NewzIntel.com

Category: Transport

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Tīeke return! Remote Hauraki Gulf Island thriving after rat eradication

    Source: NZ Department of Conservation

    Date:  11 June 2025

    It is the first official re-introduction of a native species since DOC and Ngāti Rehua eradicated rats from Rakitū in 2018.

    “The Department of Conservation and Ngāti Rehua have a goal of more translocations with tieke being the first species to return,” says DOC Aotea Operations Manager Fletcher Beazley.

    Formed from the remains of an eroded volcano, Rakitū was first discovered by Ngāti Rehua ancestors 800 years ago and has been a place of significance ever since.

    Since 2018 when rats were eradicated, the island has seen a strong return of its unique flora and fauna including native birds and rare large-leaved forms of rangiora, tawa and kawakawa.

    DOC and Ngāti Rehua are working together on restoring the nature of Rakitū says Fletcher. This work is making a difference, with clear evidence of nature bouncing back.

    “Since rats were eradicated, we’ve seen the mauri/lifeforce returning to the motu. Without rats eating the seed, groves of young taraire trees are now appearing.

    “As skink and gecko populations recover, DOC staff are now finding the tracking cards used for rodent surveillance are covered in lizard footprints.

    “More translocations will only be possible if we restore the mauri of the forest, control predators and pests and by DOC, Council, Iwi and Community working together as one. By doing this the Mana of Aotea and Rakitū will be restored and the sounds of birdsong will be preserved for our mokopuna to enjoy,” says Fletcher.

    Tīeke were once abundant through Aotearoa, including on Rakitū but are very susceptible to predation by rats. By 1964 Taranga/Hen Island was home to the last remaining population of North Island tīeke.

    After several successful translocations from Taranga (Hen Island) in the 1960s, North Island tīeke now live on several island and mainland sanctuaries.

    On Taranga (Hen Island), these taonga are cared for by Patuharakeke and Ngatiwai. The successful eradication of rats from Taranga (Hen Island) in 2011, with the support of both iwi and hapu, has created an environment where taonga species can thrive and has made a translocation like this possible.

    The birds were carefully transported between Taranga (Hen Island) and Rakitū by helicopter.

    Contact

    For media enquiries contact:

    Email: media@doc.govt.nz

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Murphy on Trump Selling Off U.S. Foreign Policy: This Corruption Has No Precedent in American History

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy
    [embedded content]  
    WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Monday spoke on the U.S. Senate floor to call on his Senate colleagues to stand up to President Trump’s brazen corruption of U.S. foreign policy. Murphy will force a vote as early as this week on two joint resolutions of disapproval to block multi-billion-dollar weapons sales to Qatar and the UAE after Trump demanded billions of dollars in luxury gifts and business deals from the two countries, including a $400 million dollar luxury plane that he intends to keep for personal use. 
    Murphy exposed the historic nature of Trump’s corruption and the danger it poses to national security: “The blatant exchange of U.S. national security secrets, our most sensitive drone technology and our most sensitive chip technology, in exchange for cash into Donald Trump’s pocket, is perhaps the most brazenly corrupt act in the history of the American presidency. And we cannot normalize it just because he is doing it out in the open, in public.
    On Trump demanding Qatar gift him a luxury jet for his own personal use, Murphy said: “Now, this kind of gift, a $400 million luxury jet, it has no precedent in American history. No President has ever asked for, never mind been given, a $400 million gift from a foreign nation. Why? Well, because presidents know that that’s crossing a line. That is a massive abuse of their power. The leverage that presidents have over other countries, that they could use to ask for millions of dollars in gifts, it’s supposed to be used to benefit the nation’s security, not to enrich themselves. But also, it’s just illegal. There is a very specific clause in the Constitution that forbids this kind of gift from a foreign government to a president. And this body is supposed to be in charge of helping to enforce the Constitution. Our founders wrote that clause into the Constitution because they worried about this exact situation, where a president is using his authority like a monarch or a king to make himself the richest person in the world.
    Murphy stressed that Republicans and Democrats must unite to protect the U.S. Constitution and preserve a foreign policy rooted in furthering American interests: “Donald Trump is using the power of his office not to help or protect us, but to enrich himself and his family. He is doing it publicly, brazenly, out in the open. He is, in effect, daring us – specifically daring the legislative branch, the co-equal branch – to stop him…Republicans can’t ignore this just because the president is their party’s leader. We have that independent obligation to protect the Constitution, which clearly says that these gifts are illegal, whether they’re going to a Democratic president or a Republican president. We have a responsibility to our taxpayers to stop a president from immorally enriching himself, using the power we give him to help himself instead of helping us. 
    He concluded: “The net result is an American public that is poorer, and weaker, and less secure. And a president who is richer. It’s corrupt. It’s corrupt. We’ve never, ever, in the history of this country, allowed for a president to do this. Never in the 250 years that our republic has been on the Earth has a president ever asked another nation to enrich himself in this way, in exchange for preferential treatment from the U.S. taxpayers. If you are a Republican or a Democratic senator, you have to see this as unprecedented, as terrible for our nation, as corruption. American foreign policy should not be for sale. If we let these arms sales go through, we are greasing the wheels of that corruption. If we vote for these resolutions of disapproval, at least we have a shot to stop it.” 
    Murphy filed these joint resolutions of disapproval last month. 
    A full transcript of his remarks can be found below:
    MURPHY: “The U.S. Constitution and the American people give the American president vast power: the power to decide how billions of dollars are spent; the power to oversee the entire federal criminal justice system; the power to sell arms around the world; to deploy millions of American soldiers; to negotiate peace treaties. We give him these powers – the Constitution gives the president these powers – so that he uses them on our behalf: to deploy that vast power of the American presidency; to increase our quality of life; to protect the American people. We place immense trust in the president not to abuse these incredible authorities that are given to him. But Donald Trump is abusing that authority in ways that honestly shock the conscience.
    “Donald Trump is using the power of his office not to help or protect us, but to enrich himself and his family. He is doing it publicly, brazenly, out in the open. He is, in effect, daring us – specifically daring the legislative branch, the co-equal branch – to stop him.
    “Nearly three weeks ago, news broke that the White House had dialed up one of our key allies in the Middle East, the government of Qatar, and it asked that the Qataris give the president a luxury jet that is reportedly worth upwards of $400 million. 
    “Now, the nicest jet that I have ever been on is Air Force One, and it’s really nice. But the jet that Trump wants to make Air Force One, that he’s asking for from the Qataris, makes Air Force One, the current version, look like a tenement house. The Qatari jet that he is asking for, its interior is designed by a famed French designer, complete with a flowing grand staircase, sculpted ceilings, plush carpeting, leather couches, gold furnishings. The plane has been called the world’s most luxurious private jet. It includes nine bathrooms, five kitchens, swanky lounges, and a master bedroom suite. The arrangement that Trump proposed to the Qataris would briefly pass the jet through U.S. government hands, but only, as reported, for just a year or two before it would end up belonging personally to Donald Trump. The U.S. Government would essentially be a straw purchaser. The real owner of the jet, for all practical purposes, would be Donald Trump. 
    “Now, this kind of gift, a $400 million luxury jet, it has no precedent in American history. No President has ever asked for, never mind been given, a $400 million gift from a foreign nation. Why? Well, because presidents know that that’s crossing a line. That is a massive abuse of their power. The leverage that presidents have over other countries, that they could use to ask for millions of dollars in gifts, it’s supposed to be used to benefit the nation’s security, not to enrich themselves. But also, it’s just illegal. There is a very specific clause in the Constitution that forbids this kind of gift from a foreign government to a president. And this body is supposed to be in charge of helping to enforce the Constitution. Our founders wrote that clause into the Constitution because they worried about this exact situation, where a president is using his authority like a monarch or a king to make himself the richest person in the world. 
    “Now, the Qatar government feels like it had little choice but to say yes when asked for this $400 million gift – again, briefly to the U.S. Government – but really, for all practical purposes, to the president. They felt like they had no choice precisely because an American president has so much power. They have so much leverage, especially over a vulnerable country in the Middle East. In this case, Qatar really needs to keep the United States on its side. Middle East politics, they shift really quickly, and during Trump’s first term, when the Qataris were not close to Trump, they paid a price. They found themselves badly and dangerously isolated in the region. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, if you remember, effectively ganged up to blockade Qatar, and Trump gave that move implicit consent. Qatar, frankly, is willing to pay a very high price to avoid that fate again. 
    “But Qatar also has things that it wants from the United States. No Middle East country has ever been allowed to buy MQ-9 Reaper drones. These are the most lethal armed drone that America makes. We have previously judged that the region is just too volatile to allow any nation to possess the Reaper, and arguably there’s an arms control regime that doesn’t allow us to transfer that technology, but Qatar wanted to break that precedent. Of course they did. They wanted to be the first nation to have the Reaper technology, and Trump seemed willing to go along. So, a $400 million gift to the president, again, that the president was asking for, it’s a relatively small price to pay for that kind of military edge over your rivals in the region. 
    “But there was one more reason that Qatar had no choice but to give Trump, or at least they felt they had no choice but to give Trump, this wildly illegal gift: because Trump had made it clear to the whole region, to the whole of the Gulf region in the Middle East, that he was for sale and that preferential American treatment was for sale. And if Qatar didn’t pay, another country would. Qatar wasn’t going to be protected, frankly, by a collective refusal of Trump’s extortion in the region. And they had only to look next door to the United Arab Emirates to see how high the price was getting to win Trump’s affection. 
    “At the exact moment that Trump was leaning on Qatar to give him the luxury plane, he was also leaning on UAE to give him not a $400 million gift, but a $2 billion gift. And he didn’t have to lean hard. Just before the Qataris committed to give Trump the plane, an investment firm, backed by the Emirati government and chaired by Emirati government’s national security advisor, shocked the world and announced that it would use Trump’s brand-new stablecoin, this is a form of cryptocurrency, in a $2 billion investment deal that this investment fund, essentially an arm of the UAE government, was doing. And because of that $2 billion deal, overnight Trump’s stablecoin became one of the five largest stablecoins in the world, massively inflating the president’s wealth due to this one single investment. Now this wasn’t an ordinary investment decision. Out of all the stablecoin companies in the world, the Emiratis chose what at the time was a brand-new, relatively small crypto company, run by two people who had very little background in the industry. Why? To put money directly into the pocket of Donald Trump. On the website of World Liberty Financial – that’s the company that is issuing the Trump coin – they don’t hide the fact that this isn’t the Trump kids that own the business. On the website, it states 60% of this company, World Liberty Financial, is owned by an entity affiliated with Donald J. Trump.
    “But it gets even more corrupt because World Liberty Financial’s other cofounder is a guy named Zach Witkoff, who, not coincidentally, is the son of Steve Witkoff, Trump’s top Middle East advisor. The Trumps could have picked anybody in the world to run this stablecoin business with but they chose the son of the Middle East envoy, just so that when they were going around asking for money in the region, it was crystal clear that if you were doing business with World Liberty Financial, you were doing business with the people in the Trump administration who make all the decisions about the Middle East. So, in one fell swoop, the Emiratis can put money into the family that controls the White House and the family that deploys and decides Middle East policy. 
    “Now, just like the Qataris, the Emiratis want something in return, too. Their ask was for the U.S. to remove restrictions on selling the most advanced American-made computer chips to the UAE. The restrictions have been in place under Republican and Democratic administrations for a really good reason. The UAE has a very close, too close, relationship with China. And the U.S. is always rightly worried that if we gave advanced technology to UAE, it would pretty quickly, potentially, fall into the hands of the Chinese. Now, this would be really bad – especially regarding these microchips, these computer chips – because these chips power the most advanced and proprietary American A.I. systems. Losing these chips to China could cost us the lead to China on the global A.I. race. The UAE also wanted the United States to look the other way while they helped fund a death-spiral civil war in Sudan. The UAE is the main supplier of weapons to the worst of the two parties that are involved in the brutal, catastrophic, deadly, civil war in Sudan. And they want the United States to keep giving them weapons, most recently asking for a resupply of Chinook helicopters, even as they use their military prowess to destroy Sudan. 
    “Now, the end of this chapter of the story will not shock you. In coordination with the $400 million luxury plane and the $2 billion investment in Trump crypto, Qatar got sign-off on buying the Reaper drones. And Steve Witkoff, father of the co-owner of World Liberty Financial, marched over to UAE, right before the president was showing up himself, and announced that the United States would, in fact, magically lift those restrictions on the microchips. And just as unsurprisingly, Trump announced that he’ll sell the Chinooks to Abu Dhabi, with no requirement that they stop fueling the war in Sudan. 
    “The blatant exchange of U.S. national security secrets, our most sensitive drone technology and our most sensitive chip technology, in exchange for cash into Donald Trump’s pocket, is perhaps the most brazenly corrupt act in the history of the American presidency. And we cannot normalize it just because he is doing it out in the open, in public.
    “The Senate, which is given the responsibility by the Constitution to be a coequal branch with the president, we have independent responsibility to uphold and protect the Constitution, to set American foreign policy. We cannot pretend this is not happening. We cannot look the other way while the entire moral foundation of our foreign policy is being shattered. Republicans can’t ignore this just because the president is their party’s leader. We have that independent obligation to protect the Constitution, which clearly says that these gifts are illegal, whether they’re going to a Democratic president or a Republican president. We have a responsibility to our taxpayers to stop a president from immorally enriching himself, using the power we give him to help himself instead of helping us. 
    “What makes this moment so dangerous is that both UAE and Qatar, but especially Qatar, are key partners of the United States. They aren’t our adversaries. They are our allies. They’re imperfect allies, but they are our allies. In fact, I’ve been down on this floor in the past arguing on behalf of Qatar and the U.S.-Qatar relationship, when other senators have tried to denigrate the Qataris’ contributions to regional peace. The Qataris have been a critical partner of ours on so many important issues. It’s worth saying that. There’s no way that we would have been able to evacuate 124,000 people from Afghanistan on the eve of the Taliban takeover without Qatar’s help. The Qataris today host thousands of U.S. troops at Al Udeid Air Force Base. That’s the largest base in the region. The Qataris are critical mediators who helped us send back-channel messages to secure the release of American hostages or negotiate peace deals. There’s no question that Qatar is a country that helps stabilize the region and often is indispensable in protecting U.S. interests overseas. So, I want to cultivate and strengthen that important relationship. I honor the work that the United States and UAE does all around the region to try to track down and hold accountable terrorists. These are real partnerships. But our relationship with Qatar and the UAE, it can’t be a corrupt relationship. We can’t sell drones to Qatar, our friend, if our friend is willing to take part in Trump’s corruption. We cannot sell weapons to the UAE, our ally, if our ally is willing to take part in Trump’s corruption. 
    “We’ll have a chance this week to make this clear: that the United States Senate will not facilitate, will not grease the wheels of Trump’s corruption of our foreign policy. We can do that by voting to block these two arms sales to Qatar and the UAE. Not permanently, but until both countries commit to deny Trump’s requests for personal enrichment as part of the bilateral relationship. That’s why Senators Van Hollen, Kaine, Schatz, and Sanders have joined me in two resolutions of disapproval for those Reaper drone sales and the Chinook sale, and we’ll have a vote on these two resolutions as early as this week. 
    “President Trump has declared that U.S. foreign policy is for sale. And the opening bids, from two of the richest nations in the world, is a $2 billion investment in Trump’s crypto company, from the UAE, and a $400 million luxury plane, essentially for the president’s permanent personal use. At the exact same moment that Trump is trying to push a bill through this Congress that is going to ruin a lot of people’s lives, cutting off their health care or leaving kids without food at night, he’s making himself even richer by trading American national security policy for gifts. And, to make it worse, trading away U.S. national security secrets in exchange. The net result is an American public that is poorer, and weaker, and less secure. And a president who is richer. It’s corrupt. It’s corrupt. We’ve never, ever, in the history of this country, allowed for a president to do this. Never in the 250 years that our republic has been on the Earth has a president ever asked another nation to enrich himself in this way, in exchange for preferential treatment from the U.S. taxpayers. If you are a Republican or a Democratic senator, you have to see this as unprecedented, as terrible for our nation, as corruption. American foreign policy should not be for sale. If we let these arms sales go through, we are greasing the wheels of that corruption. If we vote for these resolutions of disapproval, at least we have a shot to stop it. 
    “I yield the floor.”
     

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Newsom’s Address to California: Democracy at a Crossroads

    Source: US State of California Governor

    Jun 10, 2025

    What you need to know: In an address delivered to nearly 40 million Californians and Americans nationwide tonight, Governor Gavin Newsom condemned President Trump’s unlawful militarization of Los Angeles and warned that the President’s actions mark a dangerous inflection point for the nation.

    LOS ANGELES — In an address delivered to nearly 40 million Californians and Americans nationwide tonight, Governor Gavin Newsom condemned President Trump’s unlawful militarization of Los Angeles and warned that the President’s actions mark a dangerous inflection point for the nation.

    “What we’re witnessing is not law enforcement — it’s authoritarianism,” Governor Newsom said to Californians. “What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty. Your silence. To be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.”

    Governor Newsom recounted recent federal raids in Latino neighborhoods, the unlawful commandeering of 4,000 California National Guard members, and the deployment of over 700 active-duty Marines to the streets of an American city — all done without consultation with state or local officials. “Trump is pulling a military dragnet across Los Angeles,” Newsom said. “It’s weakness masquerading as strength.”

    Calling this a moment of national reckoning, the Governor urged Americans to take peaceful action. “The most important office in a democracy is not President or Governor — it’s citizen.”

    Watch and read the entire speech here:

    Governor Newsom’s Address to California: Democracy at a Crossroads

    I want to say a few words about the events of the last few days. 

    This past weekend, federal agents conducted large-scale workplace raids in and around Los Angeles. 

    Those raids continue as I speak.

    California is no stranger to immigration enforcement. 

    But instead of focusing on undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records and people with final deportation orders – a strategy both parties have long supported – this administration is pushing mass deportations.

    Indiscriminately targeting hardworking immigrant families, regardless of their roots or risk.

    What’s happening right now is very different than anything we’ve seen before. 

    On Saturday morning, when federal agents jumped out of an unmarked van near a Home Depot parking lot, they began grabbing people. 

    A deliberate targeting of a heavily Latino suburb.

    A similar scene also played out when a clothing company was raided downtown.

    In other actions: a US citizen, 9 months pregnant – arrested. A four-year-old girl – taken.

    Families separated. Friends disappearing.  

    In response, everyday Angelinos came out to exercise their Constitutional right to free speech and assembly

    To protest their government’s actions. 

    In turn, the State of California and the City and County of Los Angeles sent our police officers to help keep the peace, and with some exceptions, they were successful.

    Like many states, California is no stranger to this sort of civil unrest. We manage it regularly … and with our own law enforcement.

    But this, again, was different. 

    What then ensued was the use of tear gas. Flash-bang grenades. Rubber bullets. 

    Federal agents, detaining people and undermining their due process rights.

    Donald Trump, without consulting with California’s law enforcement leaders, commandeered 2,000 of our state’s National Guard members to deploy on our streets. 

    Illegally, and for no reason.

    This brazen abuse of power by a sitting President inflamed a combustible situation … putting our people, our officers, and the National Guard at risk. 

    That’s when the downward spiral began. He doubled down on his dangerous National Guard deployment by fanning the flames even harder.

    And the President did it on purpose.

    As the news spread throughout LA, anxiety for family and friends ramped up. Protests started again. 

    By night, several dozen lawbreakers became violent and destructive. They vandalized property. They tried to assault police officers. 

    Many of you have seen video clips of cars burning on cable news.  

    If you incite violence or destroy our communities, you are going to be held accountable. 

    That kind of criminal behavior will not be tolerated. Full stop. 

    Already, more than 370 people have been arrested. And we’re reviewing tapes to build additional cases, and people will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

    Again, thanks to our law enforcement officers and the majority of Angelenos who protested peacefully, this situation was winding down and was concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown.

    But that’s not what Donald Trump wanted. 

    He again chose escalation; he chose more force.

    He chose theatrics over public safety – he federalized another 2,000 Guard members. 

    He deployed more than 700 active U.S. Marines. 

    These are men and women trained in foreign combat, not domestic law enforcement. 

    We honor their service. We honor their bravery. But we do not want our streets militarized by our own Armed Forces. Not in L.A. Not in California. Not anywhere.

    We’re seeing unmarked cars in school parking lots. Kids, afraid to attend their own graduation. 

    Trump is pulling a military dragnet across LA, well beyond his stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals.

    His agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers and seamstresses – That’s just weakness. Weakness, masquerading as strength.

    Donald Trump’s government isn’t protecting our communities – they are traumatizing our communities. And that seems to be the point. 

    California will keep fighting on behalf of our people – all of our people – including in the courts. 

    Yesterday, we filed a legal challenge to President Trump’s reckless deployment of American troops to a major American city.

    Today, we sought an emergency court order to stop the use of the American military to engage in law enforcement activities across Los Angeles.

    If some of us can be snatched off the streets without a warrant, based only on suspicion or skin color, then none of us are safe. 

    Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves. But they do not stop there.

    Trump and his loyalists thrive on division because it allows them to take more power and exert even more control. 

    By the way, Trump – he’s not opposed to lawlessness and violence, as long as it serves HIM. 

    What more evidence do we need than January 6th?

    I ask everyone to take the time to reflect on this perilous moment.

    A president who wants to be bound by no law or constitution.

    Perpetrating a unified assault on American traditions.

    This is a President who, in just over 140 days, has fired government watchdogs that could hold him accountable for corruption and fraud.

    He’s declared a war on culture, on history, on science – on knowledge itself. Databases, quite literally vanishing.

    He’s delegitimizing news organizations and assaulting the First Amendment.

    At the threat of defunding them, he’s dictating what universities can teach.

    Targeting law firms and the judicial branch that are the foundation of an orderly, civil society.

    Calling for a sitting Governor to be arrested for no other reason than – to use his words – “for getting elected.”

    And we all know, this Saturday, he’s ordering our American heroes – the United States military – forcing them to put on a vulgar display to celebrate his birthday, just as other failed dictators have done in the past.

    Look, this isn’t just about protests in LA. 

    When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state in this nation.

    This is about all of us. This is about you.

    California may be first – but it clearly won’t end here. Other states are next.

    Democracy is next.

    Democracy is under assault right before our eyes – the moment we’ve feared has arrived. 

    He’s taking a wrecking ball to our founding fathers’ historic project.

    Three independent, coequal branches of government. 

    There are no longer any checks and balances. Congress is nowhere to be found. Speaker Johnson has completely abdicated that responsibility.

    The rule of law has increasingly given way to the rule of Don.

    The founding fathers did not live and die to see this moment.

    It’s time for all of us to stand up. 

    Justice Brandeis said it best: in a democracy, the most important office is not president, it’s certainly not governor. The most important office is office of citizen.

    At this moment, we must all stand up and be held to a higher level of accountability. 

    If you exercise your First Amendment rights, please do so peacefully. 

    I know many of you are feeling deep anxiety, stress, and fear.

    But I want you to know that YOU are the antidote to that fear and anxiety.

    What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty. Your silence. To be complicit in this moment.

    Do NOT give in to him.

    Press releases

    Recent news

    Jun 10, 2025

    News LOS ANGELES – Governor Newsom and Attorney General Bonta are standing up all states by filing a lawsuit and request to block President Trump and the Department of Defense’s illegal militarization of Los Angeles and the takeover of a California National Guard (Cal…

    Jun 10, 2025

    News “Turning the military against American citizens” What you need to know:  Standing up for American citizens and the Nation’s foundational ban on martial law in peacetime, California Governor Newsom and Attorney General Bonta are requesting the court step in to…

    Jun 9, 2025

    News What you need to know: California is surging mutual aid resources to support law enforcement as they clean up the actions caused by President Trump. LOS ANGELES – Moving quickly to support local response to federal actions that have caused unrest in Los Angeles,…

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Video: EveningReport A View from Afar: The Trump Assassination Attempt, Security, The Politics, What Happens Next

    Source: EveningReport.nz (Video Podcasts)

    The Trump Assassination Attempt, Security Failures, The Politics and What Happens Next? – Firstly, in this episode of A View from Afar, political scientist and former Pentagon analyst, Dr Paul Buchanan, provides us a preliminary assessment of the assassination attempt on former United States president Donald Trump.

    Today we will examine:

    How could an assassin get inside a security parameter, and in to a position with direct line of sight to his target Donald Trump?

    And specifically, while the gunman was outside the immediate venue, it would appear the shooter’s location was within the security parameters, a position obvious to him as a prime area, with direct line of sight to his intended target.

    So why wouldn’t that fact be obvious to the US security services who were responsible for ensuring the parameters were safe and clear?

    And, importantly too, what are the political implications of this assassination attempt?
    For example; does this assassination attempt accentuate Trump’s mythology as an invincible born to rule leader? And as such, draw contrast to the incumbent US President Joe Biden’s frailty?

    In this regard, Paul and Selwyn assess what is likely to happen next?

    INTERACTION WHILE LIVE:

    Paul and Selwyn encourage their live audience to interact while they are live with questions and comments. So, we encourage you to Subscribe and Engage.

    To interact during the live recording of this podcast, go to Youtube.com/c/EveningReport/

    Remember to subscribe to the channel.

    For the on-demand audience, you can also keep the conversation going on this debate by clicking on one of the social media channels below:

    Youtube.com/c/EveningReport/
    Facebook.com/selwyn.manning
    Twitter.com/Selwyn_Manning

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kPGtKb7k2s

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI China: 110,000 trips: China-Europe freight train service embraces new progress

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    The 110,000th China-Europe freight train departs from Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, June 10, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    JINAN, June 10 — The 110,000th China-Europe freight train departed from Qingdao in east China’s Shandong Province on Tuesday morning, marking a milestone in the service’s high-quality development.

    Loaded with 55 containers of home appliances, including LCD monitors and refrigerators worth nearly 20 million yuan (about 2.78 million U.S. dollars), the train will exit China via northern Inner Mongolia’s Erenhot Port, the largest land port on the China-Mongolia border, before arriving in Europe in 17 days, said Gao Yitian, an official from the Jiaozhou branch of Jinan Railway Logistics Center.

    As a witness, Gao said that over the past decade, the China-Europe freight train service has expanded dramatically, not just in volume, but also in reach, cargo diversity, and efficiency. The international logistics network in Shandong has transported not only Chinese exports but also cross-border goods from Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Southeast Asian countries.

    “I believe that these trains will continue to deliver more ‘Made in China’ products while providing better services for countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative and people there,” Gao added.

    As of now, a total of 128 Chinese cities have launched China-Europe freight train service, reaching 229 cities in 26 European countries and over 100 cities in 11 Asian countries.

    Customs officers supervise the departure of the 110,000th China-Europe freight train at Jiaozhou Railway Station in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, June 10, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    An aerial drone photo shows the 110,000th China-Europe freight train departing from Jiaozhou Railway Station in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, June 10, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    An aerial drone photo shows the 110,000th China-Europe freight train departing from Jiaozhou Railway Station in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, June 10, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    The 110,000th China-Europe freight train waits for departure at Jiaozhou Railway Station in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, June 10, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    This photo shows the 110,000th China-Europe freight train bound for Moscow of Russia, departing from Jiaozhou Railway Station in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, June 10, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    This photo shows the 110,000th China-Europe freight train bound for Moscow of Russia, departing from Jiaozhou Railway Station in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, June 10, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    An aerial drone photo shows the 110,000th China-Europe freight train departing from Jiaozhou Railway Station in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, June 10, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    Railway workers pose for photos in front of the 110,000th China-Europe freight train before its departure at Jiaozhou Railway Station in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, June 10, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    An aerial drone photo shows the 110,000th China-Europe freight train departing from Jiaozhou Railway Station in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, June 10, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    This photo shows the 110,000th China-Europe freight train bound for Moscow of Russia, waiting for departure at Jiaozhou Railway Station in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, June 10, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    An aerial drone photo shows the 110,000th China-Europe freight train departing from Jiaozhou Railway Station in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, June 10, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: China mulls measures to regulate livestream e-commerce

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    A visitor introduces a Chery flying car via live-streaming during the 21st Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in east China’s Shanghai, April 23, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    Public opinion on regulations for the supervision and administration of livestream e-commerce is being solicited, China’s top market regulator announced on Tuesday.

    The State Administration for Market Regulation said that it has drafted the regulations in collaboration with the Cyberspace Administration of China to enhance livestream e-commerce supervision and administration, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and operators, and promote the healthy development of the sector.

    The regulations require livestream e-commerce platform operators to enhance identity verification and qualification reviews for livestream room operators, livestream marketing services agencies and livestream marketing personnel.

    Livestream marketing personnel are required to provide real, accurate and comprehensive introductions to products or services, and must not cheat or mislead consumers.

    Operators of e-commerce platforms should cooperate with relevant authorities to take measures against those who violate market supervision or internet-related laws and regulations, the top market regulator said, emphasizing the legal responsibilities that should be borne for failing to meet legal obligations.

    The regulator said it will improve the content of the regulations based on feedback from public consultations, and it will implement them as soon as possible.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: China’s top diplomat meets African foreign ministers

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday met respectively with some African counterparts who came to China for the Ministerial Meeting of Coordinators on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Changsha, capital of central China’s Hunan province.

    These African foreign ministers include Kenya’s Musalia Mudavadi, Senegal’s Yassine Fall, Tanzania’s Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, Namibia’s Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, Botswana’s Phenyo Butale, and Angola’s Tete Antonio.

    When meeting with Mudavadi, Wang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that China is willing to work with Kenya to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, firmly support each other, enhance mutual trust, consolidate the political foundation of China-Kenya relations, and continuously inject strong impetus into bilateral cooperation.

    Noting that the ministerial meeting is a gathering of Chinese and African countries, Wang said it will surely enhance the solidarity of countries in the Global South.

    China attaches great importance to Kenya’s role and influence and is willing to enhance strategic communication and coordination to jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries and the basic norms governing international relations, he added.

    Mudavadi said that Kenya adheres to the one-China principle, and Kenya will continue to stand firmly with China, adding that Kenya looks forward to further deepening mutually beneficial cooperation with China.

    When meeting with Fall, Wang said China is willing to continue to share new development opportunities with African countries, including Senegal, and help African countries achieve modernization.

    China is willing to work with Senegal to uphold the concept of multilateralism and the basic norms governing international relations, as well as the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries and international fairness and justice, he added.

    Fall said that Senegal firmly adheres to the one-China principle, and will safeguard the solid friendship between Senegal and China as well as Africa and China.

    Senegal looks forward to strengthening high-level exchanges with China, and promoting the upgrading of bilateral cooperation, Fall said, adding that the country welcomes China’s increased investment.

    When meeting with Kombo, Wang said Tanzania has become one of the countries where the outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation have been implemented most effectively, and China appreciates Tanzania’s understanding and support for China’s legitimate position on issues concerning its core interests.

    He said China is willing to work with Tanzania and Zambia to rejuvenate the Tanzania-Zambia Railway and set an example for mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Africa.

    Kombo thanked China for the assistance it has provided to Tanzania’s national construction and development and for offering zero-tariff treatment to Tanzania, saying that China has become one of Tanzania’s most important economic and trade partners.

    Tanzania adheres to the one-China principle and is firmly committed to friendship between the two countries, said Kombo.

    When meeting with Ashipala-Musavyi, Wang said China stands ready to work with Namibia to carry forward the fine tradition of mutual trust, mutual support, and solidarity, ensuring that China-Namibia friendship gains fresh vitality in the new era.

    The two sides should strengthen the alignment of their development strategies, and upgrade mutually beneficial cooperation, so that Namibia can expedite its industrialization process and deliver more benefits to its people, said Wang.

    Ashipala-Musavyi said Namibia looks forward to strengthening synergy with China and is confident that the ministerial meeting will yield fruitful results.

    When meeting with Butale, Wang said this year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Botswana, and China supports Botswana in exploring an independent and self-reliant development path.

    Noting that China stands ready to work with Botswana to ensure that mutually beneficial cooperation yields more substantial outcomes, Wang said China will further expand market access for Botswana and explore enhanced cooperation across sectors including trade, energy, manufacturing and processing industries, as well as health.

    Butale said Botswana firmly adheres to the one-China principle, and is committed to deepening the Belt and Road cooperation.

    When meeting with Antonio, Wang said that China maintains the continuity and stability of its policy towards Angola and does not attach any political condition to its assistance to Angola.

    Wang said that China supports Angola’s efforts to promote national development, encourages and supports Chinese enterprises to increase investment in Angola, and hopes that Angola will safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and personnel in Angola.

    Antonio expressed gratitude to hundreds of Chinese enterprises for their contribution to the development and infrastructure construction of Angola, adding that Angola is willing to strengthen cooperation with China and fulfill its duties as the rotating chair of the African Union.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Young bloods display skill, sweat and tears

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    With young talents honed and some tough lessons learned, China’s new-look women’s volleyball team kicked off its comeback to international contention with a hard test at the Volleyball Nations League showpiece.

    Despite a tearful ending at the hands of its bitter rival Turkiye, China’s fresh-faced squad signed off its first major international event in the new Olympic cycle at the VNL’s Beijing leg with quite a positive takeaway, leaving fans and pundits alike buoyed by the young unit’s growth potential in the build-up to the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

    But even with the home crowd clapping on their feet to acknowledge their effort, Chinese players left the court unsatisfied with an opportunity wasted to avenge their quarterfinal loss to Turkiye at Paris 2024, after they let slip a 24-20 advantage in the fourth set, having led 2-1 overall, to lose 3-2 to the European champion on Sunday in the final match at the Beijing tournament.

    Zhang Zixuan sets up the ball for Wang Yuanyuan during Sunday’s Volleyball Nations League match against Turkiye in Beijing. XINHUA

    It wasn’t a disgrace at all for the rebuilt team to be narrowly defeated by the women’s world No 3 and VNL’s 2023 season winner, which provided a steep, yet helpful, learning curve for China’s young hopefuls to grow.

    “Given the gap between us and the Turkish team at the moment, expectations were not that high (before the match), but I think we proved tonight that we can at least put up a fight against them and make them work,” China’s outside hitter Zhuang Yushan said after the match at Beijing’s National Indoor Stadium.

    “We lost the match, but boosted our confidence. I think we will be braver facing world-class opponents in the next event,” said Zhuang, who scored 24 points (21 kills, two blocks and one service ace) to lead the host on Sunday.

    China’s other outside hitter Wu Mengjie, despite walking off the court in tears, summed up the near-miss as a painful step forward.

    “A loss like tonight stings for sure, but an experience like this is invaluable. We learned that we have to take care of the process better,” said a weeping Wu, who scored 18 points in the match against Turkiye, which played in Beijing without its star spikers Melissa Vargas and Ebrar Karakurt.

    Team China, led by new head coach Zhao Yong, eventually capped off the home VNL leg with two wins (over Belgium and France) and two losses (the other to Poland) to finish in seventh place after the first week of the 18-nation preliminary phase.

    The next prelim stage takes place from June 16-22 in Hong Kong, where Team China will take on Japan, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Italy.

    Citing the lack of international experience, Zhao calls for patience and support for his players to mature through ups and downs to gradually live up to fans’ high demands for the celebrated national program.

    “I think our players have stood up to the grind and made solid progress after four matches,” said the 49-year-old former coach of domestic league team Liaoning, who was appointed the national squad’s new boss in April.

    “It’s the first international meet at the senior level for a lot of our players. They do need a process to develop, in terms of handling key points under pressure and making the right adjustment mentally.”

    Zhao’s appointment, replacing the squad’s long-term mentor Cai Bin, and his call-up of 12 new players, who made their national team debut in Beijing, reflect the national governing body’s resolve to revitalize the once glorious program, following a series of international flops in recent years, and bring it back into medal contention in time for the Olympic campaign at LA 2028.

    Since winning its first World Cup in 1981, the Chinese women’s team has collected a total of 10 world titles, including three Olympic gold medals (1984, 2004 and 2016) and two world championships (1982,1986), emerging as a source of inspiration for almost all walks of life across the country.

    The home VNL event has served up a high-profile stage for some of the host’s best young guns, particularly teen combo Zhang Zixuan and Wang Aoqian, to make their presence felt.

    As the Chinese women’s team’s youngest starter in history, the 16-year-old setter Zhang stole the show in the host’s opening game against Belgium by nicely setting up the offense play for four teammates to score in double digits in China’s 3-0 win over the European team on last Wednesday.

    “I was a little bit nervous at first, but the home fans’ enthusiasm inspired me and helped me get myself into the game very quickly,” said Zhang, who led China to win the FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship in 2024.

    Another teen prospect who turned heads at the Beijing meet was 17-year-old middle blocker Wang, who impressed coach Zhao and her senior teammates with composure and aggressiveness beyond her years.

    “When coach Zhao asked me to warm up, I was so nervous that I felt like I was shaking, but my teammates helped calm me down,” Wang said of her debut on Saturday in Team China’s 3-0 victory over France where she contributed six points off the bench. “When attacking, I think I can contribute. Since the coach trusted me, I just gave it my all.”

    Zhao, a renowned mentor of young talents with his Liaoning team at the club level, took pride from the performances of the fresh blood.

    “We needed to improve our middle attack, and Wang Aoqian has good chemistry with our setter Zhang Zixuan. For a 17-year-old playing her first big international match and being called upon during a tough moment she did really well,” Zhao said.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: June 10th, 2025 Heinrich Presses USDA Secretary on Threats to Public Health and Safety Following DOGE Actions

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for New Mexico Martin Heinrich
    WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins on the harmful impacts of the “Department of Government Efficiency’s” (DOGE) actions on the United States Forest Service (USFS). The letter stresses the USFS’ operational failures that are occurring due to new layers of red tape required by DOGE, such as accumulating garbage at recreational sites and a lack of firefighting equipment in preparation of wildfires.
    “I write to express deep concern regarding the devastating impact of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) actions at the United States Forest Service (USFS). New layers of red tape installed by DOGE have created dysfunction, confusion, and uncertainty at the agency,” Heinrich began. “Elon Musk and DOGE promised to make government more efficient and to root out waste. Instead, their actions have made the agency less efficient, and as a result, critical supplies are missing and garbage is piling up across the National Forest System.” 
    USFS manages more than 30,000 recreation sites around the country. Recreation on the National Forest System draws in 160 million visitors annually, which contributes over $13 billion to the economy and supports more than 160,000 jobs. As a result of President Trump’s Executive Order 14222, DOGE is now required to approve new or extended contracts at the Forest Service, even for routine activities or critical supplies.
    Heinrich continued, “Contracts for janitorial services that previously received approval in mere days are now reportedly taking a month or longer to complete. The delay has led to garbage piling up at recreation sites and toilets going uncleaned or unemptied. The threat to public health and safety from contracting delays is not limited to custodial services. The additional levels of review mandated by DOGE have also reportedly slowed down or halted wildfire preparedness efforts, including the acquisition of firefighting equipment and helicopters.”
    “Despite your assurances, it is clear that massive staff reductions, coupled with operational delays at USFS, have left the agency ill-prepared to meet the many challenges brought on by the summer months,” Heinrich pressed, citing Rollins’ recent comments at an event with Secretary Burgum, where she expressed that her agency is taking the fire season very seriously, and that federal wildland firefighters are ready to respond. 
    Heinrich concluded the letter by requesting detailed answers from Rollins on the Forest Service’s current contracting and procurement procedures, including approval timelines, personnel involved, and the status or justification for contract modifications, terminations, or denials related to firefighting and support services.
    Read the full letter here and below:
    Dear Secretary Rollins:
    I write to express deep concern regarding the devastating impact of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) actions at the United States Forest Service (USFS). New layers of red tape installed by DOGE have created dysfunction, confusion, and uncertainty at the agency. Elon Musk and DOGE promised to make government more efficient and to root out waste. Instead, their actions have made the agency less efficient, and as a result, critical supplies are missing and garbage is piling up across the National Forest System.
    As you know, USFS manages more than 30,000 recreation sites around the country where Americans hike, bike, picnic, camp, fish, and engage in other recreational activities. Nearly 160 million people visit the National Forest System annually. A visit to our public lands not only improves visitors’ physical and mental health, but also provides access to cultural and heritage opportunities that build community and a sense of national pride. The economic benefits associated with the National Forest System are equally as pronounced. Outdoor recreation on the Nation Forest System alone contributes over $13 billion to the economy and supports more than 160,000 jobs. Despite the clear benefits of a fully-functioning USFS, DOGE has undermined the agency at every turn and prevented USFS from carrying out its core responsibilities.
    According to a recent report, USFS has suffered significant operational failings since DOGE personnel arrived at the agency. New processes instituted by DOGE have led to lengthy approval times for contracts, significantly diminishing the agency’s ability to meet basic functions and needs. Contracts for janitorial services that previously received approval in mere days are now reportedly taking a month or longer to complete. The delay has led to garbage piling up at recreation sites and toilets going uncleaned or unemptied.
    The threat to public health and safety from contracting delays is not limited to custodial services. The additional levels of review mandated by DOGE have also reportedly slowed down or halted wildfire preparedness efforts, including the acquisition of firefighting equipment and helicopters. Firefighting operations are extremely equipment intensive and must often set up in remote locations. Operational flexibility and contracting speed are therefore critical to successful firefighting efforts and public safety.
    You appeared with Secretary Burgum at an event last month and said, “[w]e are taking this fire season very seriously, and our federal wildland firefighters are prepared to respond.” Despite your assurances, it is clear that massive staff reductions, coupled with operational delays at USFS, have left the agency ill-prepared to meet the many challenges brought on by the summer months.
    In light of these concerns, I request responses to the following questions by June 24, 2025:
    1. According to recent reporting, the process for getting new procurements or contracts approved has changed several times. Please describe in detail the process for getting new procurements approved at the agency. In responding to this question, please include the following:
    a. The amount of time typically needed to receive approval.
    b. How many personnel are required to approve procurements or contracts related to routine equipment replacement or maintenance.
    c. Whether the approval chain includes the General Services Administration or other personnel outside the Forest Service.
    2. Please describe in detail the process for getting modifications to existing contracts approved.
    a. The amount of time typically needed to receive approval.
    b. How many personnel are required to approve procurements or contracts related to routine equipment replacement or maintenance.
    c. Whether the approval chain includes the General Services Administration or other personnel outside the Forest Service.
    3. In February 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order (EO) 14222 establishing requirements for new and existing contracts.9 Please provide the following information:           
    a. The EO states, “[e]ach Agency Head, in consultation with the agency’s DOGE Team Lead, shall conduct a comprehensive review of each agency’s contracting policies, procedures, and personnel.  Each Agency Head shall complete this process within 30 days of the date of this order and shall not issue or approve new contracting officer warrants during the review period, unless the Agency Head determines such approval is necessary.” Have you completed this process? Did you determine any contract approvals were necessary during the review period?                b. The EO states, “[f]ollowing the review specified in subsection (c) of this section, and prior to entering into new contracts, each Agency Head shall, in consultation with the agency’s DOGE Team Lead, issue guidance on signing new contracts or modifying existing contracts to promote Government efficiency and the policies of my Administration. The Agency Head may approve new contracts prior to the issuance of such guidance on a case-by-case basis.” Did you approve any new contracts or modifications prior to the issuance of guidance? 
    4. Please provide a list of all Department contracts for goods and services DOGE has identified for termination or renegotiation. In responding to this question, please provide the following information:
    a. A description of each contract DOGE has identified for termination or renegotiation and the current status.
    b. DOGE’s justification for terminating or renegotiating the contract.
    5. Since January 20, 2025, has the Department terminated or recompeted any contract for goods and services? If so, please provide the following information for each contract terminated or recompeted:
    a. A description of the contract terminated or recompeted.
    b. The reason the Department terminated or recompeted the contract.
    6. Since January 20, 2025, has the Department entered into any new contracts for goods and services? If so, please provide detailed information.
    7. Since January 20, 2025, has the agency received any complaints from staff about lengthy times to get janitorial services contracts approved or awarded? If so, please explain.
    8. DOGE reportedly denied funding to continue using smoke detection devices called “sniffers.” The agency also reportedly got rid of support for a platform used by firefighters to acquire equipment and track critical supplies.10 Are these reports accurate? If so, please explain your rationale.
    9. Is DOGE approval required each time contracted fire aviation assets are mobilized for water or fireretardant drops?
    10. Is DOGE approval required for each contract for locally-owned equipment that the Forest Service can mobilize through individual contracts with farmers and ranchers, such as bulldozers and backhoes?
    11. Is DOGE approval required for fire camp contractors, such as caterers, medical personnel, or providers of portable toilets and showers?
    Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact my staff at (202) 224-4971.
    Sincerely,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: ​More than 2,000 China-Europe express trains have made trips along the Eastern Corridor in the first five months of this year

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    According to China Railway Harbin Group, more than 2,000 trains have traveled along the Eastern Corridor in the first five months of 2025, accounting for 26.3% of the national total. The proportion of return trips is 31.9% of the national total. This is conducive to the further implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative.

    The Eastern Corridor includes the Manzhouli, Suifenhe and Tongjiang railway crossings. There are currently 27 routes in operation, connecting 14 countries including Poland, Germany and the Netherlands with more than 60 cities in China such as Changsha, Zhengzhou, Chengdu and Suzhou. It is an important element of connectivity and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and countries along the Belt and Road.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Solar on Farms: Unlocking farm cost savings

    Source: New Zealand Government

    Energy Minister Simon Watts has announced the Government’s new Solar on Farms initiative, which will support farmers in taking the next step towards installing solar and battery systems, helping them reduce energy costs, increase on-farm resilience, and allow farmers to gain greater control over their power use, leading to increased efficiency and productivity.

    The Solar on Farms package includes:

    • Independent and practical tools and advice to assist farmers
    • A dedicated help function to guide farmers through the opportunities
    • Feasibility studies and technology demonstrations tailored to various farm types
    • Real-life energy data for different farm types, showing how solar energy works in practice
    • Independent advice on progressing consents and applications with local and regional bodies and Electricity Distribution Businesses
    • A partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Finance to accelerate access to finance, making it quicker, simpler and easier.

    “Kiwi farmers have a long history of adapting, problem-solving and finding ways to be smart with land and resources. Real progress comes from the ground up, from people who understand the land, the seasons, and how to run a business,” Mr Watts says.

    “That’s why we want to give farmers more choices and the ability to unlock the cost savings that come with on-farm solar, batteries, and flexible energy systems. However, to achieve this, farmers require the correct information, evidence, tools, and trusted advice.

    “That’s where Solar on Farms comes in. It’s a practical support package that helps farmers determine if solar and battery systems are right for them by working with them to navigate the details of installing and leveraging this technology for their businesses. The package provides farmers with direct access to independent advice. It offers solutions tailored to various farm types and energy profiles.

    “Farms across New Zealand, especially those using irrigation and other energy-intensive systems, are facing increasingly high and unpredictable energy costs. This adds real pressure to already tight margins. 

    “On-farm solar and batteries can help reduce that pressure by improving self-sufficiency and lowering exposure to rising energy prices, especially in rural and remote areas. Generating electricity on-farm also creates opportunities to receive revenue from solar electricity back to the grid.

    “Early modelling tells us that if 30 per cent of Kiwi farms installed larger systems – of the size we see on some farms already – they could generate as much as 10 per cent of New Zealand’s current electricity demand. This is a real win for the security of our energy supply.”

    EECA is leading the delivery of Solar on Farms in collaboration with farmers, sector bodies, and technical experts, and the package of initiatives will be available soon.

    Fieldays 2025 also celebrated the launch of Farmlands Flex, a complementary solar on farms product from Farmlands and energy innovator Blackcurrent, with the support of Ara Ake, New Zealand’s energy innovation centre. The product combines solar, batteries and smart software in a fully managed system that enables users to generate, store and manage their energy on-site.

    “The Farmlands Flex product includes equipment, flexible demand management software, and takes care of the installation and application processes on behalf of the farmer,” says Mr Watts. 

    “It is an excellent demonstration of how solar purchasing and installation can be made more efficient.”

    Mr Watts also welcomed ASB’s recent announcement of a new 0 percent solar loan aimed at helping farmers secure long-term energy resilience and cost savings.

    “I look forward to seeing how products like Farmlands Flex, the ASB SMART solar loan, and our Solar on Farms initiative help set the farming sector up for long-term success.”

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Māori tamariki and rangatahi in the Oranga Tamariki System are still being failed

    Source: State Care survivor and advocate, Ihorangi Reweti Peters

    The outcomes for tamariki and rangatahi Māori and their whānau in the Oranga Tamariki system report, found that tamariki and rangatahi Māori and their whānau are still over-represented and drastically let down within the system.

    The first report on the performance of the Oranga Tamariki system for Māori was published today by Aroturuki Tamariki the Independent Children’s Monitor. State Care survivor and advocate, Ihorangi Reweti Peters, who grew up in the Oranga Tamariki system, says this report shines a light on the performance of the Oranga Tamariki system and that Māori tamariki and rangatahi are still being failed by the very system that is supposed to be caring for them.

    “The Independent Children’s Monitor found that Oranga Tamariki and NZ Police have strategies in place to address inequality and over-representation but there are barriers to making progress. It is crucial that both Oranga Tamariki and the New Zealand Police invest in adequate partnerships with Iwi, Māori and community initiatives that support tamariki and rangatahi Māori that are in care of Oranga Tamariki and with care experience,” Mr Reweti Peters says.

    “These partnerships need to be increased so that our whānau, tamariki and rangatahi Māori have a safe and reliable organisation to raise concerns with. Oranga Tamariki is known to have multiple partnerships, sometimes these partnerships are not the best.

    “The report also found that Oranga Tamariki is not always taking action to respond to reports of concern at the earliest opportunity. They found that almost half of the reports of concerns, resulted in a decision to take no further action. The reporting period 2023/24 showed that 52% of the reports of concerns received by Oranga Tamariki were for tamariki and rangatahi who identified as Māori.

    “Early intervention is key to responding to reports of concern and supporting these whānau and making sure that our tamariki and rangatahi Māori remain out of Oranga Tamariki care. Ngā Maata Waka and Oranga Tamariki were working in partnership to provide community-led initiatives that responds to reports of concern. This successful initiative no longer operates due to a lack of funding and the roll-out of a new National Contact Centre localised response.

    “This initiative was crucial for Māori whānau as it was a by Māori for Māori approach – where tamariki, rangatahi and whānau can engage in the ways that they want to respond to the report of concern. If this service is not reinstated our whānau will continue to fall through the cracks and not receive the right support that they are entitled too.“I welcome the report today by the Independent Children’s Monitor and I hope that Oranga Tamariki, in the interim, will improve the outcomes for tamariki and rangatahi Māori. However, Oranga Tamariki is still in no place to care for some of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most vulnerable children and young people. I echo the calls from survivors, academics and whānau, that Oranga Tamariki needs to be dismantled and Iwi, Hāpū and Whānau need to take over the provisions of caring for our tamariki and rangatahi,” says Mr Reweti Peters.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Report on outcomes for tamariki and rangatahi Māori in the oranga tamariki system – a story of consequence

    Source: Aroturuki Tamariki | Independent Children’s Monitor

    In the first of a new annual report series – Outcomes for tamariki and rangatahi Māori and their whānau in the oranga tamariki system – Aroturuki Tamariki | Independent Children’s Monitor found tamariki (children) and rangatahi (young people) Māori and their whānau are over-represented in the oranga tamariki system and the system is letting them down. While Oranga Tamariki has a pivotal role, the system includes NZ Police and the Ministries of Health, Education and Social Development.

    Most tamariki and rangatahi Māori have no involvement in the oranga tamariki system. But when they do, there are increasing levels of over-representation – almost 50 percent of reports of concern made to Oranga Tamariki are about tamariki and rangatahi Māori, they make up two-thirds of those in care, and more than three quarters of those in youth justice custody.

    Aroturuki Tamariki Chief Executive Arran Jones says the report is a story of consequence – of needs not addressed by a system that is not always able to work together to get the right support in place at the right time. “The needs of tamariki and rangatahi then multiply as they escalate through the system,” Mr Jones said.

    Data shows 92 percent of rangatahi referred to a youth justice family group conference in 2023/24 had concerns raised about their safety and wellbeing when they were younger.

    “Tamariki and rangatahi come to the attention of Oranga Tamariki because someone has raised concerns about alleged abuse, or their wellbeing. This is the moment to get the right services and supports in place so tamariki and rangatahi don’t escalate through the system,” says Mr Jones

    Escalation through the system can eventually mean involvement with the Police – and Police data shows a difference in the severity of proceedings against tamariki and rangatahi Māori in 2023/24:

    tamariki Māori aged 10–13 are less likely to be referred to alternative action or given a warning and more likely to be prosecuted or referred to a youth justice FGC than others
    rangatahi Māori aged 14–17 are less likely to get a warning or be referred to alternative action and more likely to be prosecuted than others.

     

    The outcomes for tamariki and rangatahi Māori currently involved with the oranga tamariki system are less positive than those for Māori with no involvement. In 2022, tamariki and rangatahi Māori:

    in care or custody, achieved education qualifications at almost half the rate of Māori with no involvement
    in the oranga tamariki system, were significantly more likely to be hospitalised for self-harm than those with no involvement
    in care, used mental health and addiction services at nearly five times the rate of Māori with no involvement. Rangatahi Māori in youth justice custody used these at 15 times the rate – 60 percent of rangatahi Māori in youth justice custody used mental health and addiction services. Considering 92 percent of these rangatahi had reports of concern made about their safety and wellbeing when they were younger, this is no surprise.

     

    “The outcomes for young Māori adults, aged 27–30, who were involved in the oranga tamariki system as children are sobering. The data paints a stark picture of the consequence of the oranga tamariki system not doing more to help. Māori adults who had been in the system as children are less likely to be employed, less likely to have a driver licence, more likely to be on a benefit, more likely to be in emergency housing, and more likely to be hospitalised for self-harm than Māori who had no involvement. Mortality rates are double or triple those of Māori with no involvement in the oranga tamariki system for vehicle accidents and for self-harm (including suicide),” says Mr Jones.

    The report also identifies the importance of breaking the cycle. For Māori parents (aged 27–30 years) who had previously been in care themselves, 68 percent have children involved with Oranga Tamariki in some way and one in eight have had one or more children in care at some point.

    “This report highlights initiatives and ways of working that provide a pathway ahead for all government agencies. Working with tamariki and rangatahi alongside their whānau, building trusted long-term relationships, looking outside of organisational silos to understand their wider needs and providing services across government and community agencies. To paraphrase one of the providers we heard from, this is where the magic happens,” says Mr Jones.

    The initiatives highlighted in the report include a statutory youth justice delegation from Oranga Tamariki to Whakapai Hauora by Rangitāne o Manawatū. Whakapai Hauora provides wraparound support to rangatahi Māori who have offended, reporting only one referral proceeding to a court order. Some rangatahi who have completed programmes have returned as mentors and one rangatahi is now employed by the retailer he offended against.

    In Auckland, Kotahi te Whakaaro, brings together government and non-government organisations. It works alongside whānau to support tamariki and rangatahi who have offended, to prevent further offending. They look across housing, schooling, health and financial challenges and put supports in place. We heard about significant reductions in reoffending, with one rangatahi telling us “I think stealing is just an idiot move now”.

    In Porirua, Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira has built a strong relationship with Oranga Tamariki. They reported that a combination of early intervention initiatives for whānau who come to the attention of Oranga Tamariki has resulted in a 21 percent reduction in renotifications (reports of concern) – to the lowest rate in Porirua in four years.

    “Before tamariki and rangatahi come to the attention of Oranga Tamariki they will have been seen by education and health staff and the parents may be known to social housing and welfare. It should not take offending, or an incident of abuse or neglect to get the support that was always needed,” says Mr Jones.

    For this report, we looked at the performance under the Oranga Tamariki Act – this Act places specific obligations on Police and Oranga Tamariki. It is clear there are opportunities to do better and this report highlights some of those.

    “Data shows that tamariki and rangatahi Māori in the system today have similar hopes and aspirations for their future as those not in system. As one rangatahi we met with told us they’d ‘just like to grow up successful and, if I find the right person, to give my kids what I couldn’t have’,” Mr Jones said.

    Read the report on our website https://aroturuki.govt.nz/reports/outcomes-23-24

    Aroturuki Tamariki – the Independent Children’s Monitor checks that organisations supporting and working with tamariki, rangatahi and their whānau, are meeting their needs, delivering services effectively, and improving outcomes. We monitor compliance with the Oranga Tamariki Act and the associated regulations, including the National Care Standards. We also look at how the wider system (such as early intervention) is supporting tamariki and rangatahi under the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Act. Aroturuki Tamariki works closely with its partners in the oversight system, Mana Mokopuna – Children and Young People’s Commission, and the Office of the Ombudsman.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: First arrest, charges made in connection to MMIWP cold case work

    Source: Washington State News

    SEATTLE – The Attorney General’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMIWP) Cold Case Unit today announced it has charged its first case since the unit was established in 2023.

    On May 21, 2025, Attorney General Nick Brown filed second-degree murder charges against Tina Marie Alcorn for the 2016 death of George David, a resident of Neah Bay and a member of the Clayoquot Indian Band of Vancouver Island, B.C. The Clallam County Superior Court issued a warrant for Alcorn’s arrest based on the charge.

    On June 3, Alcorn was arrested on the warrant in West Helena, Ark., with the assistance of the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office. On Monday, Alcorn arrived in Washington to face charges and appeared in Clallam County Superior Court on Tuesday.

    “I want to commend our cold case team for their work on behalf of victims and families,” Brown said. “This is a milestone on a long path toward accountability. The Legislature funded this work because so many people would not give up the pursuit of justice for their loved ones.”

    The case was initially investigated by the Port Angeles Police Department. David, 65, was found deceased on March 28, 2016, in a Port Angeles apartment where he had been staying temporarily. He had traveled from Neah Bay just days earlier, intending to visit family in British Columbia and attend a funeral.

    Alcorn, who has ties to Clallam County, was identified early in the investigation as the primary suspect. On April 19, 2016, Port Angeles detectives arrested her in Mount Vernon on an outstanding warrant issued by Arkansas authorities. Charges in the David homicide were not filed, and Alcorn was extradited to Arkansas and incarcerated for violating probation on an unrelated felony theft conviction.

    In 2024, Port Angeles police requested the assistance of the new cold case team. Supported by the MMIWP Cold Case Team, the department conducted additional investigation into evidence collected in 2016, including additional DNA analysis performed by the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab.

    At the request of the Port Angeles Police Department and with the support of the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office will be prosecuting the case.

    Alcorn made her first appearance in Clallam County Superior Court this afternoon. The charge in this case is an allegation only and Alcorn is presumed innocent unless proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

    -30-

    Washington’s Attorney General serves the people and the state of Washington. As the state’s largest law firm, the Attorney General’s Office provides legal representation to every state agency, board, and commission in Washington. Additionally, the Office serves the people directly by enforcing consumer protection, civil rights, and environmental protection laws. The Office also prosecutes elder abuse, Medicaid fraud, and handles sexually violent predator cases in 38 of Washington’s 39 counties.

    Visit www.atg.wa.gov to learn more.

    Media Contact:

    Email: press@atg.wa.gov

    Phone: (360) 753-2727

    General contacts: Click here

    Media Resource Guide & Attorney General’s Office FAQ

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Samsung Releases New Refrigerator Software Update To Improve User Convenience

    Source: Samsung

    Samsung Electronics announced today that it has started rolling out a software update to introduce new features for its Bespoke AI Refrigerators with screens,1 which is launching in 2025. Designed to enhance the user experience, the update includes the Voice ID feature provided by Bixby, which was unveiled at Welcome to Bespoke AI global launch event in March.
     
    “Our primary goal for this year is to realize an AI Home that adapts intuitively to the user,” said Jeong Seung Moon, EVP and Head of the R&D Team for Digital Appliances Business at Samsung Electronics. “We aim to enhance the user experience through continuous software upgrades for existing products, taking us one step closer to a true AI Home experience.”
     
     
    New Update: Bixby and Samsung TV Plus
    The Voice ID feature2 is a new multi-voice recognition function provided by Bixby.3 It identifies users’ voices registered either on the refrigerator or a Galaxy mobile device, enabling personalized features based on the recognized user. This allows consumers to personalize shared home appliances for individual use, offering greater convenience and functionality.
     
    For example, Bixby intelligently switches to each user’s Samsung account based on the recognized user. Users can check their registered schedules on the calendar,4 or their photos5 using simple voice commands. Also, they can trigger an alarm on their phone to check its location, even when the device is set to silent mode.6
     
    The Voice ID feature also enables seamless interactions with the refrigerator screen for users who utilize vision enhancements on their Galaxy mobile phones. Even without a request to switch accounts, Bixby automatically switches accounts with general conversations for these users. It then synchronizes the appliance’s display modes with the settings on the user’s mobile phone, such as color inversion or grayscale.7
     

     
    Additionally, Samsung has introduced a new way to activate Bixby on the screen. Previously, users could activate Bixby by clicking the Bixby icon on the screen or through voice commands. When the screen is off, an additional option has been added to activate Bixby by double-tapping the display. Users can make the most of this feature by selecting their preferred method in the settings.
     
    The update is being applied to Bespoke AI Refrigerators with AI Family Hub launching in 2025 first,8 with availability coming after the completion of the latest software update on AI Family Hub screens or SmartThings.
     
    Additionally, Samsung plans to gradually apply this update to the Bespoke AI refrigerators with AI Home9 in the second quarter of 2025. For refrigerators with AI Home, the update expands the service area for Samsung TV Plus, as well. Previously available in only South Korea and the United States, the service will extend to Canada, Brazil, Australia, Mexico and India. Thanks to the update, it is expected that consumers will be able to easily enjoy entertainment features right from their kitchen with Samsung TV Plus.
     
     
    1 Refers to the refrigerators with AI Family Hub, and 9-inch AI Home screens
    2 Each user must register for a Samsung Account on screen appliances in advance. Voice ID should be registered either on the refrigerator, or Galaxy mobile devices and then transferred to the refrigerator. (Limited to Galaxy S24 and subsequent models where Voice ID can be registered.)
    3 Bixby is Samsung’s brand of Internet of Things (IoT) voice assistant. Bixby service availability may vary depending on the country. Bixby recognizes certain accents/dialects of English (US, UK, Indian), Chinese, Korean, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Spain, Latin America) and Portuguese (Brazil). User interface may change and differ by device. Availability of Bixby features and content providers may vary depending on the country/carrier/language/device model/OS version. A Samsung account log-in and network connection (Wi-Fi or data network) are required.
    4 To use calendar feature, users need to either register their schedule directly on the refrigerator or link their mobile phone calendar in advance. Only Google or Microsoft calendars saved under a Google or Microsoft account can be synced with the Bespoke AI Refrigerator with AI Family Hub. (Refrigerators with AI Home support Google Calendar only.)
    5 Gallery feature is supported only for users who have saved photos to OneDrive cloud storage via the Samsung Gallery app on a Samsung mobile phone.
    6 To enable the service, a preset is required in the SmartThings Find.
    7 When a user registers a device through the SmartThings app, a one-time sync notification may appear via a plug-in. If the user signs into their Samsung account on a refrigerator and related settings are stored in the cloud, this data may be transmitted once to the device. Screen settings can be modified at any time, and any changes will be saved and remain in effect unless manually updated.
    8 Timeline may vary depending on the service region or model.
    9 AI Home refers to the 7’’ or 9’’ LCD screen on the product. Does not mean all services available on the AI Home are AI or generate information or outcome using AI. Certain functions accessible through the AI Home utilize AI-based algorithms, which can be updated periodically to improve accuracy. AI-based algorithms may generate incomplete or incorrect information.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Fiji coup culture and political meddling in media education given airing

    Pacific Media Watch

    Taieri MP Ingrid Leary reflected on her years in Fiji as a television journalist and media educator at a Fiji Centre function in Auckland celebrating Fourth Estate values and independence at the weekend.

    It was a reunion with former journalism professor David Robie — they had worked together as a team at the University of the South Pacific amid media and political controversy leading up to the George Speight coup in May 2000.

    Leary, a former British Council executive director and lawyer, was the guest speaker at a gathering of human rights activists, development advocates, academics and journalists hosted at the Whānau Community Centre and Hub, the umbrella base for the Fiji Centre, Auckland Rotuman Fellowship, Asia Pacific Media Network and other groups.

    She said she was delighted to meet “special people in David’s life” and to be speaking to a diverse group sharing “similar values of courage, freedom of expression, truth and tino rangatiratanga”.

    “I want to start this talanoa on Friday, 19 May 2000 — 13 years almost to the day of the first recognised military coup in Fiji in 1987 — when failed businessman George Speight tore off his balaclava to reveal his identity.

    She pointed out that there had actually been another “coup” 100 years earlier by Ratu Cakobau.

    “Speight had seized Parliament holding the elected government at gunpoint, including the politician mother, Lavinia Padarath, of one of my best friends — Anna Padarath.

    Hostage-taking report
    “Within minutes, the news of the hostage-taking was flashed on Radio Fiji’s 10 am bulletin by a student journalist on secondment there — Tamani Nair. He was a student of David Robie’s.”

    Nair had been dispatched to Parliament to find out what was happening and reported from a cassava patch.

    “Fiji TV was trashed . . . and transmission pulled for 48 hours.

    “The university shut down — including the student radio facilities, and journalism programme website — to avoid a similar fate, but the journalism school was able to keep broadcasting and publishing via a parallel website set up at the University of Technology Sydney.

    “The pictures were harrowing, showing street protests turning violent and the barbaric behaviour of Speight’s henchmen towards dissenters.

    “Thus began three months of heroic journalism by David’s student team — including through a period of martial law that began 10 days later and saw some of the most restrictive levels of censorship ever experienced in the South Pacific.”

    Leary paid tribute to some of the “brave satire” produced by senior Fiji Times reporters filling the newspaper with “non-news” (such as about haircuts, drinking kava) as an act of defiance.

    “My friend Anna Padarath returned from doing her masters in law in Australia on a scholarship to be closer to her Mum, whose hostage days within Parliament Grounds stretched into weeks and then months.

    Whanau Community Centre and Hub co-founder Nik Naidu speaking at the Asia Pacific Media Network event at the weekend. Image: Khairiah A. Rahman/APMN

    Invisible consequences
    “Anna would never return to her studies — one of the many invisible consequences of this profoundly destructive era in Fiji’s complex history.

    “Happily, she did go on to carve an incredible career as a women’s rights advocate.”

    “Meanwhile David’s so-called ‘barefoot student journalists’ — who snuck into Parliament the back way by bushtrack — were having their stories read and broadcast globally.

    “And those too shaken to even put their hands to keyboards on Day 1 emerged as journalism leaders who would go on to win prizes for their coverage.”

    Speight was sentenced to life in prison, but was pardoned in 2024.

    Taieri MP Ingrid Leary speaking at the Whānau Community Centre and Hub. Image: Nik Naidu/APMN

    Leary said that was just one chapter in the remarkable career of David Robie who had been an editor, news director, foreign news editor and freelance writer with a number of different agencies and news organisations — including Agence France-Presse, Rand Daily Mail, The Auckland Star, Insight Magazine, and New Outlook Magazine — “a family member to some, friend to many, mentor to most”.

    Reflecting on working with Dr Robie at USP, which she joined as television lecturer from Fiji Television, she said:

    “At the time, being a younger person, I thought he was a little bit crazy, because he was communicating with people all around the world when digital media was in its infancy in Fiji, always on email, always getting up on online platforms, and I didn’t appreciate the power of online media at the time.

    “And it was incredible to watch.”

    Ahead of his time
    She said he was an innovator and ahead of his time.

    Dr Robie viewed journalism as a tool for empowerment, aiming to provide communities with the information they needed to make informed decisions.

    “We all know that David has been a champion of social justice and for decolonisation, and for the values of an independent Fourth Estate.”

    She said she appreciated the freedom to develop independent media as an educator, adding that one of her highlights was producing the groundbreaking 1999 documentary Maire about Maire Bopp Du Pont, who was a Tahitian student journalist at USP and advocate for the Pacific community living with HIV/AIDs.

    She became a nuclear-free Pacific campaigner in Pape’ete and was also founding chief executive of  the Pacific Islands AIDS Foundation (PIAF).

    Leary presented Dr Robie with a “speaking stick” carved from an apricot tree branch by the husband of a Labour stalwart based in Cromwell — the event doubled as his 80th birthday.

    In response, Dr Robie said the occasion was a “golden opportunity” to thank many people who had encouraged and supported him over many years.

    Massive upheaval
    “We must have done something right,” he said about USP, “because in 2000, the year of George Speight’s coup, our students covered the massive upheaval which made headlines around the world when Mahendra Chaudhry’s Labour-led coalition government was held at gunpoint for 56 days.

    “The students courageously covered the coup with their website Pacific Journalism Online and their newspaper Wansolwara — “One Ocean”.  They won six Ossie Awards – unprecedented for a single university — in Australia that year and a standing ovation.”

    He said there was a video on YouTube of their exploits called Frontline Reporters and one of the students, Christine Gounder, wrote an article for a Commonwealth Press Union magazine entitled, “From trainees to professionals. And all it took was a coup”.

    Dr Robie said this Fiji experience was still one of the most standout experiences he had had as a journalist and educator.

    Along with similar coverage of the 1997 Sandline mercenary crisis by his students at the University of Papua New Guinea.

    He made some comments about the 1985 Rainbow Warrior voyage to Rongelap in the Marshall islands and the subsequent bombing by French secret agents in Auckland.

    But he added “you can read all about this adventure in my new book” being published in a few weeks.

    Taieri MP Ingrid Leary (right) with Dr David Robie and his wife Del Abcede at the Fiji Centre function. Image: Camille Nakhid

    Biggest 21st century crisis
    Dr Robie said the profession of journalism, truth telling and holding power to account, was vitally important to a healthy democracy.

    Although media did not succeed in telling people what to think, it did play a vital role in what to think about. However, the media world was undergoing massive change and fragmentation.

    “And public trust is declining in the face of fake news and disinformation,” he said

    “I think we are at a crossroads in society, both locally and globally. Both journalism and democracy are under an unprecedented threat in my lifetime.

    “When more than 230 journalists can be killed in 19 months in Gaza and there is barely a bleep from the global community, there is something savagely wrong.

    “The Gazan journalists won the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize collectively last year with the judges saying, “As humanity, we have a huge debt to their courage and commitment to freedom of expression.”

    “The carnage and genocide in Gaza is deeply disturbing, especially the failure of the world to act decisively to stop it. The fact that Israel can kill with impunity at least 54,000 people, mostly women and children, destroy hospitals and starve people to death and crush a people’s right to live is deeply shocking.

    “This is the biggest crisis of the 21st century. We see this relentless slaughter go on livestreamed day after day and yet our media and politicians behave as if this is just ‘normal’. It is shameful, horrendous. Have we lost our humanity?

    “Gaza has been our test. And we have failed.”

    Dr Robie praised the support of his wife, social justice activist Del Abcede, and family members.

    Other speakers included Whānau Hub co-founder Nik Naidu, one of the anti-coup Coalition for Democracy in Fiji (CDF) stalwarts; the Heritage New Zealand’s Antony Phillips; and Multimedia Investments and Evening Report director Selwyn Manning.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ‘Gutting the Ponsonby community’: Locals say post office should stay open

    By Aisha Campbell, RNZ News intern

    Ponsonby’s post office is shutting shop next month despite push back from the local community.

    A sign on the storefront, which is at the College Hill end of Ponsonby Road, said the closure would take place on 4 July but the post boxes would be “staying put”.

    Ponsonby local and author John Harris said New Zealand Post’s decision to close the store was “ill-considered” and it should “try harder” to cater for the people who use the shop’s services.

    “They’ve got to be mindful of the vital role that post shops like this one play in glueing the community together,” Harris said.

    “If you go down to the post shop you’ll see it’s buzzing with activity; people popping in to post parcels or to get forms filled out and so forth . . .  they’ve got to think about the effect on small communities and this is like gutting the Ponsonby community.”

    Viv Rosenberg, a spokesperson for the Ponsonby Business Association, said the group is saddened by the decision to close the shop.

    ”Our local post office has been part of the fabric of our community in Three Lamps for several years and we regard the team there as part of our Ponsonby family. We are working alongside others to try and keep it open.”

    Plan but no timeframe
    In 2018, NZ Post announced its plan to close its remaining 79 standalone post offices but did not give a timeframe on when the final store would be shut.

    NZ Post general manager consumer Sarah Sandoval said customer data and service patterns were analysed to determine where NZ Post services were best placed.

    “The Ponsonby area is well serviced by existing postal outlets, and to remove duplications of services, we’ve decided to make this change.”

    The Asia Pacific Report story about the impending Ponsonby post office shop closure published earlier this month. Image: Asia Pacific Report

    She also said that there were nearby options available, including on Hardinge Street 1.4km away, and NZ Post Herne Bay, 1km away.

    The NZ Post website said “store closures are given very careful consideration”.

    “[Reasons for closure] can include a decline in customer numbers or services which significantly affect the economic viability of the store,” NZ Post said.

    Harris emailed NZ Post CEO David Walsh expressing his disapproval of the decision to close the shop and requesting it be reconsidered.

    He said a response by the NZ Post general manager consumer stated the closure followed a close look at customer data and that there were other stores serving the Ponsonby community, which was an unsustainable way for the business to operate.

    “Herne Bay, Hardinge Street and Wellesley Street are either a challenging walk or you hop in the car and add to the grid,” Harris said.

    “They’re only thinking about the sustainability of the New Zealand Post itself not the community.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Jacaranda, black locust and London plane: common street trees show surprising resilience to growing heat in Australia

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez, Senior Lecturer in Ecology, Western Sydney University

    Kokkai Ng/Getty Images

    As Australian cities heat up and dry out, street trees are emerging as frontline defenders of urban liveability.

    Street trees make city life more bearable during heatwaves. They also improve human health and wellbeing, filter pollutants and support biodiversity.

    But as climate change intensifies droughts and dials up more extreme heat, can urban forests survive in a hotter, drier future?

    To find out, we studied how ten of Australia’s most common non-native street trees grow and tolerate drought across seven cities. The familiar species we chose are the well-loved jacaranda and widely planted London plane tree as well as box elder, European nettle tree, honey locust, sweetgum, southern magnolia, callery pear, black locust and Chinese elm.

    Unexpectedly, our new research shows several species tolerate drought better than predicted, including jacaranda and London plane. Some even put on growth spurts during droughts of unprecedented duration and heat. But others showed greater sensitivity than we had anticipated, including honey locust and black locust.

    As cities plan for a hotter future, our research will help urban planners choose the toughest, most resilient street trees.

    Penrith street trees faced the hottest conditions.
    Author provided

    What did we do?

    Street trees cool cities both through their shade and by giving off water through transpiration. These effects can lower local temperatures by several degrees, which helps offset the extra heat trapped by roads, rooftops and hard surfaces.

    But the trees we rely on for cooling are vulnerable to mounting pressures from climate change. Drought, heatwaves and limited soil and water availability in cities can all threaten tree health, growth and survival.

    To test how these species were coping, we chose over 570 street trees in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, as well as Mildura in regional Victoria, Mandurah south of Perth and Parramatta and Penrith in Western Sydney.

    We extracted small cores of wood from the trunk, in a process that leaves the tree alive and largely unaffected. The oldest tree we sampled was a 70-year-old southern magnolia in Sydney.

    Growth rings in these cores let us reconstruct their growth histories and assess how they responded both to long-term climate patterns and extreme events such as the Black Summer of 2019–20 and the Millennium Drought from 1997–2009.

    How resilient are these trees?

    What we found was both reassuring and surprising.

    Across all seven cities, the fastest average growth for all species was recorded in Mildura in northern Victoria. Overall, the slowest growth was found in the warmest location – Penrith.

    Some species behaved predictably. The black locust grew faster in cooler, wetter cities such as Melbourne, as expected, while honey locust and Chinese elms grew more slowly in hotter cities.

    But others defied expectations. Species such as London plane and southern magnolia showed consistent growth trends across cities despite the difference in heat, while others varied depending on local conditions.

    Crucially, the growth records showed many street trees responded positively to wetter conditions during the warmest months, most likely due to the longer growing season and increased access to water.

    Surprisingly, species such as box elder and Callery pear actually increased their growth during the very hot periods over the Black Summer of 2019–20 as well as during wetter La Niña periods in 2021–22. This suggests these species have adapted to warm urban environments – or that care and watering was provided.

    Jacarandas have become popular street trees in warmer cities.
    Snowscat/Unsplash, CC BY-NC-ND

    What happened during drought?

    During drought, street trees generally demonstrated strong resistance. This means they maintained their growth during dry periods.

    But their resilience – measured by their ability to bounce back to pre-drought growth rates – was often limited, especially in drier cities.

    While many street trees can withstand short-term stress, this suggests repeated or prolonged droughts can still take a toll on their long-term health.

    Interestingly, species identified as vulnerable in climate models did not always show greater sensitivity to drought or climate extremes in our real-world study.

    Why? Local conditions and species-level characteristics such as leaf size, wood density and water use strategy may play a significant role in determining which individual trees will thrive as the climate changes.

    We also know care provided by council staff or local residents is extremely useful. When trees are irrigated during stressful conditions, they can help get the tree through tough times.

    Why no eucalypts?

    During their growing season each year, many northern hemisphere trees produce growth rings. These rings make it possible to reliably reconstruct their growth histories using our methods.

    But most eucalypts don’t form clear annual growth rings. This is why we didn’t include spotted gums and other common eucalypts seen on city streets.

    Eucalypts tend to grow whenever conditions are favourable rather than being constrained by a strict annual cycle. Only a few native species reliably produce datable annual rings, such as snow gums and alpine ash. This is because they live in cold, high elevation areas, where winter consistently limits growth each year. These conditions aren’t found in any major Australian city.

    What does this mean for city planners?

    Our research shows that species selection matters a great deal.

    Some street trees such as jacarandas, London plane and the European nettle tree can thrive even under extreme heat and drought, while honey locust and Chinese elms are more sensitive to local conditions.

    Authorities can maximise the benefits of urban forests and reduce tree decline or loss by choosing resilient species and matching them to the specific climate of each city or neighbourhood.

    As climate extremes become more common, even resilient species may face new challenges.

    Planting and maintaining diverse, climate-adapted urban forests will help ensure our cities remain liveable, healthy, and green in the decades to come.

    Mark G Tjoelker receives funding from The Australian Research Council.

    Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez, Matthew Brookhouse, and Sally Power do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Jacaranda, black locust and London plane: common street trees show surprising resilience to growing heat in Australia – https://theconversation.com/jacaranda-black-locust-and-london-plane-common-street-trees-show-surprising-resilience-to-growing-heat-in-australia-257247

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The AI hype is just like the blockchain frenzy – here’s what happens when the hype dies

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Gediminas Lipnickas, Lecturer in Marketing, University of South Australia

    Izf/Shutterstock

    In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has taken centre stage across various industries. From AI-generated art to chatbots in customer service, every sector is seemingly poised for disruption.

    It’s not just in your news feed every day – venture capital is pouring in, while CEOs are eager to declare their companies “AI-first”. But for those who remember the lofty promises of other technologies that have since faded from memory, there’s an uncanny sense of déjà vu.

    In 2017, it was blockchain that promised to transform every industry. Companies added “blockchain” to their name and watched stock prices skyrocket, regardless of whether the technology was actually used, or how.

    Now, a similar trend is emerging with AI. What’s unfolding is not just a wave of innovation, but a textbook example of a tech hype cycle. We’ve been here many times before.

    Understanding the hype cycle

    The tech hype cycle, first defined by the research firm Gartner, describes how emerging technologies rise on a wave of inflated promises and expectations, crash into disillusionment and, eventually, find a more realistic and useful application.


    The Conversation, CC BY-ND

    Recognising the signs of this cycle is crucial. It helps in distinguishing between genuine technological shifts and passing fads driven by speculative investment and good marketing.

    It can also mean the difference between making a good business decision and a very costly mistake. Meta, for example, invested more than US$40 billion into the metaverse idea while seemingly chasing their own manufactured tech hype, only to abandon it later.



    Read more:
    Why the metaverse isn’t ready to be the future of work just yet

    When buzz outpaces reality

    In 2017, blockchain was everyone’s focus. Presented as a revolutionary technology, blockchain offered a decentralised way to record and verify transactions, unlike traditional systems that rely on central authorities or databases.

    US soft drinks company Long Island Iced Tea Corporation became Long Blockchain Corporation and saw its stock rise 400% overnight, despite having no blockchain product. Kodak launched a vague cryptocurrency called KodakCoin, sending its stock price soaring.

    These developments were less about innovation and more about speculation, chasing short-term gains driven by hype. Most blockchain projects never delivered real value. Companies rushed in, driven by fear of missing out and the promise of technological transformation.

    But the tech wasn’t ready, and the solutions it supposedly offered were often misaligned with real industry problems. Companies tried everything, from tracking pet food ingredients on blockchain, to launching loyalty programs with crypto tokens, often without clear benefits or better alternatives.

    In the end, about 90% of enterprise blockchain solutions failed by mid-2019.

    The generative AI déjà vu

    Fast-forward to 2023, and the same pattern started playing out with AI. Digital media company BuzzFeed saw its stock jump more than 100% after announcing it would use AI to generate quizzes and content. Financial services company Klarna replaced 700 workers with an AI chatbot, claiming it could handle millions of customer queries.

    The results were mostly negative. Klarna soon saw a decline in customer satisfaction and had to walk back its strategy, rehiring humans for customer support this year. BuzzFeed’s AI content push failed to save its struggling business, and its news division later shut down. Tech media company CNET published AI-generated articles riddled with errors, damaging its credibility.

    These are not isolated incidents. They’re signals that AI, like blockchain, was being over hyped.

    Why do companies chase tech hype?

    There are three main forces at play: inflated expectations, short-term view and flawed implementation. Tech companies, under pressure from investors and media narratives, overpromise what AI can do.

    Leaders pitch vague and utopian concepts of “transformation” without the infrastructure or planning to back them up. And many rush to implement, riding the hype wave.

    They are often hindered by a short-term view of what alignment with the new tech hype can do for their company, ignoring the potential downsides. They roll out untested systems, underestimate complexity or even the necessity, and hope that novelty alone will drive the return on investment.

    The result is often disappointment – not because the technology lacks potential, but because it’s applied too broadly, too soon, and with too little planning and oversight.

    Where to from here?

    Like blockchain, AI is a legitimate technological innovation with real, transformative potential.

    Often, these technologies simply need time to find the right application. While the initial blockchain hype has faded, the technology has found a practical niche in areas like “asset tokenization” within financial markets. This allows assets like real estate or company shares to be represented by digital tokens on the blockchain, enabling easier, faster and cheaper trading.

    The same pattern can be expected with generative AI. The current AI hype cycle appears to be tapering off, and the consequences of rushed or poorly thought-out implementations will likely become more visible in the coming years.

    However, this decline in hype doesn’t signal the end of generative AI’s relevance. Rather, it marks the beginning of a more grounded phase where the technology can find the most suitable applications.

    One of the clearest takeaways so far is that AI should be used to enhance human productivity, not replace it. From people pushing back against the use of AI to replace them, to AI making frequent and costly mistakes, human oversight paired with AI-enhanced productivity is increasingly seen as the most likely path forward.

    Recognising the patterns of tech hype is essential for making smarter decisions. Instead of rushing to adopt every new innovation based on inflated promises, a measured, problem-driven approach leads to more meaningful outcomes.

    Long-term success comes from thoughtful experimentation, implementation, and clear purpose, not from chasing trends or short-term gains. Hype should never dictate strategy; real value lies in solving real problems.

    Gediminas Lipnickas 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. The AI hype is just like the blockchain frenzy – here’s what happens when the hype dies – https://theconversation.com/the-ai-hype-is-just-like-the-blockchain-frenzy-heres-what-happens-when-the-hype-dies-258071

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Zero Waste – Petition launched as Inquiry looms

    Source: Zero Waste Network

    On the eve of a major Board of Inquiry that will assess if a large-scale rubbish incinerator proposed for Te Awamutu can go ahead, the Zero Waste Network and allies are launching a new petition to keep the country incinerator-free.

    “We want central government to ban new waste incinerators at a national level because of the serious human health, climate and air pollution impacts. The proposal in Te Awamutu would emit toxins like dioxin and heavy metals which are likely to result in premature deaths, infertility, increased rates of cancer and birth defects. There is no safe level of exposure to dioxin,” said Sue Coutts, spokesperson for the Network.

    “We know that burning carbon-intensive wastes like plastics emit more greenhouse gases and pollutants than coal. The Te Awamutu proposal was cited by the EPA as having global climate implications.”

    “Right now, small communities, often in provincial or rural areas, are being targeted by these incinerator companies. These communities are bearing the burden of stopping these toxic projects. This is why central government leadership is so important.”

    “Environment Minister Penny Simmonds rightly called in the Te Awamutu proposal for consideration by a Board of Inquiry. This will allow a more thorough assessment of impacts than had it been considered at local government level. However, this process does not stop other projects from coming forward.”

    “To get a sense of the aggressiveness of the industry, there were three projects that sought to be included under the Fast Track Approvals regime: this Te Awamutu project, one in Tolaga Bay on the East Cape, and a very large incinerator in Waimate. Only one of those projects, in Waimate, was ultimately included in the legislation’s initial listing, but is now unable to proceed because the land deal fell apart.”

    “For the past five years, the Zero Waste Network and our allies have successfully resisted new incinerators on the front lines. We are now taking the fight to Parliament to deliver a lasting solution. Let’s keep Aotearoa incinerator free!”

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Exotic Bird Smuggler Busted at the Border

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    SAN DIEGO – Juandaniel Medina, the third individual in the past several weeks to have been charged with illegal trafficking of protected exotic birds through Ports of Entry in the Southern District of California, appeared in court today. Federal agents detained Medina at the San Ysidro Port of Entry after discovering seven live Amazon parrots in a cardboard box on the passenger floorboard. According to a federal complaint, Medina was the driver and registered owner of a vehicle in which U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials found the birds; he admitted paying $700 cash for the parrots with the intention of breeding and or reselling them in the United States in the future.

     

     

     

    Cardboard box on the passenger floorboard; one of the captive birds peering out from inside the box

    USFWS has identified six of the birds as Red-Lored Amazon Parrots. Fortunately, all seven of the parrots are alive and thriving at a quarantine facility managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

         

    The seven Amazon parrots seized from GARCIA’s truck

     

    The arrest follows the recent prosecution of another individual caught smuggling Amazon parrots through the same port of entry, highlighting a troubling pattern of illegal wildlife trade through Southern California.

    “The illicit parrot trade reflects a broader crisis in wildlife protection—where profit outweighs preservation.” aid U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon. “Bird smuggling is not a victimless crime. These animals suffer, and the consequences to public health and the environment can be catastrophic. I thank U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, Homeland Security Investigations, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for their extraordinary coordination and vigilance in protecting both public safety and animal welfare.

    According to U.S.  Fish and Wildlife Services, Amazon parrots are native to Mexico, the West Indies, and northern South America.  There are approximately thirty species of Amazon parrots, and all Amazon parrot species are listed on either Appendix I or Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (“CITES”).

    Illegally imported birds bypass health screening and quarantine, which are required to protect the nation from infectious diseases. Avian influenza (bird flu), for instance, can spread through feathers, droppings, or even airborne particles and has previously caused massive culls of farm birds in the U.S. Bird flu is highly contagious and can cause flu like symptoms, respiratory illness, pneumonia and death in humans and other birds including birds in United States poultry farms.  Many other diseases that can be transmitted from different animals and can have disastrous effects, that is why it is necessary to quarantine animals entering the United States to limit and safeguard against this potential disease transmission.

    This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Evangeline Dech.

    DEFENDANT                                               Case Number 25-mj-3169                            

    Juandaniel Medina                                          Age: 24                                   Lindsay, CA

    SUMMARY OF CHARGES

    Importation Contrary to Law – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 545

    Maximum penalty: 20 years in prison and $250,000 fine

    INVESTIGATING AGENCIES

    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

    Homeland Security Investigations

    *The charges and allegations contained in an indictment or complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Those ‘what I eat in a day’ TikTok videos aren’t helpful. They might even be harmful

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Houlihan, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, University of the Sunshine Coast

    Iren_Geo/Shutterstock

    You may have come across those “what I eat in a day” videos on social media, where people – usually conventionally attractive influencers wearing activewear – list everything they consumed that day.

    They might seem like harmless fun but in fact they can reinforce dangerous ideas about food, weight and body image.

    I’ve worked with people with eating disorders who watch these videos and have seen first hand how harmful this content can be.

    Here’s what the research says and what you need to know.

    Videos that promote ‘health’ can be unhealthy

    “What I eat in a day” videos have been popular for over a decade, with views reaching in the billions.

    They target both men and women and many claim to promote health and nutrition. Yet videos such as these can do more harm than good.

    Very few of these creators have formal qualifications in health or nutrition, increasing the potential for misinformation.

    They often depict low calorie diets, exclude entire food groups or promote “clean eating” (a problematic idea at best).

    Some even encourage dangerous behaviours such as skipping meals, eating very little or using laxatives to purge food.

    They can also send harmful messages about body image. Many such videos use beauty filters to create images promoting unrealistic body ideals.

    These videos often feature shots of how the person looks from the front, the side, in the gym, and in tight, form-fitting clothes. There may even be some “before and after” weight loss pics, sending the harmful message this should be everyone’s goal.

    The subtext is clear: “eat what I eat in a day and you can look like me”.

    But that’s not just a dangerous idea – it’s a totally false and erroneous one.

    Knowing what a certain person “eats in a day” doesn’t mean you’ll look like them if you follow their lead.

    In fact, a 24-hour rundown of one person’s food intake doesn’t even provide accurate information about that person’s nutritional health – let alone yours.

    These videos can target both men and women.
    Veja/Shutterstock

    You are not them

    Like our health, our nutritional needs are unique to us and can vary day to day.

    What constitutes a “healthy” choice for one person might be totally different for another depending on things such as:

    Links between health and diet are best examined over time, not in a single day.

    Basing our food intake on a brief snapshot of what someone else eats is unlikely to lead to better health. It might leave you worse off overall.

    5 ways these videos can affect mental health

    What we watch online can affect our mood, behaviour and body image.

    Alarm bells should ring if you frequently see these videos and notice you’re doing or experiencing these five things:

    1. disordered eating. Eating less than your body needs, skipping meals, cutting out entire food groups, binge eating and purging are all signs of disordered eating that can lead to serious mental health problems such as eating disorders

    2. low mood. Watching videos promoting low-calorie diets can worsen our mood; you might find yourself feeling deflated after comparing yourself to others (or rather, to the version of themselves they promote online)

    3. poor body image. Research shows watching “what I eat in a day” videos can leave people feeling worse about their bodies and appreciating them less

    4. obsessive thinking and anxiety. Obsessing over the “perfect” diet can increase anxiety about food and eating. Diets that encourage a very detailed approach to nutrition – including breaking meals down into components such as carbohydrates and proteins or weighing food – can further fuel obsessive thoughts

    5. narrow life focus. Having your social media feed filled with these types of videos can create an overemphasis on the importance of food, eating and body image on your self-worth. This ultimately affects your health and wellbeing.

    What we watch online can affect our mood, behaviour, and body image.
    GaudiLab/Shutterstock

    OK, so what can I do?

    If you’re encountering “what I eat in a day” videos often and find they’re affecting your mood, eating behaviour or sense of self-worth you can try to:

    • understand that these videos are not tailored to your individual health or nutritional needs and that many contain harmful messaging
    • avoid engaging with videos that promote disordered eating, idealised beauty standards or that make you feel bad after you watch them
    • unfollow accounts that regularly post such videos, or tap “not interested” on the TikTok video to stop the algorithm showing you more of them
    • balance your social media feed with content focused on other areas of life besides food and eating (such as art, design, animals, books, sports or travel). Fill your feed with interests that improve your personal sense of wellbeing
    • consider taking regular breaks from social media and seeing if you feel better overall.

    If you do want to view posts about food, seek out creators attempting to buck these negative trends by focusing more on fun and taste.

    And if you’re experiencing low mood, disordered eating or body image issues, seek help from your local GP. They can connect you with practitioners who provide evidence-based therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy.

    If you have a history of an eating disorder or suspect you may have one, you can contact the Butterfly Foundation’s national helpline on 1800 334 673 (or via their online chat).

    Ultimately, “what I eat in a day” videos aren’t really helpful. They contain very little useful information to guide your health or nutritional goals.

    If you are considering making changes to your diet, it’s important to consult a qualified professional, such as an accredited practising dietitian, who can learn about your situation and monitor any risks.

    Catherine Houlihan consults with an eating disorders service owned and operated by the Butterfly Foundation.

    – ref. Those ‘what I eat in a day’ TikTok videos aren’t helpful. They might even be harmful – https://theconversation.com/those-what-i-eat-in-a-day-tiktok-videos-arent-helpful-they-might-even-be-harmful-257127

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Why does the US still have a Level 1 travel advisory warning despite the chaos?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samuel Cornell, PhD Candidate in Public Health & Community Medicine, School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney

    No travel can be considered completely safe. There are inherent risks from transportation, criminal activity, communicable diseases, injury and natural disasters.

    Still, global travel is booming — for those who can afford it.

    To reduce the chances of things going wrong, governments issue official travel advisories: public warnings meant to help people make informed travel decisions.

    Sometimes these advisories seem puzzling – why, for example, does the US still have the “safest” rating despite the ongoing volatility in Los Angeles?

    How do governments assess where is safe for Australians to travel?

    A brief history of travel advisories

    The United States pioneered travel advisories in 1978, with other countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland following.

    Australia started providing travel advisories in 1996 and now runs its system under the Smart Traveller platform.

    To determine the risk level, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) draws on diplomatic reporting, assessments from Australian missions overseas about local security conditions, threat assessments from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and advice from Five Eyes intelligence sharing partners (Australia, the US, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada).

    The goal is to create “smart, responsible informed travellers”, not to restrict tourism or damage foreign relationships.

    DFAT has stressed its system is not influenced by “commercial or political considerations”.

    Soft power and safety

    In theory, these advisories are meant to inform travellers, keep them safe and reduce the burden on consular services.

    However, they can also subtly reflect politics and alliances.

    While travel advisories are presented as neutral, fact-based risk assessments, they may not always be free from political bias.

    Research shows governments sometimes soften their warnings for countries they are close with and overstate risks in others.

    A detailed analysis of US State Department travel warnings from 2009 to 2016 found only a weak correlation between the number of American deaths in a country and the warnings issued.

    In some cases, destinations with no record of US fatalities received frequent warnings, while places with high death tolls had none.

    In early 2024, Australia issued a string of warnings about rising safety concerns in the US and extremely strict entry conditions even with an appropriate visa.

    Yet, the US kept its Level 1 rating – “exercise normal safety precautions” – the same advice given for places such as Japan or Denmark.

    Meanwhile, Australia’s warning for France was Level 2 — “exercise a high degree of caution” — due to the potential threat of terrorism.

    Experts have also criticised Australia’s travel warnings for being harsher toward developing countries.

    The UK, a country with lower crime rates than the US, also sits at Level 2 — putting it in the same risk level as Saudi Arabia, Nicaragua and South Africa.



    Read more:
    In Trump’s America, the shooting of a journalist is not a one-off. Press freedom itself is under attack

    Inconsistencies and grey areas

    The problem is, the advisory levels themselves are vague: a Level 2 warning can apply to countries with very different risk profiles.

    It’s used for places dealing with terrorism threats like France, or vastly different law and respect for human rights such as Saudi Arabia, or countries recovering from political unrest such as Sri Lanka.

    Until early June 2025, Sweden was also rated Level 2 due to localised gang violence, despite relatively low risks for tourists. Its rating has since been revised down to Level 1.

    Travel advisories often apply a blanket rating to an entire country, even when risks vary widely within its borders.

    For instance, Australia’s Level 1 rating for the US doesn’t distinguish between different regional threats.

    In June 2025, 15 people were injured in Boulder, Colorado after a man attacked a peaceful protest with Molotov cocktails.

    Earlier in 2025, a major measles outbreak in West Texas resulted in more than 700 cases reported in a single county.

    Despite this, Australia continues to classify the entire country as a low-risk destination.

    This can make it harder for travellers to make informed, location-specific decisions.

    Recent travel trends

    Recent data indicate a significant downturn in international travel to the US: in March 2025, overseas visits to the US fell by 11.6% compared to the previous year, with notable declines from Germany (28%), Spain (25%) and the UK (18%).

    Australian visitors to the US decreased by 7.8% compared to the same month in 2024, marking the steepest monthly drop since the COVID pandemic.

    This trend suggests travellers are reassessing risk on their own even when official advisories don’t reflect those concerns.

    The US case shows how politics can affect travel warnings: the country regularly experiences mass casualty incidents, violent protests and recently has been detaining and deporting people from many countries at the border including Australians, Germans and French nationals.

    Yet it remains at Level 1.

    What’s really going on has more to do with political alliances than safety: increasing the US travel risk level could create diplomatic friction.

    What travellers can do now

    If you’re a solo female traveller, identify as LGBTQIA+, are an academic, come from a visible minority or have spoken out online against the country you’re visiting, your experience might be very different from what the advice suggests.

    So, here are some tips to stay safe while travelling:

    • Check multiple sources: don’t rely solely on travel advisories – compare travel advice from other countries

    • Get on-the-ground updates: check local news for coverage of events. If possible, talk to people who’ve recently visited for their experiences

    • For broader safety trends, tools like the Global Peace Index offer data on crime, political stability and healthcare quality. If you’re concerned about how locals or police treat certain groups, consult Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, or country-specific reports from Freedom House

    • Consider identity-specific resources: there are travel guides and safety indexes for LGBTQIA+ travellers like Equaldex, women travellers (Solo Female Travelers Network) and others. These may highlight risks general advisories miss.

    Travel advisories often reflect whom your country trusts, not where you’re actually safe. If you’re relying on them, make sure you understand what they leave out.

    Samuel Cornell receives funding from an Australian Government Research Training Program
    Scholarship.

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

    – ref. Why does the US still have a Level 1 travel advisory warning despite the chaos? – https://theconversation.com/why-does-the-us-still-have-a-level-1-travel-advisory-warning-despite-the-chaos-258182

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The AI hype is just like the blockchain frenzy – here’s what happens when the hype dies

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gediminas Lipnickas, Lecturer in Marketing, University of South Australia

    Izf/Shutterstock

    In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has taken centre stage across various industries. From AI-generated art to chatbots in customer service, every sector is seemingly poised for disruption.

    It’s not just in your news feed every day – venture capital is pouring in, while CEOs are eager to declare their companies “AI-first”. But for those who remember the lofty promises of other technologies that have since faded from memory, there’s an uncanny sense of déjà vu.

    In 2017, it was blockchain that promised to transform every industry. Companies added “blockchain” to their name and watched stock prices skyrocket, regardless of whether the technology was actually used, or how.

    Now, a similar trend is emerging with AI. What’s unfolding is not just a wave of innovation, but a textbook example of a tech hype cycle. We’ve been here many times before.

    Understanding the hype cycle

    The tech hype cycle, first defined by the research firm Gartner, describes how emerging technologies rise on a wave of inflated promises and expectations, crash into disillusionment and, eventually, find a more realistic and useful application.


    The Conversation, CC BY-ND

    Recognising the signs of this cycle is crucial. It helps in distinguishing between genuine technological shifts and passing fads driven by speculative investment and good marketing.

    It can also mean the difference between making a good business decision and a very costly mistake. Meta, for example, invested more than US$40 billion into the metaverse idea while seemingly chasing their own manufactured tech hype, only to abandon it later.



    Read more:
    Why the metaverse isn’t ready to be the future of work just yet

    When buzz outpaces reality

    In 2017, blockchain was everyone’s focus. Presented as a revolutionary technology, blockchain offered a decentralised way to record and verify transactions, unlike traditional systems that rely on central authorities or databases.

    US soft drinks company Long Island Iced Tea Corporation became Long Blockchain Corporation and saw its stock rise 400% overnight, despite having no blockchain product. Kodak launched a vague cryptocurrency called KodakCoin, sending its stock price soaring.

    These developments were less about innovation and more about speculation, chasing short-term gains driven by hype. Most blockchain projects never delivered real value. Companies rushed in, driven by fear of missing out and the promise of technological transformation.

    But the tech wasn’t ready, and the solutions it supposedly offered were often misaligned with real industry problems. Companies tried everything, from tracking pet food ingredients on blockchain, to launching loyalty programs with crypto tokens, often without clear benefits or better alternatives.

    In the end, about 90% of enterprise blockchain solutions failed by mid-2019.

    The generative AI déjà vu

    Fast-forward to 2023, and the same pattern started playing out with AI. Digital media company BuzzFeed saw its stock jump more than 100% after announcing it would use AI to generate quizzes and content. Financial services company Klarna replaced 700 workers with an AI chatbot, claiming it could handle millions of customer queries.

    The results were mostly negative. Klarna soon saw a decline in customer satisfaction and had to walk back its strategy, rehiring humans for customer support this year. BuzzFeed’s AI content push failed to save its struggling business, and its news division later shut down. Tech media company CNET published AI-generated articles riddled with errors, damaging its credibility.

    These are not isolated incidents. They’re signals that AI, like blockchain, was being over hyped.

    Why do companies chase tech hype?

    There are three main forces at play: inflated expectations, short-term view and flawed implementation. Tech companies, under pressure from investors and media narratives, overpromise what AI can do.

    Leaders pitch vague and utopian concepts of “transformation” without the infrastructure or planning to back them up. And many rush to implement, riding the hype wave.

    They are often hindered by a short-term view of what alignment with the new tech hype can do for their company, ignoring the potential downsides. They roll out untested systems, underestimate complexity or even the necessity, and hope that novelty alone will drive the return on investment.

    The result is often disappointment – not because the technology lacks potential, but because it’s applied too broadly, too soon, and with too little planning and oversight.

    Where to from here?

    Like blockchain, AI is a legitimate technological innovation with real, transformative potential.

    Often, these technologies simply need time to find the right application. While the initial blockchain hype has faded, the technology has found a practical niche in areas like “asset tokenization” within financial markets. This allows assets like real estate or company shares to be represented by digital tokens on the blockchain, enabling easier, faster and cheaper trading.

    The same pattern can be expected with generative AI. The current AI hype cycle appears to be tapering off, and the consequences of rushed or poorly thought-out implementations will likely become more visible in the coming years.

    However, this decline in hype doesn’t signal the end of generative AI’s relevance. Rather, it marks the beginning of a more grounded phase where the technology can find the most suitable applications.

    One of the clearest takeaways so far is that AI should be used to enhance human productivity, not replace it. From people pushing back against the use of AI to replace them, to AI making frequent and costly mistakes, human oversight paired with AI-enhanced productivity is increasingly seen as the most likely path forward.

    Recognising the patterns of tech hype is essential for making smarter decisions. Instead of rushing to adopt every new innovation based on inflated promises, a measured, problem-driven approach leads to more meaningful outcomes.

    Long-term success comes from thoughtful experimentation, implementation, and clear purpose, not from chasing trends or short-term gains. Hype should never dictate strategy; real value lies in solving real problems.

    Gediminas Lipnickas 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. The AI hype is just like the blockchain frenzy – here’s what happens when the hype dies – https://theconversation.com/the-ai-hype-is-just-like-the-blockchain-frenzy-heres-what-happens-when-the-hype-dies-258071

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Gaza – Nasser hospital at risk: MSF partially relocates activities

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

    Flash quote from Pascale Coissard, MSF emergency coordinator

    “Israeli forces’ displacement orders and bombings in the close vicinity of Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis, have forced MSF to adjust its operations in the hospital and move part of its burn and orthopaedic activities to our field hospital in Deir Al Balah. This minimises the risk to some patients and staff, whose safety is our top priority. Despite the insecurity and movement restrictions, our commitment to Nasser hospital continues through our physical presence and our work in the maternity and paediatric wards, technical expertise, specialist visits, and financial support. 

    “This facility has the last functioning intensive care units for children and newborns in the south, which cannot be moved. Nasser hospital is the only remaining hope for Palestinians in southern Gaza, especially women and children in need of urgent medical care who are living under constant bombardment and displacement with no access to even basic supplies and services. It is crucial that this medical facility is fully protected, respected and remains able to function.”

    MSF is an international, medical, humanitarian organisation that delivers medical care to people in need, regardless of their origin, religion, or political affiliation. MSF has been working in Haiti for over 30 years, offering general healthcare, trauma care, burn wound care, maternity care, and care for survivors of sexual violence. MSF Australia was established in 1995 and is one of 24 international MSF sections committed to delivering medical humanitarian assistance to people in crisis. In 2022, more than 120 project staff from Australia and New Zealand worked with MSF on assignment overseas. MSF delivers medical care based on need alone and operates independently of government, religion or economic influence and irrespective of race, religion or gender. For more information visit msf.org.au  

    MIL OSI – Submitted News –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Australia – Understanding the decline in FCAS prices in Australia – GridBeyond

    Source: GridBeyond

    Sydney, 10 June 2025 – In recent years, Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) have provided a lucrative revenue stream for many I&C energy users. But recent FCAS prices have seen a significant decline. In its latest White Paper, Understanding the decline in FCAS prices, energy technology company GridBeyond explores the reasons why FCAS prices have fallen and what businesses can do to recoup lost revenues.

    According to the latest Quarterly Energy Dynamics report (covering Q1 2025), published by AEMO, total FCAS costs reached $13M in Q1 2025, representing approximately 0.3% of the total cost of consumed energy* for the quarter. This marks a $16M decrease compared to the same period last year. This reduction was mainly driven by lower FCAS prices and a smaller number of volatility events during the quarter, relative to last year. In the same time period BESS output increased by 86% year-on-year in the NEM, reaching an average of 98MW . The significant decline in FCAS prices reflects the impact of increased battery storage capacity and evolving market dynamics. But although FCAS prices are decreasing, energy prices will stay high providing an opportunity for businesses to recoup lost revenues, with the right technology.

    While falling FCAS prices present a challenge, they also mark a shift in how value is created in the evolving energy ecosystem. There are still strategic pathways for I&C businesses to recoup lost revenue. The key for I&C businesses is to shift from passive participation in legacy markets to proactively stacking value. Businesses that embrace this change can recoup lost value and capture even greater returns in the long run – says the report.

    In conclusion, demand side response and process optimisation can allow businesses to identify real flexibility opportunities, enable more informed decision-making in optimising energy and creating a more efficient and cost-effective energy strategy.

    About GridBeyond

    GridBeyond’s vision is to deliver a global zero carbon future. By leveraging AI, we innovate and collaborate with our customers to create optimal value from energy generation, demand and storage to deliver a zero-carbon future. By bridging the gap between distributed energy resources and electricity markets, GridBeyond’s technology means every connected asset – whether utility-scale renewables generation, battery storage, or industrial load – can be utilized to help maximize opportunities and enhance the grid. By intelligently dispatching flexibility into the right market, at the right time, asset owners and energy consumers unlock new revenues and savings, resilience, and management of price volatility, while supporting the transition to a Net Zero future.

    For more information, visit www.gridbeyond.com

    MIL OSI – Submitted News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Video: Kaine Delivers Opening Remarks at SASC Navy Posture Hearing

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Virginia Tim Kaine

    BROADCAST-QUALITY VIDEO OF KAINE’S EXCHANGE IS AVAILABLE HERE.

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), delivered opening remarks at the SASC hearing on U.S. Navy posture. During his remarks, he discussed his concerns about President Trump and Secretary Hegseth activating thousands of National Guard members and 700 Marines in California—over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass—in response to immigration protests.

    “I have a lot of experience in dealing with the [National] Guard as a former mayor and governor,” said Kaine. “The genius of the Guard is that it is a partnership between the President and the Governors and Guardsmen and women… The President’s decision to deploy thousands of Guardsmen and women to quell protests in Los Angeles—without a request by the California Governor and in fact, over the objection of the California Governor—is nearly unprecedented.”

    Kaine continued, “We are in very, very dangerous territory. I think my colleagues and I are right to be concerned about this. The American public is concerned about this.”

    “To deploy active duty Marines to quell civilian protests is, in my view, very, very dangerous,” said Kaine. “It’s dangerous beyond the escalatory effects that both the Governor and Mayor of Los Angeles are warning us about. If we screw up the balance of how we use the Guard or how we use the military in the instance of civilian protests that local law enforcement can handle, we will regret that for a very, very long time.”

    “Many Americans are worried now that if they express dissenting voices to policies and the Administration, they’re concerned that the military may be deployed against them,” Kaine continued. “We’re coming up on the commemoration of 250 years of American democracy. It’s on the shoulders of this generation to decide whether the commemoration will be a celebration or a requiem or a wake or a coronation. We need to make it a celebration, and for that, we need brave and patriotic citizens who are willing to, without fear, exercise rights that were guaranteed to them from the very first days of this country.”

    Then, Kaine rebutted comments from his colleague erroneously comparing Trump’s decision to activate the National Guard in California to President Dwight Eisenhower’s activation of the Arkansas National Guard to ensure the integration of Central High School in Little Rock.

    “The issue is not is there lawless behavior that can be controlled by local law enforcement. You either believe in a federal system or you don’t where a Governor requests the National Guard or doesn’t, and you either believe in a civilian military division or you don’t,” Kaine said.

    “Senator Cotton brings up the example of Little Rock. President Eisenhower, Republican President, did federalize the Guard in that instance. Why? Because it was the Governor that was violating federal law. There is no suggestion that Governor Newsom is violating federal law. In fact, he said, arrest me if I’m violating the law—and yesterday, the chief border agent for the United States said there is no cause to arrest you. You are not violating federal law,” said Kaine.

    Kaine continued, “The right balance in this instance is to let a local official—mayor, governor—seek assistance if they need it. If the President decides if more assets are needed, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion if he sent in federal law enforcement—FBI, DEA. We’re having this discussion because the President in an unprecedented way, without a request and over the objection of the local elected leadership decided to send in the United States military.”

    Kaine also raised concerns about the Trump Administration’s failure to submit a full budget request; delays with naval shipbuilding programs, including Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines and amphibious assault ships; and the lack of the nomination from the Administration for a new Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). He also expressed his commitment to continuing to work with the Department of the Navy and other services on the implementation of provisions from the Brandon Act, which he helped get signed into law to make it easier for servicemembers to access mental health care.

    “The Navy does remain the finest maritime force in the world, but it’s struggled to grow and maintain the fleet… Many vessels—aircraft carriers, multiple destroyers and frigates, and some of the air platforms—are behind schedule,” Kaine said. “In particular, the Virginia-class fast attack subs and Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, which are so critical and prioritized very highly by all of you, are delayed and face budgetary challenges… We need to do more. I continue to believe that the most significant challenge we have is a workforce challenge.”

    “The Brandon Act was passed by this body a number of years back—named after a young sailor, Brandon Caserta, who died by suicide in Norfolk,” said Kaine. “There were a lot of challenges and problems with, frankly, lack of access to mental health services, and it was a pivotal step toward improving access to mental health services, not just for the Navy, but everybody in the service. The implementations across the Armed Services—we’ve seen fits and starts, but some critical gaps in effectiveness, fragmented implementation, undefined procedures for mental health requests, lack of policies tailored toward the National Guard and Reserves… I would really love your help working to continue to implement this.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: 690 years of CFA service celebrated at Christmas Hills

    Source:

    Fred Kober receiving his 60-year medal of service from Captain Michael Scroggie and MC Peter Mildenhall

    Christmas Hills Fire Brigade members and their families gathered at Panton Hill Hotel on 4 June to celebrate the end of a long fire season, and to acknowledge a number of members who between them have accumulated 690 years of service.

    Sixty members and their guests enjoyed dinner at the Panton Hill Hotel while the presentations were made. A special slide show celebrating the rich history of the brigade also featured throughout the evening.

    “This was an important event because one of our still operational members, Fred Kober, celebrated 60 years of service with our brigade,” Captain Michael Scroggie said.

    “Fred joined us as a 16-year-old and has undertaken many roles over the years including captain, and has maintained his skills and fitness and still regularly turns out at local incidents,” he said.

    Not only did Fred receive a 60-year service medal but also a National Emergency clasp for his role as part of a District 14 strike team during the Black Summer fires of 2019-20. This clasp is in addition to his medal awarded for his service in the Black Saturday fires of 2009 which had a strong impact on the Christmas Hills community.

    Acting Commander Matt Baber also presented Pete Rae and John Roberts with National Emergency Medals for their service in the Black Summer fires. He also presented service awards to more than 30 other members of the brigade.

    This included four five-year certificates of service, five 10-year medals, nine 15-year medals (these were members who joined in the aftermath of the Black Saturday fires), four 25-year medals, two 30-year medals, one 35-year medal, two 40-year medals, two 45-year medals, a 50-year medal, and Fred’s 60-year medal.

    Michael Scroggie paid particular tribute to two active members who received 45-year medals.

    “Di Simmons and Robyn Adams have provided outstanding service to the brigade as active firefighters, but more particularly as members of the Brigade Management Team over the past 40 years or so,” he said. 

    “They have performed nearly all the BMT roles over extended periods of time, from captain in Di’s case to all levels of lieutenant roles, secretary/treasurer, training, OHS and comms. I don’t think there has a been a time in the past 40 years when one or the other or both haven’t been on the BMT.”

    Nillumbik Group Officer Matt Knight also paid tribute to Di and Robyn’s leadership and support at the group and district level as well and noted their strong role in the mentoring of women firefighters and leaders across CFA.

    Their previous professional lives as lecturers and researchers into fire science and environmental studies at Deakin was also instrumental in the development of the brigade mantra ‘Red truck green heart’ which underlies our approach to fire management and suppression in Christmas Hills.

    “While we took this opportunity to thank them for their enormous contribution to the effectiveness of our brigade up until now,” said Michael Scroggie, “we are further grateful that Dianne and Robyn will continue as active firefighters at Christmas Hills and in management roles at Nillumbik Group”.

    • Di Simmons and Robyn Adams receiving their 45 Year medals
    • Many of the members who received service awards
    Submitted by Peter Mildenhall

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The Project really did do news differently. Its demise is our loss

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dodd, Professor of Journalism, Director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of Melbourne

    The most unsettling thing about the closure of Network Ten’s The Project is that it might come to be seen as the moment commercial network television gave up on young audiences for news programming.

    If that’s what’s happening, it’s a worrying thought. Bringing news and current affairs to young audiences is exactly what The Project has done so well over its 16-year lifespan, and it’s hard to imagine how the channel will replace it in ways that work for audiences already disengaged with mainstream media.

    The Project will be missed. Perhaps not by those such as a caller to ABC Melbourne’s Drive program yesterday afternoon, who described The Project as Behind the News for grown-ups.

    The caller’s tone signalled an insult but that discredits both the long-running ABC program for schoolchildren and the goal of engaging young adult audiences in news and current affairs.

    Declining numbers

    In 2010, a year after the program launched, it was rating 1.1 million in the country’s capital cities, which made it competitive with other commercial TV news services.

    By last weekend, the program was drawing an average national audience of 270,000 across the regions as well as the capital cities, according to media commentator, Tim Burrowes’, Unmade newsletter. Even allowing for the overall decline in the number of people watching television since 2010, those ratings figures are dismal.

    Burrowes, the author of Media Unmade: Australian Media’s Most Disruptive Decade, suggests the controversial hiring of former Nine Network star, Lisa Wilkinson, in 2017, to present the program’s Sunday edition may have unsettled The Project’s internal harmony after the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial she was involved in.

    A winning format for younger audiences

    The Project’s formula of combining news with comedy emerged from the success of The Panel, the weekly show produced in the late 1990s by Working Dog and featuring the D-Generation team of Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro and Tom Gleisner, along with Kate Langbroek, Glenn Robbins and, for a while, Jane Kennedy.

    The Panel opening theme song, Working Dog Productions.

    It was edgy and topical. It bounced off current events with short piss-take scene-setting video grabs, followed by wry observations and silly gags.

    It was just as much comedy as it was current affairs, and it was all about appealing to young and disenfranchised viewers.

    The Panel anticipated the exodus away from the po-faced solemnity of commercial terrestrial TV news well before streaming had taken hold.

    Rove McManus and his production company saw its potential, as did Ten, which knew it needed to try new things. It could not compete with Seven and Nine, who were then – and in many ways still are – locked in a perpetual ratings war while being almost identical to one another.

    The Project’s producers knew they had a winning format. They ensured the show was rarely boring and avoided the predictability of worthiness. They weren’t afraid to ask the non-PC question, or laugh at themselves, or debate or discuss or delve.

    But that didn’t mean they resorted to meanness or took pleasure in others’ misfortune. Admittedly, Steve Price did need to be reined in from time to time.

    The format encouraged audiences to stick with them and in the process they actually learnt stuff. Young, disengaged kids saw politicians discussing matters of substance, with the show challenging assumptions.

    News for the social media era

    As increasing numbers of young people stopped turning on TVs, The Project became consumable in bite-size chunks on social media.

    The show’s producers cottoned on to this earlier than most and began crafting segments that could be easily shared. Waleed Aly became an Instagram star for his impassioned, informed editorialising about racial issues, along the way earning nominations for several Logie awards, and winning the Gold Logie in 2016.

    Peter Helliar, Dave Hughes and Charlie Pickering made audiences laugh. And another Gold Logie winner, Carrie Bickmore, made them care, especially in 2013 when she broke the fourth wall of television to talk about the need to improve public awareness of brain cancer following a story about a potential cure for the disease in ten years’ time. A few years previously Bickmore’s husband had died of the disease.

    The loss of another media town square

    While The Project was on air, the network was at least making an effort to inform a section of the market that had long been under-served by the news media.

    With relatively recent entrants, like the Daily Aus, stepping in to that gap, perhaps Ten thought it was becoming too crowded?

    We’ll have to assess what the network does next to see if it thinks investing in current affairs is no longer worth the effort.

    With the ABC threatening to walk away from Q&A, it looks like commercial and public networks are coming to the same view: that panel-based current affairs programming is a turn-off for audiences, regardless of whether they’re young or old.

    This is especially troubling because the closure of each program means the loss of another media town square, where the capacity to listen to, and learn from one another, in civil ways also disappears.

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

    – ref. The Project really did do news differently. Its demise is our loss – https://theconversation.com/the-project-really-did-do-news-differently-its-demise-is-our-loss-258588

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hawley, Welch Introduce Legislation to Increase Federal Minimum Wage to $15 Per Hour

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo)

    Tuesday, June 10, 2025

    Today, U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) introduced the Higher Wages for American Workers Act, which would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and allow the federal minimum wage to increase with inflation in subsequent years. When adjusted for inflation, the current federal minimum wage is lower than at any point since the 1940s. Meanwhile, the cost of housing, healthcare, and education has skyrocketed, leaving millions of full-time workers struggling to make ends meet.

    “For decades, working Americans have seen their wages flatline. One major culprit of this is the failure of the federal minimum wage to keep up with the economic reality facing hardworking Americans every day. This bipartisan legislation would ensure that workers across America benefit from higher wages,” Senator Hawley said.  

    “We’re in the midst of a severe affordability crisis, with families in red and blue states alike struggling to afford necessities like housing and groceries. A stagnant federal minimum wage only adds fuel to the fire. Every hardworking American deserves a living wage that helps put a roof over their head and food on the table–$7.25 an hour doesn’t even come close,” said Senator Welch. “Times have changed, and working families deserve a wage that reflects today’s financial reality. I’m proud to lead this bipartisan effort to raise the minimum wage nationwide to help more folks make ends meet,” Senator Welch added.
     
    If signed into law this year, the Higher Wages for American Workers Act would:

    • Increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour starting in January 2026.
    • Allow the federal minimum wage to increase with inflation in subsequent years.

    Read the full bill text here.

    MIL OSI USA News –