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Category: Artificial Intelligence

  • MIL-Evening Report: Deaths linked to chatbots show we must urgently revisit what counts as ‘high-risk’ AI

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Fraser, Research Fellow in Law, Accountability and Data Science, Queensland University of Technology

    De Visu/Shutterstock

    Last week, the tragic news broke that US teenager Sewell Seltzer III took his own life after forming a deep emotional attachment to an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot on the Character.AI website.

    As his relationship with the companion AI became increasingly intense, the 14-year-old began withdrawing from family and friends, and was getting in trouble at school.

    In a lawsuit filed against Character.AI by the boy’s mother, chat transcripts show intimate and often highly sexual conversations between Sewell and the chatbot Dany, modelled on the Game of Thrones character Danaerys Targaryen. They discussed crime and suicide, and the chatbot used phrases such as “that’s not a reason not to go through with it”.

    A screenshot of a chat exchange between Sewell and the chatbot Dany.
    ‘Megan Garcia vs. Character AI’ lawsuit

    This is not the first known instance of a vulnerable person dying by suicide after interacting with a chatbot persona. A Belgian man took his life last year in a similar episode involving Character.AI’s main competitor, Chai AI. When this happened, the company told the media they were “working our hardest to minimise harm”.

    In a statement to CNN, Character.AI has stated they “take the safety of our users very seriously” and have introduced “numerous new safety measures over the past six months”.

    In a separate statement on the company’s website, they outline additional safety measures for users under the age of 18. (In their current terms of service, the age restriction is 16 for European Union citizens and 13 elsewhere in the world.)

    However, these tragedies starkly illustrate the dangers of rapidly developing and widely available AI systems anyone can converse and interact with. We urgently need regulation to protect people from potentially dangerous, irresponsibly designed AI systems.

    How can we regulate AI?

    The Australian government is in the process of developing mandatory guardrails for high-risk AI systems. A trendy term in the world of AI governance, “guardrails” refer to processes in the design, development and deployment of AI systems. These include measures such as data governance, risk management, testing, documentation and human oversight.

    One of the decisions the Australian government must make is how to define which systems are “high-risk”, and therefore captured by the guardrails.

    The government is also considering whether guardrails should apply to all “general purpose models”. General purpose models are the engine under the hood of AI chatbots like Dany: AI algorithms that can generate text, images, videos and music from user prompts, and can be adapted for use in a variety of contexts.

    In the European Union’s groundbreaking AI Act, high-risk systems are defined using a list, which regulators are empowered to regularly update.

    An alternative is a principles-based approach, where a high-risk designation happens on a case-by-case basis. It would depend on multiple factors such as the risks of adverse impacts on rights, risks to physical or mental health, risks of legal impacts, and the severity and extent of those risks.

    Chatbots should be ‘high-risk’ AI

    In Europe, companion AI systems like Character.AI and Chai are not designated as high-risk. Essentially, their providers only need to let users know they are interacting with an AI system.

    It has become clear, though, that companion chatbots are not low risk. Many users of these applications are children and teens. Some of the systems have even been marketed to people who are lonely or have a mental illness.

    Chatbots are capable of generating unpredictable, inappropriate and manipulative content. They mimic toxic relationships all too easily. Transparency – labelling the output as AI-generated – is not enough to manage these risks.

    Even when we are aware that we are talking to chatbots, human beings are psychologically primed to attribute human traits to something we converse with.

    The suicide deaths reported in the media could be just the tip of the iceberg. We have no way of knowing how many vulnerable people are in addictive, toxic or even dangerous relationships with chatbots.

    Guardrails and an ‘off switch’

    When Australia finally introduces mandatory guardrails for high-risk AI systems, which may happen as early as next year, the guardrails should apply to both companion chatbots and the general purpose models the chatbots are built upon.

    Guardrails – risk management, testing, monitoring – will be most effective if they get to the human heart of AI hazards. Risks from chatbots are not just technical risks with technical solutions.

    Apart from the words a chatbot might use, the context of the product matters, too. In the case of Character.AI, the marketing promises to “empower” people, the interface mimics an ordinary text message exchange with a person, and the platform allows users to select from a range of pre-made characters, which include some problematic personas.

    The front page of the Character.AI website for a user who has entered their age as 17.
    C.AI

    Truly effective AI guardrails should mandate more than just responsible processes, like risk management and testing. They also must demand thoughtful, humane design of interfaces, interactions and relationships between AI systems and their human users.

    Even then, guardrails may not be enough. Just like companion chatbots, systems that at first appear to be low risk may cause unanticipated harms.

    Regulators should have the power to remove AI systems from the market if they cause harm or pose unacceptable risks. In other words, we don’t just need guardrails for high risk AI. We also need an off switch.

    If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

    Henry Fraser receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    – ref. Deaths linked to chatbots show we must urgently revisit what counts as ‘high-risk’ AI – https://theconversation.com/deaths-linked-to-chatbots-show-we-must-urgently-revisit-what-counts-as-high-risk-ai-242289

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Idea of Sardar Patel for a Strong Bharat Immortalised with Sincere & Renewed effort of Nation Building of PM Narendra Modi Govt: Sarbananda Sonowal

    Source: Government of India

    Idea of Sardar Patel for a Strong Bharat Immortalised with Sincere & Renewed effort of Nation Building of PM Narendra Modi Govt: Sarbananda Sonowal

    Sarbananda Sonowal took Pledge on ‘Rashtriya Ekta Diwas’ as all Organisations of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways Virtually Join in to Preserve the Unity, Integrity & Security

    Posted On: 31 OCT 2024 2:27PM by PIB Delhi

    The Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW), Shri Sarbananda Sonowal celebrated the ‘Rashtriya Ekta Diwas’ (National Unity Day) as all the organisations virtually took the pledge to preserve the unity, integrity and security after the Union Minister read out the pledge along with thousands of colleagues who virtually joined the programme.

    Speaking on the occasion, Shri Sonowal said, “The idea of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel for a strong Bharat has been immortalised with sincere and renewed effort of Nation Building by the Narendra Modi led government for more than a decade. PM Modi has worked tirelessly to inspire the national consciousness and to use it to unify the country. The ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’ philosophy is akin to Sardar Patel’s effort to bring all the princely states to join force for a strong nation. On this strong foundation laid down by the valiant & selfless efforts of Sardar Patel, the country is moving towards realising the idea of ‘Ek Bharat, Shresth Bharat’. The path laid down by Sardar Patel is the one that PM Narendra Modi ji has taken to lead the country towards creating an inclusive development of the country. I offer my homage to this great persona of Sardar Patel for his invaluable contribution towards building a strong nation.”

    The event started when the Union Minister Shri Sonowal did ‘Pad Puja’ by offering floral tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel image at the event.

    The event was attended by the Union Minister of State for MoPSW, Shantanu Thakur; the ex-Union Minister of State & MP (Rajya Sabha), Rameswar Teli; the Minister in the Govt of Assam, Jogen Mohan; the Chairman of AIDC & MLA, Dibrugarh, Prasanta Phukan; the MLA of Chabua, Punakan Baruah; the Secretary of MoPWA, T K Ramachandran; the Vice Chancellor of Dibrugarh University, Prof Jiten Hazarika; the Principal, Assam Medical College, Prof Sanjeeb Kakati; the Mayor of Dibrugarh Municipal Corporation (DMC), Dr Saikat Patra; among other dignitaries and people.

    *****

    NKK/AK

    (Release ID: 2069841) Visitor Counter : 62

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: The Swiss Science Council SSC Presents its 2024–2027 Working Programme

    Source: Switzerland – Department of Foreign Affairs in English

    The Swiss Science Council (SSC) is the advisory body to the Federal Council on issues related to education, research and innovation policy. In the Working Programme for the years 2024–2027, the Council outlines its thematic priorities. These include questions on artificial intelligence, universities of applied sciences, climate change and research libraries. In addition, the SSC conducts various evaluations.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI: OTC Markets Group Welcomes Brazilian Rare Earths Ltd. to OTCQX

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of regulated markets for trading 12,000 U.S. and international securities, today announced Brazilian Rare Earths Ltd. (ASX: BRE; OTCQX: BRETF, BRELY), an Australian exploration and mining company, has qualified to trade on the OTCQX® Best Market. Brazilian Rare Earths Ltd. upgraded to OTCQX from the Pink® market.

    Brazilian Rare Earths Ltd. begins trading today on OTCQX under the symbol “BRETF, BRELY.” U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.

    Upgrading to the OTCQX Market is an important step for companies seeking to provide transparent trading for their U.S. investors.  For companies listed on a qualified international exchange, streamlined market standards enable them to utilize their home market reporting to make their information available in the U.S. To qualify for OTCQX, companies must meet high financial standards, follow best practice corporate governance and demonstrate compliance with applicable securities laws.  

    Viriathus Capital LLC served as Brazilian Rare Earths Ltd’s advisor.

    “We are thrilled to see our shares and ADRs now trading on the OTCQX market. This quotation broadens our investor base and offers U.S. investors enhanced access to participate in our growth story as we advance our world-class rare earth projects. The increased visibility and liquidity on the OTCQX will accelerate our progress towards developing a leading global supplier of critical rare earth elements.”

    About Brazilian Rare Earths Ltd.
    Brazilian Rare Earths is a critical minerals development company that controls the world-class Rocha da Rocha rare earth province in Bahia, Brazil. Brazilian Rare Earths’ flagship project, Monte Alto, contains some of the highest rare earth grades ever reported globally, along with high concentrations of uranium, niobium, tantalum, and scandium.

    The Monte Alto project is strategically positioned to be an important future source of critical minerals, with the project containing 18 of the 50 critical minerals identified by the U.S. government as essential to economic and national security. Brazilian Rare Earths aims to become a leading global supplier of these critical materials, supporting industries such as renewable energy, electric vehicles, advanced robotics, and defence technologies.

    About OTC Markets Group Inc.
    OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates regulated markets for trading 12,000 U.S. and international securities. Our data-driven disclosure standards form the foundation of our three public markets: OTCQX® Best Market, OTCQB® Venture Market and Pink® Open Market.

    Our OTC Link® Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs) provide critical market infrastructure that broker-dealers rely on to facilitate trading. Our innovative model offers companies more efficient access to the U.S. financial markets.

    OTC Link ATS, OTC Link ECN and OTC Link NQB are each an SEC regulated ATS, operated by OTC Link LLC, a FINRA and SEC registered broker-dealer, member SIPC.

    To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com.

    Subscribe to the OTC Markets RSS Feed

    Media Contact:
    OTC Markets Group Inc., +1 (212) 896-4428, media@otcmarkets.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Bitfarms Enters into Second 10,000 Miner Hosting Agreement with Stronghold Digital Mining

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    – Follows initial 10,000 miner hosting agreement announced in September –

    – Agreement supports 2.2 EH/s –

    This news release constitutes a “designated news release” for the purposes of the Company’s amended and restated prospectus supplement dated October 4, 2024, to its short form base shelf prospectus dated November 10, 2023.

    TORONTO, Ontario and BROSSARD, Québec, Oct. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bitfarms Ltd. (NASDAQ/TSX: BITF) (“Bitfarms” or the “Company”), a global leader in vertically integrated Bitcoin data center operations, has, through one of its subsidiaries, entered into a second miner hosting agreement (the “Hosting Agreement”) with Stronghold Digital Mining Hosting, LLC, a subsidiary of Stronghold Digital Mining, Inc.  (NASDAQ: SDIG) (“Stronghold”) at Stronghold’s Scrubgrass site in Pennsylvania.

    Under the terms of the Hosting Agreement, Bitfarms will deploy an additional 10,000 miners, originally expected to be used for its Yguazu, Paraguay site, to Stronghold’s Scrubgrass site. Energization is anticipated to start in December 2024.

    “Optimizing our assets with these rapid upgrades at Stronghold’s Pennsylvania sites will provide significant near-term value for Bitfarms,” stated Ben Gagnon, CEO. “The 20,000 miners we are deploying at the two sites between the two hosting agreements will boast efficiency of ~20.5 w/TH, continuing to improve our overall fleet efficiency. Vertically integrating our operations with Stronghold’s existing power generation infrastructure reduces capital expenditure requirements and allows us to take greater control over our cost of power via energy trading and better utilization of the T21’s wide range of operating modes. We look forward to completing our acquisition of Stronghold and executing our strategy to increase our U.S. footprint and diversify beyond Bitcoin mining.”

    The initial term of the Hosting Agreement will expire on December 31, 2025, after which it will automatically renew for additional one-year periods unless either party provides written notice of non-renewal. Pursuant to the Hosting Agreement, Bitfarms will pay Stronghold a monthly fee equal to fifty percent of the profit generated by the Bitfarms miners. In connection with the execution of the Hosting Agreement, Bitfarms also deposited with Stronghold $7.8 million, equal to the estimated cost of power for three months of operations of the Bitfarms miners, which will be refundable in full to Bitfarms at the end of the initial term.

    About Bitfarms
    Founded in 2017, Bitfarms is a global vertically integrated Bitcoin data center company that contributes its computational power to one or more mining pools from which it receives payment in Bitcoin. Bitfarms develops, owns, and operates vertically integrated mining facilities with in-house management and company-owned electrical engineering, installation service, and multiple onsite technical repair centers. The Company’s proprietary data analytics system delivers best-in-class operational performance and uptime.

    Bitfarms currently has 12 operating Bitcoin data centers and two under development, as well as hosting agreements with two data centers, in four countries: Canada, the United States, Paraguay, and Argentina. Powered predominantly by environmentally friendly hydro-electric and long-term power contracts, Bitfarms is committed to using sustainable and often underutilized energy infrastructure.

    To learn more about Bitfarms’ events, developments, and online communities:

    www.bitfarms.com
    https://www.facebook.com/bitfarms/
    https://twitter.com/Bitfarms_io
    https://www.instagram.com/bitfarms/
    https://www.linkedin.com/company/bitfarms/

    Glossary of Terms

    • EH or EH/s = Exahash or exahash per second
    • w/TH = Watts/Terahash efficiency (includes cost of powering supplementary equipment)

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This news release contains certain “forward-looking information” and “forward-looking statements” (collectively, “forward-looking information”) that are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release and are covered by safe harbors under Canadian and United States securities laws. The statements and information in this release regarding the impact of the Hosting Agreement, projected growth, target hashrate, opportunities relating to the Company’s geographical diversification and expansion, deployment of miners as well as the timing therefor, closing of the Stronghold acquisition on a timely basis and on the terms as announced, , the ability to gain access to additional electrical power and grow hashrate of the Stronghold business, performance of the plants and equipment upgrades and the impact on operating capacity including the target hashrate and multi-year expansion capacity, the opportunities to leverage Bitfarms’ proven expertise to successfully enhance energy efficiency and hashrate, and other statements regarding future growth, plans and objectives of the Company are forward-looking information.

    Any statements that involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as “expects”, or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, “plans”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “forecasts”, “estimates”, “prospects”, “believes” or “intends” or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results “may” or “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information.

    This forward-looking information is based on assumptions and estimates of management of Bitfarms at the time they were made, and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Bitfarms to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors, risks and uncertainties include, among others: receipt of the approval of the shareholders of Stronghold and the Toronto Stock Exchange for the Stronghold acquisition as well as other applicable regulatory approvals; that the Stronghold acquisition may not close within the timeframe anticipated or at all or may not close on the terms and conditions currently anticipated by the parties for a number of reasons including, without limitation, as a result of a failure to satisfy the conditions to closing of the Stronghold acquisition; the construction and operation of new facilities may not occur as currently planned, or at all; expansion of existing facilities may not materialize as currently anticipated, or at all; new miners may not perform up to expectations; revenue may not increase as currently anticipated, or at all; the ongoing ability to successfully mine digital currency is not assured; failure of the equipment upgrades to be installed and operated as planned; the availability of additional power may not occur as currently planned, or at all; expansion may not materialize as currently anticipated, or at all; the power purchase agreements and economics thereof may not be as advantageous as expected; potential environmental cost and regulatory penalties due to the operation of the Stronghold plants which entail environmental risk and certain additional risk factors particular to the business of Stronghold including, land reclamation requirements may be burdensome and expensive, changes in tax credits related to coal refuse power generation could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operations and future development efforts, competition in power markets may have a material adverse effect on the results of operations, cash flows and the market value of the assets, the business is subject to substantial energy regulation and may be adversely affected by legislative or regulatory changes, as well as liability under, or any future inability to comply with, existing or future energy regulations or requirements, the operations are subject to a number of risks arising out of the threat of climate change, and environmental laws, energy transitions policies and initiatives and regulations relating to emissions and coal residue management, which could result in increased operating and capital costs and reduce the extent of business activities, operation of power generation facilities involves significant risks and hazards customary to the power industry that could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and results of operations, and there may not have adequate insurance to cover these risks and hazards, employees, contractors, customers and the general public may be exposed to a risk of injury due to the nature of the operations, limited experience with carbon capture programs and initiatives and dependence on third-parties, including consultants, contractors and suppliers to develop and advance carbon capture programs and initiatives, and failure to properly manage these relationships, or the failure of these consultants, contractors and suppliers to perform as expected, could have a material adverse effect on the business, prospects or operations; the digital currency market; the ability to successfully mine digital currency; it may not be possible to profitably liquidate the current digital currency inventory, or at all; a decline in digital currency prices may have a significant negative impact on operations; an increase in network difficulty may have a significant negative impact on operations; the volatility of digital currency prices; the anticipated growth and sustainability of hydroelectricity for the purposes of cryptocurrency mining in the applicable jurisdictions; the inability to maintain reliable and economical sources of power to operate cryptocurrency mining assets; the risks of an increase in electricity costs, cost of natural gas, changes in currency exchange rates, energy curtailment or regulatory changes in the energy regimes in the jurisdictions in which Bitfarms and Stronghold operate and the potential adverse impact on profitability; future capital needs and the ability to complete current and future financings, including Bitfarms’ ability to utilize an at-the-market offering program ( “ATM Program”) and the prices at which securities may be sold in such ATM Program, as well as capital market conditions in general; share dilution resulting from an ATM Program and from other equity issuances; volatile securities markets impacting security pricing unrelated to operating performance; the risk that a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting could result in a misstatement of financial position that may lead to a material misstatement of the annual or interim consolidated financial statements if not prevented or detected on a timely basis; historical prices of digital currencies and the ability to mine digital currencies that will be consistent with historical prices; and the adoption or expansion of any regulation or law that will prevent Bitfarms from operating its business, or make it more costly to do so. For further information concerning these and other risks and uncertainties, refer to Bitfarms’ filings on www.sedarplus.ca (which are also available on the website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) at www.sec.gov), including the MD&A for the year-ended December 31, 2023, filed on March 7, 2024 and the MD&A for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 filed on August 8, 2024, and its registration statement on Form F-4 (File No. 333-282657) filed by Bitfarms with the SEC (the “registration statement”), which includes a proxy statement of Stronghold that also constitutes a prospectus of Bitfarms (the “proxy statement/prospectus”). Although Bitfarms has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, including factors that are currently unknown to or deemed immaterial by Bitfarms. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results, and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Bitfarms does not undertake any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking information other than as required by law.   Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, or any other securities exchange or regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

    Additional Information about the Merger and Where to Find It

    This communication relates to a proposed merger between Stronghold and Bitfarms. In connection with the proposed merger, Bitfarms has filed the registration statement with the SEC. After the registration statement is declared effective, Stronghold will mail the proxy statement/prospectus to its shareholders. This communication is not a substitute for the registration statement, the proxy statement/prospectus or any other relevant documents Bitfarms and Stronghold has filed or will file with the SEC. Investors are urged to read the proxy statement/prospectus (including all amendments and supplements thereto) and other relevant documents filed with the SEC carefully and in their entirety if and when they become available because they will contain important information about the proposed merger and related matters.

    Investors may obtain free copies of the registration statement, the proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant documents filed by Bitfarms and Stronghold with the SEC, when they become available, through the website maintained by the SEC at www sec.gov. Copies of the documents may also be obtained for free from Bitfarms by contacting Bitfarms’ Investor Relations Department at investors@bitfarms.com and from Stronghold by contacting Stronghold’s Investor Relations Department at SDIG@gateway-grp.com.

    No Offer or Solicitation
    This communication is not intended to and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, sell or solicit any securities or any proxy, vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be deemed to be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

    Participants in Solicitation Relating to the Merger
    Bitfarms, Stronghold, their respective directors and certain of their respective executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Stronghold’s shareholders in respect of the proposed merger. Information regarding Bitfarms’ directors and executive officers can be found in Bitfarms’ annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed on March 7, 2024, as well as its other filings with the SEC. Information regarding Stronghold’s directors and executive officers can be found in Stronghold’s proxy statement for its 2024 annual meeting of stockholders, filed with the SEC on April 29, 2024, and supplemented on June 7, 2024, and in its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on March 8, 2024. This communication may be deemed to be solicitation material in respect of the proposed merger. Additional information regarding the interests of such potential participants, including their respective interests by security holdings or otherwise, is set forth in the proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant documents filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed merger if and when they become available. These documents are available free of charge on the SEC’s website and from Bitfarms and Stronghold using the sources indicated above.

    Investor Relations Contacts:
    Bitfarms
    Tracy Krumme
    SVP, Head of IR & Corp. Comms.
    +1 786-671-5638
    tkrumme@bitfarms.com

    Media Contacts:
    Québec: Tact
    Louis-Martin Leclerc
    +1 418-693-2425
    lmleclerc@tactconseil.ca

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New support now available to help managers recruit

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Government Skills has launched training package to support recruitment managers’ and panel members.

    Government Campus has launched a new recruitment training suite to help managers get the knowledge and tools they need to recruit the right person to the right role. 

    The training uses evidence-based recruitment practices and ensures managers are sighted on legislation which sets out how they should approach recruiting staff.

    The new Success Profiles Recruitment using Success Profiles suite aims to provide flexible, practical training that improves recruitment outcomes and supports a positive candidate experience across government departments.

    It can be accessed through the Recruitment with Success Profiles page of Prospectus Online.

    The new suite comprises online resources, workshops, e-learning, animations, and podcasts. Courses cover best practices at each stage of recruitment, such as writing job descriptions, designing assessments, and assessing candidates. Much of the content is free with optional workshops that allow learners to practise skills in a structured setting. 

    To remain current, Government Campus are working closely with the Recruitment transformation team and will refresh the courses over the next two years based on learner feedback and shifts in recruitment practices, including advances in AI. 

    The older online courses: Success Profiles: Sifting and Interviewing and Designing Your Assessment Process will remain available on the website until the new year to allow departments to choose when to move to the new Recruitment with Success profiles courses. Departmental learning and development leads will be consulted before removal.

    Bookings for the new workshops are now available, with dates for open bookings being offered from January 2025. 

    Updates to this page

    Published 31 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: World Innovation League Launches DTTP 2.0: Empowering the Next Generation of Tech Talent in Canada

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Toronto, Oct. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — World Innovation League (WIL), a Canadian non-profit organization, proudly announces the launch of the second year of the Diverse Tech Talent Program (DTTP 2.0). This pioneering initiative aims to bridge the tech skills gap by equipping underrepresented youth across Canada with essential skills, mentorship, and career-building opportunities. With strategic funding secured, DTTP 2.0 is positioned to significantly support Canada’s expanding tech ecosystem, preparing future leaders with the knowledge and experience needed to excel in high-demand fields.

    Addressing Canada’s Tech Talent Shortage

    Canada’s tech sector is thriving, yet underrepresentation remains a pressing issue. Only 2.6% of tech roles are currently held by individuals from underrepresented backgrounds, a stark contrast to Canada’s diverse population. DTTP 2.0 is designed to close this gap by leveling up skills, providing real-world experience, and creating access to job opportunities. Through this, DTTP 2.0 strengthens Canadian tech with fresh perspectives and innovative ideas.

    Under the leadership of WIL, DTTP 2.0 offers a unique training-to-job model aimed at helping young Canadians from diverse backgrounds overcome traditional barriers to entry in tech. Since launching last year, DTTP has successfully trained 500 Canadians and residents. With this new cohort, WIL continues its mission to empower innovators and startups worldwide, beginning here at home in Canada.

    “DTTP is about more than skills—it’s about building a future where opportunities are accessible to everyone,” said Uchi Uchibeke, Founder and Executive Director of WIL. “We’re committed to creating a legacy program that empowers individuals and enriches Canada’s tech ecosystem. This program builds leaders who will contribute to Canada and, ultimately, give back to their communities.”

    A Collaborative Effort with Strategic Partners

    While WIL serves as the lead organization behind DTTP 2.0, several key partners bring specialized expertise to ensure participants receive a comprehensive, impactful experience:

    • World Innovation League (WIL): Lead organization managing program vision, funding, and hackathon design.
    • Co.Lab: Training partner delivering industry-focused modules in software development and emerging tech skills.
    • Riipen: Project and employer experience provider, connecting participants to real-world projects and prospective employers.
    • Atila: Mentorship partner offering one-on-one guidance, industry insights, and networking opportunities.

    Each partner enriches the DTTP experience through a blend of technical instruction, project-based learning, and job placement support, while WIL maintains a unified vision for the program’s success.

    The DTTP 2.0 Experience: A Pathway to Success in Tech

    DTTP 2.0 has been meticulously structured to prepare participants for long-term success in Canada’s rapidly evolving tech industry. The program includes four key pillars:

    1. Training: Industry-aligned modules in high-demand fields such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), software development, and UX design. Modules are led by experts with hands-on experience in their respective fields.
    2. Mentorship: Access to a network of mentors from top global tech companies, providing career guidance, professional insights, and invaluable support.
    3. Hackathons: Intensive, collaborative hackathons where participants tackle real-world tech challenges, develop portfolio-worthy projects, and hone their problem-solving skills.
    4. Job Placement Support: Tailored resources and introductions to hiring companies to help graduates transition into full-time tech roles.

    Commitment to Excellence: Achieving High Completion Rates

    With strategic funding in place, DTTP 2.0 is designed to achieve a high completion rate, with a target of 80%. This structure aligns incentives and resources to ensure participants are fully supported throughout their journey, making DTTP 2.0 more than just a training program—it’s a gateway to impactful tech careers.

    Applications Open Soon: Join Canada’s Future Tech Leaders

    Applications for Cohort One open on November 1, 2024, with the program officially kicking off in January 2025. Interested candidates are encouraged to follow WIL on social media and visit Cohort website for updates on application timelines, eligibility requirements, and program details. This is an unparalleled opportunity for young Canadians from diverse backgrounds to enter the tech industry and make a lasting impact.

    About World Innovation League (WIL)

    World Innovation League (WIL) is a Canada-based organization dedicated to creating opportunities for youth from underrepresented backgrounds to thrive in technology and innovation. With initiatives like the Diverse Tech Talent Program, WIL is reshaping Canada’s tech landscape by fostering inclusion, diversity, and empowerment in the digital workforce.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Newsom announces first-of-its-kind partnership with airlines on sustainable aviation fuel

    Source: US State of California 2

    Oct 30, 2024

    What you need to know: The nation’s leading passenger and cargo airlines agreed to accelerate the use of sustainable aviation fuels and cut pollution – a goal of 200 million gallons by 2035, which would meet about 40% of California travel demand. 

    SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT – A new agreement between Airlines 4 America (A4A) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will significantly reduce carbon emissions by accelerating the use of sustainable aviation fuels for flights within the state. 

    The agreement sets a goal of increasing the availability of sustainable aviation fuel for use within California to 200 million gallons by 2035, an amount that would meet about 40% of intrastate travel demand – a more than tenfold increase from current levels. 

    “California and the aviation industry are joining forces to tackle emissions head-on. We’ve put the tools in place to incentivize cleaner fuels and spur innovation, creating opportunities like this to radically change how Californians can travel cleaner. This is a major step forward in our work to cut pollution, protect our communities, and build a future of cleaner air and innovative climate solutions.”

    Governor Gavin Newsom

    This achievement was made possible by the development and innovation of alternative fuels spurred by the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard program.

    “California is once again demonstrating that smart climate action is good for the environment and good for business,” said CARB Chair Liane Randolph. “This partnership with the nation’s leading airlines brings the aviation industry onboard to advance a clean air future and will help accelerate development of sustainable fuel options and promote cleaner air travel within the state.”

    A4A’s members include Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Atlas Air Worldwide, Delta Air Lines, FedEx, Hawaiian Airlines, jetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, UPS, and associate member Air Canada. 

    “A4A is pleased to launch a partnership with CARB focused on protecting the environment, reducing emissions, and increasing the use of SAF in California and across the country,” said Kevin Welsh, Vice President of Environmental Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer at Airlines for America. “This partnership reflects the type of collaboration between government and the private sector that is necessary to achieve ambitious climate goals, and the agreement announced today reflects the strength of our commitment to a cleaner, more sustainable future for air travel. We’re excited to work with CARB and other SAF stakeholders to further our industry’s efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

    Key goals of this agreement

    • CARB and A4A will work together with sustainable aviation fuel producers, aviation stakeholders and the federal government to ensure that at least 200 million gallons of cost-competitive options are available for use by airlines within California by 2035.
    • To achieve these goals, CARB and A4A will work together to identify, evaluate, and prioritize new policies and actions, including incentives for investment and timely permitting to help accelerate the availability and use of sustainable aviation fuels within California. 
    • The partnership will establish a Sustainable Aviation Fuel Working Group of government and industry stakeholders that will meet annually to report progress and address barriers to meeting these goals. 
    • CARB staff plans to create a public website that will display the latest information on the availability and use of conventional jet fuel and sustainable aviation fuel in California, as well as details on relevant state and federal incentives and policies.

    Read the agreement here.

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Huawei’s Yang Chaobin: 5.5G Unleashes the Potential of Mobile AI Oct 31, 2024

    Source: Huawei

    Headline: Huawei’s Yang Chaobin: 5.5G Unleashes the Potential of Mobile AI
    Oct 31, 2024

    [Istanbul, Türkiye, October 31, 2024] Yang Chaobin, Huawei’s Board Member and President of ICT Products and Solutions, delivered a keynote speech today at the Global MBB Forum 2024, saying, “The upcoming mobile AI era will create huge opportunities for the mobile industry and profoundly shape the decade to come. Evolving 5.5G technology will be the key to unleashing the potential of mobile AI. Huawei looks forward to collaborating with all industry partners to evolve 5.5G and solidify the foundation of the mobile AI era. Together, we can help society and industry go intelligent.”
    According to Yang, two trends have emerged thanks to rapidly evolving 5.5G and AI technologies that will reshape industry and usher in an “era of mobile AI”. The first trend he calls “Mobile going AI”, where mobile internet services are being transformed by new service and business models. The second trend is “AI going Mobile”, where enormous business opportunities are being unlocked by new mobile services like smart vehicles and robots. These developments, he claims, are creating new momentum and opportunities for both society and the mobile industry.
    Huawei says these trends will influence the ICT industry in three specific ways. First, AI agents for individuals will reshape mobile internet services such that everyone has a personal smart assistant, which means AI agent networks will need to support real-time services. Second, smart driving will transform mobility by turning vehicles into flexible and smart spaces, which means smart vehicle networks will need to deliver high uplink speeds. Third, generalized embodied intelligence will make its way into different scenarios to unlock new productivity and a 10 billion-unit AI-robot market, which means future robotics networks will need comprehensively higher capabilities.
    Yang explained that 5.5G networks can support the diversified connections, experiences, and services that are needed to address these new requirements coming from AI agents, smart vehicles, and embodied intelligence as the networks drive innovation and evolution in five key areas:
    First, 5.5G can address diversified experience requirements by providing high-bandwidth networks. As users increasingly require diversified experiences, sub-100 GHz bands can be integrated on demand to flexibly deliver the network capabilities needed for superior multi-factor experiences. “0 Bit 0 Watt” technology can also be used to enable superior energy efficiency.
    Second, 5.5G can be used to optimize device TCO as it enables a single network to integrate all-scenario IoT connections. RedCap and passive IoT technologies are lowering the cost of IoT, and 5.5G is needed to maximize the number of connections that can be simultaneously supported. Upgraded network capabilities are also needed to empower devices and bring IoT connections everywhere.
    Third, 5.5G can provide unified portals that support differentiated experience assurance and monetization, something that carriers will need to cope with increasingly diverse service requirements. 5.5G core networks have the capacity to deliver the user-, service-, and network-awareness capabilities needed for differentiated experience-based monetization.
    Fourth, 5.5G can provide a unified service portal that makes mobile AI more affordable and supports diversified smart services. Carriers will need the native AI service portal that 5.5G core networks provide to share network capabilities with third parties. This will make smart services available on more affordable mobile devices.
    Fifth, 5.5G can use the Telecom Foundation Model to enable high-level network autonomy and realize the concept of “0 Touch, 0 Wait, 0 Fault”. The Telecom Foundation Model enables high-level autonomous networks with full-stack intelligence by providing two types of applications—copilots and agents—and three types of digital experts. This will be a new trend in network operations.
    The 15th Global Mobile Broadband Forum, with a tagline of “5.5G Leads Mobile AI Era”, runs from October 30 to 31 in Istanbul, Türkiye. It will be hosted by Huawei with support from our industry partners GSMA and GTI. Together with operators, vertical industry leaders, and ecosystem partners, we will share the industry’s latest advancements and explore new opportunities. Industry stakeholders will discuss how to achieve 5.5G business success in the Mobile AI era, and leverage the success of 5G to attain even greater achievements with 5.5G. For more information, please visit MBBF2024 at: https://www.huawei.com/en/events/mbbf2024

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Huawei’s Yang Chaobin: 5.5G Unleashes the Potential of Mobile AI

    Source: Huawei

    Headline: Huawei’s Yang Chaobin: 5.5G Unleashes the Potential of Mobile AI

    [Istanbul, Türkiye, October 31, 2024] Yang Chaobin, Huawei’s Board Member and President of ICT Products and Solutions, delivered a keynote speech today at the Global MBB Forum 2024, saying, “The upcoming mobile AI era will create huge opportunities for the mobile industry and profoundly shape the decade to come. Evolving 5.5G technology will be the key to unleashing the potential of mobile AI. Huawei looks forward to collaborating with all industry partners to evolve 5.5G and solidify the foundation of the mobile AI era. Together, we can help society and industry go intelligent.”
    According to Yang, two trends have emerged thanks to rapidly evolving 5.5G and AI technologies that will reshape industry and usher in an “era of mobile AI”. The first trend he calls “Mobile going AI”, where mobile internet services are being transformed by new service and business models. The second trend is “AI going Mobile”, where enormous business opportunities are being unlocked by new mobile services like smart vehicles and robots. These developments, he claims, are creating new momentum and opportunities for both society and the mobile industry.
    Huawei says these trends will influence the ICT industry in three specific ways. First, AI agents for individuals will reshape mobile internet services such that everyone has a personal smart assistant, which means AI agent networks will need to support real-time services. Second, smart driving will transform mobility by turning vehicles into flexible and smart spaces, which means smart vehicle networks will need to deliver high uplink speeds. Third, generalized embodied intelligence will make its way into different scenarios to unlock new productivity and a 10 billion-unit AI-robot market, which means future robotics networks will need comprehensively higher capabilities.
    Yang explained that 5.5G networks can support the diversified connections, experiences, and services that are needed to address these new requirements coming from AI agents, smart vehicles, and embodied intelligence as the networks drive innovation and evolution in five key areas:
    First, 5.5G can address diversified experience requirements by providing high-bandwidth networks. As users increasingly require diversified experiences, sub-100 GHz bands can be integrated on demand to flexibly deliver the network capabilities needed for superior multi-factor experiences. “0 Bit 0 Watt” technology can also be used to enable superior energy efficiency.
    Second, 5.5G can be used to optimize device TCO as it enables a single network to integrate all-scenario IoT connections. RedCap and passive IoT technologies are lowering the cost of IoT, and 5.5G is needed to maximize the number of connections that can be simultaneously supported. Upgraded network capabilities are also needed to empower devices and bring IoT connections everywhere.
    Third, 5.5G can provide unified portals that support differentiated experience assurance and monetization, something that carriers will need to cope with increasingly diverse service requirements. 5.5G core networks have the capacity to deliver the user-, service-, and network-awareness capabilities needed for differentiated experience-based monetization.
    Fourth, 5.5G can provide a unified service portal that makes mobile AI more affordable and supports diversified smart services. Carriers will need the native AI service portal that 5.5G core networks provide to share network capabilities with third parties. This will make smart services available on more affordable mobile devices.
    Fifth, 5.5G can use the Telecom Foundation Model to enable high-level network autonomy and realize the concept of “0 Touch, 0 Wait, 0 Fault”. The Telecom Foundation Model enables high-level autonomous networks with full-stack intelligence by providing two types of applications—copilots and agents—and three types of digital experts. This will be a new trend in network operations.
    The 15th Global Mobile Broadband Forum, with a tagline of “5.5G Leads Mobile AI Era”, runs from October 30 to 31 in Istanbul, Türkiye. It will be hosted by Huawei with support from our industry partners GSMA and GTI. Together with operators, vertical industry leaders, and ecosystem partners, we will share the industry’s latest advancements and explore new opportunities. Industry stakeholders will discuss how to achieve 5.5G business success in the Mobile AI era, and leverage the success of 5G to attain even greater achievements with 5.5G. For more information, please visit MBBF2024 at: https://www.huawei.com/en/events/mbbf2024

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Video: Spain, Palestine, Lebanon & other topics – Daily Press Briefing (30 Oct 2024) | United Nations

    Source: United Nations (Video News)

    Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

    Highlights:
    – Secretary-General/Colombia
    – Lebanon
    – Occupied Palestinian Territory
    – Haiti
    – Sudan
    – Floods in Spain
    – Security Council
    – Mpox
    – Noon Briefing Guest
    – Briefings Today
    – Briefings Tomorrow

    FLOODS IN SPAIN
    Images of the torrential rains that have caused severe floods in and around Valencia, in the south of Spain are devastating.
    The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives and expresses his full solidarity with the Government and the people of Spain.
    The UN stands ready to assist in whichever way it can.
    Valencia is hosts the UN Global Service Center base, which is an important logistics hub for the entire UN system.

    OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
    Moving to Gaza, further to that situation, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is urging the Israeli authorities to urgently grant access for critical humanitarian activities in Jabalya, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun in North Gaza. OCHA emphasizes the need for secure conditions to deliver aid and conduct rescue operations safely, given the ongoing military operations there.
    The UN and the humanitarian partners are set to urgently implement critical activities in those areas as soon as Israeli authorities reopen North Gaza.
    The Secretary-General is deeply shocked by reports of an Israeli air strike in Beit Lahia, in North Gaza that took place early yesterday reportedly left at least 90 Palestinians killed or missing, including at least 25 children. This tragic loss of life, he said particularly among vulnerable people, yet again underscores the devastating human impact of the ongoing conflict, which is intensifying in the north of Gaza.
    The Secretary-General unequivocally condemns the widespread killing and injury of civilians in Gaza and the ongoing displacement of the population. All parties to the conflict must comply with their obligations under international law, including the obligation to respect and protect civilians. This includes humanitarian workers and first responders, who play a vital role in mitigating suffering and providing life-saving assistance.
    The obstruction of their work only deepens the suffering of the population. Aid must flow freely and safely.
    The toll of the violence in Gaza is unconscionable. There must be an immediate ceasefire. And he reiterates once again his call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. The time to stop the bloodshed is now.
    Also throughout October, we’ve noted that North Gaza governorate has been largely inaccessible, with very few exceptions, amid reports of high casualties, direct hits on overwhelmed medical facilities, and widespread family displacement and separation.
    OCHA also emphasizes the need for direct supply routes from Erez West to these areas, rather than routing all aid through Gaza City, which is the current imposed practice.
    Meanwhile, in the south, OCHA today visited two locations in Absan, east of Khan Younis, to assess the situation of displaced families. One was the Saudi Centre for Cultural and Heritage in Abasan Al Kabira, which provides mental health support for children, internet access for students, and operates a community kitchen for more than 500 families. The second location was in the Al Mharaba site, which hosts 2,000 people. At this site there are no health services, limited power and insufficient water facilities.

    LEBANON
    On the humanitarian front in Lebanon, a joint OCHA-UNICEF mission today delivered essential supplies to approximately 800 households in the village of Sarafand, in southern Lebanon. The supplies include water bottles, hygiene and dignity kits, water testers, children’s clothes and first aid kits.
    Also, today, a convoy by UNRWA delivered 5,000 liters of fuel for generators to ensure the operation of water wells and sanitation facilities in the Burj Shemali Palestinian Refugee Camp along the South Litani River.
    The situation continues to deteriorate amid escalating hostilities and displacement orders. Today, the Israeli army issued displacement orders for all residents of Baalbek city in the east of the country, to evacuate the entire city immediately.
    This prompted mass displacement and panic among residents. Strikes subsequently began after several hours. Displacement orders were also issued in several localities in Nabatieh, in the south.
    The Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, Imran Riza, deplored the extensive harm inflicted on civilians and the destruction of critical infrastructure. He called for the violence to end immediately and reminded parties to the conflict that they must take all feasible precautions to avoid and minimize harm to civilians and civilian objects.

    Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=30%20October%202024

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

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Christine Lagarde: Interview with Le Monde

    Source: European Central Bank

    Interview with Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, conducted by Eric Albert, Philippe Escande and Béatrice Madeline on 28 October 2024

    31 October 2024

    In September, former ECB President Mario Draghi published an alarming report on how the European economy is falling behind. Do you agree with this assessment?

    Europe is falling behind. It’s true. And so is France. Mario Draghi’s report highlights the productivity gap, which is largely due to the tech sector. Tech players in Europe and the United States believe that the gap first emerged during the digital revolution that began in the mid-1990s.

    The question now is whether the boost that the United States got from the mid-1990s will continue with artificial intelligence, the accumulation of data centres and the exploitation of these data. This is the key issue. In Europe we need to roll up our sleeves and make an effort to keep those companies that start out here and then develop themselves elsewhere. We need to try to make them stay.

    So what is the solution? Do you think the gap will remain?

    We need to look at why Europe is falling behind. The energy component is key, especially as regards data centres. Labour is also important, with mobility being much greater in the United States. And regulation is a crucial issue, too. In overly simple terms, the United States is developing AI very quickly, and already has a number of major players. In the meantime, not only is Europe lacking such big players, but it has also become a pioneer in AI regulation. This causes players in this sector to say “OK, let’s do this elsewhere. It’ll be easier and we’ll have fewer obstacles and fewer restrictions”.

    What about the public funding provided to businesses in the United States?

    The fourth factor that is contributing to Europe falling behind is the “light” industrial policy pursued by the United States. It’s not light in terms of money because the Inflation Reduction Act of August 2022 is very large, but there are relatively few criteria to qualify for funding to start a company on US soil. When I ask manufacturers, they pretty much all agree that in Europe, the process is complicated and unwieldy. And on top of the multi-layered European system, you then have those of the Member States.

    The final factor is private funding. In the United States there are pension fund plans and other financial instruments that make it possible to channel savings and get savers (employees or retirees) interested in the future of the economy or the evolution of the stock market. In many European countries, these plans are still a long way off of those mechanisms, especially share participation and company profit sharing. Hence the need to develop a capital markets union.

    But we have been talking about this project for the past 15 years. And when Mario Draghi’s report was published, Germany immediately opposed common borrowing. Is Europe really capable of reacting?

    You’re right. We have been talking about a capital markets union since the time of Jean-Claude Juncker (President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019), and little progress has been made. The Letta and Draghi reports are a wake-up call for Europeans, a warning. The assessment is severe but fair and provides specific recommendations. It suggests that all Europeans should gear up and be ready to give up a bit of sovereignty to ‘combine the best,’ to paraphrase what Paul Valéry once said. But what gives me hope is the engagement of all European institutions on the capital markets union. The ECB’s Governing Council is firmly engaged as well. We must use this momentum.

    In 2020, the plan for a collective European loan of €750 billion was a major step forward. Four years later, less than half of the loan has been allocated. Should we see this as another example of European slowness?

    We had exactly the same problem during the Greek crisis. The administrations of the different countries are not always able to quickly manage the incoming funds. The finance ministers of countries receiving a lot of funds tell you that they have of course identified what bridge or railway line should be constructed, but that they need to obtain local authorisations as well as permissions to expropriate property, and that environmental organisations are taking court actions. All of this takes a lot of time.

    In this context, what consequences could the US elections on Tuesday 5 November have for Europe?

    I do not want to give an opinion on any particular candidate. But US international trade policy will of course have an impact on economic activity in the rest of the world, and primarily on China. Whoever wins, if trade fragmentation worsens, the effect on global GDP will be negative, with losses reaching 9% in a severe scenario of full decoupling according to ECB simulations. But remember: when Joe Biden was elected, everyone thought that he would remove the customs barriers erected by his predecessor (Donald Trump). Nothing came of that.

    Between China, which is withdrawing towards Asia, and the United States, which is closing up again, isn’t Europe, as a partner to both powers, the big loser?

    That’s why we need to act and roll up our sleeves. Will Europe need to undergo another crisis for it to bring about reforms? It’s always in times of crisis that we are able to make things happen. That may be why Mario Draghi speaks of “agony”, it’s a way of saying “the crisis is here, now, do something!”.

    There is talk of a European decoupling. But isn’t there a French decoupling within Europe?

    If you compare today’s GDP figures with those of 2019, the United States has grown by 10.7%, the European average by 4.8% and France by 3.7%. France is lagging behind the European average.

    What is your view of the surge in the French deficit?

    The prospect of returning in line with European standards by applying European fiscal rules should serve as a binding guideline.

    And are the French promises to restore public finances credible?

    As I said, applying European fiscal rules should serve as a binding guideline.

    Will we be heading towards a recession in Europe in 2025?

    Based on the information now available and our current assessment, we don’t see a recession in 2024, nor in 2025, nor in 2026.

    What will drive this growth, given the weakness in demand?

    The two levers are exports and domestic demand, which is set to pick up. Today, with wages rising and inflation falling, disposable income is increasing. For the moment, this benefits savings more than consumption. But we are convinced, and economic history shows us, that this additional disposable income will ultimately flow towards consumption.

    How do you explain the fact that it is proving so difficult for consumption to recover?

    We can indeed ask why households are choosing to save their money instead of spending it. It could be that people are reluctant to make major purchases owing to geopolitical uncertainty. A second explanation could be related to the return on their savings, which is still fairly high in the euro area. A third could be that people are deciding it’s better to save rather than spend when they expect their taxes or other contributions to go up.

    Euro area inflation was at 1.7% in September, below your 2% target. Is it now under control?

    The target is in sight but I’m not going to tell you that inflation is defeated yet. Inflation stood at 1.7% in September. Excluding energy and food, it was still at 2.7%. We are pleased about the 1.7% figure, but we also know that inflation is going to rise again in the coming months simply because of base effects. In September energy prices were 6.1% lower than a year earlier, bringing down the cost of the consumption basket. Besides, inflation in the services sector – which is highly dependent on wages – is still at 3.9%. So, prudence is warranted.

    How do you respond to those who say the ECB was too late in reacting to the rise in inflation?

    I tell them we should look at the facts. Don’t forget that inflation was at 10.6% two years ago. It has fallen back to 1.7%. Perhaps we could have started a few months earlier. But we raised rates at the fastest pace ever and we managed to bring down inflation considerably in a short period of time. I now want to see inflation reach the 2% target on a sustained and durable basis. Unless there is a major shock, this will happen during the course of 2025.

    And what do you say to those who now accuse you of cutting rates too late and not quickly enough?

    The pace at which interest rates are cut will be determined by the economic data we receive in the coming weeks and months – based on our updated assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission. And to revitalise growth, urgent action is needed in the area of structural reforms.

    The spread between France and Germany has increased from 0.5% to 0.8% since the French National Assembly was dissolved. The ECB has an instrument that it can use to intervene and calm the markets. Are you ready to use it?

    We have clearly outlined the conditions under which we will use this instrument. And that is not an issue today.

    A number of emerging countries brought together by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are thinking about a payments system to circumvent the dollar. Is dedollarisation happening?

    That would require another country to be able to take on the role of reserve currency. China is preparing for that, but it isn’t ready yet. I won’t see the renminbi take the place of the dollar in my lifetime.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ‘It’s Alive!’ (and Guilty?): Student Considers Whether Frankenstein’s Monster Could Be Held Liable in Court of Law

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    For 10 weeks this summer, Gianna Socci worked hard for a sole purpose.

    As if her gift was the plunder of information from the stacks of libraries in southwestern Connecticut, piece by piece she stitched together thoughts, contentions, and beliefs, her own cheeks pale with study, as she infused life into the inanimate body that’s become her very own creation.

    “I’d never taken on a beast this size before,” Socci ’25 (CLAS) says. “I would get very stressed out that I wasn’t going to be able to finish this. I wasn’t going to be able to write something that made sense. I wasn’t going to be able to bring this all together and I feared I bit off more than I could chew.”

    Clinging to the hope the next day or the next would bring success, Socci labored to coax to life the 62 pages that have become her greatest academic triumph to date: “Monstrosity on Trial: Claiming Legal Personhood for Frankenstein’s Monster.”

    This is a project Socci conceived nearly two years ago, when as a sophomore she sought to convert her Introduction to Literary Studies course into an honors credit, which requires a larger research project, namely a more in-depth look at one of the books read that semester.

    “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health.” – Victor Frankenstein in describing his work in Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein”

    As an English and political science double major who expects one day to take up the study of law, Socci heeded the advice of associate professor Dwight Codr and looked at Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel “Frankenstein” through a legal lens.

    What started as an honors conversion paper became a much larger Summer Undergraduate Research Fund (SURF) grant proposal, replete with a reading plan of an admittedly ambitious 37 works, including dense legal case studies, she says. The funding allowed her the space in June, July, and August to focus on her work, without worrying about money.

    “Research in the humanities is very rare to begin with,” she says, “and I don’t think a lot of people understand what it entails. When you’re a STEM major, you can lay out lab steps, you can show people graphs, diagrams, and lab methods. It’s very quantitative, whereas humanities research is reading, taking notes, thinking, and writing.”

    It’s nonetheless important, she argues.

    Not the Frankenstein you might imagine

    One of the first things Socci says she was shocked to learn when reading “Frankenstein” the first time two years ago was that the character of Frankenstein, contrary to popular belief, is not the monster depicted in the story.

    Gianna Socci ’25 (CLAS) (Contributed photo)

    Victor Frankenstein is the young doctor who brings to life an 8-foot-tall monster – born of inanimate body parts he stole from graves and mortuaries. Most contemporary depictions of Frankenstein wrongly show him as the flat-headed, green, almost zombie-like monster with bolts in his neck.

    That is, in fact, Frankenstein’s “creature,” who in Shelley’s book is never given a name, referred to only by such descriptors as “devil,” “thing,” and “ogre.”

    “The other thing that struck me – and this might just be my poli-sci brain at work – was that she included three legal proceedings in the novel, three specific examples of courtroom trials, and that’s not something that’s talked about. You typically think of ‘Frankenstein’ as a very science-fiction text,” Socci says.

    Those trials, in which the defendants aren’t in fact guilty of the crimes they’re accused, got Socci thinking about how the law weaves itself through the novel and found herself wondering: What if Frankenstein’s monster was granted legal personhood and able to stand trial for his wrongdoings?

    Before she could answer, she needed to tackle the idea of what it means to be a legal person and how that idea has been used over time. She turned to legal theory, philosophy, history, and Shelley’s text for answers.

    “Legal personhood is a status, which means someone has rights and privileges but can also be held responsible for their actions,” she explains. “It’s twofold and it’s been expanded and contracted over time to include and exclude so many different things and people.

    “Slaves had a very limited form of personhood. Women had a very limited form of personhood. Animals at one time were granted legal personhood and could be put on trial, which is completely absurd,” she continues. “The law is flexible and almost subject to the politics of the time. That reminded me, as a citizen, as a woman in contemporary times, the importance of paying attention to that.”

    “My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement. Sometimes, on the very brink of certainty, I failed; yet still I clung to the hope which the next day or the next hour might realise.” – Victor Frankenstein in describing his work in Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein”

    Things like cognition and competency are used in helping distinguish personhood, even intent and mental capacity. And when Socci looked to the novel for these characteristics as they relate to the monster, her conclusion was clear.

    “He is a completely cognizant being who acted with intent,” she says. “He was very aware of what he was doing. He could express himself. He was extremely human in every way but his physical appearance. Violence is never the answer, and his reasoning for violence is flawed, but it’s reasoning, nonetheless. He’s angry, and he’s acting in a very methodical way. He is totally eligible to stand trial.”

    ‘Abstractions rule our lives’

    Socci says that at the outset of her research, when telling people how she was spending her summer, she started to wonder why she was even bothering. Arguing about whether Frankenstein’s monster could be held criminally liable for his actions is an exercise in the abstract.

    Except it is relevant, she was reminded.

    In an interview with an Australian professor who’d written about personhood, she asked why any of this mattered.

    “He said abstractions rule our lives. These legal definitions, these philosophical foundations are what govern our whole being,” she says. “We don’t really think of ourselves in legal terms that often, so it can seem unimportant. But it’s how we have the right to vote. It’s how we have the right to express ourselves. It’s how we’re seen by the government.”

    Suddenly, what once was hypothetical was much more concrete.

    The European Union this year adopted the AI Act, Socci notes, which, in part, rates various artificial intelligence technologies on their risk level – high-risk AI is more autonomous and can operate with minimal human intervention, for example. The AI Act seeks to regulate high-risk artificial intelligence.

    Consider Hollywood movies like “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” in which the artificial life form, Ultron, seeks to destroy. Technology advances rapidly and might not be that far off from the movies.

    “If an AI is a sentient being and it decides to act out on its own will and is harming someone, we’re going to have to start thinking about liability,” Socci says. “My theory holds the monster accountable and therefore would hold the AI accountable. Then, if you can hold the AI accountable, shouldn’t they also have rights and be able to vote if we’re talking about the dual edge of legal personhood.”

    Illustration from Frankenstein (Adobe stock)

    Socci surmises that humans will be unlikely to put robots and technology on the same level as themselves, but that conversation may very well need to be had, which means the hypothetical turns real.

    In the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision that gave corporations the right to make political donations, the reasoning, Socci says, is that businesses have a right to free speech, in this case through their dollar, and that can’t be infringed upon.

    “Legal personhood is not the reason for that decision, but if you go through the legal text, the chief justice uses very personifying language when talking about corporations, saying they can bring a good perspective into the democratic dialogue. And suddenly, corporations can talk like people. This tendency to personify the inanimate is where we see legal personhood bleeding into our contemporary scheme,” she says.

    A story about injustice

    In a planned career as a lawyer, Socci says she’ll take many of the things she’s learned from this project and apply them to work with abused and neglected children, who oftentimes need an advocate to protect their rights.

    And in a way, children are a little like the monster – seeking to belong, looking to be molded, hungry for learning. Victor Frankenstein’s rejection of the monster, in the same way a parent might reject a child, results in lifelong ramifications.

    “You might feel sad for the monster because all he really wants is to be part of the human community,” Socci says. “There’s a whole segment of the book in which he is watching the DeLacey family from far away in his hovel. He realizes they’re poor, so he starts leaving food on their steps. He shovels their driveway. He helps them out despite the fact he’s been rejected by his creator.”

    Socci says that while there are dozens of ways one could analyze the story, for her, “Frankenstein” boils down to a tale of injustice.

    “We hear the word ‘monster,’ and we think ‘beast.’ We’re scared. Something’s uncivilized. Something is rowdy. Something is dangerous. But the monster, in the beginning, is anything but that,” she says. “He’s a very rational individual who just wants to be close to someone. I think Shelley is asking us to think about the definitions we’ve applied to others.”

    And that interpretation may become part three of “Monstrosity on Trial” – the honors conversion project turned SURF grant award, yet-to-become English honors thesis.

    “I don’t think there’s going to be another time in my life, unless I become an author, when I’ll have dedicated hours for researching and writing, not worrying about the income I’m missing out on,” Socci says of the SURF grant. “It was honestly a privilege to have this experience.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Azure at GitHub Universe: New tools to help simplify AI app development

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Azure at GitHub Universe: New tools to help simplify AI app development

    With seamless integration among VS Code, GitHub, and Azure, we provide an AI-powered, end-to-end development platform to transform your apps with AI.

    AI has reset our expectations of what technology can achieve. From transforming how we explore the cosmos to enabling doctors to provide personalized care and making business functions operate more intelligently, it all comes down to you—the developer—to turn this potential into reality. As developers, you’re experiencing a dramatic shift in what you build and how you build it. And the tools you use should seamlessly fit into your workflow, solve real problems quickly, and keep you in the flow of development.

    As a company of developers who builds for other developers, we’re excited to be part of this change and many of us will be at GitHub Universe to share our experience and learn from others about how AI is reshaping how we work. We’re not coming empty handed. I’m excited to announce new capabilities and tools that further integrate Microsoft Azure AI services directly in your favorite dev tools.

    With seamless integration among Visual Studio (VS) Code, GitHub, and Azure, we provide an AI-powered, end-to-end development platform building on strong community support to help you transform your apps with AI. Read on for the details and be sure to catch up on all the GitHub news this week.

    Now in preview: GitHub Copilot for Azure, your personal expert

    By integrating with tools you already use, like GitHub and Visual Studio Code, GitHub Copilot for Azure builds upon the Copilot Chat capabilities in VS Code to help you manage resources and deploy applications. Using “@ azure,” you can get personalized guidance to learn about services and tools without leaving your code. This can accelerate and streamline development by provisioning and deploying Azure resources through Azure Developer CLI (azd) templates. GitHub Copilot for Azure also helps you diagnose issues and answer questions about resources and costs, freeing your time to focus on whatever you prefer while GitHub Copilot for Azure takes care of the rest. Get started today.

    Deploy in as little as five minutes with AI App Templates

    AI App Templates accelerate your development by helping you get started faster and simplifying evaluation and the path to production. You can use AI App Templates directly in your preferred development environment such as GitHub Codespaces, VS Code, and Visual Studio. You can even get recommendations for specific templates right from GitHub Copilot for Azure based on your AI use case or scenario. Most importantly, the templates provide flexibility and choice, offering a variety of models, frameworks, programming languages, and solutions from popular AI toolchain vendors such as Arize, LangChain, LlamaIndex, and Pinecone. You can deploy full apps at once or start with app components, provisioning resources across Azure and partner services. The templates also include recommendations for added security, like using Managed Identity and keyless authentication flows. Get started.

    Customize and scale your AI apps

    To empower you to quickly discover, learn, and experiment with a range of the latest, most advanced AI models, GitHub announced today that GitHub Models is now in preview, bringing you Azure AI’s leading model selection direct to GitHub. Building on that theme, the Azure AI model inference API now enables you to explore and access Azure AI models directly through GitHub Marketplace. Compare model performance, experiment, and mix-and-match a variety of models, including advanced proprietary and open models that support a broad range of tasks, for free (usage limits apply).

    Once you’ve selected your model and are ready to customize and deploy, you can seamlessly setup and login to your Azure account to scale from free token usage to paid endpoints with enterprise-level security and monitoring in production. Learn more.

    Simplify Java Runtime updates with GitHub Copilot upgrade assistant for Java

    Keeping your Java apps up to date can be a time-consuming task. GitHub Copilot upgrade assistant for Java offers an approach using AI to simplify this process and allowing you to upgrade your Java applications with minimal manual effort. Integrated into popular tools like Visual Studio Code, the GitHub Copilot upgrade assistant for Java generates an upgrade plan and guides you through a step-by-step process to transition from an older Java runtime to a newer version with optional dependencies and frameworks such as Spring Boot and JUnit. During the upgrade, the assistant automatically fixes issues through a dynamic build or fix loop and uses a human-in-the-loop approach for you to address other errors and make fixes if necessary. It ensures transparency by providing access to logs, code changes, outputs, and details at every step, giving you full control while benefiting from enhanced AI automation throughout the process. Once the upgrade is complete, you can easily review the detailed summary, and inspect all code modifications, making the entire upgrade process smooth and efficient, allowing you to focus on innovation instead of manual maintenance.

    Scale AI applications with Azure AI evaluation and online A/B experimentation using CI/CD workflows 

    Given trade-offs between business impact, risk and cost, you need to be able to continuously evaluate your AI applications and run A/B experiments at scale. We are significantly simplifying this process with GitHub Actions that can be integrated seamlessly into existing CI/CD workflows in GitHub. In your CI workflows, you will be able to run automated evaluation after changes are committed leveraging the Azure AI Evaluation SDK to compute metrics such as coherence and fluency. Following successful deployment, A/B experiments are automatically created and analyzed using out of the box AI model metrics and custom metrics as part of CD workflows. Along the way you can also engage with a GitHub Copilot for Azure plugin that assists with experimentation, creates metrics, powers decisions and more. Stay tuned for more details at Microsoft Ignite and sign up for our private preview to learn more! 

    We trust our business with Azure, you can trust it with yours 

    As you explore new AI capabilities for your organization, the platform you choose matters. Today, 95% of Fortune 500 companies trust their operations on Azure. Our business, including Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Bing, Copilots, etc., also runs on Azure. The same tools and services we use to build and run Microsoft are available for you. Our integration with GitHub and Visual Studio Code simplifies building with AI on Azure. And with more than 60 data center regions globally and a dedicated security team, Azure offers a reliable and secure foundation for your AI projects. All great reasons to build your next AI app with GitHub and Azure. 

    Innovate with Azure AI

    And, if you’re at GitHub Universe this week, stop by and say hello to the Azure team.

    About Jessica

    Jessica leads data, AI, and digital application product marketing at Microsoft. Find Jessica’s blog posts here and be sure to follow Jessica on LinkedIn. 

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why Europe should consider putting boots on the ground in Ukraine

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Viktoriia Lapa, Lecturer, Institute for European Policymaking, Bocconi University

    The mantra “as long as it takes” has become the European Union’s rallying cry in support of Ukraine’s resistance against Russia. Initially, some experts predicted that Ukraine would fall within three days – yet nearly three years have passed, and Ukraine is still standing. This prolonged struggle has come at an immense human cost.

    It’s clear that the decision to resist was made by the Ukrainian population, and they are grateful to the EU for its support. However, hopes that Ukraine can repel the invaders are fading, and there is no clear end in sight. “As long as it takes” for the EU translates, for Ukrainian ears, to “as many of your lives as we can afford to sacrifice”. Ukrainians are weary, even as they hold the front line, but the west has not communicated a commitment to fully engage in stopping Russian aggression and deterring future threats. Instead, it seems focused on a policy of “de-escalation management”. This only emboldens Russia and its allies.

    What is even more concerning is the absence of a coherent strategy for managing Russia. What would the EU do in the event that the war were to magically end tomorrow? Is there a plan in place, or will EU leaders simply offer Russia a reset?

    The EU has excelled in rhetoric when it comes to Ukraine but has fallen short in delivering military support. It remains reluctant to draw firm red lines for Russia as a response to attacks on European soil or to adopt a more assertive stance.

    The supply of shells to Ukraine is a case in point. The EU pledged to supply 1 million rounds of ammunition by March 2024, but by January, Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, admitted that the bloc would only deliver half of that on time while committing to send 1.1 million shells by the year’s end. To address this shortfall, Czech president Petr Pavel proposed an initiative at the Munich Security Conference in February, aiming to provide 800,000 shells to Ukraine by the year’s end, sourcing ammunition globally instead of solely from EU manufacturers. By August 2024, the EU had sent Ukraine only 650,000 shells out of the promised 1 million.

    Various news outlets have reported that the result is a grim picture on the front line, where for every shell fired by Ukraine, Russian forces are firing ten or more.

    Additionally, the EU has been reluctant to take decisive action, even in response to Russian attacks on its territory. Recent incidents, such as a narrowly avoided plane crash in Germany attributed to suspected sabotage, reflect a troubling increase in aggressive behaviour from Russian saboteurs. The only response so far has been a relatively weak sanctions framework to be used on those involved in such attacks.

    A strategy for the future

    The EU must adopt a proactive approach to securing peace in Ukraine, recognising that Russia is currently unwilling to negotiate – but would also never negotiate from a position of weakness.

    A clear strategy – including security guarantees for Ukraine, preferably through a pathway to Nato membership – could help put pressure on Russia and facilitate negotiations. It’s clear that bringing Ukraine into Nato might take years, but in the meantime, European countries should consider deploying troops to Ukraine as a security guarantee for this interim period.

    As the Lithuanian minister of foreign affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, rightly said: “At the beginning of the year, Emmanuel Macron hinted at putting boots on the ground. At the end of the year, North Korea had actually done so. We are still on the back foot, reacting to escalation instead of reversing it. Macron’s ideas should now be revisited – better late than never.”

    Security agreements do of course exist between Ukraine and its EU and G7 partners, but not a single country has hinted at a possibility of providing, as a guarantee for peace, such a security guarantee as “troops on the ground”. EU countries must consider this seriously.

    And with a view to what happens after the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the EU needs at least the beginnings of an idea about what its terms would be for re-engaging with Russia. Otherwise it risks enabling Russia to set its own terms.

    The situation on the ground is dire. While the west boasts economic strength, it lacks visionary leadership and political will. It should not allow Russia to take the lead and must adopt a clear strategy for Ukraine’s victory. Otherwise, we are heading toward the scenario described by Timothy Garton Ash in his Financial Times article advocating for Ukraine’s accession to Nato:

    Consider the alternative. A defeated, divided, demoralized, depopulated Ukraine, pulsating with anger against the West and – as Zelenskyy hinted last week – probably seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. Moscow triumphant. The rest of the world concluding that the West is a paper tiger. Xi Jinping encouraged to have a go at Taiwan. Biden and Harris going down in history as the leaders who ‘lost Ukraine’.

    One could add: the EU faces disintegration, regressing to its pre-union state. Ursula von der Leyen is remembered as the leader whose “as long as it takes” policy resulted in an epic failure to secure a safer future for Europe and Ukraine. Does the west want to see itself in this way?

    Viktoriia Lapa is an Affiliated Scholar at the Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development, a research partnership between the School of Law of the University of Bologna and the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy (SAIS Europe).

    – ref. Why Europe should consider putting boots on the ground in Ukraine – https://theconversation.com/why-europe-should-consider-putting-boots-on-the-ground-in-ukraine-242279

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senate Natural Resources and Environment: Disaster Mitigation and Resilience Subcommittee to Hold First Meeting

    Source: US State of Georgia

    ATLANTA (October 30, 2024) — On Monday, November 4, at 9:00 a.m., the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Subcommittee on Disaster Mitigation and Resilience, chaired by Sen. Lee Anderson (R–Grovetown), will hold its first meeting in Newnan.

    EVENT DETAILS:                      

    • Date: Monday, November 4, 2024
    • Time: 9:00 a.m.
    • Location: Newnan High School, 190 Lagrange St, Newnan, GA 30263
    • This event is open to the public and will be live-streamed on the Georgia General Assembly website here.

    ABOUT THE MEETING:         

    The Senate Committee on Natural Resources and the Environment has general jurisdiction over issues related to the development, regulation and conservation of the state’s public lands and its natural resources, which includes water, energy and wildlife. Additional Senate members appointed to serve on the subcommittee include Sen. Jason Anavitarte (R–Dallas), Sen. Matt Brass (R–Newnan), Sen. Frank Ginn (R–Danielsville), Majority Leader Sen. Steve Gooch (R–Dahlonega), Sen. Russ Goodman (R–Cogdell), Sen. Marty Harbin (R–Tyrone), Sen. Freddie Powell Sims (D–Dawson) and Sen. Sam Watson (R–Moultrie). More information on the subcommittee can be found here.

    MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES:

    We kindly request that members of the media confirm their attendance in advance by contacting Jantz Womack at SenatePressInquiries@senate.ga.gov.

    # # # #

    Sen. Lee Anderson serves as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and the Environment. He represents the 24th Senate District, which includes Elbert, Greene, Hart, Lincoln, Oglethorpe, and Wilkes County, as well as most of Columbia County. He can be reached at 404.656.5114 or via email at lee.anderson@senate.ga.gov

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: AppFolio Unleashes Realm-X AI Capabilities, Previews FolioSpace, and Unveils Cutting-Edge Property Management Solutions at FUTURE 2024

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN DIEGO, Oct. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AppFolio (NASDAQ: APPF), the technology leader powering the future of the real estate industry, today concludes FUTURE: The Real Estate Conference by AppFolio, capping off three days of industry-leading innovation and customer impact. During the conference, AppFolio announced the general availability of its embedded generative AI AppFolio Realm-X capabilities to its customers. Attendees also explored innovations in automating property operations, student and affordable housing, and resident experience, while connecting with industry leaders and discovering new solutions to transform their team’s productivity, elevate the resident experience, and increase performance.

    AppFolio Realm-X Revolutionizes Property Management
    Since its beta launch in June, Realm-X’s AI-powered solutions have created significant value for property managers, enabling them to automate routine tasks, streamline communication, and enable property managers to focus on improving performance. On average, Realm-X users save over 10 hours per week on tasks on their to-do lists. And in the last 30 days, customers have sent almost half a million Realm-X-generated messages, saving 26 seconds on average compared to a message composed without its help — equivalent to three full work weeks every year.

    • Realm-X Assistant is a modern co-pilot experience that handles ad hoc tasks like generating reports, managing vendor interactions, and drafting personalized emails and text messages for streamlined communication.
    • Realm-X Messages is a reimagined inbox that helps property managers sort through resident communications, offering quick, clear, personalized responses.
    • Realm-X Flows is a workflow automation engine that helps teams standardize processes and increase the speed, efficiency, and consistency of how they are executed.

    “The impact of Realm-X on our day-to-day operations has been remarkable. What used to take my team over 18 hours weekly—manually combing through data and responding to resident communications—now feels effortless, like we’ve been handed a magic wand,” said Maliyah Williams, Property Operations Specialist at Fairlawn. “It’s given us more time to focus on what truly matters—enhancing the resident experience and driving our business forward.”

    AppFolio Realm-X Assistant and Messages are now available to all customers, and Realm-X Flows is available to customers on AppFolio Property Manager Plus and Max plans.

    FolioSpace Is About to Transform the Resident Experience
    Last week, AppFolio announced FolioSpace™, the next-generation resident experience that redefines how property managers and residents connect throughout the entire resident journey. FolioSpace will enable AppFolio’s 20,000 property management customers to create a unified and elevated experience for the millions of residents they serve — from application through renewal. Learn more about FolioSpace.

    Additional Innovations Unveiled at FUTURE
    AppFolio introduced a host of key product innovations designed to streamline property management operations and enhance flexibility for customers managing mixed portfolios. These new features provide property managers with enhanced tools to improve efficiency, drive revenue, and better serve residents.

    • For accounting, the new Bill Approval Flows process allows customizable workflows for approvals based on vendor type, GL account, or amount. Additionally, the Budgeting Leasing Assumptions tool helps users input projected leasing metrics to better inform property budgets.
    • In maintenance, Smart Maintenance Billing empowers in-house maintenance teams to improve profitability, save hours of manual work, and ensure consistency. Smart Maintenance Scheduling reduces the hassle of coordinating maintenance technicians through integrated scheduling features, enhancing operational efficiency and boosting profitability.
    • For leasing management, Box Score Report provides at-a-glance visibility into leasing and occupancy activity across unit types, properties, and portfolios, so managers can identify areas of friction and make smarter performance optimization decisions.
    • Within student housing, Flexible Leasing capabilities, announced earlier this year, enable operators to lease by the bed or for groups (joint & several), allowing them to fill vacancies during pre-leasing. For affordable housing, Waitlist facilitates oversight of critical waitlist requirements and key application details in Property Manager, essential for managing HUD units.
    • In reporting and budgeting, Modern Reports Interface makes it easier to customize, analyze, and share data reports – ranging from standard features, such as sorting, multi-sorting and row filters, to advanced features, such as pivot tables and charts, available with Plus and Max plans. All new customers will gain access to this feature during FUTURE.
    • With the rise of fraud cases, Document Verification detects content tampering and tests the authenticity of the pay stubs applicants submit. Additionally, ID Verification authenticates an applicant’s identity in real time.

    During FUTURE, nearly 2,000 attendees gathered to feel confident in the future, better their business, and be inspired by transformative keynotes from New York Times #1 Best-Selling Author Daniel Pink and Three-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings. To watch a replay of the opening mainstage session click here.

    “Our FUTURE conference has been an incredible journey, bringing together the most forward-thinking leaders in real estate,” said Lisa Horner, SVP of Marketing at AppFolio. “From our immersive training and certification sessions to insightful presentations from our AppFolio Stack Partners, we’ve seen firsthand how innovation is shaping the industry today. We’re deeply grateful to our long-time customers, our Customer Advisory Board, and industry advocates like NAA, NMHC, and IREM for making this event unforgettable. Together, we’re not just envisioning the future of real estate—we’re building it.”

    About AppFolio
    AppFolio is the technology leader powering the future of the real estate industry. Our innovative platform and trusted partnership enable our customers to connect communities, increase operational efficiency, and grow their business. For more information about AppFolio, visit appfolio.com.

    For more information, please contact:
    Mission North for AppFolio
    appfolio@missionnorth.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Razor Energy Corp. Announces Sale Transaction

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF U.S. SECURITIES LAW.

    CALGARY, Alberta, Oct. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Razor Energy Corp. (and together with its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Blade Energy Services Corp. and Razor Holdings GP Corp., collectively (unless the context requires otherwise), the “the Corporation” or “Razor”) announces its intention to complete a sale transaction and ancillary steps (collectively, the “Transaction”) pursuant to a Subscription Agreement, dated October 27, 2024 (the “Subscription Agreement”), between the Corporation, as vendor, and Texcal Energy Canada Inc. (the “Purchaser”). The Subscription Agreement was entered into in connection with the Corporation’s proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) (the “CCAA Proceedings”) and the related sales and investment solicitation process (the “SISP”) approved by the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta (the “Court”), whereby the Purchaser was selected as the successful bidder under the SISP.

    The Transaction, as contemplated by the Subscription Agreement, includes, among other things, that: (i) the Purchaser will subscribe for certain common shares in the capital of the Corporation; (ii) all other equity interests in the Corporation shall be retracted and cancelled, for nominal consideration of $0.00001 per common share; and, (iii) upon the closing of the Subscription Agreement, the Purchaser shall obtain and hold one hundred percent (100%) of all issued and outstanding common shares of the Corporation, all on and subject to the terms and conditions of the Subscription Agreement.

    The Transaction is a result of the implementation of the SISP, is conditional upon the approval of the Court, and is to be given effect by way of a reverse vesting order and certain ancillary relief, to be granted within the CCAA Proceedings.

    The Corporation intends to appear before the Court on November 8, 2024, or as soon as possible thereafter, to seek orders approving the Subscription Agreement and the Transaction. A copy of the Subscription Agreement and more information related to the CCAA Proceedings can be found on the Court-appointed Monitor’s website at http://cfcanada.fticonsulting.com/razor-blade.

    If you have any questions regarding the foregoing or require further information, please consult the Monitor’s website at http://cfcanada.fticonsulting.com/razor-blade or by contacting the Monitor at:

    Phone: 1-403-454-6037

    Email: Cameron.Browning@FTIConsulting.com

    READER ADVISORIES

    FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This press release contains certain statements that may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Such statements relate to possible future events, including, but not limited to: the anticipated structure of the Transaction; the ability of the Corporation and the Purchaser to satisfy the conditions to, and to complete, the Transaction; and the anticipated timing of closing of the Transaction and the required Court approvals. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “expect”, “plan”, “estimate”, “potential”, “will”, “should”, “continue”, “may”, “objective” and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Razor. Although Razor believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because Razor can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Please also refer to the risk factors identified in the most recent annual information form and management discussion and analysis of Razor which are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and Razor undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

    Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Autumn Budget 2024 speech

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Autumn Budget 2024 speech as delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

    Delivered on:
    (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered)

    Madam Deputy Speaker…

    [redacted political content]

    This government was given a mandate. 

    To restore stability to our economy… 

    … and to begin a decade of national renewal. 

    To fix the foundations… 

    … and deliver change. 

    Through responsible leadership in the national interest.  

    That is our task.  

    And I know that we can achieve it. 

    My belief in Britain burns brighter than ever.  

    And the prize on offer is immense.  

    As my Right Honourable Friend the Prime Minister said on Monday – change must be felt. 

    More pounds in people’s pockets.  

    An NHS that is there when you need it.  

    An economy that is growing, creating wealth and opportunity for all…  

    … because that is the only way to improve living standards.   

    And the only way to drive economic growth… 

    … is to invest, invest, invest.  

    There are no shortcuts. 

    And to deliver that investment… 

    … we must restore economic stability…

    [redacted political content]

    INHERITANCE

    [redacted political content]

    … it is the first Budget in our country’s history to be delivered by a woman.  

    I am deeply proud to be Britain’s first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer.  

    To girls and young women everywhere, I say:  

    Let there be no ceiling on your ambition, your hopes and your dreams.  

    And along with the pride that I feel standing here today… 

    … there is also a responsibility… 

    … to pass on a fairer society and a stronger economy to the next  

    generation of women.

    [redacted political content]

    A black hole in the public finances… 

    Public services on their knees…. 

    A decade of low growth. 

    And the worst parliament on record for living standards. 

    Let me begin with the public finances. 

    In July, I exposed a £22bn black hole

    [redacted political content]

    The Treasury’s reserve, set aside for genuine emergencies… 

    … spent three times over… 

    … just three months into the financial year.  

    Today, on top of the detailed document that I have provided to the House in July… 

    … the government is publishing a line by line breakdown of the £22bn black hole that we inherited… 

    It shows hundreds of unfunded pressures on the public finances… 

    … this year, and into the future too.  

    The Office for Budget Responsibility have published their own review of the circumstances around the Spring Budget forecast.  

    They say that the previous government – and I quote – “did not provide the OBR with all the [available] information to them”… 

    … and – had they known about these “undisclosed spending pressures that have since come to light”… 

    … then their Spring Budget forecast for spending would have been, and I quote again: “materially different”.  

    Let me be clear: that means any comparison between today’s forecast and the OBR’s March forecast is false… 

    … because the party opposite hid the reality of their public spending plans. 

    Yet at the very same budget… 

    … they made another ten billion pounds worth of cuts to National Insurance.

    [redacted political content]

    That’s why today, I can confirm that we will implement in full… 

    … the 10 recommendations from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility’s review. 

    But, the country has inherited not just broken public finances… 

    … but broken public services too. 

    The British people can see and feel that in their everyday lives. 

    NHS waiting lists at record levels. 

    Children in portacabins as school roofs crumble. 

    Trains that do not arrive. 

    Rivers filled with polluted waste.  

    Prisons overflowing. 

    Crimes which are not investigated… 

    … and criminals who are not punished.  

    That is the country’s inheritance

    Since 2021, there had been no detailed plans for departmental spending set out beyond this year.  

    And [redacted political content] plans relied on a baseline for spending this year which we now know was wrong… 

    … because it did not take into account the £22bn black hole.  

    The previous government also failed to budget for costs which they knew would materialise.  

    That includes funding for vital compensation schemes…  

    … for victims of two terrible injustices…

    [redacted political content]

    … the infected blood scandal… 

    … and the Post Office Horizon scandal.  

    The Leader of the Opposition rightly made an unequivocal apology for the injustice of the infected blood scandal on behalf of the British state… 

    … but he did not budget for the costs of compensation.  

    Today, for the very first time, we will provide specific funding to compensate those infected and those affected, in full… 

    … with £11.8bn in this budget. 

    And I am also today setting aside £1.8bn to compensate victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal… 

    … redress that is long overdue for the pain and injustice that they have suffered.

    [redacted political content]

    … and we will restore stability to our country again. 

    The scale and seriousness of the situation that we have inherited cannot be underestimated. 

    Together, the hole in our public finances this year, which recurs every year… 

    … the compensation schemes that they did not fund… 

    … and their failure to assess the scale of the challenges facing our public services… 

    … means this budget raises taxes by £40bn. 

    Any Chancellor standing here today would have to face this reality. 

    And any responsible Chancellor would take action. 

    That is why today, I am restoring stability to our public finances… 

    … and rebuilding our public services.  

    FISCAL RULES / OBR FORECASTS 

    Economy forecast/growth 

    As a former economist at the Bank of England, I know what it means to respect our economic institutions.  

    I want to put on record my thanks to the Governor of the Bank, Andrew Bailey…  

    … and to the independent Monetary Policy Committee. 

    Today, I can confirm that we will maintain the MPC’s target of two per cent inflation, as measured by the 12-month increase in the Consumer Prices Index. 

    I want to thank James Bowler, the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, and my team of officials. 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, I would also like to thank my predecessors as Chancellor of the Exchequer… 

    … for their wise counsel as I have prepared for this Budget.

    [redacted political content]

    Finally, I want to thank Richard Hughes and his team at the Office for Budget Responsibility for their work in preparing today’s economic and fiscal outlook. 

    Let me now take the House through that forecast. 

    The cost of living crisis under the last government stretched household finances to their limit, with inflation hitting a peak of above 11%.  

    Today, the OBR say that CPI inflation will average 2.5% this year, 2.6% in 2025, then 2.3% in 2026, 2.1% in 2027, 2.1% in 2028 and 2.0% in 2029.  

    Next, I move on to economic growth.  

    Today’s budget marks an end to short-termism.  

    So I am pleased, that for the first time, the OBR have published not only five year growth forecasts… 

    … but a detailed assessment of the growth impacts of our policies over the next decade, too… 

    … and the new Charter for Budget Responsibility, which I am publishing today, confirms that this will become a permanent feature of our framework. 

    The OBR forecast that real GDP growth will be 1.1% in 2024, 2.0% in 2025, 1.8% in 2026, 1.5% in 2027, 1.5% in 2028 and 1.6% in 2029. 

    And the OBR are clear: this Budget will permanently increase the supply capacity of the economy…

    [redacted political content]

    … boosting long-term growth. 

    Every Budget I deliver will be focused on our mission to grow the economy. 

    And underpinning that mission are the seven key pillars of our growth strategy… 

    … developed and delivered alongside business…  

    … all driven forward by our Financial Secretary to the Treasury.   

    First, and most important, is to restore economic stability. That is my focus today. 

    Second, increasing investment and building new infrastructure is vital for productivity, so we are catalysing £70bn of investment through our National Wealth Fund… 

    … and we are transforming our planning rules to get Britain building again. 

    Third, to ensure that all parts of the UK can realise their potential… 

    … we are working with the devolved governments… 

    … and partnering with our Mayors to develop local growth plans.  

    Fourth, to improve employment prospects and skills we are creating Skills England, delivering our plans to Make Work Pay and tackling economic inactivity.  

    Fifth, we are launching our long-term modern industrial strategy and expanding opportunities for our small and medium sized businesses to grow. 

    Sixth, to drive innovation we are protecting record funding for research and development to harness the full potential of the UK’s science base.  

    And finally, to maximise the growth benefits of our clean energy mission, we have confirmed key investments such as Carbon Capture and Storage to create jobs in our industrial heartlands. 

    Our approach is already having an impact. 

    Just two weeks ago – we delivered an International Investment Summit which saw businesses commit £63.5bn of investment into this country… 

    … creating nearly 40,000 jobs across the United Kingdom.

    [redacted political content]

    Economic growth will be our mission for the duration of this parliament.  

    Stability rule 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, in our manifesto, we set out the fiscal rules that would guide this government. 

    I am confirming those today… 

    Our stability rule… 

    And our investment rule… 

    The “stability rule” means that we will bring the current budget into balance… 

    … so that we do not borrow to fund day to day spending. 

    We will meet this rule in 2029-30, until that becomes the third year of the forecast.  

    From then on, we will balance the current budget in the third year of every budget, held annually each autumn. 

    That will provide a tougher constraint on day to day spending… 

    … so difficult decisions cannot be constantly delayed or deferred.  

    The OBR say that the current budget will be in deficit by £26.2bn in 2025-26 and £5.2bn in 2026-27… 

    … before moving into surplus of £10.9bn in 2027-28, £9.3bn in 2028-29 and £9.9bn in 2029-30… 

    … meeting our stability rule… 

    … two years early.  

    Monthly public sector finances data shows that government borrowing in the first six months of this year… 

    … was already running significantly higher than the OBR’s March forecast. 

    And so the OBR confirmed today, that borrowing in this financial year is now £127bn…

    [redacted political content]

    The increase in the net cash requirement in 24-25 is lower than the increase in borrowing, at £22.3bn higher than the spring forecast.  

    Because of the action that we are taking… 

    … borrowing falls from 4.5% of GDP this year to 2.1% of GDP by the end of the forecast. 

    Public sector net borrowing will be £105.6bn in 2025-26, £88.5bn in 2026-27, £72.2bn in 2027-28, £71.9bn in 2028-29 and £70.6bn in 2029-2930. 

    FIXING THE FOUNDATIONS 

    Spending  

    Madam Deputy Speaker, before I come to tax… 

    … it is vital that we are driving efficiency and reducing wasteful spending. 

    In July, to begin delivering, and dealing with our inheritance… 

    … I made £5.5bn of savings this year.  

    Today we are setting a 2% productivity, efficiency and savings target for all departments to meet next year… 

    … by using technology more effectively and joining up services across government 

    As set out in our manifesto, I will shortly be appointing our Covid Corruption Commissioner, they will lead our work to uncover those companies that used a national emergency to line their own pockets. 

    Because that money belongs in our public services. And taxpayers want that money back.  

    And I can confirm today that David Goldstone has been appointed as the Chair of the new Office for Value for Money…  

    … to help us realise the benefits from every pound of public spending. 

    Welfare 

    Today, I am also taking three steps to ensure that welfare spending is more sustainable.  

    First, we inherited [redacted political content] plans to reform the Work Capability Assessment.  

    We will deliver those savings…  

    …as part of our fundamental reforms to the health and disability benefits system that my Right Honourable Friend the Work and Pensions Secretary will bring forward. 

    Second, I can today announce a crackdown on fraud in our welfare system… 

    … often the work of criminal gangs.  

    We will expand DWP’s counter-fraud teams.. 

    … using innovative new methods to prevent illegal activity…  

    … and provide new legal powers to crackdown on fraudsters… 

    … including direct access to bank accounts to recover debt. 

    This package saves £4.3bn a year by the end of the forecast. 

    Third, the government will shortly be publishing the “Get Britain Working” white paper…  

    … tackling the root causes of inactivity with an integrated approach across health, education and welfare.  

    … and we will provide £240m for 16 trailblazer projects… 

    … targeted at those who are economically inactive and most at risk of being out of education, employment or training… 

    … to get people into work and reduce the benefits bill.  

    Tax avoidance 

    Before a government could consider any change to a tax rate or threshold… 

    … it must ensure that people pay what they already owe. 

    So we will invest to modernise HMRC’s systems using the very best technology… 

    … and recruit additional HMRC compliance and debt staff. 

    We will clamp down on those umbrella companies who exploit workers… 

    … increase the interest rate on unpaid tax debt to ensure that people pay on time… 

    … and go after promoters of tax avoidance schemes. 

    These measures to reduce the tax gap raise £6.5bn by the end of the forecast… 

    … and I want to thank the Exchequer Secretary for his outstanding work on this agenda. 

    PROTECTING WORKING PEOPLE 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, I know that for working people up and down our country… 

    … family finances are stretched… 

    … and pay checks don’t go as far as they once did. 

    So today, I am taking steps to support people with the cost of living. 

    Cost of living

    [redacted political content]

    As promised in our manifesto, we asked the Low Pay Commission to take account of the cost of living for the first time.  

    I can confirm that we will accept the Low Pay Commission recommendation to increase the National Living Wage by 6.7% to £12.21 an hour… 

    … worth up to £1,400 a year for a full-time worker. 

    And for the first time, we will move towards a single adult rate…  

    … phased in over time…  

    … by initially increasing the National Minimum Wage for 18-20 year olds by 16.3% as recommended by the Low Pay Commission… 

    … taking it to £10 an hour.

    [redacted political content]

    Second, I have heard representations from colleagues across this house about the Carer’s Allowance… 

    … and the impact of the current policy on carers looking to increase the hours they work… 

    … including from the Honourable member for Shipley, the Honourable member for Scarborough and Whitby and the Rt Hon Member for Kingston and Surbiton, too. 

    Carer’s allowance currently provides up to £81.90 per week to help those with additional caring responsibilities.  

    Today, I can confirm that we are increasing the weekly earnings limit to the equivalent of 16 hours at the National Living Wage per week… 

    … the largest increase in Carer’s Allowance since it was introduced in 1976.  

    That means a carer can now earn over £10,000 a year while receiving Carer’s Allowance… 

    … allowing them to increase their hours where they want to… 

    … and keep more of their money. 

    I am also concerned about the cliff-edge in the current system and the issue of overpayments. 

    My Right Honourable Friend the Work and Pensions Secretary has announced an independent review to look at the issue of overpayments, and we will work across this house to develop the right solutions. 

    Third, we will provide £1bn from next year to extend the Household Support Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments, to help those facing financial hardship with the cost of essentials.  

    Fourth, having heard representations from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Trussell and others… 

    … to reduce the level of debt repayments that can be taken from a household’s Universal Credit payment each month… 

    … by reducing it from 25% to 15% of their standard allowance. 

    This means that 1.2 million of the poorest households will keep more of their award each month… 

    … lifting children out of poverty…  

    … and those who benefit will gain an average of £420 a year. 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, our Plan to Make Work Pay will also protect working people.

    [redacted political content]

    It is right that we protect those who have worked their whole lives.  

    In our manifesto, we promised to transfer the Investment Reserve Fund in the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme to members… 

    … and I have listened closely to my Honourable Friends for Easington, Doncaster Central, Blaenau Gwent, and Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock on this issue. 

    Today we are keeping our promise…  

    … so that working people who powered our country receive the fair pension that they are owed. 

    Our manifesto committed to the Triple Lock… 

    … meaning spending on the State Pension is forecast to rise by over £31bn by 2029-30… 

    … to ensure that our pensioners are protected in their retirement.  

    This commitment means that while working age benefits will be uprated in line with CPI, at 1.7%… 

    … the basic and new State Pension… 

    … will be uprated by 4.1% in 2025-26. 

    This means that over 12 million pensioners will gain up to £470 next year… 

    … up to £275 more than if uprated by inflation.  

    The Pension Credit Standard Minimum Guarantee will also rise by 4.1%…  

    … from around £11,400 per year to around £11,850 for a single pensioner.  

    Fuel duty 

    While I have sought to protect working people with measures to reduce the cost of living… 

    … I have had to take some very difficult decisions on tax. 

    I want to set out my approach to fuel duty.  

    Baked into the numbers that I inherited from the previous government… 

    … is an assumption that fuel duty will rise by RPI next year… 

    … and that the temporary 5p cut will be reversed.  

    To retain the 5p cut… 

    … and to freeze fuel duty again… 

    … would cost over £3bn next year.  

    At a time when the fiscal position is so difficult…  

    … I have to be frank with the House that this is a substantial commitment to make. 

    I have concluded… 

    … that in these difficult circumstances… 

    … while the cost of living remains high… 

    … and with a backdrop of global uncertainty… 

    … increasing fuel duty next year… 

    … would be the wrong choice for working people. 

    It would mean fuel duty rising by 7p per litre. 

    So, I have today decided to freeze fuel duty next year… 

    … and I will maintain the existing 5p cut for another year, too. 

    There will be no higher taxes at the petrol pumps next year.

    Madam Deputy Speaker, the last government made cuts of £20bn to employees’ and self-employed national insurance in their final two budgets.

    [redacted political content]

    Because we now know they were based on a forecast which the OBR say would have been “materially different”… 

    … had they known the true extent of the last government’s cover-up.   

    Since July, I have been urged on multiple occasions to reconsider these cuts.  

    To increase the taxes that working people pay and see in their payslips. 

    But I have made an important choice today: 

    To keep every single commitment that we made on tax in our manifesto.  

    So I say to working people: 

    I will not increase your National Insurance… 

    …I will not increase your VAT… 

    …And I will not increase your income tax. 

    Working people will not see higher taxes in their payslips as a result of the choices I make today. 

    That is a promise made – and a promise fulfilled. 

    TAX 

    But any responsible Chancellor would need to take difficult decisions today. 

    To raise the revenues required to fund our public services. 

    And to restore economic stability.  

    So in today’s Budget, I am announcing an increase in Employers’ National Insurance Contributions.  

    We will increase the rate of Employers’ National Insurance by 1.2 percentage points, to 15%, from April 2025.  

    And we will reduce the Secondary Threshold – the level at which employers start paying national insurance on each employee’s salary – from £9,100 per year to £5,000.  

    This will raise £25bn per year by the end of the forecast period.  

    I know that this is a difficult choice. 

    I do not take this decision lightly.  

    We are asking business to contribute more… 

    … and I know that there will be impacts of this measure felt beyond businesses, too… 

    … as the OBR have set out today. 

    But in the circumstances that I have inherited, it is the right choice to make.  

    Successful businesses depend on successful schools. 

    Healthy businesses depend on a healthy NHS.  

    And a strong economy depends on strong public finances.

    [redacted political content]

    That is the choice our country faces too.  

    As I make this choice, I know it is particularly important to protect our smallest companies.  

    So having heard representations from the Federation of Small Businesses and others… 

    … I am today increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. 

    This means 865,000 employers won’t pay any National Insurance at all next year… 

    … and over 1 million will pay the same or less than they did previously. 

    This will allow a small business to employ the equivalent of 4 full time workers on the National Living Wage… 

    … without paying any National Insurance on their wages. 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, let me come now to capital gains tax. 

    We need to drive growth, promote entrepreneurship, and support wealth creation… 

    … while raising the revenue required to fund our public services… 

    … and restore our public finances.  

    Today, we will increase the lower rate of Capital Gains Tax from 10% to 18%, and the Higher Rate from 20% to 24%… 

    … while maintaining the rates of capital gains tax on residential property at 18% and 24%, too.  

    This means the UK will still have the lowest Capital Gains Tax rate of any European G7 economy. 

    Alongside these changes to the headline rates of Capital Gains Tax… 

    … we are maintaining the lifetime limit for Business Asset Disposal Relief at £1m… 

    … to encourage entrepreneurs to invest in their businesses.   

    Business Asset Disposal Relief will remain at 10% this year… 

    … before rising to 14% in April 2025… 

    … and 18% from 2026-27… 

    … maintaining a significant gap compared to the higher rate of Capital Gains Tax.  

    Together, the OBR say these measures will raise £2.5bn by the end of the forecast. 

    In a sign of this government’s commitment to supporting growth and entrepreneurship… 

    …we have already extended the Enterprise Investment Scheme and Venture Capital Trust schemes to 2035… 

    … and we will continue to work with leading entrepreneurs and venture capital firms… 

    … to ensure our policies support a positive environment for entrepreneurship in the UK. 

    Next, inheritance tax. 

    Only 6% of estates will pay inheritance tax this year. 

    I understand the strongly held desire to pass down savings to children and grandchildren. 

    So I am taking a balanced approach in my package today. 

    First, the previous government froze inheritance tax thresholds until 2028. I will extend that freeze for a further two years, until 2030. 

    That means the first £325,000 of any estate can be inherited tax-free… 

    … rising to £500,000 if the estate includes a residence passed to direct descendants…. 

    … and £1m when a tax free allowance is passed to a surviving spouse or civil partner. 

    Second, we will close the loophole created by the previous government… 

    … made even bigger when the Lifetime Allowance was abolished… 

    … by bringing inherited pensions into inheritance tax from April 2027. 

    Finally, we will reform Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief.  

    From April 2026, the first £1m of combined business and agricultural assets will continue to attract no inheritance tax at all… 

    … but for assets over £1m, inheritance tax will apply with 50% relief, at an effective rate of 20%. 

    This will ensure we continue to protect small family farms… 

    … and three-quarters of claims will be unaffected by these changes. 

    I can also announce that we will apply a 50% relief, in all circumstances, on inheritance tax for shares on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and other similar markets… 

    … setting the effective rate of tax at 20%. 

    Taken together, these measures raise over £2bn in the final year of the forecast. 

    Next, I can confirm that the government will renew the Tobacco Duty escalator for the remainder of this Parliament at RPI+2%… 

    … increase duty by a further 10% on hand-rolling tobacco this year… 

    … introduce a flat rate duty on all vaping liquid from October 2026… 

    … alongside an additional one off- increase in tobacco duty to maintain the incentive to give up smoking. 

    And we will increase the Soft Drinks Industry Levy to account for inflation since it was introduced… 

    …  as well as increasing the duty in line with CPI each year going forward. 

    These measures will raise nearly £1bn per year by the end of the forecast period. 

    Madame Deputy Speaker, we want to support the take-up of electric vehicles. 

    So I will maintain incentives for electric vehicles in Company Car Tax from 2028… 

    … and increase the differential between fully electric and other vehicles in the first year rates of Vehicle Excise Duty from April 2025. 

    These measures will raise around £400m by the end of the forecast period. 

    Madam Deputy Speaker let me update the House on our plans for Air Passenger Duty…

    [redacted political content]

    Air Passenger Duty has not kept up with inflation in recent years… 

    … so we are introducing an adjustment… 

    … meaning an increase of no more than £2 for an economy class short-haul flight.  

    But I am taking a different approach when it comes to private jets…  

    … increasing the rate of Air Passenger Duty by a further 50%.

    [redacted political content]

    These measures will raise over £700m by the end of the forecast period. 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, let me turn now to our high street businesses.  

    I know that for them, a major source of concern is business rates.  

    From 2026-27, we intend to introduce two permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties which make up the backbone of high streets across the country… 

    … and it is our intention that is paid for by a higher multiplier for the most valuable properties.

    [redacted political content]

    So I will today provide 40% relief on business rates for the retail, hospitality and leisure industry in 2025-26… 

    … up to a cap of £110,000 per business. 

    Alongside this, the small business tax multiplier will be frozen next year.  

    Next, I can confirm that alcohol duty rates on non-draught products will increase in line with RPI from February next year… 

    … but nearly two-thirds of alcoholic drinks sold in pubs are served on draught. 

    So today, instead of uprating these products in line with inflation… 

    … I am cutting draught duty by 1.7%… 

    … which means a penny off a pint in the pub. 

    Alongside the changes I am making today, I am publishing a Corporate Tax Roadmap.. 

    … providing the business certainty called for by the CBI, British Chambers of Commerce and the Institute for Directors. 

    This confirms our commitment to cap the rate of Corporation Tax at 25% – the lowest in the G7 –  for the duration of this parliament…. 

    … while maintaining full expensing and the £1 million Annual Investment Allowance… 

    …and keeping the current rates of research and development reliefs, to drive innovation. 

    Manifesto 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, in our manifesto we made a number of commitments to raise funding for our public services.  

    First, I have always said that if you make Britain your home, you should pay your tax here. 

    So today, I can confirm… 

    … we will abolish the non-dom tax regime… 

    … and remove the outdated concept of domicile from the tax system from April 2025. 

    We will introduce a new, residence based scheme… 

    … with internationally competitive arrangements for those coming to the UK on a temporary basis… 

    … while closing the loopholes in the scheme designed by the party opposite. 

    To further encourage investment into the UK, we will also extend the Temporary Repatriation Relief to three years and expand its scope… 

    … bringing billions of pounds of new funds into Britain. 

    The independent Office for Budget Responsibility say that this package of measures will raise £12.7bn over the next five years.  

    Next, the fund management industry provides a vital contribution to our economy… 

    …  but as our manifesto set out, there needs to be a fairer approach to the way carried interest is taxed.  

    So we will increase the Capital Gains Tax rates on carried interest to 32% from April 2025… 

    … and – from April 2026 – we will deliver further reforms to ensure that the specific rules for carried interest are simpler, fairer and better targeted. 

    In our manifesto we committed to reforming stamp duty land tax to raise revenue while supporting those buying their first home.  

    We are increasing the stamp-duty land tax surcharge for second-homes… 

    …known as the “Higher Rate for Additional Dwellings”… 

    … by 2 percentage points, to 5%, which will come into effect from tomorrow.  

    This will support over 130,000 additional transactions from people buying their first home, or moving home over, the next five years. 

    Next, we committed to reform the Energy Profits Levy on oil and gas companies. 

    I can confirm today that we will increase the rate of the levy to 38%, which will now expire in March 2030… 

    … and we will remove the 29% investment allowance. 

    To ensure the oil and gas industry can protect jobs and support our energy security… 

    … we will maintain the 100% first year allowances and the decarbonisation allowances too.  

    Finally, 94% of children in the UK attend state schools. 

    To provide the highest quality of support and teaching that they deserve… 

    … we will introduce VAT on private school fees from January 2025… 

    … and we will shortly introduce legislation to remove their business rates relief from April 2025, too.  

    We said in our manifesto that these changes… 

    … alongside our measures to tackle tax avoidance… 

    … would bring in £8.5bn by the final year of the forecast. 

    I can confirm today that they will in fact raise over £9bn… 

    … to support our public services and restore our public finances. 

    That is a promise made – and a promise fulfilled. 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, I have one final decision to take on tax today. 

    The previous government froze income tax and National Insurance thresholds in 2021… 

    … and then they did so again after the mini-budget. 

    Extending their threshold freeze for a further two years raises billions of pounds.  

    Money to deal with the black hole in our public finances…  

    … and repair our public services.  

    Having considered this issue closely… 

    … I have come to the conclusion… 

    … that extending the threshold freeze… 

    … would hurt working people. 

    It would take more money out of their payslips.

    I am keeping every single promise on tax that I made in our manifesto. 

    So there will be no extension of the freeze in income tax and National Insurance thresholds beyond the decisions of the previous government.  

    From 2028-29, personal tax thresholds will be uprated in line with inflation once again.

    When it comes to choices on tax, this government chooses to protect working people every single time.  

    SPENDING 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, these are the choices I have made. 

    To restore economic stability. 

    And to protect working people.  

    The next choice I make is to begin to repair our public services.  

    In recent months, we have conducted the first phase of the Spending Review… 

    … to set departmental budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26… 

    … and I want to thank my Right Honourable Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury for his tireless work with colleagues from across government.  

    Because I have taken difficult decisions on tax today… 

    … I am able to provide an injection of immediate funding over the next two years… 

    … to stabilise and to support our public services.  

    The next phase of the Spending Review will report in late Spring, and I have set the overall envelope today. 

    Day to day spending from 2024-25 onwards will grow by 1.5% in real terms… 

    … and total departmental spending, including capital spending, will grow by 1.7% in real terms. 

    At the election we promised there would be no return to austerity.  

    Today we deliver on that promise. 

    But given the scale of the challenges that are facing our public services… 

    … that means there will still be difficult choices in the next phase of the Spending Review. 

    Just as we cannot tax and spend our way to prosperity… 

    … nor can we simply spend our way to better public services.  

    So we will deliver a new approach to public service reform… 

    … using technology to improve public services… 

    … and taking a zero-based approach… 

    … so that taxpayers’ money is spent as effectively as possible…  

    … and so that we focus on delivering our key priorities.  

    Spending Review: Phase 1 

    In the first phase of the Spending Review… 

    … I have prioritised day-to-day funding to deliver on our manifesto commitments. 

    I want every child to have the best start in life… 

    … and the best possible start to the school day, too… 

    … and I know my Right Honourable Friend the Education Secretary shares my ambition.  

    So I am today tripling investment in breakfast clubs to fund them in thousands of schools.  

    I am increasing the core schools budget by £2.3bn next year… 

    … to support our pledge to hire thousands more teachers into key subjects.   

    So that our young people can develop the skills that they need for the future… 

    … I am providing an additional £300m for further education. 

    And finally, this government is committed to reforming special educational needs provision… 

    … to improve outcomes for our most vulnerable children and ensure the system is financially sustainable. 

    To support that work, I am today providing a £1bn uplift in funding, a 6% real terms increase from this year.  

    There is no more important job for government than to keep our country safe, and we are conducting a Strategic Defence Review to be published next year. 

    And as set out in our manifesto, we will set a path to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence at a future fiscal event. 

    Today, I am announcing a total increase to the Ministry of Defence’s Budget of £2.9bn next year… 

    … ensuring the UK comfortably exceeds our NATO commitments…  

    … and providing guaranteed military support to Ukraine of £3bn per year, for as long as it takes. 

    Last week, alongside my Right Honourable Friend the Defence Secretary, I announced, in addition to this, further support to Ukraine – on top of our NATO commitment…  

    … through our £2.26bn contribution to the G7’s Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration agreement… 

    … repaid using profits from immobilised Russian sovereign assets. 

    And as we approach Remembrance Sunday…  

    … it is vital that we take time to remember those who have served our country so bravely.  

    So I am today announcing funding to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE and VJ day next year… 

    … to honour those who have served at home and abroad. 

    We must also remember those who experienced the atrocities of the Nazi regime first hand.  

    I would like to pay tribute to Lily Ebert, the Holocaust Survivor and educator who passed away aged 100 earlier this month.  

    I am today committing a further £2m to holocaust education next year… 

    … so that charities like the Holocaust Educational Trust, can continue their work to ensure these vital testimonies are not lost and are preserved for the future. 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, to repair our public services we also need to work alongside our mayors and our local leaders. 

    We will deliver a significant real-terms funding increase for local government next year…  

    … including £1.3bn of additional grant funding to deliver essential services… 

    … with at least £600m in grant funding for social care…  

    … and £230m to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping 

    We are today confirming that Greater Manchester and the West Midlands will be the first mayoral authorities to receive integrated settlements from next year… 

    … giving Mayors meaningful control of the funding for their local areas. 

    * 

    And to support our local high streets… 

    … we are taking action to deal with the sharp rise in shoplifting we have seen in recent years. 

    We will scrap the effective immunity for low-value shoplifting introduced by the party opposite. 

    And having listened closely to organisations like the British Retail Consortium and USDAW… 

    … I am providing additional funding to crack down on the organised gangs which target retailers… 

     … and to provide more training to our police officers and retailers to help stop shoplifting in its tracks.  

    Finally, I am today providing funding to support public services and drive growth across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  

    Having discussed the matter with the First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan, and my HFs for Llanelli and Pontypridd… 

    … I am providing a £25m to the Welsh Government next year for the maintenance of coal tips to ensure we keep our communities safe.  

    And to support growth, including in our rural areas, we will proceed with City and Growth Deals in Northern Ireland… 

    … in Causeway Coast and Glens; and Mid-South West.

    And we will drive growth in Scotland [redacted political content] including a City and growth Deal in Argyll and Bute.

    This budget provides the devolved governments with the largest real-terms funding settlement since devolution… 

    … delivering an additional £3.4 billion for the Scottish Government through the Barnett formula… 

    … funding which must now be spent effectively to improve public services in Scotland.  

    This budget also provides £1.7 billion to the Welsh Government… 

    …  and £1.5 billion to the Northern Ireland Executive in 2025-26. 

    I said there would be no return to austerity, and that is the choice I have made today.  

    REBUILDING BRITAIN 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, to rebuild our country we need to increase investment. 

    The UK lags behind every other G7 country when it comes to business investment as a share of our economy. 

    That matters.  

    It means the UK has fallen behind in the race for new jobs… 

    … new industries… 

    … and new technology.  

    By restoring economic stability… 

    … and by establishing the National Wealth Fund to catalyse private funding… 

    … we have begun to create the conditions that businesses need to invest.  

    But there is also a significant role for public investment.

    Hospitals without the equipment they need.  

    School buildings not fit for our children.  

    A desperate lack of affordable housing. 

    Economic growth held back at every turn.  

    Under the plans I inherited… 

    … public investment was set to fall from 2.5% to 1.7% of GDP.  

    But in Washington last week, the International Monetary Fund were clear:  

    More public investment is badly needed in the UK.  

    So today, having listened to the case made by the former Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney… 

    … former Treasury Minister, Jim O’Neill… 

    … and the former Cabinet Secretary, Gus O’Donnell… 

    … among others…  

    … I am confirming our investment rule.  

    As set out in our manifesto, we will target debt falling as a share of the economy. 

    Debt will be defined as Public Sector net Financial Liabilities, or “net financial debt”, for short… 

    … a metric that has been measured by the Office for National Statistics since 2016… 

    … and forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility since that date too. 

    “Net financial debt” recognises that government investment delivers returns for taxpayers…  

    … by counting not just the liabilities on a government’s balance sheet, but the financial assets too. 

    This means that we count the benefits of investment, not just the costs… 

    And we free up our institutions to invest… 

    … just as they do in Germany, France and Japan.  

    Like our stability rule, our investment rule will apply in 2029-2030… 

    … until that becomes the third year of the forecast. 

    From that point onwards, net financial debt will fall in the third year of every forecast. 

    Today, the OBR say that we are already meeting our target two years early… 

    … with “net financial debt” falling by 2027-28…  

    … with £15.7bn of headroom in the final year. 

    So that we drive the right incentives in government investments… 

    … we will introduce four key guardrails to ensure capital spending is good value for money and drives growth in our economy.  

    First, our portfolio of new financial investments will be delivered by expert bodies like the National Wealth Fund which must, by default, earn a rate of return at least as large as that on gilts.  

    Second, we will strengthen the role of institutions to improve infrastructure delivery.  

    Third, we will improve certainty, setting capital budgets for five years and extending them at every spending review every two years. 

    Finally, we will ensure there is greater transparency for capital spending, with robust annual reporting of financial investments… 

    … based on accounts audited by the National Audit Office… 

    … and made available to the Office for Budget Responsibility at every forecast. 

    Taken together with our stability rule… 

    …these fiscal rules will ensure that our public finances are on a firm footing… 

    … while enabling us to invest prudently alongside business. 

    Growth projects  

    The capital plans I now set out… 

    … to drive growth across our country… 

    … and repair the fabric of our nation… 

    … are only possible because of our investment rule.  

    Let me set out those investment plans. 

    Industrial strategy 

    Today we are confirming our plans to capitalise the National Wealth Fund… 

    … to invest in the industries of the future… 

    … from gigafactories, to ports to green hydrogen. 

    Building on these investments, my Right Honourable Friend the Business Secretary is driving forward our modern industrial strategy… 

    … working with businesses and organisations like Make UK… 

    … to set out the sectors with the biggest growth potential. 

    Today, we are confirming multi-year funding commitments for these areas of our economy, including… 

    … nearly £1bn for the aerospace sector to fund vital research and development, building on our industry in the East Midlands, the South-West and Scotland… 

    … over £2 billion for the automotive sector… 

    …  to support our electric vehicle industry and develop our manufacturing base… 

    … building on our strengths in the North East and the West Midlands… 

    And up to £520m for a new Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund. 

    For our world-leading creative industries…  

    … we will legislate to provide additional tax relief for visual effect costs in TV and film… 

    .. and we are providing £25m for the North East Combined Authority… 

    … which they plan to use to remediate the Crown Works Studio site in Sunderland… 

    … creating 8,000 new jobs.  

    Research & Development 

    To unlock these growth industries of the future, we will protect government investment in research and development with more than £20bn worth of funding. 

    This includes at least £6.1bn to protect core research funding for areas like engineering, biotechnology and medical science… 

    …through Research England, other research councils, and the National Academies. 

    We will extend the Innovation Accelerators programme in Glasgow, in Manchester and in the West Midlands.  

    And with over £500m of funding next year, my Right Honourable Friend the Science, Technology and Innovation Secretary, will continue to drive progress in improving reliable, fast broadband and mobile coverage across our country, including in rural areas. 

    Housing 

    We committed in our manifesto to build 1.5 million homes over the course of this parliament… 

    … and my Right Honourable Friend the Deputy Prime Minister is driving that work forward across government. 

    Today, I am providing over £5bn of government investment to deliver our plans on housing next year. 

    We will increase the Affordable Homes Programme to £3.1bn…  

    … delivering thousands of new homes.  

    We will provide £3bn of support in guarantees… 

    … to boost the supply of homes and support our small housebuilders. 

    And we will provide investment to renovate sites across our country… 

    … including at Liverpool Central Docks… 

    … where we will deliver 2,000 new homes… 

    … and funding to help Cambridge realise its full growth potential.  

    Alongside this investment, we will put the right policies in place to increase the supply of affordable housing.  

    Having heard representations from local authorities, social housing providers and from Shelter…  

    … I can today confirm that the government will reduce Right to Buy Discounts… 

    … and local authorities will be able to retain the full receipts from any sales of social housing… 

    … to reinvest back into the housing stock, and into new supply.. 

    … so that we give more people a safe, secure and affordable place to live.  

    We will provide stability to social housing providers, with a social housing rent settlement of CPI+1 percent for the next five years.  

    And we will deliver on our manifesto commitment to hire hundreds of new planning officers, to get Britain building again.  

    We will also make progress on our commitment to accelerate the remediation of homes following the findings of the Grenfell Inquiry… 

    … with £1bn of investment to remove dangerous cladding next year.  

    Transport

    Working with my Right Honourable Friend the Transport Secretary, I am changing that.  

    We are today securing the delivery of the Trans-Pennine upgrade to connect York, Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester…  

    … delivering fully electric local and regional services between Manchester and Stalybridge by the end of this year… 

    … with a further electrification of services between Church Fenton and York by 2026.… 

    … to help grow our economy across the North of England… 

    … with faster and more reliable services.  

    We will deliver East-West Rail to drive growth between Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge…  

    … with the first services running between Oxford, Bletchley and Milton Keynes next year… 

    … and trains between Oxford and Bedford running from 2030.  

    We are delivering railway schemes which improve journeys for people across our country… 

    … including upgrades at Bradford Forster Square…  

    … improving capacity at Manchester Victoria… 

    … and electrifying the Wigan-Bolton line. 

    My Right Honourable Friend the Transport Secretary has also set out a plan for how to get a grip of HS2. 

    Today, we are securing delivery of the project between Old Oak Common and Birmingham… 

    … and we are committing the funding required to begin tunnelling work to London Euston station… 

    … This will catalyse private investment into the local area. 

    I am also funding significant improvements to our roads network.  

    For too long, potholes have been an all too visible reminder of our failure to invest as a nation. 

    Today, that changes… 

    … with a £500m increase in road maintenance budgets next year… 

    … more than delivering on our manifesto commitment to fix an additional one million potholes each year. 

    We will provide over £650m of local transport funding to improve connections across our country… 

    … in our towns like Crewe and Grimsby… 

    … and in our villages and rural areas, from Cornwall to Cumbria.

    … we understand how important bus services are for our communities… 

    …so we will extend the cap for a further year, setting it at £3 until December 2025. 

    Finally we will deliver £1.3bn of funding to improve connectivity in our city regions, funding projects like…  

    … the Brierley Hill Metro extension in the West Midlands… 

    … the renewal of the Sheffield Supertram… 

    … and West Yorkshire Mass Transit, including in Bradford and Leeds.  

    Energy 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, to bring new jobs to Britain and drive growth across our country… 

    … we are delivering our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower, led by my Right Honourable Friend the Energy Secretary. 

    Earlier this month, we announced a significant multi-year investment between government and business into Carbon Capture and Storage… 

    … creating 4,000 jobs across Merseyside and Teesside. 

    Today, I am providing funding for 11 new green hydrogen projects across England, Scotland and Wales – they will be among the first commercial scale projects anywhere in the world… 

    … including in Bridgend, East Renfrewshire and in Barrow-in-Furness 

    We are kickstarting the Warm Homes Plan by confirming an initial £3.4bn over the next three years… 

    … to transform 350,000 homes… 

    … including a quarter of a million low-income and social homes. 

    And we will establish GB Energy… 

    … providing funding next year to set up GB Energy at its new home in Aberdeen. 

    Overall, we will invest an additional £100bn over the next five years in capital spending… 

    … only possible because of our investment rule.  

    The OBR say today that this will drive growth across our country in the next five years… 

    … and in the longer term increase GDP by up to 1.4%. 

    It will crowd in private investment… 

    … meaning more jobs, and more opportunities… 

    … in every corner of the UK.  

    That is the choice that I have made.  

    To invest in our country… 

    … and to grow our economy. 

    Today, I am setting out two final areas in which investment is so badly needed… 

    … to repair the fabric of our nation. 

    Schools

    [redacted political content]

    … schools roofs are crumbling….  

    … and millions of children are facing the very same backdrop as I did. 

    I will be the Chancellor that changes that.  

    So today, I am providing £6.7bn of capital investment to the Department for Education next year… 

    … a 19% real-terms increase on this year. 

    That includes £1.4bn to rebuild over 500 schools in the greatest need… 

    … including St Helen’s Primary School in Hartlepool, and Mercia Academy in Derby… 

    … and so many more across our country. 

    And we will provide a further £2.1bn to improve school maintenance, £300m more than this year… 

    … ensuring that all our children can learn somewhere safe… 

    … including dealing with RAAC affected schools in the constituencies of my HFs the members for Watford, Stourbridge, Hyndburn, and beyond.   

    Alongside investment in new teachers… 

    … and funding for thousands of new breakfast clubs… 

    … this government is giving our children and young people the opportunities that they deserve.   

    NHS 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, I come to our most cherished public service of all: our NHS.

    [redacted political content]

    In our first week in office, he commissioned an independent report into the state of our health service by Lord Darzi.  

    Its conclusions were damning.  

    While our NHS staff do a remarkable job, and we thank them for it… 

    … it is clear that, that in so many areas… 

    … we are moving in the wrong direction.  

    100,000 infants waited over 6 hours in A&E last year.  

    350,000 people are waiting a year for mental health support. 

    Cancer deaths here are higher than in other countries.  

    It is simply unforgiveable. 

    In the Spring, we will publish a 10 year plan for the NHS… 

    … to deliver a shift from hospital to community… 

    … from analogue to digital… 

    … and from sickness to prevention. 

    Today, we are announcing a downpayment on that plan…  

    …  to enable the NHS to deliver 2% productivity growth next year. 

    These reforms are vital.  

    But we should be honest.  

    The state of the NHS we inherited… 

    … after – and I quote Lord Darzi – “the most austere decade since the NHS was founded” –  

    … means reform must come alongside investment. 

    So today… 

    … because of the difficult decision that I have taken on tax, welfare and spending… 

    … I can announce… 

    … that I am providing a £22.6bn increase in the day to-day health budget… 

    … and a £3.1bn increase in the capital budget… 

    … over this year and next year. 

    This is the largest real-terms growth in day to day NHS spending outside of Covid since 2010.  

    Let me set out what this funding is delivering.  

    Many NHS buildings have been left in a state of disrepair. 

    So we will provide £1 billion of health capital investment next year to address the backlog of repairs and upgrades across the NHS.  

    To increase capacity for tens of thousands more procedures next year… 

    … we will provide a further £1.5bn… 

    … for new beds in hospitals across the country…  

    … new capacity for over a million additional diagnostic tests… 

    … and new surgical hubs and diagnostic centres … 

    … so that those people waiting for their treatment can get it as quickly as possible. 

    My Right Honourable Friend the Health Secretary will be announcing the details of his review into the New Hospital Programme in the coming weeks… 

    … and publishing in the new year… 

    … but I can tell the House today… 

    … that work will continue at pace to deliver those seven hospitals affected including… 

    … West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds… 

    … and Leighton Hospital in Crewe.  

    And finally… 

    … because of this record injection of funding… 

    … because of the thousands of additional beds that we have secured… 

    … and because of the reforms that we are delivering in our NHS…  

    … we can now begin to bring waiting lists down more quickly… 

    … and move towards our target for waiting times no longer than 18 weeks… 

    … by delivering our manifesto commitment for 40,000 extra hospital appointments a week.

    [redacted political content]

    CLOSING 

    Madam Deputy Speaker, the choices that I have made today are the right choices for our country.  

    To restore stability to our public finances. 

    To protect working people. 

    To fix our NHS. 

    And to rebuild Britain.  

    That doesn’t mean these choices are easy. 

    But they are responsible.

    [redacted political content]

    This is a moment of fundamental choice for Britain.  

    I have made my choices.  

    The responsible choices. 

    To restore stability to our country. 

    To protect working people.  

    More teachers in our schools.  

    More appointments in our NHS.  

    More homes being built.  

    Fixing the foundations of our economy. 

    Investing in our future.  

    Delivering change.  

    Rebuilding Britain.

    We on these benches commend those choices… 

    … and I commend this Statement to the House.

    Updates to this page

    Published 30 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Read More (Van Hollen, Cardin, Trone Announce $7.7 Million for Airport Infrastructure Projects in Western Maryland)

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative David Trone

    October 30, 2024

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    October 30, 2024

    Van Hollen, Cardin, Trone Announce $7.7 Million for Airport Infrastructure Projects in Western Maryland

    WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and Congressman David Trone (all D-Md.) announced $7,705,850 in federal funding for infrastructure and expansion projects at the Hagerstown Regional Airport and Garrett County Airport. The funding, provided through the Department of Transportation (DOT) Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Airport Improvement Program and Airport Terminal Program, will increase the airports’ capacities to meet operational needs and safety standards.

    “Hagerstown Regional and Garrett County airports help connect Western Maryland with greater economic opportunity. We fought for these investments to provide both airports with resources to continue to serving Maryland’s businesses, residents, and visitors in the years to come,” said the lawmakers.

    The federal grants have been awarded as follows:

    • $6,786,262 to Hagerstown Regional Airport to remove a building and relocate fencing identified as obstructions by the FAA and to renovate and expand the existing terminal building to accommodate existing and projected airline passenger demand
    • $919,588 to Garrett County Airport to rehabilitate 7,300 square yards of the existing Terminal Apron pavement

    The Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funds various types of airport infrastructure projects across the country, including repairs and upgrades to runways, taxiways, airport signage, lighting and markings – all while creating thousands of good-paying, local jobs. The members have consistently fought to provide funds for airports and terminal operators, including through the fiscal year 2024 appropriations process, which makes $3.35 billion available from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and an additional $532 million from the general fund for AIP projects.

    The Airport Terminal Program was created in 2021 through the lawmakers’ efforts to pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Funded at $1 billion in fiscal year 2024, the Airport Terminal Program supports safe, sustainable, and accessible airport terminals, on-airport rail access projects, and airport-owned airport traffic control towers.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Researcher Melissa Gish Bridges Chemistry and Physics To Improve Solar Energy Technologies

    Source: US National Renewable Energy Laboratory

    Researchers Bryon Larson, Melissa Gish, Ross Larsen, and Reilly Seban (left to right) are collecting and analyzing data on organic solar cells in the NREL Energy Systems Integration Facility’s Insight Center. Their research is part of a large-scale effort to quantify organic photovoltaics for incorporation into machine learning tools. Photo by Joe DelNero, NREL

    Melissa Gish approaches physics and chemistry problems like puzzles: Control this or that variable, and work out how the jigsaw pieces fit together.

    “I didn’t really like biology because I felt like there were too many variables to adequately control,” said Gish, a chemistry researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

    The journal Trends in Chemistry recently honored Gish in a special issue designed to highlight emerging leaders in chemistry who are innovating in their respective fields, as well as to celebrate Trends in Chemistry’s fifth anniversary and Cell Press’ 50th anniversary.

    That inclination toward controlling variables to chart a path to discovery led her from high school biology experiments on the breeding behavior of mosquitoes to majoring in chemistry in college. In her senior year, Gish studied quantum mechanics and worked in a physical chemistry lab—and that work led her to pursue a Ph.D. in experimental physical chemistry.

    “The intersection of physics and chemistry just made sense to me in a way that other disciplines hadn’t,” she said. “It just clicked.”

    At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), Gish immediately started working in ultrafast spectroscopy, where pulsed lasers are used to study ultrafast events after a system absorbs light—within solar energy research—and her renewable energy research interests then led her to NREL, first as a postdoctoral researcher and now as a chemistry researcher.

    “NREL has world-class fundamental research and amazing physical chemists,” she said, “so I could continue working with ultrafast spectroscopy and solar energy research.”

    Leading on Transient Spectroscopy

    Gish began her work in transient spectroscopy—studying the properties of short-lived excited states of molecules and materials—at UNC and continues that work at NREL.

    “We were studying dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cells, which involved the absorption of light to kick off an electron transfer cascade that would lead to catalysis to generate solar fuels,” she said. “These systems often had two-to-three-plus components, each with its own photophysics that needed to be parsed out with careful control experiments. These problems are puzzles—each puzzle is unique and fun to solve, with the added bonus of working toward new renewable energy technologies.”

    At NREL, Gish has become a leader in using transient spectroscopy to study pathways to more efficient solar cells and solar energy production and uncovering the photophysics of complicated molecular and materials systems, often connecting that information to photochemical reactions. Her work spans much of the periodic table, from organic molecules and polymers to transition and rare earth metal-organic complexes to silicon nanoparticles to semiconductor materials and more. Gish’s recent investigations extend across the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences research portfolio at NREL and have targeted the short excited-state lifetimes of conjugated polymers, tuning of singlet fission at mesoporous interfaces, and development of a strategy to differentiate rare earth elements.

    Gish is presently interested in connecting ultrafast photophysics on the very small scale—femtoseconds, picoseconds, and nanoseconds—to photochemical transformations on the seconds-to-hours time scale.

    “Understanding the initial processes after light absorption that may affect the photochemistry or photocatalysis that happens many decades later can help us design better systems for solar energy harvesting or light-induced separations,” Gish said. “I’ve been working on in situ methods to spectroscopically determine intermediates and products on longer time scales to connect the ultrafast experiments.”

    As she looks to the immediate future in her research, Gish is thinking about the photophysics of product selectivity in photocatalysis, in which solar energy is converted to chemical energy.

    “To make usable, storable solar fuels, we need to be able to generate the product that we want—for example, methanol—and there’s a lot we don’t understand about how to drive solar fuel production and photocatalysis to the final product of our choosing,” she said.

    Gish’s work extends to safety in the lab. She is a technical and safety leader for laser-based spectroscopy at NREL, stewarding several ultrafast laser systems and mentoring users of all experience levels in best safety practices for alignment, designing experiments, and operating systems to obtain high-quality data and rigorous data analysis. She has also played an integral part in NREL’s Laser Safety Panel, helping improve the laser operator qualification process and defining the laser system supervisor’s roles and responsibilities.

    Kyle Crabb, Rob Hammond, and Melissa Gish (left to right) pose for a photo in front of the Pride flag at NREL’s South Table Mountain Campus in 2023 after the second annual Full Spectrum Network-organized Pride flag raising at NREL. Photo by Joe DelNero, NREL

    Supporting and Mentoring Others

    Good leaders give back to their communities, and Gish gives back through mentorship and building community.

    At NREL, Gish cofounded two employee resource groups for NREL staff: the Full Spectrum Network (LGBTQIA+ employees and allies) and the Postdoc and Graduate Student Network.

    “My involvement in Full Spectrum and, in particular, my role in starting Pride Month events at NREL means a lot to me,” Gish said. “What I’m most proud of is how the group has continued as I and the initial steering committee passed the torch to the current leadership. Running an employee resource group is a lot of work and requires a lot of dedication and passion, and it’s amazing to see how each iteration of Full Spectrum continues our initial traditions and builds on them. For example, the annual Pride flag raising at the South Table Mountain Campus is something that started after my time and was extended to the Flatirons Campus this year.”

    Full Spectrum has helped bring together the LGBTQIA+ community at NREL and helped them feel seen and embraced.

    “I think it’s important for NREL to show LGBTQIA+ staff that our contributions are recognized and celebrated, which is a legacy I am proud of,” Gish said. “I have had new employees reach out to me and say that our work in Full Spectrum and the visibility it has provided to LGBTQIA+ staff has influenced their decision to come work at NREL because of the safe space that has been created.”

    Gish is also proud of her work with the Postdoc and Graduate Student Network, where she mentors early-career researchers from undergraduate and graduate students to postdoctoral researchers.

    “Postdocs and students are in a unique position where they are actively looking for their next job while producing high-quality scientific research and learning the advanced techniques we have here at NREL,” she said. “We wanted the network to provide professional development opportunities, soft-skills workshops, and networking opportunities to alleviate some of that stress that these early-career folks feel. I have also had opportunities to mentor postdocs, grad students, and undergrads as a staff scientist.

    “I really enjoy watching students and postdocs grow and become confident scientists,” Gish continued. “As the NREL principal investigator of a Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) project in collaboration with Metropolitan State University of Denver, I’ve had the pleasure of mentoring undergraduate students with limited lab experience who are motivated and passionate about learning spectroscopy as well as what it is like to be a scientist and explore this career as an option.”

    Gish’s RENEW project focuses on understanding spin dynamics of first row transition metal photosensitizers.

    She is continuing her career trajectory by actively solving chemistry puzzles—developing spectroscopic capabilities to answer new questions about next-generation solar energy technologies—and building her portfolio as a principal investigator while mentoring and serving her community.

    “Melissa has developed quickly into a key team member of several of our DOE Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences projects and was recently successful as an NREL principal investigator on a RENEW project focused on harnessing spin physics to drive photochemical reactions,” said NREL’s Andrew Ferguson, spectroscopy and photoscience group manager. “I have been particularly impressed by her resilience, exemplified by her response to the restrictions imposed by the COVID pandemic on her postdoctoral work; her vision to develop the spectroscopic tools to connect ultrafast photophysical processes to much slower photochemical reactivity; and her commitment to effective training and mentoring of early-career researchers. She is certainly worthy of recognition as an emerging leader in chemistry, and I am excited to see where her career goes from here.”

    Learn more about Melissa Gish’s research and NREL’s solar energy research.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Remarks by President Trump at Executive Order Signing

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    For Immediate Release                            January 24, 2025
    REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP
    AT EXECUTIVE ORDER SIGNING
    Oval Office
    (January 23, 2025)
    3:10 P.M. EST
         THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.
         Q    Hello, sir.
         THE PRESIDENT:  You all set?  Okay.  Very good.
         I’m going to sign some executive orders.  They were very important in just about every case.  And we’ll go through the first one, please. 
         MR. SCHARF:  Sure.  Do you want to —
         MR. SACKS:  Yeah.  Mr. President, this is an executive order on crypto.  We’re going to be —
         MR. SCHARF:  That’s AI.  Sorry.
         MR. SACKS:  Oh, sorry.  We’re doing AI first.  Sorry.
         MR. SCHARF:  Yeah, AI.
         MR. SACKS:  Sir, this is an executive order on AI.  We’re forming — we’re — we’re basically announcing the administration’s policy to make America the — the world capital in artificial intelligence and to dominate and to lead the world in AI. 
         THE PRESIDENT:  Do you want to say your name — your full name and serial number?
         MR. SACKS:  Yeah, David Sacks, AI and crypto czar.
         THE PRESIDENT:  David is one of the greatest in the world at AI — most respected, probably, there is. 
         (The executive order is signed.)
         So, that should take us to the forefront, right?
         MR. SACKS:  Absolutely.  We got to win. 
         THE PRESIDENT:  Okay. 
         Thank you. 
         MR. SCHARF:  Thank you, sir.
         THE PRESIDENT:  And this, David, is?
         MR. SCHARF:  Crypto.
         MR. SACKS:  Yeah, this is the crypto EO.  We’re going to be forming a internal working group to make crypto — to make America the world capital on crypto under your leadership.
         THE PRESIDENT:  Which is really going up, right? 
         MR. SACKS:  Absolutely.
         (The executive order is signed.)
         THE PRESIDENT:  All right, David.  That’s for you.  (The president gives Mr. Sacks the signing pen.)  Thanks.
         MR. SACKS:  Thank you, sir.
         THE PRESIDENT:  You find them exciting?  They might not be exciting, but we’re going to make a lot of money for the country.  Okay?
         MR. SACKS:  Thank you, sir.
         THE PRESIDENT:  And so is David.  You have to check him out.  There is nobody like this guy.  They said, “How did you get David Sacks?  How did you do that?”  And he’s — he’s doing it for the country more than anything else.  So, we appreciate it, David.  Thank you very much.
         MR. SACKS:  Thank you, sir.
         MR. SCHARF:  This is an executive order establishing a presidential commission — an advisory commission on science and technology.
         THE PRESIDENT:  Good.
         (The executive order is signed.)
         Do you want to explain that a little bit?
         MR. SCHARF:  The basic idea is to get together top people from government to private-sector technology industry, as well as educational institutions, to make sure that America maintains its leadership position with respect to science and technology development in the years ahead.
         THE PRESIDENT:  Good.  That’s great.
         MR. SCHARF:  Next, sir, we have a presidential memorandum encouraging departments and agencies in your government, including the Department of the Interior, to promote federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of —
         THE PRESIDENT:  Ohh.
         MR. SCHARF:  — North Carolina.
         THE PRESIDENT:  I love the Lumbee Tribe.  So, this is their first big step, right?
         MR. SCHARF:  This would be a huge step for them, sir.
         THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.  They were with me all the way.  They were great — North Carolina Lumbee Tribe.
         (The presidential memorandum is signed.)
         And we’ll send — you’ll send them a copy of that?
         MR. SCHARF:  Yes, sir.
         THE PRESIDENT:  They were great. 
         Okay?
         MR. SCHARF:  And, if you’d like, I could get them that pen, sir, as well.
         THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, let’s do that.  (The president gives Mr. Scharf the signing pen.)
         MR. SCHARF:  Next, we have a set of pardons for peaceful pro-life protestors who were prosecuted by the Biden administration for exercising their First Amendment rights.
         THE PRESIDENT:  Do you know how many?
         MR. SCHARF:  I believe it’s 23, sir.
         THE PRESIDENT:  Twenty-three people that were prosecuted.  They should not have been prosecuted.  Man- of — many of them are — are elderly people.  They should not have been prosecuted.  This is a great honor to sign this.
         (The proclamation is signed.)
         They’ll be very happy.
         MR. SCHARF:  Thank you, sir.
         THE PRESIDENT:  So, they’re all in prison now?
         MR. SCHARF:  Some are.  Some are — are out of custody. 
         THE PRESIDENT:  It’s ridiculous.
         Okay?
         MR. SCHARF:  Lastly, sir, we have an executive order ordering the declassification of files relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
         THE PRESIDENT:  That’s a big one, huh?  A lot of people are waiting for this for a long — for years — 
         MR. SCHARF:  Yes, sir.
         THE PRESIDENT:  — for decades.  And everything will be revealed.
         (The executive order is signed.)
         Okay.  Give that to RFK, Jr.  (The president gives Mr. Scharf the signing pen.)
         MR. SCHARF:  Yes, sir.
         THE PRESIDENT:  Okay. 
         Okay.  Thank you very much.
         (Cross-talk.)
         Q    Mr. President — Mr. President, a U.S. judge temporarily blocked the birthright citizenship order.  Do you have any reaction to —
    THE PRESIDENT:  No.  Obviously, we’ll appeal it.  They put it before a certain judge — in Seattle, I guess, right?  And
    there’s no surprises with that judge. 
    Q    Mr. President, Senators Collins and Murkowski have now said they will vote against Pete Hegseth.  Are you worried about his confirmation, and your reaction?
    THE PRESIDENT:  No.  And no surprises there.  It’s too bad.  You know, it’s the way — the way it is.  Too bad. 
    Q    And when would you adjourn Congress to make recess appointments, Mr. President?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I’d take a look at that.  I’d listen to John Thune.  He’s doing a fantastic job.  We’re moving along.  The Democrats are trying to delay government, as they always do.  They can’t help themselves.  Even John Ratcliffe, who’s very, very strong, very popular and liked by the Democrats — I guess, he gets a lot of Democrat votes — that’s taking a long time, and it shouldn’t be taking a long time. 
    They — they’re maxing everything out so they can delay everything as much as possible.
    Q    Does Senator Thune support an effort to use recess appointments if you choose to do that?
    THE PRESIDENT:  I’d be willing to use recess appointments.  It’s up to John.  We’ll see.  John Thune is a great guy, great senator, knows his stuff inside out and backwards.  But I would use recess appointments if he wants to do that.  Absolutely.
         (Cross-talk.)
    The Democrats are just delaying.  They always delay.
    Q    Mr. President, you spoke with the Saudi crown prince yesterday.
    THE PRESIDENT:  Who?
    Q    The Saudi crown prince.
    THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.
    Q    How was the — the call?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Great.  It was great.
    Q    And they said $600 million — billion dollar they can invest?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Six hundred.  I’ll ask them for a trillion. 
    Q    You said you’re going to ask them for a trillion.  Will Saudi Arabia be the first foreign country you will visit, since they’re investing that much money?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Well, if they do that, I would, yeah.
    Q    You would?
    THE PRESIDENT:  I would be glad to do that.  I did it, as you know, four years ago.  We did $450 billion — meaning the money all goes to American companies — and they purchased jets and they purchased computers and everything else.  And we did $450 billion, and I guess we’re at $600, $650.
    (Cross-talk.)
    And I’ll see if I can talk them into a trillion.
    Q    And on the Middle East again.  You showed great confidence in Steve Witkoff.  Why you said that you doubt that the ceasefire in Gaza will — will hold since you appraised his efforts?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Well, no, I think he’s great.  But it’s a very tricky place.  It’s very tricky.  And we’ll see.  And if it — if something does happen, they will not be happy. 
    Q    Sir, follow-up on that one.  In terms of Steve Witkoff, are you going to put him in charge of — of Iran strategy?  And do you want him talking directly with the Iranians?
    THE PRESIDENT:  No, but he — he certainly is somebody I would use.  He’s done a fantastic job.  He’s a great negotiator.  He’s a very good person, great — a very popular person.  Gets along with people.  I have great negotiators.  They — they have no personality whatsoever, and then I have some that do. 
    Steve has a wonderful way about him and people like him.  And even in this case, both sides like him, and he was able to make a deal.  That deal would have never been made without Steve. 
    The Biden people couldn’t make the deal.  They were working on it for a year and a half.  They couldn’t make a deal.  We got it done prior to the inauguration.  We said it has to be before the inauguration. 
    I mean, the deal should hold, but if it doesn’t hold, there’ll be a lot of problems.
    (Cross-talk.)
    Q    Related to your AI EO.  Just hours after you made that big Stargate announcement, Elon Musk tweeted that they don’t actually have the money.  Is that true?
    THE PRESIDENT:  I don’t know if they do, but, you know, they’re putting up the money.  The government is not putting up anything.  They’re putting up money.  They’re very rich people, so I hope they do. 
    And, I mean, Elon doesn’t like one of those people.  So, (inaudible).
    (Cross-talk.)
    Q    Are you worried that AI is going to replace many American jobs? 
    THE PRESIDENT:  No.
    Q    Does that worry you?
    THE PRESIDENT:  No, no.  It’s going to create tremendous numbers of jobs.  It’s going to also create a lot of benefits, medically, for cancer research and other things.  It’s going to have a huge positive impact.
    And, you know, we want to be ahead of China.  We’re, right now, way ahead of China.
    David Sacks is one of the all-time experts.  You know, that — people are amazed that he — you just met him.  I don’t know if he’s still here.
    MR. SACKS:  (Inaudible.)
    THE PRESIDENT:  There he is.
    But — but one of the most respected people in that world.  It’s a world.  That’s a whole different world. 
    And we’re ahead of China now because of what I’m doing, and I think it’s going to be very successful. 
    (Cross-talk.)
    Q    On NATO spending, please.  You just asked the Davos forum again that NATO countries should spend 5 percent of GDP on defense.
    THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.
    Q    The United States don’t spend 5 percent.
    THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I — I don’t think so, no.
    Q    Do you think it should also apply to the United States?
    THE PRESIDENT:  We’re protecting them, you know?  They’re not protecting us.  We’re protecting them.  So, I don’t think we should be spending — I’m not sure we should be spending anything, but we should certainly be helping them.  But they should — they should up their 2 percent to 5 percent, yeah.
    Q    Mr. President — Mr. President, you said earlier during your speech at Davos that you would like to see interest rates come down.
    THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.
    Q    How much would you like to see them come down?
    THE PRESIDENT:  A lot.
    Q    And will you talk with Powell?
    THE PRESIDENT:  I’d like to see them come down a lot, and oil prices will come down.  And when oil prices come down, everything is going to be cheaper for the American people — and actually for the world — but for the American people.  So, I’d like to see oil prices come down.
    And when the energy comes down, that’s going to knock out a lot of the inflation.  That’s going to automatically bring the interest rates down. 
    Q    Are you worried that it’s too much going on at once if you’re —
    Q    Mr. President, you said that you would demand —
    Q    Are you worried that there’s too much going on at once if you’re trying to bring interest rates down and —
    THE PRESIDENT:  No, no.
    Q    — get the economy back going?
    THE PRESIDENT:  No.  It just works that way.  I mean, it just economically works that way.  When the oil comes down, it’ll bring down prices, then you won’t have inflation, and then the interest rates will come down.  (Inaudible.)
    (Cross-talk.)
    Q    You said that you would demand that the interest rates come down. 
    THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I would put in —
    Q    Do you expect —
    THE PRESIDENT:  I would put in a strong statement.
    Q    Do you expect the Fed to listen to you?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah. 
    Q    Are you going to talk to Powell about this and — bringing the rates down?
    THE PRESIDENT:  At — at the right time, I would.
    Q    Sir, do you plan to meet with any of the people you pardoned that were — participated in the January 6th, 2021, attack — do you plan to meet with any of them or meet with them at the White House?
    THE PRESIDENT:  I don’t know.  I’m sure that they probably would like to.  I did — I did them something important.  But what they did is they were protesting a crooked election.  And, you know, I mean, people understand that also.  And they were treated very badly.  Nobody’s been treated like that. 
    So, I’d be open to it, certainly.  I — I don’t know of anything like that, but I think they — they’re going to — meeting some of the congresspeople — congressmen, -women —
    Q    Have you spoken to them?
    THE PRESIDENT:  — who want to — want to meet.  But I’d certainly be open to it. 
    Q    Have you spoken to them since you issued the pardons?
    THE PRESIDENT:  I haven’t spoken to any of them yet, but I know they’re very happy. 
    (Cross-talk.)
    I gave them — I gave them their life back.  Their life was taken away from them unnecessarily and unfairly.  I gave them their life back.  So, I can imagine they probably would like to.
    Q    What did you mean when you said that Biden took bad advice in not pardoning himself yesterday? 
    THE PRESIDENT:  Well, he did.  I think he did, because he — he pardoned all these people that are crooked as hell.  Look, the congressmen, they’re crooked.  What they did is they destroyed evidence.  When you destroy evidence, especially criminally like that — they did it criminally. 
    And the reason they destroyed the evidence is because it proved that I was right.  They didn’t destroy evidence for no reason.  They destroyed it because they found many documents saying that I offered 10,000 soldiers.  If they had 500 soldiers or National Guard, there would have been no problem.  If they had 200, that would have been — I offered 10,000, if they needed them — there would have been no problem. 
    That’s been now totally disproven.  And it’s also been disproven by Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, who has her on tape saying it was her fault, that she has full responsibility for this. 
    But — and they have all that stuff.  They destroyed everything, and they go through a year and a half, two years of nonsense, they come up with tremendous evidence, and they destroyed evidence.
    And Schiff knew about it.  That’s why he’s on there.  He knew all about the destruction of evidence.  A lot of people said he’s the one that got them to do it.  And he’s a crooked guy — you know? — totally crooked politician.  And so, he’s pardoned, and some other people are pardoned. 
    And these are crooked politicians, every one of them.  Bennie Johnson [Thompson], what he did is incredible.  I mean, he was the leader of the committee, and he did it.  Cheney, Crying Adam Kinzinger, all of them — they destroyed evidence and deleted everything. 
    There’s nothing with — there’s no evidence now.  They’re crooked politicians, and they should be punished.  You know, that’s — even in a civil trial, you go to jail for a thing like that.  They destroyed every document, from what I understand — every document — because it proved that I was totally innocent. 
    Q    Do you plan to send up to 10,000 troops to the southern border, sir?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.  Oh, southern border?
    Q    Yes, the border. 
    THE PRESIDENT:  When you say “southern border” — when I said “10,000 troops,” I was referring to the Capitol. 
    Q    Oh, I see.  A- — and when does that —
    THE PRESIDENT:  No, no, you got it wrong.  I was referring — 
    Q    When do you plan —
    THE PRESIDENT:  — to the Cap- — 
    Q    When do you plan to do that?
    THE PRESIDENT:  I offered 10,000 troops to the Capitol before January 6th.
    Q    And as for the 1,500 at the southern border, sir, to clarify, what exactly do you want them to be doing right now?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Making sure that the border is safe and secure and that criminals don’t come into our country.
    Q    Mr. President, do you think that sanctions on Russia will force President Putin to negotiate?
    THE PRESIDENT:  I don’t know, but I think he should make a deal. 
    Q    Mr. President, does it bother you that Elon Musk criticized a deal that you made publicly, that he said — that he tweeted that?
    THE PRESIDENT:  No, it doesn’t.  He hates one of the people in the deal.  So — 
    Q    Have you spoken to him since then?
    THE PRESIDENT:  No, no.  I’ve — well, I’ve spoken Elon but —
    Q    Not about that? 
    THE PRESIDENT:  I’ve spoken to all of them, actually.
    No, no.  The people in the deal are very, very smart people.  But Elon, one of the people he happens to hate.  But I have certain hatreds of people too —
    Q    Sir —
    THE PRESIDENT:  — you know?
    Q    Sir, on China.  What do you think Xi Jinping can do on the Ukraine-Russia war? 
    THE PRESIDENT:  Which one?
    Q    Ukraine-Rus- — -Russia war.  What can Xi Jinping do about that?
    THE PRESIDENT:  China?
    Q    Yeah.
    THE PRESIDENT:  They have a lot of power over Russia.  They supply energy to Russia, and Russia supplies energy to them.  They supply other things to — you know, it — it’s really a very big trade.  It’s a very big trading partner.  But Russia supplies a lot of energy to China, China pays them a lot of money for that, and I think they have a lot of power over Russia.  So, I think Russia should want to make a deal. 
    Maybe they want to make a deal.  I think, from what I hear, Putin would like to see me, and we’ll meet as soon as we can.  I’d — I’d meet immediately.  Every day we don’t meet, soldiers are being killed in a battlefield, and that battl- — battlefield is like no battlefield since World War II.  That’s a —
    Q    You said that U- — Ukraine wants to —
    THE PRESIDENT:  And I have — I have pictures that you don’t want to see.  Soldiers are being killed on a daily basis at numbers that we haven’t seen in decades.  And it would be nice to end that war.  It’s a ridiculous war. 
    Q    You said that Ukraine is ready to make a deal.  Did President Zelenskyy tell you that at — personally?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, sure.  He’s ready to negotiate a deal.  He’d like to stop.  He’s a — he’s somebody that lost a lot of soldiers, and so did Russia — lost a lot.  I mean, Russia lost more soldiers.  They lost 800,000 soldiers.  Would you say that’s a lot?  I’d say it’s a lot.
    (Cross-talk.)
    Q    Mr. President, you said that you wanted to make Dr. King’s dream a reality.  What’s your response to his children and civil rights leaders who say that your DEI orders are a contradiction of his dream and could further drive racial disparities?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I haven’t heard that. 
    Q    Mr. President, you put the Houthis back on the terror list.  How do you see the war in Yemen end now?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we’ll see what happens, but they can’t shoot down our ships — the Houthis.
    Q    Yes.
    THE PRESIDENT:  And that — you can’t shoot down our ships or any ships, and that’s what they’ve been doing.  So, they’re on the terror list, and —
    Q    Mr. President —
    THE PRESIDENT:  — that’s not good for them.
    Q    Mr. President —
    Q    Sir, why did you revoke security protections for former Secretary of State Mi- — Mike Pompeo and — and Brian Hook?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Well, the same reason I do — when you, you know, have protection, you can’t have it for the rest of your life.  Do you want to have a large detail of people guarding people for the rest of their lives?  I mean, there’s risks to everything. 
    Q    Do you think a former presidents should (inaudible) —
    Q    Sir, would you support striking Iran’s nuclear facilities?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Say it? 
    Q    Would you support Israel, for example, striking Iran’s nuclear facilities?  Or do you — 
    THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I’m not going to answer that.
    Q    — believe in diplomacy?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Obviously, I’m not going to answer that question.  We’ll have to see.  I — I’m going to be meeting with various people over the next couple of days, and we’ll see.  But hopefully that can be worked out without having to worry about it.  It would be nice — it would really be nice if that could be worked out without having to go that further step. 
    Q    And who are you going to meet with, if I — if I may ask?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I’d rather not say that, but very high-level people.  But hopefully that could be worked out. 
    You know, look, Iran, hopefully, will be — make a deal.  And if they don’t make a deal, I guess that’s okay too.
    Q    And, Mr. President, just to follow up, you said you think the Fed should listen to you.  Can you elaborate on why you think it should?
    THE PRESIDENT:  With regard to interest rates?
    Q    Correct, yes.
    THE PRESIDENT:  Because I think I know interest rates much better than they do, and I think I know it certainly much better than the one who’s primarily in charge of making that decision. 
    But, no, I’m guided by them very much, but if I disagree, I will let it be known.
    Q    Mr. President —
    Q    Sir, your tariffs planned for China and Mexico are much tougher — or the ones for Canada and Mexico are much tougher than the one for China.  Why is it softer for China?
    THE PRESIDENT:  Well, China is already paying a lot of tariffs because of me, and when you add them up, I would say, you know, they’re paying a lot.  They paid hundreds of billions of dollars.  They never paid 10 cents until I came along.  When I came along, they pay hundreds of — they’ve paid hundreds of billions of dollars.  Never paid anything.  And so, they’ve already started at a higher base.
    Q    Is February 1st —
    Q    Sir, about the border —
    Q    — the date for Chinese tariffs as well, sir?  February 1?  Or was that just Mexico and Canada?
    THE PRESIDENT:  It’s Mexico and Canada.  But we’ll — we’re talking about China too.  Look, China is sending us tremendous amounts of bad drugs: fentanyl — really bad stuff.  Most of it comes through Mexico.  And we’re losing, I s- — I think, 300,000 lives a year because of that.  People say 150, 100, 120.  I think 300,000 lives a year.  Those are old numbers.  The other — the lower number is a low number.  And we can’t have that.  They’ve got to stop sending it. 
    I had a deal with President Xi, but it was a deal that wasn’t followed up by Biden, of course, where they were going to issue the death penalty to people that make fentanyl, and that would have stopped it.  But we’ll have to stop it with tariffs. 
    Okay?  Thank you very much, everybody. 
    Q    So, is China (inaudible) —
    (Cross-talk.) 
    THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  Appreciate it. 
    Q    Thank you, Mr. President.
    THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you. 
                             END                    3:30 P.M. EST

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: President Trump Announces Appointments to the White House Offices of Communications, Public Liaison, and Cabinet Affairs

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    President Trump announced key appointments to the White House Office of Communications, Public Liaison, and Cabinet Affairs, which will be overseen by Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Public Liaison, and Cabinet Secretary Taylor Budowich.
     COMMUNICATIONS 
    President Trump previously announced the appointments of Assistant to the President and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung and Assistant to the President and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Today’s announcements include: Alex Pfeiffer will join the White House as a Deputy Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Communications Director after previously serving as a Communications Adviser for the Trump-Vance 2024 Campaign and Communications Director for MAGA Inc. Pfeiffer previously served as an Investigative and Editorial Producer for Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight. Kaelan Dorr will return to the White House as a Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Communications Director after serving as Senior Strategist and Spokesperson for MAGA Inc. Dorr previously served as Senior Advisor for Public Affairs at the Department of Treasury, Congressional Communications Director and Strategic Communications Advisor in the Executive Office of the President in the Trump Administration, Global Head of Marketing and Engagement for GETTR, Vice President of Communications for America First Policy Institute, and Chief Marketing Officer for Donald J. Trump for President. Harrison Fields will return to the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Press Secretary, having previously served as Assistant Press Secretary in the Trump Administration. Fields has also served as Senior Advisor to Congressman Byron Donalds and Assistant Director of Media and Public Relations at The Heritage Foundation. Anna Kelly will join the White House as a Deputy Press Secretary after serving as National Press Secretary for the Republican National Committee. Previously, Kelly was Communications Director for Congressman Derrick Van Orden, Michels for Governor, and the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Kush Desai will serve as a Deputy Press Secretary after serving as Deputy Battleground States & Pennsylvania Communications Director at the Republican National Committee. Desai also served as Deputy Communications Director for the 2024 Republican National Convention and Communications Director for the Republican Party of Iowa. Ian Kelley will join the White House as Special Assistant to the President and War Room Director after serving as War Room Director for the Trump-Vance 2024 Campaign. Previously, Ian worked as Rapid Response Manager for the social media platform GETTR. Dylan Johnson will join the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Assistant Communications Director for Special Projects after serving as a Deputy Director of Communications for the Trump-Vance 2024 Campaign. Johnson previously served as the Campaign Manager for the Greitens for U.S. Senate campaign and was an Executive Producer for Just The News. Sonny Joy Nelson will join the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Media Affairs Director, after serving as Director of Media Affairs and Surrogates for the Trump-Vance 2024 Campaign. Previously, Nelson served as Director of Media Affairs for the social media platform GETTR, Booking Producer for Real America’s Voice, Director of Media Affairs for the Republican National Committee, and Associate Director of Strategic Communications for Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. Dan Boyle will join the White House as the White House Director of Research after serving as a Research Consultant on the Trump-Vance 2024 Campaign, and previously as Director of Research for MAGA Inc. Boyle previously served as the Research Director for Citizens United and as a Research Analyst for the Government Accountability Institute. Johanna Persing will join the White House as Cabinet Communications Director after playing an integral role in the Trump-Vance 2024 campaign’s surrogate operation, including leading the media booking operation at the 2024 Republican Convention in Milwaukee.  Persing previously served as the Deputy Communications Director for the Republican National Committee and as Communications Director for Congressman Ryan Costello. Charyssa Parent will join the White House as Congressional Communications Director after serving as the Communications Director for Senator Roger Marshall. Parent previously served as the Deputy Director of Communications for the House Republican Conference and as the Director of Broadcast Media for the Republican National Committee. Jacki Kotkiewicz will join the White House as Policy Communications Director after working as a Vice President at Argus Insight. Kotkiewicz previously served as the Director of Policy Research at the Republican National Committee and was a Research Analyst on the Trump 2020 campaign. Jake Schneider will join the White House as Rapid Response Director after serving as Rapid Response Director for the Trump-Vance Campaign. Schneider previously served as the Deputy Director of Rapid Response for the 2020 Trump campaign and as Communications Director and Press Secretary for Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach. 
    OFFICE OF PUBLIC LIAISON Jim Goyer will return to the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Public Liaison. Goyer served President Donald J. Trump in his first Administration as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Office of Public Liaison. Goyer previously served as Political Coordinator at the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Goyer is joining from Goldman Sachs, where he served as an Associate of Asset and Wealth Management.
    Lynne Patton will serve as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Minority Outreach, where she will be charged with ensuring that President Trump continues to build upon his historic Election Day support from Blacks, Latinos and Women.  Patton served as Senior Advisor on the Trump Campaign and has been one of the Trump family’s longest serving and most trusted aides.  Prior to joining the Trump campaign, Patton was the Regional Administrator for Federal Region II at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Senior Advisor to Secretary Ben Carson.  At HUD, Lynne worked tirelessly to bring accountability, reform and results to some of the most challenging housing issues facing our country.  From championing the rights of underserved communities to exposing corruption and mismanagement within public housing systems, Lynne consistently fought for fairness and opportunity, earning her the bipartisan respect of industry peers and local elected officials alike.  Lynne’s deep connection to the issues affecting minority communities combined with her remarkable interpersonal skills, makes her the ideal person to lead this critical outreach effort.  She holds a B.S. from the University of Miami and attended Quinnipiac University, School of Law.  Brette Powell will return to the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Office of Public Liaison, having previously served for three years in the White House Management Office and the Advance Office in the Trump Administration. Powell previously served the President for four years through his Save America PAC and the Trump-Vance 2024 campaign as the Director of Strategic Political Stakeholder Engagement. Hailey Borden will return to the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Business Outreach in the Office of Public Liaison, having previously served as Associate Director of the Office of Public Liaison in the Trump Administration. Borden previously was Director of Coalitions and Member Services on the House Committee on Small Business and is currently the Director of Business Coalitions for House Majority Whip Tom Emmer. Alex Flemister will return to the White House as Director of Strategic Initiatives in the Office of Public Liaison, having previously served as Associate Director in the Office of Public Liaison in the Trump Administration. Flemister previously worked for Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders on her campaign as Advisor and Director of Operations and worked in her official governor’s office as the Director of Office Appointments. Flemister is currently the Founder and President of The Flemister Group. CABINET AFFAIRS Lea Bardon will join the White House as a Special Assistant to the President and Director of Cabinet Affairs. Bardon previously served as Director of Development Operations at the America First Policy Institute. Bardon also served on President Trump’s reelection campaign in 2020 and as Executive Roundtable Manager at the Republican Attorneys General Association. Thomas Bradbury will join the White House as Associate Director for Policy. Bradbury is currently the Director of Advocacy and Policy at American Conservative Union (CPAC). Cami Connor will return to the White House as Associate Director for Agency Outreach, having previously served as Associate Director of Agency Outreach in the first Trump Administration. Connor currently serves on the Government Operations team at The Boeing Company.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA News: Fact Sheet: Executive Order to Establish United States Leadership in Digital Financial Technology

    Source: The White House

    ENSURING U.S. LEADERSHIP IN DIGITAL FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to establish regulatory clarity for digital financial technology and secure America’s position as the world’s leader in the digital asset economy, driving innovation and economic opportunity for all Americans.

    • The Executive Order establishes the Presidential Working Group on Digital Asset Markets to strengthen U.S. leadership in digital finance.
      • The Working Group will be tasked with developing a Federal regulatory framework governing digital assets, including stablecoins, and evaluating the creation of a strategic national digital assets stockpile.
      • The Working Group will be chaired by the White House AI & Crypto Czar and include the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the heads of other relevant departments and agencies.
      • The White House AI & Crypto Czar will engage leading experts in digital assets and digital markets to ensure that the actions of the Working Group are informed by expertise beyond the Federal Government.
    • The Executive Order directs departments and agencies with identifying and making recommendations to the Working Group on any regulations and other agency actions affecting the digital assets sector that should be rescinded or modified.
    • The Executive Order prohibits agencies from undertaking any action to establish, issue, or promote central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
    • The Executive Order revokes the previous Administration’s Digital Assets Executive Order and the Treasury Department’s Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets which suppressed innovation and undermined U.S. economic liberty and global leadership in digital finance.

    ELIMINATING REGULATORY OVERREACH ON DIGITAL ASSETS AND PROTECTING AMERICAN ECONOMIC LIBERTY: President Trump is fulfilling his promise to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet.”

    • President Trump will help make the United States the center of digital financial technology innovation by halting aggressive enforcement actions and regulatory overreach that have stifled crypto innovation under previous administrations.
    • President Trump’s policy vision marks an unprecedented step towards welcoming in a new era for digital financial technology; one in which President Trump’s administration will work towards ensuring innovation thrives, regulatory frameworks are clear, and economic liberty is protected.
    • The growth of digital financial technology in America must remain unhindered by restrictive regulations or unnecessary government interference.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA News: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Launches PCAST to Restore American Leadership in Science and Technology

    Source: The White House

    RENEWING AMERICAN LEADERSHIP IN CRITICAL AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: Today, President Donald J. Trump announced the establishment of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) to spearhead American innovation and competitiveness in critical and emerging technologies.

    • PCAST will include up to 24 members, with representation from leading American scientists and technologists from industry, academia, and government.
    • The Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and the White House A.I. and Crypto Czar will co-chair PCAST.
    • PCAST will provide advice and evidence-based recommendations to the President to ensure that policies are informed by the latest scientific discoveries and technological advancements.
    • This council will champion bold investments in innovation, the elimination of bureaucratic barriers, and actions to help the United States remain the world’s premier hub for scientific and technological breakthroughs.

    FOCUSING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ON EXCELLENCE: President Trump is refocusing science and technology policy to emphasize results-driven excellence and merit-based achievement.

    • The United States must leverage its pioneering spirit to lead in transformative science and technology, reshaping industries and securing the nation’s leadership.
    • The pursuit of scientific truth is under threat from ideological agendas that prioritize group identity over individual merit, enforce conformity at the expense of innovative ideas, and inject politics into the heart of the scientific method.
    • These threats have not only distorted truth, but have eroded public trust, undermined the integrity of research, stifled innovation, and weakened America’s competitive edge.
    • PCAST will restore excellence by bringing together the brightest minds from academia, industry, and government to prioritize measurable results, foster innovation, and dismantle barriers to scientific progress.

    BUILDING ON SIGNIFICANT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ACCOMPLISHMENTS: President Trump’s first administration laid a strong foundation for American technological leadership.

    • Launching national initiatives to drive innovation in critical technologies, including the American AI Initiative and the National Quantum Initiative, which prioritized research, strategic investments, and workforce development in transformative fields.
    • Advancing emerging technologies by crafting regulatory and non-regulatory frameworks for areas such as autonomous driving systems, unmanned aerial systems, and biotechnology, ensuring a balanced approach to innovation and safety.
    • Accelerating groundbreaking research and collaboration through initiatives like the National AI Research Resource, spectrum auctions to unlock valuable frequencies for 5G and innovation, and investments in world-leading supercomputing systems.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA News: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Takes Action to Enhance America’s AI Leadership

    Source: The White House

    REMOVING BARRIERS TO AMERICAN AI INNOVATION: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order eliminating harmful Biden Administration AI policies and enhancing America’s global AI dominance.

    • President Trump is fulfilling his promise to revoke Joe Biden’s dangerous Executive Order that hinders AI innovation and imposes onerous and unnecessary government control over the development of AI.
    • The Biden AI Executive Order established unnecessarily burdensome requirements for companies developing and deploying AI that would stifle private sector innovation and threaten American technological leadership.
    • Today’s executive order:
      • Revokes the Biden AI Executive Order which hampered the private sector’s ability to innovate in AI by imposing government control over AI development and deployment.
      • Calls for departments and agencies to revise or rescind all policies, directives, regulations, orders, and other actions taken under the Biden AI order that are inconsistent with enhancing America’s leadership in AI.

    ENHANCING AMERICA’S AI LEADERSHIP: The United States must act decisively to retain leadership in AI and enhance our economic and national security.

    • This Executive Order establishes the commitment of the United States to sustain and enhance America’s dominance in AI to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.
    • American development of AI systems must be free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas. With the right government policies, the United States can solidify its position as the leader in AI and secure a brighter future for all Americans.
      • The order directs the development of an AI Action Plan to sustain and enhance America’s AI dominance, led by the Assistant to the President for Science & Technology, the White House AI & Crypto Czar, and the National Security Advisor.
      • It further directs the White House to revise and reissue OMB AI memoranda to departments and agencies on the Federal Government’s acquisition and governance of AI to ensure that harmful barriers to America’s AI leadership are eliminated.

    CONTINUING PRIORITIZATION OF AI: President Trump has made American leadership in AI a priority and is now building on his actions during his first administration.

    • President Trump signed the first-ever Executive Order on AI in 2019 recognizing the paramount importance of American AI leadership to the economic and national security of the United States.
    • President Trump also took executive action in 2020 to establish the first-ever guidance for Federal agency adoption of AI to more effectively deliver services to the American people and foster public trust in this critical technology.
    • Today’s Executive Order builds upon these past successes and clears a path for the United States to act decisively to retain leadership in AI, rooted in free speech and human flourishing.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Labour’s first budget plugs £40 billion spending gap – experts react

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Linda Yueh, Fellow in Economics/Adjunct Professor of Economics, University of Oxford

    For the first time in 14 years, it was a Labour chancellor who delivered the UK budget. And for the first time ever, that chancellor was a woman. But Rachel Reeves faces an almighty task: plugging a £40 billion spending gap in the knowledge that pre-election promises not to raise the main taxes are still fresh in people’s memories.

    Growth was the buzzword of the election campaign – Reeves now had to lay her cards on the table. So here’s what our panel of experts made of the plans:

    More challenges for employers and small businesses

    Shampa Roy-Mukherjee, Associate Professor in Economics, University of East London

    The budget introduces £40 billion in tax hikes and, in some areas, spending cuts that will put pressure on the economy and business in particular. But it also reflects the government’s focus on economic growth, with policies intended to stabilise finances while addressing some of the concerns of small businesses.

    The chancellor has retained her commitment to preserve the rates of income tax, employee national insurance and VAT. But a notable change is the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) from 13.8% to 15%.

    There was also a reduction in the secondary threshold, which is the amount at which the employer starts paying NI on each employee, from £9,100 to £5,000. Altogether this will raise £25 billion annually but will significantly impact many businesses that will now face higher wage bills.

    The national living wage is also rising by 6.7% to £12.21 per hour in April 2025, boosting incomes for about three million workers but again increasing costs for many businesses. These rising taxes and wage increases, alongside incoming employment regulations, will strain businesses, particularly in sectors with high labour demands.

    To offset some of these pressures, the employment allowance, which allows some smaller employers to reduce their NICs, has been raised from £5,000 to £10,500. The chancellor said that over 1 million employers will not see their NICs bill rise as a result.

    Small businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure, where profits have been hit as consumers struggle with the cost of living, will benefit from a 40% business rate relief on properties up to £110,000. Other supportive measures include a continued freeze on fuel duty, which will aid logistics and transport costs. Corporation tax remains fixed at 25%.

    A downpayment on growth – but probably not quickly

    Linda Yueh, Adjunct Professor of Economics, University of Oxford

    The chancellor declared that the government will “invest, invest, invest”. This is an important enabler of economic growth.

    But, the country’s creditors need reassuring, so Reeves also announced two new fiscal rules that aim to achieve that balance of allowing the government to borrow to invest (and generate growth), but not to pay for day-to-day spending.

    Specifically, the investment rule permits borrowing to invest and the stability rule requires day-to-day spending to be paid for by taxes. Both rules support the government’s growth aims while trying to reassure the country’s creditors that the borrowing will pay off by generating future growth – and also higher tax receipts with which to repay that borrowing.

    But spending watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has downgraded the UK’s GDP growth outlook from 2% to 1.8% in 2026, and to 1.5% in 2027 and 2028. The OBR’s forecast of slower growth highlights the impact of the £40 billion of tax increases, which dampens economic activity.

    This underscores the government’s challenge of investing to grow while at the same having to raise taxes to balance the books when it comes to its daily spending. In particular, the OBR’s assessment of slowing growth towards the middle of this parliament raises questions about how long it will take for the investment-fuelled growth to materialise.

    It may be that five years is still too short a period. Many physical investments require planning and those reforms could also take a while. Moreover, getting investment projects under way requires scoping, and private investors will want time to assess before joining the government in energy projects.

    But this budget is certainly a start on a much-needed growth strategy.

    Good news on public investment – emerging industries could benefit

    Phil Tomlinson, Professor of Industrial Strategy, University of Bath

    The key budget change related to the chancellor’s fiscal rules. By redefining how public debt is calculated, Reeves has been able to increase public investment by around £100 billion. The new fiscal rules have gone not as far as some economists have advocated – but they are a welcome step in the right direction.

    Investment was the core focus of the budget. For decades, the UK has suffered from low investment and weak productivity compared to other leading economies. Since 1990, the UK’s investment gap with the average across rich countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been around £35 billion a year – the UK now ranks 28th of 31 OECD countries on business investment. British workers are using outdated kit and so are less productive. This has meant a stagnant economy and lower living standards.

    So, the budget’s plans to boost investment in the UK’s crumbling infrastructure and public services and to support the new industrial strategy are a positive move. The latter should see additional funding to support emerging tech industries, such as artificial intelligence, cyber and clean energy. And this public investment should “crowd in” additional private investment.

    Clean energy boost?
    StudioFI/Shutterstock

    In the long run, these investments should pay for themselves. For instance, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that a sustained increase in public investment of 1% of GDP increases that GDP by 0.5% after five years and more than 2% after ten to 15 years.

    The rise in employer national insurance contributions will increase business’s operating costs, especially those in the care and hospitality sectors. But paradoxically, in the long run, it may encourage some businesses (in sectors where it is feasible) to invest in new labour-saving capital equipment.



    Read more:
    Rachel Reeves is the UK’s first female chancellor. Here’s why that’s so significant

    More reaction to be published soon.

    Karen Bloor receives funding from the NIHR policy research programme to conduct responsive analysis for the Department of Health and Social Care,

    Phil Tomlinson receives funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for Made Smarter Innovation: Centre for People-Led Digitalisation.

    Rachel Scarfe is a member of the Labour Party.

    Jonquil Lowe, Linda Yueh, and Shampa Roy-Mukherjee do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Labour’s first budget plugs £40 billion spending gap – experts react – https://theconversation.com/labours-first-budget-plugs-40-billion-spending-gap-experts-react-242509

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Fiscal Affairs Department’s 60th Anniversary Conference: “60 Years of FAD: The Fiscal Affair Continues”

    Source: International Monetary Fund

    The Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) of the IMF will celebrate 60 years since it was formed in 1964 with a one-day conference, “60 Years of FAD: The Fiscal Affair Continues,“ on November 4, 2024, in Washington D.C., USA.

    Even as prospects for a global soft landing have improved, fiscal policy continues to struggle with legacies of high debt and deficits, while facing new challenges. Risks to public finances are acute, reflecting the pressures of aging societies, industrial policies, geopolitical tensions, the needs of a greener and more equitable society and now, the threat to labor from AI technologies. Lower medium-term growth prospects have worsened debt dynamics and compounded the risks to fiscal sustainability. Fiscal policy challenges are especially acute in low-income countries, where financing is scarce and limits the ability of governments to support economic and human development.

    In this context, the conference will bring together fiscal policy experts, senior policy makers, and former and current IMF staff. They will look back at the contributions of FAD to the global fiscal policy discourse and its service to the membership. They will discuss the likely evolution of sovereign debt market and the role that public policy can play in making AI beneficial for workers and growth. And they will look ahead to the challenges that will emerge for fiscal policy in the future, and the choices fiscal policymakers will face, especially in low-income and fragile countries. The conference will also be an occasion to celebrate the evolution and impact of FAD’s capacity development (CD) from serving a small section of the membership to covering nearly every corner of the world.

    Agenda

    8:30 A.M. Coffee and refreshments
    9:00 A.M. Opening remarks. Gita Gopinath, First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, introduced by Vítor Gaspar, Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF.
    9:15 – 10:30 A.M. Sovereign Debt
     Moderator: Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, Director, Strategy, Policy and Review Department, IMF
    Panelists:

    S. Ali Abbas  (Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF)

    S. Ali Abbas is a deputy director in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department where he supervises the sovereign debt and governance workstreams, and oversees the department’s review of Fund programs in emerging and developing economies, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. He was previously IMF mission chief for the United Kingdom and Jordan, and deputy chief of the Debt Policy Division in the IMF’s Strategy Policy and Review Department. He has been closely involved in several complex Fund programs, and has led reforms to the IMF’s exceptional access lending and debt sustainability frameworks. In 2019, he co-edited Sovereign Debt: A Guide for Economists and Practitioners (OUP), with Alex Pienkowski and Kenneth Rogoff, adding to his earlier published work on post-GFC fiscal policy, the euro area sovereign debt crisis, international tax competition, state contingent debt instruments, fiscal policy and the current account, and government securities markets. Ali is a Rhodes scholar from Pakistan and holds a doctorate in economics from Oxford. He also served as an Overseas Development Institute fellow to the Tanzanian Treasury during 2000–02.

    Carlo Cottarelli (Former Director Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF)

    Carlo Cottarelli, a citizen of Italy, after receiving degrees in economics from the University of Siena and the London School of Economics, worked at the Bank of Italy, ENI and the IMF. He was FAD Director in 2008-13, Commissioner for Public Spending in Italy in 2013-14, IMF Executive Director in 2014-17. He taught at Bocconi University and he is currently Director of the Observatory on the Italian Public Accounts of the Catholic University of Milan, where he also teaches a course of Fiscal Macroeconomics In 2021 he was awarded the honor of First Class Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

    Christoph Trebesch (Professor, Kiel University)

    Christoph Trebesch is a professor at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the University of Kiel. His research focuses on international finance and macroeconomics as well as political economy and geopolitics. His research has been published in leading economic journals such as the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Political Economy, and is regularly cited in international media, including the New York Times, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He directs the CEPR Policy Network on “International Lending and Sovereign Debt” and co-directs the CEPR Network on “Geoeconomics”, for which he organizes an annual high-level conference on geopolitics and economics. He is also the creator of the widely referenced “Ukraine Support Tracker” on military and financial aid flows to Ukraine. In 2023, he was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant, one of the most prestigious research recognitions in Europe.
    10:30 – 11:00 AM The Surge in FAD’s Capacity Development Delivery (A/V) Moderators:

    Katherine Baer (Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF)

    Katherine Baer is a Deputy Director in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD). She oversees FAD’s work in the areas of taxation and public financial management, supervises Capacity Development (CD) delivery in all fiscal areas to countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Centra Asia, oversees FAD’s strategy to strengthen fiscal policies and institutions in the Fragile and Conflict-Affected States, and manages the department’s work on fiscal issues from a gender perspective. Her career at the IMF has focused on strengthening fiscal policies and institutions in member countries across all regions and income levels, and in countries experiencing economic crises. She has been an economist in the U.S. Treasury and an assistant commissioner in the Mexican Tax Administration. She also worked at the World Bank on public finance reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean at the height of the region’s debt crisis in the 1980s. Ms. Baer has many publications relating to public finance and holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University.

    Juan Toro (Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF)

    Juan Toro is Deputy Director of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD), in charge of: managing FAD budget, relationship with development partners, overseeing governance and operations of FAD’s capacity development (CD), coordinating FAD’s CD to Europe, and coordinating FAD TA on sustainable development goals. He previously was Assistant Director in charge of the IMF’s revenue administration CD to Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Central Asia.

    He has led and participated in IMF TA missions in taxation in more than 40 countries and has authored and contributed to several analytical papers in taxation. Before joining the IMF in 2007, he was the Commissioner of the Chilean Tax Administration (Servicio de Impuestos Internos, SII) from 2002 to 2006.
    11.00 – 11:30 A.M. Coffee break
    11:30 A.M. – 12:45 P.M. FAD in the Global Discourse
    Moderator: Ruud De Mooij , Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF
    Panelists:

    Zainab Ahmed (Alternate Executive Director, World Bank)

    Alternate Executive Director from Nigeria from July 2023 to October 2024. A Nigerian national representing – Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa (EDS25). Prior to joining the WBG, Ms. Ahmed has served a:- Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning (2018- 2023); Minister of State, Ministry of Budget and National Planning (2015 – 2018); Chair of the board of Trustees of the African Union Peace Fund (2019 – 2023). Member of the International Board, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) (2016 – 2019); Executive Secretary and National Coordinator, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) (2010 – 2015); and Managing Director, Kaduna Investment Company Ltd (2009 – 2010).

    Abdulelah Alrasheedy (Deputy Minister of Macro-Fiscal Policies, Ministry of Finance, Saudi Arabia)

    Dr. Abdulelah AlRasheedy is the Deputy Minister for Macro-Fiscal Policies at Ministry of Finance (MOF). Before being named Deputy Minister in March 2024, Dr. AlRasheedy was Assistant Deputy Minister for Macroeconomic Policies Analysis and Acting as General Supervisor of Policy and Consultation Assistant Deputyship.
    Prior to joining Ministry of Finance, Dr. Abdulelah spent 12 years with Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) most recently as Manager of Economic Modeling Division and was SAMA Representative at The International Financial Architecture Working Group.
    Dr. Abdulelah earned a Ph.D.  in economics and statistics from University of Missouri, where he was a Research Scholar at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity.
    In addition to being a Deputy Minister, he is a board member of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy. Also a Ministry of Finance Representative for Financial Sustainability Board. 

    Adam Posen (President, Peterson Institute of International Economics)
    Mark Sobel (U.S. Chairman, OMFIF)

    Mark Sobel is currently US Chair at OMFIF.  He served  nearly four decades at the US Treasury, including as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International and Monetary Affairs from 2000-2015, a position in which he led the Department’s work in preparing G7 and G20 Finance Minister and Central Bank Governor meetings, formulating US positions in the IMF, and coordinating the work of Treasury and regulatory agencies in the Financial Stability Board.  He was also chief US financial negotiator in the G20 from 2008-2015, including for the 2009 London Economic Summit.  From 2015 through early 2018, he was US representative at the IMF. 
    12:45 – 1:00 P.M. FAD Montage (A/V)
    A look back at FAD through the decades.
    1:00 – 2:15 P.M. Lunch (by invitation)
    2:15 – 3:30 P.M. Public Policy for AI
    Moderator: Era Dabla-Norris, Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF
    Panelists:

    Simon Johnson (Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management & 2024  Nobel Prize Winner in Economics )

    Simon Johnson is the Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he is head of the Global Economics and Management group. At MIT, he is also co-director of the Shaping the Future of Work Initiative and a Research Affiliate at Blueprint Labs. In 2007-08, Johnson was chief economist and director of the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund. He currently co-chairs the CFA Institute Systemic Risk Council with Erkki Liikanen. In February 2021, Johnson joined the board of directors of Fannie Mae, where he is vice chair of the audit committee and a member of the risk and capital committee. Johnson’s most recent book, with Daron Acemoglu, Power and Progress: Our 1000-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, explores the history and economics of major technological transformations up to and including the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence.
    2024 Nobel prize laureate in economic sciences “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity”

    Branko Milanovic (Professor, City University of New York)

    Research professor at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and senior scholar at The Stone Center on Socio-economic Inequality; Visiting Professor at the Institute for International Inequalities at LSE; was lead economist in World Bank Research Department for almost 20 years and senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. Milanovic’s main area of work is income inequality, in individual countries and globally, as well as historically among pre-industrial societies. His most recent books are Global inequality: a new approach for the age of globalization which deals with economic and political issues of globalization, and Capitalism, Alone that contrasts inequality and class formation in societies of liberal and political capitalism. In October 2023, he published Visions of Inequality that looks at how income distribution was studied by the most famous economists over the past 200 years. Milanovic was awarded (jointly with Mariana Mazzucato) the 2018 Leontieff Prize.

    Christine Qiang (Global Director, Digital Transformation Global Department, World Bank)
    3.30 – 4:00 P.M. Coffee break
    4:00 – 5:15 P.M. The Future of Fiscal Policy
    Moderator: Vítor Gaspar Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF
    Panelists:

    Jason Furman (Professor, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University)

    Jason Furman is the Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy jointly at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and the Department of Economics at Harvard University. Furman engages in public policy through research, writing and teaching in a wide range of areas including U.S. and international macroeconomics, fiscal policy, labor markets and competition policy. Previously Furman served eight years as a top economic adviser to President Obama, including serving as the 28th Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from August 2013 to January 2017, acting as both President Obama’s chief economist and a member of the cabinet. In addition to articles in scholarly journals and periodicals, Furman is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and Project Syndicate and the editor of two books on economic policy. Furman holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

    Ilan Goldfajn (President, Inter-American Development Bank)

    He was elected president of the IDB in November 2022, after serving as director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund. Previously, he was governor of the Banco Central do Brasil (2016-2019), where he led several modernization reforms, including promoting financial inclusion through Brazil’s fast digital payment system. He has also held several academic positions and high-ranking roles in Brazil’s financial sector.  In 2017, he was elected Central Banker of the Year by The Banker magazine.  Mr. Goldfajn holds a doctorate in economics from MIT, and master’s degree in economics from the Pontificia Universidade and has taught economics at universities in Brazil and the U.S. He is fluent in four languages.

    Mick Keen (Professor, Tokyo University)

    Michael Keen was formerly Deputy Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department at the International Monetary Fund. He is now Ushioda Fellow at the University of Tokyo. Michael was President of the International Institute of Public Finance from 2003 to 2006, awarded the CESifo Musgrave Prize in 2010, and in 2018 received from the National Tax Association of the United States its most prestigious award, the Daniel M. Holland Medal for distinguished lifetime contributions to the study and practice of public finance. His most recent book, Rebellion, Rascals and Revenues (with Joel Slemrod), aims to use history and humor to convey basic tax principles to a wider audience.
    5:15 P.M. Closing remarks
    Vítor Gaspar (Director, Fiscal Affairs Department )
    6:00 P.M. Adjourn

    Conference Organizing Committee: Katherine Baer (Deputy Director, FAD), Mitali Das (Advisor, FAD), and Andrew Okello (Deputy Division Chief, FAD).

    Conference Coordinators: Agnese de Leo (Administrative Coordinator), Harsha Padaruth (Administrative Coordinator), Luciana Marcelino (Administrative Coordinator) Martha Gaytan Frettlohr (Administrative Coordinator), Sahara De la Torre (Administrative Coordinator), and Sheetal Prasad (Senior Administrative Coordinator) – all FAD.

    The conference (which is in-person only) is open to all Fund employees and invited external guests (registration is required of external guests who will all receive a link to the registration form). Please note that the deadline for registration for this conference is October 25th, 2024. Registered external guests will be required to present photo identification on entering the IMF at 1900 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C. For questions regarding the conference, please email FAD_60th_anniversary@imf.org

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Africa Investment Forum welcomes Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) as new partner ahead of the December Market Days in Rabat

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

    WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America, October 30, 2024/APO Group/ —

    The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) has joined the Africa Investment Forum (www.AfricaInvestmentForum.com) as a founding partner, marking a new phase in the Forum’s expansion and influence as a catalyst for mega investments into the continent.

    The official announcement came during a breakfast meeting of heads of the Africa Investment Forum Founding Partner institutions, convened by the African Development Bank in Washington, DC on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s annual meetings. During the meeting, the partners examined and adopted a new strategic framework to govern the forum. The meeting took place on Friday 25 October.

    In welcoming BADEA as a new partner, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina said: “Since 2018, BADEA has been a steadfast supporter of the Africa Investment Forum, consistently contributing to the growth and success of this platform.”

    The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa is a multilateral development financial institution owned by 18 Arab countries. Its operations cover the entire Sub-Saharan African region.

    BADEA group president Dr. Sidi Ould Tah said the main shareholders of his bank had been working on a new mechanism to support investment flows to Africa. The group has sovereign funds under management with assets in the trillions of dollars, of which they had pledged to channel a part for Africa’s infrastructure needs.

    “The role of BADEA is to catalyse resources for Africa. BADEA will work with all the member countries of AIF to make this pledge a reality,” Tah said.                                 

    The addition of BADEA brings the AIF’s founding partners to nine:  the African Development Bank, Afreximbank, Africa Finance Corporation, Africa50, Development Bank of Southern Africa, European Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and Trade and Development Bank.

    Heads and representatives of each of the partners who attended the meeting included included Trade and Development Bank President and CEO Admassu Tadesse, Africa Finance Corporation’s CEO  Samaila Zubairu, Africa50  President Alain Ebobissé, European Investment Bank Vice President Ambroise Fayolle,  Hani Salem Sonbol  Chief Executive Officer of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation representing Islamic Development Bank President Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, and Afreximbank’s Director for Export Development Oluranti Doherty, who represented its president.

    Adesina also commended the founding partners for their energy, drive and momentum which he described as a testament to their confidence in the Forum.

    The AIF’s Market Days events, held annually, have drawn sovereign and non-sovereign investors from around the world, enabling a shift in risk perception and fostering confidence in Africa’s investment landscape.

    The platform has actively supported women-led businesses under its Women as Investment Champions pillar with examples such as Mobihealth International Ltd (Healthcare, Nigeria) which was supported to access grant and loan funding for feasibility studies and pan-African expansion.

    From the African Development Bank, Senior Vice President Marie Laure Akin-Olugbade, several vice presidents and directors and the Senior Director of Syndications, the Africa Investment Forum and Client Solutions, Max Magor Ndiaye, and the Special Representative of President Adesina, Yacine Fall also attended the meeting.

    The 2024 Market Days will take place from 4-6 December 2024 in Rabat, Morocco, under the theme: “Leveraging Innovative Partnerships for Scale.”

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI: LECTRA: Q3 and First Nine Months of 2024 financial report available

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Q3 and First Nine Months of 2024 financial report available

    Paris, October 30, 2024 – Lectra informs its shareholders, in compliance with Article 221-4-IV of the General Regulation of the Autorité des marchés financiers, that the Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for the third quarter and the nine months of 2024 is available on the company’s website: www.lectra.com

    It is also available, upon request, at the company’s headquarters 16-18 rue Chalgrin, 75016 Paris (email: investor.relations@lectra.com).

    About Lectra

    A major player in the fashion, automotive and furniture markets, Lectra contributes to the development of Industry 4.0 with boldness and passion, fully integrating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into its global strategy.The Group offers industrial intelligence solutions – software, cutting equipment, data analysis solutions and associated services – that facilitate the digital transformation of the companies it serves. In doing so, Lectra helps its customers push boundaries and unlock their potential. The Group is proud to state that its 3,000 employees are driven by three core values: being open-minded thinkers, trusted partners and passionate innovators. Founded in 1973, Lectra reported revenues of 478 million euros in 2023. The company is listed on Euronext, where it is included in the following indices: CAC All Shares, CAC Technology, EN Tech Leaders and ENT PEA-PME 150. For more information, visit lectra.com.

    Lectra – World Headquarters: 16–18, rue Chalgrin • 75016 Paris • France
    Tel. +33 (0)1 53 64 42 00 – www.lectra.com
    A French Société Anonyme with capital of €37,832,965 • RCS Paris B 300 702 305

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    The MIL Network –