NewzIntel.com

Category: Universities

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senator Marshall Champions the Benefits of Community Colleges During HELP Committee Hearing

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Kansas Roger Marshall
    Washington – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas) participated in a hearing today on the state of higher education in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP).
    As someone who attended a community college, Senator Marshall spoke about his own experience that allowed him to receive an excellent education while making smart financial decisions. Senator Marshall touched on the importance of financial literacy and using high school years to obtain college credits to get ahead.
    Senator Marshall’s firsthand experience is one of the many success stories of Americans attending a community college. The Senator was the first in his family to attend college and worked part-time jobs throughout his education to pay his own way instead of borrowing money. After graduating from Butler County Community College, he went on to receive his bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University and his Medical Doctorate from the University of Kansas, spending more than 25 years practicing medicine as an OB-GYN.
    Senator Marshall also questioned Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, Chancellor of the Austin Community College District, about how community colleges compare to traditional universities and Pell Grant flexibility.
    [embedded content]
    Click HERE or on the image above to watch Senator Marshall’s full line of questioning.
    Highlights from the hearing include:
    On Senator Marshall’s higher education story:
    Senator Marshall: “I was the student that graduated first in a class of 200; had ACT scores that were really good. I applied to Kansas State, Kansas University, thinking this is where I’m going to go, but I would have had to borrow money to do it. So instead, I chose a community college. Near as I could tell, calc one was calc one. Comp one was comp one. And you know, my point I’m trying to make is everybody makes decisions, and part of it should be financial…
    “… You know, I made decisions through my whole life on whether to borrow money or to work. So, I worked part-time jobs in high school, community college, college, med school, and even residency. I worked part-time jobs rather than borrow money. When we had our first child in medical school, I chose to join the Army Reserve as opposed to borrowing money. And I understand that… some people are going to do better in a private college. You know, knock your socks off. Some people are going to do better. I just can’t imagine that a student… couldn’t do just as good at a community college. And somehow, financial literacy should be important to making that decision.”
    On the cost of community colleges versus traditional universities:
    Senator Marshall: “… The tuition at a community college on average, $5,000 a year. A State University, $12,000. If you’re going to an out-of-state university, it’s $30,000 and a private school is $43,000. So that first year in community college… today you’d spend $5000 versus $43,000, and I would note that the cost of living, typically in community college cities, is a lot less than the big university cities as well. So, I think the question is, at what point should the federal government reward people for making financial decisions that they should be responsible for?
    “But it’s a lot more than just choosing the school. Students today, they’re told to take five years to go to college, when it should easily be done in four years. One way you can do that is to rack up some credits in high school. It’s why we support the Perkins grants as well… a lot of students today had the opportunity to enter that first year of college and already have a semester underneath their belt. So, I think that’s a false narrative out there that it should take five years.” 
    On the advantages of attending a community college:
    Senator Marshall: “Dr. Lowery Hart, you’re my community college person here. Do your kids struggle when they go on to universities and on to med school, or was it okay that they started there at a community college? How much money did they save?”
    Dr. Lowery-Hart: “Well, depending on where they went, the level of savings will vacillate, but they all saved money, starting at a community college, and the data is pretty clear. My colleagues will affirm, if they go back to their [Institutional Research] IR shops, community colleges that transfer to universities, perform at or better than students that originated in those universities, they’re well prepared, and it’s because of what you just mentioned, Calc, one, comp, one, are the same. The difference at a community college is they’re being taught by a Master’s or PhD-prepared, experienced teacher, not a graduate assistant. I think the instructions in those basic courses are better at a community college because our faculty are more experienced in teaching in those areas.
    “The dual enrollment piece, Senator Marshall, is really critical. It can be a solution for making college more affordable. It was for my own three kids, all of which went to a community college before University. The challenges for the millions of adults that need to come back and up-skill … and how they can afford it while still working, is why I think Pell eligibility is particularly important.”
    On Pell Grant flexibility:
    Senator Marshall: “Just speak a little bit more about the flexibility of a Pell Grant. More and more, the great-paying jobs. If we can just get them in the door for six or eight hours at a time, how important would that be to you?”
    Dr. Lowery-Hart: “Really important. There are level-one certifications that can lead to a family-sustaining wage. Those students can enter that profession, whether it’s at Tesla or Samsung, work for six months, come back, and get the next level of certification.
    “Those stackable credentials are what will change their families’ generations to come but also ensure that our communities are able to meet the moment that we’re in, an economic challenge that we have.” 
    Senator Marshall: “… You see time and time again, the story of a person that came back in a year or two and continued that education, and that particular person ends up being just a superstar on the job site.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senator Murray Presses Trump’s Small Business Administrator on Canceled Grants, Immense Costs of Trump’s Trade War for Small Businesses

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray
    ***WATCH: Senator Murray’s Q&A with SBA Administrator Loeffler***
    Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, questioned Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler at a Senate Appropriations Financial Services and General Government (FSSG) Subcommittee hearing on the president’s fiscal year 2026 budget request for SBA. Murray pressed Administrator Loeffler on the Trump administration’s cancellation of SBA grants and how Trump’s trade war is imposing serious costs on small businesses in Washington state.
    [GRANT TERMINATIONS]
    Senator Murray began by pressing Loeffler on funding she terminated: “I’ve been hearing from small businesses in my state about the SBA grants that have been cancelled and frozen. One example is you canceled a $2.5 million Regional Innovation Cluster contract in Washington state that would have supported small businesses that were working on carbon capture and utilization and storage. It’s not an isolated case but that is a program that Congress historically funded with strong bipartisan support. I wanted to ask you today: why have you canceled funding for a program that has both bipartisan support and really drives small business growth in emerging sectors?”
    Administrator Loeffler refused to answer the question directly but stated in part: “I have broad authority in this administration to reshape the Regional Innovation Clusters, and we are undertaking a review of those programs to right-size them and form them to where the needs are most urgent right now.”
    Senator Murray countered: “I would just say this is a regional need, and I would just ask you to go back and look at that one. Happy to provide you information, but it really is a critical one for our region.”
    [TRUMP’S TRADE WAR]
    Senator Murray then asked about the steep cost of Trump’s trade war on small businesses: “I met with small business owners in Seattle, one of them runs a coffee shop and imports green tea. Like a lot of small business owners that I am talking to, and you know, they operate on thin margins so even the current tariffs are hitting them really hard. We don’t grow much green tea in the United States. I doubt we ever will. Given that the increased costs imposed by these tariffs could really—he told me—shutter his business. What should they do in this situation?”
    Administrator Loeffler replied: “This period of negotiation, you know, is not one where we don’t acknowledge their near-term effects, but for the long term, we want—”
    Senator Murray interjected: “This is a small business. They can’t last much longer.”
    Avoiding the question of how a small business is supposed to cope, Loeffler replied: “We’re focused on is ensuring that we never get in the position again of having unfair trade. And that’s what President Trump’s fighting for. That’s what we’re fighting for. We, just yesterday, put out our Make Onshoring Great Again directory to ensure that small businesses have access to millions—a million suppliers across this country that can offer alternatives—”
    Senator Murray again interjected: “But this country doesn’t produce green tea, and this small business is not going to last more than a few months. I hear your bigger scheme is that someday this will all pay off. This small business won’t be there. I’m just asking you: what are they supposed to do? Are you going to – do you have anything drafted? Are you looking at anything that can help these small businesses who are on the verge of closing right now? They can’t wait 2, 3, 5, 6 months from now.”
    Offering SBA loan financing to cover turbulent times thanks to Trump’s tariffs, Secretary Loeffler replied in part: “Well, what the SBA is offering is certainly the capital, the counseling that they need, as well as import and export loan financing to deal with these times of uncertainty.”
    Senator Murray replied: “I appreciate that you have an optimistic view. I’m just telling you, having sat down and met with these small businesses, whether it’s shutting the regional SBA office or canceling these grants to support our entrepreneurs, or these tariffs that are having impact, there are small businesses that will not make it based on your optimism.”
    ______________________
    Senator Murray has been a vocal opponent of Trump’s chaotic trade war from the very start and has been lifting up the voices of people in Washington state harmed by this administration’s approach to trade and calling on Republicans to end Trump’s trade war—which Congress has the power to do—and take back Congress’ Constitutionally-granted power to impose tariffs. Earlier last month, Senator Murray brought together leaders across Washington state who highlighted how Trump’s ongoing trade war is already a devastating hit to Washington state’s economy, businesses, and our agriculture sector. Senator Murray also took to the Senate floor to lay out how Trump’s chaotic trade war is seriously threatening our economy, American businesses, families’ retirement savings, and so much else.
    Murray has also been sounding the alarm on Trump’s tariffs across Washington state. Recently, Senator Murray held a roundtable discussion in Tacoma with local businesses and ports, met with farmers in Yakima to discuss the consequences of Trump’s tariffs, and held a roundtable discussion in Vancouver at a local metal fabrication company to highlight how Trump’s trade war is hurting businesses and our economy Washington state. Just last week, Senator Murray met with small business owners in Seattle’s University District to hear how Trump’s tariffs and the broader economic uncertainty are affecting them, and later she met with farmers in Skagit County to discuss tariffs, and visited Blaine near the Canadian border to highlight the impacts of Trump’s trade war. Earlier this month, Senator Murray rallied her West Coast colleagues and ports from Washington state and California to sound the alarm on how Trump’s tariffs will mean bare shelves, higher prices, and painful layoffs.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ‘Perfect bodies and perfect lives’: how selfie-editing tools are distorting how young people see themselves

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julia Coffey, Associate Professor in Sociology, University of Newcastle

    Olena Yakobchuk/Shutterstock

    Like many of her peers, Abigail (21) takes a lot of selfies, tweaks them with purpose-made apps, and posts them on social media. But, she says, the selfie-editing apps do more than they were designed for:

    You look at that idealised version of yourself and you just want it – you just want it to be real […] the more you do it, the better you get at it and the more subtle your editing is the easier it is to actually see yourself as that version.

    Abigail was one of nearly 80 young people my colleagues and I interviewed as part of research into selfie-editing technologies. The findings, recently published in New Media & Society, are cause for alarm. They show selfie-editing technologies have significant impacts for young people’s body image and wellbeing.

    Carefully curating an online image

    Many young people carefully curate how they appear online. One reason for this is to negotiate the intense pressures of visibility in a digitally-networked world.

    Selfie-editing technologies enable this careful curation.

    The most popular selfie-editing apps include Facetune, Faceapp, and Meitu. They offer in-phone editing tools from lighting, colour and photo adjustments to “touch ups” such as removing blemishes.

    These apps also offer “structural” edits. These mimic cosmetic surgery procedures such as rhinoplasty (more commonly known as nose jobs) and facelifts. They also offer filters including an “ageing” filter, “gender swap” tool, and “make up” and hairstyle try-ons.

    The range of editing options and incredible attention to details and correction of so-called “flaws” these apps offer encourage the user to forensically analyse their face and body, making a series of micro changes with the tap of a finger.

    Facetune is one of the most popular selfie-editing apps among young people.
    Facetune

    A wide range of editing practices

    The research team I led included Amy Dobson (Curtin University), Akane Kanai (Monash University), Rosalind Gill (University of London) and Niamh White (Monash University). We wanted to understand how image-altering technologies were experienced by young people, and whether these tools impacted how they viewed themselves.

    We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 33 young people aged between 18-24. We also ran 13 “selfie-editing” group workshops with 56 young people aged 18–24 who take selfies, and who use editing apps in Melbourne and Newcastle, Australia.

    Most participants identified as either “female” or “cis woman” (56). There were 12 who identified as either “non-binary”, “genderfluid” or “questioning”, and 11 who identified as “male” or “cis man”. They identified as from a range of ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds.

    Facetune was the most widely-used facial-editing app. Participants also used Snapseed, Meitu, VSCO, Lightroom and the built-in beauty filters which are now standard in newer Apple or Samsung smartphones.

    Editing practices varied from those who irregularly made only minor edits such as lighting and cropping, to those who regularly used beauty apps and altered their faces and bodies in forensic detail, mimicking cosmetic surgical interventions.

    Approximately one third of participants described currently or previously making dramatic or “structural” edits through changing the dimensions of facial features. These edits included reshaping noses, cheeks, head size, shoulders or waist “cinching”.

    Showcasing your ‘best self’

    Young people told us that selfie taking and editing was an important way of showing “who they are” to the world.

    As one participant told us, it’s a way of saying “I’m here, I exist”. But they also said the price of being online, and posting photos of themselves, meant they were aware of being seen alongside a set of images showing “perfect bodies and perfect lives”.

    Participants told us they assume “everyone’s photos have been edited”. To keep up with this high standard, they needed to also be adept at editing photos to display their “best self” – aligning with gendered and racialised beauty ideals.

    Photo-editing apps and filters were seen as a normal and expected way to achieve this. However, using these apps was described as a “slippery slope”, or a “Pandora’s box”, where “once you start editing it’s hard to stop”.

    Young women in particular described feeling that the “baseline standard to just feel normal” feels higher than ever, and that appearance pressures are intensifying.

    Many felt image-altering technologies such as beauty filters and editing apps are encouraging them to want to change their appearance “in real life” through cosmetic non-surgical procedures such as fillers and Botox.

    As one participant, Amber (19), told us:

    I feel like a lot of plastic surgeries are now one step further than a filter.

    Another participant, Freya (20), described a direct link between editing photos and cosmetic enhancement procedures.

    Ever since I started [editing my body in photos], I wanted to change it in real life […] That’s why I decided to start getting lip and cheek filler.

    Editing apps are encouraging some young people to want to change their appearance by using Botox.
    Thiti Sukapan/Shutterstock

    Altering the relationship between technology and the human experience

    These findings suggest image-editing technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) filters and selfie-editing apps, have significant impacts for young people’s body image and wellbeing.

    The rapid expansion of generative AI in “beauty cam” technologies in the cosmetic and beauty retail industries makes it imperative to study these impacts, as well as how young people experience these new technologies.

    These cameras are able to visualise “before and after” on a user’s face with minute forensic detail.

    These technologies, through their potential to alter relationship between technology and the human experience at the deepest level, may have devastating impacts on key youth mental health concerns such as body image.

    Julia Coffey receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    – ref. ‘Perfect bodies and perfect lives’: how selfie-editing tools are distorting how young people see themselves – https://theconversation.com/perfect-bodies-and-perfect-lives-how-selfie-editing-tools-are-distorting-how-young-people-see-themselves-257134

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Durbin, Graham, Reps. Ocasio-Cortez & Lee Introduce Bipartisan Legislation To Combat Non-Consensual, Sexually-Explicit Deepfake Imagery

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin

    May 21, 2025

    The DEFIANCE Act would give survivors a tool to reclaim their image and freedom

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and U.S. Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL-15) today reintroduced the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act(DEFIANCE Act), bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would grant survivors the right to take civil action against individuals who knowingly produce, distribute, solicit andreceive, or possess with the intent to distribute nonconsensual sexually-explicit digital forgeries. Last July, the Senate unanimously passed the DEFIANCE Act of 2024.

    “Sexually-explicit ‘deepfake’ content is often used to exploit and harass women and girls, and no one should have their privacy and autonomy violated by someone else generating explicit AI-generated content of them,” said Durbin. “Although the imagery may be fake, the harm to the victims is very real. Victims have lost their jobs, their reputations, and many have suffered from life-altering depression or anxiety. By introducing the DEFIANCE Act, we’re giving power back to the victims; cracking down on the production, receipt, distribution, and possession of ‘deepfake’ images; and holding those responsible for the images accountable.”

    “We’re reintroducing the DEFIANCE Act to empower survivors of nonconsensual deepfake pornography with the right to take civil action so they can pursue justice for themselves,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “I’m proud to lead this legislation with Representative Lee, and Senators Durbin and Graham to provide victims with the federal protections they deserve.”

    “I am proud to co-lead the bipartisan DEFIANCE Act, which gives victims a civil right of action when predators attempt to use exploitative AI-generated intimate images—so-called deepfakes—to intimidate, shame, or harm them,” said Lee. “We’ve seen stories across the country of women and girls as young as 12 years old victimized by this new and growing form of sexual violence. The time for action is now. This legislation will complement the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which was recently signed into law. Together, they both create both accountability and recourse. I am grateful for my colleagues’ work on these issues, and look forward to moving this bill through Committee.”

    The bill text is available here. 

    In addition to Durbin and Graham, the DEFIANCE Act is cosponsored by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Angus King (I-ME), Mike Lee (R-UT), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Peter Welch (D-VT).

    In addition to Ocasio-Cortez and Lee, the DEFIANCE Act is cosponsored by Representatives Kat Cammack (R-FL-03), Chris Deluzio (D-PA-17), Debbie Dingell (D-MI-12), Mike Lawler (R-NY-17), Ted Lieu (D-CA-36), Nancy Mace (R-SC-06), Max Miller (R-OH-07), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO-07), and Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ-02).

    The legislation is endorsed by the National Women’s Law Center, National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), Raven, Public Citizen, Sexual Violence Prevention Association, Democratic Women’s Caucus, UltraViolet, Joyful Heart Foundation, My Image My Choice, Reclaim Coalition, SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change, American Association of University Women (AAUW), End Rape on Campus, Foundation Ra, Explain the Asterisk, Protect America’s Daughters, Sexual Assault Response Coalition (SARC), Students Against Sexual Assault, What Were You Wearing, Rooting Movements, Recognize Violence, Change Culture (RVCC), and Street Grace. Quotes from these organizations follow.

    “As a survivor of deepfake pornography, I know the trauma of having your body and identity manipulated and weaponized. It is a violation that leaves you feeling powerless. The DEFIANCE Act changes that. It empowers victims to seek justice through a civil right of action, finally giving us a path to hold perpetrators accountable. With the number of deepfakes doubling every six months—and over 98% of them being pornographic—we are in a crisis. This bipartisan bill addresses the creation, distribution, and solicitation of nonconsensual deepfake pornography. It’s not just necessary—it’s urgent. Survivors deserve justice. Congress must act swiftly to pass the DEFIANCE Act and take a meaningful stand against digital sexual violence,” said Omny Miranda Martone, Founder & CEO of the Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA).

    “Survivors of image-based sexual abuse deserve a clear path to civil justice,” said Stefan Turkheimer, VP of Public Policy at RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization. “The DEFIANCE Act is the right solution — and now is the right time to build on the growing momentum to ensure survivors have real power to hold offenders accountable, including the ability to pursue civil remedies against those who use AI to create and spread sexually explicit images meant to cause harm.”

    The volume of “deepfake” content available online is increasing exponentially as the technology used to create it has become more accessible to the public. The overwhelming majority of this material is sexually-explicit and is produced without the consent of the person depicted. A 2019 study found that 96 percent of “deepfake” videos were nonconsensual pornography.

    One researcher found that:

    • The number of nonconsensual pornographic “deepfake” videos available online has increased ninefold since 2019;
    • Such videos have been viewed almost four billion times;
    • Monthly traffic to the top 20 “deepfake” sites increased by 285 percent from July 2020 to July 2023; and
    • Search engines directed 25.2 million visits to the top five most popular “deepfake” sites in July 2023 alone.

    -30-

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Youth sports exchange to bridge cultures, strengthen ties

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

    NANJING, China, May 21 — The 2025 Belt and Road Youth Sports Exchange Week (Jiangsu) officially launched on Wednesday in Jiangyin, east China’s Jiangsu Province, gathering nearly 500 international students from 66 countries and regions.

    Held at Jiangyin Feima Water City from May 20 to 27, the event features a lineup of activities, including youth men’s 3×3 basketball invitational, youth outdoor sports challenge, and youth orienteering training camp. These initiatives aim to create a dynamic platform for cross-cultural dialogue and friendly competition.

    “Sports transcend barriers. They are a universal language that connects everyone, regardless of nationality or background,” said Mutai Ronald Kipsang, a Kenyan doctoral student at Nanjing Agricultural University. “Through teamwork and our shared pursuit of excellence, we unite. This event isn’t just about skills. It’s about building lasting friendships and exchanging ideas.”

    Now in its fifth consecutive year, the exchange week has evolved into a flagship cultural initiative for Jiangsu, a province renowned for its economic vitality, educational resources, and strategic ties with Belt and Road partners. By integrating sports with storytelling, the event highlights Jiangsu’s cultural heritage while strengthening bonds among global youth through shared athletic experiences.

    Leveraging its geographic advantages and robust economic and academic infrastructure, Jiangsu has deepened collaboration with Belt and Road countries and regions in trade, technology, and people-to-people exchanges.

    The annual event underscores this commitment, using sports as a medium to promote Chinese culture, share local narratives, and nurture a spirit of peace, friendship, and cooperation among participants.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to online survey of antidepressant withdrawal

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    An online survey published in Psychiatry Research looks at the antidepressants withdrawal effects. 

    (comment on the subject more generally, in case useful) A spokesperson for the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said:

    “Treatment options will depend on a patient’s type of depression, how long it has lasted, and whether they have experienced depression in the past.

    “Medication is just one of the recommended treatment options for people with anxiety and depressive conditions. We know that people greatly benefit from holistic treatment from specialist practitioners who are trained in the biological, social and psychological determinants of mental illness.

    “Antidepressants are a clinically recommended treatment, and they are effective at reducing the symptoms of moderate to severe depression, particularly when used in combination with talking therapies.

    “Long-term use of antidepressants should only be considered for people that have recurrent depression and repeated, severe relapses after stopping antidepressants. For those patients, the beneficial effects of continuous use of antidepressants are more likely to balance the potential risks. However, this should be reviewed regularly, and multiple attempts should be made to stop taking these medications after prolonged periods of established wellbeing.

    “Most people will be able to stop taking antidepressants without significant difficulty by reducing the dose (known as ‘tapering’) over a few weeks or months. Some people can experience withdrawal symptoms that last longer and may be more severe, particularly when the medication is stopped suddenly.

    “Ultimately, the use of antidepressants, should always be a shared decision between a patient and their doctor based on clinical need and the preferences of the patient. We would advise all those thinking of stopping their antidepressants to talk to their doctor first, as these medications should not be stopped abruptly.”

     

    Dr Gemma Lewis, Associate Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Wellcome Trust and Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellow, UCL, said:

    “This type of study is highly susceptible to bias and the findings should not be used to inform practice. The number of people included in the study was very small, compared to the number of people who use this NHS service. The study was an online survey done at one point in time. These types of studies are at a much higher risk of bias than studies which use larger samples, follow people over time, and have a control group. It was also impossible for the authors to distinguish withdrawal symptoms from symptoms of depression and anxiety.”

     

    Prof Anthony Kendrick, Professor of Primary Care, University of Southampton, said:

    “The percentage of people reporting severe withdrawal symptoms of 15% is likely to be an overestimate, as the response rate to the survey was only 18%, and it was retrospective, so people who have had memorable withdrawal problems in the past would be more likely to respond. Also, giving people a list of symptoms to choose from elicits a greater number than asking them to report symptoms themselves, spontaneously.

    “The recent systematic review by Henssler et al in Lancet Psychiatry looked at prospective studies and included many which asked for spontaneously reported symptoms. However, the proportion of 3% reporting severe withdrawal symptoms found in that study is likely to be an underestimate as it included many short-term studies of only around 6-12 weeks of antidepressant use. 

    “Overall we might conclude that the evidence so far indicates that a minority of people experience severe withdrawal symptoms – somewhere between 3% and 15%.”

    References

    Henssler, J., Schmidt, Y., Schmidt, U., Schwarzer, G., Bschor, T., Baethge, C., 2024. Incidence of antidepressant discontinuation symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Psychiatry 11, 526–535. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(24)00133-0

     

    ‘Antidepressants withdrawal effects and duration of use: a survey of patients enrolled in primary care psychotherapy services’ by Mark Horowitz et al. was published in Psychiatry Research at 23:59 UK time on Wednesday 21 May. 

     

    Declared interests

    Dr Gemma Lewis: No COIs.

    Prof Anthony Kendrick:I have received funding from the NIHR for the REDUCE programme on internet and telephone support for discontinuing antidepressants, and I was a member of the guideline committee for the NICE guideline on depression in adults which made recommendations on managing antidepressant discontinuation.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: ReconAfrica Announces the Appointment of Mark Friesen as Managing Director, Investor Relations and Capital Markets, an Update on the Transaction with NAMCOR and Proposed Warrant Extension

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CALGARY, Alberta, May 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. (the “Company” or “ReconAfrica”) (TSXV: RECO) (OTCQX: RECAF) (Frankfurt: 0XD) (NSX: REC) announces an update to its investor relations contact, an update on the transaction with Namcor Exploration and Production (Pty) (“NAMCOR”) announced in the Company’s news release dated September 22, 2022 and that it intends to extend the expiry date of certain common share purchase warrants of the Company.

    UPDATE TO INVESTOR RELATIONS CONTACT

    Mr. Grayson Andersen has left ReconAfrica to pursue new career opportunities. The Company, its Board of Directors and Management thank Grayson for his contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavours.

    Effective immediately, Mark Friesen has joined ReconAfrica as Managing Director, Investor Relations and Capital Markets and is based in Calgary. Mark has extensive energy finance and investor relations experience in the Canadian and U.S. markets. Mark’s prior corporate experience includes being the Director of Investor Relations with Kiwetinohk Energy Corp. and doing business development and corporate planning with Kiwetinohk, Murphy Oil Corporation and through his own consulting company. Mark began his career in equity research covering the energy sector at Bank of Montreal (BMO), FirstEnergy Capital Corp., TD Bank and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). Mark holds a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation and received a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) degree in Finance from the University of Manitoba.

    Investors can continue to contact the Company by email at investors@reconafrica.com or by phone at +1-877-631-1160.

    UPDATE ON NAMCOR TRANSACTION

    The Company and NAMCOR have not yet completed the transaction pursuant to the definitive purchase and sale agreement announced September 22, 2022, but report that discussions are ongoing.

    PROPOSED WARRANT EXTENSION

    The Company intends to extend the expiry date of an aggregate 6,795,454 outstanding common share purchase warrants of the Company (the “July Warrants”) by 18 months to January 18, 2027 and an aggregate 1,071,500 outstanding common share purchase warrants of the Company (the “September Warrants” and collectively with the July Warrants, the “Warrants”) by 18 months to February 1, 2027 (collectively with the extension of July Warrants, the “Extension”).

    The July Warrants were issued pursuant to a public offering which closed on July 18, 2023 and are set to expire on July 18, 2025. The July Warrants were issued pursuant to a warrant indenture dated July 18, 2023 between the Company and Odyssey Trust Company. Each July Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one common share of the Company at a price of CAD $1.35 and all other terms of the July Warrants, including exercise price, will remain the same.

    A total of 295,227 outstanding compensation warrants issued as compensation to the underwriters for part of the financing in July 2023 cannot be extended and will expire on July 18, 2025.

    The September Warrants were issued pursuant to a non-brokered private placement which closed on September 1, 2023 and are set to expire on September 1, 2025. Each September Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one common share of the Company at a price of CAD $1.40 and all other terms of the September Warrants, including exercise price, will remain the same.

    220,000 of the July Warrants are held by parties who are considered to be “related parties” of the Company. The September Warrants are all held by parties who are considered to be “related parties” of the Company. Therefore, the amendment of Warrants constitutes a “related party transaction” as contemplated by Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Shareholders in Special Transactions, and TSXV Policy 5.9 Protection of Minority Shareholders in Special Transactions. However, the exemptions from formal valuation and minority approval requirements provided for by these guidelines have been relied upon as the fair market value of the Warrants held by insiders does not exceed 25% of the market capitalization of the Company.

    The Extension remains subject to receipt of approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

    About ReconAfrica

    ReconAfrica is a Canadian oil and gas company engaged in the exploration of the Damara Fold Belt and Kavango Rift Basin in the Kalahari Desert of northeastern Namibia, southeastern Angola, and northwestern Botswana, where the Company holds rights to petroleum licences comprising over 13 million acres. The Company will be drilling its next well, Prospect I which is located onshore Namibia in Petroleum Exploration Licence 073 (“PEL 73”). This will be the Company’s largest exploration prospect drilled to date. In all aspects of its operations, ReconAfrica is committed to minimal disturbance of habitat in line with international standards and implementing environmental and social best practices in all of its project areas.

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

    For further information contact:

    Brian Reinsborough, President and Chief Executive Officer | Tel: +1-877-631-1160

    Mark Friesen, Investor Relations | Tel: +1-877-631-1160

    IR Inquiries Email: investors@reconafrica.com

    Media Inquiries Email: media@reconafrica.com

    Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

    Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information under applicable Canadian, United States and other applicable securities laws, rules and regulations, including, without limitation, the Company’s commitment to minimal disturbance of habitat, in line with best international standards and its implementation of environmental and social best practices in all of its project areas. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words “could”, “intend”, “expect”, “believe”, “will”, “projected”, “estimated” and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on ReconAfrica’s current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as the Company’s actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of the factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section in the Company’s annual information form for the period ended December 31, 2024, available under the Company’s profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Actual future results may differ materially. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to ReconAfrica. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and ReconAfrica undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-Evening Report: NZ Budget 2025: tax cuts and reduced revenues mean the government is banking on business growth

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Sawyer, Professor of Taxation, University of Canterbury

    Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

    Not a lot is known about the government’s plans for taxes in the 2025 budget. Few tax policies have been announced so far, and what has been revealed involves targeted tax cuts for business interests.

    This is a big change from last year’s tax announcements, which were largely focused on individuals.

    So far this year, the government has announced tax policies to encourage overseas investment and to make employee share schemes for start-ups and unlisted companies more attractive.

    This week, the government also announced the demise of the Digital Services Tax – which Treasury estimated would be worth more than NZ$100 million a year – after threats of retaliation from US President Donald Trump.

    But each of these policies would result in a drop in tax revenue. That raises a key question: where will the money to run the government come from when two successive budgets have included tax revenue cuts?

    Overseas money for investment

    This month, the government announced a commitment of $75 million over the next four years to encourage foreign investment in infrastructure and make it easier for startups to attract and retain high quality staff.

    Broken down, this would be $65 million for a change to the rules around “thin capitalisation”, pending the outcome of consultation on the details. At a basic level, this policy is targeting how much debt companies with overseas subsidiaries can have when investing in New Zealand infrastructure.

    The other $10 million is earmarked as a deferral of tax liability for some employee share schemes to help startups and unlisted companies.

    The goal of both policies seems to be to encourage international investment in New Zealand to boost growth in our otherwise sluggish economy.

    The government’s ‘Growth Budget’ is set to include policy changes that will see drops in tax revenue.
    Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

    No digital services tax

    The demise of the digital services tax is the other big tax policy to be announced ahead of today’s budget.

    Left over from the previous Labour government, the policy would have applied a 3% tax on digital services revenue earned from New Zealand customers by global tech giants such as Meta, X and Google (many of which are based in the US).

    But Donald Trump has been highly critical of these sorts of levies, describing them as overseas extortion. Revenue Minister Simon Watts has admitted Trump’s objections were part of the decision to scrap the tax.

    While the government will save the money set aside in last year’s budget for administrative costs, the potential tax revenue will be a big loss. Treasury had previously forecast New Zealand would gain $479m in tax revenue from the levy between 2027 and 2029.

    But Watts said, “the forecast revenues from the introduction of a Digital Services Tax no longer meet the criteria for inclusion in the Crown accounts”.

    A hole in revenue

    When it comes to tax, the pre-budget announcements will all involve costs to the government or drops in revenue.

    There are rumours the budget will include changes to the companies tax. But, if anything, this will be a drop in the amount of tax companies pay. So again, a drop in tax revenue.

    The challenge facing the government is where the money to operate comes from. And the choices it has are limited.

    Firstly, it could increase tax elsewhere. But that would require either a reversal of last year’s income tax cuts, or the long-standing policy not to target wealth – such as with a capital gains tax.

    Or, the government could make drastic cuts to spending. And, considering the announcement that this year’s budget would be tight, with over a $1 billion cut from the government’s discretionary operating spending (known as an operating allowance), this seems to be the path they have taken, at least partially.

    The final option would be to borrow now to boost infrastructure and business investment in the hope that resulting economic growth will generate greater revenue later.

    We won’t know the answers to these questions until Budget 2025 is released, and there have been a lot of mixed messages. Considering Finance Minister Nicola Willis has dubbed this a “Growth Budget”, however, it seems likely the focus will be on encouraging investment and growth through business activity, rather than any tax increases.

    Adrian Sawyer 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. NZ Budget 2025: tax cuts and reduced revenues mean the government is banking on business growth – https://theconversation.com/nz-budget-2025-tax-cuts-and-reduced-revenues-mean-the-government-is-banking-on-business-growth-257229

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: FDA limits access to COVID-19 vaccine to older adults and other high-risk groups – a public health expert explains the new rules

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Libby Richards, Professor of Nursing, Purdue University

    Older adults will continue to receive yearly COVID-19 shots, but lower-risk groups will not, says the FDA. dusanpetkovic via iStock / Getty Images Plus

    On May 20, 2025, the Food and Drug Administration announced a new stance on who should receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

    The agency said it would approve new versions of the vaccine only for adults 65 years of age and older as well as for people with one or more risk factors for severe COVID-19 outcomes. These risk factors include medical conditions such as asthma, cancer, chronic kidney disease, heart disease and diabetes.

    However, healthy younger adults and children who fall outside of these groups may not be eligible to receive the COVID-19 shot this fall. Vaccine manufacturers will have to conduct clinical trials to demonstrate that the vaccine benefits low-risk groups.

    FDA Commissioner Martin Makary and the agency’s head of vaccines, Vinay Prasad, described the new framework in an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine and in a public webcast.

    The Conversation U.S. asked Libby Richards, a nursing professor involved in public health promotion, to explain why the changes were made and what they mean for the general public.

    Why did the FDA diverge from past practice?

    Until the May 20 announcement, getting a yearly COVID-19 vaccine was recommended for everyone ages 6 months and older, regardless of their health risk.

    According to Makary and Prasad, the Food and Drug Administration is moving away from these universal recommendations and instead taking a risk-based approach based on its interpretation of public health trends – specifically, the declining COVID-19 booster uptake, a lack of strong evidence that repeated boosters improve health outcomes for healthy people and the fact that natural immunity from past COVID-19 infections is widespread.

    The FDA states it wants to ensure the vaccine is backed by solid clinical trial data, especially for low-risk groups.

    Was this a controversial decision or a clear consensus?

    The FDA’s decision to adopt a risk-based framework for the COVID-19 vaccine aligns with the expected recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an advisory group of vaccine experts offering expert guidance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy, which is scheduled to meet in June 2025. But while this advisory committee was also expected to recommend allowing low-risk people to get annual COVID-19 vaccines if they want to, the FDA’s policy will likely make that difficult.

    Although the FDA states that its new policy aims to promote greater transparency and evidenced-based decision-making, the change is controversial – in part because it circumvents the usual process for evaluating vaccine recommendations. The FDA is enacting this policy change by limiting its approval of the vaccine to high-risk groups, and it is doing so without any new data supporting its decision. Usually, however, the FDA broadly approves a vaccine based on whether it is safe and effective, and decisions on who should be eligible to receive it are left to the CDC, which receives research-based guidance from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

    Change is coming to COVID-19 vaccine policy.
    Rock Obst, CC BY-SA

    Additionally, FDA officials point to Canada, Australia and some European countries that limit vaccine recommendations to older adults and other high-risk people as a model for its revised framework. But vaccine strategies vary widely, and this more conservative approach has not necessarily proven superior. Also, those countries have universal health care systems and have a track record of more equitable access to COVID-19 care and better COVID-19 outcomes.

    Another question is how health officials’ positions on COVID-19 vaccines affect public perception. Makary and Prasad noted that COVID-19 vaccination campaigns may have actually eroded public trust in vaccination. But some vaccine experts have expressed concerns that limiting COVID-19 vaccine access might further fuel vaccine hesitancy because any barrier to vaccine access can reduce uptake and hinder efforts to achieve widespread immunity.

    What conditions count as risk factors?

    The New England Journal of Medicine article includes a lengthy list of conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19 and notes that about 100 million to 200 million people will fall into this category and will thus be eligible to get the vaccine.

    Pregnancy is included. Some items on the list, however, are unclear. For example, the list includes asthma, but the data that asthma is a risk factor for severe COVID-19 is scant.

    Also on the list is physical inactivity, which likely applies to a vast swath of Americans and is difficult to define. Studies have found links between regular physical activity and reduced risk of severe COVID-19 infection, but it’s unclear how health care providers will define and measure physical inactivity when assessing a patient’s eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines.

    Most importantly, the list leaves out an important group – caregivers and household members of people at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 infection. This omission leaves high-risk people more vulnerable to exposure to COVID-19 from healthy people they regularly interact with. Multiple countries the new framework refers to do include this group.

    Why is the FDA requiring new clinical trials?

    According to the FDA, the benefits of multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccines for healthy adults are currently unproven. It’s true that studies beyond the fourth vaccine dose are scarce. However, multiple studies have demonstrated that the vaccine is effective at preventing the risk of severe COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death in low-risk adults and children. Receiving multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccines has also been shown to reduce the risk of long COVID.

    The FDA is moving to risk-based access for COVID-19 vaccines.

    The FDA is requiring vaccine manufactures to conduct additional large randomized clinical trials to further evaluate the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 boosters for healthy adults and children. These trials will primarily test whether the vaccines prevent symptomatic infections, and secondarily whether they prevent hospitalization and death. Such trials are more complex, costly and time-consuming than the more common approach of testing for immunological response.

    This requirement will likely delay both the timeliness and the availability of COVID-19 vaccine boosters and slow public health decision-making.

    Will low-risk people be able to get a COVID-19 shot?

    Not automatically. Under the new FDA framework, healthy adults who wish to receive the fall COVID-19 vaccine will face obstacles. Health care providers can administer vaccines “off-label”, but insurance coverage is widely based on FDA recommendations. The new, narrower FDA approval will likely reduce both access to COVID-19 vaccines for the general public and insurance coverage for COVID-19 vaccines.

    The FDA’s focus on individual risks and benefits may overlook broader public health benefits. Communities with higher vaccination rates have fewer opportunities to spread the virus.

    What about vaccines for children?

    High-risk children age 6 months and older who have conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19 are still eligible for the vaccine under the new framework. As of now, healthy children age 6 months and older without underlying medical conditions will not have routine access to COVID-19 vaccines until further clinical trial data is available.

    Existing vaccines already on the market will remain available, but it is unclear how long they will stay authorized and how the change will affect childhood vaccination overall.

    Libby Richards has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the American Nurses Foundation, and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute

    – ref. FDA limits access to COVID-19 vaccine to older adults and other high-risk groups – a public health expert explains the new rules – https://theconversation.com/fda-limits-access-to-covid-19-vaccine-to-older-adults-and-other-high-risk-groups-a-public-health-expert-explains-the-new-rules-257226

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Welch and Britt’s Bill to Boost Flood Resiliency and Hydrology Research Advances Bill would make permanent the hydrology research center at UVM  

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) today celebrated the advancement of the bipartisan Water Research Optimization Act of 2025, legislation to streamline hydrological forecast modeling within the National Weather Service. The Senators’ legislation advanced out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation this morning.
    “Investing in hydrology modeling and prediction is crucial to boosting flood resilience across the country, from Vermont to Alabama. That includes supporting important hydrology research and programs at the University of Vermont that improve hydrologic forecasting, such as the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology,” said Senator Welch. “Our bipartisan bill will strengthen and align current hydrology research at the National Weather Service with vital research at UVM to foster flood resilience and help communities rebuild better after natural disasters. I am thankful for the support of the Commerce Committee and urge my colleagues to support the bill as it comes to the Senate floor.”  
    “I continue to be grateful to Commerce Committee Chair Cruz for his work to advance critical legislation out of committee. I’m also thankful for Senator Welch’s partnership on this important bipartisan bill. The National Water Center has been instrumental to NOAA’s efforts to strengthen America’s water forecasting capabilities, improve weather-preparedness, and modernize water research technologies. The Center’s world-class capabilities truly benefit communities across our entire nation. I’m proud to champion this effort to further enhance this renowned research and applied science, and I’m committed to getting this signed into law,” said Senator Britt. 
    CIROH has evolved into a revolutionary, collaborative hub between the public and private sector for research and development. The Water Research Optimization Act of 2025 would make CIROH’s research center at the University of Vermont (UVM) permanent and align UVM’s hydrology work with the National Weather Service to boost flood resiliency research. 
    “We are grateful to Senators Welch and Britt for their leadership in introducing pivotal legislation to support CIROH. Funding for these efforts allows the University of Vermont to continue vital research on water that impacts the quality of life of Vermonters and communities across the country. We are proud to be able to contribute to this work,” said Kirk Dombrowski, Vice President for Research and Economic Development, University of Vermont. 
    CIROH’s national coalition of academic, industry, and non-profit partners includes the University of Vermont, which functions closely alongside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Water Center to support stakeholders with hydrological data and important weather-related forecasts and warnings. This legislation would place CIROH Centers under the supervision and oversight of the National Weather Service’s Office of Water Protection and codify the National Water Center’s authority to lead the transition of water resources research.  
    Read and download the full text of the bill. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Tuberville Introduces Tuskegee President to Senate HELP Committee, Discusses Cost versus Benefits of Higher Education

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Tommy Tuberville (Alabama)
    WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) spoke with Dr. Andrew Gillen, Dr. Michael Lindsay, Dr. Mark Brown, Mr. Mike Pierce, and Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on the state of higher education. During the hearing, Sen. Tuberville discussed the reasons for the skyrocket of prices in higher education institutions during recent years. 
    Sen. Tuberville also introduced Dr. Mark Brown, President of Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama, to the Committee.
    Read Sen. Tuberville’s remarks below or watch on YouTube or Rumble. 
    Sen. Tuberville’s introduction of Dr. Brown can be found below or on YouTube or Rumble.

    INTRODUCTION OF DR. MARK BROWN:
    TUBERVILLE: “It’s my pleasure to introduce our second witness, Dr. Mark A. Brown. As a matter of fact, he’s about 20 miles from where I live, as we speak, in Auburn, Alabama. Dr. Brown is the president of Tuskegee University, home of the Tuskegee Airmen, who we’re very proud of. It’s a Historically Black College in Alabama. He is the first alumnus in Tuskegee’s 143-year-history to lead the university. A retired Air Force Major General, Dr. Brown brings unmatched experience in education leadership, federal student aid policy, and HBCU advancement. We are thankful to have you here today to hear your perspective, Dr. Brown. “
    ON THE COST OF HIGHER EDUCATION:
    TUBERVILLE: “Gentlemen, thanks for being here. I’m passionate about this. I spent [40] years in education—more than anybody in this room probably, maybe other than Dr. Graham, although you spent a little time in the military. I’ve been in high schools all across this country, almost in all 50 states. We’ve gone backwards. [We’re here] today to talk about higher education. I spent 30 years in that and have done a lot of great things for a lot of kids, men and women, rich and poor. It’s got to be merit based, folks. If we don’t merit base this thing, we will not survive as an educational system. This country gives you an opportunity.
    I was in a situation where athletics was merit-based. I didn’t care who you were. I had to win games. I recruited kids that had good grades, would go to class, and could play football. And if they couldn’t do those three things and work at it, I didn’t recruit them. It’s got to be the same thing in college in terms of getting a good education. I know of a school that has a happiness degree. That [isn’t] gonna get it. I’m for paying everybody’s way through college, but not for a degree where when they get out, they can’t get a job at Walmart. We need degrees that kids can prosper [with], raise a family, and have a great life in this country. So, I’d like to ask each one of you just one question, starting over with Dr. Gillen.
    Dr. Gillen, what factors do you see that have caused massive skyrocketing costs at our universities across the country?”
    GILLEN: “So, I would argue that the main driver of higher college cost is what’s called the Bowen Revenue Theory of Cost. When you look at higher education, […] the idea here is not that, you know, higher faculty salaries or increases in institutional aid are driving higher spending. It’s that when more revenue is available, colleges will spend as much as they can. And it makes sense, these are all mission driven institutions, right? If you give each of these schools a million more dollars, they’ll find a good way to spend it. The problem is if you keep doing that, eventually those good ways to spend it aren’t so convincing anymore. But when we have these mission driven institutions, the more money they have, the more money they’re going to spend.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Dr. Lindsay?”
    LINDSAY: “I think the opportunity that is before is, as you say, to bring accountability and outcomes. And I think we have to be very intentional about the kind of formation that’s occurring on our campuses. I’m really proud of the fact that we have something called the Good Work Initiative, which is basically trying to transform on campus employment opportunities where students are paid a little bit more than minimum wage to give them a little bit more spending money, but we also pair it with professional development and vocational discernment exercises to help them. So, that when they graduate, they actually have that kind of professional experience. It’s a pilot [program]. We’ve had good success with it. We’re allowing the opportunity for more students to take on more leadership roles, giving them good things for their resumes, but also buttressing their opportunities when they graduate.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Dr. Brown?”
    BROWN: “Senator, I’ll use a real example. I went to my Board of Trustees for this upcoming year and said that I would like to freeze tuition for two years at our school. They approved the freezing of the tuition, but when I looked at the cost of insurance—which is a subcomponent of that tuition—we had to go up. So, the real cost to the customer—the family—was more.
    The same is true of the cost of dining, the cost of food that goes into a dining hall contract, and the cost of the utilities it takes to run the campus. My campus is much like any other business. Those costs, we would not be able to absorb, and so our cost went up because costs in the economy went up. It was not that we would spend more because we had more. Those costs were real, and we had to realize those as a school [that] operates just like a business in that sense.”
    LOWERY-HART: “Thank you for the question. I would say in the community college sector, there hasn’t been a massive skyrocket rising in prices. At Austin Community College, we haven’t raised tuition in 12 years. I think we’ve raised it once in 15 [years]. We’re the sector of higher education that lives within our means, because our students are so price-sensitive. And I think there could be a lot to learn from how community colleges effectively manage their budgets.”
    TUBERVILLE: “I agree with you on that. I’ve been in a lot of community colleges. You do a good job, by the way. And I think more kids need to go to community colleges.
    Mr. Pierce?”
    PIERCE: “I think it’s my turn to talk about for-profit colleges, which seems to be missing from my colleague’s responses to your question. We have watched the proprietary sector raise costs far in excess of other sectors of the higher education system. And we’ve also watched some of the largest participants in the for-profit college market turn into private non-profit colleges or enter into deals with public colleges. I think we’re not at a place where we were a decade ago talking about the proprietary sector. We should be looking at the backroom deals that some of the largest colleges in the country are cutting with these private companies and how these deals are driving the increase in costs that are being pushed on our most vulnerable students.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Good. Thank you.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”
    Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Construction begins on student housing at SFU, more child care on the way

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Students, staff and the surrounding community are one step closer to more on-campus supports at Simon Fraser University (SFU) – Burnaby as construction starts on a new student residence and will begin later this year on a new child care facility.  

    “A safe and secure place to live and conveniently located child care can be transformative for students and parents working or studying on campus,” said Bowinn Ma, Minister of Infrastructure. “These new facilities will provide shorter commute times, allow students to focus on their studies and help ease pressure on the local rental market.  Projects like this are one way we are investing in infrastructure that supports people in B.C.”

    The new eight-storey residence will provide an additional 445 beds for students at the Burnaby campus. It will include a mix of studio and four-bedroom apartments, as well as two- and four-bedroom townhouses. Construction is expected to start in fall 2025 on a stand-alone child care centre, which will add 160 new child care spaces to more than 410 existing spaces in the Burnaby campus and at SFU’s Sapperton location. With these new spaces, more than 570 child care spaces will provide support to the SFU community.

    Once complete, the residence will bring the total number of student beds on the SFU Burnaby campus to more than 3,000.  

    “I have met with many students at post-secondary campuses in B.C., and access to housing and child care are big factors when deciding if they can afford to build a better life for themselves,” said Anne Kang, Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills. “Since 2018, our government has made historic investments in student housing, making it easier for thousands of students across the province to gain the skills they need to fill the in-demand jobs our economy needs.”

    Construction is expected to be completed on the student-housing residence and child care facility in fall 2027. The total capital cost of the project is $196.6 million, shared between the Province and SFU.

    This project is Phase 3 of SFU’s ongoing student-housing expansion. Phases 1 and 2 added a combined 856 new beds for students, with funding for Phase 2 provided by the Province.

    “Watching the Phase 3 site come to life has reinforced how vital new student housing is for our community,” said Ali Asgar Abdul Udaipurwala, a fourth-year undergraduate student at SFU’s Beedie School of Business, who lives in residence at the Burnaby campus. “As a community adviser and area co-ordinator, I have loved planning late-night events, movie nights and study breaks in our halls. I am excited for Phase 3 to become our next home away from home.”

    Since 2018, the government has committed $2 billion to expand on-campus student housing at public post-secondary institutions throughout B.C. To date, 6,100 beds for students are open, with another 4,600 underway.

    Since 2018, ChildCareBC’s space-creation programs have helped fund the creation of more than 40,900 new licensed child care spaces in B.C., with more than 24,900 of those operational. This child care project received $16 million through the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, which is jointly supported by provincial investments and federal funding provided under the 2021-22 to 2025-26 Canada-British Columbia Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. British Columbia and the federal government signed an extension to the agreement for 2026-27 to 2030-31.

    Quotes:

    Joy Johnson, president, Simon Fraser University –

    “We are grateful for the Province’s continued investment in student housing and child care across the province. I look forward to continued growth of SFU’s resident student community on Burnaby Mountain and to continued partnership with the provincial government as we move forward. The post-secondary sector is united in our efforts to support British Columbians in tackling shared challenges, from housing to health care and beyond, as we make a difference for students and for communities across B.C.”

    Rohini Arora, parliamentary secretary for child care, and MLA for Burnaby East –

    “Creating 160 new child care spaces on SFU campus, where hard-working students, families and single parents can easily access the care they need, is one of the ways we are helping Burnaby get ahead. By ensuring parents, especially mothers, can access high-quality child care in Burnaby while attending higher education or working, we are setting both this generation and the next up for success.”

    Learn More:

    For more information about Simon Fraser University, visit: https://www.sfu.ca/

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Clyde Leads Letter Requesting Risk Assessment of Chatuge Dam & Economic Impact Analysis for Spillway Safety Modifications

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Andrew S. Clyde (R-GA)

    GAINESVILLE, GA — Today, Reps. Andrew Clyde (GA-09) and Chuck Edwards (NC-11) sent a letter to Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) President and CEO Don Moul advocating for a sensible approach to address Chatuge Dam spillway safety concerns. Additionally, the lawmakers requested critical information central to the modifications, including the TVA’s completed risk assessment and a comprehensive economic impact analysis of each proposal. 

    Reps. Clyde and Edwards highlight the potential economic impacts that TVA’s current proposals would have on their communities:

    “We are writing to express our grave concern regarding the proposed Chatuge Dam Spillway Safety Modifications at Lake Chatuge, which is located in both of our districts. While we recognize the critical importance of ensuring the safe operation of Chatuge Dam – and safeguarding the many residents living in the valleys below – we urge you to carefully consider the potential economic impacts that any lake drawdowns would have on the residents and small business owners of the mountain communities of Hiawassee, Georgia, and Hayesville, North Carolina. These towns and surrounding mountain communities rely heavily on Lake Chatuge’s recreational tourism during the summer months to sustain their rural economies.”

    The lawmakers detail how devastating a potential lake drawdown would be for North Georgia and Western North Carolina:

    “…the proposals outlined by the TVA for potential repairs include lake drawdowns to an elevation as low as 1,908 feet – 10 feet below the normal winter pool – for the entire duration of the construction project, with some proposals expected to last as long as eight years. Such drawdowns would devastate the rural, mountain economies of surrounding towns, including Hiawassee, Georgia and Hayesville, North Carolina – leading to the shuttering of small businesses, the displacement of rural workers, and the upending of these communities for decades to come. For example, a 2021 assessment by the University of Georgia found that Towns County’s tourism-related output was $117.4 million, supporting 1,362 jobs or approximately 24% of county employment, and generated $30.8 million in wages.”

    Additionally, the lawmakers share their constituents’ serious concerns about the TVA’s proposals: 

    “Residents across Towns County, Georgia and Clay County, North Carolina have contacted our offices to express serious concerns about the potential economic impacts of the TVA’s proposed lake drawdowns on their small businesses and financial futures.

    “One constituent shared how the proposed drawdown would diminish the time they cherish with friends and family on the lake. A local business owner, whose livelihood depends on Lake Chatuge’s seasonal tourism, wrote about the devastating economic consequences an eight-year drawdown would have for Towns County: ‘Implementing a drawdown of this magnitude and duration threatens to eliminate thousands of jobs… bankrupt numerous businesses… [and] erode the tax base.’”

    In closing, Reps. Clyde and Edwards request critical information central to the TVA’s spillway modification proposals:

    “Specifically, we request that the Tennessee Valley Authority:

    • Publish the TVA’s completed risk assessment of the Chatuge Dam;
    •  Commission a comprehensive economic impact analysis for each proposal outlined in the April 2025 Notice of Intent (NOI);
    •   Explore mitigation measures that would minimize economic harm, such as restricting drawdowns to recreation off-seasons.


    “We further ask that the TVA maintain full transparency in its communications with our offices and with the residents of surrounding communities throughout the Lake Chatuge dam modification process. We look forward to working with local officials, stakeholders, and TVA to reach the best solution that effectively balances the safety of spillway operations and the continued economic prosperity of our mountain communities.”

    Read the full letter HERE.

    Background

    A recent TVA study identified a key vulnerability in the spillway of Chatuge Dam. While the conditions of the current spillway are not an emergency, the TVA is aiming to improve the safety of the spillway to reduce the risk of the dam’s long-term operations. The TVA study has judged the spillway at Chatuge Dam exhibits some of the vulnerabilities that led to the damage and failure of the Oroville Dam spillway in California. To address the issue, the agency announced four potential alternatives for a long-term solution.

    Last month, Rep. Clyde visited the Chatuge Dam with Towns County Sole Commissioner Cliff Bradshaw, Towns County EMA Director Marty Roberts, and members of Rep. Chuck Edwards’ staff to meet with Tennessee Valley Authority officials and discuss the TVA’s proposed plans to address spillway safety concerns.

    Additional information on the Tennessee Valley Authority receiving public input on Chatuge Dam safety modifications can be found HERE.

    Details on the TVA’s notice of intent, including proposed plans, is available in the Federal Register HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Clyde Leads Letter Requesting Risk Assessment of Chatuge Dam & Economic Impact Analysis for Spillway Safety Modifications

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Andrew S. Clyde (R-GA)

    GAINESVILLE, GA — Today, Reps. Andrew Clyde (GA-09) and Chuck Edwards (NC-11) sent a letter to Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) President and CEO Don Moul advocating for a sensible approach to address Chatuge Dam spillway safety concerns. Additionally, the lawmakers requested critical information central to the modifications, including the TVA’s completed risk assessment and a comprehensive economic impact analysis of each proposal. 

    Reps. Clyde and Edwards highlight the potential economic impacts that TVA’s current proposals would have on their communities:

    “We are writing to express our grave concern regarding the proposed Chatuge Dam Spillway Safety Modifications at Lake Chatuge, which is located in both of our districts. While we recognize the critical importance of ensuring the safe operation of Chatuge Dam – and safeguarding the many residents living in the valleys below – we urge you to carefully consider the potential economic impacts that any lake drawdowns would have on the residents and small business owners of the mountain communities of Hiawassee, Georgia, and Hayesville, North Carolina. These towns and surrounding mountain communities rely heavily on Lake Chatuge’s recreational tourism during the summer months to sustain their rural economies.”

    The lawmakers detail how devastating a potential lake drawdown would be for North Georgia and Western North Carolina:

    “…the proposals outlined by the TVA for potential repairs include lake drawdowns to an elevation as low as 1,908 feet – 10 feet below the normal winter pool – for the entire duration of the construction project, with some proposals expected to last as long as eight years. Such drawdowns would devastate the rural, mountain economies of surrounding towns, including Hiawassee, Georgia and Hayesville, North Carolina – leading to the shuttering of small businesses, the displacement of rural workers, and the upending of these communities for decades to come. For example, a 2021 assessment by the University of Georgia found that Towns County’s tourism-related output was $117.4 million, supporting 1,362 jobs or approximately 24% of county employment, and generated $30.8 million in wages.”

    Additionally, the lawmakers share their constituents’ serious concerns about the TVA’s proposals: 

    “Residents across Towns County, Georgia and Clay County, North Carolina have contacted our offices to express serious concerns about the potential economic impacts of the TVA’s proposed lake drawdowns on their small businesses and financial futures.

    “One constituent shared how the proposed drawdown would diminish the time they cherish with friends and family on the lake. A local business owner, whose livelihood depends on Lake Chatuge’s seasonal tourism, wrote about the devastating economic consequences an eight-year drawdown would have for Towns County: ‘Implementing a drawdown of this magnitude and duration threatens to eliminate thousands of jobs… bankrupt numerous businesses… [and] erode the tax base.’”

    In closing, Reps. Clyde and Edwards request critical information central to the TVA’s spillway modification proposals:

    “Specifically, we request that the Tennessee Valley Authority:

    • Publish the TVA’s completed risk assessment of the Chatuge Dam;
    •  Commission a comprehensive economic impact analysis for each proposal outlined in the April 2025 Notice of Intent (NOI);
    •   Explore mitigation measures that would minimize economic harm, such as restricting drawdowns to recreation off-seasons.


    “We further ask that the TVA maintain full transparency in its communications with our offices and with the residents of surrounding communities throughout the Lake Chatuge dam modification process. We look forward to working with local officials, stakeholders, and TVA to reach the best solution that effectively balances the safety of spillway operations and the continued economic prosperity of our mountain communities.”

    Read the full letter HERE.

    Background

    A recent TVA study identified a key vulnerability in the spillway of Chatuge Dam. While the conditions of the current spillway are not an emergency, the TVA is aiming to improve the safety of the spillway to reduce the risk of the dam’s long-term operations. The TVA study has judged the spillway at Chatuge Dam exhibits some of the vulnerabilities that led to the damage and failure of the Oroville Dam spillway in California. To address the issue, the agency announced four potential alternatives for a long-term solution.

    Last month, Rep. Clyde visited the Chatuge Dam with Towns County Sole Commissioner Cliff Bradshaw, Towns County EMA Director Marty Roberts, and members of Rep. Chuck Edwards’ staff to meet with Tennessee Valley Authority officials and discuss the TVA’s proposed plans to address spillway safety concerns.

    Additional information on the Tennessee Valley Authority receiving public input on Chatuge Dam safety modifications can be found HERE.

    Details on the TVA’s notice of intent, including proposed plans, is available in the Federal Register HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: At a seminar on Eurasian relations, Chinese and German experts called for cooperation

    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

    BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) — Experts from China and Germany called for cooperation to overcome global challenges in an unstable world at a seminar on China-Russia-Europe relations held in Beijing on Tuesday.

    The current seminar, organized by the Institute of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (IRESCA AASS), took place in the year of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union.

    In his opening remarks, Sun Zhuangzhi, Director of the IRECA AONK, noted that in the context of profound global changes unseen for a century, humanity once again found itself at a historical crossroads. Against this background, he stressed, academic discussions on relations between China, Russia and Europe have important practical significance.

    Noting that China and Europe have many common interests, Sun said it is crucial to find the “biggest common denominator” for cooperation between the two sides, which is of particular significance both for maintaining security and stability on the Eurasian continent and for promoting prosperity and development worldwide.

    Nadine Godehardt, Senior Research Fellow at the Asia Department of the Brussels branch of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, noted that the world is experiencing new profound changes, and the geopolitical landscape in the Eurasian region is becoming increasingly complex.

    As a result, N. Godehard continued, the European Union and the European integration process are creating a new momentum for reform, initiating a whole series of policy adjustments. She added that discussions between Chinese and European think tanks on the relations between China, Russia and Europe and on the situation in the Eurasian region are timely and important.

    The seminar participants agreed that in the context of an unstable international situation, countries of the world should adhere to the principles of mutual success and common progress, work together to solve key global and regional problems, and jointly write a new chapter in international governance and multilateral cooperation.

    The seminar was attended by experts and scholars from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, the Bertelsmann Foundation, the Ruhr University Bochum, the AONK and the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Drivers of SUVs and pick-ups should pay more to be on our roads. Here’s how to make the system fairer

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor & Principal Fellow in Urban Risk & Resilience, The University of Melbourne

    In the year 2000, almost 70% of all new cars sold in Australia were small passenger vehicles – mainly sedans and hatchbacks. But over 25 years, their share has dropped dramatically to just 17%, as a car “size race” took hold.

    Now, SUVs and light commercial vehicles comprise almost 80% of the market. Four in five new vehicles sold in Australia today are an SUV, ute, van or light truck.

    As larger vehicles become the new norm, they bring more road wear, urban congestion and demands on infrastructure such as parking.

    It’s time to ask: should drivers of larger vehicles pay for the damage and disruption they cause, through higher registration charges? Generally, yes. Bigger cars mean bigger costs for everyone else. It’s only fair those costs are reflected in how we price their use of public roads.

    Reasons for going big

    There are several reasons for the shift to larger passenger vehicles in Australia. They include perceptions that bigger cars are safer and more prestigious, as well as lifestyle preferences.

    A loophole in the luxury car tax also encourages car buyers to go big. The tax was introduced on imports in 2000 and this financial year applies to vehicles worth more than A$80,576.

    Many utes and SUVs are exempt because they’re classified as light commercial vehicles. The exemption applies regardless of whether the car is used privately or for business.

    Counting the costs on our roads

    Larger vehicles – no matter how they are powered – generally impose bigger costs on society than smaller cars.

    Large SUVs and utes (if powered by fossil fuels) have a far greater climate impact. On average, a small car emits 2,040 kilograms less carbon dioxide (CO₂) a year than a pickup truck.

    But even big electric vehicles can cause climate harm. The substantial resources required to manufacture a large EV creates emissions, which may undermine the climate benefits electrification promises.

    Large passenger vehicles also create health system costs. In road crashes, for example, they may better protect their occupants, but pose greater risks to others – especially pedestrians and those in smaller vehicles.

    Research suggests for each fatal crash that occupants of large vehicles avoid, at least 4.3 fatal crashes involving others occur.

    Bigger vehicles also need more space. Standards Australia has proposed making car-parking spaces larger to accommodate the trend to larger cars. Cities such as Paris have introduced higher parking fees for SUVs on these grounds.

    Larger vehicles also slow overall traffic flow. For example, they have longer braking distances and other motorists tend to drive further behind them than smaller cars.

    And at signalised intersections, a large SUV’s impact on traffic flows is equal to 1.41 passenger cars.

    In real-world terms, these differences add up. In the United States in 2011, the annual cost of light-duty trucks on congestion and lost productivity was estimated at more than US$2 billion.

    Then there’s the cost of road wear. You might think heavier vehicles just wear roads a bit faster than smaller ones. But in reality, the relationship is far more dramatic.

    Let’s compare a vehicle with an axle weight of 500 kg and a vehicle with an axle weight of 1,000 kg. The second vehicle doesn’t produce double the road damage – it produces 16 times the damage. This phenomenon is known as the “fourth power rule”.

    It means heavier vehicles cost far more in road maintenance. Curious to test it? The Road Damage Calculator lets you compare the relative impact of vehicles of different weights.

    What does car rego pay for?

    Vehicle registration offers a way to recoup the societal costs caused by large vehicles.

    Part of car registration fees go toward administration, but they also help governments pay for the broader cost of vehicles on public infrastructure and shared spaces.

    In Australia, car registration systems vary widely between states. Not all reflect the impact of the vehicles on the road.

    In Victoria, fees are based mostly on location – whether the car is registered in a metropolitan, outer-metro or rural area. In the Australian Capital Territory, fees are calculated on a vehicle’s emissions.

    Queensland and Tasmania use the number of engine cylinders to set fees – a rough proxy for vehicle size, but not a precise one.

    In New South Wales and Western Australia, heavier vehicles pay more.

    South Australia and the Northern Territory apply different models again, using a combination of settings not directly based on weight.

    A fairer system

    Larger vehicles take up more road space, contribute more to congestion, and cause exponentially more damage to road surfaces. These are exactly the kinds of impacts a vehicle registration system should help account for.

    So, what would a truly equitable registration fee model look like? Based on the evidence, it would not only account for vehicle size and weight, but also how often the vehicle is driven. After all, a heavy car parked in a garage all year causes less impact than one on the road every day.

    Several countries, including New Zealand, have adopted distance-based or road-use charging schemes for certain types of vehicles, which uses a combination of vehicle weight and distance travelled.

    As our vehicle fleet continues to evolve, Australia should follow suit, with a smarter and more equitable registration fee system.

    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. Drivers of SUVs and pick-ups should pay more to be on our roads. Here’s how to make the system fairer – https://theconversation.com/drivers-of-suvs-and-pick-ups-should-pay-more-to-be-on-our-roads-heres-how-to-make-the-system-fairer-252381

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: E-bikes for everyone: 3 NZ trials show people will make the switch – with the right support

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caroline Shaw, Associate Professor in Public Health, University of Otago

    Getty Images

    Anyone who uses city roads will know e-bikes have become increasingly popular in Aotearoa New Zealand. But we also know rising e-bike sales have been predominantly driven by financially well-off households.

    The question now is, can e-biking be accepted and embraced by people and communities where it is currently not happening? Three pilot programmes from around the country have now given us cause for optimism.

    Understanding more about the barriers to e-bike access – especially in communities with low cycling levels or where income levels mean bikes are prohibitively expensive – has been one of the main gaps in our knowledge.

    But over the past few years, we have been involved in projects designed to examine how e-bikes might work in such places. The three pilots were based in Mangere (South Auckland), Wainuiomata (Lower Hutt) and Sydenham (Christchurch).

    These are all areas or communities with lower relative incomes and lower levels of cycling. The majority of individuals involved did not routinely cycle, and some hadn’t been on a bike for decades.

    In all three pilots, the results were positive. In some cases, participants reported long-term, life-changing benefits.

    What the pilot schemes showed

    Each pilot was different. The Mangere programme loaned e-bikes to people for two to three months between 2022 and 2023 through a community bikehub. The Wainuiomata programme involved a longer loan period of one year over 2023, and was run through a health provider at a local marae.

    The Christchurch programme, which ran between 2021 and 2024, was a free e-bike share scheme for tenants in a specific social housing complex, organised through a partnership with a shared e-bike provider.

    Where needed, participants in all pilots were supported as they gained riding confidence and knowledge of safe cycling routes.

    Participants in all the pilot programmes found e-biking acceptable, and they used and enjoyed the bikes. While these pilots were not set up to measure distance travelled, we know from other research that participants in e-bike access schemes ride on average 5km per day, half of which replaces car trips.

    Individuals reported practical benefits such as being able to travel to their jobs, mental and physical health improvements, and not having to pay for petrol each week.

    In the Wainuiomata pilot there were wider ripple effects, with participants reporting whānau members also started cycling as a result of the loan scheme. In one case, ten members of the wider whānau got involved.

    Good cycling infrastructure will encourage e-bike uptake.
    Getty Images

    3 policy actions needed now

    These results mirror what we know already about how e-bikes can improve physical and mental health, reduce transport greenhouse gas emissions, and make cities nicer places by reducing car use.

    Compared to conventional bikes, e-bikes also allow people to bike further and in hillier places. They are also great for groups with traditionally lower levels of cycling, such as people with health conditions, disabilities, older people and women.

    It also seems concerns about increased rates of injury may be less significant than initially thought. Overall, the broad benefits of e-bikes have seen hundreds of access schemes developed globally, including many in New Zealand.

    Combining international evidence and experience with the information from the three local pilot programmes, we see three main policy areas that will increase e-bike uptake and use in New Zealand.

    1. Physical infrastructure: this is needed to support cycling in all our cities and larger towns, and would involve a combination of cycle lanes and low-traffic neighbourhoods, alongside expanded bike parking and storage.

    The Climate Change Commission has recommended these networks be constructed, and experience from Wellington shows rapid construction is possible.

    2. Targeted access schemes: these help people who can’t afford e-bikes. Without targeting, such schemes tend to be mainly used by the well-off. It’s likely we will need a range of options, such as short-term and long-term low-cost (or free) loans, rent-to-buy schemes or subsidies.

    People should be able to access these schemes through a variety of organisations so as to target different motivations: saving money, improving health, commuting for work, ferrying children, environmental concern.

    3. Local organisation networks: these support individuals and communities to access bikes, maintain them, provide rider training, run bike libraries, route finding and community events to support and encourage people to ride.

    This wider support was a key factor to the success of the all pilots. Local organisations, champions and leaders are essential to help overcome some of the practical and cultural barriers that exist because we have such low levels of cycling.

    Change is achievable

    What we have outlined constitutes a different way of doing business for the transport sector. But there are already organisations doing a lot of this work, including bike hubs and cycling community organisations.

    Others have infrastructure in place that could expand to encompass e-bike programmes, such as marae and community health centres. What is needed is a commitment to support these activities as part of core transport business policy.

    We don’t need to wait for more research. The three things required – building infrastructure, increasing access and providing support programmes – are all understood and achievable.

    E-bikes can and should play an important role in expanding New Zealand’s transport options and improving the wellbeing of its people.

    Caroline Shaw receives funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand, University of Otago and Waka Kotahi/New Zealand Transport Agency.

    Karen Witten receives funding from the Health Research Council of NZ, Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment,
    Waka Kotahi/NZTA and Auckland Council.

    Simon Kingham receives funding from Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment.

    – ref. E-bikes for everyone: 3 NZ trials show people will make the switch – with the right support – https://theconversation.com/e-bikes-for-everyone-3-nz-trials-show-people-will-make-the-switch-with-the-right-support-255956

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Please don’t tape your mouth at night, whatever TikTok says. A new study shows why this viral trend can be risky

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Moira Junge, Adjunct Clincal Associate Professor (Psychologist), Monash University

    K.IvanS/Shutterstock

    You might have heard of people using tape to literally keep their mouths shut while they sleep. Mouth taping has become a popular trend on social media, with many fans claiming it helps improve sleep and overall health.

    The purported benefits of mouth taping during sleep are largely anecdotal, and include claims of better airflow, less snoring, improved asthma symptoms, less of a dry mouth, being less likely to have bad breath, and better sleep quality.

    As the trend has gained momentum in recent years the claims have also come to include improved skin, mood and digestion – and even a sharper jawline.

    The rationale for mouth taping during sleep is to encourage breathing through the nose rather than through the mouth. When a person’s nasal passages are blocked, breathing switches from the nose to the mouth. Mouth breathing has been linked to conditions such as obstructive sleep apnoea.

    But is mouth taping an effective way to address these issues, and is it safe? A new review suggests taping your mouth shut while you sleep offers limited benefits – and could pose risks.

    What did the review find?

    In a new paper, Canadian researchers reviewed the scientific literature on mouth taping, searching for studies that mentioned terms such as “mouth breathing”, “mouth taping” and “sleep”.

    They searched specifically for studies looking at people with known mouth breathing and breathing-related sleeping problems such as obstructive sleep apnoea to understand the potential benefits and harms of mouth taping for this group.

    Obstructive sleep apnoea is a condition where your airway is partly or completely blocked at times while you’re asleep. This can cause you to stop breathing for short periods, called “apnoeas”. Apnoeas can happen many times a night, resulting in lowered oxygen levels in the blood as well as sleep disruption.

    The researchers found ten eligible studies published between 1999 and 2024, with a total of 213 participants. Eight studies looked at mouth taping, and two studies involved using a chin strap to keep the mouth shut.

    Only two studies identified any benefits of mouth taping for mild obstructive sleep apnoea. The observed improvements – to measures such as oxygen levels in the blood and number of apnoeas per hour – were modest.

    And although they were statistically significant, they were probably not clinically significant. This means these changes likely wouldn’t make much difference to symptoms or treatment decisions.

    The remainder of studies found no evidence mouth taping helps to treat mouth breathing or related conditions.

    Mouth taping has become a popular social media trend.
    K.IvanS/Shutterstock

    What’s more, four studies warned about potential serious harms. In particular, covering the mouth could pose a risk of asphyxiation (lack of oxygen that can lead to unconsciousness or death) for people whose mouth breathing is caused by significant blockage of the nasal airways. This kind of nasal obstruction could be a result of conditions such as hay fever, deviated septum, or enlarged tonsils.

    In other words, mouth taping is definitely not a good idea if you have a blocked nose, as it’s unsafe to have both the nose and the mouth obstructed at the same time during sleep.

    What’s the take-home message?

    The authors concluded there are very few benefits and some potential serious risks associated with mouth taping in people who are mouth breathers or have obstructive sleep apnoea.

    They did however note we need further high-quality evidence to better understand if mouth taping is safe and works.

    This review didn’t focus on any research relating to mouth taping for proposed improvements to mood, skin, digestion, sharper jaw lines and other things, so the researchers could not draw conclusions about the efficacy and safety of mouth taping for those purposes.

    Snoring is one of the problems mouth taping has been suggested to help with.
    Kleber Cordeiro/Shutterstock

    Internationally, qualified sleep health professionals do not recommend mouth taping.

    If you have concerns about your sleep, the best thing to do is to consult trusted scientific sources or a health-care professional who will be able to guide you to address the underlying causes of your sleep challenges.

    Trying social media trends such as mouth taping before you seek expert advice could lead to delays in diagnosing serious conditions for which there are evidence-based treatments available.

    Mouth taping should definitely not be attempted in children.

    It’s possible that in some healthy adults, without respiratory conditions, without significant sleep disorders, and who don’t have tape allergies, that mouth taping could pose little harm and produce some modest benefits. But we don’t have enough evidence yet to know one way or the other.

    Moira Junge is CEO of The Sleep Health Foundation. She is also affiliated with the Healthylife Health Advisory Board and is a psychologist and clinic director at Yarraville Health Group.

    – ref. Please don’t tape your mouth at night, whatever TikTok says. A new study shows why this viral trend can be risky – https://theconversation.com/please-dont-tape-your-mouth-at-night-whatever-tiktok-says-a-new-study-shows-why-this-viral-trend-can-be-risky-256901

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Labor now has the political clout to reset Australia’s refugee policy. Here’s where to start

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University

    Australia’s policy towards refugees and asylum seekers stands at a critical juncture.

    Global displacement is at record highs and many countries are retreating from their responsibilities. At this moment, Australia can lead by example.

    As Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said on election night:

    We do not need to beg or borrow or copy from anywhere else. We do not need to seek our inspiration overseas. We find it right here in our values – and in our people.

    Those values should guide a principled and evidence-based response to the global refugee crisis. This response should be grounded in fairness, humanity and respect for Australia’s international human rights obligations.

    A principled reset

    Australia is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, which defines a refugee as a person who has a well-founded fear of persecution based on:

    • race
    • religion
    • nationality
    • membership of a particular social group
    • political opinion.

    However, aspects of Australia’s current approach to refugees have drawn criticism from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.

    The new Labor government could use its strength in parliament to initiate a principled and evidence-based reset. This could include:

    • creating a new emergency visa for humanitarian crises to assist people fleeing conflict

    • improving the efficiency and fairness of the asylum seeker process

    • ending offshore processing of refugees

    • streamlining the family reunification process

    • making immigration detention an option that could be used at the discretion of the Department of Home Affairs, instead of being mandatory

    • giving people access to independent review of their detention

    • improving systems for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers (many of whom face heightened risks, are not always believed about their sexuality, and lack culturally sensitive support).

    There are four key areas in particular need of reform.

    1. Ending the legal limbo

    A crucial priority is resolving the status of some 7,000 people who are part of what’s known as the “legacy caseload”.

    These people were refused refugee status under a problematic and now-defunct process known as the “fast track assessment”. They are now on bridging visas and in legal limbo.

    A solution is also needed for the roughly 1,000 people who were detained in offshore processing centres in Manus Island and Nauru but are now living in Australia. They are also on bridging visas, also in a state of legal uncertainty.

    People in both these groups have endured 13 years in legal and policy limbo. Reform is long overdue.

    One option is to allow people in both groups who were previously refused protection to apply for a permanent visa without requiring yet another drawn-out assessment of their protection claims.

    Community organisations, legal experts and mental health professionals could help the government develop clear, trauma-informed and evidence-based processes for reviewing their cases.

    2. Expanding the numbers

    Australia’s main way of accepting refugees is via what’s known as the humanitarian program. But the number of refugees accepted under this program doesn’t currently reflect the scale of global displacement.

    Labor has proposed expanding the number of refugees Australia takes.

    It has suggested Australia take 27,000 through the core Refugee and Humanitarian Program and an additional 10,000 through two pathways:

    At the UN’s 2023 Global Refugee Forum, the Australian government committed to gradually implementing this increase, beginning in 2023–24.

    A dedicated advisory and coordination body could help with planning and implementation.

    It’s also worth noting current policy prohibits asylum seekers registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Indonesia after June 2014 from being resettled to Australia.

    The new government could also consider lifting this arbitrary restriction to give these vulnerable refugees access to durable solutions.

    3. Strengthening the rights of children and young people

    Immigration systems are largely designed around adults. Children and young people are too often overlooked.

    As a result, children have been:

    Children (including those born in Australia) can’t sponsor their parents via family sponsorship processes. They’re denied a say in decisions that deeply affect their lives.

    The Migration Act should be amended to require that all decisions affecting children give primary consideration to the best interests and views of the child. This would be in line with Australia’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

    Similar principles are already embedded in Australian family law and child protection policy, providing a clear model for reform.

    4. Reviewing Australia’s boat turnback policy

    Since 2013, Australia has intercepted boats under Operation Sovereign Borders, using turnbacks and takebacks with little independent oversight.

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has raised concerns about this policy.

    Sometimes during these interactions Australian officials detain and interview people on boats about their reason for trying to enter Australia, but details about what happens during such encounters are kept largely secret. Most of these encounters end with the boat and people on it being returned to the country from which they came.

    A recent document published by the Commonwealth Ombudsman reported on conditions aboard vessels used for maritime detention.

    It found serious problems, including no private spaces for sensitive interviews and no interpreters on board.

    The Department of Home Affairs responded by saying formal interviews use accredited interpreters. However, the report highlights many crucial interactions do not.

    There is also no time limit on detention at sea, and no independent monitoring of how protection claims are assessed.

    A more comprehensive review is urgently needed.

    Mary Anne Kenny is a member of the Migration Institute of Australia and the Law Council of Australia and an affiliate of the UNSW Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law. She was on the Ministerial Council on Asylum Seekers and Detention (an independent advisory body) between 2012 and 2018.

    – ref. Labor now has the political clout to reset Australia’s refugee policy. Here’s where to start – https://theconversation.com/labor-now-has-the-political-clout-to-reset-australias-refugee-policy-heres-where-to-start-255971

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Playing the crime card: do law and order campaigns win votes in Australia?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chloe Keel, Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University

    Crime and public safety are usually the domain of state politics. But the Coalition tried to elevate them as key issues for voters in the recent federal election.

    Claiming crime had been “allowed to fester” under Labor, the opposition promised a A$750 million Operation Safer Communities plan, which included police strike teams targeting drugs, a national child sex offender register, and more money for Neighbourhood Watch.

    A Coalition government would also have given grants to community groups to install public lighting, bollards and CCTV cameras.

    But in the end, crime did not appear to be a deciding factor in the election, which was easily won by Labor.

    What does that tell us about leveraging public fear – either existing crime fears and general anxieties, or latent concerns that can be triggered – for political gain in Australia? Can it be a successful strategy?

    Stoking anxiety

    In culturally diverse countries, such as Australia and the United States, law and order rhetoric sometimes calls for supporting aggressive crime policies at the expense of racial and ethnic minorities, many of whom are immigrants.

    These policies can be effective in stoking public fear to win votes. US President Donald Trump’s exhortations on immigration and crime were a significant part of his election campaigns in 2016 and 2024.

    However, what experts call “protective factors”, such as strong communities and social cohesion, are important. They can reduce the influence of political narratives that try to define crime in narrowly punitive or racialised terms.

    Australia is not America

    Our peer-reviewed research, which will be published in the Journal of Criminology, investigated how public concerns about crime and safety in Australia and the US were associated with demographic factors that evolved over time. The study drew on data from the World Values Survey and indicated key differences in what makes Australians and Americans feel unsafe.

    We have found that in Australia in 2018, supporters of left-leaning parties (Labor/Green) reported feeling significantly safer than other voters. However, this gap disappeared when researchers took into account attitudes that blame crime problems on immigrants. This suggests immigrant-blaming in Australia can drive feelings of community fear and insecurity.

    The World Values Survey uncovered a different pattern in the US.

    Between 2011 and 2017, Republican voters reported feeling safer than other Americans – the opposite of Australia’s trend. The political divide in the US couldn’t be explained by immigrant-blaming attitudes. Rather, it was attributed to the “self-isolation” of American conservatives in more culturally homogeneous communities.

    Our study indicated that while immigration continued to influence safety perceptions in the US, it appeared to operate through different mechanisms than in Australia. Racial and ethnic minorities reported greater fear as the 2010s unfolded.

    Social connectedness also plays differently in each country. In Australia, trust in others and confidence in public institutions consistently influences safety perceptions. In the US, these factors have little impact.

    Social scientists have observed that in modern societies, responsibility for personal safety has increasingly shifted from the government to individuals. This trend is strong in the US, where market-focused, neoliberal economic and social policies dominate policies.

    By contrast, European research suggests stronger social welfare systems can reduce safety concerns by addressing underlying economic anxieties. Australia’s more robust social support appears to foster greater feelings of safety.

    Our research indicates social cohesion further helps reduce fear.

    Crime fears are not a vote winner

    Electoral strategies that seek to leverage public insecurities need to be understood in the context of these fear-mitigating factors. Media diversity can also counter fear-based messaging.

    In the 2018 Victorian election, crime became a prominent political issue through racialised commentary targeting “African gangs”. However, it failed to gain decisive political traction.

    Research found fear of crime was relatively rare in Victoria. Media reports of crime and comments by political leaders were distant from their own experiences

    With more diverse news sources and online platforms, political actors can no longer promote narratives unopposed. Fear-based messaging can backfire, especially when it overreaches.

    Outdated strategy

    Perceptions of crime are often shaped by a combination of actual crime rates and broader anxieties about social change, cultural difference, and uncertainty. This is frequently expressed as unease about the increasing presence of culturally diverse groups.

    While the coalition’s pivot to law-and-order rhetoric represented a familiar strategy, Labor positioned itself as the party of unity. This was underscored by Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s declaration after Labor won the election, in which she acknowledged

    […] the power in our 26 million people from more than 300 ancestries […] from the oldest continuing civilisation on the planet and I acknowledge the traditional owners. Friends, we love this country.

    Foreign Minister Penny Wong on election night.

    While harnessing fears of crime and cultural diversity was not effective in this election cycle, this is not the end of law and order politics. But the unique characteristics of this election appear to have rendered the formula less potent.

    Trump’s threat to democracy and the constitutional rule of law in the US may have fostered a sense of solidarity and social cohesion among Australian voters. Our research suggests this helped to mitigate fears about crime.

    The temptation to capitalise on law and order may continue to appeal to politicians. But in Australia, at least, there is no guarantee it will work.

    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. Playing the crime card: do law and order campaigns win votes in Australia? – https://theconversation.com/playing-the-crime-card-do-law-and-order-campaigns-win-votes-in-australia-256780

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Evidence shows AI systems are already too much like humans. Will that be a problem?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sandra Peter, Director of Sydney Executive Plus, University of Sydney

    Studiostoks / Shutterstock

    What if we could design a machine that could read your emotions and intentions, write thoughtful, empathetic, perfectly timed responses — and seemingly know exactly what you need to hear? A machine so seductive, you wouldn’t even realise it’s artificial. What if we already have?

    In a comprehensive meta-analysis, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, we show that the latest generation of large language model-powered chatbots match and exceed most humans in their ability to communicate. A growing body of research shows these systems now reliably pass the Turing test, fooling humans into thinking they are interacting with another human.

    None of us was expecting the arrival of super communicators. Science fiction taught us that artificial intelligence (AI) would be highly rational and all-knowing, but lack humanity.

    Yet here we are. Recent experiments have shown that models such as GPT-4 outperform humans in writing persuasively and also empathetically. Another study found that large language models (LLMs) excel at assessing nuanced sentiment in human-written messages.

    LLMs are also masters at roleplay, assuming a wide range of personas and mimicking nuanced linguistic character styles. This is amplified by their ability to infer human beliefs and intentions from text. Of course, LLMs do not possess true empathy or social understanding – but they are highly effective mimicking machines.

    We call these systems “anthropomorphic agents”. Traditionally, anthropomorphism refers to ascribing human traits to non-human entities. However, LLMs genuinely display highly human-like qualities, so calls to avoid anthropomorphising LLMs will fall flat.

    This is a landmark moment: when you cannot tell the difference between talking to a human or an AI chatbot online.

    On the internet, nobody knows you’re an AI

    What does this mean? On the one hand, LLMs promise to make complex information more widely accessible via chat interfaces, tailoring messages to individual comprehension levels. This has applications across many domains, such as legal services or public health. In education, the roleplay abilities can be used to create Socratic tutors that ask personalised questions and help students learn.

    At the same time, these systems are seductive. Millions of users already interact with AI companion apps daily. Much has been said about the negative effects of companion apps, but anthropomorphic seduction comes with far wider implications.

    Users are ready to trust AI chatbots so much that they disclose highly personal information. Pair this with the bots’ highly persuasive qualities, and genuine concerns emerge.

    Recent research by AI company Anthropic further shows that its Claude 3 chatbot was at its most persuasive when allowed to fabricate information and engage in deception. Given AI chatbots have no moral inhibitions, they are poised to be much better at deception than humans.

    This opens the door to manipulation at scale, to spread disinformation, or create highly effective sales tactics. What could be more effective than a trusted companion casually recommending a product in conversation? ChatGPT has already begun to provide product recommendations in response to user questions. It’s only a short step to subtly weaving product recommendations into conversations – without you ever asking.

    What can be done?

    It is easy to call for regulation, but harder to work out the details.

    The first step is to raise awareness of these abilities. Regulation should prescribe disclosure – users need to always know that they interact with an AI, like the EU AI Act mandates. But this will not be enough, given the AI systems’ seductive qualities.

    The second step must be to better understand anthropomorphic qualities. So far, LLM tests measure “intelligence” and knowledge recall, but none so far measures the degree of “human likeness”. With a test like this, AI companies could be required to disclose anthropomorphic abilities with a rating system, and legislators could determine acceptable risk levels for certain contexts and age groups.

    The cautionary tale of social media, which was largely unregulated until much harm had been done, suggests there is some urgency. If governments take a hands-off approach, AI is likely to amplify existing problems with spreading of mis- and disinformation, or the loneliness epidemic. In fact, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has already signalled that he would like to fill the void of real human contact with “AI friends”.

    Relying on AI companies to refrain from further humanising their systems seems ill-advised. All developments point in the opposite direction. OpenAI is working on making their systems more engaging and personable, with the ability to give your version of ChatGPT a specific “personality”. ChatGPT has generally become more chatty, often asking followup questions to keep the conversation going, and its voice mode adds even more seductive appeal.

    Much good can be done with anthropomorphic agents. Their persuasive abilities can be used for ill causes and for good ones, from fighting conspiracy theories to enticing users into donating and other prosocial behaviours.

    Yet we need a comprehensive agenda across the spectrum of design and development, deployment and use, and policy and regulation of conversational agents. When AI can inherently push our buttons, we shouldn’t let it change our systems.

    Jevin West receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the Knight Foundation, and others. The full list of funders and affiliated organizations can be found here: https://jevinwest.org/cv.html

    Kai Riemer and Sandra Peter 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. Evidence shows AI systems are already too much like humans. Will that be a problem? – https://theconversation.com/evidence-shows-ai-systems-are-already-too-much-like-humans-will-that-be-a-problem-256980

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI: F&M Bank Promotes Eric D. Faust to Executive Vice President

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    ARCHBOLD, Ohio, May 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — F&M Bank (“F&M”), an Archbold, Ohio-based bank owned by Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: FMAO), is proud to announce the promotion of Eric D. Faust to Executive Vice President. Faust has served as the bank’s Chief Risk Officer since 2022, where he has led significant advancements in enterprise risk and regulatory compliance.

    In his role, Mr. Faust has successfully built F&M’s comprehensive risk and compliance team, integrated regulatory compliance more deeply into strategic decision-making, and enhanced the bank’s oversight structures. His efforts have helped ensure F&M continues to meet evolving regulatory expectations while maintaining a strong foundation for safe and sound growth.

    Prior to joining F&M, Mr. Faust served as First Vice President and Director of Risk Management at Northstar Financial Group in Wyoming, Michigan. He also held the position of Examination Manager for the State of Michigan’s Department of Insurance and Financial Services. He holds an MBA from Davenport University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Central Michigan University.

    “Eric’s promotion to Executive Vice President is a testament to his leadership and deep understanding of risk and compliance in today’s banking environment,” said Lars Eller, President and CEO of F&M. “He has played a vital role in strengthening our risk culture and ensuring we remain responsive and resilient in a highly regulated landscape.”

    Mr. Faust resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and will continue to lead F&M’s risk and compliance efforts in his expanded role.

    About F&M Bank:
    F&M Bank is a local independent community bank that has been serving its communities since 1897. F&M Bank provides commercial banking, retail banking and other financial services. Our locations are in Butler, Champaign, Fulton, Defiance, Hancock, Henry, Lucas, Shelby, Williams, and Wood counties in Ohio. In Northeast Indiana, we have offices located in Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Jay, Steuben and Wells counties. The Michigan footprint includes Oakland County, and we have Loan Production Offices in Troy, Michigan; Muncie, Indiana; and Perrysburg and Bryan, Ohio.

    Safe harbor statement
    Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements by F&M, including management’s expectations and comments, may not be based on historical facts and are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21B of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Actual results could vary materially depending on risks and uncertainties inherent in general and local banking conditions, competitive factors specific to markets in which F&M and its subsidiaries operate, future interest rate levels, legislative and regulatory decisions, capital market conditions, or the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its impacts on our credit quality and business operations, as well as its impact on general economic and financial market conditions. F&M assumes no responsibility to update this information. For more details, please refer to F&M’s SEC filing, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Such filings can be viewed at the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov or through F&M’s website www.fm.bank.

    Company Contact: Investor and Media Contact:
    Lars B. Eller
    President and Chief Executive Officer
    Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc.
    (419) 446-2501
    leller@fm.bank    		 Andrew M. Berger
    Managing Director
    SM Berger & Company, Inc.
    (216) 464-6400
    andrew@smberger.com
       

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/492467f9-4e52-45e6-a6fc-3278cf80cea0

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Convicted Felon Sentenced To Prison For Carjacking On College Campus Using A “Ghost Gun”

    Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A man who used a privately made and unregistered firearm, commonly known as a “ghost gun,” to carjack a vehicle on a college campus was sentenced yesterday to seven years in prison for a firearms offense, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Mark Jordan Williams, 37, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following the completion of his prison term.

    Alicia Jones, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, joins U.S. Attorney Ferguson in making today’s announcement.

    According to court documents and court proceedings, on March 23, 2023, an individual identified as L.C. was sitting in a Jeep Wrangler, parked on the campus of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Court records show that Williams approached the vehicle, pointed a handgun at L.C. and ordered L.C. out of the car. Williams then took L.C.’s phone, got into the Jeep, and drove away. Williams was located and arrested later that evening while inside the Jeep. When Williams was arrested, a .40 caliber Polymer 80 handgun was recovered from inside the vehicle as well. During the investigation, law enforcement determined that Williams has multiple prior criminal convictions and he prohibited from possessing a firearm.

    On January 9, 2025, Williams pleaded guilty to possession and brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. 

    The ATF investigated the case and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte handled the prosecution.

     

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Discovery Alert: A Possible Perpendicular Planet

    Source: NASA

    A newly discovered planetary system, informally known as 2M1510, is among the strangest ever found. An apparent planet traces out an orbit that carries it far over the poles of two brown dwarfs. This pair of mysterious objects – too massive to be planets, not massive enough to be stars – also orbit each other. Yet a third brown dwarf orbits the other two at an extreme distance.

    In a typical arrangement, as in our solar system, families of planets orbit their parent stars in more-or-less a flat plane – the orbital plane – that matches the star’s equator. The rotation of the star, too, aligns with this plane. Everyone is “coplanar:” flat, placid, stately.
    Not so for possible planet 2M1510 b (considered a “candidate planet” pending further measurements). If confirmed, the planet would be in a “polar orbit” around the two central brown dwarfs – in other words, its orbital plane would be perpendicular to the plane in which the two brown dwarfs orbit each other. Take two flat disks, merge them together at an angle in the shape of an X, and you have the essence of this orbital configuration.
    “Circumbinary” planets, those orbiting two stars at once, are rare enough. A circumbinary orbiting at a 90-degree tilt was, until now, unheard of. But new measurements of this system, using the ESO (European Southern Observatory) Very Large Telescope in Chile, appear to reveal what scientists previously only imagined. 

    The method by which the study’s science team teased out the planet’s vertiginous existence is itself a bit of a wild ride. The candidate planet cannot be detected the way most exoplanets – planets around other stars – are found today: the “transit” method, a kind of mini-eclipse, a tiny dip in starlight when the planet crosses the face of its star.
    Instead they used the next most prolific method, “radial velocity” measurements. Orbiting planets cause their stars to rock back and forth ever so slightly, as the planets’ gravity pulls the stars one way and another; that pull causes subtle, but measurable, shifts in the star’s light spectrum. Add one more twist to the detection in this case: the push-me-pull-you effect of the planet on the two brown dwarfs’ orbit around each other. The path of the brown dwarf pair’s 21-day mutual orbit is being subtly altered in a way that can only be explained, the study’s authors conclude, by a polar-orbiting planet.

    Only 16 circumbinary planets – out of more than 5,800 confirmed exoplanets – have been found by scientists so far, most by the transit method. Twelve of those were found using NASA’s now-retired Kepler Space Telescope, the mission that takes the prize for the most transit detections (nearly 2,800). Scientists have observed a small number of debris disks and “protoplanetary” disks in polar orbits, and suspected that polar-orbiting planets might be out there as well. They seem at last to have turned one up.

    An international science team led by Thomas A. Baycroft, a Ph.D. student in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Birmingham, U.K., published a paper describing their discovery in the journal “Science Advances” in April 2025. The planet was entered into NASA’s Exoplanet Archive on May 1, 2025. The system’s full name is 2MASS J15104786-281874 (2M1510 for short).

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Lt. Gov. Luke – VNR – Hawaiʻi Schools Win ‘Super Sleuth’ Award in Internet Speeds Mapping Effort

    Source: US State of Hawaii

    Lt. Gov. Luke – VNR – Hawaiʻi Schools Win ‘Super Sleuth’ Award in Internet Speeds Mapping Effort

    Posted on May 20, 2025 in Latest Department News, Newsroom

    STATE OF HAWAIʻI
    KA MOKU ʻĀINA O HAWAIʻI

     

    SYLVIA LUKE
    LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
    KE KEʻENA O KA HOPE KIAʻĀINA

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    May 20, 2025

    Hawaiʻi Schools Win ‘Super Sleuth’ Award in Internet Speeds Mapping Effort

    Connect Kākou’s Digital Detectives Initiative included 6,000 participants statewide

    Lt. Gov. Luke with Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School (left) and Kona Pacific Charter School (right).

     

    (Videos/Photos Courtesy: Connect Kākou)

    HONOLULU – Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke announced today that more than 6,000 Hawaiʻi residents, many of them students, participated in the Digital Detectives campaign to map internet speeds across the state. Part of the Connect Kākou initiative, Digital Detectives aimed to close the digital divide by identifying areas in need of urgent broadband infrastructure improvements.

    By taking a simple 30-second internet speed test last October, residents provided valuable data to help ensure federal funding is directed where it is most needed. Classes from Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School and Kona Pacific Charter School received the top Digital Detectives Super Sleuth Awards for student participation and classroom reporting. The classes received a visit from Lieutenant Governor Luke and a gift card for classroom supplies.

    “Thanks to the thousands of students and their teachers who participated in Digital Detectives, we now have a clearer picture of Hawaiʻi’s internet speeds and where improvements are most needed,” said Lieutenant Governor Luke. “Reliable internet is crucial for education, future careers, and so much more. We were thrilled to see so many students taking part in shaping a more connected future for our state.

    “Digital Detectives encouraged our students to become active participants in expanding internet access for their communities,” said Ken Hiraki, executive director of the Public Schools Foundation. “By turning a simple classroom activity into meaningful data for our state, students had a front row seat to civic engagement and real-world impact.”

    Results from the internet speed tests have been aggregated to provide a more comprehensive view of connectivity across the state. Construction of fiber-optic internet lines in underserved areas is expected to begin as early as this year.

    Connect Kākou is a State of Hawai‘i initiative led by Lieutenant Governor Luke, in collaboration with the Hawai‘i Broadband and Digital Equity Office (HBDEO), the University of Hawai‘i, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL), and multiple state and county agencies. Connect Kākou is working to ensure people from all walks of life have reliable access to high-speed internet and the tools and knowledge to safely and confidently use the internet. Visit www.connectkakou.org to learn more.

    # # #

    Media Contact:

    Shari Nishijima

    Communications Director

    Office of the Lieutenant Governor

    Cell: (808) 978-0867

    Jordan Ozaki

    iQ 360 Inc.

    Cell: (808) 294-7712

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: DBEDT NEWS RELEASE: HAWAI‘I APRIL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE REMAINS AT 2.9 PERCENT

    Source: US State of Hawaii

    DBEDT NEWS RELEASE: HAWAI‘I APRIL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE REMAINS AT 2.9 PERCENT

    Posted on May 20, 2025 in Latest Department News, Newsroom

     

     

    STATE OF HAWAIʻI

    KA MOKU ʻĀINA O HAWAIʻI

    JOSH GREEN, M.D.
    GOVERNOR

    KE KIAʻĀINA

    DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM

    KA ʻOIHANA HOʻOMOHALA PĀʻOIHANA, ʻIMI WAIWAI A HOʻOMĀKAʻIKAʻI

     

    RESEARCH AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS DIVISION

     

    JAMES KUNANE TOKIOKA

    DIRECTOR

    KA LUNA HOʻOKELE

     

    1. EUGENE TIAN

    CHIEF STATE ECONOMIST

    HAWAI‘I APRIL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE REMAINS AT 2.9 PERCENT 

    Jobs Increased by 17,000 Year-Over-Year

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    May 20, 2025

    HONOLULU — The Hawai‘i State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) today announced that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April was 2.9 percent, the same as in March. In April, 668,650 persons were employed and 19,650 were unemployed, for a total seasonally adjusted labor force of 688,300 statewide. Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in April, the same as in March.

    The unemployment rate figures for the state of Hawai‘i and the U.S. in this release are seasonally adjusted in accordance with U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) methodology. The not-seasonally adjusted rate for the state was 2.5 percent in April, compared to 2.4 percent in March.

    Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey)

    In a separate measure of employment, total nonagricultural jobs increased by 1,500 month-over-month, from March 2025 to April 2025. Job gains were experienced in Leisure & Hospitality (+1,900); Private Education & Health Services (+1,100); Trade, Transportation & Utilities (+500); Professional & Business Services (+400); Construction (+300); and Information (+100). Within Leisure & Hospitality, the rise in employment primarily occurred in Food Services & Drinking Places. Within Private Education & Health Services, the bulk of job gains were spread out over the subsectors of Health Care & Social Assistance. Employment in Manufacturing remained unchanged. Job losses occurred in Financial Activities (-200); and Other Services (-200). Government employment went down by 2,400 jobs, primarily due to below average over-the-month change in staffing at both the Department of Education and the University of Hawai‘i system. Year-over-year, nonfarm jobs have gone up by 17,000, or 2.7 percent.

     

    Technical Notes:

    Labor Force Components

    The concepts and definitions used by the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program are the same as those used in the Current Population Survey for the national labor force data:

    • Civilian labor force. Included are all persons in the civilian noninstitutional population ages 16 and older classified as either employed or unemployed. (See the definitions below.)
    • Employed persons. These are all persons who, during the reference week (the week including the twelfth day of the month), (a) did any work as paid employees, worked in their own business or profession or on their own farm, or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of their family, or (b) were not working but who had jobs from which they were temporarily absent because of vacation, illness, bad weather, childcare problems, maternity or paternity leave, labor-management dispute, job training, or other family or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid for the time off or were seeking other jobs. Each employed person is counted only once, even if he or she holds more than one job.
    • Unemployed persons. Included are all persons who had no employment during the reference week, were available for work, except for temporary illness and had made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the four-week period ending with the reference week. Persons who were waiting to be recalled to a job from which they had been laid off need not have been looking for work to be classified as unemployed.
    • Unemployment rate. The unemployed percent of the civilian labor force [i.e., 100 times (unemployed/civilian labor force)].

    Seasonal Adjustment

    The seasonal fluctuations in the number of employed and unemployed persons reflect hiring and layoff patterns that accompany regular events such as the winter holiday season and the summer vacation season. These variations make it difficult to tell whether month-to-month changes in employment and unemployment are due to normal seasonal patterns or to changing economic conditions. Therefore, the BLS uses a statistical technique called seasonal adjustment to address these issues. This technique uses the history of the labor force data and the job count data to identify the seasonal movements and to calculate the size and direction of these movements. A seasonal adjustment factor is then developed and applied to the estimates to eliminate the effects of regular seasonal fluctuations on the data. Seasonally adjusted statistical series enable more meaningful data comparisons between months or with an annual average.

    Current Population (Household) Survey (CPS)

    A survey conducted for employment status in the week that includes the twelfth day of each month generates the unemployment rate statistics, which is a separate survey from the Establishment Survey that yields the industry job counts. The CPS survey contacts approximately 1,000 households in Hawai‘i to determine an individual’s current employment status. Employed persons consist of 1) all persons who did any work for pay or profit during the survey reference week, 2) all persons who did at least 15 hours of unpaid work in a family owned enterprise operated by someone in their household and 3) all persons who were temporarily absent from their regular jobs, whether they were paid or not. Persons considered unemployed are those that do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior four weeks and are available for work. Temporarily laid-off workers are counted as unemployed, whether or not they have engaged in a specific job-seeking activity. Persons not in the labor force are those who are not classified as employed or unemployed during the survey reference week.

    Benchmark Changes to Local Area Unemployment Statistics Data

    Statewide and sub-state data for 2019 to 2024 have revised inputs and data for 1990 to 2024 have been re-estimated to reflect revised population controls and model re-estimation.

    Change to Monthly Employment Estimates

    This release incorporates revised job count figures for the seasonally adjusted series. The revised data reflects historical corrections applied to unadjusted super sector or sector-level series dating back from 2018 through 2024. For years, analysts with the state of Hawai‘i Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Research and Statistics Office have developed monthly employment estimates for Hawai‘i and its metropolitan areas. These estimates were based on a monthly survey of Hawai‘i businesses and analysts’ knowledge about our local economies. Beginning with the production of preliminary estimates for March 2011, responsibility for the production of state and metropolitan area (MSA) estimates were transitioned from individual state agencies to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

    For Hawai‘i, this means the transition of statewide, Honolulu and Kahului-Wailuku MSA estimates for both the seasonally adjusted and not-seasonally adjusted areas are produced by BLS. State agencies will continue to provide the BLS with information on local events that may affect the estimates, such as strikes or large layoffs/hiring at businesses not covered by the survey and to disseminate and analyze the Current Employment Statistics (CES) estimates for local data users. BLS feels this change is designed to improve the cost efficiency of the CES program and to reduce the potential bias in state and area estimates. A portion of the cost savings generated by this change is slated to be directed toward raising survey response rates in future years, which will decrease the level of statistical error in the CES estimates. Until then, state analysts feel this change could result in increased month-to-month variability for the industry employment numbers, particularly for Hawai‘i’s counties and islands. BLS can be reached at 202-691-6555 for any questions about these estimates.

    The not-seasonally adjusted job estimates for Hawai‘i County, Kaua‘i County, Maui, Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i are produced by the state of Hawai‘i Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

    Labor Force Estimates for Small Areas

    Labor Force estimates for the islands within Maui County (Maui, Moloka‘i and Lānai) are produced by the state of Hawai‘i Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

    Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force and Unemployment Estimates for Honolulu and Maui County

    BLS publishes smoothed seasonally adjusted civilian labor force and unemployment estimates for all metropolitan areas, which includes the City and County of Honolulu and Maui County.

    BLS releases this data each month in the Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment news release. The schedule is available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.toc.htm.

    Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization

     

    Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization for States, Second Quarter of 2024 through First Quarter of 2025 Averages  
    Area Measure  
    U-1 U-2 U-3 U-4 U-5 U-6
                 
    United States 1.5 2.0 4.1 4.3 5.0 7.7
                 
    Hawai‘i 0.7 1.2 3.0 3.1 3.9 6.2

     

    The six alternative labor underutilization state measures based on the Current Population Survey (CPS) and compiled on a four-quarter moving-average basis defined as:

    U-1, persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force;

    U-2, job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force;

    U-3, total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (this is the definition used for the official unemployment rate);

    U-4, total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers;

    U-5, total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other marginally attached workers*, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers; and

    U-6, total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part-time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers.

    *Individuals who want and are available for work, and who have looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months (or since the end of their last job if they had one within the past 12 months) but were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the four weeks preceding the survey, for such reasons as childcare or transportation problems, for example. Discouraged workers are a subset of the marginally attached.

    Please note that the state unemployment rates (U-3) that are shown are derived directly from the CPS. As a result, these U-3 measures may differ from the official state unemployment rates for the latest four-quarter period. The latter are estimates developed from statistical models that incorporate CPS estimates, as well as input data from other sources, such as state unemployment claims data.

    # # #

    Media contacts:

     

    Dr. Eugene Tian

    Chief State Economist

    Research and Economic Analysis Division

    Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, State of Hawai‘i

    Phone: 808-586-2470

    Email: [email protected]

    Laci Goshi

    Communications Officer

    Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, State of Hawai‘i

    Cell: 808-518-5480

    Email: [email protected]

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – The wreck of the ‘Sea Diamond’ on the seabed of Santorini for 18 years as toxic waste – E-001879/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-001879/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Maria Zacharia (NI)

    The recent seismic sequence in Santorini coincides with the sad 18-year anniversary of inactivity on the wreck of the ‘Sea Diamond’, which is hanging on a steep slope of the seabed at a depth of 120 metres and at risk of sliding and reaching a depth of 280 metres, with dramatic consequences for the island’s exceptionally beautiful natural environment.

    The Commission has been aware of the situation since 2007(!) with colleagues’ oral and written questions nos E-2185/07,[1] E-2274/07,[2] H-0509/07,[3] E-5789/07,[4] E-1944/08,[5] H-0748/08,[6] E-5439/08,[7] E-6685/08,[8] E-4818/09,[9] H-0037/10,[10] E-002071/2011,[11] E-005420/2011,[12] E-003198/2012[13] and E-003650/2012.[14] It is also aware of the case law of the Court of Justice, according to which fuel on board a tanker becomes waste from the moment it leaks into the sea and, therefore, there is a breach of Directive 2006/12/EC on waste and in particular of Article 4 of the Directive, according to which Member States must take the necessary measures to prohibit the abandonment, dumping and uncontrolled disposal of waste.

    The Commission, however, disputes the spillage of oil or other toxic waste into the sea, ignoring a study by the Department of Environmental Engineering of the Technical University of Crete from 2011, which has been communicated to it, as have the judicial expert opinions from 2019 and 2020.

    Could the Commission justify its services’ decision not to take current scientific data into account?

    Submitted: 12.5.2025

    • [1] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-6-2007-2185_EN.html
    • [2] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-6-2007-2274_EN.html
    • [3] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/H-6-2007-0509_EN.html
    • [4] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-6-2007-5789_EN.html
    • [5] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-6-2008-1944_EN.html
    • [6] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/H-6-2008-0748_EN.html
    • [7] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-6-2008-5439_EN.html
    • [8] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-6-2008-6685_EN.html
    • [9] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-7-2009-4818_EN.html
    • [10] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/H-7-2010-0037_EN.html
    • [11] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-7-2011-002071_EN.html
    • [12] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-7-2011-005420_EN.html
    • [13] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-7-2012-003198_EN.html
    • [14] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-7-2012-003650_EN.html

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI: Paperclip Adds Renowned CISO and Cybersecurity Expert to Advisory Committee for SAFE® Encryption Technology

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HACKENSACK, N.J., May 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Heather Lowrie, a highly-experienced CISO, keynote speaker, and cybersecurity advocate, joins Paperclip as an advisor for its SAFE encryption solution. Lowrie will help guide Paperclip SAFE into the international cybersecurity market and bring data-centric security and encryption to the forefront of enterprise security.

    With more than 25 years’ experience across cybersecurity, technology, risk, and resilience, Lowrie has led major digital and security transformations for high-impact public and private sector organizations. She is known for delivering business-aligned security that drives growth, builds trust, and creates societal value—underpinned by deep, hands-on experience in managing major cyber incidents.

    “We’re thrilled to have Heather join us in an advisory capacity and to benefit from her deep expertise as we continue to advance Paperclip SAFE®,” said Chad Walter, CRO at Paperclip. “We’re excited to collaborate on cybersecurity thought leadership, participate in key industry events, and refine our go-to-market strategy to elevate encryption-in-use and the SAFE technology across the data security landscape.”

    Lowrie was recognized by her peers as CISO of the Year at the 2024 SC Awards Europe and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Information Security. She is an accomplished strategist with extensive experience leading through crises—including major cyber incidents—and driving strategic change across digital transformation, data and AI, cybersecurity, and organizational culture initiatives. 

    Lowrie is also the Co-Founder of Resilionix, a deep-tech startup dedicated to helping organizations build resilience in an increasingly complex and uncertain world.

    “I’m delighted to join Paperclip in an advisory capacity and help bring data-centric security and encryption to the forefront of enterprise security,” Lowrie said. “I look forward to working with the excellent team at Paperclip to advance the adoption of encryption-in-use and to support organizations in building resilience”.

    Lowrie is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, where she earned a Master of Science by Research in Science, Technology and Innovation Studies with distinction. She also holds a postgraduate diploma in Information Technology, awarded with distinction, from the University of the West of Scotland, alongside other academic qualifications. Lowrie holds numerous cybersecurity certifications from both U.S. and European organizations, including CISSP, CCSP, CISM, CDPSE, CIPP/E, and more. 

    About Paperclip, Inc.

    Paperclip is a proven technology partner that continues to revolutionize data security, content and document management for Fortune 1,000 companies worldwide. Every second of every day, our innovative solutions are securely processing, transcribing, storing, and communicating highly sensitive content across the internet. Maximizing efficiency to save millions annually, while maintaining absolute security and compliance. For more information, visit paperclip.com.

    About SAFE

    Paperclip SAFE builds on the foundation of trust and collaboration that Paperclip has established with its security and content management solutions over three decades. Paperclip SAFE utilizes in-depth knowledge of the database and data pipeline to secure all points within the data lifecycle. Nine of the 10 top life insurance carriers in the U.S. are currently protected by Paperclip SAFE. With Paperclip SAFE, outpace threats with data that is always encrypted and always ahead of evolving risk. For more information, visit paperclip.com/safe.

    MEDIA CONTACT:
    Megan Brandow
    Paperclip, Inc.
    MBrandow@paperclip.com
    585.727.0983

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How outdoor sports can support youth as they navigate climate change

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Brett Tomlinson, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Educaiton, Nipissing University

    As climate change continues to impact the way we interact with our planet, it’s critical to consider ways we can encourage youth to participate in climate action initiatives.

    Young people across Canada are feeling frightened about the future of the planet. A Canadian study published in 2023 surveyed 1,000 young participants on their feelings about climate change. Sixty-six per cent of respondents said they felt anxiousness or hopelessness about climate change, while 78 per cent said it impacts their overall mental health.

    There are a number of ways to approach this overwhelming emotion, considering it could result not only in poor quality of life for youth but also continued inaction for the planet.

    My research in outdoor physical education leads me to consider more positive behaviour for youth in association to climate change that could likely benefit youth and the planet. The challenge is finding opportunities to develop pro-environmental behaviours and environmental stewardship with Canadian youth.



    Read more:
    6 ways to build resilience and hope into young people’s learning about climate change

    It’s about more than time outdoors

    When looking to develop pro-environmental behaviours, one way could be to simply encourage more time outdoors. But research from Germany suggests that just interacting with nature is not enough; rather, young people need to find ways to engage with nature and use the natural landscape to develop an emotional connection with the environment.

    According to the German study, certain sports can lead to more environmentally sustainable attitudes and behaviours from participants. Some sports in particular — like cross-country skiing, mountain biking or triathlon — increase those positive behaviours more than others. This isn’t simply because participants are alone within a natural setting; it’s because the focus of the sport is on the natural landscape.

    To explain a bit further, soccer, for example, is typically played outside but often on a manicured, sometimes artificial, field that is in many ways devoid of any natural influence.

    Alternatively, mountain biking requires participants to ride on trails that take them directly through forested areas or spaces that are selected based on their unique natural landscape. As athletes participate in sports more frequently and spend more time within nature, they then develop a stronger emotional connection to the space they’re in. This leads to pro-environmental behaviours and attitudes, which can then generate environmental stewardship.



    Read more:
    Earth Day 2024: ‘Green muscle memory’ and climate education promote behaviour change

    Rock climbing

    Within rock climbing groups and organizations, there is evidence suggesting members frequently participate in beneficial environmental stewardship projects. Outdoor rock-climbing groups typically manage spaces — sometimes privately owned, but frequently under government jurisdiction in provincial or national parks — to ensure safe and responsible climbing practices. Climbers rely on ropes, equipment and bolts to ensure safety as they’re climbing.

    But another obvious factor is the rock face they climb. The connection to rock and the climbing routes over those rock faces help foster a sense of environmental stewardship within climbers. Similar to mountain biking, the process starts with an introduction to the sport, but slowly develops into more care and attention paid to the natural spaces where climbers practise their activity.

    One American study indicates that rock climbing organizations often find opportunities to clean up the areas where they climb, and also look to maintain the natural features of that space.

    The research finds that for climbers, the challenge is to maintain natural spaces and keep the rock as pristine as possible. This also extends to conservation efforts to ensure that space maintains its use for climbing as opposed to turning it into a more urban or commercialized area.

    The joy that participants received from the sport of climbing initiated this environmental stewardship and maintained progressive action in local environmental initiatives.

    Element of physical risk

    One thing to note is that climbing and mountain biking do involve an element of physical risk.

    Doing some research on these sports can help youth assess risks alongside what can be gained from participating. But it’s also important to acknowledge that encouraging young people to foster deeper connections to nature as opposed to having simple interactions with outdoor spaces doesn’t mean they have to cycle down a mountain or climb a massive rock wall.

    Risk cannot be completely eliminated from outdoor sports and recreation, but there can be great social and personal benefit from participating in these types of activities.

    Instead of a high-risk sport, educators and outdoor leaders can influence participants with simpler actions. I am aware of outings involving outdoor hikes, or taking time at night to gaze at the stars and listen to the sounds of nature, that have sparked in young people an interest in outdoor spaces — and caring for them.

    Such experiences can then lead young people to continue to explore outdoor adventure and sport, that can , significantly, foster an appreciation of natural settings through direct interaction as well as a positive sense of community. This can be a starting point to help alleviate feelings of hopelessness to climate change.



    Read more:
    Teachers need bolder action from our school boards to educate in and for a climate emergency

    Addressing potential harms, amplifying benefits

    Despite the benefits of participating in outdoor sports, there is a need to acknowledge that participation can have some negative impact on the environment.

    For example, interaction with nature through sport can impact natural habitats and has the potential to alter behavioural patterns of animals. Furthermore, there is a risk of erosion of natural spaces, as well as the slim potential for the movement of invasive species.

    This being said, it’s critical to consider what we can gain from supporting youth to participate in outdoor sport and education when such activities are planned with attentiveness and care.

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

    – ref. How outdoor sports can support youth as they navigate climate change – https://theconversation.com/how-outdoor-sports-can-support-youth-as-they-navigate-climate-change-256643

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Worker-led programs are tackling gender-based violence in supply chains, but they’re at risk

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Genevieve LeBaron, Distinguished SFU Professor of Global Supply Chain Governance, Simon Fraser University

    Gender-based violence and harassment is a widespread issue in supply chains. Women workers in garment manufacturing, food production and hospitality are routinely subjected to unwanted touching and sexual advances and inappropriate comments, while promotion and advancement are often conditional on sex. In the most severe cases, this abuse escalates to sexual assault and rape.

    Despite decades of awareness and an International Labour Organization convention passed in 2019 and ratified by 49 countries, research indicates little progress has been made.

    A 2024 report from Statistics Canada, for instance, has found that 47 per cent of women have experienced some form of harassment or sexual assault in the workplace.

    Rates of gender-based violence and harassment are thought to be even higher in some countries and industries. In Bangladesh, a 2018 study found at least 60 per cent of garment workers had experienced it in the previous year. Another found 85 per cent of garment workers in Indonesia were concerned about sexual harassment at work.

    In the face of such a persistent global issue, women working in garment supply chains have pioneered a highly effective solution for tackling gender-based violence and harassment.

    Worker-led binding agreements

    Supported by labour unions and organizations like the Asia Floor Wage Alliance, Worker Rights Consortium and Global Labor justice, women workers have led the development of legally binding agreements with brands and suppliers to eliminate gender-based violence and harassment.

    The latest of these is called the Central Java Agreement for Gender Justice. Signed in July 2024, it covers 6,250 workers producing clothing for brands like Nike and Fanatics, Inc. under licenses with universities affiliated with the Worker Rights Consortium.

    Worker Rights Consortium persuaded Fanatics, which is also licensed to produce apparel bearing the Nike logo, to enter into the agreement in response to complaints of gender-based violence and harassment at two garment factories in central Java, Indonesia, owned by the Korean-based firm Ontide.

    This agreement creates a union-led program to address the problem at two Indonesian factories; if factory management does not comply, it risks losing business with Nike and Fanatics.

    Building on success from India to Indonesia

    The 2024 Central Java Agreement builds on and incorporates key features of previous worker-led agreements to address the issue.

    In particular, it builds on the 2022 Dindigul Agreement to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence and Harassment in India and the 2019 Agreements to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence and Harassment in Lesotho.

    The Dindigul agreement was led by an independent, majority-Dalit trade union run by women. It established a set of legally binding agreements with major garment companies including H&M Group, Gap Inc., PVH and Eastman Exports Global Clothing Ltd.

    The Lesotho agreements involved brands such as Levi Strauss & Co., Nien Hsing Textile Co., unions, women’s rights advocates and labour organizations.

    While each agreement is unique, they all adhere to the principles of worker-driven social responsibility.

    Under this governance model, “worker organizations and unions, suppliers, and brand companies enter into enforceable and legally binding agreements” and “transnational corporations use their leverage and supply chain relationships to effect change amongst supplier worksites.”

    A new model of accountability

    These agreements include worker-led detection and remediation systems to address gender-based violence and harassment. For example, under the Lesotho agreement, workers can access a 24-hour hotline operated by a local women’s organization to lodge complaints or bring them directly to the unions involved in the agreement.

    The Dindigul agreement also provides multiple channels for workers to raise complaints of gender-based violence and harassment, including shop floor monitors selected by the local union (one for every 25 workers). It also offers multiple avenues for raising complaints, including to the union or to sexual harassment committees required under Indian law.

    Under the Central Java Agreement, workers can bring complaints to committees aimed at eliminating the problem, to shop floor monitors or their unions. Not only do each of the agreements permit workers to request independent investigations, they all provide a wide array of remedies in the case of any incidents and violations of freedom of association.

    What sets these agreements apart from most other initiatives to combat gender-based violence and harassment in supply chains is that they actually work. One study of the two-year impact of the Dindigul Agreement by Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute found that 76 per cent of grievances were resolved in two weeks.

    The report said the program “constituted a powerful monitoring mechanism, ensuring effective remediation and deterring violations” of both gender-based violence and harassment and freedom of association — briefly put, the right to voluntarily join or leave groups (like unions), and for those groups to pursue collective action.

    Now, a key question is whether and to what extent these successful programs will continue to thrive and grow under the current “America First” agenda of the U.S. government.

    Progress under threat

    Despite their success, these worker-led initiatives face mounting challenges.

    Labour organizations that support these agreements are under strain, with some potentially at high risk of collapsing. The U.S. Bureau of International Labor Affairs is cutting US$500 million in funding that supports labour enforcement efforts across 40 countries.

    At the same time, company rollbacks of diversity, equity and inclusion programs are constraining, if not eliminating, the political space in which labour groups negotiate such agreements.

    Tariffs and upheaval in global trade — especially efforts to redraw supply chains to evade costly tariffs — gives brands cover to withdraw commitments to worker-led initiatives and change sourcing patterns to circumvent them.

    Within the United States, cuts and funding freezes — including to sexual assault prevention groups — are a worrying sign that support for preventing gender-based violence and harassment and helping its survivors are being undercut and failing.

    If labour stakeholders lose the resources to support such initiatives, the impacts on women and workplaces within supply chains across the world will be devastating. These programs show that when workers lead, real change is possible, but they need continued investment and political support to survive.

    Genevieve LeBaron receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Humanity United Foundation, and Ford Foundation.

    Judy Fudge 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. Worker-led programs are tackling gender-based violence in supply chains, but they’re at risk – https://theconversation.com/worker-led-programs-are-tackling-gender-based-violence-in-supply-chains-but-theyre-at-risk-255756

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –