Category: Transport

MIL-OSI Global: What’s behind Erdoğan’s calculated shift on Kurds and its potential consequences

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Spyros A. Sofos, Assistant Professor in Global Humanities, Simon Fraser University

On March 1, the start of the holy month of Ramadan — observed by most of Turkey’s Sunni population — the imprisoned leader of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, Abdullah Öcalan, made a historic call for the party to disarm and end its 40-year-long armed struggle against the Turkish state.

Though seemingly unexpected, this call for peace — made a few weeks before Nowruz, the Kurdish New Year, on March 20 — followed months of negotiations between Turkey’s ruling coalition made up of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), Devlet Bahçeli’s Nationalist Action Party (MHP) and Kurdish officials.

In a political landscape long shaped by conflict, Erdoğan’s recent overtures to Kurdish political forces mark a striking shift. In his speech during his party’s congress in Trabzon earlier this year, Erdoğan emphasized the unity and shared history among Turks and Kurds — the latter of whom have long been victims of imperialist designs of dividing the region and have been a mainstay of his populist rhetoric.

Change of course on the Kurds

Erdoğan’s speech suggested not only a willingness to re-engage with Kurds but also the possibility of a broader political compromise.

In October 2024, Erdoğan ally and MHP leader Bahçeli, in a move carefully choreographed with the Turkish president’s change of course, opened the way to such a rapprochement by inviting Öcalan to parliament. Bahçeli also proposed Öcalan’s release in exchange for a ceasefire.

This is not Erdoğan’s first attempt to resolve the Kurdish issue. In 2009, he launched the “Kurdish Opening,” aimed at ending the conflict through dialogue. Similar initiatives followed in 2008–11 and 2013–15.

But all initiatives ultimately collapsed due to political disagreements, shifting alliances and Erdoğan’s increasingly authoritarian approach to governance.

This latest initiative follows the same transactional logic that marked the earlier processes. Erdoğan’s renewed interest in engaging with the Kurds appears driven less by a desire for peace-making and more by political necessity.

Domestically, Erdoğan’s AKP has grown increasingly reliant on its alliance with ultra-nationalist MHP. While this partnership secured his 2023 re-election as president, its fragility became evident in the country’s 2024 local elections, when opposition candidates won key mayoral races throughout the country. They were aided by the tacit support of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM.)

Read more:
What’s next for Turkey after local elections put Erdoğan on notice

Destabilizing the opposition

The process that led to Öcalan’s statement from prison is quite likely to bring significant realignments to Turkish politics.

By engaging with the broader Kurdish movement, Erdoğan seeks to destabilize the fragile and fractured opposition coalition, whose unity hinged on their shared opposition to him. Their continued relevance also depends on the tacit support of DEM and its Kurdish voters.

By opening a new dialogue, Erdoğan may tip the balance in his favour by positioning DEM as a privileged negotiating partner. Drawing Kurdish political support away from the opposition and securing Kurdish backing for constitutional reforms would allow him to seek another presidential term.

With 57 parliamentary seats, DEM holds significant sway and can make all the difference if Erdoğan initiates a constitutional amendment process.

Regional and strategic implications

Erdoğan’s overtures also carry significant regional implications. Turkey’s military operations in Syria and Iraq have strained relations with Kurdish factions across the region.

At the same time, Turkey has strengthened ties with Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government, highlighting Erdoğan’s pragmatism when dealing with Kurdish entities.

By addressing the Kurdish issue domestically, Erdoğan could strengthen his hand regionally, perhaps replicating his co-operation with Iraq in relations with the Democratic Union Party in Northern Syria, positioning Turkey as a stabilizing force in both Iraq and Syria.

What comes next?

Despite Erdoğan’s conciliatory tone, the future of this peace process remains highly uncertain. Previous negotiations unravelled due to unresolved questions about Kurdish political autonomy, cultural rights and power-sharing.

The AKP’s emphasis on disarmament without addressing broader Kurdish political demands resulted in the eventual breakdown of dialogue.

Internal divisions within Kurdish political forces also complicate the process. While Öcalan’s influence remains strong, some Kurdish factions may resist concessions without meaningful political guarantees. And despite Bahçeli’s recent statements, Erdoğan’s MHP allies remain deeply skeptical of any reconciliation efforts.

As Nowruz approaches, Erdoğan’s engagement with Kurdish political forces could culminate in a new phase of dialogue — or serve as a strategic manoeuvre to consolidate power ahead of the next election cycle.

Whether his shift leads to genuine reconciliation or remains a political gambit will depend on Erdoğan’s willingness to address Kurdish demands for autonomy and cultural recognition.

If the past is any indicator, pro-Kurdish parties and civil society organizations currently engaged in negotiations may once again be discarded if they no longer serve Erdoğan’s interests. For now, the Kurdish question remains one of the most critical — and volatile — fault lines in Turkish politics.

Whether lasting peace is on the horizon, or another cycle of repression and conflict, will depend on how any potential peace process unfolds in the coming months.

Spyros A. Sofos receives funding from SSHRC and SFU.

– ref. What’s behind Erdoğan’s calculated shift on Kurds and its potential consequences – https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-erdogans-calculated-shift-on-kurds-and-its-potential-consequences-246879

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: United Nations Proved Resilient amid COVID-19, Fifth Committee Told, as It Examines Business Continuity in Crises

Source: United Nations MIL OSI b

Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) delegates today reviewed the United Nations’ ongoing efforts to strengthen its response to disruptive events, such as pandemics, terrorist attacks and severe weather events.

They heard that the Organization continued delivering mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, showcasing its resilience and adaptability under difficult circumstances. However, the Secretariat was urged to include more detail — including a visual representation of responsibilities and reporting lines, along with cost breakdowns — in future reports on business continuity.

Olga De La Piedra, Director of the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, introduced the Secretary-General’s report “Progress in the implementation of the organizational resilience management system” (document A/79/692). First approved by the General Assembly in June 2013, the organizational resilience management system uses a multidisciplinary framework to integrate areas, such as crisis management, information and communications technology (ICT), emergency medical support, safety and security, and other areas to keep the Organization running smoothly in the face of disruptive events.

At the General Assembly’s request, the report, which covers the 2022 to 2024 calendar years, includes an annex with comprehensive information on the Organization’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms. Del la Piedra said the report describes the system’s architecture and coordination mechanisms, and includes the cost of carrying out the system in the Secretariat, efforts to strengthen the resiliency system in special political missions, as well as the work of the UN system’s working group on organizational resilience management system. The Secretariat’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was guided by the system, she said, as crisis management teams were activated in early 2020 across duty stations to roll out a coherent response.

“Close collaboration and coordination proved to be key in the dynamic and agile response process required by the pandemic, not only across the UN Secretariat, but also with UN system organizations and with continuous consultation of Member States,” she said. “It also required coordination with local authorities, vendors, implementation partners and others to be able to continue delivering mandates, even in the most difficult times.”

She said the response involved many functions carried out around the world, including policy, safety and security, medical, conference servicing, facilities management, human resources, supply chain management, financial support and overall operational support. She said the Organization, particularly its staff, “demonstrated that it is resilient and can learn and adapt even under the most trying of circumstances”.

Udo Fenchel, Vice-Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), then presented that body’s related report (document A/79/7/Add.45). The Advisory Committee acknowledges the progress achieved in the system’s development and implementation, particularly its positive impact on the Organization’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Advisory Committee trusts that efforts to strengthen the system will continue, based on lessons learned and considering current and possible future challenges.

To enhance future progress reports, the Advisory Committee encourages a higher level of details on the architecture of the organizational resilience management system, including an illustration of the responsibilities and reporting lines at Headquarters, offices away from Headquarters and field missions for the Secretariat, and information for the United Nations system, Mr. Fenchel said.

The progress report should also include a detailed accounting of the full costs of the activities that support the system, including staff costs, ICT investments, training exercises, consultancies and insurance, he said. These details would include a consolidated summary of the overall costs and possible efficiencies. “The Advisory Committee stresses the importance of efficiency and cost-effectiveness in maintaining a full and effective emergency preparedness and response to critical situations, ensuring business continuity in the work of the Organization,” he added.

MIL OSI United Nations News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: UN report reveals brutal attacks targeting Muslims, refugees in Central African Republic

Source: United Nations 2

5 March 2025 Human Rights

A UN report released on Wednesday has uncovered a pattern of grave human rights violations committed by armed groups in southeast Central African Republic (CAR), targeting Muslim communities and Sudanese refugees.

Investigations by the UN human rights office (OHCHR) and the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, MINUSCA, found evidence of summary executions, sexual violence and torture.

Other violations included cruel and degrading treatment, forced labour, and looting of homes and shops.

Decades of instability

CAR has been plagued by decades of instability and communal violence along religious and ethnic lines. UN assessments suggest that one in five people are displaced internally or outside the country’s borders due to the conflict.

The fighting has also taken a terrible toll on vital infrastructure, including schools and hospitals.

The civil war in Sudan and tensions in southern Chad, have led to an influx of refugees, asylum seekers and returnees to already overwhelmed areas of CAR.

Climate of terror

The report detailed two waves of attacks in the Mbomou and Haut-Mbomou prefectures, in October 2024 and January 2025, in which at least 24 people were killed, including victims who had been summarily executed.

The attacks were directed and coordinated by elements of Wagner Ti Azandé (WTA), an armed group with ties to the national army. WTA originally belonged to another armed group called Azandé Ani Kpi Gbé (Azanikpigbe), whose members were also involved in the attacks.

In early October, both groups attacked the towns of Dembia and Rafaï, in the Mbomou prefecture, mainly targeting the Fulani pastoral community and other Muslims, as well as a camp for Sudanese refugees and asylum-seekers.

In Dembia, WTA and Azanikpigbe fighters publicly executed a 36-year-old Fulani man, “creating a climate of terror among the population”, according to the report, while seven other Fulani men were tied up and thrown alive into the Ouara River.

Attackers also carried out widespread sexual violence, with at least 24 victims, including 14 women and seven girls who were raped.

On January 21, a separate attack on a Fulani camp near Mboki, in Haut-Mbomou, left at least 12 dead.

Call for accountability

Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, underscored the need to bring perpetrators to justice.

“These horrible crimes must not go unpunished. Accountability is fundamental to ensuring such violations never happen again,” he said, calling for the ties between the WTA group and the national army to be clarified and for full transparency regarding the group’s actions and its lawfulness.

“If this is not possible, the group should be disarmed.”

According to the report, at least 14 WTA members were arrested in Mboki and Bangui after the attack on the Fulani camp near Mboki.

Limited State presence

The report also highlighted the limited presence of State security forces in parts of the prefectures of Mbomou and Haut-Mbomou, fuelling the climate of impunity.

Valentine Rugwabiza, the head of MINUSCA, warned that despite continued efforts by the Government – with support from the Mission – the situation in the two regions remains deeply concerning.

“Failure to adequately respond to these crimes would undermine the hard-earned security gains and further erode social cohesion in areas where efforts have been made with communities to defuse tensions and promote peaceful coexistence,” she said.

MINUSCA/Hervé Serefio

MINUSCA peacekeepers on patrol in Mbomou prefecture, southeast Central African Republic. (file)

Response and ongoing efforts

In response to the violence, MINUSCA has intensified efforts to protect civilians and support the restoration of State authority in the affected regions.

Since October 2024, the Mission has deployed forces to Dembia, setting up a temporary operational base. In January, it also advocated for more Central African armed forces (FACA) troops to reinforce security.

In addition, it facilitated a visit by the regional governor to Dembia in November, helping promote dialogue and reconciliation among the region’s communities.

The Central African Government has also taken steps to address the violence, including arresting some WTA members. It has also announced plans to establish a Tribunal of Grande Instance in Zémio for affected communities to access justice and combat impunity.

MIL OSI United Nations News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Governor Kehoe Announces Launch of Missouri Blue Shield Program to Recognize Communities Dedicated to Effective Law Enforcement and Community Safety
Source: US State of Missouri

MARCH 5, 2025

Jefferson City — Today, Governor Mike Kehoe announced Missouri counties, towns, and cities can now apply for Missouri Blue Shield designation, recognizing their commitment to enhancing public safety, strengthening support for law enforcement, and building sustainable public safety partnerships.

The Blue Shield Program, as outlined in Executive Order 25-03, is part of the Governor’s Safer Missouri initiative announced on his first day in office. Achieving the Blue Shield designation allows communities to access state grants for law enforcement training and equipment.

“Improving public safety is the top priority of our administration, and Missouri communities that are making public safety and support of law enforcement a priority should be recognized,” Governor Kehoe said. “We urge Missouri communities to apply for the Blue Shield designation to spread the word about the safer communities they’re building. We will continue to work with the General Assembly to make $10 million in grant funding for law enforcement training and equipment available to Blue Shield communities.”

The Missouri Department of Public Safety (DPS) is administering the Blue Shield Program. Applications should be made by an official from the jurisdictions seeking the Blue Shield designation in coordination with the jurisdiction’s chief law enforcement officer. Applications and all supporting materials should be submitted online at this link.

DPS will review applications and begin making determinations on Blue Shield designations for counties, cities, and towns within two weeks of application submission. DPS encourages communities to apply early, because if grant funding is approved by the General Assembly, the department will begin accepting grant applications in July, when the fiscal year 2026 funding becomes available. Questions on the application process can be directed to Courtney Kawelaske, Courtney.Kawelaske@dps.mo.gov.

Among the Blue Shield designation eligibility criteria are:
- Passage of a resolution demonstrating a commitment to public safety, including to reduce violent crime within the jurisdiction;
- Extraordinary investments in public safety funding;
- Community policing initiatives or local partnerships to invest in and/or improve public safety;
- Law enforcement officer recruitment and retention program;
- Demonstrated effectiveness in reducing crime or innovative programs that attempt to reduce crime;
- Participates in regional anti-crime task forces, or a commitment to be a willing partner with these in the future; and
- Compliance with Missouri crime reporting and traffic stop data requirements and other related statutes.
Blue Shield counties, cities, and towns must maintain their commitments each year to retain the Blue Shield designation via annual reporting on their ongoing efforts to support public safety to DPS. Once local governments are approved for a Blue Shield designation, they will receive a public relations toolkit to showcase their community’s commitment to public safety.

###

MIL OSI USA News –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Transcript of Press Briefing on the Completion of the Third Review for the IMF Extended Fund Facility for Sri Lanka

Source: International Monetary Fund

March 5, 2025

PARTICIPANTS:

PETER BREUER

Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka

KATSIARYNA SVIRYDZENKA

Deputy Mission Chief for Sri Lanka

MARTHA TESFAYE WOLDEMICHAEL

Resident Representative in Sri Lanka

MODERTOR:

RANDA ELNAGAR

Senior Media Officer

TRANSCRIPT:

Ms. Elnagar: Good morning to our participants who are joining us from Asia and good evening to our participants in DC. Welcome to the press conference on of the Third review of Sri Lanka’s Extended Fund Facility Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund. I am Randa Elnagar, with the IMF’s communications department.

I am joined today by three speakers. Peter Breuer, IMF’s Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka; Katsiaryna Svirydzenka, Deputy Mission Chief for Sri Lanka; and Martha Tesfaye Woldemichael, IMF’s Resident Representative in Sri Lanka.

By now you should have seen the press release, which we issued on Friday and the staff report is not on IMF.org. First, Peter will give some opening remarks, and then we will take your questions.

We are kindly asking you to mute your microphones throughout the briefing, unless you are asking a question. Peter the floor is yours.

started transcription

Mr. Breuer: Thank you, Randa. Good morning, all, thank you very much for being here and for your interest in Sri Lanka’s IMF-supported economic reform program.

I am pleased to announce that, on Friday February 28, the IMF Executive Board approved the third review under the 48-month Extended Fund Facility Arrangement with Sri Lanka. This provides the country with immediate access to about US$334 million to support its economic policies and reforms.

It brings the total IMF financial support dispersed so far to about $1.3 billion.
The IMF continues to support Sri Lanka’s efforts to restore and maintain macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability while protecting the poor and vulnerable rebuilding external buffers. Safeguarding financial sector stability and enhancing growth oriented structural reforms, including by strengthening governance.

The IMF Executive Board’s approval to complete the third review recognizes the strong program performance. All quantitative targets for end December 2024 were met, except for the indicative target on social spending.
Most structural benchmarks do by end January 2025 were either met or implemented with delay.

Turning to through the macroeconomic situation, it is encouraging to see that reforms in Sri Lanka are bearing fruit with the economic recovery gaining momentum, inflation remains slow.

Revenue collection is improving and reserves continue to accumulate.
Economic growth averaged 4.3% since growth resumed in the third quarter of 2023.
The recovery is expected to continue in two thousand 2025 now. Despite these positive developments, the economy is still vulnerable.
It is critical to sustain the reform momentum to ensure macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability.

And to promote long term inclusive growth, there is no room for policy errors.
Let me emphasize that sustained revenue mobilization is crucial to restoring fiscal sustainability.

And ensuring that the government can continue to provide essential services.
Boosting tax compliance and refraining from tax exemptions are key to maintaining support for economic reforms.

Let me also emphasize that to ease economic hardship and ensure the poor and vulnerable can participate in Sri Lanka’s recovery, it is important to meet social spending targets and continue with reforms of the social safety net going forward. Social support needs to be well targeted towards the.

Most disadvantaged, so as to promote inclusive growth with limited fiscal space.
Restoring cost recovery, electricity pricing without delay is needed to contain fiscal risks from state owned enterprises.
A smoother execution of capital spending within the fiscal envelope would foster medium term growth.

The recent successful completion of the bond exchange is a major milestone towards restoring debt sustainability, timely finalization of bilateral agreements with creditors in the official creditor committee, and with remaining creditors is a priority now. Regarding monetary policy, I would like to highlight that it should prioritize maintaining price. Stability supported by sustained commitment to prohibit monetary financing and.

To safeguard central bank independence. Continued exchange rate, flexibility and gradually phasing out the balance of payments measures remain critical to rebuild external buffers and facilitate rebalancing.

As for the financial sector, resolving non performing loans, strengthening governance and oversight of state owned banks and improving the insolvency and resolution frameworks are important priorities to revive credit growth and support the economic recovery.

Finally, prolonged structural challenges need to be addressed to unlock Sri Lanka’s long term potential, including steadfast implementation of governance reforms.
I would like to thank the authorities for their commitment and excellent collaboration.

Let me also take this opportunity to announce that as part of a standard staff rotation process, I will soon be transitioning from the role of mischief for Sri Lanka.
And I will be handing over to the next mission Chief Evan Papageorgiou, during the next mission. It has been an honor to accompany Sri Lanka on his journey out of this.

Severe crisis for nearly three years. While there are more challenges ahead, the IMF team will remain a steadfast partner for Sri Lanka and its people on the road to a more sustainable and inclusive recovery.
I will be moving to another assignment soon and wish the people of Sri Lanka continued success with the economic recovery.
With this, let me hand it back to Rhonda. Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you so much, Peter.
Colleagues, please raise your hand and identify yourself if you want to ask your question and turn on your camera, if possible and the mic. Thank you. I see the first hand, please.

QUESTIONER: Thank you, Randa. This is Shihar Anis from economy next.
I hope you can hear you.

Ms. Elnagar: We can hear you well, Shihar. Thank you.

QUESTIONER: OK. So my question is now there is a delay in the SOE restructuring because we don’t see the same speed that the previous government was doing, the SOE restructuring this government has been. Basically, they are not into privatization, but they are looking into a different model. How concerned are you on that? You know, delay or the current restructuring model.
Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you. We’ll take another couple of questions and then answer them in groups.

Ms. Elnagar: The audio. Zulfiq there is a lot of static on your mic.

QUESTIONER: Hope you can hear me. I have two questions. That is, it has come to light that the Sri Lankan Government plans not to proceed with the imputed rental income tax as a revenue measure. So has this been discussed with the IMF and is there any other alternative that is being put forward and at the same time, what is IMF stake on the budget that was presented recently?

Ms. Elnagar: Let’s take another question. Sampath, please.

QUESTIONER: Hi I’m Sampath Dissanayake from BBC Sinhala service.
The government is increasing the tax as per the IMF advice to increase government revenue. The number of people receiving Social Security benefit in benefits in Sri Lanka is increasing annually. So do you believe that the increase in tax burden is increase for reason for this?

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, we can take these three questions.

Mr. Breuer: Yes, thank you very much. So let me answer some of the questions.
On the budget and fiscal, and maybe Katie can answer the question on the.
SOE reforms so the. Imputed rental income tax was a measure proposed by the previous administration as part of a possible revenue package for 2025, and the new authorities have proposed a slightly different package that is aligned with their mandate and priorities. And staff and the authorities have assessed that this package is sufficient to meet the revenue targets under the program. Now of course, should those measures prove insufficient, then additional revenue measures would be needed. And so that also. Ties in with the question on the budget and tax revenues. So yes, we have looked at the budget. And have, of course, disgusted with the authorities. There’s more detailed explanation in the staff report that should be online now, so there’s a table on page 12 that kind of lists some of the main measures needed to. reach the goal for tax revenue for next year. Yeah, reallybthe objective here is as you know tax revenue was a key driver of the crisis in 2022.
Sri Lanka was the lowest that the country with the lowest tax take amongst.
Middle income countries and low income countries in the world, and so it has made significant progress since then. Tax as a share of GDP, he has increased by 5 percentage points from somewhere. You know 7 to somewhere 12.4% or so last year. So that’s a significant increase, but by no means is excessive and. The essential services that the government provides need to be funded and for that reason.
Working on ensuring that there is sufficient tax revenue remains a priority.
And so social services, which was the 3rd question is just a portion of the overall essential services that that the government provides and is just a component on that actually. Maybe Marta can add on that point and cut you a can speak to the SOE reforms.

Ms. Svirydzenka: So should I go first? OK. So on the on the SOE restructuring, the most crucial element is that the state owned enterprises are managed in a prudent manner so as to avoid the accumulation of losses or debts that then would eventually need to be repaid by the taxpayers. And in that sense, the SOEs can be managed prudently while remaining state owned or they can be divested partially or completely.

We are reassured by the authorities commitment to ensure that this enterprises do not become a burden for the budget or for the government debt in terms of other key elements under the program has been the cost, reflective pricing of services provided by so especially in the area of electricity and fuel prices. Other commitments under the program include making SOEs more transparent, in particular by publishing audited financial statements of the largest, SOEs in a timely manner.

And then finally, to allow the economy to grow, it is important that the consumers of services receive the best value for the price of being charged. So this involves running, SOEs in the most efficient manner and ensuring that they are following the best governance principles. So in that sense, we’re quite satisfied with the progress, yes.

Martha Tesfaye Woldemichael: So let me maybe come in then to compliment a bit Peter’s response on the social spending, right. So there’s a question. Why social spending is increasing? I think this is a good opportunity to remind that protecting the poor and vulnerable is really an important component of the EFF program. So the EFF supports this objective through the different reforms through macro stabilization. But importantly, there is also a floor on social spending in the program that we assess on a quarterly basis. So this means the government has to spend a minimum amount to protect the poor and vulnerable.

So in this context, the key commitment is really for the authorities to continue strengthening the coverage, the adequacy and the targeting of social spending. So recent announcement related to the expected decrease in the payments, for instance for the poor and extremely poor categories under a ASWASUMA or the.
Announcement that the payments would also increase for the elderly, the disabled and chronic kidney patients are aligned with the authorities commitments to continue strengthening, strengthening social safety Nets and I think it is also very important to make sure that this coverage under the ASWASUMA program. Is above the poverty rates that are currently observed. I think I will stop here. Thank you very much. Back to you, Randa.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you, Martha. We’re first going to take a question from Kelum.
I think Shihar you had your hand raised, so it’s from the first question. So if you can, please put your hand down because it’s a bit confusing, but we’re going to go to Kellum 1st and then Asante. So Kelum, please go ahead.

QUESTIONER: Thank you. Can you hear me?

Ms. Elnagar: Yes.

QUESTIONER: Yes, I’m Kelum Bandara, from Daily Mirror newspaper. So my question is wanting the overall assessment about the budget, actually that was answered was that next day and the next question is, how important is it for the government to proceed with this Economic Transformation Act to reach the economic targets? Actually in searching by MFN or for the broader infrastructure of the country.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you Asante. If you can, please pose your question.

QUESTIONER: Yeah, so, the government has started the import duty on vehicles, which just knocked out earlier. Yeah, I think all the taxes were kind of like excise taxes. And so have you made any assessment on whether this will lead to an increase in assembled vehicles, which earlier didn’t get this tax protection and how much leakage of revenue might happen to the assembled sector and whether any effect to publish a kind of a tax expenditure statement to say how much of the import duties lost due to any increase or the sales of the assembled vehicles which are like got CKD, I think tax free the parts and also have you had any discuss? With the central bank. On offloading their government securities now that the Treasury bills

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you, Asantha. There is a question in the chat which we’re going to take and then move to the ones online. Amal, you didn’t verify your organization.

QUESTIONER: Oh, and I have actually done that. I’m from AFP, the French news agency, Agence France Press.

Ms. Elnagar: Hi would you like to ask? Yeah, because you post in the in the chat.

QUESTIONER: Oh yeah. I mean, if you want to save time, can just answer that.
I mean basically I was trying to ask Peter how concerned you are about sort of emerging labor unrest, particularly now in the medical field. The doctors are threatening to go on strike from tomorrow, although there is a pay increase that the increase is less than the. Reduction of their allowances. So this is something that affects a lot of not just the medical sector. So how concerned are you that this kind of growing unrest, labor unrest, how it will affect the overall IMF backed program?

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, do you want to take another question?
So they are three. So I think Indiqa is next.

Mr. Breuer: Well, there’s actually an under. It feels like there’s a bunch of questions.
Should we try and answer these?

Ms. Elnagar: OK. Sounds good.

Mr. Breuer: And maybe Katya can speak to the Economic Transformation Act.
And also to the central bank question so. On this important question with respect to the potential for unrest. Well, I suppose there is potential, but I think what really should be remembered is that this budget really sought to address some of the concerns that the government and ourselves have hurt that. You know, civil servants have been concerned about. The wages that they have been receiving and so.
There is for the first time in a long time, an increase in civil service wages, while at the same time the personal income tax regime is were being changed and reducing personal income taxes considerably, at least for some. Income earners, including civil servants, you have to remember who are the ones who earn an income and pay taxes that really is the upper 20% of income earners in Sri Lanka. There has been a massive crisis in 2022 with huge costs to the population of Sri Lanka and in order for the government to keep on providing the essential services that the citizens of Sri Lanka expected, expect the government to provide and in order to bring along the poorer segments of society. Everyone who can needs to make a sacrifice.
This is how the society can pull together and continue to function, and so.
I think we all know how painful this crisis has been there’s no doubt about it.
We have travelled around the country, we have met with many people.
You know the plantation workers in Noro, alia have shown us their income statements and their bills. And it was very, very clear that this is a very severe crisis, but how else to address it. So, sticking with the reforms is really the best way out for Sri Lanka to assure its sustainability, and I think it’s important for everyone in Sri Lanka to recognize that.

If you put it into the broader perspective the adjustment, this is the last budget.
Where there is still a bit of an increase in in revenue is needed 1.5 percentage points of GDP, but all the hard adjustment has already taken place in the previous two years. You know revenue have increased 5 percentage points of GDP over the last two years. This is, you know, the last sort of big push. Not quite as big as in the previous years, and there after it’ll be much easier going forward.

So on the cars I mean that’s a specific question. Does is there some import substitution? I can’t answer that. I would assume that after five years or so of a ban of imported cars that there will be some demand for finished cars from overseas.
I do take your point that it’s possible that there may be some assembly of cars domestically.

Katya, can you answer the other two questions please?

Ms. Svirydzenka: Sure. So on the economic transformation, bill, we understand there was a recent announcement that the new government will propose amendments to the bill. And so we look forward to reviewing the amended economic transformation bill. We expect it to be consistent with program objectives, including for example with the authorities’ commitment to refrain from granting tax.
Incentives until the STP act is revised to provide clear and transparent criteria on the granting of tax incentives on the. Central Bank Securities, I understand the question was that the Central Bank has sold T-bills but has a stock of on marketable bonds. And this is correct. And under the program at this point, because there’s no market for this restructured bonds, we do not envision they unwinding of this stock and over the next 12 months you can see it in the program targets in table one on page 95 of the published report under the category of net credit to the government.
I hope that answers the question. If I understood it correctly.

QUESTIONER: So, I am trying to find out what’s the alternative if you want to sterilize the inflows. I mean, kind of issuing central banks equity or something, but you have reserve target.

Ms. Svirydzenka: Is this more than a question about the operation of monetary policy and how to sterilize reserve accumulation?

QUESTIONER: Yeah. Yeah. Because you don’t you?

Ms. Svirydzenka: Perhaps I misunderstood.

QUESTIONER: You no longer have the tables to sell. What is the alternative securities they can sell to build?

Ms. Svirydzenka: Yes, I understand. Thank you so much for clarifying. Yeah. So there are many alternatives that the Central bank can use. For example, they can engage in repo operations or also issue their own securities. But I guess what is important to highlight for your question is that the Central Bank so far has been able to meet the inflation target and if anything, they’re a little bit undershooting as you saw with the breach of the MPCC clause in June and in December. So in that sense, the central bank is quite effective in terms of reaching the inflation objectives and we think the tools they have in their, in their in their hands should be enough.

Ms. Elnagar: Thank you, Katya. We have more questions, Peter.
We have Indika first please.

QUESTIONER: Hi, Randa. Thank you, I think. I hope I’m audible.

Ms. Elnagar: Yes you are.

QUESTIONER: My questions, question to Peter is in the budget, there is a budget proposal to recruit about 30,000 people to the public sector. So we already have a bloated public sector in the country. So what’s your what’s IMF’s opinion on that? And the other question is on their flight, electricity, the price, reflective electricity tariffs. So we were under the impression that that is already happening because the government is already. Adjusting prices periodically, but in the press release that was released on Friday. The sort of insinuated that Sri Lanka S deviated. What is what is the situation there? Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, we can take a couple more questions this round.

QUESTIONER: Randa, I hope I’m audible.

Ms. Elnagar: Yes you are.

QUESTIONER: Great. I just have one question. Peter, could you please outline what are the key goal posts that Sri Lanka has to hit as it moves forward to the 4th review now, right. And when will there be an IMF delegation coming to Colombo?
Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: We can take more questions. There are two questions in the chat, Peter, One is asking, why was the proposed property tax under the IMF program withdrawn, and why wasn’t the existing under taxed Council tax system rebased instead? How much revenue was expected from the input rental tax and why could this be? Couldn’t this be raised adjusting Council taxes? There’s another one we can take, or that’s enough for now this round.

Mr. Breuer: Yeah. Why don’t we get going with these ones? Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Yeah, because Shehar already had a chance at the beginning, so let’s take a different group now. Thank you.

Mr. Breuer: So thanks so much for these questions. On the size of the public sector, that’s really not for us to judge the government needs to sort of identify the resources it needs to provide the services that it’s expected to provide.
And do all of that within the envelope of the program. So there may be other institutions. The World Bank, for example, you know that can provide some more assistance, technical assistance to help with making the government as efficient as as possible. But. I don’t really have a comment there. The electricity tariff.
So there was a reduction in the electricity tariffs in January, and this is when we feel that the cost reflective pricing was no longer met because on a forward-looking basis. That tariff cut meant that Ceb wouldn’t be able to avoid any losses.
So these cuts. Essentially, at least on a forward-looking basis, implied that losses would be run now of course. These profits and losses by the electricity company depend on many factors, including the weather, the rain and so forth.
So what turns out ex post may be different from what happens ex ante, but this is a concern that we have because it could mean that that starts building up again in the electricity company. That could ultimately become a contingent liability for the government. This is something that, of course, Sri Lanka has experienced before, and avoiding this and making sure that consumers on average pay for how much it costs to generate and distribute the electricity is an important part of the program.

And this actually also goes towards answering the question of what are some of the main goal posts for the 4th review. So ensuring that cost reflective energy pricing is restored is of course a key. Part of what we would like to see for the next.
Review I should say there are some mechanisms that give us hope that this will happen automatically. The SD bulk supply transaction account, which is sort of a mechanism that is supposed to kick in when losses at CB become too large when they are cash balances become. You know, negative beyond a certain value.
Then there’s meant to be an automatic increase in the tariff. That would prevent these losses from accumulating, so so they are already mechanisms in place.
It’s important that these mechanisms be allowed to function, and then, of course, at the next tariff setting, it’s important to ensure that tariffs will once again be set to cover the costs. Another important Issue for the next review will of course be.
The budget that the budget that is finally passed at the end of this month is in fact consistent with the program parameters. So this is something that we will be watching very carefully. So those are two issues that may matter.

The next mission we expect to be visiting Colombo.in the coming weeks or months or so. So the exact dates will be announced closer to the time.
With respect to the property tax. That is a property tax. Is very common in many countries it is a form of wealth tax whereby those who have more wealth, meaning more expensive homes, larger homes that are worth more, need to make larger contributions to the tax coffers and support the government. So, now it’s it had been discussed for quite some time previously, and in fact many preparations have been made under this program for property tax with respect to, you know sales price and rents register, and various databases to estimate the values of homes. So lots of preparations have been have been made. Then there were some concerns and this goes towards the question with respect to the local authorities how this tax could be raised and how it could be shared with at the at the central government level. So some of these issues still need to be resolved and so this is this is something I think that is as yet you know to be addressed. Let me stop there. Thank you.

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, we can take a couple more questions because we are out of time. So we can take from Sisira, who has been waiting patiently, and then we have a couple of questions in the chat. So Sisira, please go ahead. We can’t hear you.
Sisira do you have a question? You have your hand raised?

QUESTIONER: Yeah. Can you hear me?

Elnagar, Randa Mohamed: Yes.

QUESTIONER: My question is, what is the impact?

Ms. Elnagar: Your mic is a bit muffled.

QUESTIONER: Can you hear me?

Ms. Elnagar: Peter, can you hear him?

Mr. Breuer: It’s very, very soft. I don’t know whether you can bring the mic closer to him.

QUESTIONER: Yeah, my question is what is the projected impact of Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves?

Mr. Breuer: I think the question is what is the impact of the car imports on reserves? Yeah, OK.

Ms. Elnagar: Vehicle import. Yeah. And then we have a couple of questions here.
Amal already asked the question, a supplementary question regarding what Asantha raised about vehicle imports. So it’s the same topic and then we have. One from Ishara. Even though the IMF program has put Sri Lanka’s economy on the right track, a recent poverty study revealed that more than 50% of households are below the poverty line. Additionally, the Central bank mentioned that brain drain could severely impact efforts to accelerate growth. In this scenario, how can Sri Lanka reach its anticipated IMF recovery targets? And these are the last questions of the press conference.

Mr. Breuer::Yeah. Thank you very much. On the car imports. So yes, removing the import restrictions on car imports will allow cars to be imported which means they have to be paid for and so that could have an impact on the balance of payments. But as you know there’s a question to what extent you know the Central bank should intervene to make those reserves available versus allowing the exchange rate to fluctuate in response to market forces. So, that is something that remains to be seen, but maybe just to highlight the fact that reserves have increased. Significantly, so far under the program they have reached about half of the program objective already, which is very impressive.

On the question with respect to the anticipated IMF recovery targets, so. I think it’s quite clear that things really have turned around significantly in Sri Lanka. I mean, you all live there, so you experience it much more than us. But when I first got to Sri Lanka in June 2022. Everybody was standing in a line somewhere in, you know, to get fuel, to get cooking gas to get food or medications and economic activity was was very subdued, I think in real terms. Sri Lanka lost, you know, 10% or so of its economic activity. As a result of this crisis and since then in the short amount of time.
That the program has been there basically since 2023 it has already recovered 40% of the income it has lost. In the preceding five years, so in a very short amount of time, you have already a very significant recovery. You have the most recent growth number of 5.5%.

So I think things are turning around significantly in Sri Lanka and that will have an impact on the indicators that we care about, such as poverty, so.
As economic opportunities return to Sri Lanka. Incomes will increase and poverty will be reduced, and also it’ll be more attractive to remain in Sri Lanka and not leave and emigrate or those who have emigrated may find opportunities back in in Sri Lanka again so. You know, as you look at our projections, we have increased these quite a bit. For 2025 and beyond and so based on these, I would say I’m quite optimistic about the recovery in Sri Lanka.

Ms. Elnagar: I think we’re out of time, Peter. If you guys have any further questions, please, please feel free to send them by e-mail. We are always very responsive or via WhatsApp. With that I would like to thank our speakers Peter, Katia, and Martha, and I would like to thank you all for participating in this press conference.
We’re going to be posting the recording and the transcript by tomorrow.
And we look forward in seeing to seeing you again in the future.
Thank you very much.

Mr. Breuer: Thank you.

Ms. Woldemichael: Thank you.

Ms. Svirydzenka: Thank you.

IMF Communications Department

MEDIA RELATIONS

PRESS OFFICER: Randa Elnagar

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

@IMFSpokesperson

MIL OSI Economics –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Chairman Wicker Leads SASC Hearing on Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Nominee Elbridge Colby

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Mississippi Roger Wicker

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today chaired a hearing reviewing the nomination of Mr. Elbridge A. Colby to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Department of Defense.

In his opening statement, Chairman Wicker raised the need for a program of rapid reform at the Pentagon to improve deterrence against the complex threat environment posted by China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. Chairman Wicker noted that Mr. Colby shares a common understanding of the dangerous security situation in the Western Pacific. Wicker also commended Colby’s exhortations to improve the defense industrial base.

In examining Colby’s previous writings, however, Chairman Wicker noted the importance of remaining active in multiple theaters where threats against American national security have manifested, and asked Colby to offer his grand strategic vision for the U.S. in years ahead. Chairman Wicker also asked Colby to comment on his major reports to rebuild the military and reform the Pentagon as well, which Colby offered strong concurrence with.

“Senator…I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing [your Peace Through Strength plan], and I think we’re keying off exactly. And I am a big supporter of that kind of perspective: restoring American strength, industrial might, and getting our allies to do more, which seems to me is also the perspective of the president and the Secretary of Defense…part of that plan [for deterrence] is greater resources, like, Mr. Chairman, you have advocated for,” Colby said. “I commit to advocating for the higher defense levels that I think are consistent with what our security dictates.”

Read Senator Wicker’s hearing opening statement as delivered below.

The hearing will come to order.

Thank you all for being here this morning. The committee meets to consider the nomination of Mr. Elbridge Colby to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

I want to thank Mr. Colby for his willingness to serve again. I want to thank his wife, Susanna, and their children for being here today. It also says a lot that Mr. Colby will be introduced today by two distinguished friends: Vice President JD Vance and Senator Banks.

We are informed that the vice president is in traffic, and so after consulting to my right and left, we will proceed again because there are time constraints. And when the vice president arrives – I think he’ll be arriving just in time, so proceeding on.

If confirmed, Mr. Colby would oversee the developments of policy and strategy for the Department of Defense. He would assume these responsibilities during the most dangerous security environment since World War II. The deepening military cooperation between China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea represents a complex and far-reaching set of threats. These threats demand a generational investment to revitalize America’s military strength. They demand rapid Pentagon reform. And they demand a fresh look at strategies needed to achieve our national security objectives.

The American people need to understand what is at stake. We should help the country appreciate the risks imposed to our way of life. Beijing is leading an emerging alliance of countries with one clear objective: to use their economic and military power to tear down the United States and impose their will on global affairs. The new Axis of Aggressors is a greater menace than we have faced in decades.

Under Xi Jinping’s leadership the Chinese Communist Party has undertaken one of the largest and most aggressive military buildups in history. Their speed has been astounding. In just a few short years, China has built more nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles than the U.S. has in decades. They have tested orbital bombardment weapons and unveiled what may be the world’s first sixth-generation fighter aircraft. China possesses a ship building capacity over 230 times that of the United States – over 230 times. That’s almost inconceivable.

Over three years ago, Vladimir Putin launched the first invasion of a European country since World War II. He has barraged the Ukrainian people with constant missile and drone attacks. The Kremlin has developed a variety of new weapons capabilities, including nuclear-armed satellites. Meanwhile Russia actively provides enriched uranium to China to support Beijing’s nuclear buildup. Putin has also been suspected of aiding North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

Moving on to North Korea, nuclear arsenal there continues to advance unchecked. Kim Jong-Un has been aiding Russia’s war machine as it terrorizes Europe. Pyongyang’s missiles could soon be capable of overwhelming our defenses – North Korea’s – especially if reports of Russian assistance are accurate.

In the Middle East, Israel has successfully crippled Iran’s proxies in the region, but these setbacks may spur Tehran to take the final step: to build a nuclear weapon, permanently altering the balance of power in that region.

Few really understand how this axis of aggressors is working to make Americans less safe. If confirmed, I hope Mr. Colby can help Secretary Hegseth as he makes sure the public sees these threats for what they are.

During Secretary Hegseth’s hearing, I spoke about the importance of building a motivated and highly competent team of professionals at the Pentagon. In this regard Mr. Colby is certainly qualified for the role to which President Trump has nominated him.

For more than two decades, he has worked on defense policy. Mr. Colby previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary Defense for Strategy and Force Development. In that role, Mr. Colby played a pivotal role in the formulation of the 2018 National Defense Strategy – the first real strategy in years. His leadership was crucial in helping the United States articulate the need for a new defense posture, one focused on strategic competition with China and Russia, and the overdue modernization of our military.

Mr. Colby and I have been ringing the same bell on military unpreparedness for years, particularly as it relates to China. This committee would echo exhortations on defense policy in the Western Pacific. We should make Taiwan a porcupine and Taipei is sprinting in that direction. We should build a larger US military footprint in East Asia, and we should accelerate the most important weapons programs to deter China.

President Trump has made it clear that he intends to rebuild the military and reform the Pentagon. He campaigned on peace through strength. We all want to keep America safe and prosperous. To secure that peace, we will enable a Golden Age for America, but we do not now have the strength that can guarantee us the peace.

Given the threat environment facing us, I strongly believe that we cannot simply pivot our attention and resources from one threat to another. That is an approach the Obama administration tried, and it did fail. We must be focused and strategic, but we need to be clear Beijing sees its fight against America as a global fight.

Beijing is not pivoting between theaters or among theaters. Significant American withdrawal in Europe, Africa, South America, or the Middle East will allow the Chinese Communist Party to overcome us strategically, even if we are able to prevent military conflict in East Asia in the near term.

In the past few weeks, President Trump has killed five top Al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorists. Good for him. He’s green lit more aggressive campaigning against the Houthis, and promised to support Israel to the hilt. All these policies are in line with the president’s desire for lasting peace and prosperity in the United States, and Mr. Colby, I’m sure that is your desire too.

Now, Mr. Colby, your views on each theater have seemingly evolved since 2018, and I’m sure there’ll be discussions about that which are worth exploring. It goes without saying that the elephant in this hearing room today is the recent developments with regard to Ukraine and Russia and this administration.

I was disappointed and dismayed as I watched the televised meeting involving the President of the United States and President Zelenskyy. And I was distressed that the White House meeting ended without the signing of the minerals agreement, which was there to be signed, as I understand it.

This was followed by a television appearance by President Zelenskyy, and then a visit to some of our friends in Europe, where there’s much concern about the failure of that agreement to be signed.

It was also followed that weekend by Mr. Putin’s continued barrage of attacking apartments, civilian targets, and other areas in Ukraine. Not a good weekend for peace in Ukraine or world peace.

The president is trying to get a peace deal in Ukraine, and I certainly hope we’ll be able to get this back on the rails. I would like to hear your views on the potential there. Your views on President Trump’s crystal-clear Iran policy seem to have hardened considerably, yet your views on Taiwan’s importance to the United States seems to have softened considerably. I hope we can clarify those views today. And your views on the relevance of nuclear weapons in the next decade remain unclear to me. I would appreciate your comments on each of those issues.

Mr. Colby, you’ve spoken frequently to audiences who are skeptical of the idea that U.S, peace and prosperity require us to wield U.S. power abroad. I’m grateful that you have led those discussions that U.S. foreign policy professionals do not like having. I expect your points on the limits of U.S. power remain nuanced, and complimentary to the president’s peace through strength agenda. And it will be crystal clear that you will speak for the president in this regard.

If you’re focused on finding innovative ways to blend America’s comparative advantages in this global fight against Chinese Communists, then I strongly believe you will be a boon to the president and to the United States of America. I’d like to hear your strategic vision for the next four years. I’d like to hear your comments on the plans I have released for rebuilding and reforming the military. In confirming Secretary Hegseth, we charged him with focusing on four guiding principles as he assumed office: lethality, efficiency, speed, and accountability. I also appreciate the ease of access that he and I have had in conversations with each other since his confirmation.

As Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, I’d like to know how you plan to execute in these four areas to support President Trump’s peace through strength agenda. So, thank you very much for being here, we look forward to your testimony, and I now recognize Ranking Member Reed for his opening remarks.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: VIDEO: Peters Takes to Senate Floor to Denounce Trump Administration’s Illegal Firing of Thousands of Veterans Throughout Federal Workforce

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Michigan Gary Peters

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) delivered a speech on the Senate floor denouncing the Trump Administration’s illegal firing of thousands of veterans throughout the federal government. Veterans make up nearly 30 percent of the federal workforce, or approximately 640,000 employees. Since taking office, the Trump Administration has already laid off about 6,000 former servicemembers without cause, including veterans who worked in federal agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Department of Defense (DOD), and the Treasury Department for several years. In his remarks, Peters underscored the talent and value that veterans bring to the federal civil service and called on the Trump Administration to immediately reinstate these employees.

“Employing our nation’s veterans when they transition to civilian life is not just a responsibility, it is a smart business decision,” said Senator Peters. “That’s why the federal government has long taken advantage of this absolutely remarkable talent pool.”

Peters continued, “These are Americans who put their lives on the line to defend this country. They took up a job to continue to serve the people of this country. They represent the best of our nation, and we need them in our federal workforce. I’m calling on the Administration to reinstate these veteran employees immediately.”

To watch a video clip of Senator Peters’ remarks, click here.

In his remarks, Peters also highlighted the stories of Michigan veterans who were impacted by these firings:

“My staff met with a veteran who has worked for the VA in Michigan for nearly 30 years. Last year, they were moved to a new role within VA and were promoted to supervisor shortly thereafter. No surprise, because they had never received less than an excellent performance review over 30 years. But because they were relatively new to that specific role, they were swept up in the widespread firings, both within VA and across government, of all probationary employees. They were one of many veterans fired abruptly without cause, without reason.”

“In another case, a veteran with 8 years of active-duty service in the Air Force was fired from a VA in Michigan after receiving an ‘outstanding’ performance review. Their probationary period was set to expire last week, just 12 days after they were let go.”

Peters has been a continued advocate for America’s veterans. In January 2024, two bipartisan bills authored by Peters were signed into law to protect burial benefits for both veterans and military families. Peters also helped pass the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act into law – which delivered VA health care and benefits to all generations of toxic-exposed veterans – and their survivors – for the first time in our nation’s history. In 2016, Peters’ Fairness for Veterans Act was signed into law to help veterans who may have been erroneously given less than honorable discharge from the military due to negative behavior resulting from mental health traumas, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). In 2017, Peters was recognized as Legislator of the Year by the Vietnam Veterans of America for his work authoring and enacting the Fairness for Veterans Act.

Peters served more than a decade in the U.S. Navy Reserve, where he earned a Seabee Combat Warfare Specialist designation and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. After the September 11th terrorist attacks on our country, he volunteered again for drilling status and served overseas as part of his Reserve duty.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Tillis Leads Legislation to Eliminate Biden’s “Pill Penalty,” Restore Incentives for Life-Saving Drug Innovation

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for North Carolina Thom Tillis

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Ted Budd (R-NC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), James Lankford (R-OK), and Steve Daines (R-MT) introduced the Ensuring Pathways to Innovative Cures (EPIC) Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation that fixes the Inflation Reduction Act’s small molecule “pill penalty” to ensure continued R&D investments into small molecule medicines.

“For patients battling cancer, rare diseases, and chronic conditions, timely access to innovative treatments can mean the difference between life and death,” said Senator Tillis. “Unfortunately, the Inflation Reduction Act disincentivizes research on small molecule treatments and undermines development of the most accessible and affordable medications. The EPIC Act of 2025 will ensure patients of today and tomorrow have uninterrupted access to life-saving and life-changing therapies.”

“President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act ‘pill penalty’ has hindered important research and development for potentially life-saving cures,” said Senator Budd. “The EPIC Act will right this wrong by encouraging more investment in innovative medicines and treatments that are needed to help North Carolinians live long and healthy lives.”

“Montanans in need of life-saving medicine should not have to worry about government overreach that stifles critical research and development for much-needed cures,” said Senator Daines. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing this bill to bolster innovation so that Montanans and patients across the country can get the care they deserve.”

“Incubate Coalition appreciates Senator Tillis’ leadership in addressing the flaws of the IRA and supporting the EPIC Act, which restores incentives for life sciences investment based on scientific potential rather than arbitrary policy barriers,” said John Stanford, Executive Director of the Incubate Coalition. “His dedication to ending the pill penalty will create a fairer system, drive innovation, and ensure patients have access to the breakthrough treatments they need.”

“The schizophrenia community has been marginalized for decades. Now, people with this brain disease stand to suffer even more as the IRA endangers the promise of new schizophrenia treatments,” said Gordon Lavigne, CEO of the Schizophrenia & Psychosis Action Alliance. “The EPIC Act is a much-needed fix that will help ensure that everyone with schizophrenia has access to a treatment that works for them. For the 2.5 million people living with schizophrenia in the United States, future treatment innovation is a matter of survival and dignity.”

“As an organization representing the voice of cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers across America, the Cancer Support Community (CSC) would like to thank Senator Tillis alongside Senators Blackburn, Budd, Lankford, and Daines for introducing the Ensuring Pathways to Innovative Cures (EPIC) Act,” said Sally Werner, Chief Executive Officer, Cancer Support Community. “Small molecule drugs are essential for the treatment of many cancers and are more accessible for patients due to their cost and convenience of taking them at home. Innovative oral cancer drugs are bringing improved efficacy and reduced side effects to patients, improving their treatment and lives. The EPIC Act would eliminate the unnecessary distinction between small and large molecule drugs in the IRA, allowing both to be eligible for negotiation eleven years after FDA approval. We must continue to ensure that all patients have access to the treatment best suited for them and that policies accurately reflect the needs and input of patients who will be most impacted by them.”

Background:

Under the Inflation Reduction Act’s price-fixing model, small molecule drugs are eligible for selection in the “Medicare Drug Price Negotiation” program seven years after FDA approval. A two-year “negotiation period” follows, with price controls taking effect in year nine. Conversely, biologics become eligible for selection 11 years after FDA approval, with price controls going into effect in year 13.

The cost to bring a new drug to market can range from several hundred million to several billion dollars. The IRA is crippling innovation by reducing the ability to recoup losses incurred during drug research and development, with many pharmaceutical companies halting research into groundbreaking treatments. This has left individuals battling cancer, mental health conditions, and rare disease without hope.

The impact is already devastating. R&D funding for small molecule medicines has plummeted by 70% since the IRA’s introduction in September 2021 and funding continues to be shifted to other projects. According to a University of Chicago policy brief, due to the 9-13 disparity, 188 fewer small molecule medicines will come to market, leading to a staggering 116 million life-years lost.

Full text of the bill is available HERE.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: AG Labrador Announces Dismissal of EMTALA Challenge to Idaho Defense of Life Act

Source: US State of Idaho

[BOISE] – Attorney General Raúl Labrador announced today that the new Trump Administration’s Department of Justice is dismissing any further action against Idaho’s Defense of Life Act, argued in Idaho v. United States.“It has been our position from the beginning that there is no conflict between EMTALA and Idaho’s Defense of Life Act,” said Attorney General Labrador. “The goal of each is to save lives in every circumstance, both the mother and their unborn child. We are grateful that meddlesome DOJ litigation on this issue will no longer be an obstacle to Idaho enforcing its laws. Idaho will continue defending life as intended by the legislature and our people.”
After the passage of Idaho’s Defense of Life Act, the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice sued Idaho, refusing to accept the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Dobbs which remanded abortion policy to the individual states. The Biden DOJ claimed that federal law under EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act), a 1986 federal statute designed to provide stabilizing treatment at emergency rooms regardless of a patient’s ability to pay, somehow instead mandated abortions, in contravention of Idaho’s Defense of Life Act.
The Idaho Supreme Court made it very clear that Idaho’s Defense of Life Act permits an abortion based on the subjective, good-faith medical judgement of a doctor who believes the life of the mother is threatened. Neither a doctor’s certainty nor immanency of death is required for this judgement. Idaho has argued that EMTALA does not mandate a standard of care, nor requires abortion, but specifically states that emergency rooms are to treat both mothers and their unborn children.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Former Bank Employee Pleads Guilty to Role in International Money Laundering Conspiracy

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

BOSTON – A Brooklyn, N.Y. man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston in connection with his role in a sophisticated international money laundering and drug trafficking organization.

Rongjian Li, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley scheduled sentencing for June 5, 2025.

In May 2023, Li was among 12 individuals from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and California charged in a superseding indictment for their alleged involvement in a sophisticated international money laundering and drug trafficking organization led by Jin Hua Zhang. The investigation revealed that, for a fee, Zhang laundered bulk cash for drug dealers and laundered profits from other illegal businesses. In less than a year, Zhang and his organization laundered at least $25 million worth of drug proceeds and funds from other illegal businesses through undercover agents. Funds were eventually traced to, and seized from, accounts in Hong Kong and elsewhere in China, India, Cambodia and Brazil, among other locations.

The investigation identified Li as a member of the money laundering conspiracy who, from 2021 through 2022, used his position as a Bank of America employee to knowingly open several accounts through which the organization laundered illicit funds. Li was also aware that some of the accounts were opened using fraudulent passports. As part of his involvement, when the bank’s financial auditing systems flagged or froze accounts for suspicious activity, Li helped Zhang circumvent the bank’s anti-money laundering protocols and move illicit funds elsewhere. In addition, Li was observed sitting next to Zhang at a dinner in New York, where Zhang discussed the different fee percentages he charged various criminal groups for drug trafficking and scams.

Zhang pleaded guilty in September 2023 and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15, 2025.

The charge of money laundering conspiracy provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $500,000, or twice the amount involved, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Pohl, Brian A. Fogerty and Meghan C. Cleary of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

MIL Security OSI –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: EA Chief Scientist sets out water monitoring vision
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Speech

EA Chief Scientist sets out water monitoring vision

Dr Robert Bradburne outlines a future approach to environmental monitoring at newly refurbished £4 million laboratory in Leeds.
Celebrating our new laboratory capabilities

Welcome, and may I add my thanks to you all for coming today.

I am delighted to be here with colleagues and partners to celebrate the opening of the refurbished laboratory at Olympia House.

Today marks an important moment to take stock of the amazing work our laboratory and field staff do in giving us the data and information we need to help protect and enhance the environment as part of sustainable development.

Understanding environmental data

The Environment Agency is a huge data producer and consumer. That is hardly surprising as we exist to influence a hugely complex system – that of our environment.

It is a system in a constant state of change. We see that change in nearly all of the parameters that we are measuring:

in the air which blows through our cities and countryside

in the materials that flow through our economy

in the water that flows through our landscape and around our coasts

All of these systems have changed hugely in my working life.

Future changes

If the future is anything like the past, we will see a similar amount of change over the coming 25 years, but those changes may all occur at very different rates.

Change may be decadal in nature – we know that the mix of pollutants in the air of our cities and countryside has changed enormously since the 1990s and some levels of some chemicals, such as phosphates, have fallen considerably in many of our rivers over that time period. These shifts will in turn create changes in other parts of the system, such as levels of freshwater biodiversity, all responding at different paces. In the context of a changing climate, that suggests a very dynamic picture for our environment over the coming decades.

That changing climate may also increase seasonal changes across our environment. The blistering heat of July 2022 in England was in stark contrast to the high rainfall and stormy weather experienced in parts of the country in 2023 and 2024. This led to the flow, and therefore quality, of water through our pipes and sewers, our rivers and aquifers, our lakes and coasts being similarly highly variable over the space of just a couple of seasons.

Environmental monitoring

And we must not forget that change can also happen to our environment over very short timescales. Pollution entering a watercourse from an industrial incident or road accident can create rapid changes in water chemistry and longer lasting changes on river ecology. I have seen the damage a single barbecue can cause to acres of peatlands in just an afternoon – impacting decades of restoration work.

That’s why we at the Environment Agency collect data on our environment in such a wide variety of ways, to address these many issues and different timescales. That’s why we need skilled people and powerful analytical capabilities to gather, process and analyse information at the pace required to take action, be that over the space of hours or decades. We cannot stand still as science and the environment changes, and the lab you are about to see brings together some of the latest technology to help us do this information gathering in new and robust ways.

Our monitoring methods

I must point out that our labs are not the only way we monitor the environment. They are very important to us, but only one facet of our overall information gathering activities.

If we focus just on water, we employ:

Continuous monitors for several applications

A network of hydrometry equipment watching river flows and levels

Sea and tide level monitoring

Ground water level monitoring through our ground water monitoring network

Earth observation and other remotely monitored data sources to increase the areas we can collect data from

We bring in others’ data too. We work closely with the Met Office to share data and analytical capabilities. We also expect industries we regulate to monitor and provide us information on their own emissions. In recent years that information flow has increased with more Combined Storm Overflow data becoming available, and this will continue with the requirements for more continuous monitoring under the Environment Act. Citizen Science programmes continue to flourish around the country, and we actively engage in learning from catchment-based research and other academic data collection.

Adapting to change

This laboratory, and the equipment and people in it, is a very important part of giving the Environment Agency the scale it needs to rise to this information challenge, and also to adapt and grow as our needs change.

Why do I say we need to adapt and grow?

As the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said – no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man. That’s certainly true for monitoring. We know that you never monitor the same piece of water twice as it flows through the landscape, but also the techniques and understanding we have at our disposal are changing all the time.

Evolution of monitoring

That’s important because it’s not only the water that changes – but the things that we want to know about it continue to evolve. As an example, to understand the pressure chemicals might put on the environment, we used to look only for 77 priority chemicals. Now we scan for over 1,650, with our labs being at the forefront globally in deriving new techniques for quantifying some of them.

And chemicals is just one issue. Right now we have:

100 different monitoring programmes and themes for water quality and ecological data

42 different legislative reasons for collecting water quality and quantity data

This means we:

Have a network of 13,000 different monitoring sites relating to water quality, and 11,800 looking at water quantity.

Take many samples – increasing from over 65,000 samples in 2022 to 99,000 samples in 2024

Produce a vast quantity of data – over 1.7 million measurements last year

Our dedicated teams

This sheer scale and complexity is a true testament to the expertise of:

Our field teams

Analysis and reporting teams

Hydrometry and telemetry teams

Lab staff

They have to work out ever more efficient ways of reaching the sampling sites we need to visit, to undertake surveys and get samples back to the lab here or in Exeter for rapid analysis. Just for water quality and ecology that amounts to 77,000 tasks being scheduled next year, and I am indebted to their perseverance and professionalism in delivering so many to such a high standard.

Looking to the future

But today we’re really looking to the future. What will the world of water monitoring look like in a few years, and what is the place for this wonderful lab refurbishment in that?

Well first, as a good scientist, I can’t know what the future holds, but today I want to set out a bit of a vision for where I want the Environment Agency to be going over the next few years to keep our data collection and analysis as modern, robust and impactful as it possibly can be in the face of so much change.

The Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme

This refurbishment has been made possible by investment over the last few years through the NCEA. This is an amazing programme of work involving seven different Defra Group organisations all working together in a way that they never have before to create a comprehensive baseline of the state and value of all aspects of our environment. It is driven by two main things.

The first is the Environment Act and the statutory Environment Improvement Plan. The Natural Capital Committee advised the Treasury in 2019 that to assess whether the Government is meeting its legally binding targets on the Environment and so meet the “significant improvement test” it would need to have a baseline from which to work.

I led delivery of the National Ecosystem Assessment back in 2011, which was the first of its kind in the world to take a snapshot of the state and value of a whole country’s environment and the services it provides to people and nature. It showed we have some of the best environmental data in the world. But it also showed potential blind spots.

NCEA objectives

The NCEA was in part created to fill those blind spots, monitoring in places we haven’t done so before, like our smaller streams, lakes and ponds.

It’s there to look at these things in new ways, including:

Exploring eDNA to understand the microbial and other communities in our soils and water

Developing new approaches to understand groundwater ecology and groundwater microplastics

Harnessing the power of remote observations and machine learning to map habitats

Future developments

These new data streams will come online over the next few years, with the full baseline complete by 2028. It will be a far cry from the Dudley Stamp survey of the 1930s using school children that tried to map our land into six broad land use types. It is almost impossible to conceive of the new insight it will give us and the science it will drive.

Understanding what works

The second reason for doing the NCEA is because we need more than ever to know what works. We now have an opportunity to manage our land proactively through substantial change likely over the next few decades. The introduction of the new Environmental Land Management Scheme means we will want to see how this impacts the 70% of our land surface used for farming activities.

Further change may be driven through our transition to Net Zero. The Land Use framework consultation and recent Climate Change Committee reports are both talking about very significant changes to our landscape. These will be needed to make space for nature, water, and emissions reduction, while also delivering new infrastructure and housing and maintaining food production. This will require information on how fast those changes are going and the impacts they are having.

Measuring diverse impacts

Because when we say “what works” we need to be aware that these changes could deliver a wide range of benefits or create other pressures. We will need to know:

Are we capturing the carbon we need to?

Are our water supplies resilient in the face of ever more variable weather patterns?

Are our habitats large enough, linked enough and of high enough quality to adapt to the changing pressures?

Are we investing in our environment in ways that increase the value of our natural capital?

The NCEA is not just about what is out there, but why, and what is driving change. This increase in our need for new knowledge is why we have needed to increase capacity in our labs to deliver these diverse measurements and analyses.

The future of water monitoring

When we then think about the future of how we actually monitor our water, a lot will depend on technological advances, which are challenging to forecast. I think we can expect to see more automated surveillance techniques being used, bringing more real-time understanding.

We will likely see:

More powerful satellites for remote sensing

Artificial intelligence and advanced computing methods in predictive ways

Better analytics unlocking more parameters that can be monitored remotely, such as water levels in soils, habitat structure and condition becoming possible to monitor

Higher resolution, higher time slice data sources

Innovation and science

This will be underpinned by further science, which will include more understanding of the systems so that we know what we need to monitor to detect a range of changes. If we can understand better the important nodes in the real-world systems we are studying, our monitoring points will become more targeted and more powerful.

It will also include more innovative approaches – for example in non-target screening as is being developed in this Lab – so we can understand our changing chemical landscape more quickly and advise on action needed.

Using more of these innovations in monitoring will safeguard the time and resource that will continue to be needed to go and monitor by hand where we need to get immediate or unplanned evidence. Incidents and accidents will continue to happen, and we will need to have the ability to respond.

Integrating new data sources

The big challenge is making best use of the new data sources at our disposal. From the Environment Act via the water industry, we will have potentially thousands of new sampling sites continuously monitored for things like ammonia, dissolved oxygen and pH. That’s not perhaps a huge range of parameters. Nonetheless it should help us to see if these outflows are causing intermittent issues to the river’s chemistry or ecology, and, because of the upstream monitoring, it could also help us to understand how these physicochemical parameters are changing through the rest of our catchments.

Also, the new technology and new sensors will require different approaches to data. DNA technology is becoming available to many. But this provides different information from ecology-based measurements. Our science suggests it can be powerful in detecting non native species, and it could also be a useful part of predicting ecological condition.

But there is so much more we need to do to capitalise on this and other new technologies. Every time as a regulator we invest in a new technology, we need to have high confidence that:

We can trust what we learn from the observations

Quality standards are maintained

We have good data and analytical practices

All of this needs to be based on sound science.

Working with citizen scientists

These technologies are becoming more accessible to everyone, meaning more data will be available from Citizen Scientists. We’ve seen Earthwatch expand into wider emerging chemical testing. And with better kits for some water parameters and expansion of some citizen scientist networks, data integration questions are going to be at the forefront of how we work together better.

As we look forward in this new “data world”, our work with Citizen scientists more than ever needs to be properly complementary. We have statutory duties to monitor in certain places using specific techniques. The involvement of citizen scientists can be incredible in providing deeper investigative input. So, if we accept we’re different in what we are trying to monitor, why we’re doing it, and the scale of operation, working together we can be stronger – as fundamentally we all want an improved environment.

Future collaboration

Later this year we will publish our citizen science guidance, designed collaboratively with our partners. This guidance represents the start of a change – ensuring that citizen scientists know what to consider to maximise the opportunities of their data being understood, trusted and used by the Environment Agency.

We also know we need to do more than simply providing much of our data into externally facing databases, to share the insights from our monitoring evidence. We get plenty of queries about what data we hold, even though so much is already available. So, I have teams looking at new and better ways of presenting this to a wide range of users so that everyone who needs to act to improve the environment has access to the information from us that they need.

Closing remarks

Thank you again for joining us on this journey. It really is brilliant to celebrate reaching this point in this lab refurbishment. I hope you will enjoy looking round to see the new ways of working that it will open up to meet the changing and developing demands of science and operations at the Environment Agency.

We will have our first new baseline from the NCEA in 2028. I expect it will tell us different things from the data we have collected thus far and enable us to consider doing things in new ways in future.

Ultimately, we only have one environment. And I think we all realise that we only have power to change some things.

I have a distinct childhood memory of a prayer written in calligraphy by my late grandfather at my grandmother’s bedside. It read “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference”. Maybe I can update it; hoping that this new lab refurbishment will mean that monitoring will grant us the surveillance to understand the things we cannot change, the insight to change the things we can, and the data to prove the difference.

I hope you will join me on this exciting journey, not just around the lab, but also into the future of environmental monitoring, and will be as excited as I am by the new opportunities ahead.

Thank you.

Updates to this page

Published 5 March 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: A march forward to gender equality, for everyone

Source: United Nations Population Fund

Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem on International Women’s Day (8 March 2025)

Investments in the health and rights of women and girls have changed the world, bringing us closer to equal voices and expanded choices than ever before. Women have taken giant strides forward – and are not going back.

The march forward for equal rights is unstoppable. It will continue until gender equality reaches all women and girls, everywhere.

Commitments made to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development and the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women ignited 30 years of progress – particularly on sexual and reproductive health. Activists and allies in every part of the world have mobilized to make motherhood safer and empower women with more choices about their fertility. Their advocacy has led an overwhelming majority of countries to pass laws against domestic violence.

These and other gains are historic achievements that have transformed women’s lives. Every aspect of women’s empowerment, from education to workforce participation to political leadership, depends on the foundation of well-being and autonomy provided by sexual and reproductive health. And when women and girls thrive, so do their families, communities and our world.

By unleashing the potential of half of humanity, gender equality leads to safer and more prosperous societies for everyone. This is affirmed in longstanding and binding international law agreements that most countries have signed, and is proven by rigorous evidence. Yet millions of women and girls are still left behind – every three seconds an adolescent girl is married somewhere in the world. There is not a single country in the world that has yet reached full gender equality. Investment in gender equality is a fraction of what it needs to be – even though we know it would yield trillions of dollars in economic gains and immeasurable social benefits.

Unjust laws and regulations still constrain rights, and healthcare services fail to match needs. Every 10 minutes a woman or girl dies at the hands of an intimate partner or family member. That single statistic tells us everything about how little progress has been made in stopping violence driven by misogyny and discrimination, and what society chooses to prioritize.

Increasing armed conflict and climate disasters amplify risks and inequalities, as women and girls face higher rates of unintended pregnancy and maternal mortality, and violence and child marriage soar.

This International Women’s Day is a call to march forward, with urgency and in solidarity, for all women and girls in all their diversity. Despite the many challenges, we have seen in our own lifetimes how much change is possible, and we have international law and fundamental human rights on our side. We have examples of change, and evidence of the benefits. These are powerful tools to achieve equality. Let’s use them.

UNFPA will continue to work with partners and allies, with governments and civil society, to uphold women’s rights. We will not rest until everyone can make their own choices about whether and when to have children. Until no woman dies while pregnant or giving birth. Gender equality will transform our world, for people today and tomorrow, for the benefit of all.

MIL OSI United Nations News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Florida businessman sentenced for migrant labor employment scheme, payroll tax evasion, worker death

Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

WASHINGTON — A Florida man was sentenced Feb. 20 to 48 months in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $5.5 million to the United States as well as forfeit numerous real properties and cash, and to pay over $55 million in restitution for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and willful violation of a workplace standard that resulted in the death of his employee following a joint agency investigation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Manual Domingos Pita, of Wesley Chapel, previously pleaded guilty to those charges on July 9, 2024.

According to court documents, Pita owned and operated Domingos 54 Construction, a subcontracting business for the wood framing of new construction homes. Domingos 54 was a shell construction company that Pita used to provide workers, including undocumented aliens, with construction jobs. However, Pita failed to secure the required workers compensation insurance coverage for these employees by falsifying in worker’s compensation insurance applications the number of workers for which he sought coverage. In addition, Pita failed to pay any federal employment taxes on the wages that these workers earned during the course of the scheme between 2018 and 2022. As a result, Pita caused several worker’s compensation insurance companies to sustain a loss of over $22.7 million in premiums that they could have charged had they been aware of the number of workers which they had been manipulated into covering with their policies. In addition, Pita failed to pay to the IRS over $33.7 million in federal employment taxes on those workers’ wages.

Between February and July 2019, investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued six citations to Domingos 54 for failure to provide fall protection to workers. Even after being cited for these violations, Pita continued to ignore OSHA requirements. In March 2020, Pita assigned a worker and three other carpenters to install sheeting on the roof of a residential home in windy conditions without providing the required fall-protection gear or ensuring its use. As a result, one of the workers was blown off the roof and died from his injuries.

The FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, ICE Tampa, Florida Department of Financial Services’ Bureau of Insurance Fraud-Criminal Investigations and the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay L. Hoffer for the Middle District of Florida and Senior Trial Attorney Banumathi Rangarajan of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section prosecuted the case.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: ICE Newark worksite enforcement operation results in 16 arrests

Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

NEWARK, N.J. — On Feb. 26, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel joined U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Port of New York/Newark in conducting an unannounced inspection of a CBP-bonded warehouse in North Bergen, New Jersey, to ensure individuals working in government-regulated facilities were lawfully present and permitted to work in the United States. ICE and CBP worked alongside the FBI Newark Field Office, DEA New Jersey Division, and ATF, to ensure that all facility personnel were acting in compliance with U.S. employment laws.

This operation resulted in the discovery of 16 individuals who were present in the U.S. illegally. The individuals were apprehended and placed under administrative arrest.

“This operation underscores HSI’s unwavering commitment to safeguarding the integrity of our trade infrastructure and, in turn, the wellbeing of the public at-large,” said ICE Homeland Security Investigations Newark Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel. “ICE HSI Newark is proud to stand side-by-side with our law enforcement partners to ensure the safety of our neighborhoods and our livelihoods.”

“In the current threat climate, enforcement efforts like this are critical,” added CBP Acting Port Director Jeffrey Greene. “Holding our trade industry partners accountable provides a baseline for operational proficiency. This baseline allows us to be laser focused on our broader enforcement efforts — keeping bad actors and bad things from harming our country.”

Additionally, this operation was conducted in part to determine whether imported merchandise was properly secured. Unannounced inspections serve to identify unauthorized manipulations of commercial merchandise within bonded areas, noncompliance with customs regulations, and unauthorized access by employees who lack the authority to access the bonded areas.

ICE is the federal agency responsible for upholding the laws established by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which requires employers to verify the identity and work eligibility of all individuals they hire. These laws help protect jobs for U.S. citizens and others who are lawfully employed, eliminate unfair competitive advantages for companies that hire an illegal workforce, and strengthen public safety and national security.

Under federal law, employers are required to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all individuals they hire, and to document that information using the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9. ICE uses the I-9 inspection program to promote compliance with the law, part of a comprehensive strategy to address and deter illegal employment. Inspections are one of the most powerful tools the federal government uses to ensure that businesses are complying with U.S. employment laws.

ICE’s worksite enforcement strategy includes leveraging the agency’s other investigative disciplines, since worksite investigations can often involve additional criminal activity, such as alien smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering, document fraud, worker exploitation and/or substandard wage and working conditions.

ICE uses a three-pronged approach to worksite enforcement: compliance, from I-9 inspections, civil fines and referrals for debarment; enforcement, through the criminal arrest of employers and administrative arrest of unauthorized workers.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Lt. Gov. Austin Davis Highlights Investments in Community-Based Programs That Are Making Pennsylvania Safer

Source: US State of Pennsylvania

March 03, 2025 – WEST READING, PA

Lt. Gov. Austin Davis Highlights Investments in Community-Based Programs That Are Making Pennsylvania Safer

Lt. Gov. Austin Davis heard today from law enforcement officials, victims service providers and health care workers at Reading Hospital, which recently was awarded more than $600,000 in state grant funding to expand and enhance its hospital-based violence intervention program.

“Gun violence is something we can – and indeed, must – do something about,” said Davis, who leads the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD). “I want to commend local law enforcement for the work you’ve done to reduce the number of homicides in Berks County, but I also know that one act of gun violence is one too many. Every Pennsylvanian deserves to be safe and feel safe, whether you live in West Reading or West Hamburg. We’ve been making progress on the issue of gun violence, in Reading, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and many other cities and communities, but there is still much more work to be done.”

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Governor Shapiro Signs Executive Order to Fill Critical Public Service Vacancies in Pennsylvania by Recruiting Talented, Experienced Federal Employees and Streamlining Hiring Process

Source: US State of Pennsylvania

March 05, 2025 – Harrisburg, PA

Governor Shapiro Signs Executive Order to Fill Critical Public Service Vacancies in Pennsylvania by Recruiting Talented, Experienced Federal Employees and Streamlining Hiring Process

Governor Josh Shapiro signed Executive Order 2025-01 to help fill critical vacancies in the Commonwealth workforce with experienced former federal employees who have specialized expertise in important fields like civil engineering, nursing, corrections, accounting, and more. The Governor’s Executive Order directs the Office of Administration to accept federal government experience as equivalent to Commonwealth work experience for civil service roles, ensuring former federal employees with valuable experience can more easily apply for essential vacant positions with the Commonwealth. The Executive Order focuses on adding workforce in already-funded job positions to serve Pennsylvanians more efficiently and effectively.

As part of this Executive Order, the Shapiro Administration will also begin an aggressive effort to recruit federal employees into Pennsylvania’s workforce, launching a new website with key information about exciting state government opportunities that align with their experience and hosting virtual and in-person job fairs for federal employees. That effort builds on the Shapiro Administration‘s work to streamline Commonwealth hiring processes, open the doors of opportunity for those who want to serve, and recruit a team that represents all of Pennsylvania. As a result of that work so far, the Shapiro Administration has reduced hiring times by 32 percent and filled nearly 600 previously vacant permitting, licensing, and certification (PLC) jobs.

The Governor signed the Executive Order at the second annual Commonwealth Job Fair in Harrisburg, where over 40 state agencies provided job seekers with information about public service careers and hundreds of open positions to nearly 900 registered attendees.

“Under my Administration, we’ve worked to speed up hiring, fill essential vacancies, and recruit more qualified employees who have helped us cut processing times, reduce wait lists, and deliver results for the people of Pennsylvania,” said Governor Shapiro. “Right now, Pennsylvania still has 540 critical jobs to fill – and we have an opportunity to recruit federal workers and veterans who have significant experience and expertise in all of these fields because they’ve held these jobs already at the federal level or in the military. Under this Executive Order, my Administration will consider relevant federal work experience as equivalent to Commonwealth work experience so skilled, experienced federal employees can pre-qualify for existing open positions with the Commonwealth – while continuing to protect pathways for veterans to continue their service.”

Speaker list:
Governor Josh Shapiro
Commissioner Pam Iovino, State Civil Service Commission
Jonathan Skripka, Commonwealth employee
Representatived Justin Fleming
Representative Carol Hill-Evans
Secretary of Administration Neil Weaver

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: PITTSBURGH – Shapiro Administration to Emphasize the Need for Postpartum Depression Screenings for All Pennsylvania Mothers

Source: US State of Pennsylvania

March 06, 2025 – Pittsburgh, PA

ADVISORY – PITTSBURGH – Shapiro Administration to Emphasize the Need for Postpartum Depression Screenings for All Pennsylvania Mothers

Shapiro Administration officials will join local maternal health leaders at the Allegheny Health Network’s Alexis Joy D’Achille Center for Perinatal Mental Health in Pittsburgh to highlight Governor Josh Shapiro’s proposal to identify postpartum depression more quickly and discuss the Administration’s efforts to implement universal postpartum depression screenings for all Pennsylvania moms.

Postpartum depression can occur weeks and months after childbirth, where mothers experience extreme sadness, anxiety, and fatigue that may make it difficult to carry out daily tasks, including caring for themselves or their babies.

Postpartum depression affects one in eight moms across the country.

Building on Governor Shapiro’s $5 million investment to study and prevent maternal morbidity and mortality, the Governor’s 2025-2026 budget proposal directs the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) to prepare doctors and nurses to identify signs of postpartum depression more quickly and speed up referrals to mental health professionals.

WHO:
Department of Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen
Department of Human Services Special Advisor Sara Goulet
Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs Deputy Secretary Kelly Primus
AHN West Penn Hospital President Dr. Brian Johnson
AHN Women’s Behavioral Health Medical Director Dr. Ewurama Sackey
UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital Chief of Psychiatry and psychiatrist at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital Dr. Priya Gopalan
The Alexis Joy Foundation President Steven D’Achille

WHEN:
Thursday, March 6, 2025, at 11:30 AM

WHERE:
AHN West Penn Hospital
4800 Friendship Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
(First Floor)

PARKING: Event parking can be obtained by contacting Allegheny Health Network’s Senior Public Relations Analyst, Emily Beatty, by emailing emily.beatty@highmarkhealth.org or calling 513-678-9620.

MEDIA RSVP: Media interested in attending must RSVP with the name of the reporter and photojournalist to ra-dhpressoffice@pa.gov.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: With Sales Chat, I think with AI and collaborate with my team, all within the tools I use each day… Super excited for more people to try it out, along with our new Sales Agent!

Source: Microsoft

Headline: With Sales Chat, I think with AI and collaborate with my team, all within the tools I use each day… Super excited for more people to try it out, along with our new Sales Agent!

This has become my new workflow to prep for customer meetings: With Sales Chat, I think with AI and collaborate with my team, all within the tools I use each day. No more logging into CRM, copy-pasting data, importing/exporting, generating reports, or juggling multiple apps. I just use the agent to surface the most important data and insights for the meeting. Super excited for more people to try it out, along with our new Sales Agent!

MIL OSI Economics –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop Launches Samsung Kiosks and Digital Menu Boards

Source: Samsung

Samsung announces Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop, a growing premium sandwich chain, will introduce Samsung Kiosks powered by GRUBBRR® and dynamic digital menu boards. With these new solutions, Mr. Pickle’s aims to enhance operational efficiency and customer experience across its more than 60 locations.
GRUBBRR’s dynamic technology, which is seamlessly integrated with Mr. Pickle’s existing PAR point-of-sale (POS) system was chosen for its rich technical functionality and capability to streamline operations while driving incremental revenue. Samsung Kiosks with GRUBBRR’s self-ordering software will enable Mr. Pickle’s to create operational efficiencies, reduce wait times and increase average ticket sizes with intelligent upselling features.
“Today’s diners seek convenience, quality service, personalized choices and seamless technology,” said Sara Grofcsik, Head of Sales, Display Division, Samsung Electronics America. “Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop embraces these expectations by leveraging Samsung and GRUBBRR solutions to enhance every dining experience. Through frictionless ordering and dynamic content management, the brand is able to stand out and create lasting connections with its loyal customers.”

In addition to kiosks, Mr. Pickle’s is implementing Samsung digital menu boards to enhance the customer experience and streamline operations. Positioned as the first thing customers see upon entering, these menu boards provide a visually engaging way to showcase menu offerings. Through the integration with Mr. Pickle’s POS system, they deliver real-time updates to menu items and pricing, ensuring accuracy and flexibility while creating a dynamic and modern in-store experience.
Samsung’s restaurant and retail solutions are renowned for their reliability, sleek design and cutting-edge display technology, making them the perfect fit for creating an engaging and efficient customer experience. Samsung Kiosks are designed to handle high-traffic environments with ease, ensuring durability and performance, while the digital menu boards deliver crisp, vibrant visuals that enhance in-store branding and communication. The Samsung Visual eXperience Transformation (VXT) cloud-native content management system (CMS) empowers Mr. Pickle’s to remotely create and deploy content across its entire network of displays.

“We are excited to partner with Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop, a brand that shares our commitment to leveraging technology for operational excellence and superior customer experiences,” said Sam Zietz, Chief Executive Officer, GRUBBRR. “By integrating our dynamic solutions with their existing systems, we’re empowering them to streamline operations, boost revenue and create engaging experiences for their guests.”
GRUBBRR software will capture and analyze data from customer interactions with the Samsung Kiosk, such as customer order patterns and popular menu items. Mr. Pickle’s can then leverage these insights to optimize menu design, minimize waste and enhance the effectiveness of their digital menu boards.

“At Mr. Pickle’s, we are always looking for innovative ways to enhance our operations and provide the best experience for our customers,” said Chris Schefler, Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop. “GRUBBRR’s technology, combined with Samsung’s hardware, gives us the tools we need to not only improve efficiency but also elevate our in-store experience with impactful, real-time digital solutions.”
The rollout of GRUBBRR’s self-ordering kiosks and Samsung digital menu boards marks a significant step forward for Mr. Pickle’s in adopting next-generation technology to support its growth and deliver exceptional customer experiences. Looking ahead, Mr. Pickle’s plans to launch the GRUBBRR Retail Media Network as a new revenue channel, leveraging Samsung Visual eXperience Transformation (VXT) to manage advertising content on its kiosks and in-window displays.

MIL OSI Economics –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Mice with woolly mammoth traits could pave the way for the resurrection of an ice age giant

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Timothy Hearn, Senior Lecturer in Bioinformatics, Anglia Ruskin University

A US biotech company has genetically modified mice to have traits from the extinct woolly mammoth. Researchers at Colossal Laboratories and Biosciences endowed their mice with the thick, shaggy hair of the mammoth and its efficient fat metabolism, which helped it survive in icy conditions.

Colossal’s ultimate goal is to introduce these woolly mammoth traits, along with others, into modern elephants. This general area of science has become known as de-extinction.

However, elephants have long gestation (pregnancy) periods, exhibit complex social behaviour, and experimentation on them raises significant ethical challenges, including the issue of animal welfare. Therefore, the researchers have chosen mice for the initial experiments.

Mice breed quickly, and their genes are easier to modify, which allows
scientists to test and refine their methods in an animal they understand well.

Instead of trying to clone a dead mammoth, Colossal is trying to transform an modern elephant into a mammoth. The process begins with ancient DNA. Colossal’s team extracted genetic material from woolly mammoth remains preserved in Arctic permafrost – a natural archive that has safeguarded genetic secrets for thousands of years.

By comparing this ancient DNA with that of modern elephants, the researchers identified the specific genes responsible for the mammoth’s distinctive woolly coat and its rapid fat metabolism.

The next step was to use a powerful gene editing tool
called Crispr. This molecular technique enables scientists to make precise modifications (changes) in an organism’s DNA. In the laboratory, the researchers applied Crispr to edit the DNA of mouse embryos, introducing the mammoth versions of the genes that control hair texture and fat metabolism.

Many experiments were needed and a large number of mouse embryos underwent testing to ensure the genetic modifications were successful. However, the work clearly demonstrated that these complex genetic traits could be replicated in a living model.

This is a process that would be far more difficult, and ethically challenging, if
attempted directly in elephants. However, the success in mice provides a critical proof of concept.

In an elephant, the process would involve editing early-stage embryos and implanting them into a surrogate elephant mother. For now, the work in mice offers a safer, efficient and more cost-effective way to test and perfect the scientists’ gene editing approaches.

Although the prospect of an elephant with woolly mammoth characteristics may still
be a distant goal, the current work with mice is an essential early milestone. By focusing on a manageable animal, the scientists can gather vital data and refine their techniques without the immediate complications that would arise from working with larger, more complex animals.

This methodical progression – from mice to elephants – ensures that each step is
shown to be effective before moving on to the next. Such incremental progress in science can eventually lead to groundbreaking advances.

Although the whole concept of bringing the mammoth back might sound like science fiction, Colossal envisions a future where de-extinction and genetic enhancement play a key role in restoring natural ecosystems.

Their research could pave the way for reviving other species, such as the thylacine – a carnivore that lived on the island of Tasmania – or the dodo, which once roamed Mauritius. The work might even contribute to the survival of current endangered species by enhancing their natural defences, such as introducing genes that confer immunity to disease.

As habitats shrink and species become increasingly endangered, innovative conservation strategies are urgently needed. Gene editing, as demonstrated in these experiments, could provide a complementary tool to traditional conservation methods.

By bestowing modern species with traits that once helped extinct animals survive in extreme conditions, scientists hope to improve their resilience to a changing environment.

Timothy Hearn 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. Mice with woolly mammoth traits could pave the way for the resurrection of an ice age giant – https://theconversation.com/mice-with-woolly-mammoth-traits-could-pave-the-way-for-the-resurrection-of-an-ice-age-giant-251561

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Banning swearing in Formula One could be bad for drivers – a linguist explains

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Kieran File, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick

Motor sport’s governing body the FIA (International Automobile Federation) has not ruled out extending its recent swearing ban to Formula One (F1) team radio communication. Last month FIA president Mohammed Sulayem said the body could “shut down the radios of live communication” over the issue.

At first glance, this might seem like a minor issue of professionalism. After all, athletes in many sports are expected to control their language.

For some, the idea that drivers need to swear during races may seem unconvincing, given that emotions can be expressed through other word choices. Many people are not permitted to swear in their workplaces, so why should F1 drivers be an exception?

But research suggests that banning drivers from swearing during races could have wider effects. It may disrupt how they regulate their emotions in Formula One’s extreme environment.

It could also affect how they communicate efficiently with their teams, and how they shape their identities as racing drivers – functions that swearing, arguably, serves in live racing communication.

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

To date, the drivers have argued that swearing isn’t just incidental – it’s a necessary release due to the extreme, high-pressure, adrenaline-fuelled nature of their sport. Research may support this claim, as studies have shown that swearing is deeply linked to emotional regulation.

Experimental and lab-based studies suggest that swear words are processed differently to other words. They have been linked to brain regions responsible for processing emotion, threat detection and survival responses.

Given that F1 drivers operate in an intense, high-stakes environment where rapid decision-making and threat assessment are key, this connection may suggest that swearing is a natural response under pressure.

Some studies also suggest that swearing activates the fight-or-flight response, triggering physiological changes like increased heart rate, faster breathing and adrenaline release. The fight-or-flight response is an instinctive mechanism that helps humans react to danger.

For F1 drivers, who must remain highly alert while making critical decisions at extreme speeds, this connection between swearing and physiological arousal could play a role in maintaining focus and performance under pressure.

Beyond cognitive and emotional regulation, swearing may also increase pain tolerance, which has clear implications for F1 drivers enduring G-forces, mental strain and long stints behind the wheel in a very cramped space. Banning swearing could interfere with drivers’ instinctive mechanism for coping with extreme conditions involved in racing.

Swearing and communication

Beyond these more cathartic functions, swearing, arguably, plays a crucial role in interpersonal team communication, particularly in the high-pressure environment of live racing. In Formula One, where split-second decisions can define the outcome of a race, communication between driver and engineer must be concise, clear and unambiguous.

Research suggests that swearing, far from being just an emotional outburst, serves several pragmatic functions that may enhance communication in such high-stakes environments. One key function of swearing in interpersonal communication is that it acts as an “attention getter”.

Studies have shown that swear words command more cognitive focus than neutral words, making them particularly effective in cutting through noise and grabbing attention when urgency is required. For drivers, an expletive-laden message may serve as an immediate cue for the race engineer and the wider racing team to prioritise a response.

The strong response from drivers may also reflect the inextricable link between language and identity, and that, at a deeper level, this swearing policy may challenge how they construct their identities as racing drivers.

F1 drivers are socialised into the sport, often from a young age, learning not just how to drive but how to talk and interact like racing drivers. Perhaps due to these cathartic and team communication functions, swearing may have become an assumed way of claiming and performing the identity of a racing driver.

People (and communities) resist imposed changes to their language, especially when it is seen to alter how they present themselves. Seen in this way, the proposed swearing ban is more than a simple matter of professionalism. It is an external attempt to reshape how drivers construct and “perform” their identities within their sport.

Entertainment value

It is also worth mentioning the potential effects on the entertainment values of such a ban. One of the biggest shifts in modern F1 has been the opening up of the team radio communications to the public.

Once a private channel for strategy and decision-making, it is now part of the entertainment package – broadcast, clipped and replayed for millions of fans. This has given audiences insight into the intensity of racing, but it has also altered the meaning of driver communication, turning functional exchanges into public performances.

Yet team radio is not designed for entertainment: it is for the vital, two-way flow of information during racing events. So any decision about what is broadcast should be a negotiation, not a policy imposed on speech itself.

It should also see the broadcasters accommodating the norms of the environment rather than the other way around. The FIA’s approach treats this as a regulatory issue rather than a broadcasting one, placing restrictions on competitors instead of reconsidering how private communication is curated for public access.

Viewed in this context, this ban may inadvertently create a contradiction in F1’s wider media strategy. The sport wants the authenticity of raw radio exchanges but not the discomfort of unfiltered emotion.

A swearing ban risks making team radio feel sanitised and staged, diminishing the very sense of access that made it compelling and exciting in the first place.

Kieran File 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. Banning swearing in Formula One could be bad for drivers – a linguist explains – https://theconversation.com/banning-swearing-in-formula-one-could-be-bad-for-drivers-a-linguist-explains-251424

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: How the EU is preparing to play hardball in the face of Donald Trump’s tariff threats

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Magdalena Frennhoff Larsén, Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations, University of Westminster

US president Donald Trump sees himself as a born negotiator with a knack for driving a hard bargain and striking a good deal. When it comes to trade, his approach is clearly positional, and negotiations are treated as zero-sum games with winners and losers.

Imposing tariffs – or threatening to do so – is his preferred way of exerting influence over US trading partners. While tariffs are unilaterally imposed – and not the result of negotiations – they can be interpreted as an opening gambit to gain leverage in trade negotiations further down the line.

Since taking office, Trump has already announced a series of sweeping new tariffs, including an across-the-board steel and aluminium tariff to be effective from March 12.

He has also presented the “fair and reciprocal plan” aimed at correcting any trade imbalances facing the US, including the EU’s trade surplus in cars. And most recently, he threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all imported goods from the EU.

As the biggest trading partner of the US, the EU is concerned. Yet the EU is also a formidable negotiator.

Negotiations are very much part of the EU’s DNA. They are the bloc’s preferred way of engaging with third countries, and in trade the European Commission negotiates on behalf of the member states, projecting a unified EU front. With more trade agreements in place than any other country or regional bloc, it is considered a champion of a liberal global trade order.

Unlike Trump, the EU prefers a more open approach. Negotiations are considered win-win games, with a focus on relation-building and trying to understand where the other party comes.

Its response to the provocation from Washington has been rapid and strategic. Even so, the EU has already found that the only option with Trump is to play him at his own game.

The art of other deals

Sticking with what it knows best, the EU has hurried to conclude trade negotiations with other partners to offset some of the economic losses resulting from potential US tariffs, and to demonstrate its continued commitment to trade liberalisation and international cooperation.

Since Trump’s election, the EU has finalised negotiations for a groundbreaking trade deal with Mercosur – a South American trade bloc bringing together Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. This agreement –- if ratified – will create a market of 800 million citizens and boost trade and political ties between the two regions.

Indirectly rejecting Trump’s “America first” approach, Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, stressed how the EU-Mercosur agreement is a political necessity, “bringing together like-minded partners that believe in openness and cooperation as engines of economic growth”.

The EU has also concluded negotiations on trade agreements with Switzerland and Mexico, relaunched negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement with Malaysia, and is aiming for a trade deal with India this year.

This reaction is similar to the EU’s response to the isolationist approach taken by Trump during his first administration. Most significantly, it then reached an extensive free trade agreement with Japan.

Cecilia Malmström, the EU trade commissioner at the time, highlighted how the EU and Japan were “”sending a strong signal to the world that two of its biggest economies still believe in open trade, opposing both unilateralism and protectionism”.

It was also the first time the EU used a trade agreement to commit to the Paris agreement on climate change – a commitment that was replicated in the EU-Mercosur agreement. This again, was a way of taking a stance against Trump’s broader rejection of multilateralism and withdrawal from the Paris agreement.

Although not intentionally, Trump has triggered an expansion of the EU’s network of trade agreements. But while these are significant, they cannot fully protect the EU from the effects of US-imposed tariffs. After all, the EU and the US are each other’s largest trading partners, and they have the world’s most integrated economic relationship.

For that reason, the EU has engaged in intensive diplomacy to try to avert the looming tariffs, and to lure the US to the negotiating table. It has expressed openness to lowering tariffs on industrial goods, including cars, while insisting such a move needs to form part of a broader negotiated deal, compatible with the rules of the WTO. However, these efforts have been to no avail.

This has left the EU with no choice but to adopt Trump’s positional approach and threaten to impose retaliatory measures. In response to the economic pressure exerted by Trump in his first term, the EU has expanded its arsenal of punitive measures, including an anti-coercion instrument that allows for rapid retaliation.

There has long been strong resistance to use such measures as it runs counter to the EU’s traditionally open negotiating approach, but the tone in Brussels has now hardened.

A tit-for-tat tariff war would negatively affect businesses and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. During his first term Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium, and the EU responded with targeted tariffs on goods, such as American whiskey and jeans.

This was followed by a political agreement, opening the door for trade talks. While a trade deal never materialised, it demonstrates how both the US and the EU recognised the need for a de-escalation of the dispute, and a return to the negotiating table.

This time around, the looming tariffs are more comprehensive, and they would have more far-reaching implications. The question is how long – and how damaging – the trade war will be before the parties return to the negotiating table. After all, that’s where you reach a deal.

Magdalena Frennhoff Larsén 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 EU is preparing to play hardball in the face of Donald Trump’s tariff threats – https://theconversation.com/how-the-eu-is-preparing-to-play-hardball-in-the-face-of-donald-trumps-tariff-threats-251506

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Growing Trump-Putin detente could spell trouble for the Arctic

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Duncan Depledge, Senior Lecturer in Geopolitics and Security, Loughborough University

vitstudio/Shutterstock

During a wide-ranging 90-minute speech to the US congress of March 4, Donald Trump revisited his determination to “get” Greenland “one way or the other”. Trump said his country needed Greenland “for national security”. While he said he and his government “strongly support your right to determine your own future” he added that “if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America”.

Trump’s ambitions regarding Greenland and its considerable mineral wealth are just one of a raft of issues in the first six weeks of his second term that have plunged European global politics into disarray.

As the White House ramps up the pressure on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to allow the US access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth, the US president is also talking about “cutting a deal” with Russian president Vladimir Putin. That deal would not only mean territorial losses for Kyiv, but would prepare the ground for a potentially far-reaching economic partnership between the White House and the Kremlin.

Currently, Trump and Putin are primarily focused on Ukrainian territory and mineral assets. But discussions have also begun on where else “deals” might be made, including in the Arctic.

A carve up of the Arctic is an attractive proposition for the two countries given the importance both leaders attach to mineral resource wealth. As in the case of Ukraine, such an approach would reflect Trump’s predisposition for transactional geopolitics at the expense of multilateral approaches.

In the Arctic, any deal would effectively end the principle of “circumpolar cooperation”. This has, since the end of the cold war, upheld the regional primacy of the eight Arctic states (A8) that have cooperated to solve common challenges.

Since the Arctic Council was established in 1996, the A8 has worked on issues of environmental protection, sustainable development, human security and scientific collaboration. That harmony has been crucial in an era in which climate change is causing the rapid melting of Arctic ice.

Notably, the Arctic Council played an instrumental role in negotiating several legally binding treaties. These include agreements on search and rescue (2011), marine oil pollution preparedness (2013) and scientific cooperation (2017). It also supported the Central Arctic Ocean fisheries agreement (CAO) signed in 2018 by the Arctic Ocean states with Iceland, the EU, China, Japan and South Korea.

The Arctic Council – and more broadly, circumpolar cooperation – withstood the geopolitical aftershocks of Russia’s seizure of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine between 2014 and 2015. But Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine left trust teetering on the precipice.

Within a month, European and North American members had pressed pause on regular meetings of the Arctic Council and its scientific working groups, isolating Moscow. Some activity eventually resumed at the working group level in virtual formats, but full engagement with Russia has remained conditional on a military withdrawal from Ukraine. Meanwhile, hefty sanctions were imposed by the US and Europe, including targeting Russian Arctic energy projects.

Russia’s response was to enhance its relationships with others. Countries such as Brazil, India, Turkey and Saudi Arabia now work with Russia in the Arctic on commercial and scientific projects. This pivot raised concerns among Nato allies about a stronger and challenging Russia-China presence across the Arctic. But the second Trump administration has changed the calculus. There’s now the threat of a new Arctic order based on the primacy – not of the A8 – but on a reset of US-Russia relations.

Change of focus

Trump’s signing of an executive order on February 4 to determine whether to withdraw support from international institutions may lead the White House to conclude there is no place for the Arctic Council. Its longstanding focus on climate change and environmental protection is anathema to the Trump administration, which has already withdrawn from the Paris agreement and is destroying domestic climate-related science programmes.

Climate change is bringing increased competition for access to valuable resources.
Peter Hermes Furian/Shutterstock

The longstanding commitment of the A8 to circumpolar cooperation, or even a narrow A5 (Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the US) view of the primacy of the Arctic Ocean coastal states, is likely to be dismissed by the White House, which favours the embrace of great power politics. While many have warned that the Arctic Council can’t survive without Russia, losing US interest and support would surely be its death knell.

In this landscape of “America first”, the prospect of Washington and Moscow dividing the Arctic and its resources seems increasingly realistic. In such a situation, the international treaties signed by the A8, and the CAO may also be at risk. Denmark may find itself excluded altogether from Arctic affairs if Trump gets his way over Greenland. At any rate, all the Nordic Arctic states are likely to struggle to make their voices in the region heard.

A key question for European Nato and EU members is whether Trump would worry about Russian dominance in the European Arctic if it brought US-Russia economic cooperation to extract the region’s wealth? Might Trump even be supportive of Russian attempts to revisit the terms of the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty, which ultimately gave Norway sovereignty over the Arctic archipelago (albeit with some limitations), if that too meant jointly unlocking Svalbard’s mineral resources let alone the wealth of the Arctic seabed?

What room, if any, would a deal leave for Indigenous people to be heard, or for international scientific collaboration on critical challenges related to climate and biodiversity?

If we have learned anything in the tumult of recent weeks, it is that European countries, individually and collectively, struggle to exercise strategic influence over contemporary geopolitical events. If Trump and Putin do begin negotiations over the Arctic, Europe may simply have to accept the end of the Arctic Council and circumpolar cooperation.

Climate science, environmental protection, sustainable development and the ability of Indigenous people to decide their future would all suffer. The UK and Europe meanwhile will be left to consider what, if anything, can be done to defend Arctic interests.

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

– ref. Growing Trump-Putin detente could spell trouble for the Arctic – https://theconversation.com/growing-trump-putin-detente-could-spell-trouble-for-the-arctic-251386

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: King, Blumenthal Raise Concerns Over Proposed $1 Spending Limit on VA Purchasing Cards

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC), are raising concern over a proposed spending limit of $1 on Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) purchasing cards — the cards used to pay for gas to transport disabled veterans to appointments, buy medical supplies, and more. The drastically reduced spending limit proposed by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would effectively render the purchasing cards useless and make it more difficult for VA staff to provide critical support and care for veterans. In a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins, the Senators call for the reevaluation of cuts to the VA purchasing card program, which would adversely impact veterans’ access to health care.
“It has come to our attention the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is considering a reduction in the spending limits on all VA purchasing cards to no more than $1 at the request of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. We have serious concerns these actions will impair critical daily operations across the entire Department and result in immediate and lasting impacts on veterans’ timely access to safe and high-quality care. These cards are used by VA staff to purchase vital medical supplies and prosthetics. They are used to purchase gas for campus shuttles to transport disabled veterans to and from their medical appointments,” the Senators wrote.
“Rather than continuing to sign off on every arbitrary and destructive idea from DOGE, we hope you will instead start meaningfully consulting with senior leaders across the agency to better understand the real-world consequences your actions have on this nation’s veterans, their families, and their caregivers. We therefore urge you to put veterans first and withdraw from efforts to dismantle VA’s purchasing card program,” the Senators concluded.
The full text of the letter can be found here and below.
+++
Dear Secretary Collins,
It has come to our attention the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is considering a reduction in the spending limits on all VA purchasing cards to no more than $1 at the request of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. We have serious concerns these actions will impair critical daily operations across the entire Department and result in immediate and lasting impacts on veterans’ timely access to safe and high-quality care. These cards are used by VA staff to purchase vital medical supplies and prosthetics. They are used to purchase gas for campus shuttles to transport disabled veterans to and from their medical appointments. They allow VA employees to travel across the country to oversee programs and ensure their proper execution on behalf of veterans and taxpayers. VA clinicians use them to visit homebound patients, and VA social workers use them to travel to homeless outreach programs. And any pauses or delays in access to the goods and services provided through these purchase cards could put veterans’ lives at stake.
Despite the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, VA still relies on a “just-in-time” supply chain. Oftentimes, much-needed supplies do not arrive on time due to factors beyond anyone’s control, and facilities are forced to purchase these items locally to ensure patient care is not interrupted. Moreover, of the up to 875 contracts you tried to cancel earlier this week, one relates specifically to managing inventory for VA’s larger medical supply purchasing program. If VA’s overall medical supply inventory is no longer being managed appropriately and facilities no longer have the option to buy supplies or services locally via functioning purchase cards, how will VA medical facilities remain operational? As one frustrated VA employee noted, even band-aids at the dollar store now cost more than a dollar.
For over a decade, Congress has been acutely aware of concerns surrounding the potential for waste, fraud, and abuse generated by purchasing cards. It has been the subject of numerous oversight hearings and reports from VA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Government Accountability Office. Due to these efforts, VA has taken considerable steps to improve the program’s oversight and governance. As an added measure, the OIG continues to conduct an annual audit of the purchasing card program to review compliance with VA’s internal controls.
Rather than continuing to sign off on every arbitrary and destructive idea from DOGE, we hope you will instead start meaningfully consulting with senior leaders across the agency to better understand the real-world consequences your actions have on this nation’s veterans, their families, and their caregivers. We therefore urge you to put veterans first and withdraw from efforts to dismantle VA’s purchasing card program.
Sincerely,

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Grassley Report Reveals Obama-Biden State Department’s Refusal to Exact Justice Against Iranian Terrorists

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today released investigative findings detailing the full scope of the Obama-Biden State Department’s pervasive obstruction of FBI law enforcement efforts before, during and after the Iran Nuclear Deal negotiations. According to legally protected whistleblower disclosures, FBI arrest efforts against high-level Iranian targets were severely hampered until President Trump took office in 2016; Trump’s election “result[ed] in an immediate move back toward normal enforcement of the law against the Iran regime and its supporters.”
“This report offers chilling evidence the Obama-Biden administration jeopardized our national security and demoralized the morale of FBI agents who were working to keep Americans safe,” Grassley said. “Democrats’ historic refusal to get tough on Iran emboldened its regime and allowed Tehran to continue funding global acts of terrorism, like what we saw on October 7, 2023. We should all be breathing a sigh of relief President Trump is back in the White House to restore American strength on the world stage and hold Iran accountable for its evil acts.”
Per a legally protected whistleblower disclosure: “The State Department and Obama-Biden administration officials persistently and systematically derailed criminal and national security investigations, creating a shadow amnesty program that protected scores of additional Iranian criminals. FBI offices abandoned dozens of Iran-related investigations and U.S. Attorneys shut down prosecutions after recognizing the State Department and DOJ obstruction would thwart effective enforcement efforts.”
Read Grassley’s staff report HERE.
Findings:
Unclassified FBI email records show the State Department, under the leadership of then-Secretary of State John Kerry, repeatedly blocked FBI officials from executing arrests on individuals involved in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Per an FBI official, in at least once instance, “Secretary of State [Kerry] personally told DOJ officials that they were to stand down on an arrest.” Kerry’s actions flew in the face of his sworn testimony to Congress; ahead of the Iran Nuclear Deal’s signing, Kerry promised Congress the deal would not prevent the U.S. from using its authorities to hold Iran accountable “for terrorism, human rights, missiles or any other non-nuclear reason.”

FBI officials elevated their concerns regarding the State Department’s obstruction to the highest rungs of DOJ leadership – including then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch – to no avail. As arrest opportunities passed, one FBI official wrote, “We are all beside ourselves on asking the field to stand down on a layup arrest, however as it stands right now we all have to sit back and wait until all the US and Iran negotiations resolve themselves.”

A State Department official characterized the absurdity of the Obama-Biden administration’s inactive law enforcement posture, writing to an FBI official, “it’s a little like WTF that [the arrest is] being held up (if you’ll excuse the phrasing). However it is what it is.”

Ultimately, FBI officials resigned to take steps documenting the State Department’s stonewalling “should there ever be a special investigation/hearing etc. on why FBI could not action law, and potentially prevent [a] national security incident.”

The Biden-Harris administration last year failed to muster a response to Grassley’s initial findings regarding this obstruction. Today’s report provides the fullest public account of the Obama-Biden State Department’s unlawful actions.
-30-

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Grassley, Coons Reignite Effort to Bolster Mental Health Services for First Responders

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley
Download audio HERE.
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Committee member Chris Coons (D-Del.) are reintroducing bipartisan legislation to help enhance mental health services for first responders nationwide. The Fighting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Act (S.825) would direct the Justice Department (DOJ) to develop treatment programs for police, fire, emergency medical and 911 personnel who suffer from PTSD or acute stress disorders. The bill unanimously passed the Senate last Congress.
“Americans rely on first responders and dispatchers in times of crisis. However, first responders’ high-stakes work can quietly take a toll,” Grassley said. “Our bipartisan bill takes an essential step towards ensuring first responders in Iowa and across the country have ready access to the care they need and deserve.”
“As co-chair of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus, I will continue to stand behind our first responders and ensure they are supported when they sacrifice their well-being for our communities’ safety,” Coons said. “These heroic public servants in Delaware and across America suffer significantly higher rates of PTSD, depression, and suicidal ideation than the general population. I’m proud to support the Fighting PTSD Act because we cannot wait to address this crisis.”
Additional cosponsors include Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).
The Fighting PTSD Act is endorsed by Major County Sheriffs of America, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and the Sergeants Benevolent Association NYPD.
Find bill text HERE. Click HERE to download audio of Grassley discussing the legislation.
Background:
It’s estimated 30 percent of first responders will develop a mental health condition at some point in their lives. The Fighting PTSD Act would require the DOJ to work hand-in-hand with stakeholders to establish evidence-based treatment programs for first responders across the country – similar to mental health services available to military personnel.
-30-

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Trump’s Dismantling of USAID is Anarchy Masquerading as Efficiency

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Hawaii Brian Schatz
Nothing about Donald Trump’s hasty and illegal attempted dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—and with it, the decapitation of American power—is remotely efficient. Just this week, USAID’s now-former Inspector General found that there is currently half a billion dollars’ worth of American-grown food stranded at ports and warehouses across the country, on the verge of spoiling. That’s corn and rice and lentils and soybeans, grown in Iowa and Kansas and Texas and Oklahoma, that would have otherwise fed children in a school in Bangladesh or famished refugees at a camp in war-torn Sudan. (The Inspector General was subsequently fired for disclosing this information.)
Similarly, there’s no efficiency being achieved by obstructing one of the most successful global health programs in history—the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief—which has saved 26 million lives over the past two decades. PEPFAR currently provides HIV treatment to over 20 million people around the world, meaning every day aid isn’t flowing inches us closer to the very outbreaks we’ve worked so hard to prevent.
Whether it’s delivering clean water to communities across Africa; or promoting economic development through education in Mali and small business support in El Salvador; or providing life-saving care in Thailand and Syria; or fighting human trafficking in Nepal and Liberia, thousands of USAID workers and contractors make miracles big and small happen every day.
But USAID succeeds as more than just a moral matter. Each year, it pours billions of dollars back into the U.S. economy, supporting farmers and businesses that provide food and other supplies. It also helps fight terrorist groups and drug cartels that endanger Americans, while deepening American values and interests in every corner of the globe. But perhaps the most underappreciated aspect of USAID’s work is its singular ability to forge relationships with unlikely partners which help combat the harmful influence of adversaries like China and Russia.
It’s no surprise, then, that Beijing and Moscow are now cheering on our sudden retreat. They’re not wasting any time filling the void, either. Within days of USAID’s closure, China sent aid and dispatched workers to take on projects we’ve abandoned in the Indo Pacific and Africa. Intended or not, that will be the enduring consequence of this episode of chaos: an emboldened China, all-too-eager to exploit American isolation to grow its own power and influence.
Like any organization, USAID is not perfect. There are inefficiencies and redundancies, and evolving challenges and emerging technologies present opportunities for improvement. It’s also entirely legitimate to question whether U.S. funding is aligned with our current priorities and interests and seek to adjust it as needed within the four corners of the law. Doing that is one of Congress’ most fundamental responsibilities—and something I was eager to work on when I became the lead Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee overseeing foreign aid last month.
But the abrupt and total shutdown of USAID—in defiance of multiple federal laws through which it was codified and funded—reveals a simple truth: The Department of Government Efficiency is not actually about achieving efficiency. Rather, it’s about Trump trying to wish away whichever parts of the government he doesn’t like. Were a purge of this nature to happen in a country halfway around the world, we would rightly call it an authoritarian takeover. The fact that it’s happening at our own doorstep doesn’t change that.
Much of what DOGE claims to have newly unearthed are either outright lies or were already publicly available for all to see. Worse, there’s no telling what funding they deem unnecessary—except for vague, baseless descriptions like “woke” and “radical” and “criminal.”
The way to make reforms is through the lawmaking process—not the lawbreaking process. If you believe that a program needs to be narrowed in scope, reformed a great deal, or even eliminated altogether, the way to do that is by proposing a law—not by rampaging the federal government and stripping it for parts. Our government with three separate but co-equal branches exists precisely to prevent this kind of anarchy operating under a thin veneer of fiscal responsibility and shrewd cost-cutting.
Moving fast and breaking things may be an acceptable way to conduct business at a tech company. But a break now, fix later strategy doesn’t work when you’re the leader of the free world. What’s on the line is not advertising revenue and the user experience, but lives and livelihoods. Hundreds of millions of them, in fact. People will die, diseases will spread, and famine will grow. Trump is trying to hoodwink Americans into thinking the only way to achieve efficiency is by exacting maximum chaos and cruelty. It’s a false choice and we must reject it.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Schatz To Meet With Federal Workers, Nonprofit Organizations In Hawai‘i Impacted By Trump Funding Freeze, Mass Layoffs

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Hawaii Brian Schatz
WASHINGTON – Tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. HT, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) will meet with nonprofit organizations that serve communities harmed by President Donald Trump’s funding freeze and federal workers in Hawai‘i who were recently laid off through no fault of their own, as part of President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s unprecedented assault on the federal workforce. They will discuss how Trump’s moves to stop federal funding and fire thousands of workers across the country have negatively impacted Hawai‘i residents, communities, and our local economy.
“Hawai‘i’s nonprofits and federal workers care for veterans, protect our national parks and other public lands, and provide essential services that keep people safe and healthy. They serve the public and keep our government running. Instead of recognizing the critical work they do, they have been unfairly and illegally attacked by President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk. Hawai‘i’s federal workers and their families deserve better,” said Senator Schatz.
The virtual meetings will include former federal workers and nonprofits in Hawai‘i that provide essential health care and education services, and help preserve Hawai‘i’s wildlife and environment.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Advice Plymouth contract extended to support local people
Source: City of Plymouth

We’re extending the contract for Advice Plymouth so that thousands of people can get the help they need to navigate issues such as benefits and tax credits.

The Council has agreed to extend the contract for the health, social care, wellbeing and financial inclusion advice and information service which is currently delivered in partnership by Citizen’s Advice Plymouth and Improving Lives Plymouth.

Last year the service supported Plymouth residents with a total of 18,647 issues, with the most common topics being benefits and tax credits, housing, employment, food banks, legal issues, relationships and families, debt and health and social care.

The service also supports residents with ‘Blue Badge’ and bus pass applications.

A decision is being signed today to extend the contract for two years from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2027, with an option to extend this for another year if required, to give the Council time to fully explore how we can best help with residents’ advice and information needs for the future.

NHS Devon Integrated Care Board contributes approximately 10 per cent of the current funding, which enables the service to go into clinical settings such as Derriford Hospital, the Glenbourne Unit and Plym Neurological Rehabilitation Unit, so that people can benefit from information, advice and support before they are discharged.

Advice Plymouth is also commissioned by the Council’s Public Health team to contribute to key financial inclusion work in the city, including:
- developing strong connections with ‘Community Builders’ and other partners to make sure information and advice is available in neighbourhoods, as part of the Council’s Community Resilience Project.
- Distributing the Central Government Household Support Fund to eligible people to help with the cost of food, fuel for cooking and heating and other household essentials.
Councillor Mary Aspinall, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care said: “We are committed to making Plymouth a great place to grow up and grow old and to minimising the impact of the cost-of-living crisis – and this is a service that helps us with these priorities.

“In the last financial year, the Advice Plymouth service helped people to successfully claim an incredible £5 million in previously unclaimed welfare benefits – that’s making an enormous difference, helping to make thousands of residents’ lives that bit better during difficult times and unlocking money they are entitled to.”

Residents can find out more about help available from the Advice Plymouth service by visiting the Plymouth Online Directory Citizens Advice Plymouth – Plymouth Online Directory or by phoning 0808 278 7910
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Aberdeen filmmaker inspired by story of soprano supported by Lord Strathcona A film created by an Aberdeen academic exploring the life of a soprano whose musical rise was supported by a former University chancellor has won awards and been included in the official selection of a number of international film festivals.

Source: University of Aberdeen

Pauline Donalda c1906A film created by an Aberdeen academic exploring the life of a soprano whose musical rise was supported by a former University chancellor has won awards and been included in the official selection of a number of international film festivals.
Madame Donalda by Professor Alan Marcus, Chair in Creative and Cultural Practice, examines the life of Pauline Lightstone, who performed as Madame Donalda. Filmed in Montreal, London and Aberdeen, it has generated much international interest.
Donalda’s stage name was a tribute to Donald Smith, who became Lord Strathcona (1820-1914) a Scottish-born Canadian businessman who became a leading philanthropist after making his fortune from investments in land, railways, and banking.
Born in Forres, Moray, in 1899 he was appointed Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen and later became its Chancellor.
As a 15-year-old, the purity of Pauline’s voice was recognised during musical rehearsals at a synagogue and she was then awarded a place at the Royal Victoria College (RVC), originally the women’s college at McGill University.
Lord Strathcona was a champion of women’s education at McGill and was a proponent of the education of women and furthering women’s opportunities.
He agreed to support Pauline’s ‘fully rounded musical education’ including study at Conservatoire de Paris.
Lord Strathcona’s second benefaction to the College was made under his middle name of Donald and the women supported by ‘the Donalda Endowment’ proudly called themselves ‘the Donaldas’ – a tradition adopted by Pauline Lighthouse who appeared on stage as Pauline Donalda.
After a successful debut in Nice, France, in 1904, her artistic career quickly took off. In 1905, she sang at London’s Covent Garden for the Queen and at The Brussels Royal Opera House.
These performances earned her tremendous acclaim and for many years she sang the leading operatic roles at Covent Garden and the great opera houses of Europe. She also toured Britain and sang at Aberdeen’s Musical Hall. When World War I broke out, she suspended her international career and organised benefit concerts to support the war effort.
From 1922 she devoted herself to teaching voice and in 1942 founded the Opera Guild of Montreal, which went on to stage the first Canadian performances of many operas.
Professor Marcus, whose own father Rudy Marcus received his degrees from McGill including an honorary doctorate, and at 101 is the oldest living Nobel laureate (Chemistry, 1992) in North America, said he was inspired by a story which pulls together many threads of his own life.
“I was told the story of Madame Donalda aka Pauline Lightstone by a great uncle of mine some 35 years ago when I learned that she was a relative of ours, and it made a sufficient impression on me that I was hopeful one day I might be able to tell it in film form,” he added.
“The key elements of the story involving a daughter of European immigrants to Montreal, who against the odds rose to become in her early-20s one of the great sopranos of her day, adapts well to film, because through moving image and sound one can provide a more vivid impression and sense of presence.
“During the years of research and drawing upon archives in London, Montreal and Ottawa, I was able to piece together through news items and her personal correspondence and much archival imagery, the various components of Donalda’s life.
“What was unexpected was the Aberdeen connection and the fact that her patron, from whom she took her stage name, Madame Donalda, was a keen proponent of women’s education and served both as Chancellor of McGill, where she studied, and the University of Aberdeen. The personal connection I and my family have with Aberdeen and McGill added an immediacy to the story.”
The film has received Best Documentary and Best Editing awards at the Experimental Dance and Music Film Festival 2024 in Toronto, the Best Classical Music film award at the Buenos Aires 11th Music Film Festival 2025, and official selection at ten other film festivals including the Los Angeles Film and Documentary Awards 2024.
Professor Marcus said: “It is gratifying that the film has been included in various international film festivals and won awards, but what I hope is that when people view the film they not only learn of Donalda’s talents and be intrigued with her extraordinary accomplishments, but also be enthralled by the short performances in her old recordings, and more recently through the participation in the film of Bulgarian soprano, Sofia Dimitrova, who brings the musical pieces to life with great passion.”

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 6, 2025