NewzIntel.com

Category: Transport

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Energy Sector – A Frank Discussion About Losing Your Spark

    Source: NZ Compare

    -Spark announces another broadband price hike just as winter power bills hit Kiwi wallets.
    -Frank Energy is closing – adding more pressure to household budgets.
    -NZ Compare sees record-breaking traffic as over 50,000 Kiwis seek better deals this month.
    As winter power bills hit and broadband prices spike, NZ Compare is urging Kiwis to take control of their household bills.
    The cost-of-living crisis continues on a relentless march and Kiwi households are being hit with a one-two punch: the first hefty winter power bills have landed, and Spark, New Zealand’s largest broadband provider, has announced yet another round of broadband price hikes. Meanwhile, last week Frank Energy customers have been told the brand is closing, and they’ll be moved to parent company Genesis Energy, which will likely come with an increase in the size of the household power bill. For consumers already feeling the financial squeeze, it’s just more frustrating news-and a reminder that loyalty often comes at a price.
    But there is hope for those willing to take action. In response to these developments, NZ Compare, the country’s leading comparison platform for utilities and services, is seeing record traffic. Last week alone, the group’s websites experienced their highest-ever weekly traffic, and more than 50,000 New Zealanders have already used the platforms during June to compare broadband, power, and mobile deals.
    “This is exactly the time when people need to take control,” says Gavin Male, CEO of NZ Compare. “Just as that first big winter power bill hits your wallet, Spark is turning up the heat with fibre broadband price increases. You don’t have to sit back and take it. There are some really competitive deals out there and if you are already on a fibre broadband connection, switching provider is incredibly simple.”
    Spark’s latest price increases follow a broader industry trend of rising costs being passed on to customers, often with little warning. Many consumers, like those previously with Frank Energy, are left scrambling for alternatives.
    “Whether you’re dealing with Spark bumping up your fibre broadband bill or a power provider charging more for the same, it’s time to stop paying the loyalty tax,” continues Male. “These companies rely on customers staying passive. The bill apathy has got to stop! By comparing and switching, you’re not only saving money-you’re putting pressure on the market and these companies to stay competitive.”
    The team at NZ Compare says now is the perfect time to reassess. Using tools like Broadband Compare, Power Compare, and Mobile Compare, Kiwis can easily find a better plan that matches their household’s usage and budget. And the process is free, fast, and transparent.
    “New Zealanders are savvy, and they deserve better,” says Male. “Every time someone switches, it s

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • P.K. Mishra reviews Gujarat infra projects, inspects expressway & heritage complex

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Dr. P.K. Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, conducted site inspections and chaired high-level review meetings in Dholera and Lothal, Gujarat, on Monday to assess the progress of key infrastructure projects. These initiatives align with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for industrial growth and economic development in the region.

    Dr. Mishra visited the under-construction Ahmedabad-Dholera Greenfield Expressway, a project led by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). He emphasized its potential to reduce travel time between Ahmedabad and Dholera to just 45 minutes and stressed the need for timely completion while maintaining global-quality road standards. At the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR), he reviewed the Dholera International Airport, where officials reported that cargo operations are slated to begin by October 2025. Dr. Mishra directed authorities to ensure strict adherence to timelines and seamless integration with the expressway.

    The Principal Secretary also inspected Tata Electronics’ Semiconductor Fabrication (Fab) project, a cornerstone of India’s domestic chip manufacturing efforts. The facility will produce chips for mobile devices, consumer electronics, and automotive applications. Additionally, Dr. Mishra visited social infrastructure developments, including schools, hospitals, and residential complexes managed by Dholera Industrial City Development Limited (DICDL). He underscored the importance of incorporating stakeholder feedback to enhance user experience.

    In a comprehensive review meeting with senior officials from DICDL, Dholera International Airport Company Limited (DIACL), NHAI, Airports Authority of India, and Indian Railways, Dr. Mishra evaluated progress on critical projects, including the Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway, Bhimnath-Dholera Freight Rail Link, Ahmedabad-Dholera Semi-High-Speed Rail Line, and Dholera International Airport. He reaffirmed the Government of Gujarat’s commitment to transforming Dholera into a world-class smart industrial city, emphasizing timely execution, skilled workforce availability, and robust planning.

    Dr. Mishra also inspected the National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) in Lothal, a flagship project under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways. Chairing a review meeting with Shri T. Ramachandran, Secretary of the Ministry, and officials from the Gujarat Maritime Board, Archaeological Survey of India, NHAI, and Indian Railways, he stressed that the NMHC should serve as a scholarly tribute to India’s rich maritime history. He called for in-depth research, academic collaboration, and a well-curated visitor experience to highlight India’s maritime legacy from the Harappan civilization onward. Dr. Mishra reviewed Phase I-A construction, which includes six galleries, and directed its completion by August 2025.

    Additionally, Dr. Mishra assessed environmental sustainability efforts, such as local species plantation and water management systems, to ensure the NMHC’s ecological responsibility. He highlighted the project’s unparalleled scale and significance in preserving and showcasing India’s maritime heritage.

  • P.K. Mishra reviews Gujarat infra projects, inspects expressway & heritage complex

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Dr. P.K. Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, conducted site inspections and chaired high-level review meetings in Dholera and Lothal, Gujarat, on Monday to assess the progress of key infrastructure projects. These initiatives align with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for industrial growth and economic development in the region.

    Dr. Mishra visited the under-construction Ahmedabad-Dholera Greenfield Expressway, a project led by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). He emphasized its potential to reduce travel time between Ahmedabad and Dholera to just 45 minutes and stressed the need for timely completion while maintaining global-quality road standards. At the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR), he reviewed the Dholera International Airport, where officials reported that cargo operations are slated to begin by October 2025. Dr. Mishra directed authorities to ensure strict adherence to timelines and seamless integration with the expressway.

    The Principal Secretary also inspected Tata Electronics’ Semiconductor Fabrication (Fab) project, a cornerstone of India’s domestic chip manufacturing efforts. The facility will produce chips for mobile devices, consumer electronics, and automotive applications. Additionally, Dr. Mishra visited social infrastructure developments, including schools, hospitals, and residential complexes managed by Dholera Industrial City Development Limited (DICDL). He underscored the importance of incorporating stakeholder feedback to enhance user experience.

    In a comprehensive review meeting with senior officials from DICDL, Dholera International Airport Company Limited (DIACL), NHAI, Airports Authority of India, and Indian Railways, Dr. Mishra evaluated progress on critical projects, including the Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway, Bhimnath-Dholera Freight Rail Link, Ahmedabad-Dholera Semi-High-Speed Rail Line, and Dholera International Airport. He reaffirmed the Government of Gujarat’s commitment to transforming Dholera into a world-class smart industrial city, emphasizing timely execution, skilled workforce availability, and robust planning.

    Dr. Mishra also inspected the National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) in Lothal, a flagship project under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways. Chairing a review meeting with Shri T. Ramachandran, Secretary of the Ministry, and officials from the Gujarat Maritime Board, Archaeological Survey of India, NHAI, and Indian Railways, he stressed that the NMHC should serve as a scholarly tribute to India’s rich maritime history. He called for in-depth research, academic collaboration, and a well-curated visitor experience to highlight India’s maritime legacy from the Harappan civilization onward. Dr. Mishra reviewed Phase I-A construction, which includes six galleries, and directed its completion by August 2025.

    Additionally, Dr. Mishra assessed environmental sustainability efforts, such as local species plantation and water management systems, to ensure the NMHC’s ecological responsibility. He highlighted the project’s unparalleled scale and significance in preserving and showcasing India’s maritime heritage.

  • MIL-OSI USA: Reps. Jimmy Gomez, Don Beyer Unveil Bold Legislation to Let Americans Choose Medicare

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34)

    WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representatives Jimmy Gomez (CA-34) and Don Beyer (VA-08) today reintroduced the Choose Medicare Act, a bold proposal to open Medicare to all Americans with a new “Part E” and builds on the system we have today by allowing Medicare to compete with private health insurance. U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) have introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

    “I got pneumonia when I was seven years old, and my family almost went bankrupt because we were uninsured. Today too many families are still one medical emergency away from financial crisis,” said Rep. Gomez. “Our bicameral legislation lets every American opt into Medicare — which is affordable, effective, and trusted — and we’re going to keep fighting until everyone has access to the care they need.”

    “Our bill would give all Americans access to Medicare, one of the most popular and successful health care delivery programs in history,” said Rep. Beyer. “Allowing employers and the general public the option to choose Medicare would fill many of the gaps in our health care system, get more people covered, and make the nation healthier. Every American should be able to access affordable, quality health care, and this bill represents the kind of bold action required to make that a reality for all.”

    The Choose Medicare Act is cosponsored by Representatives Jared Huffman (CA-02), LaMonica McIver (NJ-10), and Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL). The bill is supported by Families USA, MoveOn, American Federation of Teachers, the Center for Medicare Advocacy, and the Center for Health and Democracy.

    Medicare “Part E” is a new health insurance option designed to pay for itself through premiums. It would be available on all state and federal health insurance marketplaces, and people could use their current Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies to help pay for it. Employers could also choose this option instead of private insurance to cover their workers.

    The Choose Medicare Act:

    • Increases Access, Competition, and Choice
    • Open Medicare to employers of any size, allowing them to offer Medicare Part E to their employees without getting rid of their current insurance plans.
    • Ensures the same strong protections apply to everyone, no matter where they get their health insurance, and bans discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.
    • Provides Comprehensive Coverage
      • Covers the ACA’s 10 essential health benefits, plus everything regular Medicare covers.
      • Provides high-quality, gold-level coverage and cost-sharing.
      • Guarantees access to a full range of reproductive health services, including abortion.
    • Improves Affordability
    • Sets a cap on how much people can pay out-of-pocket in traditional Medicare.
    • Expands help with premiums so more people qualify, no matter their income.
    • Allows Medicare to negotiate better prices for prescription drugs.
    • Helps lower private insurance premiums by increasing competition with Medicare.
    • Protects people in Part E plans from surprise medical bills, just like in traditional Medicare.

    Full text of the Choose Medicare Act can be found by clicking here. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: New Bill to boost labour market flexibility

    Source: New Zealand Government

    Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says amendments to the Employment Relations Act will improve labour market flexibility and help businesses to grow, innovate, and employ with confidence and certainty.
    “Today I’m announcing the introduction of the Employment Relations Amendment Bill to Parliament, marking a key milestone in this Government’s efforts to help New Zealand businesses employ or contract with confidence and create more and better opportunities for workers,” says Ms van Velden. 
    The changes give effect to several ACT–National Coalition Agreement commitments, including to provide greater certainty for contracting parties.
    “Workers and businesses should have more certainty about the type of work being done from the moment they agree to a contracting arrangement.
    “The new gateway test introduced in this Bill will provide greater clarity for businesses and workers around the distinction between employment and contracting arrangements. This will provide greater certainty for all parties and will allow more innovative business models,” says Ms van Velden. 
    The Bill will also make changes to simplify the personal grievances process including two significant changes. 
    “The amendment to personal grievances will reduce rewards for bad behaviour and reduce costs for businesses in the process. Under current law, if a personal grievance is established the Employment Relations Authority or Employment Court may award remedies including reinstatement into a role, and compensation for hurt and humiliation. The changes make clear an employee whose behaviour amounts to serious misconduct will be ineligible for remedies. 
    “This change will ensure that hardworking New Zealanders don’t see bad behaviour rewarded,” says Ms van Velden. 
    The Bill also introduces an income threshold of $180,000 above which a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal cannot be pursued. 
    High-income employees often have a major impact on organisational performance, getting the right fit is crucial. This change will provide greater labour market flexibility, enabling businesses to ensure they have the best fit of skills and abilities for their organisation. It allows employers to give workers a go in high impact positions, without having to risk a costly and disruptive dismissal process if things don’t work out, benefitting those seeking to move up the career ladder.” 
    Another change will cut compliance at the beginning of employment. By removing the ‘30-day rule’ employers and employees will now be free to negotiate mutually beneficial terms and conditions from the start of employment. 
    “I am committed to building business confidence, ensuring a strong economy that will lift wages, create opportunities, and help Kiwi workers get ahead,” says Ms van Velden.
    The public and interested groups will have a chance to submit on the Bill when it is at Select Committee. 

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: $13.7 Million Awarded to 19 Farm and Food Organizations

    Source: US State of New York

    overnor Hochul today announced that 19 farm and food organizations are being awarded a total of $13.7 million through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) Grant Program. The funding announced today is the first of two grant programs announced last year as part of a cooperative agreement between New York State and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service to expand middle of the supply chain work to create a more resilient food system in New York State.

    “Farmers are our lifeblood – they nourish our families and fuel our economy, and it is more important than ever that we invest in projects that bolster our local food supply chain here in New York State,” Governor Hochul said. “The Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program provides critical funding to make our food systems at the local and state level more resilient for years to come by investing in projects that modernize agricultural facilities, improve training, and facilitate the purchase of new equipment. I’m proud to support this great work and shore up a strong future for New York State.”

    First announced in May 2024, the RFSI Grant Program offers a total of over $14.7 million through two grant opportunities — Infrastructure Grants and Equipment-Only Grants — to provide capital and technical assistance to farmers and food businesses operating at the middle of the supply chain, helping to enhance coordination throughout the food system and improve access to markets for farmers. Grants of $13.7 million are being awarded to 19 projects across the state through the program’s Infrastructure Grants, which support projects focused on the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, or distribution of agricultural food products. A list of the awarded projects is available here.

    The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (AGM) has partnered with Farm and Food Growth Fund, Inc (FFGF) to administer the funding available through the program’s Infrastructure Grants as well as the Equipment-Only Grants, which will be open for applications soon.

    As part of the RFSI Grant Program, AGM is also partnering with Tierra Viva Collective to provide technical assistance to producers to improve supply chain coordination activities. Additionally, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Harvest New York Program will conduct an updated assessment of New York State’s processing infrastructure to identify challenges and opportunities for growth, as well as an analysis of the State’s institutional purchasing to provide market information to New York State producers.

    New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball said, “The RFSI program offers us an opportunity to strengthen New York’s food system in real and meaningful ways. The recipients of this funding will be able to modernize and construct new agricultural facilities, improve food safety, purchase new equipment, and so much more. I thank all our partners for their work moving this progressive programming forward and look forward to seeing the impact these projects have on our communities.”

    Senator Charles Schumer said, “New York’s farmers and agricultural sector are the backbone of our state’s economy, and this funding is a win-win, supporting our farmers and helping deliver their fresh-grown food to people who need it. I’m proud to deliver millions in federal funding to help fresh-grown food from New York’s farmers reach kitchen tables across the state. The Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program is key to improving our food supply chains, expanding markets for New York farmers, and helping local farmers and businesses purchase the equipment they need so fresh-grown produce can be enjoyed locally. I’m grateful for Governor Hochul’s work putting these federal dollars to good use.”

    Farm and Food Growth Fund President and CEO Todd Erling said, “By focusing on middle-of-the-supply chain, these grants are providing support to the State’s small and midsized producers to advance their ability to thrive, scale and bolster supply chain resiliency. Increasing aggregation, processing, storage and distribution will expand the supply of New York-sourced food products available in New York markets and institutions.”

    Tierra Viva Collective Co-Founder and Co-Director Dr. Gabriela Pereyra said, “The RSFI funding is catalyzing the modernization of infrastructure and equipment that supports access to nutritious food grown for New Yorkers by New Yorkers, addressing the crucial need across the middle of the supply chain for small, medium and large agri-food businesses, and fostering a more inclusive and sustainable food system”

    Equipment-Only Grants
    Applications for the RSFI’s Equipment-Only grants will open soon. Following USDA’s accelerated timeline for the execution of this program, the application for this opportunity will be open for a very limited time. The Department encourages all potential applicants to take advantage of the resources available below to be ready to apply promptly when the application opens.

    Applications will be open to New York State entities and will provide awards ranging from $30,000 to $100,000. The funding may only be used for post-harvest equipment that will expand capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, or distribution of locally and regionally produced food products, including value-added food products. Successful projects will focus on increasing the supply of New York-sourced food products available in New York markets. Competitive project applications will benefit multiple producers and multiple markets.

    To help potential applicants prepare to apply, the FFGF has developed a quick reference sheet on the required documents and information needed to submit an application. Required documentation will include:

    • A letter of support
    • A letter of commitment
    • NEPA questionnaire
    • Budget quotes for each requested equipment item
    • Evidence of Critical Resources and Infrastructure
    • Evidence of permitting requirements
    • Any site plans/drawings
    • Other items as needed

    View the full pre-application checklist here.

    Complete information about how to apply for Equipment-Only Grants will be available on AGM’s website and FFGF’s website when applications open. In addition, potential applicants are encouraged to follow the Department on social media to hear the latest information, or sign up to receive the Department’s monthly newsletter at agriculture.ny.gov.

    These investments build on the Governor’s commitment to boost demand for New York agricultural products, bolster New York’s food supply chain, and ensure all New Yorkers can access fresh, local foods. This includes the Governor’s Executive Order 32 directing State agencies to increase the percentage of food sourced from New York farmers and producers to 30 percent of their total purchases within five years.

    New York State continues to prioritize increasing access to food for all New Yorkers and providing new markets for farmers through a number of programs and initiatives supported in the New York State’s FY 2026 Budget, including Nourish New York, Farm to School Programs, the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs, the Urban Farms and Community Gardens Grants Programs, and more.

    The Budget includes additional support in key areas to continue to strengthen the agricultural community, provide a boost to New York’s farmers, and create a stronger, more resilient food supply chain. This includes a record investment of over $90 million in agricultural stewardship programs that implement climate resilient and best management practices on farms, and help protect farmland. Additionally, building on last year’s commitments to New York’s dairy industry, the state’s largest single agricultural sector, the Budget includes $10 million for the second round of the Dairy Modernization Grant Program and provides additional funding to research and implement climate-resilient practices on dairy farms.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Murphy Launches “Share Your Story” Campaign to Highlight Impact of Prospect Medical Holdings on Health Care in Connecticut

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy

    June 13, 2025

    WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health Education, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Friday launched a campaign inviting people in Connecticut to share how Prospect Medical Holdings’ mismanagement of Waterbury Hospital, Rockville General Hospital, and Manchester Memorial Hospital have impacted their access to health care. Constituents are invited to visit tinyurl.com/shareyourprospectstory and submit testimonials.

    “When private equity moves in, hospitals, nurses, doctors, and patients regularly suffer. That’s exactly what’s happening in Connecticut due to Prospect Medical’s greed. Their takeover of 3 hospitals in Connecticut has depleted these health care facilities of the resources they need, only to provide company executives and shareholders with massive amounts of profit, all while putting patient care at risk and shorting our local communities of the benefits they were promised. Whether you’re a nurse at Rockville General, or a lifelong patient at Waterbury Hospital or Manchester Memorial, I want to hear your story. It was a mistake to let private equity control so much of our health care system, but it’s not too late for us to change course,” said Murphy.

    Murphy launched this share-your-story campaign to inform a forthcoming report on the harmful impact of private equity and profit-seeking in health care. Participants have the option to be kept anonymous.

    In March, Murphy hosted a roundtable with stakeholders on the same topic in Waterbury. Last year, Murphy spoke on the U.S. Senate floor on the role private equity has played in the commodification of health care at the expense of patients, doctors, nurses, and local communities. He also highlighted the case of Prospect Medical Holdings at a HELP hearing.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Mukuru Named FXC Intelligence Top 100 Cross-Border Payments Company for Sixth Year

    Mukuru (https://www.Mukuru.com), a leading next-generation financial services platform, has once again been recognised among the world’s most influential cross-border payment companies, earning a spot on the 2025 FXC Intelligence Cross-Border Payments 100 list for the sixth consecutive year. Mukuru joins an elite group of global fintechs shaping the future of financial services, reinforcing its reputation as a trusted and resilient force in the industry.  

    As a global authority in cross-border payments data and analysis, FXC Intelligence has highlighted Mukuru’s impact on digital finance in emerging markets. In an industry undergoing rapid transformation, this recognition reaffirms Mukuru’s vital role in enabling Africans to participate in the global financial economy through provision of secure, accessible, reliable and affordable payments solutions.  

    Andy Jury, Group CEO of Mukuru, says; “Mukuru’s continued inclusion on the FXC Intelligence list is both an honour and a validation of our mission to drive financial inclusion at scale. Being recognised six years in a row highlights the value we bring to the growing cross border payments market as a proudly African business with expertise in bridging the gap in formal and informal economies across the continent and beyond”. 

    Since Mukuru’s inclusion in the FX Intelligence list in 2024, the company is expanding its digital financial solutions to over 17 million customers across Africa, Europe, and Asia. As part of this growth, Mukuru now has 5 wallets/cards in 5 markets including South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and, most recently, Zambia. These solutions enable users to send and receive funds locally and globally, store, and spend money seamlessly via mobile or card, promoting financial inclusion for both urban and rural communities. 

    In addition to individual solutions, Mukuru has strengthened its business offerings through MPAY (Mukuru Pay) and EPP (Enterprise Payment Platform). These platforms provide flexible payment solutions for e-commerce, payroll management, aid disbursements, and bulk transactions, ensuring efficient financial services for organisations across various sectors. 

    With a regulatory footprint spanning more than 50 financial licenses across multiple countries, Mukuru has also taken a significant step toward expanding its financial services in Zimbabwe, with the recent issuing of its Deposit-Taking Microfinance Institution (DTMFI) license by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ). This milestone enables the company to provide banking-like and regulated financial services to underserved segments, including women, youth, people with disabilities, and rural communities, in one of its most established markets. 

    “This recognition is not just a moment of pride – it’s a signal to keep pushing boundaries, as Mukuru rapidly evolves beyond a remittance-led business to a trusted financial services partner for consumers, businesses and organisations. We remain dedicated to driving financial inclusion and shaping the future of cross-border financial services by delivering simple, innovative and trusted solutions globally”, concludes Jury. 

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Mukuru.

    For Media Enquiries, please contact:
    Kgomotso.hlakudi@mukuru.com   

    About Mukuru: 
    Mukuru is a leading next generation financial services platform in Southern Africa that offers affordable and reliable financial services to a customer base of over 17 million+ across Africa, Asia and Europe. With over 100 million transactions to date, our core was built providing international money transfers and from this base, we’ve developed a set of services to address the broader financial needs of our customers. We now operate in over 70 countries and across over 570 remittance corridors. 

    We are a business that puts the customer at the centre of everything we do, and for that reason, we serve clients across physical and digital channels, by various payment methods (cash, card, wallet) as well as a range of engagement platforms including WhatsApp, USSD, contact centre, App, website, agents and a branch and booth network. 

    Mukuru has been listed among the top 100 Cross Border Payments businesses globally for the sixth consecutive year in the 2025 FXC Intelligence Top 100 Cross-Border Payment Companies. In 2024, Mukuru won the IAMTN Payments Network Customers Experience Excellence Award for exceptional customer satisfaction and was accredited as a Top Employer in South Africa for 2024 and 2025 by the Top Employers Institute. In 2023, Mukuru ranked sixth on the LinkedIn Top Companies List in South Africa. We aso received the Fintech Innovation of the Year Award at the 2023 Africa Tech Festival Awards for its role in driving economic growth and financial inclusion.  

    Further information can be found at https://www.Mukuru.com. 

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Children call for prioritization of education in South Sudan on the Day of the African Child

    Schoolchildren are calling on the government to prioritize education to secure their future as they met to commemorate the Day of the African Child in Juba, South Sudan.

    At an all-day jamboree hosted by Radio Miraya, operated by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, 20 schoolchildren from two schools took over programs and hammered home the message that quality education is paramount to the future of the country’s young population.

    “If South Sudan is to become as developed as Uganda and Kenya, then our government needs to invest in training for our teachers and provide resources for our schools,” says 12-year Torosa Addisan from the Bishop Mazzoldi Memorial Basic School.

    “That way, we can all learn the best education methods and improve our examination scores,” he says to nods from the other three children who, together with him, hosted the Miraya Breakfast Show.

    Over in another studio, 11-year-old Naima Alex from the Juba Parents School is one half of a duo reading out the news in English to listeners.

    Although still an adolescent, Naima thinks for a while before saying that she is very concerned about the future and has her heart set on becoming a doctor when she grows up.

    But for now, English is her favorite subject at school.

    “I like English because it allows me to read more and to learn new things and to understand about the world. I want to become a doctor so that I can save lives in South Sudan and take care of people when they become sick,” says Naima.

    The Day of the African Child honors South African school children who lost their lives in 1976 while leading a revolt against the Apartheid government to seek a better education.

    Every year, UNMISS commemorates this day by giving school children a platform on Radio Miraya to speak about their challenges and to suggest solutions in their own words.

    Children in South Sudan face overwhelming challenges as the country grapples with some of the lowest indicators on the continent for children’s health, nutrition, and education.

    A report from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicates that over 70% of South Sudanese children are out of school due to a combination of factors, including conflict, displacement, and natural hazards such as seasonal flooding.

    This is compounded by the lack of educational facilities and poorly trained teachers.

    Fourteen-year-old Intisar Faisal from Juba Parents School is one of the most fluent Arabic speakers in her class. Today she reads out the news in Arabic alongside Radio Miraya’s anchor, Abraham Malek, who commends her calmness after they complete the broadcast.

    Asked about the significance of the day and why it matters to her, she is quiet at first. Naturally shy, she thinks for a while and then says: “African children need to be provided with more education opportunities, and I want to tell all the girls that we must complete school if we want to have a bright future.”

    Today’s rendition of The Beat programme was led by 13-year-old Irvei Deng and four other children who take listeners through an hour of upbeat music, a snapshot of the day’s newspaper headlines, a reading of the weather, and even calls from listeners.

    “I loved the experience,” says Irvei, her eyes twinkling with joy. “At first, I was a little nervous, but it felt so nice to be connected and to get those live calls from people.” Her co-hosts could not match her enthusiasm, but they all looked equally pleased to have been a part of the show to commemorate the Day of the African Child.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: 3,000 children to discover the journey of food

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    Around 3,000 pupils from 72 primary schools across Essex will gather at ARU Writtle on Tuesday, 25 June for the annual Essex Schools Food & Farming Day.

    Organised by the Essex Agricultural Society, the event offers a hands-on, interactive experience designed to teach children how food travels from the farm to their plates.

    Jimmy Doherty, farmer, television presenter and Visiting Professor at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) will be the VIP guest on the day.

    Activities and demonstrations will take place around six themed zones: livestock, machinery, food, crops, countryside and environment and, new for 2025, rural safety and Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

    Children will have the opportunity to meet farm animals, watch tractors and combine harvesters in action, learn about robotic fruit picking, and sample locally grown produce.

    A scarecrow competition will be themed around farming in the future, with schools contributing scarecrows dressed up as a STEM-based career or what children think a farmer will look like in years to come.

    The day aims to inspire curiosity about food production, sustainability, and healthy eating, while also highlighting potential careers in agriculture and environmental science.

    “We are looking forward to welcoming so many schoolchildren to our fantastic campus at ARU Writtle, and we’re proud to be working with the Essex Agricultural Society on what promises to be a fascinating and educational day.”

    Professor Roderick Watkins, Vice Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU)

    “The showground will be filled with exhibitors in our six zones, plus over 150 farmer volunteers. We can’t wait to see 3,000 children – and dozens of scarecrows – at the Essex Schools Food & Farming Day.”

    Event Chairman Annabelle Rout, of Essex Agricultural Society

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: AG Labrador Defends Religious Liberty for Foster Parents in Vermont Case

    Source: US State of Idaho

    Home Newsroom AG Labrador Defends Religious Liberty for Foster Parents in Vermont Case

    BOISE — Attorney General Raúl Labrador joined a 22-state coalition led by Florida in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, urging the court to strike down Vermont’s unconstitutional foster care policy that forces prospective parents to abandon their religious beliefs or forfeit their ability to serve vulnerable children.
    “Foster parents shouldn’t be forced to choose between their faith and serving children in need,” said Attorney General Labrador. “Vermont’s policy forces prospective foster parents to either compromise on their beliefs or walk away from giving a child a loving family. Idaho has led the way in showing there’s a path that protects both children’s welfare and the constitutional rights of parents. We encourage more people of faith to foster rather than driving them away with leftwing ideological litmus tests that help neither child nor parents.”
    The case, Wuoti v. Winters, challenges Vermont’s “Policy 76,” which requires all prospective foster parents to pledge they will affirm and promote any foster child’s chosen sexual orientation and gender identity, regardless of the parents’ deeply held religious beliefs. When loving couples like the Wuotis and Gantts refused to make this pledge due to their faith, Vermont denied them foster licenses entirely.
    The coalition’s brief demonstrates that Vermont’s blanket ban fails strict constitutional scrutiny because far less restrictive alternatives exist. Idaho’s foster care system serves as a prime example, using targeted matching programs that place children with compatible families rather than imposing one-size-fits-all requirements on all prospective parents.
    Under Idaho’s approach, the state first licenses safe, stable homes through standard safety evaluations, then carefully matches children with families sharing similar values and backgrounds. Idaho law prioritizes placing children with foster parents of the same religious faith or tradition and explicitly protects foster parents from discrimination based on their sincere religious beliefs.
    This tailored system has produced remarkable results. Idaho increased its foster home-to-child ratio from 0.75 to 0.9, successfully ended a temporary housing program for youth in foster care, and achieved a placement stability rate where less than sixteen percent of foster children experienced multiple placements.
    The amicus brief argues that Vermont’s approach is not only constitutionally deficient but counterproductive, preventing faith-motivated families from serving children while also denying religious foster children the opportunity to be placed in homes that share their values.
    Idaho joined Florida, the Arizona Legislature, and attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia in the coalition brief.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governors Stein, McMaster Call on Trump Administration to Maintain Moratorium on Offshore Drilling off Carolina Coasts

    Source: US State of North Carolina

    Headline: Governors Stein, McMaster Call on Trump Administration to Maintain Moratorium on Offshore Drilling off Carolina Coasts

    Governors Stein, McMaster Call on Trump Administration to Maintain Moratorium on Offshore Drilling off Carolina Coasts
    lsaito

    Raleigh, NC

    Today North Carolina Governor Josh Stein and South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster called on the Trump administration to maintain its moratorium on offshore drilling off the North and South Carolina coasts. 

    “Because of the significant risks associated with offshore oil and gas exploration, development and production off the Carolina coasts, every North Carolina and South Carolina coastal municipality has passed a resolution opposing offshore drilling and seismic testing,” wrote Governors Stein and McMaster. “This position has been reaffirmed by other municipalities and counties, as well as state legislators and members of our Congressional delegations from both parties. We ask you to respect the wishes of our states and our coastal communities and reaffirm President Trump’s decision to protect our coastlines and the industries they support.”

    On September 8 and 25, 2020, President Trump issued memoranda protecting the waters off the coast of North and South Carolina from leasing disposition until June 30, 2032. In response to President Trump’s leadership in protecting the waters off the coast of the Carolinas, Governors Stein and McMaster are urging the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program to remove North and South Carolina’s outer continental shelf lands from consideration.

    North and South Carolina have a combined 513 miles of ocean beaches and 6,251 miles of coastline. These coastal zones are home to more than 2.7 million people and include numerous national wildlife refuges. In 2021 alone, North and South Carolina’s coastal economy contributed $9.6 billion to the GDP, supported more than 125,000 jobs, and provided $3.8 billion in wages, led by robust tourism and recreation, shipbuilding, fishing, and marine transportation industries. These industries would be highly vulnerable to disruption from offshore drilling. 

    Governor Stein has been a longtime proponent of maintaining North Carolina’s coastline’s natural beauty. When the Trump Administration proposed offshore drilling in 2020 then-Attorney General Stein strongly and successfully advocated to protect North Carolina’s coast. For more information click here.

    Read Governor Stein and Governor McMaster’s letter here.   

    Jun 16, 2025

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Mexican Drug Trafficker Caught with Tens of Thousands of Fentanyl Pills, Cocaine, Heroin, and Stolen Guns Sentenced to Federal Prison in Washington State

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Spokane, Washington – Acting United States Attorney Richard R. Barker announced that Jose Efrain Gonzalez-Rodriguez, age 24, of Mexico, who was unlawfully present in the United States, was sentenced after pleading guilty to drug trafficking and firearm charges. United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice imposed a sentence of 120 months in prison to be followed by 5 years of supervised release.                              

    According to court documents and information presented at the sentencing hearing, in May and June of 2024, the Drug Enforcement Administration developed information that Gonzalez-Rodriguez was working for a drug trafficking organization out of Mexico that was responsible for transporting drugs from California to Spokane and distributing them across Eastern Washington.

    On June 24, 2024, after execution of a search warrant on Gonzalez-Rodriguez’s vehicle, agents located almost 2 pounds of methamphetamine and 6,855 fentanyl pills. Investigators also executed a search warrant at Gonzalez-Rodriguez’s apartment in Spokane where they located an additional 59,529 fentanyl pills, almost 3 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 1 pound of cocaine, and a quantity of heroin. Additionally, 4 four pistols were found in the kitchen wrapped in tape and plastic for transport. Two of the firearms had been reported stolen.

    “Fentanyl is killing people across Eastern Washington. Those who traffic in this poison—along with other deadly drugs and illegal firearms—will be held accountable,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Richard R. Barker. “Mr. Gonzalez-Rodriguez brought significant quantities of poison and stolen weapons into our community, putting lives at risk. This sentence reflects the seriousness of his crimes and the commitment of our office and law enforcement partners to disrupt violent drug trafficking networks.”

    “This case highlights the intersection of drug trafficking, firearms, and illegal immigration,“ said David F. Reames, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “Mr. Gonzalez Rodriguez endangered our community on all three of these fronts and this sentence ensures his accountability, thanks to DEA and our partners.”

    This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration with assistance from the Spokane Regional Anti-Violence Enforcement and Narcotics (RAVEN) task force and the United States Border Patrol.

    Case 2:24-cr-00091-TOR

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Two Charged in Albuquerque Alien Harboring, Kidnapping Case

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    ALBUQUERQUE – Two men face federal charges for harboring illegal aliens after a kidnapping and human smuggling investigation in Albuquerque.

    According to court documents, on March 1, 2025, a complainant told the FBI their spouse had been kidnapped and held for ransom. The kidnappers demanded 90,000 quetzales (about $11,600) and threatened to turn the victim over to the Zeta Cartel if payment was not made. “Proof of life” videos were sent to the family.

    Using phone data from the ransom calls, agents traced the location to a residence in southwest Albuquerque. On March 2, agents executed a search warrant and found 11 undocumented immigrants, including an unaccompanied minor and defendants Isaias David Jose and Tomas Mateo Gaspar. The house was sparsely furnished and contained over 20 cell phones and a ledger of smuggling activity.

    Victims said they were locked in rooms, threatened with violence or being turned over to criminal organizations, and told not to talk to law enforcement. Both Jose and Gaspar were identified as running the stash house and making ransom videos.

    Jose and Gaspar were indicted for harboring an illegal alien and aiding and abetting and will remain in custody pending trial, which is scheduled for August 11, 2025. If convicted of the current charges, Jose and Gaspar each face up to five years in prison.

    U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and Philip Russell, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office, made the announcement today.

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Department of Homeland Security. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Mysliwiec is prosecuting the case as part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

    An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Nine Members of Lopez Human Smuggling Organization Plead Guilty to Federal Charges

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    ALBUQUERQUE – Nine of the 10 members of the Lopez Human Smuggling Organization indicted in June 2023 have pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from a multi-year investigation into their roles in an extensive alien smuggling conspiracy. All nine defendants admitted to conspiring to bring, harbor, and transport groups of undocumented individuals into and within the United States for financial gain.

    The defendants are identified as Rosa Adriana Lopez-Escobar, 43, illegal residing in Phoenix, Arizona; Deysi Marisela Lopez-Ambrosio, 27, illegal residing in Long Beach, California; Franklin Leonardo Chilel-Ramirez, 39, illegal residing in Phoenix, Arizona; Junior Vanegas Portillo, 22, illegal residing in Phoenix, Arizona; Jose Denilson Lopez Chilel, 26, illegal residing in Phoenix, Arizona; and Mildred Yanira Lopez-Ambrosio, 23, illegal residing in Long Beach, California, all citizens of Guatemala, as well as Jose Gianluca Lopez-Perez, 21, of Phoenix, Arizona, Sebastian Rolando Cortez, 22, of Tempe, Arizona, and Carlos Chavez-Hernandez, 22, of Avondale, Arizona.

    According to court records, between October 2021 and April 2023, these individuals operated in Luna County, New Mexico, and elsewhere, coordinating and executing the transportation and harboring of undocumented aliens. The organization used peer-to-peer money transfer apps to facilitate payments among co-conspirators and instructed others to pick up and move groups of undocumented individuals in exchange for money.

    The organization coordinated pick-ups near the U.S.-Mexico border, including attempts to move individuals from Animas, New Mexico, to Phoenix, Arizona. In one instance, a defendant was apprehended by Border Patrol while en route to pick up a group of undocumented aliens.

    To date, four defendants have been sentenced. Junior Vanegas Portillo was sentenced to 37 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Sebastian Rolando Cortez was sentenced to one year of probation. Carlos Chavez-Hernandez was sentenced to time served and two years of supervised release. Jose Denilson Lopez Chilel was sentenced to 45 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Sentencing for the remaining defendants is pending.

    As part of his plea agreement, Jose Denilson Lopez Chilel agreed to forfeit several items used in furtherance of the conspiracy. These include two firearms, ammunition, a 2017 Chevrolet Camaro, a 2017 Ford Mustang, a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado and a 2020 Polaris Can-Am Side by Side UTV.

    Ronaldo Galindo Lopez-Escobar, 47, of Guatemala City, Guatemala, the alleged leader of the Lopez Crime Family, remains a fugitive.

    U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and Special Agent in Charge Jason T. Stevens of U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso, made the announcement today.

    HSI New Mexico led U.S. investigative efforts, with enforcement assistance from HSI in Arizona and the Central District of California. HSI received investigative assistance from U.S. Border Patrol Deming, Lordsburg, Blythe, El Centro, Yuma, and Tucson, as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center/Operation Sentinel, and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department. The Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) and Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division also provided support in this matter.

    The case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randy Castellano and Alyson Hehr as part of Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA). JTFA, a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has been elevated with a mandate to target cartels and transnational criminal organizations to eliminate human smuggling and trafficking operating in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and Colombia. JTFA currently comprises detailees from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices along the southwest border, including the Southern District of California, District of Arizona, District of New Mexico, and Western and Southern Districts of Texas. Dedicated support is provided by numerous components of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, led by HRSP and supported by MLARS; Office of Enforcement Operations; and the Office of International Affairs, among others. JTFA also relies on substantial law enforcement investment from DHS, FBI, DEA, and other partners. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 380 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling; more than 340 U.S. convictions; more than 290 significant jail sentences imposed; and forfeitures of substantial assets. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Guatemalan National Pleads Guilty to Possession of a Forged Immigration Document and Illegal Reentry

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Defendant previously convicted of human smuggling; reentered U.S. illegally four times; previously charged with assault on a police officer

    BOSTON – A Guatemalan national unlawfully residing in West Springfield, Mass. pleaded guilty on June 13, 2025 in federal court in Springfield, to possessing a forged immigration document and unlawfully reentering the United States after deportation. Prior to these charges, the defendant reentered the United States unlawfully four times; was previously convicted in Arizona of human smuggling; was charged in Illinois with domestic battery/bodily harm; and was twice charged with assault on a police officer in Massachusetts.

    Jose Martinez-Lopez, a/k/a “Amalio Mendez-Molina,” 33, pleaded guilty to one count each of possession of a forged immigration document and unlawful reentry of a deported alien. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for Aug. 20, 2025. Martinez-Lopez was arrested in March 2025.

    On Aug. 28, 2009, Martinez-Lopez was removed from the United States to Guatemala after he entered the United States illegally at an unknow prior date. Sometime after his removal, Martinez-Lopez unlawfully reentered the United States and was subsequently deported on May 10, 2011.

    After his deportation, Martinez-Lopez re-entered the United States illegally for a third time. On Aug. 8, 2011, he was found guilty in Phoenix, Ariz. of human smuggling conspiracy and sentenced to a one-year probationary period. On Aug. 23, 2011, Martinez-Lopez was again removed from the United States.

    Sometime after his removal, Martinez-Lopez re-entered the United States illegally for a fourth time. On Nov. 25, 2022 and June 17, 2023, Martinez-Lopez was twice arrested in Cook County, Ill. for domestic battery/bodily harm. Both times, immigration authorities lodged detainers, but Martinez-Lopez was released from state court custody before any removal action could be taken.

    On March 10, 2025, Martinez-Lopez was arrested in West Springfield for assault and battery on a police officer, which led to his apprehension by immigration authorities. At the time of the arrest, Martinez-Lopez possessed a forged permanent resident card in the name of “Amalio Mendez-Molina.” On March 11, 2025, Martinez-Lopez admitted to immigration authorities that he was unlawfully present in the United States and had re-entered the United States illegally in 2021.

    The charge of possession of a forged immigration document provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of unlawful reentry of a deported alien provides for a sentence of up to two years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The defendant is subject to deportation upon completion of any sentence imposed. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

    United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Patricia H. Hyde, Field Office Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of the Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
     

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Military Personnel Command welcomes new Commander 

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    June 16, 2025 – Ottawa – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces

    Lieutenant-General Erick Simoneau assumed Command of Military Personnel Command (MILPERSCOM) from Lieutenant-General Lise Bourgon on Monday, June 16, 2025, during a morning ceremony at National Defence Headquarters Carling Campus in Ottawa. General Jennie Carignan, Chief of the Defence Staff, presided over the ceremony.

    The Commander of MILPERSCOM oversees approximately 11,000 military and 4,800 civilian personnel who are responsible for the overall personnel management of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Personnel management covers a wide spectrum, including recruitment, training and education, pay and benefits, health services, honours and history, and corporate and personnel support.

    Lieutenant-General Simoneau spent his early career with postings in Valcartier, Kingston, and Ottawa, while also deploying to Haïti, Kosovo, and Afghanistan as a pilot. His latest international deployment was to Kandahar as Commander of a tactical helicopter unit. He has participated in domestic operations and managed disaster response as Deputy Chief of Staff Continental Operations at Canadian Joint Operations Command in Ottawa.

    Lieutenant-General Simoneau also commanded 2 Wing Bagotville from 2013 to 2015. He served as Director of Operations for Foreign and Defence Policy within the Privy Council Office of the Prime Minister from 2018 to 2020. Lieutenant-General Simoneau then became Director General Plans within the Joint Strategic Staff, the Chief of Staff- Professional Conduct and Culture, and in August 2024 was appointed Deputy Commander of Military Personnel Command.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: NPCC responds to national audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse

    Source: United Kingdom National Police Chiefs Council

    The findings of the Casey Audit and the policing response to group-based child sexual exploitation are a sobering reminder of the urgent need for continued cultural change, accountability, and a victim-centred, trauma informed approach from a multi-agency perspective.

    The National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse been published today (Monday).

    Director of the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Helen Millichap, said:

    “The report published by Baroness Casey today includes several recommendations with implications for policing which will now be carefully considered. 

    “We are sorry to all those who have experienced child sexual abuse and exploitation. The pain, trauma, and long-lasting impact experienced by victims and survivors is immeasurable. We recognise that for too long, your voices went unheard, and opportunities to protect some of the most vulnerable members of our communities were missed.

    “The findings of the Casey Audit and the policing response to group-based child sexual exploitation are a sobering reminder of the urgent need for continued cultural change, accountability, and a victim-centred, trauma informed approach from a multi-agency perspective.  

    “We have made real progress in the way forces now investigate and record these awful crimes, but we know more must be done.

    “The findings show clearly that change cannot wait. Police chiefs will now reflect on the findings and work with partners across law enforcement, third sector stakeholders, victims and survivors to reflect on what we have learnt, which must inform how we move forward.    

    “Policing has made significant strides in its understanding and response to child sexual exploitation and abuse in recent years, but we recognise there is more to do. We thank the many victims and survivors who have worked with police forces and our partners to ensure we take a trauma informed approach to policy making and investigations, with those who matter most at the heart of all we do.

    “The report rightly raises the need for improvements in how policing records and uses data, particularly around ethnicity. Ethnicity data is self-defined and only captured where contact is made with an alleged offender, which presents clear challenges. We recognise these gaps and continue to work closely with HMICFRS and the College of Policing to improve the consistency and quality of data collection across all protected characteristics. Improved data will not only inform operational decisions, but ensure we have an increasingly accurate picture.

    “As we have shown in recent years, policing is willing to confront difficult truths. The lessons from cases such as Rotherham and Rochdale have led to significant change, and we remain determined to build on that progress. Every allegation will be taken seriously, every investigation will be professional and evidence-led, and every victim will be treated with empathy, compassion, and respect.

    “This report marks a significant moment for policing. We haven’t always got it right, but our resolve is strong. The national Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce, alongside local forces and partners, will continue to put victims and survivors at the heart of our work, relentlessly pursue those who cause harm, and do everything in our power to prevent these devastating crimes.

    “Every child has the right to grow up safe from harm. We owe it to them, and to those whose lives have already been affected, to face these challenges head on and deliver the protection and justice they deserve.”

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: IMF Executive Board Completes the Fourth Reviews Under the Extended Fund Facility and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility Arrangements and Approves US$13.7 Million Disbursement for Seychelles

    Source: IMF – News in Russian

    June 16, 2025

    • The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed today the fourth reviews of Seychelles’ economic performance under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) Arrangements. Completion of the reviews allows for an immediate disbursement of about US$13.7 million intended to strengthen macroeconomic stability, sustain growth, and reinforce fiscal and monetary policy frameworks, while also supporting efforts to strengthen resilience to climate change, exploit synergies with other sources of official financing, and catalyze financing for climate-related investments.
    • Economic growth for Seychelles in 2024 is estimated at 2.9 percent, reflecting lower dynamism in the tourism sector. Inflation remained subdued and fiscal performance was tighter than budgeted, driven mainly by underspending on capital expenditure. For 2025, economic growth is projected at 3.2 percent, reflecting slower growth projected for Europe—Seychelles’ most important tourism source market.
    • Performance under the EFF has been strong with all quantitative targets and structural benchmarks for end-December 2024 met. However, two SBs scheduled for 2025 have encountered minor delays due to capacity constraints. Progress has been satisfactory under the RSF implementation, and the authorities remain committed to the programs’ objectives.

    Washington, DC: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed today the fourth reviews of Seychelles’ economic performance under the 36-month EFF and RSF Arrangements approved on May 31, 2023. The completion of the reviews allows for the authorities to draw the equivalent of SDR 6.1 million (about $8.3 million) under the EFF and SDR 3.9 million (about $5.3 million) under the RSF, bringing total disbursements to SDR 30.5 million (about $41.7 million) and SDR 13.3 million (about $18.2 million) under the EFF and RSF, respectively.

    Economic growth for Seychelles in 2024 is estimated at 2.9 percent, slightly lower than earlier forecasts due to lower activity in the tourism sector. Year-on-year inflation reached 1.7 percent as of December, driven by an increase in utility prices and pass-through effects of currency depreciation. Fiscal performance was tighter than budgeted driven mainly by underspending on capital expenditure, with a  primary surplus equivalent to 3.2 percent of GDP in 2024. The Central Bank of Seychelles has maintained an accommodative monetary stance. The current account deficit widened to 7.9 percent of GDP in 2024, but gross international reserves increased to $774 million, equivalent to 3.8 months of imports or 115 percent of the Assessing Reserve Adequacy (or ARA) metric.

    EFF-supported program implementation has been strong. All quantitative program targets (QPCs) and structural benchmarks (SBs) for end-December 2024 were met. However, two SBs scheduled for the first half of 2025 have encountered minor delays due to capacity constraints. Progress has been satisfactory on RSF implementation. All reform measures (RMs) for March 2025 have been implemented. However,  one component of an RM scheduled for April 2025 (related to energy pricing and the issuance of a new multi-year electricity tariff system) is delayed and expected to be completed in November. The authorities requested minor modifications for two RMs slated for December 2025. 

    The outlook suggests low but stable growth for 2025 and beyond but is subject to considerable uncertainty. Real GDP growth is projected at 3.2 percent for 2025 compared to 4.3 percent at the previous reviews. The downward revision reflects slower a weaker outlook for tourist activity on the back of slower growth in Europe (Seychelles’ most important tourism source market). Year-on-year inflation is expected to moderate to 1.2 percent by end-2025 due to lower utility, fuel and food prices. Reserve coverage is expected to increase to 3.9 months of import cover in 2025. Near-term downside risks relate mainly to how slower global growth and higher uncertainty translate into tourism arrivals and spending.

    Going forward, continuation of prudent macroeconomic policies is paramount for maintaining resilience. The authorities’ near-term priorities are to support economic growth, strengthen fiscal and external positions, and maintain prudent monetary policy and a sound financial sector. In the medium-term, the authorities’ aim to continue a steady fiscal consolidation to reduce the ratio of public debt to GDP, while simultaneously improving the efficiency of public spending. Building capacity with respect to public financial management and financial sector supervision is another key focus. The structural reform agenda emphasizes revenue administration, public financial and investment management, climate change resilience, and governance improvements, including digitalization and transparency.

    Following the Executive Board’s discussion, Mr. Bo Li, Deputy Managing Director, and acting Chair, issued the following statement:

    “Seychelles has continued to demonstrate sound macroeconomic management and commitment to structural reforms. Lower than expected GDP growth for 2024 reflected lower tourism income and weakened performance in such sectors as accommodation, food services, and transportation. Fiscal outturns have been tighter than projected, reflecting delays in execution of capital projects, bottlenecks in public procurement, and civil service recruitment delays. Monetary policy remains accommodative in the face of low inflation. Good progress has been made on essential macrostructural reforms.

    “For the fourth reviews, program performance under the EFF was strong, with all quantitative program targets and structural benchmarks through end-December successfully met. Progress has also been satisfactory on RSF implementation, with all RMs through March implemented and only one component of an RM scheduled for April has been delayed. The authorities continue to implement an ambitious reform agenda and prudent fiscal and monetary policies in the face of an increasingly challenging external environment.

    “The authorities should remain vigilant with respect to near and medium-term risks as the outlook is subject to rising uncertainty. These include a slowdown in tourism activity due to slower growth projected for Europe—Seychelles’ most important tourism source market. Commodity price volatility could also feed through to inflation, while global trade tensions may reduce FDI and lead to tighter financial conditions. The EFF arrangement will continue to help protect macroeconomic stability and support stronger fiscal and external buffers, while advancing the authorities’ structural reform agenda.

    “The authorities are advancing with reforms under the RSF to enhance the climate-resilience of public investments, diversify financing, and strengthen assessment and disclosure of climate-related financial sector risk. Successful implementation of the reform agenda will enhance economic resilience and external financing risks by building institutional capacity for public investment in climate adaptation and diversifying Seychelles’ power generation capacity—reducing its dependence on imported energy. Continued collaboration with the IMF and other partners will be important to help fill capacity gaps and to mobilize climate finance.”

    Seychelles: Selected Economic and Financial Indicators, 2022-30
     
     

    2022

    2023

    		  

    2024

    		  

    2025

    2026

    2027

    2028

    2029

    2030
     

    Act.

    Prel.

    Proj.
     

    (Annual percent change, unless otherwise indicated)
                           

    National income and prices

    		                  

    Nominal GDP (millions of Seychelles rupees)

    28,807

    30,663

    		  

    31,643

    		  

    32,899

    34,464

    36,466

    38,841

    41,396

    44,121

    Real GDP (millions of Seychelles rupees)

    25,585

    26,163

    26,935

    27,808

    28,692

    29,662

    30,673

    31,731

    32,835

    Real GDP

    12.7

    2.3

    2.9

    3.2

    3.2

    3.4

    3.4

    3.4

    3.5

    CPI (annual average)

    2.6

    -0.9

    0.3

    1.0

    2.0

    2.6

    3.0

    3.0

    3.0

    CPI (end-of-period)

    2.5

    -2.7

    1.7

    1.2

    2.6

    2.8

    3.0

    3.0

    3.0

    GDP deflator average

    1.6

    4.1

    0.2

    0.7

    1.5

    2.3

    3.0

    3.0

    3.0
               
               

    Money and credit

    		            

    Broad money

    0.6

    5.8

    		  

    7.3

    		  

    7.0

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    Reserve money (end-of-period)

    -3.0

    -3.5

    		  

    -4.3

    		  

    -2.2

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    Velocity (GDP/broad money)

    1.2

    1.2

    		  

    1.2

    		  

    1.1

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    Money multiplier (broad money/reserve money)

    3.4

    3.7

    		  

    4.2

    		  

    4.6

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    Credit to the private sector 5

    4.0

    7.4

    		  

    12.1

    		  

    9.4

    9.1

    8.6

    8.4

    8.1

    8.0
                       
     

    (Percent of GDP, unless otherwise indicated)

    		    

    Savings-Investment balance

    		                      

    External savings

    7.5

    7.4

    7.9

    9.2

    9.2

    8.8

    8.4

    8.6

    8.8

    Gross national savings

    15.5

    17.3

    		  

    16.1

    		  

    16.6

    16.4

    16.9

    17.5

    17.3

    17.2

    Of which:  government savings

    1.2

    2.1

    		  

    3.3

    		  

    3.2

    2.5

    3.7

    4.6

    5.2

    5.4

    private savings

    14.4

    15.2

    		  

    12.8

    		  

    13.4

    13.9

    13.2

    12.9

    12.0

    11.8

    Gross investment

    23.1

    24.7

    		  

    24.0

    		  

    25.9

    25.6

    25.7

    25.9

    25.9

    26.0

    Of which:  public investment 1

    2.7

    4.2

    3.5

    5.3

    5.0

    5.1

    5.3

    5.3

    5.4

    private investment

    20.4

    20.5

    20.5

    20.6

    20.6

    20.6

    20.6

    20.6

    20.6

    Private consumption

    50.6

    49.4

    		  

    49.8

    		  

    48.6

    47.6

    48.0

    47.8

    48.9

    49.6
     

    (Percent of GDP)

    		    

    Government budget 

    		                  

    Total revenue, excluding grants

    30.0

    30.9

    		  

    33.4

    		  

    34.5

    34.3

    34.8

    35.0

    34.8

    34.7

    Expenditure and net lending

    31.6

    32.9

    		  

    33.9

    		  

    37.3

    37.2

    36.1

    35.7

    34.9

    34.7

    Current expenditure

    29.2

    29.2

    		  

    30.2

    		  

    31.6

    31.8

    31.0

    30.3

    29.6

    29.3

    Capital expenditure 1

    2.7

    4.2

    		  

    3.5

    		  

    5.2

    5.0

    5.1

    5.3

    5.3

    5.4

    Overall balance, including grants

    0.1

    0.2

    		  

    0.9

    		  

    -1.7

    -1.3

    -0.4

    0.1

    0.7

    0.7

    Primary balance

    1.0

    1.7

    		  

    3.2

    		  

    1.2

    1.8

    2.5

    2.9

    3.1

    3.1

    Total government and government-guaranteed debt 2

    62.6

    57.3

    		  

    59.6

    		  

    61.2

    61.8

    60.4

    56.8

    52.6

    49.0
                       

    External sector

    		                      

    Current account balance including official transfers
     (in percent of GDP)

    -7.5

    -7.4

    		  

    -7.9

    		  

    -9.2

    -9.2

    -8.8

    -8.4

    -8.6

    -8.8

    Total external debt outstanding (millions of U.S. dollars) 3

    5,471

    5,694

    		  

    5,945

    		  

    6,208

    6,428

    6,645

    6,585

    6,588

    6,620

     (percent of GDP)

    271.1

    260.3

    		  

    273.0

    		  

    283.8

    285.0

    282.9

    267.4

    255.0

    242.2

    Terms of trade (-=deterioration)

    -8.7

    -4.0

    		  

    2.1

    		  

    0.8

    -1.7

    -1.3

    -0.9

    -0.8

    -0.6

    Gross official reserves (end of year, millions of U.S. dollars)

    639

    682

    		  

    774

    		  

    817

    830

    862

    893

    956

    1,021

    Months of imports, c.i.f.

    3.1

    3.4

    		  

    3.8

    		  

    3.9

    3.8

    3.8

    3.8

    3.8

    3.9

    In percent of Assessing Reserve Adequacy (ARA) metric

    102

    105

    115

    118

    117

    118

    119

    124

    127

    Exchange rate

    		                      

    Seychelles rupees per US$1 (end-of-period)

    14.1

    14.2

    		  

    14.8

    		  

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    Seychelles rupees per US$1 (period average)

    14.3

    14.0

    		  

    14.5

    		  

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …

    …
                       

    Sources: Central Bank of Seychelles; Ministry of Finance; and IMF staff estimates and projections.

      1 Includes onlending to the parastatals for investment purposes.

    		      

      2 Includes debt issued by the Ministry of Finance for monetary purposes.

    		          

      3 Includes private external debt.

    		            
    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER: Kwabena Akuamoah-Boateng

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

    https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2025/06/16/pr-25199-seychelles-imf-4th-rev-eff-rsf-apr-usd-13-point-7-mill

    MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Recognizing Native Prairie Appreciation Week in Saskatchewan

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Released on June 16, 2025

    This week, we celebrate the beauty, biodiversity and cultural importance of our native prairie ecosystems, as the Ministries of Environment and Agriculture are pleased to recognize June 15 to 21 as Native Prairie Appreciation Week in Saskatchewan.

    Native Prairie Appreciation Week raises awareness about the significance of these vital ecosystems that provide environmental, economic and cultural benefits to our province and beyond.

    “Native prairie plays a key role in conserving Saskatchewan’s rich biodiversity and offers essential ecological services such as carbon storage, soil protection and species diversity,” Environment Minister Travis Keisig said. “This year, we also celebrate a major achievement – the completion of the Prairie Landscape Inventory, which maps the full extent of native grassland across Saskatchewan’s Prairie Ecozone.”

    A product of seven years of dedication, the Prairie Landscape Inventory will support programs, policy and decision-making to drive strategic conservation and restoration initiatives across the Saskatchewan prairie. Our mapping estimates that the Prairie Ecozone contains about 16 per cent native grassland which provides habitat for wildlife, birds and pollinators; forage for livestock; carbon sequestration; nutrient cycling; and natural water filtration and retention. The ecoregions with the highest amounts of native prairie are the Mixed Grassland and the Cypress Upland Ecoregions, with each ecoregion having about 35 per cent native prairie. 

    “Healthy, thriving grasslands are an essential natural resource for us all, and they have special importance and meaning for our agriculture sector,” Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison said. “Our livestock producers take pride in being stewards of the land, and that relationship inspires their continued commitment to good management to help safeguard our native prairie.”

    “Native Prairie Appreciation Week is a great opportunity to educate and engage with people with diverse backgrounds about native prairie, which is one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world,” Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan (SK PCAP) Manager Carolyn Gaudet said. “The diversity of plants, animals and insects found on native prairie is amazing and unfortunately disappearing, so we want to encourage everyone to learn more about native prairie and appreciate it while they can.”

    With 27 years of commitment to promoting awareness of this vital ecosystem, you can visit the SK PCAP website for up-to-date information on Native Prairie Appreciation Week, a photo contest, as well as webinars about urban wildlife, rural wildlife, landscapes and geology. They will also have booths at Farmer’s Markets in Regina, Swift Current and Moose Jaw where they will be handing out native wildflower seed packets.

    To participate or to find more information about Native Prairie Appreciation Week, visit: https://www.pcap-sk.org/upcoming-events/npaw, or email SK PCAP at pcap@sasktel.net.

    To view the completed Prairie Landscape Inventory maps, you can visit the Hunting, Angling and Biodiversity Information of Saskatchewan (HABISask) online application at: https://gisappl.saskatchewan.ca/Html5Ext/?viewer=habisask or download the maps at: https://geohub.saskatchewan.ca.

    -30-

    For more information, contact:

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI: Imperial Petroleum Inc. Declares Dividend on Series A Preferred Shares

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    ATHENS, Greece, June 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Imperial Petroleum Inc. (Nasdaq: IMPP) (the “Company”), a ship-owning company providing petroleum products, crude oil, and drybulk seaborne transportation services, today announced a dividend of $0.546875 per share on its 8.75% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock (the “Series A Preferred Shares”), payable on June 30, 2025 to holders of record as of June 25, 2025. The dividend payment relates to the period from the last dividend payment date for the Series A Preferred Shares on March 30, 2025, through June 29, 2025.

    There are 795,878 Series A Preferred Shares outstanding as of the date hereof. The Series A Preferred Shares trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol “IMPPP.”

    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 seventeen vessels on the water – seven M.R. product tankers, two suezmax tankers, three handysize drybulk carriers, three supramax drybulk carriers and two kamsarmax drybulk vessels – with a total capacity of 1,082,800 deadweight tons (dwt), and has contracted to acquire an additional two supramax drybulk carriers of 111,200 dwt aggregate capacity. Following these deliveries, the Company’s fleet will count a total of 19 vessels with an aggregate capacity of 1.2 million dwt. 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.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Matters discussed in this release may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance and may include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, management’s examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC. believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC. cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, geopolitical conditions, including any trade disruptions resulting from tariffs and other protectionist measures imposed by the United States or other countries, general market conditions, including changes in charter hire rates and vessel values, charter counterparty performance, changes in demand that may affect attitudes of time charterers to scheduled and unscheduled drydockings, changes in IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC’s operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, ability to obtain financing and comply with covenants in our financing arrangements, actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, domestic and international political conditions, the conflict in Ukraine and related sanctions, the conflicts in the Middle East, potential disruption of shipping routes due to ongoing attacks by Houthis in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden or accidents and political events or acts by terrorists. Risks and uncertainties are further described in reports filed by IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC. with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

    Company Contact:

    Fenia Sakellaris

    IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC.

    E-mail: info@imperialpetro.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Imperial Petroleum Inc. Declares Dividend on Series A Preferred Shares

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    ATHENS, Greece, June 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Imperial Petroleum Inc. (Nasdaq: IMPP) (the “Company”), a ship-owning company providing petroleum products, crude oil, and drybulk seaborne transportation services, today announced a dividend of $0.546875 per share on its 8.75% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock (the “Series A Preferred Shares”), payable on June 30, 2025 to holders of record as of June 25, 2025. The dividend payment relates to the period from the last dividend payment date for the Series A Preferred Shares on March 30, 2025, through June 29, 2025.

    There are 795,878 Series A Preferred Shares outstanding as of the date hereof. The Series A Preferred Shares trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol “IMPPP.”

    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 seventeen vessels on the water – seven M.R. product tankers, two suezmax tankers, three handysize drybulk carriers, three supramax drybulk carriers and two kamsarmax drybulk vessels – with a total capacity of 1,082,800 deadweight tons (dwt), and has contracted to acquire an additional two supramax drybulk carriers of 111,200 dwt aggregate capacity. Following these deliveries, the Company’s fleet will count a total of 19 vessels with an aggregate capacity of 1.2 million dwt. 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.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Matters discussed in this release may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance and may include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, management’s examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC. believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC. cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, geopolitical conditions, including any trade disruptions resulting from tariffs and other protectionist measures imposed by the United States or other countries, general market conditions, including changes in charter hire rates and vessel values, charter counterparty performance, changes in demand that may affect attitudes of time charterers to scheduled and unscheduled drydockings, changes in IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC’s operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, ability to obtain financing and comply with covenants in our financing arrangements, actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, domestic and international political conditions, the conflict in Ukraine and related sanctions, the conflicts in the Middle East, potential disruption of shipping routes due to ongoing attacks by Houthis in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden or accidents and political events or acts by terrorists. Risks and uncertainties are further described in reports filed by IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC. with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

    Company Contact:

    Fenia Sakellaris

    IMPERIAL PETROLEUM INC.

    E-mail: info@imperialpetro.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Pelvic floor dysfunction: what every woman should know

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Holly Ingram, Midwifery Lecturer, Anglia Ruskin University

    megaflopp/Shutterstock

    Did you know that around one in two women in the UK will experience symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction at some point in their lives? And for women who engage in high-intensity exercise, that figure rises to 63%.

    The female pelvic floor is a remarkable yet often overlooked structure: a complex “hammock” of muscles and ligaments that stretches from the front of the pelvis to the tailbone.

    These muscles support the bladder, bowel and uterus, wrap around the openings of the urethra, vagina and anus and work in sync with your diaphragm, abdominal and back muscles to maintain posture, continence and core stability. It’s not an exaggeration to say your pelvic floor is the foundation of your body’s core.

    Throughout a woman’s life, various events can challenge the pelvic floor. Pregnancy, for example, increases the weight of the uterus, placing added pressure on these muscles. The growing baby can cause the abdominal muscles to stretch and separate, naturally increasing the load on the pelvic floor. Childbirth, particularly vaginal delivery, may result in perineal trauma, directly injuring pelvic floor tissues.

    However, contrary to popular belief, pelvic floor problems aren’t only caused by pregnancy and childbirth. In fact, research shows that intense physical activity, even in women who have never been pregnant or given birth, can contribute to dysfunction.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    Exercise is essential for overall health and is often recommended to ease symptoms of menopause and menstruation. But one side effect that’s not talked about enough is the effect that repeated strain, such as heavy lifting or high impact movement, can have on the pelvic floor. The increased intra-abdominal pressure during these activities can gradually weaken the pelvic floor muscles, especially if they’re not trained to cope.

    Pelvic floor dysfunction often results when these muscles aren’t strong enough to match the workload demanded of them, whether from daily life, exercise, or other core muscles. And it’s a growing issue, affecting more women than ever before.

    Common symptoms include leaking urine or faeces when coughing, sneezing or exercising, a dragging or heavy sensation in the lower abdomen or vaginal area, painful sex, changes in bowel habits, visible bulging in the vaginal area (a sign of prolapse). The emotional toll can also be significant, leading to embarrassment, anxiety, low confidence and a reluctance to stay active – all of which affect quality of life.

    Prevention

    The good news? Help is available and, better yet, pelvic floor dysfunction is often preventable.

    If you’re experiencing symptoms, speak to your GP. You may be referred to a women’s health physiotherapist, available through both the NHS and private services. But whether you’re managing symptoms or hoping to avoid them in the first place, there are practical steps you can take:

    Stay active and maintain a healthy weight

    Drink enough water to encourage healthy bladder function

    Go to the toilet only when your body signals the need; avoid going “just in case”

    Prevent constipation through a high-fibre diet and good bowel habits

    Don’t hold your breath when lifting or exercising

    Most importantly, build strength with regular pelvic floor exercises. Here’s how to do a basic pelvic floor contraction:

    1. Imagine you’re trying to stop yourself passing wind – squeeze and lift the muscles around your back passage.

    2. Then, imagine stopping the flow of urine mid-stream – engage those muscles too.

    3. Now, lift both sets of muscles upwards inside your body, as if pulling them into the vagina.

    4. Hold the contraction for a few seconds, then fully relax. Repeat.

    If you’re just starting, it may be easier to practise while sitting. With time and consistency, you’ll be able to hold contractions for longer and incorporate them into your daily routine, like brushing your teeth or waiting for the kettle to boil.

    Like any muscle, the pelvic floor gets stronger with training, making it more resilient to strain from childbirth, ageing, or strenuous activity. Research shows that a well-conditioned pelvic floor recovers faster from injury.

    So be proud of your pelvic floor. Support it, strengthen it – and don’t forget to do those squeezes.

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

    – ref. Pelvic floor dysfunction: what every woman should know – https://theconversation.com/pelvic-floor-dysfunction-what-every-woman-should-know-258427

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Israel, Iran and the US: why 2025 is a turning point for the international order

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Brian Brivati, Visiting Professor of Contemporary History and Human Rights, Kingston University

    Israel’s large-scale attack against Iran on June 13, which it conducted without UN security council approval, has prompted retaliation from Tehran. Both sides have traded strikes over the past few days, with over 200 Iranians and 14 Israelis killed so far.

    The escalation has broader consequences. It further isolates institutions like the UN, International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ), which have found themselves increasingly sidelined as Israel’s assault on Gaza has progressed. These bodies now appear toothless.

    The world appears to be facing an unprecedented upending of the post-1945 international legal order. Israel’s government is operating with a level of impunity rarely seen before. At the same time, the Trump administration is actively undermining the global institutions designed to enforce international law.

    Other global powers, including Russia and China, are taking this opportunity to move beyond the western rules-based system. The combination of a powerful state acting with impunity and a superpower disabling the mechanisms of accountability marks a global inflection point.

    It is a moment so stark that we may have to rethink what we thought we knew about the conduct of international relations and the management of conflict, both for the Palestinian struggle and the international system of justice built after the second world war.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    The Israeli government is, in addition to its preemptive air campaign against Iran’s nuclear programme, advancing with impunity on three other fronts. It is tightening its hold on Gaza, with the prospect of a lasting occupation increasingly possible.

    Senior Israeli ministers have also outlined plans for the annexation of large parts of the occupied West Bank through settlement expansion. This is now proceeding unchecked. Israel confirmed plans in May to create 22 new settlements there, including the legalisation of those already built without government authorisation.

    This is being accompanied by provocative legislation such as a bill that would hike taxes on foreign-funded non-governmental organisations. The Israeli government is also continuing its attempts to reduce the independence of the judiciary.

    Hardline elements of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet say they will collapse the government if he changes course.

    The ICJ moved with urgency in response to Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank. In January 2024, it found evidence that Palestinians in Gaza were at risk of genocide and ordered Israel to implement provisional measures to prevent further harm.

    Then, in May 2024, as Israeli forces pressed an offensive, the ICJ issued another ruling ordering Israel to halt its military operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah immediately. It also called on Israel to allow unimpeded humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip.

    The court went further in July, issuing a landmark advisory opinion declaring Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal. The ICC took bold action by issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and the leaders of Hamas.

    Disregarding international law

    These dramatic attempts to enforce international law failed. Israel only agreed to a temporary ceasefire in Gaza in January 2025 when Washington insisted, demonstrating that the only possible brake on Israel remains the US.

    But the second Trump administration is even more transactional than the first. It prioritises trade deals and strategic alliances – particularly with the Gulf states – over the enforcement of international legal norms.

    In January, Trump issued an executive order authorising sanctions on the ICC over the court’s “illegitimate” actions against the US and its “close ally Israel”. These sanctions came into effect a little over a week before Israel launched its strikes on Iran.

    Trump then withdrew the US from the UN human rights council and extended a funding ban on Unrwa, the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees.

    A further executive order issued in February directed the state department to withhold portions of the US contribution to the UN’s regular budget. And Trump also launched a 180-day review of all US-funded international organisations, foreshadowing further exits or funding cuts across the multilateral system.

    In May 2025, the US and Israel then advanced a new aid mechanism for Gaza run by private security contractors operating in Israeli-approved “safe zones”. Aid is conditional on population displacement, with civilians in northern Gaza denied access unless they relocate.

    This approach, which has been condemned by humanitarian organisations, contravenes established humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality.

    In effect, one pillar of the post-war order is attacking another. The leading founder of the UN is now undermining the institution from within, wielding its security council veto to block action while simultaneously starving the organisation of resources. The US vetoed a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza on June 4.

    The implications of this turning point in the international order are already playing out across the globe. Russia is continuing its war of aggression in Ukraine despite rulings from the ICJ and extensive evidence of war crimes. It knows that enforcement mechanisms are weak and fragmented and the alternative Trumpian deal making can be played out indefinitely.

    And China is escalating military pressure on Taiwan. It is employing grey-zone tactics, that do everything possible in provocation and disinformation below the threshold of open warfare, undeterred by legal commitments to peaceful resolution.

    These cases are symptoms of a collapse in the credibility of the post-1945 legal order. Israel’s policy in Gaza and its attack on Iran are not exceptions but the acceleration. They are confirmation to other states that law no longer constrains power, institutions can be bypassed, and humanitarian principles can be used for political ends.

    Brian Brivati is executive director of the Britain Palestine Project. He is writing this article in a personal capacity.

    – ref. Israel, Iran and the US: why 2025 is a turning point for the international order – https://theconversation.com/israel-iran-and-the-us-why-2025-is-a-turning-point-for-the-international-order-258044

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: AI is gobbling up water it cannot replace – I’m working on a solution

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Muhammad Wakil Shahzad, Associate Professor and Head of Subject, Mechanical and Construction Engineering, Northumbria University, Newcastle

    Data centres are the invisible engines of our digital world. Every Google search, Netflix stream, cloud-stored photo or ChatGPT response passes through banks of high-powered computers housed in giant facilities scattered across the globe.

    These datacentres consume a staggering amount of electricity and increasingly, a surprising amount of water. But unlike the water you use at home, much of the water used in datacentres never returns to the water reuse cycle. This silent drain is drawing concern from environmental scientists. One preprint study (not yet reviewed by other scientists) from 2023 predicted that by 2027 global AI use could consume more water in a year than half of that used by the UK in the same time.

    Datacentres typically contain thousands of servers, stacked and running 24/7. These machines generate immense heat, and if not properly cooled, can overheat and fail. This happened in 2022 when the UK endured a heatwave that saw temperatures reach a record-breaking 40° Celsius in some areas, which knocked off Google and Oracle datacentres in London.

    To prevent this, datacentres rely heavily on cooling systems, and that’s where water comes in.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    One of the most common methods for cooling datacentres involves mechanical chillers, which work like large fridges. These machines use a fluid called a refrigerant to carry heat away from the servers and release it through a condenser. A lot of water is lost as it turns into vapour during the cooling process, and it cannot be reused.

    A 1 megawatt (MW) datacentre (that uses enough electricity to power 1,000 houses) can use up to 25.5 million litres annually. The total data centre capacity in the UK is estimated at approximately 1.6 gigawatts (GW). The global data centre capacity stands at around 59 GW.

    Unlike water used in a dishwasher or a toilet, which often returns to a treatment facility to be recycled, the water in cooling systems literally vanishes into the air. It becomes water vapour and escapes into the atmosphere. This fundamental difference is why data centre water use is not comparable to that of typical household use, where water cycles back through municipal systems.

    As moisture in the atmosphere that can return to the land as rain, the water datacentres use remains part of Earth’s water cycle – but not all rain water can be recovered.

    The water is effectively lost to the local water balance, which is especially critical in drought-prone or water-scarce regions – where two-thirds of datacentres since 2022 have been built. The slow return of this water makes its use for cooling datacentres effectively non-renewable in the short term.

    The rise of AI tools like ChatGPT, image generators and voice assistants has made datacentres work much harder. These systems need a lot more computing power, which creates more heat. To stay cool, data centres use more water than ever.

    This growing demand is leading to a greater reliance on water-intensive cooling systems, driving up total water consumption even further. The International Energy Agency reported in April 2025 that datacentres now consume more than 560 billion litres of water annually, possibly rising to 1,200 billion litres a year by 2030.

    What’s the alternative?

    Another method, direct evaporative cooling, pulls hot air from datacentres and passes it through water-soaked pads. As the water evaporates, it cools the air, which is then sent back into server rooms.

    While this method is energy-efficient, especially in warmer climates, the added moisture in the air can damage sensitive server equipment. This method requires additional systems to manage and control humidity, which necessitates more complex datacentre design.

    My research team and I have developed another method which separates moist and dry air streams in datacentres with a thin aluminium foil, similar to kitchen foil. The hot, dry air passes close to the wet air stream, and heat is transferred through the foil without allowing any moisture to mix. This cools the server rooms in datacentres without adding humidity that could interfere with the equipment.

    Trials of this method at Northumbria University’s datacentre have shown it can be more energy-efficient than conventional chillers, and use less water. Powered entirely by solar energy, the system operates without compressors or chemical refrigerants.

    As AI continues to expand, the demand on datacentres is expected to skyrocket, along with their water use. We need a global shift in how we design, regulate and power digital infrastructure.

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

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Muhammad Wakil Shahzad is the founder of EcoTechX.
    EcoTechX received PoC funding from Northern Accelerator.

    – ref. AI is gobbling up water it cannot replace – I’m working on a solution – https://theconversation.com/ai-is-gobbling-up-water-it-cannot-replace-im-working-on-a-solution-258518

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: MPs could vote on two proposals to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales – the debate explained

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ruth Fletcher, Professor of Law, Queen Mary University of London

    Protesters in summer 2023 demanding decriminalisation of abortion. Loredana Sangiuliano/Shutterstock

    Legal protection of abortion rights in England and Wales is fragile. Abortion has popular support and is readily available on the NHS, but has also generated a series of criminal investigations. Nicola Packer is one of the most recent abortion-seekers facing criminalisation rather than care. She was found innocent in May after a five year ordeal.

    Amid concerns about investigations for illegal abortions, MPs may vote on June 17 on legislative action to decriminalise abortion. Political opinion is divided, however, on how to do it. In the absence of a broader push for the kind of inquiries that produced full decriminalisation in Northern Ireland in 2019, MPs will consider two different legal proposals: NC1 and NC20.

    In England and Wales, people do not have explicit abortion rights as a matter of domestic law. They may feel that they have when they get good abortion care. But as a matter of law, abortion is only permissible under the Abortion Act 1967 if two conditions are met.

    Two doctors must approve, and the case must meet the legal grounds outlined in the act. These are that there must be a risk to health up to 24 weeks gestation or, after 24 weeks, a risk to life, a risk of grave permanent injury to health or a serious foetal anomaly.

    If these conditions are not met, then someone who voluntarily ends a pregnancy could be criminally liable. This is because old criminal provisions against abortion – under the Offences against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 – are still on the books.

    Each of the two amendments being put forward would decriminalise abortion by amending a government bill that is already making its way through parliament, the crime and policing bill, rather than by adopting a standalone piece of legislation for abortion.

    The two amendments

    NC1, proposed by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, is for a partial decriminalisation that would entail the “removal of women from the criminal law related to abortion”. This would put a stop to criminal investigations of women and pregnant people on suspicion of abortion, and mean that abortion-seekers no longer face the possibility of prosecution.

    The proposed amendment has the support of over 130 MPs, has been negotiated with and has the backing of abortion providers, including the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas), MSI Reproductive Choices and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. But it would not repeal or remove the existing criminal law. The criminal offences in the Offences against the Person Act and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act would remain in place.

    Neither would abortion providers, or those who assist or support abortion-seekers, including friends and family buying abortion pills on the internet, be exempted from criminal liability.

    NC20, the second amendment, is for full decriminalisation and is proposed by MP Stella Creasy. It has the support of over 100 MPs, but apparently not the support of abortion providers according to Bpas.

    Creasy’s proposal is more complex and wider in scope. This amendment would fully decriminalise abortion by repealing the criminal provisions altogether. It would maintain the Abortion Act 1967 as the legal framework for abortion care, so the legal grounds for abortion would remain the same.

    The proposed amendments to decriminalise abortion come after several high-profile cases.
    Brizmaker/Shutterstock

    Most importantly, this amendment aims to make abortion a human right, and protect the law from being restricted in the future. It does this by requiring that the secretary of state apply to England and Wales the human rights recommendations that led to decriminalisation in Northern Ireland. These are outlined in a 2018 UN report on the elimination of discrimination against women.

    The report’s recommendations establish full decriminalisation as a baseline standard that must be achieved. They also require minimum legal standards of allowing abortion in cases where there is a risk to health, where the pregnancy results from rape, and in cases of severe foetal anomaly.

    The Abortion Act 1967 already delivers these standards. But the recommendations – and Creasy’s proposed amendment – would set out a framework that could be applied in the future to other questions around bodily autonomy.

    No change in the law will happen immediately after the vote as the crime and policing bill has several more stages to pass in parliament. But the debate should give observers an indication of the direction of travel when it comes to the future of reproductive rights in England and Wales.

    Ruth Fletcher is Chairperson of the Abortion Support Network.

    – ref. MPs could vote on two proposals to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales – the debate explained – https://theconversation.com/mps-could-vote-on-two-proposals-to-decriminalise-abortion-in-england-and-wales-the-debate-explained-258966

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich: the Netanyahu government extremists sanctioned by the UK

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Leonie Fleischmann, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, City St George’s, University of London

    The UK’s decision to impose sanctions on two far-right Netanyahu government ministers has put it at loggerheads with the Trump administration over Israel. Announcing on June 10 that Britain would join Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway in sanctioning Israel’s minister for national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and minister of finance, Bezalel Smotrich, the UK foreign secretary David Lammy said the pair had “incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights”.

    US secretary of state Marco Rubio criticised the decision, releasing a statement the same day saying the sanctions did not “advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war”. He added: “We remind our partners not to forget who the real enemy is. The United States urges the reversal of the sanctions and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.”

    Britain and its allies also called on the Netanyahu government to respond to extremist Israeli settler violence in the West Bank and to “cease the expansion of illegal settlements which undermine a future Palestinian state”. This has brought the spotlight back to the West Bank, where decades of settler violence towards Palestinians and a planning system which favours the Israeli settlers, have led to the gradual displacement of Palestinian communities.



    Read more:
    Israeli plan to occupy all of Gaza could open the door for annexation of the West Bank

    The announcement seemed to signal a possible breach in relations between the UK government and the Netanyahu government. But with conflict escalating between Israel and Iran, the UK’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has said the government may be willing to provide military support for Israel.

    Smotrich responded to the sanctions, speaking on his “contempt” at Britain’s decision and referring to Britain’s history of administration of what he called “our homeland”. He said: “Britain has already tried once to prevent us from settling the cradle of our homeland, and we will not allow it to do so again. We are determined to continue building.”

    In retaliation for the sanctions, Smotrich pledged to collapse the Palestinian Authority, by taking measures to prevent Israeli banks for corresponding with Palestinian banks. This has been vital for sustaining the Palestinian economy.

    UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, explains why the government has sanctioned the two Israeli ministers.

    Ben-Gvir and Smotrich and their ultra-nationalist followers actually represent a relatively small fraction of Israeli society, but they hold the balance of power in Netanyahu’s coalition, controlling 20 seats in Netanyahu’s 67-seat coalition. This has enabled them to consolidate decades of settler activity outside of parliamentary legitimacy into influencing government policy.

    Itamar Ben-Gvir

    Ben-Gvir is an admirer of the late racist rabbi Meir Kahane, who founded the far-right Kach party which was labelled a terrorist organisation in 2008 having been banned from running in parliamentary elections. In 2007 he was convicted for incitement to racism and being a supporter of a terrorist organisation.

    He subsequently told an event to honour Kahane that, while he admired Kahane, he would not try to pass laws to expel all Arabs from Israel and the West Bank or to create a regime which involved ethnic segregation. But Kahane’s violent anti-Arab ideology and desire to establish a theocratic Jewish state has influenced the next generation of ultra-nationalists.

    The national security minister has been convicted eight times for offences that include racism and support for a terrorist organisation. He gained prominence as a successful defence lawyer for Jews accused of violence against Palestinians. The political party he heads, Otzma Yehudit, advocates for the annexation of the entire West Bank without granting Palestinians Israeli citizenship.

    Ben-Gvir has become infamous for his provocative statements. In August 2023, he declared in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, that his rights trump those of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

    “My right, and my wife’s and my children’s right to get around on the roads in Judea and Samaria, is more important than the right to movement for Arabs,” he said, effectively advocating for a regime of apartheid. He has consistently pushed Netanyahu to maintain the war in Gaza, blocking past attempts to reach a ceasefire.

    Bezalel Smotrich

    Smotrich also has a history of making inflammatory statements. In February 2023, three days after settler vigilantes rampaged through the West Bank town of Huwara, he called for Israel to wipe the town off the map. He later apologised for this comment after being criticised by both the opposition leader, Yair Lapid, and the US government, saying he hadn’t meant it to be a call for vigilante violence.

    Smotrich believes the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are part of the biblical land of Israel and rightfully belong to the Jewish people. He has dedicated his career to ensuring the establishment of Jewish settlements.

    In 2006, he helped establish a non-governmental organisation called Regavim as a pressure group to increase settlement of the West Bank. The left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz has criticised Regavim as “an organisation waging a total war on Palestinian construction in the West Bank”.

    Since Smotrich was given increased control over civil affairs on the West Bank in early 2023, the building of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank has accelerated. He is reported to have recently directed his office to “formulate an operational plan for applying sovereignty” over the West Bank.

    He told a group touring new settlements approved by the Israeli government that: “”We will not stop until the entire area receives its full legal status and becomes an inseparable part of the State of Israel. We are changing the face of the settlement enterprise not just as a slogan, but through real action.”

    Rightward shift

    The prominence of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich reflects a rightward shift in the Israeli electorate that has brought ultra-nationalist settler ideology into the mainstream. However, their meteoric rise is also due to their holding the balance of power, which has enabled Netanyahu to remain in office. That Netanyahu remains prime minister is widely believed to be partly responsible for the slow progress of his trials for bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

    Before the November 2022 Knesset election, Netanyahu reportedly brokered a deal whereby Smotrich’s Religious Zionism Party and Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Home party joined forces. This ensured they won enough seats to ensure Netanyahu could form a coalition. And so these two extremists bent on thwarting any hope for Palestinian independence became kingmakers.

    While they have such influence over the Netanyahu government, there is no possibility for a Palestinian state. Instead it is more likely that the violence towards Palestinians and the dispossession of their land will continue to increase.

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

    – ref. Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich: the Netanyahu government extremists sanctioned by the UK – https://theconversation.com/itamar-ben-gvir-and-bezalel-smotrich-the-netanyahu-government-extremists-sanctioned-by-the-uk-258644

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why is Stalin back in the Moscow metro?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jeremy Hicks, Professor of Post-Soviet Cultural History and Film, Queen Mary University of London

    A statue of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was unveiled in the Taganskaya metro station in Moscow in May, recreating a mural that was dismantled decades ago. It is the first such statue to be erected in central Moscow since Stalin’s death in 1953 and marks a disturbing new stage in Russia’s authoritarian path.

    Tens of millions of people died as a direct result of Stalin’s policies between 1924 and his death. These policies included the forced collectivisation of agriculture, the Gulag labour camp system and the “great terror” – a wave of mass arrests between 1937 and 1938, including of key figures in the army.

    Yet ultimate victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, with the support of Britain and the US, redeems Stalin in the eyes of Russia’s current rulers. For the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, this victory was one of the crowning achievements of the Soviet Union and remains a unifying force in modern Russia.

    De-Stalinisation, which from 1956 to the late 1960s saw the dismantling of Stalin’s policies and legacy, meant no statues of him were erected from his death until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But 110 monuments have been built since then (at the last count in 2023), with 95 of them erected in the Putin era. The rate of construction multiplied after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    These statues initially tended to be in peripheral parts of the Russian Federation, such as Yakutia, North Ossetia and Dagestan, and not in city centres. The renaming by presidential decree of the airport in Volgograd as Stalingrad in April 2025, to echo the city’s wartime name, was thus a significant moment.

    But the statue in the Moscow metro, an architectural gem in the centre of Russia’s capital that is used by millions of people each day, is an even more important symbolic statement.

    ‘Stalinwashing’

    Stalin’s reputation in Russia continues to recover. According to a poll from 2015, 45% of the Russian population thought the deaths caused by Stalin’s actions were justified (up from 25% in 2012). By 2023, 63% of Russians had an overall positive view of his leadership.

    This reflects the view promoted in schools and amplified by the Russian media, where criticism of Stalin is rare. Even the 2017 British comedy, The Death of Stalin, was banned in Russia for fear of popping the bubble of public approval.

    The purpose of rehabilitating Stalin is about boosting support for Putin’s regime, training Russians’ conformity reflex, and instilling pride in their history. But it also has external ramifications.

    With the partial exception of Georgia, his birthplace, Stalin is widely reviled by Russia’s neighbours which were often the victims of Stalin’s repressive policies. This is especially true of Ukraine. A famine known to Ukrainians as the Holodomor was deliberately imposed there between 1932 and 1933 as part of collectivisation and killed as many as 3.8 million people.

    As a result, his death unleashed de-Stalinisation accompanied by the destruction of his statues all over eastern Europe. This began during the 1956 Budapest uprising and was followed by later such reactions in Prague and elsewhere.

    The statue of Stalin in Budapest was torn down by demonstrators in 1956.
    Fortepan adományozó / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-NC-SA

    After the uprisings were put down, Stalin’s place was typically taken by the less controversial Vladimir Lenin, the revolutionary leader who founded the Soviet Union.

    But since the 2014 Maidan revolution in Ukraine, which culminated in the ousting of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainians have also been pulling down statues of Lenin. Other Soviet-era symbols have also been torn down in a wave of demonstrations known as Leninopad or Leninfall.

    This is what has informed the latest intensification of Stalin-washing. The Ukrainian refutation of the symbolic heritage of the Soviet Union seems to have supercharged the Russian embrace of it, Stalin included.

    Russia has restored statues of Lenin in the Ukrainian territories it occupies. And it has now also started erecting statues of Stalin, notably in the southeastern city of Melitopol, where a statue was unveiled in May to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in the second world war.

    This is against the law in Ukraine, where there is a ban on pro-Communist (and pro-totalitarian) symbolism. Russian forces have meanwhile been destroying memorials to the Holodomor in a battle over the meaning of the Soviet legacy.

    Russia’s military strength

    The re-elevation of Stalin promotes a narrow interpretation of his rule, stressing Russia’s military strength. Modern statues typically portray Stalin in a military uniform and evoke a sense of him as a victorious wartime leader.

    In fact, some of the appeal of the symbol of Stalin lies in welfare provisions of his leadership where, despite imposing an often cruelly authoritarian system, education and healthcare were free for all. The same can be said for his use of fear as a work incentive. Russians sometimes still denounce complacent or inept officials with the imprecation: “If only Stalin was here to sort you out” (Stalina na vas net in Russian).

    Nevertheless, it is the imperial version of Stalin that dominates, vindicating Russian refusal to reckon with its colonial past as the centre of the Soviet Union. Stalin’s record is sometimes defended within Russia on the basis that Winston Churchill, for instance, remains a British national hero despite a bloody past (such as his role in the Bengal famine of 1943).

    While there is an element of truth in this, the difference is that Churchill’s shortcomings and complicity in the death toll attributable to the British empire are publicly discussed. Such criticism of Stalin is not permitted in Russia. Even the new statue in Moscow was erected under cover of the night, evading public scrutiny and debate.

    The fact that the UK subjects its historical heroes to scrutiny is what distinguishes it from Russia, and defines it as democratic. At least for the time being.

    Jeremy Hicks is a member of the UK Labour Party

    – ref. Why is Stalin back in the Moscow metro? – https://theconversation.com/why-is-stalin-back-in-the-moscow-metro-258006

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Jaws at 50: a cinematic masterpiece – and an incredible piece of propaganda

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Colin Alexander, Senior Lecturer in Political Communications, Nottingham Trent University

    Jaws turns 50 on June 20. Last year, Quentin Tarantino called Stephen Spielberg’s film “possibly the greatest movie ever made”. Though he was quick to add that it isn’t the best film in terms of script, cinematography or acting, he was convinced that its overall quality as a movie remains unmatched.

    I’m not so sure if Jaws is the best movie ever made – but it’s certainly the movie that I like to watch the most. It is as fascinating and multilayered as it is entertaining and depressing. As a researcher of political propaganda, I believe that Jaws had political purpose.

    I have watched Jaws well over 50 times and still, with every viewing, I spot a new detail. Just last week I noticed that when police chief Brody (Roy Scheider) leaves his office after the first shark attack, he opens a gate in a white picket fence.

    The white picket fence is often used to symbolise the American dream and Brody’s actions are likely intended to symbolise the disruption to the dream’s pursuit of capitalism as he seeks to close the beaches and potentially ruin the town’s tourism season.

    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.

    The film was released in June 1975. Just in time for summer holidays spent splashing in the waves (or not!). However, despite its continued acclaim, it didn’t win any of the big Academy Awards in 1976. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest dominated that year. Composer John Williams did, however, win the Oscar for best original score, which I assume you are now humming in your head.



    Read more:
    One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest: 50 years on Jack Nicholson’s greatest performance is as fresh as ever

    The film is based on the book by Peter Benchley, published a year earlier in 1974. The book’s plot is somewhat different to the film. For example, Matt Hooper – the shark specialist played by Richard Dreyfuss in the film – is eaten by the shark, possibly as an act of retribution for his sins on land. He survives in the film.

    Benchley was US president Lyndon Johnson’s (1963-1969) communications advisor before he became an author and so knew Washington’s priorities well. The film was then commissioned before the book had time to become a commercial success, which is somewhat unusual.

    The trailer for Jaws.

    The shark – powerful, mysterious, dark eyed, stalking the American people and killing without emotion – represents the threat posed by communism. The defeat of this “menace” will require the reunification of American society following its disastrous and fractious involvement in the Vietnam war and political scandals like Watergate.

    Hence, the white public sector worker (Brody), the scientist (Hooper) and the military veteran (Quint), put their differences aside to band together on a rickety and ill-equipped boat – the Orca – which was possibly meant to symbolise the wobbling US of its time.

    So while Jaws is a parable of societal repair, it is also a story of exclusively white unification amid external threats. The civil rights movement and Vietnam are inextricably linked through the service of young black men to the cause, and yet black characters are conspicuous by their absence from the book and the film. The only black presence in the book is an anonymous gardener who rapes wealthy white women.

    Human will to dominate the natural world

    In the book, the horror focuses upon human, rather than animal, behaviour. This comes in the form of political corruption, mafia influence, adultery, snobbery, racial prejudice, community disconnect and dishonest journalism. And it occurs as much on land as it does at sea. There is a large section midway through the book where the shark plays no part in the, at times, highly sexual plot.

    Spielberg removed many of the undercurrents and insinuations of the book for his adaptation. The film gives less attention to life in the town of Amity and focuses largely on the shark and the horror of its actions.

    The irony is that so many characters feel personally offended by an animal capable of instinct alone, when they as humans – capable of reason and choice – behave so badly towards each other. Indeed, the lack of an eco-centric character to defend the shark in both the book or the film is telling.

    Brody yells for people to ‘get out of the water’.

    The overwhelming horror is instead found in the treatment of the shark and the assertion that it must be killed rather than respected and left alone. Indeed, Jaws represents a parable of the modern human perception of battle against nature. Wherein Brody, Hooper and Quint, despite their differences, are united in their assumption of human superiority and their perspective that the problem ought to be dealt with using violence.

    The story of Jaws also speaks to George Orwell’s essay Shooting an Elephant from 1936. It captured the author’s dilemma while working as a police officer in colonial Burma when an elephant disrupted the regular process of capitalism by trampling through a local market.

    The philosophers Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno referred to the enlightenment as having created a “new barbarity” wherein humans are engaged in a project of destruction. Here then, a shark has had the audacity to behave in an inconvenient way to man’s profiteering from tourism and must be killed.

    Indeed, one of the biggest criticisms of the film, which Spielberg has subsequently acknowledged, is its inaccurate representation of shark behaviour and the extent to which the film’s success contributed to the decline of the species.

    Ultimately then, Jaws – the book, the film and the reaction of audiences to it – serves as a testimony to the role played by fear within human decision-making. The fear of “others”. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the natural world. Fear of loss of status or reputation.

    It’s a testament to the susceptibility of humans to become insular and violent when they are scared, but also to the distorting influence of propagandists in determining what they ought to be afraid of.

    This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

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

    – ref. Jaws at 50: a cinematic masterpiece – and an incredible piece of propaganda – https://theconversation.com/jaws-at-50-a-cinematic-masterpiece-and-an-incredible-piece-of-propaganda-253498

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What dinosaur fossils could teach us about cancer

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Justin Stebbing, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University

    Ilnaz Bagautdinov/Shutterstock

    When you think of dinosaurs, you might imagine towering predators or gentle giants roaming prehistoric landscapes. But what if these ancient creatures could teach us about one of humanity’s most persistent challenges: cancer?

    In a new study, my team and I explored how fossilised soft tissues, preserved for tens of millions of years, could reveal new insights into ancient proteins that might one day help the study of cancer.

    For decades, dinosaur research has focused on bones, which are much more likely to be preserved. But bones alone can’t tell the full story of how these animals lived, or how they died. Advances in technology, like paleoproteomics (the study of ancient proteins) are now allowing scientists to analyse delicate fragments of soft tissues preserved in fossils.

    In 2016, I read an article about the discovery of a new fossil in Romania with a tumour in its jaw. Those remains were from a dinosaur called Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus, a duck-billed, plant-eating “marsh bird”. The specimen had lived between 66-70 million years ago in the Hateg Basin in present-day Romania.

    I was fascinated by what we might learn from this. Although there were a handful of previous reports of cancers in other dinosaur bones, and previous findings of soft tissues like blood vessels in fossils, no one had ever described soft tissues in an ancient tumour.

    The Telmatosaurus specimen.
    Pramodh Chandrasinghe, CC BY-NC-SA

    To understand more, my team went to Romania and collected the specimen. We brought it back, and made a tiny hole into it with a drill the width of a human hair, taking a miniscule sample.

    Then we mounted it onto a powerful microscope, called a scanning electron microscope. Inside it, we saw images of blood cells, which contain proteins.

    In the original Jurassic Park film, the scientists create or clone dinosaurs from ancient genetic material. But in reality over millions of years the DNA is completely broken down.

    Proteins however, unlike DNA, can be remarkably stable over time. Research has shown that they can persist in fossils for millions of years under the right conditions, acting as molecular time capsules. Studying these proteins can help us reconstruct biological processes, including diseases like cancer, that affected dinosaurs.

    Cancer’s deep evolutionary roots

    Cancer is often seen as a modern plague, but it has ancient origins. Large, long-lived animals, from elephants to whales, are a paradox. Their size and longevity should make them cancer-prone, yet many have evolved remarkable defences.

    Elephants, for example, carry extra copies of the TP53 gene, a tumour suppressor. Bowhead whales which can live for over 200 years, have ultra-efficient DNA repair mechanisms and damage to DNA is the root cause of cancer. Dinosaurs, as some of the largest animals to ever exist, probably faced similar problems.

    My team’s research builds on growing evidence that dinosaurs weren’t immune to cancer. Fossilised tumours have been found in species like Tyrannosaurus rex and Telmatosaurus, ranging from benign growths to aggressive cancers. My team is aiming to uncover the molecular tools dinosaurs used to suppress tumours in the future.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    Bones tell us about anatomy, but soft tissues hold the keys to biology. In my team’s study, the red blood cell-like structures we found in Telmatosaurus fossils represent gateways to understanding the dinosaur’s physiology.

    Proteins preserved in these tissues could reveal how dinosaurs managed oxidative stress which is linked to cancer, inflammation, or even immune responses to cancer. For instance, certain proteins might indicate mechanisms for detecting and destroying faulty cells before tumours can form.

    This work also highlights a a need for a critical shift in paleontology: to preserve soft tissues, not just skeletons. Museums and researchers often prioritise intact bones, but fragments of fossilised skin, blood vessels, or cells can harbour molecular secrets. As technology advances, these overlooked specimens could become invaluable for studying disease evolution.

    Bridging past and present

    The link between dinosaurs and humans might seem distant, but evolution often repurposes ancient biological tools. Modern oncology already draws inspiration from nature and many chemotherapies come from plants or trees. The drug trabectedin, for example, used to treat soft-tissue sarcoma, comes from a marine organism called the sea squirt.

    Expanding our search to extinct species could open a library of evolutionary solutions. If we can identify cancer-suppressing or cancer-promoting proteins in dinosaurs, these molecules might inspire new lessons about human cancers.

    It’s taken nearly a decade to get this far. Like so much work, this research underscores the importance of patience and we’re not there yet. A real breakthrough might come when advances in research allows us to study ancient proteins in detail, tracking how cancer mechanisms evolved over millions of years.

    Bridging paleontology and oncology is not only uncovering ancient history. We’re potentially writing a new chapter in the fight against cancer.

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

    – ref. What dinosaur fossils could teach us about cancer – https://theconversation.com/what-dinosaur-fossils-could-teach-us-about-cancer-257919

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –