NewzIntel.com

Category: Americas

  • MIL-OSI: Dividend 15 Split Corp. II At-The-Market Equity Program Renewed

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, June 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dividend 15 Split Corp. II (the “Company”) announces it has renewed its at-the-market equity program (“ATM Program”) that allows the Company to issue shares of the Company to the public from time to time at the Company’s discretion, effective until July 19, 2027 unless terminated prior to such date by the Company. This ATM Program replaces the prior program established in May 2023 that has terminated. Any Class A Shares or Preferred Shares sold in the ATM Program will be sold through the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”) or any other marketplace in Canada on which the Class A Shares and Preferred Shares are listed, quoted or otherwise traded at the prevailing market price at the time of sale. Sales of Class A Shares and Preferred Shares through the ATM Program will be made pursuant to the terms of an equity distribution agreement dated June 19, 2025 with National Bank Financial Inc. (the “Agent”).

    Sales of Class A Shares and Preferred Shares will be made by way of “at-the-market distributions” as defined in National Instrument 44-102 Shelf Distributions on the TSX or on any marketplace for the Class A Shares and Preferred Shares in Canada. Since the Class A Shares and Preferred Shares will be distributed at the prevailing market prices at the time of the sale, prices may vary among purchasers during the period of distribution. The ATM Program is being offered pursuant to a prospectus supplement dated June 19, 2025 to the Company’s short form base shelf prospectus dated June 18, 2025. The maximum gross proceeds from the issuance of the shares will be $350,000,000. Copies of the prospectus supplement and the short form base shelf prospectus may be obtained from your registered financial advisor using the contact information for such advisor, or from representatives of the Agent and are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com.

    The volume and timing of distributions under the ATM Program, if any, will be determined at the Company’s sole discretion. The Company intends to use the proceeds from the ATM Program in accordance with the investment objectives and investment strategies of the Company, subject to the investment restrictions of the Company.

    The Company invests primarily in a high quality portfolio of leading Canadian dividend-yielding stocks as follows: Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, The Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, CI Financial Corp., BCE Inc., Manulife Financial Corporation, Enbridge Inc., Sun Life Financial Inc., TELUS Corporation, Thomson Reuters Corporation, TransAlta Corporation, TC Energy Corporation.

    Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the expressions “expect”, “intend”, “will” and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Company. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect the Company’s current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement or information whether as a result of new information, future events or other such factors which affect this information, except as required by law. Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Investors should read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance   may not be repeated. Please read the Company’s publicly filed documents which are available at www.sedarplus.com.

    Investor Relations: 1-877-478-2372
    Local: 416-304-4443
    www.dividend15.com
    info@quadravest.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Quietum Plus 2025: Exploring the Science and Safety behind a Popular Natural Hearing Supplement

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Aurora, Colorado, June 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In a significant advancement within the natural health supplement industry, Quietum Plus has emerged as a frontrunner in auditory wellness. As hearing health gains prominence among aging populations and wellness-conscious consumers alike, Quietum Plus is positioning itself as a transformative solution—bringing renewed attention to natural alternatives in an era increasingly reliant on pharmaceutical intervention and electronic aids.

    Over the past year, the conversation around hearing support has evolved beyond conventional devices. Where traditional approaches have centered largely on amplification through hearing aids or temporary symptom relief, Quietum Plus introduces a foundational rethinking of ear health: addressing potential root causes through targeted nutrition and internal balance. This shift marks a notable moment for both the supplement sector and the broader hearing wellness market.

    The formulation behind Quietum Plus has been carefully developed to support the auditory system’s function and longevity. The company behind the supplement emphasizes that its research has focused not merely on masking hearing loss or tinnitus symptoms, but instead on fostering the internal conditions that enable long-term auditory clarity. While Quietum Plus is not positioned as a medical treatment or cure, its natural formula has sparked attention among professionals in wellness and alternative health domains.

    Quietum Plus draws on the principles of plant-based and neuro-nutritional science. By utilizing a blend of botanicals, vitamins, and minerals sourced from clean environments and manufactured under stringent standards, the product aims to restore harmony between the ear, brain, and circulatory system. According to the brand’s creators, the inner workings of the ear require not only mechanical support, but also nourishment to maintain auditory processing efficiency over time. The supplement was designed with this philosophy at its core.

    The growing visibility of Quietum Plus reflects a broader cultural pivot toward proactive health maintenance. Rather than reacting to the onset of serious symptoms with hardware-based solutions or invasive clinical measures, more consumers are seeking early intervention via natural supplementation. This aligns with data indicating rising demand for alternative hearing health strategies—particularly among individuals in their 40s and 50s who are beginning to experience subtle declines in auditory sharpness.

    In the competitive market of wellness supplements, Quietum Plus has distinguished itself by focusing on a singular goal: comprehensive auditory system nourishment. Its formulation reportedly supports blood flow to the inner ear, promotes healthy inflammation response, and helps maintain nerve signaling vital to sound interpretation. Each of these mechanisms, according to the developers, plays a role in how effectively the ear and brain communicate under daily life stressors.

    The product’s emergence also coincides with shifting public perceptions of aging and sensory wellness. Hearing loss, once seen as an unavoidable consequence of growing older, is now being examined as a potentially manageable condition when addressed through supportive daily habits. Quietum Plus leverages this perspective, presenting itself not just as a supplement, but as part of a broader lifestyle movement rooted in longevity and preventative care.

    Industry observers have noted that Quietum Plus is helping shape a new narrative around hearing support—one that reframes the condition not as a stigma or limitation, but as a call for more thoughtful self-care. This fresh framing has appealed particularly to mid-life adults who want to maintain control of their health without relying on external devices or prescriptions.

    The product’s branding also reinforces this shift in mindset. Rather than adopting the clinical tone often associated with hearing treatments, Quietum Plus presents itself with a message of empowerment and renewal. The name itself—derived from the Latin word for “quiet”—evokes serenity, control, and balance, themes echoed in its visual identity and educational materials.

    Beyond branding, the Quietum Plus organization has expressed commitment to consumer transparency. The supplement is produced in FDA-registered and GMP-compliant facilities, a factor that has been emphasized in its marketing and packaging. Furthermore, each batch undergoes rigorous third-party testing to ensure ingredient integrity and safety—practices that reflect the brand’s ongoing efforts to align with evolving industry standards.

    While Quietum Plus is not intended to replace medical treatments, it has gained attention from holistic practitioners and integrative health coaches as a supportive tool. As alternative health gains traction within mainstream discourse, products like Quietum Plus are bridging the gap between traditional wellness disciplines and modern consumer expectations.

    In addition to its internal development efforts, the company has also focused on education and outreach. Throughout 2024 and into 2025, Quietum Plus has launched a series of digital awareness campaigns aimed at encouraging regular hearing check-ups, promoting noise exposure reduction, and supporting dietary habits known to benefit cognitive and neurological function. These initiatives signal the brand’s aspiration to position itself as not only a product provider, but a thought leader in hearing wellness.

    The product’s current market availability is managed exclusively through its official website. This direct-to-consumer model has allowed the brand to maintain tighter control over quality, pricing, and customer service—a strategy that aligns with broader trends across the supplement industry. The official website offers bundled purchasing options and informational resources designed to help users understand the supplement’s role within a larger health framework.

    Looking ahead, Quietum Plus plans to expand its educational outreach while continuing to refine its core offering. Though the company has not announced additional product lines, its leadership has indicated interest in further research collaborations and clinical studies to deepen its understanding of auditory nutrition. This focus on science-backed development could provide new momentum for natural hearing solutions across the global health marketplace.

    As the broader wellness industry continues to evolve, Quietum Plus represents a growing interest in preventative sensory care—particularly in areas that have traditionally been underserved by the supplement category. By bringing focus to an issue that often goes unnoticed until it becomes disruptive, the brand is helping reshape how individuals approach and prioritize their hearing.

    In an increasingly noisy world, Quietum Plus arrives with a message that resonates: that hearing, like any other element of health, deserves proactive attention, natural nourishment, and thoughtful support. As the health-conscious consumer of 2025 seeks options that go beyond temporary fixes, the emergence of Quietum Plus signals a new direction—one where hearing support can be both natural and effective, personal and preventative, scientific and sustainable.

    For more information, educational content, and direct purchasing, visit the official Quietum Plus website.

    Company: Quietum Plus
    Website – https://quietumplus.com/
    Address: 19655 E 35th Dr. #100,
    Aurora,
    CO 80011 USA
    Email: contact@quietumplus.com Order
    Phone Support: 1-800-390-6035 or +1 208-345-4245 

    Disclaimer The information provided in this review is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as, nor should it be considered a substitute for, professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with your physician or another qualified healthcare provider before beginning any new supplement, dietary change, or health program—especially if you are pregnant, nursing, have existing health conditions, or are taking medications. Results may vary among individuals.

    The statements made regarding Quietum Plus have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Quietum Plus is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Any claims made within this article about symptom relief, hearing improvement, or related health benefits are based on the product’s formulation and individual testimonials and not on conclusive clinical evidence. 

    This content does not constitute professional health or medical advice and should not be interpreted as such. Readers should always perform their own due diligence and consult medical professionals before making decisions related to health products.

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    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Constitutional Court a beacon of justice and national unity

    Source: South Africa News Agency

    President Cyril Ramaphosa has praised the Constitutional Court for its critical role in deepening democracy, advancing human rights, and promoting national cohesion and reconciliation over the past three decades.

    Speaking at a special event marking the 30-year anniversary of the court’s establishment on Friday in Johannesburg, President Ramaphosa described the apex court as not only a legal institution but a “noble symbol of our democratic order; both immortal and legal compass”.

    “This moment calls not only for celebration, but also for reflection, for recommitment, and for a renewed vision of constitutionalism in action in South Africa,” the President said. 

    Reflecting on the court’s founding in 1994, the President noted its symbolic location, built on the ruins of the infamous Old Fort prison in Braamfontein as a reminder of South Africa’s painful past and a testament to the transformative promise of constitutional justice.

    “This court was established on the ruins of an oppressive legal system and was built on the grounds of a former prison, embodying the hope that law could become an instrument of justice rather than repression,” he said.

    Recalling the adoption of the Constitution on 8 May 1996, President Ramaphosa, who then chaired the Constitutional Assembly, likened the document to “our new nation’s birth certificate”, describing it as a legal foundation that affirms dignity, equality, and freedom for all South Africans.

    “Just like a person cannot enjoy their rights without a birth certificate, without the Constitution our country would be cast adrift, and be vulnerable to the excesses of unchecked power.

    “We celebrate the existence of this court over the 30 years in which it has defended our democratic vision as set out in our birth certificate, our Constitution. This court has been the guardian, watching over our nation’s legal health just as a parent would attend to the health of their growing child,” he said.

    Building a culture of rights

    The President credited the court for cultivating a rights-based culture by issuing transformative and far-reaching judgments, including in S v Makwanyane that abolished the death penalty; the Grootboom case that centred on the right to housing; and Minister of Health v Treatment Action Campaign that dealt with the right to healthcare and access to HIV/Aids treatment.

    “The Constitutional Court has developed a rich and transformative jurisprudence. These judgements are not merely legal decisions – they are decisions that have changed lives, shaped our society, and strengthened our democracy,” he said. 

    He praised the court’s jurisprudence for affirming the rights of the vulnerable, including same-sex couples, women in traditional marriages, children, the poor, and the infirm.

    “The court’s judgments have advanced the rights of same-sex couples, of women in traditional marriages, of the sick and infirm, of children, of voters, and of the most marginalised members of society. They have affirmed that dignity, equality and freedom are not reserved for the powerful, but guaranteed to all,” he said. 

    He acknowledged the international legal influences that helped shape South Africa’s Constitution, with insights drawn from jurisdictions such as Canada, Germany, India and the United States.

    Quoting former Justice Albie Sachs, President Ramaphosa said: “We borrowed ideas, concepts and structures from Canada, Germany, India and the United States, but made them South African.”

    Challenges and shortcomings

    While lauding the court’s role, President Ramaphosa also acknowledged ongoing challenges in realising the full promise of constitutionalism, particularly in the delivery of socio-economic rights. 

    “It will forever remain a blight on our democracy that the applicant in the ground-breaking Grootboom judgment, Ms. Irene Grootboom, died in 2008 without her dream of a decent house being fulfilled,” he said.

    He stressed that citizens should not have to resort to litigation to claim rights that the state is obligated to fulfil.

    “There is a disconnect between the promise of our Constitution and the lived realities of South Africans. Persistent inequality, threats to judicial independence, lack of implementation of court orders, and erosion of trust in institutions remain pressing challenges,” he warned.

    Commitment to the judiciary

    President Ramaphosa reaffirmed government’s commitment to supporting the judiciary and upholding its independence. He cited budget allocations to improve court services, judicial education, and infrastructure as part of efforts to bolster the judiciary’s effectiveness.

    “To ensure that the judiciary execute their duties independently, effectively, and with dignity – government must and will provide a range of institutional, infrastructure, financial, administrative, and legal support. The support is crucial to maintaining judicial independence, which is a cornerstone of democracy and the rule of law,” he said.

    He confirmed that a joint committee between the executive and judiciary will finalise an action plan in the coming weeks to strengthen the judicial system and institutional independence.

    Tribute to pioneers

    The President paid tribute to current and former Constitutional Court Justices, legal clerks, scholars, and practitioners who have contributed to the court’s legacy.

    Among those honoured were retired Justices Albie Sachs and Kate O’Regan, who were part of the inaugural bench. He also recalled stories shared by his legal advisor, Advocate Nokukhanya Jele, who clerked for the court in its early days, sharing memories of operating in cramped temporary offices, and of rain leaking onto legal papers during the Court’s relocation to its current premises in 2004.

    “For all who had the privilege of being part of those early days working at the court, there was a sense of elation at being part of history in the making. Of being part of something far greater; something that all one’s years of legal training had prepared one for. 

    “As a nation we can be nothing short of immensely proud of the constitutional court, of what it has achieved, and of its ongoing and pre-eminent role in our society,” he said.

    Looking ahead

    President Ramaphosa called on legal professionals, government leaders and citizens alike to recommit to the Constitution and its values of accountability, ethics, and public service.

    “Thirty years on, the Constitutional Court remains a beacon of democracy. A compass for our future journey. May it continue to stand as a testament to justice, accountability, and the resilience of the South African people,” the President said. 

    He added that the country faces many challenges including poverty, inequality, joblessness and under-development. 

    “Yet we move forward as a collective with confidence, fortified by the knowledge that that you, the guardians of our constitutional order, are with us, alongside us, guiding us.

    “As we look to the next 30 years, let us ensure that the Constitutional Court remains a living institution—responsive, principled, and deeply rooted in the values of ubuntu, accountability, and human dignity. We wish the court well on this auspicious occasion, and into the future,” the President said. – SAnews.gov.za

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Government of Canada invests in new Boat School at Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 20, 2025 — The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is getting an exciting new addition after a combined investment of more than $6.5 million from the federal government and the Canadian Maritime Heritage Foundation.

    This funding is supporting the creation of a new Boat School, currently under construction, which has been integrated into the Maritime Museum site on the Halifax waterfront.

    Once complete, museum staff will provide workshops and programming in boatbuilding and sail training at the new facility for larger numbers of at-risk youth from the Mi’kmaw, African Nova Scotian, and immigrant and refugee communities, as well as young women. Programs for the Boat School are currently run out of smaller boat sheds on the Maritime Museum site, part of the Nova Scotia Museum family, which limit the number of youth who can take part.

    Due to its location over the harbour, the new Boat School will be exposed to possible flooding and hurricanes. As a result, the construction will incorporate climate resistance features, including being built high enough to withstand sea-level rise and strong enough to survive a Category 2 hurricane. The building will also incorporate energy-efficient features such as triple-pane windows and a high-efficiency heat pump system. The facility is projected to meet the standards of the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC).

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: AFRICA/UGANDA – “Voices of Peace”: campaign by Sudanese youth to launch a sustainable peace process

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Friday, 20 June 2025

    Internet

    Kampala (Agenzia Fides) – “Stopping the war has become a national demand”. This is the goal of a group of Sudanese youth who have launched the “Voices of Peace” campaign in Kampala, Uganda. Inaugurated on Saturday, June 14 by Sa’ad Mohamed, Executive Director of the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), seeks to engage young Sudanese in building a sustainable peace process.“Through this campaign, we plan to build a comprehensive peace process, with youth at its heart, benefiting from the power and influence of social media in shaping public opinion” said one of the young Sudanese present. The aim is to leverage social media and traditional arts to foster reconciliation and end the ongoing conflict in their homeland (see Fides, 17/4/2023).According to organizers, the initiative will use digital media and traditional arts – including the role of “Hakamats” (traditional female praise singers and storytellers) – to spread messages of peace and coexistence, while also monitoring and documenting human rights violations across Sudan.The note sent to Fides also states that Sudanese civil and political groups have extensive experience using digital media and social networking sites, which played a pivotal role in mobilizing the Sudanese Revolution from December 2018 to April 2019. Faced with media suppression, social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp became crucial for organizing protests and coordinating actions. The revolution effectively broke the official media blockade, transforming social media into a popular tool for communication and unifying revolutionary slogans. Sudanese activists gained international support, particularly on Twitter, turning it into a space for global solidarity. Digital platforms also became a vital medium for youth to discuss state-building, transitional justice, and human rights, fostering a culture of digital resistance.Asjad Bahaa, a founder and participant in the campaign, said “Voices of Peace” is the second phase of an ACJPS project, which began in April focusing on documenting enforced disappearances. She explained that the campaign will train youth as monitors and documenters of human rights violations, addressing the exodus of many activists due to security threats.Youth are “the fuel of war and peace,” often easily recruited by armed groups. “We are trying to reverse this by training youth to be peace advocates,” she said. “We are also working to reorient the role of Hakamats to be symbols of peace instead of incitement,” she said.The campaign launches as the conflict between the Army and the Rapid Support Forces enters its third year, with violence escalating and little sign of a political settlement. Humanitarian conditions continue to worsen, and civilian violations are widespread.Examples from other countries highlight the potential of arts and media in peacebuilding. Following the 1994 genocide, Rwanda used traditional arts, community theater, and radio broadcasts to promote love, reconciliation, and forgiveness. Sierra Leone after the 2002 civil war, mobile youth music groups used traditional music to reintegrate child soldiers and foster tolerance. In Colombia media campaigns incorporating traditional arts and music played a role in ending the conflict with FARC rebels. These initiatives, using popular songs broadcast via planes, radio, and social media, encouraged dozens of fighters to disarm and rejoin society. In Niger the role of “Hakamats” was empowered in peacebuilding through folk songs. Trained in reconciliation concepts, these women became key messengers, using songs in markets and at weddings to informally convey messages urging an end to violence and promoting coexistence in pastoral communities. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 20/6/2025)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: At Antarctica’s midwinter, a look back at the frozen continent’s long history of dark behavior

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Daniella McCahey, Assistant Professor of History, Texas Tech University

    Is this visitor to Antarctica going crazy or having a good time? Tim Bieber/Photodisc via Getty Images

    As Midwinter Day approaches in Antarctica – the longest and darkest day of the year – those spending the winter on the frozen continent will follow a tradition dating back more than a century to the earliest days of Antarctic exploration: They will celebrate having made it through the growing darkness and into a time when they know the Sun is on its way back.

    The experience of spending a winter in Antarctica can be harrowing, even when living with modern conveniences such as hot running water and heated buildings. At the beginning of the current winter season, in March 2025, global news outlets reported that workers at the South African research station, SANAE IV, were “rocked” when one worker allegedly threatened and assaulted other members of the station’s nine-person winter crew. Psychologists intervened – remotely – and order was apparently restored.

    The desolate and isolated environment of Antarctica can be hard on its inhabitants. As a historian of Antarctica, the events at SANAE IV represent a continuation of perceptions – and realities – that Antarctic environments can trigger deeply disturbing behavior and even drive people to madness.

    Long hours of constant near-darkness take their toll in the Antarctic winter.
    Andrew Smith, via Antarctic Sun, CC BY-ND

    Early views

    The very earliest examples of Antarctic literature depict the continent affecting both mind and body. In 1797, for instance, more than two decades before the continent was first sighted by Europeans, the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” It tells a tale of a ship blown by storms into an endless maze of Antarctic ice, which they escape by following an albatross. For unexplained reasons, one man killed the albatross and faced a lifetime’s torment for doing so.

    In 1838, Edgar Allan Poe published the story of “Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket,” who journeyed into the Southern Ocean. Even before arriving in Antarctica, the tale involves mutiny, cannibalism and a ship crewed by dead men. As the story ends, Pym and two others drift southward, encountering an enormous, apparently endless cataract of mist that parts before their boat, revealing a large ghostly figure.

    H.P. Lovecraft’s 1936 story “At the Mountains of Madness” was almost certainly based on real stories of polar exploration. In it, the men of a fictitious Antarctic expedition encounter circumstances that “made us wish only to escape from this austral world of desolation and brooding madness as swiftly as we could.” One man even experiences an unnamed “final horror” that causes a severe mental breakdown.

    The 1982 John Carpenter film “The Thing” also involves these themes, when men trapped at an Antarctic research station are being hunted by an alien that perfectly impersonates the base members it has killed. Paranoia and anxiety abound, with team members frantically radioing for help, and men imprisoned, left outside or even killed for the sake of the others.

    Whether to gird themselves for what may come or just as a fun tradition, the winter-over crew at the United States’ South Pole Station watches this film every year after the last flight leaves before winter sets in.

    A trailer for the 1982 film ‘The Thing,’ set at an Antarctic research station.

    Real tales

    These stories of Antarctic “madness” have some basis in history. A long-told anecdote in modern Antarctic circles is of a man who stabbed, perhaps fatally, a colleague over a game of chess at Russia’s Vostok station in 1959.

    More certain were reports in 2018, when Sergey Savitsky stabbed Oleg Beloguzov at the Russian Bellingshausen research station over multiple grievances, including the one most seized upon by the media: Beloguzov’s tendency to reveal the endings of books that Savitsky was reading. A criminal charge against him was dropped.

    In 2017, staff at South Africa’s sub-Antarctic Marion Island station reported that a team member smashed up a colleague’s room with an ax over a romantic relationship.

    Mental health

    Concerns over mental health in Antarctica go much further back. In the so-called “Heroic Age” of Antarctic exploration, from about 1897 to about 1922, expedition leaders prioritized the mental health of the men on their expeditions. They knew their crews would be trapped inside with the same small group for months on end, in darkness and extreme cold.

    American physician Frederick Cook, who accompanied the 1898-1899 Belgica expedition, the first group known to spend the winter within the Antarctic Circle, wrote in helpless terms of being “doomed” to the “mercy” of natural forces, and of his worries about the “unknowable cold and its soul-depressing effects” in the winter darkness. In his 2021 book about that expedition, writer Julian Sancton called the ship the “Madhouse at the End of the Earth.”

    Cook’s fears became real. Most men complained of “general enfeeblement of strength, of insufficient heart action, of a mental lethargy, and of a universal feeling of discomfort.”

    “When at all seriously afflicted,” Cook wrote, “the men felt that they would surely die” and exhibited a “spirit of abject hopelessness.”

    And in the words of Australian physicist Louis Bernacchi, a member of the 1898-1900 Southern Cross expedition, “There is something particularly mystical and uncanny in the effect of the grey atmosphere of an Antarctic night, through whose uncertain medium the cold white landscape looms as impalpable as the frontiers of a demon world.”

    Footage from 1913 shows the force of the wind at Cape Denison, which has been called ‘the home of the blizzard.’

    A traumatic trip

    A few years later, the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which ran from 1911 to 1914, experienced several major tragedies, including two deaths during an exploring trip that left expedition leader Douglas Mawson starving and alone amid deeply crevassed terrain. The 100-mile walk to relative safety took him a month.

    A lesser-known set of events on that same expedition involved wireless-telegraph operator Sidney Jeffryes, who arrived in Antarctica in 1913 on a resupply ship. Cape Denison, the expedition’s base, had some of the most severe environmental conditions anyone had encountered on the continent, including winds estimated at over 160 miles an hour.

    Jeffryes, the only man in the crew who could operate the radio telegraph, began exhibiting signs of paranoia. He transmitted messages back to Australia saying that he was the only sane man in the group and claiming the others were plotting to kill him.

    In Mawson’s account of the expedition, he blamed the conditions, writing:

    “(T)here is no doubt that the continual and acute strain of sending and receiving messages under unprecedented conditions was such that he eventually had a ‘nervous breakdown.’”

    Mawson hoped that the coming of spring and the possibility of outdoor exercise would help, but it did not. Shortly after his return to Australia in February 1914, Jeffryes was found wandering in the Australian bush and institutionalized. For many years, his role in Antarctic exploration was ignored, seeming a blot or embarrassment on the masculine ideal of Antarctic explorers.

    After five months of isolation in trying conditions on a remote Antarctic island, 22 men rejoice at their rescue in August 1916.
    Frank Hurley, Underwood & Underwood, via Library of Congress

    Wider problems

    Unfortunately, the general widespread focus on Antarctica as a place that causes disturbing behavior makes it easy to gloss over larger and more systemic problems.

    In 2022, the United States Antarctic Program as well as the Australian Antarctic Division released reports that sexual assault and harassment are common at Antarctic bases and in more remote field camps. Scholars have generally not linked those events to the specifics of the cold, darkness and isolation, but rather to a continental culture of heroic masculinity.

    As humans look to live in other extreme environments, such as space, Antarctica represents not only a cooperative international scientific community but also a place where, cut off from society as a whole, human behavior changes. The celebrations of Midwinter Day honor survival in a place of wonder that is also a place of horror, where the greatest threat is not what is outside, but what is inside your mind.

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

    – ref. At Antarctica’s midwinter, a look back at the frozen continent’s long history of dark behavior – https://theconversation.com/at-antarcticas-midwinter-a-look-back-at-the-frozen-continents-long-history-of-dark-behavior-253906

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: At Antarctica’s midwinter, a look back at the frozen continent’s long history of dark behavior

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Daniella McCahey, Assistant Professor of History, Texas Tech University

    Is this visitor to Antarctica going crazy or having a good time? Tim Bieber/Photodisc via Getty Images

    As Midwinter Day approaches in Antarctica – the longest and darkest day of the year – those spending the winter on the frozen continent will follow a tradition dating back more than a century to the earliest days of Antarctic exploration: They will celebrate having made it through the growing darkness and into a time when they know the Sun is on its way back.

    The experience of spending a winter in Antarctica can be harrowing, even when living with modern conveniences such as hot running water and heated buildings. At the beginning of the current winter season, in March 2025, global news outlets reported that workers at the South African research station, SANAE IV, were “rocked” when one worker allegedly threatened and assaulted other members of the station’s nine-person winter crew. Psychologists intervened – remotely – and order was apparently restored.

    The desolate and isolated environment of Antarctica can be hard on its inhabitants. As a historian of Antarctica, the events at SANAE IV represent a continuation of perceptions – and realities – that Antarctic environments can trigger deeply disturbing behavior and even drive people to madness.

    Long hours of constant near-darkness take their toll in the Antarctic winter.
    Andrew Smith, via Antarctic Sun, CC BY-ND

    Early views

    The very earliest examples of Antarctic literature depict the continent affecting both mind and body. In 1797, for instance, more than two decades before the continent was first sighted by Europeans, the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” It tells a tale of a ship blown by storms into an endless maze of Antarctic ice, which they escape by following an albatross. For unexplained reasons, one man killed the albatross and faced a lifetime’s torment for doing so.

    In 1838, Edgar Allan Poe published the story of “Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket,” who journeyed into the Southern Ocean. Even before arriving in Antarctica, the tale involves mutiny, cannibalism and a ship crewed by dead men. As the story ends, Pym and two others drift southward, encountering an enormous, apparently endless cataract of mist that parts before their boat, revealing a large ghostly figure.

    H.P. Lovecraft’s 1936 story “At the Mountains of Madness” was almost certainly based on real stories of polar exploration. In it, the men of a fictitious Antarctic expedition encounter circumstances that “made us wish only to escape from this austral world of desolation and brooding madness as swiftly as we could.” One man even experiences an unnamed “final horror” that causes a severe mental breakdown.

    The 1982 John Carpenter film “The Thing” also involves these themes, when men trapped at an Antarctic research station are being hunted by an alien that perfectly impersonates the base members it has killed. Paranoia and anxiety abound, with team members frantically radioing for help, and men imprisoned, left outside or even killed for the sake of the others.

    Whether to gird themselves for what may come or just as a fun tradition, the winter-over crew at the United States’ South Pole Station watches this film every year after the last flight leaves before winter sets in.

    A trailer for the 1982 film ‘The Thing,’ set at an Antarctic research station.

    Real tales

    These stories of Antarctic “madness” have some basis in history. A long-told anecdote in modern Antarctic circles is of a man who stabbed, perhaps fatally, a colleague over a game of chess at Russia’s Vostok station in 1959.

    More certain were reports in 2018, when Sergey Savitsky stabbed Oleg Beloguzov at the Russian Bellingshausen research station over multiple grievances, including the one most seized upon by the media: Beloguzov’s tendency to reveal the endings of books that Savitsky was reading. A criminal charge against him was dropped.

    In 2017, staff at South Africa’s sub-Antarctic Marion Island station reported that a team member smashed up a colleague’s room with an ax over a romantic relationship.

    Mental health

    Concerns over mental health in Antarctica go much further back. In the so-called “Heroic Age” of Antarctic exploration, from about 1897 to about 1922, expedition leaders prioritized the mental health of the men on their expeditions. They knew their crews would be trapped inside with the same small group for months on end, in darkness and extreme cold.

    American physician Frederick Cook, who accompanied the 1898-1899 Belgica expedition, the first group known to spend the winter within the Antarctic Circle, wrote in helpless terms of being “doomed” to the “mercy” of natural forces, and of his worries about the “unknowable cold and its soul-depressing effects” in the winter darkness. In his 2021 book about that expedition, writer Julian Sancton called the ship the “Madhouse at the End of the Earth.”

    Cook’s fears became real. Most men complained of “general enfeeblement of strength, of insufficient heart action, of a mental lethargy, and of a universal feeling of discomfort.”

    “When at all seriously afflicted,” Cook wrote, “the men felt that they would surely die” and exhibited a “spirit of abject hopelessness.”

    And in the words of Australian physicist Louis Bernacchi, a member of the 1898-1900 Southern Cross expedition, “There is something particularly mystical and uncanny in the effect of the grey atmosphere of an Antarctic night, through whose uncertain medium the cold white landscape looms as impalpable as the frontiers of a demon world.”

    Footage from 1913 shows the force of the wind at Cape Denison, which has been called ‘the home of the blizzard.’

    A traumatic trip

    A few years later, the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which ran from 1911 to 1914, experienced several major tragedies, including two deaths during an exploring trip that left expedition leader Douglas Mawson starving and alone amid deeply crevassed terrain. The 100-mile walk to relative safety took him a month.

    A lesser-known set of events on that same expedition involved wireless-telegraph operator Sidney Jeffryes, who arrived in Antarctica in 1913 on a resupply ship. Cape Denison, the expedition’s base, had some of the most severe environmental conditions anyone had encountered on the continent, including winds estimated at over 160 miles an hour.

    Jeffryes, the only man in the crew who could operate the radio telegraph, began exhibiting signs of paranoia. He transmitted messages back to Australia saying that he was the only sane man in the group and claiming the others were plotting to kill him.

    In Mawson’s account of the expedition, he blamed the conditions, writing:

    “(T)here is no doubt that the continual and acute strain of sending and receiving messages under unprecedented conditions was such that he eventually had a ‘nervous breakdown.’”

    Mawson hoped that the coming of spring and the possibility of outdoor exercise would help, but it did not. Shortly after his return to Australia in February 1914, Jeffryes was found wandering in the Australian bush and institutionalized. For many years, his role in Antarctic exploration was ignored, seeming a blot or embarrassment on the masculine ideal of Antarctic explorers.

    After five months of isolation in trying conditions on a remote Antarctic island, 22 men rejoice at their rescue in August 1916.
    Frank Hurley, Underwood & Underwood, via Library of Congress

    Wider problems

    Unfortunately, the general widespread focus on Antarctica as a place that causes disturbing behavior makes it easy to gloss over larger and more systemic problems.

    In 2022, the United States Antarctic Program as well as the Australian Antarctic Division released reports that sexual assault and harassment are common at Antarctic bases and in more remote field camps. Scholars have generally not linked those events to the specifics of the cold, darkness and isolation, but rather to a continental culture of heroic masculinity.

    As humans look to live in other extreme environments, such as space, Antarctica represents not only a cooperative international scientific community but also a place where, cut off from society as a whole, human behavior changes. The celebrations of Midwinter Day honor survival in a place of wonder that is also a place of horror, where the greatest threat is not what is outside, but what is inside your mind.

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

    – ref. At Antarctica’s midwinter, a look back at the frozen continent’s long history of dark behavior – https://theconversation.com/at-antarcticas-midwinter-a-look-back-at-the-frozen-continents-long-history-of-dark-behavior-253906

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What is CREC? The Christian nationalist group has a vision for America − and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s support

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Samuel Perry, Associate Professor, Baylor University

    U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, at a prayer during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Feb. 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s affiliation with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches – commonly called the CREC – drew attention even before his confirmation hearings in January 2025. More recently, media reports highlighted a Pentagon prayer led by Hegseth and his pastor, Brooks Potteiger, in which they praised President Donald Trump, who they said was divinely appointed.

    As a scholar of the Christian right, I have studied the CREC. Hegseth’s membership in a church that belongs to the CREC drew attention because prominent members of the church identify as Christian nationalists, and because of its positions on issues concerning gender, sexuality and the separation of church and state.

    The CREC is most easily understood through three main parts: churches, schools and media.

    What is the CREC?

    The CREC church is a network of churches. It is associated with the congregation of Doug Wilson, the pastor who founded Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. Wilson grew up in the town, where his father was an evangelical minister.

    Wilson co-founded the CREC in 1993 and is the public figure most associated with the network of churches. Christ Church operates as the hub for Logos Schools, Canon Press and New Saint Andrews College, all located in Moscow. Logos is a set of private schools and homeschooling curriculum, Canon Press is a publishing house and media company, and New Saint Andrews College is a university, all of which were founded by Wilson and associated with Christ Church. All espouse the view that Christians are at odds with – or at war with – secular society.

    While he is not Hegseth’s pastor, Wilson is the most influential voice in the CREC, and the two men have spoken approvingly of one another.

    Pastor Douglas Wilson leads others at a protest in Moscow, Idaho.
    Geoff Crimmins/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News, CC BY-SA

    As Wilson steadily grew Christ Church in Moscow, he and its members sought to spread their message by making Moscow a conservative town and establishing churches beyond it. Of his hometown, Wilson plainly states, “Our desire is to make Moscow a Christian town.”

    The CREC doctrine is opposed to religious pluralism or political points of view that diverge from CREC theology. On its website, the CREC says that it is “committed to maintaining its Reformed faith, avoiding the pitfalls of cultural relevance and political compromise that destroys our doctrinal integrity.”

    CREC churches adhere to a highly patriarchal and conservative interpretation of Scripture. Wilson has said that in a sexual relationship, “A woman receives, surrenders, accepts.”

    In a broader political sense, CREC theology includes the belief that the establishment clause of the Constitution does not require a separation of church and state. The most common reading of the establishment clause is that freedom of religion precludes the installation of a state religion or religious tests to hold state office.

    The CREC broadly asserts that the government and anyone serving in it should be Christian. For Wilson and members of CREC churches, this means Christians and only Christians are qualified to hold political office in the United States.

    Researcher Matthew Taylor explained in an interview with the Nashville Tennessean, “They believe the church is supposed to be militant in the world, is supposed to be reforming the world, and in some ways conquering the world.”

    While the CREC may not have the name recognition of some large evangelical denominations or the visibility of some megachurches, it boasts churches across the United States and internationally. The CREC website claims to have over 130 churches and parishes spread across North America, Europe, Asia and South America.

    Like some other evangelical denominations, the CREC uses “church planting” to grow its network. Plant churches do not require a centralized governing body to ordain their founding. Instead, those interested in starting a CREC congregation contact the CREC. The CREC then provides materials and literature for people to use in their church.

    CREC schools, home schools and colleges

    The CREC’s expansion also owes a debt to Wilson’s entrepreneurship. As the church expanded, Wilson founded an associated K-12 school called “Logos” in September 1981, which since then has grown into a network of many schools.

    In conjunction with its growth, Logos develops and sells “classical Christian” curriculum to private schools and home-school families through Logos Press. Classical Christian Schools aim to develop what they consider a biblical worldview. In addition to religious studies, they focus on classic texts from Greece and Rome. They have grown in popularity in recent years, especially among conservatives.

    Logos’ classical Christian curriculum is designed to help parents “raise faithful, dangerous Christian kids who impact the world for Christ and leave craters in the world of secularism.” Logos press regularly asserts, “education is warfare.”

    According to the website, Logos schools enroll more than 2,000 students across 16 countries. Logos also has its own press that supplies the curriculum to all of these schools. On the heels of Logos’ success, Wilson founded the Association of Classical Christian Schools in 1993 as an accrediting body for like-minded schools. The ACCS now boast 500 schools and more than 50,000 students across the United States and around the world.

    Additionally, Wilson founded New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho. New Saint Andrews is a Christian university that takes the classical Christian approach to education championed by Wilson into higher education.

    The New Saint Andrews College is consistent with other CREC institutions. It considers secularism a weakness of other universities and society more generally. Its website explains: “New Saint Andrews has long held a principled and clear voice, championing the truth of God’s word and ways, while so many other colleges veer into softness and secularism.” The school is governed by the elders of Christ Church and does not accept federal funding.

    CREC media

    In addition to the Logos Press, which produces the CREC school curriculum, Wilson founded Canon Press. Canon Press produces books, podcasts, a YouTube channel and assorted merchandise including apparel and weapons, such as a flamethrower. The YouTube channel has over 100,000 followers.

    Books published by Canon include children’s picture books to manuals on masculinity. A number of books continue the theme of warfare.

    The politics page of the press contains many books on Christian nationalism. Christian political theorist Stephen Wolfe’s book “The Case for Christian Nationalism” is one of the most popular among books on Christian nationalism. The website has dozens of books on Christian nationalism and media dedicated to the construction of a Christian government.

    Author Joe Rigney, a fellow of theology at New Saint Andrews College and an associate pastor at Christ Church, warns of the “Sin of Empathy.” Rigney claims that empathizing with others is sinful because it requires compromise and makes one vulnerable in the fight against evil.

    CREC controversies

    Pete Hegseth at his confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 14, 2025.
    AP Photo/Alex Brandon

    As the church network has grown, it has drawn attention and scrutiny. Wilson’s 1996 publication of a book positively depicting slavery and claiming slavery cultivated “affection among the races” drew national attention.

    Accusations of sexual abuse and the church’s handling of it have also brought national news coverage. Vice’s Sarah Stankorb interviewed many women who talked about a culture, especially in marriage, where sexual abuse and assault is common. The Vice reporting led to a podcast that details the accounts of survivors. In interviews, Wilson has denied any wrongdoing and said that claims of sexual abuse will be directed to the proper authorities.

    Hegseth’s actions as secretary of defense concerning gender identity and banning trans people from serving in the military, in addition to stripping gay activist and politician Harvey Milk’s name from a Navy ship, have brought more attention to the CREC. I believe that given Hegseth’s role as secretary of defense, his affiliation with the CREC will likely remain a topic of conversation throughout the Trump presidency.

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

    – ref. What is CREC? The Christian nationalist group has a vision for America − and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s support – https://theconversation.com/what-is-crec-the-christian-nationalist-group-has-a-vision-for-america-and-defense-secretary-pete-hegseths-support-258273

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What is CREC? The Christian nationalist group has a vision for America − and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s support

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Samuel Perry, Associate Professor, Baylor University

    U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, at a prayer during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Feb. 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s affiliation with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches – commonly called the CREC – drew attention even before his confirmation hearings in January 2025. More recently, media reports highlighted a Pentagon prayer led by Hegseth and his pastor, Brooks Potteiger, in which they praised President Donald Trump, who they said was divinely appointed.

    As a scholar of the Christian right, I have studied the CREC. Hegseth’s membership in a church that belongs to the CREC drew attention because prominent members of the church identify as Christian nationalists, and because of its positions on issues concerning gender, sexuality and the separation of church and state.

    The CREC is most easily understood through three main parts: churches, schools and media.

    What is the CREC?

    The CREC church is a network of churches. It is associated with the congregation of Doug Wilson, the pastor who founded Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. Wilson grew up in the town, where his father was an evangelical minister.

    Wilson co-founded the CREC in 1993 and is the public figure most associated with the network of churches. Christ Church operates as the hub for Logos Schools, Canon Press and New Saint Andrews College, all located in Moscow. Logos is a set of private schools and homeschooling curriculum, Canon Press is a publishing house and media company, and New Saint Andrews College is a university, all of which were founded by Wilson and associated with Christ Church. All espouse the view that Christians are at odds with – or at war with – secular society.

    While he is not Hegseth’s pastor, Wilson is the most influential voice in the CREC, and the two men have spoken approvingly of one another.

    Pastor Douglas Wilson leads others at a protest in Moscow, Idaho.
    Geoff Crimmins/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News, CC BY-SA

    As Wilson steadily grew Christ Church in Moscow, he and its members sought to spread their message by making Moscow a conservative town and establishing churches beyond it. Of his hometown, Wilson plainly states, “Our desire is to make Moscow a Christian town.”

    The CREC doctrine is opposed to religious pluralism or political points of view that diverge from CREC theology. On its website, the CREC says that it is “committed to maintaining its Reformed faith, avoiding the pitfalls of cultural relevance and political compromise that destroys our doctrinal integrity.”

    CREC churches adhere to a highly patriarchal and conservative interpretation of Scripture. Wilson has said that in a sexual relationship, “A woman receives, surrenders, accepts.”

    In a broader political sense, CREC theology includes the belief that the establishment clause of the Constitution does not require a separation of church and state. The most common reading of the establishment clause is that freedom of religion precludes the installation of a state religion or religious tests to hold state office.

    The CREC broadly asserts that the government and anyone serving in it should be Christian. For Wilson and members of CREC churches, this means Christians and only Christians are qualified to hold political office in the United States.

    Researcher Matthew Taylor explained in an interview with the Nashville Tennessean, “They believe the church is supposed to be militant in the world, is supposed to be reforming the world, and in some ways conquering the world.”

    While the CREC may not have the name recognition of some large evangelical denominations or the visibility of some megachurches, it boasts churches across the United States and internationally. The CREC website claims to have over 130 churches and parishes spread across North America, Europe, Asia and South America.

    Like some other evangelical denominations, the CREC uses “church planting” to grow its network. Plant churches do not require a centralized governing body to ordain their founding. Instead, those interested in starting a CREC congregation contact the CREC. The CREC then provides materials and literature for people to use in their church.

    CREC schools, home schools and colleges

    The CREC’s expansion also owes a debt to Wilson’s entrepreneurship. As the church expanded, Wilson founded an associated K-12 school called “Logos” in September 1981, which since then has grown into a network of many schools.

    In conjunction with its growth, Logos develops and sells “classical Christian” curriculum to private schools and home-school families through Logos Press. Classical Christian Schools aim to develop what they consider a biblical worldview. In addition to religious studies, they focus on classic texts from Greece and Rome. They have grown in popularity in recent years, especially among conservatives.

    Logos’ classical Christian curriculum is designed to help parents “raise faithful, dangerous Christian kids who impact the world for Christ and leave craters in the world of secularism.” Logos press regularly asserts, “education is warfare.”

    According to the website, Logos schools enroll more than 2,000 students across 16 countries. Logos also has its own press that supplies the curriculum to all of these schools. On the heels of Logos’ success, Wilson founded the Association of Classical Christian Schools in 1993 as an accrediting body for like-minded schools. The ACCS now boast 500 schools and more than 50,000 students across the United States and around the world.

    Additionally, Wilson founded New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho. New Saint Andrews is a Christian university that takes the classical Christian approach to education championed by Wilson into higher education.

    The New Saint Andrews College is consistent with other CREC institutions. It considers secularism a weakness of other universities and society more generally. Its website explains: “New Saint Andrews has long held a principled and clear voice, championing the truth of God’s word and ways, while so many other colleges veer into softness and secularism.” The school is governed by the elders of Christ Church and does not accept federal funding.

    CREC media

    In addition to the Logos Press, which produces the CREC school curriculum, Wilson founded Canon Press. Canon Press produces books, podcasts, a YouTube channel and assorted merchandise including apparel and weapons, such as a flamethrower. The YouTube channel has over 100,000 followers.

    Books published by Canon include children’s picture books to manuals on masculinity. A number of books continue the theme of warfare.

    The politics page of the press contains many books on Christian nationalism. Christian political theorist Stephen Wolfe’s book “The Case for Christian Nationalism” is one of the most popular among books on Christian nationalism. The website has dozens of books on Christian nationalism and media dedicated to the construction of a Christian government.

    Author Joe Rigney, a fellow of theology at New Saint Andrews College and an associate pastor at Christ Church, warns of the “Sin of Empathy.” Rigney claims that empathizing with others is sinful because it requires compromise and makes one vulnerable in the fight against evil.

    CREC controversies

    Pete Hegseth at his confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 14, 2025.
    AP Photo/Alex Brandon

    As the church network has grown, it has drawn attention and scrutiny. Wilson’s 1996 publication of a book positively depicting slavery and claiming slavery cultivated “affection among the races” drew national attention.

    Accusations of sexual abuse and the church’s handling of it have also brought national news coverage. Vice’s Sarah Stankorb interviewed many women who talked about a culture, especially in marriage, where sexual abuse and assault is common. The Vice reporting led to a podcast that details the accounts of survivors. In interviews, Wilson has denied any wrongdoing and said that claims of sexual abuse will be directed to the proper authorities.

    Hegseth’s actions as secretary of defense concerning gender identity and banning trans people from serving in the military, in addition to stripping gay activist and politician Harvey Milk’s name from a Navy ship, have brought more attention to the CREC. I believe that given Hegseth’s role as secretary of defense, his affiliation with the CREC will likely remain a topic of conversation throughout the Trump presidency.

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

    – ref. What is CREC? The Christian nationalist group has a vision for America − and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s support – https://theconversation.com/what-is-crec-the-christian-nationalist-group-has-a-vision-for-america-and-defense-secretary-pete-hegseths-support-258273

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How artificial intelligence controls your health insurance coverage

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jennifer D. Oliva, Professor of Law, Indiana University

    Evidence suggests that insurance companies use AI to delay or limit health care that patients need. FatCameraE+ via Getty Images

    Over the past decade, health insurance companies have increasingly embraced the use of artificial intelligence algorithms. Unlike doctors and hospitals, which use AI to help diagnose and treat patients, health insurers use these algorithms to decide whether to pay for health care treatments and services that are recommended by a given patient’s physicians.

    One of the most common examples is prior authorization, which is when your doctor needs to
    receive payment approval from your insurance company before providing you care. Many insurers use an algorithm to decide whether the requested care is “medically necessary” and should be covered.

    These AI systems also help insurers decide how much care a patient is entitled to — for example, how many days of hospital care a patient can receive after surgery.

    If an insurer declines to pay for a treatment your doctor recommends, you usually have three options. You can try to appeal the decision, but that process can take a lot of time, money and expert help. Only 1 in 500 claim denials are appealed. You can agree to a different treatment that your insurer will cover. Or you can pay for the recommended treatment yourself, which is often not realistic because of high health care costs.

    As a legal scholar who studies health law and policy, I’m concerned about how insurance algorithms affect people’s health. Like with AI algorithms used by doctors and hospitals, these tools can potentially improve care and reduce costs. Insurers say that AI helps them make quick, safe decisions about what care is necessary and avoids wasteful or harmful treatments.

    But there’s strong evidence that the opposite can be true. These systems are sometimes used to delay or deny care that should be covered, all in the name of saving money.

    A pattern of withholding care

    Presumably, companies feed a patient’s health care records and other relevant information into health care coverage algorithms and compare that information with current medical standards of care to decide whether to cover the patient’s claim. However, insurers have refused to disclose how these algorithms work in making such decisions, so it is impossible to say exactly how they operate in practice.

    Using AI to review coverage saves insurers time and resources, especially because it means fewer medical professionals are needed to review each case. But the financial benefit to insurers doesn’t stop there. If an AI system quickly denies a valid claim, and the patient appeals, that appeal process can take years. If the patient is seriously ill and expected to die soon, the insurance company might save money simply by dragging out the process in the hope that the patient dies before the case is resolved.

    Insurers say that if they decline to cover a medical intervention, patients can pay for it out of pocket.

    This creates the disturbing possibility that insurers might use algorithms to withhold care for expensive, long-term or terminal health problems , such as chronic or other debilitating disabilities. One reporter put it bluntly: “Many older adults who spent their lives paying into Medicare now face amputation or cancer and are forced to either pay for care themselves or go without.”

    Research supports this concern – patients with chronic illnesses are more likely to be denied coverage and suffer as a result. In addition, Black and Hispanic people and those of other nonwhite ethnicities, as well as people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, are more likely to experience claims denials. Some evidence also suggests that prior authorization may increase rather than decrease health care system costs.

    Insurers argue that patients can always pay for any treatment themselves, so they’re not really being denied care. But this argument ignores reality. These decisions have serious health consequences, especially when people can’t afford the care they need.

    Moving toward regulation

    Unlike medical algorithms, insurance AI tools are largely unregulated. They don’t have to go through Food and Drug Administration review, and insurance companies often say their algorithms are trade secrets.

    That means there’s no public information about how these tools make decisions, and there’s no outside testing to see whether they’re safe, fair or effective. No peer-reviewed studies exist to show how well they actually work in the real world.

    There does seem to be some momentum for change. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, which is the federal agency in charge of Medicare and Medicaid, recently announced that insurers in Medicare Advantage plans must base decisions on the needs of individual patients – not just on generic criteria. But these rules still let insurers create their own decision-making standards, and they still don’t require any outside testing to prove their systems work before using them. Plus, federal rules can only regulate federal public health programs like Medicare. They do not apply to private insurers who do not provide federal health program coverage.

    Some states, including Colorado, Georgia, Florida, Maine and Texas, have proposed laws to rein in insurance AI. A few have passed new laws, including a 2024 California statute that requires a licensed physician to supervise the use of insurance coverage algorithms.

    But most state laws suffer from the same weaknesses as the new CMS rule. They leave too much control in the hands of insurers to decide how to define “medical necessity” and in what contexts to use algorithms for coverage decisions. They also don’t require those algorithms to be reviewed by neutral experts before use. And even strong state laws wouldn’t be enough, because states generally can’t regulate Medicare or insurers that operate outside their borders.

    A role for the FDA

    In the view of many health law experts, the gap between insurers’ actions and patient needs has become so wide that regulating health care coverage algorithms is now imperative. As I argue in an essay to be published in the Indiana Law Journal, the FDA is well positioned to do so.

    The FDA is staffed with medical experts who have the capability to evaluate insurance algorithms before they are used to make coverage decisions. The agency already reviews many medical AI tools for safety and effectiveness. FDA oversight would also provide a uniform, national regulatory scheme instead of a patchwork of rules across the country.

    Some people argue that the FDA’s power here is limited. For the purposes of FDA regulation, a medical device is defined as an instrument “intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease.” Because health insurance algorithms are not used to diagnose, treat or prevent disease, Congress may need to amend the definition of a medical device before the FDA can regulate those algorithms.

    If the FDA’s current authority isn’t enough to cover insurance algorithms, Congress could change the law to give it that power. Meanwhile, CMS and state governments could require independent testing of these algorithms for safety, accuracy and fairness. That might also push insurers to support a single national standard – like FDA regulation – instead of facing a patchwork of rules across the country.

    The move toward regulating how health insurers use AI in determining coverage has clearly begun, but it is still awaiting a robust push. Patients’ lives are literally on the line.

    Jennifer D. Oliva currently receives funding from NIDA to research the impact of pharmaceutical industry messaging on the opioid crisis among U.S. Military Veterans. She is affiliated with the UCSF/University of California College of the Law, San Francisco Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy and Georgetown University Law Center O’Neill Institute for National & Global Health Law.

    – ref. How artificial intelligence controls your health insurance coverage – https://theconversation.com/how-artificial-intelligence-controls-your-health-insurance-coverage-253602

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How artificial intelligence controls your health insurance coverage

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jennifer D. Oliva, Professor of Law, Indiana University

    Evidence suggests that insurance companies use AI to delay or limit health care that patients need. FatCameraE+ via Getty Images

    Over the past decade, health insurance companies have increasingly embraced the use of artificial intelligence algorithms. Unlike doctors and hospitals, which use AI to help diagnose and treat patients, health insurers use these algorithms to decide whether to pay for health care treatments and services that are recommended by a given patient’s physicians.

    One of the most common examples is prior authorization, which is when your doctor needs to
    receive payment approval from your insurance company before providing you care. Many insurers use an algorithm to decide whether the requested care is “medically necessary” and should be covered.

    These AI systems also help insurers decide how much care a patient is entitled to — for example, how many days of hospital care a patient can receive after surgery.

    If an insurer declines to pay for a treatment your doctor recommends, you usually have three options. You can try to appeal the decision, but that process can take a lot of time, money and expert help. Only 1 in 500 claim denials are appealed. You can agree to a different treatment that your insurer will cover. Or you can pay for the recommended treatment yourself, which is often not realistic because of high health care costs.

    As a legal scholar who studies health law and policy, I’m concerned about how insurance algorithms affect people’s health. Like with AI algorithms used by doctors and hospitals, these tools can potentially improve care and reduce costs. Insurers say that AI helps them make quick, safe decisions about what care is necessary and avoids wasteful or harmful treatments.

    But there’s strong evidence that the opposite can be true. These systems are sometimes used to delay or deny care that should be covered, all in the name of saving money.

    A pattern of withholding care

    Presumably, companies feed a patient’s health care records and other relevant information into health care coverage algorithms and compare that information with current medical standards of care to decide whether to cover the patient’s claim. However, insurers have refused to disclose how these algorithms work in making such decisions, so it is impossible to say exactly how they operate in practice.

    Using AI to review coverage saves insurers time and resources, especially because it means fewer medical professionals are needed to review each case. But the financial benefit to insurers doesn’t stop there. If an AI system quickly denies a valid claim, and the patient appeals, that appeal process can take years. If the patient is seriously ill and expected to die soon, the insurance company might save money simply by dragging out the process in the hope that the patient dies before the case is resolved.

    Insurers say that if they decline to cover a medical intervention, patients can pay for it out of pocket.

    This creates the disturbing possibility that insurers might use algorithms to withhold care for expensive, long-term or terminal health problems , such as chronic or other debilitating disabilities. One reporter put it bluntly: “Many older adults who spent their lives paying into Medicare now face amputation or cancer and are forced to either pay for care themselves or go without.”

    Research supports this concern – patients with chronic illnesses are more likely to be denied coverage and suffer as a result. In addition, Black and Hispanic people and those of other nonwhite ethnicities, as well as people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, are more likely to experience claims denials. Some evidence also suggests that prior authorization may increase rather than decrease health care system costs.

    Insurers argue that patients can always pay for any treatment themselves, so they’re not really being denied care. But this argument ignores reality. These decisions have serious health consequences, especially when people can’t afford the care they need.

    Moving toward regulation

    Unlike medical algorithms, insurance AI tools are largely unregulated. They don’t have to go through Food and Drug Administration review, and insurance companies often say their algorithms are trade secrets.

    That means there’s no public information about how these tools make decisions, and there’s no outside testing to see whether they’re safe, fair or effective. No peer-reviewed studies exist to show how well they actually work in the real world.

    There does seem to be some momentum for change. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, which is the federal agency in charge of Medicare and Medicaid, recently announced that insurers in Medicare Advantage plans must base decisions on the needs of individual patients – not just on generic criteria. But these rules still let insurers create their own decision-making standards, and they still don’t require any outside testing to prove their systems work before using them. Plus, federal rules can only regulate federal public health programs like Medicare. They do not apply to private insurers who do not provide federal health program coverage.

    Some states, including Colorado, Georgia, Florida, Maine and Texas, have proposed laws to rein in insurance AI. A few have passed new laws, including a 2024 California statute that requires a licensed physician to supervise the use of insurance coverage algorithms.

    But most state laws suffer from the same weaknesses as the new CMS rule. They leave too much control in the hands of insurers to decide how to define “medical necessity” and in what contexts to use algorithms for coverage decisions. They also don’t require those algorithms to be reviewed by neutral experts before use. And even strong state laws wouldn’t be enough, because states generally can’t regulate Medicare or insurers that operate outside their borders.

    A role for the FDA

    In the view of many health law experts, the gap between insurers’ actions and patient needs has become so wide that regulating health care coverage algorithms is now imperative. As I argue in an essay to be published in the Indiana Law Journal, the FDA is well positioned to do so.

    The FDA is staffed with medical experts who have the capability to evaluate insurance algorithms before they are used to make coverage decisions. The agency already reviews many medical AI tools for safety and effectiveness. FDA oversight would also provide a uniform, national regulatory scheme instead of a patchwork of rules across the country.

    Some people argue that the FDA’s power here is limited. For the purposes of FDA regulation, a medical device is defined as an instrument “intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease.” Because health insurance algorithms are not used to diagnose, treat or prevent disease, Congress may need to amend the definition of a medical device before the FDA can regulate those algorithms.

    If the FDA’s current authority isn’t enough to cover insurance algorithms, Congress could change the law to give it that power. Meanwhile, CMS and state governments could require independent testing of these algorithms for safety, accuracy and fairness. That might also push insurers to support a single national standard – like FDA regulation – instead of facing a patchwork of rules across the country.

    The move toward regulating how health insurers use AI in determining coverage has clearly begun, but it is still awaiting a robust push. Patients’ lives are literally on the line.

    Jennifer D. Oliva currently receives funding from NIDA to research the impact of pharmaceutical industry messaging on the opioid crisis among U.S. Military Veterans. She is affiliated with the UCSF/University of California College of the Law, San Francisco Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy and Georgetown University Law Center O’Neill Institute for National & Global Health Law.

    – ref. How artificial intelligence controls your health insurance coverage – https://theconversation.com/how-artificial-intelligence-controls-your-health-insurance-coverage-253602

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Outlining Maine Economic Benefits of Foreign Students, Senator King Urges Secretary of State Rubio to Reconsider Harmful Pause

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King

    WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) called on the State Department to reinstate student visa programs for the benefit of Maine schools and the state’s local economy. In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, King outlined the immediate impact of revoking student visas on schools in Maine like Thornton Academy, the University of New England (UNE), Foxcroft Academy, College of the Atlantic and the University of Maine (UMaine) System.

    Senator King began, “I write to underscore the critically harmful impacts that the Department of State’s decision to pause new visa interviews for international students, as well as the Department’s threats to revoke visas of Chinese students, are having on schools across the state of Maine.”

    “These actions are deterring international families from sending their students to the U.S.—the tuition of which contributes significantly to the revenue of secondary schools and institutions of higher education in Maine. Thornton Academy, which functions as the public high school for students in Saco, and its neighboring towns in Maine, has already seen a loss of $120,000 in revenue due to the withdrawal of Chinese education programs from their summer camp. Thornton Academy anticipates a potential annual loss of $6.6 million should the Administration’s policy remain in place—a loss of one third of the school’s annual budget for employee salary payments,” King continued.

    King concluded, “International students studying at schools in Maine are subsidizing the cost of local education, saving taxpayers money, and providing Maine students with unmatched opportunities. These are not funds coming from the pockets of our community, the taxes of our businesses, or from the federal government. These are funds brought in from outside of the United States and used to the benefit of all our students both domestic and international.

    King has long supported the impact and contributions of international students. Earlier this year, he introduced legislation to streamline the bureaucratic process for international students to obtain legal status and bolster the United States’ STEM labor force. 

    The full text of the letter can be found here and below.

    +++

    Dear Secretary Rubio:

    I write to underscore the critically harmful impacts that the Department of State’s decision to pause new visa interviews for international students, as well as the Department’s threats to revoke visas of Chinese students, are having on schools across the state of Maine.

    These actions are deterring international families from sending their students to the U.S.—the tuition of which contributes significantly to the revenue of secondary schools and institutions of higher education in Maine. Thornton Academy, which functions as the public high school for students in Saco, and its neighboring towns in Maine, has already seen a loss of $120,000 in revenue due to the withdrawal of Chinese education programs from their summer camp. Thornton Academy anticipates a potential annual loss of $6.6 million should the Administration’s policy remain in place—a loss of one third of the school’s annual budget for employee salary payments. College of the Atlantic, a small liberal arts college in Bar Harbor, Maine, projects a loss of thirty five percent of their net tuition due to these policies. These are just a few examples—schools across Maine report that real and projected reductions in international student enrollments, and the corresponding loss of revenue associated with their tuition, will almost certainly result in staff layoffs. These layoffs will not only harm students but also have a damaging ripple effect on our local economies.

    The non-monetary contributions of these students to Maine communities cannot be overstated. Our state university system hosts students from 85 countries. Foxcroft Academy, a day and boarding school in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, hosts about 20% of its entire student population from countries around the world. These students bring diverse cultures and perspectives to their new communities and create an opportunity for all Maine students to consider the world with a far greater exposure than otherwise possible.

    Not only does Maine benefit from these students, but the education that they receive in our state has also taken them far—international students who studied in Maine have participated in global academic competitions, become published authors, and have even become professors themselves. The Administration has yet to provide a compelling reason for its decision to rob our communities of this worthwhile exchange.

    International students studying at schools in Maine are subsidizing the cost of local education, saving taxpayers money, and providing Maine students with unmatched opportunities. These are not funds coming from the pockets of our community, the taxes of our businesses, or from the federal government. These are funds brought in from outside of the United State and used to the benefit of all our students both domestic and international.

    I urge you to reconsider the Department of State’s policies regarding international student visa pauses and revocations, for the benefit of Maine and the entire nation.

    Sincerely,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Russia is becoming a key player in the new architecture of the global economy

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –

    The geopolitical fragmentation of the global economy opens up new opportunities for Russia to cooperate with the countries of the Global South and strengthen its own role in global processes. This is stated in the HSE report presented at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum as part of the VTB session.

    Analysts emphasize that the global economy is currently divided into three large blocs – the United States, China and non-aligned countries, which is accompanied by a reduction in trade and investment between them by 12% and 20% since 2022. Despite this, developing countries are increasing their share in world trade: the volume of trade between the countries of the Global South has grown from $2.3 trillion in 2007 to $5.6 trillion in 2023. This indicates the formation of new economic ties and growth centers.

    The report notes that the reversal of trade imbalances in 2024 – with the US deficit widening and China’s surplus rising, and the EU moving into positive balance – creates risks of new trade wars and investment reallocation, requiring companies to diversify supplies and expand their partner networks. Logistics challenges caused by conflicts in the Middle East and problems in the Suez and Panama Canals are stimulating the development of alternative routes, including the Northern Sea Route and “green corridors” for the accelerated delivery of critical cargo.

    Particular attention is paid to the role of the so-called connector countries – Malaysia, Vietnam and India, which are strengthening trade ties with individual partners, while Russia, Australia and the EU are reducing their dependence on traditional markets, which contributes to the formation of sustainable regional trade turnover.

    In the Russian context, experts note that human capital is becoming the main resource for economic growth: the average length of education for Russians aged 25–44 is 14 years, which is higher than in the US and Europe, but further investment in science and R&D is needed to realize this potential. In the context of the crisis, Russia has seen an increase in the production of high-tech products, the development of domestic tourism and paid services, as well as an increase in exports, which are less sensitive to sanctions.

    Investment activity is most noticeable in the small and medium enterprise sector and in the production of investment goods, which contributes to the diversification of the economy and the creation of new jobs. Key challenges include tightening monetary policy, rising credit costs, labor shortages and tax pressure, especially in the manufacturing industry.

    The authors of the report emphasize that a balanced budget policy and support for those employed in the public sector are necessary for macroeconomic stability, and sustainable growth is possible only with the simultaneous strengthening of the internal and external sustainability of the economy. In conditions of turbulence, Russia can play a key role in the formation of a new architecture of the global economy, focused on cooperation with the countries of the Global South and the creation of alternative development models.

    The report was prepared as part of the VTB session “In Search of New Sources of Growth: Is a Different Model of Global Financial and Trade Architecture Possible” at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The session was attended by: Andrey Kostin, President and Chairman of the Management Board of VTB Bank; Yaroslav Kuzminov, Academic Director of the Higher School of Economics; Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Sayyed, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of Qatar; Oleg Deripaska, Founder, En Group; Serhat Keksal, President of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank; Alexey Overchuk, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation; Benedict Okey Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank; Anton Siluanov, Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Miller Hosts RESILIENCE Act of 2025 Roundtable

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV)

    Washington, D.C. – On Tuesday, Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV) hosted a roundtable discussion with industry leaders to discuss her Repair Expenditures Support Infrastructure, Labor Investment, Energy Needs, and Creates Equity Act of 2025 (RESILIENCE Act of 2025). This bipartisan legislation introduced by Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV) and Brad Schneider (D-IL) will allow utilities to deduct repair costs from the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax and will ensure that these companies are treated fairly.

    Click here for bill text.

    “The Inflation Reduction Act picked winners and losers in energy production, and hard-working Americans suffered the most by having to pay more for everything, including utilities. The Resilience Act of 2025 would fix the unfair tax treatment of utilities under the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax by allowing regulated utilities to fully deduct repair expenditures. This bill would increase energy affordability for consumers and ensures tax fairness, ultimately creating a more resilient and reliable energy grid,” said Congresswoman Miller. 

    The RESILIENCE Act of 2025 is supported by American Water, the Edison Electric Institute, Appalachian Power, Exelon, and FirstEnergy:

    “We were honored to host Congresswoman Miller at West Virginia American Water for this robust discussion on her RESILIENCE Act. Water utilities are capital-intensive industries. American Water and other providers invest billions to maintain and improve their systems, ensuring safe, clean and reliable service. As it stands without a repairs adjustment, costs for utilities are increased. Congresswoman Miller’s legislation would codify this adjustment, benefiting customers – we applaud her for this forward-looking policy,” said Christine Keck, Vice President, Chief Legislative and External Affairs Officer at American Water.

    “Electric companies make substantial investments in the nation’s energy grid every year—investments that are critical to meeting growing electricity demand and to maintaining the availability of reliable, affordable, and resilient energy for hundreds of millions of customers nationwide. We appreciate Representative Miller hosting a roundtable with industry and labor stakeholders to discuss the RESILIENCE Act. This important bipartisan bill will support our industry’s ability to enhance grid reliability while helping to keep customer bills as low as possible. We look forward to working with Congress to ensure this cost-effective, common-sense legislation is enacted into law,” said Kristen Siegele, Executive Director of Government Relations at the Edison Electric Institute.

    “Allowing Appalachian Power and other utility companies to deduct the cost of critical repairs saves our customers money.  Last year, Appalachian Power experienced devastating damage from severe weather events, where we replaced approximately 2,000 poles, 700 transformers and 270 miles of wire to get customers back up and running. Securing this common-sense solution for these activities would free up funds to invest in other areas of our operations to improve the resiliency and reliability of the power grid. We applaud Rep. Carol Miller’s continued focus on this important issue,” said Appalachian Power, an AEP company.  

    “We applaud Representatives Miller and Schneider for their bipartisan leadership and thank Congresswoman Miller for convening this important roundtable. The RESILIENCE Act of 2025 addresses a critical tax fairness issue and will help lower energy costs for our customers, freeing up resources to invest in a more reliable and resilient grid,” said Exelon.

    “Repair and maintenance are critical investments that provide a reliable and resilient electric grid. We applaud Congresswoman Miller for her bipartisan leadership and for bringing us together for yesterday’s important and timely discussion. The RESILIENCE Act will allow electric companies to deduct these investments, helping to keep rates manageable for customers while strengthening our electric infrastructure,” said Chris Beam, FirstEnergy Vice President of Generation Project Development.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison Announces First National Defense Area Convictions in New Mexico

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    ALBUQUERQUE – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico today announced the first two convictions under Title 50 U.S.C. § 797, Violation of Defense Property Security Regulations, and Title 18 U.S.C. § 1382, Military Trespass, following the recent designation of a military-controlled National Defense Area (NDA) along the U.S.-Mexico border.

    Title 50 U.S.C § 797 and Title 18 U.S.C. § 1382 are among the federal statutes that establish criminal penalties for unlawful intrusions into areas designated as National Defense Areas.  Title 50 USC § 797 refers to the willful violation of a defense property security regulation, which, pursuant to lawful authority, was approved by the Secretary of Defense—or a military commander designated by the Secretary of Defense—for the protection or security of Department of Defense property. Title 18 USC § 1382 subjects anyone to criminal penalties who, within the jurisdiction of the U.S., entered upon a military post, fort, or yard—in these cases, the New Mexico National Defense Area—for a purpose prohibit by law or lawful regulation, that is, illegal entry into the United States.  These laws allow for prosecution of unauthorized entry into the NDA as a federal misdemeanor, carrying penalties of up to one year in prison and/or a fine.

    In the first case, Andres De Los Santos-Martinez, a citizen of Mexico, pled guilty to re-entry after deportation, willfully violating a defense property security regulation, and military trespass by entering the New Mexico National Defense Area (NMNDA), a restricted military zone established in April 2025. De Los Santos-Martinez was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents on June 1, 2025, in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, after crossing the border at a location not designated as a lawful port of entry. De Los Santos-Martinez had previously been apprehended in the NMNDA on May 7, 2025, and was advised in Spanish that unauthorized entry into the restricted military area was prohibited and subject to federal prosecution.

    In the second case, Eduardo Herrera-Juvencio, also a Mexican national, pled guilty to re-entry after deportation, willfully violating a defense property security regulation, and military trespass by entering the New Mexico National Defense Area (NMNDA), a restricted military zone established in April 2025. Herrera-Juvencio was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents on June 1, 2025, in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, after crossing the border at a location not designated as a lawful port of entry.  Herrera-Juvencio had previously been apprehended in the NMNDA on May 7, 2025, and was advised in Spanish that unauthorized entry into the restricted military area was prohibited and subject to federal prosecution.

    These are the first convictions in the District of New Mexico under the new federal enforcement strategy, which grants the military expanded authority over an approximately 60-foot-wide, 170-mile-long strip of land along the New Mexico border, now managed by the U.S. Army as a National Defense Area. The NDA is marked with signs in English and Spanish warning that unauthorized entry is prohibited and subject to federal prosecution.

    “These first convictions reflect the resolve of the United States Attorney’s Office to do its part in securing our nation’s southern border,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison. “I am tremendously proud of our staff in the Las Cruces Branch Office, the U.S. Border Patrol, and the U.S. military for their relentless efforts to secure our southern border. This partnership is a prime example of what can be accomplished through coordinated enforcement of existing federal laws. New Mexico—and the entire country—is more secure because of these efforts.”

    “Let this send the message that entering the United States illegally is a crime; and if you do so in an area marked as a National Defense Area, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and removed far from the border,” said Chief Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar.

    The Court has ordered both defendants to remain in custody pending sentencing. Upon completion of their sentences, they will be subject to deportation proceedings.

    U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and Chief Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar of the U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector made the announcement.

    The U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector investigated the cases. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Saltman and Alyson Hehr are prosecuting the cases.

    USA Ellison speaks during a news conference on the southern border

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III Attacked by a Salvadorian National with a Knife in Downtown Albany

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Saul Morales-Garcia, an Illegal Alien, Charged with Attempted Second-Degree Murder

    ALBANY, NEW YORK – Tuesday June 17, after leaving his office in downtown Albany, United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III was the victim of a life-threatening incident.  Saul Morales-Garcia, an illegal alien from El Salvador, who entered the United States in 2021 after a prior deportation, lunged at Sarcone while brandishing a knife and yelling aggressively in a foreign language Sarcone could not readily identify.  Sarcone ran to the lobby of the Hilton Hotel and Morales-Garcia stopped and still shouting in a foreign language turned and started to walk away.  Sarcone immediately contacted Albany County Sheriff Craig D. Apple Sr.  Sarcone went back to the street and maintained a safe distance and yelled out to Garcia-Morales to gain his attention to prevent Morales-Garcia from disappearing as Sarcone believed an innocent person would be killed by Morales-Garcia.  Before law enforcement arrived, Morales-Garcia charged at Sarcone again screaming and yelling at Sarcone in a foreign language while wielding the knife to make a slitting-the-throat gesture at Sarcone. Sarcone again ran to the lobby of the Hilton where again Morales-Garcia stopped, turned and began to walk away but was apprehended when Sheriff’s deputies arrived.  Morales-Garcia was taken into custody and the knife was recovered.

    Sarcone was physically unharmed, but emotionally rattled and stated, “I felt an obligation to the public as the chief Federal law enforcement officer in the district that includes the city of Albany.  I feared for my life but I couldn’t let this individual harm and potentially kill others.”

    Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said: “U.S. Attorney John Sarcone’s selfless actions likely saved lives.”

    Morales-Garcia was charged with attempted second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and menacing in the second degree and remanded without bail.  He made an appearance in Albany City Court yesterday and an order of protection was issued for Sarcone. Morales-Garcia may also face federal charges; the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations are involved in the ongoing investigation. 

    Sarcone was appointed U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of New York by Attorney General Pamela Bondi in March.  “Public safety is our highest priority,” said U.S. Attorney Sarcone.  “I am relieved that no one was harmed.  I appreciated the swift response by the Albany County Sheriff’s office which was within minutes although it seemed like an eternity.”  Sarcone emphasized that such brazen and violent behavior underscores the importance of public vigilance and the need for a strong collaboration between federal and local authorities. At Sarcone’s request, his office is recused from prosecuting Morales-Garcia for illegal re-entry into the country, which is a felony, and the case has been assigned to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York for prosecution. 

    Sarcone stated, “I have spent the last three months going to 27 of the 32 counties thus far in my district conducting meetings with the District Attorneys, Sheriffs, State Police and local police Chiefs accompanied by the heads of all the Federal law enforcement agencies in the Northern District to offer assistance from federal law enforcement and my office to help combat the infiltration of gangs, drug, human traffickers, and sexual predators.  My offer of help has been well-received, and the results have been tremendous in helping these communities get rid of violent criminals. The citizens of Albany, and visitors who come to Albany, should be able to feel safe walking down our streets.”

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Low-income homeowners hit by disasters may get less help from the government, as Trump administration nixes rules on fairness, community input and resilience

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ivis García, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University

    Hurricane Helene caused extensive damage to homes in North Carolina in 2024. AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek

    Imagine that a hurricane has destroyed your home.

    The roof is gone. The floors are flooded. Your family’s belongings are ruined.

    When this happens, you can apply for federal disaster aid, hoping for a lifeline. For many low-income families and other people of modest means, funding for that aid is often channeled to the states through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program.

    Known as CDBG-DR, this program mainly provides funding to repair and rebuild homes belonging to people of low-to-moderate income who either have no insurance at all or whose coverage falls short of what is needed to making housing safe again.

    When homes are damaged beyond repair or located in areas where it’s too dangerous to rebuild because of the likelihood of future bouts of flooding in the same place, the CDBG-DR program can help pay for residents to move somewhere else that is less prone to disasters. In both cases, it covers costs that the Federal Emergency Management Agency does not pay for.

    But in 2025, with hurricane season underway, the rules for who gets help and how it’s distributed have changed significantly.

    As an urban planner who has researched disaster recovery efforts, I’m alarmed by Memorandum 2025-02, which HUD published on its website in March 2025.

    The memo changes the rules for nearly US$12 billion in disaster recovery funding approved by Congress for disasters occurring in 2023 and 2024. And HUD is implementing these changes early in the process, before any of this money has been distributed.

    This home in Puerto Rico was destroyed when Hurricane Fiona struck the island in September 2022.
    Ivis Garcia

    What has changed

    The memo does away with the civil rights certifications, fair housing assessments, environmental standards and citizen advisory groups
    that have long been mandatory for the recipients of disaster recovery funds.

    Civil rights certification means that CDBG-DR grantees must verify that disaster aid will be distributed without discrimination based on race, ethnicity, age, disability status, or other characteristics known as “protected classes.” Without this certification, there’s no formal process to ensure disaster aid is distributed fairly.

    Fair housing obligations are assessments of whether middle- and lower-income families, people of color or people with disabilities can find safe, affordable housing without facing any discrimination.

    In addition, HUD no longer requires detailed demographic reporting on who is applying for or receiving aid. This includes information such as gender, race, age, disability status and the language someone speaks.

    Another change is that HUD’s updated disaster recovery guidelines no longer require economic development funds to emphasize people of modest incomes or their communities. Under the new rules, any business hit by a disaster can get recovery funds. It doesn’t matter how much money the owners make, as long as they can show that the disaster affected them.

    And several important environmental protections have been rolled back. HUD previously mandated that disaster recovery projects comply with federal building standards.

    Those codes are tougher than the local housing codes. These included rules for building homes higher off the ground to avoid future flooding and using stronger construction methods to withstand extreme weather events. Without them, new construction may be less durable and less safe – especially in areas hit hard by hurricanes or other natural disasters.

    Strong energy efficiency standards help keep long-term utility costs low and reduce pressure on power grids during extreme weather events. They also make rebuilt homes more sustainable by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

    Tina Brotherton, 88, right, gets help from 9-year-old neighbor Lainey Hamelink as she surveys the wreckage of her business, Tina’s Dockside Inn. It was completely destroyed in Hurricane Idalia, as was Brotherton’s nearby home, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., in 2023.
    AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

    Less coordination and communication

    HUD has also removed a requirement for the nonprofits, local governments and other recipients of CDBG-DR grants to create and convene citizen advisory groups. That change took effect on March 24, 2025.

    These groups, which have long made it easier for local communities to have a say regarding federally funded disaster recovery efforts, have played an important role in making sure those efforts reflect the needs and priorities of local residents – especially those most affected.

    While eliminating this step may make it easier and faster for local governments to spend the recovery funds allocated for their communities, it also means there’s less opportunity for their own communities to influence how those funds are spent. Without that input, recovery efforts fail to resolve the real challenges people are facing.

    Staffing and funding cuts

    The White House’s 2026 budget proposal retains the HUD program that distributes disaster recovery grants while eliminating the related Community Development Block Grant program, which helps people experiencing homelessness and also funds everything from child care to services for older people.

    I’m concerned about how CDBG-DR grants will be distributed, apart from the program’s changes. HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development, which administers the CDBG-DR program, is slated to lose 84% of its staff, according to widespread media reports published earlier this year.

    The Trump administration is also calling for cutting HUD’s staff, and President Donald Trump’s proposed 2026 budget would cut the agency’s entire budget in half.

    In its March 25 HUD memo, the Trump administration framed these policy changes as a way to streamline recovery efforts and provide greater flexibility in the use of federal disaster funds. The memo also asserted that the changes were needed for compliance with executive orders that banned the use of diversity, equity and inclusion criteria and hiring practices that the administration considers to be discrimintory.

    But critics of the policy rollbacks, including the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which advocates affordable housing, worry that removing long-standing safeguards could weaken the CDBG-DR program’s core mission of equitably distributing aid and building resilient communities. The standards and community input systems HUD has abandoned, the coalition says, have historically helped ensure that disaster recovery funds reach the people who need them most.

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

    – ref. Low-income homeowners hit by disasters may get less help from the government, as Trump administration nixes rules on fairness, community input and resilience – https://theconversation.com/low-income-homeowners-hit-by-disasters-may-get-less-help-from-the-government-as-trump-administration-nixes-rules-on-fairness-community-input-and-resilience-257439

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: SkyCrest Capital Launches “Pension Plan” to Redefine Structured Asset Execution

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Denver, USA, June 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SkyCrest Capital today announced the official launch of its strategic structured asset execution initiative—the “Pension Plan”—set to go live on Monday, June 23, 2025. Built upon the firm’s proprietary SAX-iCore AI structural engine, the Pension Plan is designed to provide individual traders and investors with an intelligent, system-based path to long-term asset growth—one that eliminates emotional bias, predictive speculation, and reliance on intermediaries.

    This initiative marks a critical advancement in SkyCrest Capital’s long-term vision to transition financial markets from forecast-driven behavior toward structure-based execution. By replacing subjective decision-making with AI-generated structural rhythm, the firm positions itself not merely as a service provider, but as a builder of financial infrastructure for the future.

    Addressing Gaps in Traditional Finance

    While structured financial products have long existed in institutional finance, most individual investors remain excluded—facing challenges such as high entry thresholds, limited access to real-time information, and dependence on brokers. SkyCrest Capital’s Pension Plan seeks to change that by democratizing structural execution for retail users.

    The firm believes the future of financial infrastructure must be:
    AI-powered + user-executed + structurally replicable.

    SkyCrest Capital views this not as a product offering, but as the rollout of a new financial capability model—one that allows individuals to verify structural performance in real market environments and reclaim control over their asset rhythm.

    About the Pension Plan

    The “Pension Plan” is not simply positioned as a post-retirement income solution. Instead, it redefines the concept of a pension as early-stage time-choice freedom, enabling users to begin accumulating structural financial growth well before traditional retirement age.

    Participants in the Pension Plan will gain access to:

    Daily AI-driven structural signal delivery

    Automated rhythm-based execution cycles

    Full-cycle account growth tracking

    Compounding analytics and structural scoring reports

    Key Launch Details:

    Launch Date: Monday, June 23, 2025

    Execution System: SAX-iCore AI Structural Platform

    Eligible Participants: Individual traders, retail investors, and small asset managers

    Entry Model: No fixed capital threshold; performance scored based on execution discipline

    Assessment Cycle: Long-term program with quarterly structural rhythm evaluations

    Upon completing a 40-day structural execution cycle, participants will receive:

    A personalized Structural Execution Report

    Rhythm consistency analytics

    Portfolio configuration insights for the next phase

    Eligibility evaluation for SkyCrest’s Structured Fund Access

    Industry Attention and Institutional Validation

    The Pension Plan has already attracted attention from several industry entities, including hedge strategy research institutions in New York, an AI wealth management platform in Silicon Valley, and a structural ETF innovation fund in Asia. These organizations are currently participating in ongoing validations and risk-control assessments of the plan’s structure.

    SkyCrest Capital emphasizes that the Pension Plan is more than a user initiative—it serves as a strategic launchpad for the firm’s next-generation AI financial strategies, de-intermediated wealth management protocols, and structural fund authorization mechanisms.

    A Paradigm Shift in Financial Execution

    By launching the Pension Plan, SkyCrest Capital reaffirms its position as a system architect, structural executor, and rhythm enabler. The firm offers no promises of speculative gains—only discipline, structure, and the opportunity to co-create a new standard in financial outcomes.

    This initiative marks a fundamental shift in approach:
    SkyCrest Capital does not provide advice—it provides structure.
    It does not seek trust—it builds proof through performance.
    It does not follow the old system—it builds the infrastructure of what’s next.

    Media Contact

    SkyCrest Capital PR Department
    Website: https://www.skyskinla.com/
    Contact: Audrey Sinclair
    Email: service@skyskinla.com

    Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release is not a solicitation for investment, nor is it intended as investment advice, financial advice, or trading advice. It is strongly recommended you practice due diligence, including consultation with a professional financial advisor, before investing in or trading cryptocurrency and securities.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: SHARC Energy Announces Convertible Debenture Financing

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

    VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SHARC International Systems Inc. (CSE: SHRC) (FSE: IWIA) (OTCQB: INTWF) (“SHARC Energy” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce its intention to complete a non-brokered private placement of unsecured convertible debentures (each, a “Debenture”) with a principal amount of up to $1,500,000 (the “Offering”).

    The Offering will include an up to 15% Over-Allotment which equates to an additional 225 units and $225,000 (“Greenshoe”). If fully exercised, the total proceeds of the Offering will be an aggregate of 1,725 Units and gross proceeds of $1,725,000.

    The Debentures will bear interest at a rate of 10.0% per annum and mature on the date that is 24 months from the date of issuance (the “Maturity Date”). The holder will have the option to extend the Maturity Date for a period of 12 months and receive all accrued and unpaid interest in cash or in common shares in the capital of the Company (“Common Shares”) at a price of $0.15 per Common Share (the “Conversion Price”). Additionally, the outstanding principal amount owed under a Debenture may be converted into Common Shares at the Conversion Price at the option of the holder at any time on or prior to the last business day prior to the Maturity Date. The Company may from time to time, in its sole discretion, prepay all or a part of the principal amount and accrued interest without penalty.

    The Company intends to use the proceeds from the Offering for working capital purposes as the Company continues to fulfil the shipment and delivery of SHARC and PIRANHA Wastewater Energy Transfer (“WET”) systems.

    The Company may pay a finder’s fee in connection with the Offering to eligible arm’s length finders in accordance with applicable securities laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange. All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day following the date of issuance in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws.

    The securities of the Company referred to in this news release have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”), or any state securities laws. Accordingly, the securities of the Company may not be offered or sold within the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy any securities of the Company in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

    About SHARC Energy  

    SHARC International Systems Inc. is a world leader in energy recovery from the wastewater we send down the drain every day. SHARC Energy’s systems recycle thermal energy from wastewater, generating one of the most energy-efficient and economical systems for heating, cooling & hot water production for commercial, residential, and industrial buildings along with thermal energy networks, commonly referred to as “District Energy”.

    SHARC Energy is publicly traded in Canada (CSE: SHRC), the United States (OTCQB: INTWF) and Germany (Frankfurt: IWIA) and you can find out more on our SEDAR profile.

    Learn more about SHARC Energy: Website | Investor Page | LinkedIn | YouTube | PIRANHA | SHARC

    ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

    Fred Andriano
    Chairman

    The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

    Forward-Looking Statements 

    Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified using words such as “anticipate”, “plan”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “intend”, “should”, and similar expressions. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. SHARC Energy’s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information because of regulatory decisions, competitive factors in the industries in which the Company operates, prevailing economic conditions, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. SHARC Energy believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. Any forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the Company’s expectations as of the date hereof and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation. 

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: SHARC Energy Announces Convertible Debenture Financing

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

    VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SHARC International Systems Inc. (CSE: SHRC) (FSE: IWIA) (OTCQB: INTWF) (“SHARC Energy” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce its intention to complete a non-brokered private placement of unsecured convertible debentures (each, a “Debenture”) with a principal amount of up to $1,500,000 (the “Offering”).

    The Offering will include an up to 15% Over-Allotment which equates to an additional 225 units and $225,000 (“Greenshoe”). If fully exercised, the total proceeds of the Offering will be an aggregate of 1,725 Units and gross proceeds of $1,725,000.

    The Debentures will bear interest at a rate of 10.0% per annum and mature on the date that is 24 months from the date of issuance (the “Maturity Date”). The holder will have the option to extend the Maturity Date for a period of 12 months and receive all accrued and unpaid interest in cash or in common shares in the capital of the Company (“Common Shares”) at a price of $0.15 per Common Share (the “Conversion Price”). Additionally, the outstanding principal amount owed under a Debenture may be converted into Common Shares at the Conversion Price at the option of the holder at any time on or prior to the last business day prior to the Maturity Date. The Company may from time to time, in its sole discretion, prepay all or a part of the principal amount and accrued interest without penalty.

    The Company intends to use the proceeds from the Offering for working capital purposes as the Company continues to fulfil the shipment and delivery of SHARC and PIRANHA Wastewater Energy Transfer (“WET”) systems.

    The Company may pay a finder’s fee in connection with the Offering to eligible arm’s length finders in accordance with applicable securities laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange. All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day following the date of issuance in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws.

    The securities of the Company referred to in this news release have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”), or any state securities laws. Accordingly, the securities of the Company may not be offered or sold within the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy any securities of the Company in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

    About SHARC Energy  

    SHARC International Systems Inc. is a world leader in energy recovery from the wastewater we send down the drain every day. SHARC Energy’s systems recycle thermal energy from wastewater, generating one of the most energy-efficient and economical systems for heating, cooling & hot water production for commercial, residential, and industrial buildings along with thermal energy networks, commonly referred to as “District Energy”.

    SHARC Energy is publicly traded in Canada (CSE: SHRC), the United States (OTCQB: INTWF) and Germany (Frankfurt: IWIA) and you can find out more on our SEDAR profile.

    Learn more about SHARC Energy: Website | Investor Page | LinkedIn | YouTube | PIRANHA | SHARC

    ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

    Fred Andriano
    Chairman

    The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

    Forward-Looking Statements 

    Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified using words such as “anticipate”, “plan”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “intend”, “should”, and similar expressions. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. SHARC Energy’s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information because of regulatory decisions, competitive factors in the industries in which the Company operates, prevailing economic conditions, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. SHARC Energy believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. Any forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the Company’s expectations as of the date hereof and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation. 

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: CHP investigates local measles infection case

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    CHP investigates local measles infection case 
    The case involves a 28-year-old female. She sought treatment from a private doctor on June 11 for fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes. She developed a skin rash on June 13 and attended the Accident and Emergency Department of Kwong Wah Hospital twice, once on the same day and again on the following day. She was admitted for treatment on June 14. Her blood sample tested positive for antibodies of measles virus upon laboratory testing. She remains hospitalised and is in stable condition.
     
    An epidemiological investigation revealed that the patient was uncertain whether she had received a measles vaccination. She had no travel history during the incubation period. Her six household contacts are currently asymptomatic. During the communicable period, the patient had visited the Kowloon City Baptist Church Kindergarten, located at 206 Argyle Street in Kowloon City. The CHP is conducting medical surveillance on approximately 170 staff members and students of the kindergarten concerned.

    As measles is highly infectious, the CHP will set up an enquiry hotline (2125 2372) for contact tracing of the case. The CHP appeals to those who visited the Kowloon City Baptist Church Kindergarten between 11.30am and 12.30pm on June 9 or 10 to call the hotline. Officers of the CHP will assess their conditions and offer health advice. The hotline will operate from 9am to 1pm tomorrow (June 21) and June 22, and from 9am to 5pm between June 23 and 27.
     
    The investigations are ongoing. 
    The number of measles cases in some overseas countries remains at a high level this year. The outbreaks in North America (including the United States and Canada), Europe and neighbouring areas (including Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines) are ongoing due to the relatively low vaccination rate. Furthermore, an increasing number of measles cases have also been recorded in Japan and Australia this year. For those who plan to travel to measles-endemic areas, they should check their vaccination records and medical history as early as possible. If they have not been diagnosed with measles through laboratory tests and have never received two doses of measles vaccine or are not sure if they have received a measles vaccine, they should consult a doctor at least two weeks prior to their trip for vaccination.
    ???
    Besides being vaccinated against measles, members of the public should take the following measures to prevent infection:
     For more information on measles, the public may visit the CHP’s measles thematic pageIssued at HKT 19:45

    NNNN

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: UConn Magazine: Educating the Educators

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    It took only a few minutes for Lawrence Ward ’92 (BUS) and Andrea Chapdelaine ’91 MA, ’93 Ph.D. to develop a friendship over, of all things, the construction of Gampel Pavilion.

    As Huskies in the late ’80s to early ’90s, they didn’t know each other, but both lived close to the stadium and watched it being built prior to its 1990 grand opening. Chapdelaine describes watching construction workers eat lunch through the windows of her dorm. Ward vividly recalls chanting U-C-O-N-N with Big Red during the inaugural basketball game — when the UConn men beat St. John’s 72–58.

    “In those days you could walk into the games without a ticket,” Chapdelaine says, moving on to Memorial Stadium memories. “My friends and I always went to the football games — to be seen,” says Ward, laughing.

    In a fateful twist, these two higher education leaders returned to Connecticut to start new jobs last July. Ward left Babson College in Massachusetts to become president of the University of Hartford; Chapdelaine left the presidency of Hood College in Maryland to lead Connecticut College.

    Although they’d been introduced once at an event, this virtual interview is the first chance they’ve had to get to know each other, sharing their views of higher education from the top and the ways they try to balance tremendous responsibilities with some serious fun.

    Q: What drew you to Connecticut? Was it more than the job?

    Chapdelaine: I was in my ninth year as president at Hood and was committed to several more. But I had taught at Trinity in the past, and I loved the similarities at Connecticut College, and also the distinctions. I felt I could do well here, and coming to Connecticut was a bonus. I’m only about an hour from my hometown of Chicopee, Massachusetts, and my husband is from that area too. It’s really nice to be close to family again.

    Ward: There is something special about coming home. My family lived in Hartford since the 1940s. My father escaped the Klan in deep Georgia, and Hartford became his landing place. So for me, it is powerful to come back to the place that was a refuge for my father. The city provided refuge and new beginnings for both of my parents. My mother came to Hartford as a young girl after her father died. My grandmother worked for the Hartford Electric Company here as a chambermaid. I had some of my grandmother’s HELCO service pins made into cufflinks and wore them at my inauguration.

    Read on for more.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Newsom vows to keep fighting as federal court rejects Trump’s military overreach

    Source: US State of California 2

    Jun 19, 2025

    What you need to know: The Ninth Circuit rejected Trump’s sweeping claim that he can federalize the National Guard for any reason and avoid judicial scrutiny, even as it stayed an emergency district court order. This is a critical check on presidential overreach and confirmation that the President is not above the law.

    SAN FRANCISCO – Governor Gavin Newsom expressed disappointment that the Ninth Circuit is allowing the President to retain control of the California National Guard for now, but welcomed the Ninth Circuit’s rejection of Donald Trump’s sweeping claims that he could federalize the California National Guard as he alone sees fit and without having to answer to a court.  Governor Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta remain committed to holding President Trump accountable for using the military as domestic law enforcement in violation of federal law.

    “The court rightly rejected Trump’s claim that he can do whatever he wants with the National Guard and not have to explain himself to a court. The President is not a king and is not above the law. We will press forward with our challenge to President Trump’s authoritarian use of U.S. military soldiers against citizens.”

    Governor Gavin Newsom

    Press releases, Recent news

    Recent news

    Jun 19, 2025

    News Sacramento, California – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring “Juneteenth National Freedom Day: A Day of Observance” in the State of California.The text of the proclamation and a copy can be found below: PROCLAMATIONJuly 4 is not the only…

    Jun 18, 2025

    News What you need to know: The Trump administration announced today that is has directed the national suicide prevention hotline to stop offering specialized support to LGBTQ callers. California continues to support this population.  SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin…

    Jun 18, 2025

    News SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:Dina El-Tawansy, of San Leandro, has been appointed Director of the California Department of Transportation. El-Tawansy has been District 4 Director at the California Department of…

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Skunk Captured in Kaka‘ako

    Source: US State of Hawaii

    Skunk Captured in Kaka‘ako

    Posted on Jun 19, 2025 in Main

    NR25-15
    June 19, 2025

    HONOLULU – A live skunk was captured last night at Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park by Honolulu police after they responded to a call reporting that a skunk was running around the park near Keawe St. Police contacted the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture and three agriculture inspectors were dispatched at about 10:30 p.m. When the inspectors arrived at the scene, police officers had contained the skunk in a plastic trash bin. Inspectors took custody of the skunk and it has been humanely euthanized to test for the rabies virus.

    The origin of the skunk is not known; however, the park is adjacent to Honolulu Harbor where skunks have been previously captured after apparently hitchhiking aboard cargo ships. Skunks were spotted and captured by stevedores at Honolulu Harbor in February 2018, January 2021, July 2021 and June 2022.

    On Maui, a live skunk was captured at Kahului Harbor in December 2020 and one was captured at a trucking company in August 2018. Also on Maui, the Department of Land and Natural Resources captured a skunk at Kanahā Pond State Wildlife Sanctuary in August 2022. In February 2023, a Hilo resident caught a skunk in a mongoose trap. All previously captured skunks have tested negative for rabies.

    Skunks are prohibited in Hawai‘i. They are avid egg-eaters and would pose a threat to Hawai‘i’s native ground-nesting birds if they become established. They inhabit the mainland U.S., Canada, South America, Mexico and other parts of the world. In the U.S., they are recognized as one of the four primary wild carriers of rabies, a fatal viral disease of mammals that is often transmitted through the bite of an infected animal. Hawai‘i is the only state in the U.S. and one of the few places in the world that is free of rabies.

    Sightings or captures of illegal and invasive species should be reported to the state’s toll-free Pest Hotline at 808-643-PEST (7378).

    # # #

    Skunk Found at Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park

    Skunk found at Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: News release on skunk captured at Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park

    Source: US State of Hawaii

    News release on skunk captured at Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park

    Posted on Jun 19, 2025 in Latest Department News, Newsroom

        

         

    STATE OF HAWAIʻI

    KA MOKU ʻĀINA O HAWAIʻI

     

    JOSH GREEN, M.D.
     GOVERNOR

    KE KIAʻĀINA

    DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

    ʻOIHANA MAHIʻAI

     

    SHARON HURD
    CHAIRPERSON

    KA LUNA HOʻOKELE

     

    DEAN M. MATSUKAWA
    DEPUTY TO THE CHAIRPERSON

    KA HOPE LUNA HOʻOKELE

     

     

    SKUNK CAPTURED AT KAKA‘AKO WATERFRONT PARK

     

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                       

    June 19, 2025

    NR25-15

    HONOLULU – A live skunk was captured last night at Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park by Honolulu police after they responded to a call reporting that a skunk was running around the park near Keawe St. Police contacted the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture and three agriculture inspectors were dispatched at about 10:30 p.m. When the inspectors arrived at the scene, police officers had contained the skunk in a plastic trash bin. Inspectors took custody of the skunk and it has been humanely euthanized to test for the rabies virus.

    The origin of the skunk is not known; however, the park is adjacent to Honolulu Harbor where skunks have been previously captured after apparently hitchhiking aboard cargo ships. Skunks were spotted and captured by stevedores at Honolulu Harbor in February 2018, January 2021, July 2021 and June 2022.

    On Maui, a live skunk was captured at Kahului Harbor in December 2020 and one was captured at a trucking company in August 2018. Also on Maui, the Department of Land and Natural Resources captured a skunk at Kanahā Pond State Wildlife Sanctuary in August 2022. In February 2023, a Hilo resident caught a skunk in a mongoose trap. All previously captured skunks have tested negative for rabies.

    Skunks are prohibited in Hawai‘i. They are avid egg-eaters and would pose a threat to Hawai‘i’s native ground-nesting birds if they become established. They inhabit the mainland U.S., Canada, South America, Mexico and other parts of the world. In the U.S., they are recognized as one of the four primary wild carriers of rabies, a fatal viral disease of mammals that is often transmitted through the bite of an infected animal. Hawai‘i is the only state in the U.S. and one of the few places in the world that is free of rabies.

     

    Sightings or captures of illegal and invasive species should be reported to the state’s toll-free Pest Hotline at 808-643-PEST (7378).

    # # #

    Attachments: Two photos of the skunk

    Media Contact:
    Janelle Saneishi
    Public Information Officer
    Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture
    Phone: 808-973-9560
    Cell: 808-341-5528
    Email:     [email protected]
    Website:     http://hdoa.hawaii.gov

    Confidentiality Notice:  This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information.  Any review, use, disclosure, or distribution by unintended recipients is prohibited.  If you are not the intended recipient(s), please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: 2025-71 AG ANNE LOPEZ CONCLUDES MAUI WILDFIRE ANALYSIS

    Source: US State of Hawaii

    2025-71 AG ANNE LOPEZ CONCLUDES MAUI WILDFIRE ANALYSIS

    Posted on Jun 19, 2025 in Latest Department News, Newsroom

    Video of today’s news conference is on the Department of the Attorney General’s Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/HawaiiAttorneyGeneral/videos/1206910971211978

     

    STATE OF HAWAIʻI

    KA MOKU ʻĀINA O HAWAIʻI

     

    JOSH GREEN, M.D.

    GOVERNOR

    KE KIAʻĀINA

     

    DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

    KA ʻOIHANA O KA LOIO KUHINA

     

    ANNE LOPEZ

    ATTORNEY GENERAL

    LOIO KUHINA

     

     

    ATTORNEY GENERAL ANNE LOPEZ CONCLUDES INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUGUST 8, 2023 MAUI WILDFIRES

     

    News Release 2025-71

     

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                       

    June 19, 2025

     

    HONOLULU – Attorney General Anne Lopez today announced the conclusion of the Department of the Attorney General’s investigation of state and county government response to the August 2023 Lahaina Fire. Attorney General Lopez also announced the official transition of future wildfire analysis, mitigation and coordination efforts to the new state fire marshal and the Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization (HWMO).

     

    “Shortly after the August 8, 2023 Maui wildfires, Governor Josh Green, M.D., and I agreed that understanding how the state and county agencies responded during and in the immediate aftermath was crucial to secure the safety of the residents and visitors now and into the future,” said Attorney General Lopez. “The Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), part of UL Research Institutes, was the most capable organization that could provide the state with an objective, evidence-based understanding of the response of state and county agencies and provide recommendations and best practices for Hawaiʻi going forward. FSRI has done just that.”

     

    On April 17, 2024, the Department released FSRI’s Lahaina Fire Comprehensive Timeline Report (Phase 1) that provided a minute-by-minute accounting of state and county

     

    actions. On September 13, 2024, FSRI’s Lahaina Fire Incident Analysis Report (Phase 2) was released, which incorporated a science- and evidence-based analysis of the events, including subjects such as preparedness efforts, weather and its impact to infrastructure, and other fires simultaneously occurring on Maui. This report included 84 findings, and 140 recommendations designed to mitigate the issues identified by FSRI and make recommendations to move forward. At the same time, the department released all of the images, audio and documents* received and prepared by FSRI, totaling 850 gigabytes of data.

     

    In January, FSRI’s Lahaina Fire Forward-Looking Report (Phase 3) was released. This report prioritized the 84 findings and 140 recommendations from the Phase 2 report, to improve Hawaiʻi’s ability to be better prepared for and respond to wildfires. Governor Green requested that FSRI identify its top 10 immediate priorities.

     

    The top two recommendations for actionable success were: (1) the state should engage HWMO to share a leadership role with the state in this effort, and (2) hire a state fire marshal to ensure continued work and long-term planning. HWMO has been engaged and has already started work. In the last legislative session, the governor introduced a bill to amend Hawaiʻi’s state fire marshal statute to empower the fire marshal to have more independence and broaden the fire marshal’s responsibilities. Following robust legislative hearings, the legislature passed H.B. 1064.

     

    “I am proud of the work that my department and FSRI have completed over the last two years,” said Attorney General Lopez. “I will now be handing off the work to State Fire Marshal Dori Booth and HWMO. I am fully confident in their ability to collaborate and lead state and county agencies, communities, and other nonprofits into a safer, healthier future.”

     

    Since the Phase Three report was released, FSRI has begun work in collaboration with the Maui Fire Department (MFD) and Kauaʻi Fire Department (KFD) to complete their Community Risk Assessment and Standards of Cover plans. These analyses will be conducted in cooperation with MFD and KFD alongside local residents and businesses and will ultimately identify where the relevant risks to the community are and how county fire departments can effectively address them. Following this work, a comprehensive Community Risk Reduction plan will be developed that provides realistic actions that can be taken by individuals, community organizations and governmental agencies to mitigate risk and increase resiliency.

     

    “Our role in the Lahaina fire independent analysis is complete and we have provided forward looking recommendations. Now we’re collectively transitioning from research to implementation for a more fire safe Hawai‘i,” said Derek Alkonis, Research Program Manager at FSRI. “UL Research Institutes and FSRI will continue supporting next steps in operational readiness and community risk assessment planning.”

     

    “We are proud to be part of this next chapter for Hawai‘i,” said Elizabeth Pickett, co-director of HWMO. “Our job now is to support the state in developing a cohesive wildfire strategy that brings together public agencies, private partners, and expertise from our academic and community partners — so that we’re all working in sync, informed by best practice, and building upon existing efforts and local knowledge. Some departments will be stepping into new roles, while others — who’ve been doing this work for decades — will finally get the support and alignment they’ve long needed. This is about learning together, building systems that last, and finally connecting our collective efforts into one coordinated path forward. Becoming a wildfire-ready and wildfire-resilient state starts with thoughtful, informed and collaborative planning. This is good governance at its best.”

     

    “We recommended HWMO because of their deep experience, trusted relationships, and ability to coordinate across agencies,” said Alkonis. “They’re embedded in Hawai‘i’s wildfire network and well-positioned to align efforts quickly. HWMO was selected in part because of its long-standing and ongoing leadership in the area of wildfire prevention and vegetation management — they’ve been deeply engaged in this work for years and are well-equipped to move the state forward on some of its most urgent needs. Their work complements the new State Fire Marshal’s Office and helps drive action on the priorities we identified — a strong example of collaborative leadership for wildfire resilience.”

     

    “It’s an honor to serve as Hawai‘i’s state fire marshal at this pivotal moment,” said Dori Booth. “The 10 wildfire priorities identified in the Phase Three report provide a critical foundation, and my role — as well as the work of the full office when it is in place — will both support those efforts and extend beyond them. We are building the State Fire Marshal’s Office from the ground up, with a focus on regulatory clarity, modernized codes and standards, and a legislative framework that strengthens long-standing efforts already underway, while also guiding future improvements identified through the statewide wildfire strategy now in development. I’m grateful to all of the agencies and partners contributing to this effort, and I look forward to working closely with the State Fire Council, county fire departments, HWMO, and others to ensure a coordinated, capable, and resilient fire safety system for Hawai‘i.”

     

    All of the images, audio and documents* included in the media database containing approximately 850 gigabytes of data can be found on the Department of the Attorney General’s Maui Wildfire Investigation page here.

     

    *Only images of the deceased and the personal identifying information of individuals were redacted.

     

    About Fire Safety Research Institute

    Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), part of UL Research Institutes, strives to advance fire safety knowledge and strategies in order to create safer environments. Using advanced fire science, rigorous research, extensive outreach and education in collaboration with an international network of partners, the organization imparts stakeholders with knowledge, tools, and resources that enable them to make better, more fire safe decisions that ultimately save lives and property. To learn more, visit fsri.org. Follow FSRI on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

     

    About UL Research Institutes

    UL Research Institutes is a nonprofit research organization dedicated to advancing the UL public safety mission through scientific discovery and application. With best-in-class experts, we are the world’s premier safety science research organization. We conduct rigorous independent research, analyze safety data and explore at the edges of technology to be the first to uncover and act on emerging risks to human safety. To learn more, visit ul.org.

     

    # # #

     

    Media contacts:

    Dave Day

    Special Assistant to the Attorney General

    Office: 808-586-1284                                                  

    Email: [email protected]        

    Web: http://ag.hawaii.gov

     

    Toni Schwartz
    Public Information Officer
    Hawai‘i Department of the Attorney General
    Office: 808-586-1252
    Cell: 808-379-9249
    Email:     [email protected] 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Digital Asset Technologies Celebrates GENIUS Act as Pivotal Moment for U.S. Leadership in Digital Finance

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    VANCOUVER, BC, June 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Digital Asset Technologies Inc. (CSE: DATT) (OTCPK: EATBF) (FSE: 988) (“Digital Asset Technologies” or the “Company”) and its portfolio company LiquidLink AI Corp. (“LinkLink”), strongly supports the U.S. Senate’s passage of the GENIUS Act (S.1582) — a landmark bill establishing the first comprehensive federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. The legislation marks a definitive turning point for the digital asset industry and lays the foundation for global programmable money, institutional grade stablecoins, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.

    The GENIUS Act not only positions the United States alongside every other G20 nation that has developed or is piloting programmable money systems — including Europe’s MiCA framework and CBDC programs in China, Japan, and Canada — it actually leapfrogs them. Unlike most of these jurisdictions, which are focused solely on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the U.S. is now enabling regulated private enterprises to issue secure, redeemable, and transparent stablecoins — unlocking innovation in ways that centralized, government-issued tokens cannot.

    “This legislation marks the official start of the internet of value,” said Marcus Ingram, CEO of LiquidLink, a portfolio company of Digital Asset Technologies Inc.
    ‎ “The U.S. now leads the world with a market-driven framework that empowers private innovators to build a future where money moves as freely as email — no bank account required.”

    The Rise of a Tokenized Financial System

    The GENIUS Act doesn’t just legitimize payment stablecoins — it signals the beginning of a broader regulatory framework that will support the tokenization of all real-world assets, from equities and commodities to real estate and intellectual property. By setting capital, liquidity, and transparency standards for issuers and custodians, the bill lays the groundwork for a compliant, programmable, and interoperable global financial system.

    XRPL: The Network for Real-World Asset Settlement

    With this evolution now underway, the XRP Ledger (XRPL) stands out as the ideal network to support a stablecoin- and RWA-driven future:

    • Built for payments: XRPL features fast, low-cost, and energy-efficient transactions.
      ‎
    • Native tokenization: The protocol includes built-in tools for issuing, managing, and freezing assets.
      ‎
    • Institutional readiness: Decentralized yet trusted, XRPL is widely supported by regulated financial entities.
      ‎
    • Compliance-friendly: XRPL includes functions that make regulatory enforcement (e.g., asset clawbacks) possible.‎

    As stablecoins and CBDCs become dominant global payment mechanisms, XRPL is poised to become the primary distributed ledger infrastructure for institutional finance.

    Why LiquidLink Is Critical Infrastructure

    LiquidLink’s flagship platform is purpose-built for the programmable financial system envisioned by the GENIUS Act. As a self-custody-first discovery and analytics tool for XRPL, it will be essential infrastructure in a world where digital assets, stablecoins, and RWAs move seamlessly across chains and borders.

    Key features include:

    • On-Chain Discovery: LiquidLink allows users to locate and analyze tokenized assets, stablecoins, and Web3 tokens on XRPL — all while retaining custody of their own funds.
      ‎
    • Advanced Trading Intelligence: LiquidLink identifies optimal DEX routes and arbitrage opportunities using real-time analytics.
      ‎
    • No Custodial Risk: Entirely client-side, LiquidLink ensures that users — not third parties — control their assets and private keys.
      ‎
    • RWA Launchpad: Integrated launchpad capabilities make it easy for token issuers to bring real-world assets on-chain with optional KYC and compliance modules.

    ‎“In a programmable financial system, compliance and automation must be inseparable,” added Ingram. “LiquidLink ensures that tokenized assets — whether stablecoins or RWAs — can be issued, traded, and settled securely and lawfully across borders.”

    Looking Ahead

    Digital Asset Technologies is preparing its infrastructure and compliance strategy in anticipation of the GENIUS Act becoming law. Through LiquidLink, the company will actively engage with U.S. regulators to align with the forthcoming licensing framework for payment stablecoin issuers.

    “This is not just a bill — it’s the foundation of an entirely new monetary architecture,” said Ingram. 
    ‎ “We’re building the tools and infrastructure to power that future.”

    About Digital Asset Technologies Inc.

    Digital Asset Technologies (CSE: DATT) is a publicly traded investment issuer that identifies and makes equity investments in global companies that are developing and commercializing innovative food tech, sustainability and technology. The Company provides retail investors with the unique opportunity to participate in the growth of a broad cross-section of opportunities in the alternative food, sustainability and technology sectors. Through its portfolio company, Liquidlink AI Corp., the Company has entered the blockchain technology sector with a focus on real-world asset tokenization, decentralized infrastructure, and advanced trading analytics.

    Learn more: https://www.datech.ca/

    About LiquidLink

    LiquidLink is a portfolio company of Digital Asset Technologies Inc., focused on building secure, interoperable infrastructure for the tokenized economy. Its flagship product, Xrpfy, provides self-custody discovery tools, trading intelligence, and RWA launchpad capabilities for the XRPL ecosystem and is expanding to support multiple blockchains.

    Media Contact:
    ‎    Marcus Ingram
    marcus@liquidlink.ai

    Sources:
    Atlantic Council CBDC Tracker
    European Commission – Digital Finance‎
    [KPMG Regulatory Insights – GENIUS Act, June 2025]
    ‎LiquidLink Strategic Update on Xrpfy
    ‎

    The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

    For further information: For further information, please contact Young Bann, CEO, young@purposeesg.com.

    Cautionary Note regarding Forward Looking Statements

    This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as, “subject to”, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company’s business strategy, current and future investments, the proposed name change, the updated Investment Policy, and the Company’s ability to obtain the necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals in connection with the proposed name change and updated Investment Policy. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, but the actual results may be materially different from any future expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements can be affected by known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, but not limited to, the equity markets generally and a failure to obtain the necessary approvals from the Canadian Securities Exchange. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Digital Asset Technologies Celebrates GENIUS Act as Pivotal Moment for U.S. Leadership in Digital Finance

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    VANCOUVER, BC, June 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Digital Asset Technologies Inc. (CSE: DATT) (OTCPK: EATBF) (FSE: 988) (“Digital Asset Technologies” or the “Company”) and its portfolio company LiquidLink AI Corp. (“LinkLink”), strongly supports the U.S. Senate’s passage of the GENIUS Act (S.1582) — a landmark bill establishing the first comprehensive federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. The legislation marks a definitive turning point for the digital asset industry and lays the foundation for global programmable money, institutional grade stablecoins, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.

    The GENIUS Act not only positions the United States alongside every other G20 nation that has developed or is piloting programmable money systems — including Europe’s MiCA framework and CBDC programs in China, Japan, and Canada — it actually leapfrogs them. Unlike most of these jurisdictions, which are focused solely on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the U.S. is now enabling regulated private enterprises to issue secure, redeemable, and transparent stablecoins — unlocking innovation in ways that centralized, government-issued tokens cannot.

    “This legislation marks the official start of the internet of value,” said Marcus Ingram, CEO of LiquidLink, a portfolio company of Digital Asset Technologies Inc.
    ‎ “The U.S. now leads the world with a market-driven framework that empowers private innovators to build a future where money moves as freely as email — no bank account required.”

    The Rise of a Tokenized Financial System

    The GENIUS Act doesn’t just legitimize payment stablecoins — it signals the beginning of a broader regulatory framework that will support the tokenization of all real-world assets, from equities and commodities to real estate and intellectual property. By setting capital, liquidity, and transparency standards for issuers and custodians, the bill lays the groundwork for a compliant, programmable, and interoperable global financial system.

    XRPL: The Network for Real-World Asset Settlement

    With this evolution now underway, the XRP Ledger (XRPL) stands out as the ideal network to support a stablecoin- and RWA-driven future:

    • Built for payments: XRPL features fast, low-cost, and energy-efficient transactions.
      ‎
    • Native tokenization: The protocol includes built-in tools for issuing, managing, and freezing assets.
      ‎
    • Institutional readiness: Decentralized yet trusted, XRPL is widely supported by regulated financial entities.
      ‎
    • Compliance-friendly: XRPL includes functions that make regulatory enforcement (e.g., asset clawbacks) possible.‎

    As stablecoins and CBDCs become dominant global payment mechanisms, XRPL is poised to become the primary distributed ledger infrastructure for institutional finance.

    Why LiquidLink Is Critical Infrastructure

    LiquidLink’s flagship platform is purpose-built for the programmable financial system envisioned by the GENIUS Act. As a self-custody-first discovery and analytics tool for XRPL, it will be essential infrastructure in a world where digital assets, stablecoins, and RWAs move seamlessly across chains and borders.

    Key features include:

    • On-Chain Discovery: LiquidLink allows users to locate and analyze tokenized assets, stablecoins, and Web3 tokens on XRPL — all while retaining custody of their own funds.
      ‎
    • Advanced Trading Intelligence: LiquidLink identifies optimal DEX routes and arbitrage opportunities using real-time analytics.
      ‎
    • No Custodial Risk: Entirely client-side, LiquidLink ensures that users — not third parties — control their assets and private keys.
      ‎
    • RWA Launchpad: Integrated launchpad capabilities make it easy for token issuers to bring real-world assets on-chain with optional KYC and compliance modules.

    ‎“In a programmable financial system, compliance and automation must be inseparable,” added Ingram. “LiquidLink ensures that tokenized assets — whether stablecoins or RWAs — can be issued, traded, and settled securely and lawfully across borders.”

    Looking Ahead

    Digital Asset Technologies is preparing its infrastructure and compliance strategy in anticipation of the GENIUS Act becoming law. Through LiquidLink, the company will actively engage with U.S. regulators to align with the forthcoming licensing framework for payment stablecoin issuers.

    “This is not just a bill — it’s the foundation of an entirely new monetary architecture,” said Ingram. 
    ‎ “We’re building the tools and infrastructure to power that future.”

    About Digital Asset Technologies Inc.

    Digital Asset Technologies (CSE: DATT) is a publicly traded investment issuer that identifies and makes equity investments in global companies that are developing and commercializing innovative food tech, sustainability and technology. The Company provides retail investors with the unique opportunity to participate in the growth of a broad cross-section of opportunities in the alternative food, sustainability and technology sectors. Through its portfolio company, Liquidlink AI Corp., the Company has entered the blockchain technology sector with a focus on real-world asset tokenization, decentralized infrastructure, and advanced trading analytics.

    Learn more: https://www.datech.ca/

    About LiquidLink

    LiquidLink is a portfolio company of Digital Asset Technologies Inc., focused on building secure, interoperable infrastructure for the tokenized economy. Its flagship product, Xrpfy, provides self-custody discovery tools, trading intelligence, and RWA launchpad capabilities for the XRPL ecosystem and is expanding to support multiple blockchains.

    Media Contact:
    ‎    Marcus Ingram
    marcus@liquidlink.ai

    Sources:
    Atlantic Council CBDC Tracker
    European Commission – Digital Finance‎
    [KPMG Regulatory Insights – GENIUS Act, June 2025]
    ‎LiquidLink Strategic Update on Xrpfy
    ‎

    The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

    For further information: For further information, please contact Young Bann, CEO, young@purposeesg.com.

    Cautionary Note regarding Forward Looking Statements

    This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as, “subject to”, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company’s business strategy, current and future investments, the proposed name change, the updated Investment Policy, and the Company’s ability to obtain the necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals in connection with the proposed name change and updated Investment Policy. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, but the actual results may be materially different from any future expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements can be affected by known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, but not limited to, the equity markets generally and a failure to obtain the necessary approvals from the Canadian Securities Exchange. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

    The MIL Network –

  • British lawmakers to vote on landmark assisted dying law

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    British lawmakers held their final debate ahead of a historic vote on Friday on whether to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill people, in what would be a major step toward the biggest social reform in the country for a generation.

    The vote is expected at about 2:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) and if it goes in favour, the proposed new law will have cleared its biggest parliamentary hurdle. That would pave the way for Britain to follow Australia, Canada and other countries, as well as some U.S. states in permitting assisted dying.

    A vote against would stop the bill in its tracks.

    Last November, lawmakers voted 330 to 275 in favour of the principle of allowing assisted dying, but since then the bill has been scrutinised and amended, and some lawmakers have publicly changed their position, citing changes to provisions that they say weaken protections for vulnerable people.

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government is neutral on the legislation meaning politicians can vote according to their conscience rather than along party lines. Last year, Starmer voted in favour of the legislation and has indicated he continues to support it.

    The law was proposed under a process led by an individual member of parliament rather than being government policy, which has limited the amount of parliamentary time allocated to it.

    Some lawmakers have said that such a major social change should be allocated more parliamentary time for debate and involve a greater degree of ministerial involvement and accountability.

    If Friday’s vote is in favour, assisted dying stays on the road to legalisation, a process that could still take months.

    The Labour lawmaker who proposed the new law, Kim Leadbeater, said there could be a reduction in the number of members of parliament who support the bill on Friday compared with last year’s vote, but that she was confident it would still be approved.

    Opening the debate, Leadbeater said that the legislation was “desperately needed” and would provide dignity and compassion to people suffering. She argued it had robust safeguards that made it practical and safe.

    “This is not a choice between living and dying. It is a choice for terminally ill people about how they die,” she said.

    On Thursday, four Labour lawmakers switched sides to oppose the bill, joining the dozens who earlier this month said there had not been enough time to debate the details of such a consequential law change.

    “The bill before us simply does not do enough to safeguard people who may want to choose to live,” the four lawmakers said in a letter.

    Leadbeater said her biggest fear was that if the legislation was voted down, it could be another decade before the issue returns to parliament. It was last considered in 2015, when lawmakers voted against it.

    PUBLIC SUPPORT

    Opinion polls show that a majority of Britons back assisted dying, and supporters say the law needs to catch up with public opinion.

    Under the proposed law, mentally competent, terminally ill adults in England and Wales with six months or less to live would be given the right to end their lives with medical help.

    In the original plan, an assisted death would have required court approval. That has been replaced by a requirement for a judgement by a panel including a social worker, a senior legal figure and a psychiatrist, which is seen by some as a watering down.

    Lawmakers have also raised questions about the impact of assisted dying on the finances and resources of Britain’s state-run National Health Service and on the need to improve palliative care.

    If the vote passes, the proposed new law is sent to the House of Lords, parliament’s upper chamber. But the unelected Lords will be reluctant to block legislation that has been passed by elected members of the House of Commons.

    (Reuters)

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Colombia: One year on, women searchers for victims of enforced disappearance are still waiting for the country to deliver for them

    Source: Amnesty International –

    • A year ago, the Colombian government approved Law 2364 of 2024, recognizing the work and rights of women searchers for victims of enforced disappearance. National and international social organizations are calling on the government to make progress on its implementation. 
    • According to official sources, between 100,000 and 200,000 persons have been forcibly disappeared in Colombia. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has recorded that even today one person disappears every 36 hours in the country. Their loved ones dedicate their lives to search for them in the midst of violence. Most of those searching are women. 
    • Amnesty International acknowledges that Colombia marked a first in the world when it approved this law, but a year has now gone by, and implementation is still pending. Organizations of women searchers such as the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation emphasize that the risks and threats involved in searching make progress in the implementation of the law a matter of urgency. 

    Bogotá, 18 June 2025. A year ago, the Colombian government passed Law 2364 of 2024, which recognizes and provides for the integral protection of the work and rights of women searchers for victims of enforced disappearance. The Congress of the Republic debated and approved this law following the advocacy initiative of organizations of women searchers throughout the country. Amnesty International joined the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation and the many other organizations of women searchers for forcibly disappeared persons in Colombia to demand that the law be implemented and the promise of state protection for the women who dedicate their lives to searching for their loved ones in the midst of violence be upheld.

    Although social organizations acknowledge the importance of Colombia having a law that recognizes and protects women searchers, it is concerning that the timelines provided for its implementation have not yet been met one year on. The law mandated the government to issue a regulatory decree on the participation of women searchers in developing, applying and evaluating public peace policies within three months from its entry into force. It also granted the Ministry of Health and Social Protection a period of six months for regulating access to age-related health and social protection programmes for women searchers, and the ministries of Internal Affairs and Equality the same period for promoting prevention and protection measures to ensure their safety. Finally, the law mandated that the government develop regulations for a Single Register of Women Searchers – to be managed by the Victims Unit (UARIV) – within one year, but such register has not yet been created. 

    The Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation and Amnesty International have emphasized that it is crucial that the regulations governing the law, which are currently being developed, are finalized and implemented, as significant risks persist in the search for disappeared persons. 

    MIL OSI NGO –