MIL Email Publisher – Foreign Submissions

Source: Equinor ASA

17 August 2026 16:00 (CEST)

Equinor has agreed to acquire an interest in the Lackawanna Energy Center (Lackawanna), a 1,483 MW gas-fired combined cycle power plant (CCGT) in Pennsylvania. The transaction represents a step forward in building an integrated power business in selected markets.

Lackawanna was developed by Invenergy, North America’s largest privately held developer, owner and operator of power infrastructure. Under the definitive agreement, Equinor will acquire 87.71% of the Class A shares in Lackawanna for USD 940 million subject to a potential purchase price reduction at closing of the transaction. The remainder of the Class A shares and 100% of the Class B shares are owned by Invenergy AMPCI Thermal Power LLC.

Invenergy will continue managing and operating Lackawanna, while Equinor and Invenergy will together explore additional collaboration opportunities that leverage Invenergy’s long-standing operating capabilities and position in the existing PJM power market.

“Electricity demand in PJM is growing rapidly, driven by electrification, data centres and industrial activity. This acquisition gives Equinor further access to the largest power market in the US and is located close to our significant Appalachian gas position. It also provides early cash flow and long-term value potential. We look forward to working with Invenergy as an experienced operator and exploring further collaboration,” says Helge Haugane, executive vice president for Power.

The investment structure provides upfront preferred cash flow and visibility on long-term cash generation, supported by investor protection mechanisms. Under the agreement, Equinor will acquire an interest in Lackawanna from funds managed by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a part of BlackRock.

Lackawanna is among the largest and most efficient gas-fired power plants in the PJM power market, the largest wholesale electricity market in the US. PJM serves nearly 70 million consumers across 13 states and is expected to see continued demand growth.

The facility is well positioned through reliable access to abundant, competitively priced natural gas. It is also located near Equinor’s significant gas position in the Appalachian Basin, one of the company’s largest gas assets globally. The non-operated Appalachian Basin asset delivers more than 1.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day into the northeastern US.

The transaction builds on Equinor’s long-standing presence in the United States, the company’s largest source of energy production outside Norway. It is in line with Equinor’s approach to develop power positions in selected markets where the company can combine industrial capabilities, market access and existing energy positions.

Closing of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Lackawanna Energy Center (Lackawanna)

• Developer and operator: Invenergy Services LLC (Invenergy)
• Located in Pennsylvania in the US PJM power market
• The PJM power market serves around 70 million consumers across 13 US states.
• Lackawanna is a gas-fired combined cycle turbine with a capacity of 1,483 MW
• The plant consists of three combined cycle units. Each unit includes a gas turbine, a steam turbine, a generator, and a heat recovery system.
• Lackawanna began commercial operations in January 2019, developing the state’s second largest gas plant at the time.
• Annual generation close to 9 TWh net electricity generation
• Average heat rate of 6,375 Btu/kWh
• Following closing of the GIP transaction, Equinor will hold 87.71% of the Class A shares, alongside the existing Class B shareholders. The Class A shares provide preferential dividend rights.

Official release: https://www.equinor.com/news/20260817-strengthens-position-us-power-market

Source: Bugtri Pty Ltd

14 August 2025

Just six months after receiving permanent residency, Jacob Riggs has founded Australian cybersecurity company Bugtri, with 11 organisations already using the platform following 27 early-access applications in three weeks.

A cybersecurity professional who was granted Australia's ultra-rare 858 National Innovation visa earlier this year has launched an Australian company within six months of receiving permanent residency, building technology to tackle the flood of low-quality and AI-generated vulnerability reports hitting security teams worldwide.

Now based in Sydney, Jacob Riggs has founded Bugtri, an AI-powered platform designed to automatically assess vulnerability reports arriving in company inboxes and help analysts separate genuine threats from spam, duplicates and low-quality submissions.

The launch comes as the cybersecurity industry grapples with a sharp increase in reports created or assisted by generative AI.

Riggs believes vulnerability disclosure is now entering an “AI arms race”, with AI making it easier to generate reports at a scale that traditional human triage processes were never designed to handle. Bugtri uses AI to solve the very problem AI is creating.

The platform connects to an organisation's shared security mailbox, automatically assesses incoming vulnerability reports and returns a structured decision, risk score and summary to the inbox. Sensitive information including URLs and IP addresses is sanitised before being sent to an AI provider.

Rather than attempting to replace security analysts, Bugtri is designed to filter and prioritise what reaches them. Reports can be automatically categorised and scored, duplicates detected and uncertain assessments sent for human review rather than automatically dismissed. The aim is to reduce the time security teams spend working through noise without risking genuine vulnerabilities being overlooked. Early demand suggests the solution is resonating with organisations. Bugtri opened applications for early access three weeks ago and has already received 27 applications, with 11 organisations now actively using the platform during its early access phase.

The launch comes as cybersecurity teams and open-source maintainers grapple with a new consequence of the generative AI boom: it has become dramatically easier to generate vulnerability reports at scale, while somebody still has to determine which reports represent genuine security issues.

The problem has become serious enough for the Open Source Security Foundation's Vulnerability Disclosures Working Group to launch dedicated work in 2026 examining the impact of low-quality, AI-generated vulnerability reports and developing guidance to help organisations manage them.

The project has been entirely bootstrapped and self-funded by Riggs. He comments, “Australia welcomed me through the National Innovation Visa program, and I've tried to contribute back by creating an innovative Australian company that now aims to solve a global cybersecurity problem,” he said.

Australia's National Innovation visa, subclass 858, is a permanent visa for people with an internationally recognised record of exceptional and outstanding achievement. Candidates must first be invited by the Australian Government before they can apply.

Riggs, who moved to Sydney from the UK, secured his visa earlier this year.

During the application period, he also responsibly disclosed a vulnerability in a live Australian Government system, which was subsequently acknowledged by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The idea behind the platform draws on more than a decade of Riggs' own experience finding and responsibly disclosing vulnerabilities to organisations around the world. “After responsibly disclosing vulnerabilities to thousands of organisations over the past decade and observing the friction in their processes, I'm simply reconnecting with those teams and offering the automated triage solution they now need,” he said.

The company has also been accepted into the Australian Signals Directorate Partner Program. Riggs said he intends to make Bugtri's capabilities available on a not-for-profit basis where they can support Australia's cybersecurity interests.

For more information, visit https://bugtri.com/.

About

Bugtri is an AI-powered platform that automates the triage of vulnerability disclosure reports for security teams. Connecting via OAuth to a shared mailbox, it sanitises sensitive data, scores and categorises incoming reports, and detects duplicates – helping small and medium organisations cut through low-quality submissions to focus on genuine security issues.

Source: Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)

Statement 16 August 2026

Original statement: https://awpasydneynews.blogspot.com/2026/08/awpa-statement-west-papua-police.html

Hundreds of members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) and students from Cenderawasih University (Uncen) clashed with police in Jayapura City on Saturday (August 15, 2026). The demonstrators were commemorating the tragic event of the 64th anniversary of the New York Agreement.

The rally organized by the West Papua National Committee (KNPN) to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the New York Agreement, was blocked by security forces as they were heading to the Jayapura Regent's Office on Saturday (August 15, 2026).

According to a Jubi report (15 August), a clash broke out between demonstrators and police in the Perumnas III Waena area, Heram District, Jayapura City. Several demonstrators were reportedly injured, including three who were reportedly shot.

Chaotic situation between demonstrators and police at Perumnas III Waena, Heram District, Jayapura City, Papua, Saturday (August 15, 2026). Jubi/Larius Kogoya. (Photo in Jubi)

Deputy Chairman of the Uncen Student Executive Board, Frengky Kabak, after being shot during a demonstration in the Perumnas III Waena area, Heram District, Jayapura City, Papua Province, Saturday (08/15/2026) – Doc. For Jubi

https://jubi.id/polhukam/2026/tiga-demonstran-tertembak-polda-papua-didesak-bertanggung-jawab/

The Cenderawasih University Student Consultative Assembly (MPM Uncen) in Jayapura is urging the Papua Regional Police (Polda Papua) to take responsibility for three protesters who were shot during the demonstration.

A spokesperson for the students said that he did not rule out the possibility of a larger student unrest if this issue was not resolved immediately.

“Frengky Kabak has been taken for medical treatment while the other two victims are still with their families.

The demonstrators had been planning to march to the Papuan People's Representative Council (DPR) office to express their aspirations. However, a large number of police blocked the demonstrators. Although the protesters tried to negotiate with the police, they could not reach an agreement.

A short scuffle broke out between the security forces and demonstrators (pushing and shoving each other) as officers attempted to disperse the protesters leading the police to fire tear gas and use water cannons on the protestors. After the situation subsided, hundreds of police remained on guard in the area.

Demonstrators in the Sentani area were also blocked by the security forces the head of the Sentani regional KNPB stated. He said that the action was part of a national KNPB action scheduled for “Papua, a Military and Humanitarian Emergency Zone,” and as a form of protest against the signing of the New York Agreement on August 15, 1962.

According to him, the crowd from Sere and Theys Field had marched to Post 7 before being blocked again by security forces.

“Our friends from the Sereh Theys Field Post marched until they arrived at Post 7, where they were met by security forces using water cannons,” he said.

Security forces and protesters coordinated by the KNPB during negotiations on Jalan Pos 7 Sentani, Sentani Kota Village, Sentani District, Jayapura Regency, Papua Province, Saturday (15/8/2026).-Jubi/Silpester Kasipka. Jubi

Joe Collins of AWPA said, “we are told by governments that the human rights situation in West Papua is improving. However, the crackdown on peaceful demonstrators on the 15 August proves otherwise”.

Indonesia claims to be a democracy yet it continues to intimidates peaceful West Papuan activists ignoring a number of articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 19

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

Joe Collins said,“ It appears that under President Prabowo Subianto, democracy in Indonesian is sliding backwards. Hopefully the PIF leaders at their upcoming meeting in Palau, will raise the human rights situation in West Papua with Jakarta. After all, West Papuans are a Melanesian people, a Pacific people”.

Al Jazeera English

Indigenous West Papuans have taken to the streets across Indonesia’s resource-rich West Papua region to mark the 64th anniversary of the signing of the New York Agreement. In Jayapura and other towns, demonstrators were met with tear gas and water cannon fired by Indonesian police.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg5tLsYumzE

Source: Commonwealth Bank of Australia

14 August 2026

Annual wage growth edged up in July, but the impact of higher award and minimum wages has so far been more modest than expected.

Key points

• Annual wage growth increased to 3.2%, while quarterly growth remained unchanged at 0.8%.
• Western Australia recorded the strongest annual wage growth at 3.6%, while Victoria was the weakest at 2.9%.
• CBA Labour Insights suggests employment increased by around 21,000 jobs in July.

Wage growth picked up modestly in July as the jobs market showed few signs of shifting out of its recent holding pattern, according to the latest CommBank Wage and Labour Insights series.

Annual wage growth increased to 3.2 per cent, up from 3.1 per cent in June, where it had remained for seven consecutive months. Quarterly wage growth was unchanged at 0.8 per cent over the three months to July.

At the same time, the CBA Labour Insights series suggests employment increased by around 21,000 jobs in July, indicating labour market conditions remain relatively steady.

Wage growth tracking below expectations

“The July result points to some strengthening in wage growth, although the increase was smaller than expected given the annual rise in award and minimum wages that took effect from 1 July,” CommBank Economist Harry Ottley said.

The data suggests wage growth momentum has stabilised rather than accelerated, with CBA's compensation of employees measure – a proxy that measures the total wage bill including bonuses and changing jobs or hours, compared to the wage tracker which focuses on wage inflation – remaining steady at 5.7 per cent in July.

While the full impact of July's minimum and award wage increases may take time to flow through, so far wage growth is tracking below expectations.

“Our data can take a couple of months to fully reflect changes in momentum, and we will need to see more data before concluding the wage impulse was more modest than we expected. If this continues, the RBA would take some comfort from wages growth remaining contained and be supportive of our view they have finished hiking,” Ottley said.

Western Australia leads the nation in wage growth

Annual wage growth continued to vary across the country, reflecting differences in labour market conditions between states.

Western Australia retained the strongest wage growth in the nation at 3.6 per cent, while South Australia remained firm at 3.5 per cent. Tasmania and the Northern Territory recorded growth of 3.4 per cent.

New South Wales and Queensland both recorded wage growth of 3.2 per cent, while Victoria remained the state with the softest wage growth at 2.9 per cent.

Employment growth remains near break-even

The CBA Labour Insights series points to employment growth of around 21,000 jobs in July, slightly firmer than earlier in the year, however the data suggests labour market momentum has not materially strengthened.

“The data suggests some of the recent increase in official Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) employment figures may be overstated, meaning jobs growth could ease back in the months ahead.”

According to the analysis, employment growth remains close to the pace needed to keep the unemployment rate stable, but CBA economists do expect the unemployment rate to continue to rise as the economy slows.

About CBA Wage and Labour Insights

The CBA Wage Insights series uses anonymised and aggregated Commonwealth Bank salary transaction data to create a proxy for wage inflation in Australia and is designed to track and lead movements in the ABS Wage Price Index. On average, approximately 400,000 accounts are sampled each month.

The CBA Labour Insights series uses salary transaction data to estimate employment growth by comparing changes in aggregate wages with estimated wage inflation.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia | 237/2026

Things you should know

NOT INVESTMENT RESEARCH. The Commonwealth Bank ‘Wage and Labour Insights’ is not investment research and nor does it purport to make any recommendations. The Commonwealth Bank ‘Wage and Labour Insights’ has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation (including your capacity to bear loss), knowledge, experience or needs. You should not act on the information contained in this document. To the extent that you choose to make any investment decision after having read this document, you should not rely on it but consider its appropriateness and suitability to your own objectives, financial situation and needs, and, if appropriate, seek professional or independent financial advice, including tax and legal advice. The data used in the ‘CommBank Wage and Labour Insights’ series is a combination of CBA Data and publicly available Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Cotality and Reserve Bank of Australia data. Any reference made to the term ‘CBA data’ means the proprietary data of the Bank that is sourced from the Bank’s internal systems and may include, but is not limited to, home loan data, credit card transaction data, merchant facility transaction data and applications for credit. All customer data used, or represented, in this report is de-identified before analysis and is used, and disclosed, in accordance with the Group’s Privacy Policy.

Source: Kolohe Kai

August 14, 2026

Nearly 20 years ago, island reggae legend George “FIJI” Veikoso wrote two
words on a napkin for a 15-year-old Roman De Peralta: “Keep Jamming.”

Roman never forgot them.

On August 14, those words become the heart of Kolohe Kai’s new single “Keep
Jamming”, featuring Wavvy, one of Hawaiʻi’s next generation of reggae
artists.

The idea had stayed with Roman for years. When he was encouraged to finally
turn “Keep Jamming” into a song, he wrote and recorded the track and sent
it to FIJI, hoping they could sing it together. FIJI was excited to write
his verse, but passed away before they had the chance to finish the song.

After his passing, Roman wasn’t sure what to do with it. In time, he found
the answer in Wavvy. The words FIJI had given him as a teenager could now
be passed on to another young Hawaiʻi artist, and through them, to the
generations coming next.

“Just as this beautiful saying, ‘Keep Jamming’, was passed on to me at a
young age, I hope it encourages the next generation of musicians and
singers to keep creating, keep playing and keep carrying music forward,”
says Roman.

“I’d just love to see more kids jamming ʻukulele on the side of the road,
at the beach, instead of stuck on their phones.”

Wavvy’s involvement brought another connection Roman hadn’t expected. They
had attended Kolohe Kai’s Paradise album release concert at around the same
age Roman was when FIJI wrote those words for him. In their verse, Wavvy
shares how Kolohe Kai’s “The Right Thing” had helped give them direction in
their own life.

“Hearing them sing how my song, ‘The Right Thing’, gave them direction in
life made me tear up,” says Roman. “None of us could ever inspire another
artist the way FIJI did, but to have a small role in passing my little
torch brings me joy.”

FIJI’s presence can also be heard in the song itself. Towards the end of
“Keep Jamming”, Roman sings some of the familiar melodies he grew up
hearing in FIJI’s music, something he admits carried a lot of weight when
it came time to record them.

“I had this indescribable feeling of absolute disbelief while singing some
of Uncle FIJI’s melodies,” he says. “It was such an honour to incorporate
some of his hooks in a song inspired by the words he wrote to me so long
ago. It felt like a full circle.”

“Keep Jamming” is Roman’s mahalo to FIJI's music and the other artists
whose music helped shape him, but the message is just as much for the young
musicians coming through now. Pick up an instrument. Make something of your
own. Enjoy making music. Keep jamming.

The single is the first new original music from Kolohe Kai since the 2025
album ‘What Aloha Means’ and begins a new run of songs planned over the
coming years. Now 17 years into their career and with more than one billion
streams across digital platforms, Kolohe Kai are still doing what they
started out doing as teenagers in Hawaiʻi: jamming.

‘Keep Jamming’ from Kolohe Kai feat. Wavvy is available on all streaming
platforms from Friday August 14.

Source: GlobalData

Australia’s decision to acquire Lockheed Martin’s AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile alongside the first flight test of a sovereign solid rocket motor signals a broader shift in missile strategy: securing advanced capability today while building the industrial capacity to sustain it tomorrow. With missile demand outpacing Western production, the twin moves strengthen Australia’s long-term deterrence and supply resilience, says GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform.

Australia has become the first country outside the US to operate AIM-260. The purchase is being read as an interoperability milestone.

GlobalData projects Australia to spend approximately $10.7 billion cumulatively on missile procurement between 2026 and 2036. Annual expenditure is expected to reach around $1.3 billion in 2036.

Akash Pratim Debbarma, Aerospace and Defense Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Australia announcing an advanced US missile purchase and its first sovereign rocket motor flight test on the same day is not a coincidence. Solid rocket motors, rather than airframes or seekers, are the component that limits how many missiles the West can produce, and the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran have drawn stocks down faster than industry can replace them.

“The purchase secures the capability now. The rocket motor program addresses what happens afterwards, because a country able to build its own motors can keep replenishing its stockpile rather than queuing behind US demand for the same production slots.”

The AIM-260 will be integrated first on the Royal Australian Air Force’s F/A-18F Super Hornet, followed by the F-35A Lightning II and the EA-18G Growler.

Debbarma continues: “Fielding on the Super Hornet first delivers a usable capability quickly, because the US Navy has already flown the missile on that aircraft. The transformative step, however, is the integration with the F-35A. Australian fighters currently carry the AIM-120 AMRAAM, which is out-ranged by China’s PL-15, so an Australian pilot can be engaged before reaching a position to shoot back.

“The AIM-260 removes that handicap, and the F-35A then supplies the advantage, because a stealth aircraft can reach its firing position without being detected on the way in. The missile restores parity and the aircraft creates the edge.”

Australia’s 2026 National Defence Strategy names China’s military build-up as the primary cause of deteriorating Indo-Pacific security, and in early 2025 a Chinese naval task group live-fired inside Australia’s exclusive economic zone in the Tasman Sea.

Debbarma concludes: “The AIM-260 was developed in response to the PL-15, and it was deliberately built to the same dimensions as the AIM-120 AMRAAM that it replaces. Australia therefore gains the additional reach at no cost in carriage, because the missile fits the F-35A’s internal bays without modification and without reducing the number of rounds carried. For a fighter force that cannot match the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in numbers, maintaining a large engagement radius across every airframe is how Australia offsets that disparity.”

Notes to Editors

•
Quotes provided by Akash Pratim Debbarma, Aerospace and Defense Analyst at GlobalData

• This press release was written using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research, and in-house analysis conducted by GlobalData’s team of industry experts

About GlobalData

GlobalData Plc (LSE:DATA) operates an intelligence platform that empowers leaders to act decisively in a world of complexity and change. By uniting proprietary data, human expertise, and purpose-built AI into a single, connected platform, we help organizations see what is coming, move faster, and lead with confidence. Our solutions are used by over 5,000 organizations across the world’s largest industries, providing tailored intelligence that supports strategic planning, innovation, risk management, and sustainable growth.

Source: Arms Embargo Now

August 13, 2026

THE PEOPLE’S ARMS EMBARGO

As governments refuse to stop the flow of weapons, hundreds mobilize across Canada—flooding executives with thousands of warnings, confronting suppliers at factory gates, and joining a growing international campaign to disrupt Elbit Systems’ global war machine.

CANADA — The people’s arms embargo is beginning to take shape. Today, hundreds of people across Canada mobilized in a coordinated, coast-to-coast campaign targeting the companies that keep Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer supplied. From industrial facilities in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland to the inboxes of corporate executives across the country, communities intervened directly in Elbit Systems’ Canadian supply chain, making clear that if governments will not enforce an arms embargo, the people will.

A People’s Arms Embargo Takes Shape

The nationwide Day of Action, organized by the Arms Embargo Now coalition, targeted more than 40 companies identified as suppliers, manufacturers, technology firms and logistics partners connected to Elbit Systems. Local organizers put up public notices and posters, delivered formal “Notices of Complicity” to corporate leadership, distributed information to workers arriving for their shifts, and launched a massive coordinated pressure campaign aimed directly at executives.

At dozens of targeted companies, one or more senior executives received more than 1,500 individual emails each in a single day from people across Canada demanding that their company sever its relationship with Elbit Systems.

The message was simple: cut ties with Elbit or answer to the public for keeping its war machine supplied.

The actions represent a deliberate move beyond protest toward what organizers describe as people-powered enforcement of an arms embargo. While the federal government continues to permit military-related supply chains to operate through regulatory gaps and dual-use exemptions, communities are identifying the companies that make those supply chains possible and organizing sustained pressure against them.

“This is what a people’s arms embargo looks like,” said a representative of the Arms Embargo Now coalition. “Governments have been given every opportunity to stop Canadian complicity in Israel’s genocide and have refused. So people are taking responsibility for enforcing the embargo themselves. We are going directly to the factories, the executives and the companies that make this system possible. And we are not asking them to issue statements. We are demanding that they stop doing business with Elbit.”

No Safe Distance From Complicity

The Canadian mobilization is part of a rapidly intensifying international campaign against Elbit Systems and the infrastructure that sustains it. In Britain, activists have repeatedly blockaded and occupied Elbit-linked weapons facilities, while recent actions have continued to target the company’s operations and supply chains. In Germany, activists have faced prosecution over an action targeting an Elbit-linked facility, while in Belgium, an Elbit subsidiary has pursued legal action against activists who blockaded its factory. In the United States, activists have physically disrupted shipments of components bound for Elbit.

The emerging international strategy is increasingly focused not only on Elbit itself, but on the vast network of companies that allows the arms manufacturer to operate across borders. Elbit’s own corporate filings acknowledge disruptions to its global operations, including attacks on facilities and restrictions on engagement with Israel.

Canada is now becoming another front in that campaign.

The Supply Chain Can Be Broken

Today’s actions also build on a growing record of Canadian victories. Following sustained community pressure, a Montréal-based supplier recently confirmed that it had severed its business relationship with Elbit Systems and would accept no future orders. Ottawa-based Calian GNSS previously halted satellite hardware exports to Elbit. These victories demonstrate that the supply chain is not an abstract system beyond public control: individual companies can choose to get out, and organized communities can force that choice onto the agenda.

This Was Only the Beginning

In Midland, Ontario, the campaign demonstrated what sustained local pressure can look like. Community members held a 12-hour continuous vigil outside Raytheon ELCAN, beginning at 11 p.m. with a candlelight tribute surrounded by Palestinian flags and photographs of children. They held the vigil through the night before moving to the facility’s employee entrance as morning workers arrived, confronting the company with the human consequences of the weapons supply chain operating on its doorstep.

And Midland is not an isolated case. Across the country, today’s actions were explicitly designed as the beginning of localized campaigns that can escalate over time. The companies targeted today have been put on notice. Communities are organizing around them. Workers are being informed about what their employers produce and who they supply. Executives have been directly confronted. And organizers are making clear that today’s actions will be followed by further pressure against companies that refuse to sever their ties with Elbit.

“This was not a one-day protest,” said the Arms Embargo Now representative. “It was a declaration of intent. Every company we targeted today now knows that its relationship with Elbit is no longer something it can keep hidden inside a procurement department or behind the language of ‘dual use.’ People know where these components are going. Workers know. Communities know. And executives know that thousands of people are prepared to show up and demand an answer.”

The stakes are growing as Elbit expands its global production and profits from the escalating demand for military technology. The company reported record revenues and a record $32-billion order backlog this week, with 73 percent of that backlog coming from international clients.

That growth depends on a global network. And that network is now being organized against. Today, Canadian communities joined people around the world in sending a message to Elbit Systems and every company that supplies it: there is no safe distance from complicity.

If governments will not stop the weapons, people will stop the supply chains. If regulators will not enforce an embargo, communities will enforce it. And if companies refuse to cut ties with Elbit voluntarily, the pressure will escalate until they do.

Source: James Cook University

James Cook University is this week hosting a group of high school students from New Caledonia as they work alongside North Queensland students and academics on an engineering project designed to build skills and connections across the Pacific.

Students from Jules Garnier Senior High School in Nouméa are spending a week at JCU’s Bebegu Yumba campus in Townsville as part of a partnership between Jules Garnier, Pimlico State High School and the University.

JCU Associate Professor Dr Florence Boulard said the visit provides students with an opportunity to learn from each other while developing practical engineering skills.

“We are excited to welcome the Jules Garnier students to JCU and to see what this partnership might inspire,” Prof Boulard said.

“New Caledonia and North Queensland share many similarities, as well as common opportunities and challenges.

“We hope this visit marks the beginning of a strong and lasting relationship between our schools, communities and university, creating opportunities for students to continue learning, collaborating and building connections across the Pacific.”

JCU’s Head of Engineering Professor Bouchra Senadji said the visiting students were working on a wind turbine project

“The project is based around wind turbines and their blades, with students exploring different blade shapes to help reduce the noise the turbines create,” she said.

“The New Caledonian students came here to work alongside the Pimlico State High group who are interested in engineering and they were able to use our top-level facilities, including an additive manufacturing lab to 3D print blades and a lab that measures wind turbine performance.

“I think it’s enriching for the Pimlico students, and some of the technology has been mind-blowing for the students coming from New Caledonia. It’s been great to see different cultures and languages mixing while doing real engineering together, which is often how it happens in the professional world.”

Prof Boulard said the group had thoroughly enjoyed their time undertaking different activities at JCU and across Townsville, with the University delighted to help contribute to a brighter future for the Tropics.

“New Caledonia is one of Australia’s closest Pacific neighbours, about 2000 kilometres east of Queensland and is less than a two-hour flight from Brisbane,” she said.

“The French-Melanesian territory is home to a vibrant young population with big ideas and ambitious dreams.

“We hope this visit marks the beginning of a strong and lasting relationship between our schools, communities and university, creating opportunities for students to continue learning, collaborating and building connections across the Pacific.”

Source: Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

Baidoa / Nairobi, 12 August 2026 — One in every two children screened in displacement sites in Baidoa, Southwest Somalia, is acutely malnourished and one in every four is severely malnourished. These shocking statistics are the findings of a malnutrition survey carried out in July by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

“Behind every statistic is a child,” says Allara Ali, MSF's project coordinator in Somalia. “What we are seeing is shocking and far beyond the threshold of an extremely critical emergency. What is equally shocking is the lack of urgency from donors who continue to downscale and withdraw support from Somalia. While other actors are attempting to respond, their capacity is limited by funding constraints.”

The results are consistent with MSF’s regular malnutrition surveillance in Baidoa, where teams have screened more than 21,000 children under five since the beginning of the year and found global acute malnutrition levels of around 50 per cent.

The survey, conducted across 888 households in 14 displacement sites in Baidoa, also found that one-third of families are surviving on just one meal a day, while only two per cent can afford three meals a day.

MSF is urgently calling on the donor community, international organisations and health authorities to ensure a well-coordinated, adequately funded and effective emergency response without delay in Baidoa and other affected areas of Somalia.

“The world cannot wait for a famine declaration before acting,” says Ali. “Action is needed now to prevent loss of lives.”

Consecutive failed rains and worsening drought have affected hundreds of thousands of people across Somalia, depriving families of food, water, crops and livestock. According to the UN, in the first three months of 2026, more than half a million people were displaced in Somalia, with nine out of 10 displacements driven by drought. Alarmingly, 85 per cent of those displaced are women and children, who are also among the most severely affected by malnutrition.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 21,000 children have been admitted to MSF-supported outpatient malnutrition facilities in Baidoa — more than double the number recorded during the same period last year. Over the same period, 2,890 children have been admitted for inpatient care, an increase of 78 per cent compared with the same period in 2025. Figures in 2025 were already higher than the year before. A similar trend is being seen in Mudug, where admissions to MSF-supported inpatient facilities increased by 70 per cent in June and July.

“It is rare that we are able to get two meals a day. There is no organisation helping us. An organisation gave us some cash assistance, but that was three years ago,” says Nuriyo, mother of a child being treated for severe acute malnutrition in Baidoa.

Measles and diphtheria are spreading in a context where vaccination campaigns are not reaching everyone effectively. Since the beginning of the year, MSF has treated around 2,500 measles cases in Baidoa, compared with about 1,700 cases during all of 2025. Pregnant and lactating women are also severely affected. In the past two months alone, MSF has admitted more than 2,600 pregnant and breastfeeding women for malnutrition support. When mothers are malnourished, the risks extend to their babies — before birth, during delivery and in the first months of life.

To respond to the surge in patients, MSF has expanded one medical facility from 50 to 150 beds. MSF teams have also distributed relief items to displaced families and are trucking safe water to displaced communities in Mudug and Baidoa. But medical care and emergency assistance alone cannot meet the scale of this crisis.

“A hospital bed can save a child today. But it cannot protect that child if they return to a shelter with no food, no clean water and no basic services. Without comprehensive support, including social protection, the cycle of relapse and readmission will continue,” says Ali.

Despite the level of suffering, Somalia is being deprioritised by major donors, including the United Kingdom and the United States. Somalia’s humanitarian response plan has been reduced by 40 per cent in 2026 and was still less than one-third funded by July. Funding cuts are weakening already fragile health services and forcing the health system to absorb a crisis far beyond its capacity.

“The malnutrition and health crisis in Southwest Somalia is becoming a clear example of dangerous indifference and a failure of responsibility, as Somalia is pushed further down the global agenda. The scale of this crisis should be a wake-up call for the international community,” says Ali.

MSF is calling for an urgent scale-up of inpatient treatment for severe acute malnutrition, particularly for children with medical complications. This must include increased bed capacity and additional medical staff as well as uninterrupted supplies of therapeutic food, medicines and medical equipment. The emergency medical organisation also urges urgent vaccination campaigns to reach missed and hard-to-reach communities, with stronger coverage and more effective delivery.

NOTES

• According to the latest IPC analysis, around 6 million people in Somalia — about one in three people — are estimated to be facing food shortages. Among them, nearly 1.9 million people are in an emergency, meaning they need urgent support.
• Nearly 512,000 people were newly displaced within Somalia during the first three months of 2026 alone, with 93 per cent displaced by drought. About 85 per cent of people who are displaced are women and children (UNHCR June 2026).
• Somalia’s Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan was reduced to US$852 million in 2026. Humanitarian partners target 2.4 million people, reaching less than half of those in need.
• International organisation CARE says funding shortfalls have forced the closure of 50 of its 80 supported health and nutrition centres in Somalia since January, with 15 more at risk by October.
• United States, one of Somalia’s leading donors for years including in 2025 too, has fully halted its support in 2026, while the United Kingdom has cut its funding by nearly half compared with 2025. (UNOCHA). 
• As per IPC, Somalia faces a similarly severe malnutrition crisis as in 2022, with nearly 1.88 million children expected to need treatment in 2026 — but international support has fallen by 88 per cent compared with 2022.