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Category: Universities

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Appointment to Old Parliament House Board

    Source: Australian Ministers for Infrastructure and Transport

    The Albanese Labor Government has appointed Lenda Oshalem as Deputy Chair of the Board of Old Parliament House and Warren Snowdon as a member of the Board.

    Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, congratulated Ms Oshalem on her appointment and welcomed Mr Snowdon to the Board. 

    “Lenda has been a valuable member of the Board for more than four years, and I trust she will draw on her skills and experience to make an excellent Deputy Chair. 

    “Warren has dedicated a large part of his life to the Australian Parliament, and we are lucky to have someone with his experience to help guide the national institution that tells the story of our democracy.”

    Old Parliament House was the home of the Federal Parliament from 1927 to 1988.

    It is home to the Museum of Australian Democracy, which provides an enriched understanding of the political legacy and value of Australian democracy. 

    Ms Lenda Oshalem has been a member of the Board since 2021 and was reappointed for a second term in 2024. She is the Executive Director of Advocacy and Engagement at the Minderoo Foundation, and the Chair of Minderoo Pictures.

    Ms Oshalem’s previous roles include Board member of Auspire – the Australia Day Council Western Australia Board, Management Committee Member at the Metropolitan Migrant Resource Centre, National Campaigns Director and Partner at SEC Newgate, and Assistant State Secretary and Assistant State Campaign Director for  WA Labor. 

    The Hon Warren Snowdon is a former Federal Minister and longtime Member of the House of Representatives, elected initially as Member for the Northern Territory from 1987-1996 and from 1998-2001, then as Member for Lingiari from 2001-2022. 

    A Government Relations Advisor for Diabetes Australia, Mr Snowdon also sits on the Board of Soldier On Australia. Since 2022, he has served as a member of the Advisory Board of the Indigenous Eye Health Unit at the University of Melbourne. 

    In 2024, Mr Snowdon was appointed as Chair of the independent review of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act 2016 and was appointed to the Australian War Memorial Council.

    More information about the Old Parliament House Board can be found here: www.moadoph.gov.au/about/board-old-parliament-house

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Romantic Love: A Great Feeling or a By-Product of Evolution

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –

    From ancient times to the present day, philosophers and writers have tried to answer the question “what is love?” Scientists have not stood aside either. They have their own special view on this matter. Romantics believed that this great feeling is born in the heart, but scientists disagree with them. Research has shown that it is all about complex processes occurring in the brain. From the point of view of modern science, romantic love is not a gift of fate, but an adaptation that arose in the process of evolution.

    Portrait of a phenomenon

    -Since the late 70s of the last century, various science definitions of romantic love began to appear. I highlight only two. According to the first, which was given in 2015, romantic love is a powerful mechanism of obligations, consisting of passion, proximity and care. It is universal, and is associated with the formation of steam in different cultures; Automatically suppresses the attention given to alternative partners, has pronounced emotional, hormonal neuropsychic features and is the predictor of better health and survival of both the lovers themselves and their offspring. The second definition is formulated somewhat later. Romantic love is a motivational state, usually associated with the desire for prolonged mating with a particular physical face. It is observed throughout life and is associated with various cognitive, emotional, behavioral, social, genetic, nervous and endocrine activity in both sexes. For most of life, love serves the choice of a partner, the functions of courtship, sex and the creation of steam. This is a set of adaptations and their by-products that once arose in the recent evolutionary history of man. This definition contains a hint that love has its own story. You can look at it as an adaptation, or, as a combination of side adaptations, but, nevertheless, this issue should be considered in the evolutionary aspect, ”says the candidate of biological sciences, a researcher at the laboratory of the behavior of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the SB RAS, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Physiology Faculty of Natural Sciences of NSU Anton Tsybko.

    Interestingly, our genes play a significant role in forming attachments and romantic love, but that doesn’t mean they determine who we fall in love with. Our genes only determine how strong our romantic relationships will be.

    Interesting studies were conducted in 2012. The object of the study were married couples who had been married for more than 20 years. It turned out that the activation of dopamine areas in their brains was at the same level as in newlyweds. Most likely, there is a relationship between the activity of certain areas of the brain and the strength of the marriage. In order to maintain such a vividness of feelings for two decades, some powerful mechanisms are definitely needed.

    Kindred spirits

    Scientists have found that when a person falls in love, the ventral tegmental area of the brain is activated. It produces a natural stimulant, the neurotransmitter dopamine. It is also believed to be responsible for the feeling of pleasure or reward. Dopamine is released not only when a person in love sees or touches the object of adoration. Such a reaction can be caused by a photograph or a message. Even a thought or a memory is enough.

    In 2010, foreign experts conducted a study in which they compared the areas of the cerebral cortex that are activated by maternal love with those that correspond to romantic love. In general, in both cases, the activated areas of the brain overlap, but if you pay attention to the “behavior” of the basal ganglia, the differences between maternal love and romantic love become clearly noticeable. In particular, in lovers, the thalamus area is strongly activated, which is practically inactive in loving mothers. It is this area that is “responsible” for sexuality. Indeed, the sexual component is completely excluded from maternal love, whereas in romantic love it is of great importance.

    — Researchers have noted another very interesting feature. If we consider the “behavior” of various areas of the brain when falling in love, we can see that not all of them are activated; some, on the contrary, are switched off. For example, the lateral prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for our moral judgments. That is why we tend to idealize our partner, not notice his shortcomings and forgive various rather questionable actions from the moral side of our beloved. Perhaps this is the only way to explain why Eva Braun loved Hitler, — says Anton Tsybko.

    The “behavior” of other parts of the brain is also important. Activation of the insular cortex creates a feeling of unity in love, the so-called kinship of souls. Increased activity of the amygdala, unlike other brain structures, does not create an emotional upsurge, but on the contrary, awakens anxiety and fear of being rejected.

    Transformation of passion

    As Anton Tsybko explained, love experiences change the neurochemistry of the brain, and at each stage of this feeling – in its own way. During the period of falling in love, when feelings are most vivid, and experiences are acute, dopamine is actively produced. Oxytocin, a hormone that stimulates the production of endorphins, causing a feeling of “happiness”, begins to be intensively secreted, as well as vasopressin, responsible for affection, the desire to care for another person and marital fidelity.

    Cortisol, a hormone that protects the body from stress and affects sleep and wakefulness, is also actively secreted. During the first few months of a relationship, its level becomes so high that it negatively affects the secretion of serotonin, a decrease in the level of which causes symptoms of anxiety in lovers, loss of sleep and appetite, and constant thoughts about the object of passion. By the way, this is very similar to the manic stage of bipolar disorder, so some researchers try to approach the analysis of falling in love from the point of view of neuropathology. Other scientists believe that this is nothing more than a coincidence.

    Then the period of passionate love begins. It can last a year or more. Oxytocin and vasopressin continue to “work” with high activity. Moreover, oxytocin is secreted to a greater extent in women, and vasopressin – in men. After several months, the concentration of cortisol normalizes and begins to decrease, the level of serotonin increases and the mood of lovers stabilizes.

    After a few years of marriage, the time of so-called companionable love comes, when feelings lose their former brightness, the sexual component is less pronounced and the lovers become good friends. Their serotonin and cortisol levels normalize, the dopamine level remains above average, but does not “gush” as much as at first, but the levels of oxytocin and vasopressin are still high. And what next? Either the couple freezes in this state, or, sadly, breaks up. The fact is that a person is characterized by so-called serial monogamy. He is able to experience romantic love several times in his life, going through the full cycle of its development again and again.

    This is not normal!

    — Many researchers note that the state of being in love goes far beyond the normal range. Low levels of serotonin can cause depression, and for this reason, lovers experience a breakup painfully. In addition, high and fluctuating levels of dopamine have long forced researchers to compare being in love with drug addiction. It is not without reason that there are many songs and catchphrases in which love is compared to a drug, — says Anton Tsybko.

    The thing is that in addition to the dopamine system, another part of the brain of a person in love is activated – the nucleus accumbens. It is included in all forms of behavioral addiction, be it drugs, gambling or alcohol.

    There are many similarities between romantic love and drug addiction. For example, the desire to take the substance again and again, increasing the dose. The person in love also wants to spend as much time as possible with the partner. Or unsuccessful attempts to stop using. Not all romantic relationships are cloudless. Many couples break up and then get back together. And what about withdrawal syndrome? What suffering lovers sometimes experience after a breakup!

    Anton Tsybko notes that, from a neurobiological point of view, some areas of the brain are activated in almost the same way in people in love and drug addicts. For example, parts of the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia, as well as the nucleus accumbens. The networks that are built between the cingulate cortex, the nucleus accumbens, and the amygdala are also similar. However, this may be another coincidence.

    Hormones of fidelity

    — Animals provide a huge amount of valuable, necessary information. If we consider the currently known neuronal pathways and brain areas associated with pair formation in animals, we will notice the same nodal structures that are characteristic of humans. The animal brain is certainly simpler, but the processes in it are similar, — says Anton Tsybko.

    For their research, the scientists chose the only rodents that are characterized by monogamy – prairie voles. These small mice form pairs for life, perform parental duties equally and categorically reject other individuals of the opposite sex, often even showing real aggression towards them. For rodents, and mammals in general, such behavior is not typical. For example, close relatives of prairie voles – mountain voles – are distinguished by promiscuity and do not form pairs.

    Scientists have managed to solve this mystery. As a result of the research, it was found that prairie voles have a pronounced anomaly in the density of oxytocin receptors – it is incredibly high. A similar anomaly is characteristic of vasopressin. When mating occurs, the effect of vasopressin increases in males, and oxytocin in females. The researchers decided to interfere with the biochemistry of the brain of both types of voles. Females were given oxytocin receptor antagonists, and males were given vasopressin receptor antagonists. The subjects did not lose interest in mating, but they no longer formed stable pairs; now they were interested in random relationships.

    And the specialists continued their experiments with their polygamous “relatives” – mountain voles. Using viral constructs, they stimulated overexpression of the vasopressin receptor in the superior pallidum and the nucleus accumbens, and a miracle happened – the polygamous mice settled down – began to form marital ties and concentrate only on their partner, showing no interest in other individuals of the opposite sex.

    It is considered quite likely that oxytocin receptors influence the desire to form a stable pair in humans, but these hormones do not make people faithful, unlike prairie voles.

    — If we look at this phylogenetic tree, we will see that pair formation is a rare phenomenon. The share of monogamous species among mammals is from 5 to 8 percent of species. There is an opinion that, most likely, romantic love is a distinctive feature of our species, Homo sapiens. And it is unlikely that it existed in Homo erectus and Heidelberg humans. The rudiments and basic mechanisms for pair formation in mammals were present from the very beginning of their existence. However, the formation of romantic love most likely occurred at later stages of human evolution, but scientists cannot yet say how and when exactly this happened. And this is good, because researchers can expect many interesting discoveries in the future, — says Anton Tsybko.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Parliament has passed landmark election donation laws. They may be a ‘stitch up’ but they also improve Australia’s democracy

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne

    Federal parliament has passed the biggest changes to Australia’s electoral funding laws in decades.

    The Albanese government’s Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Reform) Bill 2024 cleared the Senate on Wednesday night after just two hours of debate on amendments agreed to earlier by the Coalition. In blatant disregard for democracy, the government refused to refer the bill to a parliamentary committee for proper scrutiny.

    The amendments fail to address numerous deficiencies in the original bill that was introduced last November. Transparency has been wound back and hollow contribution caps have been locked in.

    In significant respects, however, the package is an improvement on the status quo, which has seen unrestricted donations and spending flourish. So, too, secrecy.

    We need to penetrate the sound and fury of partisanship and assess the substance of these laws. This will yield a much more nuanced picture than conveyed by cross bench claims of a major party stitch up.

    Some improvement to transparency

    The government originally proposed lowering the disclosure threshold for donations from $16,000 to $1,000. The revised bill settles on a new threshold of $5,000.

    The amendments fail to plug a loophole that allows a donor to give separately to all of the branches attached to a political party if each individual contribution is just under the threshold. For example, a donor could spread almost $45,000 to the nine state and federal branches of the ALP without being required to declare the amounts.

    But the new laws will usher in near-real time disclosure and substantially reduce “dark money”, a seismic shift from the secrecy and lack of timeliness in the regime it replaces.

    Hollow donation caps

    Under the reforms, a series of contribution caps have been introduced to curb the influence of big money in politics.

    In my assessment of the original bill, I highlighted how the caps would prevent multi-million dollar contributions from cashed-up individuals.

    The amendments go further by closing a number of sizeable loopholes. Self financing candidates, such as Clive Palmer and Malcolm Turnbull will be subject to the contribution caps. The current exclusions for membership and affiliation fees to associated entities – “disguised donations” – will also be caught by the caps.

    But any positives are emphatically outweighed by the “annual gift cap” more than doubling to $50,000. The same “spreading” loophole that applies to the disclosure obligations would allow a donor to to give just shy of this amount to each of a party’s state and federal branches across the country. The major parties could reap up to almost $450,000 per annum from a single donor.

    And the “overall gift cap” on total donations made to political parties and candidates is a generous $1.6 million, which means large contributions will still be permissible under the new framework.

    The government has also failed to remove the patently unfair provisions relating to “nominated entities”, which are likely to be used by the major parties as investment vehicles.

    As the Victorian Electoral Review Expert Panel has rightly noted, such entities:

    provide some (parties) with significantly more funds, creating a risk that those (parties) drown out other voices.

    Election spending contained and fairer

    The spending caps in the new finance laws are fundamentally unaltered by the government’s amendments.

    The $800,000 per electorate limit, and $90 million per party nationally, will contain the “arms race” that has necessitated “big money” fundraising and fuelled unfair contests.

    However, the limits are set too high and will benefit the established parties due to the narrow scope of the spending caps in individual electorates. This means the major parties will be able to shift funding to must-win seats without being caught by the electorate caps.

    This shortcoming has been seized upon as clear evidence that Labor and the Liberals are seeking to kneecap Teal election campaigns. While having some force, these criticisms should be viewed in the context of the current situation where the major parties have an unfettered ability to direct spending to marginal seats, a situation which the Teals are ironically defending with their opposition to spending caps.

    The importance of public funding

    The new regime includes a substantial jump in public funding from $3.50 to $5 per vote.

    Crossbenchers, such as Kate Chaney, are opposed, to the increase, saying it will entrench the might of the majors while making it harder for new independents:

    The effect of increasing public funding is that political parties don’t have to fundraise because they’ve got their war chests. But any challengers do have to fundraise.

    While there is a clear risk of unfairness, the crossbench position throws the baby out with the bathwater. It romanticises the role of private funding, skating over the risks of corruption and undue influence via large donations.

    The public funding of political parties and candidates is warranted. But there should be a conversation about the design and scope of taxpayer support.

    The political finance laws could be made considerably fairer by fixing the structural bias that favours incumbents, including teal MPs. And they don’t need to be as generous given the large flows of private funding that will continue under the shallow contribution caps.

    Unfinished business

    Bad processes tend to make bad laws. The government’s actions have cast a pall of illegitimacy over its political finance regime. The new framework is unfair and ineffectual in significant ways and yet democracy enhancing in others.

    We are all trustees of democracy, with an obligation to protect and deepen democratic practices. An urgent task in that continuing struggle is to protect the strengths of these laws while jettisoning the elements that are egregiously bad.

    Joo-Cheong Tham has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, European Trade Union Institute, International IDEA, the New South Wales Electoral Commission, the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Victorian Electoral Commission. He is a Director of the Centre for Public Integrity; Expert Network Member of Climate Integrity; a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia; and the Victorian Division Assistant Secretary (Academic Staff) of the National Tertiary Education Union.

    – ref. Parliament has passed landmark election donation laws. They may be a ‘stitch up’ but they also improve Australia’s democracy – https://theconversation.com/parliament-has-passed-landmark-election-donation-laws-they-may-be-a-stitch-up-but-they-also-improve-australias-democracy-249588

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Suicide or accident? The hidden complexities of intentional road crashes in Australia

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

    Juris Teivans/Shutterstock

    In Australia, fatal road crashes are climbing again, especially since the pandemic, and despite years of attempts to reduce road trauma, the numbers remain stubbornly high.

    Strategies to reduce the road toll have largely focused on speeding, distractions and enforcement gaps, such as roadside drug testing.

    But hidden in these statistics is a lesser-known, deeply troubling reality: some of these crashes are not unintentional at all.

    A difficult area to explore

    A portion of road fatalities each year are deaths by suicide.

    For some, cars and trucks are not just modes of transport – they become a means to intentionally end their lives.

    The true scale of this issue is difficult to determine, as coroners and crash investigators often struggle to distinguish suicide from accidental death.

    The phenomenon is not confined to Australia – it has been studied and documented in several countries including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, and the United States.

    International research suggests driver suicides may account for up to 8–9% of all fatal road crashes. But studies indicate up to half of these cases may go unreported.

    So what do we know about these cases? Why are they so difficult to identify and what patterns exist in these incidents?

    How bad is the problem?

    Between 2001 and 2017, the rate of suicide involving a road vehicle collision in Australia nearly doubled from 0.125 per 100,000 people to 0.25 per 100,000.

    These suicides take several forms.

    Some involve single-vehicle crashes, where a driver deliberately collides with a tree, pole, or concrete barrier.

    Others are multiple-vehicle collisions, where a driver or rider intentionally steers into oncoming traffic, often targeting trucks.

    There are also pedestrian suicides, where people step or lie in front of moving vehicles.

    Among driver suicides, single-vehicle crashes are the most common, with studies estimating more than half of driver suicides involve collisions with fixed objects (some studies suggest the figure is more than 70%).

    For multiple-vehicle collisions, almost 82% of cases involve colliding with an oncoming truck.

    More than half of pedestrian deaths by suicide also involve trucks.

    While there are variations in research findings, current evidence suggest males make up between 78% and 91% of those who die by road transport suicide.

    Certain demographics have been found to be more likely to die in a road suicide in Australia compared to other methods of suicide:

    This includes those who are:

    • male (15% more likely than females)
    • younger than 25 (nearly five times more likely than those older)
    • non-Indigenous (three times more likely than First Nations people)
    • born overseas (40% more likely than those born in Australia)

    The ripple effects

    Unlike most other suicide methods, road vehicle collisions pose a significant risk to others.

    Intentional crashes can involve unsuspecting drivers, passengers and pedestrians, turning a personal act of self-harm into a broader public safety issue.

    Studies show that when a suicide collision involves vehicles with a large weight disparity — such as a car colliding with a truck — nearly 30% result in injury to another person and almost 4% result in the death of another person.

    Beyond the immediate loss of life or injury, these incidents leave lasting psychological scars on the drivers involved.

    Why is it difficult to establish suicide on the road?

    Determining whether a fatal road crash was intentional or unintentional is fraught with challenges. Unlike other suicide methods, there is often no definitive proof of intent.

    Coroners and crash investigators rely on a patchwork of evidence: eyewitness accounts, vehicle behaviour before impact, the driver’s psychological history and physical crash characteristics.

    Even when red flags are present — such as high-speed impacts with no signs of braking, the driver not wearing a seat belt, collisions with trucks, or cases where drivers abruptly veer into oncoming traffic — these alone are not always enough to confirm intent.

    Investigators must also navigate the cultural and social sensitivities surrounding suicide, which can lead to hesitation in formally classifying a death as intentional. Families, religious beliefs and even financial factors such as life insurance claims can influence how these cases are handled.

    In many instances, those who use this method do so in a way that obscures their intent, deliberately staging a crash to appear unintentional.

    Without conclusive evidence, such as a documented history of suicidality or a suicide note, these cases often remain in statistical limbo — unconfirmed, unclassified, and possibly unreported.

    What can be done?

    While broader suicide prevention efforts are always relevant, reducing suicide-related road crashes requires targeted, practical interventions that make vehicles less likely to be used for suicide. Some ideas include:

    1. Vehicle safety features that reduce lethality, such as automatic emergency braking and collision avoidance systems, can make intentional high-speed crashes less likely to be fatal. As such, they could discourage the use of vehicles as a suicide method. Airbags, in particular, can play a crucial role, as they can make the outcome of a crash less predictable for people attempting suicide.

    2. A national standardised process for classifying intentional crashes would improve detection and data accuracy. Incorporating psychological autopsies and mandating coroners consider behavioural indicators (such as lack of evasive action) could help identify cases that currently go unreported.

    3. Heavy vehicle drivers and first responders should receive specialised training to recognise potential suicide crash indicators and manage the psychological toll of being involved in such incidents.

    Together, these measures can make vehicle-related suicide, as a very complex issue, less likely and more detectable.

    If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. In Australia, you can contact Lifeline at 13 11 14 for confidential support.

    Angela J Clapperton receives funding from Suicide Prevention Australia.

    Lay San Too receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council for a fellowship.

    Matthew J. Spittal receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council for an Investigator Grant (GNT2025205).

    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. Suicide or accident? The hidden complexities of intentional road crashes in Australia – https://theconversation.com/suicide-or-accident-the-hidden-complexities-of-intentional-road-crashes-in-australia-248673

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Peace by chocolate: One Syrian refugee family’s journey to sweet success

    Source: United Nations 2

    “War can kill anything in a person, but it cannot kill values ​​and hope. Syrians are a naturally happy people, and we aspire to live in a spirit of giving, generosity and hospitality.”

    Just desserts

    With these words, Tareq Hadhad described to UN News the difficult journey his family took from the Syrian capital to the remote Canadian city of Antigonish.

    The Hadhads are a long-established Damascene family and from it came judges, engineers and doctors for generations. But, what they are best known for is chocolate, a legacy that Mr. Hadhad’s father, Issam, built in 1986.

    That year, the senior Mr. Hadhad decided to leave mechanical engineering and start making chocolate despite the fact that there were only a few well-known companies in the Middle East in that field at the time.

    Chocolate for good

    The younger Mr. Hadhad said his father wanted to be in a field “that made people around him happy” as frustration prevailed among Syria’s youth after the events of 1982, when the Hafez al Assad regime committed the Hama massacre.

    Founded “from scratch”, the company grew to employ hundreds of people.

    In 2008, it began exporting to several countries in the Middle East and Europe in line the senior Mr. Hadhad’s aspiration: to “deliver the message of the Syrians all over the world” through a universal product that everyone knew and loved, his son explained, adding that the goal was not only to increase sales, but to embark on several development and relief projects in Syria.

    “My father believed that if you are successful in your life, you have a responsibility to raise others to success,” Mr. Hadhad said.

    Peace by Chocolate

    Isam Hadhad makes chocolate in the factory.

    Time for survival

    Before 2013, the entire family of more than 60 people lived in one building chockful of memories just south of the Al-Midan area in old Damascus, standing their ground for two years after the war began.

    “I lost many members of my family,” Mr. Hadhad said. “My sister’s husband was arrested, tortured and then killed in prison. Many of my cousins ​​ disappeared, some of whom we still know nothing about and some of whom were summarily executed.”

    The chocolate factory was targeted in airstrike in 2012 and the following year, as Mr. Hadhad and his brother were walking in a street in downtown Damascus, a missile fell nearby.

    “Amid the dust, I thought my brother was dead,” he said. “I picked him up and ran home. When I got there, I told the family this is not the time to build a business or study. This is a time for survival.”

    ‘We are not victims’

    The family made the excruciating decision to seek refuge in Lebanon, leaving everything behind. The following year, they learned that the regime’s forces had “looted their homes, burned them down and bombed them to cover up the crime”.

    “There are many Syrians who have lost much more than us,” Mr. Hadhad said. “We are not victims. We are victors regardless of the outcome because we were able to survive the war with our lives and start our lives again.”

    The family registered with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and moved many times in Lebanon until they settled in the city of Sidon. While Mr. Hadhad said the Lebanese people were very hospitable to the Syrians, because no official agreements had been signed, they could not work, rent homes or go to school.

    Refugees giving back

    Lebanon, as a country of four to five million people at the time, received more than a million Syrian refugees in a very short period of time.

    “That’s equivalent to 10 to 15 million American refugees entering Canada in a year or two,” he said. “Of course, the country wouldn’t be able bear that burden. But, Lebanon absorbed that burden over 13 years.”

    Indeed, the burden of the war wasn’t just on Syria and the Syrian people, but on the peoples of the entire region, including the Jordanians, Lebanese, Turkish and Iraqis.

    However, the Hadhad family was determined “at every stage of our refugee story to prove to the world that we can give to the host community and not take”.

    For his part, Mr. Hadhad spent most of his days in Lebanon volunteering with several relief organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNHCR, providing his expertise in healthcare to both Syrian refugees and their Lebanese hosts alike, having reached the final stages of his medical studies before leaving Syria.

    Canada bound

    The family’s goal was to return to Syria, but when that seemed like a distant dream and their fears grew for the future of the young children who had missed years of education, they began applying for resettlement in other countries.

    In 2015, despite many interviews at embassies from around the world, not a single one would accept them, Mr. Hadhad said.

    “Late that year, things changed,” he said. “The new Canadian Government had pledged to receive about 25,000 Syrian refugees, and my family was one of them.”

    Peace by Chocolate

    The Hadhad family celebrating Canada Day.

    UN intervention

    The UN was the turning point in the Hadhad family’s story. Without being identified as refugees by the UNHCR, they would not have been able to even apply for resettlement in Canada.

    The Canadian embassy conducts cross-checks through the UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also played a key role in their resettlement process.

    But, the major credit goes to Canadians themselves. The tragic drowning of toddler Alan Kurdi and his family in the summer of 2015 while trying to reach Europe had spread throughout the globe, the cause of Syrian refugees became a global cause.

    Canadian hospitality, one family at a time

    Community leaders in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, home to 5,000 residents and 5,000 students at St. Francis Xavier University, raised enough money to host one Syrian family that matched the Hadhads, and so they sponsored them without knowing their names, the way they looked or even their backgrounds.

    “The community in Antigonish are pioneers in their DNA, and when they saw they could make a difference, they started the process of registering an organization called SAFE (Syrian Antigonish Families Embrace),” Mr. Hadhad said.

    “I don’t know how people who are almost 8,000km away from Syria or Lebanon could be so concerned with our ability to restart our lives and to see my siblings and my sister Alaa’s children go to school. I did not expect that there would be human beings among us on this planet with such a spirit of giving because we lived through wars and saw how people kill each other.”

    He said he came to Antigonish, on the eastern coast of Canada, because of them and because they believed that he, as a person, had the same values, dignity, respect, rights and freedoms that apply to anyone in Canada.

    One peace won’t hurt

    This act left a huge mark on him and prompted the family to do everything in their power to give back to the Canadian community “that believed in us and our humanity and tried to support us in every way”, he said.

    “This community restored our faith in humanity. Regardless of the colour of your skin, your religion or where you were born, you are qualified to be a human being.”

    It was also the community “that gave us the idea of ​peace with its kindness and generosity that match our values”, he added.

    Peace by Chocolate

    The original factory shed built by members of the community and located on the family’s property next to their home.

    ‘Peace by Chocolate’

    To prove that nothing is impossible with hope, the family spotted a niche job opportunity to build on the legacy they were forced to leave behind in Syria. While it took decades to register their chocolate company in Syria due to government corruption, it took only a few weeks in Canada.

    From there, the road to success began on all levels.

    “Our project did not start for a purely economic reason, nor did it start for a purely humanitarian purpose; it combined the two,” Mr. Hadhad said.

    “That is why we named it Peace by Chocolate. Many companies around the world aim to make profits, but our goal was to support the community and at the same time to try to grow the company to become one of the largest companies in Canada.”

    ‘Canadians pull together’

    A few months after the opening of Peace by Chocolate in 2016, wildfires swept through Fort McMurray in Alberta in Canada’s mid-west. The Hadhads were watching the news as Canadians lost everything as their homes burned down, forcing them to seek refuge at Canadian Red Cross shelters.

    “Canadians always pull together, so we felt a responsibility to give back to the people who welcomed us with such warmth and kindness,” Mr Hadhad said, explaining that they launched a fundraising campaign, donating profits from Peace for Chocolate to help aid organizations.

    In September of that year, at the UN Leaders’ Summit on Refugees in New York, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau highlighted the Hadhad’s story and their contribution to the relief efforts in their new country just months after their arrival.

    Kindness pays off

    Since then, the Hadhad’s company has raised more than $655,000 to support relief projects for across Canada alongside 11 partnership agreements with such organizations as the Canadian Red Cross.

    “Thanks to the support of the Antigonish community and the country as a whole, we have been able to grow our company and have paid tens of millions in taxes to back into the Canadian economy,” Mr. Hadhad said.

    “Kindness pays off, and the best investment you can make is to be kind to others.”

    Peace by Chocolate is now the third largest employer in Antigonish, home to the company headquarters and factory. With the senior Mr. Hadhad as president and his son, Tareq, the CEO, the company has a branch in Halifax, the provincial capital, and its products are sold in more than a thousand stores across Canada.

    Mr. Hadhad said the Peace by Chocolate website has become the largest e-commerce platform in Canada’s Atlantic region, and it aspires to become the largest chocolate exporter in the country and to open branches in the United States, Japan and the Middle East.

    Peace by Chocolate

    Tareq and his father Isam meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the first time.

    Refugee to employer

    Despite the major differences that separate the family from their new community, what brought them together was “much stronger”, and they never felt like outcasts at any time or that they are obstacles to becoming part of that community.

    Mr. Hadhad said any successful refugee or migration story has two sides. There is, of course, a major role for the host community to play, but “the main responsibility lies primarily with the migrant or refugee”.

    “No one is going to knock on your door and ask about your story or your ambitions for the future. The first step always comes from the migrant or refugee themselves to tell their story,” he said.

    That is exactly what he did. He spoke with the local newspaper shortly after arriving and made the front page. The word spread. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) sent a correspondent to visit the Hadhad’s every month to follow up on their integration.

    A sense of belonging

    In addition to the warm welcome from Canadians themselves, stability was a major factor in the family’s integration, with the Hadhads granted permanent residency upon arrival.

    In many countries, as a refugee, “you can’t think beyond an hour, a week or a month because your situation is always temporary,” Mr. Hadhad explained.

    “What Canada also gave us was ambition for sustainability,” he said. “You can think 10 or 20 years into the future or even for the rest of your life. You can build projects and plan. Canada gave us a sense of belonging and citizenship even before we became Canadian citizens.”

    He said he has the utmost respect for “the Canadian brand” and what it stands for.

    “Regardless of what politicians, individuals or economists do, I am proud to belong to this great country and to be a Canadian citizen today.”

    UNHCR/Darren Calabrese

    Tareq Haddad with his family and friends in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for his citizenship ceremony in January 2020.

    ‘More than a miracle’

    After more than 13 years of war, destruction and displacement, Mr. Hadhad described the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime as “more than a miracle” as many Syrians had lost hope of getting rid of the oppressive regime that had terrorised the country for more than 50 years.

    The future of Syria seems “very bright” to him, thanks to the efforts of its heroic people who refused to leave Syria and those who sought refuge in other communities around the world and built strong relationships there, he said.

    “My city, Damascus, is the oldest city in the world. It has survived much greater disasters than what happened to it in the past 50 years,” he said. “God willing, we are on the road to recovery, and I have a strong belief that the Syrian people will overcome all the difficulties of the war and build a country that we can all be proud of.”

    After 12 years in exile, he is now looking forward to visiting the country soon to meet those loved ones he left behind, including one of his sisters.

    Pride and duty to the homeland

    Supporting the Canadian community was a duty to pay back those that embraced the Hadhads in their hour of need, and now the family is focusing on its moral obligation to help their homeland.

    From working on licensing in the Middle East to be closer to collecting donations through Peace by Chocolate sales, the Hadhads aim to support relief organizations and those helping Syrian refugees return home. Efforts are also underway to connect the Syrian-Canadian community by presenting models of projects in Syria that it can support.

    “It is an honour for us to contribute to rebuilding it again and to support our Syrian people,” Mr. Hadhad said.

    Peace by Chocolate

    The Hadhad family and many supporters join them in the opening of their factory in Antigonish in 2017.

    Creating a happy ending

    In a message to people facing hardship and forced expulsion, Mr. Hadhad stressed that “believing in values, in oneself and in a bright future is very important, but what is more important is fighting despair in all its forms”.

    “I advise anyone anywhere around the world looking for an opportunity – if you don’t find it, create it yourself,” he said.

    “As long as we are able to continue our lives, we are able to create new opportunities for ourselves and our new communities. We must not forget to give back to the countries that opened their doors to us, and at the same time be proud of where we came from, because we are ultimately ambassadors for our culture, our countries, and our values.”

    Mr. Hadhad cited author Mary Robinson: “nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Parliament has passed landmark election donation laws. They may be a ‘stich up’ but they also improve Australia’s democracy

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne

    Federal parliament has passed the biggest changes to Australia’s electoral funding laws in decades.

    The Albanese government’s Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Reform) Bill 2024 cleared the Senate on Wednesday night after just two hours of debate on amendments agreed to earlier by the Coalition. In blatant disregard for democracy, the government refused to refer the bill to a parliamentary committee for proper scrutiny.

    The amendments fail to address numerous deficiencies in the original bill that was introduced last November. Transparency has been wound back and hollow contribution caps have been locked in.

    In significant respects, however, the package is an improvement on the status quo, which has seen unrestricted donations and spending flourish. So, too, secrecy.

    We need to penetrate the sound and fury of partisanship and assess the substance of these laws. This will yield a much more nuanced picture than conveyed by cross bench claims of a major party stitch up.

    Some improvement to transparency

    The government originally proposed lowering the disclosure threshold for donations from $16,000 to $1,000. The revised bill settles on a new threshold of $5,000.

    The amendments fail to plug a loophole that allows a donor to give separately to all of the branches attached to a political party if each individual contribution is just under the threshold. For example, a donor could spread almost $45,000 to the nine state and federal branches of the ALP without being required to declare the amounts.

    But the new laws will usher in near-real time disclosure and substantially reduce “dark money”, a seismic shift from the secrecy and lack of timeliness in the regime it replaces.

    Hollow donation caps

    Under the reforms, a series of contribution caps have been introduced to curb the influence of big money in politics.

    In my assessment of the original bill, I highlighted how the caps would prevent multi-million dollar contributions from cashed-up individuals.

    The amendments go further by closing a number of sizeable loopholes. Self financing candidates, such as Clive Palmer and Malcolm Turnbull will be subject to the contribution caps. The current exclusions for membership and affiliation fees to associated entities – “disguised donations” – will also be caught by the caps.

    But any positives are emphatically outweighed by the “annual gift cap” more than doubling to $50,000. The same “spreading” loophole that applies to the disclosure obligations would allow a donor to to give just shy of this amount to each of a party’s state and federal branches across the country. The major parties could reap up to almost $450,000 per annum from a single donor.

    And the “overall gift cap” on total donations made to political parties and candidates is a generous $1.6 million, which means large contributions will still be permissible under the new framework.

    The government has also failed to remove the patently unfair provisions relating to “nominated entities”, which are likely to be used by the major parties as investment vehicles.

    As the Victorian Electoral Review Expert Panel has rightly noted, such entities:

    provide some (parties) with significantly more funds, creating a risk that those (parties) drown out other voices.

    Election spending contained and fairer

    The spending caps in the new finance laws are fundamentally unaltered by the government’s amendments.

    The $800,000 per electorate limit, and $90 million per party nationally, will contain the “arms race” that has necessitated “big money” fundraising and fuelled unfair contests.

    However, the limits are set too high and will benefit the established parties due to the narrow scope of the spending caps in individual electorates. This means the major parties will be able to shift funding to must-win seats without being caught by the electorate caps.

    This shortcoming has been seized upon as clear evidence that Labor and the Liberals are seeking to kneecap Teal election campaigns. While having some force, these criticisms should be viewed in the context of the current situation where the major parties have an unfettered ability to direct spending to marginal seats, a situation which the Teals are ironically defending with their opposition to spending caps.

    The importance of public funding

    The new regime includes a substantial jump in public funding from $3.50 to $5 per vote.

    Crossbenchers, such as Kate Chaney, are opposed, to the increase, saying it will entrench the might of the majors while making it harder for new independents:

    The effect of increasing public funding is that political parties don’t have to fundraise because they’ve got their war chests. But any challengers do have to fundraise.

    While there is a clear risk of unfairness, the crossbench position throws the baby out with the bathwater. It romanticises the role of private funding, skating over the risks of corruption and undue influence via large donations.

    The public funding of political parties and candidates is warranted. But there should be a conversation about the design and scope of taxpayer support.

    The political finance laws could be made considerably fairer by fixing the structural bias that favours incumbents, including teal MPs. And they don’t need to be as generous given the large flows of private funding that will continue under the shallow contribution caps.

    Unfinished business

    Bad processes tend to make bad laws. The government’s actions have cast a pall of illegitimacy over its political finance regime. The new framework is unfair and ineffectual in significant ways and yet democracy enhancing in others.

    We are all trustees of democracy, with an obligation to protect and deepen democratic practices. An urgent task in that continuing struggle is to protect the strengths of these laws while jettisoning the elements that are egregiously bad.

    Joo-Cheong Tham has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, European Trade Union Institute, International IDEA, the New South Wales Electoral Commission, the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Victorian Electoral Commission. He is a Director of the Centre for Public Integrity; Expert Network Member of Climate Integrity; a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia; and the Victorian Division Assistant Secretary (Academic Staff) of the National Tertiary Education Union.

    – ref. Parliament has passed landmark election donation laws. They may be a ‘stich up’ but they also improve Australia’s democracy – https://theconversation.com/parliament-has-passed-landmark-election-donation-laws-they-may-be-a-stich-up-but-they-also-improve-australias-democracy-249588

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: Jurassic fossil discovery in China sheds new light on origin of birds

    Source: China State Council Information Office 2

    This illustration shows a restored image of the fossilized bird Baminornis zhenghensis and Zhenghe Fauna. [Photo/Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology handout via Xinhua]
    Chinese scientists have unearthed the oldest short-tailed bird fossil, dating back about 150 million years, in east China’s Fujian province. This suggests that birds might have originated earlier than previously thought.
    The fossilized bird Baminornis zhenghensis was discovered in Zhenghe County, Fujian Province. Its short tail ends in a compound bone called the pygostyle, a feature uniquely present in modern birds. This indicates that the body structure of modern birds emerged in the Late Jurassic Period, 20 million years earlier than previously known.
    The bird displays a unique combination of traits, including modern bird-like shoulder and pelvic girdles, as well as a non-avian dinosaurian-like hand, which is a very interesting and contradictory phenomenon, said Wang Min, lead and correspond author of this study from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the leading scientist of the research team.
    “This is a groundbreaking discovery. It overturns the previous situation that Archaeopteryx was the only bird found in the Jurassic Period,” said Zhou Zhonghe, an academician of CAS.
    Based on the discovery, scientists speculate that the emergence of the earliest birds could be traced back to an even earlier time, possibly 172 million to 164 million years ago, according to Wang.
    The study, conducted by researchers from IVPP and the Fujian Institute of Geological Survey, was published in the latest issue of the journal Nature.
    While it is well established that birds evolved from dinosaurs, the timing of this transition has long been debated. Some studies suggest that birds’ earliest diversification occurred during the Jurassic Period, though the fossil record has been sparse and fragmentary. Archaeopteryx, often considered the earliest known and arguably the only Jurassic bird, has long been the focus of this debate.
    Although Archaeopteryx possessed feathered wings, it closely resembled non-avian dinosaurs, particularly due to its long, reptilian tail, which is in stark contrast to the short tails seen in modern birds. Recent research has even questioned whether Archaeopteryx should be classified as a bird, suggesting instead that it may be more closely related to the deinonychosaurs, a group of theropod dinosaurs.
    “If the avian status of Archaeopteryx is in question, the Baminornis zhenghensis is currently the most definitive Jurassic bird,” Wang said.
    The shortening of the tailbone is one of the most profound morphological changes in the evolution from dinosaurs to birds. The most distinctive feature of the Baminornis zhenghensis is its pygostyle. The emergence of the pygostyle is crucial for the forward shift of the body’s center of gravity, the independent movement of the hind limbs and tailbone, and the refinement of flight capabilities, Wang said.
    Scientists speculate that the Baminornis zhenghensis weighed over 100 grams, similar in size to a pet parrot, and lived in a swampy environment.
    “Its shortened tail and more advanced structure in its scapula lead us to believe that its flying ability was superior to that of Archaeopteryx. However, due to the incomplete fossil, we are unable to determine its exact flying posture,” Wang said.
    The researchers employed multiple methods to determine the position of Baminornis zhenghensis in the evolutionary tree of birds. Their findings indicate that it is the earliest bird clade to diverge just after Archaeopteryx.
    At the same site, scientists found another fossil consisting only of a furcula, or wishbone. Geometric morphometric and phylogenetic analyses identified it as belonging to Ornithuromorpha, a group of birds from the Cretaceous Period.
    “The discovery of the two fossils indicates that at least two species of birds lived in the Zhenghe Fauna,” Wang said.
    The Zhenghe Fauna is a terrestrial biota evidenced by a large number of tortoise, turtle, fish and plant fossils that have been unearthed. It is known as the southernmost location globally where Avialae fossils from the late Jurassic Period are preserved.

    This combo photo shows an image of the fossilized bird Baminornis zhenghensis (above) and a skeleton diagram. Chinese scientists have unearthed the oldest short-tailed bird fossil, dating back about 150 million years, in east China’s Fujian Province. [Photo/Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology handout via Xinhua]
    During the late Jurassic Period, frequent volcanic eruptions occurred along the region’s southeastern coastline. However, during quiescent periods, lakes and basins formed in the mountainous areas of what is today called Zhenghe County, creating a favorable ecological environment for plant growth and animal habitation.
    Zhenghe’s unique biological composition and geological background provide important information for the study of the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems in the late Jurassic Period, as well as the origins of birds and other animals, according to Chen Runsheng at the Fujian Institute of Geological Survey.
    “The newly discovered fossils point to an earlier origin of birds and suggest that birds most likely have radiated during the Jurassic Period,” said Zhou, the CAS academician.
    The fossils fill a gap in the early evolutionary history of birds, providing the strongest evidence yet that birds had begun to diversify by the end of the Jurassic Period, scientists said.
    “Baminornis is a landmark discovery, and ranks among the most important bird fossils unearthed since the discovery of Archaeopteryx in the early 1860s,” said Stephen L. Brusatte, a paleontologist from the University of Edinburgh.
    “Why did dinosaurs take to the skies and eventually evolve into the over 11,000 species of birds we have today? Such a major transition involved a series of changes. How were these changes in anatomy, physiology and behaviors across the entire body accomplished? We hope we can find more complete bird fossils, and even those with feathers, in the future so that our understanding of evolution becomes more comprehensive and profound,” said Xu Xing, an academician of CAS and head of IVPP.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: New appointments to the National Film and Sound Archive board

    Source: Australian Ministers 1

    The Albanese Labor Government has appointed Mrs Lucinda Brogden AM as Deputy Chair of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia Board.

    Mr Joseph Thorp, Ms Caroline Lilley and Ms Jaclyn Lee-Joe have also been appointed as members of the Board, each for a term of three years.

    A treasured national collecting institution, the Archive collects, preserves and shares Australia’s audiovisual culture – providing an unbroken record of Australian creativity and diversity.

    Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, said the appointments would strengthen the governance and strategic direction of the National Film and Sound Archive. 

    “Lucinda, Joe, Carol and Jackie have accomplished and varied careers in their respective fields with valuable experience working in Australia’s arts industry. 

    “Protecting our beloved cultural institutions for future generations means having the best leadership in place to safeguard them.”

    Mrs Lucinda Brogden AM has been a member of the Archive Board since December 2021 and has more than 30 years’ experience in accounting, finance and organisational psychology. She currently serves on a number of boards including as Chair of the Diabetes Australia Research Trust, Director of the Corporate Mental Health Alliance, Director at Australian Unity, and a Director of Be Kind Sydney. 

    In 2019, Mrs Brogden was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to workplace mental health and wellbeing. 

    Mr Joseph Thorp is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors of the State Theatre Company of South Australia. Following a career in international business, Mr Thorp serves as Secretary of Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide and Director of professional advisory services firm Slingsby Taylor Pty Ltd. Mr Thorp sits on a variety of other boards including the Governance and Nominations Committee at AnglicareSA, and as a Director of the Anglican Representative (National Redress Scheme) Limited. Mr Thorp has also served as Chairman and member of different boards including Chair of the Council of Governors of St Peter’s College, and Chair of Guide Dogs South Australia and Northern Territory.

    Ms Carol Lilley has over 25 years’ experience in financial statement audit, governance and assurance, internal audit and project and risk management, with a particular focus on government. She is currently a member of the Treasury, Department of Industry, Science and Resources and Aged Care Quality Safety Commission Audit and Risk Committees. Ms Lilley is also on the Financial and Performance Reporting Sub Committee and Chair of the Financial Statements Sub Committee. Previously Ms Lilley has been a member of the Audit and Risk Committees’ for Services Australia and for the National Library of Australia. She’s also previously served as Chair of the Department of Home Affairs Audit and Risk Committee and as a member of the Finance Committee of the Archive from 2014 to 2021. 

    Ms Jaclyn Lee-Joe has more than 20 years’ experience working in marketing and digital transformation roles across the media and entertainment, financial services, telecommunications, technology and aviation sectors. She is currently Deputy Chair of the Board of Directors of Football Australia, Co-Chair of the Local Operating Entity Women’s Asia Cup 2026, Board Director of Hayes Theatre Co, and an External Member of the University of Sydney’s Risk and Performance Senate Committee. Prior to this, Ms Lee-Joe has worked as an advisor and manager at multiple media and communications companies including Netflix, BBC, Canva, Skype, K-Box Global and Virgin Mobile. 

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senators Collins, Rosen Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Tackle Nursing Shortage

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Maine Susan Collins

    Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) introduced the Train More Nurses Act to address the nursing shortage affecting communities across the nation. This bipartisan bill would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Labor to conduct a review of nursing grant programs to find ways to increase faculty at nursing schools, especially those in underserved areas. It will also increase pathways for Licensed Practical Nurses to become Registered Nurses.

    “In the midst of a growing demand for medical treatments and services, health care providers across Maine continue to face a significant shortage of nurses. One challenge in growing the nursing workforce to meet this demand is the limited supply of nursing faculty available to increase student enrollment and train the next generation of nurses,” said Senator Collins. “This bipartisan legislation would identify strategies to close the faculty gap and expand our nursing workforce, ultimately improving access to care.”

    “As Nevada continues to face a shortage of nurses and doctors, it’s becoming more difficult for hardworking families to get the medical care they need,” said Senator Rosen. “I’m introducing this bipartisan bill to help increase the number of nurses in our state and improve Nevadans’ access to high-quality health care.”

    Senator Collins is working to address Maine’s health care professional shortage and improve medical care access in the state. The Maximizing Outcomes Through Better Investments in Lifesaving Equipment for (MOBILE) Health Care Act that she introduced with Senator Rosen was signed into law in 2022, and allows community health centers to use federal funds to establish new mobile health care units to increase access to health care services in rural and underserved communities.

    Last March, Senator Collins announced that she secured nearly $14 million in Congressionally Directed Spending for projects to support Maine’s health care workforce through the Fiscal Year 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill. This included $4.5 million to construct and equip a Center for Nursing Workforce Development and Cybersecurity at the University of Maine at Augusta.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: After Trump Shutters White House Office, Murphy, Frost Reintroduce Bicameral Legislation To Establish Office Of Gun Violence Prevention

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy

    February 13, 2025

    WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and U.S. Representative Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) on Thursday reintroduced the Office of Gun Violence Prevention Act, legislation to establish a permanent office focused on gun violence prevention at the U.S. Department of Justice.
    “The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention played a huge role in implementing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, helping drive down the number of gun deaths by 12 percent last year. It was wildly successful, so of course President Trump shut it down. This legislation would make the Office permanent at the Department of Justice to help state, local, and federal agencies work together to enforce gun safety laws and fund local gun violence prevention programs,” said Murphy.
    “Today we are reintroducing the Office of Gun Violence Prevention Act because we will not let the critical, life-saving work and the love and support that this office has offered countless communities no longer exist,” said Frost. “Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress would rather side with the gun lobby than protect our people. But the truth is that leaders like that aren’t just ignoring the gun violence crisis— they are enabling it. But here’s what this Administration doesn’t understand is that we don’t give up. The gun lobby? The politicians who’d rather send “thoughts and prayers” than actually save lives? We outwork them. We out organize them. And we rise above them. We are reintroducing this bill because when innocent lives are on the line, we refuse to back down.”
    “GIFFORDS is proud to support the Office of Gun Violence Prevention Act introduced today by Senator Murphy and Congressman Frost. The Office of Gun Violence Prevention wasn’t just a name—it was a proven force for safer communities that brought together law enforcement, public health experts, and community leaders to implement real solutions. We cannot allow this vital work to be undone with each change in administration. By making this office permanent through legislation, we send a clear message that protecting American lives from gun violence isn’t a temporary commitment—it’s a national priority that transcends partisan politics,” said GIFFORDS Vice President of Government and Political Affairs Vanessa N. Gonzalez.
    “The Office of Gun Violence Prevention was more than just a policy decision. It was the first time we had a dedicated team inside the White House giving this crisis the attention it deserves,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action. “We need leaders like Senator Murphy and Representative Frost—along with popular, common sense solutions—driving change to end gun violence in our communities. Our movement isn’t letting up. We’ll keep organizing, not just to protect our progress, but to push it forward.”
    “The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention showed us what’s possible with a whole-of-government approach to fight gun violence. This office helped make a real difference in the fight to keep Americans safe, from driving historic drops in homicides to coordinating urgent resources for communities devastated by senseless acts of gun violence. The shuttering of this office, alongside Trump’s attack on gun safety measures, makes his priorities crystal clear: gun industry profits over American lives. Rep. Frost and Sen. Murphy understand what’s at stake – American lives. Their bill would ensure this vital work continues regardless of who sits in the Oval Office. Congress must act to restore this office and the communities it served,” said Kris Brown, President of Brady.
    “Over 1.2 million Americans have been shot since the Sandy Hook shooting tragedy and guns are the leading cause of death for American children and teens. The Biden Administration’s White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention was a landmark achievement. It saved lives by strengthening background checks, cracking down on ghost guns, promoting safe storage, and funding community-based solutions,” said Po Murray, Chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance. “Homicide rates have declined because of these efforts. But just weeks into his second term, Donald Trump has declared war on these protections. His executive order doesn’t just dismantle progress—it actively puts American lives at risk. That is why we need Congress to step up to support the Office of Gun Violence Prevention Act. The safety of our communities should never depend on who sits in the Oval Office.”
    “The Office of Gun Violence Prevention made real, tangible progress — it saved actual human lives. That’s a fact. But it was also a powerful symbol to survivors and young people across the country who yearn for a world where we don’t have to live in terror and fear of being shot anymore,” said Madelyn Cobb, March For Our Lives Policy Manager and a student at George Washington University. “That’s why we called for it back in 2019 at a Democratic Presidential forum, to be a clarion call while Trump callously ignored our pleas for safety in his first term. We’re incredibly happy that Rep. Frost and Sen. Murphy’s bill to codify this office into law is being introduced once again, in the shadow of its unceremonious closure under Trump. At a time when Trump is making it easier for gun violence to metastasize, it is the beacon of hope we need.” 
    Specifically, the newly created Office of Gun Violence Prevention would:
    Convene an Advisory Council of senior DOJ officials, survivors, community violence intervention providers, public health officials, medical professionals who provide trauma care, mental health clinicians, state and local public health department officials, teachers, members of student groups, and veterans.
    Coordinate gun violence prevention efforts across federal agencies.
    Identify gaps in data needed for gun violence prevention research, policy development, and strategy implementation, and develop a plan to collect and analyze the data.
    Make policy recommendations.
    Educate the general public about federal laws, regulations, and available grant programs, including awareness campaigns directed at firearm owners, parents and legal guardians of minors, and gun violence prevention professionals, that include education related to safe storage of firearms and suicide prevention.
    Work to optimize the administration of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
    Annually report information to Congress on gun violence in the United States, recommendations for policy initiatives to reduce gun violence, and a description of the Director’s activities.
    Full text of the legislation is available HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Merkley, Wyden Raise the Alarm Over NIH Funding Cuts that Derail Lifesaving Research, Cost Lives and Jobs in Oregon

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore)
    February 13, 2025
    Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined an effort led by Washington State’s U.S. Senator Patty Murray in expressing serious alarm over the Trump Administration’s threats to cut the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) federal funding to research universities?and institutions across America and in Oregon, including groundbreaking medical and health research being done at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), University of Oregon (UO), Oregon State University (OSU), Portland State University (PSU), and many others in the state.
    As the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, NIH plays a critical role in sustaining the research infrastructure necessary for scientific breakthroughs, infectious disease prevention, and medical technology innovation. The cuts would set us back generations in finding lifesaving cures and treatments to illnesses such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, and Parkinson’s, and stopping medical trials would cost lives. 
    Additionally, the Trump Administration’s NIH funding cuts could cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars and threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers. Nationally, NIH research supported more than 412,000 jobs and fueled nearly $93 billion in new economic activity in Fiscal Year 2023, while costing less than 1 percent of the federal budget. In Oregon, NIH invested $417 million, which directly supported more than 5,000 jobs and nearly a billion dollars in economic activity, and indirectly supported over 17,000 jobs in Oregon’s broader bioscience economy.  
    The entire Democratic caucus sent the letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. urgently detailing how these steps the Trump Administration is taking would have a catastrophic impact on research institutions and our economy.
    “The Trump Administration has left researchers, universities, and health systems with great uncertainty about whether they can continue to support entire research programs and patient clinical trials across the country. Institutions and grantees nationwide are dealing with an unprecedented external communications “pause” enacted by new leadership at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the lack of transparency regarding the Administration’s illegal funding freeze, and the uncertainty of how new Executive Orders would be applied to their critical work. These actions resulted in NIH freezing grant reviews and cancelling advisory meetings, delaying critical funding that scientists need to continue advancing new cures and treatments. These disruptions do not just slow research—they cost lives,” the Senators wrote.
    Last week, the NIH announced it would set the maximum reimbursement rate for indirect costs to 15 percent—creating a serious funding shortfall for research institutions of all types across the country. This move won’t produce cost savings—it will just shift costs to states that can’t afford to pay the difference. Importantly, this action by the Trump administration is illegal—Congress’ bipartisan Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill prohibits modifications to NIH’s indirect costs.
    “This change to NIH’s indirect cost rate represents an indiscriminate funding cut that will be nothing short of catastrophic for the lifesaving research that patients and families are counting on. The Administration’s new policy means that research will come to a halt, sick kids may not get the treatment they need, and clinical trials may shut down abruptly,” the Senators continued.
    On Monday, a federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked the NIH rate cut and set a hearing for February 21st, but the Senators are pressing the administration to abandon the proposed cuts full stop.
    “Our standing as a world leader in funding and producing new medical and scientific innovations has been put at risk by these recent actions from the Trump Administration. We urge you to stop playing political games with the lifesaving work of the NIH and to allow NIH research to continue uninterrupted,” the Senators concluded.
    Merkley and Wyden signed the letter led by Murray alongside the entire Senate Democratic caucus: Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
    The letter is available HERE and the full text is below.
    Dear Secretary Kennedy,
    We write to express our serious concern with the Trump Administration’s recent decisions that threaten to undermine the nation’s biomedical research infrastructure and set us back generations. The steps the Trump Administration has taken will create a serious funding shortfall for research institutions nationwide, threaten to undermine progress on lifesaving scientific advancements, could cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars, and threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers.  
    As the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, NIH plays a critical role in sustaining the research infrastructure necessary for scientific breakthroughs in cancer treatment, infectious disease prevention, and medical technology innovation, among many others. President Trump has wreaked havoc on the nation’s biomedical research system in recent weeks. In his first several days in office, President Trump imposed a hiring freeze, communications freeze, ban on travel, and cancellation of grant review and advisory panels that are necessary to advance research. While some of these efforts have been reversed, they continue to cause confusion and miscommunication among researchers and recipients of NIH funds. 
    Just last week, NIH announced an illegal plan to cap indirect cost rates that research institutions rely on. In capping indirect cost rates at 15 percent for NIH-funded grants, this policy would cut funding essential for conducting research, such as operating and maintaining laboratories, equipment, and research facilities. This change to NIH’s indirect cost rate represents an indiscriminate funding cut that will be nothing short of catastrophic for the lifesaving research that patients and families are counting on. The Administration’s new policy means that research will come to a halt, sick kids may not get the treatment they need, and clinical trials may shut down abruptly.
    These confusing and harmful policy changes threaten patient safety. The strength of the American research enterprise – recognized as the best in the world – is built on Congress’ bipartisan commitment to supporting essential research infrastructure. This funding, which Congress has long appropriated on a bipartisan basis, fuels groundbreaking medical discoveries and cements the United States’ position as the global leader in biomedical research.
    In addition to the stifling impact on discovering new cures and ripping away treatment from those who need it, changes to NIH policy and communications threaten jobs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with everyone from custodians, to research trainees, to scientists facing potential layoffs. NIH research supported more than 412,000 jobs and fueled nearly $93 billion in new economic activity in Fiscal Year 2023. Every dollar the NIH invests in research generates almost $2.50 in economic activity. These reckless policy changes not only threaten biomedical innovation and research, but also the livelihoods of thousands of workers in every state across the nation.
    The Trump Administration has left researchers, universities, and health systems with great uncertainty about whether they can continue to support entire research programs and patient clinical trials across the country. Institutions and grantees nationwide are dealing with an unprecedented external communications “pause” enacted by new leadership at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the lack of transparency regarding the Administration’s illegal funding freeze, and the uncertainty of how new Executive Orders would be applied to their critical work. These actions resulted in NIH freezing grant reviews and cancelling advisory meetings, delaying critical funding that scientists need to continue advancing new cures and treatments. These disruptions do not just slow research – they cost lives.
    The NIH plays a critical role in our nation’s efforts to fund scientific advancements that improve health and save lives. Our standing as a world leader in funding and producing new medical and scientific innovations has been put at risk by these recent actions from the Trump Administration. We urge you to stop playing political games with the lifesaving work of the NIH and to allow NIH research to continue uninterrupted.
    Sincerely,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Chinese cultural event engages students in Gozo, Malta

    Source: China State Council Information Office 3

    A Chinese cultural event featuring calligraphy and dumpling-making engaged students at a secondary school in Gozo, Malta, on Thursday, offering them firsthand experience of Chinese traditions.

    The event, held at Sacred Heart Minor Seminary, was organized by the Chinese Embassy in Malta, the Confucius Institute at the University of Malta, and the China Cultural Center in Malta. It marked the third consecutive school Chinese cultural event.

    In the school kitchen, teachers from the Confucius Institute guided students through the process of rolling out and assembling dumplings. Meanwhile, staff from the China Cultural Center introduced students to Chinese calligraphy in the school hall.

    “This is my first time making dumplings. I’ve never tried it before, and I really like it,” Kristen Camilleri, a 14-year-old student, remarked upon his experience with culinary traditions of Chinese cuisine for the first time.

    Another student, Matthias Pace, mentioned that he enjoyed learning Chinese calligraphy. He and his classmates practiced writing the Chinese character “Fu,” meaning “good fortune,” and “Chun,” meaning “spring,” experiencing the elegance of Chinese writing. “The calligraphy workshop was very interesting, and I would like to try it again in the future,” he said, sharing his wish to visit China and learn Chinese in the future.

    School head Charles Sultana said that cultural exchange broadens students’ perspectives. “These experiences can enrich education, open students’ minds, and expose them to different cultures and languages,” he told Xinhua. “Our students are very interested in visiting a place like China where the culture is different and its history is so rich.”

    In January 2023, a Chinese reading corner was established at the school with the support of the Chinese Embassy in Malta, which donated over 200 books covering Chinese culture, history, and society. The corner has become a resource for students and teachers eager to learn about China.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Number of intl wetland cities in China rises to 22

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

    Nine Chinese cities, including Dali in Yunnan province, Lhasa in the Xizang autonomous region, Fuzhou in Fujian province and Yueyang in Hunan province, were recently designated as international wetland cities, marking the third such set of cities announced after 2018 and 2022.

    At the 64th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ramsar Convention, which was held in Gland, Switzerland, in late January, the addition of 31 cities to the Wetland City Accreditation program was announced. Currently, there are 74 accredited wetland cities around the world, with 22 of them in China.

    According to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, wetlands are often referred to as “the kidneys of the Earth”, because they play a crucial role in purifying water, regulating climate and maintaining biodiversity.

    By prohibiting aquaculture to enable restoration of the wetland ecosystem, more than 55 percent of the Fujian Minjiang River Estuary Wetlands, located in Fuzhou’s Changle district, has recovered its ecological functions, making it an important habitat for the black-faced spoonbill, a globally endangered species, the administration said.

    Yueyang in Hunan initiated its wetland conservation efforts in the 1980s and established the East Dongting Lake Nature Reserve. The city has achieved a wetland conservation rate of 67 percent, with over 300 species of birds living there, including 18 species of first-class nationally protected birds, according to the local government.

    In the process of continuous improvement of the wetland environment, a series of bird-watching activities related to culture and tourism have also driven the area’s economic development, the local government said.

    Musonda Mumba, secretary-general of the Ramsar Convention, said last month that China has integrated wetland protection with urban development through scientific planning, providing replicable experiences for the world.

    Lei Guangchun, a professor of ecological protection at Beijing Forestry University, said China’s wetland protection has transitioned to a “new stage of high-quality development”.

    Data from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration shows that ever since China joined the Ramsar Convention in 1992, the country has improved laws and policies on protecting wetlands and achieved significant progress. China currently has 82 major wetlands, with a stable wetland area of 56.35 million hectares, ranking first in Asia and fourth globally.

    Lei, the professor, said that China is collaborating with African countries to develop a mangrove project that is expected to sequester 500,000 metric tons of carbon annually, making a substantive contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

    In July, the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention will be held in Zimbabwe. China will share technological achievements such as the smart wetland monitoring system and small-scale wetland restoration at the meeting, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Five best articles in Russian for 13.02.2025

    MIL Analysis: Here are the top five Russian language articles published today. The analysis consists of five articles that are prioritized at the moment.

    In today’s analysis, trends such as trust and consumer protection are highlighted.

    In addition, counterfeiting for 2024 is summarized.

    Education and social services are increasingly evolving and providing new opportunities to teach science to young people. Also, NSU CII staff is focusing on urban infrastructure in the form of new solutions using AI.

    Ethiopian master’s student Yared Dejene Jifar told in an interview why he decided to study in Russia.

    You can read one of the articles below.

    1. Financial News: Good faith behavior is a pledge of confidence in the financial market.

    The Bank of Russia has defined the basic principles of good behavior on the financial market. They are aimed at promoting business and ethical standards, creating a trusting environment and protecting the rights and interests of consumers.

    2. Financial news: Counterfeit rubles have become less common in Russia: 2024 results.

    In 2024, the level of counterfeiting reached its lowest value in recent years: 1 counterfeit per 1 million banknotes in circulation. A total of 8,240 pieces of counterfeit Russian banknotes and coins were detected in the banking system.

    3. The National Research University Higher School of Economics discussed tools of academic development and ways to involve young people in science.

    Higher School of Economics – The round table “Academic Development in the University Today and Tomorrow” was held. The participants discussed the tools of academic development used in various subject areas and ways to involve young people in science, one of which is holding regular scientific seminars. The best practices of Vyshka’s divisions were presented.

    4. How to fix defects in urban infrastructure with the help of artificial intelligence, NSU scientists came up with.

    Employees of the Novosibirsk State University Artificial Intelligence Center (NSU AIC) received a patent for a utility model of an electronic computing device for detecting defects in urban infrastructure and making decisions on their elimination.

    5. Ethiopian Master’s student Yared Dejene Jifar: “I dreamed of studying in Russia”.

    Ethiopian master’s student Yared Dejene Jifar earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Adams Science and Technology University (ASTU). Inspired by stories of friendship between the countries, he decided to continue his studies in Russia. In the interview, Yared talked about the adjustment process in a different country and shared his plans for the future.

    Learn more about MIL’s content and data services by visiting milnz.co.nz.

    Regards MIL!

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Revitalising family support services in Shellharbour

    Source: Australian Ministers 1

    The Albanese Government is supporting safe and connected communities throughout the Illawarra by providing $851,279 for the Shellharbour Integrated Child and Family Precinct.

    The funding for planning is the first step in making this important project a reality. It will support a comprehensive business case, master plan and detailed designs for a holistic services hub to provide early childhood and family support services in one accessible location.

    The planning work will consider the revitalisation of the site and connections to nearby services as well as parking and public transport. Local families and community stakeholders will be an integral part of designing the precinct to ensure that it is fit for purpose.

    The project is being delivered by Karitane with Barnardos Australia and the University of New South Wales.

    Planning for the Shellharbour Integrated Child and Family Precinct will consider options to provide a wide range of health, education and social care services in one accessible location.

    This support is being provided through the Government’s $400 million regional Precincts and Partnership Program, which provides investment to transform regional, rural and remote places.

    The program is investing $47.9 million to support the transformation of seven precincts across New South Wales. For more information, visit: infrastructure.gov.au/regional.

    Quotes attributable to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

    “This project demonstrates how my Government is building Australia’s future and strengthening regional communities.

    “Having support services, education facilities and social care options all under one roof in the middle of Shellharbour will make a big difference to this beautiful and growing region.

    “We want to support regional communities to grow and thrive, for our youngest and eldest Australians and everyone in between.”

    Quotes attributable to Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King

    “We’re proud to partner with communities to bring important projects like this to life.

    “Being a new parent is incredibly rewarding, but it can also be really challenging. A central hub for early childhood and family support will help new parents in the Shellharbour region get the services they need close to home.”

    Quotes attributable to Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Member for Whitlam Stephen Jones

    “This precinct is a game changer for our community.

    “It will help connect people to vital support services they need in an easy to access way.

    “Labor is delivering for our regions and building a stronger Illawarra.”

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What was the Sykes-Picot agreement, and why does it still affect the Middle East today?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Thomas, Lecturer in Middle East Studies, Deakin University

    Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    Some national borders are determined by natural phenomena like seas, mountains and rivers. Most, however, are created by people.

    This means the creation of borders is often a political exercise – usually informed by the interests of those who create them, not the local populations to whom they apply.

    The Sykes-Picot agreement, known officially as the Asia Minor Agreement of 1916, was arguably the first in a series of attempts by colonial powers to mould the borders of the Middle East.

    Signed in secret at the height of the first world war, Sykes-Picot was an agreement between France and Great Britain, approved by Russia. It would have lasting consequences for the region.

    It is frequently cited as the epitome of European colonial betrayal, and the genesis of most conflict in the Middle East.

    But while Sykes-Picot did significantly affect regional politics, the history is more complicated than popular narratives suggest.

    ‘The Eastern question’

    The agreement was seen by the signatories as a potential answer to what was then known by European powers as “the Eastern question”: what would happen when the Ottoman Empire inevitably collapsed?

    The Ottoman state in the early 20th century was vast compared to its European peers, encompassing Anatolia (the Asian part of modern-day Turkey) and parts of the Arabian Peninsula.

    But it was weak, and had been on a steady decline since the 18th century due to multiple military defeats, revolts and rampant corruption. By the beginning of the first world war, the Triple Entente (France, Britain and Russia) believed the Ottoman state would not survive long.

    The Entente aimed to create new “zones of influence” in the Middle East, dividing Ottoman territory into colonial partitions.

    By the beginning of the first world war, France, Britain and Russia believed the Ottoman state would not survive long.
    Everett Collection/Shutterstock

    Secret negotiations

    Between late 1915 and early 1916, Britain and France sent their respective envoys to negotiate the potential terms of this outcome in secret.

    Mark Sykes, a political adviser and military veteran, represented the British. François Georges-Picot, a career diplomat, represented the French.

    Italy and Russia also had delegations in attendance, though the discussions were dominated by Britain and France as the most powerful nations. The Ottomans were oblivious to these negotiations.

    Under the agreement:

    • France was allocated what is now Syria, Lebanon and southern Turkey
    • Britain claimed most of modern-day Iraq, southern Palestine and Kuwait
    • Russia took control of Armenia.

    An area known as the Jerusalem Sanjak (an administrative division created by the Ottomon Empire) in Palestine was to come under an international protectorate, though it was not settled in the agreement as to how this protectorate would operate.

    Sykes-Picot was kept secret, mostly because Britain had made contradictory commitments to other parties. It had promised (through a series of letters known as the McMahon-Hussein correspondence) to give independence to the Arabs who had helped the British fight the Ottomans in the first world war.

    Later, in early November 1917, it also made a promise to Zionist Jews migrating to Palestine in the Balfour Declaration. In this public declaration, Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur Balfour effectively expressed Britain’s support for the Zionist project to create a Jewish state in Ottoman Palestine. Then-Prime Minister David Lloyd George also publicly supported both Zionism and Balfour’s statement.

    The Sykes-Picot agreement did not stay secret for long.

    In November 1917, the Bolsheviks, who were now in power in Russia following the fall of the Russian monarchy, published Sykes-Picot to the world.

    Arab nationalists were enraged. So, too, were Zionists who had witnessed the Balfour Declaration just weeks prior. The Anglo-French declaration of November 1918 attempted to allay the fears of the Arabs by pledging to “assist in the establishment of national governments and administrations.” However, Arab distrust of the European powers only grew.

    Borders moulded by colonial powers

    In the years following, European powers started to reevaluate their position on Ottoman territory.

    The French, who still wished to take control of Syria, had argued the newly formed League of Nations (a predecessor of the United Nations) could give France the territory under a mandate. A mandate is a formal authorisation to govern by the League of Nations.

    The British said this would violate their earlier promises to the Arabs. Britain reiterated that the Anglo-French declaration of 1918 superseded Sykes-Picot.

    Then came the San Remo Conference in 1920, an international meeting in Italy. This is where some of the popular readings into Sykes-Picot get muddled, as several aspects of the agreement were discarded. What remained the same was the French and British desire to add Ottoman territory to their dominions.

    Here, the European victors of the first world war sought to finalise the division of Ottoman territories by slicing them into League of Nations mandates.

    This included the French mandates of Syria and Lebanon, as well as the British mandates of Palestine and Mesopotamia. Britain also confirmed at the time its support for a Jewish national homeland, while protecting the local Palestinian population.

    This is where we start to see borders of the modern Middle East form. The boundaries themselves differed from Sykes-Picot. But Britain and France, however, were still able to expand their colonial dominion in the region.

    In 1921, a group of British representatives met in Cairo to finalise the borders of their mandates. This led to the creation of two states: Iraq under King Faisal and Transjordan (now Jordan) under King Abdullah – both of whom were members of the Arab Heshemite dynasty. Palestine was to remain under British mandatory control.

    While these states had independence on paper, then-Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill believed that Transjordan would ultimately be controlled by the British Empire, giving the Heshemites only nominal independence.

    Little consideration was given to the ethnic and religious diversity of these territories. Some argue this helped lead to modern-day sectarian conflict in Iraq.

    Ripples that continue today

    The collapse of the Ottoman Empire was always going to cause regional upheaval, but the colonial jockeying for territory clearly had lasting consequences.

    Several regional conflicts were exacerbated during this period, but it would also directly lead to the creation of the state of Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

    This leads to the displacement of Palestinians and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that still rages today.

    Zionists and Arab nationalists viewed Palestine to have been originally promised to them by the British through the Balfour Declaration and McMahon-Hussein correspondence, respectfully.

    But in Sykes-Picot, the British had no intention of promising Palestine to anyone but themselves.

    As a result, the British mandate was characterised by anti-colonial violence from both Jews and Arabs.

    When the British eventually abandoned control of Palestine in 1947, the UN partition plan for two states (one Jewish, one Arab) was supposed to take over. Instead, Arab-Israeli conflict began within hours of the partition taking effect.

    So a lot happened after Sykes-Picot, with the map proposed in 1916 looking very different to what actually eventuated.

    Many scholars argue it was the agreements that followed Sykes-Picot that were more consequential, and Sykes-Picot holds only “minor importance” by comparison.

    While this may be true, Sykes-Picot is still emblematic of how consequential European colonial ambition was in the Middle East.

    And while the borders outlined in the agreement did not eventuate, Britain and France still managed to get most of the territory they wanted, with little consideration of local populations.

    The Sykes-Picot agreement is therefore one of many colonial projects that we are still feeling the ripples of today.

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

    – ref. What was the Sykes-Picot agreement, and why does it still affect the Middle East today? – https://theconversation.com/what-was-the-sykes-picot-agreement-and-why-does-it-still-affect-the-middle-east-today-246332

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: An unexpected anomaly was found in the Pacific Ocean – and it could be a global time marker

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominik Koll, Honorary Lecturer, Australian National University

    View of the Pacific Ocean from the International Space Station. NASA

    Earth must have experienced something exceptional 10 million years ago. Our study of rock samples from the floor of the Pacific Ocean has found a strange increase in the radioactive isotope beryllium-10 during that time.

    This finding, now published in Nature Communications, opens new pathways for geologists to date past events gleaned from deep within the oceans.

    But the cause of the beryllium-10 anomaly remains unknown. Could it have been major shifts in global ocean currents, a dying star, or an interstellar collision?

    Extremely slow rocks deep in the ocean

    I am on a hunt for stardust on Earth. Previously, I’ve sifted through snow in Antarctica. This time, it was the depths of the ocean.

    At a depth of about 5,000 metres, the abyssal zone of the Pacific Ocean has never seen light, yet something does still grow there.

    Ferromanganese crusts – metallic underwater rocks – grow from minerals dissolved in the water slowly coming together and solidifying over extremely long time scales, as little as a few millimetres in a million years. (Stalactites and stalagmites in caves grow in a similar way, but thousands of times faster.)

    This makes ferromanganese crusts ideal archives for capturing stardust over millions of years.

    The age of these crusts can be determined by radiometric dating using the radioactive isotope beryllium-10. This isotope is continuously produced in the upper atmosphere when highly energetic cosmic rays strike air molecules. The strikes break apart the main components of our air – nitrogen and oxygen – into smaller fragments.

    Both stardust and beryllium-10 eventually find their way into Earth’s oceans where they become incorporated into the growing ferromanganese crust.

    Ferromanganese crust sample VA13/2-237KD analysed in this work. The anomaly was discovered in this crust at a depth of about 30mm – representing 10 million years.
    Dominik Koll

    One of the largest ferromanganese crusts was recovered in 1976 from the Central Pacific. Stored for decades at the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources in Hanover, Germany, a 3.7kg section of it became the subject of my analysis.

    Much like tree rings reveal a tree’s age, ferromanganese crusts record their growth in layers over millions of years. Beryllium-10 undergoes radioactive decay really slowly, meaning it gradually breaks down over millions of years as it sits in the rocks.

    As beryllium-10 decays over time, its concentration decreases in deeper, older sediment layers. Because the rate of decay is steady, we can use radioactive isotopes as natural stopwatches to discern the age and history of rocks – this is called radioactive dating.

    A puzzling anomaly

    After extensive chemical processing, my colleagues and I used accelerator mass spectrometry – an ultra-sensitive analytical technique for longer-lived radioactive isotopes – to measure beryllium-10 concentrations in the crust.

    This time, my research took me from Canberra, Australia to Dresden, Germany, where the setup at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf was optimised for beryllium-10 measurements.

    The results showed that the crust had grown only 3.5 centimetres over the past 10 million years and was more than 20 million years old.

    However, before I could return to my search for stardust, I encountered an anomaly.

    Initially, as I searched back in time, the beryllium-10 concentration declined as expected, following its natural decay pattern – until about 10 million years ago. At that point, the expected decrease halted before resuming its normal pattern around 12 million years ago.

    This was puzzling: radioactive decay follows strict laws, meaning something must have introduced extra beryllium-10 into the crust at that time.

    Scepticism is crucial in science. To rule out errors, I repeated the chemical preparation and measurements multiple times – yet the anomaly persisted. The analysis of different crusts from locations nearly 3,000km away gave the same result, a beryllium-10 anomaly around 10 million years ago. This confirmed that the anomaly was a real event rather than a local irregularity.

    Ocean currents or exploding stars?

    What could have happened on Earth to cause this anomaly 10 million years ago? We’re not sure, but there are a few options.

    Last year, an international study revealed that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current – the main driver of global ocean circulation – intensified around 12 million years ago, influencing Antarctic ocean current patterns.

    Could this beryllium-10 anomaly in the Pacific mark the beginning of the modern global ocean circulation? If ocean currents were responsible, beryllium-10 would be distributed unevenly on Earth with some samples even showing a lack of beryllium-10. New samples from all major oceans and both hemispheres would allow us to answer this question.

    Another possibility emerged early last year. Astrophysicists demonstrated that a collision with a dense interstellar cloud could compress the heliosphere – the Sun’s protective shield against cosmic radiation – back to the orbit of Mercury. Without this barrier, Earth would be exposed to an increased cosmic ray flux, leading to an elevated global beryllium-10 production rate.

    A near-Earth supernova explosion could also cause an increased cosmic ray flux leading to a beryllium-10 anomaly. Future research will explore these possibilities.

    The discovery of such an anomaly is a windfall for geological dating. Various archives are used to investigate Earth’s climate, habitability and environmental conditions over different timescales.

    To compare ice cores with sediments, ferromanganese crusts, speleothems (stalagmites and stalactites) and others, their timescales need to be synchronous. Independent time markers, such as Miyake events or the Laschamp excursion, are invaluable for aligning records thousands of years old. Now, we may have a corresponding time marker for millions of years.

    Meanwhile, my search for stardust continues, but now keeping an eye out for new 10-million-year-old samples to further pin down the beryllium-10 anomaly. Stay tuned.

    This research was conducted at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. Dominik Koll received funding from AINSE.

    – ref. An unexpected anomaly was found in the Pacific Ocean – and it could be a global time marker – https://theconversation.com/an-unexpected-anomaly-was-found-in-the-pacific-ocean-and-it-could-be-a-global-time-marker-249695

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: VIDEO: Senator Peters Takes to Senate Floor to Oppose Nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Michigan Gary Peters
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) spoke on the Senate floor in opposition to the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Peters underscored his concerns over Kennedy’s severe lack of qualifications for the critical position, given the fact that, if confirmed, Kennedy would be tasked with managing federal programs that millions of Americans depend on every day, including Medicare and Medicaid, and agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other agencies that prepare for and respond to public health and medical emergencies. Following his remarks, Peters voted against Kennedy’s nomination.
    “Throughout his entire nomination process, it has become clear that Mr. Kennedy is wholly unprepared to lead this Department,” said Senator Peters. “Mr. Kennedy’s lack of experience and basic understanding of our nation’s health care system is, to say the least, extremely alarming. We cannot confirm a nominee who doesn’t even know the most basic answers about programs that he’s actually in charge of administering.” 
    Peters continued, “We need a Secretary who will protect the health of Americans. Robert Kennedy is not that Secretary. And if he is confirmed to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the American people will ultimately pay the price with their health.”

    To watch a video clip of Senator Peters’ remarks, click here.
    During his remarks, Peters highlighted concerns that Michiganders from across the state shared with his office over Kennedy’s nomination:
    “Since Mr. Kennedy was nominated to lead HHS, I’ve heard from thousands of my constituents from every corner of Michigan, from densely populated cities to some of the most rural areas in our state, who are deeply concerned about how his plans for the department would impact families. For example, I’ve heard from countless folks about the rising cost of health care that is squeezing Michigan families’ budgets. Health care prices are rising faster than inflation, making it even harder for people to get the care that they need.
    “I’ve heard from a constituent who has operated a food pantry in her community for 13 years. She worries about what will happen to the people that she serves if they do not have access to the food security programs made possible by HHS.
    “I received a letter from a social worker in Michigan who helped students who were traumatized by the horrific shootings at Oxford High School in Michigan and Michigan State University. She is worried that, without proper mental health resources, Americans who have been impacted by senseless gun violence, whether at school, at their places of worship, at night clubs, or at shopping malls, they will grieve and struggle alone.
    “A Michigan scientist who specializes in CDC research contacted my office. They fear that if Mr. Kennedy is confirmed, it could impact their ability, and the ability of thousands of researchers all across our country, to conduct medical research that is literally saving lives.
    “A concerned mother wrote me and my office that when she was 38 weeks pregnant, she told me that Mr. Kennedy’s long history of spreading dangerous medical disinformation and undermining public health initiatives is directly at odds with how she plans to keep her future child from infectious disease.
    “I’ve even heard from parents who are concerned about Mr. Kennedy’s narrative suggesting vaccines cause autism. Because he has given credibility to these lies, and questioned facts from scientists and doctors, these parents worry that their children will not receive the most basic, routine care that they deserve.   
    “I also heard from a constituent who was born before the polio vaccine was approved. She said that, to this day, she can still remember the relief on her mother’s face when the polio vaccine became available. This moment has stuck with her throughout her 30-year career as a registered nurse, where she has made it her life’s work to study and safely administer vaccines in her community.” 
    “And let’s be clear. Let’s be absolutely clear. Vaccines are scientifically proven to protect against diseases like chickenpox, polio, influenza, and yes, COVID-19.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: From homes to hospitals, Canada’s food environments need reform

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sara F.L. Kirk, Professor of Health Promotion; Scientific Director of the Healthy Populations Institute, Dalhousie University

    Healthy eating sounds deceptively simple — just eat more fruits and vegetables and avoid junk food, right? However, healthy eating really isn’t easy.

    A new report illustrates how ubiquitous unhealthy foods are, how aggressively they are promoted and how hard it is to access healthy foods in places we spend our time.

    We are part of a team of 18 nutrition and food policy experts from across Canada who looked at research from the past five years to expose the environmental factors that influence what people in Canada buy and eat. We explored many different factors, like the quality of food, food marketing practices and what foods are available in places like hospitals, schools and grocery stores.

    The report is part of an international network called INFORMAS (International Network for Food and Obesity/Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) Research, Monitoring and Action Support). Our findings reinforce that, from homes to hospitals, Canada’s food supply needs reform.

    What we see is what we get

    Unhealthy food is everywhere, and that makes it hard to avoid: what we see is what we get. Our report found that most packaged foods in grocery stores are unhealthy. In fact, two-thirds of them were high in salt, sugar or saturated fat. Only 12 per cent were low in these nutrients.

    Unhealthy foods are readily available for purchase. One study showed that children in Ottawa had, on average, 19 places to purchase foods within one kilometre of their school. In Vancouver, that number was as high as 45.

    In-store environments also thwart healthy purchases: 50 per cent of stores had “power walls” of candy, snacks and sugary drinks, tempting consumers at the checkout, while only around one in five stores operated a junk-free checkout. And nearly all hospital cafeterias and recreation centre vending machines sold sugary drinks.

    Unhealthy foods are also heavily marketed, particularly to children. One study estimated that children aged six to 11 see more than 4,000 food ads on their digital devices each year, while older children see twice that number. Around 90 per cent of the ads that children saw on their digital devices were deemed less healthy based on their sugar, sodium and saturated fat content.

    A closer look at marketing on five food product categories in the INFORMAS Canada report found that one-third of products carried marketing targeting to children.

    For example, almost 46 per cent of breakfast cereals used marketing techniques that made products look fun or cool, or used cartoon characters and celebrities, to entice young consumers. More than 90 per cent of products using these techniques were unhealthy. Of 75 per cent of foods that had some sort of health or nutrition claim on their packaging highlighting healthy attributes of products, 45 per cent of these products were also high in salt, sugar or saturated fat.

    Unhealthy foods are big, cheap and easy

    Our report illustrates how, in many ways, the cards are stacked against us in terms of healthy eating. The food industry, where power is often concentrated within the hands of a few large, multinational companies, continues to create and market unhealthy foods, despite stated commitments to do better.

    With unhealthy foods so available and tempting, it’s no surprise that many Canadians struggle to eat according to Canada’s Food Guide.

    Our unhealthy food environments are making us sick and we all pay the price. Unhealthy eating has been estimated to cost more than $15.8 billion, including direct healthcare costs of $5.9 billion. With unhealthy eating a leading risk for death and the second leading risk for disability in Canada, there is a strong moral and economic imperative for action to improve food environments.

    Creating healthier food environments

    It doesn’t have to be this way. In addition to providing benchmarking data, our report offers a road map for policymakers, industry leaders and advocates to collaborate in creating healthier, more equitable food environments for all Canadians.

    Canada can also draw inspiration from global leaders in food policy like Chile and Mexico. Both countries have introduced bold front-of-package warning labels for foods high in sugar, sodium or saturated fats, combined with restrictions on marketing unhealthy products to children and taxes on unhealthy foods.

    Canada will follow suit with front-of-package labels in January 2026, but policy change in these others areas is lacking.



    Read more:
    Front-of-package food labels: A path to healthier choices

    Mexico has implemented front-of-package food label regulations flagging unhealthy foods. Canada will follow suit in 2026.
    (Shutterstock)

    Taxes on sugary drinks already exist in more than 45 countries, with the United Kingdom recently seeing reductions in sugar consumption after a sugary drink tax was implemented. Canada, unfortunately, is lagging behind, with Newfoundland & Labrador the only province with a tax on sugary drinks.

    As Canada’s national school food policy rolls out, there are opportunities to protect school food from vested interests. These actions need to be extended to other food environments — our homes, hospitals and grocery stores.

    With the threat of tariffs being imposed by the United States and potentially creating major challenges for food affordability, more Canadians are looking for a food supply that is made in Canada. Creating healthier food environments and food systems takes a strong commitment from leaders at all levels (federal, provincial, territorial and municipal).

    Our benchmarking report can help create a nutrition transition that nourishes our population and supports our healthy food producers, farmers and fisheries. This report makes the case for improving our food environments and shows the way to a healthier future for all Canadians.

    Sara F.L. Kirk has received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Public Health Agency of Canada, Research Nova Scotia and Dalhousie University Office of Advancement. She is a co-author on the report being discussed in this article.

    Lana Vanderlee receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the US National Institutes of Health, the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé and has received funds from Health Canada. She is currently supported by a Canada Research Chair in Healthy Food Policy (Tier 2).

    – ref. From homes to hospitals, Canada’s food environments need reform – https://theconversation.com/from-homes-to-hospitals-canadas-food-environments-need-reform-249540

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: King Cites “Unconscionable” Shortfall in Opioid, Fentanyl Crackdown at Southern Border

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), U.S. Senator Angus King raised several urgent questions with Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey, the Commander of United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), and Air Force General Gregory Guillot, Commander of United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM). Senator King, pushed the military officials about the lack of military presence and resources in the Caribbean to interdict illegal drug shipments — in addition to in the Arctic to counter Russian and Chinese aggression — as America faces serious threats from the north and south.

    Senator King began his line of questioning by pressing Admiral Holsey on why the military and intelligence agencies are only able to interdict a quarter of illegal drug shipments coming into the United States — a rate he’s been critical of across multiple administrations. In the exchange, he mentioned the deathly toll drugs like fentanyl are taking on Maine people.

    “Admiral, every year when we have this hearing I talk to the SOUTHCOM commander about the fact that we have intelligence reports about drug shipments coming to the U.S. in the maritime domain and we have the assets to interdict 25% of them. To me, that is straight-up unconscionable. There are people dying in my state from fentanyl overdoses and drug overdoses. We are not meeting because of a lack of allocation of assets the drug shipments that we know about. That is what is so objectionable about this. Is that percentage still reasonable? 75% is not being interdicted that we know of,” asked Senator King.

    “About 10 to 20% is what we can get a hold of,” replied Admiral Holsey. 

    “And that is because of a lack of assets? Is that correct? We don’t have enough boats, ships,” followed up Senator King.

    “Yes. Primarily a lack of assets, a lack of resources,” said Admiral Holsey.

    “I would argue again that this is a misallocation of recourses. Here is an active attack on America that is killing our citizens, and we don’t have enough ships whether it is the Coast Guard or Navy in the region to interdict these drug shipments. I think that is a dereliction of duty, not of you, but of the entire policy apparatus. This goes back three, four administrations. It is one that I hope that this administration will pay some attention to and correct,” responded Senator King.

    Later in the hearing, Senator King, Co-Chair of the U.S. Senate Arctic Caucus, spoke to the United States’ position as an Arctic nation, but pointed out that America’s capabilities in the High North are inadequate when compared to adversaries like Russia and China who are better equipped with more bases and ships like icebreakers. NORTHCOM Commander General Guillot agreed with King that the nation’s presence in the Arctic is “woeful.”

    “I was at a conference years ago on the arctic and there was a huge delegation from China and I said, what is China’s interest. They said we are a near arctic nation.  My response was Maine is a near Caribbean state. They are very active in increasing their actions. Where are we? Do we have a port facility in the Arctic? Secondly, give us a breakdown of the status of icebreakers. We are woefully inadequate in terms of icebreakers, particular for the use of the Northwest Passage,” said Senator King.

    “I was going to use the same word. We are in a woeful situation with icebreakers. The coast guard is working very hard to increase that for us. But at this time, we are completely outnumbered with icebreakers,” agreed General Guillot. 

    “But they are building one new icebreaker but it is merely a replacement for the ancient one that is about to go out of service. Is that correct,” asked Senator King.

    “It is,” replied General Guillot. 

    “So there is no net gain in icebreakers,” questioned Senator King.

    “That’s right,” responded General Guillot.

    “And the icebreakers we have commute between the Arctic and Antarctic. Is that not correct,” asked Senator King.

    “That is correct,” said General Guillot.

    “How many icebreakers do the Russians have in the Arctic,” Senator King again asked.

    “Between 20 and 40,” said General Guillot.

    “20 and 40 to less than one. I would argue that the icebreakers are the essential infrastructure of the Arctic region and to say we are inadequate and behind where we should be is an understatement,” said Senator King.     

    After the end of Senator King’s line of questioning, Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, shared bipartisan support for securing new icebreakers.

    “Senator King, let me just say I think you will find a lot of bipartisan support both in the Congress and in the Administration for a substantial increase quickly in the number of icebreakers,” said Chairman Wicker.

    “I believe that is the case; I appreciate that,” replied Senator King.

    As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Select Senate Committee on Intelligence, Senator King has previously supported legislation to combat illicit drug use and decrease overdoses. He is a cosponsor of the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act, bipartisan legislation that is designed to stop dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl and carfentanil from being shipped through our borders. Senator King also cosponsored the INTERDICT Act, bipartisan legislation to help halt the flow of illicit fentanyl from Mexico, China and other nations around the world into the United States. During an open hearing of the Select Senate Intelligence Committee last year, Senator King pressed Avril Haines, the former Director of National Intelligence and Christopher Wray, the former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), about what the intelligence community is doing to halt the flow of illicit drugs — including fentanyl — from Mexico, China and other nations into the United States. The most recently-passed National Defense Authorization Act includes multiple King-led provisions and funding authorizations addressing the Department’s mission to address the flow of illicit drugs and the criminal organizations behind that flow into our country. Earlier today, he introduced the bipartisan HALT Fentanyl Act to crack down on illegal fentanyl trafficking.

    The Co-Chair of the U.S. Senate Arctic Caucus, Senator King is an advocate for Maine and America’s interests in the North Atlantic and Arctic region. Along with Caucus co-chair Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), King introduced the Arctic Commitment Act  in 2022 to improve America’s posture and opportunities in the Arctic. He has been calling for the appointment of an Arctic Ambassador since 2015, and pushed for the confirmation of the first Arctic Ambassador last year. King also laid out the challenges and opportunities of a warming arctic in an article in the Wilson Quarterly, and in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, he successfully secured the inclusion of provisions including funding authorizations for University of Maine to increase America’s activity and opportunities in the Far North.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: b1BANK Announces Senna Bayasgalan as Chief Marketing Officer

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    BATON ROUGE, La., Feb. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — b1BANK, announces the appointment of Senna Bayasgalan as chief marketing officer. Bayasgalan will lead brand and marketing technology initiatives to support the banks’ growth and deepen client relationships. Bayasgalan has over 16 years of experience in marketing leadership, international brand building, communications and customer acquisition across private capital, technology and media industries. 

    “We are diligent about the culture we are building, and as a result, fortunate to be able to attract top talent from across the nation,” said Jude Melville, chairman and CEO, b1BANK. “We have a good and genuine story, and with more effective use of technology-enabled branding and distribution tools, I am confident that story has the potential to resonate deeply with a larger audience. Senna’s diverse experience leading marketing campaigns across multiple lines of business will accelerate our continued evolution.” 

    Throughout her career she has skillfully combined data and storytelling to launch international campaigns, build online communities and develop customer retention strategies to grow the brands she has served.  

    “I was instantly drawn to b1BANK’s unique story and its unwavering commitment to serving businesses and local communities,” said Bayasgalan. “I am excited to partner with the talented team at b1 to elevate the brand, foster innovation and help our clients achieve their goals.” 

    Bayasgalan is a founding board member of Asians in Advertising, a mentor for APIA Scholars, Women We Create and 3AF, and a frequent guest lecturer at Georgetown University and other institutions. She earned a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from the University of Texas at Austin. 

    About Business First Bancshares, Inc. 
    As of Dec. 31, 2024, Business First Bancshares, Inc., (Nasdaq: BFST) through its banking subsidiary b1BANK, had $7.9 billion in assets, $6.9 billion in assets under management through b1BANK’s affiliate Smith Shellnut Wilson, LLC (SSW) (excludes $0.9 billion of b1BANK assets managed by SSW) and operates Banking Centers and Loan Production Offices in markets across Louisiana and Texas providing commercial and personal banking products and services. Commercial banking services include commercial loans and letters of credit, working capital lines and equipment financing, and treasury management services. b1BANK was awarded #1 Best-In-State Bank, Louisiana, by Forbes and Statista, and is a multiyear winner of American Banker’s “Best Banks to Work For.” Visit b1BANK.com for more information. 

    Misty Albrecht
    b1BANK
    225.286.7879
    Misty.Albrecht@b1BANK.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/82d7ef43-d21e-464d-9b89-7653e36ab81c

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-Evening Report: NZ depends on the rules-based world Trump is dismantling – why the silence?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ 2023 strategic foreign policy assessment, “Navigating a shifting world”, accurately foresaw a more uncertain and complex time ahead for New Zealand. But already it feels out of date.

    The Trump administration’s extreme disruption of the international order (which New Zealand helped construct) is going further and faster than foreseen in the assessment. Were another nation responsible, the government would have been quick to condemn it.

    But New Zealand has so far been largely mute while Trump has quit the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accord, attacked foreign assistance programs and withdrawn funding from key United Nations organisations.

    Had Russia or China threatened the annexation or acquisition of Canada, Panama and Greenland, New Zealand would have reacted strongly. But it has said nothing substantive.

    The United States still belongs to the World Trade Organization and various regional trade agreements. But Trump’s use of tariffs threatens havoc throughout the multilateral trade system.

    Similarly, Trump has not quit the International Court of Justice. But his proposal to remove two million Palestinians from Gaza amounts to an unequivocal rejection of the court’s recent ruling on Israeli policies and practices in the Occupied Territories – as well as international law.

    On all these fronts, New Zealand has preferred not to make a stand.

    The coming Russia-Ukraine test

    While other countries have been quick to criticise Trump’s Gaza plan, New Zealand has opted not to comment until greater clarity is available, other than to reiterate its support for a two-state solution for Palestine.

    When Trump imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court, New Zealand (along with Australia and Japan) failed to join a statement from 79 other countries expressing unwavering support for the court.

    The next likely test will be Trump’s attempt to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. While the goal is undoubtedly worthy, the question will be at what cost.

    If the price is ignoring the UN Charter, and if European supporters of Ukraine find the illegal annexations of its sovereign territory unpalatable, New Zealand will face a stark choice.

    For Australia, with its special trade relationship with the US and membership of the AUKUS security pact, this may be simple politics. For New Zealand, without a special free trade agreement with the US, frozen out of ANZUS and not part of AUKUS, the equation is more complex.

    Discord in the Pacific

    Last year, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said New Zealand must “stand up for this international rules-based system that has actually served New Zealand incredibly well”. Quietly sitting down will not be an option forever.

    Furthermore, all this is happening against the backdrop of New Zealand’s apparently waning influence in its own back yard, the South Pacific.

    While China seeks to expand its own influence, cuts and possible retrenchment in New Zealand’s aid budget suggest little appetite for tangible counteraction.

    The loss of influence was first apparent with Kiribati, which has steered towards a much closer relationship with China since 2022. More recently, China has made inroads into other Pacific countries, including the Solomons and East Timor, working in an increasingly grey zone with support for civilian and military security.

    But the recent fracture with the Cook Islands takes things to a new level.

    Struggling to find a voice

    While no longer a dependency, the Cooks’ free association agreement with New Zealand gives its people immense benefits, including citizenship and the right to work and live in New Zealand.

    In return, the Cooks undertakes to consult over foreign affairs matters, including any policy or initiative that might affect the interests of the other signatory.

    But the development of a somewhat opaque “comprehensive strategic partnership” with China blindsided New Zealand, and has strained what is meant to be a good-faith relationship. Again, however, New Zealand has struggled to find its voice.

    If it speaks too loudly, it risks further undermining that special Pacific relationship, as well as irritating its largest trade partner, China. If it speaks too softly, the respect and influence the country deserves will fade.

    New Zealand’s vaunted independent foreign policy is a fine ideal and has been a workable mechanism to navigate the challenges facing a small trading nation reliant on a rules-based global order.

    This has worked well for the past few decades. But as the old world order erodes, losing its voice for fear of offending bigger powers cannot become the country’s default position.

    Alexander Gillespie 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 depends on the rules-based world Trump is dismantling – why the silence? – https://theconversation.com/nz-depends-on-the-rules-based-world-trump-is-dismantling-why-the-silence-249857

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rosen, Scott Introduce Antisemitism Awareness Act

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV)

    WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which directs the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism when investigating antisemitic acts on campus. This bipartisan bill will ensure that the Department of Education has a clear definition of antisemitism when determining whether an antisemitic incident on campus crosses the line from free speech into harassing, unlawful, or discriminatory conduct. Congressmen Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) are leading companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
    “Antisemitism is on the rise across the nation, particularly on college campuses, and Congress has a responsibility to do everything in its power to fight back against this hate,” said Senator Rosen. “I’m proud to introduce bipartisan legislation today with Senator Tim Scott to help protect Jewish students from antisemitic bigotry. I’ll keep working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get this bill passed and signed into law.”
    “In the continued aftermath of the October 7th attacks on Israel by Hamas and Iran, we have seen college campuses across our nation become hotbeds of antisemitism where Jewish students’ rights are being threatened,” said Senator Scott. “It’s critical the Department of Education has the tools and resources it needs to investigate antisemitism and root out this vile hatred wherever it rears its ugly head. There can be no equivocating when it comes to the issue of anti-Jewish violence and harassment.”
    “The House overwhelmingly passed my bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act last session, and today I am proud to reintroduce this critical legislation in the new Congress. Since the horrific terrorist attacks by Hamas on October 7th, 83% of college students said they witnessed or experienced antisemitism on campus,” said Congressman Lawler upon introducing the House version of the bill. “This is unacceptable. No person should feel unsafe, targeted, or ostracized because of their faith – and the Antisemitism Awareness Act will stop it from happening. When I met with Jewish students at Columbia University last spring, their fear was palpable. Many wondered if they could ever feel safe on campus again. They deserve better—as does every student, and that’s what this bipartisan bill will accomplish.” 
    “Since the heinous October 7 attacks on Israel, we have seen an explosion of antisemitic violence and intimidation on college campuses and in communities across New Jersey and the nation. Far too many in our community no longer feel safe in their own homes or classrooms,” said Congressman Gottheimer. “That’s why I’m reintroducing the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which will give state officials and law enforcement a clear framework for identifying and addressing antisemitism to hold harassers accountable. Our bipartisan bill adopts the most widely recognized definition of antisemitism in the world, already used by more than 40 countries and 35 states. Hate and discrimination have no place in New Jersey or the country, and we must act now to protect our Jewish students and families from threats, intimidation, and violence.”
    “The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations thanks Sens. Scott and Rosen for re-introducing the Antisemitism Awareness Act (AAA). It comes at an important time–Since Hamas’s October 7th attack on Israel, there has been a dramatic increase in antisemitism on college campuses. We continue to see university administrators show they have little understanding of how to identify antisemitism,” said Stephanie Hausner, COO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (COP). “The AAA will adopt the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism into U.S. law, enabling university leaders to support Jewish students and accurately determine – and discipline those who engage in—antisemitic discrimination on college campuses. The Conference of Presidents urges swift passage of AAA.” 
    “As ADL data shows, antisemitism is at crisis levels in the United States, creating the urgent need for decisive action,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “The Antisemitism Awareness Act makes clear that antisemitism, including anti-Zionist harassment, has no place in our schools or society and, importantly, reinforces the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism as a critical tool for the U.S. Department of Education. We urge Congress to act swiftly and send a powerful message that combating antisemitism remains a national priority and deeply appreciate the effort by Senators Tim Scott and Jacky Rosen to quickly reintroduce this bipartisan bill.”
    “According to the American Jewish Committee’s upcoming State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report, three in ten American adults are either unsure of what antisemitism means or never heard the term. This number jumps for young Americans (ages 18-29): 41% of young Americans are unsure of what antisemitism means or never heard the term, while, at the same time, young American Jews (ages 18-29) are more likely to have experienced antisemitism in the past year than Jews ages 30 and older. These numbers show why it is critical to have a clear understanding of what antisemitism is and why it matters for American society because to even begin to solve the problem of antisemitism, there must be clarity about what it is and what it isn’t,” said Ted Deutch, CEO of American Jewish Committee. “The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism is a clear and concise description of antisemitism in its various forms. AJC has supported efforts by both Republican and Democratic Administrations to use this definition at the Department of Education when investigating Title VI complaints. We applaud Senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) for introducing the Antisemitism Awareness Act, for prioritizing the continued use of this important educational tool and ensuring the safety of Jewish students across the country.”
    “Antisemitism isn’t just a Jewish problem. It’s everyone’s problem. Despite the hollow arguments of some, this legislation neither outlaws antisemitism nor is it anti-Christian,” said CUFI Action Fund Chairwoman Sandra Hagee Parker. “The Antisemitism Awareness Act, like President Trump’s 2019 executive order combatting antisemitism and his order last month doubling down on the same, provides students, parents, teachers and administrators alike with a clear definition of the world’s oldest and most prevalent hatred. Advancing this legislation is  important in making American campuses safe and welcoming for all. We must defeat the vile cancer of antisemitism and defining it under US law is a critical step in that righteous effort.”
    “As antisemitic incidents continue to rise, Jewish Federations of North America are grateful to Senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) for introducing the Antisemitism Awareness Act today. This bill provides a clear framework for identifying antisemitism, offering concrete examples to help distinguish between constitutionally protected speech and targeted attacks against Jewish individuals. Congress must act now to send a strong message that antisemitism has no place in our society,” said Karen Paikin Barall, Vice President, Government Relations, Jewish Federations of North America.
    Joining Senators Rosen and Scott in cosponsoring the legislation are Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Rick Scott (R-FL), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Mike Crapo (R-ID), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Katie Britt (R-AL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), John Cornyn (R-TX), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), John Boozman (R-AR), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Fetterman (D-PA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Mark Warner (D-VA), John Barrasso (R-WY), Gary Peters (D-MI), Steve Daines (R-MT), and Cory Booker (D-NJ).
    Senator Rosen has been a leader in the fight to combat antisemitism and Holocaust denial and distortion. Last month, she introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen Holocaust education. Last year, Senator Rosen’s bipartisan legislation with Senator Cramer to reauthorize the Never Again Education Act became law. She helped launch the first-ever Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism with Senator Lankford and led the push to create the first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism. Senator Rosen also helped introduce a bipartisan resolution denouncing antisemitism at institutions of higher education, which passed the Senate unanimously, and hosted a roundtable discussion with students from across the country to discuss campus antisemitism.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: IAEA Director General meets Pakistan’s Prime Minister to Strengthen Collaboration on Energy, Health and Food

    Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

    The IAEA is helping Pakistan adapt to and mitigate climate change. With IAEA support, scientists at Pakistan’s Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology – a joint IAEA and Food and Agriculture Organization collaborating centre – have helped to strengthen food security in the country. They have developed climate resilient and more nutritious food crops, found ways of combatting soil salinization and developed more sustainable cotton varieties.

    Summing up the role of nuclear science and technology in achieving sustainable development goals, Mr Grossi gave a keynote address  at the National University of Science and Technology on Wednesday.

    “The IAEA is helping Pakistan improve healthcare, soil, crops and nutrition – we’ll continuing delivering real impact,” he said.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Washington joins landmark multistate lawsuit to stop Elon Musk’s unconstitutional power grab

    Source: Washington State News

    OLYMPIA — Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown today joined 13 other attorneys general in a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s unlawful delegation of executive power to Elon Musk — the world’s richest man who is unelected, unconfirmed and upending the federal government.

    The lawsuit argues that President Trump has violated the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution by creating a new federal department without congressional approval, and by granting Musk sweeping powers over the entire federal government without the advice and consent of the Senate or accountability to the people of the United States. 

    “Elon Musk has amassed — or simply taken for himself — unaccountable power to walk into any federal agency, fire people, eliminate programs authorized by Congress, and access confidential personal and national security information without regard for the consequences,” Brown said. “Washingtonians will not stand by while their safety and freedoms are threatened by a lawless administration intent on shredding the Constitution line by line.”

    “Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration is unconstitutional,” said Washington state Governor Bob Ferguson. “If the President wants Musk or any other powerful billionaire to have a significant role in running our government, he can and should appoint them as the Constitution requires.”

    The lawsuit highlights how, with the president’s approval, Musk has unraveled federal agencies, accessed sensitive data, and caused widespread disruption for state and local governments, federal employees, and the American people. The complaint further asserts that Musk’s actions violate the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which ensures that executive appointments are subject to congressional oversight and Senate confirmation.

    Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency has targeted federal agencies that provided over $20 billion in federal grants to Washington last year alone. Among other unlawful acts, he effectively shut down USAID, which provides grants that Washington State University and Washington farmers rely on to study and prevent deadly livestock diseases, protect Washington against disease outbreaks in other parts of the world, and strengthen food security. In the past days, he has threatened to close the Department of Education, which provided $2.5 billion to Washington last year for special education programs, school lunches, and academic assistance to students.

    “Musk’s seemingly limitless and unchecked power to strip the government of its workforce and eliminate entire departments with the stroke of a pen, or click of a mouse, is unprecedented,” the lawsuit states. “The sweeping authority now vested in a single unelected and unconfirmed individual is antithetical to the nation’s entire constitutional structure.”

    Defendants’ actions threaten the financial and operational stability of the states by disrupting billions of dollars in federal funding essential for law enforcement, healthcare, education, and other critical services. State agencies depend on federal funds and cooperative agreements, and the termination of these partnerships would result in severe budget shortfalls, staffing crises, and the potential loss of key programs. Similarly, the proposed elimination of the U.S. Department of Education would strip away federal civil rights oversight in schools, leaving states with uncertain legal authority to address discrimination cases involving students with disabilities and enforce Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and disability protections.

    Beyond financial and regulatory harms, the reckless expansion of DOGE’s authority endangers cybersecurity and erodes public trust. DOGE operatives have reportedly accessed federal financial databases containing sensitive state tax records and banking information without proper oversight, increasing the risk of cyberattacks, data breaches, and foreign exploitation.

    The manipulation of federal IT infrastructure by unauthorized individuals threatens not only state financial security but also the integrity of critical national systems. As reports of unauthorized access to Treasury databases emerge, citizens have expressed growing fear that their private financial data is at risk, leading to a chilling effect on participation in state-administered federal programs. The plaintiff states are now forced to contend with both immediately.

    Washington and its partner states seek a court ruling declaring Musk’s actions unconstitutional and invalidating them, and issuing an injunction barring him from issuing further unlawful orders.

    The New Mexico Department of Justice leads this lawsuit with Arizona and Michigan as co-leads. Washington also joins New Mexico, Arizona, Michigan, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and Vermont.

    -30-

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

    Media Contact:

    Email: press@atg.wa.gov

    Phone: (360) 753-2727

    General contacts: Click here

    Media Resource Guide & Attorney General’s Office FAQ

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Africa – Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia Led African Legacies Institute Delegation on Historic Visit to Washington, D.C.

    Source: African Legacies Institute

    The visit reinforced ALI’s unwavering commitment to celebrating and safeguarding the contributions of Africa’s democratic leaders

    WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America, February 13, 2025/ — The African Legacies Institute (ALI) (www.AfricanLegacies.org), a pioneering organization dedicated to preserving, honoring, and promoting the legacies of democratic African Heads of State and Government, achieved a significant milestone during a high-profile visit to Washington, D.C. Leading the delegation was H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn, former Prime Minister of Ethiopia, who was among a select group of former heads of state invited by the Multicultural Coalition Presidential Inaugural Ball Committee. 

    Accompanying him were ALI officials Rachelle Yayi, Franya Cabral Ruiz, Sheree M. Mitchell, and George Williams II. Representing the Institute with distinction, H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn highlighted ALI’s mission to preserve Africa’s democratic legacies, emphasizing the importance of good governance, peaceful transitions of power, and sustainable development to an engaged and supportive audience.

    The visit reinforced ALI’s unwavering commitment to celebrating and safeguarding the contributions of Africa’s democratic leaders. As of 2025, 36 living former African Heads of State and Government have successfully overseen democratic transitions. Their enduring legacy, marked by integrity, visionary leadership, and adherence to constitutional principles, serves as an inspiration for future generations and underscores Africa’s commitment to peace, unity, and sustainable democracy.

    Key Highlights of the Visit

    Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast
    The delegation attended the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast at the Waldorf Astoria, a bipartisan event established in 1992 that convenes spiritual leaders and global dignitaries from over 50 countries.

    Multicultural Coalition U.S. Presidential Inaugural Ball
    The ALI delegation received a special invitation from Chairman Pastor Mark Burns, spiritual advisor to President Trump, to attend the prestigious Multicultural Coalition U.S. Presidential Inaugural Ball. The event brought together distinguished figures from politics, entertainment, and advocacy to celebrate leadership and unity.

    Historic Televised Interview with Voice of America
    The visit featured a historic televised interview of H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn conducted by journalist Peter Clottey of Voice of America (VOA), the largest U.S. international broadcaster, reaching an audience of 35 million viewers. The conversation explored the profound contributions of former African democratic heads of state, particularly in national development, peacebuilding, and democratic governance. H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn shared insightful reflections on leadership and the crucial role former African leaders play in shaping the continent’s future. He underscored the importance of preserving their legacies to inspire and guide future generations.

    High-Level Meeting at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP)
    The ALI delegation engaged with Dr. Joseph Sany, Vice President of the Africa Center at USIP, to explore potential collaborations on peacebuilding, leadership training, and governance frameworks, leveraging the expertise of former African Heads of State.

    Reception at the Hay-Adams Hotel
    The delegation attended a private reception hosted by Gunster Strategies Worldwide, bringing together global leaders, policymakers, and industry figures. Distinguished guests included Nigel Farage, African Ambassadors to the U.S., U.S. Ambassadors to Europe, and high-level elected officials.

    Fireside Chat with Engineering Students at Howard University
    H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn led an intimate fireside chat with student leaders from Howard University’s College of Engineering and Architecture. The discussion reinforced ALI’s commitment to fostering stronger collaborations between Africa and the African Diaspora while encouraging students to support economic development on the continent.

    MIL OSI – Submitted News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Like dictators before him, Trump threatens international peace and security

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sabine Nolke, Research Associate in International Law, Western Academy for Advanced Research, Western University

    At first, Canadians just shook their collective heads when United States President Donald Trump suggested Canada become the 51st American state.

    They rolled their eyes when he posted a fake image of himself standing next to a Canadian flag amid snowy mountaintops — in actuality, the Swiss Alps.

    Another Trump post showed a map purporting to merge Canada and the U.S. That prompted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to respond on social media that there was not a “snowball’s chance in hell” that Canadians would soon become Americans.

    Meme wars are one thing, but in the real world, threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a foreign state is quite another. Canadian leaders have stopped laughing, and they now need to situate Trump’s dangerous rhetoric in the language of international law and state-to-state relations.

    As a former Canadian ambassador to the Netherlands, and a permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and international courts and tribunals in The Hague, I know language matters.

    Trump’s threats make it an opportune time to provide a brief snapshot of the historical context for Trump’s rhetoric, and the necessary 21st-century vocabulary with which to respond and shape the public discourse.

    Manifest Destiny

    In threatening hefty tariffs on Canada, Trump cited the flow of fentanyl over the Canada-U.S. border, but it was clear it had little to do with fentanyl, particularly since so little crosses the border into the U.S. Instead, it seems he is coming for Canada’s sovereignty as an independent state.

    When asked on Feb. 3 how Canada could ward off tariffs, Trump reiterated: “What I’d like to see is Canada become our 51st state.”

    Later that same day, Trump paused tariffs on Canada, ostensibly thanks to border measures that Canada, like Mexico, had already announced. But what is still being said by the president of one of the most powerful nations on Earth cannot be unsaid.

    At a Jan. 7 news conference, Trump called the border between Canada and the U.S. an “artificially drawn line” — echoing rhetoric deployed by Vladimir Putin as justification for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. His remarks, in fact, were gleefully retweeted by Russia’s propaganda channel RT.

    Putin claims the Ukrainian border is the result of “administrative” action under the former Soviet Union, while Trump appears to be invoking the 19th century American concept of “Manifest Destiny.”

    He used the phrase verbatim in his inaugural address in the context of planting a flag on Mars, but it is entirely consistent with his plans for, and rhetoric on, Canada.

    As John O’Sullivan, the American diplomat who coined the phrase, wrote in a 1845 article entitled Annexation, it’s America’s destiny to “overspread the continent.” Trump appears to be taking that idea to heart.

    ‘The free white race’

    Arguably the biggest fan of territorial expansion in the 20th century was Adolf Hitler, architect of the Third Reich. Trump reportedly has some of Hitler’s writings on his bedside table. Hitler had this to say in Chapter 4 of Mein Kampf:

    “The extent of the national territory is a determining factor in the external security of the nation. The larger the territory which a people has at its disposal, the stronger are the national defences of that people.”

    Sound familiar?

    But why Canada and not Mexico, you may ask? Likely because he considers Canada less racialized, even though modern-day Canada has a large multicultural population.



    Read more:
    Trump has put down his racist dog whistle and picked up a bull horn

    In 1848, however, in the midst of the American expansionist era, pro-slavery South Carolina Sen. John Calhoun said:

    “We have never dreamt of incorporating into our Union any but the Caucasian race — the free white race. To incorporate Mexico, would be the very first instance of the kind, of incorporating an Indian race; for more than half of the Mexicans are Indians, and the other is composed chiefly of mixed tribes. I protest against such a union as that! Ours, sir, is the Government of a white race.”

    In short, neither the context nor the history informing Trump’s designs on Canada are reassuring for Canadians.

    Rules still matter

    Trump’s dismissive approach to established borders ignores fundamental norms and principles on the sovereignty, equality and territorial integrity of states, codified following the Second World War in the Charter of the United Nations. Canada is a founding member of the UN; its status as a sovereign state is not subject to challenge under international law.

    The charter clearly states that “all Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.”

    Similarly, the North Atlantic Treaty obliges NATO member states to “refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.”



    Read more:
    Allies or enemies? Trump’s threats against Canada and Greenland put NATO in a tough spot

    Trump has said he will use “economic force” to annex Canada. The suggestion that an economically devastated Canada could be sufficiently brought to heel has been embraced by the so-called MAGA-sphere, including an influential blogger with ties to Russia.

    International law

    Threatening economic rather than military force does not make Trump’s efforts at subjugating Canada any more acceptable in terms of international law.

    In 1970, in the UN’s Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-Operations Among States, the UN General Assembly unanimously confirmed that “no state may use … economic, political or any other type of measures to coerce another state in order to obtain from it the subordination of its exercise of its sovereign rights.” While not legally binding, this declaration represents customary international law.

    In 1986, the International Court of Justice ruled in Nicaragua v, United States that:

    “A prohibited intervention must accordingly be one bearing on matters in which each State is permitted, by the principle of State sovereignty, to decide freely. One of these is the choice of a political, economic, social and cultural system, and the formulation of foreign policy. Intervention is wrongful when it uses methods of coercion in regard to such choices, which must remain free ones.”

    Keeping score

    It’s both right and righteous for our elected leaders to say that Canada will never be the 51st state.

    But the time has come, especially in the context of Trump’s threats to buy Greenland, seize the Panama Canal and turn Gaza into a Middle Eastern Riviera, to call out his threats to Canada.

    Amid Trump’s dizzying litany of outlandish pronouncements, Canada’s leaders must keep track of what Trump’s declarations represent:

    • A threat to international peace and security;
    • A threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Canada;
    • Unlawful coercion and intervention in the affairs of a sovereign state;
    • A breach of the UN Charter;
    • A breach of the North Atlantic treaty.

    Trump’s threats are no way to treat an ally, but unfortunately for him, international law is on Canada’s side.

    Sabine Nolke 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. Like dictators before him, Trump threatens international peace and security – https://theconversation.com/like-dictators-before-him-trump-threatens-international-peace-and-security-248735

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cantwell Sounds Alarm on Trump Funding Cuts for Lifesaving Biomed Research

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
    02.13.25
    Cantwell Sounds Alarm on Trump Funding Cuts for Lifesaving Biomed Research
    State University is on the front lines of avian flu research – Trump’s NIH cuts could jeopardize pandemic response
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Finance Committee, joined the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. expressing serious alarm over the Trump Administration’s recent decisions that threaten to undermine America’s life-saving biomedical research infrastructure, in violation of federal law.
    “This change to NIH’s indirect cost rate represents an indiscriminate funding cut that will be nothing short of catastrophic for the lifesaving research that patients and families are counting on. The Administration’s new policy means that research will come to a halt, sick kids may not get the treatment they need, and clinical trials may shut down abruptly,” the Senators wrote.
    Last week, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it would set the maximum rate for indirect costs to 15 percent—creating a serious funding shortfall for research institutions of all types across the country. This move would dismantle the biomedical research system and stifle the development of new cures for disease.
    This Trump administration action is blatantly illegal as Congress’ bipartisan Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations law prohibits modifications to NIH’s indirect costs. Moreover, Congress specifically included this language in the law after President Trump similarly tried to unilaterally impose a sweeping across-the-board cut for research institutions in his first term – and Congress has included it in every appropriations law since then.
    Research entities in Washington state received $1.29 billion in NIH funding in Fiscal Year 2023, which supports nearly 12,000 jobs and nearly $3 billion in economic activity. A state by state analysis of total NIH funding, jobs supported, and economic activity supported through NIH research is available HERE.
    Earlier this week, Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown joined 21 other attorneys general in filing a multi-state lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts challenging the move. A federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked the NIH rate cut and set a hearing for February 21st.
    Sen. Cantwell discussed the repercussions of the proposed NIH cuts during her floor speech explaining her opposition to RFK Jr.’s nomination to head the Health and Human Services Administration last night. Video of Sen. Cantwell’s speech is available HERE, audio HERE, and transcript HERE.
    For decades, Sen. Cantwell has remained a staunch supporter of medical innovation and evidence-based science, including treatments for fentanyl addiction, abortion, vaccinations, stem cell research, and more.
    The full text of the letter is HERE and below.
    Dear Secretary Kennedy,
    We write to express our serious concern with the Trump Administration’s recent decisions that threaten to undermine the nation’s biomedical research infrastructure and set us back generations. The steps the Trump Administration has taken will create a serious funding shortfall for research institutions nationwide, threaten to undermine progress on lifesaving scientific advancements, could cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars, and threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers. 
    As the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, NIH plays a critical role in sustaining the research infrastructure necessary for scientific breakthroughs in cancer treatment, infectious disease prevention, and medical technology innovation, among many others. President Trump has wreaked havoc on the nation’s biomedical research system in recent weeks. In his first several days in office, President Trump imposed a hiring freeze, communications freeze, ban on travel, and cancellation of grant review and advisory panels that are necessary to advance research. While some of these efforts have been reversed, they continue to cause confusion and miscommunication among researchers and recipients of NIH funds.
    Just last week, NIH announced an illegal plan to cap indirect cost rates that research institutions rely on. In capping indirect cost rates at 15 percent for NIH-funded grants, this policy would cut funding essential for conducting research, such as operating and maintaining laboratories, equipment, and research facilities. This change to NIH’s indirect cost rate represents an indiscriminate funding cut that will be nothing short of catastrophic for the lifesaving research that patients and families are counting on. The Administration’s new policy means that research will come to a halt, sick kids may not get the treatment they need, and clinical trials may shut down abruptly.
    These confusing and harmful policy changes threaten patient safety. The strength of the American research enterprise – recognized as the best in the world – is built on Congress’ bipartisan commitment to supporting essential research infrastructure. This funding, which Congress has long appropriated on a bipartisan basis, fuels groundbreaking medical discoveries and cements the United States’ position as the global leader in biomedical research.
    In addition to the stifling impact on discovering new cures and ripping away treatment from those who need it, changes to NIH policy and communications threaten jobs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with everyone from custodians, to research trainees, to scientists facing potential layoffs. NIH research supported more than 412,000 jobs and fueled nearly $93 billion in new economic activity in Fiscal Year 2023. Every dollar the NIH invests in research generates almost $2.50 in economic activity. These reckless policy changes not only threaten biomedical innovation and research, but also the livelihoods of thousands of workers in every state across the nation.
    The Trump Administration has left researchers, universities, and health systems with great uncertainty about whether they can continue to support entire research programs and patient clinical trials across the country. Institutions and grantees nationwide are dealing with an unprecedented external communications “pause” enacted by new leadership at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the lack of transparency regarding the Administration’s illegal funding freeze, and the uncertainty of how new Executive Orders would be applied to their critical work. These actions resulted in NIH freezing grant reviews and cancelling advisory meetings, delaying critical funding that scientists need to continue advancing new cures and treatments. These disruptions do not just slow research – they cost lives.
    The NIH plays a critical role in our nation’s efforts to fund scientific advancements that improve health and save lives. Our standing as a world leader in funding and producing new medical and scientific innovations has been put at risk by these recent actions from the Trump Administration. We urge you to stop playing political games with the lifesaving work of the NIH and to allow NIH research to continue uninterrupted.
    Sincerely,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hoeven Statement After Voting to Confirm Brooke Rollins as Secretary of Agriculture

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for North Dakota John Hoeven
    02.13.25
    WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, issued the following statement after voting to confirm Brooke Rollins to serve as Secretary of Agriculture:
    “Congratulations to Brooke Rollins on her confirmation to lead the Department of Agriculture. Secretary Rollins grew up on a ranch so she not only has the right background, but she has the ear of President Trump and will be a great advocate for our farmers and ranchers. We look forward to working with her to advance the priorities of our producers and rural America, and appreciate her commitment to come to North Dakota to see firsthand our state’s agricultural leadership.”
    During Rollins’ hearing before the Agriculture Committee, Hoeven outlined a broad range of efforts to strengthen U.S. agriculture and secured commitments from Rollins to work with him on:
    Passing a strong farm bill that makes needed investments in the farm safety net, among other producer priorities.
    Implementing and quickly delivering the $33.5 billion in disaster assistance that he worked to secure for producers in the year-end funding legislation.
    The assistance package addresses losses from both natural disasters and challenging markets and has funding specifically set aside for livestock losses due to wildfire.

    Ensuring access for agriculture producers to U.S. Forest Service lands in North Dakota, including for grazing on the national grasslands.
    Improving access to foreign markets for U.S. farmers and ranchers.
    Visiting North Dakota to learn firsthand about precision agriculture efforts in the state, including the partnership between Grand Farm, North Dakota State University and the Agricultural Research Service.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Future Women Leaders in Medicine

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Angela McCarthy, a third year medical student at UConn, is already making an impact as a leader in medicine.

    McCarthy is the first UConn medical student elected to serve as president of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) Region 1. In this role, she successfully planned and hosted the association’s Region 1 Conference on January 25. She was elected to her leadership position by medical students across New England.

    The AWMA Region 1 Conference in Boston on Jan. 25 was attended by over 250 attendees (Photo by Olivia Kuk/Boston University medical student).

    “Women now make up over half of medical school classes across the U.S., but we still have work to do to ensure equal representation in leadership roles,” says McCarthy who is from Glastonbury, Conn. “It was an honor for UConn to lead this conference, and I’m grateful for the support that made it possible.”

    The annual meeting’s theme, “Women Supporting Women,” emphasized mentorship, collaboration, and career advancement for women in medicine. The event was sponsored by UConn School of Medicine and its Group on Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS). The conference brought together over 250 attendees, including physicians, medical students, and premedical students from across New England. Many UConn medical students and UConn undergraduates attended.

    Hands-on clinical skills training workshops were also held at the event. (Photo by Olivia Kuk/Boston University medical student).

    In addition to McCarthy’s leadership in New England for AMWA’s Region 1, UConn medical student Pooja Prasad in the Class of 2026 holds a national position as one of AMWA’s Advocacy Chairs. Also, Connecticut Children’s Division Head of Rheumatology and associate professor of pediatrics at UConn School of Medicine Dr. Barbara Edelheit is the faculty advisor for UConn School of Medicine’s AMWA group. She serves in a national position as chair of AMWA’s Mentorship Committee and was a panelist on the opening Women in Medicine panel of this year’s Region 1 conference.

    “Angela did an incredible job planning and coordinating the AMWA Region 1 conference. She’s truly a standout student leader and a role model,” applauds Edelheit. “I’ve been so lucky to work alongside her and the amazing University of Connecticut medical students in my role as their AMWA faculty advisor. They’re an inspiring, brilliant group of women who are going to make a lasting impact in the world of medicine.”

    Five UConn medical students also moderated panels at the conference, while UConn faculty member Dr. Megan Herbst and second-year UConn medical student Veronica Arroyo Rodriguez developed a hands-on point of care ultrasound workshop for attendees.  The

    Mentorship group workshops underway at this year’s AWMA’s Region 1 conference (Photo by Olivia Kuk/Boston University medical student).

    Clinical Simulation Center at UConn Health lead by Jim Behme donated materials for skills workshops, including portable ultrasounds, IV placement arms, and high-tech mannequins for intubation practice.

    “This conference was a major achievement for the UConn School of Medicine. It highlights the strength of our student leadership and the school’s commitment to advancing women in medicine,” shares McCarthy.

    McCarthy concludes, “I couldn’t have pulled off this conference without the help of my peers, especially the other AMWA student leaders at UConn and across New England.”

    The 2025 AWMA Region 1 conference (Photo by Olivia Kuk/Boston University medical student).

    MIL OSI USA News –