Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

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Police attend 7370 fewer mental health calls in a year after changes

Source: Radio New Zealand

Mike Johnson, Assistant Commissioner Southern Districts and Assets and Capability, speaks at the launch of the Community Beat Teams in Christchurch on 18 July 2024.

Police Assistant Commissioner Mike Johnson. Photo: Nathan Mckinnon

Police attended 7370 fewer mental health-related requests in the year to June, a result of the deliberate plan to wind back on responding to calls for help.

The department expects to respond to even fewer calls this year as it enters phase three of that plan.

Under phase three, which kicked off on Monday:

  • Non-emergency mental health-related requests will be assessed against updated guidance to determine if police assistance is required. This includes requests for assistance under legislation, requests for assistance from in-patient mental health units and other requests from mental health services to police;
  • Reports of missing persons with mental health concerns (including those who have left mental health facilities and services or EDs) will be assessed against updated guidance to determine the appropriate police involvement.

The phased approach began a year ago and has so far involved police limiting the time spent with someone in an emergency department, raising the threshold for transport of someone with a mental illness, and tightening rules around where mental health assessments can take place.

Police maintain they will attend calls if there has been an offence committed or if there is a risk to life or safety.

Police Assistant Commissioner Mike Johnson told Nine to Noon they were comfortable with the roll-out of phases one and two and were now ready to move to the next level.

Health NZ director of specialist mental health and addiction Karla Bergquist said mental health practitioners in particular were being given much clearer guidance about when it is appropriate to seek police assistance.

“The other thing that has been happening in the background as we prepare for this phase is making that much more consistent across the country and helping our staff to communicate what’s needed very clearly to police so that they can make good decisions about their involvement.”

But while police were rolling back their attendance, they would still respond when situations met their updated guidelines.

Johnson said on the first day of the phase three roll-out they had an example of a non-urgent request for transport which was granted.

“We had a request in Gore down south on Monday where mental health services reached out for a transport. We did an assessment and sent some police staff to assist.”

Johnson said the process for responding when people were missing with mental health concerns had been streamlined and training for both police and health staff updated.

“We want to make sure that where it’s required we will absolutely get our police staff there, but that’s not in all cases.”

The fourth and final phase, which Johnson said was scheduled for early next year, would see 15-minute ED handovers, and police lifting the threshold for welfare checks where there is not believed to be a risk of criminality or safety.

In emergency situations both the public and health practitioners were still advised to call 111.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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More than a million Syrian refugees returning home to an uncertain future

Source: Radio New Zealand

People walk down a street at the Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees, near the Jordanian city of Mafraq, about 80Km north of the capital Amman on January 13, 2025. Syrians living in the Zaatari camp in Jordan, the largest Syrian refugee camp in the world, are hesitant to return to their country about a month and a half after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s rule, due to the stability they found there throughout the years of conflict. (Photo by Khalil MAZRAAWI / AFP)

People walk down a street at the Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees, near the Jordanian city of Mafraq, about 80Km north of the capital Amman on January 13, 2025. Photo: AFP / KHALIL MAZRAAWI

It is estimated that more than a million Syrian refugees have returned home since the fall of the Assad regime nearly a year ago.

For many it has been a difficult decision to leave life in refugee camps and return to the unknown, a country badly scarred by war.

Aotearoa NZ chairperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Tim Mahood, is just back from one such camp, the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.

He told RNZ’s World Watch that while many Syrians have left, the situation in the camp for those remaining is extremely difficult.

Mahood said the Zaatari camp’s population is down to 45,000 from 55,000, but there is just one doctor at any given time.

”If that doctor has to transport someone to the local hospital, then there’s just no doctor on duty.”

He said the situation is quite dire.

“But the one thing that struck me is how positive everyone is there.”

Mahood said those who have returned to Syria, or are thinking about it, face serious issues.

Aotearoa NZ chairperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Tim Mahood, at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.

Tim Mahood at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Photo: Supplied / Aotearoa NZ for UNHCR

“It depends on who you believe. Syria is now apparently stable so people can go home, but there’s been a civil war raging there for over a decade. There are large parts of it that have been absolutely destroyed and large swathes of the country resemble Gaza.

“So people going back there are going back to potentially no home.”

Mahood said buildings have been destroyed, so as well as no home, they are facing no services, education and an uncertain future.

He said most of the Syrian refugees want to go home, but there is not a lot of infrastructure there.

If they decide to go, it is a one way ticket and UNHCR supports their transition home.

“The problem is that if they go home they find that their family is struggling and effectively they have no home to go to.”

Mahood said once the refugees go home they lose their refugee status and they cannot come back.

“It’s a catch-22. Do you go in circumstances or do you stay and have perpetually this sinking lid of support available within Jordan?”

Mahood said even with less funding for UNHCR, much can still be done for the refugees.

“There are people around the world who really need your help and are so much worse off than people in New Zealand.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Des hivers plus doux, des parasites plus présents : l’orignal est-il en péril face à la tique d’hiver ?

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Steeve Côté, professeur d’écologie animale, Université Laval

Alors que les changements climatiques modifient profondément les écosystèmes nord-américains, un petit parasite cause de grands ravages : la tique d’hiver. Cette tique, désormais plus présente suite aux conditions environnementales plus clémentes, affecte lourdement la survie hivernale des jeunes orignaux dans l’est du Canada.

Les changements climatiques permettent à des espèces comme la tique d’hiver, un parasite externe qui se nourrit du sang des grands cervidés, d’étendre leur présence vers de nouvelles régions. Jadis plus rare dans l’est du Canada, elle y est désormais bien implantée et cause des mortalités élevées, surtout chez les jeunes orignaux.

La tique d’hiver complète l’entièreté de son cycle de vie en infestant un seul hôte. Outre l’orignal, on peut la retrouver sur d’autres cervidés comme le cerf de Virginie et le caribou sur lesquels elle a peu d’effet.

Les larves de tiques se retrouvent sur la couche de feuilles mortes au sol durant l’été. À l’automne, elles se mettent en quête d’un hôte auquel elles s’accrochent au passage. Une fois sur l’hôte, elles se nourrissent de sang pour se développer jusqu’au stade adulte. L’accouplement des adultes a lieu sur l’hôte. C’est vers la fin de l’hiver que les femelles consomment la plus grande quantité de sang en vue de la reproduction. Une fois engorgées de sang, les femelles se détachent de l’hôte et pondent leurs œufs dans la litière végétale au sol.

Notre équipe de recherche tente de comprendre les liens entre la tique d’hiver, les orignaux et les conditions environnementales afin de mieux prédire l’évolution de ces relations en fonction des conditions climatiques anticipées. Notre approche repose sur la capture et le suivi de jeunes orignaux dans cinq populations. Celles-ci s’étendent du sud du Nouveau-Brunswick jusqu’au nord du fleuve Saint-Laurent. Nous avons concentré nos efforts sur les orignaux âgés de 8 à 13 mois. Leurs faibles réserves de graisse, leur métabolisme rapide et leur forte charge de tiques les rendent plus vulnérables.

Un protocole rigoureux pour évaluer l’impact

Lors de chacune des trois années de notre étude (2020, 2022 et 2023), nous avons capturé une vingtaine de jeunes orignaux dans chacune des cinq populations étudiées. En plus de munir chaque orignal d’un collier GPS, nous avons réduit la charge (ou le nombre) de tiques de la moitié des individus à l’aide de produits acaricides.

Ceci nous a permis de comparer le comportement et la survie hivernale d’animaux plus ou moins infestés, mais vivant dans un même environnement. La fin de l’hiver est une période critique pour la survie des orignaux en raison de l’épuisement de leurs réserves énergétiques. C’est également à ce moment que les tiques consomment la plus grande quantité de sang et que leurs effets sur la condition et la survie des orignaux sont les plus manifestes.

Notre expérience sur un total de 280 veaux nous a permis de déterminer que la tique d’hiver a été responsable de la majorité des 67 mortalités hivernales comptabilisées et que la plupart de ces mortalités ne seraient pas survenues en absence de tiques. Les orignaux traités à la capture avec un acaricide, et donc peu infestés ensuite, présentaient un risque de mortalité environ 94 % plus faible (9 individus morts sur 135) que les individus non traités ayant des charges de tiques naturelles (58 individus morts sur 145).

De plus, la charge de tiques à la capture augmentait la variation des indicateurs dans le sang des orignaux non traités. En complément, le risque de mortalité était plus élevé dans les régions où le loup, principal prédateur de l’orignal, était présent, alors que la masse des orignaux à la capture diminuait le risque de mortalité. Finalement, la survie des jeunes mâles était généralement plus faible que celle des femelles du même âge.

Les orignaux sont plus affectés par la tique d’hiver que les autres grands cervidés. Ce constat s’explique par une cohabitation encore récente entre la tique et l’orignal. L’expansion du parasite vers le nord, favorisée par les changements climatiques, a créé des conditions printanières plus propices à sa reproduction.

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Cette récente cohabitation n’a pas permis à l’orignal de développer les mécanismes lui permettant de se débarrasser du parasite. D’autres espèces, comme le cerf de Virginie, cohabitent depuis plus longtemps avec la tique et ont développé des comportements pour s’en débarrasser avant qu’elle ne les affaiblisse.

Mieux prévoir pour mieux gérer

Néanmoins, l’effet à long terme des changements climatiques sur la tique demeure incertain. En effet, la fonte plus hâtive et l’arrivée plus tardive de la neige favorisent la survie des tiques et augmentent leurs chances de trouver un hôte. Ces deux conditions augmentent donc les probabilités que la tique puisse trouver un hôte et se reproduire. Toutefois, les étés chauds et secs comme celui de 2025 sont néfastes pour la tique, car un faible taux d’humidité réduit la survie des œufs.



À lire aussi :
Caribou forestier : les revendications autonomistes de Québec se heurtent à la protection des écosystèmes

Les mesures de gestion permettant de diminuer l’abondance de la tique d’hiver sont limitées. Comme une tique doit infester un orignal pour se reproduire, l’abondance des deux espèces est étroitement liée. Ainsi, une réduction de la densité des populations d’orignaux est une avenue à considérer dans les régions problématiques afin de limiter la propagation des tiques. Autrement, un aménagement forestier visant à modifier la température et l’humidité du sol pourrait également influencer la survie et l’abondance des tiques.

Nos travaux en cours visent à comprendre comment la structure de la forêt influence la présence de tiques et à identifier des pratiques d’aménagement susceptibles de limiter leur survie. Nous développons également un modèle permettant de prédire les infestations de tiques à partir de différents facteurs liés à l’environnement. Ces modèles permettront de mieux prévoir l’impact des infestations sur les orignaux et d’ajuster la façon de gérer la forêt et les populations d’orignaux.

La Conversation Canada

Steeve Côté est professeur titulaire au Département de biologie à la Faculté des sciences et de génie de l’Université Laval. Il dirige Caribou Ungava et est membre du Centre d’études nordiques. Il a reçu des financements de recherche de plusieurs organismes gouvernementaux en partenariat avec des industries.

Christian Dussault est membre du Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatique, de la Faune et des Parcs du Québec. Mes travaux de recherche sont en partie fincancés par le Gouvernement du Québec.

Jean-Pierre Tremblay est professeur titulaire au Département de biologie à la Faculté des sciences et de génie de l’Université Laval. Il est membre du Centre d’étude de la forêt et du Centre d’études nordiques. Il a reçu des financements de du Conseil de la recherche en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada et de partenaires de l’industrie, d’organisations para-gouvernementales et d’organismes sans but lucratif.

Julien H. Richard est membre du Centre d’études Nordique et du Centre d’étude de la forêt, son salaire est entièrement couvert par des financements de recherche de plusieurs organismes gouvernementaux en partenariat avec des industries.

– ref. Des hivers plus doux, des parasites plus présents : l’orignal est-il en péril face à la tique d’hiver ? – https://theconversation.com/des-hivers-plus-doux-des-parasites-plus-presents-lorignal-est-il-en-peril-face-a-la-tique-dhiver-256019

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Why MAGA is obsessed with Epstein − and why the files are unlikely to dent loyalty to Trump

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Alex Hinton, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; Director, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Rutgers University – Newark

MAGA hats are placed on a table at an election night party in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 5, 2024. Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images

With the latest shift by President Donald Trump on releasing the Epstein files held by the U.S. Department of Justice – he’s now for it after being against it after being for it – the MAGA base may finally get to view the documents it’s long wanted to see. On the afternoon of Nov. 18, 2025, the House voted overwhelmingly to seek release of the files, with only one Republican voting against the measure. The Conversation’s politics editor, Naomi Schalit, talked with scholar Alex Hinton, who has studied MAGA for years, about Make America Great Again Republicans’ sustained interest in the case of accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Hinton explains how MAGA’s interest in the case fits into what he knows about the group of die-hard Trump supporters.

Naomi Schalit: You are an expert on MAGA. How do you learn what you know about MAGA?

Alex Hinton: I’m a cultural anthropologist, and what we do is field work. We go where the people we’re studying live, act, talk. We observe and sort of hang out and see what happens. We listen and then we unpack themes. We try and understand the meaning systems that undergird whatever group we’re studying. And then, of course, there’s interviewing.

A man in a suit with a crowd behind him stands at a microphone-covered lectern that has a sign 'EPSTEIN FILES TRANSPARENCY ACT' written on it.
U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Texas Republican, speaks at a press conference alongside alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 3, 2025.
Bryan Dozier/Middle East Images via AFP, Getty Images

It appears that MAGA, Trump’s core supporters, are very concerned about various aspects of the Epstein story, including the release of documents that are in the possession of the U.S. government. Are they, in fact, concerned about this?

The answer is yes, but there’s also a sort of “no” implicit, too. We need to back up and think, first of all, what is MAGA.

I think of it as what we call in anthropology a nativist movement, a foregrounding of the people in the land. And this is where you get America First discourse. It’s also xenophobic, meaning that there’s a fear of outsiders, invaders coming in. It’s populist, so it’s something that’s sort of for the people.

Tucker Carlson interviewed Marjorie Taylor Greene, and he said, “I’m going to go over the five pillars of MAGA.” Those were America First, this is absolutely central. Borders was the second. You’ve got to secure the borders. The third was globalist antipathy, or a recognition that globalization has failed. Another one was free speech, and another one he mentioned was no more foreign wars. And I would add into that an emphasis on “we the people” versus elites.

Each of those is interwoven with a key dynamic to MAGA, which is conspiracy theory. And those conspiracy theories are usually anti-elite, going back to we the people.

If you look at Epstein, he’s where many of the conspiracy theories converge: Stop the Steal, The Big Lie, lawfare, deep state, replacement theory. Epstein kind of hits all of these, that there’s this elite cabal that’s orchestrating things that ultimately are against the interests of we the people, with a sort of antisemitic strain to this. And in particular, if we go back to Pizzagate in 2016, this conspiracy theory that there were these Democratic elitists who were, you know, demonic forces who were sex trafficking, and lo and behold, here’s Epstein doing precisely that.

There’s kind of a bucket of these things, and Epstein is more in it than not in it?

He’s all over it. He’s been there, you know, from the beginning, because he’s elite and they believe he’s doing sex trafficking. And then there’s a suspicion of the deep state, of the government, and this means cover-ups. What was MAGA promised? Trump said, we’re going to give you the goods, right? Kash Patel, Pam Bondi, everyone said we’re going to tell you this stuff. And it sure smacks of a cover-up, if you just look at it.

But the bottom line is there’s a realization among many people in MAGA that you’ve got to stay with Trump. It’s too much to say there is no MAGA without Trump. There’s certainly no Trumpism without Trump, but MAGA without Trump would be like the tea party. It’ll just sort of fade away without Trump.

People in MAGA are supporting Trump more than more mainstream Republicans on this. So I don’t think there’s going to be a break over this, but it certainly adds strain. And you can see in the current moment that Trump is under some strain.

A blond woman in a red hat speaks at a microphone while a man in a suit stands behind her, with American flags behind him.
President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime supporter, have split over the Epstein files release.
Elijah Nouvelage/AFP Getty Images

The break that we are seeing is Trump breaking with one of his leading MAGA supporters, Marjorie Taylor Greene, not the MAGA supporter breaking with Trump.

With Greene, sometimes it’s like a yo-yo in a relationship with Trump. You fall apart, you have tension, and then you sort of get back. Elon Musk was a little bit like that. You have this breakup, and now she’s sort of backtracking like Elon Musk did. I don’t think what is happening is indicative of a larger fracturing that’s going to take place with MAGA.

It seems that Trump did his about-face on releasing the documents so that MAGA doesn’t have to break with him.

It’s absolutely true. He’s incredible at taking any story and turning it in his direction. He’s sort of like a chess player, unless he blurts something out. He’s a couple of moves ahead of wherever, whatever’s running, and so in a way we’re always behind, and he knows where we are. It’s incredible that he’s able to do this.

There’s one other thing about MAGA. I think of it as “don’t cross the boss.” It’s this sort of overzealous love of Trump that has to be expressed, and literally no one ever crosses the boss in these contexts. You toe the line, and if you go against the line, you know what happened to Marjorie Taylor Greene, there’s the threat Trump is going to disown you. You’re going to get primaried.

Trump has probably made a brilliant strategic move, which is suddenly to say, “I’m all for releasing it. It’s actually the Democrats who are these evil elites, and now we’re going to investigate Bill Clinton and all these other Democrats.” He takes over the narrative, he knows how to do it, and it’s intentional. Whoever says Trump is not charismatic, he doesn’t make sense – Trump is highly charismatic. He can move a crowd. He knows what he’s doing. Never underestimate him.

Does MAGA care about girls who were sexually abused?

There is concern, you know, especially among the devout Christians in MAGA, for whom sex trafficking is a huge issue.

I think if you look at sort of notions of Christian morality, it also goes to notions of sort of innocence, being afflicted by demonic forces. And it’s an attack on we the people by those elites; it’s a violation of rights. I mean, who isn’t horrified by the idea of sex trafficking? But again, especially in the Christian circles, this is a huge issue.

The Conversation

Alex Hinton receives funding from the Rutgers-Newark Sheila Y. Oliver Center for Politics and Race in America, Rutgers Research Council, and Henry Frank Guggenheim Foundation.

– ref. Why MAGA is obsessed with Epstein − and why the files are unlikely to dent loyalty to Trump – https://theconversation.com/why-maga-is-obsessed-with-epstein-and-why-the-files-are-unlikely-to-dent-loyalty-to-trump-270109

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Clay Higgins: The sole Republican who voted ‘no’ to releasing the Epstein files

Source: Radio New Zealand

US Representative Clay Higgins speaks as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies at a Fiscal Year 2025 budget hearing at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on April 16, 2024. (Photo by Julia Nikhinson / AFP)

US Represenative Clay Higgins, Republican of Louisiana Photo: JULIA NIKHINSON

Representative Clay Higgins, Republican of Louisiana, was the sole no vote against releasing government records on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

It comes after President Donald Trump changed his position, after months of opposition to opening the case file tied to one of the US’ most notorious scandals.

“I’m a vote against,” Higgins earlier told CNN.

“My understanding and I’ve looked into it extensively is that the president didn’t like that guy, he had no friendly relationships with him. You can’t control who takes a picture with you,” he said.

In a post on X, Higgins further explained his vote, saying he has “been a principled “NO” on this from the beginning. What was wrong with this bil three months ago is still wrong today”.

“If enacted in its current form, this type of broad reveal of criminal investigative files, released to a rabid media, will absolutely result in innocent people being hurt. Not by my vote.”

More to come….

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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How the Nintendo Wii’s remote control changed gaming – one strike at a time

Source: Radio New Zealand

With a television remote-style controller that tracked the motion of a player’s hands in real time, the Nintendo Wii was unlike any console before it.

Designed to get players moving their body, players could swing a virtual tennis racket or bowl a strike — and its simple controls meant anyone could pick it up.

Competing with Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, the Wii — released on this day in 2006 — was never a powerhouse when it came to graphics, but the cultural impacts were incredibly broad, selling 101 million consoles over its lifetime.

The Wii Sports game was included with every console sold in Australia.

The Wii Sports game was included with every console sold in Australia.

Nintendo

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Caroline Flack: Search for the Truth raises questions about assault charges and British tabloid ethics

Source: Radio New Zealand

In February of 2020, when the news broke that UK television presenter Caroline Flack had died by suicide, the British tabloid media immediately came under scrutiny for its coverage of her final months.

The months leading up to the star’s death were tumultuous as she faced charges of assault against her boyfriend, Lewis Burton, and was forced to leave her job hosting Love Island.

While she may not be a household name in New Zealand, her death made international headlines, prompting calls for better laws around media regulation.

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 23: Caroline Flack seen at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, on December 23, 2019 in London, England. The Love Island host was in court after being charged with assault by beating following an argument with boyfriend Lewis Burton. (Photo by Mark R. Milan/GC Images)

Caroline Flack at London’s Highbury Corner Magistrates Court in 2019, after being charged with assault by beating following an argument with boyfriend Lewis Burton.

Mark R. Milan

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Silent cyber threats: How shadow AI could undermine Canada’s digital health defences

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Abbas Yazdinejad, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Artificial Intelligence, University of Toronto

Across Canada, doctors and nurses are quietly using public artificial-intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Gemini to write clinical notes, translate discharge summaries or summarize patient data. But even though these services offer speed and convenience, they also pose unseen cyber-risks when sensitive health information is no longer controlled by the hospital.

Emerging evidence suggests this behaviour is becoming more common. A recent ICT & Health Global article cited a BMJ Health & Care Informatics study showing that roughly one in five general practitioners in the United Kingdom reported using generative-AI tools such as ChatGPT to help draft clinical correspondence or notes.

While Canadian-specific data remain limited, anecdotal reports suggest that similar informal uses may be starting to appear in hospitals and clinics across the country.

This phenomenon, known as shadow AI, refers to the use of AI systems without formal institutional approval or oversight. In health-care settings, it refers to well-intentioned clinicians entering patient details into public chatbots that process information on foreign servers. Once that data leaves a secure network, there is no guarantee where it goes, how long it is stored, or whether it may be reused to train commercial models.

A growing blind spot

Shadow AI has quickly become one of the most overlooked threats in digital health. A 2024 IBM Security report found that the global average cost of a data breach has climbed to nearly US$4.9 million, the highest on record. While most attention goes to ransomware or phishing, experts warn that insider and accidental leaks now account for a growing share of total breaches.

In Canada, the Insurance Bureau of Canada and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security have both highlighted the rise of internal data exposure, where employees unintentionally release protected information. When those employees use unapproved AI systems, the line between human error and system vulnerability blurs.

Are any of these documented cases in health settings? While experts point to internal data exposure as a growing risk in health-care organizations, publicly documented cases where the root cause is shadow AI use remain rare. However, the risks are real.

Unlike malicious attacks, these leaks happen silently, when patient data is simply copy-and-pasted into a generative AI. No alarms sound, no firewalls are tripped, and no one realizes that confidential data has crossed national borders. This is how shadow AI can bypass every safeguard built into an organization’s network.

Why anonymization isn’t enough

Even if names and hospital numbers are removed, health information is rarely truly anonymous. Combining clinical details, timestamps and geographic clues can often allow re-identification. A study in Nature Communications showed that even large “de-identified” datasets can be matched to individuals with surprising accuracy when cross-referenced with other public information.

Public AI models further complicate the issue. Tools such as ChatGPT or Claude process inputs through cloud-based systems that may store or cache data temporarily.

While providers claim to remove sensitive content, each has its own data-retention policy and few disclose where those servers are physically located. For Canadian hospitals subject to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and provincial privacy laws, this creates a legal grey zone.

Everyday examples hiding in plain sight

Consider a nurse using an online translator powered by generative AI to help a patient who speaks another language. The translation appears instant and accurate — yet the input text, which may include the patient’s diagnosis or test results, is sent to servers outside Canada.

Another example involves physicians using AI tools to draft patient follow-up letters or summarize clinical notes, unknowingly exposing confidential information in the process.

A recent Insurance Business Canada report warned that shadow AI could become “the next major blind spot” for insurers.

Because the practice is internal and voluntary, most organizations have no metrics to measure its scope. Hospitals that do not log AI usage cannot audit what data has left their systems or who sent it.

Bridging the gap between policy and practice

Canada’s health-care privacy framework was designed long before the arrival of generative AI. Laws like the PIPEDA and provincial health-information acts regulate how data is collected and stored but rarely mention machine-learning models or large-scale text generation.

As a result, hospitals are forced to interpret existing rules in a rapidly evolving technological environment. Cybersecurity specialists argue that health organizations need three layers of response:

1- AI-use disclosure in cybersecurity audits: Routine security assessments should include an inventory of all AI tools being used, sanctioned or otherwise. Treat generative-AI usage the same way organizations handle “bring-your-own-device” risks.

2- Certified “safe AI for health” gateways: Hospitals can offer approved, privacy-compliant AI systems that keep all processing within Canadian data centres. Centralizing access allows oversight without discouraging innovation.

3- Data-handling literacy for staff: Training should make clear what happens when data is entered into a public model and how even small fragments can compromise privacy. Awareness remains the strongest line of defence.

These steps won’t eliminate every risk, but they begin to align front-line practice with regulatory intent, protecting both patients and professionals.

The road ahead

The Canadian health-care sector is already under pressure from staffing shortages, cyberattacks and growing digital complexity. Generative AI offers welcome relief by automating documentation and translation, yet its unchecked use could erode public trust in medical data protection.

Policymakers now face a choice: either proactively govern AI use within health institutions or wait for the first major privacy scandal to force reform.

The solution is not to ban these tools but to integrate them safely. Building national standards for “AI-safe” data handling, similar to food-safety or infection-control protocols, would help ensure innovation doesn’t come at the expense of patient confidentiality.

Shadow AI isn’t a futuristic concept; it’s already embedded in daily clinical routines. Addressing it requires a co-ordinated effort across technology, policy and training, before Canada’s health-care system learns the hard way that the most dangerous cyber threats may come from within.

The Conversation

Abbas Yazdinejad is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Artificial Intelligence and Mathematical Modelling Lab (AIMMlab), University of Toronto. He will be joining the Department of Computer Science at the University of Regina as an Assistant Professor in Cybersecurity in January 2026.

Jude Kong receives funding from NSERC, IDRC, and FCDO. He is the Executive Director of the Artificial Intelligence and Mathematical Modelling Lab (AIMMLab) at the University of Toronto, as well as AI4PEP, ACADIC, and REASURE2.

– ref. Silent cyber threats: How shadow AI could undermine Canada’s digital health defences – https://theconversation.com/silent-cyber-threats-how-shadow-ai-could-undermine-canadas-digital-health-defences-268478

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Tonga prepares for general election amid fuel shortages in Nuku’alofa

Source: Radio New Zealand

Tonga's fuel shortage has resulted in queues of cars outside petrol stations. This is at a gas station in Nuku'alofa. November 18, 2025.

Tonga’s fuel shortage has resulted in queues of cars outside petrol stations. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Teuila Fuatai

Silia Vailala and Lavelua Tui have been waiting to get gas for two hours at a petrol station in Nuku’alofa.

They’re second in line, with at least a dozen vehicles behind them. It’s mid-afternoon, and the sun is beating down.

The pair have gone from the heat of their car, to sitting in the shade of the shopfront next to the petrol station. For now, they’re resting on a cheap plastic mat they’ve bought at the shop. Just behind them, on a camping chair, is the woman whose car is first in the queue.

None of them are moving until they get fuel.

“This has been happening for the last four months in a row,” Vailala said.

Today, it’ll be another four hours before the pumps are back in action. And right now, more cars are joining the queue, because, as Vailala said, they’ve all just heard that by 7pm, the tanker would have refilled the empty pumps.

The frustration is palpable.

“It’s the uncertainty of it,” she said.

“We can’t do anything. We can’t function because we need fuel to get around. And we don’t hear anything – we’re not given any information as to what’s happening.

“Even the petrol station – they’re going to open but there are no signs. There’s no information. So, we have no idea what we’re doing. We’re just desperate, waiting, sitting.”

Both women want the government to step up and find a solution.

It’s been long enough, they said.

“My workers need that [fuel] as well to run the work site,” Tui said.

“I do wish…[for] better changes and better planning.”

Nuku'alofa, Tonga - Seeking shelter in the shade Lavelua Tui (grey shirt) and Silia Vailala were among patrons queuing for petrol at a Nuku'alofa petrol station on November 18, 2025 amidst a fuel shortage.

Lavelua Tui and Silia Vailala. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Teuila Fuatai

Emergency fuel supplies coming

The pleas, and the queues at petrol stations, are being noticed right at the top.

On Monday, caretaker prime minister Dr Aisake ‘Eke called a press conference on the issue.

He told media that emergency fuel supply ships were already en route, and that Tonga’s two main suppliers – Total Energies and Pacific Energy – were working together on distribution problems.

In a separate interview with PMN he also revealed the depth of the problem.

Eke said it’s been months in the making, with Total Energies and Pacific Energy deciding last year the companies’ fuel storage facilities needed upgrading.

The ongoing maintenance resulted in a reduction in overall fuel storage capacity, which means there simply isn’t enough fuel on-hand to meet Tonga’s demand.

Additionally, any disruption to supply ships sharpens that shortfall in fuel. Pacific Energy country manager Paula Taufa told Matangi Tonga last week that the company’s next shipment had been delayed due to technical problems with their tanker.

Vailala reckoned the solution is more than just sorting fuel supply problems.

She wants the government to be more ambitious and find ways to reduce the population’s reliance on fuel.

“It’s such a small island, and there’s too many cars on the road.

“I’ve seen maybe one or two buses full of school students, but there’s no public transport.

“The government maybe should think about having some public transport, some buses for locals to travel back and forth that will minimise the cars on the road and the fuel consumption.”

Balancing tradition and accountability

That desire for more ambitious, future-looking policy goes beyond the day-to-day challenges people need addressed.

It extends to discussions among Tonga’s policy wonks, keen to assess how well the Kingdom’s constitutional arrangements are working and how that affects policies ultimately targeted at improving everyone’s lives.

Malakai Kolo’amatagi, the registrar of Tonga National University, wrote a long opinion piece earlier this month assessing how representative parliament is, particularly since the country’s significant 2010 constitutional reforms.

Koloamatangi highlighted shortfalls in women’s representation in parliament, which staunch women’s rights advocates like Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki have raised repeatedly over the years, as well as potential changes in electoral rules.

In celebrating 150 years of the country’s constitution, he asked Tongans to consider what further democratisation of the constitution could practically look like – a particularly contemplative question given how entrenched the monarchy is in Tonga’s constitution and society.

A former political advisor, Lopeti Senituli, was far less reflective about the status quo.

He pointed to the role of Crown Prince Tupouto’a Ulukalala in Eke’s government and said it epitomises the ambiguity in the current constitutional set-up.

Eke appointed the Crown Prince to Cabinet from outside parliament at the beginning of the year, which according to the Constitution, he’s permitted to do.

The prime minister is in fact allowed to appoint up to four Cabinet members from outside parliament.

Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and Crown Prince Tupouto’a Ulukalala of Tonga after the 2024 Japan-Pacific Islands Defense Dialogue (Japan Ministry of Defense/Twitter)

Crown Prince Tupouto’a Ulukalala. Photo: Japan Ministry of Defense / Twitter

Foreign Affairs and the Crown Prince

Since then, the Crown Prince has gone on to oversee the country’s foreign affairs portfolio through the department of His Majesty’s Diplomatic Services.

Parliament passed a law in August to create the department and replace the previous Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Tonga parliament said in a statement the department aimed to regulate “the conduct of diplomatic and consular relations” and manage immigration services in accordance with the national interest “as determined by His Majesty and Cabinet”.

Senituli said the arrangement effectively created a two-tier system, where the Crown Prince and his portfolios – which also includes defence – sit outside Cabinet processes.

“That position is in-between the King and the Prime Minister. So, the question of accountability is doubtful,” Senituli said.

“Is he accountable to the King and Privy Council or is he accountable – like the other ministers – to the Prime Minister and Cabinet?”

He said that set-up, which could continue under the next government, only works if the Crown Prince is willing to hold himself to a higher standard than other parliamentarians. because he effectively holds a different rank as both Crown Prince and Cabinet minister compared to the other regular government ministers.

“He has to be more open to the public,” Senituli said.

Eke’s predecessor Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni reportedly clashed with King Tupou VI over key ministerial portfolios that were traditionally held by the monarchy.

Candidate elections signs for Tonga 2025 general election. Nuku'alofa. Nov 18 2025.

Tongans head to the polls tomorrow to vote for the next government. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Teuila Fuatai

The key players

Both Hu’akavameiliku and Eke are being touted as key players for the position of prime minister again.

While each of the men have not publicly stated outright that they want the top job, Eke has only had nine months in the role, while Hu’akavameiliku’s tenure ended prematurely when he resigned in December 2024 in the face of a second motion of no confidence in his leadership.

Two nobles are also in the race, according to PMN’s interview with Lord Vaea.

Vaea said both the speaker of parliament Lord Fakafanua and former Prime Minister Lord Tu’ivakano want to be prime minister.

At just 40 years of age, Lord Fakafanua is among Tonga’s younger parliamentarians. He entered parliament at age 24, and at 27 was elected speaker – the youngest ever to hold the position.

Lord Tu’ivakano brings a lot more experience. He’s a previous speaker of parliament and was the first prime minister after the 2010 constitutional reforms.

The position of prime minister will be voted for by Tonga’s 26 elected representatives (17 people’s representatives and nine noble representatives) once they’ve been confirmed following Thursday’s polling day. The Prime Minister then names their cabinet after they’ve been selected.

The process for prime minister is separate to the general election and is run by parliament, rather than the Electoral Commission.

In regard to the general election count, the Supervisor of Elections, Pita Vuki, said they are hoping to announce the results of the count on Thursday evening.

“When they close the voting at four, they will do the counting at their polling stations,” Vuki said.

“They will announce the results of those polling stations there, and then they will come back with their election report.

“And we just take them and put them on the result template that we have prepared for each constituency, and hopefully, on the night of the election, we will be able to announce the results.”

A Tonga Electoral Commission banner with the message: "Vote so you can be counted".

A Tonga Electoral Commission banner with the message: “Vote so you can be counted”. Photo: Tonga Electoral Commission

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Calling Israel an ‘apartheid state’ doesn’t help anyone

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tahani Mustafa, Lecturer in International Relations, King’s College London

Over the years, a charge that has repeatedly been levelled at the state of Israel is that is operates an “apartheid state”. And it’s easy to see why Israel’s opponents return to this argument.

The country’s regime of institutionalised separation and discrimination in occupied Palestine appears to meet the definition of apartheid under international law as set out by the United Nations in 1976. The international convention on the suppression and punishment of the crime of apartheid defines the system as “similar policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination as practised in southern Africa”.

This, it says, amounts to “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them”.

But having spent years as an analyst of Palestinian security and governance, I believe that labelling Israel as an apartheid state is misleading, precisely because of the considerable differences between Israel and apartheid-era South Africa. It does not speak to the lived experience of many of the Palestinians under Israel’s occupation, and its use risks marginalising them in their struggle for their national and human rights.

Language matters. Ultimately the term apartheid obscures as much as it reveals. It diverts attention from the ongoing and seemingly intractable conflict. It ignores Israel’s justifiable need to ensure security for its people. It also does nothing to further the cause of Palestinian self-determination.

Instead it focuses on largely inconsequential arguments about the extent to which Israel does or does not resemble the former South African regime.

There are clearly parallels to be drawn between Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and the conditions listed above that define apartheid. No Palestinian – anywhere in Israel or occupied Palestine – is equal to an Israeli under the law.

Further, while any Jewish person anywhere in the world can become a citizen of Israel, no Palestinian has the right of return to their homeland. No Palestinian can return to their family’s home in Israel itself, while Palestinians in the diaspora have to get the approval of the Israeli authorities to return to occupied Palestine, an almost impossible task.

Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem face sweeping restrictions on their movements. Large numbers face the confiscation of their land and harsh and discriminatory treatment that has forced people from their homes in what amounts to forcible population transfer. Many cannot live where they want and do not have even the most basic civil rights.

Those living in Gaza have, in effect, been confined to a large prison camp which – even before the current conflict began in October 2023 – has restricted imports of food and goods for decades and subjected inhabitants to regular destructive and lethal assaults.

But the problem with naming Israel as an apartheid state is that the term has become more than a strictly legal description of the situation. And it ignores the fact that the two situations operate under completely different logic.

In South Africa, white people wanted black people for labour. Most Israelis appear to want Palestinians out. A poll taken in May 2025 found overwhelming support among Israelis for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza and majority support for the expulsion of Israeli Arabs.

Many Palestinian citizens of Israel have latched on to the term apartheid because it describes their reality as second-class citizens in an ethno-national Jewish state. And many in the Palestinian diaspora have embraced the term because of their lived experience, deprived of their original nationality and unable to return to their family’s homes while any Jewish person can return and claim a citizenship they are denied.

National self-determination

Palestinians who use the term apartheid state often also embrace the solution inherent in the term. The aim is to end the apartheid conditions and live alongside Jews in a single democratic state as equals. This would transform Palestinians’ long struggle for self-determination into something more akin to a civil rights movement.

But not all Palestinians view the term in this way or embrace the one-state solution. This is where calling Israel an apartheid state becomes most problematic. While many of the Palestinians who live in occupied Palestine recognise the legal validity of the term, not all feel that it adequately captures their reality.

Some therefore prefer the term “settler colonialism”. It feels to them like a more appropriate concept in terms of the solutions it suggests. They believe a just two-state solution would allow them to keep their land while reclaiming their rights in that land and even potentially regaining land that has been lost.

Many in occupied Palestine do not want to compromise on their national rights to self-determination. They want separation from Israelis as much as Israelis want it from them.

But in general, Palestinians are realistic about the limitations of both one-state and two-state solutions They could easily be marginalised by either solution. In the former, they risk becoming de facto second-class citizens in a state dominated by Jewish Israelis. In the latter there is the very real prospect that they will end up living in a series of isolated enclaves akin to native reservations, enjoying only the most attenuated sovereignty.

However, many realise they have to compromise. In any one-state solution, they will have to compromise on their national rights, while under a two-state solution they will have to compromise on territory, settling for a state that constitutes 22% or less of the territory of historic Palestine. This willingness to compromise is rooted in realism born out of despair not hope.

The Palestinian national movement is arguably weaker than it has ever been. It is fragmenting along geographic and partisan lines. Palestinians in the diaspora, those who have Israeli citizenship and those in the West Bank and Gaza can hold very different views and there are significant divisions even within those four broad groupings. These divides have become ever more intractable over the past two years of conflict in Gaza.

So, painting Israel as an apartheid state is unrealistic when it comes to the situation faced by Palestinians. It’s a concept that achieves little in terms of a future strategy and, at the same time, undermines Palestinian unity.

The Conversation

Tahani Mustafa 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. Calling Israel an ‘apartheid state’ doesn’t help anyone – https://theconversation.com/calling-israel-an-apartheid-state-doesnt-help-anyone-268949