NewzIntel.com

Category: Transport

  • MIL-OSI Security: Manhattan Man Charged With Murder-For-Hire Plot Resulting In The Death Of His Husband In Brazil

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Danielle R. Sassoon, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; Antoinette T. Bacon, the Supervisory Official for the U.S. Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and James E. Dennehy, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the filing of charges against DANIEL SIKKEMA in connection with his role in a murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the death of his husband in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  The charges are contained in a Superseding Indictment unsealed today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.  SIKKEMA was previously charged in the Southern District of New York for passport fraud. The case is pending before U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos.

    U.S. Attorney Danielle R. Sassoon said: “As alleged, Daniel Sikkema and his co-conspirator planned and carried out a cold-blooded plot to murder Sikkema’s husband, a United States citizen, in Brazil. This Office will doggedly pursue justice against those who murder United States citizens, whether at home or abroad.”

    FBI Assistant Director in Charge James E. Dennehy said: “In the midst of a tense divorce, Daniel Sikkema allegedly financed the premature death of his estranged husband. The defendant allegedly hired a hitman to facilitate the international murder of his husband, and attempted to conceal his involvement in this callous plan. The FBI will continue to vigorously investigate any individual who selfishly and mercilessly orders the end to another’s life, regardless of where the crime may occur.”

    According to the allegations in the Superseding Indictment:[1]

    In 2023, SIKKEMA agreed with another individual (“CC-1”) that SIKKEMA would pay CC-1 to kill SIKKEMA’s estranged husband (the “Victim”) in Brazil.  At that time, SIKKEMA and the Victim were engaged in contentious divorce proceedings and the Victim regularly traveled to Brazil and owned property in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  To facilitate the murder-for-hire plot, SIKKEMA, a U.S. and Cuban citizen, sent multiple payments to CC-1 and CC-1’s romantic partner in Cuba.  SIKKEMA also concealed the source of each of these payments by using either a stolen identity or an intermediary to send them.

    On January 14, 2024, CC-1 murdered the Victim in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  In the days that followed, SIKKEMA and CC-1 continued to communicate and SIKKEMA arranged for a payment of approximately $5,000 to be made to CC-1 and promised to make an additional payment at a later date.

    On January 18, 2024, CC-1 was arrested by Brazilian law enforcement for his involvement in the commission of the Victim’s murder.

    *                *                *

    SIKKEMA, 54, of New York, New York, is charged with one count of murder-for-hire conspiracy resulting in death, one count of murder-for-hire resulting in death, one count of conspiracy to murder and maim a person in a foreign country, and one count of passport fraud. If convicted, he faces a mandatory penalty of life in prison or death.

    The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

    Ms. Sassoon praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI New York Field Office.

    The case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith C. Foster and Remy Grosbard for the Southern District of New York are in charge of the prosecution with assistance from Trial Attorney Chelsea Schinnour of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section.

    The charges contained in the Superseding Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.    
     

    [1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Superseding Indictment and the description of the Superseding Indictment set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact descried therein should be treated as an allegation. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Latin America is moving fast to protect democracy from excesses of big tech

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sebastian Smart, Senior Research Fellow in Access to Justice, Law and Technology, Anglia Ruskin University

    Brazil’s president Lula da Silva is one of the Latin American leaders who are concerned about misinformation being used to undermine democracy. Focuspix/Shutterstock

    Bosses of tech giants Meta, Google and X had front row seats at Donald Trump’s recent presidential inauguration. This special treatment highlighted the increasingly cosy relationship between leaders of technology companies and the White House.

    Just a few weeks before the ceremony, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg had pledged to “work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more”.

    Zuckerberg also highlighted, and criticised, the restrictions that the European Union and Latin American nations had put in place to legally restrict the social media giants. These include liability for moderation and limiting targeted advertising.

    However, Latin America is emerging as the region which is moving fast to protect democratic institutions from misuse of social media, and other technology.

    For instance, Brazil’s proposed fake news bill (Lei das Fake News) seeks to regulate social media and curb misinformation. It has faced strong opposition from Google. The bill is still under consideration by Brazil’s Congress.



    Read more:
    Meta’s shift to ‘community notes’ risks hurting online health info providers more than ever

    Other examples include how, in August 2024, Brazil’s Supreme Court temporarily banned X for failing to comply with legal requirements, including blocking social media accounts accused of spreading misinformation linked to the 2022 election. X had also failed to appoint a local legal official.

    The platform remained suspended until October 8 2024, when X complied with the court’s orders, paid fines totalling 28 million reals (£3.9 million), and appointed a legal representative.

    Brazil temporarily banned social media network X.

    The court decision has been part of a broader effort in Brazil to protect its democracy and restrict potential disruption from use of technology or social media.

    This push intensified after allies of then president Jair Bolsonaro used social media to spread misinformation (ahead of the 2022 elections), and then attack democratic institutions, and mobilise supporters in the lead-up to the January 8 2023 attacks on government buildings.

    Digital platforms were used to spread false claims of voter fraud and discredit mainstream media as well as spread misinformation about Bolsonaro’s opponents. These efforts fuelled conspiracy theories and protests, which later turned violent. In response, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court tightened regulations, ordering platforms to remove false election claims.



    Read more:
    Elon Musk’s feud with Brazilian judge is much more than a personal spat − it’s about national sovereignty, freedom of speech and the rule of law

    But the region’s regulatory efforts extend beyond social media into other emerging technologies. Colombia, Ecuador and Chile – among others – are currently debating regulations of artificial intelligence (AI) and looking at AI’s human rights and environmental impact.

    Chile was the first country to recognise neurorights (brain rights) in its constitution, ensuring protections against the misuse of neurotechnology, such as brain-computer interfaces that could read or manipulate thoughts, emotions or cognitive processes. These developing technologies could be used in medicine, but also raise ethical concerns about privacy and cognitive freedom.

    Political leaders across Latin America also regularly challenge global technology leaders over their effect on society. Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, has criticised Elon Musk’s support for far-right movements. Brazil’s president, Lula da Silva, said the world did not have to put up with Musk’s “far-right free-for-all just because he is rich”. Brazil’s first lady, Janja Lula da Silva, was even more direct. During a global summit on social media regulation, she declared: “I’m not afraid of you, fuck you, Elon Musk.”

    History of authoritarianism

    Many people in Latin America remember how political power was abused in the recent past to undermine democracy. During the military dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s in countries such as Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, many businesses supported repressive regimes.

    After the coup in Chile in 1973, Augusto Pinochet’s authoritarian government privatised industries and cut social protections with help from the Chicago Boys, a group of US-trained Latin American economists. The regime crushed dissent through state violence, and imprisoned and tortured thousands of people.

    In the early 1970s, Chilean president Salvador Allende had tried to establish the Cybersyn Project, an ambitious initiative to create an economic planning system using networked telex machines and an early form of algorithmic decision-making. It was designed to enhance state control over the economy, while reducing dependence on foreign corporations. But Cybersyn was dismantled after the US-backed military coup that installed Pinochet’s dictatorship.

    Today, Latin America may be better positioned to counter foreign influence than it was in the 1970s. Brazil’s leadership at the recent G20 global summit, where it successfully pushed for social media and artificial intelligence regulation, showed that there is a regional will to push back against the demands, and power, of Silicon Valley’s technology giants.

    The question is whether these countries can sustain their efforts against pressure from big companies, economic pressure (such as tariffs) and shifting geopolitical alliances. If they do, Latin American nations could provide a much-needed counterweight to corporate influence, and an example to the rest of the world of what could be achieved.

    Sebastian Smart receives funding from FONDECYT-Chile

    – ref. Latin America is moving fast to protect democracy from excesses of big tech – https://theconversation.com/latin-america-is-moving-fast-to-protect-democracy-from-excesses-of-big-tech-248487

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Is it true you need to love yourself before you can find romantic love? Here’s what philosophers say

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tony Milligan, Research Fellow in the Philosophy of Ethics, King’s College London

    The Dreamer by Cecilia Beaux (1894). Wiki Commons

    Consider the popular idea that you need to love yourself first, before you can find love from others. It was set out in the German psychologist Erich Fromm’s book The Art of Loving in 1956 and has been popularised in recent years by drag queen RuPaul’s catchphrase “if you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else?”

    But is it actually true? If we think of self-love in an extreme sense, as raging egocentricity, then the answer is a resounding “no”. Philosophers who reject self-love do so for this reason. Iris Murdoch is a case in point. She warned her readers that the proper direction of attention should always be outwards. Love others, not yourself.

    This is a very sacrificial way of thinking about love. If we think about love as the most important way of valuing anything, then of course self-love is desirable. The person who has no self-love has no proper sense of their own worth as a unique, feeling being.

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    This is the insight captured by the idea that we must love ourselves first. It’s endorsed by the classical philosophical tradition and is especially evident in discussions of friendship by Aristotle and Cicero where a friend is “another self” – someone who is due the same love that we have for ourselves.

    They treat love for ourselves as a basic background to a good life, and hold that something has gone badly wrong when any of us lacks such an attitude. This is a far less sacrificial way of thinking. One in which being loved and loving ourselves turn out to be inseparable.

    This is the insight that the catchphrase about loving yourself first plays upon. But it puts things the wrong way around. Coming to love ourselves often happens as a result of being loved by another person. It is an outcome, not a first step.

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    In your 20s and 30s, you may find that all around you people have paired off. There is a game going on, played out with varying degrees of success. Some people find themselves always on the outside of this game. They have never had a girlfriend or boyfriend. Never even received a Valentine’s Day card. They may have wanted these things, and waited for them, but nothing has happened.

    Many people live like this, with an exclusion from romantic love that makes it feel almost impossible to form an appropriate sense of self-worth. Those in this position cannot will themselves into self-love as a way of propelling themselves into the game. And they also cannot educate themselves into self-love.

    In your 20s and 30s, you may find that all around you, people have paired off. Detail from Hesperus, the Evening Star, Sacred to Lovers by Joseph Noel Paton (1857).
    Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

    Even philosophers cannot do so. Immanuel Kant argued in his Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785) that we are all autonomous rational agents and that this makes us equally valuable. But for those without a romantic history, their experience is not one of being equally valued.

    What they need is not a special effort of will but the experience of being loved. Or of having been loved by someone that they themselves have loved. We cannot draw a sense of our own value from the love of someone we do not admire, or from the kind of abusive person who systematically undermines our sense of self-esteem. Being loved by someone dreadful, or just wildly unpleasant, is unlikely to fill any of us with warm fuzzy feelings. No matter how smitten we are. No matter what flowers and chocolate they send.

    Being loved by someone we love, someone we value, is a different matter. Nothing shows us our own value so effectively.

    A good deal of my own sense of value, for example, does not come from a recognition of my autonomy or from a self-willed effort to think nice thoughts about myself. It stems instead from being loved by my wife Suzanne. Without this experience of being loved, everything else would be diminished.

    Being lovable

    Most of us enjoy an approximation to this experience of being loved long before we ever experience actual romantic love.

    Most of us have been loved by our parents, and up to a point by our siblings and friends. We even may have been loved by our pets – or at least by the dog, if not by the cat. But at a certain point, we want love of a more intimate and grownup sort. Love from someone who could simply pass us by in the street, but who does not do so. Without it, an adult sense of self-worth may remain permanently out of reach.

    This does not mean to say that that every day must be a whirlwind of romance, or even that we have to be continuously in a relationship.

    Suzanne and myself seem to have mated for life. We still buy one another flowers and chocolates for Valentine’s Day rather than gift vouchers and lawnmowers. Suzanne gets the flowers, I get the chocolates. It is a ritual in which we both win. But many people are just as content moving from one relationship to another.

    What seems to matter in each case is seeing ourselves as lovable. Whether we are serial daters, or hibernate with a lifelong partner like two creatures in a burrow. What we really need is the experience of having been loved romantically, at some point in time. And the knowledge that it could happen again. A recognition that we may sometimes have bad romantic luck, and may have made mistakes – but that we remain fundamentally lovable.

    Tony Milligan 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. Is it true you need to love yourself before you can find romantic love? Here’s what philosophers say – https://theconversation.com/is-it-true-you-need-to-love-yourself-before-you-can-find-romantic-love-heres-what-philosophers-say-247298

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump tariffs: there may be silver linings in the trade war storm clouds

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Scott Mahadeo, Senior Lecturer in Macroeconomics, University of Portsmouth

    bella1105/Shutterstock

    US tariffs – both threatened and imposed – on trade partners including China, Canada, Mexico and the EU quickly set off waves of retaliatory measures. The latest commodities in the sights of president Donald Trump are steel and aluminium – with tariffs of 25% announced for all imports. But not only do these taxes disrupt well-established trade flows, they ignite concerns over the very future of globalisation.

    Yet amid this uncertainty, it’s possible that there may be a silver lining. Trump may inadvertently be paving the way for a realignment of trade relationships and the emergence of new economic blocs. Such partnerships could foster more resilient and regionally focused economic cooperation.

    Trump’s decision to levy tariffs on its major trading partners disrupts the fundamental tenets of the gravity model of trade. According to this theory, trade between two nations is largely determined by their economic size and proximity. For instance, introducing tariffs to the close economic relationship between the US and Canada, underpinned by their shared border, effectively increases the distance between the two by raising costs and reducing the volume of bilateral trade.

    However, these disruptions can inadvertently encourage diversification of trade relationships. As companies and governments seek to mitigate the risks associated with tariffs, they may begin to explore new markets and alternative supply chains. This could ultimately lead to a more dispersed and – potentially – more stable global trade system.

    Yet as Trump continues to test the limits of his power, he is learning it is not so easy to defy gravity. Already, the president has dialled down tariffs on Canada and Mexico, while China has struck back with retaliatory measures.

    One positive spin-off of the trade war may be the reinforcement of regional alliances. With traditional trade flows disrupted, countries are increasingly incentivised to strengthen ties with neighbouring economies.

    North American outlook

    Canada and Mexico, long considered natural trading partners of the US, might pivot towards deepening their economic cooperation. They may also look to bilateral agreements with other partners as well as seeking new markets, strengthening ties with China and Japan.

    The USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) provides a strong foundation for trade. But attempts to dismantle this arrangement could see Canada and Mexico accelerating efforts to build closer economic ties with other regions, reducing their exposure to the US market.

    Trump reveals his plans for sweeping steel tariffs on “everybody”.

    Trump’s planned tariffs on steel threaten to undermine the USMCA. After all, it is designed to foster integrated supply chains and low-tariff economic cooperation among the three countries. This is likely to escalate trade tensions across the bloc, forcing a reassessment of the trade agreement’s key terms and destabilising the established relationships.

    European Union outlook

    The imposition of tariffs on the EU could lead to deepening integration among its member states. Faced with new pressures from the US, the EU might accelerate initiatives aimed at consolidating internal trade, harmonising regulations and promoting intra-European supply chains.

    Member states, with France at the forefront, are already advocating for a united response to counteract US protectionism. They hope to signal a strong political commitment to resist the pressures from Trump.

    Asia-Pacific outlook

    China, as the world’s second-largest economy behind the US, may seek to expand its trade relationships in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. As China’s economic growth model is export-led, it may seek stronger partnerships with regional players and invest in new trade agreements. This could potentially give rise to an even more integrated Asian economic community.

    A new economic order

    Whatever else plays out, these tariff wars signal a reordering of the global economic landscape. Such disruptions, though painful in the short term, can create long-term changes that rebalance economic systems. The natural trading partner hypothesis reinforces this view by highlighting how countries with shared cultural, historical and geographical ties are likely to deepen their economic relationships in the face of external shocks.

    Table of US trade

    Source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis (2025)
    Author provided

    In this new order, traditional superpowers may find themselves challenged by unified responses from other nations. By imposing tariffs, the US risks isolating itself from these emerging alliances, while its major trading partners may become united in their efforts to counterbalance rising American protectionism.



    Read more:
    Brics: growth of China-led bloc raises questions about a rapidly shifting world order

    The ripple effects of the US tariff row extend well beyond the directly involved countries, with significant implications for global trade networks. For the UK, already coping with the aftermath of Brexit, this new environment offers both challenges and opportunities.

    With US-led protectionism disrupting traditional trade channels, the UK could seize the opportunity to diversify its export markets by forging stronger ties with the EU and digging deeper into its Commonwealth alliances. It could reinforce its position as a hub for international commerce while continuing to cultivate its relationship with the US. Managing Trump is a delicate balancing act for prime minister Keir Starmer, as both are expected to be in office for four years.

    A word of caution – negotiating international trade agreements is a complex and lengthy process. This is the hard lesson learned by the UK. Its trade with the EU (its most important commercial partner) shrank after Brexit, driving the quest for new trading partners and agreements. But these fruits are slow to materialise.

    The UK formally requested accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in February 2021, but only signed the accession protocol in July 2023.

    And we should not forget that in 2024 the UK halted its trade talks with Canada after two years of negotiations, due to disagreements over the standards on some agricultural products.

    Tariffs come with challenges, but they might also be the beginning of a slow and painful change towards a more balanced and robust global economic order.

    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. Trump tariffs: there may be silver linings in the trade war storm clouds – https://theconversation.com/trump-tariffs-there-may-be-silver-linings-in-the-trade-war-storm-clouds-249526

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Video: UK Fixing NHS Dentistry – Public Accounts Committee

    Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)

    How is Government going to fix NHS dentistry?

    The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is examining the effectiveness of the Government’s plans to fix NHS dentistry.

    The Committee will hear from senior officials at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England (NHSE), including DHSC’s interim permanent secretary Sir Chris Whitty, and NHSE’s Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard.

    Just under half of the population had seen an NHS dentist in the 24 months pre-pandemic. This had only recovered to 40% by March 2024. The previous Government published its Dental Recovery Plan in February 2024, aiming to expand access to NHS dentistry over the next year. Other challenges for NHS dental delivery include the current dental contract acting as a disincentive to provide NHS care, falling numbers of dentists providing such care, and falling real-terms spend on NHS dentistry.

    The NAO found that as of November 2024, it was not clear that any additional courses of treatment had been delivered under the recovery plan; just one dentist appeared to have been appointed under its new ‘golden hello’ recruitment scheme; and fewer new patients appeared to have been seen following the introduction of the Government’s new patient premium. Ministers had also decided to leave the procurement of mobile dental vans to local commissioners.

    Other likely topics to be explored at the session include:

    • The current condition of NHS dentistry and the impact of the dental recovery plan, which has an ambition to deliver an additional 1.5m courses of treatment by the end of March 2025;
    • Addressing regional inequalities in access to dentistry, and the barriers to securing access to NHS dentistry for more people in England; and
    • Future plans to recover NHS dentistry.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2Da98pzBUg

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Video: UK Airports and Economic Growth – Transport Committee

    Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)

    Will airports expansion drive regional economic growth?

    Whether expanding airports in the south east of England can benefit the rest of the UK economy will be the focus of a Transport Committee evidence session.

    MPs will question Aviation Minister Mike Kane MP and a senior Department for Transport official, following a panel with economists and industry experts.

    It comes after the Government recently announced support for a third runway at Heathrow and proposed expansions at Gatwick, Luton and other airports.

    Witnesses may be asked to consider economic factors linked to airport expansion such as: the tourism industry, tax revenues generated, the UK’s large aircraft manufacturing sector, increased capacity for air freight, and catalytic effects on other businesses.

    The New Economics Foundation, which is represented among witnesses in this session, has said it has been “some time” since the Government has assessed the “marginal economic impact” that airports expansion may have. The think tank has also pointed to varying methods of calculating the net economic impact that increased air travel has on the UK economy. For example, whether greater outbound travel by Brits could see a larger proportion of consumer spending happen abroad rather than at home, and to what extent that is offset by money spent in the UK from international tourists.

    Heathrow has itself previously said that expansion would mean growing its workforce of 28,600 people to over 100,000. The cross-party Committee will question a representative of Frontier Economics, a think tank commissioned by Heathrow Airport to look into the potential economic benefits of building a third runway.

    There will also be questions about the capacity of airports around the UK, whether they are surpassing or failing to meet demand, forecasts on future demand, and the role that larger ‘hub’ airports could play with smaller regional ones – a ‘hub and spoke’ model.

    The Minister and DfT will be asked to explain how airport expansion will fit into a wider national strategy for the aviation sector, and how air travel strategically links with other transport networks such as roads and railways.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8EHcgHCdkI

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Two women sentenced for attempting to smuggle Mexican child into U.S.

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    LAREDO, Texas – Two U.S. citizens have been ordered to federal prison for attempting to bring a 7-year-old Mexican minor into the United States for personal financial gain, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

    Sisters Naidelyn Yuliana Vielma Jimenez, 22, Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and Bianca Jackeline Vielma Jimenez, 23, Laredo, pleaded guilty Sept. 17 and Oct. 17, 2024, respectively. 

    U.S. District Judge Diana Saldaña has now imposed a 36-month-term of imprisonment for both sisters to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. 

    On July 9, 2024, both women arrived at the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge at Laredo along with their 16-year-old sister and a 7-year-old male. At that time, they all purported to be one family unit and that the male was their 15-year-old brother.  

    They showed authorities a video and photograph allegedly depicting the boy with their family. They also presented a copy of their 15-year-old brother’s documents as additional proof to convince them the child was their brother. 

    However, law enforcement did not believe the boy was the same one depicted and that the child in the vehicle was much younger. Further investigation revealed that the child was not related to the women.

    The two older sisters ultimately admitted they had made an agreement to smuggle the Mexican child into the United States and transport him to San Antonio for a fee of $3,000. 

    “Prior open border policies have inflicted an incalculable human toll, much of which has unfortunately fallen upon innocent children,” said Ganjei. “The Department of Justice, and, in particular, the Southern District of Texas, will do whatever it takes to destroy the market for the trafficking and smuggling of children. For those who profit off this misery, you will be found and prosecuted.”

    Both women were permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future

    Customs and Border Protection conducted this investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jose Homero Ramirez prosecuted this case. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hickenlooper, Capito, Peters, Moran Reintroduce Bill to Boost Broadband Supply Chain

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Colorado John Hickenlooper
    NET Act will ensure broadband projects, like those from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, remain on track by identifying supply chain gaps early
    WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper, Shelley Moore Capito, Gary Peters, and Jerry Moran reintroduced their bipartisan Network Equipment Transparency (NET) Act to increase broadband supply chain transparency through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make sure federal broadband programs stay on track.
    Previous supply chain disruptions have delayed broadband infrastructure projects. A lack of transparency into the health of the telecommunications supply chain may contribute to future equipment shortages as federal broadband programs prioritize high-speed, reliable, and accessible networks.
    The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invested billions to jumpstart broadband projects nationwide. This bill would help to identify supply chain issues earlier so they can be addressed with less impact on these ongoing projects.
    “Our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will connect every Coloradan to reliable high-speed internet,” said Hickenlooper. “Supply chain disruptions delay the rollout of these projects. We have no time to waste.”
    “In order to effectively connect our communities, it’s critical that our federal agencies work to address any potential problems that would slow or hinder this process of deployment. I’m proud to join my colleagues in reintroducing the NET Act, which will provide us with another tool to monitor the supply chain so these crucial projects can be executed in a timely manner,” Capito said.
    “Resilient, efficient supply chains are essential to keeping prices low and ensuring Americans can get the products they need, and that includes broadband internet,” said Peters. “This bipartisan bill would fortify the investments we made in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to expand high-speed, affordable internet by identifying issues in the broadband supply chain early, before they impact American businesses, workers, and consumers. I’ll continue to fight for high-speed internet access for all Michiganders.”
    “In this digital age, access to reliable internet can determine the success of farms, businesses and even health care in rural communities,” said Moran. “Adding transparency to the supply chains that support broadband infrastructure projects will help speed up the rollout of programs designed to increase internet activity for rural America.”
    Specifically, the bill would require the FCC’s Communications Marketplace Report to describe to Congress the impact of supply chain disruptions on the timely completion or deployment of broadband infrastructure projects.
    The senators previously introduced the NET Act in the 118th Congress.
    Full text of the bill is available HERE.  

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Azure for mission-critical workloads in healthcare: EHR and beyond

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Azure for mission-critical workloads in healthcare: EHR and beyond

    In today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, digital transformation is no longer a luxury but a necessity. One of the most critical components of this transformation is the electronic health record (EHR) system, which plays a pivotal role in healthcare operations and care delivery. Organizations are actively exploring alternatives for their traditional on-premises infrastructures to overcome significant challenges, including high capital expenditure, frequent expensive hardware refresh cycles, outdated security protocols, and most importantly, managing the data web of siloed systems. By leveraging connected EHR systems in the cloud, providers can also unlock the full potential of their data and further deliver data-driven AI innovations.

    Epic® on Azure

    Azure for mission-critical workloads

    Migrating EHR systems to Microsoft Azure provides healthcare organizations with a robust platform for mission-critical workloads, ensuring optimized performance, fast data access, built-in disaster recovery, and enhanced security features, such as AI-powered threat detection and automated compliance monitoring. On top of that, Azure maximizes cloud investments, offering new possibilities to harness data to springboard AI innovations.

    Data is at the heart of healthcare. Hospitals produce more than 50 petabytes of data across more than 10 siloed systems every year. As the healthcare industry faces the dual challenges of managing vast amounts of unstructured data and a shortage of workforce, up to 97% of healthcare data goes unused, highlighting a significant missed opportunity for operational excellence and better patient insights.1 One of the biggest benefits for healthcare customers on Azure is the ability to unify their multi-modal healthcare data for analytics and AI with healthcare data solutions in Microsoft Fabric that lets them ingest, store, and analyze data from various sources and modalities. While Fabric unifies your data, Microsoft Purview delivers the data governance service that helps you classify the data across your data estate, including identification for sensitive data. Integrating Microsoft Purview with healthcare data solutions in Fabric not only strengthens security but also help you ensure compliance, enabling healthcare organizations to govern their data with confidence. We are acutely aware of the industry expectations in which our technology is utilized, and this is one of the many reasons why our healthcare customers trust Azure for mission-critical workloads.

    As we continue to deliver data innovations, we see our customers use their connected data on a wide spectrum of AI capabilities. With Azure AI, healthcare organizations can accelerate innovation through predictive analytics, automate clinical tasks, and improve patient interactions with the help of ambient AI solutions like DAX Copilot (directly embedded in EHR systems), as well as take advantage of Microsoft healthcare AI models in Azure AI Foundry and GitHub, a collection of cutting-edge multi-modal generative AI models that benefit imaging and radiology workflows.

    Enhanced support for mission-critical

    Mission-critical workloads demand comprehensive support. In 2024, Microsoft Unified enhanced its support for mission-critical workloads in healthcare through its Mission Critical Offerings. This initiative provides proactive support to improve the health, resiliency, and performance of healthcare systems via regular assessments, guidance, and optimization recommendations, ensuring business continuity and addressing unique healthcare challenges.

    Collaborating for technology excellence: A strategic partnership that stands out

    Our commitment to mission-critical is reflected in our collaborations with leading EHR providers such as Epic®. This long-standing relationship of more than 20 years has yielded an optimized solution for Epic® on Azure, offering a robust, purpose-built platform backed by joint-reference architecture. Recently, Microsoft announced expanded scalability on Azure for healthcare organizations, specifically for running Epic®’s Chronicles* Operational Database (ODB), increasing its capacity to 65 million global references per second (GRefs/s), a 171% enhancement from 2023 on the new Mbv3 VM series.

    The collaboration with Epic® extends well beyond the cloud infrastructure—to several products and capabilities part of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare. Epic® and Microsoft have expanded their collaboration to integrate advanced AI technologies such as Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and the DAX Copilot into Epic®’s EHR system. The integration helps provide AI-powered clinical insights, streamline administrative processes, and improve clinician productivity through features like note summarization and automated coding suggestions.

    Delivering value beyond infrastructure: The Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare promise

    Microsoft’s well-rounded partnership with Epic® is one of the many reasons why Azure is the cloud of choice for many of our healthcare customers.

    The decision to move mission-critical workloads to the cloud is often not just about infrastructure. Customers like Mercy chose Azure to not only modernize their infrastructure but also extract value from sizeable data archives. Mercy’s digital transformation on Azure enabled it to connect previously siloed data and use several Microsoft services such as Azure Data Lake to result in positive business outcomes. For example, by empowering care teams with smart dashboards and insights into factors that determine patient discharge, Mercy has been able to reduce patient stay durations significantly. Mercy employs Azure AI Document Intelligence to scan and recognize information on patient’s insurance cards which then gets updated on their EHR records automatically.

    We recognize our customer’s desire to have a complete digital transformation in the cloud that transcends every layer of the stack, and Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare lets us deliver to that promise. It encapsulates a broad spectrum of innovative data and AI innovations from Microsoft, purpose-built for the healthcare industry, enabling our customers to achieve their cloud-first goals faster and easier. Recently, Microsoft announced several innovations as part of the portfolio, including new healthcare AI models in Azure AI Foundry, capabilities for healthcare data solutions in Microsoft Fabric, the healthcare agent service in Copilot Studio, and an AI-powered nursing workflow solution.

    As customers realize the value of consolidating their IT investments around a single vendor, Azure is increasingly being adopted for mission-critical workloads. By seamlessly connecting and delivering value across all layers of the stack, Azure for mission-critical extends a customer’s return on cloud investments. Customers like St. Luke’s University Health System are reaping the benefits of their Epic® on Azure migration by taking advantage of several synergies in the Microsoft portfolio, like the interoperability of Microsoft Teams with Epic®. Security is of paramount importance when dealing with patient records, and customers like Jefferson Health migrate their Epic® environments to Azure with high confidence with Microsoft Defender for end-point detection and response.

    Next steps

    As we continue to transform mission-critical workloads in the cloud, we are making it easier for our partners and customers to create connected experiences at every point of care, empower their healthcare workforce, and unlock the value from their data, all with uncompromised privacy and security. Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare is supporting healthcare organizations on every step of their journey toward shaping a healthier future.

    *Epic® and Chronicles are trademarks of Epic Systems Corporation.

    1World Economic Forum, 4 ways data is improving healthcare, December 2019.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-Evening Report: With a ‘tradwife’ starring in Married at First Sight, a nostalgic vision of womanhood takes centre stage

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christina Vogels, Senior Lecturer, School of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology

    Da Antipina/Shutterstock

    When Married at First Sight Australia bride Lauren Hall said her main goal was to “serve” her man, the reality show contestant was reflecting a growing trend in western culture – the so-called tradwife lifestyle.

    Tradwives are women who choose to take up traditional gendered roles within the home, centred around serving their husband and children. This version of wifehood is underpinned by a deference to one’s husband.

    Because of this, tradwives tend to be financially dependent on their husbands and many also give over decision-making rights to their husbands. In essence, the tradwife lifestyle rejects the past seven decades of feminism.

    But why is being a tradwife growing in popularity in 2025, and how has it become so marketable?

    The rise (or return) of tradwives

    Social media is partly to blame. The tradwife trend has risen in visibility across platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.

    Influencer Hannah Neeleman from Ballerina Farm is one of the most prolific tradwife influencers, topping ten-million followers on her Instagram page.

    Other Instagram accounts such as Ekaterina Anderson and Aria Lewis are popular in their own right, with followers ranging from 100,000 to 200,000.

    All promote a joy of domesticity. They post about their daily tasks of baking, preparing meals, raising children and, for many, connecting to the land and living sustainably.

    However, underneath this joy of domesticity is often an advocation of subservience. Many tradwives openly promote the daily pleasure they get from serving their husbands, who they argue are the “natural” head of the household.

    Marketing a romanticised lifestyle

    Why, then, is this version of femininity so desirable?

    For one, tradwives market a romanticised lifestyle. Theirs is reminiscent of the 1950s: a golden age economically, where employment was high, consumables were affordable and the male breadwinner was supported at home by a subservient wife.

    The tradwife lifestyle also promotes a pioneering domesticity. Tradwife influencers often post about baking their own bread, make their own preserves and mending their family’s clothes.

    Many also wear pioneering-type clothing – blouses and long skirts with the signature tradwife apron. A number of tradwives such as Aria Lewis also have their own clothing and merchandise lines for their followers to buy.

    People’s need for “ontological security” (security of the self) – a term coined in 1984 by sociologist Anthony Giddens – is another reason why the tradwife lifestyle is followed by so many women today.

    Broadly speaking, ontological security denotes a desire for a stable identity. Academics Catarina Kinnvall and Jennifer Mitzen offer this explanation:

    As the world is becoming more fragile, contentious, and conflictual, we are, Giddens argues, prone to seek a sense of security, a “protective cocoon”, in established norms and routines and in beliefs about particular narratives of home and secure pasts.

    The tradwife identity offers women this security: a stable, strictly defined and seemingly uncomplicated identity that is predicated solely on serving one’s husband and children. The nostalgia for the 1950s and the pioneering “return to basics” life feeds this sense of security.

    A double entanglement

    It also seems women are desiring the tradwife lifestyle due to the damaging effects of “double entanglement”.

    Society constantly tells women they can “have it all”: sexual freedom, any career they desire and an ability to choose whether or not to become mothers.

    In reality, however, this is an empty promise. Sexually assertive women, women who appear overly dominant in the workplace, and women who choose not to mother are often heavily shamed in society.

    Herein lies the double-entanglement. Women are told they can choose how to live their lives but are then shamed for choosing ways of living that are actually seen as unfeminine.

    It is possible the tradwife identity offers women a version of femininity that provides safe haven from being shamed as “pariahs” in society.

    Sadly, though, there is no safe haven. When you strip away the romanticism of domesticity, the tradwife lifestyle only furthers the difficulties women face today by breeding a deep misogyny that is based on an intense subjugation of women.

    The new female right

    This misogyny is further entrenched by many tradwives’ association with the far-right women’s movement, which is gaining popularity within the United States.

    The BBC’s America’s New Female Right documentary explores the rise of this movement and how it further feeds into narratives that femininity ought to be based on submission to men.

    It seems this version of womanhood will only gain momentum as the world veers even farther to the far right. The uncertainty of today – with frequent economic crises, climate emergencies and other crises of humanity – will only fuel the need for a nostalgic, seemingly simpler life.

    On the surface, this is what many feel a traditional return to womanhood offers. But the costs of giving up the gains of feminism are not clear.

    Christina Vogels 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. With a ‘tradwife’ starring in Married at First Sight, a nostalgic vision of womanhood takes centre stage – https://theconversation.com/with-a-tradwife-starring-in-married-at-first-sight-a-nostalgic-vision-of-womanhood-takes-centre-stage-248861

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How smarter greenhouses could improve the UK’s food security

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sven Batke, Associate Head of Research and Knowledge Exchange – Reader in Plant Science, Edge Hill University

    A tomato greenhouse in north-west England. Sven Batke, CC BY-NC-ND

    When was the last time you walked into a supermarket and marvelled at the abundance of exotic fruits and vegetables, even in the dead of winter? This luxury, now an expectation, only became common in the mid-20th century, reaching the UK some decades later.

    Not long ago, winter produce in UK supermarkets was limited; root vegetables like carrots, potatoes, and parsnips, alongside hardy greens such as kale and cabbage. Fruits were even scarcer, mostly apples and pears. Today’s variety owes much to advances in global trade and smarter greenhouses, which help extend growing seasons and bring once seasonal produce to shelves all year round.

    Fast forward just one generation, and now supermarket shelves are stocked with dragon fruit, bananas, coconuts, avocados, and a variety of exotic nuts and vegetables. These items not only hail from the farthest reaches of the globe, but have also been bred to offer consumers unique sensory experiences or health benefits, such as higher concentrations of antioxidants. It’s no surprise that most of these exotic foods are often not grown locally or even within Europe.

    According to the latest government figures from 2023, 53% of the vegetables consumed in the UK are imported, and only 17% of fruits are grown locally. The contrast is stark when you look at exports, which remain relatively small (about 100,000 tonnes in 2023).

    UK food security could be improved by growing more produce inside smart greenhouses.
    Sven Batke, CC BY-NC-ND

    How often do you eat a UK-grown strawberry or tomato outside summer? Many such vegetables come from the Netherlands, Morocco and Spain, while most fruit comes from Colombia, Costa Rica and Brazil. No surprise, given their warmer climates. The UK averages 9-12°C annually, compared to Morocco’s 18-20°C.

    Increasing demand for exotic foods available year-round has made the UK’s food system vulnerable to external market fluctuations. Disruptions, such as trade barriers following Brexit or global hikes in energy prices due to the Ukraine war have placed supply chains under strain.

    Empty supermarket shelves could become more common if we see disruptions in supply chains, putting further pressure on the undervalued domestic growing sector. But could the UK grow more of its own food and reduce reliance on volatile global markets?

    Hi-tech solutions

    Protected horticulture (specifically in the food sector, as opposed to ornamental plants) involves growing fruits and vegetables year-round in controlled environments, such as polytunnels, greenhouses and indoor vertical farms.

    These facilities regulate temperature, humidity and light, and in some cases, even atmospheric gases like CO₂. Water and nutrient inputs are also tightly controlled, reducing waste by up to 95% compared to traditional field-grown methods. This allows year-around protection from the elements. They are often overlooked despite holding the key to solving some of the current food security challenges.



    Read more:
    Four myths about vertical farming debunked by an expert

    As part of the Greenhouse Innovation Consortium, my team of biologists, geographers and I recently mapped over 12,000 greenhouses in Britain. Estimates suggest that around 70% of these structures are more than 40 years old.

    So why haven’t we seen more UK-grown fruits and vegetables on supermarket shelves if we have the technology to produce them? One major reason is the high energy demand of indoor growing, especially in cold and cloudy weather – something we are all too familiar with in the UK. For example, 2024 has seen one of the worse years in total recorded sun hours.

    The UK’s horticulture sector has also received very little government support over the years. There are few incentives for growers to adopt new technology or upgrade infrastructure. Many UK growers still have not adopted technologies like automatic harvest robots or AI-controlled systems, and even simple upgrades like LED growing lights could boost yield by over 50%. However, resource management in this sector requires experience and making these changes is a fine balancing act.

    Most British greenhouses are more than 40 years old so investment is needed to upgrade them.
    Sven Batke, CC BY-NC-ND

    But the future can be bright – if we choose to make it so. To grow more produce all year round without compromising on flavour, the sector needs more investment in local expertise and cutting-edge facilities.

    From precision horticulture to advanced AI-controlled greenhouses, with the right drive and investment, the UK could move towards a more sustainable food production system. Sweden for example is currently investing over £700 million into horticulture.

    While achieving 100% self-sufficiency may not be feasible due to other demands on land, such as housing, conservation, and industry, creating a more resilient and less dependent food sector would benefit everyone (not to mention reducing food miles).

    The UK’s food future doesn’t have to rely on global markets. With investment and innovation, the country can build a resilient, sustainable food system. Year-round demand for exotic produce has exposed supply chain fragility, but fostering domestic growth and technology can change the narrative.

    It’s not about turning back the clock, but about making the most of what the UK has while driving forward the solutions that make sense for the country’s future. The answer is not just more local food. It’s smarter, more resilient food systems that can weather whatever challenges lie ahead.

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

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Sven Batke works together with industry growers and manufactures in the horticulture industry. The work we are doing is part of the Greenhouse Innovation Consortium, which aims to support local growers in the UK.

    – ref. How smarter greenhouses could improve the UK’s food security – https://theconversation.com/how-smarter-greenhouses-could-improve-the-uks-food-security-248719

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why is there an increase in lung cancer among women who have never smoked?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Pinar Uysal-Onganer, Reader in Molecular Biology, University of Westminster

    Lung cancer cases are increasing in people who have never smoked, especially in women, a new study by the World Health Organization’s cancer agency has found.

    The findings, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, reveal that lung adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer among non-smokers, accounts for nearly 60% of lung cancer cases in women compared to 45% in men.

    About 2.5 million new lung cancer cases were diagnosed worldwide in 2022 – an increase of 300,000 since 2020. The study suggests that environmental factors, particularly air pollution, along with genetic predisposition and immune responses, may be driving this rise in non-smoking-related lung cancer.

    One of the most significant risk factors for lung cancer in non-smokers is genetic mutations, especially mutations in the EGFR gene. This gene provides instructions for producing a protein on the surface of cells involved in growth and division.

    Mutations in this gene drive uncontrolled cell division and tumour growth. They are found in 50% of lung adenocarcinomas in non-smoking Asian women and 19% in non-smoking western women – compared with 10–20% in non-smoking men.

    Advances in genetic testing have made it easier to detect these mutations. However, rising exposure to air pollution, which is known to trigger EGFR mutations – may also be contributing to their increasing prevalence.

    Other genetic changes that drive tumour growth include mutations in the genes ALK and ROS1, which are found in about 5% of lung cancer cases in non-smokers. These mutations are more often seen in younger non-smoking women, particularly in Asia. Thankfully, improved screening programmes, especially in east Asian countries, have helped detect these mutations more frequently.

    Mutations in TP53, a crucial tumour-suppressing gene, also appear to be more commonly found in non-smoking women than in men. This gene prevents cells from becoming cancerous, and its mutation leads to out-of-control cell growth. The hormone oestrogen can interact with TP53 mutations, making lung cancer more likely to develop in women over time.

    Another gene that is worth mentioning is KRAS. Mutations in this gene are usually associated with smoking-related lung cancer, however, they are increasingly being found in non-smokers – particularly women.

    Recent studies suggest that exposure to tiny particles in the air, or PM2.5 (so-called because they are 2.5 micrometres or smaller) may be responsible for these mutations in non-smoker women.

    Since PM2.5 levels continue to rise in many towns and cities, exposure to these particles could be another factor not only in lung cancer but also in other types of cancers in women.

    In addition to genetic predisposition, hormone fluctuations may influence tumour growth in women. Oestrogen receptors are found in lung tissue, and experimental studies suggest that oestrogen promotes tumour growth. Studies have shown.) that women who receive hormone-replacement therapy (HRT), have a lower risk of lung cancer compared with women not on HRT, suggesting that natural oestrogen cycles may provide some level of protection.

    Chronic inflammation

    Beyond genetics and hormones, chronic inflammation could also explain why lung cancer is rising among non-smoking women.

    Women are more likely to develop autoimmune diseases than men, and problems with the immune system can play a role in cancer. Persistent inflammation can cause repeated damage to tissues, leading to changes in DNA and promote abnormal cell growth, all of which raise the risk of cancer.

    Women with autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus have a higher chance of getting lung cancer, possibly because of long-lasting inflammation in the lungs. Inflammatory molecules – like interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor-alpha – can exacerbate the cancer by helping tumour cells survive and spread.

    Autoimmune diseases have been increasing globally, probably because of environmental changes, changes in diet and shifts in gut microbiomes (the constellation of microorganisms that live in our guts and play an important role in our health). Because women are disproportionately affected by autoimmune conditions, they may be more vulnerable to chronic inflammation-driven cancer.

    As life expectancy increases, more women are accumulating years of immune system activation, leading to a higher risk of developing inflammation-related lung cancer. In addition, things like pollution, household chemicals and work-related exposures can make immune system problems worse, increasing the risk of cancer even more.

    Air pollution has long been recognised as a significant factor in lung cancer risk, but emerging evidence suggests that women may be particularly vulnerable. Studies show that women’s lung anatomy and function make them more susceptible to the harmful effects of pollutants. Women’s lungs are smaller than men’s, with narrower airways, which might cause more fine particles, like PM2.5, to get trapped in their lungs.

    Additionally, oestrogen has been shown to amplify inflammatory responses when exposed to pollutants, potentially making lung tissue more prone to damage that can lead to lung cancer.

    Women are more exposed to air pollution than men, but in a different way. While men often face pollution from factory work, women spend more time indoors where toxic fumes from cooking and heating are more common.

    Air pollution in the home, especially from things like wood, coal and kerosene, can raise the risk of lung cancer. Women working in places such as textile factories, beauty salons and hospitals are also more exposed to harmful chemicals that can damage the lungs. In rapidly growing cities, women are often in areas with high traffic and factory pollution.

    More significant

    Women are biologically more likely than men to develop certain genetic mutations that increase the risk of lung cancer. However, factors like rising pollution, changes in hormone levels, immune system imbalances and longer life expectancy are making these risks even more significant.

    Recent research suggests that HPV, a virus, may also contribute to lung cancer in women, underscoring the need for further study and preventative measures.

    Understanding the roles of immune, hormonal, genetic and viral factors is key to spotting lung cancer early, creating more effective treatments and developing better ways to prevent it.

    Pinar Uysal-Onganer 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. Why is there an increase in lung cancer among women who have never smoked? – https://theconversation.com/why-is-there-an-increase-in-lung-cancer-among-women-who-have-never-smoked-249406

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Most animals have their own version of tree rings – here’s how we biologists use them to help species thrive

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Anna Sturrock, Senior Lecturer, School of Life Sciences, University of Essex

    Narwhal tusks reveal how they’re affected by declining Arctic ice. Saifullahphtographer

    We have a natural fascination with time – how landscapes have been carved over millennia, how our bodies grow and sag with age, how the stars traverse the sky each night. Scientists probe the layers beneath our feet to understand the secrets of our past. Geologists and palaeontologists sample ice, rock and fossils to reconstruct past climates and species and archaeologists pick through ancient “dustbins” (middens) in excavation sites to reimagine our historical dinner time.

    Similarly, most living things produce records of their own existence in layered body tissues – often in the form of daily or yearly growth bands. The most familiar of these so-called biochronologies are tree rings, which form every year in response to seasonal cycles in temperature and rainfall.

    Dendrochronology – the art of tree-ring counting – allows us to precisely date trees. Based on the rings in its trunk, a bristlecone pine in eastern California known as Methuselah is said to be the world’s oldest living thing at 4,856 years old.

    Methuselah, the world’s oldest living tree.
    Xiaoling Sun

    It’s not just the number of rings, either – their width tells us whether the tree was thriving in a particular year, or suffering due to drought. Chemical compounds locked into the wood offer clues about atmospheric changes, including those produced by volcanic eruptions.

    Tree rings are famously detailed life records.
    Veroja

    Let’s not not stop at trees – your own tooth cement, nails and hair are forming chemical and visual records of your own life experience right now, storing traces of food, drink and drugs you have consumed. They can also produce “stress marks” during trauma or pregnancy, when a mother literally breaks her own body tissues to grow and nourish her baby.

    Elsewhere in the natural world, some of the more surprising examples of biochronologies include whale earwax, narwhal tusks, bird feathers and the bony plates (scutes) on turtle shells.

    Turtle power.
    VLADIMIR VK

    Recent studies, for instance, have applied forensic analyses of whale earwax to explore their stress levels during historic whaling days. Narwhal tusks, meanwhile, have helped explain how declining Arctic sea ice has affected their diet and exposure to pollution.

    The importance of otoliths

    In my lab, we work with aquatic animals – from fish scales and ear bones to squid eyes and beaks. Like decoding a biological black box, we analyse chemical constituents in the growth layers to reconstruct a detailed picture of the individual’s prior health, diet and movements.

    Some biochronologies are more “fickle”, forming layers at unpredictable rates, including the eye lenses of fish and turtle scutes. Others, such as bird feathers, are shorter lived due to periodic moulting. Yet they all share the important feature of serial growth, producing valuable archives that we can probe to build a picture of the animal’s life.

    Probably the best known biochronometer in the animal world – and my own personal obsession – is the fish otolith, or ear bone (Ancient Greek: oto is ear and líthos is stone). We humans have tiny ear stones (otoconia), whose primary function is to maintain balance, but fish otoliths are also crucial for hearing, as well as featuring specific properties that make them particularly valuable markers of biochronology.

    Unlike “normal” bones, fish otoliths are composed of calcium carbonate crystals and are metabolically inert, meaning they never get broken down and rebuilt. Instead they keep growing – even during periods of starvation – producing daily and annual growth bands.

    These beautiful crystalline structures are also highly resistant to degradation and vary in shape between species. This enables scientists to use a combination of “otolith atlases” and artificial intelligence to identify popular choices of fish from otoliths left behind in ancient human middens, as well as in the contemporary stomach contents or poop of predators such as seals, albatrosses and squid.

    Otoliths have driven my research for almost two decades. I’ve been fascinated by animal migration and the ecological and evolutionary processes underpinning these long and dangerous journeys ever since taking a “movement ecology” class at the University of Edinburgh with the brilliant Professor Victoria Braithwaite in 2003.

    I decided I wanted to track marine animals myself, and my lab now primarily uses otolith and eye lens chemistry to reconstruct fish habitat use and growth rates, and the temperatures they experienced through their lives. We are now also investigating how well these same structures track reproductive events, chronic stress and exposure to pollution.

    And we are working with international teams to understand how hypoxia (low oxygen zones or “dead zones”) affect fish growth and reproduction. Ultimately, this data allows us to connect stressful events in a fish’s past to its lifetime health and survival, which is important for predicting a species’ persistence.

    For example, a recent study used otolith-derived metabolic rates of Atlantic bluefin tuna to show their vulnerability to future climate change. Meanwhile in California, we used otolith chemistry to understand the impact of dams on salmon migration and survival, revealing that – on many rivers – dams have made it impossible for salmon to escape into the mountains during summer, which is essential for enabling them to resist the increasingly severe droughts afflicting the region.

    Conservation

    Fisheries managers read the rings on millions of otoliths each year to track individual cohorts and look for warning signs of overfishing, but I would argue that biochronologies are still underused in this field. For example, fisheries managers could use otoliths to track the movements of juveniles too small to be tagged (those under 4cm long), since chemical markers make it possible to identify where they grew up. This would allow these managers to earmark productive or struggling “nursery habitats” for protection or improvement, respectively.

    We consistently find that rivers and estuaries play a critical role in the survival and growth of valuable species such as salmon, sea bass and anchovies. Juvenile fish often have such high natural mortality rates – often only 1% survive to their first birthday – that even small improvements to their survival can result in large boosts in abundance and make wild fisheries more sustainable.

    Small improvements to survival of wild salmon could make a huge difference to their sustainability.
    Jakub Rutkiewicz

    As such, let’s keep up the momentum to clean and restore our rivers and beaches, and to embrace monitoring tools such as biochronologies to learn which actions produce the biggest benefits. Next time you think about banging the glass at an aquarium, just remember that the fish inside are listening – and recording you too.

    Anna Sturrock receives funding from a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship

    – ref. Most animals have their own version of tree rings – here’s how we biologists use them to help species thrive – https://theconversation.com/most-animals-have-their-own-version-of-tree-rings-heres-how-we-biologists-use-them-to-help-species-thrive-249507

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What is Sudan virus and how similar is it to Ebola?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, University of Southampton

    The Ugandan government and the World Health Organization recently confirmed an outbreak of Sudan virus disease. The index (first-known) case of this outbreak is thought to be a 32-year-old male nurse from a hospital in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

    The WHO reported two main clusters, related to the patient’s family and a hospital cluster. At the time of writing, the index case is the sole recorded death. The second case was the patient’s wife, and as of February 11, there were nine confirmed cases.

    Outbreaks of this virus are relatively rare. This new outbreak is the ninth to have been recorded since 1976 when the virus was first identified and – as was practice at the time – named after the location where this first outbreak took place, southern Sudan.

    A 2022 Sudan virus outbreak also in Uganda resulted in 164 cases and 77 deaths (a fatality rate of 47%). There are no treatments or vaccines against the Sudan virus.

    Sudan virus disease is essentially a disease very similar to Ebola. The Ebola virus has caused several high-profile outbreaks. The west Africa 2014-16 outbreak was the largest with 28,600 cases and 11,325 deaths.

    The Sudan and Ebola viruses both come from the orthoebolavirus family, but they have different proteins and genetic components, so the immune response to each virus is different. As such, it’s thought that the Ebola vaccines will not be effective against the Sudan virus.

    For the current Sudan virus outbreak, there are efforts to deploy vaccine candidates and also monoclonal antibody medicines. These medicines create antibodies that aim to stop the virus from replicating.

    In 2022, the WHO recommended two monoclonal antibodies for use against Ebola. There is enthusiasm for similar research related to treatments for the Sudan virus.

    A phase 1 vaccine trial, the earliest phase of testing in humans, is underway.

    The similarities in structure between these two types of orthoebolavirus mean that the symptoms in patients are similar. The illness for both viruses may typically begin with fever, aches and fatigue with potential progression onto diarrhoea, vomiting and unexplained bleeding.

    Laboratory testing is needed to differentiate between the diseases, though the urgent need for isolation remains.

    Early supportive treatment has been shown to reduce mortality rates of Sudan and Ebola virus disease, giving the patient time for their body to recover. This usually involves replacing fluids and treating pain, fever and other possible infections, such as malaria.

    The reporting of the 2022 Sudan virus disease outbreak described how patients would first visit care facilities that were outside of the mainstream health service. There were many new infections across late August 2022 from within private health facilities that drove transmission early on in the outbreak. This suggested a low level of infection prevention and control, and quite possibly a lack of equipment and good practice to contain serious infections.

    When cases were confirmed, most known contacts who developed symptoms were referred to specialist units for testing and hospital care. These referrals typically happened in October, and the outbreak was declared over by the end of November 2022. Although we lack vital tools such as effective vaccines and drugs, contact tracing and appropriate infection control can contain serious outbreaks such as these.

    Climate change driving distribution

    Climate change will have an effect on the geographical distribution of new and emerging infections, such as Ebola and Sudan virus disease and the Crimean-Congo virus. Mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria and yellow fever, will find new habitats while dengue and West Nile virus are already becoming more common in Europe and North America.

    International cooperation for addressing global health threats is vital. However, these efforts will be hindered by the volatility and lack of coherence from key stakeholders such as the US government. The world faces uncertain times, and these are ideal circumstances for the Sudan virus and other infectious diseases to thrive.

    Michael Head has previously received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Research England and the UK Department for International Development, and currently receives funding from the UK Medical Research Foundation.

    – ref. What is Sudan virus and how similar is it to Ebola? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-sudan-virus-and-how-similar-is-it-to-ebola-249312

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: ‘When you’ve got nothing in your belly, you can’t concentrate’: teachers on the food banks they run in schools

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sharon Vince, Lecturer in Education and Early Years, University of West London

    Anna Kuzmenko/Shutterstock

    Across England, schools are running food banks to help the children and their families. Research suggests that 21% of schools in England now offer some form of food charity.

    In our recently published book, we carried out research at 12 schools and nurseries with food banks across England, interviewing 30 teachers, headteachers and school staff who ran the food banks. We wanted to explore why there has been such considerable growth in the education sector offering food to families, and the impact it has on children, parents and school staff.

    Many of the schools and nurseries that we visited as part of our research initially set up the food bank in response to the COVID pandemic. This is in keeping with findings from previous research, although the cost-of-living crisis was the stimulus for others.

    Learning better

    Staff in the schools we visited told us that children could not learn if they were hungry. “You know what it’s like when you have nothing to eat and you’ve got nothing in your belly, you can’t concentrate,” one teacher said.

    Through addressing children’s hunger, the school staff we spoke to believed, schools can improve children’s concentration and motivation to learn.

    This echoed the views of almost 18,000 teachers in a 2023 National Education Union survey: 87% of school staff in the survey said that pupils they taught were unable to concentrate as a result of poverty, and over half said that they or their school were providing extra food for children during the school day.

    One headteacher in our study talked about the impact of the food bank on one of the children in their school:

    So he came in all full of beans. ‘I’ve got all gold. Look at my work. Can I have a sticker? ’ And I was like, ‘Someone’s had their Weetabix,’ and they’re like, ‘Yeah, I did. I had that special Weetabix’, … And then it turned out the dad had been into the food bank … that’s why, that’s why I’m doing this.

    The teachers believed that having a food bank at school also led to an improvement in learning and wellbeing through other means, such as reduced family stress. “If you meet the need of the parent, they’re then available to meet the need of the child,” one school staff member said.

    The food banks also helped build closer relationships between families and the school. Teachers told us that families appreciated the support and became more willing to approach the school for help with other issues.

    The caring role of schools

    Beyond the need to improve learning outcomes, however, the main justification for running a food bank was the moral imperative to support families who needed it and could not access help anywhere else. In the words of one teacher: “We’re humans and our natural instinct is to care. That’s why I came into this profession. It’s a caring profession.”

    The teachers felt a moral imperative to care for their pupils and their families.
    Irina Gutyryak/Shutterstock

    The school staff told us about the work that went into running the foodbanks. They sourced food from local food redistribution charities, companies and other families at the school. Often, food was delivered, but sometimes it required collection. In some cases, parent volunteers helped pick up donations. A headteacher told us about how she collected food from a distribution centre:

    I would have literally had to go and root around and find what I needed … At least I am not teaching all day every day. So actually, I can take an hour and a half out – even though it’s only in term – to go and drive there, park up, open my boot, get the two pallets. And it was all heavy stuff – tins – [to] get here.

    We asked the people in our research whether schools should run food banks. Most replied positively, restating the impact that the food bank had upon the learning and wellbeing of children. Others were pragmatic, accepting that right now, there is no alternative support. However, some were critical, suggesting that the government should find alternative solutions to the issue of child poverty.

    While the provision of food for children and families in education settings may be having a beneficial effect, it is not sustainable.

    The burden of child poverty does not fall evenly on schools. Those that provide food banks are disproportionately located in areas with more pupils from deprived backgrounds, and schools with more pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to receive poor Ofsted grades. Operating a food bank requires significant time, energy and funding, none of which are recognised in education policy, or by Ofsted, the schools inspectorate.

    The work that education staff are doing to support children in this way should be celebrated and rewarded, although it is not currently recognised in measures of a school’s effectiveness. But this also risks normalising the presence of food banks in schools. One teacher argued: “Our job is to look after them and educate them and care for them while they’re at school, not to feed them at the weekends or holidays, but we can’t help but be concerned about that.”

    The government should recognise the work that schools and early years settings are doing in this area and ensure that they have the resources needed. Government action to abolish the two-child benefit cap would also support families, lifting 300,000 children out of poverty.

    The government is currently developing a child poverty strategy. These measures would be welcome inclusions.

    Sharon Vince received funding from the British Education Research Association and the Monday Charitable Trust for the projects on food banks.

    Alice Bradbury receives funding from the Helen Hamlyn Trust which funds the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy at UCL. She has also received research funding from the British Education Research Association and the Monday Charitable Trust for the projects on food banks. She is a member of the Labour Party and the Universities and College Union.

    – ref. ‘When you’ve got nothing in your belly, you can’t concentrate’: teachers on the food banks they run in schools – https://theconversation.com/when-youve-got-nothing-in-your-belly-you-cant-concentrate-teachers-on-the-food-banks-they-run-in-schools-248507

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Secretary-General, at Action Summit, Urges Working Together so Artificial Intelligence Expedites Sustainable Development, Not Creates World of ‘Haves and Have-Nots’

    Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council

    Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit, in Paris today: 

    Let me begin by thanking President Macron and Prime Minister Modi for convening this AI Action Summit.  Let’s get straight to the point.  Let’s look at the world around us beyond those who are in this room.

    This meeting poses a fundamental question about our relationship with artificial intelligence:  Are we ready for the future?  The answer is easy.  No.  We may not even be ready for the present.

    In what seems like the blink of an eye, AI has gone from the stuff of science fiction to a powerful force that is transforming our world. Reshaping the way we live, work and interact.  Fuelling breakthroughs in education, healthcare, agriculture, but also testing our shared values and rights.

    The power of AI carries immense responsibilities.  Today, that power sits in the hands of a few.  While some companies and some countries are racing ahead with record investments, most developing nations find themselves left out in the cold.  This growing concentration of AI capabilities risks deepening geopolitical divides.

    We must prevent a world of AI “haves” and “have-nots”.  We must all work together so that artificial intelligence can bridge the gap between developed and developing countries — not widen it. It must accelerate sustainable development — not entrench inequalities.

    The United Nations offers an inclusive, transparent and effective platform for AI solidarity.  And we are working to strengthen that platform.  The Global Digital Compact, adopted at the Summit of the Future, established the first universal agreement on the governance of AI.

    It brings the world together around a shared vision:  One where technology serves humanity, not the other way around.  The creation of an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI will be central to translating this vision into reality.

    By pooling global expertise, this Scientific Panel will promote a common understanding of AI risks, benefits, opportunities and capabilities, and help bridge knowledge gaps.  I urge everyone to support its creation without delay.

    Member States also agreed to establish a Global Dialogue on AI Governance — within the United Nations — to ensure that all countries have a voice in shaping the future of AI.  Through the Global Dialogue, we can align governance efforts around the world and reinforce their interoperability, uphold human rights in AI applications and prevent misuse.

    The UN provides an inclusive forum for cooperation, complementing existing mechanisms such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) AI Principles, Group of 7 (G7) and the Global Partnership on AI — as well as regional efforts by the African Union, European Union, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Council of Europe.  And I am confident that discussions at this Summit will help enrich this Dialogue.

    The Compact also calls for building AI capacity in developing nations.  This is not only about technology diffusion.  We need concerted efforts to build sustainable digital infrastructure at an unprecedented scale; foster talent and train workforces to develop, deploy and maintain AI systems; and ultimately, empower peoples and nations to become not just users, but active participants in the AI revolution.

    A global AI capacity-building network, as proposed by my High-Level Advisory Body on AI, is an economic necessity and a moral imperative. Today’s launch of the AI Foundation for Public Interest is an important contribution.

    I will soon present a report on innovative voluntary financing models and capacity-building initiatives to help all countries harness AI as a force for good.

    Finally, we know that AI can be a force for climate action and energy efficiency.  But, we also know AI power-intensive systems are already placing an unsustainable strain on our planet.  So, it is crucial to design AI algorithms and infrastructures that consume less energy and integrate AI into smart grids to optimize power use.  From data centres to training models, AI must run on sustainable energy so that it fuels a more sustainable future.

    I began with a question.  Let me end with a few more.  Who decides what problems AI should or should not solve?  Who benefits most from its deployment?  Who bears the cost of its mistakes?  These questions affect everyone — so the answers must also involve everyone.

    It is in all our interests for Governments and technology leaders to commit to global guardrails, share best practices and shape fair policy and business models.  The whole world benefits when development banks and the philanthropic community provide catalytic funding to jumpstart capacity-building worldwide.  And we all stand to gain when academia and thought leaders help us navigate through this complex landscape.

    AI is not standing still.  Neither can we.  Let us move for an AI that is shaped by all of humanity, for all of humanity.  In other words, let’s make sure we are ready for the future.  Right now.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI: Auer Growth Fund [AUERX] Earns 5-Star Overall Morningstar Rating™

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SBAuer Funds, LLC, announced its Auer Growth Fund [AUERX] has earned an overall Morningstar Rating™ of 5 stars among 464 Small Value funds based upon risk-adjusted returns as of 12/31/2024.

    As of 12/31/2024, AUERX showed a 1-year return of 11.31% while its benchmark, the S&P 500, posted 25.02%; a 3-year return of 14.08% as the S&P 500 returned 8.94%; a 5-year return of 16.16% versus 14.53% by the S&P 500; and a 10-year return of 9.08% while the S&P 500 posted a 13.10% return during that same period. Within the Small Value category of funds based upon total returns, the Auer Growth Fund ranked in the 27th percentile out of 488 funds at the 1-year mark, in the 2nd percentile out of 464 funds at the 3-year mark, the 4th percentile out of 441 funds at the 5-year mark, and the 12th percentile out of 349 funds at 10 years.

    Morningstar’s 5-star rating system assigns a one- to five-star ranking to each fund based on past performance of risk-adjusted returns relative to peer funds, according to Investopedia. Graded on a curve, star ratings give the top 10% of funds 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive four stars, the middle 35% get three stars, followed by 22.5% percent receiving two stars and the bottom 10% only getting one star.

    “I have always liked the following quote from Muriel Siebert, ‘You create opportunities by performing, not complaining,’” says AUERX fund manager Bob Auer. “And I believe it’s the perfect summation of our performance rating with Morningstar, which we’re extremely excited about.”

    SBAuer was established in 2008 when, after twenty years of investing with the strategy, father and son team Bryan and Bob Auer converted their portfolio into a retail mutual fund—the Auer Growth Fund. Currently, lead manager Bob Auer and managers Eric McKenzie and Auer’s brother Paul oversee the Fund’s investment picks.

    Maintaining a disciplined investment strategy, the Auer Growth Fund selects stocks of companies whose quarterly year-over-year profit growth is 25% with quarterly year-over-year revenue growth of at least 20%; stocks must also have a price-to-earnings ratio of less than 12 times earnings. Any stock that doesn’t meet the firm’s demanding criteria on a quarterly basis is removed from the portfolio, plus a stock is sold if it doubles in value.

    About SB Auer, LLC:
    SB Auer Funds, LLC, is an SEC-registered, registered investment advisor with $59.8 million AUM as of 12/31/2024.
    All of its assets are in the Auer Growth Fund, with the sole objective being capital appreciation. Visit sbauerfunds.com for information.

    Disclosures: 
    AUERX (12/31/2024) – 1 Year: 11.31%, 3 Year: 14.08%, 5 Year: 16.16%, 10 Year: 9.09%, Total Gross Expense Ratio: 2.07% as of March 29, 2024.

    You should carefully consider the investment objectives, potential risks, management fees, and charges and expenses of the Fund before investing. The Fund’s prospectus contains this and other information about the Fund, and should be read carefully before investing. You may obtain a current copy of the Fund’s prospectus by calling 888-711-2837.

    Performance quoted represents past performance, which is no guarantee of future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than what is stated. Investment return and principal value will vary with market conditions so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than the original cost. For current to most recent month-end performance, please visit sbauerfunds.com/performance or call us at 888-711-2837. The Fund imposes a 1% redemption fee on proceeds redeemed or exchanged within 7 days of purchase. The performance illustrated does not include the effect of the redemption charge. If it did, performance would have been lower.

    Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. You could lose money by investing in the Fund. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved. Small-cap and mid-cap investing involves greater risk not associated with investing in more established companies, such as greater price volatility, business risk, less liquidity and increased competitive threat. Stocks of micro-capitalization companies are more volatile, less liquid, involve substantial risks, and are subject to more abrupt or erratic movements than small, mid or large capitalization companies. The Fund invests in companies that appear to be growth-oriented companies. If the Adviser’s perceptions of a company’s growth potential are wrong, the securities purchased may not perform as expected, causing losses that will reduce the Fund’s return. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

    The S&P 500 Index is a widely recognized unmanaged index of equity prices and are representative of a broader market and range of securities than is found in the Fund’s portfolio. The Index returns do not reflect the deduction of expenses, which have been deducted from the Fund’s returns. The Index return assumes reinvestment of all distributions and does not reflect the deduction of taxes and fees.

    © 2024 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete, or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

    The Morningstar Rating TM for funds, or “star rating,” is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product’s monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The Morningstar Rating does not include any adjustment for sales loads. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods. As of 12/31/24, the Auer Growth (AUERX) fund received a ten-year rating of 4 stars out of 349 Small Value funds, a five-year rating of 5 stars out of 441 funds, and three-year rating of 5 stars out of 464 funds. The Auer Growth Fund inception is December 28, 2007.

    Morningstar classifies funds into categories based on similar investment objective and strategy. Morningstar percentile rankings are based on a fund’s total return compared to its Morningstar Category of exchange-traded and open-end mutual funds. The highest percentile rank is 1 and the lowest percentile rank is 100. Rankings are relative to a peer group and do not necessarily mean the fund had high or positive total returns. Morningstar updates its fund rankings daily. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

    Auer Growth Fund is distributed by Ultimus Fund Distributors, LLC, 225 Pictoria Dr., Suite 450 , Cincinnati, OH 45246 United States. (Member FINRA). Ultimus Fund Solutions and Auer Growth Fund are not affiliated entities.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Three Charged For Their Role In Major Theft Organization Targeting Luxury Vehicles

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the  return of an indictment charging Michel Serrano (34, Lehigh Acres) with conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles and the sale and possession of stolen motor vehicles, as well as two counts of interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles. If convicted on all counts, Serrano faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. Julio Sanchez (35, Redwood City, California) and Angel Mares (56, San Jose, California) were also charged with conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles and the sale and possession of stolen motor vehicles. If convicted on this count, Sanchez and Mares each face a maximum penalty of 5 years in federal prison. The indictment also notifies Serrano, Sanchez, and Mares that the United States is seeking an order of forfeiture for any property, real or personal, which is traceable to the proceeds of the crimes, and an order of forfeiture in the amount of the proceeds of the crimes.

    According to the indictment, beginning at least as early as June 2020 and continuing through May 2021, Serrano, Sanchez, Mares, and their co-conspirators stole high-end vehicles from throughout the state of Florida. Vehicles were stolen from car dealerships, residences and residential parking garages, and other businesses. The conspirators altered the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) on the stolen motor vehicles, then transported the stolen vehicles on semi-trucks across state lines with the intent to sell them. The conspirators then sold the stolen motor vehicles to purchasers. For an additional fee, the conspirators would provide the purchaser a full vehicle registration and title within the state of California. The conspirators were paid by the purchasers through cash and checks for the stolen vehicles. 

    An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

    This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Highway Patrol, with assistance from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Tampa Police Department, Citrus County Sheriff’s Office, Pasco Sheriff’s Office, Dade City Police Department, Hernando County Sheriff’s Office, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, Bradenton Police Department, Cape Coral Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, and the National Insurance Crime Bureau. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tiffany E. Fields.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Armed Felon Is Sentenced To 17 ½ Years In Prison On Drug And Gun Charges

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jason Travis Shook, 42, of Conover, N.C., was sentenced today to 210 months in prison and five years of supervised release on drug and gun charges, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

    Jae W. Chung, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which oversees the Charlotte District Office, and Sheriff Donald G. Brown II of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office, join U.S. Attorney King in making today’s announcement.

    According to court documents and proceedings, in August 2022, officers with the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office learned that Shook was distributing large amounts of methamphetamine in the area. As part of the investigation into Shook, law enforcement began surveilling Shook’s property in Conover and his black Chevrolet Suburban vehicle. On August 25, 2022, officers observed Shook walking back and forth from his property to the Suburban, which had a white boat attached to it. Shook was seen carrying a backpack that he placed in the back seat of the Suburban before he drove away from the property. Law enforcement attempted to conduct a traffic stop of Shook’s vehicle for multiple traffic violations, including driving with a revoked license. Shook did not obey and instead he led law enforcement on a vehicle pursuit which ended with Shook crashing the Suburban and boat into a wooded area at the end of a road in Hickory. Shook then ran on foot and jumped into Lake Hickory. A short time later Shook was taken into custody.

    According to filed court documents, law enforcement retrieved the backpack from the Suburban, which contained a clear plastic bag with a large amount of methamphetamine, $24,707 in cash, a clear plastic bag with approximately 7 grams of methamphetamine and over one gram of loose methamphetamine, digital scales, other drug paraphernalia, as well as two unspent 12-gauge shot gun shells. Law enforcement also searched Shook’s flight path and located a Ruger, model SR40C, .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol along the side of the road. The firearm contained one round of ammunition in the chamber and an additional round in the magazine. The seized methamphetamine was analyzed at the DEA Mid-Atlantic Laboratory and determined to be 368.99 grams of pure methamphetamine.

    On August 8, 2024, Shook pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm by a felon. Shook has a prior criminal history that includes felony convictions for Assault with a Deadly Weapon Inflicting Serious Injury and Second-Degree Kidnapping, and he is prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition. Shook will remain in federal custody until he is transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

    In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney King thanked the DEA and the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office for their investigation of the case.

    Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nick J. Miller, Brandon Boykin, and Regina Pack with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Secretary Noem Statement on Indictment of CBP Agent for Drug and Human Smuggling

    Source: US Department of Homeland Security

    Release Date: February 11, 2025

    WASHINGTON – Today, Secretary Kristi Noem addressed the indictment of a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer accused of human smuggling and drug trafficking. 

    A statement from Secretary Noem is below:  

    “To traffic drugs and smuggle humans while wearing the badge is not only a disgusting betrayal of our patriotic Customs and Border Protection officers, but of our nation and the American people. Manuel Perez will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” 

     The CBP officer was arrested by fellow federal agents at the Paso del Norte Port of Entry on February 8.  

    Last Updated: 02/11/2025

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: Epiq Earns Great Place To Work Certification™ in India

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HYDERABAD, India, Feb. 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Epiq today announced it has earned the 2025 Great Place To Work® Certification™ in India, a prestigious award based entirely on what current employees say about their experience working at Epiq. This year, an impressive 90 percent of respondents said it’s a great place to work.

    Great Place To Work® is the global authority on workplace culture, employee experience, and the leadership behaviors proven to deliver market-leading revenue, employee retention, and increased innovation.

    “This certification highlights our dedication to creating an inclusive workplace where our associates feel proud, valued, and empowered,” said Abhay Garg, Epiq’s Senior Vice President, Business Services and Products. “This achievement is a testament to the outstanding team, environment, and culture we’ve established in India. We celebrate and thank our committed associates, whose contributions have earned us this honor. This award belongs to every member of our team, inspiring us to continue offering exceptional products and solutions.”

    According to Great Place To Work research, job seekers are 4.5 times more likely to find a great boss at a Certified great workplace. Additionally, employees at Certified workplaces are 93 percent more likely to look forward to coming to work, and are twice as likely to be paid fairly, earn a fair share of the company’s profits, and have a fair chance at promotion.

    Epiq scores high on all key parameters in India offices

    A summary of the company’s survey highlights include:

    • 96 percent said they feel Epiq is a physically safe place to work.
    • 95 percent said people are treated fairly, regardless of sexual orientation or gender.
    • 94 percent said clients would rate the service Epiq delivers as ‘excellent.’
    • 93 percent indicated that when employees join Epiq, they are made to feel welcome.
    • 92 percent said they are given the resources and equipment to do their job.
    • 92 percent said they are proud to tell others that they work at Epiq.

    About 1,500 associates work for Epiq’s India global capability centre at Hyderabad and Pune. Epiq is a US-based technology-enabled legal and compliance services company that operates in 18 countries to support clients anytime and anywhere in the world.

    Building an exceptional employee experience

    At Epiq, creating a supportive and dynamic workplace culture is a top priority.

    “Our efforts to foster meaningful connections, support professional growth, and build an inclusive workplace are being recognized by our employees,” Garg said. “We are proud of the strides we have taken and are excited about the future as we continue to champion this.”

    Here are some of Epiq India’s initiatives:

    • Employees Benefits Program: Free transport to and from the office, free meals in office, medical insurance to cover the family, and industry-leading opportunities for learning and development.
    • Inclusive Work Culture: Through Epiq’s Women Employee Resource Group and other initiatives, Epiq fosters an environment that values diversity, promotes a sense of belonging, and supports the professional growth of women.
    • Wellness and Safety Programs: Epiq prioritizes the safety and well-being of all employees, especially women colleagues who come to work in office, with comprehensive wellness policies, flexible work arrangements, and enhanced security measures.
    • Innovation: Programs including ‘Innovation Day’ and ‘Annual Hackathon’ inspire employees to form teams and develop their ideas into client solution prototypes.
    • Rewards and Recognition: Monthly, quarterly, and annual recognition programs motivate individuals to embody Epiq’s values, inspiring them to excel and perform at their best in the workplace.

    Epiq is Hiring
    To learn more about Epiq’s people, culture, and career opportunities, visit Epiq’s careers page at: https://www.epiqglobal.com/en-us/careers

    About Epiq
    Epiq is a leading legal and compliance services platform integrating people, process, and technology. Through this combination of innovative technology, legal and business expertise, and comprehensive solutions, Epiq drives efficiency in large-scale and increasingly complex tasks. High-performing clients around the world rely on Epiq to streamline the administration of business, settlement administration, legal, and compliance operations to solve immediate challenges and provide scalable ongoing support to transform the enterprise. Learn more at www.epiqglobal.com. 

    About Great Place to Work Certification™
    Great Place To Work® Certification™ is the most definitive “employer-of-choice” recognition that companies aspire to achieve. It is the only recognition based entirely on what employees report about their workplace experience – specifically, how consistently they experience a high-trust workplace. Great Place to Work Certification is recognized worldwide by employees and employers alike and is the global benchmark for identifying and recognizing outstanding employee experience. Every year, more than 10,000 companies across 60 countries apply to get Great Place To Work-Certified.

    About Great Place To Work®
    As the global authority on workplace culture, Great Place To Work® brings 30 years of groundbreaking research and data to help every place become a great place to work for all. Their proprietary platform and For All™ Model helps companies evaluate the experience of every employee, with exemplary workplaces becoming Great Place To Work Certified™ or receiving recognition on a coveted Best Workplaces™ List.

    Press Contact
    Carrie Trent
    Epiq, Director of Communications and Public Relations
    Carrie.Trent@epiqglobal.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: We hear about the health impact of climate-related events. But what about the health-care workers who respond to them?

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Christopher Buse, Assistant Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University

    In British Columbia, like elsewhere in Canada, the impacts of climate change on health and health services are apparent. In recent years, the province has experienced a range of climate change-related extreme weather events, with considerable negative consequences.

    The 2021 heat dome caused wide disruptions to emergency services and led to more than 600 heat-related deaths. Wildfires have resulted in increased reports of illness and the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from their homes.

    B.C.’s health system, still recovering from the staffing issues and burnout of the COVID-19 pandemic, has stepped up to respond to these emergencies.



    Read more:
    Wildfire smoke is an increasing threat to Canadians’ health

    Health systems are made up of people who are often members of the same disaster-stricken communities they serve. However, to date, existing studies have focused primarily on health service provision during climate-related emergencies, rather than their specific impacts on health system workers.

    In order to understand the unique challenges they face during these events, we interviewed health service workers from across B.C. and in a wide range of roles, including doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and emergency responders.

    Mental and physical health risks

    Although the nature of their experiences varied depending on their position, a majority of our interviewees reported experiencing some form of physical or mental health threat during and after climate-related emergencies.

    These health service workers — and particularly those in front-line positions like paramedics, home health workers and clinical staff — described being exposed to heat and poor air quality. This was the case for those working in the community as well as in health facilities, especially when facilities were not equipped with cooling and air filtration technologies.

    Health service workers also described suffering negative mental health impacts like stress, trauma and anxiety. Participants reported experiencing burnout due to the challenges related to organizing logistics during an emergency, compounded by long hours and back-to-back periods of intense activity.

    Climate-related events that overwhelmed infrastructure — such as the 2021 heat dome, during which wait times for an ambulance stretched up to 16 hours in some areas — caused trauma to health service workers, who were placed in situations where they were unable to provide sufficient care to all who needed it.

    System problems aggravate impact

    Interviewees also explained that these mental and physical health impacts were aggravated by pre-existing health system challenges, like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and staffing shortages. As described by one interviewee, concerns about COVID-19 transmission complicated clinical decision-making and created ethical dilemmas:

    “It was really challenging during the heat dome to provide adequate cooling for people when you’re supposed to follow infection prevention and control guidelines about not having fans… How do I prioritize the acute risk of heat versus the more delayed risk of COVID infection?”

    Meanwhile, staffing shortages meant health service workers had to work longer shifts and with greater frequency during climate-related events. They also experienced challenges getting to and from work because of flooded or blocked roads, or concerns for their family and homes. All of these factors can contribute to burnout.

    Adaptations to protect workers

    The good news is that adaptations are being implemented to protect against the risks shouldered by health service workers during climate-related emergencies. In our interviews, we heard about measures like facility upgrades, emergency response training, climate change education, mental health supports and the development of occupational health and safety plans.

    However, these adaptations are not happening uniformly across B.C.’s health system. In many cases, participants knew of occupational health, safety and emergency response plans for climate-related events, but were unfamiliar with or had not received direct guidance on how to follow them.

    Moreover, while the growing focus by B.C.’s health-care leaders on reducing carbon emissions is laudable, going “all-in” on mitigation may compete with resources needed to help health service workers adapt to the ongoing climate crisis. An overly technocratic approach focused exclusively on reducing carbon emissions risks undermining necessary preparation for the people responsible for keeping health systems going in emergencies.

    Building resilience and reducing systems risk

    Recognizing health service workers as community members, and understanding how they are impacted by climate-related events in their work and personal lives, is essential to building resilience.

    Our research suggests that central to building this resilience in health service workers is an organizational culture led by transformative leadership that:

    • Fosters a sense of trust;
    • Prioritizes open communication, flexibility and training; and
    • Encourages the use of mental health supports.

    In our interviews, we were heartened to hear this type of leadership within health systems is emerging.

    But there are, of course, limits to personal resilience. It is both unrealistic and unfair to expect health service workers to shoulder alone the burden of increasingly frequent and severe climate-related emergencies in the absence of systemic change, including the energy transition required to reduce emissions.

    Ultimately, the health system must continue to shift towards a culture of risk reduction to prepare for climate-related emergencies, increasing co-ordination and collaboration within and among health regions and authorities, governments and communities. This includes addressing chronic health system issues such as work-life balance and staffing shortages.

    Creating organizational cultures that are proactive and mindful that health service workers are community members first is key to adapting health systems to climate change, in B.C. and beyond.

    Christopher Buse receives funding from the Michael Smith Health Research BC, the BC Ministry of Health, Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

    Sandra Smiley is affiliated with UBC Medical Students for Climate Action and the UBC Political Advocacy Committee.

    Tim K. Takaro receives funding from Health Canada. He is affiliated with Protect the Planet, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

    – ref. We hear about the health impact of climate-related events. But what about the health-care workers who respond to them? – https://theconversation.com/we-hear-about-the-health-impact-of-climate-related-events-but-what-about-the-health-care-workers-who-respond-to-them-249267

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: EcoClaim and Northbridge Team Up to Turn Claims into Climate Action

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CALGARY, Alberta, Feb. 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — EcoClaim and Northbridge Financial are helping change the way insurance claims are handled by adding a focus on sustainability. Northbridge, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, has made a commitment to reducing emissions across its supply chain by encouraging its restoration vendors to become EcoClaim Certified Contractors and begin using EcoClaim’s TRAX software. This enables Northbridge’s three insurance brands, Northbridge Insurance, Federated Insurance, and TruShield Insurance, together with their vendors, to move beyond generic industry benchmarks by tracking real data and working toward measurable emissions reductions.

    In addition to requiring EcoClaim Certification for their preferred contractors, Northbridge has also invested in sustainability training for its own claims staff, equipping them with the knowledge and tools to make environmental responsibility a part of their claims process.

    “At Northbridge, we recognize that technology, tools, and training are key to driving meaningful change across our industry,” said Alfred DeSousa, Vice President, Claims National Field Services at Northbridge Financial. “By introducing EcoClaim’s software platform and certification model into our claims process, we’re working to reduce the impact of our operations and equipping our vendor network with the resources they need to take real action and achieve measurable results in reducing emissions and building greener practices.”

    With these changes, Northbridge is empowering its network to reduce landfill waste, cut emissions, and lower costs, all while enabling practical, measurable sustainability improvements in every claim.

    “Sustainability isn’t about vague goals, it’s about creating a clear pathway to measurable progress,” said Jodi Scarlett, CEO at EcoClaim. “Through this multi-year partnership, Northbridge is equipping their staff and contractors with the tools, data, and training they need to embed sustainability into their claims process and achieve tangible results.”

    About EcoClaim
    EcoClaim™ transforms insurance claims into climate action with its innovative platform, offering industry-leading training, GhG management software and a Carbon Exchange marketplace. Tailored for P&C insurers, EcoClaim replaces generic emissions benchmarks with precise claim-level data, empowering insurers to measure, manage and reduce Scope 3 emissions effectively. The platform not only strengthens sustainability disclosures but also lowers claims costs, proving that the low-carbon way can also be the cost-efficient way.

    About Northbridge Financial Corporation

    Northbridge Financial Corporation is a leading commercial property and casualty insurance company that has helped protect Canadian businesses for more than 100 years. We offer a wide range of innovative solutions to Canadian businesses through our Northbridge Insurance, Federated Insurance, and TruShield Insurance brands. We are proud to be a 100% Canadian company, wholly-owned by Fairfax Financial Holdings. Visit us at www.nbfc.com to learn more.

    Media Contact: 

    Meaghan Ralston
    CMO, EcoClaim 
    mralston@ecoclaim.ca 
    403.926.8112 

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Madrona-backed Gradial to Expand Agentic AI Ecosystem with Three Strategic Hires

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SEATTLE, Feb. 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Gradial, the agentic AI content supply chain company backed by Madrona Venture Group, has tapped three strategic hires to expand the company’s ecosystem of technology platforms, digital experience agencies and enterprise customers. Jason Michaels joins as head of partnerships, Lisa Hillman as head of customer success and Cara Olson as a senior account executive.

    Gradial is an agentic AI platform that supercharges content supply chains, enabling enterprises to drive smarter and faster engagements. The tool allows marketing teams to automate content updates, streamline enterprise migrations and generate pages at scale, breaking free from legacy systems and eliminating content debt. Large enterprises use anywhere from tens to hundreds to marketing technology tools but, according to research from Foundry, an IDG, Inc. company, only 29 percent of companies say they have the right tech to manage content across the organization, 32 percent have the technology but aren’t using its potential, and 28 percent say they haven’t acquired the right technology.

    Founded in 2024, Gradial is already reducing friction, delivering operational cost savings and accelerating publishing speeds for Fortune 500 brands in the technology, healthcare, retail and financial services sectors. Over the past year, the company has also established strategic partnerships with companies such as Slalom, Huge, Dentsu, Infogain and EPAM Systems, delivering transformation initiatives for marketing leaders at world-leading companies.

    “Gradial is changing the game for modern marketing teams, empowering them to focus on high-impact customer experiences and use Gradial to deliver, integrate and optimize content across the entire enterprise,” said Doug Tallmadge, Gradial’s co-founder and CEO. “Bringing in Jason, Lisa and Cara to build partnerships across the digital experience ecosystem represents the next evolution of our mission of creating agentic AI at enterprise scale.”

    Michaels joins Gradial from Accenture Song, where he built and served as head of agency services for North America, leading a 1,000-person team responsible for strategic partnerships, digital user experiences and content supply chain optimization, and working with blue chip clients including Cisco, Intel, Microsoft and TIAA. Previously, he was managing director and chief strategy officer at Wire Stone, a creative marketing and user experience agency that Accenture acquired to amplify its marketing agency services business unit.

    Hillman joins from Kaiser Permanente, the largest managed care company in the United States, where she was a senior director for digital services. Previously, she held senior corporate strategy, digital experience and operations roles at T-Mobile, worked with Fortune 500 companies as a consultant at Accenture, and served as chief operating officer at venture capital firm Tola Capital.

    Olson joins from Merkle, a global digital marketing and customer experience agency, where she served as growth orchestration and enable officer as well as senior director for partnerships. Previously, she was senior director of partnerships and director of relationship marketing at DEG Digital, a digital experience, commerce and advertising services agency.

    “When I saw Gradial, I saw something readily adoptable that customers already wanted but couldn’t find anywhere else,” said Michaels. “The product is powerful and the roadmap is exciting. Gradial has the opportunity to truly transform how enterprises and marketing teams operate at a scale I’ve never seen before.”

    About Gradial

    Founded by veterans of SpaceX and Microsoft and backed by Madrona Venture Group, Gradial is building a modern marketing content supply chain, partnering with enterprises, agencies and technology platforms to deliver reimagined digital experiences at scale. To learn more, visit https://gradial.com/.

    Media Contact:
    Sam Butler for Gradial
    sam@35thAvenuePartners.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: NNIT A/S: NNIT RELEASES UNAUDITED FINANCIAL FIGURES FOR 2024, 2025 OUTLOOK AND ADJUSTS FINANCIAL ASPIRATIONS

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Today, NNIT releases its preliminary financial key figures for 2024, the financial outlook for 2025 and announces an adjustment of the group’s financial aspirations.

    Preliminary financial figures for 2024
    Based on unaudited financial figures, NNIT delivered results in line with the latest outlook for organic growth of around 6-7% and group operating profit margin excluding special items of 6-7%. Group revenue amounted to DKK 1,851m corresponding to organic growth of 6.0% and reported growth of 7.1%. Group operating profit excluding special items was DKK 117m equating to a margin of 6.3%. Special items amounted to DKK 69m.

    Financial outlook for 2025
    Although market conditions and the geopolitical landscape have become more uncertain, NNIT expects to continue growing its underlying business across the Life Science, Public and Private verticals in 2025. Organic growth is expected to be 7-10% with profitability anticipated to increase driven by top line growth, improving billability and cost optimization. The group operating profit margin excluding special items is expected to be 7-9%. Special items are anticipated to be at a lower level than 2024. 

    Financial aspirations adjusted
    NNIT remains committed to its strategic direction of becoming a pure-play IT consultancy company with strong positions in globally attractive markets and ample opportunities to profitably grow its business.

    NNIT adjusts its financial mid-term aspirations based on lower-than-initially-expected financial performance in 2024, the impact on expectations for 2025 and beyond from continued macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty combined with a significant downgrade of the market outlook for the Life Science industry1 from around 8% CAGR in 2023-2026 to around 5% CAGR in 2024-2028. For the mid-term strategy period 2025-27, NNIT aspires to deliver profitable growth with annual organic revenue growth between 7 to 10%, and an operating profit margin before special items above 10% in 2027.

    NNIT will release its Annual Report 2024 on February 18, 2025, and host a webcast on the following day as planned.

    1Source: Gartner data from 2023 and latest data from Everest Group, November 2024

    For more information, please contact:
    Investor Relations
    Carsten Ringius
    EVP & CFO
    Tel: +45 3077 8888
    carr@nnit.com

    Media Relations
    Sofie Mand Steffens
    Senior Communications Consultant
    Tel: +45 3077 8337
    smst@nnit.com

    ABOUT NNIT
    NNIT is a leading provider of IT solutions to life sciences internationally, and to the public and private sectors in Denmark.

    We focus on high complexity industries and thrive in environments where regulatory demands and complexity are high.

    We advise on and build sustainable digital solutions that work for the patients, citizens, employees, end users or customers.

    We strive to build unmatched excellence in the industries we serve, and we use our domain expertise to represent a business first approach – strongly supported by a selection of partner technologies, but always driven by business needs rather than technology.

    NNIT consists of group company NNIT A/S and the subsidiary SCALES. Together, these companies employ more than 1,700 people in Europe, Asia and USA.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: At AI Summit, diplomats and Pharrell mull destiny of tech revolution

    Source: United Nations 4

    Economic Development

    AI is already transforming our world but its power rests “in the hands of a few”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Tuesday in Paris, in an appeal for countries to use the revolutionary technology together, “to bridge the gap between developed and developing countries – not widen it”.

    Addressing the AI Action Summit against the glittering backdrop of the Grand Palais museum in the French capital, the UN chief warned that the growing concentration of AI capabilities risked deepening geopolitical divides. “Global guardrails” must be agreed and deployed urgently and best practices shared, Mr. Guterres insisted, in the interests of solidarity, equitable policies and fair business.

    With national leaders, tech CEOs and even Pharrell Williams looking on, the UN chief also called for clean energy solutions, as AI data centres already place “an unsustainable strain” on our planet.

    “It is crucial to design AI algorithms and infrastructures that consume less energy and integrate AI into smart grids to optimize power use,” he insisted. “From data centres to training models, AI must run on sustainable energy so that it fuels a more sustainable future.”

    The rapidly developing field of AI should help to accelerate universally agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and not “entrench inequalities”, Mr. Guterres continued.

    Unfounded fears

    Also at the summit to discuss AI’s possibilities and perils, singer-superstar Mr. Williams rejected concerns that it might make humans redundant or take people’s jobs. “There’s just too much fear around it,” he said.

    “We wouldn’t use AI to help us write a song,” he added, insisting that the tech “wouldn’t replace creativity…You know, there was a whole thing around the year 2000 as well, but we’re fine, we survived that.”

    Representing US interests, Vice-President JD Vance said that $450 billion of investment in the sector was planned. He cautioned against overly stringent controls. “Excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry as it’s taking off,” he added.

    Soundcloud

    Commercial edge

    Offering insight into how AI is evolving, Choi-Soo-yeon, head of South Korean AI giant Naver, explained that what people want today is “not websites, but information” that is more relevant to their needs.

    “By understanding users underlying intent and context, AI will recommend products their users really want,” she said. “This is expected to create a commerce platform where various tastes to end personalities coexist and are actively connected.”

    The UN’s role in AI

    Highlighting the UN’s mission to ensure that no one is left behind by this new technology, Mr. Guterres pointed to the Global Digital Compact on AI governance which Member States agreed to in September last year. The Compact “brings the world together around a shared vision: one where technology serves humanity, not the other way around,” the Secretary-General said, as he urged all countries to support the creation of an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI.

    Equally important is the establishment of a Global Dialogue on AI Governance featuring all UN Member States, “to align [AI] governance efforts around the world and reinforce their interoperability, uphold human rights in AI applications and prevent misuse…We must prevent a world of AI ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots,’” the UN chief insisted.

    Energy angle

    Addressing the need to square the circle of energy-hungry AI data centres, Fatih Birol, Executive director of the intergovernmental International Energy Agency (IEA) confirmed that electricity demand trends have already been impacted by data centres and other key AI infrastructure requirements.

    “There is no AI without energy,” he said, noting that “thousands” of data centres are going to be built. “This is the challenge for governments to find electricity in a clean way, in a sustainable way and in an affordable way.” 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: DR Congo crisis: Thousands of displaced in Goma forced to flee again

    Source: United Nations 4

    Humanitarian Aid

    Thousands of people affected by the fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are leaving displacement sites in and around Goma for safer areas, the UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA reported on Tuesday. 

    Last month, M23 rebels captured the city – the largest in the region and capital of North Kivu province. Nearly 3,000 people have reportedly been killed and 2,880 injured.

    OCHA Spokesperson Jens Laerke said more than 110,000 displaced people have left sites in Goma and have started to move to villages in the Masisi, Rutshuru and Nyiragongo territories.

    UN teams carried out humanitarian assessments in Rutshuru last week and will continue assessments this week in return areas to inform the response.

    Ultimatum to leave

    He said humanitarian partners remain concerned by the 72-hour ultimatum given by M23 representatives two days ago urging displaced people living in sites and collective centres in Goma to leave and return to their villages.

    Mr. Laerke noted, however, that the M23 issued a statement on Monday, which he quoted. It explained that the group “fully supports and encourages voluntary returns, but does not compel anyone to return without firm security guarantees.” 

    “We reiterate that all returns had to be voluntary and take place under safe, informed and dignified conditions in accordance with international humanitarian law,” he said.

    Displacement sites dismantled

    Meanwhile, humanitarian partners are also alarmed by the ongoing but unplanned dismantling of sites for internally displaced people.

    “This situation leads to the loss of humanitarian infrastructure at the sites, including border facilities, health centres and cholera treatment centers, resulting in significant losses of humanitarian investments and reduced response capacities,” he said.

    More to follow… 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICE HSI RGV, law enforcement partners arrest member of Cartel del Golfo during routine enforcement action 

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    February 11, 2025Harlingen, TX, United StatesTransnational Gangs, Enforcement and Removal

    ICE HSI Rio Grande Valley, in partnership with our law enforcement partners arrested a member of the Cartel del Golfo. HSI is committed to strengthening our borders and protecting our communities from harm.

    HARLINGEN, Texas – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, in coordination with our law enforcement partners, arrested a member of the Cartel del Golfo, Feb. 6.

    The 36-year-old Mexican citizen was arrested for being in the United States illegally. During the interaction, agents discovered his prior criminal record, which includes a felony conviction for possession of marijuana and illegal entry.

    “This enforcement action is part of our relentless fight against violent cartel members who have little regard for the law and degrade the quality of life in our communities,” said HSI San Antonio Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee. “Our ultimate goal is to get these cartel members off the streets of South Texas and ensure they face justice for their crimes.”

    HSI further identified him as the leader of a sicario cell.

    Individuals can report suspicious criminal activity to the ICE Tip Line 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by calling 866-DHS-2-ICE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: How Healthy Are Oregonians’ Finances? Annual Scorecard Shows Households Are Earning More, Yet Many Families Are Still Struggling To Save And Make Ends Meet

    Source: US State of Oregon

    edian income has risen, the impact of inflation has slackened, and more Oregonians are saving for retirement and college, according to the 2025 Oregon Financial Wellness Scorecard, released today by the Oregon State Treasury.

    However, the data also show that many Oregonians are in a precarious financial position, and are ill-equipped to weather even a modest economic shock:

    • A majority of families say it’s difficult make ends meet each month, especially families with children at home;
    • Almost half of Oregonians are so financially fragile that they do not have $500 saved to cover an unexpected expense; And
    • More than a third of households can’t afford to save at all, after bills are paid each month – and the frequency of saving declined markedly in households with children where income was less than $75,000

    Those are some of the more than 40 takeaways from the annual scorecard, which assembles data from state and federal sources including a statewide survey to help policymakers and the public better understand how pocketbook and economic factors affect Oregonians’ quality of life.

    The new summary – which shows both positive and concerning trendlines — is compiled by the Oregon State Treasury in partnership with the Oregon Financial Empowerment Advisory Team, a public-private partnership for which State Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner serves as chair.

    “The latest financial snapshot shows that Oregonians work hard, which is leading to higher incomes for many people,” said State Treasurer Steiner. “Innovative Oregon State Treasury programs such as OregonSaves are helping more people set aside money for retirement. But too many people and families barely get by each month. At Treasury, we’ll continue to promote financial empowerment and explore new tools to help Oregon families get ahead and thrive financially.”

    Among the positive data points: More Oregonians were medically insured in 2023, and the latest data on retirement saving from the U.S. Census showed that more Oregon households were saving in 2022, and at a frequency higher than the national average.

    Also, notably, Oregon household borrowing dipped slightly overall in 2023, according to data from the Federal Reserve.

    Financial fragility — which describes the ability of people to handle an economic emergency — was substantially worse for women, for those with a high school education or less, and for families with children at home.

    Overall, about half of Oregon households (49%) could not cover an emergency costing $500 or more from savings.

    The Scorecard statistics are benchmarked to national figures. Several data categories are also broken down by demographics, by county, or by rural versus urban areas, helping to show that Oregonians experience financial challenges differently.

    For instance, in rural counties homeownership rates are higher and so is the percentage of households who rely on public assistance. Some figures are also broken down by age, race, level of education and household income.

    Convened to help guide efforts to improve financial wellness statewide, the Oregon Financial Empowerment Advisory Team brings together citizens, representatives of the financial sector, and liaisons from key state agencies that focus on financial education and consumer protection. Quarterly meetings are open to the public.

    The advisory team also connects the public to financial resources in partnership with Oregon’s 211info network, and recognizes standout educators and champions annually with the Oregon Financial Empowerment Awards. Nominations are being accepted until March 1.

    The Treasury Financial Empowerment Initiative helps inform the work of the Oregon Treasury Savings Network, which administers savings programs to help Oregonians to build long term financial security. Those are the Oregon College Savings Plan, for higher education and career training; Oregon ABLE Savings Plan, for disability-connected costs; and OregonSaves, which allows people to save for retirement if they don’t have a plan at work.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Multiple defendants indicted on federal gun charges

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    SAVANNAH, GA: Newly returned indictments in the Southern District of Georgia include charges alleging felons illegally possessed firearms, while other defendants have been sentenced to federal prison or await further proceedings after pleading guilty to federal gun charges. 

    “Getting guns out of the hands of those who can’t legally possess them is a vital part of the effort to reduce violent crime,” said Tara M. Lyons, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. “We applaud our law enforcement partners for their diligent work in keeping our communities safe.”  

    The cases are prosecuted as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods in collaboration with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the FBI, to reduce violent crime with measures that include targeting convicted felons who illegally possess guns.

    Those indicted in February include:

    • Taron Charleston, 20, of Dublin, Georgia, charged with Illegal Possession of a Machine Gun;
    • Shanan Lee Grover, 35, of Wrightsville, Ga., charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon;
    • Timothy Lee Cheeks, 37, of Augusta, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon; and,
    • Charles Harmon Porter, 54, of Savannah, charged with Possession of Ammunition by a Convicted Felon.

    Also previously indicted are:

    • Stephen Joseph Sala, 33, of Augusta, charged with Possession of an Unregistered Firearm (referring to a short-barreled rifle); and,
    • Jahmz Ransom, 24, of Savannah, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon.

    All indicted defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty. 

    Defendants recently adjudicated on federal firearms charges include:

    • Nathan Sparks, 27, of Savannah, was sentenced to 130 months in prison after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Savannah police found a pistol in Sparks’ waistband during a traffic stop.
    • Darnell Harold Miller, 25, of Savannah, was sentenced to 120 months in prison after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Savannah police in January 2024 found Miller in possession of a pistol while investigating a domestic disturbance.
    • Barry Christopher Carpenter, 44, of Gainesville, Ga., was sentenced to 84 months in prison and fined $2,000 after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Carpenter was arrested on state charges in Columbia County during a burglary investigation and found to be in possession of two firearms.
    • Corinthian Lamar Colonel, 26, of Savannah, was sentenced to 70 months in prison after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Officers from the Savannah Police Department and the Georgia Department of Community Supervision found two firearms in Colonel’s residence during a September 2023 search.
    • Maleak J. Parrish, 24, of Savannah, was sentenced to 57 months in prison after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Savannah police fund a pistol in Parrish’s possession during a traffic stop.
    • Eddie Robertson, 30, of Savannah, was sentenced to 52 months in prison and fined $1,500 after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Savannah police officers found Robertson in possession of a handgun after a December 2023 traffic stop and foot chase.
    • Anthony Orlando Jones, 34, of Augusta, was sentenced to 46 months in prison and fined $1,500 after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Richmond County deputies and the U.S. Marshals found Jones in possession of a semiautomatic pistol in November 2023 while serving him with an arrest warrant on a state felony charge.
    • Pedro Walker, 24, of Savannah, was sentenced to 46 months in prison after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Savannah police officers investigating a reported disturbance found Walker had been in possession of a pistol.
    • Willie Dunbar, 45, of Villa Rica, Georgia, was sentenced to 37 months in prison and fined $2,000 after pleading guilty to Possession of a Machine Gun. During a January traffic stop, Wheeler County deputies found Dunbar in possession of a Polymer80 “ghost gun” fitted with a device converting it to automatic fire.
    • Deleon Alexander Jackson, 23, of Augusta, was sentenced to 21 months in prison and fined $1,000 after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Richmond County deputies found Jackson in possession of a rifle while investigating a reported disturbance at an Augusta store.
    • Stanley Hall, 22, of Savannah, was sentenced to 71 months in prison after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Savannah police found Hall in possession of a handgun while investigating a reported attempted vehicle break-in.
    • Lemar Neil Robinson, 36, of Savannah, awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Georgia state troopers and Savannah police found Robinson in possession of a pistol after a vehicle chase and traffic stop.

    The cases are being prosecuted for the United States by the Southern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney’s Office.

    Under federal law, it is illegal for an individual to possess a firearm if he or she falls into one of nine prohibited categories including being a felon; illegal alien; or unlawful user of a controlled substance. Further, it is unlawful to possess a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense or violent crime. It is also illegal to purchase – or even to attempt to purchase – firearms if the buyer is a prohibited person or illegally purchasing a firearm on behalf of others. Lying on ATF Form 4473, which is used to lawfully purchase a firearm, also is a federal offense.  

    For more information from the ATF on the lawful purchasing of firearms, please see: https://www.atf.gov/qa-category/atfw-form-4473

    MIL Security OSI –