Medcrypt Broadens Strategic Partnerships to Strengthen Medical Device Cybersecurity Ecosystem Collaborations with BioT and Stratigos Security empower medical device manufacturers with comprehensive cybersecurity solutions these partnerships provide enhanced protection across device connectivity meeting the healthcare industry's growing demand for secure the leader in proactive security solutions for medical devices today announced an expansion of its strategic partnerships with BioT This collaborative network aims to deliver an enhanced suite of cybersecurity capabilities interoperable technology solutions across the medical device ecosystem BioT is the infrastructure for medical device clouds – the secure and smart foundation for delivering next-generation care. BioT extends Medcrypt's software vulnerability capabilities into an analytic and operational platform that executes a business-oriented plan specified for impacted devices BioT assesses the relevance of what is actually deployed Extra Security, a leading cybersecurity consulting firm specializes in in-depth offensive security assessments covering all aspects of medical devices and their supporting systems FDA-focused security evaluations to Medcrypt customers supporting FDA submission requirements and strengthening ongoing security programs This partnership safeguards critical healthcare technologies against evolving cyber threats ensuring that cybersecurity remains adaptive to the latest risks RTI, the leading provider of connectivity software for autonomous systems enables developers of complex medical technologies—such as surgical robots and patient monitoring devices—to incorporate Medcrypt's cybersecurity solutions alongside RTI Connext® Security Extensions out-of-the-box solution integrates encryption providing essential protections while maintaining device performance and supporting compliance Stratigos Security, a trusted partner within Medcrypt's network plays an essential role in delivering technical cybersecurity solutions with a regulatory focus for the medical device industry Stratigos Security helps manufacturers integrate robust security measures throughout the device lifecycle Their approach ensures clarity and alignment for engineers all working toward achieving comprehensive regulatory readiness in today's complex compliance landscape we can deliver a complete cybersecurity ecosystem tailored to the unique needs of healthcare technology," said Om Mahida Vice President of Product Management at Medcrypt "These collaborations equip our clients with end-to-end security from connectivity and compliance to threat detection and regulatory strategy helping them navigate the complex cybersecurity landscape confidently." Medcrypt and its partners will engage in joint marketing and raise industry awareness of the critical importance of cybersecurity in medical devices Training exchanges between the teams will enhance their expertise ensuring all parties continue to evolve their solutions in response to cybersecurity's unique demands within healthcare Medcrypt is helping healthcare technology companies ensure medical devices are secure by design We provide cybersecurity products and strategic management consulting to expedite the go-to-market process of medical device manufacturers' new life-saving connected technologies Founded in 2016 by a team of healthcare cybersecurity experts Medcrypt is uniquely positioned to be the security catalyst for medical device manufacturers to design secure We continue to work with those paving the way toward safe and reliable medtech To date, Medcrypt has raised more than $36 million in funding with participation from Johnson & Johnson Innovations, Intuitive Ventures, and Dexcom Ventures. For more information, please visit www.Medcrypt.com Jenny Bourne2087618447http://www.medcrypt.com has announced enhanced capabilities for Helm its SBOM Vulnerability Management Tool built.. and marketing efforts as Medcrypt continues to expand its offerings within the.. High Tech Security Computer & Electronics Health Care & Hospitals Medical Equipment Do not sell or share my personal information: New York to Muriel Marcellus Robinson and Claude Biot on June 2 He enlisted in the Navy while attending Compton High School Marc was a member of the West Coast College baseball team. After graduation Marc went on to attend the University of California Marc also enjoyed acting as peer counselor to fellow students who were also returning Vietnam Veterans Marc developed a love for leather crafting first as a cobbler at a local shoe shop in Orange County. And then after moving to Sheridan he was the sole leather craftsman at Fort McKenzie leather shop he worked several years for Cowboy Products learning to make cowboy leather products Marc’s lifelong passion throughout his childhood and adult life was baseball. He continued that passion by forming several trophy-winning softball teams He was able to combine his love and his passion as the area’s only baseball repairman. Marc was a cobbler Marc was introduced to Andree (Andi) Harrison by her father They were married a year after the introduction Preceded in death by his mother and his father Andi; their daughter Akili Turner (Willie); their granddaughter Ayanna Harrison (Wes Olivier) and their “other daughter” Deanna Morrell (Danny); and grandsons Elijah White and Solomon Morrell Marc will be interred with full military honors In celebration of his life, friends and neighbors are invited to his Memorial Service at 1:00 pm., March 25, 2025, at First Christian Church, 201 Connor Street, Sheridan, Wyoming, with Chaplain Derek Schultz officiating. Online condolences may be made to www.sheridanfuneral.com Arrangements are under the care of Sheridan Funeral Home I am so sorry about the loss of your husband and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Posted on January 31, 2025 Professor Yi Tang has been named the winner of the 2025 Marvin J Johnson Award in Microbial and Biochemical Technology by the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Biochemical Technology (BIOT) This memorial award was established in 1979 to recognize outstanding research contributions to microbial and biochemical technology. Tang will receive the award and give a lecture at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring meeting in San Diego (March 23-27) “Yi Tang has developed experimental and bioinformatic methods to trace biosynthetic pathways – how nature makes complex molecules that form the heart of the pharmaceutical industry,” said Professor Ken Houk “This award recognizes our great colleague who I am delighted to be able to collaborate with on a regular basis He has discovered new natural products and enzymes that will enable more efficient synthesis of complex natural products and drugs.” Tang is Professor in Chemistry and Biochemistry the Parsons Family Foundation Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and also a Professor in Bioengineering at UCLA recognizing Yi’s world-leadership in engineering microbial metabolism to discover bioactive compounds,” said Professor Neil Garg another active collaborator with the Tang lab The Tang group has developed new advanced synthetic biology tools to enable microorganisms to produce all the natural products encoded in their genomes revealing new natural products not previously accessible They can mine natural products with specific enzyme targets and this recently led to the discovery of a new herbicide that has shown promise in overcoming previous herbicides’ limitations Tang’s lab has also developed powerful tools for mining genomes to rediscover natural chemical diversity a high-throughput approach to reconstitute hundreds of biosynthetic pathways in engineered yeast was developed This innovation led to the founding of Hexagon Biosciences The Tang group has engineered enzymes from biosynthetic pathways into commercially used biocatalysts This biocatalytic process replaces traditional multistep chemical synthesis and won the ACS Green Chemistry Award in 2012 The method has since been used to produce thousands of tons of simvastatin Tang’s lab has made significant contributions to the discovery of novel enzymes involved in natural product biosynthesis revealing previously unknown enzymatic reactions A key breakthrough was the identification of a new family of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)-dependent enzymes that catalyze pericyclic reactions His comprehensive work on enzyme chemistry has led to coauthoring two books with Christopher Walsh the late world-renown enzymologist and chemical biologist including the American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE) Allan P and the Cope Scholar and Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry from the American Chemical Society UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry University of California © 2025 UC Regents Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved mother Born to Girante and Orsola in December 1935 and spent 57 wonderful years together before his passing in 2016 She was a proud great grandmother to Avery Maria is now reunited with her brother Vittorio (Patricia) Maria always enjoyed visits from family and friends and made everyone feel welcomed She will be fondly remembered for her cooking Maria had a green thumb and enjoyed growing flowers and vegetables in her garden She loved to spend time outdoors and often went fishing with Quinto Maria loved taking pictures with her little camera and capturing many fond memories Friends and family will be received on Monday September 16 2024 at the Ward Funeral Home (4671 Highway 7 Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday September 17 Peter’s Parish (100 Bainbridge Avenue Entombment to follow at Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery Donations may be made in Maria’s memory to the Heart and Stroke Foundation Click HERE to donate to the Heart & Stroke Foundation Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Metrics details This study aims to develop a theoretical model for predicting the permeability of concrete in underground structures using compressive elastic waves This research is motivated by the necessity of monitoring the permeability of concrete used in critical underground infrastructure such as tunnels and radioactive waste disposal sites Increased permeability owing to crack generation can lead to groundwater inflow undermining the structural integrity of these facilities Traditional methods for permeability monitoring face challenges at depths of 500 m–1 km owing to high temperatures which correlates the P-wave characteristics with the properties of porous media The P-wave velocity and attenuation were studied according to the permeability of concrete based on Biot’s model concrete specimens were prepared to measure the permeability The permeability results from the experiment were compared with those obtained from the model for validation The findings indicate that the modified Biot’s model can effectively monitor permeability through elastic wave characteristics offering a non-destructive and reliable method for assessing the condition of concrete structures in underground environments This approach is expected to enhance the safety of underground infrastructure through accurate permeability monitoring Example of ground water inflow and stored fluid leakage through the crack in concrete material in an underground structure these test methods have several limitations including slow and complicated measurement processes and mechanical deformation of the medium in the field accounting for the groundwater flow that influences the evaluation of elastic wave characteristics is essential modified Biot’s models are insufficient for considering the properties of fluid flow which can incorporate the properties of the propagated media and saturated fluid may be appropriate for predicting permeability using elastic wave characteristics to predict the permeability of concrete materials using Biot’s model developing a theoretical model that considers the saturation level and uses the P-wave velocity and attenuation in backward calculations is crucial a prediction model was derived to predict the permeability of concrete materials using P-wave velocity and attenuation Biot’s model was modified to predict the permeability (for the output) using the P-wave velocity and attenuation (as inputs) The sensitivities of the P-wave velocity and attenuation to the permeability of the concrete material were investigated using the modified model laboratory tests were performed to determine the permeability and wave attenuation and the test results were compared with those of the modified model This study is expected to be useful for predicting concrete permeability in underground structures using P-wave characteristics It is a poroelasticity model that can be used to analyze the characteristics of fluid flow in porous media The properties of the propagated media (e.g. and Poisson’s ratio) and those of the saturated fluid (e.g. density and bulk modulus of water) are required in the formulation of Biot’s model which is used for evaluating the dynamic properties where $\:{{V}_{p}}^{*}$is the P-wave velocity expressed as a complex number and the $\:{V}_{p}$ is the real part of $\:{{V}_{p}}^{*}$ where, parameters $\:A$ and $\:F$ can be expressed by the Eqs. (6) and (7): Attenuation (Q− 1) is defined as the ratio of the imaginary number to the real number $\:{{V}_{p}}^{*2}$ and can be expressed as follows: $\:\text{I}\text{m}{({V}_{p}}^{*2})$ and $\:\text{R}\text{e}\left({{V}_{p}}^{*2}\right)$ denote the magnitudes of the imaginary and real parts of the complex number of $\:{{V}_{p}}^{2}$ The attenuation of elastic wave energy is defined as the inverse quality factor ($\:{Q}^{-1}$) which is related to the damping ratio ($\:D$) of the elastic signal as follows: To evaluate permeability using the P-wave velocity and attenuation, Biot’s model must be expressed in reverse. Therefore, Eq. (1) can be rearranged and expressed for $\:q$ as follows: Because $\:{{V}_{p}}^{*}$ is determined using the characteristics of $\:{V}_{p}$ and $\:{Q}^{-1}$, measuring the P-wave velocity and attenuation of concrete structures in the field enables the calculation of $\:q.$ Following this approach, the permeability can be evaluated using Eq. (11) with the parameters of the porous media This concept is considered an innovative approach for evaluating the permeability of underground structures using elastic wave measurement techniques specifically for measuring the P-wave velocity and attenuation A sensitivity analysis was performed using Biot’s model to determine the effect of the properties of concrete on P-wave velocity and attenuation. The properties of the concrete were considered by referring to previous studies, and the ranges of the values and selected values are summarized in Table 2 The changes in P-wave velocity were analyzed according to the permeability of the concrete material the Young’s modulus and angular frequency were considered to be 30 GPa and 23 kHz the permeabilities were set in the range of 10− 10 m/s to 10− 5 m/s with 5–25% of porosity (n) and 1–99% of saturation (S) This is because the saturation level cannot exceed 100% because of the presence of isolated and closed pores in the medium; therefore 99% saturation was considered an apparently fully saturated level in this study Relationship between permeability and P-wave velocity Relationship between Young’s modulus and p-wave velocity P-wave velocity is an inappropriate index for identifying the change in permeability in a concrete medium This study analyzed the effect of permeability on attenuation assuming Young’s modulus and angular frequency to be 30 GPa and 5 kHz Relationship between permeability and attenuation according to porosity. Relationship between permeability and attenuation according to saturation To verify the attenuation characteristics at high porosity attenuation values were evaluated at a porosity of 35%,; the values of attenuation were determined to be 2.26 × 10− 8 (S = 1%) and 1.54 × 10− 6 (S = 99%) at high permeability of 10− 10 m/s the values of attenuation were obtained as 1.82 × 10− 4 (S = 1%) These attenuation values were 8,185 times (S = 1%) and 9,740 times (S = 99%) greater than those obtained at 10− 10 m/s permeability under the same saturation conditions and 2.8 times when the porosity is increased from 5 to 35% in the case of 10− 5 m/s permeability The attenuation tended to be higher at a higher degree of saturation with greater permeability. At the same permeability, the values of attenuation were higher under high saturation conditions (S = 99%) than under low saturation conditions (S = 1%), regardless of porosity (Fig. 5) the attenuation converged to zero under all conditions of permeability and porosity When the permeability increased from 10− 10 m/s to 10− 5 m/s the attenuation was increased from 1.25 × 10− 7 to 5.32 × 10− 3 (n = 5%) and 1.30 × 10− 7 to 1.36 × 10− 2 (n = 25%)under 99% saturation the elastic wave diffuses in concrete materials at high permeability it is expected that permeability can be effectively evaluated using the attenuation characteristics Cylindrical concrete specimens were prepared to measure the attenuation of the concrete material in the laboratory (Fig. 6). Twelve concrete specimens corresponding to a diameter-to-length ratio of 1:2 (100 mm in diameter and 200 mm in length) were prepared to obtain the wave velocity and attenuation by performing FFRC tests. Concept of FFRC test for measuring the characteristics of compressive waves. Example of measured signals in (a) time and (b) frequency domains we observed that the compressive wave velocity was in a range of 3,775 m/s to 4,290 m/s and the values of attenuation and resonant frequency were in ranges of 0.021 to 0.031 and 9.6 kHz to 11.0 kHz the relationship between attenuation and permeability was analyzed by considering tortuosity values in the 1–100 range Permeability comparison of experimental results and prediction model based on attenuation it was concluded that the permeability can be estimated by analyzing attenuation in conjunction with the properties of concrete materials the validation of the modified Biot’s model was conducted on limited specimens and conditions so the accuracy and reliability of the validation need to be improved in future studies the modified Biot’s model from this study represents an innovative approach to evaluating the permeability of concrete structures in the field using elastic wave characteristics it is expected that the proposed model can be utilized as a simple and accurate permeability monitoring approach to prevent disturbances to structures in the field Concrete materials have been widely used in important infrastructure under underground conditions such as engineered barriers for deep geological storage and tunnel linings Monitoring the permeability variation in concrete materials is crucial because it is related to the pathway of groundwater inflow and leakage of stored fluid which is based on the characteristics of compressive elastic waves was used to estimate the permeability of concrete materials for nondestructive monitoring A sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the P-wave velocity and attenuation according to the permeability of the concrete materials the characteristics of the elastic waves were investigated by performing laboratory tests to validate the prediction model A permeability prediction model for porous media based on the characteristics of elastic waves The permeability of a concrete material can be calculated using the prediction model employing the P-wave characteristics of velocity and attenuation During the sensitivity analysis of P-wave velocity and attenuation with respect to permeability the change in P-wave velocity was determined to be insignificant with an increase in permeability our analysis showed that the P-wave velocity values changed dramatically with the variation in Young’s modulus P-wave velocity is unsuitable for evaluating permeability characteristics The attenuation was found to vary significantly with the variation in permeability the increase in attenuation was higher in cases of high porosity and saturation when the permeability was increased It was inferred that attenuation is related to the pore structure (i.e. the wave propagation path and energy loss of the waves increase attenuation increases in concrete materials with high porosity and permeability An experimental test was performed to verify the prediction model for permeability based on attenuation Through a comparison between the modified Biot’s model and the experimental test results it was verified that the attenuation–permeability curve can be used to estimate the permeability using attenuation the limited properties of concrete were considered to derive a prediction model for permeability the results of this study can be utilized for the non-destructive estimation of the permeability of concrete using the characteristics of elastic waves in underground structures The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request Natural analogues: Studies of geological processes relevant to radioactive waste disposal in deep geological repositories Loads on sprayed waterproof tunnel linings in jointed hard rock: A study based on Norwegian cases Quantitative evaluation on self-healing capacity of cracked concrete by water permeability test–A review Dynamic strength characteristics of fractured rock mass A novel obtaining method and mesoscopic mechanism of pseudo-shear strength parameter evolution of sandstone Methods of test for concrete permeability: A critical review Testing concrete – Recommendation for the Determination of the Initial Surface Absorption of Concrete WT–new testing system for in-situ measurements of concrete water permeability Standard Method of test for Resistance of Concrete to Chloride ion Penetration (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Standard test Method for Determining the Penetration of Chloride ion into Concrete by Ponding Standard Method of test for Electrical Indication of Concrete’s Ability to Resist Chloride ion Penetration Standard test method for electrical indication of concrete’s ability to resist chloride ion penetration Standard Method of test for Surface Resistivity Indication of Concrete’s Ability to Resist Chloride Ion Penetration (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Standard test Method for bulk Electrical Conductivity of Hardened Concrete Non-destructive Evaluation of Reinforced Concrete Structures: Non-destructive Testing Methods Elastic wave velocity changes due to the fracture aperture and density and direct correlation with permeability: an energetic approach to mated rock fractures Experimental study on the porosity evaluation of pervious concrete by using ultrasonic wave testing on surfaces Influence of the size and frequency of contact transducers on the determination of concrete permeability by ultrasonic velocity and attenuation Theory of propagation of elastic waves in a fluid-saturated porous solid Differential form and numerical implementation of Biot’s poroelasticity equations with squirt dissipation & Viscoelastic BISQ model for low-permeability sandstone with clay A wave propagation model with the Biot and the fractional viscoelastic mechanisms Effect of partial water saturation on attenuation characteristics of low porosity rocks pore size distribution and in situ strength of concrete The influence of concrete composition on Young’s modulus A study of permeability and tortuosity of concrete In: 30th conference on our world in concrete and structures An intelligent hybrid system for predicting the tortuosity of the pore system of fly ash concrete Influence of pore tortuosity on hydraulic conductivity of pervious concrete: characterization and modeling Acoustic emission characteristics during uniaxial compressive loading for concrete specimens according to sand content ratio Coupling material characteristics with water–cement ratio for elastic wave based monitoring of underground structure Monitoring the setting of concrete containing blast-furnace slag by measuring the ultrasonic p-wave velocity Effect of pore structures on gas permeability and chloride diffusivity of concrete Effects of water–cement ratio and curing time on the critical pore width of hardened cement paste chloride diffusivity and pore structure of high performance metakaolin and silica fume concrete Improvement of cemented rockfill by premixing low-alkalinity activator and fly ash for recycling gangue and partially replacing cement Download references This work was supported by the Institute for Korea Spent Nuclear Fuel (iKSNF) and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (Ministry of Science and ICT MSIT) (2021M2E1A1085193) and by the Brain Korea 21 FOUR Project in the Education & Research Center for Infrastructure of Smart Ocean City (i-SOC Center) (Grant No Research Institute of Industrial Technology Disposal Performance Demonstration R&D Division Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) The authors declare no competing interests Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-73449-x Anyone you share the 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You can change your cookie settings at any time Freedom of Information releases and corporate reports Jonathan Powell has been appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for negotiations between the UK and Mauritius on the exercise of sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) / Chagos Archipelago The Government has agreed to continue the talks which began in 2022 under the previous government Resolving this long-standing issue with a close Commonwealth partner is in the interest of both parties Mr Powell has extensive experience in negotiations affecting the UK’s national interests in sensitive domestic and international contexts including playing a central role in securing the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and previously serving as Prime Minister David Cameron’s Special Envoy to Libya between 2014 and 2016 He will begin his role immediately and his work will involve engaging the most senior Mauritian and US interlocutors and advising Ministers and HMG negotiators on how to conclude a robust agreement Negotiations with Mauritius over the BIOT/Chagos Archipelago are critical to the UK’s security We are determined to protect the long-term secure and effective operation of the joint UK/US military base on Diego Garcia Jonathan Powell’s experience working with governments of all colours in the most sensitive international negotiations makes him uniquely qualified to serve as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy I look forward to working with him as we endeavour to reach a settlement that protects UK interests and those of our partners The Chagos Archipelago includes the island of Diego Garcia the location of an important UK-US military base which plays a vital role in regional and global security Working in close coordination with the United States the UK Government will continue the previous government’s policy of aiming to reach an agreement that protects the UK’s security interests enhances environmental cooperation and builds a long-term strategic relationship with Mauritius as a close Commonwealth partner The UK-Mauritius negotiations began in November 2022 Email newsdesk@fcdo.gov.uk Contact the FCDO Communication Team via email (monitored 24 hours a day) in the first instance Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details Note: This is part one of a three-part series on the proposed handover of the Chagos Archipelago from the UK to Mauritius The Strategic Importance of the Chagos Archipelago The Chagos Archipelago is a strategically vital component of Western security’s global footprint It has been under continuous UK sovereignty for over two centuries A recent deal between the UK and Mauritian governments that would transfer sovereignty from the former to the latter is in the process of being finalised The deal would threaten the Western presence in the Indian Ocean and it is deeply unpopular with many in the UK the incoming US administration and the Chagossian people The only ones who stand to benefit seem to be Labour party leaders keen to garner plaudits for decolonisation the Mauritian government who are naturally eager to gain substantial new territory (that had never been part of Mauritius prior to the colonial period) and the various military and security apparatuses of the Chinese military Elliot Winter is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in international law at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom Bank of England granted political independence Chinese Exclusion Act barred Chinese laborers from US This article discusses the decision of the UK to cede sovereignty to Mauritius and the likely implications Several rulings have undermined the UK’s position “Mauritius’ sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago can be inferred from the ICJ’s determinations” Since the UK’s decision to cede sovereignty there has been discussion about the basis and weight of the rulings including that the Chagos Archipelago is far away from Mauritius and was only attached to Mauritius in 1903 and that the ICJ ruling was only advisory and should be ignored This overlooks the fact the weight of international opinion was moving away from the UK the manner in which BIOT was created was highly problematic and the original reason for creating the uninhabited territory (to provide additional security to the military base) was being compromised So, there are good reasons why the UK government (under the Conservatives and now Labour) felt it was time for an agreement to be reached with Mauritius. Of course, there were several factors to consider and those critical of the deal have said that it will empower China and Mauritius cannot be trusted to abide by the Treaty The ceding of sovereignty will (as noted previously) place the military base on a sounder legal footing enhance relations with India (which backed the deal) and other partners in the Indo-Pacific region and provide a much-needed shot-in-the-arm for decolonisation Even if one disagrees with some of the details of the deal there are good reasons why one should have been struck and there is more government support for the Chagossians in the UK the deal to cede control between two sovereign states was the necessary prelude to Chagossians getting that right to return If sovereignty had remained contested any such move would have been more uncertain The third strand to the debate is whether ceding the sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago is the thin end of the wedge and will lead to increased pressure on the UK’s sovereignty of some other British Overseas Territories It might seem like an obvious argument to make but it oversimplifies the complex and nuanced relationships that the BOTs have with both the UK and other countries It is true there are issues in the bilateral relationship between them and the UK that cause disagreements and the balance of decision-making power is an ongoing consideration but they are far away from what is happening with the British Indian Ocean Territory The decision of the UK government to cede control of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius is significant and not without risks there is work to do to secure the interests of the Chagossians But much of the commentary has been hyperbolic and unhelpful Professor Peter Clegg is Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of the West of England He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in London and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica Copyright © — E-International Relations tourist says French travel blogger said first Western tour to country in 5 years showcased ties with Russia By Park Jaewoo for RFA Korean2025.03.01A French travel blogger who was among the first group of Western tourists to visit North Korea in five years told Radio Free Asia that his tour guides knew that the country’s soldiers were fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine -- something the government has kept largely a secret from the public 20-25 trip showcased North Korea’s culture its close ties with Russia and its “surprisingly really good” locally-produced beer The visitors were only allowed to stay within the Rason Special Economic Zone in the country’s far northeastern corner Foreign tourism to North Korea had completely shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It reopened last year, but only to visitors from Russia Biot had always wanted to visit the reclusive state and thought it was only a matter of time until it would open up further there were rumblings that the country would accept tourists from anywhere except South Korea and the United States on guided tours who had been monitoring several travel agencies was able to book a four-night five-day trip departing from China traveled overland from Yanji in China’s Jilin province He said the entry process getting into North Korea was easy although authorities conducted sanitary inspections due to concerns about COVID-19 and it went actually pretty smoothly,” Biot told RFA Korean from Hong Kong in a video call after the conclusion of his trip “I think they are still a bit scared of COVID,” he said “They didn’t check like vaccines or anything They had us pay for a disinfection of our bags also.” The tour was tightly controlled by two guides and two guides-in-training None of the visitors had any freedom to roam around on their own told him she had never interacted with a foreigner before The itinerary included an elementary school such as a Taekwon-Do performance and a kimchi-making event But there was a lot of uncertainty about the itinerary from day to day the guides would tell the visitors where they might go the next day but the actual destination wasn’t announced until the following morning but he wouldn’t confirm anything before the morning when we were going,” Biot said a special zone where North Korea has experimented with some aspects of capitalism such as an electronic banking system and access to the internet -- although neither one worked very well Inside the hotel, the wi-fi signal was weak, so the only reliable areas were those near the Chinese or Russian borders. But Biot was able to post updates about his trip on his social media accounts. The tourists were issued debit cards upon their arrival but very few businesses agreed to be paid that way ‘The whole trip was a complete shock and surprise.’ North Korea says giant tourist beach resort to open in June 2025 North Korea to sell gambling rights at vacant 105-floor Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang "Basically you can buy a credit card that works but with no name on it I just bought the card for the full 25 RMB ($3.43)," he said using the abbreviation for renminbi the Mandarin word for China’s currency I’m able to pay for the taxi with the card .. but we never took the taxi because we were with the group anyway,” said Biot North Korea’s long and friendly relationship with Russia also was underscored during the tour Moscow provided aid to prop up the North Korean economy until the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s which sent the North Korean economy crashing down The tour visited the Russia-Korea Friendship Pavilion on the border between the two countries to commemorate a visit by then-leader Kim Il Sung to the Soviet Union Biot said that the tour guides tended to avoid questions about politics but some did say that they knew that North Korean troops were sent to support Russia in its war with Ukraine “Apparently yes, they know about it, but they don’t know to what extent,” he said. “So they know about the relations with Russia getting better and better.” When asked about the food the tour group was served, Biot praised the domestically produced beer. “Actually the beer was surprisingly really good,” said Biot. “Well, at every single meal we would have, we had no table water, but we had table beer like local beer too. I think all of us had at least like five beers per day.” Another part of the trip included a visit to statues of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s predecessors, his grandfather Kim Il Sung and his father Kim Jong Il. The tourists were told to buy flowers to lay in front of the statues in a show of respect. “We all had to bow, which was really important because we were the first tourist group” to visit in some time, Biot said. Throughout the trip, Biot could sense the immense respect that the North Korean people had for their leaders, he said. The guides often used the expression, “Our great leader made the decision ...” and they spoke often about Kim Jong Un’s achievements. Translated by Leejin J. Chung and Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster. indispensable guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington follow the latest on tariffs and executive orders Stay on top of the latest events in US politics with the FT’s trusted and impartial coverage Insight and analysis on US politics from commentators such as Ed Luce and James Politi This subscription does not include access to ft.com or the FT App Essential digital access to quality FT journalism on any device Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders Terms & Conditions apply Discover all the plans currently available in your country See why over a million readers pay to read the Financial Times Authorities refused to grant access for judge and legal teams to visit island where dozens of Tamil asylum seekers are stranded The US government has blocked the UK from holding a court hearing in one of its own territories, it emerged on Tuesday. The hearing was due to take place on the remote island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to consider the fate of dozens of Tamil asylum seekers stranded there for more than 1,000 days who claim they are being unlawfully detained. Diego Garcia is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot), over which the UK asserts control. The Biot supreme court was due to conduct a site visit on Monday and then begin to hear the unlawful detention claim on Tuesday. The Tamils, who fled persecution in Sri Lanka, arrived in Diego Garcia in October 2021 after a boat they were travelling in hoping to reach Canada got into difficulty. Read moreBritish navy ships rescued them and brought them to the island Since then they have endured appalling living conditions in a rat-infested tented camp the size of a football pitch They are desperate to be relocated to a safe third country The UK has leased part of the island to the US for a military base The US authorities refused to grant access to some parts of the island so the site visit was cancelled hours before the judge and legal teams were due to board a flight said the US authorities would not allow the judge and legal teams to board US military flights to Diego Garcia and would not provide transport accommodation or food on the island until its “security and operational concerns are adequately addressed” The US said it would be “willing to reconsider” the requests if the visit could be “conducted in a manner” that addressed its concerns A remote hearing in London was held on Tuesday to decide next steps One of the Tamils watching via video link from Diego Garcia collapsed three times said the cancellation had had a “devastating” effect on the asylum seekers some of whom have made suicide attempts due to despair about their life on the island “For the last five months our clients have been counting down the days There’s a real risk that the delay will threaten their lives,” he said said: “That the British Indian Ocean Territory supreme court has been prevented from sitting in its own territory on Crown land is an extraordinary affront to the rule of law and we trust that the foreign secretary will now do everything in his power to ensure that the hearing goes ahead as soon as possible.” The events leading up to the blocking of the case came just before the general election so it was initially under the remit of David Cameron before being taken on by the new foreign secretary Foreign Office sources said that the welfare and safety of migrants on Biot was a top priority America blocking a British judge and her team from holding a court hearing in Diego Garcia could possibly trigger a diplomatic row between the US and the UK The United States’ (US) decision to block a British judge from holding a court hearing in Diego Garcia which the UK considers its own territory (though on long-lease to the US for its military base since 1966) could lead to a straining of relations between the two trans-Atlantic allies with the potential to trigger an avoidable diplomatic row Though not covered in the news as much as the UK-Mauritius sovereignty dispute over the Chagos Archipelago will require equally sensitive handling by London and Washington The specific issue has its beginning on 3 October 2021 when a boat carrying about 60 Sri Lankan Tamils became distressed in the Indian Ocean and was rescued by the British Royal Navy and brought to the island of Diego Garcia. They have been stranded there for almost three years and some have sought legal remedies claiming they are being unlawfully detained at Thunder Cove Camp in Diego Garcia Diego Garcia is the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean the Chagos Archipelago was treated as part of Mauritius under British colonial rule prior to granting Mauritius independence in 1968 the UK separated the Chagos islands and renamed it the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) There is an ongoing sovereignty dispute between Mauritius and the UK over the Chagos Archipelago/BIOT Though there is support within the UK government for the it to hand back the Chagos islands to Mauritius the White Hall still maintains its sovereignty over the island it alone is on lease to the US for defence purposes which began in 1966 for an initial 50-year period the agreement was rolled over and will now expire in 2036 The military base on Diego Garcia is formally considered a joint UK-US military facility Following Judge Obi’s decision and subsequent order that a site visit was necessary, the BIOT Commissioner appealed against this in the BIOT Court of Appeal on the grounds that the “Supreme Court can fairly determine the disputed issues from written photographic and video evidence together with the witness’ evidence” It was argued that a site visit would add little evidential value and that in the current litigation environment remote hearings are increasingly common and a fair hearing could be achieved remotely the costs and practical difficulties of holding court hearings in Diego Garcia were argued to be substantial Diego Garcia indeed presents a unique case in international relations This adds several layers of complexity to this incident and distinctively impacts both the future possibility of a site visit and the actual lives of the Sri Lankan asylum seekers BIOT is constitutionally distinct and separate from the UK The constitutional arrangements for BIOT give the Commissioner power to make laws that maintain peace The Commissioner carries out the function of both government and legislature in the Territory The BIOT justice system is made up of a Magistrates Court Court of Appeal and final appeals going to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council there is little room for manoeuvre when it comes to security concerns Security risks tend to trump all other issues The fact that Judge Obi’s team were travelling with members of the press would have further added to their concerns “the simplest and cheapest solution to this long-running problem would be to fly the asylum seekers to Britain while attempts are made to find permanent homes for them elsewhere” Vinitha Revi is an Independent Scholar associated with the Observer Research Foundation Vinitha Revi is an Independent Scholar associated with ORF-Chennai Her PhD was in International Relations and focused on India-UK relations in the post-colonial period ORF © 2025Website Design and Development by Sterco Digitex The Court of Appeal of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) has today upheld the BIOT Supreme Court’s grant of liberty to 47 asylum seekers who have been stranded on the British island of Diego Garcia for over 1,000 days Diego Garcia is the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago which currently forms part of the BIOT (although the UK Government has entered negotiations about returning the territory to Mauritius after the International Court of Justice ruled that the continuing British occupation of the Chagos islands is illegal) Part of Diego Garcia is host to a joint UK-US military facility a group of Tamil asylum seekers bound for Canada on a fishing boat ran out of fuel in the Indian Ocean They were escorted by the Royal Navy to Diego Garcia The Commissioner for the BIOT (a UK civil servant who governs the territory) accepts that he cannot return them to Sri Lanka as to do so would breach the international law principle of non-refoulement the asylum seekers have been confined to a camp the size of a small cricket field which the UNHCR has described as “arbitrary detention” in conditions that “fail to provide the necessary standards of privacy who the Commissioner himself accepts are suffering serious harm owing to their confinement in the camp on Diego Garcia Claims for habeas corpus and unlawful detention The asylum seekers have made claims for habeas corpus and judicial review of their detention. Those claims were due to be determined at a hearing on Diego Garcia in July 2024. However, the hearing was cancelled hours before flights were due to take off because the US Government threatened to withhold food and water from the judge and the Claimants’ lawyers during their time on Diego Garcia A final hearing is now due to take place in September 2024 11 of the asylum seekers were granted a limited form of bail in April 2024 After the US blocked the hearing of their claim from going ahead in July 2024 47 of the asylum seekers applied to the BIOT Supreme Court for “bail” by way of interim relief in their claims for unlawful detention opposed that application on the basis of purported security concerns allowing the asylum seekers to leave the camp and access a highway The Commissioner appealed against the grant of bail including on the basis that the judge had given insufficient weight to the opposition of the US Government The BIOT Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal finding that the judge had regard to the US Government’s objections and was entitled to decide that they were outweighed by compelling reasons in favour of bail – the US Government does not have a trump card or a veto on the Court’s power to grant liberty The Commissioner has recommended that the UK Government relocates all of the asylum seekers to the UK as a matter of urgency The Foreign Secretary has accepted that recommendation in respect of most of the asylum seekers and is considering his position in respect of the others It is for the Home Secretary to decide whether to grant them permission to enter the UK The BIOT Court of Appeal concluded its judgment with the following observations: The lack of progress in any of the legal remedies available to the Respondents occurs in the extraordinary context of a unanimity of opinion of the Commissioner the Respondents and the US that all the Respondents should leave Diego Garcia as a matter of urgency The Commissioner appears to have come to this view after his own safeguarding lead found in June 2024 that the children in the Camp “are at immediate risk of harm” and that the Camp is “in crisis” It is not for this court to require that action is taken to resolve matters we wish to record our very serious concern regarding the welfare of all the migrants on Diego Garcia and Jack Boswell and Zoe McCallum represented a group of the asylum seekers The other asylum seekers were represented by Ben Jaffey KC of Blackstone Chambers Judgment Jack Boswell Zoe McCallum Legal challenge launched to Ofsted Court of Appeal holds serious disruption regulations unlawful Edward Kemp KC elected to the Industrial Law Society Executive Committee Matrix Chambers has a stellar range of exceptional The support staff at Matrix Chambers are very helpful and friendly and the calibre of barristers both at the senior and junior level is exceptional Nothing is too much trouble and you always receive a helpful response The 'outstanding' Matrix Chambers is 'a stellar set and provide excellent representation to clients as well as support to solicitors through excellent training Their clerking teams really are a cut above: extremely capable The Supreme Court of the British Indian Ocean Territory (“BIOT”) has today held that asylum seekers on the island were unlawfully imprisoned for more than three years The Claimants arrived on Diego Garcia after their fishing boat The Commissioner for the BIOT (a UK civil servant who governs the territory) accepted that the asylum seekers could not be returned to Sri Lanka as this would have breached the international law principle of non-refoulement they were confined to a camp the size of a small cricket field which the UNHCR described as “arbitrary detention” in conditions that “fail to provide the necessary standards of privacy The Commissioner argued that the Claimants were not detained and that the restrictions on their liberty were lawful and necessary to protect the security of the US-UK military facility on Diego Garcia Following a trial that took place on Diego Garcia the Court held that the Claimants had been detained: “it is unsurprising that the Claimants feel as if they are in a prison; that is exactly what it is the Court agreed with the Claimants that their detention was unnecessary and unlawful: “The Commissioner has not come close to establishing that it is necessary for the Claimants to be detained There is no evidence that greater access to the parts of the island (that are not militarily sensitive) will cause immediate and/or significant risk of harm and there are reasonable alternative ways of securing the safety and security of the facility.” (§88) Describing the evidence of the former Acting Commissioner the Court held that “she appeared to have only a limited appreciation of the fundamental importance of liberty” (§74) the UK Government transferred most of the Claimants to the UK effectively conceding a separate claim for judicial review in the English High Court The Court will now proceed to assess the sum of damages that the Commissioner must pay for falsely imprisoning them Chris Buttler KC, Helen Law and Jack Boswell acted for the Claimants The judgment can be found here Related link: Asylum seekers brought to the UK after three years stranded on Diego Garcia Chris Buttler KC Helen Law Migrants 'unlawfully detained' since 2021 shipwreck on UK-controlled Diego Garcia A paradise island in the Indian Ocean has become the centre of a complex legal dispute a battle for control – and a "prison" for stranded migrants the largest of the disputed Chagos Islands in the British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot) – long claimed by Mauritius – and site of a secretive military base leased by the UK to the US claim to have been "unlawfully detained" since: the first people to file asylum claims in the Biot From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox Diego Garcia is the largest of the Chagos Islands, an archipelago about 310 miles south of The Maldives. The Biot is constitutionally separate from the UK The UK took the Chagos Islands from its then colony Mauritius in 1965 and evicted the population of more than 1,000 people It signed an agreement in 1966 to lease the base to the US for 50 years which has been extended and is now set to expire in 2036 So although Diego Garcia is technically in a British territory most of the island is under US military control including the accommodation and transport. Since Mauritius gained its independence in 1968 the British High Court ruled that the forceful eviction of Chagossians had been illegal and granted them right of return – to any island except Diego Garcia The International Court of Justice ruled in 2019 that the UK's control of the whole territory was "unlawful" and should end a separate UN maritime court found that the UK's control of the islands amounted to an "unlawful occupation" But "regardless of widespread international opinion in favour of Mauritius, London has largely ignored these decisions", said Foreign Policy The UK government also argues that the refugee convention does not apply there. "that idyll could not be further from their reality" – they remain "stuck there" in a "desperate They are forced to live in a "makeshift tented camp the size of a football pitch One person told the paper: "My mental state is deteriorating I live in a body that has no life inside it" But on Diego Garcia, guarded by private security company G4S, "they are treating us like prisoners", two asylum seekers said in an anonymous written statement. A G4S spokesperson denied the claims, saying the company "treats the migrants on the island with dignity and respect at all times". But there have been "multiple suicide attempts" and "reports of sexual harassment and assaults", said the BBC. Some have been flown to Rwanda for medical treatment, but remain under Biot administration. "During Tuesday’s virtual hearing, one of the migrants on the island collapsed multiple times." Last year, UN representatives who visited the camp reported that "conditions there amounted to arbitrary detention". The Foreign Office has also said that the island is not suitable for migrants. A ruling in their favour could allow them to claim compensation for years of detention, as well as having implications for Chagossians' calls for reparations for their eviction. The asylum seekers are "pinning all their hopes on their legal teams to get them off the island and to a place of safety where their troubled children can thrive", said The Guardian. One told the paper: "We hope we will be allowed to escape from hell." A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com Harriet Marsden is a writer for The Week mostly covering UK and global news and politics she was a freelance journalist for seven years and regularly contributed articles to The Sunday Times Times Radio and “Woman’s Hour” She has a master’s in international journalism from City University and was awarded the "journalist-at-large" fellowship by the Local Trust charity in 2021. The UK has agreed to hand the archipelago over to Mauritius after decades of diplomatic dispute The UK has agreed to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a historic deal Here we detail the history of the archipelago The first inhabitants arrive on the Chagos Islands: enslaved Africans who are put to work on coconut plantations After Napoleon’s abdication and exile during the Napoleonic wars Britain formally takes possession of the Chagos Islands and nearby Mauritius from France The Chagos Islands become the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) amid discussions with Mauritius over independence and with the UK having agreed with the US to create a military base on one of the islands Mauritius is granted independence but the UK retains control of the BIOT The entire population of the Chagos Islands are forced to leave their homes with most moving to the main island of Mauritius or to Seychelles Human Rights Watch has called the forcible displacement an “appalling colonial crime” and a crime against humanity The UK government agrees to pay £4m into a trust fund for the Chagossians The UK high court finds the expulsion of the Chagossians to be unlawful decides against the right of return for Chagossians overturning a series of decisions by judges in lower British courts that had found their exile to be unlawful A US diplomatic cable dated May 2009 reveals that a UK Foreign Office official had told the US that a decision to set up a “marine protected area” (MPA) would “put paid to resettlement claims of the archipelago’s former residents” A UN tribunal rules that Britain acted illegally in the way it created a marine protected area (MPA) in the Chagos Islands saying it had to failed to consult Mauritius and illegally deprived it of fishing rights The UK government announces a £40m support package to assist and compensate Chagossians living in the UK In an advisory opinion, the UN’s highest court, the international court of justice, rules that continued British occupation of the remote Indian Ocean archipelago is illegal and orders the UK to hand it back to Mauritius “as rapidly as possible” The UN general assembly overwhelmingly backs a motion condemning Britain’s occupation of the islands The motion sets a six-month deadline for Britain to withdraw and for the islands to be reunified with Mauritius The UN’s special international maritime court rejects the UK’s claim to sovereignty over the Chagos Islands and the prime minister of Mauritius urges it to end its “unlawful occupation” A group of Tamil asylum seekers fleeing Sri Lanka in a fishing boat are rescued and taken to Diego Garcia. They remain there in what they have described as horrific, prison-like conditions Reports of attempted suicides and self-harm have been rife The UK announces that it has agreed to open negotiations with Mauritius over the future handover of the Chagos Islands The UK agrees to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius ending years of bitter dispute over Britain’s last African colony although it will retain control over the military base on Diego Garcia Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article the largest (17 square miles [44 square km]) and southernmost landmass in the group and the location of a significant U.S The territory is administered by a commissioner of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London Although there is no permanent civilian population on the islands and British military and contract civilian personnel are stationed there The territory has a total land area of 23 square miles (60 square km) Seychelles was later detached from Mauritius and became a separate colony of Britain in 1903 or Chagossians—inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago descended from African slaves and Indian plantation workers They were given the choice of resettlement in either Seychelles or Mauritius which became independent in 1968; the majority chose the latter A small number of Ilois went to the United Kingdom In 1976 the islands obtained from Seychelles were returned when that colony became independent Thereafter the British Indian Ocean Territory comprised only the islands of the Chagos Archipelago The following year a majority of the panel of five Law Lords ruled against the islanders although the government expressed regret for the original resettlement Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Two British women born on the Chagos Islands are set to bring legal action against the UK Government, saying the territory should remain in UK hands and not be given over to Mauritius Bernadette Dugasse and Bertrice Pompe, who were both born on Diego Garcia have begun a bid to take the Foreign Office to court over the proposed deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius The agreement, which includes a plan to lease back the strategically important US-UK military base on Diego Garcia at British taxpayers’ expense, appears to have been backed by US President Donald Trump, but is opposed by the Conservatives. Ms Dugasse and Ms Pompe say the islands should remain under British control, and both want the right to return to live where they were born after Chagossians were forced to leave the central Indian Ocean territory by 1973 to make way for the base. Access to the Chagos Islands is restricted, with permits required ahead of travel. Lawyers for the two women have sent a pre-action letter to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), claiming that the Chagossian people have unlawfully not been given a say in the future of the islands, despite being the native inhabitants. They also say that they do not trust Mauritius to treat the Chagossians fairly, and that they would face “severe obstacles” as British citizens who do not hold Mauritian nationality, including possible racial discrimination and the loss of the possibility of returning. Ms Pompe said: “Chagossians were removed from their place of birth, without their consultation, and have been treated badly for 60 years. “Since then we have been struggling to understand why we have been treated so poorly by the British government. “Our human rights have been stripped away. “Today the British government is repeating the same mistakes which it made 60 years ago.” She added: “All our suffering and cries to be heard have been falling on deaf ears… I want to stay British and I also want the right to return to the Chagos Islands.” Ms Dugasse described the proposed deal as bad for Chagossians. She continued: “This deal will forbid me from returning to Diego Gracia where I was born, and serves only to extend the suffering of the indigenous Chagossians. “I am a British citizen and I cannot understand why we are being treated in this horrible way.” Barrister Michael Polak, representing Ms Pompe and Ms Dugasse, added: “The Government’s attempt to give away the Chagossian’s homeland whilst failing to hold a formal consultation with the Chagossian people is a continuation of their terrible treatment by the authorities in the past. “They remain the people with the closest connection to the islands, but their needs and wishes are being ignored.” The FCDO was asked to respond to the legal letter by March 25. An FCDO spokesperson said: “We do not comment on potential legal challenges. “The negotiations were between the UK and Mauritius with our priority being to secure the full operation of the base on Diego Garcia. “However, we have worked to ensure this agreement reflects the importance of the islands to Chagossians.” Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at BioT With a vision to make world-class medical care accessible to patients wherever they are, Israeli startup BioT provides a platform for building cloud-powered medical devices Its innovative technology helps connect Internet of Things (IoT) medical devices to the cloud seamless transmission of health data—such as a patient’s vital signs—back to clinicians and manufacturer stakeholders and more effective continuum of care between hospitals Built on Amazon Web Services (AWS) the platform offers comprehensive and validated self-service developer modules Set-up is easy through a generic data modeler and extendable with an algorithm-operations system can build connected systems in a single day saving up to 80 percent of time and cost to market The medical-device landscape is changing radically Home-based care is introducing additional considerations around total cost of ownership dozens of manufacturers—from big enterprises to startups—can deliver connected care to people’s homes “We’ve designed BioT for this new exciting generation Our platform is helping medical device companies build solutions that are more compact and easier to use for patients,” says Guy Vinograd cofounder and chief technology officer at BioT The secure solution meets the compliance regulations from governing bodies across the globe, with AWS’ Shared Responsibility Model ensuring the integrity of the underlying infrastructure. BioT uses AWS Trusted Advisor a service that provides recommendations to help organizations follow AWS best practices This helps medical-device organizations accelerate their regulatory process by up to 6 months BioT can deploy its solution across the United States “AWS facilitates compliance with dozens of regulations and standards in our customers’ countries and regions which is crucial for our success and our customers’ success,” says Vinograd Guidelines from the US Foods and Drug Administration and HIPAA in the United States to the ISO 62304 and the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU This requires BioT to pay close attention to potential changes and adjust quickly “Maintaining a medical-grade product is resource intensive because we are exchanging sensitive medical data over a cloud solution,” says Vinograd we can implement revised algorithms around data processing and cybersecurity in the cloud instead of developing this functionality in the devices The pace of innovation at AWS is critical to the success of BioT.” BioT began using AWS right from its inception in 2018 We chose AWS because it is by far the most comprehensive cloud and has a firm commitment to support IoT workloads we couldn’t have started the company,” says Vinograd The company has since grown on AWS. Operating on Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC), the team can define and launch AWS resources in a logically isolated virtual network. To help keep data moving quickly and securely, BioT uses AWS IoT Core which lets users connect billions of IoT devices and route trillions of messages to AWS services without managing infrastructure “Doctors get the information in less than 1 second allowing true remote patient monitoring,” says Vinograd BioT’s flexible solution helps address the varying requirements across clinical domains, settings, and use cases (like monitoring, diagnostics, therapeutics). A Generic Data Modeler ingests a range of data (telemetry, waveforms, imagery, and more) and transforms it for downstream analysis, allowing users to set up the system in just an hour. Amazon Timestream makes it easy for users to store and analyze trillions of data points per day giving users more time to focus on innovating on the device itself BioT was recently accepted into the AWS ISV Accelerate Program a co-sell program for organizations that provide software solutions that run on or work alongside AWS The program supports driving new business and accelerating sales cycles by connecting participating independent software vendors to the AWS Sales organization BioT plans to expand its reach into device data streaming in the future furthering the sophistication of its solution “A future goal is to use machine learning and big data to compress biomarker and waveform streams thus enabling low latency and new uses for MQTT,” closes Vinograd Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of BioT is a researcher of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) Guy draws on his expertise as a pioneer in architecting scalable cloud SaaS platforms for connected devices for over 20 years As an IoMT Key Opinion Leader Guy is a popular speaker and the organizer of the meetup group Smart IoMT Product Experts of Israel which provides MedTech companies with a validated platform for developing and executing cloud-powered medical devices far more efficiently than in any other way Oiendrilla Das is Customer Advocacy Lead for Life Sciences and Genomics Marketing for AWS She comes from a background in life sciences marketing with a specialty focus on life sciences and cloud computing Oiendrilla holds an MBA degree in marketing and completed her engineering in Biotechnology prior to her MBA degree Senthil Gurumoorthi is the Global Security Assurance Lead He has over 19 years of diverse experience in global biopharmaceutical & healthcare business technologies with leadership expertise in Technology delivery Quality & Compliance topics; passionate to modernize quality & compliance in HCLS industry Senthil is also a member of the FDA-Industry CSA Team and is a contributing author of the ISPE GAMP GPG Data Integrity by Design He holds B.E in Electronics & Communication from PSG College of Technology MS in Electrical Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Imperial College London You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. News stories, speeches, letters and notices Data, Freedom of Information releases and corporate reports The UK and Mauritius have reached a historic agreement to secure the strategically important UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, which plays a crucial role in regional stability and international security. For the first time in more than 50 years, the status of the base will be undisputed and legally secure, following a political agreement between the UK and Mauritius. The agreement underpins the UK’s steadfast duty to keep the country safe, with the operation of the military base unchanged, in an increasingly volatile world. The previous government started negotiations on the future of British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT)/Chagos Archipelago, but years after the negotiations began issues have remained unresolved. The agreement is strongly supported by international partners including the United States, which has joint operation of the strategic military base. Without today’s agreement, the long-term, secure operation of the military base would be under threat, with contested sovereignty and legal challenges – including through various international courts and tribunals. The agreement demonstrates the UK government’s commitment to safeguarding global security and averting threats to peace and prosperity in the Indian Ocean and wider Indo-Pacific. It sees Mauritius assume sovereignty over BIOT, with the UK authorised to exercise the sovereign rights of Mauritius on Diego Garcia. This government inherited a situation where the long-term, secure operation of the Diego Garcia military base was under threat, with contested sovereignty and ongoing legal challenges. Today’s agreement secures this vital military base for the future. It will strengthen our role in safeguarding global security, shut down any possibility of the Indian Ocean being used as a dangerous illegal migration route to the UK, as well as guaranteeing our long-term relationship with Mauritius, a close Commonwealth partner. Diego Garcia has also seen a small number of vulnerable migrants arrive since 2021, subsequently launching asylum claims. The agreement will shut down any possibility of the Indian Ocean being used as a dangerous illegal migration route to the UK, with Mauritius taking responsibility for any future arrivals. This week’s political agreement is subject to a treaty and supporting legal instruments being finalised. Both sides have committed to complete this as quickly as possible. Contact the FCDO Communication Team via email (monitored 24 hours a day) in the first instance, and we will respond as soon as possible. Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details. News briefClaire Biot Vice President Life Sciences & Healthcare Industry Receives Honorary Doctorate from Long Island UniversityNews briefClaire Biot Receives Honorary Doctorate from Long Island UniversityClaire Biot from Long Island University during its annual commencement ceremony on May 5 Long Island University President Kimberly R Cline presented Biot with the honorary doctorate in recognition of her distinguished academic and professional achievements as well as her commitment to improving the patient experience in the age of precision health The honorary degree is also testimony to the long-standing partnership between Long Island University and Dassault Systèmes in life sciences research and innovation The partnership is providing students with hands-on experience using cutting-edge artificial intelligence and digital engineering technologies that can accelerate the digital transformation of industry Biot referred to the importance of such partnerships as they contribute to ecosystems that empower the workforce of the future with new ways of working and lifelong learning to achieve sustainable innovations Watch the full ceremony here, including the presentation of Biot’s degree starting at 00:33:00: https://liu.edu/post/commencement The British Indian Ocean Territory may have already issued its last stamps and its future as a stamp-issuer is scheduled to be determined at the congress of member countries of the Universal Postal Union in August The UPU is the United Nations specialized agency on postal matters Both the United Kingdom and Mauritius claim sovereignty over this archipelago of more than 50 islands in the central Indian Ocean also known as the Chagos Islands or Archipelago the United Nations’ International Court of Justice General Assembly and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea have upheld Mauritius’ claim General Assembly’s resolution 73/295 adopted May 22 says that “the United Kingdom is under an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible,” and also that its specialized agencies are “to recognize that the Chagos Archipelago forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius to support the decolonization of Mauritius as rapidly as possible and to refrain from impeding that process by recognizing or giving effect to any measure taken by or on behalf of the ‘British Indian Ocean Territory.’” And that is why the stamps of the territory will be discussed at the UPU’s 27th Universal Postal Congress Aug In a May 16 article headlined “UN favours Mauritian control over Chagos Islands by rejecting UK stamps,” the British newspaper The Guardian said the UPU council of administration recommended that its 192 member countries ‘cease the registration distribution and forwarding of any and all postage stamps issued by the territory …’” The British Indian Ocean Territory was established as a British overseas territory Nov The first postage stamps were issued in 1968 Those six se-tenant (side-by-side) stamps picture colorful sea slugs found in the territory The British Indian Ocean Territory currently has no permanent population however there is a joint United States-United Kingdom military base on the largest island The BIOT Post Office website says that it “provides outbound postal services from the island of Diego Garcia Incoming mail is handled by both the US Postal Service and the British Forces Post Office.” That website also says that approximately 3,000 people (mainly U.S military personnel and civilians) live on Diego Garcia The government of the United Kingdom has stated: “We have no doubt about our sovereignty over the territory of the British Indian Ocean Territory which has been under continuous British sovereignty since 1814 Mauritius has never held sovereignty over the Archipelago We have made a long-standing commitment to cede sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius when it is no longer required for defence purposes The BIOT office is “managed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the British Government and is operated on its behalf by Sure (Diego Garcia) Limited,” according to the aforementioned website Connect with Linn’s Stamp News: World Stamps Postal Updates the BIOT Court of Appeal sat for the first time in 40 years It heard and dismissed the Commissioner’s application for leave to appeal against the BIOT Supreme Court’s decision that the trial in VT & Ors v Commissioner for the BIOT should be held on the island of Diego Garcia The claim concerns the unlawful detention of 16 Tamil asylum seekers who are currently held by the Commissioner in an encampment the size of a football pitch on Diego Garcia The decision under challenge was the decision of Ms Margaret Obi Obi J decided to sit in BIOT for three reasons: The Commissioner sought to appeal that decision on the basis that it is unnecessary and disproportionately costly for the hearing to take place in Diego Garcia The BIOT Court of Appeal refused the Commissioner’s application for leave to appeal on the basis that no arguable ground of appeal arises from Obi J’s decision noting that she “knew how to perform her task and that she did so diligently” and that “her reasons are both considered and cogent” The final hearing will take place on Diego Garcia in July 2024 Chris Buttler KC and Jack Boswell represented the second to sixth Claimants The seventh to twelfth Claimants were represented by Ben Jaffey KC and Natasha Simonsen The Universal Postal Union has officially decided that stamps of the British Indian Ocean Territory will no longer be recognized 24 at the UPU’s 27th Universal Postal Congress in Abidjan As reported in an article in the June 14 issue of Linn’s the postage stamps were part of the sovereignty dispute between the United Kingdom and Mauritius over this archipelago of more than 50 islands in the central Indian Ocean also known as the Chagos Islands or Chagos Archipelago The United Nations and its International Court of Justice are among the international bodies that have upheld Mauritius’ claim to the islands the UPU said that it “has formally acknowledged the Chagos Archipelago as an integral part of the territory of Mauritius.” The press release also said that “as a result of the decision distribute or forward postage stamps issued by the “British Indian Ocean Territory.” with six votes against it and 41 abstentions An article posted Aug. 25 on the BBC News website said that all mail “from the Chagos Islands must now bear stamps from Mauritius.” Various other news reports have quoted Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth as saying about the UPU decision “This is another big step in favour of the recognition of the sovereignty of Mauritius over the Chagos.” The first stamps for the British Indian Ocean Territory were issued in January 1968 less than three years after it was established as a British overseas territory on Nov What may likely be the territory’s last stamps were released June 8 This set of six se-tenant (side-by-side) stamps features angelfish A first-day cover of the new stamps is pictured on the website of the British Indian Ocean Territory Administration “There is no permanent population in BIOT the largest of the 58 islands hosts a joint UK-US military facility.” Auctions Source: TH Context: Fifteen fishermen from Kanniyakumari part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) for allegedly crossing maritime boundaries Google Map+ Google Map+ Google Map+ Google Map+ Google Map+ Google Map+ Insights IAS: Simplifying UPSC IAS Exam Preparation. Contact Us: Call us at 080 69405205 (toll-free) Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to participate in the Scholarship Test! the Young Leaders program is a transatlantic leadership program that brings together rising stars from an array of sectors whose common link is their passion for forging bonds in a globalized world and using their influence for the common good Alumni include more than 500 entrepreneurs and technology experts; fighter pilots and military commanders; lawyers and diplomats; artists filmmakers; professional athletes; and heads of state The recognition of Claire Biot as Young Leader is testimony to her extensive experience across life sciences and healthcare as well as her ambition to improve the patient and physician experience in the age of precision health through her work at Dassault Systèmes a European company having close ties to the U.S in terms of both technological innovation and business activity she aspires to broaden her view of transatlantic cultural and business bonds to build strong relationships with her peers and further enhance her transcultural management skills to serve her ambition for healthier patients and sustainable healthcare systems. the growth of urbanization has dramatically increased the need for fossil fuels Consumption of fossil fuels with accumulating environmental pollution on the one hand and the growth of industrial environments in cities such as Tehran-Iran the health of urban residents is in menace According to research conducted by the Air Quality Control Company and the Ministry of Health of Iran in 2021 the level of pollutants in Tehran is 2.8 times more than the world standard which daily is approximately around 1200 tons Examples of such pollutants include Carbon Monoxide (CO) organic compounds (volatile organic compounds) and Sulfur dioxide there was only 4 clean days in Tehran last year These pollutants have a significant impact on heart disease The World Health Organization revealed that air pollution can affect people’s mental health and cause depression there is an increasing demand for the use of green renewable fuels and solving air pollution in order to have clean air to have healthy life can be appropriate resource of clean fuel production an and alternative for fossil fuels Chlorella Pyrenoidosa is a kind of microalgae that can grow in a laboratory space by absorbing and consuming CO2 and other air pollutants and can produce oxygen and biofuel products imposed this design concept to develop a novel skyscraper as catalysts for air conditioning in order to adsorb polluted air into the CO2 storage tanks the CO2 gas in these tanks is used as a power supply for the microalgae Chlorella Pyrenoidosa the oxygen produced by these microalgae enters the oxygen storage tanks Some part of the produced oxygen is used in industry and other part of it enters the urban environment by fan (to clean the air) these microalgae are used as biofuel sources in the city after final examinations in laboratories inside the skyscraper Due to space and density limitations in Tehran the designed idea was created vertically and can be implemented in different parts of the city Creating spherical forms on top of each other with the ability of rotation in different directions (with the possibility of sucking polluted air and blowing fresh air) from each side was selected as the main form of the design concept It should be considered that in terms of sustainability part of the energy consumption of this skyscraper is provided by solar panels (photovoltaic) by absorbing air pollutants and leading them to spherical forms where microalgae is located for their consumption and producing oxygen and biofuel the designed skyscraper makes the surrounding environment’s air Activate the Wp-related-posts plugin to see the related post list Metrics details Fluid-saturated rocks are multi-phasic materials and the mechanics of partitioning the externally applied stresses between the porous skeleton of the rock and the interstitial fluids has to take into consideration the mechanical behaviour of the phases In these studies the porosity of the multi-phasic material is important for estimating the multi-phasic properties and most studies treat the porosity as a scalar measure without addressing the influence of pore shape and pore geometry This paper shows that both the overall bulk modulus of a porous medium and the Biot coefficient depend on the shape of the pores Pores with shapes resembling either thin oblate spheroids or spheres are considered The Mori–Tanaka and the self-consistent methods are used to estimate the overall properties and the results are compared with experimental data The pore density and the aspect ratio of the spheroidal pores influence the porosity of the geomaterials the equivalent bulk modulus of the fluid–gas mixture occupying the pore space can also be obtained The paper also examines the influence of the pore shape in estimating the Biot coefficient that controls the stress partitioning in fluid-saturated poroelastic materials each inhomogeneity (an inclusion or a pore) is considered to be embedded within a large volume of the material constituting the matrix phase whereas in the self-consistent method each pore is embedded within a volume of the material having as yet unknown properties a complicated problem of interaction between closely spaced inclusions is replaced by a simpler problem in which each inhomogeneity interacts with only a large volume of so-called comparison material in which the inhomogeneity is embedded The paper first presents estimates of the overall bulk modulus of a three-phase porous medium consisting of the solid phase (matrix) The case of a fully-saturated porous medium can be obtained as a special case of this system by setting the saturation equal to unity After obtaining an estimate of the overall bulk modulus the Biot coefficient can be determined analytically By matching the analytical estimate with the experimentally measured Biot coefficient for several rocks we can then determine the shape of the pores that correlate with experimental data The Hashin–Shtrikman bounds of the overall bulk modulus of the isotropic two-phase system are obtained when the shear modulus of the constituents is set equal to zero Since the compressibility of the gas $C_{a}$ is much larger than the compressibility of the fluid $C_{f}$ the compressibility of the air dominates the solution if the saturation $S$ is smaller than unity some assumptions must invariably be made about the shape of the pores but the size of the pores does not affect the results obtained from the calculations the pores are assumed to have an ellipsoidal shape A multi-phasic system consisting of $N$ randomly oriented thin spheroidal pores is considered first Let $a_{1} = a_{2} ,\;a_{3}$ be the semi-axes of the spheroidal cavity (pore) with $a_{3} \ll a_{1}$ We define the aspect ratio of the spheroidal pore as $\rho = a_{3} /a_{1} \ll 1$ (i.e The total volume fraction of the pores (i.e the ratio of the volume of the voids to the total volume) is denoted by $n$ The volume fraction of the pores filled with fluid is $nS$ The volume fraction of the pores filled with air is $n(1 - S)$ The bulk moduli of the fluid and the solid phase are denoted by Kf and $K_{s}$ whereas the bulk modulus of air is $K_{a} \ll K_{f}$ The overall bulk modulus $K_{u}$ of such a three-phase medium in the undrained state can be expressed as The overall bulk modulus of the drained medium is obtained by setting the bulk modulus of the fluid phase $K_{f}$ in (4) equal to zero By defining the crack density parameter as where $N$ is the number of pores in volume $V$ where $\nu_{s}$ is the Poisson ratio of the solid phase, we can use (5) to obtain the following expression for the overall bulk modulus of the drained porous medium $K_{D}$: Consequently, if one sets $K_{f} = 0$ in (11) the overall bulk modulus of the fully drained medium or the skeletal value $K_{D}$ can be obtained The self-consistent estimate of the overall properties of the drained porous medium with spherical pores can be obtained from formulae developed by Hill23: i.e The experimental configurations for estimating the Biot coefficient The results derived previously can now be used to obtain an estimate of the Biot coefficient if one of the elastic moduli either the bulk modulus of the skeleton $K_{D}$ or the bulk modulus of the solid phase $K_{S}$ is known but the other is not Experimentally measured Biot coefficient versus porosity for sandstones This data is now analyzed from a micromechanics point of view the effective elastic properties can be estimated from the given phase properties or vice versa the phase properties can be estimated given the effective (overall) properties Consider the situation where the porosity $n$ the bulk modulus and the shear modulus of the drained porous material or the skeleton $K_{D}$ and $G_{D}$ and the properties of the rock in an undrained state $K_{u}$ have then to be determined We now consider the case of thin spheroidal pores For linear elastic materials we make use of the relationships (Davis and Selvadurai 38) The Eqs. (16), (8) and (9) have then to be solved for the unknown elastic properties of the solid phase $K_{S}$ Therefore, from (17) The result (18) can now be used in (9) to give Approximate estimates of the Biot coefficient as a function of the porosity Estimates were obtained using the Mori–Tanaka method for a rock with flat ellipsoidal pores and the self-consistent method (SC) was used for a rock with spherical and needle-shaped pores The elastic properties of the rock are those of the Indiana limestone Dependence of the Biot coefficient on the crack density parameter for rocks shown in Fig. 2 The crack density parameter was found by matching the experimentally measured Biot coefficient with its Mori–Tanaka estimate Dependency of the crack density parameter, shown in Fig. 4 on the porosity for rocks in Fig. 2 Variation of the inverse of the aspect ratio of the spheroidal pores with the porosity of the rocks in Fig. 1 The aspect ratio was estimated by matching the experimentally measured Biot coefficient with its Mori–Tanaka estimate Note that the Biot–Gassmann equation is only valid for an isotropic porous medium with arbitrary pore shapes. For very thin spheroidal pores, the bulk modulus of the undrained medium can also be found using the Mori–Tanaka estimate (8) derived previously The results will be equal if the aspect ratio $\rho$ of the pores is assumed to be small Normalized bulk modulus of the fluid–air mixture as a function of saturation. The pores are flat spheroids with an aspect ratio 1/13.5. The Mori–Tanaka (MT) estimate was obtained from the estimate of the overall bulk modulus for a three-phase porous medium having randomly oriented pores filled with fluid and gas. The bulk modulus of the gas phase is very small compared to that of the fluid. Normalized bulk modulus of the fluid–air mixture as a function of saturation. The pores are flat spheroids with an aspect ratio 1/33.5. Normalized bulk modulus of the fluid–air mixture as a function of saturation The Biot coefficient for most rocks lies in the range 0.6–0.8 and the porosity of rocks is usually smaller than 0.2 It is possible to match the experimentally measured Biot coefficient with the analytical estimates if the pores are assumed to be thin oblate spheroids It was found that the aspect ratio of the spheroids should decrease as the porosity gets smaller the aspect ratio is found to be equal to about 1/20 for most sandstones the equivalent bulk modulus of the fluid–gas mixture was also found to be dependent on the shape of the pores if the bulk modulus of the air is neglected for spherical pores the equivalent bulk modulus is very close to the estimate $SK_{f}$ the equivalent bulk modulus decreases as the aspect ratio becomes smaller the Mori–Tanaka estimate of the equivalent bulk modulus is not significantly different from $SK_{f}$ Simplified coupled chemo-mechanical modeling of cement pastes behavior subjected to combined leaching and external sulfate attack Effective properties of transversely isotropic rock-like composites with arbitrarily oriented ellipsoidal inclusions Effective thermal conductivity of partially saturated porous rocks The Rock Physics Handbook: Tools for Seismic Analysis of Porous Media (Cambridge University Press Prediction of elastic constants of multiphase materials On the elastic moduli of some heterogeneous materials The elastic moduli of heterogeneous materials Elastic moduli of dry and saturated cracked solids Micromechanics of Defects in Solids (Martinus Nijhoff Effective elastic properties of cracked solids: critical review of some basic concepts Micromechanics: Overall Properties of Heterogeneous Materials (Elsevier Micromechanics of Heterogeneous Materials (Springer Average stress in matrix and average elastic energy of materials with misfitting inclusions A variational approach to the elastic behaviour of multiphase materials Dynamic behavior of saturated poroviscoelastic media Some aspects of air-entrainment on decay rates in hydraulic pulse tests Laboratory-scale hydraulic pulse testing: influence of air fraction in cavity on estimation of permeability Isothermal permeability of the argillaceous Cobourg limestone A new approach to the application of Mori-Tanaka’s theory in composite materials Long-wavelength propagation in composite elastic media II Self-consistent mechanics of composite materials On the overall elastic moduli of composite materials General theory of three-dimensional consolidation Computational modelling of isothermal consolidation of fractured media Unified theory of flow and deformation in double porous media Khalili, N. & Selvadurai, A. P. S. A fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical model for a medium with double porosity. Geophys. Res. Lett. https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GL018838 (2003) Fundamental solution in the theory of consolidation with double porosity Fundamental solutions in the coupled theory of elasticity for solid with double porosity Thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in fractured rock formations during glacial advance Thermo-Poroelasticity and Geomechanics (Cambridge University Press The Biot coefficient for a low permeability heterogeneous limestone A multi-phasic approach for estimating the Biot coefficient for Grimsel granite The Biot coefficient for an elasto-plastic material Laboratory measurements of a complete set of poroelastic moduli for Berea sandstone and Indiana limestone In Heterogeneous Media: Micromechanics Modeling Methods and Simulations (eds Markov Elasticity and Geomechanics (Cambridge University Press Vierteljahrschrift der Naturforschenden Gessellschaft in Zurich 96 Exact results for generalized Biot–Gassmann equations for rocks that change in pore shape and grain geometry Download references The work described in the paper was supported by a Discovery Research Grant awarded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (MGSU) The concepts related to the paper were developed by A.P.S.S The numerical evaluations were performed by A.P.S The paper was written and revised by A.P.S.S Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75979-6 Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (2024) Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (2023) Various contributors to The Interpreter’s Chagos Question debate assert that Britain’s controversial claim to the Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory – BIOT) violates the rules-based order Australian and American support for London’s colonial-era sovereignty pretension further undermines this already fragile Indo-Pacific order These three AUKUS allies cannot advance and champion a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific while simultaneously perpetuating egregious violations of their own virtuous liberal order how does Britain’s occupation of the Chagos (including Diego Garcia) undermine the rules-based order And what does Britain’s steadfast claim to this disputed territory mean for the future of this Indo-Pacific order According to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Britain furthers its interests by “working in partnership with others and supporting an international system based on rules developed and led by the United States post-Second World War is now considered under strain due to both the rise of China and also the spread of nationalistic populism The rules-based order is characterised by various factors including a liberal democratic polity and economy; free movement of goods and capital; human equality rule of law and human rights; multilateralism including pooling and delegating authority; and collective security is a central pillar of the rules-based order concept International society cannot be “rules-based” without international law Britain’s Chagos policy violates international law and the rules-based order in three respects both for the Chagossians and for Mauritius This core international law concept stipulates that territorial changes can only proceed with the freely expressed wishes of the people concerned We find that Britain twice violated the principle of self-determination As well as being the descendants of African slaves – slavery being one of the gravest violations of contemporary international law – the Chagossians also continue to be discriminated against through denial of their identity as a group as well as their right to return to their homeland the Chagossians’ right to exercise self-determination – and through this their ability to return to the land from which they were forcibly removed as well as to exercise all the other rights that self-determination gives rise to under international law – has been denied The Chagos Archipelago was historically administered as part of the Colony of Mauritius Its separation in 1965 was in violation of the customary international law that pertained at the time This law had crystalised the territorial integrity of non-self-governing territories as a key element of the exercise of the right to self-determination It follows from this that the Chagos Archipelago shouldn’t have been separated from Mauritius at the time of its Cold War-era independence It is this principle of respecting the territorial integrity of former colonies that the United Kingdom violated in establishing BIOT demonstrating disregard for one of the most fundamental tenets of the rules-based order and of international law as established post-1945 The second way in which Britain’s Chagos policy violates international law relates to (ongoing) forcible displacement of the Chagossians. The Rome Statute prohibits forced displacement as both a war crime and a crime against humanity violation of which gives rise to individual criminal responsibility While the Rome Statute came into force in 2002 decades after the coercive expulsion of the Chagossians in the 1960s and 1970s the prohibition of forced displacement was already well established under international law at the time forced displacement through prevention from return is an international crime of a continuing character The circumstances of the Chagossians’ expulsions and the fact that they were carried out in violation of international law are determining factors in the Chagossians’ continuing struggle for resettlement and return Third is Britain’s disregard for international (legal) mechanisms, such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and international treaties. While ICJ opinions are not legally binding, these decisions encompass the expert judgement of the ICJ on the applicable law. In 2019, the ICJ found Britain’s occupation of the Chagos Islands illegal Despite the United Nations General Assembly follow up resolution giving London six months to withdraw its administration of the Chagos Britain’s refusal demonstrates its unwillingness to have foreign policy choices constrained by international institutions and international norms For Britain to satisfy its commitment to the rules-based order and international law its only option is to dissolve BIOT and cede sovereignty of the Chagos to Mauritius Due to gains in relative advantage and power projection capabilities attained by selectively applying international treaty law to BIOT the United Kingdom undermines its commitment to the rules-based order by not allowing multilateral institutions to constrain its foreign-policy choices for the aggregate benefit of all the implications of non-compliant behaviour are that it invites breaking the unitary rules-based order and creating several orders that apply different rules to different states compromising the peaceful co-existence and cooperation of states with detrimental consequences for the unity of the rules-based order that the United Kingdom this ugly episode of international affairs will continue to undermine the already fragile rules-based order This article is a condensed version of the 2022 Bashfield & Proukaki research article “The Rules-Based Order, International Law and the British Indian Ocean Territory: Do as I Say, Not as I Do” published open-access in German Law Journal The Interpreter features in-depth analysis & expert commentary on the latest international events, published daily by the Lowy Institute Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is under serious pressure to resettle a group of Tamil migrants who’ve been stranded on a British-owned island in the middle of the Indian Ocean for more than a thousand days including 15 children aged between five and 14 have been living in tents in a camp no bigger than a football pitch surrounded by an eight-foot high wire fence and guarded 24/7 by security guards employed by G4S while part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) has been an important strategic US military base for more than 40 years The Americans have consistently opposed the migrants being allowed to leave the camp and to travel to any other part of the island on the grounds of national security But yesterday a British judge brushed aside US objections and granted immigration bail to 47 of the camp’s inhabitants so they can go on escorted walks outside despite warnings from a foreign office minister that such a move may seriously threaten UK/US relations A recent investigation by a senior social worker into conditions in the camp concluded the children are in immediate danger and cannot be safeguarded on the island said in a statement: “We consider that there is and remains an immediate risk of harm to all children on the island and that that risk is serious and growing… I have formally requested that the UK Government allow the most vulnerable migrants to be transferred to the UK immediately on the basis of exceptional humanitarian considerations A subsequent meeting with Foreign Secretary David Lammy led to talks with the Home Office on bringing the children and their families to the UK along with another five vulnerable adults who were flown to Rwanda for treatment after suffering serious mental health problems Lawyers acting for the migrants have been fighting for their resettlement in the UK for nearly three years The families were all rescued by the Royal Navy when their fishing trawler ran into trouble off the coast of Diego Garcia in October 2021 after sailing 2,000 kilometres across the Indian Ocean They had escaped a refugee camp in India and said they were hoping to make it to Canada on the other side of the world they have few links with the outside world As well as not being allowed out of the camp they have no access to TV channels and no access to a mobile phone network A British judge is to visit the camp in the coming months to see for herself the condition before deciding whether the migrants are being unlawfully held in what amounts to a detention camp But it will now be a political decision which will decide the future of these migrants and whether Yvette Cooper will accept their situation amounts to a humanitarian crisis.