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  • MIL-OSI USA: Italian Government Authority Censures Eyewear Giant Luxottica for Failing to Uphold Fair Union Organizing Standards in U.S. Operations

    Source: Communications Workers of America

    A report by the OECD’s Italian National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct (NCP), has exposed global eyewear giant Luxottica for violating workers’ rights during union organizing efforts by the Communications Workers of America at the company’s Atlanta, Georgia logistics center in 2021. Despite publicly embracing its obligations under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, Luxottica failed to rectify these violations and undermined collaborative efforts to address them under the good offices of the NCP’s conciliation mechanism.

    The report concludes a multi-year process initiated by a formal complaint from IUE-CWA, AFL-CIO, IndustriALL, and UNI labor unions regarding Luxottica’s egregious anti-union tactics and failure to uphold internationally recognized labor standards at its U.S. facilities.

    In its Final Statement on the case, published in late December 2024, the Italian authority found that Luxottica rejected the NCP conciliator’s recommendations on fair union organizing by workers in the United States. The Final Statement confirmed the conciliator’s conclusion that the breakdown of the conciliation process was caused by Luxottica’s refusal to recognize the validity of the Guidelines, and the company’s insistence on U.S. law as the only relevant standard.

    Key Findings from the Italian NCP’s Report

    1. International labor standards, and not domestic law, govern any OECD Guidelines proceeding.

    2. Luxottica failed to engage constructively in the conciliation process, in contrast to the union’s efforts.

    3. As per the conciliator’s instructions, Luxottica should have remained neutral regarding union organizing efforts by its workers.

    IUE-CWA President Carl Kennebrew issued the following statement on the Italian NCP’s findings in the case:

    “Luxottica has deliberately violated OECD Guidelines for Responsible Business by interfering with its employees’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights. Although Luxottica publicly claims adherence to these guidelines, its actions tell a different story, as the company undermined workers’ attempts to organize at its Atlanta facility.”

    “Luxottica global management has made a fundamental mistake by following the advice of its anti-union American lawyers instead of the conciliator’s recommendations. Luxottica’s failure to live up to its obligations under the OECD Guidelines creates reputational and financial risk for the company and its investors as it seeks to expand its global footprint in North America and other regions.”

    “There is still time for Luxottica to rectify its refusal to adopt the Italian conciliator’s recommendations. We urge Luxottica to return to the table with IUE-CWA for agreement on management neutrality and other fair rules for organizing. Many firms have adopted such neutrality agreements with their union, most recently Microsoft and General Electric. Many other companies have reached global framework agreements with unions promising to respect workers’ organizing and bargaining rights worldwide.”

    “If trade unions are unable to reach an agreement with Luxottica on fair rules for union organizing, we will explore other avenues to persuade Luxottica to halt its violations of international standards on workers’ freedom of association in the United States. These include increased engagement with socially responsible investors, and the enforcement of U.S. and European due diligence laws on human rights in Luxottica’s supply chain. But the solution is really simple: Luxottica can apply the same standards of good faith and respect for trade unions that it maintains in Italy to its operations in the United States.”

    IndustriALL General Secretary Atle Høie issued the following statement on the Italian NCP’s findings:

    “This case exposes what the OECD considers actions taken by Luxottica in violation with the OECD guidelines on multinational companies. The conclusions clearly denounce anti union behavior put in place by companies during organizing. Such union busting tactics are not uncommon in the US, but have now been unequivocally condemned by the OECD contact point in Italy. We demand that Luxottica follow the recommendations, take a neutral stance in future organizing activities and invite CWA back to the table.”

    UNI Global Union General Secretary Christy Hoffman issued the following statement on the Italian NCP’s findings in the case:

    “It is shameful that companies operating in the US routinely believe that they can violate international standards with impunity. The NCP in this case did not back down from calling this out as a violation of the Guidelines. The NCP also took a clear decision that the Italian management was responsible for anti-union actions of its US subsidiary, another good precedent. The company should reverse course, follow the rules on which we all depend, and go back to the table with CWA. An end to this kind of union-busting is long overdue.”

    Background and Details

    The report comes at the end of a six-month conciliation process held from September 2023 to March 2024 under the aegis of the National Contact Point (NCP), which is an authority constituted by the Italian Government’s Ministry of Businesses, following the NCP’s review of the unions’ complaint that Luxottica created a “climate of fear” which destroyed an organizing effort by American workers at Luxottica’s North American logistics hub in McDonough (Atlanta), Georgia in 2021.

    Italy-based Luxottica (EssilorLuxottica following its 2017 merger with global French-based lens producer Essilor) is a major employer in the United States, which is its largest single market, with operations in eyewear retail, vision insurance, ophthalmic labs, and lens and frame manufacturing.

    The IUE-CWA, joined by the AFL-CIO and global unions IndustriALL and UNI, complained that management’s aggressive anti-union tactics violated workers’ organizing rights under the OECD Guidelines.

    Luxottica blatantly disregarded these labor principles in 2021 despite its obligations under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct which call on multinational companies to respect core labor standards, including the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

    Instead, as workers at its Atlanta logistics center sought to unionize for better health protections and fair wages during the COVID-19 crisis, Luxottica launched an aggressive anti-union campaign.

    American management at the Georgia center forced employees into “captive-audience” meetings in which managers and anti-union consultants vilified trade unions as swindlers who only want workers’ dues payments, and told employees they could lose pay and benefits if they support the union. Management repeated the same insults and threats in an anti-union website and in text messages, workplace posters, and TV screens throughout the plant. Luxottica interfered with organizers’ access to the workers. The climate of fear and intimidation became so severe that IUE-CWA ultimately withdrew its organizing effort.

    Such actions would be unthinkable in Italy, where unions have long enjoyed collective bargaining relationships with Luxottica management based on good faith and mutual respect. Italian unions joined the call for Luxottica to apply these same principles when workers in its American facilities exercise rights to freedom of association.

    CWA Union representatives were optimistic about reaching an agreement with Luxottica in the NCP conciliation process when it began with a meeting in Rome in September 2023 under guidance of conciliator Enzo Cannizzaro, a prominent Italian international law professor at the University of Rome and at Columbia Law School. The unions hoped to reach an agreement with Luxottica based on the conciliator’s recommendations, which included measures for management neutrality, union representatives’ access to facilities to meet with workers, and other measures adhering to international labor rights standards under the OECD Guidelines.

    The union accepted the conciliator’s recommendations. But, advised by its American anti-union lawyers, Luxottica management refused even to respond to the conciliator’s recommendations. The conciliator closed the proceeding in April 2024 without a resolution to the dispute.

    The Unions contend that Luxottica failed to engage in good faith during the OECD’s six-month conciliation process. Rather than seeking a resolution, the company obstructed the process and ignored opportunities provided to rectify its transgressions.

    In its Final Report, the Italian NCP makes clear why the process failed.The NCP also reiterated the Conciliator’s recommendation as to how the Company should honor the principle of non-interference moving forward:

    “The owners and the management of a Company … should refrain from expressing their opinion on matters of unionisation, under the principle on non-interference, in order to contribute to a fair and equitable framework for industrial relations, as also pursued by the OECD Guidelines.”

    The NCP concluded its Final Report with

    “regrets that it has not been possible to resolve the issues raised by applying the Guidelines,” stressing that “settling the case on the basis of the Guidelines’ provisions, rather than by applying the national law, alone, would have ensured a balanced, constructive and long-lasting solution. Indeed, the Guidelines themselves refer to principles and standards of international law.”

    Final Considerations and Next Steps

    The Italian NCP’s findings put Luxottica at a crossroads. IUE-CWA, AFL-CIO, IndustriALL and UNI union confederations demand that Luxottica adopt a fair framework that guarantees neutrality and non-interference in future organizing efforts across the U.S. By doing so, Luxottica can begin to repair the damage caused by its anti-union practices and demonstrate its commitment to the workers who drive its business forward.

    As pressure mounts, IUE-CWA remains resolute in its fight for fair labor standards and urges Luxottica to make a decisive shift toward responsible business conduct worldwide. The union will continue to monitor the situation closely and advocate for vision workers’ rights at every turn.

    For more information on the NCP Final Statement and its implications for Luxottica’s labor practices, contact CWA Communications at +1 (202) 434-1168 and comms@cwa-union.org

    ###

    About National Contact Points for RBC

    “National Contact Points for Responsible Business Conduct (NCPs for RBC) are agencies established by governments. Their mandate is twofold: to promote the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and related due diligence guidance, and to handle cases (referred to as “specific instances”) as a non-judicial grievance mechanism. To date, 51 governments have an NCP for RBC. Also see: https://mneguidelines.oecd.org/ncps/

    All 51 governments adhering to the OECD Guidelines have the legal obligation to set up an NCP. Today, NCPs make up a network and a community of practitioners, dealing with a wide array of impacts involving companies either through their operations or their supply chains. In 2020, NCPs celebrated 20 years as non-judicial grievance mechanisms. Find out more about NCPs | Browse resources on NCPs”

    The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries from Europe, North America, South America and Asia-Pacific, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It originates from the organization set up to manage US Marshall Aid to post-WW2 Europe. The United States is one of its founding members. It is headquartered in Paris.

    About CWA

    The Communications Workers of America (CWA) represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech and other fields. IUE-CWA is the Industrial Division of the CWA, it represents manufacturing and industrial workers in a wide range of industries including automotive, aerospace, furniture, and appliances, and vision.

    About AFL-CIO

    Headquartered in Washington DC, USA, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is the democratic, voluntary federation of 60 national and international labor unions that represent more than 12.5 million working people in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

    About IndustriALL Global Union

    IndustriALL Global Union is a global union federation, founded in Copenhagen on 19 June 2012. IndustriALL represents more than 50 million working people in more than 140 countries, working across the supply chains in mining, energy and manufacturing sectors at the global level. The Global headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland.

    About UNI Global Union

    UNI Global Union, formally Union Network International, is a Global Union Federation for the skills and services sectors, uniting national and regional trade unions. It has affiliated unions in 150 countries representing 20 million workers. The Global headquarters is in Nyon, Switzerland.

    About EssilorLuxottica

    EssilorLuxottica was created through the 2017 merger between French multinational corporation Essilor and Italian multinational corporation Luxottica, with Essilor headquartered in France and Luxottica in Italy. EssilorLuxottica is a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of ophthalmic lenses, frames and sunglasses. With over 200,000 employees across 150 countries, 650 operations facilities and 18,000 stores, in 2023 the Company generated consolidated revenue of Euro 25.4 billion. EssilorLuxottica is home to advanced lens technologies including Varilux, Stellest and Transitions, eyewear brands including Ray-Ban and Oakley, luxury licensed brands and world-class retailers including LensCrafters and Sunglass Hut. EssilorLuxottica shares are traded on the Euronext Paris market and are included in the Euro Stoxx 50 and CAC 40 indices. Codes and symbols: ISIN: FR0000121667; Reuters: ESLX.PA; Bloomberg: EL:FP. www.essilorluxottica.com.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Healthcare in Africa on brink of crisis as US exits WHO and USAid freezes funds: health scholar explains why

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Catherine Kyobutungi, Executive Director, African Population and Health Research Center

    US president Donald Trump has taken a series of decisions that have delivered body blows to the global management of health. He has announced that the US will leave the World Health Organization. And a 90-day freeze has been placed on money distributed by the US Agency for International Development (USAid) pending a review by the US State Department. This includes funds for the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar). The decisions have triggered alarm in the global health sector.

    Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, outlines which countries are most at risk and which health programmes will suffer the most damage.

    What does the US exit mean for Africa?

    The US exit from the WHO and the freeze announced on USAid funding are devastating moves that will have drastic effects on the health of millions of people in Africa.

    The US is by far the WHO’s largest state donor, contributing approximately 18% of the agency’s total funding.

    US development aid is used to run large-scale health programmes on the continent. For example, Nigeria received approximately US$600 million in health assistance from the US, over 21% of the 2023 health budget.

    The WHO is a global health body that synthesises scientific research and develops guidelines that countries in Africa rely on to shape their own policies and practices.

    The biggest loss for Africa under the USAID umbrella will be funding for Pepfar, which is used for HIV-related programmes including prevention, testing and treatment. Through Pepfar, the US government has invested over US$110 billion in the global HIV/Aids response.



    Read more:
    WHO in Africa: three ways the continent stands to lose from Trump’s decision to pull out

    What’s going to be lost?

    A range of capabilities.

    Firstly, technical guidance. The WHO provides technical guidance to countries on issues ranging from TB management to cost-effective malaria control.

    Secondly, the ability to mobilise resources. The WHO has the mandate and mechanisms to assemble experts from across the globe to evaluate new therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines. They can evaluate new evidence on emerging patterns of new bugs, resistance to current treatments, and so on.

    Thirdly, the WHO has tools and mechanisms that have been key to African countries’ health policy decisions. These include:

    • the WHO’s list of Essential Medicines to inform decision-making on critical drugs

    • a similar mechanism to evaluate new vaccines, resulting in guidance that makes regulatory approval faster and easier in African countries which don’t have strong systems.

    Fourth, the WHO also provides resources for emergency response, as in the event of disease outbreaks such as Ebola and COVID-19. The WHO is able to quickly mobilise experts and funds and to coordinate emergency responses.

    Fifth, the WHO provides evidence-informed guidelines. It does this by gathering and sharing information like the causes of outbreaks, while monitoring signals of potential outbreaks and coordinating efforts to develop new technologies, such as vaccines and medical devices.

    Sixth, the WHO’s ability to support critical programmes in tuberculosis prevention and emergency response will be reduced.

    Seventh, the withdrawal of US citizens working in these global agencies – and the orders to stop sharing data – mean the US is essentially excluded from global information-sharing mechanisms that keep us all safe. It will be harder to share information about emerging health threats in the US with the rest of the world and vice versa.

    Which countries will be most affected?

    Many African countries are heavily reliant on the support provided by Pepfar and USAID to fund programmes in the health sector and for humanitarian assistance.

    Countries which will be most affected are those with a high burden of HIV, TB and malaria and those with large populations of refugee and internally displaced people.

    Currently the top eight USAid recipients in Africa are: Nigeria, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    Without funds being rapidly mobilised to fill the gap left by the US withdrawal, the effect on the health of millions of Africans is at stake. Failure to prevent new infections, and the threat of drug resistance developing because of disrupted treatment, will have far-reaching consequences.

    In Uganda, where about 1.4 million people are living with HIV/Aids, 60% of the spending on its HIV/Aids programme was from Pepfar, and about 20% from the Global Fund (partly funded from Pepfar).

    A drastic reduction in funding will be devastating for patients and the greater health system.

    The Pepfar programme, a lifeline for millions of Africans, has been under threat since before the most recent aid freeze. In 2024, the American congress only gave a one-year authorisation instead of the typical five-year funding authorisation.

    A conservative backlash against this programme has been growing for years with concerns that some funds may be used to fund abortion. The current authorisation expires in March 2025 and falls within the 90-day aid review period. With the current approval expiring next month, and in light of the current atmosphere, it is very likely that it may not be renewed.



    Read more:
    How US policy on abortion affects women in Africa

    What steps should African countries be taking?

    There has a been a lot of discussion around jobs and lives lost, but not much around what happens next: how African governments are planning on mitigating shortfalls in their health budget in the short term and foreseeable future.

    Therefore we need to ask our governments what that means for us and how they are planning to ensure that we do not reverse the gains made so far. This includes preventing millions of HIV infections, improved testing and provision of life-saving antiretroviral treatment.

    The sudden and drastic decisions taken by the Trump administration have been hailed by several commentators as the wake-up call the continent needs – to wean itself off dependency on a flawed “development aid” system that is admittedly a tool for geopolitical influence.



    Read more:
    US health funding cuts: what Nigeria stands to lose

    The disbelief and chaos in the global health sector should be rapidly mobilised into citizen action, for governments to invest in a critical sector that has depended on foreign assistance for too long. In the absence of sustained investment, the gains in the health sector may be lost, reversing decades of progress in global health.

    Lastly, Africans, especially scientists and academics, need to stand up to the worrying anti-science trend that underlies some of these drastic policies. The growing mistrust in science and scientific institutions will not abate unless it is challenged.

    It is ridiculous that a continent of 1.3 billion people is reliant on the whims of one man many kilometres away; on his signature on a single document.

    The world needs to wake up. We need to wake up.

    Catherine Kyobutungi works for the African Population and Health Research Center which receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, Wellcome, and the Gates Foundation

    – ref. Healthcare in Africa on brink of crisis as US exits WHO and USAid freezes funds: health scholar explains why – https://theconversation.com/healthcare-in-africa-on-brink-of-crisis-as-us-exits-who-and-usaid-freezes-funds-health-scholar-explains-why-248906

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Central African Republic: listening to people’s stories about foreign forces could help bring peace

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Tim Glawion, Senior research fellow at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institut, Freiburg, Germany, University of Freiburg

    Since it became independent in 1960, the Central African Republic has grappled with poverty, instability and governance challenges.

    A decade into former president François Bozizé’s corrupt rule, a rebellion broke out and toppled the president in 2013. What followed was a devastatingly violent civil war with thousands of people killed and a fifth of the populace displaced.

    To halt violence against civilians, numerous international actors intervened, including the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union and France. From 2014 onward they put thousands of boots on the ground and pushed rebels from most towns, while protecting and supporting the interim administration.

    But by 2016 all actors had retreated, save the United Nations (UN). The mission – Minusca – was not able to contain a resurgence in rebellion, and the newly elected president Faustin-Archange Touadéra turned to Russian paramilitaries to stabilise his rule in 2017.

    These paramilitaries started out only as “trainers” but took on more prominent and direct combat roles as the years passed, making the country a geopolitical playing field. The Russian paramilitaries and national army again pushed the rebels out of most towns and into the countryside.

    I have studied the Central African Republic’s politics for over a decade, conducting research in towns across the country. I wanted to find out why some areas were more affected by violence than others and how people locally lived together. I believed that in such local stories we might find missing links as to why all the actors involved failed to provide the protection from violence and provision of services that people desired.

    To study people’s expectations of peacekeepers, I used a method I call the “qualitative” survey. This type of survey asks open questions, for example “what do you expect of international actors?”. This leaves space for people to say things that researchers might not have expected. It also included more typical closed questions like “how safe do you feel, on a scale from 1 to 5?”.

    With a team of Central African researchers, I conducted these surveys in four places in 2019 and in two places in 2023 and 2024. At this stage respondents had experienced foreign peacekeeping missions and Russian paramilitary presence.

    We found that peacekeeping missions were losing popular support because they were not fulfilling the expectations of people in the Central African Republic.

    People wanted peacekeepers to confront armed actors. When peacekeepers failed to do so, they criticised them, even requested them to leave.

    Russian paramilitaries offered the forceful response that autocratic regimes and many locals wanted. However, they provided a too simplistic answer to people’s demands, based only on the present. People also had future expectations: they wanted armed actors to be kicked out so that people might be treated fairly and witness the return of a caring state in the near future.

    Thus, while peacekeepers frustrated initial expectations and Russian paramilitaries might fulfil them, the Central African state and their Russian paramilitary allies were not building the future people expected.

    Expectations

    The overall results of the survey showed that people had the most confidence in local institutions, while harbouring high expectations for the state (when it returns), and being broadly disappointed by international peacekeepers.

    The results varied strongly according to local experiences with the state and international actors. Most intriguingly, respondents did not necessarily feel safest in those localities that had the fewest violent incidents. I call this the “security paradox” and it has much to do with unmet expectations for which we need to dig into individual responses.

    Take the example of a middle-aged woman in the Central African Republic’s north-eastern and long rebel-held town of Ndélé, who made two points in early 2019. First, the United Nations peacekeeping mission, Minusca, was inactive in the face of aggression. Second, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were doing a good job:

    Partner organisations such as Minusca who reside among our population do not seem to be there to ensure our protection, as we hear on the radio. A person may well be raped, and they do not even react to rescue the person in danger, even if they know about it. On the other hand, the NGOs are doing a very good job, and it is thanks to them that Ndélé is doing well today.

    However, my own analysis showed that, objectively speaking, both peacekeepers and aid organisations were doing a mediocre job. Under the peacekeepers’ watch few violent incidents occurred and the aid organisations were only covering a fraction of local needs, much less than in other studied localities.

    The difference in perception, I argue, stems from the fact that local people have certain expectations for security and different expectations for service provision in the Central African Republic.

    Security in the Central African Republic is marked by an abundance of armed groups threatening people’s livelihoods. Dozens are currently active, of which a handful have been roaming for more than a decade, controlling trade routes and resources, as well as wielding local political power.

    Services like schooling, health and electricity are almost entirely absent in many areas outside the capital; not even the state provides them.

    Thus, in the security sector, people expect confrontation of armed actors by either the UN peacekeeping mission or the Russian paramilitary, whereas in services they want NGOs to substitute for government failings. Or in the words of an Ndélé trader:

    The international actors can help us during these absences of state authority.

    However, Minusca was not ready to forcefully oppose armed actors as they pursued an approach based on negotiating peace agreements and pursuing voluntary integration or disarmament. What my study shows is that doing too little in the eyes of the population can quickly turn the rumour mill, as this woman in Ndélé suggested:

    As for Minusca, we do not see its work in favour of our well-being, and we even want it to leave since we have seen that it is the cause of our current division and suffering.

    But would confrontation have brought more popular support to Minusca? Well, it did to another actor that stepped in, as a national staffer of an aid organisation stated in early 2022 in Bambari:

    Minusca patrols do not have the confidence of the population. Because in front of Minusca forces, the rebels kill the population. For seven years, Minusca was unable to secure the town. Within minutes, the Central African Armed Forces and their Russian allies managed to dislodge them from the town of Bambari, which is now secure.

    Reality

    I did not judge whether people’s expectations of interventions were realistic.

    Given the state’s history in the Central African Republic, it was surprising how many people wanted a state and army to return.

    However, people were hoping for a “benevolent” state return. This has not happened.

    And as for the Russian “allies”, as they are called in the Central African Republic: their confrontational approach has caused heavy collateral damage and has failed to stabilise former rebel areas. Rebellion is again on the rise.

    My study shows how important it is to analyse expectations in-depth, and to take them as a starting point of intervention policy. Not understanding people’s expectations is what caught peacekeepers by surprise when people started demonstrating in front of their bases and even calling for their withdrawal.

    While there might be good reasons not to pursue a forceful approach against rebels, interveners must be aware that they thereby deceive public expectations and should thus proactively listen to and engage the population about their demands.

    The dilemma is that fulfilling people’s initial expectations does not automatically lead to the future they desire. So there must be difficult and open discussions about what is and what is not feasible in peacekeeping.

    Tim Glawion receives funding from the public German Science Foundation (DFG, project number: 437386574).

    – ref. Central African Republic: listening to people’s stories about foreign forces could help bring peace – https://theconversation.com/central-african-republic-listening-to-peoples-stories-about-foreign-forces-could-help-bring-peace-247834

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Healthcare in Africa on brink of crisis as US exits WHO and USAid freezes funds: health scholar explains why

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Catherine Kyobutungi, Executive Director, African Population and Health Research Center

    US president Donald Trump has taken a series of decisions that have delivered body blows to the global management of health. He has announced that the US will leave the World Health Organization. And a 90-day freeze has been placed on money distributed by the US Agency for International Development (USAid) pending a review by the US State Department. This includes funds for the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar). The decisions have triggered alarm in the global health sector.

    Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, outlines which countries are most at risk and which health programmes will suffer the most damage.

    What does the US exit mean for Africa?

    The US exit from the WHO and the freeze announced on USAid funding are devastating moves that will have drastic effects on the health of millions of people in Africa.

    The US is by far the WHO’s largest state donor, contributing approximately 18% of the agency’s total funding.

    US development aid is used to run large-scale health programmes on the continent. For example, Nigeria received approximately US$600 million in health assistance from the US, over 21% of the 2023 health budget.

    The WHO is a global health body that synthesises scientific research and develops guidelines that countries in Africa rely on to shape their own policies and practices.

    The biggest loss for Africa under the USAID umbrella will be funding for Pepfar, which is used for HIV-related programmes including prevention, testing and treatment. Through Pepfar, the US government has invested over US$110 billion in the global HIV/Aids response.

    Read more: WHO in Africa: three ways the continent stands to lose from Trump’s decision to pull out

    What’s going to be lost?

    A range of capabilities.

    Firstly, technical guidance. The WHO provides technical guidance to countries on issues ranging from TB management to cost-effective malaria control.

    Secondly, the ability to mobilise resources. The WHO has the mandate and mechanisms to assemble experts from across the globe to evaluate new therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines. They can evaluate new evidence on emerging patterns of new bugs, resistance to current treatments, and so on.

    Thirdly, the WHO has tools and mechanisms that have been key to African countries’ health policy decisions. These include:

    • the WHO’s list of Essential Medicines to inform decision-making on critical drugs

    • a similar mechanism to evaluate new vaccines, resulting in guidance that makes regulatory approval faster and easier in African countries which don’t have strong systems.

    Fourth, the WHO also provides resources for emergency response, as in the event of disease outbreaks such as Ebola and COVID-19. The WHO is able to quickly mobilise experts and funds and to coordinate emergency responses.

    Fifth, the WHO provides evidence-informed guidelines. It does this by gathering and sharing information like the causes of outbreaks, while monitoring signals of potential outbreaks and coordinating efforts to develop new technologies, such as vaccines and medical devices.

    Sixth, the WHO’s ability to support critical programmes in tuberculosis prevention and emergency response will be reduced.

    Seventh, the withdrawal of US citizens working in these global agencies – and the orders to stop sharing data – mean the US is essentially excluded from global information-sharing mechanisms that keep us all safe. It will be harder to share information about emerging health threats in the US with the rest of the world and vice versa.

    Which countries will be most affected?

    Many African countries are heavily reliant on the support provided by Pepfar and USAID to fund programmes in the health sector and for humanitarian assistance.

    Countries which will be most affected are those with a high burden of HIV, TB and malaria and those with large populations of refugee and internally displaced people.

    Currently the top eight USAid recipients in Africa are: Nigeria, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    Without funds being rapidly mobilised to fill the gap left by the US withdrawal, the effect on the health of millions of Africans is at stake. Failure to prevent new infections, and the threat of drug resistance developing because of disrupted treatment, will have far-reaching consequences.

    In Uganda, where about 1.4 million people are living with HIV/Aids, 60% of the spending on its HIV/Aids programme was from Pepfar, and about 20% from the Global Fund (partly funded from Pepfar).

    A drastic reduction in funding will be devastating for patients and the greater health system.

    The Pepfar programme, a lifeline for millions of Africans, has been under threat since before the most recent aid freeze. In 2024, the American congress only gave a one-year authorisation instead of the typical five-year funding authorisation.

    A conservative backlash against this programme has been growing for years with concerns that some funds may be used to fund abortion. The current authorisation expires in March 2025 and falls within the 90-day aid review period. With the current approval expiring next month, and in light of the current atmosphere, it is very likely that it may not be renewed.

    Read more: How US policy on abortion affects women in Africa

    What steps should African countries be taking?

    There has a been a lot of discussion around jobs and lives lost, but not much around what happens next: how African governments are planning on mitigating shortfalls in their health budget in the short term and foreseeable future.

    Therefore we need to ask our governments what that means for us and how they are planning to ensure that we do not reverse the gains made so far. This includes preventing millions of HIV infections, improved testing and provision of life-saving antiretroviral treatment.

    The sudden and drastic decisions taken by the Trump administration have been hailed by several commentators as the wake-up call the continent needs – to wean itself off dependency on a flawed “development aid” system that is admittedly a tool for geopolitical influence.

    Read more: US health funding cuts: what Nigeria stands to lose

    The disbelief and chaos in the global health sector should be rapidly mobilised into citizen action, for governments to invest in a critical sector that has depended on foreign assistance for too long. In the absence of sustained investment, the gains in the health sector may be lost, reversing decades of progress in global health.

    Lastly, Africans, especially scientists and academics, need to stand up to the worrying anti-science trend that underlies some of these drastic policies. The growing mistrust in science and scientific institutions will not abate unless it is challenged.

    It is ridiculous that a continent of 1.3 billion people is reliant on the whims of one man many kilometres away; on his signature on a single document.

    The world needs to wake up. We need to wake up.

    – Healthcare in Africa on brink of crisis as US exits WHO and USAid freezes funds: health scholar explains why
    – https://theconversation.com/healthcare-in-africa-on-brink-of-crisis-as-us-exits-who-and-usaid-freezes-funds-health-scholar-explains-why-248906

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Power vacuum in west Africa’s Sahel: 3 ways China could fill the gap as west exits

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Abdul-Gafar Tobi Oshodi, Faculty member, Department of Political Science, Lagos State University

    With France fast losing its influence in west Africa’s Sahel region and an unpredictable US president in power, will China fill the vacuum?

    The Sahel region covers 10 countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.

    French troops have been expelled from three of these – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – after military coups. Chad, Senegal and Ivory Coast have also expelled French troops. The troops were there because of the security threat from extremist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province.

    Niger also ended an agreement to keep about 1,000 US troops involved in a counter-terrorism mission. Niger’s military government described the US as having a “condescending attitude”.

    While it has been rightly argued that the presence of the western powers did not resolve the security challenges of the region, their withdrawal creates a vacuum.

    I am a political science and international relations researcher who has been studying China-Africa relations for over a decade.

    I argue that Beijing could take advantage of the vacuum in the Sahel in at least three ways: expansion of investments in critical minerals; resolution of the Ecowas crisis (when Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali exited the regional bloc); and increased arms sales.

    This is especially so as China is not new to the Sahel region of west Africa. For instance, China is constructing a US$32 million headquarters for Ecowas in Abuja, Nigeria.

    Three ways China could benefit

    First, China could expand its influence – and the next four years hold enormous opportunities in this regard.

    US president Donald Trump’s likely transactional and unpredictable approach to international relations may force African countries to look to China. For instance, they may need China to help fill the void created by the US decision to dismantle USAID and freeze international development aid.

    Nigeria joined Brics as a partner country a few days before the inauguration of Trump. Brics is a group of emerging economies determined to act as a counterweight to the west and to whittle down the influence of global institutions. It was established in 2006 and initially composed of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. This decision by the largest economy in the Sahel is an expression of its commitment to China – with potential implications for other Sahelian countries.

    The vacuum offers Beijing the opportunity to strengthen its investment and position as a top beneficiary of the critical minerals, such as gold, copper, lithium and uranium, in the Sahel region.

    In 2024, west African gold production was estimated to be 11.83 million ounces. Ghana, Burkina Faso, the Republic of Guinea and Mali were the major contributors.

    Second, China is in a unique position to push for a resolution of the Ecowas crisis.

    Following military coups, the Ecowas regional economic bloc sanctioned Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Ecowas even threatened Niger with a military invasion. The three countries then decided to leave Ecowas to form the Alliance of Sahel States.

    As a neutral actor whose non-interference policy accommodates both civil and military regimes, Beijing is in a position to bring Ecowas and the Alliance of Sahel States into negotiation before the final departure date of 29 July 2025.

    If it succeeds, China would look more like a peaceful power, an image that is contested by others.

    Building on its soft power projects like the Confucius Institutes and scholarships, China would look like the “saviour” of Ecowas integration.

    This is what it did in the case of the Tazara railway project, where China supported Tanzania and Zambia to build a railway line together. It supported the African countries when the US and Europe had failed, were reluctant or were not interested.

    Third is Chinese arms sales.

    Chinese arms are already in the Sahel. In 2019, Nigeria signed a US$152 million contract with the China North Industries Corporation Limited (Norinco) to provide some of the weapons needed to fight the Boko Haram terror group. Since then, Chinese drones and other equipment have become a feature in Nigeria’s counter-terrorism response.

    The Chinese arms market could receive a major boost beyond Nigeria with the withdrawal of western countries from the Sahel. Western countries are likely to be reluctant to sell arms to the countries that have evicted their military.

    Sanctions on Russia have also increased the likelihood of Chinese arms in the Sahel.

    For example, a few months after France and the US left the region, some reports suggested that Russian mercenaries in the Sahel region were using Chinese weapons. Norinco – China’s top arms manufacturer and seventh largest arms supplier in the world – has opened sales offices in Nigeria and Senegal.

    In June 2024, Burkina Faso received 100 tanks from China. Three months after, Mali signed an agreement with Norinco to bolster its fight against terrorism.

    Bumpy road ahead

    China’s non-interference can accommodate both civil and military governments in the Sahel. This is an advantage for Beijing in some ways. But it could also have unexpected impacts.

    There are competing local interests in the Sahel and Beijing’s deepening involvement could be (mis)interpreted as supporting one over the other.

    This could make Chinese interests a target in the violence.

    It is also unclear if China is capable or willing to fill the vacuum created by the evicted western powers. But it looks as though China can benefit from the situation in the Sahel in the short term.

    Abdul-Gafar Tobi Oshodi has previously received research funding or travel support from organisations like the KU Leuven, Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Social Science Research Council (SSRC), Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh, Lagos State University, Chatham House (i.e. Robert Bosch Stiftung), Centre for Population and Environmental Development (CPED), Think Tank Initiative, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Coimbra Group Scholarship Programme, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TetFund), Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF), American Council of Learned Societies’ African Humanities Program (ACLS-AHP), Merian Institute of Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA), Development Studies Association (DSA) UK, Collective for the Renewal of Africa (CORA), Ford Foundation, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), and Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS). However, I must clearly and strongly state that none of these funders have at any time sought to influence or influenced my writings or public engagement. Thus, this article is one of my many expressions of my academic freedom.

    – ref. Power vacuum in west Africa’s Sahel: 3 ways China could fill the gap as west exits – https://theconversation.com/power-vacuum-in-west-africas-sahel-3-ways-china-could-fill-the-gap-as-west-exits-248353

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Central African Republic: listening to people’s stories about foreign forces could help bring peace

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Tim Glawion, Senior research fellow at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institut, Freiburg, Germany, University of Freiburg

    Since it became independent in 1960, the Central African Republic has grappled with poverty, instability and governance challenges.

    A decade into former president François Bozizé’s corrupt rule, a rebellion broke out and toppled the president in 2013. What followed was a devastatingly violent civil war with thousands of people killed and a fifth of the populace displaced.

    To halt violence against civilians, numerous international actors intervened, including the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union and France. From 2014 onward they put thousands of boots on the ground and pushed rebels from most towns, while protecting and supporting the interim administration.

    But by 2016 all actors had retreated, save the United Nations (UN). The mission – Minusca – was not able to contain a resurgence in rebellion, and the newly elected president Faustin-Archange Touadéra turned to Russian paramilitaries to stabilise his rule in 2017.

    These paramilitaries started out only as “trainers” but took on more prominent and direct combat roles as the years passed, making the country a geopolitical playing field. The Russian paramilitaries and national army again pushed the rebels out of most towns and into the countryside.

    I have studied the Central African Republic’s politics for over a decade, conducting research in towns across the country. I wanted to find out why some areas were more affected by violence than others and how people locally lived together. I believed that in such local stories we might find missing links as to why all the actors involved failed to provide the protection from violence and provision of services that people desired.

    To study people’s expectations of peacekeepers, I used a method I call the “qualitative” survey. This type of survey asks open questions, for example “what do you expect of international actors?”. This leaves space for people to say things that researchers might not have expected. It also included more typical closed questions like “how safe do you feel, on a scale from 1 to 5?”.

    With a team of Central African researchers, I conducted these surveys in four places in 2019 and in two places in 2023 and 2024. At this stage respondents had experienced foreign peacekeeping missions and Russian paramilitary presence.

    We found that peacekeeping missions were losing popular support because they were not fulfilling the expectations of people in the Central African Republic.

    People wanted peacekeepers to confront armed actors. When peacekeepers failed to do so, they criticised them, even requested them to leave.

    Russian paramilitaries offered the forceful response that autocratic regimes and many locals wanted. However, they provided a too simplistic answer to people’s demands, based only on the present. People also had future expectations: they wanted armed actors to be kicked out so that people might be treated fairly and witness the return of a caring state in the near future.

    Thus, while peacekeepers frustrated initial expectations and Russian paramilitaries might fulfil them, the Central African state and their Russian paramilitary allies were not building the future people expected.

    Expectations

    The overall results of the survey showed that people had the most confidence in local institutions, while harbouring high expectations for the state (when it returns), and being broadly disappointed by international peacekeepers.

    The results varied strongly according to local experiences with the state and international actors. Most intriguingly, respondents did not necessarily feel safest in those localities that had the fewest violent incidents. I call this the “security paradox” and it has much to do with unmet expectations for which we need to dig into individual responses.

    Take the example of a middle-aged woman in the Central African Republic’s north-eastern and long rebel-held town of Ndélé, who made two points in early 2019. First, the United Nations peacekeeping mission, Minusca, was inactive in the face of aggression. Second, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were doing a good job:

    Partner organisations such as Minusca who reside among our population do not seem to be there to ensure our protection, as we hear on the radio. A person may well be raped, and they do not even react to rescue the person in danger, even if they know about it. On the other hand, the NGOs are doing a very good job, and it is thanks to them that Ndélé is doing well today.

    However, my own analysis showed that, objectively speaking, both peacekeepers and aid organisations were doing a mediocre job. Under the peacekeepers’ watch few violent incidents occurred and the aid organisations were only covering a fraction of local needs, much less than in other studied localities.

    The difference in perception, I argue, stems from the fact that local people have certain expectations for security and different expectations for service provision in the Central African Republic.

    Security in the Central African Republic is marked by an abundance of armed groups threatening people’s livelihoods. Dozens are currently active, of which a handful have been roaming for more than a decade, controlling trade routes and resources, as well as wielding local political power.

    Services like schooling, health and electricity are almost entirely absent in many areas outside the capital; not even the state provides them.

    Thus, in the security sector, people expect confrontation of armed actors by either the UN peacekeeping mission or the Russian paramilitary, whereas in services they want NGOs to substitute for government failings. Or in the words of an Ndélé trader:

    The international actors can help us during these absences of state authority.

    However, Minusca was not ready to forcefully oppose armed actors as they pursued an approach based on negotiating peace agreements and pursuing voluntary integration or disarmament. What my study shows is that doing too little in the eyes of the population can quickly turn the rumour mill, as this woman in Ndélé suggested:

    As for Minusca, we do not see its work in favour of our well-being, and we even want it to leave since we have seen that it is the cause of our current division and suffering.

    But would confrontation have brought more popular support to Minusca? Well, it did to another actor that stepped in, as a national staffer of an aid organisation stated in early 2022 in Bambari:

    Minusca patrols do not have the confidence of the population. Because in front of Minusca forces, the rebels kill the population. For seven years, Minusca was unable to secure the town. Within minutes, the Central African Armed Forces and their Russian allies managed to dislodge them from the town of Bambari, which is now secure.

    Reality

    I did not judge whether people’s expectations of interventions were realistic.

    Given the state’s history in the Central African Republic, it was surprising how many people wanted a state and army to return.

    However, people were hoping for a “benevolent” state return. This has not happened.

    And as for the Russian “allies”, as they are called in the Central African Republic: their confrontational approach has caused heavy collateral damage and has failed to stabilise former rebel areas. Rebellion is again on the rise.

    My study shows how important it is to analyse expectations in-depth, and to take them as a starting point of intervention policy. Not understanding people’s expectations is what caught peacekeepers by surprise when people started demonstrating in front of their bases and even calling for their withdrawal.

    While there might be good reasons not to pursue a forceful approach against rebels, interveners must be aware that they thereby deceive public expectations and should thus proactively listen to and engage the population about their demands.

    The dilemma is that fulfilling people’s initial expectations does not automatically lead to the future they desire. So there must be difficult and open discussions about what is and what is not feasible in peacekeeping.

    – Central African Republic: listening to people’s stories about foreign forces could help bring peace
    – https://theconversation.com/central-african-republic-listening-to-peoples-stories-about-foreign-forces-could-help-bring-peace-247834

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Power vacuum in west Africa’s Sahel: 3 ways China could fill the gap as west exits

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Abdul-Gafar Tobi Oshodi, Faculty member, Department of Political Science, Lagos State University

    With France fast losing its influence in west Africa’s Sahel region and an unpredictable US president in power, will China fill the vacuum?

    The Sahel region covers 10 countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.

    French troops have been expelled from three of these – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – after military coups. Chad, Senegal and Ivory Coast have also expelled French troops. The troops were there because of the security threat from extremist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province.

    Niger also ended an agreement to keep about 1,000 US troops involved in a counter-terrorism mission. Niger’s military government described the US as having a “condescending attitude”.

    While it has been rightly argued that the presence of the western powers did not resolve the security challenges of the region, their withdrawal creates a vacuum.

    I am a political science and international relations researcher who has been studying China-Africa relations for over a decade.

    I argue that Beijing could take advantage of the vacuum in the Sahel in at least three ways: expansion of investments in critical minerals; resolution of the Ecowas crisis (when Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali exited the regional bloc); and increased arms sales.

    This is especially so as China is not new to the Sahel region of west Africa. For instance, China is constructing a US$32 million headquarters for Ecowas in Abuja, Nigeria.

    Three ways China could benefit

    First, China could expand its influence – and the next four years hold enormous opportunities in this regard.

    US president Donald Trump’s likely transactional and unpredictable approach to international relations may force African countries to look to China. For instance, they may need China to help fill the void created by the US decision to dismantle USAID and freeze international development aid.

    Nigeria joined Brics as a partner country a few days before the inauguration of Trump. Brics is a group of emerging economies determined to act as a counterweight to the west and to whittle down the influence of global institutions. It was established in 2006 and initially composed of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. This decision by the largest economy in the Sahel is an expression of its commitment to China – with potential implications for other Sahelian countries.

    The vacuum offers Beijing the opportunity to strengthen its investment and position as a top beneficiary of the critical minerals, such as gold, copper, lithium and uranium, in the Sahel region.

    In 2024, west African gold production was estimated to be 11.83 million ounces. Ghana, Burkina Faso, the Republic of Guinea and Mali were the major contributors.

    Second, China is in a unique position to push for a resolution of the Ecowas crisis.

    Following military coups, the Ecowas regional economic bloc sanctioned Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Ecowas even threatened Niger with a military invasion. The three countries then decided to leave Ecowas to form the Alliance of Sahel States.

    As a neutral actor whose non-interference policy accommodates both civil and military regimes, Beijing is in a position to bring Ecowas and the Alliance of Sahel States into negotiation before the final departure date of 29 July 2025.

    If it succeeds, China would look more like a peaceful power, an image that is contested by others.

    Building on its soft power projects like the Confucius Institutes and scholarships, China would look like the “saviour” of Ecowas integration.

    This is what it did in the case of the Tazara railway project, where China supported Tanzania and Zambia to build a railway line together. It supported the African countries when the US and Europe had failed, were reluctant or were not interested.

    Third is Chinese arms sales.

    Chinese arms are already in the Sahel. In 2019, Nigeria signed a US$152 million contract with the China North Industries Corporation Limited (Norinco) to provide some of the weapons needed to fight the Boko Haram terror group. Since then, Chinese drones and other equipment have become a feature in Nigeria’s counter-terrorism response.

    The Chinese arms market could receive a major boost beyond Nigeria with the withdrawal of western countries from the Sahel. Western countries are likely to be reluctant to sell arms to the countries that have evicted their military.

    Sanctions on Russia have also increased the likelihood of Chinese arms in the Sahel.

    For example, a few months after France and the US left the region, some reports suggested that Russian mercenaries in the Sahel region were using Chinese weapons. Norinco – China’s top arms manufacturer and seventh largest arms supplier in the world – has opened sales offices in Nigeria and Senegal.

    In June 2024, Burkina Faso received 100 tanks from China. Three months after, Mali signed an agreement with Norinco to bolster its fight against terrorism.

    Bumpy road ahead

    China’s non-interference can accommodate both civil and military governments in the Sahel. This is an advantage for Beijing in some ways. But it could also have unexpected impacts.

    There are competing local interests in the Sahel and Beijing’s deepening involvement could be (mis)interpreted as supporting one over the other.

    This could make Chinese interests a target in the violence.

    It is also unclear if China is capable or willing to fill the vacuum created by the evicted western powers. But it looks as though China can benefit from the situation in the Sahel in the short term.

    – Power vacuum in west Africa’s Sahel: 3 ways China could fill the gap as west exits
    – https://theconversation.com/power-vacuum-in-west-africas-sahel-3-ways-china-could-fill-the-gap-as-west-exits-248353

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Samsung Equips Chicago Police with 10,000 Galaxy S Series Smartphones

    Source: Samsung

    Samsung Electronics America today announced that the Chicago Police Department deployed 10,000 Samsung Galaxy S series smartphones to its officers. The Chicago Police Department is using Samsung mobile devices to help modernize police work where officers need to process vast amounts of information while personally engaging with their communities. The Samsung smartphones each include Samsung DeX, which gives users the experience of working on a desktop by connecting a smartphone or tablet to an external display device such as a TV, monitor or PC.1 Samsung DeX enables officers to quickly pivot from mobile to desktop experiences inside their vehicles – all without needing to return to their stations.
    Samsung first partnered with the Chicago Police Department to launch a technology proof of concept in 2018. Under the expanded relationship, Samsung now provides mobile devices, Samsung DeX desktop experiences, and Samsung Knox security technologies for the city’s entire fleet of law enforcement, and has expanded to equip the Chicago Fire Department, as well. Today, Chicago’s police and firefighters rely upon Samsung technologies for secure information and communications as they protect and serve Chicago’s neighborhoods.
    Giving Public Servants the Modern Mobile Tools They Need to Serve the Public

    Chicago sought out technologies that would enable officers to engage with the people in their neighborhoods while reducing their time spent at desks processing paperwork. The Chicago Police Department is the second largest police force in the United States by sworn member size, with officers representing many ages and levels of experience, and the department needed to deploy a user-friendly technology that every person could use.
    Paired with vehicle-mounted docks2, Samsung Galaxy smartphones proved to be the perfect modern solutions for officers. Moving from laptops to handheld devices enabled Chicago’s police to carry their tools everywhere, dramatically improving their ability to gather and access information in the field. “Thanks to Samsung DeX, we went from 3,000 vehicle-mounted laptops to around 10,000 Galaxy S-series phones that are now either assigned to officers or in a specific vehicle daily,” said Dennis Baliga, Deputy Director of IT Infrastructure, City of Chicago’s Office of Public Safety Administration.
    The Chicago Fire Department chose Galaxy Tab tablets with unified mounts, using Samsung DeX in Vehicle to provide the same consistent desktop experience when connecting tablets to in-vehicle displays. Firefighters know that they’ll see the same desktop interface regardless of whether they are in a fire truck on the South Side or North Side of the city.

    Samsung Technologies Are Improving Efficiency and Streamlining User Experiences
    Using Samsung Knox Suite – Samsung’s enterprise-grade security platform – technology teams can design the mobile and desktop interfaces they want users to see on their devices, streamlining access to critical and secure applications. Better yet, Samsung Knox makes device setup fast. The Chicago Police Department reduced the amount of time spent provisioning a phone by 75%, compared with three years ago, saving the city’s teams countless hours.
    “Between our Galaxy devices, Knox Suite, and Samsung DeX, they are really increasing efficiency and improving their cost savings,” said Todd Maxwell, Samsung U.S. Director of Business Development.
    With custom configuration, Samsung devices enable officers to quickly access a wealth of specialized information directly from the field.

    “Our Galaxy devices allow us access to state and local databases, city licensing and permitting, so at a special event, I’m able to check the parameters of a special event permit. We also have access to specific applications, like the Department of Transportation hazmat guide. Instead of carrying a big book that is inches thick and several pounds, I have an app on my phone. And I can access city service requests. If I need to report a pothole or traffic lights out, I can do it right from the phone,” explained Aaron Levine, Chicago Police Department Entertainment Venue Team Sergeant.
    Samsung Knox also offers unparalleled device security – a must-have for officers who routinely handle sensitive data in the field.
    “We trust the partnership we have with Samsung. As officers run people’s names, run their license plates, and are also logging into their systems, we have to worry about security like data leaks and HIPAA information. We are confident in Knox security. It ensures that they can do their job safely and securely,” said Dan Sullivan, Electrical Mechanic, City of Chicago’s Office of Public Safety Administration.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How the human neck became a locus of power, beauty and frailty

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Kent Dunlap, Professor of Biology, Trinity College

    Jack Lemmon kisses Lee Remick’s neck in a scene from the 1962 film ‘Days Of Wine And Roses.’ Warner Brothers/Getty Images

    I broke its neck.

    When making a vase at the potter’s wheel, I torqued its slippery neck clear off the pot as I tried to thin it into a graceful curve.

    I find vases gratifying to make and their shapes especially pleasing to the eye. But vases also must be handled with particular care because one part of their “body” – the neck – is often so narrow that it can be easily broken.

    That day at the wheel, I realized that it was not unlike the human neck. Though only a small portion of the human body – about 1% by surface area – our necks have an outsize influence on our psyche and culture.

    From selfies to formal portraits, the neck positions the head in expressive poses. The neck’s vocal cords vibrate to make meaningful words and moving songs. We passionately kiss it and spritz it with alluring perfume. We use it to nod our head in agreement, tilt our head in confusion and bow our head in prayer.

    Ornaments such as necklaces can express fashion sense as well as signal wealth and status. Collars can accent the face in portraits as well as denote occupational class, blue collar versus white collar.

    Yet, for all its aesthetic and expressive potency, the neck is also a site of fear and deep vulnerability. Villains and vampires zero in on the neck. Stressful days at work make us clench our neck muscles until they ache. A pleasant meal can be jolted into terror if a morsel slips into the wrong tube in the neck, sending us into a coughing fit.

    For millennia, people in power have oppressed their subjects by exploiting the narrowness and fragility of the neck – a dark history of dominating and terrorizing one another using shackles, nooses and guillotines. The widely circulated video of George Floyd’s murder was a brutal reminder that violent asphyxiation is hardly confined to the distant past.

    As I became aware of the significance of the neck in culture, I began to explore how these two attributes – its expressive vitality and unnerving vulnerability – could coexist and be concentrated so intensely in one small region of the body. Eventually, it became a book.

    I am foremost a biologist, and in writing my book, I came to see that the neck’s vitality and vulnerability are rooted in its biology: The neck performs an especially wide variety of crucial functions, and it is the product of a quirky evolutionary history.

    The neck does so many things, all at the same time. For example, it transports over 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms) of blood, air and food between the head and the torso every single day. It moves the head every six seconds on average to direct our visual attention. Its vocal cords vibrate hundreds of times per second with every spoken word.

    But this multifunctionality, this vitality, is possible only because of its vulnerability. To be mobile and flexible, the neck must be narrow, and so it is easily strained. Its crucial transport tubes – the windpipe, esophagus and blood vessels – must also be thin and near the surface, making them easily punctured and compressed.

    From water to land

    Our vertebrate ancestors “invented” this peculiar contraption as they evolved from water to land.

    Our fish ancestors had no neck because they needed a single rigid axis to move efficiently through water. Since moving around on land did not require a stiff spinal column, early terrestrial vertebrates evolved flexibility just behind the head, enabling them to widely scan the environment and to direct their mouths toward prey without moving their whole bodies. Picture a zebra swinging its head side to side surveying the savanna for predators, or a lizard tilting its head down and to the side to snap up a crawling bug.

    ‘American Flamingo’ by Robert Havell and John James Audubon, 1838.
    National Gallery of Art

    Early land vertebrates also evolved lungs, and this transformation freed up the gill structures that fish used for breathing to evolve into various useful – and sometimes problematic – neck structures, such as the voice box, tonsils and the little flap that separates the windpipe and esophagus.

    This repurposing of scraps left over from the gills of our distant ancestors contributed to the diverse capacities of our neck. But as products of a quirky evolutionary “renovation,” humans and other land vertebrates live with a jerry-rigged design that fates us to carry many collateral vulnerabilities at the neck.

    The peculiar human neck

    While the human neck retains the basic design of our ancestors, it’s nonetheless quite unusual among vertebrates.

    Most land vertebrates elevate their bodies on four legs, so their necks must be long enough to lower their heads to the ground to feed and strong enough to raise it up high to look around. Again, think of a zebra feeding on the savanna.

    Because humans walk on two legs, we balance our head atop our spine. Since we use our hands to grab our food, we don’t need strong neck muscles to move the head around. So, compared with most mammals our size, our necks are relatively weak, making them more prone to strain and injury.

    As another milestone in human evolution, the voice box migrated to a relatively low position in the neck, and this unusual placement contributes to our capacity to make an especially broad range of vocal sounds that we use for speech. However, this descent of the voice box within the throat also makes us more susceptible to choking and sleep apnea.

    The neck epitomizes the dual nature of the human condition, the ways in which beauty and frailty are often entwined, two sides of the same coin in our biology, in our relationships – and, yes, even in ceramic vases.

    Kent Dunlap does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. How the human neck became a locus of power, beauty and frailty – https://theconversation.com/how-the-human-neck-became-a-locus-of-power-beauty-and-frailty-238672

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: A boycott campaign fuels tension between Black shoppers and Black-owned brands – evoking the long struggle for ‘consumer citizenship’

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Timeka N. Tounsel, Associate Professor of Black Studies in Communication, University of Washington

    Some Black consumers may be breaking up with Target this February.

    It all started late last month, when the retailer announced that it was ending its diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The move drew widespread rebuke from social justice organizers, including New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Dr. Jamal Bryant. Although Target said one set of its racial-equity initiatives had already been scheduled to conclude, the timing was notable: The move came just days after the White House called for a federal DEI ban, and as several other companies took similar actions.

    Beyond renaming its “supplier diversity” team – now called “supplier engagement” – and ending “diversity-focused surveys,” Target hasn’t said what the change will mean for the many Black entrepreneurs who sell everything from coffee to sunscreen on its shelves. The webpage for the retailer’s Black Beyond Measure initiative, which highlights dozens of Black-founded brands and connects business owners to a program designed to “democratize access to retail education,” remains active.

    But Target’s critics, including Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, view the move as a surrender to the new presidential administration’s attack on equity programs. In a news conference outside Target’s Minnesota headquarters on Jan. 30, 2025, Armstrong called for a nationwide boycott of the store to begin on the first day of Black History Month.

    While many social media users posted in support of the boycott, some Black founders whose brands are stocked by Target – and there are dozens of them – have been more conflicted. Tabitha Brown, whose products can be found in various aisles, from books to cooking appliances, asked customers to reconsider boycotting Target. Withholding their dollars, Brown insisted, will hurt Black businesses far more than the corporations that sell their products.

    This request for restraint garnered a mixed response on social media. Some Black consumers accused Black business owners of selling out the very racial community that contributed to their success.

    So, why would a Black business owner ask consumers to patronize a retailer that signaled it doesn’t care about Black customers? And how did something as mundane as where people buy toilet paper and shampoo become a litmus test for racial consciousness in the first place?

    Black consumers and the fight for dignity

    The marketplace has long been a battleground where Black Americans have sought to assert their citizenship. Most of the nation’s biggest household brands didn’t begin to take African American consumers seriously until after World War II. Before that shift, advertisements and product packaging were more likely to feature degrading Black caricatures to appeal to white shoppers, than to address Black consumers directly.

    This segregated commercial landscape reinforced the belief among some community members that Black people would not be taken seriously as citizens until they were taken seriously as consumers. They would need to vote with their dollars, patronizing only those brands and retailers that respected them.

    In my research on marketing campaigns aimed at Black women, I’ve examined how the struggle for consumer citizenship complicated the dynamic between Black entrepreneurs and consumers. On the one hand, businesses have long leveraged Black ownership as a unique selling proposition in and of itself, urging shoppers to view Black brand loyalty as a path to collective racial progress.

    Unlike their larger competitors, Black entrepreneurs relied on their racial community to stay afloat. Patronizing African American businesses could therefore be framed as a racial duty. Conversely, as African American advertising pioneers made clear, recognition from big brands was a political victory of sorts because it signaled that Black dollars were just as valuable as anyone else’s.

    A short documentary from The Advertising Club of New York featuring iconic ads from African American marketer Tom Burrell.

    Competing for Black dollars

    Corporate attention to Black consumers ebbs and flows in a cycle that is especially noticeable in the beauty and personal care industry. In seasons of limited competition for African American customers, entrepreneurs typically thrive, even while they struggle to meet the capital demands of a growing brand. Their success, however, beckons larger corporations, which then seek to capitalize on consumer niches they previously ignored.

    Two common approaches that mass market brands pursue to compete for Black dollars include acquiring smaller, established Black brands and developing their own niche products. Large corporations deployed both strategies during a period of intense expansion into the beauty market of the 1980s.

    Black owners tried to stave off their competition by creating a special emblem that alerted shoppers to their authenticity. Then, as now, social justice organizations, such as Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Operation PUSH, also initiated boycotts and urged Black consumers not to choose “lipstick over liberation.”

    Nevertheless, many Black entrepreneurs sold their brands, and by 1986 nearly half of the Black hair care market was no longer Black-owned.

    A linked fate

    Parsing winners and losers within the world of Black enterprise is as difficult now as it was in earlier periods. African American business owners often possess a cultural consciousness that distinguishes their brands, even when they can’t match the resources of larger competitors. And as they figure out how to survive an uneven playing field, Black entrepreneurs sometimes face accusations of betraying their racial community.

    In a market governed by the law of supply and demand, Black consumers benefit from increased competition. Yet, racial loyalty sometimes asks that they eschew these benefits for the sake of keeping Black dollars in Black hands.

    Four years ago, when Target launched its Black Beyond Measure funding initiative, it seemed that the retailer had struck a rare balance in supporting Black brands and their customers. In addition to curating a collection of products to lure shoppers, Target used the campaign as an opportunity to position entrepreneurs to flourish well beyond Black History Month.

    Now, as Black consumers and business owners weigh varying responses to the retailer’s decision to reverse their commitment to DEI values, one question endures: Do Black dollars matter?

    Timeka N. Tounsel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. A boycott campaign fuels tension between Black shoppers and Black-owned brands – evoking the long struggle for ‘consumer citizenship’ – https://theconversation.com/a-boycott-campaign-fuels-tension-between-black-shoppers-and-black-owned-brands-evoking-the-long-struggle-for-consumer-citizenship-248978

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why the price of your favorite chocolate will continue to rise

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Narcisa Pricope, Professor of Geography and Land Systems Science and Associate Vice President for Research, Mississippi State University

    Chocolate prices spiked amid very dry conditions in Africa. Chuck Fishman/Getty Images

    Valentine’s Day often conjures images of chocolates and romance. But the crop behind this indulgence faces an existential threat.

    Regions like northeastern Brazil, one of the world’s notable cocoa-producing areas, are grappling with increasing aridity – a slow, yet unrelenting drying of the land. Cocoa is made from the beans of the cacao tree, which thrives in humid climates. The crop is struggling in these drying regions, and so are the farmers who grow it.

    This is not just Brazil’s story. Across West Africa, where 70% of the world’s cacao is grown, and in the Americas and Southeast Asia, shifting moisture levels threaten the delicate balance required for production. These regions, home to vibrant ecosystems and global breadbaskets that feed the world, are on the frontlines of aridity’s slow but relentless advance.

    A farmer in Colombia holds a cacao pod, which holds the key ingredients for chocolate.
    ©2017CIAT/NeilPalmer, CC BY-NC-SA

    Over the past 30 years, more than three-quarters of the Earth’s landmass has become drier. A recent report I helped coordinate for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification found that drylands now cover 41% of global land, an area that expanded by nearly 1.7 million square miles (4.3 million square kilometers) over those three decades — about half the size of Australia.

    This creeping dryness is not just a climate phenomenon. It’s a long-term transformation that may be irreversible and that carries devastating consequences for ecosystems, agriculture and livelihoods worldwide.

    What causes aridity?

    Aridity, while often thought of as purely a climate phenomenon, is the result of a complex interplay among human-driven factors. These include greenhouse gas emissions, land use practices and the degradation of critical natural resources, such as soil and biodiversity.

    These interconnected forces have been accelerating the transformation of once-productive landscapes into increasingly arid regions, with consequences that ripple across ecosystems and economies.

    Greenhouse gas emissions: A global catalyst

    Human-induced climate change is the primary driver of rising aridity.

    Greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation, increase global temperatures. Rising temperatures, in turn, cause moisture to evaporate at a faster rate. This heightened evaporation reduces soil and plant moisture, exacerbating water scarcity – even in regions with moderate rainfall.

    Aridity began accelerating globally in the 1950s, and the world has seen a pronounced shift over the past three decades.

    This process is particularly stark in regions already prone to dryness, such as Africa’s Sahel region and the Mediterranean. In these areas, reduced precipitation – combined with increased evaporation – creates a feedback loop: Drier soils absorb less heat, leaving the atmosphere warmer and intensifying arid conditions.

    The number of people living in dryland regions has been rising in each region in recent years. Years 1971-2020. Scales vary.
    UNCCD

    Unsustainable land use practices: A hidden accelerator

    Aridity is also affected by how people use and manage land.

    Unsustainable agricultural practices, overgrazing and deforestation strip soils of their protective vegetation cover, leaving them vulnerable to erosion. Industrial farming techniques often prioritize short-term yields over long-term sustainability, depleting nutrients and organic matter essential for healthy soils.

    For example, in cocoa-producing regions like northeastern Brazil, deforestation to make room for agriculture disrupts local water cycles and exposes soils to degradation. Without vegetation to anchor it, topsoil – critical for plant growth – washes away during rainfall or is blown away by winds, taking with it vital nutrients.

    These changes create a vicious cycle: Degraded soils also hold less water and lead to more runoff, reducing the land’s ability to recover.

    Aridity can affect the ability to grow many crops. Large parts of the country of Chad, shown here, have drying lands.
    United Nations Chad, CC BY-NC-SA

    The soil-biodiversity connection

    Soil, often overlooked in discussions of climate resilience, plays a critical role in mitigating aridity.

    Healthy soils act as reservoirs, storing water and nutrients that plants depend on. They also support biodiversity below and above ground. A single teaspoon of soil contains billions of microorganisms that help cycle nutrients and maintain ecological balance.

    However, as soils degrade under aridity and mismanagement, this biodiversity diminishes. Microbial communities, essential for nutrient cycling and plant health, decline. When soils become compacted and lose organic matter, the land’s ability to retain water diminishes, making it even more susceptible to drying out.

    In short, the loss of soil health creates cascading effects that undermine ecosystems, agricultural productivity and food security.

    Global hot spots: Looming food security crises

    Cocoa is just one crop affected by the encroachment of rising aridity.

    Other key agricultural zones, including the breadbaskets of the world, are also at risk. In the Mediterranean, Africa’s Sahel and parts of the U.S. West, aridity already undermines farming and biodiversity.

    By 2100, up to 5 billion people could live in drylands – nearly double the current population in these areas, due to both population growth and expansion of drylands as the planet warms. This puts immense pressure on food systems. It can also accelerate migration as declining agricultural productivity, water scarcity and worsening living conditions force rural populations to move in search of opportunities.

    A map shows average aridity for 1981-2010. Computer simulations estimate that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities caused a 1.2% larger increase in the four types of dry regions combined for the periods between 1850 and 1981–2010 than simulations with only solar and volcanic effects considered.
    UNCCD

    Aridity’s ripple effects also extend far beyond agriculture. Ecosystems, already strained by deforestation and pollution, are stressed as water resources dwindle. Wildlife migrates or dies, and plant species adapted to moister conditions can’t survive. The Sahel’s delicate grasslands, for instance, are rapidly giving way to desert shrubs.

    On a global scale, economic losses linked to aridification are staggering. In Africa, rising aridity contributed to a 12% drop in gross domestic product from 1990 to 2015. Sandstorms and dust storms, wildfires and water scarcity further burden governments, exacerbating poverty and health crises in the most affected regions.

    The path forward

    Aridity is not inevitable, nor are its effects completely irreversible. But coordinated global efforts are essential to curb its progression.

    Countries can work together to restore degraded lands by protecting and restoring ecosystems, improving soil health and encouraging sustainable farming methods.

    Communities can manage water more efficiently through rainwater harvesting and advanced irrigation systems that optimize water use. Governments can reduce the drivers of climate change by investing in renewable energy.

    Continued international collaboration, including working with businesses, can help share technologies to make these actions more effective and available worldwide.

    So, as you savor chocolate this Valentine’s Day, remember the fragile ecosystems behind it. The price of cocoa in early 2025 was near its all-time high, due in part to dry conditions in Africa. Without urgent action to address aridity, this scenario may become more common, and cocoa – and the sweet concoctions derived from it – may well become a rare luxury.

    Collective action against aridity isn’t just about saving chocolate – it’s about preserving the planet’s capacity to sustain life.

    Narcisa Pricope is a member of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Science-Policy Interface, which works to translate scientific findings and assessments into policy-relevant recommendations, including collaboration with different scientific panels and bodies.

    – ref. Why the price of your favorite chocolate will continue to rise – https://theconversation.com/why-the-price-of-your-favorite-chocolate-will-continue-to-rise-246227

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: 5 premium online research tools all Philly students can use for free

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joyce Valenza, Associate Teaching Professor of Library and Information Science, Rutgers University

    The School District of Philadelphia has 250 district and alternative schools – but only a few have libraries with certified librarians. Lisa5201/E+ Collection via Getty Images

    Years ago, as a high school librarian in suburban Philadelphia, I hosted a group of honors students from a high school just across the nearby city border. With the support of their alumni association, the city students planned to build a library at their school.

    While our 30,000-volume physical collection impressed them, it was our virtual library, websites designed to support student projects, and subscription-based digital collections and databases that evoked the most profound reaction.

    When I asked the students what they were researching, in unison, they responded “Hamlet criticism.” When I showed them results from an e-book database from the POWER Library web portal, I heard gasps.

    One young man pulled a dog-eared book out from his backpack. “Wait a minute,” he said. “Do you mean that we’ve been passing this single book around when all of those e-books are available to us free?”

    His parting words haunted me: “We will never be able to compete with those students when we go to college.”

    As a library and information science professor, and a librarian for 40 years, I have researched information equity disparities among high school students and witnessed them firsthand.

    Consider, for example, this startling figure: The School District of Philadelphia has just four certified librarians for its nearly 118,000 students across 250 schools. The district confirmed this number in an email to The Conversation U.S.

    Many of the nearby suburban districts that border Philadelphia, such as Lower Merion, Abington, Upper Darby, Haverford Township and Springfield Township, where I worked, have at least one librarian per school.

    Philadelphia’s school district is making efforts to address the librarian shortage. In late 2024, it hired a director of library science, Jean Darnell, who plans to add more libraries and librarians to district schools. But she cautions that it will require financial resources to do so.

    Information privilege

    The gap discovered by the students I hosted that day wasn’t just about one book versus many. It was about not having the same high-quality, paywalled tools for research, and the guidance of trained librarians to help them navigate the research process.

    Information science researchers refer to this gap as information privilege.

    Inspired by education activist and researcher Peggy McIntosh’s 1989 essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Duke University librarian Hannah Rozear designed a graphic to illustrate what information privilege looks like for high school and college students.

    Duke University librarian Hannah Rozear offers examples of what information privilege looks like for high school and college students.
    Hannah Rozear, CC BY-NC-SA

    As part of my work on an information equity initiative for the International Society for Technology in Education, I enhanced the diagram. I wanted to expand the notion of equity of information access and equity of information experiences in K-12 education.

    The author expanded the Information Privilege backpack concept to apply to K-12 students.
    Joyce Valenza, CC BY-NC-SA

    In addition to simply having access to a variety of high-quality resources, students with information privilege learn to critically and ethically use information to create and share meaningful research projects with the knowledge they build.

    That student’s realization of what he didn’t know he didn’t have sparked my development of a three-year research project with colleagues across six New Jersey colleges. Our team of academic librarians, library and information science educators, and high school librarians followed students who had certified high school librarians into their first college year.

    We found dramatic differences in college preparedness based on high school library experiences.

    The students who had certified high school librarians consistently reported feeling fully prepared for college-level research. They were confident in navigating academic databases. They arrived at college able to identify information needs, understand information genres, search effectively, and craft thoughtful arguments from their research. They were also better able to meet the standards for information literacy at the college level.

    Students who had librarians in high school felt better prepared for college-level research, the author’s study found.
    Visual Vic/Moment Collection via Getty Images

    Access to POWER library

    Due in part to the lack of school librarians, many Philadelphia parents and students haven’t yet been introduced to the freely available resources of the POWER Library.

    Sponsored by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries and the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the POWER Library portal offers audio books and e-books, movies, reference materials, magazines, journals, newspapers and other digital resources for users of all ages.

    Annual subscriptions to these resources would cost US$56,515 for schools and $73,366 for public libraries.

    In Pennsylvania, if your school has a library, the librarian will have ensured that students can easily log in to the POWER Library during school hours.

    Pennsylvania students in schools without a library or a librarian can independently access the POWER library at any hour of the day using the barcode on their public library card, or by signing up for a POWER Library eCard.

    The POWER Library page highlights Power Teens and Power Kids resources.

    Here are five of my favorite tools from the collection that support students’ academic research:

    1. EBSCO eBooks – This collection of more than 16,000 e-books includes nonfiction, textbooks, specialized subject area encyclopedias, literary criticism, and college prep and other study guides.

    2. AP Newsroom – With more than 3,000 media items added daily, AP Newsroom allows students to visually explore 185 years of world history and breaking news through on-the-scene, high-quality photography, sound, video and graphics. Topics cover major events as well as sports, culture and entertainment. Students will find primary source content to track developing stories and support research and analysis of historic events. Over 20 million royalty-free stock images are included.

    3. Gale eBooks – Gale, a well-respected publisher, offers students a complete library reference section available from anywhere. The high-quality encyclopedias and multivolume reference sets span literature, American and global history, social issues, science, biography, business and much more.

    4. Gale OneFile: High School Edition – This research portal connects students to magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books and engaging multimedia that cover the wide range of subjects they might encounter in a high school curriculum. It also prepares them for the academic databases they’ll encounter at college. Gale In Context: Elementary, meanwhile, offers a similar range of kid-friendly content for younger researchers.

    5. SIRS Discoverer – For upper-elementary and middle schoolers, SIRS Discoverer engages students’ curiosity and critical thinking in such areas as animals, countries, states and biographies. Don’t miss the “Issues” section, which covers topical issues like global warming, artificial intelligence and cellphones in schools with contextual information, vocabulary and organized viewpoints.

    Libraries offer democratic access to critical information by providing free entry to digital resources that would otherwise be too costly for most people. This is true whether you’re a student or not.

    In addition to the POWER Library, anyone who lives, works, pays taxes or attends school in Philadelphia can use the extensive digital resources offered by the Free Library of Philadelphia.

    Residents outside Pennsylvania can use this map to identify similar resources in their state, or they can explore the databases provided by public libraries around the country.

    Joyce Valenza does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. 5 premium online research tools all Philly students can use for free – https://theconversation.com/5-premium-online-research-tools-all-philly-students-can-use-for-free-237930

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Gut-wrenching love: What a fresh look at the ‘Good Samaritan’ story says for ethics today

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Meghan Sullivan, Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame

    A mural outside St. Jude Thaddeus Church in Silao, Mexico, quotes the Good Samaritan story: ‘Go and do likewise.’ Enrique López-Tamayo Biosca/Flickr via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

    The Bible story of the Good Samaritan is more than a mainstay of Sunday school courses. “Good samaritan” is the catch-all way to describe a do-gooder – someone who stops to change the tire of a stranded motorist, helps a lost child find their parents in a store and gives money to disaster relief programs.

    But as an ethicist, I’d argue that the parable’s moral vision is much more radical than merely advising people to help out when they can. The parable raises profound philosophical questions about what it means to love another person, and our sometimes astonishing capacity to feel connected to others.

    Love thy neighbor

    The parable of the Good Samaritan occurs in the Gospel of Luke, in a part of the Bible where Jesus is attracting followers and preparing them to spread his movement.

    During one of these sessions, a religious scholar asks him to explain the fundamental commandment in Jewish ethics: “You will love God with all of your heart, all of your mind, and all of your strength. And you will love your neighbor as yourself.” In response, Jesus tells the now-iconic story:

    One time a man was traveling down the dangerous road from Jerusalem to Jericho. The Bible describes absolutely nothing else about this man, but the tradition assumes he is Jewish. The man was attacked and beaten within an inch of his life. As he lay in a ditch, a temple priest and a temple functionary both noticed him but hurried past.

    Then a member of another tribe, a Samaritan, saw him. The Samaritan was immediately moved and rushed over, hoisted the man onto his donkey, took him to a nearby inn and stayed up with him all night, nursing him back to life. The next morning he paid the innkeeper two denarii – Roman silver coins, about two days’ salary – and offered to pay the tab for anything else the man might require as he recuperated.

    ‘The Good Samaritan’ by Aimé Morot (1880), now in the Petit Palais museum in Paris.
    Marc Baronnet/Wikimedia Commons

    Jesus turns the question back to the scholar: Who loved their neighbor? The scholar concedes the point – the Samaritan who had mercy.

    “Go and do likewise,” Jesus replies.

    What exactly did the Samaritan do that reveals the core of the love ethic? Jesus says specifically that the Samaritan’s “guts churned” when he saw the man in need: the Greek word used in the text is “splagchnizomai.”

    The term occurs in other places in the Gospels, as well, evoking a very physical kind of emotional response. This “gut-wrenching love” is spontaneous and visceral.

    Mortal and immortal

    Ancient philosophers spent plenty of time trying to understand the ways humans love, often using highly intellectual frames. “The Symposium,” a dialogue by Plato, depicts Socrates drunkenly debating the essence of erotic love with his friends. Aristotle beautifully theorizes about friendship, “philia,” in his teachings about ethics. He introduces the idea that when we truly love a friend, we think of them as our “second self” – the lives of your closest friends become entangled within your own.

    Many of the early Christian philosophers debated the nature of “agape,” the Greek word the New Testament uses to describe the selfless, unconditional love that characterizes the very nature of God. Saint Augustine introduced the concept of “amoris ordo,” the order of loves: that morality compels someone to first love the highest good, which is God, and then organize the rest of their loves to serve this highest love.

    These concepts present love as an intellectual attitude that is often reserved for a select group, such as God, or one’s family, or one’s countrymen. And Christian notions of “agape” specifically put love just out of reach, only possible for a divine being, though humans should aspire to it and can experience its effects.

    Splagchnizomai is different – such a physical emotion is only possible for creatures like us, with bodies. And as the parable of the Good Samaritan shows, it is an emotion that can be triggered by anyone, at any time, if we are – like the Samaritan – ready to be so moved.

    A relief in St. Paul’s Church in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is one of countless artworks that reference the Good Samaritan.
    Hantsheroes/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    Love and modern moral thinking

    Much like their ancient counterparts, philosophers of the past century have struggled to explain how love can be one of the most morally significant elements of our lives, while also being so extraordinarily partial, biased and seemingly arbitrary.

    To resolve the tension, many treat love not as a source of insight but as a messy feature of human psychology – an impediment that ethical reasoning must navigate around.

    Indeed, the most prominent recent movements in applied ethics are wholly oriented around rational efficiency. The Effective Altruism movement argues that people should use evidence to transform themselves into the most efficient do-gooders they can possibly be. Proponents discourage college graduates looking to make a difference from pursuing public service and recommend high-paying jobs instead, arguing that they can have a bigger impact giving away wealth than directly caring for others. Emotions are viewed with suspicion, as sources of potential bias – not sources of moral wisdom.

    In the book “Against Empathy,” psychologist Paul Bloom warns that such emotions “do poorly in a world where there are many people in need and where the effects of one’s actions are diffuse, often delayed, and difficult to compute.”

    Compare that to the parable of the Good Samaritan, which portrays ethics as an emotional, deeply personal and almost absurdly inefficient matter. Those two denarii were a weighty sum – they could have been used to beef up security on the road and prevent other robberies, rather than save a single man. Nor did the Samaritan off-load the injured man onto a local healer. He cared for him directly, the way someone might sit with a gravely ill family member.

    Neighbors and fences

    In Jesus’ time, as in our own, there was significant debate about how to understand the commandments to love one’s neighbor. One school of thought considered a “neighbor” to be a member of your community: The Book of Leviticus says not to hold grudges against fellow countrymen. Another school held that you were obligated to love even strangers who are only temporarily traveling in your land. Leviticus also declares that “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself.”

    In the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus seems to come down on the side of the broadest possible application of the love ethic. And by emphasizing a particular type of love – the gut-wrenching kind – Jesus seems to indicate that the way of progress in ethics is through emotions, rather than around them.

    My current work focuses on the upshots of reading this parable as a philosophical guide to ethics in our own time. For instance, if the love ethic is right, preparing students to make progress on complex social issues requires more than cost-benefit analysis. It also requires helping them to recognize and cultivate emotions, especially loving compassion.

    There are clear parallels between the original parable of the good Samaritan and pressing political issues today, especially migration – and also, I believe, polarization. His story calls closer attention to humans’ innate capacity to love beyond the limits of familiar relationships or “tribes” – and just how much is lost when we do not.

    Meghan Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Gut-wrenching love: What a fresh look at the ‘Good Samaritan’ story says for ethics today – https://theconversation.com/gut-wrenching-love-what-a-fresh-look-at-the-good-samaritan-story-says-for-ethics-today-247988

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Poor sleep and addiction go hand in hand − understanding how could lead to new treatments for opioid use disorder

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ryan Logan, Professor of Psychiatry, UMass Chan Medical School

    Whether sleep disorders worsen addiction or addiction worsens sleep disorders is unclear. Maria Korneeva/Moment via Getty Images

    A good night’s sleep often sets the stage for a positive day. But for the nearly quarter of American adults struggling with mental illness, a good night’s rest is often elusive.

    For patients with psychiatric conditions from addiction to mood disorders such as depression, disrupted sleep can often exacerbate symptoms and make it harder to stay on treatment.

    Despite the important role circadian rhythms and sleep play in addiction, neuroscientists like me are only now beginning to understand the molecular mechanisms behind these effects.

    Sleep and addictive drugs have an entangled relationship. Most addictive drugs can alter sleep-wake cycles, and sleep disorders in people using drugs are linked to addiction severity and relapse. While this poses a classic “chicken-or-egg” dilemma, it also presents an opportunity to understand how the sleep-addiction connection could unlock new treatments.

    Circadian rhythms and health

    At the center of the connection between sleep and mental health lies circadian rhythms: your body’s internal clock.

    These rhythms align your bodily functions with your environment, synchronizing your body to day and night down to the molecular level. It does this through a series of proteins that interact in a feedback loop, turning genes on and off in regular patterns to support specific functions. Although your sleep-wake cycles are the most visible expression of circadian rhythms, these rhythms orchestrate most of your physiology.

    If you have ever traveled across time zones, you have likely experienced a common form of circadian disruption called jet lag. This misalignment impairs your sleep and concentration, and can leave you feeling irritable.

    While jet lag is a temporary nuisance, chronic circadian disruption such as frequent night shifts can lead to long-term health consequences, including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

    Circadian rhythms, sleep and opioid use

    A major focus of my lab is on opioid addiction, a disease that has claimed nearly 80,000 lives a year since 2021 in the U.S. and has limited treatment options.

    People addicted to opioids often experience disruptions to circadian rhythms, such as in their sleep and their levels of corticotropin, a key hormone that regulates stress. These disruptions are associated with many negative health consequences. In the short term, these disruptions can impair cognitive functions such as attention and increase negative emotions. Over time this can worsen mental and physical health. Studies of opioid addiction in mice reveal similar disruptions in sleep and various hormonal rhythms.

    Importantly, poor sleep is common throughout a person’s experience with opioid use disorder, from actively using to withdrawal from opioids, and even while on treatment. This complication can have profound consequences. Studies have linked sleep disruption to a 2.5-fold increased risk of relapse among those undergoing treatment.

    Unlocking the clock for opioid addiction

    Using brain tissue from deceased donors and experiments in mice, my team is identifying molecular changes associated with psychiatric disorders in people. We model these changes in mice to explore how they affect disease severity and behavior.

    Through genetic sequencing and computer modeling, my lab is able to profile all the RNA molecules in a brain region and understand how their rhythmicity – the peaks and troughs of their activity across the day – changes due to opioids. This provides a complete snapshot of which genes change at what time, allowing my team to peer into the molecular mechanics that may drive opioid addiction.

    Opioids can alter the activity of genes involved with sleep.
    Robert Reader/Moment via Getty Images

    For example, we looked at two brain regions strongly associated with addiction: the nucleus accumbens and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. We found that patients with opioid addiction had completely different gene expression patterns in these brain regions compared with those without addiction. Some genes had adopted a completely different rhythm of activity, while others had lost their rhythmicity altogether.

    Genes that lost rhythmicity included those involved in various components of the molecular clock and those linked to sleep duration. This further highlights how circadian disruption is a symptom of opioid use while beginning to uncover its underlying mechanisms.

    In work that is pending peer review, my team focused on one major gene that lost rhythmicity in patients with opioid addiction: NPAS2. This component of the molecular clock is highly active in the nucleus accumbens and important for sleep and circadian regulation. We found that blocking functional NPAS2 formation led to increased fentanyl-seeking behavior in mice. Interestingly, we observed that female mice were willing to press a lever more times than male mice to obtain fentanyl, reflecting documented sex differences in opioid addiction among people. In another study, we also found that lack of NPAS2 exacerbated sleep disruption in mice that were administered fentanyl.

    Together, our findings reinforce the role circadian rhythms play in addiction. Future work may clarify whether targeting NPAS2 could treat opioid addiction symptoms. Quality sleep isn’t just about waking up refreshed – it could also lead to reduced opioid use and fewer overdoses.

    Ryan Logan receives funding from National Institutes of Health.

    Mackenzie Gamble does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Poor sleep and addiction go hand in hand − understanding how could lead to new treatments for opioid use disorder – https://theconversation.com/poor-sleep-and-addiction-go-hand-in-hand-understanding-how-could-lead-to-new-treatments-for-opioid-use-disorder-242664

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Russia’s shrinking world: The war in Ukraine and Moscow’s global reach

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ronald H. Linden, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh

    Russia President Vladimir Putin sent a guarded message of congratulations to Donald Trump on inauguration day, but then held a long direct call with his “dear friend,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

    From Putin’s perspective, this makes sense. Russia gets billions of dollars from energy sales to China and technology from Beijing, but from Washington, until recently, mostly sanctions and suspicion.

    Moscow is hoping for a more positive relationship with the current White House occupant, who has made his desire for a “deal” to end the Ukraine war well known.

    But talk of exit scenarios from this 3-year-old conflict should not mask the fact that since the invasion began, Putin has overseen one of the worst periods in Russian foreign policy since the end of the Cold War.

    Transatlantic unity

    The war in Ukraine has foreclosed on options and blunted Russian action around the world.

    Unlike the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the 2022 invasion produced an unprecedented level of transatlantic unity, including the expansion of NATO and sanctions on Russian trade and finance. In the past year, both the U.S. and the European Union expanded their sanction packages.

    And for the first time, the EU banned the re-export of Russian liquefied natural gas and ended support for a Russian LNG project in the Arctic.

    EU-Russian trade, including European imports of energy, has dropped to a fraction of what it was before the war.

    The two Nordstrom pipelines, designed to bring Russian gas to Germany without transiting East Europe, lie crippled and unused. Revenues from energy sales are roughly one-half of what they were two years ago.

    At the same time, the West has sent billions in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, enabling a level of resilience for which Russia was unprepared. Meanwhile, global companies and technical experts and intellectuals have fled Russia in droves.

    While Russia has evaded some restrictions with its “shadow fleet” – an aging group of tankers sailing under various administrative and technical evasions – the country’s main savior is now China. Trade between China and Russia has grown by nearly two-thirds since the end of 2021, and the U.S. cites Beijing as the main source of Russia’s “dual use” and other technologies needed to pursue its war.

    Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has moved from an energy-for-manufactured-goods trade relationship with the West to one of vassalage with China, as one Russia analyst termed it.

    Hosting an October meeting of the BRICS countries – now counting 11 members, including the five original members: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South America – is unlikely to compensate for geopolitical losses elsewhere.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin and China President Xi Jinping toast their friendship in March 2023.
    Pavel Byrkin/AFP via Getty Images

    Problems at home …

    The Russian economy is deeply distorted by increased military spending, which represents 40% of the budget and 25% of all spending. The government now needs the equivalent of US$20 billion annually in order to pay for new recruits.

    Russian leaders must find a way to keep at least some of the population satisfied, but persistent inflation and reserve currency shortages flowing directly from the war have made this task more difficult.

    On the battlefield, the war itself has killed or wounded more than 600,000 Russian soldiers. Operations during 2024 were particularly deadly, producing more than 1,500 Russian casualties a day.

    The leader who expected Kyiv’s capitulation in days now finds Russian territory around Kursk occupied, its naval forces in the Black Sea destroyed and withdrawn, and its own generals assassinated in Moscow.

    But probably the greatest humiliation is that this putative great power with a population of 144 million must resort to importing North Korean troops to help liberate its own land.

    … and in its backyard

    Moscow’s dedication to the war has affected its ability to influence events elsewhere, even in its own neighborhood.

    In the Caucasus, for example, Russia had long sided with Armenia in its running battle with Azerbaijan over boundaries and population after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

    Moscow has brokered ceasefires at various points. But intermittent attacks and territorial gains for Azerbaijan continued despite the presence of some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers sent to protect the remaining Armenian population in parts of the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

    In September 2023, Azerbaijan’s forces abruptly took control of the rest of Nagorno-Karabakh. More than 100,000 Armenians fled in the largest ethnic cleansing episode since the end of the Balkan Wars. The peacekeepers did not intervene and later withdrew. The Russian military, absorbed in the bloody campaigns in Ukraine, could not back up or reinforce them.

    The Azeris’ diplomatic and economic position has gained in recent years, aided by demand for its gas as a substitute for Russia’s and support from NATO member Turkey.

    Feeling betrayed by Russia, the Armenian government has for the first time extended feelers toward the West — which is happy to entertain such overtures.

    Losing influence and friends

    Russia’s loss in the Caucasus has been dwarfed by the damage to its military position and influence in the Middle East. Russia supported the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad against the uprisings of the Arab Spring in 2011 and saved it with direct military intervention beginning in 2015.

    Yet in December 2024, Assad was unexpectedly swept away by a mélange of rebel groups. The refuge extended to Assad by Moscow was the most it could provide with the war in Ukraine having drained Russia’s capacity to do more.

    Russia’s possible withdrawal from the Syrian naval base at Tartus and the airbase at Khmeimim would remove assets that allowed it to cooperate with Iran, its key strategic partner in the region.

    More recently, Russia’s reliability as an ally and reputation as an armory has been damaged by Israeli attacks not only on Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed forces in Lebanon and Syria, but on Iran itself.

    Russia’s position in Africa would also be damaged by the loss of the Syrian bases, which are key launch points for extending Russian power, and by Moscow’s evident inability to make a difference on the ground across the Sahel region in north-central Africa.

    Dirty tricks, diminishing returns

    Stalemate in Ukraine and Russian strategic losses in Syria and elsewhere have prompted Moscow to rely increasingly on a variety of other means to try to gain influence.

    Disinformation, election meddling and varied threats are not new and are part of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. But recent efforts in East Europe have not been very productive. Massive Russian funding and propaganda in Romania, for example, helped produce a narrow victory for an anti-NATO presidential candidate in December 2024, but the Romanian government moved quickly to expose these actions and the election was annulled.

    Nearby Moldova has long been subject to Russian propaganda and threats, especially during recent presidential elections and a referendum on stipulating a “European course” in the constitution. The tiny country moved to reduce its dependency on Russian gas but remains territorially fragmented by the breakaway region of Transnistria that, until recently, provided most of the country’s electricity.

    Despite these factors, the results were not what Moscow wanted. In both votes, a European direction was favored by the electorate. When the Transnistrian legislature in February 2024 appealed to Moscow for protection, none was forthcoming.

    When Moldova thumbs its nose at you, it’s fair to say your power ranking has fallen.

    Wounded but still dangerous

    Not all recent developments have been negative for Moscow. State control of the economy has allowed for rapid rebuilding of a depleted military and support for its technology industry in the short term. With Chinese help and evasion of sanctions, sufficient machinery and energy allow the war in Ukraine to continue.

    And the inauguration of Donald Trump is likely to favor Putin, despite some mixed signals. The U.S. president has threatened tariffs and more sanctions but also disbanded a Biden-era task force aimed a punishing Russian oligarchs who help Russia evade sanctions. In the White House now is someone who has openly admired Putin, expressed skepticism over U.S. support for Ukraine and rushed to bully America’s closest allies in Latin America, Canada and Europe.

    Most importantly, Trump’s eagerness to make good on his pledge to end the war may provide the Russian leader with a deal he can call a “victory.”

    The shrinking of Russia’s world has not necessarily made Russia less dangerous; it could be quite the opposite. Some Kremlin watchers argue that a more economically isolated Russia is less vulnerable to American economic pressure. A retreating Russia and an embattled Putin could also opt for even more reckless threats and actions – for example, on nuclear weapons – especially if reversing course in Ukraine would jeopardize his position. It is, after all, Putin’s war.

    All observers would be wise to note that the famous dictum “Russia is never as strong as she looks … nor as weak as she looks” has been ominously rephrased by Putin himself: “Russia was never so strong as it wants to be and never so weak as it is thought to be.”

    Ronald H. Linden has in the past received funding from Fulbright, DAAD, German Marshall Fund, National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, Woodrow Wilson Center, US Institute of Peace.

    – ref. Russia’s shrinking world: The war in Ukraine and Moscow’s global reach – https://theconversation.com/russias-shrinking-world-the-war-in-ukraine-and-moscows-global-reach-247754

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Are animals smart? From dolphin language to toolmaking crows, lots of species have obvious intelligence

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Leticia Fanucchi, Clinical Assistant Professor of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Oklahoma State University

    Dolphins communicate using a sophisticated combination of clicks and whistles. Stephen Frink/The Image Bank via Getty Images

    Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

    Are animals smart? – Deron

    It’s a fascinating question that intrigues millions of pet owners, animal lovers, veterinarians and scientists all over the world: Just how smart are animals?

    Scientists once believed a brain with billions of neurons was a requirement for intelligence. After all, that’s why you’re able to think – neurons are the nerve cells in the brain that connect and transmit messages to each other.

    For the record, the human brain has about 86 billion neurons. For comparison, dogs and cats have less than one billion.

    Yet the more that scientists like me study animal emotion and cognition – the ability to learn through experiences and thinking – the more we find that humans are not very special at all. Many nonhuman species can do these things too.

    Right now, there’s no agreement on how to decide whether a particular animal species is intelligent. But most scientists who study animal cognition have observed that many animals are able to solve problems, use tools, recall important information about their environment and recognize themselves in the mirror.

    Measuring an animal’s intelligence is harder than you might think.

    Toolmaking bears and crows

    Memory is a marker of intelligence. Of all animals, humans possess the most accurate and sophisticated memory. But elephants can recognize as many as 30 traveling companions at a time. They also learn to migrate away from drought-prone areas, based on memories of earlier droughts.

    That kind of recall – known as episodic memory – is the ability to remember an event, including when and where it occurred. Until recently, scientists thought only humans had it. But now researchers have learned that some birds, cats, rats, monkeys and dolphins have it too.

    Crows are among the smartest of animals.
    Santiago Urquijo/Moment via Getty Images

    Animals may not remember every experience – neither do people – but they do recall things critical to their survival. For example, birds know where they stored food. Monkeys know the presence of a predator.

    Scientists once thought tool use was an exclusively human ability, but that’s not so. Chimpanzees use sticks to catch termites and stones to crack nuts open. Crows can even manufacture tools. By bending a wire, they can make a hook to retrieve a food reward that’s otherwise out of reach.

    Researchers presented eight captive brown bears with this food challenge: Three objects – a large log, a small log and a box – were placed in an outdoor enclosure. A food reward was suspended above them. Six of the eight bears were able to move the logs and box into positions that enabled them to fetch the reward. Essentially, they used the three objects as tools.

    Chimps use gestures and facial expressions to communicate.

    Dolphin, chimpanzee communication

    Language is another measure of intelligence. People, of course, have enormously sophisticated communication skills. But dolphins have complex dialects in the form of crackles, squeaks and whistles. Many researchers say the noises are a language. Chimpanzees and gorillas have used sign language to express emotions and ask for things from people.

    Self-awareness – the ability to recognize yourself as an individual – signals intelligence. Babies don’t recognize themselves in the mirror until they are about a year and a half old. Up until then, they probably think the mirror image they see is another baby.

    Many other species, including dolphins, ravens and elephants, recognize themselves in the mirror. Researchers put a red dye mark on chimpanzees under anesthesia; once awake, the chimps saw their reflection in a mirror. Instead of touching the red mark on their reflection in the glass, they touched the red mark on themselves, indicating self-recognition.

    Just because animals can’t do certain things, it doesn’t mean they’re unintelligent. After all, humans can’t fly like a bird or swim like a fish. Nor is there a need for us to have the incredible sense of smell a dog has. We’d be sniffing hundreds of different smells from miles away – the scents from perfumes and pollution, gardens and garbage. From an evolutionary standpoint, that wouldn’t help us much. Plus, we’d get sick of it very quickly.

    But all animals, including humans, have developed a wide range of capabilities so they can succeed in the environment they live in. Put simply, we’re all using our brains. Now that’s intelligent.

    Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

    And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

    Leticia Fanucchi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Are animals smart? From dolphin language to toolmaking crows, lots of species have obvious intelligence – https://theconversation.com/are-animals-smart-from-dolphin-language-to-toolmaking-crows-lots-of-species-have-obvious-intelligence-230378

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICE Newark arrests Mexican national convicted for sex crimes against minor

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Jorge Luis Sanchez-Luna, 45, a citizen of Mexico and registered sex offender, in Newark Feb. 4.

    “Sanchez-Luna is a deviant criminal who has a record of repeat heinous offenses against a minor,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Newark Deputy Field Office Director Arthur J. Wilson Jr. “ERO Newark considers this insidious child abuse a danger to our communities and seeks justice for the traumatized victim.”

    ICE issued Sanchez-Luna a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge following his arrest.

    Sanchez-Luna entered the United States on Oct. 29, 2015, at New York as lawful permanent resident.

    The New Jersey Superior Court in Monmouth County found Sanchez-Luna guilty July 12, 2024, of endangering-sexual conduct with child by caretaker. He was sentenced to parole supervision for life and required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law.

    Learn more about ICE’s mission to increase public safety in New Jersey communities on X: @ERONewark.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: ITS Logistics Unveils DropFleet to Serve Complex Drop Trailer and Trailer Pool Solutions

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    RENO, Nev., Feb. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ITS Logistics, one of the fastest-growing logistics companies in the United States, has unveiled DropFleet, a premium trailer pool and drop trailer solution. DropFleet delivers cost-effective dedicated capacity and flexible, on-demand transportation anywhere by combining power-only services with ITS trailers. 

    Tailor-made for businesses with complex and time-sensitive supply chains, DropFleet provides value for those in the ecommerce, automotive, retail, manufacturing, and technology sectors. As a leader in freight brokerage—ranked #19 nationally—ITS Logistics leverages its flexible and scalable hybrid capacity model to address some of the most pressing challenges in the logistics industry, including dramatic fluctuations in demand, peak season surges, asset visibility, and carrier management.

    “Over 40% of our volume includes dense, complex drop trailer projects,” said Josh Allen, CCO of ITS Logistics. “We designed DropFleet as a dynamic, asset-smart solution that provides our customers with a reliable and universal service capable of meeting their unique supply chain needs.”

    ITS has implemented the offering for some of its most demanding clients, including a top ten automotive manufacturer that employs a fleet of 200 specially-modified ITS trailers across 70 daily lanes. By leveraging an asset-lite approach to keep trailers on site, the company has resolved live loading challenges, streamlined operations, and achieved a 98% on-time delivery rate.

    “Our reach extends beyond our owned equipment to that of our carrier partners, giving us massive flexibility and scale into every major U.S. market,” continued Allen.

    With DropFleet, shippers can take advantage of several key benefits, including:

    • Dedicated Capacity: Secure, reliable transportation assets when and where they are needed most
    • Enhanced Visibility: Real-time tracking capabilities ensure precise asset management and shipment tracking
    • Scalability and Flexibility: Adjust trailer usage seamlessly to accommodate peak seasons and inventory surges
    • Fraud Protection: Robust fraud prevention measures and comprehensive carrier vetting that surpasses industry standards

    “We’ve seen increasing demand from customers for these flexible solutions that provide them more control over their supply chain operations,” Allen continued. “DropFleet is a direct response to that demand. We’re excited to continue improving and scaling this offering with AI-driven technology, a highly vetted carrier network, a rapidly expanding footprint, and an experienced team to set a new standard for drop trailer and trailer pool services.”

    For more information about DropFleet and ITS Logistics’ comprehensive service offerings, visit https://www.its4logistics.com/services.

    About ITS Logistics

    ITS Logistics is one of North America’s fastest-growing, asset-based modern 3PLs, providing solutions for the industry’s most complicated supply chain challenges. With a people-first culture committed to excellence, the company relentlessly strives to deliver unmatched value through best-in-class service, expertise, and innovation. The ITS Logistics portfolio features North America’s #19 asset-lite freight brokerage, the #12 drayage and intermodal solution, a top 50 dedicated fleet, an innovative cloud-based technology ecosystem, and a nationwide distribution and fulfillment network.

    Media Contact
    Amber Good
    LeadCoverage
    amber@leadcoverage.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Parker Announces Retirement of EMEA President Joachim Guhe, Appoints Thomas Ottawa as Successor

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CLEVELAND, Feb. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE: PH), the global leader in motion and control technologies, today announced that Joachim Guhe, President – Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Group, will retire after 32 years of dedicated service. Mr. Guhe will step down from his current role on June 30, 2025, but continue with the company until August 31, 2025, to ensure a successful leadership transition.

    The company has appointed Thomas Ottawa, currently Vice President of Operations – Motion Systems Group Europe, to succeed Mr. Guhe as President – Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Group, effective July 1, 2025.

    “In the more than three decades he spent with us, Joachim progressed from an entry level role to head of the critically important EMEA region, and then led EMEA through improvements that drove operational excellence and led to significant growth and margin expansion,” said Andy Ross, President and Chief Operating Officer. “In addition to his many contributions over the years, we thank Joachim for a career that exemplifies Parker leadership and wish him the very best in retirement.” 

    Mr. Guhe joined Parker in 1993 as a Product Cost Accountant in Bielefeld, Germany. He progressed through increasingly senior roles across Parker’s Fluid Connectors, Engineered Materials and Filtration Groups, including as division General Manager and Vice President of Operations. In his current role as EMEA President, he has been responsible for leading Parker’s sales companies and commercial operations in the region, as well as its HR, Finance, IT, Marketing and Supply Chain functions. 

    Commenting on Mr. Ottawa’s new role as President for the EMEA Region, Mr. Ross said, “Thomas will take on this important leadership role with nearly 30 years of Parker experience, a deep knowledge of our global operations and a proven record of success.” He added, “We are highly confident the EMEA region will continue to thrive under his guidance and are fortunate to have such a strong leader to drive our performance to even greater levels.”

    Mr. Ottawa joined Parker in 1995 as a Graduate Trainee with the Fluid Connectors Group Europe, where he held positions of increasing responsibility, including as division General Manager. He became General Manager of the Prädifa Technology Division in 2015. Mr. Ottawa was promoted to his current role as Vice President of Operations – Motion Systems Group EMEA in 2019 and has been instrumental in improving the group’s financial performance and driving profitable growth in the region. In his new role as EMEA President, he will oversee nearly 14,000 team members across 22 countries. He holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bochum in Germany.

    About Parker Hannifin
    Parker Hannifin is a Fortune 250 global leader in motion and control technologies. For more than a century the company has been enabling engineering breakthroughs that lead to a better tomorrow. Learn more at www.parker.com or @parkerhannifin.

    ###

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Imperial Petroleum Inc. Announces the Date for the Release of Fourth Quarter and Twelve Months 2024 Financial and Operating Results, Conference Call and Webcast

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    ATHENS, Greece, Feb. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Imperial Petroleum Inc. is a ship-owning company providing petroleum products, crude oil and drybulk seaborne transportation services, announced today that it will release its fourth quarter and twelve months financial results for the period ended December 31, 2024 before the market opens in New York on February 13, 2025.

    On February 13, 2025 at 10:00 am ET, the company’s management will host a conference call to discuss the results and the company’s operations and outlook.

    Conference Call details:

    Conference call participants should pre-register using the below link to receive the dial-in numbers and a personal PIN, which are required to access the conference call.

    Online Registration:

    https://register.vevent.com/register/BI127dcd86b3bd4efc8d71152e3b8a8800

    Slides and audio webcast:

    There will also be a live and then archived webcast of the conference call, through the IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC. website (www.imperialpetro.com). Participants to the live webcast should register on the website approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the webcast.

    ABOUT IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC.

    IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC. is a ship-owning company providing petroleum products, crude oil and drybulk seaborne transportation services. The Company owns a total of twelve vessels on the water – seven M.R. product tankers, two suezmax tankers and three handysize drybulk carriers – with a total capacity of 751,000 deadweight tons (dwt), and has contracted to acquire an additional seven drybulk carriers of 443,000 dwt aggregate capacity. Following these deliveries, the Company’s fleet will count a total of 19 vessels. IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC.’s shares of common stock and 8.75% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market and trade under the symbols “IMPP” and “IMPPP,” respectively.

    Company Contact:
    Fenia Sakellaris
    IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC.
    info@imperialpetro.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Stoke-on-Trent children’s services to exit Government intervention following significant transformation

    Source: City of Stoke-on-Trent

    Published: Monday, 10th February 2025

    Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s Children and Families service will exit government intervention.

    It comes after achieving substantial improvements in outcomes for children and families.

    The Department for Education (DfE) has confirmed consistent progress and recommended lifting the intervention – which has been in place since 2019.

    The intervention followed an Ofsted inspection that rated the service as ‘Inadequate’. A subsequent inspection in October 2022 saw the service rated as ‘Requires Improvement’, highlighting significant advancements. There were key improvements in services for individuals or professionals to report concerns or request support and in outcomes for children in care. Follow-up visits have demonstrated continued, sustained improvement.

    The DfE review outlines several key achievements:

    • The number of children in care is at its lowest level in 18 months, with fewer children on Child Protection plans.
    • The quality of social work practice has remained strong, with an increasing number of audits rated ‘Good’.
    • Early support services are now more effective at preventing issues from escalating.
    • Stronger partnerships with local agencies are ensuring families receive the tailored support they need, with a clear focus on community-based solutions.
    • A robust leadership team continues to drive positive change and improvement.

    The city council’s focus on early intervention and partnership working has been fundamental in reducing the number of children in care and making sure that families receive the right support at the right time.  

    Councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member for children’s services at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “This is a significant milestone for services for children and families in Stoke-on-Trent. We’ve made great progress, and we’re pleased to be moving forward without government intervention. 

    “The Family Matters programme has been central to this transformation, providing families with the early support they need to thrive. 

    “While we recognise there is still work to be done, I am confident that under the leadership of our incoming Corporate Director, Neil Macdonald, we will continue to build on this momentum, ensuring every child in Stoke-on-Trent gets the care and support they deserve.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: The iconic Austin 7 is back

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    By Tom Stacey, Anglia Ruskin University

    In perhaps one of the greatest brand comeback stories in automotive since the Fiat 500 in 2007, British car company Austin announced the return of the Austin Arrow.

    Its name is an unashamed reference to one of the most memorable Austin 7 models – first introduced in the 1920s the Arrow was the original “everyman sportscar”, before the muscle cars (think of the Dodge Challenger) of the US became popular in the 1960s. Now reimagined as an electric Vehicle (EV), the Arrow is designed and made in the UK and aims to be to 2020s consumers what the original was 90 years ago.

    A number of cars are synonymous with the British car industry. In fact, as a small nation, Britain punches above its weight when it comes to classic automobile brands – The Mini, the Range Rover, London black cabs, James Bond’s Aston Martins, and even the London red bus. However, if one car can be credited for creating the dawn of the motor vehicle in the UK, it would be the diminutive Austin 7.

    The car was created in the 1920s at the time when Austin was struggling. New laws were pushing manufacturers to produce smaller, less powerful cars. But Austin’s board of directors didn’t support a cheap, small car with low profit margins. Austin was known for its larger, luxury products.

    However, Sir Herbert Austin and his 18-year-old apprentice Stanley Edge decided to secretly create a small car. Thank god they didn’t heed the board, because they ended up creating the greatest democratising automotive product Britain had ever seen (until they repeated it with the Austin Mini).

    The reason why products such as the Austin 7 come to define their period is rarely due to their technical prowess or exhilarating performance – it’s because they bring to the masses a technology that is both useful and traditionally seen as out of reach.

    The Austin 7 was a bit like the iPhone. There were smartphones that came before it, like the Sony Ericsson p800. However, these were considered expensive and out of reach for the average consumer. The Iphone did the same thing but at a cheaper price and so came to be the definitive smartphone.

    With the Austin 7, Herbert Austin’s team applied the key lessons from Ford’s Model T – creating a simple, modestly powered car with just enough features for mass appeal while incorporating clever design elements that earned the respect of car enthusiasts.

    When the Austin 7 was unveiled in July 1922, it was priced at just £165, when an Austin 20 was between £600 and £700. At a time when the average British worker earned around £5 per week, the only real affordable car had been Ford’s basic and utilitarian Model T at around £250.

    The 7’s ingenious design was the key to its success. With a shared base frame for the car, it could be a four-seater family car, a stylish coupe, or even a racing car.

    This cheap, tiny car not only was a legend in its own right and familiar around the world, but it influenced other legends too.

    Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus Cars, based his first Lotus 1 on the Austin 7. What is less known is that German car manufacturer BMW built Austin 7s under licence in the 1920s and 30s but called them “Dixis”. Nissan did the same in Japan in the pre-war period. Such licensing deals helped set up both manufacturers’ future success as the powerhouses they are today.

    Austin 7s were produced all over Europe, Asia and even in Australia. The 7 was also produced in the US as the “American Bantam” and its design contributed to the “Willy’s Jeep”, one of the US’s most famous vehicles.

    Ultimately, the beginning of the second world war marked the end of Austin 7 production as the Austin factory at Longbridge, near Birmingham, needed to be repurposed to produce munitions. When the war ended, tastes for vehicles had changed and factories started to produce more modern designs, and not those from the 1920s, marking the end of a British automotive icon in 1939.

    Now it’s back, thanks to the engineer John Stubbs who bought the Austin brand after noticing the brand and trademarks were available. The rights to these had been owned by the Nanjing Automobile Group, which bought MG Rover when it collapsed in 2005. However, Nanjing had let these lapse and Stubbs bought them for £170 in 2015.

    The new Essex-based Austin Motor Company aims to recreate this classic brand, tugging at the heartstrings of those looking nostalgically at Britain’s automotive heyday. The announcement featured images of fun, cheap (£31,000) and light cars driving around the B-roads of Britain, or perhaps being taken to a racetrack for an amateur competition, harking back to earlier days. However, this car is thoroughly modern, featuring an electric motor.

    The new Austin Arrow is not meant to be the usable “everyman” car the original 7 was. For starters, to be compliant with quadricycle (a micro car with less than 6kW of power and an unladen mass no more than 425 kg) legislation it is limited to 60mph as a top speed and the range will be a maximum of 100 miles on one charge.

    However, as that fun, racy, open-top car that it’s predecessors were, it very much captures the spirit of the original Austin 7 Arrow.

    Tom Stacey, Deputy Head of the School of Economics, Finance and Law, Anglia Ruskin University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    The opinions expressed in VIEWPOINT articles are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARU.

    If you wish to republish this article, please follow these guidelines: https://theconversation.com/uk/republishing-guidelines

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: ARU studies the health benefits of herring eggs

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is partnering with Norwegian biotechnology company Arctic Bioscience to carry out the largest research project to date exploring how nutrients derived from fish eggs can support a healthy and active lifestyle across all ages.

    Omega-3 fatty acids are essential nutrients that can play an important role in maintaining overall health. However, the general population typically consumes few foods that are rich in omega-3, such as oily fish.

    The new three-year project, called Active Romega, is investigating the benefits of omega-3 phospholipid fish oil and proteins derived from herring roe, which are the eggs of the fish. Unlike other omega-3 supplements, herring roe omega-3 contains a higher concentration of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and specialised pro-resolving mediators (SPMs).

    DHA and SPMs have been shown to have potent anti-inflammatory effects and are also believed to benefit muscle function, metabolism, and cognitive function, which are all key to supporting a healthy lifestyle. 

    The Active Romega project comprises two distinct research strands led by Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) PhD students Dani Dalmay and Jorge Pinto. These are exploring the effects of herring roe omega-3 on exercise metabolism and recovery, specifically focusing on active females, and how herring roe omega-3 can support the healthy ageing process in older adults.

    The overall project is being led by Dr Sanjoy Deb, Associate Professor in Exercise and Nutritional Science at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU).

    “The use of fish oils has shown promise across various health parameters, with emerging research indicating particular benefits for women and in supporting healthy ageing.

    “This new partnership with Arctic Bioscience allows us to undertake robust research to explore the public health benefits of herring-derived omega-3, alongside exercise. This will be the first time this specific type of omega-3 has been tested to investigate its benefits in these areas.

    “One of the reasons herring roe omega-3 is unique is its higher concentration of DHA [docosahexaenoic acid] compared to EPA [eicosapentaenoic acid] – most fish oils have more EPA than DHA – and the oil is naturally rich in the metabolites of DHA and EPA, namely specialised pro-resolving mediators such as resolvins, protectins and maresins. Herring roe omega-3 also has a phospholipid chemical structure, rather than a more typical triglyceride structure.

    “Some studies suggest better absorption and improved health outcomes from marine-based phospholipids, although research is still in its infancy. Our Active Romega project should contribute significantly to this area of research.”

    Dr Sanjoy Deb 

    “Arctic Bioscience is honoured to be a part of this project with Anglia Ruskin. We have been working with herring roe phospholipids and proteins for many years now, both in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical field, and see many potential health benefits for their use in sports nutrition.”

    Hogne Hallaråker, founder and Chief Science Officer of Arctic Bioscience 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Gaza crisis: Amid winter storms, humanitarians appeal for full aid access

    Source: United Nations 4

    Peace and Security

    As the Israeli military completed its withdrawal at the weekend from a key security corridor in Gaza that had cut the enclave in two, UN humanitarians issued a fresh appeal for an end to all aid restrictions which continue to prevent the delivery of lifesaving relief.

    “The health system is ruined. Malnutrition is rising. The risk of famine persists,” said Dr Hanan Balkhy, the UN World Health Organization (WHO)’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. “We are ready to scale up our response – but we urgently need systematic and sustained access to the population across Gaza, and we need an end to restrictions on the entry of essential supplies.”

    Three weeks since the ceasefire began between Hamas and Israel that has allowed further hostage and prisoner swaps, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) issued a new warning on Monday about life-threatening conditions across the enclave. Some 60 per cent of buildings lie in ruins after more than 15 months of constant Israeli bombardment.

    Perishing cold

    “There’s a winter storm ongoing, it’s incredibly cold,” UNICEF Communications Specialist Rosalia Bollen told UN News. “I have no clue how people can sleep at night in their makeshift tents. Lots of people who return to the north found their homes in rubble. They’ve put up some sort of improvised dwelling on top of their rubble, but it’s very, very cold.”

    Soundcloud

    Humanitarian teams continue to assess the impact of winter storms on shelters in different locations of Gaza. In northern Gaza, partners are also preparing to distribute 1,500 tents to returnees in the governorates of Gaza and North Gaza.

    Although thousands of aid trucks have entered Gaza since the ceasefire began on 19 January – the World Food Programme (WFP) alone said that it had sent more than 15,000 tons of food into the Gaza Strip, reaching more than 525,000 people with food parcels, hot meals and cash – overall needs remain enormous.

    “We’re doing all we can,” UNICEF’s Ms. Bollen insisted. “We’ve actually been able to scale up assistance considerably as the numbers are showing and we don’t hold on to items; as soon as we can, we do all we can to immediately push items out to families. I know that’s the case not just for UNICEF, but for others as well. But you know the needs are just skyrocketing.”

    The UNICEF worker added: “We humanitarians aren’t magicians. We don’t have a magic wand that can help the suffering overnight.”

    Sheltering under sacks

    According to a situation update from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, despite an increase in shelter support for vulnerable Gazans, nearly one million displaced Palestinians live in “substandard tents or makeshift shelters, with families resorting to sewing old rice sacks together for basic cover”.

    Many more Gazans live in crowded shelters in unsafe conditions, according to the Protection Cluster – a network of nongovernmental organizations, international organizations and UN agencies who work together in emergency settings.

    For Gazans continuing to return to their homes in the north past the newly reopened Netzarim corridor that separated the north from the south, many find themselves confronted by a lack of basic services, including clean water. 

    Latest damage assessments from the UN satellite service, UNOSAT, indicated that an estimated 69 per cent of all structures in Gaza have been impacted and more than 245,000 housing units.

    “The governorates of North Gaza and Rafah have experienced the highest rise in damage compared to the 6 September 2024 analysis, with around 3,138 new structures damaged in North Gaza and around 3,054 in Rafah,” UNOSAT said in its last update based on preliminary analysis. “Within North Gaza, Jabaliya municipality had the highest number of newly damaged structures, totalling 1,339.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: New Mexico State Council Rallies at Roundhouse for Workers’ Rights

    Source: US GOIAM Union

    The legislative building in Santa Fe, N.M., is known as the Roundhouse. Citizens can spend hours there going round and round with different lobbyists and interest groups trying to sway state politicians. This session, IAM members from New Mexico Locals 1635 (Albuquerque), 794 (Albuquerque), and 2515 (Alamogordo) –along with IAM International President Brian Bryant, Western Territory General Vice President Robert “Bobby” Martinez, General Secretary-Treasurer Dora Cervantes, and Resident General Vice President Jody Bennett–took matters into their own hands and scored some impressive wins.                                                                       

    “The reason we do this is because we fight for working people, and when we fight for working people – we win,” said IAM International President Brian Bryant. “And what you were able to do yesterday, by getting an anti-captive audience bill out of committee, that’s a win for working people!” 

    Bryant was speaking about the lobbying efforts of these IAM members to move the Employees Free Speech Act, sponsored by State Rep. Eleanor Chavez, which is aimed at preventing employers from monitoring employees’ political activities and from holding mandatory attendance, anti-union captive audience meetings.

    “We believe that you don’t only fight for things at the bargaining table, you also have to simultaneously fight for things through legislative action and advocacy,” said IAM Local 794 President Ashley Long. “Secondly, we are advocating for paid family medical leave. We know that our members have needs. They’re caregivers to children, to their elders in their family, and we want to make sure this legislation is passed, so that it’s easier for us to codify it in our collective bargaining agreements” 

    “We are building people, to build power, to make significant change for our members in their work life and their communities,” said IAM Western Territory General Vice President Robert “Bobby” Martinez. That concept grows from legendary organizer of the United Farm Workers, Marshall Ganz. “Engaging our members will get us better contracts, win more elections, and we’re just going to win overall. Real change is made when we invest in people!

    IAM members also gathered at a nearby conference center to install new officers to the state council and update their bylaws to reflect needed changes.

    New Mexico State Council President John Dyrcz noted that across the country, people are turning to organized labor to do things for workers that have long been ignored.

    “You see states like Alaska, that are ruby red, but their voters are passing family medical leave because we all need it,” said Dyrcz. “We are going to continue to fight for laws that support workers because it’s the right thing to do. We are going to keep up the fight here in New Mexico.”

    [ Council Meeting Photo Gallery]

    Share and Follow:

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: MINILUXE ANNOUNCES STRONG PERFORMANCE TRENDS AND COMPLETION OF USD $6.98M (CDN $10M) IN CAPITAL-ENHANCING TRANSACTIONS THAT INCLUDE AN OVERSUBSCRIBED PRIVATE PLACEMENT AND DEBT CONVERSION

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR 

    FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

    Alongside its strong performance momentum, MiniLuxe successfully completes an oversubscribed private placement initially offered for up to $5M while contemporaneously satisfying the principal of USD $945,000 of convertible debt obligations.

    Boston, MA, Feb. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MiniLuxe Holding Corp. (TSXV: MNLX) (“MiniLuxe” or the “Company”) today announces that it has completed a successful and final closing of an oversubscribed non-brokered private placement of Class A subordinate voting shares of the Company (the “Subordinate Voting Shares”). The Company first announced its intention for a non-brokered private placement on November 27, 2024, at a price of USD$0.55 per share for total proceeds up to $5.0M USD (the “Offering”). Since its announcement of the Offering, the Company has had strong investor demand reinforcing confidence in MiniLuxe’s continued performance and growth strategy.

    Per the Company’s press release of January 2nd, 2025, MiniLuxe did a first closing for approximately one-third of the anticipated maximum of the Offering. In this second and final closing, the Company is pleased to announce that it has raised incremental gross proceeds of USD $3,436,250 (resulting in the issuance of 6,247,717 Subordinate Voting Shares at a price of USD $0.55 or CDN $0.79 per Share). Together, the first and second and final closing of the Offering raised total new primary capital for the Company in the amount of USD $5.067M or (~CDN $7.26M). Additionally, the Company finalized the conversion of USD$945,000 million or ~CDN $1.35M in principal value of prior convertible notes through shares for debt agreements, with further details provided below.

    “We are humbled by the recent oversubscribed investor interest level and quantum raised, but even more excited by the quality of this capital. This financing brings new participants who share aligned principles to our vision and who offer value-add strategic perspectives. The investment interest is also a reflection of the work and progress made by the team over the past year and investors’ conviction behind our future growth plans,” said Tony Tjan, CEO of MiniLuxe.

    As previously shared, the company is focused on three key performance objectives:

    1.  Accelerating overall studio contribution growth
    2. Increasing fixed cost leverage and SG&A efficiency
    3. Focusing growth through operating and franchise partners and a focused set of innovative products

    Overall same studio cash contribution grew materially in 2024, in concert with increased profitability trends of studios across all regions. The most critical factor for the success of our base business is the success the company has in recruiting, developing and retaining nail designer and other beauty service professional talent. The Company’s current retention rate of its talent base stands at its all-time record high at 87 percent. The Company remains focused on ways to reconfigure and create greater SG+A efficiency with year-over-year reduction trends north of 25% on corporate level SG+A. As a percent of revenue on a TTM (trailing twelve month) basis corporate SG+A as a percent of revenue has improved ~2x going from ~32% to ~16% demonstrating continued fixed cost leverage. From the standpoint of key internal cash management metrics, annualized and average monthly operating cash burn have been very materially reduced. While not an IFRS measurement, on a company-wide basis and on a preliminary unaudited basis, it is expected that YoY adjusted EBITDA improvement in 2024 to be over 50 percent. The Company’s focus on instilling an entrepreneurial culture and creating aligned performance incentives with its studio leaders and through operating partners (JVs or franchise partners) with shared ownership of studios have meaningfully contributed to these results. 

    The net proceeds from the Offering will be used to build momentum on these performance trends while investing behind a focused set of strategic growth investments including the expansion of new studios– especially through an expanded set of world-class operators who hold connection and conviction with the MiniLuxe brand and who seek to own or jointly own and operate a MiniLuxe studio. The Company also intends to be filing for an NCIB (New Course Issuer Bid) to have the option to buy back shares at times when it believes that the market price does not reflect the company’s intrinsic and future value.

    Alongside the Offering, the Company has also finalized additional shares-for-debt agreements to satisfy an aggregate of USD$1,055,577 (~CDN$1.51 million) of outstanding debt related to the principal and accrued but unpaid interest on certain convertible debentures of the Company (the “Debentures”). This is in addition to USD$1,085,944 (~CDN$1.56 million) of Debentures converted in the first tranche. As part of this debt conversion, an aggregate of 2,294,731 Subordinate Voting Shares will be issued at a deemed price of USD$0.46 per share, with an effective conversion date of February 7, 2025. The Company offered existing Debenture holders participating in the Offering the opportunity to elect to receive Subordinate Voting Shares at a discounted conversion price relative to the original terms of the Debentures. All Debenture holders electing to convert are deemed to be at arm’s length from the Company. The issuance of these shares remains subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. Similarly, completion of all tranches of the private placement Offering is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The securities issued pursuant to the initial closing of the Offering are subject to a hold period of four months and one day from the issuance date in accordance with applicable securities laws.

    This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described in this news release. Such securities have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act, or any state securities laws, and, accordingly, may not be offered or sold within the United States, or to or for the account or benefit of persons in the United States or “U.S. Persons”, as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirements.

    About MiniLuxe

    MiniLuxe, a Delaware corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. MiniLuxe is a lifestyle brand and talent empowerment platform servicing the beauty and self-care industry. Through its company-owned and partner-operated studios, Company delivers high-quality nail care and esthetic services that incorporate the brand’s proprietary products. For over a decade, MiniLuxe has been elevating industry standards through healthier, ultra-hygienic services, modern design, ethical labor practices, and better-for-you, cleaner products. MiniLuxe’s vision is to radically transform the highly fragmented and under-regulated self-care and nail care industry through its brand, standards, and technology platform that together enable better talent and client experiences.

    Towards building long-term durable value for its stakeholders, MiniLuxe is expanding its reach through franchising and operating JV partners seeking ownership and impact with a brand recognized as the best nail salon franchise. Through self-care and self-expression, MiniLuxe is empowering one of the largest hourly work forces through professional development, economic mobility, and equity ownership. Since its founding, MiniLuxe has performed over 4.5 million services.

    For further information

    Christine Mastrangelo
    Investor Relations, MiniLuxe Holding Corp.
    cmastrangelo@MiniLuxe.com
    MiniLuxe.com

    Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

    Forward-looking statements

    This press release contains “forward-looking information” and “forward-looking statements” (collectively, “forward-looking information”) concerning the Company and its subsidiaries within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to the future financial outlook and anticipated events or results of the Company and may include information regarding the Company’s financial position, business strategy, growth strategies, acquisition prospects and plans, addressable markets, budgets, operations, financial results, taxes, dividend policy, plans and objectives. Particularly, information regarding the Company’s expectations of future results, performance, achievements, prospects or opportunities or the markets in which the Company operates is forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “plans”, “targets”, “expects”, “budgets”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “outlook”, “forecasts”, “projects”, “prospects”, “strategy”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might”, or “will” occur. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, intentions, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management’s expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events or circumstances. 

    Many factors could cause the Company’s actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, without limitation, those listed in the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s filing statement dated November 9, 2021. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results, performance, or achievements could vary materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. 

    Forward-looking information, by its nature, is based on the Company’s opinions, estimates and assumptions in light of management’s experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that the Company currently believes are appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances. Those factors should not be construed as exhaustive. Despite a careful process to prepare and review forward-looking information, there can be no assurance that the underlying opinions, estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information. Although the Company bases its forward-looking information on assumptions that it believes were reasonable when made, which include, but are not limited to, assumptions with respect to the Company’s future growth potential, results of operations, future prospects and opportunities, execution of the Company’s business strategy, there being no material variations in the current tax and regulatory environments, future levels of indebtedness and current economic conditions remaining unchanged, the Company cautions readers that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which the Company operates may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. In addition, even if the Company’s results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which it operates are consistent with the forward-looking information contained in this press release, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods. 

    Although the Company has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other risk factors not presently known to the Company or that the Company presently believes are not material that could also cause actual results or future events to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which speaks only as of the date made (or as of the date they are otherwise stated to be made). Any forward-looking statement that is made in this press release speaks only as of the date of such statement.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: ASM named in CDP’s ‘A List’ for climate and water

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Almere, the Netherlands
    February 10, 2025

    ASM has been awarded CDP’s prestigious ‘A List’ ranking for both climate and water reporting, recognizing its corporate sustainability leadership, performance, and transparency.

    This is the first time ASM has achieved A List status with the global environmental non-profit, CDP, the organization that runs the world’s most recognized environmental disclosure system and sets the standard for environmental reporting. From over 22,000 annual reporting submissions this year, CDP has awarded its highest A List ranking to only a select group of companies demonstrating the strongest sustainability leadership.

    ASM is among very few companies in the semiconductor industry to score an A in CDP’s 2024 assessment, with even fewer reaching the A List for both climate and water. This marks a significant milestone in our sustainability journey and is a testament to our continued commitment to environmental progress.

    ASM has been reporting into CDP for thirteen consecutive years, consistently strengthening our environmental strategy and performance. In 2024, we reached 100% renewable electricity across our global operations, reinforcing our commitment to sustainable business practices.

    Inclusion in CDP’s prestigious A List highlights the strides we have made in reducing our operational carbon footprint and exemplifies our focus on meaningful climate action. In addition to decarbonizing our own operations, we are investing in research and development to enhance the energy efficiency of our deposition equipment, enabling our customers to reduce their energy consumption while maintaining high-performance production capabilities. This ensures our technologies contribute to lower emissions in semiconductor manufacturing and the broader tech ecosystem.

    In 2021, ASM published an ambitious target of reaching net zero by 2035. In 2023, ASM’s net zero target was approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), a first in the semiconductor industry. ASM’s Climate Transition Plan, released in early 2024, details how we target to achieve this goal by decarbonizing our products, optimizing our operations, and collaborating with our value chain to drive sustainability improvements to ensure ASM remains at the forefront of sustainable innovation.

    As ASM expands, we are focused on achieving green standards such as LEED building certification, which rates buildings for energy efficiency and sustainability across multiple environmental aspects. Our new facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is currently in design, aims to reuse more than 80% of the water it consumes, significantly reducing ASM’s water footprint and supporting circular resource use.

    John Golightly, ASM VP of Sustainability remarked: “We are honored to receive this recognition for our efforts in climate and water. CDP’s A List is the gold standard for environmental reporting, so our inclusion for the first time is a proud moment, for our company and everyone who worked so hard on our sustainability journey. Our resolute focus on transparently reporting our progress has led us to this point and we will continue to push the boundaries of sustainable semiconductor manufacturing, with cutting-edge innovation and collaborative partnerships to create a greener, more resilient future. Accelerating Sustainability is a strategic objective at ASM for good reason. We believe our products and operations enable positive impact for society and our planet.” 

    About ASM International

    ASM International N.V., headquartered in Almere, the Netherlands, and its subsidiaries design and manufacture equipment and process solutions to produce semiconductor devices for wafer processing, and have facilities in the United States, Europe, and Asia. ASM International’s common stock trades on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol: ASM). For more information, visit ASM’s website at www.asm.com.

    Contact

    Investor and media relations

    Victor Bareño
    T: +31 88 100 8500
    E: investor.relations@asm.com

    		  

    Investor relations

    Valentina Fantigrossi
    T: +31 88 100 8502
    E: investor.relations@asm.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How rural English women used scrapbooks to commemorate the death of Winston Churchill

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Cherish Watton-Colbrook, Archives Assistant, University of Cambridge

    Sixty years ago, on January 24, Britons gathered around their radios to listen to the sombre BBC announcement that Sir Winston Churchill had died at the age of 90. Others learned about the news at church, as they listened to prayers for the life of the former prime minister, admired by many for leading Britain through the second world war. Later that day, radio and television schedules were suspended to make way for the flood of tributes.

    Around this time in villages around England and Wales, Women’s Institute (WI) members were just beginning a year-long scrapbooking project in honour of the WI’s golden jubilee year in 1965. A branch-based voluntary organisation,
    founded in 1915, the WI was set up to bring country women together.

    This scrapbook project was one way in which the organisation sought to foster a sense of community in rural areas. Members were invited to chronicle everything that happened in their village during that year. Although not every entry featured a tribute to Churchill, several WI members decided to mark the former leader’s death.

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

    Today, many of these scrapbooks survive in county record offices, while others remain cherished volumes kept by WIs in their branch archives. Some branches, along with local history societies, have digitised their scrapbooks and shared them online.

    Scrapbooks are perhaps not what immediately spring to mind when we think about the 1960s. Traditionally, they conjure up images of brightly coloured printed clippings or pressed flowers, saved by Victorian women and children. But this is just one page in scrapbooking’s rich history.

    In the 20th century, the rise of popular newspapers, magazines, domestic photography and television provided an array of material that could be transformed into personal archives. Scrapbooking proved a popular way for people to document what they found meaningful in their lives. Family, work, activism, stars of film, music and sport, royalty and even the weather were just some of the many topics covered.

    In 1965, WI members in Woodford, the constituency Churchill represented for 40 years until 1964, decided to conclude their community scrapbook with a tribute to their former MP.

    On a page of black sugar paper, members pasted a programme from a local memorial church service. Women also included a commemorative stamp, together with a photograph of floral tributes left at a bronze statue of Churchill on the village green, flanked by servicemen. Even though Churchill died at the beginning of the year, it was evidently the last thing Woodford Green’s WI members wanted their readers to encounter in their scrapbook.

    Local and national newspapers published a plethora of obituaries and articles on Churchill’s life, providing scrapbookers, such as WI members in Stoke Ferry in Norfolk, with a wealth of visual material for their community volumes.

    Local WI members crafted a photographic record of Churchill’s life, from childhood through to retirement, arranging the images in chronological order, mirroring the conventions associated with family photograph albums. They combined a series of press photographs and newspaper headlines with a handwritten note elaborating on what they felt was significant about Churchill’s death. WI women even went as far as to connect Churchill with their scrapbooking activities:

    As we compile this Jubilee Scrap Book, we stop to wonder what life would have been like in this village in 1965 but for that great statesman and leader, Sir Winston Churchill. Would this book be the happy record of a free and thriving community?

    On the following pages, they contrasted photographs from the funeral procession, with a shot of a bunch of pink tulips, given by a serviceman. In juxtaposing these images, they switched between ceremonial and more intimate forms of commemoration.

    WI scrapbookers clearly felt strongly about recording the death of Churchill in their community volumes. The scrapbook genre allowed these women, at a significant moment in time, to shape the historical record in a way they found to be meaningful, with an eye to the future generations they expected to read their creations.

    ‘Cold lunches were the order of the day’

    As relayed in many of these WI scrapbooks, Churchill was the first prime minister in the 20th century who was afforded a state funeral. It was broadcast around the world in a transmission of unparalleled significance – second only to the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

    One woman in Whitchurch, Herefordshire, wrote a series of diary entries under the pseudonym of Ann Whitchurch for her WI’s competition entry. After an earlier entry (exploring the merits of new brightly coloured long johns) Whitchurch reflected on January 30:

    Everyone seems to feel his loss as something that really matters. Whatever anyone’s politics are, he stood for England, especially for people of my generation who remember his great speeches during the War. It’s rather like the end of a chapter.

    Whitchurch chose the more intimate format of the diary entry, as opposed to national newspaper coverage, to offer a personal tribute to Churchill. By declaring herself the spokeswoman for her generation, Whitchurch conveyed how she understood Churchill’s death as a moment of rupture and transition.

    Over 100 miles away in the Cotswolds, a farmer’s wife in Chedworth shared what the day looked like from her rural farm:

    Cold lunches were the order of the day, everyone was watching the funeral procession of Sir Winston Churchill – an unforgettable memory. Even the menfolk dashed in and out between essential jobs.

    This WI member used her passage to show how the villagers’ commitment to watching the funeral upended their everyday routines at home and at work.

    Sixty years on, browsing the pages of these community scrapbooks reveals more than just a reaction to Churchill’s death by a specific group of rural women. They provide a fascinating glimpse of how national mourning unfolded in English villages and the different ways in which country women documented this moment on behalf of their communities.

    Cherish Watton-Colbrook works as an Archives Assistant for Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge.

    – ref. How rural English women used scrapbooks to commemorate the death of Winston Churchill – https://theconversation.com/how-rural-english-women-used-scrapbooks-to-commemorate-the-death-of-winston-churchill-248689

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The EU was built for another age – here’s how it must adapt to survive

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Francesco Grillo, Academic Fellow, Department of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi University

    Shutterstock/gopixa

    To European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Europe is like a Volkswagen Beetle – an iconic car produced by a once-mighty German manufacturer which has been struggling to adapt to a new world.

    “Europe must shift gears,” she urged in a speech to business executives gathered in Davos, Switzerland at the beginning of the year. Yet, her call to arms failed to raise more than an eyebrow. After all, she has repeated the same call many times since she was elected six years ago. So far, there has been little result.

    The US president, Donald Trump, may now even be tempted to finish off the EU (the most developed of the world’s multilateral organisations) by dividing its members over the single market for trade. This arrangement is the cornerstone upon which the union was built, but can it withstand Trump’s attempts to play European nations off against each other in order to get the best deal for himself?

    The problem is that Trump is simply bringing to its most extreme consequences the weakness of a system that was built for stable times which are long gone. We urgently need a new idea, and it cannot be for a “United States of Europe”. That is a dream from the past that could not be more at odds with Europe’s current political climate.

    Mini unions

    Europe is unable to chart a path forward because it needs unanimity among its member states in order to make any major decision. Votes are not even weighted to reflect the different sizes of each of the club’s members.

    This is a weakness that would gradually cause the deterioration of any international organisation. But in the case of the EU, the crisis is more serious because member states have surrendered part of their decision power. As a result, if the EU cannot move quickly, even member states turn out to be paralysed.

    Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, has often been singled out as the bad guy especially – this has happened every time the EU has tried to approve sanctions against Russia or aid to Ukraine. But examples of free riding abound even among the founding parties.

    For decades, France has resisted any attempt to reorganise the common agricultural policy that sends a third of the EU’s budget to farmers, many of them French. Italy has halted the ratification of the reform of the European stability mechanism that should protect states from financial instability, out of the assumption among part of the Italian electorate that this may compromise further sovereignty.

    Elsewhere, Germany’s constitutional court has derailed the reform of the EU electoral law that divides the election of the European parliament into a dysfunctional system of 27 national contests, because of the resistance of the German political system to any electoral law which is not proportional.

    We need to find a way to change all this. And the solution cannot be the rather abstract idea of a union that proceeds at different speeds, where the older members are supposed to be part of an inner circle. Nor is it feasible to expect the abolition of unanimous voting for the simple reason that to forgo unanimity, you need a unanimous vote.

    Instead, the EU should become the coordinator of multiple unions, each formed by the member states themselves around specific policies. A union might form around defence, for example, among member states which are ready for such a partnership, such as Poland, the Baltics and Finland.

    Another might bring together countries that wish to collaborate on large projects such as a pan-European high-speed train, or a fully integrated energy market that may allow Italy, France and Spain to save billions of euros and decarbonise more quickly.

    This is not entirely new. Arrangements like the euro and the free circulation of people (the Schengen area) follow this principle. Only a subset of EU nations are part of these projects, and offers have even been extended to join beyond the EU’s borders. Monaco is in the euro, for example, while Norway is in Schengen, despite neither being an EU member state.

    The problem with these unions is that they are incomplete. The complement to the monetary union is a recently reformed “stability pact” that leaves so many loopholes that 11 out of its 20 members do not comply. And even within Schengen, there are still no proper common borders. The result is continuous reciprocal accusations of exporting each other’s illegal migrants.

    The solution here is to fully share the levers within a certain policy area on terms which are more flexible and voluntary for the union’s members.

    The possibility of calm divorce

    Resilience is achieved through adaptability. Therefore, these new arrangements must make divorce between union members possible from the outset – and establish the terms of such a rupture in advance.

    And in the event of an extreme case, the other parties should also be able to ask one of the members to leave their union (so as to avoid being systematically held to ransom by a free rider). The current union treaty does contain a provision (article 50) that enables a member to leave, as the UK did – but if Brexit showed anything, it was that this mechanism has limited use at preventing a divorce from descending into chaos.

    People should always be part of these decisions, of course. When states decide to surrender some of their sovereignty to a larger organisation such as the EU, it changes the nature of the pact between the citizens of a country and the people who make decisions on their behalf. This evident truth has been ignored for decades as the EU has gradually been built from the top down.

    The European Union currently resembles the marriages we once had in Europe (until well into the 20th century), before it was acknowledged that they are a civil (not necessarily religious) contract that can be dissolved through divorce – not some divine construct that can never be undone.

    The marriage between EU countries is blighted by cheating and empty rhetoric. This is an issue we can no longer avoid if Europe wants to do more than just “shift gears”. The EU was the most successful political project of the 20th century. If it wants to continue to be so in the 21st, it has to learn to be flexible. Only those who can adapt survive.

    Francesco Grillo is Director of the think tank Vision. Vision is convenor of three global conferences on the future of the EU, climate change and AI .

    – ref. The EU was built for another age – here’s how it must adapt to survive – https://theconversation.com/the-eu-was-built-for-another-age-heres-how-it-must-adapt-to-survive-248811

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder that causes lifelong suffering – here’s what you need to know

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Cristina Pina, Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences, Brunel University of London

    3D illustration of sickle cell red blood cells Meletios Verras/Shutterstock

    Right now, approximately 20 billion red blood cells are busy travelling through your blood vessels. They are delivering oxygen to all the different tissues in your body and removing carbon dioxide to be breathed out of your lungs.

    Red blood cells are discs curved inwards on both sides, without a cell nucleus. They are full of haemoglobin, a protein responsible for gas exchanges. At the core of a haemoglobin molecule is an iron carrying component called haem, which can be loaded with oxygen.

    The shape of the red blood cell is useful to flexibly navigate blood vessels of all sizes, deforming as needed. It also provides a large surface for gas exchange. Haemoglobin collects oxygen in the lungs, where there is plenty of it, and releases it across the body, where there is much less.

    But not if you suffer from sickle cell disease, which affects nearly eight million people worldwide, most in sub-Saharan Africa.

    In the UK, approximately 17,500 people have sickle cell disease and 300 babies are born with the condition each year. It is a genetic disorder caused by inherited mutations in a person’s DNA that affect the properties of haemoglobin.

    Haemoglobin is made up of four proteins organised around the iron-carrying haem group. These proteins are called globins, and each haemoglobin molecule has two alpha and two beta-globins.

    Sickle cell disease changes adult beta-globin. Instead of two alpha and two healthy beta chains, sickle cell disease patients have two alpha and two mutant beta chains. The resulting haemoglobin is called HbS.

    HbS has different characteristics to normal adult haemoglobin, causing severe symptoms. HbS is structurally unstable. Upon high temperatures, dehydration, acidity, such as happens during infections, it clumps inside the red blood cells. The clumps make red blood cells rigid and change their shape from flexible doughnuts into inflexible sickles – hence the name of the disease.

    Rigid sickle cells cannot travel through narrow blood vessels, which clogs them, forming clots that stop blood circulation in different places. The clots change oxygen and acidity locally, causing more sickling.

    Accumulation of clots causes some of the most severe symptoms of sickle cell disease, including strokes, kidney failure, blindness, prolonged and painful erections (called priapism) and loss of circulation in the lungs – the excruciating acute chest syndrome.

    Repeated clotting scars and destroys the spleen, increasing the risk of recurrent infections, often by streptococcal bacteria which can cause severe pneumonia and sepsis.

    Sickle red blood cells also break easily, a phenomenon called haemolysis. The body tries to produce more red blood cells, but cannot correct the underlying defect. Patients experience symptoms similar to other forms of anaemia, including pallor, breathlessness upon exertion, fatigue. Haemolysis leads to inflammation and damages blood vessels, further aggravating sickling symptoms.

    Lifelong suffering

    Symptoms and complications of sickle cell disease start in the first year of life and progress in severity. The disease reduces the quality and duration of life of patients – in the UK, those with sickle cell disease have a life expectancy of 67.

    Worldwide, life expectancy is below 50 and many children with sickle cell disease in sub-Saharan Africa die before the age of five. Sickle cell disease patients are dependent on transfusions of healthy red blood cells – over time this causes complications of its own.

    Until recently, the only cure for sickle cell disease was stem cell transplantation – also known as bone marrow transplantation – from a healthy donor with a compatible immune system which will not be rejected by, or attack, the patient. Often, this is a sibling or a parent, but, in up to 75% of cases, a compatible relative cannot be found.

    Stem cell transplantation replaces the cells in the blood factory of the patient, which produce HbS, with blood-making cells without the genetic defect, which produce normal adult haemoglobin. Transplanted blood stem cells maintain healthy haemoglobin production for life.

    In the absence of transplantation, sickle cell disease patients receive regular transfusions, which deliver healthy red blood cells. But, unlike stem cells, red blood cells are short-lived.

    Patients also receive a drug called hydroxycarbamide, which is used to treat cancer patients and can be toxic, but alleviates symptoms. Hydroxycarbamide acts by turning on a gene that leads to the production of foetal haemoglobin, which is not affected by the sickle cell disease mutation.

    In 2024, two forms of gene therapy were approved for sickle cell disease treatment by the US Food and Drug Administration. Both involve collecting stem cells from the patient, modifying them genetically, and transplanting them back into the patient so the body makes blood with corrected cells for the rest of the patient’s life.

    The first of the gene therapies, commercially called Casgevy, works by removing and inactivating a gene that is normally responsible for producing beta-globin. This replaces HbS in the red blood cells with the unaffected foetal haemoglobin.



    Read more:
    Nobel Prize for chemistry honors exquisitely precise gene-editing technique, CRISPR – a gene engineer explains how it works

    The second gene therapy, called Lyfgenia (Lovotibeglogene autotemcel), works differently. It introduces an additional gene in the stem cells which makes it less likely for HbS to form aggregates and cause sickling, reducing the more severe symptoms of the disease.

    The development and testing of gene and cell therapies for sickle cell disease is still an ongoing effort of many scientists and companies. That there are now two approved therapies for sickle cell disease highlights the importance of supporting investigation and development of breakthrough technologies based on detailed understanding of biological mechanisms of disease.

    These investigations are key to treating patients with genetic diseases, which often do not have any other available treatments.

    Cristina Pina receives funding from Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group via the Little Princess Trust and the National Centre for the Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of Animals in Research. She receives honoraria for consulting services to the Medicines Discover Institute at the University of Cardiff via an MRC research grant to Simon Ward.

    Victor Hernandez-Hernandez receives funding from GOSHCC Charity, Newlife Charity, Welcome Trust, Fight for Sight, EU FP7. He is co-founder, shareholder and employee of Axovia Therapeutics Ltd.

    – ref. Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder that causes lifelong suffering – here’s what you need to know – https://theconversation.com/sickle-cell-disease-is-a-genetic-disorder-that-causes-lifelong-suffering-heres-what-you-need-to-know-243827

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –