Category: Africa

MIL-OSI Africa: Wild meat is eaten by millions, but puts billions at risk – how to manage the trade

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Delia Grace, Professor Food Safety Systems at the Natural Resources Institute (UK) and contributing scientist ILRI, International Livestock Research Institute

One of the most pressing issues of our time is the wild meat trade. Why? Because it’s consumed by millions and puts billions at risk from emerging diseases. It provides food and income for some of the poorest and most remote communities in Africa and Asia, yet over-exploitation makes ecosystems unstable and threatens the destruction of endangered species.

In Africa, wild meat hunting is driven mostly by protein and meat scarcity (“the poor man’s meat”). In some regions, like east and south-east Asia, it can be found in restaurants, offered as high-priced exotic delicacies (“the rich man’s status”).

But consuming wild meat also poses great dangers and challenges. The global wild meat trade can drive biodiversity loss, fuel illegal markets and spread diseases. The wildlife trade and so-called wet markets, where wild animals and wild meat are often sold, are conducive to the emergence of diseases, such as Ebola and HIV, which can be transmitted from animals to people.

These issues are the focus of a recently released landmark study. It takes a new approach to analysing wild animal exploitation: it focuses on consumption and consumers rather than wild animals or hunting communities.

Most previous studies on wild meat have been by people who want to stop it, with a handful on its livelihood and nutrition benefits to poor people. Our study, with its focus on consumption, allows us to balance conservation, community development, animal welfare and plague prevention.

We are specialists in livestock and sustainable development and authors of the report. We worked for over a year to analyse and synthesise wild meat trade with a focus on hotspots in Africa and Asia.

We argue that, because the wild meat trade is here for the foreseeable future, policymakers and implementers should be looking at: better management of the global wild meat trade, reducing and managing the farming of wild animals, and providing alternatives to consumption of wild meat by poor people.

We must find a way to balance the benefits and risks of wild meat consumption in a way that protects human health, wildlife welfare, and our environment.

Importance of wild meat trade

Drawing on previous studies and a systematic literature review, our report found that the global trade in wild meat is extensive. Annual revenues range from US$1 billion in Africa to US$8-11 billion from illegal trade in south-east Asia to US$74 billion from wildlife farming in China.

The volume of wild meat consumed is also significant – and often much higher than that of livestock meat. On average, African foragers consume 38kg of wild meat and farmers 16kg per year. The average annual livestock meat consumption per person in Africa is about 16.7kg.

We found that in at least 60 countries wildlife and wild-caught fish contribute at least 20% of the animal protein in rural household diets. Where poverty is high, wildlife abundant, and affordable domesticated meat and access to markets scarce, many households turn to hunting wild animals.

Not being harvested sustainably

Unlike domesticated meat, which comes from just 20 or so animal species, the wild meat trade involves hundreds of species. In Africa about 500 species are hunted, in south-east Asia about 300.

Current rates of extraction of wild meat are unsustainable, except for some small and fast-reproducing species such as rodents. Ungulates (hoofed animals) generally tend to be the most frequently hunted, followed by large rodents and primates. Near human settlements, larger bodied animals have over time tended to be hunted out and replaced by smaller species (such as duikers and large rodents), which reproduce at faster rates and thus are more sustainably hunted.

The illegal trade in wild meat is increasingly moving online, with Asia as both a major supplier and consumer. Smuggling intensifies hunting pressure, as wildlife is harvested not only for local needs but also for global markets. There is some evidence of declining extraction rates due to over-hunting, resulting in “empty forests”. While bans can reduce hunting, they may also drive the trade underground.

Climate change is already driving an increase wild meat extraction by making it harder to grow plants and farm animals. Studies show that in some critical ecosystems, such as the Serengeti in Tanzania, there are rapid declines in wildlife linked to climate change and land-use change.

Addressing the wild meat challenge

Moving away from wild meat practices in poorer countries presents a complex challenge.

Replacing wild protein sources with commercially raised livestock can be prohibitively expensive for low-income households and governments alike. Moreover, it’s estimated that increased livestock production to replace the loss of wild meat could increase deforestation and require some 124,000km² of additional agricultural land.

Some solutions do exist – but these depend on the context.

Where wild animal hunting is prevalent, such as the forest margins in Africa and Asia, alternative protein sources could reduce the demand for wild meat by providing sustainable and culturally accepted protein sources. Examples are cane rats, Nile tilapia and African catfish in west and central Africa, cavies (guinea pigs) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and bamboo rats in south-east Asia. High-reproducing “mini livestock”, such as rabbits, cane rats, cavies, capybara and giant African snails, can provide household meat in a relatively short period. However, attempts to promote alternative animals have met with little success. We suggest paying people not to hunt or subsidising alternative meat may be more effective and feasible.

Hundreds of thousands rely on hunting wild animals. Rather than criminalising hunters or trying to turn them into farmers in unsuitable lands, it may make more sense to pay them not to hunt by giving them free or subsidised livestock meat, which they may prefer.

Promoting disgust triggered by wild meat can be a promising channel, too, for changing consumption behaviours. Societies often, and sometimes quickly, shift from finding “different” meats appealing to finding them appalling. In the UK, for example, offal was eaten by the poor before becoming a fashion-food for the English gentry during the early modern period. Behavioural science can be harnessed to nudge these mind shifts in the right direction.

This study provides new insights into the wild meat trade. Deeply embedded in human culture, hunting wild animals is unlikely to disappear anytime soon. However, sustainable practices can balance human and ecosystem health and wildlife conservation, ensuring a future where both people and nature thrive.

– Wild meat is eaten by millions, but puts billions at risk – how to manage the trade
– https://theconversation.com/wild-meat-is-eaten-by-millions-but-puts-billions-at-risk-how-to-manage-the-trade-252226

MIL OSI Africa –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: The 16th General Assembly of the African Union of Broadcasting (ABU) will be held from June 18 to 20, 2025 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

DAKAR, Senegal, April 9, 2025/APO Group/ —

The African Union of Broadcasting (AUB) (www.UAR-AUB.org) will hold its 16th General Assembly from June 18 to 20, 2025 in Abidjan, capital of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, under the theme: Empowering the media: what strategies for financial and technological resilience and innovative content?

This high-level meeting will bring together Directors General representing the media, the broadcasting industry, officials, experts, academics, content creators from across the continent, representatives of sister Unions and partners. This year’s event aims to explore the challenges and opportunities offered by the evolution of digital technologies in the broadcast media sector.

The AUB aims to examine all the possibilities available to African media to obtain quality content amidst scarcity of financial resources, competitiveness and significant technological development. Broadcasters in Africa will also address the issue of satellite broadcasting costs which are increasingly weighing on their organizations’ budgets.

During this General Assembly, the African Union of Broadcasting will reward excellence in African broadcast production at the grand AUB MEDIA AWARDS 2025.

The African Union of Broadcasting is the largest organization of media professionals in Africa, bringing together public and private radio and television broadcasters and associate members. The AUB is responsible for developing all segments of television and radio broadcasting in Africa. It works to develop the exchange of authentic African content through its content distribution platform, AUBVISION.

MIL OSI Africa –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Wild meat is eaten by millions, but puts billions at risk – how to manage the trade

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Delia Grace, Professor Food Safety Systems at the Natural Resources Institute (UK) and contributing scientist ILRI, International Livestock Research Institute

One of the most pressing issues of our time is the wild meat trade. Why? Because it’s consumed by millions and puts billions at risk from emerging diseases. It provides food and income for some of the poorest and most remote communities in Africa and Asia, yet over-exploitation makes ecosystems unstable and threatens the destruction of endangered species.

In Africa, wild meat hunting is driven mostly by protein and meat scarcity (“the poor man’s meat”). In some regions, like east and south-east Asia, it can be found in restaurants, offered as high-priced exotic delicacies (“the rich man’s status”).

But consuming wild meat also poses great dangers and challenges. The global wild meat trade can drive biodiversity loss, fuel illegal markets and spread diseases. The wildlife trade and so-called wet markets, where wild animals and wild meat are often sold, are conducive to the emergence of diseases, such as Ebola and HIV, which can be transmitted from animals to people.

These issues are the focus of a recently released landmark study. It takes a new approach to analysing wild animal exploitation: it focuses on consumption and consumers rather than wild animals or hunting communities.

Most previous studies on wild meat have been by people who want to stop it, with a handful on its livelihood and nutrition benefits to poor people. Our study, with its focus on consumption, allows us to balance conservation, community development, animal welfare and plague prevention.

We are specialists in livestock and sustainable development and authors of the report. We worked for over a year to analyse and synthesise wild meat trade with a focus on hotspots in Africa and Asia.

We argue that, because the wild meat trade is here for the foreseeable future, policymakers and implementers should be looking at: better management of the global wild meat trade, reducing and managing the farming of wild animals, and providing alternatives to consumption of wild meat by poor people.

We must find a way to balance the benefits and risks of wild meat consumption in a way that protects human health, wildlife welfare, and our environment.

Importance of wild meat trade

Drawing on previous studies and a systematic literature review, our report found that the global trade in wild meat is extensive. Annual revenues range from US$1 billion in Africa to US$8-11 billion from illegal trade in south-east Asia to US$74 billion from wildlife farming in China.

The volume of wild meat consumed is also significant – and often much higher than that of livestock meat. On average, African foragers consume 38kg of wild meat and farmers 16kg per year. The average annual livestock meat consumption per person in Africa is about 16.7kg.

We found that in at least 60 countries wildlife and wild-caught fish contribute at least 20% of the animal protein in rural household diets. Where poverty is high, wildlife abundant, and affordable domesticated meat and access to markets scarce, many households turn to hunting wild animals.

Not being harvested sustainably

Unlike domesticated meat, which comes from just 20 or so animal species, the wild meat trade involves hundreds of species. In Africa about 500 species are hunted, in south-east Asia about 300.

Current rates of extraction of wild meat are unsustainable, except for some small and fast-reproducing species such as rodents. Ungulates (hoofed animals) generally tend to be the most frequently hunted, followed by large rodents and primates. Near human settlements, larger bodied animals have over time tended to be hunted out and replaced by smaller species (such as duikers and large rodents), which reproduce at faster rates and thus are more sustainably hunted.

The illegal trade in wild meat is increasingly moving online, with Asia as both a major supplier and consumer. Smuggling intensifies hunting pressure, as wildlife is harvested not only for local needs but also for global markets. There is some evidence of declining extraction rates due to over-hunting, resulting in “empty forests”. While bans can reduce hunting, they may also drive the trade underground.

Climate change is already driving an increase wild meat extraction by making it harder to grow plants and farm animals. Studies show that in some critical ecosystems, such as the Serengeti in Tanzania, there are rapid declines in wildlife linked to climate change and land-use change.

Addressing the wild meat challenge

Moving away from wild meat practices in poorer countries presents a complex challenge.

Replacing wild protein sources with commercially raised livestock can be prohibitively expensive for low-income households and governments alike. Moreover, it’s estimated that increased livestock production to replace the loss of wild meat could increase deforestation and require some 124,000km² of additional agricultural land.

Some solutions do exist – but these depend on the context.

Where wild animal hunting is prevalent, such as the forest margins in Africa and Asia, alternative protein sources could reduce the demand for wild meat by providing sustainable and culturally accepted protein sources. Examples are cane rats, Nile tilapia and African catfish in west and central Africa, cavies (guinea pigs) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and bamboo rats in south-east Asia. High-reproducing “mini livestock”, such as rabbits, cane rats, cavies, capybara and giant African snails, can provide household meat in a relatively short period. However, attempts to promote alternative animals have met with little success. We suggest paying people not to hunt or subsidising alternative meat may be more effective and feasible.

Hundreds of thousands rely on hunting wild animals. Rather than criminalising hunters or trying to turn them into farmers in unsuitable lands, it may make more sense to pay them not to hunt by giving them free or subsidised livestock meat, which they may prefer.

Promoting disgust triggered by wild meat can be a promising channel, too, for changing consumption behaviours. Societies often, and sometimes quickly, shift from finding “different” meats appealing to finding them appalling. In the UK, for example, offal was eaten by the poor before becoming a fashion-food for the English gentry during the early modern period. Behavioural science can be harnessed to nudge these mind shifts in the right direction.

This study provides new insights into the wild meat trade. Deeply embedded in human culture, hunting wild animals is unlikely to disappear anytime soon. However, sustainable practices can balance human and ecosystem health and wildlife conservation, ensuring a future where both people and nature thrive.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Wild meat is eaten by millions, but puts billions at risk – how to manage the trade – https://theconversation.com/wild-meat-is-eaten-by-millions-but-puts-billions-at-risk-how-to-manage-the-trade-252226

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Changing the Eurocentric narrative about the history of science – why multiculturalism matters

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Karen K. Christensen-Dalsgaard, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, MacEwan University

An illustration by the medieval Islamic scholar Abu Rayhan al-Biruni depicting the phases of the moon in relation to the Sun. (Wikimedia Commons)

The medieval Islamic mathematician, astronomer and physicist Ibn al Haytham (965 – c. 1040) lived in Cairo, Egypt, during the Islamic golden Age and is considered the father of optics.
(Wikimedia Commons), CC BY

In the 11th century in Cairo, the foundations for modern science were laid through the detention of an innocent man.

The mathematician Abu Ali al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham had been tasked with regulating the flow of the Nile, but when he saw the river that had shaped 4,000 years of human civilization, the hubris of the task became all too obvious.

To avoid the wrath of the Fatimid caliph in Egypt, Ibn al-Haytham supposedly feigned madness and was placed under house arrest, giving him time to focus on optics.

In doing so, he developed a scientific method based on controlled, reproducible experiments and mathematics. This would not only change humanity’s understanding of optics and how our eyes actually see, but also later lay the foundations for empirical science in Europe.

When I started teaching the history of biology, the importance of this pivotal period of scientific history was often diminished in western analysis of science history. Studying the contributions of non-western scholars has shown me what history can teach us about the value of multiculturalism.

A video from The Smithsonian explaining Ibn al-Haytham’s experiments with light.

Read more:
Explainer: what Western civilisation owes to Islamic cultures

A Eurocentric version of history

The story typically told in the West is that science was invented in ancient Greece and then, following close to a millennium of intellectual darkness, developed in Western Europe over the past 500 years.

Other cultures might have contributed a clever trick here or there, like inventing paper or creating our modern number system, but science as we know it was developed almost entirely by white men. As such it becomes a story of superiority, one that demands gratitude.

The scars of this way of thinking are all over our geopolitical landscape. It shapes how many western leaders interact with other cultures, apparently entitling them to share their intellectual authority without needing to listen to others. It is a mindset that belittles other civilizations and led to centuries of colonial violence.

This Eurocentric version of scientific history omits some of the most important events that shaped modern thinking. Science was not developed so much by individuals but by a highly complex global process that brought together ideas, lived experiences and approaches from all major civilizations.

The Plimpton 322 clay tablet, with each row of the table relating to a Pythagorean triple, is believed to have been written in Babylonia around 1800 BCE, around 1,000 years before the Greek mathematician Pythagoras was born.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Read more:
What was the first thing scientists discovered? A historian makes the case for Babylonian astronomy

Ancient Greek scholarship, for instance, was indeed instrumental in developing science, but it was not inherently western. The Greek empire spanned much of the Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Scholars travelled extensively, and the centres of scholarship drifted over time from Ionia in present-day Turkey, for example, to Athens to Alexandria in Egypt.

Greek natural philosophy was influenced by the mathematical and astronomical achievements of the Babylonians and the medical traditions of the Egyptians. Later, Alexandrian scholars made great advances in human anatomy when they overcame the Greek aversion to dissections, likely because of Egyptian influences. Natural philosophy was born from the merger of these scholarly traditions.

Read more:
Why are algorithms called algorithms? A brief history of the Persian polymath you’ve likely never heard of

Importance of testing ideas

Similarly, Ibn al-Haytham was one of thousands of scholars who, during the golden age of Islam, were engaged in the immense task of translating, combining and developing the world’s knowledge into great encyclopedic texts. They admired Indian and Chinese scholarship and technology but revered the ancient Greeks.

While the Greeks had an impressive greatness of mind, they had largely shunned the idea of experiments and believed that developing instruments was the job of slaves.

Many Arab scholars, on the other hand, emphasized the importance of experimentally testing ideas and developed scientific and surgical instruments that allowed for significant advances.

The opening page from Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine.
(Yale University Medical Historical Library)

Arguably, Arab scholars built the foundations for modern science by developing a method for controlled experimentation and applying it to Greek scholarship combined with knowledge and technologies from all accessible parts of the world.

Later, Latin translations of the Arabic texts would allow science to grow in the West from the intellectual ashes of medieval Catholicism. Texts like Ibn Sina’s Qānūn fī al-ṭibb (Canon of medicine) would become standard textbooks throughout Europe for hundreds of years.

Ibn Al-Haytham inspired scholars like Roger Bacon to work toward European implementation of the scientific method. This would ultimately lead to Europe’s scientific revolution.

Read more:
Avicenna: the Persian polymath who shaped modern science, medicine and philosophy

Importance of intercultural exchange

Great civilizations existed all over the world in the beginning of the 16th century, in Africa, the Middle East, the Americas and East Asia. Most had scholarship that was superior to the West’s in at least some respects. Arguably, the most valuable thing Europeans took from the rest of the world was knowledge.

The first vaccine, for instance, was based on variolation techniques developed in China, India and the Islamic world. People were inoculated against smallpox by blowing powdered scabs up their noses or rubbing pus into shallow cuts.

Europeans believed that diseases were caused by bad air (miasma) and so did not initially trust this technique. It only became widespread in Europe and North America after English aristocrat Lady Montagu saw its efficacy firsthand in Constantinople in the early 18th century and advocated that it be tested in England.

A vaccine developed by English physician Edward Jenner 80 years later was simply the well-known variolation technique made much safer by inoculating with cowpox instead.

The importance of intercultural exchanges should not be surprising. Scientific data and observations are ideally objective, but the questions we ask and the conclusions we draw will always be subjective, shaped by our prior knowledge, beliefs and past experiences. Different cultures can help each other see beyond their inherent biases and grow beyond the intellectual constraints of individual approaches.

In her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, Potawatomi botanist and writer Robin Wall Kimmerer gives a beautiful example of this in the context of how Indigenous approaches can inform modern science.

One of Canada’s greatest gifts is our diversity. Here, cultures from across the world come together, forming a multiplicity of minds that is well positioned to solve the problems of our world. However, this only has value if we can connect and learn from each other. When we advocate for a diversity of ideas in curricula, both nationally and abroad, we are promoting a future built on the knowledge of people and cultures from around the world.

There is nothing more intimately personal than the thoughts in your head, and yet you did not conceive them. They are a continuation of knowledge and ideas that for thousands of years have travelled the globe, shaped by countless minds from all civilizations. In a time of seemingly growing division, that is a thought that ought to bring us all together.

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

– ref. Changing the Eurocentric narrative about the history of science – why multiculturalism matters – https://theconversation.com/changing-the-eurocentric-narrative-about-the-history-of-science-why-multiculturalism-matters-252884

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Nigerian National Sentenced to Federal Prison for Fraud Scheme

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

MIAMI – A Nigerian national has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for orchestrating a fraud scheme which involved the impersonation of property owners and the fraudulent negotiation of vacant lot properties. The sentencing comes after the defendant pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and mail fraud in January.

Between April 2022 and April 2023, Uwa Nosakhare, 26, and others attempted to sell vacant lot properties in Palm Beach County, Fla., without the owners’ authorization. The fraudsters used the property owners’ and other victims’ personal identifiable information (PII), without their knowledge, to create fake driver licenses, notary credentials, bank account statements and several other property sale documents. After the fraudulent property sale was completed, the buyers were provided with wire instructions to transfer the sale proceeds to bank accounts controlled by those involved in the scheme.

U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida, Acting Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles of the FBI, Miami Field Office, Acting Special Agent in Charge José R. Figueroa of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) and Chief Michele Miuccio of the Boca Raton Police Department announced the sentence.

FBI Miami, HSI Miami, PBSO and the Boca Raton Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Chapman prosecuted the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Stone is handling asset forfeiture.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 24-cr-80084.

###

MIL Security OSI –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to Federal Prison in Large-Scale COVID-19 Pandemic Loan Scheme

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

A Pennsylvania man who organized a large scheme to defraud the federal government out of COVID-19 pandemic loan moneys in 2021 was sentenced today to more than six years in federal prison. Alhaji Kundu Aly, age 35, from Chester, Pennsylvania, formerly of Liberia, received the prison term after a June 14, 2024, guilty plea to one count of wire fraud.

In a plea agreement, and at the sentencing hearing, Aly admitted that, in 2021, he and others recruited and assisted various individuals in the Northern District of Iowa and elsewhere to apply for Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans for which they did not actually qualify, in exchange for a fee. False, fraudulent, and fictitious documents and statements were submitted to various lending institutions in support of the PPP loans for the PPP applicants. After the PPP applicants received the fraudulent PPP loans, it was part of the scheme to demand a portion of the PPP moneys from the PPP applicants and, if necessary, Aly traveled to demand payment in person. Aly traveled to Iowa and demanded payment in person from a PPP applicant. Aly admitted at his sentencing hearing that he was responsible for approximately $3.5 million in loss based on more than 170 fraudulent PPP loans as a result of the scheme to defraud.

Aly was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Aly was sentenced to 78 months’ imprisonment. He was ordered to make $3,478,781 in restitution the Small Business Administration and two PPP lenders. Aly must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Aly was released on a bond previously set and is to surrender to the United States Marshal on April 28, 2025, at 10 a.m., in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Timothy L. Vavricek and was investigated by the Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations, and U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration assisted the investigation.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 23-CR-9.

Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.

MIL Security OSI –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: Sudan war: UHCHR chief stresses need to help refugee hosts in Chad

Source: United Nations MIL OSI b

9 April 2025 Humanitarian Aid

As the brutal war in Sudan nears the the two-year mark, thousands of people continue to flee into neighbouring countries, including Chad, UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said on Wednesday.

Chad hosts 1.3 million forcibly displaced people, according to the UN agency, UNHCR despite it being one of the world’s poorest countries. More than half of these vulnerable individuals are Sudanese who’ve fled the fighting between rival militaries which erupted in April 2023.

Speaking from the Chadian border with Sudan, Mr. Grandi described the continued fighting as “absurd”.

He also condemned the ongoing “vicious human rights abuses” against civilians before calling for far greater international support for Sudanese refugees and their Chadian hosts.

The arrivals are mostly women and children – some of whom have been crawling exhausted across the border with barely any possessions, according to aid teams on the ground.

Funding crisis

The UN agency stressed once again that the crisis rocking humanitarian funding globally has only made matters worse.

Large cuts to overseas aid provision in the United States and elsewhere have made it impossible to pay teachers, the UN agency said.

Clinics and schools that protect women and children from violence and exploitation have been forced to shut down.

Some 8,500 displaced children in Chad are at risk of losing access to secondary education this year. If the cuts carry on into next year, more than 155,000 could be impacted.

Lost futures

“Children have dropped out of school,” said Abdelrahim Abdelkarim, headteacher of a secondary school in Farchana refugee settlement in eastern Chad.

“Many students will take dangerous and illegal migration routes, attempting to cross the sea. Some may drown while others end up working in gold mines,” he warned.

High Commissioner for Refugees Grandi has previously described the funding shortfall as “a crisis of responsibility” in which “the cost of inaction will be measured in suffering, instability and lost futures”.

Soundcloud

‘Siege-like conditions’

And as funding dries up for Sudan, relief teams are scaling back or withdrawing – leaving vulnerable communities to fend for themselves as their homes turn to rubble.

Today, after nearly two years of fighting, attacks against civilians, displacement, and climate shocks have left nearly two-thirds of Sudan’s 50 million people in need of aid and protection.

Speaking from the capital Khartoum, recently liberated from the opposition Rapid Support Forces by the Sudanese Armed Forces, Mohammed Refaat, Sudan Chief of Mission at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that he has seen the impact of insufficient funding in just the last few days.

“The people who were in these areas have been trapped in siege-like conditions with no escape, no hope and often forced to face unspeakable abuse,” Mr. Refaat said, describing the destruction and suffering in the country as “immeasurable”.

Little access to basic services

The power struggle between Sudan’s rival generals — Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan — has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million.

Both sides have been accused of atrocities and rights violations, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has previously reported.

Many families have returned to the capital now that the Sudanese Armed Forces are in control, but with little access to basic services, UN agencies have urged support to ensure relief.

Yet the crisis is far from over – and refugees continue to face hunger.

UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has projected that more than three million children under the age of five will likely suffer from acute malnutrition this year.

In Zamzam refugee camp in North Darfur, the crisis is pushing families to eat what is normally used as animal feed. Children also lack water, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

People fleeing insecurity in Blue Nile state in southwest Sudan, are moving towards state capital Ed Damazine, with clashes and access blocked hampering relief efforts, OCHA reported.

MIL OSI United Nations News –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Iran and US to enter high-stakes nuclear negotiations – hampered by a lack of trust

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ali Bilgic, Professor of International Relations and Middle East Politics, Loughborough University

The announcement of planned talks between the US and Iran in Oman signifies a crucial development – especially given the history of distrust and animosity that has characterised their interactions.

There remains a degree of confusion as to whether the negotiations over Iran’s development of a nuclear capacity will be direct or indirect. The US has said that its Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will meet Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. Donald Trump has publicly stated that Iran will be in “great danger” if the negotiations fail.

Iran meanwhile has said that talks will be conducted through an intermediary. Araghchi commented that: “It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court.”

This seeming clash in messaging before the talks have even begun is not the greatest omen for their success, even with the threat of US or Israeli military action hovering over Iran. Representatives from Iran, China and Russia are reported to have met in Moscow on April 8.

China’s foreign ministry released a statement reminding the world that it was the US “which unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA [the 2015 nuclear deal or joint comprehensive plan of action] and caused the current situation”. It stressed the need for Washington to “show political sincerity, act in the spirit of mutual respect, engage in dialogue and consultation, and stop the threat of force and maximum pressure”.

This followed messaging from Washington which very much focused on the possibility of force and maximum pressure. Speaking to the press after meeting the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump struck a very aggressive note, saying: “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and if the talks aren’t successful, I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran if that’s the case.”

The US president’s much discussed transactional approach to diplomacy – as represented at the talks by Witkoff, a former real-estate developer – is likely be pivotal to how negotiations proceed. Trump’s geopolitical ambitions in the Middle East focus on expanding the Abraham accords. These agreements focused on normalising relations between Israel and various Arab countries – including UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

The signing of the accords in 2020 were seen as a key foreign policy achievement of Trump’s first administration, particularly in terms of America’s desire to counter Iran in the region.

The US is now actively working to bring Saudi Arabia into the fold. In that respect, recognising that Riyadh’s participation would mark a transformative shift in regional geopolitics. Additionally, Trump aims to leverage trade agreements and major investment initiatives to create economic dependencies that encourage diplomatic normalisation.

Iran, meanwhile, faces severe economic difficulties. The country’s economy is in a state of crisis, with high inflation, a depreciating currency and widespread poverty. These conditions have been worsened by international sanctions and domestic policy failures. As a result, Iran is in dire need of economic concessions, which could be a significant point of leverage for the US.

Tehran’s geopolitical clout has weakened considerably over the past 18 months. Military setbacks in 2024 – including the loss of key allies and leaders in groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah – have diminished Iran’s ability to project power in its region.

This weakened position will affect Iran’s negotiating stance. It could make it more likely that Iran’s negotiators might seek economic relief and diplomatic solutions rather than pursuing aggressive policies. But pressure from hardliners within Iran could push the country towards a more radical approach if concessions are not forthcoming.

Rocky road ahead

A major issue affecting the talks is the low level of trust between the two parties. The US’s involvement in the Gaza conflict – including Trump’s controversial proposal to clear Gaza of Palestinians to make way for possible redevelopment – has further strained relations. So has the recent US campaign against the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Further threats of this kind are likely to be seen by Iran as aggressive and coercive – and Trump’s latest rhetoric won’t have helped. This will inevitably undermine the prospects for trust between the parties.

Iranian parliamentarians on the prospect of nuclear talks with the US.

Iran’s scepticism is rooted in past experiences where promises of economic relief were not fulfilled. Trump’s withdrawal of the US from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 is a case in point. This perceived breach of trust has made Iran cautious about entering into new agreements without concrete assurances.

The regional context adds another layer of complexity to the talks. American support for Israel’s actions in Gaza is likely to complicate matters. The populations of most Gulf states are fully supportive of Palestinian self-determination and are scandalised at the way the US president has seemingly given the green light to Israel’s breach of the ceasefire and resumption of hostilities.

Iran’s internal politics are also likely to play an important role in shaping its approach to the negotiations. The country is experiencing significant political polarisation between the “hardliners”, spearheaded by the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and the “reformists”, who are relatively more conciliatory towards the US and Europe. Following the surprise election of Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist, last year, hopes that Iran would be open to negotiations with Washington quickly faltered when he realigned his position with Khamenei’s.

In March 2025, he lost two important reformists in the cabinet, the economy minister, Abdolnaser Hemmati, and vice-president, Mohammad Javad Zarif, forced out by the hardliner-dominated parliament. This factional politicking will complicate Iran’s ability to present a unified front in negotiations — and this could represent significant leverage for the US. But it also strengthens hardliners to make demands that are unacceptable to the US.

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

– ref. Iran and US to enter high-stakes nuclear negotiations – hampered by a lack of trust – https://theconversation.com/iran-and-us-to-enter-high-stakes-nuclear-negotiations-hampered-by-a-lack-of-trust-254106

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Hungary’s exit from the International Criminal Court is a sign of the times

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Michal Ovadek, Lecturer in European Institutions, Politics and Policy, UCL

After deciding to flout an international arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu, Hungary has become the first European country to announce plans to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC). This comes after president Viktor Orbán hosted Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite the ICC issuing an arrest warrant for him in relation to war crimes in Gaza.

As a member of the ICC, Hungary is supposed to turn in anyone subject to such a warrant if they enter its territory. Instead, Orbán rolled out the red carpet.

Following the visit, a senior government official confirmed Hungary’s intention to leave the court. It will be some time before we know if it will see through on the threat because it takes at least a year to leave once a formal written notification has been sent but the signal itself is a landmark moment.

Hungary’s open repudiation of an important part of international law is further evidence of the tectonic shifts taking place in international relations.

Throughout most of the 1990s and early 2000s, much of western foreign policy was focused on creating institutional mechanisms aimed at preserving the liberal international consensus that emerged at the end of the cold war. The creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the ICC were two of the most concrete manifestations of this ethos.

Both represent attempts to bring legal and judicial formality to international politics. Unlike its two ad-hoc antecedents – the international criminal tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda – the ICC is a permanent court of justice. It is tasked with overseeing the criminal trials of people accused of involvement in serious crimes, such as genocide.

Even at the height of its popularity, the idea that international relations should be subject to more rules and enforcement by courts had its fair share of sceptics and detractors, especially among countries whose interests and power could be most severely curtailed by an effective international justice system.

The US, Russia and Israel had originally signed but did not ratify the Rome statute underpinning the ICC – and subsequently withdrew their signatures – while China and India never even signed the treaty.

European countries generally (and EU member states specifically) were always among the most supportive of the ICC. The continent has experience with perhaps the most important experiment in international criminal justice, the Nuremberg trials of Nazi crimes. This legacy has continued to feed European support for holding those responsible for aggression and atrocities to account by means of criminal justice.

Countries like Hungary, emerging from behind the iron curtain in the 1990s, were no exception. There was no ideological or practical reason to oppose the creation of the ICC.

If anything, countries hoping to join the EU saw it as beneficial to endorse the court. Other than Belarus and Azerbaijan, every European country has ratified the Rome statute, and none has left – until now.

The rise of kleptocratic authoritarianism in Hungary means its exit from the ICC should not be particularly surprising. Inside the EU, Hungary has consistently acted as a Trojan horse for the interests of authoritarian governments, most notably Russia, China and Serbia.

Its break with the values and principles that are supposed to be at the heart of the EU project goes substantially beyond support for international institutions and justice.

Consensus crumbles

But the broader international environment has also become less favourable to legalisation and judicialisation. Countries that previously feigned commitment to international law have become outright pariahs. The most obvious example is of course Russia, which is waging a war of aggression against Ukraine – a crime under the Rome statute.

More importantly, though, the US is increasingly turning its back on international rules. It is dismantling many of the international institutions it worked hard to establish.

Although Donald Trump might be wreaking the most havoc, the US already effectively pulled the plug on the WTO’s judicial appeals system under Barack Obama. Last year Joe Biden’s administration came close to imposing sanctions on the ICC for issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli officials, including Netanyahu.

Taken together, these developments leave the EU and a handful of other countries increasingly isolated in backing the ICC and other elements of the so-called “rules-based international order”. And while Hungary’s exit deals yet another blow, it’s not clear how deeply committed other EU member states are either.

Germany’s chancellor Friedrich Merz promised he would find a way to make it possible for Netanyahu to visit his country despite the outstanding ICC arrest warrant.

Hungary’s open defiance of its obligation to arrest Netanyahu has placed it in company of countries that wear their noncompliance with international law as a badge of honour. The experience of one of them is particularly educational.

When Omar Al-Bashir, the then president of Sudan, wanted for crimes against humanity, visited South Africa in June 2015, he was allowed to attend a summit and subsequently leave the country despite court orders to arrest him. Fast forward a decade and South Africa is spearheading the international legal campaign against Israel’s atrocities in Palestine.

Netanyahu would almost certainly be arrested in South Africa today, as well as in a host of other African and Muslim countries which had vehemently protested the arrest warrant against Al-Bashir in the past. Effective international rules and enforcement require consistent and credible support from a broad coalition of states – the ICC is increasingly short on both.

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

– ref. Hungary’s exit from the International Criminal Court is a sign of the times – https://theconversation.com/hungarys-exit-from-the-international-criminal-court-is-a-sign-of-the-times-254129

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Previously convicted felon sentenced to over a year in prison for illegally possessing a firearm

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

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Newport News man was sentenced today to one year and eight months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court documents, on Nov. 20, 2023, Newport News Police (NNPD) conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle of Malik Lloyd Jerome-Marryshow, 29, and, after verifying his identity, placed Jerome-Marryshow into custody on outstanding arrest warrants for possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances with a firearm, and carrying a concealed weapon.

At the time of his arrest, Jerome-Marryshow was in possession of a loaded handgun. Jerome-Marryshow previously was convicted for carrying a concealed weapon, driving under influence (DUI), credit card fraud, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and being a felon in possession of ammunition. As a convicted felon, Jerome-Marryshow cannot legally possess firearms or ammunition.

Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Anthony A. Spotswood, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division; Jason S. Miyares, Attorney General of Virginia; and Steve R. Drew, Chief of Newport News Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Alyson C. Yates, an Assistant Attorney General with the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Therese O’Brien prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:24-cr-11.

MIL Security OSI –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: Special Envoy for Road Safety in Mauritius, Madagascar and Eswatini to support initiatives to increase road safety

Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

The United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, will visit Mauritius, Madagascar and Eswatini from 8 to 16 April 2025 to support global and national authorities’ road safety initiatives. In particular, the Special Envoy will launch locally the UN Global Campaign for Road Safety #MakeASafetyStatement, developed in partnership with JCDecaux. He will also join the 2025 Kofi Annan Road Safety Award to be held in Eswatini on 14-15 April.

The Special Envoy will meet members of the Government as well as representatives of the private and public sectors two months after the Declaration of Marrakesh where Member states further committed to accelerate efforts for achieving the Decade of Action for Road Safety‘s goal of halving the number of the victims on the road by 2030.

The Silent pandemic on the road

The Special Envoy Jean Todt qualified road crashes as “The Silent Pandemic on the Road”. Indeed, every year, the staggering toll of road-related fatalities globally claims the lives of 1.19 million people, leaving 50 million others with severe injuries. Furthermore, road crashes are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5–29 years.

Road crashes are disproportionately high in Africa compared to other regions of the world. The continent loses annually over 300,000 people through road crashes, even though its countries are witnessing the lowest levels of motorization in the world. Africa has a traffic fatality rate of 19.5 deaths per 100,000 people compared to 16 deaths per 100,000 in Southeast Asia, and 6.5 deaths per 100,000 in Europe.

“Africa is the continent proportionately most affected by road crashes. Knowing that these affect the youngest first, beyond the human tragedy this is an economic devastation sacrificing or invalidating for life the active force of a country. While the vaccine to avoid this carnage on the road exists, I urgently call on everyone to use it.” — United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt.

Thirty-eight percent of all African road traffic fatalities occur among pedestrians while 43 percent occur among car occupants. Motorized 2-3 wheelers and cyclists account for 7 percent and 5 percent of Africa’s traffic deaths respectively. A significant proportion of road fatalities on the continent occur in urban areas. Furthermore, the ongoing improvement of the quality and coverage of Africa’s roads will increase crashes on the continent if it is not accompanied by appropriate road safety measures.

Towards enhanced road safety in Mauritius

The fatality rate in Mauritius is 10/100,000 inhabitants (WHO 2023). There is an increase in motorcycles crashes. Under the leadership of the Minister of Land Transport of Mauritius, Hon. Osman Mahomed, a series of 16 measures aiming to improve road safety are being envisaged in the country. Among these: re-introduction of the “Penalty Point System”; introduction of the Graduated Licensing System; helmets for sale for motorcycles of or exceeding a capacity of 50 cubic centimeters should be in accordance with set standards and be made mandatory; road safety education in schools; stringent enforcement by the Police or ERS -Transport Squad with regular crack down operations at night.

Men are the most affected, representing 89% of fatalities.Women are mostly victims as pedestrians (64%) and passengers (21%), while men die on motorcycles (35%) and as pedestrians (28%), with an average of 9% each as drivers, cyclists, passengers and passengers on the back (2023 figures, Le Mauricien).

“The current Government will implement the necessary projects and initiatives to make our roads safer as we expand and modernize our land transport” highlights Minister of Land Transport Osman Mahomed.

Safer roads for economic growth in Madagascar

The fatality rate in Madagascar is 22.5/100,000 inhabitants (WHO 2023). Poor maintenance and erosion have rendered a significant portion of the road network (mostly unpaved) unsafe (UNEP 2024). Madagascar has one of the least developed road networks in the world. Transport has been widely recognized as a barrier to the provision of and access to health services in rural areas. Madagascar’s overall poor infrastructure is negatively affecting its economic growth and development opportunities.

While 70 percent of primary roads are in good condition, about two-thirds of secondary and tertiary roads are estimated to be in poor condition (WB, 2018). There is a high risk of motorcycle crashes in Madagascar, due to the poor state of roads and the non-use of helmets responding to UN safety standards. When we know that quality helmets reduce the risk of death by over six times and reduce the risk of brain injury by up to 74% (WHO 2021), it is urgent to act to stop the carnage on the road.

“By 2030, Madagascar aims to halve road deaths and injuries, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 3.6. This ambition falls into a dynamic of profound transformation: build infrastructures respectful of international standards, promote the introduction of new safer vehicles, strengthen technical inspection procedures, and integrate road safety into national education programs. We are also determined to provide training for those involved in the sector, and to ensure more humane and effective assistance of accident victims” highlights Valéry Manambahoaka RAMONJAVELO – Ministry of Transport and Meteorology.

Toward vision zero victim on the road In Eswatini

The fatality rate in Eswatini is 25/100,000 inhabitants (WHO 2021), affecting first children as well as the most productive age group (15-49 years old). Road crashes impose huge constraints on Eswatini ’s economy, up to 10.8% of GDP (Eswatini National Road Safety Strategy 2023-2030). The Kingdom of Eswatini ratified in 2020 the African Union Road Safety Charter with the vision zero fatal and serious injury on Eswatini’s roads by 2063. Drink-driving, speeding and overloading, in this order, are the major causes of accidents on the country’s roads. (Times of Swaziland).

The Kingdom of Eswatini is making efforts to substantially enhance road safety, with an ongoing road safety legislative reform. The Kingdom has also established a Center of Excellence in Road Safety. In addition, Eswatini is fostering South-South cooperation with other African countries and partners on transport and road safety.

The Kofi Annan Road Safety Award

The Kofi Annan Road Safety Award, organized by the Kofi Annan Foundation, in collaboration with UNECA and the Ministry of Transport of Eswatini, will be in the form of certificates of recognition delivered to governments, the private sector or civil society organizations that have made outstanding contributions to road safety in Africa.

This year the following countries will receive awards: Cameroon (Innovation & Digitalization), Ethiopia (Public Transportation/Modal shift), Kenya (Safer Vehicles), Nigeria (Road Safety management), Senegal (Road safety financing), South-Africa (post-crash care).

MIL OSI United Nations News –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam to Speak at UConn Law 2025 Commencement

Source: US State of Connecticut

Arunan Arulampalam, mayor of the City of Hartford, will deliver the commencement address as the UConn School of Law celebrates the Class of 2025 on Sunday, May 18.

“It is an honor to have Mayor Arulampalam, a leader who has tirelessly worked to revitalize Hartford, as our commencement speaker,” Dean Eboni S. Nelson says. “Many of this year’s graduates have provided legal services to underserved individuals in Hartford through our clinics and pro bono programs, making them key partners in the vital work being done to strengthen our local community. Considering the mayor’s distinguished career of service and advancing justice, his personal and professional journeys will serve as tremendous inspiration for our graduates as they begin their legal careers.”

The son of Sri Lankan refugees, Arulampalam was born in Zimbabwe and made a home and a family in Hartford after graduate school. Prior to being elected mayor in November 2023, he served as CEO of the Hartford Land Bank, where he developed a first-in-the-nation program to train Hartford residents to become local developers and tackle blight in their city.

Arulampalam served in Governor Ned Lamont’s administration as Deputy Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection. Before that, he was a lawyer at the downtown firm Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, P.C. Arulampalam also served on the Board of the Hartford Public Library, the House of Bread, and on the Hartford Redevelopment Authority. He earned his BA in International Studies from Emory University and his JD from Quinnipiac University School of Law.

“It is an incredible honor to join the UConn School of Law community and celebrate the Class of 2025,” Arulampalam says. “These graduates represent the future of justice and advocacy, and their commitment to serving others, particularly through their work in Hartford, inspires hope for a stronger, more equitable society. As they embark on this next chapter, I am confident they will continue to make a profound impact on our city, our state, and beyond.”

The University of Connecticut School of Law will hold its 102nd commencement on Sunday, May 18, 2025, at 10 a.m. on the law school campus. The Class of 2025 includes nearly 200 graduates receiving JDs, LLMs, and SJD degrees. For more information, please visit our commencement site.

MIL OSI USA News –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Angola exported more liquefied natural gas to Europe and less to Asia in 2022 and 2023

Source: US Energy Information Administration

In-brief analysis

April 9, 2025

Angola exported more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe and less to Asia in 2022 and 2023, according to estimates from the Statistical Review of World Energy, when Europe increased LNG imports to offset reduced natural gas imports by pipeline from Russia following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Prior to 2022, most of Angola’s LNG exports went to the Asia-Pacific region, primarily India. In 2023, however, Europe received 75% of Angola’s total 175 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of LNG exports; France and the United Kingdom were the largest recipients in Europe, taking about 32 Bcf and 28 Bcf, respectively, in 2023. The Asia-Pacific region received the remaining 25%, with India receiving the most at about 35 Bcf for the year.

Most of the natural gas produced in Angola is associated gas produced at its offshore oil fields. However, a substantial amount of that natural gas is flared as a byproduct of oil operations or is reinjected into oil fields to increase oil recovery. Angola does not import any natural gas because it produces enough natural gas to meet domestic demand. The natural gas that Angola does not consume or flare domestically is exported in the form of LNG.

Angola LNG Limited (ALNG) owns and operates Angola’s sole LNG export terminal in Soyo, which has a liquefaction capacity of 250 Bcf per year. The LNG facility produced its first cargo of LNG in 2013, but it subsequently shut down as a result of technical failures and did not restart operations until 2016. The LNG facility uses associated gas produced at Angola’s offshore fields as feedstock, and ALNG also plans to draw additional supplies from non-associated gas projects. One such project is the Northern Gas Complex, where operator Eni plans to begin production from the Quiluma and Maboquerio fields in 2026.

The Northern Gas Complex is Angola’s first non-associated gas project, and Eni aims to develop two offshore platforms, an onshore natural gas-processing plant, and pipelines to transport natural gas from the two fields to the Angola LNG terminal in Soyo. The Northern Gas Complex is expected to reach peak production of about 141 Bcf per year.

For more on Angola’s energy sector, please see the latest version of the Country Analysis Brief: Angola.

Principal contributor: Eric Han

MIL OSI USA News –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI: LPL Financial Welcomes Trimp Wealth Management

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

SAN DIEGO, April 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LPL Financial LLC announced today that father and son financial advisors Patrick Trimp, CFP®, and Jack Trimp, ChFC®, of Trimp Wealth Management have joined LPL Financial’s broker-dealer, Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and custodial platforms. They reported serving approximately $220 million in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets* and join LPL from Nations Financial Group, Inc.

Based in Idaho Falls, Idaho, Patrick transitioned to the wealth management industry in 1999 after a decade of service in the U.S. Navy, during which he completed nuclear power training and was assigned to the USS Hammerhead, a fast-attack submarine. It was during his time in the Navy that Patrick was inspired to pivot his career, marrying his background in math with the intrigue of financial strategy.

In 2008, he launched Trimp Wealth Management with the goal of helping his clients achieve their financial objectives through education, strategic planning and a commitment to their success. Jack joined his father’s practice in 2019, and together, they take a client-centered approach to helping their clients build sound financial futures.

“Being able to add value for my clients’ financial wellness is the best part of the job,” Patrick said. “We’re here to guide our clients in making smart and strategic decisions about their finances and help them pursue their goals. We get to know our clients on a deeply personal level, and we are proud that most of our clients come to us through referrals.”

It was the pair’s desire to provide a more elevated and streamlined client experience that led them to LPL Financial.

“We spent more than three years looking for a new partner, so you could say we really did our due diligence. In the end, the decision to partner with LPL was the obvious choice,” Jack said. “What really stood out to us was LPL’s integrated and open architecture platform where we can access everything with a single sign-on as well as their ongoing commitment to meeting the evolving needs of advisors. We are confident that making the move to LPL is the right decision for our business and our clients.”

The Trimps are active in their community and believe strongly in the importance of volunteering. Patrick is an active member in his church and Jack served as a missionary to South Africa, Uganda and South Sudan, working in refugee camps with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a non-profit Christian organization.

Scott Posner, LPL Executive Vice President, Business Development, said, “We welcome Patrick and Jack to the LPL community and wish them success with this next chapter of their business. As their partner, we are committed to delivering innovative technology, integrated platforms and strategic resources to help them seamlessly run their practice and provide an elevated client experience. We look forward to supporting Trimp Wealth Management for years to come.”

Related

Advisors, learn how LPL Financial can help take your business to the next level.

About LPL Financial

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LPLA) is among the fastest growing wealth management firms in the U.S. As a leader in the financial advisor-mediated marketplace, LPL supports nearly 29,000 financial advisors and the wealth management practices of approximately 1,200 financial institutions, servicing and custodying approximately $1.7 trillion in brokerage and advisory assets on behalf of approximately 6 million Americans. The firm provides a wide range of advisor affiliation models, investment solutions, fintech tools and practice management services, ensuring that advisors and institutions have the flexibility to choose the business model, services, and technology resources they need to — run thriving businesses. For further information about LPL, please visit www.lpl.com.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial LLC (“LPL Financial”), a registered investment advisor and broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Trimp Wealth Management and LPL Financial are separate entities.

Throughout this communication, the terms “financial advisors” and “advisors” are used to refer to registered representatives and/or investment advisor representatives affiliated with LPL Financial.

We routinely disclose information that may be important to shareholders in the “Investor Relations” or “Press Releases” section of our website.

*Value approximated based on asset and holding details provided to LPL from end of year, 2024.

Media Contact:
Media.relations@LPLFinancial.com

Tracking #714926

The MIL Network –

April 10, 2025

MIL-OSI: Ormat Technologies, Inc. to Host Conference Call Announcing First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

RENO, Nev., April 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ormat Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ORA) (the “Company” or “Ormat”), a leading geothermal and renewable energy company, today announced that it plans to publish its first quarter financial results in a press release that will be issued on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, after the market closes. In conjunction with this report, the Company has scheduled a conference call to discuss the results at 09:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, May 8, 2025.

Participants within the United States and Canada, please dial 1-800-715-9871, approximately 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call. If you are calling from outside the United States or Canada, please dial +1-646-960-0440. The access code for the call is 3818407. Please request the “Ormat Technologies, Inc. call” when prompted by the conference call operator. The conference call will also be accompanied by a live webcast on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website.

A replay will be available one hour after the end of the conference call. To access the replay within the United States and Canada, please dial 1-800-770-2030. From outside of the United States and Canada, please dial +1-647-362-9199. Please use the replay access code 3818407. The webcast will also be archived on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website.

ABOUT ORMAT TECHNOLOGIES

With six decades of experience, Ormat Technologies, Inc. is a leading geothermal company, and the only vertically integrated company engaged in geothermal and recovered energy generation (“REG”), with robust plans to accelerate long-term growth in the energy storage market and to establish a leading position in the U.S. energy storage market. The Company owns, operates, designs, manufactures and sells geothermal and REG power plants primarily based on the Ormat Energy Converter – a power generation unit that converts low-, medium- and high-temperature heat into electricity. The Company has engineered, manufactured and constructed power plants, which it currently owns or has installed for utilities and developers worldwide, totaling approximately 3,400 MW of gross capacity. Ormat leveraged its core capabilities in the geothermal and REG industries and its global presence to expand the Company’s activity into energy storage services, solar Photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage plus Solar PV. Ormat’s current total generating portfolio is 1,538MW with a 1,248MW geothermal and solar generation portfolio that is spread globally in the U.S., Kenya, Guatemala, Indonesia, Honduras, and Guadeloupe, and a 290MW energy storage portfolio that is located in the U.S.

Ormat Technologies Contact:
Smadar Lavi
VP, Head of IR and ESG Planning & Reporting
775-356-9029 (ext. 65726)
slavi@ormat.com

Investor Relations Agency Contact:
Joseph Caminiti or Josh Carroll
Alpha IR Group
312-445-2870
ORA@alpha-ir.com

The MIL Network –

April 10, 2025

MIL-OSI Africa: Africa faces critical shortage of oral health workers amid rising disease burden

Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

BRAZZAVILLE, Congo (Republic of the), April 9, 2025/APO Group/ —

Africa faces a chronic shortage of oral health workers due to underinvestment, leaving millions of people without adequate care and vulnerable to preventable oral diseases, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) workforce fact sheet on oral health released today.

The WHO fact sheet states that the region has been experiencing the highest increased number of cases of oral diseases like dental caries, gum diseases, and tooth loss over the last three decades across all WHO regions. In 2021, around 42% of the population in the African region suffered from untreated oral diseases. This is compounded by a chronic shortage of health workers to address diseases burden. For example, between 2014 and 2019, the number of dentists and the number of oral health workers, including dentists, dental assistants/therapists and dental prosthetists per 10 000 population in the Region was one tenth and one sixth of the global ratio, respectively.

In 2022, the region had only about 57 000 oral health professionals, representing a mere 1.11% of the total health workforce in the region and a ratio of 0.37 professionals per 10,000 people. This figure falls far below the 1.33 oral health workers per 10 000 (158 916 total; 83 099 dentists and 75 817 dental assistants and therapists) needed in 2022 to achieve basic universal health coverage targets.

This deficit exposes millions to preventable suffering and highlights a critical breakdown in oral health workforce. It also reveals the need for about 199 170 oral health workers (1.37 per 10 000 population) including 103 858 dentists and 95 312 dental health assistants and therapists by 2030.

Oral health remains a low priority in many African countries, leading to inadequate financial and technical investment. Moreover, oral health has historically been siloed and treated as separate from general health and the broader health care system. This might contribute to isolated oral health management approaches, separated workforce training, increasing costs, and siloed care delivery infrastructures. This silo approach has led to competition for already scarce human and financial resources. Although there are over 4,000 health training institutions in the Region, only 84 dental education institutions were identified across 26 Member States.

The shortage of skilled oral health workforce hampers progress towards achieving universal health coverage. Only 17% of the regional population have access to essential oral health interventions as part of the health benefit packages of the largest government health financing schemes. Progress in disease prevention is also slow, including fluoride use and sugar reduction efforts.

“Africa cannot afford to neglect oral health. Neglect has severe, lasting consequences for overall well-being,” said Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Acting WHO Regional Director for Africa. “It’s crucial for countries to do more to increase health workforce, access to affordable prevention and care services and ensure that people are equipped with the knowledge and skill on promoting oral health.”

The WHO Africa regional oral heath workforce fact sheet will serve as a reference for policymakers and a wide range of stakeholders. In addition, it guides the advocacy process toward better prioritization of oral health in the region to tackle this alarming oral health situation.

It calls for urgent action to address the oral health workforce crisis, including aligning national oral health and health workforce strategies with the WHO Global oral health strategy, implementing needs-based planning for human resources for health, especially at the primary care level, enhancing data management systems, such as National Health Workforce Accounts to track workforce numbers and trends, shifting from treatment-oriented oral health care to integrated prevention and promotion approaches, particularly at the community and primary care levels and implementing innovative workforce models such as task-sharing of oral health services with oral health workers and non-oral health workers, improving training curricula, and developing retention and migration strategies.

“This factsheet calls for action. Increased investment and targeted interventions are critical to closing Africa’s oral health workforce gap. We must prioritize oral health as a fundamental component of Universal Health Coverage to improve health outcomes and reduce the disease burden across the region,” said Dr Ihekweazu.

MIL OSI Africa –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Africa Finance Corporation Tops US$1 Billion Revenue for First Time as Landmark Projects Unlock Growth Across the Continent
Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

LAGOS, Nigeria, April 9, 2025/APO Group/ —

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) (www.AfricaFC.org), the continent’s leading infrastructure solutions provider, has announced its strongest financial performance to date, with total revenue for the year ended 31 December 2024 surpassing US$ 1 billion for the first time in the Corporation’s history.

This record performance marks a significant milestone in AFC’s mission to close Africa’s infrastructure gap through scalable, de-risked investments that attract global capital and deliver tangible development outcomes. The Corporation posted a 22.8% increase in total revenue to US$1.1 billion and a 22.3% rise in total comprehensive income to US$400 million, up from US$327 million in 2023.

AFC’s earnings growth was driven by improved asset yields, prudent cost-of-funds management and sustained traction in advisory mandates.

Further significant financial highlights include:
- Net interest income up 42.5% to US$ 613.6 million
- Fee and commission income rose to US$109 million, the highest in over five years
- Operating income climbed 42.7% to US$709.7 million
- Total assets reached a record US$14.4 billion, a 16.7% year-on-year increase
- Liquidity coverage ratio strengthened to 194%, providing over 34 months of cover
- Cost-to-income ratio improved to 17.3% from 19.6% in 2023
Throughout 2024, AFC continued to scale its impact by mobilising capital for landmark projects across energy, transport, and natural resources. These included the Lobito Corridor – a cross-border railway development spanning Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Zambia. AFC led the initiative to secure a concession agreement within one year of the initial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), an unprecedented achievement for a project of its scale. In the DRC, AFC also invested US$150 million in the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex, Africa’s largest copper producer and one of the most sustainable globally, thanks to its high-grade ore and renewable-powered smelter.

Other milestones transactions included financing support for the commissioning of the Dangote Refinery, the largest in Africa, and continued progress on AFC-backed Infinity Power Holding’s 10 GW clean energy ambition, with power purchase agreements secured in Egypt and South Africa. AFC also invested in the 15GW Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project, providing US$14.1 million to support early-stage development of a transcontinental renewable energy pipeline between North Africa and Europe.

AFC strengthened its capital base and expanded its investor network through several landmark funding initiatives. These included a US$ 1.16 billion syndicated loan – the largest in its history, a US$500 million perpetual hybrid bond issue, and the successful execution of Nigeria’s first-ever domestic dollar bond, which raised US$900 million at 180% oversubscription. AFC also returned to the Islamic finance market after eight years, closing a US$400 million Shariah-compliant facility.

The year also saw strong momentum in equity mobilisation, with US$181.8 million in new capital raised from ten institutional investors. These included Turk Eximbank – AFC’s first non-African sovereign shareholder – the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), and several major pension funds spanning Cameroon, Seychelles, Mauritius, and South Africa. Ratings agencies affirmed AFC’s robust credit profile, with AAA ratings from S&P Global (China) and China Chengxin International, and a stable A3 Outlook from Moody’s.

“These results send a clear message that strategic investment in African infrastructure creates lasting value for both beneficiaries and investors,” said Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO of AFC. “In 2024, we exceeded the billion-dollar revenue mark, delivered game-changing projects, and reinforced our financial resilience—demonstrating the scalability of our unique model that blends purpose with performance to accelerate Africa’s economic transformation.”

Read the full annual report here (https://apo-opa.co/424qlmR)

MIL OSI Africa –
April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: AFRICA/ZAMBIA – Controversy over the proposed constitutional amendments

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

Lusaka (Agenzia Fides) – “Constitutional reform is not a priority but, on the contrary, constitutes a mass distraction from the nation’s real problems.” This is the meaning of the statement by the Archdiocese of Lusaka Presbyteral Council on the proposed constitutional amendments announced on September 13 of last year by President Hakainde Hichilema.”The Archdiocese of Lusaka Presbyteral Council notes with dismay and concern the government’s persistent strategy to divert the population’s attention from important and urgent national issues by using, among other strategies, the proposal of constitutional amendments,” says the statement published on the official account of the Archdiocese of Lusaka. Among the “important and urgent national issues,” the Archdiocese of Lusaka Presbyteral Council lists: “The high cost of living, the crippling energy crisis, food insecurity, youth unemployment, divisive politics, reduced revenues from the mining sector, increased arrests and illegal detention of opposition politicians, selective efforts to combat corruption, nepotism, a lack of medicines, and the deplorable state of health facilities.””Therefore, constitutional amendment is not a national priority in the current context and time.” The Council urges “the government to immediately abandon the proposed constitutional amendments and instead focus on the pressing national issues of concern to the majority of Zambians.”After recalling that the current government majority contributed to drafting the Constitution that came into effect in 2016, the statement asserts that “we are not facing a constitutional crisis, nor a compelling historical opportunity or event that justifies amending the Republican Constitution. In fact, this government has failed to keep its political promises!” The statement by the Archdiocese of Lusaka Presbyteral Council prompted a stance from several lay members of the faithful who serve in President Hakainde Hichilema’s cabinet. In a reply signed, among others, by Defense Minister Ambrose Lufuma, the Catholic lay members of the government stated: “We, members of the Roman Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Lusaka, who also hold various government positions, wish to express our deep dismay at the letter in circulation, presumably written by the Archdiocese of Lusaka Presbyteral Council, regarding the proposed constitutional amendments. We wish to clarify that the opinions expressed in this letter do not reflect our collective position on this important nation-building process.” (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 9/4/2025)
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MIL OSI Europe News –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: AFRICA/NIGERIA – Resignation of bishop of Port Harcourt

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

Wednesday, 9 April 2025

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, presented by Bishop Camillus Archibong Etokudoh.Il Santo Padre ha accettato la rinuncia al governo pastorale della Diocesi di Port Harcourt presentata da S.E. Mons. Camillus Archibong Etokudoh. (EG) (Agenzia Fides, 9/4/2025)
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MIL OSI Europe News –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: AFRICA/ANGOLA – Missionaries in the Terreiro community: “We must break existing patterns”

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

Wednesday, 9 April 2025

SMA

Bengo (Agenzia Fides) – “We have been without electricity for a month. …The generator only works for a few hours in the evening,” says Father Martino Bonazzetti of the Society of African Missions.”But even amidst obstacles and unforeseen events, there is always hope and joy, because the most important thing is not to give up,” writes the missionary, who lives and works in the parish of Desvio da Barra do Dande (Bengo) and returned to Italy a few days ago for a short period.”We are currently finishing the cistern on the roof of the church, which will be fed by rain (which should arrive soon) and will be used for the kindergarten and community activities in Terreiro. We have launched a cooking and baking class to motivate women and young people. One thing leads to another…” These are some of the various projects carried out by the missionaries in the community in Terreiro, “inspired by faith but also by ingenuity.” “The schools are also being visited by children and young people who have not been able to attend classes until now,” the missionary continued.”Now is a time of pause for me,” the missionary continued. “The fact of returning to Italy pushed me to finish several things. For example, we are in the process of completing the mill house for maize and cassava flour. Everything is finished, and we hope to harvest the maize later, as it has hardly rained this year. The mill is here, and we hope it works! A young man working as a bricklayer on the construction of the mill told me that a group of women has already asked when it will be operational. This means that we no longer have to travel all the way to Desvio to make flour… and that means we save money because we do not have to pay for the trip! It exists, so it should work.””In Angola, we are moving forward with experience, breaking with rigid and existing patterns. And there is always something that surprises us,” Father Martino concludes, “and the most important thing is the faith of the common people.” (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 9/4/2025)
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MIL OSI Europe News –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Critically ill patients in African hospitals aren’t getting the care they need: new survey
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Tim Baker, Associate Professor, Karolinska Institutet

When someone falls critically ill, hospitals are expected to provide life-saving care. But in many African countries, intensive care units are rare. Critically ill patients are treated in general hospital wards, and the provision of essential emergency and critical care is limited.

Critical illness refers to any life-threatening condition where at least one vital organ – such as the heart, lungs, or brain – is failing. It can arise from any underlying condition including infections, injuries, or non-communicable diseases such as heart attacks and strokes, and can affect anyone of any age.

In high-resourced settings some critically ill patients are treated in intensive care units. They receive continuous monitoring, oxygen support, medication to stabilise their blood pressure, and other life-saving treatments. Until now, most data on critical illness and critical care in Africa has come from small, single-hospital studies. These studies hinted at a serious problem.

For example, a study in Uganda found that 11.7% of inpatients were critically ill, with a 22.6% chance of dying within a week. However, there was no large-scale research showing how widespread this was across the continent.

That is why we, a collaboration of clinical researchers across Africa, conducted the African Critical Illness Outcomes Study, providing the first large-scale look at the state of critical illness care across the continent.

The study builds on a network of clinicians, researchers and policy makers that has been growing for over a decade now, working out how to identify and treat patients who are critically ill.

The findings, published in The Lancet, are striking. One in eight hospital inpatients in Africa is critically ill, over two-thirds of the critically ill are in general wards, and one in five dies within a week.

Most of these patients do not receive the essential emergency and critical care such as oxygen and fluids that could save their lives.

What we found

The African Critical Illness Outcomes Study investigated 20,000 patients at one point in time in 180 hospitals in 22 countries across Africa. Countries throughout the continent were included, from Tunisia in the north to South Africa in the south, from Ghana in the west to Tanzania in the east.

Between September and December 2023, all adult inpatients in each hospital were examined on a single day to collect data about their clinical condition and treatments, and then a week later, their in-hospital outcomes.

The key findings were:
- 12.5% of hospital inpatients were critically ill
- 69% of critically ill patients were treated in general hospital wards, not intensive care units
- more than half of critically ill patients didn’t receive the treatments they needed
- critically ill patients were eight times more likely to die in hospital than other patients.
The study also revealed gaps in the most basic life-saving interventions:
- only 48% of patients with respiratory failure received oxygen therapy
- just 54% of patients with circulatory failure (such as shock) received fluids or medications to stabilise blood pressure
- less than half of patients with a dangerously low level of consciousness received airway protection or were placed in the recovery position.
These findings highlight a clear and urgent problem: many critically ill patients in Africa are not receiving the essential treatments that could keep them alive.

What can be done?

The study suggests that thousands of lives could be saved if hospitals had better access to essential emergency and critical care. This is a set of simple, low-cost interventions that can prevent deaths from critical illness.

The care interventions include:
- ensuring oxygen is available for patients struggling to breathe
- providing fluids or medications to stabilise blood pressure
- training healthcare workers in basic life-support techniques to manage unconscious patients.
Unlike high-tech intensive care unit treatments, essential emergency and critical care can be given in general wards with minimal resources.

Strengthening these systems could dramatically reduce preventable deaths from conditions such as pneumonia, sepsis and trauma.

Urgent action is needed

This study sheds light on a healthcare crisis affecting millions of people, yet one that has remained largely overlooked.

Every critically ill patient, no matter where they are treated, should receive the basic life-saving care they need.

We call for urgent action.
- Governments in Africa should make essential emergency and critical care a core part of universal health coverage. It should be integrated into policies and health benefit packages.
- The World Health Organization should embed essential emergency and critical care measures into its resolutions.
- African health funders should support studies and implementation of essential emergency and critical care.
- Professional medical societies and institutions should include this care in clinical guidelines and training. Frontline healthcare workers must have the tools they need to save lives.
The EECC Network, a global community dedicated to sharing knowledge, research and best practices, has been started to help prevent needless deaths.

* Nick Leech, who works on the promotion of essential emergency and critical care on behalf of EECC Global, contributed to this article.

– Critically ill patients in African hospitals aren’t getting the care they need: new survey
– https://theconversation.com/critically-ill-patients-in-african-hospitals-arent-getting-the-care-they-need-new-survey-253355

MIL OSI Africa –
April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Jan Frait: Monetary policy analysis at the crossroads – insights from central banks’ reviews

Source: Bank for International Settlements

Introductory remarks for the Panel Discussion

It is a great honour for me to chair the second panel today, in which we move further towards research and academic thinking. In particular, we will focus on the analytical and modelling frameworks used by central banks to support monetary policy decision-making.

Before we do so, I’d like to start by introducing myself as a monetary policymaker with some personal statistics. I have attended more than 200 monetary policy meetings in one capacity or another. As a board member, I have voted 93 times – 31 times for a cut and only twice for a hike. That looks pretty dovish, for sure. On the other hand, for 87% of the time I’ve been voting on interest rates, the relevant monetary policy rate has been higher than headline inflation. This appears more hawkish. Well, things are really state-dependent.

No matter how long or how many times I’ve done this, I still consider myself a young apprentice, caught between Scylla and Charybdis – to borrow a lyric from one of my favourite bands, The Police. I approach decision-making with plenty of humility. In other words, even after all these years, much of what goes on in the economy remains to some extent a mystery to me. I don’t feel I understand macroeconomic dynamics much better than I did 20 years ago.

When I was a student, macroeconomics and monetary theory textbooks described monetary policy as more of an art than a science. By the time I joined the Czech National Bank at the beginning of the century, it was a different story. Monetary policy had been operating under the then-new inflation-targeting regime for two years. Decision-making was increasingly based on a modelling framework derived from New Keynesian macroeconomics, which had gained the status of a fully-fledged science. Whether or not it actually deserved it was never discussed at the time.

One of the key aspects of this new paradigm was the belief that vague monetary policy objectives such as “sound money”, “monetary stability”, and “macroeconomic stability” should be replaced by the more concrete objective of price stability – ideally in the form of a specific numerical inflation target expressed as growth in the consumer price index.

After more than a quarter of a century of experience with this approach, I’m inclined to think that, as usual, we romantically overestimated its capacity. The primary monetary policy objective started to be viewed too narrowly. The focus on a specific number was opportunistically misused to maintain extremely low interest rates and highly supportive monetary policy in times of positive supply shocks, even when there weren’t always strong macroeconomic grounds for doing so.

In many countries, monetary policy became rather asymmetric. A regime designed to prevent time inconsistency in monetary policy often ended up fostering it. I constantly heard the argument, “It doesn’t matter that inflation is currently above the target. It’ll soon return to it thanks to anchored expectations.” Yet as soon as inflation dropped below the target, the rhetoric changed to, “There’s a threat of deflation. We need to have extremely low rates or use other instruments to ease monetary and financial conditions.”

This was despite – or maybe even because of – the fact that monetary policy in developed countries had become a very powerful tool of economic policy. A tool on which hopes are pinned whenever sentiment worsens and economic activity slows. The models we use to assess and forecast macroeconomic developments undoubtedly encourage such hopes.

In the summer of 2002, the Czech National Bank introduced a small-scale, semi-structural, gap-based model called the Quarterly Projection Model (QPM) for forecasting and analysis. QPM was a big step forward. It taught experts and board members to apply a model-consistent approach to macroeconomic policy. In a converging economy with a nominally appreciating currency and a rapidly developing financial sector, it was, of course, difficult for the model to explain everything that was happening. Frustration with the model outcomes began to mount when global macroeconomic volatility surged in 2007 amid large financial imbalances.

I was no longer at the monetary policy coalface at that time, as between 2007 and 2022, I worked in financial stability and macroprudential policy. My only monetary policy-related legacy from this period can be seen on the webpage about “the mandate of the Czech National Bank”, which states: “Through the joint action of monetary policy and macroprudential policy, we contribute to maintaining confidence in the value of the Czech koruna and safeguarding the stability of the macroeconomic environment.” We keep doing so.

Frustration with predictions probably drove the decision to switch hastily to a New Keynesian DSGE model in the summer of 2008. Maybe there were other reasons, but the Czech National Bank’s representatives did not expand on them at the time. Then the Global Financial Crisis erupted, and there was no longer any time for such discussions.

It’s no secret that I never considered it beneficial to replace the semi-structural model with the DSGE model as the sole approach for macroeconomic forecasting. Not because I dislike one theory or model over another, but because theories and models are valuable to a central bank only to the extent that they facilitate an informed and sufficiently comprehensive debate – one that helps us understand the evolving economic story in the short, medium, and long run.

Basing monetary policy decision-making solely on the microeconomically consistent but economically limited New Keynesian DSGE model ultimately narrowed the debate. The process became more automatic, and the decision-making appeared easier. The dilemmas that board members typically face became less visible. They were obscured by the standard linearization around the inflation target, which is typical of New Keynesian models. We tended to overestimate the impact of short-term interest rate changes while underestimating the effects of our powerful communication on long-term interest rates and asset markets. Paradoxically, this more “scientific” approach resulted in greater discretion in decision-making – and in sizeable unintended effects.

Today, in 2025, we are a little more enlightened. The recent wave of inflation was a kind of blessing in disguise. It reminded us that monetary policy is still an art as well as a science. It taught us that the primary purpose of macroeconomic analysis is to distinguish fundamental trends from temporary fluctuations, local peculiarities from global phenomena, and supply shocks from demand shifts. It helps monetary policymakers be principled yet flexible in challenging times, especially during geopolitical and economic turbulence.

In this context, it’s only natural that many inflation-targeting central banks are considering changes to their monetary policy frameworks. More than a year ago, the CNB also decided to undertake an external review of its monetary policy analytical and modelling framework – the first such review in its history. We commissioned three independent reviews to gain a comprehensive perspective. And we got it. Two of the three reviewers accepted our invitation to join this panel.

Before I introduce the panellists, I’d like to make another musical analogy. I belong to a generation where many were briefly fascinated by jazz-rock – virtuoso musicians playing a lot of notes very fast. Amazing at first listen, still entertaining at the third, but for most of us, boring by the tenth – because the music lacked variation in mood, timbre, and rhythm. Then bands like The Police came along – jazz-trained musicians playing simple yet original songs in a technically brilliant yet energetic way, capturing the zeitgeist. With stops and double stops. Leaving plenty of space for the imagination.

I’d be glad if this approach became more widespread in the modelling we do to support monetary policy decision-making. We need analyses that are technically rigorous yet responsive to economic, social, and political dynamics – driven by emotion and belief, scepticism and conviction, avarice and altruism. To achieve this, we must diversify our thinking, remain open to adjusting our mindsets when major shifts occur, and invest in people who can develop alternative models and implement fresh ideas from academic research. We should be open to semi-structural, DSGE, agent-based, and other sorts of models, and use them in a way that improves our understanding of sometimes enigmatic developments in the economy.

Now I will truly hand over the mic to the power trio here today, who – except for one member – also happened to fly in from Britain. They all pay great attention to similar issues while differing in their methodological approaches.

John Muellbauer is a Senior Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Professor of Economics, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Cambridge University and his doctorate from the University of California. John has collaborated with legendary macroeconomists and econometrists such as Charles Goodhart, David Hendry, Peter Sinclair, and Adrian Pagan. He has also served as a consultant for the Bank of England, HM Treasury, the South African Reserve Bank, and, more recently, the Czech National Bank. In 2024, he conducted a review of the Czech National Bank’s analytical framework for policy analysis and forecasting, assessing its core and satellite models as part of an integrated approach to monetary policymaking.

Roman Šustek is a Reader in Economics at Queen Mary University of London and a Research Associate at the Centre for Macroeconomics at the London School of Economics. His research focuses on housing, mortgage finance, monetary policy, and the term structure of interest rates. He transitioned to academia after five years as an economist in the Monetary Assessment and Strategy Division of the Bank of England. He earned his PhD from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, following an earlier role as an economist at the Czech National Bank in Prague. As part of the 2024 Czech National Bank monetary policy review, Roman contributed to the assessment of macroeconomic forecasting models and processes used in policy analysis. In his research and writings, Roman often focuses on the same topics as John, in particular on the links between household consumption, house prices, and mortgage regulation. These are ultimately the topics that were viewed as rather important by the BIS economists under our keynote speaker-Claudio Borio.

Jakub Matějů is the Deputy Executive Director of the Monetary Department at the Czech National Bank and the Acting Director of the department’s Macroeconomic Forecasting Division. He is also temporarily heading the Monetary Department. His research and policy work focuses on macroeconomic forecasting and monetary policy. Before his current role, he worked as an economist in the CNB’s Monetary Department. He later joined the European Central Bank and served as a senior economist in the analytical team of Komerční banka. In 2019, he returned to the CNB as an adviser to the Bank Board and has been the Deputy Executive Director of the Monetary Department since 2023. Jakub has received several Czech Economic Society Young Economist awards and the CNB’s Economic Research Award for his research. He earned his PhD in Economics from CERGE-EI, following his studies at the Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University.

MIL OSI Economics –

April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Critically ill patients in African hospitals aren’t getting the care they need: new survey
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Tim Baker, Associate Professor, Karolinska Institutet

When someone falls critically ill, hospitals are expected to provide life-saving care. But in many African countries, intensive care units are rare. Critically ill patients are treated in general hospital wards, and the provision of essential emergency and critical care is limited.

Critical illness refers to any life-threatening condition where at least one vital organ – such as the heart, lungs, or brain – is failing. It can arise from any underlying condition including infections, injuries, or non-communicable diseases such as heart attacks and strokes, and can affect anyone of any age.

In high-resourced settings some critically ill patients are treated in intensive care units. They receive continuous monitoring, oxygen support, medication to stabilise their blood pressure, and other life-saving treatments. Until now, most data on critical illness and critical care in Africa has come from small, single-hospital studies. These studies hinted at a serious problem.

For example, a study in Uganda found that 11.7% of inpatients were critically ill, with a 22.6% chance of dying within a week. However, there was no large-scale research showing how widespread this was across the continent.

That is why we, a collaboration of clinical researchers across Africa, conducted the African Critical Illness Outcomes Study, providing the first large-scale look at the state of critical illness care across the continent.

The study builds on a network of clinicians, researchers and policy makers that has been growing for over a decade now, working out how to identify and treat patients who are critically ill.

The findings, published in The Lancet, are striking. One in eight hospital inpatients in Africa is critically ill, over two-thirds of the critically ill are in general wards, and one in five dies within a week.

Most of these patients do not receive the essential emergency and critical care such as oxygen and fluids that could save their lives.

What we found

The African Critical Illness Outcomes Study investigated 20,000 patients at one point in time in 180 hospitals in 22 countries across Africa. Countries throughout the continent were included, from Tunisia in the north to South Africa in the south, from Ghana in the west to Tanzania in the east.

Between September and December 2023, all adult inpatients in each hospital were examined on a single day to collect data about their clinical condition and treatments, and then a week later, their in-hospital outcomes.

The key findings were:
- 12.5% of hospital inpatients were critically ill
- 69% of critically ill patients were treated in general hospital wards, not intensive care units
- more than half of critically ill patients didn’t receive the treatments they needed
- critically ill patients were eight times more likely to die in hospital than other patients.
The study also revealed gaps in the most basic life-saving interventions:
- only 48% of patients with respiratory failure received oxygen therapy
- just 54% of patients with circulatory failure (such as shock) received fluids or medications to stabilise blood pressure
- less than half of patients with a dangerously low level of consciousness received airway protection or were placed in the recovery position.
These findings highlight a clear and urgent problem: many critically ill patients in Africa are not receiving the essential treatments that could keep them alive.

What can be done?

The study suggests that thousands of lives could be saved if hospitals had better access to essential emergency and critical care. This is a set of simple, low-cost interventions that can prevent deaths from critical illness.

The care interventions include:
- ensuring oxygen is available for patients struggling to breathe
- providing fluids or medications to stabilise blood pressure
- training healthcare workers in basic life-support techniques to manage unconscious patients.
Unlike high-tech intensive care unit treatments, essential emergency and critical care can be given in general wards with minimal resources.

Strengthening these systems could dramatically reduce preventable deaths from conditions such as pneumonia, sepsis and trauma.

Urgent action is needed

This study sheds light on a healthcare crisis affecting millions of people, yet one that has remained largely overlooked.

Every critically ill patient, no matter where they are treated, should receive the basic life-saving care they need.

We call for urgent action.
- Governments in Africa should make essential emergency and critical care a core part of universal health coverage. It should be integrated into policies and health benefit packages.
- The World Health Organization should embed essential emergency and critical care measures into its resolutions.
- African health funders should support studies and implementation of essential emergency and critical care.
- Professional medical societies and institutions should include this care in clinical guidelines and training. Frontline healthcare workers must have the tools they need to save lives.
The EECC Network, a global community dedicated to sharing knowledge, research and best practices, has been started to help prevent needless deaths.

* Nick Leech, who works on the promotion of essential emergency and critical care on behalf of EECC Global, contributed to this article.

Tim Baker declares technical consultancies with UNICEF, the World Bank, USAID, and PATH, has received research funding from Wellcome Trust and the National Institute for Health and Care Research and is a board member at the non-profit organisation EECC Global.

Karima Khalid is a board member of EECCGlobal

– ref. Critically ill patients in African hospitals aren’t getting the care they need: new survey – https://theconversation.com/critically-ill-patients-in-african-hospitals-arent-getting-the-care-they-need-new-survey-253355
MIL OSI – Global Reports –
April 10, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Health and Social Care Secretary’s UNISON speech

Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

Speech

Health and Social Care Secretary’s UNISON speech

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting’s speech at UNISON’s annual health conference in Liverpool today.

Good morning conference.

Let’s start on a point of agreement.

The killing of 15 health and rescue workers in Gaza was an appalling and intolerable tragedy.

Healthcare workers in any context, in any part of the world, should never be a target.

The international community, or indeed any actors in any conflict, all have a responsibility to protect health and humanitarian aid workers and also to protect innocent civilians.

And it’s clear that in Gaza, as well as in other conflict zones around the world at the moment the international community is failing and failing badly.

So I want to say, as a Unison member, I strongly support the sentiments expressed by our Healthcare Executive.

But on behalf of our government, we want to see a return to an immediate ceasefire.

We want to see aid in, people out of harm’s way, an end to this bloody conflict and a state of Palestine alongside a state of Israel, and the just and lasting peace that Israelis and Palestinians deserve.

I also have to say, having been to the West Bank with Medical Aid for Palestinians and seen first hand the work that they do supporting the health needs of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territories, they do brilliant work.

And I would fully endorse the sentiment of the motion in supporting them, and each of us putting our hands in our pockets to do that.

But today, I’m here as the first health and social care secretary to address a Unison conference since my […] predecessor, Andy Burnham, did 15 years ago, and I am proud to do so as a Unison member.

[Political content has been removed]

Now we’re delivering the change people voted for.

It’s not all plain sailing and I expect you’ll want to question, even challenge some of the government’s decisions.

So there’ll be plenty of time for questions.

And I promise to give you honest answers.

[Political content has been removed]

You might not like some of the answers.

I might not like some of the questions, but the important thing is that we show up and we have that conversation.

For all the challenges we’re confronting, and there are plenty nothing I’ve experienced in the last nine months as our country’s Health and Social Care Secretary has shaken my confidence and conviction that this will be a government that not only gets our NHS back on its feet, but makes sure it’s fit for the future, and shows the bold leadership required to make sure that we also build a National Care Service worthy of the name.

Of course, it’s hard.

[Political content has been removed]

Six months ago, back here in Liverpool, I spent two hours with one of the most remarkable group of people I’ve ever had the honour of meeting in my life.

In that room were centuries of training and experience between them of working in the health service.

But all of that training, all of that experience couldn’t have prepared those people with what they were confronted with in Southport on Monday the 29th of July, as they rushed into that community centre to find children and adults lying on the floor bleeding, some tragically dying.

The aftermath of an unimaginable, senseless, mindless attack.

Those people were confronted immediately with the consequences.

For the staff I met, the trauma still runs deep.

But on the day itself, the whole NHS team kicked into action.

From the paramedics who arrived first on the scene and had to make split-second decisions of who to treat first in what order, to give them the best chance of survival.

The porters rushing children through busy hospital corridors, and the security guards trying to shield other patients and visitors from seeing the horror that the staff were confronting.

The lab teams who are mobilising blood supplies.

Receptionists fielding calls from panic-stricken parents.

The surgical teams fighting to save those young girls lives.

I’m filled with admiration for their care, their expertise and their values.

As I think about what happened in the aftermath of those brutal attacks, that admiration turns to anger.

[Political content has been removed]

Filipino nurses came under attack from racist thugs on their way into work wearing their NHS uniforms.

GP surgeries closed early out of fear of rioters.

A Nigerian care worker saw his car torched.

These people came to our country to care for our sick and vulnerable.

They bust a gut day in, day out to keep us well.

If those thugs represented the worst of our country, our health and care workers represent the best.

This government will never walk by on the other side when it comes to standing up against racist hate, intimidation or violence.

Because no one should go to work fearing violence, least of all those all of us rely on for our health care.

What happened after Southport was an extreme, but it wasn’t a one off.

One in every seven people employed by the NHS have suffered violence at the hands of patients, their relatives or other members of the public.

This should shame us all.

So today I can announce we will act to keep NHS staff safe at work.

Incidents will have to be recorded at a national level.

Data will be analysed so that those most at risk can be protected.

Trust boards will be made to report on progress they’re making to keep staff safe.

Protecting staff from violence is not an optional extra.

We are making it mandatory.

Zero tolerance for violence and harassment of NHS staff, campaigned for by Unison.

[Political content has been removed]

We invest huge sums of money into training the NHS workforce.

Then they’re treated like crap.

Forced to leave the health service and often leave the country.

British taxpayers are investing billions in doctors, nurses, paramedics and healthcare assistants only for them to turn up treating patients in Canada or Australia.

We’ve got to retain the talent we have in the health service and treat our staff with the respect they deserve.

That means more training and opportunities for nurses who want to progress in their career, and making flexible working easier too.

It also means paying you for the job you actually do.

There have been too many disputes because NHS staff have not been paid according to their job description, rather than their job.

So we’re bringing in a new digital system to make sure the job evaluation scheme is applied fairly across the board.

[Political content has been removed]

A fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay.

Campaigned for by Unison.

[Political content has been removed]

I owe my life to the NHS.

Who cared for me when I went through kidney cancer.

It’s a debt of gratitude I will never be able to repay.

But I will certainly try.

You were there for me and I’ll be there for you.

As the chair said, the scale of the challenge in our NHS is huge.

[Political content has been removed]

So our job is twofold.

First, to get the service back on its feet and treating patients on time again.

And second, to reform the service for the long term so that it’s fit for the future.

And I say it’s our job deliberately, because this can’t be done with one man sat behind a desk in Whitehall.

We will only succeed if this is a team effort, from the Prime Minister to the 1.5 million people who work in the National Health Service.

When I visited Singapore General Hospital in opposition, they told me about a programme they run.

It’s called get rid of stupid stuff.

Does what it says on the tin.

I thought the NHS could probably do with that.

Some of you might think I could do with that.

It’s a common sense idea.

People working in the health service might have ideas about how to fix it.

So over the past few months, just as we did when we were in opposition, we’ve been asking NHS staff about the stupid stuff that’s holding them back.

More than a million people have engaged in what’s been the biggest national conversation since the NHS was founded.

NHS staff have attended more than 3,000 meetings across the country and online, and if you’ve not made your voice heard yet, you’ve got until 5pm on Monday to go to Change.NHS.uk

The plan, published later this spring, will take the best ideas from across the NHS, staff and workforce and patients and set out how we’ll deliver the change the NHS needs.

Shifting the focus of healthcare out of hospital and into the community, with more investment in primary and community care.

Bringing our analogue health service into the digital age, arming staff with modern equipment and cutting edge technology.

Turning our sickness service into a preventative health service to help people live well for longer and tackle the biggest killers.

The crisis in the NHS is not the fault of staff, but we can’t fix it without you.

I know how hard it is to battle against a broken system, to give patients the best care you can, only to go home at the end of the day, knowing your best wasn’t good enough.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The cavalry is coming.

My message to everyone working in the NHS is this.

Stay and help us to rescue and rebuild it.

The NHS was broken, but it’s not beaten.

And together we can turn it around.

Change takes time, but it has already begun.

In nine months, this […] government has awarded NHS staff an above inflation pay rise, ended the resident doctors strikes, invested an extra £26 billion in health and care, the biggest investment in hospices for a generation.

We’ve agreed the GP contract for the first time since the pandemic, with £889 million more in funding, the biggest uplift in a decade.

We’ve reversed the decade of cuts to community pharmacy.

We’ve delivered the extra 2 million more appointments we promised at the election than we did it seven months early.

NHS waiting lists have been cut for five months in a row and counting.

80,000 suspected cancer patients were diagnosed early, so lots done, but so much more to do.

We know there’s a long way to go.

There’ll be bumps along the way.

It won’t be plain sailing and we’ll make some mistakes.

But we are finally putting the NHS on the road to recovery.

On social care, we’ve been accused of not doing enough.

I totally understand the cynicism after years of inaction.

[Political content has been removed]

Our first step on the road to building a National Care Service, and I can announce today, will go further for our care professionals.

We are introducing the first universal career structure for adult social care, setting out four new job roles to give care workers the opportunities to progress in their career.

With millions of pounds of new investment in their skills and training.

Keir said his ambition for his sister, who is a care worker, is to command the same respect as her brother, the Prime Minister.

Her work is so important to the future of our country.

[Political content has been removed]

But be in no doubt about the weight on our shoulders.

I’m certainly not.

Not only the responsibility to millions of people who are being failed by the NHS and social care services, but also to prove to a sceptical public that the NHS can change and deliver the timely, quality care people expect in 2025.

On the 75th anniversary of the NHS, an opinion poll showed that the health service makes the majority of the British people proud of our country, greater than the pride we feel for any other aspect of our history or culture.

But the same poll revealed that 7 in 10 believe that the NHS founding principle of healthcare, free at the point of need, won’t survive the next ten years.

The failure of public services to meet the needs of the people is one of the fertilisers of populism we see across liberal democracies.

[Political content has been removed]

We will always defend the NHS as a public service, free at the point of use, so that when you fall ill, you never have to worry about the bill.

[Political content has been removed]

That’s why I say it’s change or die.

The stakes are high.

The challenge is enormous, but the prize is huge.

A service that values all of its workforce as an asset to be nurtured, not a cost to be minimised.

Where staff are proud to work because their patients receive the best possible care.

An NHS there for us when we need it.

Once again, it won’t be easy.

It will take time.

But if we get this right, we will be able to look back on this time and say that we were the generation that took the NHS from the worst crisis in its history, got it back on its feet and made it fit for the future, and built a National Care Service worthy of the name.

Change has begun, but the best is still to come.

Thank you.

Updates to this page

Published 9 April 2025

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

April 10, 2025

MIL-OSI: Bitdeer Announces March 2025 Production and Operations Update

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

— Completed mass production of SEALMINER A1s and 2.8 EH/s energized
— Regulatory approval for Tydal, Norway site finalized
— Retained Northland Capital Markets (“Northland”) to act as financial advisor for its HPC/AI data center development strategy

SINGAPORE, April 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bitdeer Technologies Group (NASDAQ: BTDR) (“Bitdeer” or the “Company”), a world-leading technology company for blockchain and high-performance computing, today announced its unaudited mining and operations updates for March 2025.

Operational Update

Self-mined Bitcoin: 114 Bitcoins.
Mining Rig Manufacturing and R&D:
- SEALMINER A1:
  - Completed mass production of approximately 3.8 EH/s of mining rigs.
  - 2.8 EH/s are energized, 0.6 EH/s have been delivered for installation, 0.3 EH/s are in-transit to the Company’s datacenters, with remaining to be delivered in April.
- SEALMINER A2:
  - Wafer capacity disclosures will be paused temporarily. This decision was the result of a comprehensive consideration for maximizing the Company’s shareholders’ value. These disclosures were previously provided to assist potential mining rig buyers in making informed decisions. However, due to the current market uncertainty and the significant slowdown in mining rig demand, disclosure of total capacity is not currently useful. The Company’s self-mining hashrate forecast increased slightly this month and Bitdeer remains confident that the previously predicted hashrate targets in the second half of 2025 are achievable, on schedule, and can potentially exceed the Company’s expectations.
  - 0.8 EH/s of mining rigs have been shipped to customers and the Company’s own datacenters for self-mining, 0.4 EH/s have been manufactured and are ready for shipment and 1 EH/s are being assembled.
  - Sales of SEALMINER A2 are ongoing, ~0.3 EH/s of miners have been shipped to customers in March.
  - Launched SEALMINER A2 Pro series on March 17, 2025, featuring air-cooling (SEALMINER A2 Pro Air) and hydro-cooling (SEALMINER A2 Pro Hyd) models with a power efficiency ratio of 14.9 J/TH. The SEALMINER A2 Pro Air delivers up to 270 TH/s, while the SEALMINER A2 Pro Hyd reaches 530 TH/s, both with advanced efficiency, stability, and noise reduction. SEALMINER A2 Pro will be another commercialized product that is currently open for external sales.
- SEALMINER A3:
  - SEAL03 sample wafers achieved an energy efficiency of 9.7 J/TH at the chip level during chip verification and prototype testing while running at low voltage, ultra power-saving mode. More risk wafers will be delivered in April for further testing and mass production ready R&D.
- SEALMINER A4:
  - SEAL04 R&D remains on track to achieve an expected chip efficiency of approximately 5 J/TH with anticipated initial tape-out in Q4 2025.
HPC/AI:
- Bitdeer has now formalized an engagement with Northland Capital Markets (“Northland”) to act as financial advisor for its HPC/AI data center development strategy. Northland will assist Bitdeer with existing negotiations with potential development partners and provide guidance regarding capital providers.
- Discussions are ongoing with multiple development partners and potential end users for selected large scale sites in U.S. for HPC/AI clouding business.
- GB200 NVL72 reservations open – deployment is on schedule for 2025.
Hosting:
- Client-hosted mining rigs increased by 3,000 units or 0.6 EH/s in March 2025, due to existing customers increasing hosted mining rigs.
Infrastructure:
- Tydal, Norway: Regulatory approval has been obtained, with 70 MW set for energization and commissioning in early April and the remaining 105 MW scheduled for completion by mid-2025.
- Rockdale, Texas, USA: 1.4 EH/s of SEALMINER A1 hydro mining rigs have been energized into 100 MW hydro-cooling conversion.
- Clarington Phase 2, Ohio, USA: 304 MW land lease agreement signed and negotiating with regional utility.
- Jigmeling, Bhutan: All electrical equipment has been delivered and is being installed, with completion and energization in Q2 2025 on track (see Infrastructure Construction Update section below for further details).
- Oromia Region, Ethiopia: In early April, Bitdeer signed an SPA and a turnkey agreement for the acquisition and construction of a 50 MW mining datacenter in Ethiopia for US$7.5 million, including a local company with a mining permit, a 33kV substation connection, and a 4-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Ethiopian Electric Power Company. The Company is collaborating with an EPC contractor with specialized experience in Bitcoin mining and targeting energization by Q4 2025.

Management Commentary

“We achieved significant operational progress in March,” stated Matt Kong, Chief Business Officer at Bitdeer. “First, we completed mass production of 3.8 EH/s our SEALMINER A1 mining rigs and energized 2.8 EH/s, increasing our self-mining hashrate to 11.5 EH/s at the end of March with the remaining to be installed and turned on in April. Second, we launched the SEALMINER A2 Pro series Bitcoin mining rigs, delivering an efficiency of 14.9 J/TH. Finally, we obtained regulatory approval for Phase 1 and 2 of our Tydal, Norway site and we expect to energize more than 600 MW of power capacity over the next few months, including our Bhutan site.”

Production and Operations Summary

Metrics	Mar 2025	Feb 2025	Mar 2024
Total hash rate under management¹(EH/s)	24.2	20.9	22.5
– Proprietary hash rate	12.1	9.4	8.4
• Self-mining	11.5	9.0	6.7
• Cloud Hash Rate	–	–	1.7
• Delivered but not hashing	0.6	0.4	0.0
– Hosting	12.1	11.5	14.1
Mining rigs under management	175,000	163,000	226,000
– Self-owned²	97,000	88,000	86,000
– Hosted	78,000	75,000	140,000
Bitcoins mined (self-mining only)	114	110	294
Bitcoin held³	1,156	1,039	58

¹Total hash rate under management as of March 31, 2025 across the Company’s primary business lines: Self-mining, Cloud Hash Rate, and Hosting.

Self-mining refers to cryptocurrency mining for the Company’s own account, which allows it to directly capture the high appreciation potential of cryptocurrency.
Cloud Hash Rate offers hash rate subscription plans and shares mining income with customers under certain arrangements. The Cloud Hash Rate stated above reflects the contracted hash rate with customers at month-end.
Hosting encompasses a one-stop mining machine hosting solution including deployment, maintenance, and management services for efficient cryptocurrency mining.

²Self-owned mining machines are for the Company’s self-mining business and Cloud Hash Rate business.
³Bitcoins held do not include the Bitcoins from deposits of the customers.

Infrastructure Construction Update

Rockdale, Texas – 100 MW Hydro-cooling conversion energization commenced:

All cooling system delivered and installed.
Approximately 1.4 EH/s of SEALMINER A1 hydro mining rigs have been energized.
Energization in accordance with the phase of delivery of mining rigs.

Tydal, Norway – 175 MW site expansion anticipated to be fully energized by mid-2025:

Regulatory approval has been obtained.
70 MW will be ready for energization and commissioning in early April, with the remaining 105 MW to be commissioned by mid-2025.
Installation of the transformers has been completed, with the delivery and installation of electrical equipment currently in progress. Additionally, the procurement and delivery of containers and hydro-cooling systems are underway, and drainage systems construction is ongoing.

Massillon, Ohio – 221 MW site construction has begun ahead of schedule:

Substation construction is underway and is expected to be completed in Q3 2025.
Building design is completed and construction has begun earlier than expected, estimated to be completed in phases between Q3 and Q4 2025.
Estimated energization is expected to be completed in phases over Q3 and Q4 2025.

Clarington Phase 2, Ohio – 304 MW: Signed lease agreement with the landlord and negotiating with regional utility.

Jigmeling, Bhutan – 500 MW site is progressing well and is expected to be energized in phases beginning in April through June 2025:

All electrical equipment has been delivered and is currently being installed, with completion expected by Q2 2025.
The first main 132kV transformer has been powered on. The second main 132kV transformer is expected to be powered on in April 2025.
Construction of the 220kV substation is underway and is expected to be completed by Q2 2025.
Delivery of containers and hydro-cooling systems are in progress and is expected to be completed in phases by Q2 2025.

Fox Creek, Alberta – 101 MW site acquired in Alberta, sitting on 19 acres, is fully licensed and permitted:

Acquisition includes all permits and licenses to construct an on-site natural gas power plant, as well as approval for a 99 MW grid interconnection with Alberta Electric System Operator (“AESO”).
Bitdeer will develop and construct the power plant in partnership with a leading engineering, procurement and construction (“EPC”) company and is expected to be energized by Q4 2026.

Oromia Region, Ethiopia – Signed an SPA and a turnkey agreement for the acquisition and construction of a 50 MW Bitcoin mining project in Ethiopia for US$7.5 million:

Acquisition includes local Ethiopian company with a mining permit, connected to a neighboring transmission substation at 33kV interconnection.
This local Ethiopian company has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Ethiopian Electric Power Company for a duration of 4 years at an electricity price of approximately US$0.036/ kWh.
Bitdeer is working closely with an EPC contractor with specialized experience in Bitcoin mining and this mining project is expected to be energized in Q4 2025.

Site / Location	Capacity (MW)	Status	Timing⁴
Electrical capacity
– Rockdale, Texas	563	Online	Completed
– Knoxville, Tennessee	86	Online	Completed
– Wenatchee, Washington	13	Online	Completed
– Molde, Norway	84	Online	Completed
– Tydal, Norway	50	Online	Completed
– Gedu, Bhutan	100	Online	Completed
Total electrical capacity	895⁵
Pipeline capacity
– Tydal, Norway Phase 1	70	In progress	April 2025
– Tydal, Norway Phase 2	105	In progress	Mid 2025
– Massillon, Ohio	221	In progress	Q3-Q4 2025
– Clarington, Ohio Phase 1	266	In progress	Q3 2025
– Clarington, Ohio Phase 2	304	Pending approval	Estimate 2026
– Jigmeling, Bhutan	500	In progress	Q2 2025
– Rockdale, Texas	179	In planning	Estimate 2026
– Alberta, Canada	99	In planning	Q4 2026
– Oromia Region, Ethiopia	50	In planning	Q4 2025
Total pipeline capacity	1,794
Total global electrical capacity	2,689

⁴ Indicative timing. All timing references are to calendar quarters and years.
⁵ Figures may not add up due to rounding.

Upcoming Conferences and Events

April 8 – 9, 2025: Jones Healthcare and Technology Innovation Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada
April 16, 2025: Jefferies Power x Coin Virtual Conference
May 14 – 15, 2025: Macquarie Asia Conference 2025 in Hong Kong
May 19 – 20, 2025: Barclay 15^th Annual Emerging Payments and Fintech Forum in New York City
May 20, 2025: Benchmark Virtual Digital Asset Seminar
May 21 – 22, 2025: B. Riley 25^th Annual Investor Conference in Marina Del Rey, California
May 28, 2025: Orange Group & Blockware Sell-side and Buy-side Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada

About Bitdeer Technologies Group

Bitdeer is a world-leading technology company for Bitcoin mining. Bitdeer is committed to providing comprehensive Bitcoin mining solutions for its customers. The Company handles complex processes involved in computing such as equipment procurement, transport logistics, datacenter design and construction, equipment management, and daily operations. The Company also offers advanced cloud capabilities to customers with high demand for artificial intelligence. Headquartered in Singapore, Bitdeer has deployed datacenters in the United States, Norway, and Bhutan. To learn more, visit https://ir.bitdeer.com/ or follow Bitdeer on X @ BitdeerOfficial and LinkedIn @ Bitdeer Group.

Investors and others should note that Bitdeer may announce material information using its website and/or on its accounts on social media platforms, including X, formerly known as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Therefore, Bitdeer encourages investors and others to review the information it posts on the social media and other communication channels listed on its website.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release about future expectations, plans, and prospects, as well as any other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts, may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words “anticipate,” “look forward to,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including factors discussed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Bitdeer’s annual report on Form 20-F, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in Bitdeer’s subsequent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof. Bitdeer specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether due to new information, future events, or otherwise. Readers should not rely upon the information on this page as current or accurate after its publication date.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

Investor Relations
Orange Group
Yujia Zhai
bitdeerIR@orangegroupadvisors.com

Public Relations
BlocksBridge Consulting
Nishant Sharma
bitdeer@blocksbridge.com

The MIL Network –

April 10, 2025

MIL-OSI NGOs: Sudan: Stories of violence and forced displacement from South Kordofan

Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

“The morning of the attack I was at home and my mother was sick. We ran to escape with my children. I carried my mother on a donkey cart as she could not walk,” says a displaced woman living in Sudan’s Nuba mountains. “When we were near the mountains, we stopped to bury her. My two brothers were shot and killed during the escape.”

A displaced woman living in Sudan’s Nuba mountains The morning of the attack I was at home and my mother was sick. We ran to escape with my children. I carried my mother on a donkey cart as she could not walk. When we were near the mountains, we stopped to bury her.

Illustrations to depict the testimonies of people who have fled to Sudan’s Nuba mountains in search of safety from the ongoing conflict, March 2025.

Since the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces started in April 2023 and spread across Sudan, it is estimated that 11 million people have been internally displaced. In the southern state of South Kordofan, where the Nuba mountains area is located, hundreds of thousands of displaced people are seeking refuge, according to the Sudanese Relief and Rehabilitation Agency.

Before the war started, the region already experienced waves of displacement during the decades of conflict between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) and the Sudanese government. Many people have been displaced multiple times. Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) currently provides medical care and essential everyday items to the displaced people who arrive daily. Testimonies collected from displaced people in five camps where MSF works show the harrowing situation they have lived through and the challenges they continue to face.

“They attacked early morning. We took what we could and fled. We lost two of my children on the way. Up to now I don’t know where they are, there is no phone,” explains a woman who walked five days without food until she and her family were able to reach Al Hadra, South Kordofan. An airplane bombed and killed her 15-year-old daughter there. “It was the first time I saw bombings. I was in the bush collecting wood for shelter. My daughter had gone to the borehole to fetch water for us. I rushed to my tent and later they [the villagers] brought my daughter’s body to me.”

Another woman explains how they managed to survive in Dilling district, South Kordofan.

“We went to the forest every night to sleep and use the river as protection. We leaned on the riverbank so that the bullets would not hit us,” she says. “When the shootings stopped, we would rush to the house to get food and water for the children. During an attack I saw a mother who was breastfeeding. They took her boy and threw him away. If you tried to confront them, they could hit you, even shoot the child. For them the boy would grow up and fight back.”

The area of the Nuba mountains is largely controlled by the SPLM-N. The influx of people arriving in the region, which is considered safer than other parts of the country, has had an impact on local communities as well. The poor harvest in 2023 combined with difficulties in accessing basic services and a lack of humanitarian assistance led to widespread hunger during the lean season both inside and outside the camps where displaced people are living. MSF teams working on the ground report many people in need of healthcare, food and water.

“When the war broke out, we lost everything. When I arrived at the camp, I did not have milk to breastfeed. My child was sick and kept on crying. I gave him herbs and prayed to God,” says another woman.

One man explained that soldiers entered Habila, North Kordofan, to kill all the “black people”.

“The moment they entered Habila they captured a big part of my family: 13 people, all men. The militia gathered them in one house and shot them all. I ran away,” he says. He fled to Tungul, South Kordofan where he received some food but where no health service was available, so he fled again. “From Tungul I went to Korgul displaced camp. Here things are calm. I feel safe. We want to stay here. But we suffered during the rainy season when there is no food – my children got malnourished but none of them died.”

A displaced man The moment they entered Habila they captured a big part of my family: 13 people, all men. The militia gathered them in one house and shot them all. I ran away.

Illustrations to depict the testimonies of people who have fled to Sudan’s Nuba mountains in search of safety from the ongoing conflict, March 2025.

For women fleeing violence, access to healthcare is challenging as explained by one woman.

“I was in the market when they came. I tried to defend myself, but they abused me, and beat my chest,” she says. “I still feel the pain today. After the torture I tried to get treatment, but I did not have money to do an x-ray.”

“I have spent two days without eating anything. I was collecting leaves to cook them. I had to sneak out in the bushes to avoid checkpoints to get medical care in Hajar Jawad,” says another woman. “During the rainy season, my child and I had malaria, we received treatment in the clinic in Hajar Jawad [an MSF clinic] for malaria and malnutrition.”

A displaced woman I was in the market when they came. I tried to defend myself, but they abused me, and beat my chest. I still feel the pain today.

Illustrations to depict the testimonies of people who have fled to Sudan’s Nuba mountains in search of safety from the ongoing conflict, March 2025.

MSF runs activities in Dalami locality and Western Jebel. In Dalami locality, our teams support Tujur hospital with emergency room and maternity services, malnutrition care, and male and female in-patient wards. In the hospital in January 2025, MSF conducted 20,185 outpatient consultations and admitted over 450 patients, 30 per cent of them for malaria. The teams have assisted with 119 births and carried out 215 sexual and reproductive health consultations. In Um Heitan, another location where we work, MSF has carried out 6,493 outpatient consultations.

We have also been supporting health centres, conducting mobile clinics in camps for internally displaced people, and distributing essential items in Western Jabel, but the unstable security situation has made the delivery of medical services challenging.

Our teams in the Nuba mountains observe an extremely inconsistent and insufficient coverage of basic and specialised healthcare. Where care is available, it is often inaccessible due to distance and insecurity. Moreover, there is an almost complete lack of protection services which is particularly concerning given the levels of violence people have experienced or witnessed, the separation of families, and the lack of shelter many people face.

You could also be interested in

Conflict in Sudan

Pregnant women face miscarriage and delivery complications in Darfur, Sudan

Project Update 28 Mar 2025

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MSF briefs UN Security Council on “war on people” in Sudan

Speech 13 Mar 2025

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Thousands of cholera patients treated in Sudan’s White Nile State

Project Update 10 Mar 2025

MIL OSI NGO –

April 10, 2025

MIL-OSI: APA Corporation Provides First-Quarter 2025 Supplemental Information and Schedules Results Conference Call for May 8 at 10 a.m. Central Time

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

HOUSTON, April 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — APA Corporation (Nasdaq: APA) today provided supplemental information regarding certain first-quarter 2025 financial and operational results. This information is intended only to provide additional information regarding current estimates management believes will affect results for the first-quarter 2025. It is provided to assist investors, analysts and others in formulating their own estimates, and is not intended to be a comprehensive presentation of all factors that will affect first-quarter 2025 results. Actual results and the impact of factors identified here may vary depending on the impact of other factors not identified here and are subject to finalization of the financial reporting process for first-quarter 2025.

Estimated Average Realized Prices – 1Q25
	Oil (bbl)	NGL (bbl)	Natural Gas (Mcf)
United States	$72.40	$28.00	$2.00
International	$75.10	$51.00	$4.15

Egypt tax barrels:	32 – 33 MBoe/d
Realized gain on commodity derivatives (before tax):	$0 million
Dry hole costs (before tax):	$12 million
Net gain on oil and gas purchases and sales (before tax):	$120 million
General and administrative expense:	$115 million

Production update

APA curtailed approximately 8 MMcf/d of U.S. natural gas production and 500 barrels per day of U.S. natural gas liquids production in the first quarter in response to weak or negative Waha hub prices. First-quarter 2025 guidance issued in February did not contemplate any curtailments.

Weighted-average shares outstanding

The estimated weighted-average basic common shares for the first quarter is 364 million, compared with a weighted average of 369 million shares in the fourth-quarter 2024. APA repurchased 4.4 million shares at an average price of $22.87 per share during the first quarter.

First-quarter 2025 earnings call

APA will host a conference call to discuss its first-quarter 2025 results at 10 a.m. Central time, Thursday, May 8. The conference call will be webcast from APA’s website at www.apacorp.com and investor.apacorp.com. Following the conference call, a replay will be available for one year on the “Investors” page of the company’s website.

About APA

APA Corporation owns consolidated subsidiaries that explore for and produce oil and natural gas in the United States, Egypt and the United Kingdom and that explore for oil and natural gas offshore Suriname and elsewhere. APA posts announcements, operational updates, investor information and press releases on its website, www.apacorp.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “seeks,” “believes,” “continues,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “goals,” “guidance,” “may,” “might,” “outlook,” “possibly,” “potential,” “projects,” “prospects,” “should,” “will,” “would,” and similar references to future periods, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about future plans, expectations, and objectives for operations, including statements about our capital plans, drilling plans, production expectations, asset sales, and monetizations. While forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and analyses made by us that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, whether actual results and developments will meet our expectations and predictions depend on a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause our actual results, performance, and financial condition to differ materially from our expectations. See “Risk Factors” in APA’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of risk factors that affect our business. Any forward-looking statement made in this news release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. APA and its subsidiaries undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future development or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Contacts

Investor: (281) 302-2286
Media: (713) 296-7276
Website: www.apacorp.com

APA-F

The MIL Network –

April 9, 2025

MIL-OSI Video: President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the 17th IAWJ Biennial Women Judges Conference

Source: Republic of South Africa (video statements)

President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the keynote address at the 17th Biennial Conference of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfrAUkyr4uo

MIL OSI Video –

April 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Video: Minister Simelane briefs media on the NHBRC’S investigation report into George building collapse

Source: Republic of South Africa (video statements-2)

Minister of Human Settlements Thembi Simelane briefs the media on the outcomes of the National Home Builders Regulatory Council investigation into a building that collapsed in George, Western Cape, in 2024.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FfFnAH3pzs

MIL OSI Video –

April 9, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Ghana’s Minister of Lands and Natural Resources to Speak at Mining in Motion Conference

Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, April 9, 2025/APO Group/ —

The Mining in Motion 2025 Summit is pleased to announce the participation of Hon. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Ghana as a keynote speaker.

Held under the theme Sustainable Mining & Local Growth – Leveraging Resources for Global Impact, the summit brings together Ghana’s policymakers, gold mining stakeholders and international investors to explore strategies for unlocking Ghana’s full mining potential.

Minister Buah’s participation will be instrumental in highlighting opportunities across Ghana’s gold mining value chain, discussing regulatory reforms designed to attract new investments and promoting local content development. The event will showcase Ghana’s initiatives to formalize and strengthen the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector.

Under the leadership of Hon. Bauh, Ghana’s Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has driven the growth of the ASGM sector and its contribution to economic growth and community development. The sector employs over one million people and has generated $5 billion in gold export revenue in 2024, strengthening the mining sector’s contribution to revenue generation.

In partnership with the World Bank, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is implementing the Ghana Landscape Restoration and Small-Scale Mining Project to empower District Mining Committees and formalize the ASGM sector. Additionally, Ghana is establishing a Gold Board to improve access to finance and markets for small-scale miners. The Cooperative Mining Policy of 2024 further strengthens the sector by fostering community mining cooperatives and enhancing their technical and financial capacity.

Minister Buah will use the summit as a platform to position Ghana as a model for ASGM formalization and sustainable sector growth. Beyond panel discussions, he will also participate in exclusive networking sessions and high-level meetings with global investors, exploration and production firms, government representatives and key mining stakeholders. These engagements will facilitate deal signings and partnerships aimed at accelerating the expansion of Ghana’s mining sector.

Stay informed about the latest advancements, network with industry leaders, and engage in critical discussions on key issues impacting ASGM and medium to large scale mining in Ghana. Secure your spot at the Mining in Motion 2025 Summit by visiting www.MiningInMotionSummit.com. For sponsorship opportunities or delegate participation, contact Sales@ashantigreeninitiative.org.

MIL OSI Africa –

April 9, 2025

Category: Africa

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