and postgraduate program, – noted Vitaly Drobchik, Advisor to the Rector’s Office of SPbPU, organizer of the Olympiad at the Polytechnic University.

    The Olympiad provides a wide range of career support opportunities: project diploma holders can take advantage of benefits when entering the next level of education, get the opportunity to do an internship and start their professional career with leading employers in Russia. Cash prizes of up to 300 thousand rubles are provided for medalists.

    The qualifying round of the Olympiad will be held from November 15 to December 1. The final stage of the competition will be held from February to April 2025. The results of the Olympiad will be announced in May 2025.

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

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    https://vvv.spbstu.ru/media/nevs/education/the-vii-season-of-the-All-Russian-Olympiad-students-I-am-professional has started/

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and or sentence structure not be perfect.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Scientific Regiment. Volunteer Mikhail Laletin: “After the Front – to a University, and Then, Possibly, to an Officer”

    MIL OSI Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering –

    Mikhail Laletin

    Mikhail Laletin, a second-year student at the Faculty of Forensic Science and Law in Construction and Transport at SPbGASU, has served in the 76th Division of the 104th Airborne Assault Regiment of the Airborne Forces in the Special Military Operation Zone. Today, he is getting a higher education and does not rule out that after graduation he will continue to serve as an officer.

    “Higher education provides knowledge and advantages not only in the civilian sphere, but also in the army. A person with higher education is an officer. I am getting a sought-after specialty at a prestigious university and I do not rule out that after graduating from the university I will continue military service. Because until the goals of the SVO are achieved, I cannot be calm about my future and the future of our people, our Fatherland,” says Mikhail.

    Mikhail not only knew that there was such a profession as defending the Motherland, but also looked closely at it: he wanted to enroll in a military school. But then he decided to get a civilian specialty. He recalls how in 2020, as an applicant, he and his friends chose SPbGASU. First of all, the guys evaluated the university from a practical point of view: the university is known for its high quality of education, affordable tuition fees, demand for graduates in the labor market, and convenient location. But everyone made the choice of faculties in accordance with their interests.

    “History and politics are topics that have always interested me. Jurisprudence is important in matters of politics. In addition, I continued the dynasty – my mother and sister graduated from law school. Having received a diploma, perhaps in the future I will get a second higher education – in history,” adds Mikhail.

    In 2022, when the SVO began, he volunteered. He says there were good reasons for that. First of all, he is a patriot and knows the history of his country well.

    “I cannot remain indifferent to how they are trying to rewrite our history from the outside and how the ideology of Nazism is spreading. I stand for traditional values and want to live in a society in which a child has a mother and father, and not parents number one and two. They want to break up our country, divide it, as they did with the Russian Empire and the USSR. Therefore, we must achieve our goals in the SVO. For us, Russians, this is literally a matter of life and death. I am concerned about my fate, the fate of Russia and its people, so I am ready to make my own contribution to its defense,” said Mikhail.

    He recalls how he, a young man from civilian life, was surprised by the attitude of the fighters, how they maintained their fighting spirit even in the most difficult situations. It was here that Mikhail fully felt such a sincere attitude towards each other and truly understood what military brotherhood is.

    “At the front, the line between superior and subordinate, between commanders and soldiers is erased. Here we are all like brothers, everyone is ready to lend a shoulder to another at any moment, both during a combat mission and in any situation. This is the strength of our army,” Mikhail concluded.

    Other materials of the project “Scientific Regiment”

    Our graduate built the Road of Life

    The pioneering work of architect Alexander Nikolsky

    A scientist who developed science in besieged Leningrad
    Fights of student Klinov

    Engineer of the 3rd Belorussian Front

    The path of a volunteer: from front-line roads to space developments

    Ivan Solomakhin: “The most memorable battle is for this Devil’s Height!”

    Fiery Dnieper of the Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Prygunov

    Bringing Victory Closer

    Fyodor Komal’s Front: From the First Minutes of War to Victory

    Junior Political Instructor Boris Gubanov: “The shells whistled, and the earth flew up nearby”

    Viktor Kvyatkovsky – radio operator-intelligence officer of the Baltic Fleet

    How Chief Architect Nikolai Baranov “Hid” Leningrad from the Enemy

    Architect Nikolay Khomutetsky: Four years on the front lines

    Semyon Shifrin thwarted the Nazis’ plans to leave Leningrad without water

    LISI in the post-war years

    Nineteen-year-old machine gunner stormed Berlin

    Abdulla Mangushev: Four Years at the Front and a Life in Science

    The Zazersky architects built and defended the city on the Neva

    LISI graduate Mikhail Zherbin is a design engineer and composer

    He went from being a technical lieutenant to a galaxy of mathematicians

    Konstantin Sakhnovsky: from a cadet of the Russian Empire to an academician of the USSR

    Military architect of the front line of defense and engineering reconnaissance

    A world-renowned scientist, an outstanding engineer and a national champion

    An outstanding urban planner who lived and worked in besieged Leningrad

    Scientific Regiment. Projects of the architect Sergey Evdokimov: from defensive structures and city restoration to metro stations

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

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    http://www.spbgasu.ru/nevs-and-events/nevs/scientific-regiment-volunteer-Mikhail-laletin-after-the-front-to-university-and-then-possibly-to-officers/

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and or sentence structure not be perfect.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Secretary for Health calls on Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of State Council and National Medical Products Administration (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

         The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, and his delegation conducted the last day of their visit to Beijing today (September 27), and called on the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council (HKMAO) and the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA).     The delegation called on the Executive Deputy Director of the HKMAO of the State Council, Mr Zhou Ji, this morning. Professor Lo expressed gratitude to the HKMAO for its continuous support and trust in the work of the Health Bureau (HHB), and introduced to Mr Zhou the latest developments of various healthcare reform initiatives in Hong Kong, including the initial achievements in the area of health and medical innovation.     Professor Lo said, “The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC Central Committee) adopted the Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization, and Deepening the Medical and Health System Reform was identified as one of the key tasks. It is essential for Hong Kong to press ahead with reform and innovation in the healthcare system to cater for the mounting service demand of society posed by an ageing population.     “The HHB will stay committed to implementing the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and reform the healthcare system in a progressive manner. We have been progressively implementing the Primary Healthcare Blueprint and developing new healthcare services and management models to promote primary healthcare development on all fronts. We have enhanced the mechanism of healthcare professional training and created new pathways for admitting non-locally trained healthcare personnel to practise in Hong Kong so as to strengthen the healthcare manpower supply, and made every effort to formulate the Chinese Medicine Development Blueprint in collaboration with the Chinese medicine sector to promote the inheritance and innovation of Chinese medicine, etc. At the same time, we will give full play to the medical strengths of Hong Kong and complement the advantages of other cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) to vigorously develop new quality productive forces in biomedicine according to local conditions, with a view to developing Hong Kong into an international health and medical innovation hub.”     “The HHB will adhere to the objectives of ‘Government dominating; be bold and committed; improving the healthcare system; caring for all patients; be creative and innovative; leading the GBA; seeking common ground while allowing differences; and winning mutually in the reforms’, and make breakthroughs and changes through an innovative mindset, so as to build a ‘Healthy Hong Kong’ for integration into the nation’s ‘Healthy China’,” he emphasised.     Professor Lo and his delegation then met with Deputy Commissioner of the NMPA Mr Zhao Junning to exchange views on fostering closer collaboration between the Mainland and Hong Kong in key areas such as the regulatory and approval of drugs and medical devices, cross-boundary clinical trials, and real-world data research.     Professor Lo highlighted the efforts to develop Hong Kong into an international health and medical innovation hub, and establish an authority that registers drugs and medical devices under the “primary evaluation” approach in the long run.     He said, “The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government will leverage the city’s medical strengths in a more proactive and efficient manner. The Greater Bay Area International Clinical Trial Institute established by the HHB in the Hong Kong Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone and the Greater Bay Area International Clinical Trial Centre in the Shenzhen Park will jointly set up a regional clinical trial collaboration platform leveraging the GBA population base of over 86 million, with a view to attracting more local, Mainland and overseas pharmaceutical and medical device enterprises to conduct research and development (R&D) as well as clinical trials in Hong Kong, and build up the capacity, recognition and status to ensure that the eventual approval mechanism of drugs and medical devices in Hong Kong would be widely recognised internationally and by the Mainland.     The HKSAR Government implemented the new “1+” mechanism for approval of new drugs (“1+” mechanism) on November 1 last year. Since the implementation of the “1+” mechanism, the Department of Health (DH) has received over 250 enquiries from more than 70 pharmaceutical companies, including many overseas and Mainland pharmaceutical companies, and has approved five new drug applications under this mechanism, bringing new hope to patients. The “1+” mechanism has effectively accelerated the R&D and registration and approval of innovative drugs and medical devices in Hong Kong, bringing the benefits of good drugs and R&D to Hong Kong patients. At the same time, the HKSAR Government established the Preparatory Office for the Hong Kong Centre for Medical Products Regulation (CMPR) under the DH on June 5 this year to comprehensively study and plan a regulatory and approval regime for drugs and medical devices suitable for Hong Kong, as well as put forward proposals and steps for the establishment of the CMPR.     Members of the delegation include the Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam; Deputy Secretary for Health Mr Sam Hui; the Chairman of the Hospital Authority (HA), Mr Henry Fan; and the Chief Executive of the HA, Dr Tony Ko. They will return to Hong Kong tonight.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-Evening Report: Australia may be facing another La Niña summer. We’ve found a way to predict them earlier, to help us prepare

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mandy Freund, Lecturer, Climate Science Geography, The University of Melbourne

    Meteorologists are again predicting a possible La Niña this summer, which means Australia may face wetter and cooler conditions than normal.

    It would be the fourth La Niña in Australia in five years, and highlights the need for Australians to prepare for what may be an extreme weather season.

    Typically, a La Niña or its counterpart, El Niño, signals its arrival earlier in the year. Signs of this potential La Niña are emerging fairly late. That’s where new research by my colleagues and I may help in future.

    La Niña and El Niño explained

    La Niña and its opposite phase, El Niño, are created by changes in ocean temperatures in the Pacific Ocean’s equatorial region. Together, the two phenomena are known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation.

    The oscillation is said to be in the positive phase during an El Niño and the negative phase during a La Niña. When sitting between the two, the cycle is in neutral phase.

    Earlier this month, the World Meteorological Organization said there was a 60% chance of La Niña conditions emerging by year’s end.

    In the United States, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put the likelihood at 71%. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology is in “watch” mode, predicting a 50% chance of a La Niña weather pattern forming later this year.

    La Niña occurs when strengthening winds change currents on the ocean surface, pulling cool water up from the deep.

    The winds also cause warm surface waters in the western Pacific and north of Australia, bringing increased rainfall and clouds. This usually means above-average rainfall and cooler temperatures for Australia, particularly in the east and north.

    Conversely, an El Niño weather pattern generally brings hotter temperatures across Australia, and less rainfall in the east and north.

    The Bureau of Meteorology is in La Niña ‘watch mode’.
    Bureau of Meteorology

    Paths of destruction

    La Niña or El Niño events can cause devastation around the world.

    The El Niño in 2015–16, for example, caused crops to fail and affected the food security and nutrition of almost 60 million people globally.

    In Australia, El Niño events can bring increased risk of drought, bushfires and heatwaves, and water shortages.

    Meanwhile, rainfall associated with La Niña conditions can lead to greater crop yield. But particularly heavy rainfall can wash crops away. It also heightens flood risks for some communities.

    These far-reaching impacts mean it’s essential to plan ahead when a La Niña or El Niño is on the cards. But predicting these events has always been tricky.

    Both types of events usually develop in the Southern Hemisphere autumn, peak in late spring or summer, and weaken by the next autumn. But it’s now late spring without a clear La Niña declaration. Why the delay?

    Climate change is one factor. The Bureau of Meteorology says as oceans absorb heat from global warming, it’s harder to spot the specific warming patterns linked to La Niña.

    The sheer complexity of the ocean-atmosphere system adds to the difficulty. The computer models used to predict El Niño and La Niña are improving all the time.
    But scientists still need more information on deep ocean processes, and how winds affect the oscillation.

    Predictions are hardest during the Southern Hemisphere’s autumn. That’s because the cycle then is very susceptible to change – teetering at a point where either a La Niña or El Niño could develop.

    That’s why the earliest an El Niño or La Niña can be predicted is usually around May or June.

    But new research offers a way to predict the events much earlier – and start preparing if necessary.

    Better, earlier forecasts

    The study, which I led, assessed the likelihood of La Niña or El Niño events occurring in succession – either in the eastern or central region of the Pacific Ocean.

    This distinction is important. For Australia, El Niño and La Niña events peaking in the Central Pacific, close to our continent, have greater impacts here compared to those peaking in the east, closer to South America.

    We analysed weather observations, and the sequence of past El Niño and La Niña events, over the past 150 years. We also examined climate models for future changes in transitions between El Niño and La Niña events.

    From this, we determined the likelihood of an El Niño or La Niña occurring in two consecutive years.

    We found most El Niño events are followed by neutral conditions the next year (with a likelihood of 37–56%).

    But La Niña behaves differently. In 40% of cases, a Central Pacific El Niño could follow an Eastern Pacific La Niña. And there is a 28% chance of two consecutive La Niña events in the Central Pacific.

    These results allow for more advanced predictions. By identifying patterns in this way, the odds of an El Niño or La Niña can be predicted up to a year in advance.

    El Niño or La Niña are the result of complex interactions between winds and sea in the Pacific Ocean.
    Shutterstock

    Looking ahead

    So, what does our research suggest for Australia? Will a La Niña develop here this year?

    From September last year, Australia experienced a strong Eastern Pacific El Niño. So our findings suggest there is only a 17% chance of La Niña this year.

    If the La Niña arrives, it will likely peak in the Central Pacific, potentially affecting Australia rainfall. But overall, any La Niña that develops this late is likely to be weak and relatively short-lived.

    Our research also found that as climate change accelerates, the El Niño Southern Oscillation is likely to shift. For example, the odds of two consecutive El Niños peaking in the central Pacific region will likely increase. And we can expect fewer calm, neutral years between events.

    We hope our research enables more accurate, long-range forecasts, giving communities additional time to plan and prepare.

    Mandy Freund receives funding from the ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather

    – ref. Australia may be facing another La Niña summer. We’ve found a way to predict them earlier, to help us prepare – https://theconversation.com/australia-may-be-facing-another-la-nina-summer-weve-found-a-way-to-predict-them-earlier-to-help-us-prepare-239826

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Media Release: Exploration exit a blow to Victoria’s energy security as gas supply dwindles – Australian Energy Producers

    Source: Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association

    Headline: Media Release: Exploration exit a blow to Victoria’s energy security as gas supply dwindles – Australian Energy Producers

    A global exploration company’s decision to cease its search for new gas supply in Victoria’s Otway Basin is a major blow to the state’s energy security and will compound looming gas shortfalls in eastern Australia. 

    Australian Energy Producers Chief Executive Samantha McCulloch said the announcement from seismic surveyor TGS highlighted the increasingly difficult regulatory and investment environment in Australia, particularly in Victoria where new gas supply is most needed.  

    “Victoria is facing gas supply shortfalls from 2027 and already came close to running out of gas during peak periods this winter,” Ms McCulloch said.

    “With Victorian gas production declining rapidly, immediate action is needed to find and develop the new gas supplies so crucial to eastern Australian homes and businesses.  

    “Instead, we are seeing increased regulation, long delays to project approvals, and the continued demonisation of gas by the Victorian Government, including the recent decision to force all households to replace gas appliances with electric ones.

    This is scaring off investment and delaying urgently needed new gas supply which will only increase the risk of blackouts, disruptions and higher energy bills.” 

    “Decision-makers must recognise that capital is global and mobile, and Australia is fast losing out to other countries that are actively supporting investment.”  

    Ms McCulloch said the Federal Government’s granting of two production licenses today to Beach Energy  offshore of Victoria was a welcome step to boost domestic energy security, but more supply will be needed. 

    The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s latest quarterly gas inquiry report, released today, shows eastern Australia faces peak period gas shortfalls from next year, and structural shortfalls from 2027.

    “The ACCC recognises the efforts of industry to ensure that additional gas is available during periods of peak demand,” Ms McCulloch said.

    “But without further exploration and development, future gas shortfalls are almost inevitable.”  

    Ms McCulloch said activists targeting TGS’ planned seismic surveys were at odds with the science and misrepresented a proven technology.

    “Seismic surveys are a safe and essential technology used in Australia and around the world for more than 60 years. It is the same technology used by the offshore wind industry, and the independent national regulator NOPSEMA has found seismic surveys to be safe for the marine environment,” she said. 

    “The Greens and activists want to stop all new gas developments, with no regard for the devastating impact on Australia’s economy and energy security.

    “A recent independent report by EnergyQuest found the Greens’ policy to ban new gas investment would trigger ‘major economic disruption’ on both coasts of Australia, leading to a high risk of blackouts, manufacturers closing and inevitably higher energy prices in a decade.” 

    MIL OSI Economics –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI China: US chipmaking drive at risk with Intel’s mounting financial woes

    Source: China State Council Information Office 3

    Intel, once the biggest chipmaker in the United States by revenue, is facing mounting financial troubles that threaten to derail the U.S. government’s ambitious strategy to revitalize domestic chip manufacturing.

    Intel shares have taken a hard hit in recent months after the company reported a staggering net loss of 1.61 billion U.S. dollars in the second quarter and announced cutting about 15,000 jobs to save costs. This is viewed as an especially troubling sign when the company is expected to bolster the U.S. semiconductor workforce.

    Intel’s stock has plummeted by about a third since the release of its latest earnings report in August and nearly two-thirds this year.

    This fall has pushed Intel’s market value below 100 billion dollars for the first time in three decades, as the company struggled to compete with artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers while missing the growth opportunities from the AI-driven boom.

    Intel was reportedly considering a range of options to cut costs, including separating or selling its foundry business or building chips based on designs from other companies.

    The U.S. government bet big on Intel to boost domestic chip manufacturing. The company’s foundry business was viewed as crucial to achieving that goal.

    In a show of support, the U.S. Commerce Department announced in March that it would award Intel a nearly 20-billion-dollar incentive package, including 8.5 billion dollars in grants and 11 billion dollars in loans. This represents the largest award under the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.

    The CHIPS Act, which allocated 39 billion dollars in grants to incentivize chip companies to build factories in the United States, aimed to reverse the decades-long shift of semiconductor production to Asia.

    According to the Commerce Department’s announcement in March, the government’s incentive was designed to support Intel’s efforts to produce cutting-edge semiconductors at large-scale plants in Arizona and Ohio. The money was also reported to help pay for research and development and advanced packaging projects at facilities in Oregon and New Mexico.

    Intel is currently constructing four chip factories in the United States, with two facilities each in Ohio and Arizona. The two factories in Licking County, Ohio, are part of a 20-billion-dollar project that could eventually accommodate up to eight factories and are expected to be completed in 2025.

    In Arizona, Intel is investing over 32 billion dollars to build two new leading-edge chip factories and modernize an existing facility at its Ocotillo campus, according to the company.

    Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said earlier that building chip factories in the United States is economically uncompetitive compared with Asia, and he expected the government’s incentives to help redress that imbalance.

    However, despite these ambitious plans and the promise of government support, Intel has yet to receive any funds from the announced incentive package. Growing questions surround the timeline for Intel to access the nearly 20 billion dollars in CHIPS Act incentives, which are contingent on the company meeting specific milestones and requirements.

    According to a Bloomberg report this month, the Department of Commerce declined Intel’s request for funds, instead insisting that the company meet key milestones and conduct significant due diligence before it would consider releasing the money.

    The implications of Intel’s financial woes extended beyond U.S. borders. The company paused plans for new chip factories in Germany and Poland and delayed the opening of a new chip packaging plant in Malaysia following its dismal second-quarter financial results.

    Media reports suggest that Qualcomm had approached Intel to acquire parts of its business, though both companies declined to comment on the deal. Industry analysts, however, remained skeptical about the potential for such a deal to address the challenges facing U.S. chip manufacturing.

    Qualcomm, having never operated a chip factory before, may not be interested in buying Intel’s loss-making chip manufacturing unit, as it would be challenging to turn around or sell the unit, according to a Monday report by Reuters, citing industry analysts.

    MIL OSI China News –

    January 23, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Translation: ASIA/HOLY LAND – Cardinal Pizzaballa: October 7th is a day of prayer and fasting to invoke peace

    MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –

    Source: The Holy See in Italian

    Thursday, September 26, 2024

    Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

    Jerusalem (Agenzia Fides) – A day of prayer, penance and fasting to invoke the gift of peace in the Holy Land exactly one year after the rekindling of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The initiative was launched by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, through a letter addressed to the entire Diocese of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. “The month of October is approaching, and with it the awareness that for a year the Holy Land, and not only, has been plunged into a vortex of violence and hatred never seen and never experienced before. In these twelve months we have witnessed tragedies that, due to their intensity and impact, have deeply torn our conscience and our sense of humanity,” writes the cardinal, calling “once again on governments and those who have the grave responsibility of decisions to a commitment to justice and to respect for the right of each person to freedom, dignity and peace.” “I invite you, therefore, to a day of prayer, fasting and penance, for the next 7th October, a date that has become symbolic of the drama we are experiencing. The month of October is also the Marian month and on 7th October we celebrate the memory of Mary Queen of the Rosary,” the appeal of the Patriarch, who adds: “Each one, with the rosary or in the ways he deems appropriate, personally but even better in community, find a moment to stop and pray, and bring to the ‘merciful Father and God of all consolation’ (2 Cor 1:3), our desire for peace and reconciliation.” At the bottom, the cardinal also attaches a prayer, composed ad hoc, “to be used freely”. Below is the text:Lord our God, Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and Father of all humanity, who in the cross of your Son and through the gift of his own life at great cost wanted to destroy the wall of enmity and hostility that separates peoples and makes us enemies: send into our hearts the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that he may purify us from every feeling of violence, hatred and revenge, enlighten us to understand the irrepressible dignity of every human person, and inflame us to the point of being consumed for a world at peace and reconciled in truth and justice, in love and freedom.Almighty and eternal God, in your hands are the hopes of men and the rights of every people: assist with your wisdom those who govern us, so that, with your help, they may become sensitive to the sufferings of the poor and of those who suffer the consequences of violence and war; make them promote in our region and throughout the earth the common good and a peace lasting.Virgin Mary, Mother of hope, obtain the gift of peacefor the Holy Land that gave birth to youand for the whole world. Amen.(Agenzia Fides 26/9/2024)Share:

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.

    MIL Translation OSI

    January 22, 2025

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Egypt: Ensure Alaa Abdel Fattah is not detained after completing length of unjust prison term

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Egyptian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Egyptian-British activist Aala Abdel Fattah who will have completed the length of his unjust five-year prison sentence in three days on 29 September, said Amnesty International today.

    In reprisal for his activism, Egyptian authorities last arrested Alaa Abdel Fattah on 29 September 2019, and subsequently, following a grossly unfair trial, sentenced him to five years in prison on charges including “spreading false news.” There is a risk that the authorities will refuse to release the prominent political activist, despite having served the full five years in prison, by refusing to count time spent in pre-trial detention as part of his prison sentence already served.

    “Alaa Abdel Fattah has spent most of the last decade being repeatedly arrested and unjustly imprisoned simply for peacefully exercising his human rights. He is a prisoner of conscience – he should never have been forced to spend a single minute behind bars. The prospect that the authorities could further extend his unlawful imprisonment instead of releasing him is appalling,” said Mahmoud Shalaby, Amnesty International’s Egypt Researcher. 

    “Egyptian authorities have a dreadful track record of indefinitely detaining political dissidents by concocting new reasons to keep them locked up. If the authorities fail to release Alaa Abdel Fattah this would further compound the cruelty and injustice he has already suffered in custody. The Egyptian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release him and allow him to reunite with his loved ones at long last.”

    The authorities may also seek to extend his arbitrary detention by bringing fresh charges against him – Egyptian authorities have a track record of indefinitely detaining individuals imprisoned for political reasons by bringing new bogus identical or similar charges, even after a court has ordered their release or they have completed their sentence; an abusive practice known as “rotation”.

    For years Alaa Abdel Fattah was detained in deplorable conditions and security officials subjected him to torture and other ill-treatment in custody. Following a public outcry, he was transferred to Wadi al-Natroun Prison in May 2022 where his health and detention conditions improved. It was only recently that authorities finally allowed him access to reading material as well as television and written correspondence.

    However, prison authorities have continued to deny him access to fresh air and sunlight for the past five years,  only allowing him to exercise in an indoor hall. Authorities also continue to deny him access to his lawyer as well as to consular visits from the British authorities.

    On 20 December 2021, an Emergency State Security Court (ESSC) convicted Alaa Abdel Fattah on charges including “spreading false news” and sentenced him to five years in prison following a grossly unfair trial in reprisal for his activism. Human rights lawyer Mohamed Baker and blogger Mohamed Radwan “Oxygen” were also convicted on similar charges and sentenced to four years in prison. On 19 July 2023, following sustained campaigning for his release, Mohamed Baker received a presidential pardon after nearly four years of arbitrary detention.

    Background

    Alaa Abdel Fattah is a prominent political activist and government critic who has been targeted for his role in the 2011 uprising. He is among thousands of individuals who continue to be arbitrarily detained without legal basis in Egypt solely for exercising their human rights and/ or following proceedings violating fair trial rights. 

    Since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s reactivation of the Presidential Pardons Committee (PPC) in April 2022, the Egyptian authorities released hundreds of individuals held for political reasons, including prominent activists, but Alaa Abdel Fattah was excluded from this process. Egyptian authorities continued to carry out arrests of actual or perceived critics amid an unrelenting crackdown on dissent.

    MIL OSI NGO –

    January 22, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Greener nanomaterials could transform how our everyday stuff is made

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Amber Keegan, PhD Candidate, Green Chemistry, University of Sheffield

    Silica nanomaterial could help advance medicines and improve controlled drug release. Love Employee/Shutterstock

    Tiny nanoparticles are at the forefront of materials science – with special properties that make them great at absorbing light in solar panels, cleaning wastewater, and delivering drugs precisely.

    Some nanoparticles take the form of sheets or fibres. But nanomaterials all have one thing in common – their structure contains components with dimensions in the nanometre scale – that’s more than 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Research shows that nanomaterials often perform better than the same materials made at a larger scale. They have huge potential, but currently their manufacture can result in harmful environmental effects due to the use or production of hazardous chemicals.

    I’m one of many researchers studying how to create, manipulate and apply these materials sustainably to develop new technologies and improve existing ones. This offers advantages across many applications, including aerospace, solar panels and electronics.

    Silica nanomaterial is already all around you, but you probably don’t even realise it. Silica (SiO₂), a compound that contains both silicon and oxygen, is commonly found in rocks. It is one of the most mass produced nanomaterials worldwide, with an expected market of US$5 trillion (£3.8 trillion) by 2025.

    It’s used to make things you encounter every day, from improving the strength of concrete or the durability of rubber tyres, plus it enhances the cleaning properties and consistency of toothpaste. Silica nanomaterial could have exciting high-value applications, like medicines and wastewater treatment.

    While silica products might be great, the way they are made is often not great for the environment, or even economically feasible. Manufacture is key to overall product sustainability, but it’s often invisible to consumers. As such, it’s an aspect that most people consider far less than, for example, whether something will be recycled.

    Making silica often requires energy-intensive processes, or makes nasty waste products that are difficult to safely dispose of. Trying to reduce the environmental footprint for existing processes is not enough. Developing new production methods is paramount to ensuring that new technologies, such as more advanced solar panels, can both help society and have less impact on the environment than traditional manufacture.

    I am part of the Green Nanomaterials Research Group at the University of Sheffield, where my colleagues and I are working hard to develop sustainable, scalable and economical routes to functional nanostructured materials. We address aspects from discovery to manufacturing, applications and commercialisation, considering the performance, scalability, environment and cost.

    A greener approach to chemistry

    We aim to make better nanomaterials for important applications, while considering the environmental impact at every stage of a nanomaterial’s life, from raw materials through to the use and disposal of product and any by-products. This approach is known as “green chemistry”, a concept developed in 1998 that has been used to develop strategies for greener routes to nanomaterials.

    Some algae, including these diatoms, make silica naturally to build cell walls and are studied in the development of bio-inspired silica.
    Diana Will/Shutterstock

    Silica nanomaterial suits this green chemistry approach because it is already made in nature by plants and sponges as structural support. What better teacher for green chemistry than to learn from nature itself? My research group created bio-inspired silica, a product that can be made at room temperature, and in the mild conditions under which silica is made in biology naturally.

    Now, colleagues in my research group are scaling up bio-inspired silica production, exploring its use in different applications and making different nanomaterials. Meanwhile, I’m exploring how changing the conditions under which we make silica can improve the properties, like surface area, that make it function better.

    There’s huge scope for green nanomaterials to advance essential technologies, and if green silica could be scaled up, the potential for substantial change drug delivery and renewables is vast.


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

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 35,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Amber Keegan receives PhD funding from The University of Sheffield.

    – ref. Greener nanomaterials could transform how our everyday stuff is made – https://theconversation.com/greener-nanomaterials-could-transform-how-our-everyday-stuff-is-made-237791

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    January 22, 2025
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