The Minns Labor Government has today released the state’s first NSW Industry Policy to promote collaboration across industry, the innovation sector, and trade businesses, to give firms the confidence they need to invest and grow in NSW.
Built around three connected missions – Housing, Net Zero & Energy Transition, and Local Manufacturing – the NSW Industry Policy sets out the Government’s approach to the NSW economy of the future.
The policy will also set three ambitious new Local Manufacturing targets to position NSW manufacturing to capitalise on global market opportunities.
The Minns Labor Government is committed to building a better NSW with a thriving and diversified economy, and the NSW Industry Policy will provide a clear strategic direction across all Government agencies and programs.
This approach will ensure industry support is clear and consistent, driving investment to help build a productive and resilient economy fit for the future.
This first-of-a-kind policy, consolidates actions from the private sector, research institutions, and Government agencies to help address some of the most significant current and future challenges facing the state.
The NSW Industry Policy was informed by extensive consultation with industry peak bodies, academia, and engagement with NSW Government agencies.
It consolidates targets across numerous government initiatives and identifies key sectors to enable success across all industries.
The Minns Labor Government will use regulation, procurement, planning, strategic land use, and infrastructure building to help drive change.
The Government will also partner with industry and other stakeholders to deliver on skills and education, innovation and technology, and trade and investment, to help ensure the policy’s success.
A thriving economy in NSW benefits everyone, creates more and better jobs, improves the way we make and do things, and grows the prosperity and wellbeing of the people of NSW.
Key to this is a diversified industry base and protecting our economy from future shocks which the three central missions will help address.
Mission 1: NSW residents have access to safe, secure, affordable, well-designed and sustainable housing
Housing affordability and availability has become one of the state’s biggest challenges.
Due to the Liberal-National decade of delay, housing supply has not kept up with demand, contributing to increased pressure on prices and rents.
To improve productivity and sustainability, put downward pressure on construction costs, and increase supply, the Minns Labor Government will focus on increasing the uptake of advanced technologies and innovation in the production and use of sustainable building materials.
Innovative methods, including modular construction and the potential use of automation and robotics, will help the delivery of new homes.
The Minns Labor Government is investing more than $8.5 billion to address the housing challenge through investment in social housing and homelessness services, planning reforms, and housing-enabling infrastructure and rental housing.
Mission 2: NSW is a globally competitive clean energy, sustainable and low carbon economy
NSW has the potential be a leading force in the global net zero economy, including through our abundance of critical minerals, which are essential components of clean energy and low carbon technologies.
Developing sustainable industries that export goods and services to other decarbonising markets is critical to offsetting the decline in carbon-intensive industries.
Renewable fuels are one opportunity for NSW to reduce emissions in hard-to-abate industries such as freight, while contributing to fuel security and growing regional NSW economies.
The progression of a commercial green hydrogen sector would also produce low-emissions products and fuels for domestic trade purposes.
The Minns Labor Government invested $3.5 billion in Climate Change and Energy initiatives in the 2024-25 Budget, including $3.1 billion in NSW’s Renewable Energy Zones, getting more clean energy into the grid while creating secure jobs for communities across the state.
Mission 3: NSW is a dynamic and resilient economy supported by local manufacturing
Manufacturing declined nationally over the past two decades.
NSW manufacturers face significant challenges, including high costs and weak supply chains.
In light of these challenges, growing local manufacturing will require NSW to leverage its comparative advantages including its skilled workforce, infrastructure, and abundant resources.
In order to combat these challenges, the Minns Labor Government has set three new Local Manufacturing targets:
Target 1: NSW Gross Value Added for manufacturing achieves real growth on average over the years to 2031.
Target 2: NSW Gross Value Added for manufacturing achieves growth equal to, or greater than Gross State Product on average in the years between 2031 and 2040.
Target 3: Achieve a 50% minimum local content target for future rolling transport stock by 2035.
Advanced manufacturing technologies will also provide new opportunities for NSW to be globally competitive in complex and high-value products while NSW manufacturers can benefit from the global transition to net zero.
Innovative new technologies in big data, artificial intelligence, quantum, virtual reality, and robotics are dramatically changing manufacturing processes, from design and prototyping to the actual fabrication of products.
The Minns Labor Government has already committed over $600 million to drive investment in local manufacturing.
This investment has helped manufacturing in NSW grow two consecutive years for the first time in two decades.
Quotes attributable to the Minister for Industry and Trade Anoulack Chanthivong:
“The NSW Industry Policy details the Minns Labor Government’s vision and plans for the economic future of NSW and provides the strategic direction across all Government agencies and programs to drive industry investment.
“This is a clear and stable policy approach to help guide private sector investment needed to increase jobs and productivity in NSW.
“Addressing the housing crisis, supporting NSW through the transition to Net Zero, and growing our local manufacturing industry are among our key priorities.
“NSW manufacturing grew in only two years in the 2010s under the previous Liberal-National Government.
“With three new Local Manufacturing targets, we have demonstrated a real commitment to supporting local manufacturing to promote a dynamic, sustainable, and diversified economy.
“We want to see a manufacturing industry that is innovative, productive, and boosts Australia’s sovereign capability.
“Our ambition is clear: to build a better NSW and to make our state the most attractive place for people to live and work, and for local businesses to thrive.”
Quotes attributable to State Secretary of the AMWU Brad Pidgeon:
“This policy, particularly the three new Local Manufacturing targets, provides a huge boost for manufacturing workers right across the state.
“We need an ambitious vision for and support for our local manufacturing industry and this policy provides just that.”
Quotes attributable to NSW Head of Australian Industry Group Helen Waldron:
“The NSW Industry Policy provides the certainty and clarity that NSW businesses need to thrive in our rapidly changing economy.
“Having a clear, overarching strategic vision from the NSW Government provides NSW industry with the tools it needs to attract and grow investment supported by Government policy settings.”
The Albanese Labor Government continues to deliver on its commitment to create an inclusive labour market where everyone has the opportunity to work.
Australians with disability who can and want to work will benefit from our $14.6 million boost to support the evolution of the supported employment sector.
Supported employment is a type of job for people with disability who need substantial ongoing support to get or keep a job, and they receive extra support while at work. About 16,000 Australians with disability currently participate in supported employment.
Thirty-three organisations will receive grants in round 2 of the $29.5 million Structural Adjustment Fund. They’ll deliver projects that increase the range of job opportunities and pathways into open employment for people with disability with high support needs.
Minister for Social Services and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Amanda Rishworth, said people with disability had the right to meaningful work and training, and this investment would ensure the sector continues to evolve to meet individual needs.
“We understand that most people with disability want to work but unfortunately face many barriers to finding and maintaining suitable employment,” Minister Rishworth said.
“Boosting disability employment and opening more opportunities for people with disability who can and want to work, is high on the Albanese Labor Government’s agenda.
“Funding under this grant round will be delivered across various locations around Australia, ensuring people with high support needs can reap both the social and economic benefits that employment can provide.”
The Minister today visited Cultivate Food and Beverage in Adelaide, a social enterprise offering open employment in food manufacturing for people with barriers to work. Cultivate is backed by Bedford – a round 2 funding recipient that will deliver the Bedford Rangers program. It will build on a trial they delivered with RM Williams to host employment in mainstream workplaces with an employment coach and create individualised pathways to open employment for supported employees.
The Structural Adjustment Fund boosts training and skills for people with disability, creates and expands pathways to open employment and broadens social enterprise offerings. It aims to create employment pathways and opportunities for people with intellectual disability and other high support needs by investing in the supported employment sector.
The Structural Adjustment Fund complements the Government’s new specialist disability employment program, Inclusive Employment Australia. Replacing the current Disability Employment Services program, Inclusive Employment Australia recognises that people with disability may be at different stages of their employment journey – and that a one size fits all approach doesn’t work.
Learnings from the Structural Adjustment Funds projects will also be shared with the sector through the new Centre for Inclusive Employment. Previously known as the Disability Employment Centre of Excellence, the Centre will be an evidence-informed, best-practice hub that provides resources, tools, and training to help providers deliver quality employment services for people with disability.
“Inclusive Employment Australia and Centre for Inclusive Employment align with the Government’s vision of a more inclusive future, where people with disability, as well as those with injuries or health conditions, can get the support they need to find work and progress in their careers,” Minister Rishworth said.
Source: Australia Government Statements – Agriculture
5 March 2025
Who does this notice affect?
All internal and external stakeholders who may require Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry regulatory services across southern Queensland and northern New South Wales.
What has changed?
The department is preparing for the forecasted severe weather event anticipated across southern Queensland and northern New South Wales coastal on Thursday 6and Friday 7 March 2025, associated with Tropical Cyclone…
In the late 1980s, as the Iron Curtain fell, the US Army War College threw away its old Cold War playbook. In its place, trainee strategists were taught to see the world as Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous: or ‘VUCA’ for short. The implications were far-reaching. Out went the old certainties. And in came a new approach that stressed the importance of approaching problems from different angles, drawing on multiple perspectives and scenarios, learning from mistakes, making robust decisions, and communicating openly about the uncertainties.
Where the military began, the business world followed: VUCA begat a million Harvard Business Review articles. Inevitably perhaps, it lost some of its shine in the decades that followed. But today it’s back – with a vengeance. The rules of global trade have been turned on their head. New geopolitical realities are dawning. Artificial intelligence, the energy transition, demographic change and the long shadow of COVID-19 are fundamentally changing our concepts of economic activity and work. And Australia, like elsewhere, is seeking new sources of productivity growth. With the world in flux, companies, households and governments must change how they think, act and plan – just like those army cadets of the 1980s.
Monetary policy cannot affect these profound changes. But it does have one key job – and that is to ensure that, of all the things people do have to worry about, inflation is not one. High inflation hurts everyone. It hits living standards, particularly for those on low and fixed incomes. And it disrupts households and companies’ plans. The past few years have been a vivid reminder of that. Around the world, core inflation reached multi-decade highs (Graph 1).
Uncertainty rose sharply too. Forecasting prices during the pandemic was harder than at any time in the past quarter of a century: for central banks (Graph 2) – and for everyone else too.
That left inflation much higher up peoples’ VUCA worry lists than it should be, harming livelihoods and crowding out focus on the economic choices that households and companies should be spending their time on. Our job is to put that into reverse – returning inflation to the background, where it belongs.
In my remarks today, I want to review progress towards that goal. I’ll start with the good news – inflation is down and employment is up. We are moving on from the narrow path. But monetary policy must always look ahead – and here I want to discuss two decidedly VUCA risks that shape that outlook: the prospects for world trade; and the degree of spare capacity in the Australian labour market. I will conclude with some implications for monetary policy.
Moving on from the narrow path
While Australia saw much the same pickup in inflation as elsewhere, our monetary policy response was different. Interest rates rose significantly – but they never reached the levels seen in many other developed economies (Graph 3).
That was an explicit choice, grounded in our mission: to bring inflation down, but at a pace that helped preserve sustained full employment. An implication of this strategy, clear from the start, was that just as interest rates rose by less, so they would also fall less far – and less quickly.
There were always risks on both sides of this ‘narrow path’ – and people regularly called them out. Some said the RBA should have tightened more to bring inflation down faster and earlier – and clearly we could have. But that would have risked materially higher unemployment. Others said we should have eased more quickly to help kickstart economic activity. And we could have done that too. But it would have risked inflation being higher for even longer. In the Board’s judgment, both alternatives would have left the Australian people worse off.
That is why the latest economic data are encouraging. Year-ended trimmed mean inflation, our preferred measure of underlying price pressures, fell to 3.2 per cent in the December quarter, 0.2 percentage points lower than expected in November. Among other things that reflected lower inflation in new dwelling costs, rents and market services – which had been stubbornly persistent. Measured on a shorter two-quarter annualised basis, trimmed mean inflation was in the 2–3 per cent target range (Graph 4).
While inflation has moderated, employment has continued to grow extraordinarily strongly. That’s true compared both with other developed economies (Graph 5), and with our own history: 64½ per cent of the population now have jobs, the highest on record.
By contrast, economic growth has been much more subdued, particularly in the private sector. But here too there is now cautiously better news, with partial indicators suggesting that household spending picked up in the December quarter. GDP growth is projected to rise back to trend over the forecast period.
So we look to be moving on from the narrow path. But central bankers are paid to worry, not celebrate. And monetary policy works with lags – so it must be set with an eye to the future, not the past. I will now discuss two key uncertainties that shape that outlook.
Key uncertainty 1: Global trade policy – VUC, but especially A?
To the naked eye, the four words in ‘VUCA’ seem just different versions of ‘chaos’. In fact, their meanings are distinct. Volatility and complexity are the simpler concepts. ‘Volatility’ means rapid change, whether predictable or unpredictable – and ‘complexity’ means a world of multiple overlapping causes and effects. Uncertainty and ambiguity are slipperier. ‘Uncertainty’, in the classical sense, means you know the model, but don’t know the parameters. So you have to estimate an imperfect model-based forecast, which you can refine as you get more information. ‘Ambiguity’ means you don’t know the model, so any model-based forecasts will break down, and feeding more information into those same models won’t help. In situations of ambiguity – or ‘Knightian uncertainty’ as economists sometimes call it – judgement and instinct are as important as formal analysis.
These concepts can help us think through the implications for Australia of global trade policy uncertainty – which is at a 50-year high (Graph 6).
As economists, our inclination is to approach this as an analytical problem of classical uncertainty. We might note for example that, from a macroeconomic perspective, Australia’s direct exposure to US tariffs levied on our exports is limited (Graph 7).
Such an analysis might quickly turn, however, to the fact that Australia is heavily integrated into, and reliant on, the global economy more broadly – and particularly China (Graph 8). Hence the bigger macroeconomic risk for us would be if the imposition of US tariffs on third countries triggered a global trade war that impaired our trade and financial linkages more broadly. As Australia’s long history has shown, we thrive when trade, labour and assets flow freely in the global economy, but we suffer when countries turn inwards.
In principle, it is possible to estimate the quantitative impact of policy alternatives on Australian activity and inflation using macroeconomic models, though the number of assumptions required is daunting. It includes: the scale, scope and persistence of US trade measures globally; the extent of any policy reactions in third countries (including both trade retaliation and domestic stimulus); the reaction in financial markets, including crucially how the exchange rate adjusts; and the responses of global trading firms, including both production and trade diversion.
Our February Statement on Monetary Policy included three stylised scenarios, involving different sets of these assumptions. These scenarios suggest some downward impact on Australian activity; and an impact on inflation that could be either positive or negative, depending on whether supply or demand effects dominate. But many other alternatives are possible too. Given the large uncertainties at this early stage, only limited changes were made to our central projections for global activity.
Up until very recently, financial markets appeared to be placing little weight on any severe adverse scenario. Measures of implied volatility in equity, bond and most foreign exchange markets were subdued. Estimates of equity risk premia were close to their post-Global Financial Crisis lows (Graph 9).
And equity investors appeared to take out only modest extra downside insurance in response to the early flurry of news about tariffs (Graph 10).
There are several possible reasons for this apparently benign reaction. Investors may have believed tariff threats were being used primarily as a negotiating tool, with relatively limited longer term economic effects. They may have believed other promised US policy initiatives, including fiscal measures and deregulation initiatives, would more than outweigh the impact on global activity. They may have believed that demand in countries outside the US, including Australia, would be insulated by adjustments in exchange rates and extra stimulus in key overseas markets. Or they may simply have believed that US policymakers would again show limited tolerance for declines in equity prices, as happened in 2018/19.
That confidence has taken a bit of a knock in recent days. Some of that reflects recent US data, and some evolution in the direction of tariff policy. But it may also reflect a growing recognition that, if companies and households come to conclude that trade policy uncertainty has moved on from classical Uncertainty (‘carry on till the fog lifts’) to genuine Ambiguity (‘almost anything could happen’), they may choose to batten down the hatches – postponing planned spending, particularly on longer term capital investment, until things become clearer. Such ‘watchful waiting’ could prove rational individually, but economically damaging in aggregate. As The Economist put it recently, ‘tariff uncertainty can be as ruinous as tariffs themselves’. The Federal Reserve estimated that heightened uncertainty over trade policy in 2018 reduced global GDP by nearly 1 per cent in 2019 – and Graph 6 suggests the pick-up in policy uncertainty is much larger this time around. The possibility of such an effect played a part in the Board’s policy deliberations in February.
Key uncertainty 2: Capacity in the domestic economy
A second key uncertainty lies closer to home, in the labour market. While the recent strength in employment growth is welcome, it’s also unusual after a period of such subdued GDP growth. The question is what it means for the margin of spare capacity in the economy, and hence for the inflation outlook.
Assessing this issue is harder than it seems. Spare capacity cannot be directly observed. And its sustainable level has no set value, and likely changes over time as the structure of the economy evolves. Some argue this makes the concept meaningless – but that does require you to have an alternative narrative for inflation. At the RBA, we prefer to give it some weight while recognising the pervasive uncertainties, by building up a picture using a wide range of qualitative and quantitative data, and analytical techniques – as well as regularly challenging how we could be wrong.
An obvious place to start when assessing labour market capacity is to look at proxy measures. Two of the most important are unemployment (those looking for work) and underemployment (those in work, but looking to do more hours). As recently as November, we were projecting unemployment to rise to 4¼ per cent by end-2024 and 4½ per cent in late 2025, as past weak activity reduced hiring rates. In fact, unemployment has remained at or around 4 per cent, and underemployment has fallen back to late-2022 levels. A range of other capacity measures have also stabilised or reversed in recent months, including the ratio of vacancies to unemployment, and surveys of firms’ reported labour constraints (Graph 11).
With activity projected to pick up in 2025 as private demand recovers, these developments have caused us to revise down our central projection for unemployment.
But the implications for inflationary pressure depend on where this leaves spare capacity relative to sustainable levels. Two considerations suggest labour market conditions are relatively tight. First, all of the measures in Graph 11 lie some distance above their historical averages – and unemployment remains close to its lowest level at any time in the past 50 years. But that can’t be the end of the matter – because the levels of nominal and real wage inflation associated with a given level of unemployment have fallen substantially over that period. So the sustainable level must be lower too. How much lower, no-one can say for sure. But it is possible to back out a range of time-varying estimates from past relationships between unemployment, wage and price inflation, using a suite of statistical methods of varying levels of sophistication. These estimates include the immediate pre-pandemic period, when wage inflation persistently undershot forecasts.
Those analytical approaches all suggest that, while sustainable unemployment levels are likely to have fallen materially in recent decades, current labour market conditions still appear relatively tight. Combined with the lower unemployment projection, that would suggest somewhat greater upward pressure on inflation from the labour market over the medium term. Exercises using the other measures in Graph 11 reach a similar conclusion.
But these are critical judgments – and serious commentators from academia, the financial markets and elsewhere have argued that we may be taking too pessimistic a view. We take those challenges seriously.
Some point out that business surveys of employment intentions have been at, or slightly below, long-run averages. And that is true, but such surveys typically focus on the market sector, where employment growth has been relatively subdued. They tell us less about pressures in the non-market sector, which has accounted for most of the recent strength in aggregate employment (Graph 12).
That leads to a different challenge – that non-market employment has limited influence on aggregate wage and inflation pressure, because it draws on a different labour pool. But it is hard to find support for this in the data. For example, the health care sector – a big contributor to aggregate employment in recent years – has drawn quite materially on workers in other industries (Graph 13), helping to equalise cross-sectoral wage growth. Discussion with liaison contacts suggest similar mechanisms are at work in other sectors too, including construction.
A third argument against the view that labour market conditions are relatively tight notes that nominal wage growth has been easing (Graph 14). But with measured productivity growth as weak as it has been recently, that still implies elevated growth in companies’ unit labour costs. Some of that apparent strength could reflect under-measurement of productivity growth or a temporary burst of real wage catch-up to past inflation, rather than labour market tightness. But such effects would need to be unusually large to account for the whole of the gap.
Finally, it is possible that, over and above the impact of labour market conditions, recent disinflation also reflects compression in other aggregate price drivers, including margins and housing costs. In that context it is noteworthy that output-based measures of capacity pressures have continued to fall.
Drawing this all together, our central projection reflects a judgement that labour market conditions will remain relatively tight over the forecast period, and a little tighter than assumed in November. At the same time, we have recognised the risk that recent inflation data may suggest we have overestimated the extent of excess demand in the labour market by applying a little downwards judgement on the inflation profile. And the Statement on Monetary Policy sets out what one would need to believe to justify an even larger downward adjustment, as a risk scenario.
Implications for the RBA’s monetary policy decision
Graph 15 compares the central projection for trimmed mean inflation in February with that in November. Inflation is slightly lower in the near term, reflecting the downside news on inflation, wages and activity. But it is a little higher further out, stabilising slightly above the midpoint of the target range, reflecting the surprising strength in the labour market.
Why then did the Board cut rates? Did we reject the staff forecasts, as some have claimed? Or did we suddenly and confusingly relax our previously stated intolerance for persistent inflation deviations from target? Nothing of the sort – for me at least, the rationale is relatively simple.
First, the encouraging news on price and wage inflation gave us somewhat greater confidence that underlying inflation is on track to return to the target range in the near term – if anything, a little more rapidly than previously expected. The Board noted that the combination of lower inflation data, and a lower near-term projection, put Australia in a very similar position to many other countries ahead of their first cuts (Graph 16).
Second, however, the Board also recognised that the uncertainties about the outlook for inflation become larger, the further out you go.
One uncertainty relates to future changes in the cash rate. All projections have to assume something about this path, and by convention we assume it follows market expectations. In February, that curve implied up to four 25 basis points cuts over the forecast horizon, at a somewhat more frontloaded pace than in November. In light of the data then available, including the strong labour market, it was not clear that a rate cutting cycle of this depth was likely to return underlying inflation sustainably to the midpoint of the target range. The February projections are consistent with that view.
Third, that did not, however, mean there was no case for a cut at all. To see that, the red swathe in Graph 17 shows an illustrative range of projections for underlying inflation at the time of the February forecast under the alternative assumption of an unchanged cash rate target of 4.35 per cent.
The centre of the swathe lies slightly below the midpoint of the target range, consistent with a bias to cut. But there were good arguments for both a hold and a cut – and the Board discussed them in some detail, as the minutes released earlier this week show. Foremost in that debate included the issues I have discussed today – the outlook for global activity, and the degree of spare capacity in the labour market.
Some have flagged a concern that the Board’s messaging on rates feels like fine-tuning. It is certainly true that the pervasive uncertainties we will face over the forecast period are orders of magnitude larger than the sorts of differences to the target midpoint I’ve discussed here. But the Statement on the Conduct of Monetary Policy agreed between the Treasurer and the Board is clear: we set monetary policy such that inflation is expected to return to the midpoint of the target range. And we do that because it maximises the chances of inflation remaining sustainably in that range. The rate cut in February reduces the risks of inflation undershooting that midpoint, but the Board does not currently share the market’s confidence that a sequence of further cuts will be required.
That assessment will of course evolve as time proceeds and further data help distinguish between alternative narratives of the economy. Interest rates will go where they need to go to maximise the chances of keeping inflation sustainably in the target band while helping to sustain full employment. Progress towards that target has been good – but it is too soon to declare victory. Many households and companies are continuing to struggle – and the Board will continue to take decisions, meeting by meeting, in the interests of all Australians. In so doing, our goal is to remove inflation from the list of things people have to worry about, leaving them free to focus on navigating an increasingly VUCA world.
SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Silvaco Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SVCO) (“Silvaco” or the “Company”), a provider of TCAD, EDA software and SIP solutions that enable semiconductor design and digital twin modeling through AI software and innovation, today announced the strategic acquisition of the Process Proximity Compensation (“PPC”) product line of Cadence (Nasdaq: CDNS).
The addition of the PPC product line – an optical proximity correction (“OPC”) suite of tools highly complementary to Silvaco’s EDA and TCAD suite, along with its cutting-edge technology and talented team, will strengthen Silvaco’s market position and accelerate its mission to empower customers in designing next-generation semiconductor processes and devices with greater accuracy and efficiency. The Company expects this acquisition to enhance Silvaco’s ability to offer advanced computational lithography solutions that address the increasing complexity of semiconductor manufacturing at advanced nodes.
“Acquiring Cadence’s OPC expertise and technology marks a significant step in advancing our AI-based FTCO platform, quantum-level simulation, and hybrid Fab optimization for semiconductor and photonics mask generation,” said Babak Taheri, CEO of Silvaco. “The proven track record of the OPC business in process correction and computational lithography complements our existing capabilities, enabling us to drive enhanced innovation, precision, and AI-driven automation for our customers. This acquisition reinforces our commitment to delivering the most comprehensive solutions for semiconductor manufacturing and design.”
“Today’s announcement accelerates our strategy of providing the leading synthesis to signoff digital full-flow solution while sharpening our focus on the faster-growing areas of our digital portfolio,” said Chin-Chi Teng, senior vice president and general manager of the Digital & Signoff Group at Cadence. “We are pleased to have the PPC team join Silvaco to help advance their next-generation computational lithography solutions.”
As part of the transition, Silvaco will work closely with Cadence’s team to provide a seamless integration, maintaining continuity for existing customers and partners without disruption to ongoing projects or customer support. The acquired OPC product line has been adopted by industry-leading semiconductor companies. This acquisition unlocks complementary go-to-market opportunities, enabling Silvaco to enhance its EDA, TCAD, and AI-Driven Fab Technology Co-Optimization™ offerings while fostering deep customer collaborations. The Company expects the existing OPC customers to benefit from Silvaco’s responsive customer support and expanded R&D collaboration, driving technology development and adoption.
“We closed 2024 with record results for bookings and revenue, driven by sustained demand for our digital twin modeling platform and growth in key semiconductor markets,” said Dr. Babak Taheri. “With the addition of these new capabilities and our focus on execution, we will continue to deliver value for our customers and stakeholders, setting the stage for further growth in 2025.”
About Silvaco Silvaco is a provider of TCAD, EDA software, and SIP solutions that enable semiconductor design and digital twin modeling through AI software and innovation. Silvaco’s solutions are used for semiconductor and photonics processes, devices, and systems development across display, power devices, automotive, memory, high performance compute, foundries, photonics, internet of things, and 5G/6G mobile markets for complex SoC design. Silvaco is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and has a global presence with offices located in North America, Europe, Brazil, China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Learn more at silvaco.com.
Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to, statements regarding Silvaco’s proposed acquisition of Cadence’s PPC product line, technologies and product offerings, business strategy, plans and opportunities, industry and market trends including TAM estimates and the expected benefits and impact of the proposed transaction and combined business on Silvaco’s growth. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. Words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “should,” “believe,” “hope,” “target,” “project,” “goals,” “estimate,” “potential,” “predict,” “may,” “will,” “might,” “could,” “intend,” “shall” and variations of these terms and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside Silvaco’s control. For example, the markets for Silvaco’s products and services may develop more slowly than expected or than they have in the past; operating results and cash flows may fluctuate more than expected; Silvaco may fail to successfully integrate Cadence’s PPC product line; Silvaco may fail to realize the anticipated benefits of the proposed acquisition; Silvaco may incur unanticipated costs or other liabilities in connection with acquiring or integrating Cadence’s PPC product line; the potential impact of the announcement or consummation of the transaction on relationships with third parties, including employees, customers, partners and competitors; Silvaco may be unable to motivate and retain key personnel; changes in or failure to comply with legislation or government regulations could affect post-closing operations and results of operations; and macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions could deteriorate. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent Silvaco’s views as of the date of this press release, and Silvaco disclaims any obligation to update any of them publicly in light of new information or future events.
Roadworks to increase the resilience and safety of SH8 between Cromwell and Clyde are due to start next week (10 March), says NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA).
The works will result in delays for road users in both directions, as intermittent traffic stops will be in operation for up to eight weeks along the Cromwell Gorge slopes and benches*, just north of Clyde.
Crews will work to clear debris from the benches and assess stability at the Clyde end of the Cromwell Gorge, says NZTA Project Manager John O’Neill.
“While we appreciate delays are frustrating this is an essential piece of work which will improve the resilience, as well as the safety of the network, with debris removed from above road level. We ask road users for patience and understanding.”
Works will run from Monday, 10 March to Friday, 16 May, 8am to 5pm each weekday.
Traffic will be held in both directions intermittently as required. Drivers need to build in delays of up to 15 minutes for the next two months, weekdays.
Cromwell Gorge slopes and benches.
For all travel updates, roadworks and road closures please visit: NZTA Journey Planner
Background on the Cromwell Gorge slopes and benches
The benches on SH8 in the Cromwell Gorge, are 2km north of Clyde. They have been in existence for around 40 years and were constructed upslope as part of the development of SH8 during the creation of Lake Dunstan and the Clyde Hydro Dam.
Crews with abseilers will be using mechanical methods to remove any unstable rock, with drilling and blasting if required when there is no traffic underneath the benches.
The installation of stormwater pipes, signage, footpaths and landscaping is in the works as Te Ara Tutohu: Waitara to Bell Block project on State Highway 3 progresses to the next stage.
Next week, from 11 March, crews will start on the next stage of works, which will see the southbound lane of the Waitara Road roundabout constructed.
Work just completed has seen workers relocate underground services and complete pavement and stormwater work on Raleigh Street (between SH3 and Tate Road).
Access to all businesses and residential properties in the area will be maintained during this next stage of works.
Traffic management
From 8pm 11 March to 5.30am 12 March, the SH3/Waitara Road intersection will be reduced to one lane to allow crews to move the temporary central barrier currently in place, complete temporary line marking, and reinstall the flexible hit sticks in preparation for the latest stage of work to start. Stop/go traffic management and a temporary speed limit will be in place at the intersection during this work. Delays of up to 5 minutes are possible.
From 12 March to mid-April, SH3 through the Waitara Road intersection will be open to southbound traffic only. Northbound traffic will be detoured on to Raleigh Street and the newly constructed section of Tate Road, which connects directly to SH3. This detour will add less than 5 minutes to travel times.
Due to the limited amount of space available on the road, there will be no space to safely turn right into Raleigh Street from the southbound lane of SH3.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi is working with the contractor to ensure construction of the roundabout causes as little disruption as possible.
Waitara Road access
From 12-19 March, both lanes of Waitara Road will be open however motorists turning on to SH3 from Waitara Road will only be able to travel south towards New Plymouth. Motorists who want to travel north will be detoured along Richmond Road where they will be able to turn right and head north at the SH3/Richmond Road intersection. The detour is expected to add up to 5 minutes to travel times.
From 19 March to mid-April, access to SH3 from Waitara Road will be closed while crews complete work in the southbound lane between Raleigh Street and Waitara Road. Access for motorists turning into Waitara Road from the southbound lane of SH3 will remain open. Motorists on Waitara Road who need to access SH3 will be detoured along Richmond Road.
From 12 March to mid-April, northbound traffic on SH3 will need to use the Richmond Road detour to access Waitara Road.
Future work
Planning is underway for sections of SH3 either side of the Waitara Road intersection to be rebuilt and for some line marking and rumble strips to be installed near the Princess Street roundabout. We will provide updates on these once details are confirmed.
Source: United States Senator for Alabama Tommy Tuberville
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) in re-introducing the Prioritizing Offensive Agricultural Disputes and Enforcement Act, which will help eliminate trade barriers that harm American farmers, producers, and businesses, leading to higher prices for consumers. This legislation aims to protect U.S. agriculture while ensuring that the food which appears on U.S. store shelves meets U.S. health standards.
“America’s ag industry can out-compete anyone in the world—as long as the rules are fair,” said Senator Tuberville. “But right now, our farmers, producers, and fishermen are suffering because of foreign countries violating their trade obligations. We must level the playing field to bolster our domestic ag industry. We must eliminate barriers to our agriculture exports. I will continue to keep working to remove red tape for those in our ag industry.”
Joining Senators Tuberville and Cassidy in re-introducing this legislation are U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR) and Joni Ernst (R-IA). Sen. Tuberville cosponsored this legislation in the 118th Congress as well.
BACKGROUND:
The Prioritizing Offensive Agricultural Disputes and Enforcement Act establishes a joint task force on agricultural trade enforcement led by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The task force will more proactively monitor upcoming Indian and Chinese industrial subsidies, rather than waiting to react after subsidies are in place. The bill will also require the task force to report recommendations to Congress to deal with unfair subsidies they identify, like India dumping shrimp on the U.S. market, driving down income for American fisherman.
Establishing a USDA-USTR task force urges USTR to hold bad actors, like India, accountable for agricultural WTO violations and requires regular reporting to Congress and industry on those efforts.
Since 2005, the U.S. has imposed antidumping duties and conducted reviews of those duties on shrimp. These antidumping duties were placed on foreign shrimp suppliers as a result of unfair trade practices. These practices flooded the U.S. shrimp market with foreign frozen warmwater shrimp, deteriorating the per-pound price from $6.50 in 1980 to under $1.00 today. The decline in shrimp prices has driven domestic harvesters out of business and allowed foreign entities to control this U.S. market. India is the world’s top shrimp exporter, accounting for roughly 40 percent of U.S. shrimp imports, largely due to massive subsidies from the Indian government.
Alabama shrimp farmers produce approximately 200,000 to 300,000 pounds of farm-raised shrimp annually. In 2022, commercial wild-shrimp landings totaled approximately 24.3 million pounds, with over $52 million in value, in Alabama.
As Alabama’s voice on the Senate Ag Committee, Senator Tuberville has taken rigorous action to bolster and safeguard our own domestic agriculture industry, including recently reintroducing the Protecting America’s Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act and Foreign Adversary Risk Management (FARM) Act.
MORE:
Tuberville Honors National Agriculture Week, Continues to Stand Up for Farmers
Tuberville Continues Fighting Foreign Influence in American Agriculture
Tuberville Gets the Gavel for Key Agriculture Subcommittee
Tuberville Continues Push to Combat Chinese Influence in U.S. Agriculture
Tuberville, Colleagues Stand up for Agriculture Producers
Tuberville Introduces Bill to Combat Foreign Influence in U.S. Agriculture Industry
Tuberville Announces Agriculture Subcommittee Assignments
Tuberville Statement on Tom Vilsack Confirmation as Secretary of Agriculture
Tuberville Advocates for Farmers During Senate AG Hearing
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP, and Aging Committees.
UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday that the continued closure of key border crossings into Gaza is putting civilian lives at risk, just as they begin to recover from months of war, deprivation and hunger.
Speaking to journalists at UN Headquarters in New York, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that the Kerem Shalom, Zikim and Erez crossings had remained closed for cargo for the third consecutive day, severely restricting the flow of humanitarian supplies into the devastated enclave.
“The Israeli authorities have rejected our attempts to collect humanitarian supplies that crossed the Kerem Shalom border crossing before its closure,” he said, citing the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“Given the huge needs in Gaza, keeping the crossings closed will have devastating consequences,” he added, underscoring that Member States and those with influence must use all available means to ensure the ceasefire holds.
Aid should not be used as ‘a weapon’: UNRWA chief
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), warned on Tuesday that Israel’s decision to halt aid should be reversed.
“Humanitarian aid must continue to flow at scale similar to what we have seen over the past six weeks when the ceasefire began. This brought respite and relief to people in need,” he said in a post on the platform X.
He noted that the vast majority of the people in Gaza rely on aid for their “sheer survival”, adding that water, medical care and electricity were essential to complement basic food assistance.
“Aid and these basic services are non-negotiable. They must never be used as weapons of war,” Mr. Lazzarini stated.
Services continue
Despite the restrictions, UN agencies and humanitarian partners on the ground are working to sustain aid operations across the Gaza Strip, Mr. Dujarric said.
On Monday, the dialysis unit at Al Rantisi Children’s Hospital in Gaza City resumed services on Tuesday, alongside a 25-bed in-patient unit. Paediatric services also resumed at the Indonesian Hospital in North Gaza.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 29 child patients, along with 43 companions, were evacuated from Gaza to Jordan via Israel for specialized medical treatment. This marked the first WHO-supported medical evacuation to Jordan since the ceasefire began in January.
Inside Gaza, WHO has also provided hygiene and sanitation supplies to thousands of women and girls, warning that the lack of access to clean water and sanitation could worsen mental health conditions for those who have been displaced.
Escalation in the West Bank
In the West Bank, Israeli military operations in Jenin have escalated, leading to more displacement and destruction, Mr. Dujarric reported.
Israeli forces ordered residents in one part of Jenin city to evacuate their homes, displacing about 30 families “including at least three, who had been displaced previously,” he said.
He added that Israeli forces used bulldozers, damaging infrastructure and causing power outages, while intensified access and movement restrictions to and from the city were also observed.
The New Zealand Super Fund has marked its 20-year relationship with private equity investment manager Direct Capital with a commitment to invest $50 million in its latest fund, Direct Capital VII LP (DCVII).
This commitment will take the Super Fund’s total exposure to Direct Capital (including undrawn commitments) to just over $330 million, equivalent to some four percent of the Super Fund’s net asset value.
Direct Capital is New Zealand’s largest Private Capital investor. Over more than 30 years, Direct Capital has raised over $2.2 billion to invest in successful private companies.
DCVII was raised during November and December 2024, raising $525m to invest in medium-sized New Zealand and Australian businesses looking for capital to fund growth or to support a change in ownership.
The Super Fund’s Head of External Investments and Partnerships, Del Hart, said Direct Capital had a strong track record of financial performance and a well-deserved reputation for creating value in its investee companies.
“Direct Capital gives us a way to invest in local businesses that helps those companies to grow and develop, generates good returns for our portfolio, and contributes to New Zealand’s GDP.”
At the end of the 2024 financial year, the Super Fund had $8.4 billion invested in New Zealand assets, some 11 percent of its total investments by value.
This included a 42 percent stake in Kaingaroa Timberlands, the Super Fund’s largest single investment, significant investments in agriculture and horticulture, as well as shareholdings in NZX-listed companies through various mandates and in private companies via funds such as those managed by Direct Capital.
State Highway 2 in Clareville is blocked after a vehicle hit a power pole, resulting in the pole and lines coming down across the road just north of Carterton.
It happened about 9:15am, and fortunately no one was significantly injured.
There are diversions in place off the highway and these are likely to remain in place until the afternoon.
On August 31, 2024, Waskesiu RCMP received a report of a sexual assault.
Investigation determined a male approached a female in a washroom at the beach in Waskesiu during the late evening hours and attempted to sexually assault her. The woman was able to escape. She did not report physical injuries to police.
Waskesiu RCMP has been investigating this incident since and is now asking the public for assistance in identifying the suspect.
He is described as an Asian male between 16 and 21 years old, with a medium complexion and straight dark hair, which came approximately halfway down his forehead.
He is approximately 5’5″ to 5’7″ tall with a small build.
He was wearing black Crocs, grey socks, baggy black jeans or cargo pants, a woven fabric belt with a silver metal buckle, a light grey or white shirt and an oversize grey zip-up hoodie he was wearing half off his shoulders.
If you have information about this incident, think you know who the suspect may be, or saw the suspect in Waskesiu in late August/early September 2024, contact Waskesiu RCMP by dialling 310-RCMP. Information can also be submitted anonymously by contacting Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or www.saskcrimestoppers.com.
HAMILTON, Bermuda, March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Enstar Group Limited (“Enstar”) (Nasdaq: ESGR) announced today its Lloyd’s syndicate (“Syndicate 2008”), managed by Enstar Managing Agency Limited, has completed the previously announced transaction with Atrium Syndicate 609, managed by Atrium Underwriters Limited.
Under the terms of the loss portfolio transfer agreement, Atrium Syndicate 609 ceded net loss reserves of approximately $196 million, based on Atrium’s carried reserves as at Q3 2024, to Enstar’s Syndicate 2008. The reinsurance relates to business underwritten in the 2023 and prior years of account, with all claims handling transferring to Syndicate 2008.
Completion of the transaction followed receipt of regulatory approvals and satisfaction of various other closing conditions.
About Enstar
Enstar is a NASDAQ-listed leading global insurance group that offers innovative capital release solutions through its network of group companies in Bermuda, the United States, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Australia, and other international locations. A market leader in completing legacy acquisitions, Enstar has acquired more than 120 companies and portfolios since its formation in 2001. For further information about Enstar, see www.enstargroup.com.
The Government has taken decisive action to address the inequitable state of school property to ensure better outcomes for all students. “It is crucial that the school property portfolio is managed effectively so students can continue to benefit from safe, warm, and dry learning environments,” Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “After a Ministerial Inquiry found the Ministry’s School Property function unfit for purpose, the Government is delivering improved efficiency and performance by prioritising warm, safe, and dry learning environments, maintaining existing school assets, and accelerating cost-effective new builds using standard designs and offsite manufacturing.” Since the release of the Inquiry there has been:
A 35 percent increase in the number of standard or repeatable designed buildings delivered. A 28 percent reduction in the average cost of each classroom, from $1.2m to $0.87m. A 34 percent increase in funding for school maintenance.
The Ministry has also increased the number of new classrooms it delivered in 2024 by 140 when compared to 2023. “One example was Wellington Girls’ College, where 14 classrooms over four, two-storey modulars were delivered in just 12 weeks at a cost of around $550,000 per classroom. This represented a 35% saving on the current value for money cost per classroom.” Jerome Sheppard has been appointed Chief Executive of School Property as part of the phased approach to address the recommendations of the report. “Mr Sheppard brings expertise in delivering infrastructure to have responsibility for all operational aspects of school property, and I look forward to working with him to ensure we can achieve better outcomes for all schools.” The decisions on the final form of the Ministry’s School Property function will be made later this year. “This Government is committed to delivering a world leading education in classrooms that give Kiwi kids the best chance to succeed so they can grow up and live the lives they want,” Ms Stanford says.
Notes for editor: The Report of the Ministerial Inquiry into School Property: Microsoft Word – Report of the Ministerial Inquiry into School Property – Final draft.docx
A Bill to reduce travel times, increase efficiency, and help boost economic growth and productivity on our busiest roads has passed its first reading in Parliament today, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Being stuck in traffic is a waste of time and money. In any given peak hour traffic jam there are people stressed about running late for work, parents trying to get the kids to school on time, couriers and truckies getting frustrated as their runs get further and further behind time, and tradies losing money because they can’t get to as many jobs on time,” Mr Bishop says.
“Congestion is a tax on time and productivity, and New Zealanders are very over having to pay it.
“A report released by Auckland Council today shows that by 2026, traffic congestion will cost Auckland $2.6 billion per year, and that Aucklanders already sit in traffic for 29 million hours per year, which averages out to 17 lost and wasted hours per Aucklander.
“Frankly, no-one running a business or juggling work and family can afford to lose 17 hours of potentially productive time.
“Modelling shows that successful time of use charging – charging motorists to travel on certain roads at peak times – will encourage people to change the time or mode of travel, and could reduce congestion by up to 8-12 per cent at peak times.
“Successive governments and a select committee inquiry in 2021 have all agreed that time of use charging is something we need to do to reduce congestion. This Government is getting on with it. “The Land Transport Management (Time of Use Charging) Amendment Bill will enable the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and local authorities to develop charging schemes for our most congested roads. “The Bill requires NZTA to lead the design of schemes in partnership with local councils to ensure motorists benefit from the design of the schemes across their region’s roading network. “By enabling local solutions within a nationally consistent framework, we are tackling network productivity head-on while enhancing economic productivity and quality of life for all New Zealanders. “The legislation is not about raising revenue but maximising the efficiency of the roading network. Any revenue that is collected will first be used to pay for the scheme’s costs and then reinvested to improve transport in the region. “While time of use schemes will help manage congestion and increase productivity in our cities, it is not a standalone solution. The Government will continue to prioritise investment in growing and maintaining our transport network, including through the Roads of National Significance and Regional Significance, and major public transport projects, to enable Kiwis and freight get to where they need to go, quickly and safely.” Enabling time of use schemes is a commitment under the National-ACT Coalition Agreement, and the first reading of the Land Transport Management (Time of Use Charging) Amendment Bill was an action in the Government’s 2025 Quarter 1 Action Plan. The Bill will be referred to the Transport and Infrastructure Committee where the public will have an opportunity to make submissions. The Government intends to pass the legislation before the end of 2025.
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says funding from the Mental Health Innovation Fund will support an additional 560 young people in Rotorua to get mental health and addiction support and help provide a range of courses and workshops focused on upskilling people in the community to better support youth. “Mental health and wellbeing is a prominent issue for many young people across the country, and we’re committed to helping young Kiwis get the support, they need, when they need it,’ Mr Doocey says. “I’m pleased that this new funding for the Rotorua Community Youth Centre Trust will enable them to expand their team and scale up the valuable work it does to support young people and help them reach their full potential. “The Trust provides free, youth-centred primary health, mental health, and social services to young people. “The Trust is the sixth successful recipient of the first round of the Fund, with Youthline, the Sir John Kirwan Foundation, MATES in Construction, the Mental Health Foundation and Wellington City Mission already announced, I intend to announce other successful providers in the coming weeks. “The Mental Health Innovation Fund was set up to provide $10 million over two years to support non-government organisations (NGOs) and community providers with extra funding to scale-up existing time-limited projects or initiatives that aim to improve mental health and addiction outcomes in New Zealand. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in grassroots initiatives through non-governmental and community organisations that deliver mental health and addiction support. “I expect the next round of funding for the Innovation Fund will open in about the middle of this year, which will be another opportunity for organisations to seek additional funding,” Mr Doocey says.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ARB IOT Group Limited (“ARB IOT” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: ARBB) today announced that it has, through its indirect wholly owned subsidiary, ARB IOT Group Sdn Bhd, signed an artificial intelligence (AI) Products Supply Agreement with Gajah Kapitalan Sdn Bhd (“GKSB”), an entity dedicated to empowering Malaysian businesses through technological innovation, with a focus on delivering advanced computing systems for enterprises, research institutions and developers in Malaysia. This agreement paves the way for ARB IOT to supply 500 units of state-of-the-art ARB-222 AI servers (“AI Products”) to provide high-performance immersible computer servers to GKSB in a deal valued at approximately US$45.0 million.
This milestone highlights ARB IOT’s commitment to expanding its presence in the rapidly growing data center sector. By tapping into the rising demand for digital assets and leveraging its expertise in AI server solutions, the Company is strategically positioned to seize new opportunities driven by the latest advancements in AI, fostering sustainable growth and value creation for its stakeholders.
Dato’ Sri Liew Kok Leong, CEO of ARB IOT expressed, “Our collaboration with GKSB strengthen our mission to provide leading-edge AI server solutions and to deliver significant cost savings and operational efficiencies to the customers. Such order represents a significant milestone for the Company and highlights the growing demand for the AI Products. This not only strengthens our collaboration but also drives our continued growth and expansion in the market.
As we carry out this agreement with GKSB, our commitment to excellence and innovation remains unwavering. The trust placed in ARB IOT to deliver these state-of-the-art AI Products reflects our shared dedication to enhancing the operational capabilities”.
Muhammad Badrun Almuhaimin Bin Baharon, Director of GKSB emphasised, “We look forward to enhancing our technological capabilities and providing valuable market insights that will enable ARB IOT to better serve the needs of our target audience where AI is universally accessible, leading to diverse applications and breakthroughs across industries”.
About GKSB GKSB is dedicated to empowering Malaysian businesses through technological innovation, focusing on delivering advanced computing systems for enterprises, research institutions and developers.
About ARB IOT Group Limited ARB IOT Group Limited is a provider of complete solutions to clients for the integration of Internet of Things (“IoT”) systems and devices from designing to project deployment. We offer a wide range of IoT systems as well as provide customers a substantial range of services such as system integration and system support service. We deliver holistic solutions with full turnkey deployment from designing, installation, testing, precommissioning, and commissioning of various IoT systems and devices as well as integration of automated systems, including installation of wire and wireless and mechatronic works.
Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains “forward-looking statements” that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release, such as statements regarding our estimated future results of operations and financial position, our strategy and plans, and our objectives or goals, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. We have attempted to identify forward-looking statements by terminology including “anticipates,” “believes,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “potential,” “predicts,” “should,” or “will” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Our actual results may differ materially or perhaps significantly from those discussed herein, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. There are a significant number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements made in this press release, including, but not limited to, those that we discussed or referred to in the Company’s disclosure documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F as well as in our other reports filed or furnished from time to time with the SEC. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forwardlooking statements, other than as required by applicable law.
For further information, please contact: ARB IOT Group Limited Investor Relations Department Email: contact@arbiotgroup.com
LONDON, March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Diginex Limited (“Diginex Limited” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: DGNX), an impact technology company specializing in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, announced today that it will ring the Nasdaq Closing Bell on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, marking a key milestone following its successful listing in January 2025.
Diginex Limited’s Chairman and Founder, Miles Pelham, will lead the ceremony, joined by members of the board of directors, executive leadership, business partners, key advisors, and other stakeholders who have been instrumental in the Company’s success.
“Ringing the Nasdaq Closing Bell is a momentous occasion for Diginex Limited as we continue expanding our presence in the sustainability focused RegTech space,” said Miles Pelham, Chairman and Founder of Diginex Limited. “This milestone reflects the dedication of our team, the support of our stakeholders, and our unwavering commitment to driving long-term value. We look forward to accelerating our mission of empowering businesses to operate more sustainably.”
The ceremony will be broadcast live on the Nasdaq website at https://www.nasdaq.com/marketsite/bell-ringing-ceremony, with live footage and event highlights starting at 3:45 p.m. Eastern Time. Event photos and videos will be available shortly after the ceremony on Diginex Limited’s corporate website and social media channels.
About Diginex Limited
Diginex Limited is a Cayman Islands exempted company, with subsidiaries located in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Diginex Limited conducts operations through its wholly owned subsidiary Diginex Solutions (HK) Limited, a Hong Kong corporation (“DSL”) and DSL is the sole owner of (i) Diginex Services Limited, a corporation formed in the United Kingdom and (ii) Diginex USA LLC, a limited liability company formed in the State of Delaware. DSL commenced operations in 2020, and is a software company that empowers businesses and governments to streamline ESG, climate, and supply chain data collection and reporting. DSL is an impact technology business that helps organizations address the some of the most pressing ESG, climate and sustainability issues, utilizing blockchain, machine learning and data analysis technology to lead change and increase transparency in corporate social responsibility and climate action.
Diginex’s products and services solutions enable companies to collect, evaluate and share sustainability data through easy-to-use software. For more information, please visit the Company’s website: https://www.diginex.com/.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this announcement are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on the Company’s current expectations and projections about future events that the Company believes may affect its financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Investors can identify these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as “approximates,” “believes,” “hopes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may” or other similar expressions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances, or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and the Company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results and encourages investors to review other factors that may affect its future results disclosed in the Company’s filings with the SEC.
For investor and media inquiries, please contact:
Diginex Investor Relations Email:ir@diginex.com
IR Contact Europe Anna Höffken Phone: +49.40.609186.0 Email: diginex@kirchhoff.de
IR Contact US Jackson Lin Lambert by LLYC Phone: +1 (646) 717-4593 Email: jian.lin@llyc.global
The taonga were released on the predator-free island in Fiordland’s Tamatea/Dusky Sound on Friday, after two days in acclimatisation aviaries on the island.
The manu were bred and raised at The Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust and Orana Wildlife Park in Christchurch before being flown to Invercargill, where they were met by representatives from Ōraka-Aparima Rūnaka on behalf of Kaitiaki Rōpū Ki Murihiku.
Joshua Kingipotiki and Alex Taurima from Ōraka-Aparima Rūnaka accompanied the manu on their helicopter journey to the island, welcoming them with karakia and waiata.
“Being part of this release was a big learning experience and rather humbling, as it was the first time that I have been in the presence of kākāriki karaka,” Joshua Kingipotiki says.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Kākāriki Karaka Species Representative Yvette Couch-Lewis says it is exciting to have mana whenua representatives from Ōraka-Aparima leading the tikanga and kawa of welcoming the kākāriki karaka onto the motu, with assistance from a kaitiaki ranger.
“Ngāi Tahu is definitely on a journey with this manu,” Yvette Couch-Lewis says.
“Kākāriki karaka are our smallest parrots, but they have a great deal of mana and are proof that the best things can come in small packages.”
“For me it is a very emotional process seeing these manu, which have been born and raised in captivity, being released into the wild. There is a sense of amnesia associated with engaging with this manu because we haven’t had the opportunity in generations to observe them in their natural environment.
“Translocations such as this are important because they build the population up so that one day we can engage with kakariki karaka again.”
DOC Kākāriki Karaka Operations Manager Wayne Beggs says setting up a secure new wild site is a huge step forward for the recovery of the species.
“Kākāriki karaka are extremely vulnerable to introduced predators, so finding safe places for them to live and breed in the wild is vitally important for the species’ survival.
“The predator-free beech and rimu forest on Pukenui/Anchor Island should be a great site for kākāriki karaka to flourish.”
Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust (ICWT) CEO Rob Kinney says the last six months of intensive husbandry by staff at ICWT is a testament to their dedication and expertise in caring for this critically endangered bird species.
“We are proud of our partnership with DOC and our involvement in this important conservation project.”
The vision of the recently released kākāriki karaka recovery strategy, Te Ara Mōrehu, is that kākāriki karaka will be thriving independently in the wild, with ten self-sustaining populations in the Ngāi Tahu takiwā in the next 20 years.
The recovery programme thanks tourism operator RealNZ and specialist insole company Formthotics for their significant donations which made the translocation and follow-up monitoring possible.
“RealNZ’s purpose is to help the world fall in love with conservation, and one of our flagship events aligned to this purpose is our annual Conservation Ball, aligning with the Department of Conservation to identify key projects that would benefit from our support,” says RealNZ CEO Dave Beeche.
“It’s incredible to see the funds raised from the 2023 Conservation Ball in action, assisting with the translocation of these critically endangered manu to Pukenui Anchor Island.”
Wayne says a lot of planning, effort, and cost goes into a translocation like this, and its success relies on a range of people and groups working together.
“We plan to do more translocations in the future. The NZ Nature Fund is raising money for this work and the public can contribute through their website.”
The kākāriki karaka recovery programme is supported by The Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust, Orana Wildlife Park, Canterbury University, Mainpower, and the NZ Nature Fund.
Related links
Background information
Kaitiaki Rōpū Ki Murihiku represent the four southern Ngāi Tahu Papatipu Rūnanga: Te Rūnanga o Hokonui, Ōraka-Aparima Rūnaka, Waihōpai Rūnaka, and Te Rūnaka o Awarua.
With about 450 left in the wild, kākāriki karaka are the rarest mainland forest bird in Aotearoa. The population naturally fluctuates based on environmental conditions.
They were once plentiful across the country but proved an easy meal for introduced predators and were affected by habitat loss, which saw their numbers dwindle.
Because they nest and roost in holes in trees, kākāriki karaka are extremely vulnerable to rats, stoats and cats.
The species was twice declared extinct in the past (in 1919 and 1965) before being rediscovered in the late 1980s.
Anchor Island/Pukenui is already home to a range of threatened bird species including kākāpō.
Boosting our nursing workforce will deliver immediate benefits to people seeking care, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Kiwis will get better access to primary healthcare under our Government’s plan to empower more nurses to deliver timely, quality services in local communities.“Strengthening this important workforce is vital to ensuring New Zealanders get the care they need, when they need it.“Cabinet has agreed to:
Increase the number of training places for nurse practitioners specialising in primary care to 120 a year. Support advanced education for up to 120 primary care registered nurses.
“New Zealand nurses already have the expertise to provide high-quality care in local communities. By increasing their skills and qualifications, more patients can be seen sooner, and pressure on doctors is eased.“Nurse practitioners are highly skilled professionals who can diagnose conditions, prescribe medicines and develop treatment plans. They often manage more complex healthcare needs, giving New Zealanders greater choice and better access to health services.“The Government will invest $34.2 million over five years to fund 120 nurse practitioner training places in primary care each year from 2026. “An additional $21.6 million over four years will accelerate advanced tertiary education for up to 120 primary care registered nurses annually, bringing healthcare closer to home.“Registered nurses who obtain advanced qualifications can become registered nurse prescribers and may choose to continue their training to become nurse practitioners.“This allows more Kiwis to get ongoing care, including prescriptions, without needing a doctor’s appointment.“A stronger health workforce that we can retain is critical. We know that making primary care an attractive place to work for doctors and nurses keeps healthcare local for patients. “These initiatives build on our plan to attract and recruit up to 400 graduate registered nurses a year into primary care roles, and train and hire more doctors,” Mr Brown says.
The puzzle of predicting how three gravitationally bound bodies move in space has challenged mathematicians for centuries, and has most recently been popularized in the novel and television show “3 Body Problem.” There’s no problem, however, with what a team of researchers say is likely a stable trio of icy space rocks in the solar system’s Kuiper Belt, found using data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the ground-based W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. If confirmed as the second such three-body system found in the region, the 148780 Altjira system suggests there could be similar triples waiting to be discovered, which would support a particular theory of our solar system’s history and the formation of Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs). “The universe is filled with a range of three-body systems, including the closest stars to Earth, the Alpha Centauri star system, and we’re finding that the Kuiper Belt may be no exception,” said the study’s lead author Maia Nelsen, a physics and astronomy graduate of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Known since 1992, KBOs are primitive icy remnants from the early solar system found beyond the orbit of Neptune. To date, over 3,000 KBOs have been cataloged, and scientists estimate there could be several hundred thousand more that measure over 10 miles in diameter. The largest KBO is dwarf planet Pluto. The Hubble finding is crucial support for a KBO formation theory, in which three small rocky bodies would not be the result of collision in a busy Kuiper Belt, but instead form as a trio directly from the gravitational collapse of matter in the disk of material surrounding the newly formed Sun, around 4.5 billion years ago. It’s well known that stars form by gravitational collapse of gas, commonly as pairs or triples, but that idea that cosmic objects like those in the Kuiper Belt form in a similar way is still under investigation.
The Altjira system is located in the outer reaches of the solar system, 3.7 billion miles away, or 44 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. Hubble images show two KBOs located about 4,700 miles (7,600 kilometers) apart. However, researchers say that repeated observations of the objects’ unique co-orbital motion indicate the inner object is actually two bodies that are so close together they can’t be distinguished at such a great distance. “With objects this small and far away, the separation between the two inner members of the system is a fraction of a pixel on Hubble’s camera, so you have to use non-imaging methods to discover that it’s a triple,” said Nelsen. This takes time and patience, Nelsen explained. Scientists have gathered a 17-year observational baseline of data from Hubble and the Keck Observatory, watching the orbit of the Altjira system’s outer object. “Over time, we saw the orientation of the outer object’s orbit change, indicating that the inner object was either very elongated or actually two separate objects,” said Darin Ragozzine, also of Brigham Young University, a co-author of the Altjira study. “A triple system was the best fit when we put the Hubble data into different modeling scenarios,” said Nelsen. “Other possibilities are that the inner object is a contact binary, where two separate bodies become so close they touch each other, or something that actually is oddly flat, like a pancake.” Currently, there are about 40 identified binary objects in the Kuiper Belt. Now, with two of these systems likely triples, the researchers say it is more likely they are looking not at an oddball, but instead a population of three-body systems, formed by the same circumstances. However, building up that evidence takes time and repeated observations.
[embedded content] Recent research using data from the Keck Observatory and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has revealed a potential three-body system in the Kuiper Belt, known as the Altjira system. This discovery challenges traditional collision theories by suggesting that these triple systems might form directly from the gravitational collapse of material in the early solar disk.Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center; Producer: Paul Morris
The only Kuiper Belt objects that have been explored in detail are Pluto and the smaller object Arrokoth, which NASA’s New Horizons mission visited in 2015 and 2019, respectively. New Horizons showed that Arrokoth is a contact binary, which for KBOs means that two objects that have moved closer and closer to one another are now touching and/or have merged, often resulting in a peanut shape. Ragozzine describes Altjira as a “cousin” of Arrokoth, a member of the same group of Kuiper Belt objects. They estimate Altjira is 10 times larger than Arrokoth, however, at 124 miles (200 kilometers) wide. While there is no mission planned to fly by Altjira to get Arrokoth-level detail, Nelsen said there is a different upcoming opportunity for further study of the intriguing system. “Altjira has entered an eclipsing season, where the outer body passes in front of the central body. This will last for the next ten years, giving scientists a great opportunity to learn more about it,” Nelsen said. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is also joining in on the study of Altjira as it will check if the components look the same in its upcoming Cycle 3 observations. The Hubble study is published in The Planetary Science Journal. The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, Colorado, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
Media Contact: Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland Leah RamsaySpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland Ray VillardSpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland
LOS ANGELES – A Southern California man has been sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for punching an Asian American woman in the head while shouting racial slurs and then leaving her bloodied in a Culver City street in 2021, the Justice Department announced today.
Jesse Allen Lindsey, 38, who was transient at the time of the attack, was sentenced on Monday by United States District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald.
Lindsey pleaded guilty in December 2024 to one count of a hate crime. He has been in federal custody since July 2024.
On June 14, 2021, at approximately 1 a.m., Lindsey began following the victim on her walk to work. According to the government’s sentencing position, Lindsey shouted racial slurs, cursed at the victim, and told her, “You don’t belong here.” He then violently punched her in the head. While the victim lay face down in the street, defendant shouted, “You hear what I said, [N-word]? I said good morning, bitch!”
Emergency personnel later transported the victim to a hospital to treat injuries to her head and ear. She was unable to work for a month and suffered years of psychological trauma, prosecutors said.
At sentencing, Judge Fitzgerald called the attack a “shocking and horrible crime” and noted Lindsey’s “serious criminal record.” Lindsey has 13 criminal convictions for firearms and narcotics offenses, domestic battery, grand theft, and attempted extortion. He also has at least 14 violations of probation or pretrial release and 19 additional arrests or contacts with law enforcement, the government said at Monday’s sentencing hearing.
Lindsey fled California after seeing news reports about the attack. Law enforcement officers eventually located Lindsey in a California state prison serving time for an unrelated conviction.
During an interview with law enforcement about the assault, Lindsey eventually admitted to punching the victim, but falsely claimed self-defense, the government’s sentencing position stated. Lindsey said the “little Asian person” was “mouthy” and looked like a “gangbanger.” Referencing the Asian actor known for his martial arts ability, Lindsey claimed the victim might pull “some Jet Li [expletive].” The victim was a middle-aged Asian woman who stood five feet tall and weighed approximately 120 pounds. Lindsey was over six feet tall and weighed approximately 250 pounds.
The FBI investigated this matter and received substantial assistance from the Culver City Police Department.
Assistant United States Attorney Lindsey Greer Dotson prosecuted this case.
Global energy leaders from the power and utilities, oil and gas, and mining sectors are turning to the power of data and AI for streamlined workflows, more efficient operating systems, and better performing assets—the types of changes that help companies to empower their people and grow sustainable business. We’re prioritizing this work with customers and partners because we believe that widespread AI adoption signifies a pivotal shift for the energy industry, with huge value to be gained from digital and AI transformation. But beyond the individual productivity and efficiency gains that AI brings for any single company or industry, it can help us collectively expand renewables, decarbonize the energy value chain, and ignite climate innovation—and that’s a win for everyone.
We look forward to participating in CERAWeek 2025 to connect with business leaders, policymakers, and entrepreneurs across the global energy ecosystem from March 10 to 14, 2025, where we’ll explore the theme of “Moving ahead: energy strategies for a complex world”. This year’s theme covers a variety of topics across energy sectors and technologies and will include deep dives into geopolitics, business strategies, AI transformation, and climate impact.
Microsoft at CERAWeek
Power the new energy future with AI.
AI innovation and digital transformation in energy
Across the energy ecosystem, AI-powered solutions are becoming the foundation of global success stories in which companies like Maaden save thousands of hours of worktime, while Aydem Energy boosts customer satisfaction with a digital assistant powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Sevice. Another one of our leading customers, JERA, Japan’s largest power generation company, uses Azure OpenAI to drive digital transformation. The collaboration helps JERA to access advanced AI tools and cloud infrastructure, facilitating innovation and the development of new energy solutions for energy performance management, failure prediction, and advanced maintenance, leading to significant cost savings and increased reliability. JERA’s Digital Power Plant (DPP) project is improving functionality in the areas of operations, maintenance, performance management and health, safety, security, and environment (HSSE), and helps promote innovation and workplace safety at power stations. As a result, the number of remote monitoring sites provided by the Global Data Analyzing Center increased by 25% last year, and the number of sites offering 24-hour services tripled. JERA also implemented a dedicated AI agent called Emily which is being used by 3,000 employees and in some cases, has achieved operational efficiencies of more than 90%. By utilizing AI and data analytics, JERA can make more informed decisions, improve energy management, and support Japan’s energy transition efforts.
We’re eager to highlight these and other success stories at CERAWeek, where leaders from our energy, sustainability, cloud and AI, and security teams will share perspectives on the role of AI and digital technologies in the energy sector. For example, we will dive into sustainability topics such as carbon capture and emissions reduction, highlighting the many ways AI and cloud solutions are reshaping the energy landscape and driving net-zero goals across the energy value chain like Cosmo Energy who harnesses the power of Microsoft AI solutions to better analyze data and improve its ESG results. We’ll also discuss the latest learnings and opportunities around innovative services such as direct air capture and CO2 as a service.
Cybersecurity is another topic of increasing urgency, especially in the power and utilities sector. Throughout the week, we’ll discuss AI-powered approaches to securing grid infrastructure, as well as how to address vulnerabilities to allow resilient energy delivery. We’ll also join other power and utilities leaders at a fireside chat to discuss how AI adoption can help grid operators break through common industry roadblocks and drive faster, more secure innovation.
I look forward to participating in a Strategic Roundtable conversation on the topic of “AI Applications and Impacts in Action,” where we’ll discuss the challenges and opportunities of AI in driving sustainable business initiatives.
These conversations are both inspiring and insightful, as we’re witnessing every day the impact AI is having across the industry. Whether it’s Uniper strengthening cybersecurity, Petrobras streamlining employee workflows, or Enerjisa Uretim accelerating data processing for improved decision making, AI is changing the way we work in energy. We’re looking forward to not only sharing success stories, but also hearing from other technology and energy experts about how AI is creating more value for them.
Startups accelerate AI transformation and the energy transition
The climate crisis impacts everyone, and diversity in the startup ecosystem helps to ensure that solutions also reach everyone. People of color are disproportionately affected by climate change, yet Black and Latino founders receive less than 1.5% of total United States venture capital funding, women-founded organizations receive 1.9% of those funds, and Black and Latino women founders less than 0.1%1.
An important outcome of CERAWeek is knowledge sharing with a diverse group of global energy leaders that represent vastly different backgrounds and stages of business experience. Energy startups are a tremendous source of knowledge and innovation driving real impact across the industry. Transformation starts with people, not technology, and Microsoft is proud to support climate technology from underrepresented startups and CEOs. This year, we’ll hear from nine innovative startups sharing their unique perspectives on advancing diversity and inclusion in energy, and how they think creatively to secure reliable and sustainable energy sources.
Partnership, collaboration, and AI innovation in energy
The energy industry’s biggest challenges call for strategic collaboration and innovation across sectors and geographies, as real progress cannot be accomplished alone. Our partners are at the forefront of accelerating data modernization and AI innovation, helping to improve safety, efficiency, and productivity for the industry at large. You can hear from many of them at this year’s Innovation Agora, a marketplace buzzing with energy innovation and emerging technologies. The Agora promotes partnership, connection, and sharing among the energy community, and we’re excited to uncover new synergies, lead demonstrations, and explore opportunities to learn from other industry leaders.
At the Microsoft Agora House, we’re joined by partners and customers in sharing some of the ways they empower an AI-first energy workforce, operate for a secure and efficient energy future, advance their net-zero journeys, and grow sustainable and AI-powered businesses. Be sure to explore the Microsoft Experience Zone, featuring presentations from many partners that showcase transformative solutions and foster insightful discussions on energy innovation.
We’re honored to highlight many of the change-makers attending CERAWeek with us this year, including the following partners:
Accenture
Hertha Metals*
AIQ
Honeywell
Amperon
IBM
Aveva
IFS
Axis Sky Renewables*
Kanin*
Baker Hughes
Kauel*
c3.AI
Kongsberg Digital
Carbon Negative Solutions*
Loop Bioproducts*
Cegal
Mars Materials*
Cognite
NobleAI
Context Labs
NVIDIA
Crux OCM*
Schneider Electric
Decimetrix*
SLB
EY
Worlds
Halliburton
*Microsoft startup partner
Recently, Microsoft, alongside our partners SLB, Halliburton, Cognite, and AspenTech, convened in Munich, Germany with many of our customers, who shared AI-powered transformation stories driving increased productivity and improved operating efficiencies. Events like this allow us to not only highlight the work of our industry partners and customers, but also to share their expertise and create new opportunities for collaboration and innovation.
Power an AI-first energy future
Together with our customers and partners, we’re collectively empowering organizations to innovate for a new energy future and advance sustainability goals with AI you can trust. We look forward to engaging with you on the future of carbon markets, regional energy challenges, latest developments in consumer energy, and unlocking AI to transform the energy and resources value chain.
Learn more about Microsoft at CERAWeek.
Learn how Microsoft can help accelerate your AI and digital transformation journey:
Source:
1McKinsey and Company, Underrepresented start-up founders: The untapped opportunity, June 2023.
Darryl Willis
Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Energy and Resources Industry
Darryl leads a global team driving digital transformation across the energy sector through the deployment of Microsoft’s cloud and AI technology and partner solutions. With a deep knowledge of the global energy sector, Darryl leads this cross-functional team in building strategic partnerships and helping enable the energy transition, reduce carbon emissions, and fulfill growing demand with renewable sources.
The unfolding trade war between is expected to have far-reaching consequences for people and businesses on both sides of the border. How can Canadians navigate the trade war and minimize the financial strain of the tariffs?
As experts in supply chain management, we aim to break down the impact of these tariffs and offer practical strategies for Canadians to help navigate the economic turbulence ahead.
How consumers react to trade wars
When the news of a potential trade war is first publicized, consumers tend to react by monitoring the situation until further information is available.
With a trade war breaking out, both consumers and retailers will need to adapt.
Shortages are likely to occur as new importation procedures slow the time products take to cross the border. The ensuing delays, along with higher tariff rates, will push some retailers to raise prices to cover cost increases. Others may limit purchases to discourage hoarding behaviour.
Some firms may even take advantage of the situation by raising prices on products not covered by the tariffs to pad their profits — a practice known as “greedflation,” which happened during the pandemic. Another potential consequence is “shrinkflation,” where package sizes become smaller while prices remain unchanged.
As consumers adapt by changing their shopping habits or using their stockpiled reserves, some of the shortages may be eased. However, retailers may struggle to manage their inventories as demands fluctuate — a phenomena known as the “bullwhip effect.” Navigating these shifts will require careful planning.
Challenges of buying domestic
Trump’s trade war has intensified calls to “buy Canadian” as a way to support domestic products.
However, fully replacing imports with domestic goods presents significant challenges. Many Canadian farmers and manufacturers lack the capacity to quickly scale up production to meet demand, at least in the short run.
Production costs may also be significantly higher in Canada than abroad, which is a major reason for relying on imports in the first place. Apparel manufacturing is a good example. It has a high labour component — the reason that most of it has been moved to low-cost countries in Asia.
Furthermore, trade wars create uncertainty, making farmers and manufacturers hesitant to make large-scale investments that may not pay off once the trade conflict ends. While this approach foregoes potential short-term gains for long term stability, it also exacerbates shortages and price hikes during and after the trade war.
The new normal
Unlike one-off events like hurricanes, or fluctuating disruptions such as COVID-19, the outcome of a trade war is difficult to predict. This makes it difficult to forecast what the “new normal” will be.
Certainly, some consumers who substitute domestic products for imported products may continue to do so in the long run. However, others may switch back to imported products if the tariffs are lifted and prices are lowered.
Knowing that this might happen, domestic producers may not ramp up production during a tariff war. Those who do increase production may later find themselves with excess capacity and inventory surpluses after the conflict ends.
Consumer acceptance of the price increases, adjustments to new higher cost supply chain structures, or efforts to maintain profit margins, may potentially establish a higher baseline prices in the post-trade-war economy.
Navigating the trade war
How can Canada best shield itself from the effects of the trade war? The easy answer is to become more self-reliant, but this is a costly option that requires technology, skilled labour and capital investments.
As a result, this option should only be chosen for the most necessary and essential items, like certain pharmaceuticals and food staples. Other strategies must also be considered:
Engaging in honest communication: Governments and retailers should regularly update the public on negotiations, new tariff schedules and potential price changes, reducing the guesswork that fuels panic buying and stockpiling. Transparency allows individuals to make the best purchasing decisions.
Protecting low-income consumers: Retailers should limit sales quantities of staple products during disruptions to avoid hoarding behaviour. Governments should consider tax relief and subsidies aimed at budget-constrained individuals to relieve the burden of higher tariff-related costs.
Supply chain disruptions inevitably result in higher costs and product shortages, often impacting low-income households the hardest. Even after the trade war ends, higher prices may persist as the new norm. To minimize the impact of tariffs, governments and enterprises need to adopt policies that reduce economic strain and result in fairer outcomes for all.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
HONOLULU — The Hawaiʻi State Department of Health (DOH) is inviting Hawaiʻi residents who keep backyard flocks or are involved in bird rescue, to participate in a new survey aimed at gathering important data on bird flu awareness and preparedness.
The survey will collect critical information on the understanding of bird flu, as well as the practices and needs of those who keep poultry or care for rescued birds.
“We want to better understand the potential exposures that backyard flock owners and bird rescuers face when it comes to avian influenza, so we can help prevent future human bird flu infections in partnership with the community,” said Dr. Sarah Kemble, Hawaiʻi state epidemiologist. “By reaching out through both digital and in-person methods, we hope to get wide participation and honest feedback.”
The survey will be anonymous and accessible online through the following link: https://redcap.link/birdflusurvey
Only Hawaiʻi residents who keep at least one poultry bird at home, those involved in bird rescue activities, or those having direct contact with birds in the past year for other reasons are requested to participate at this time. Residents are encouraged to complete the survey as soon as possible to help the DOH collect valuable insights.
The outreach strategy for this survey includes posting the survey link in various Facebook groups dedicated to Hawaiʻi backyard flock owners and bird rescuers. Additionally, flyers with QR codes linking to the survey will be distributed in poultry feed stores and other animal care venues across the state.
Questions about the survey or bird flu may be directed to the DOH Disease Reporting Line at 808-586-4586 or [email protected]. If you have symptoms and a known exposure within the past 10 days, please contact your primary care provider for evaluation and testing, as well as the DOH Disease Reporting Line for further guidance.
More information on bird flu can be found on the DOH website: https://health.hawaii.gov/docd/disease_listing/avian-influenza/
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Media Contact:
Claudette Springer Information Specialist Hawai‘i State Department of Health Phone: 808-586-4445 Email: [email protected]
DLNR News Release- Film and TV Stars Ignite Social Media Furor with Turtle Touching, Mar. 3, 2025
Posted on Mar 4, 2025 in Latest Department News, Newsroom
STATE OF HAWAIʻI
KA MOKU ʻĀINA O HAWAIʻI
DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES
KA ‘OIHANA KUMUWAIWAI ‘ĀINA
JOSH GREEN, M.D. GOVERNOR
DAWN CHANG CHAIRPERSON
FILM AND TV STARS IGNITE SOCIAL MEDIA FUROR WITH TURTLE TOUCHING
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2025
(HONOLULU) – Two actresses and their father/manager contacted the DLNR this afternoon, to apologize for creating a social media outburst by posting one of the women touching a sea turtle, while the other videotaped.
The Instagram post by actress China McClain was taken down as of midday, after garnering tens of thousands of likes and more than, 2,000 comments, many of which pleaded for the video to be taken down and for them to apologize for potential cultural insensitivity. That included Governor Josh Green, M.D.
China McClain told the DLNR, “I was not fully aware of the situation until today, and I certainly wasn’t aware of the laws. The video was from two years ago when we visited Hawai‘i and I came across it in my phone and decided to post it.” McClain has more than seven million followers on Instagram.
China and Sierra McClain both say they are sorry, as they didn’t understand the impact the video had. “It’s the people I don’t want to hurt. I understand respecting culture, and I understand the pain that comes with not having your culture respected. Those are never lines that we cross intentionally, so that part of this situation is hurting us right now. I adore these beautiful turtles, and the people of Hawai‘i. We’re very sorry,” China said.
“We have an immense amount of respect for the residents of Hawai’i and their intent to safeguard their land & their wildlife, and we plan to take the necessary precautions in the future when traveling,” Sierra said.
State and federal agencies charged with protecting marine species like Hawaiian sea turtles became aware of the post on Monday. The DLNR made multiple phone calls and sent e-mails to the McClain sisters, their managers, publicists, record labels and production companies to ask that the post be taken down.
Michael McClain, the sister’s father and manager said, “We want people to know that China was not aware of the laws, and we appreciate that people and the agencies reached out.”
“All our family loves and respects Hawai‘i and we apologize for inadvertently causing this pain,” he added.
Touching turtles is not necessarily breaking the law, unless law enforcement agencies determine that the actions are a “take.” For example, if a person’s actions in some way harm a turtle or alter a turtle’s behaviors, there are a variety of state and/or federal laws that a person could be charged with.
The DLNR said, “On its face their activity may not have been a violation of state or federal rules that protect endangered or threatened species like turtles, but it certainly ignored wildlife viewing guidelines developed by NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the DLNR.”
Keep at least 10 feet away from sea turtles
Avoid touching, chasing, feeding, or interfering with adults and hatchlings
Avoid blocking their access to or from the ocean
As this was not directly witnessed or reported by someone, it is difficult for state or federal conservation law enforcement agencies to establish intent.
For many years, the agencies have conducted extensive outreach on Hawai‘i wildlife viewing protocols.
Brian Neilson, DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources Administrator said, “Although we understand it was probably not intentional, this is not a pono way to interact with Hawaiian wildlife. We encourage the sharing of positive behaviors on social media to inspire others to appreciate and protect our beautiful surroundings.”
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RESOURCES
Learn how you can help protect Hawaiʻi marine wildlife through reporting:
Tampering with a Monitoring Device/Clean Air Act, Conspiracy
Trials
United States v. Jason Lee Wagner
No. 3:22-CR-01754(Western District of Texas)
ECS Senior Litigation Counsel Todd Gleason
ECS Senior Trial Attorney Gary Donner
ECS Paralegal Chloe Harris
On February 7, 2025, a jury convicted Jason Lee Wagner of conspiracy and 12 smuggling violations (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 545, 2). Sentencing is scheduled for June 25, 2025.
Between March 2015 and December 2019, Wagner and others bought and sold endangered reptiles from individuals in Mexico. Wagner and other co-conspirator suppliers and middlemen used social media to offer reptiles for sale and to negotiate the terms of the sale and delivery with customers in the United States and Mexico. His co-conspirators also used international money transfers to provide for “crossing fees,” sales and purchases, and other expenses. They then packaged and re-packaged the reptiles for illegal crossings using USPS and other courier services to transport them between Mexico and the United States.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.
Indictments
United States v. Roy Ladell Weaver, et al.
No. 1:25-CR-00048 (Middle District of Pennsylvania)
ECS Trial Attorney Ron Sarachan
AUSA David Williams
RCEC Patricia Miller
On February 19, 2025, a grand jury indicted Roy Ladell Weaver and his company, Pro Diesel Werks, LLC, with conspiring to impede the lawful functions of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to violate the Clean Air Act (CAA), and substantive CAA violations (18 U.S.C. § 371; 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(2)(C)).
Pro Diesel Werks provided vehicle repair and maintenance and performance enhancement services, including services on diesel engines and vehicle emission systems. The indictment alleges that between 2013 and March 2024, Weaver and the company, along with co-conspirators, disabled the hardware emissions control systems on the diesel vehicles of Pro Diesel Werks’ customers (a practice referred to as a “delete” or “deleting”), defeating the systems’ ability to reduce pollutant gases and particulate matter released to the atmosphere. The defendants are also alleged to have tampered with the monitoring device and method required under the CAA, that is they disabled the onboard diagnostic system on vehicles preventing the system software from monitoring the emission control system hardware deletes (a practice referred to as a “tune” or “tuning”).
The defendants charged customers between approximately $2,000 and $4,000 per vehicle to remove and disable the emission control systems on motor vehicles with diesel engines.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
On February 7, 2025, Corey Potter pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act for illegally transporting crab from Alaska (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(2)(A), 3373(d)(1)(B)). Sentencing is scheduled for May 13, 2025. Kyle Potter, his son, was previously sentenced to pay a $20,000 fine and complete a five-year term of probation. A third defendant, Justin Welch, was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and complete a three-year term of probation.
Corey Potter owns two crab catching vessels; Kyle Potter and Welch worked as vessel captains. In February and March 2024, the vessels harvested more than 7,000 pounds of Tanner and Golden king crab in Southeast Alaska. Corey Potter directed Welch and Kyle Potter to land the crab to Seattle, Washington, where they intended to sell it at a higher price than they would have in Alaska. Neither captain landed the harvested crab at a port in Alaska, and they never recorded the harvest on a fish ticket, as required under state law.
A large portion of the king crab that arrived in Seattle from Alaska had died and was unmarketable. Corey Potter knew that some of the crab aboard was infected with Bitter Crab Syndrome (BCS), a parasitic disease fatal to crustaceans. Officials were forced to destroy more than 4,000 additional pounds of Tanner crab due to the risk of BCS infection. If the defendants had properly landed the crab in Alaska, authorities could have inspected the harvest and removed the infected crab before leaving Alaska.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.
United States v. Kendall Glenn Hacker
No. 5:25-CR-00002 (Eastern District of Kentucky)
AUSA Emily Greenfield
On February 7, 2025, Kendall Glenn Hacker pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to violating the Animal Crush statute (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 48(a)(2), (a)(3)).
Between November 2021 and June 2022, Hacker sent money through online payment applications, such as PayPal and Venmo, to Michael Macartney, an online chat group administrator. The members and participants of these groups funded, created, obtained, received, exchanged and/or distributed animal crush videos.
Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.
United States v. Chamness Dirt Works, et al.
No. 3:24-CR-00430 (District of Oregon)
AUSA Bryan Chinwuba
RCEC Karla Perrin
On February 7, 2025, property management company Horseshoe Grove, LLC, pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for asbestos work practice standards (42 U.S.C. §§ 7412(h),7413(c)(1)). Horseshoe Grove’s owner and operator Ryan Richter pleaded guilty to a CAA negligent endangerment violation (42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(4)). Construction and demolition company Chamness Dirt Works, Inc., pleaded guilty to violating the CAA NESHAP for asbestos, and company owner and president, Ronald Chamness, pleaded guilty to a CAA negligent endangerment violation (42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(4)). Sentencing is scheduled for April 3, 2025.
In November 2022, Horseshoe Grove acquired a property in The Dalles, Oregon, which included a mobile home park and two dilapidated apartment buildings. The previous owner provided the new buyers with an asbestos survey from December 2021, which identified more than 5,000 square feet of friable chrysotile asbestos within the two deteriorating buildings, with levels ranging from 2% to 25%. The survey also noted non-friable asbestos in various building materials, including siding and flooring, throughout the apartments. Despite these findings, Horseshoe Grove failed to implement the necessary precautions for asbestos removal.
In March 2023, Chamness Dirt Works began demolishing the two asbestos-laden structures without following proper removal procedures. Chamness did not engage a certified asbestos abatement contractor, did not wet the asbestos-containing debris, and dumped the material in a regular landfill.
Horseshoe Grove paid Chamness Dirt Works a total of $49,330 for the demolition, which did not meet the required safety standards.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
Nos.4:25-CR-00018, 4:24-CR-00006, 00084 (District of Montana)
ECS Senior Trial Attorney Patrick Duggan
ECS Trial Attorney Sarah Brown
AUSA Jeff Starnes
ECS Paralegal Tonia Sibblies
On February 10, 2025, Hollis G. Hale pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act and the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 1538(a)(1)(G), 3372(d)(2), 3373(d)(3)(B)). Sentencing is scheduled for June 11, 2025.
Hale conspired with Jack Schubarth to create giant hybrid sheep for captive hunting. Schubarth smuggled Marco Polo argali sheep parts from Kyrgyzstan into the United States. This protected species of sheep, native to high elevations in the Pamir region of Central Asia, is deemed the largest in the world.
In 2013, Schubarth provided genetic material to a third-party cloning facility, and, in 2016, received successfully cloned pure Marco Polo argali embryos. Schubarth raised a pure male argali clone that he named “Montana Mountain King.” In 2018, Schubarth began breeding Montana Mountain King with other species and selling the offspring throughout the U.S. To evade detection, Schubarth falsely labeled the offspring on Certificates of Veterinary Inspection and other official forms.
In June and July 2020, Hale facilitated the purchase and interstate transport of twelve hybrid Marco Polo argali sheep from Schubarth and falsely identified 43 species of sheep on a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection. Hale falsified these documents knowing these sheep are prohibited in Montana. Schubarth was sentenced in September 2024 to six months’ incarceration, followed by three years’ supervised release.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks conducted the investigation.
United States v. Zackery Brandon Barfield
No. 5:25-CR-00011 (Northern District of Florida)
ECS Senior Trial Attorney Patrick Duggan
AUSA Joseph Ravelo
On February 12, 2025, Zachary Brandon Barfield pleaded guilty to three counts of poisoning and shooting dolphins in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 1372(a)(2)(A), 1375(b); 7 U.S.C. §§ 136j(a)(2)(G), 136l(b)(2)). Sentencing is scheduled for May 21, 2025.
Barfield is a charter and commercial fishing captain operating out of Panama City, Florida. In the summer of 2022, Barfield became frustrated with dolphins eating red snapper from the lines of charter fishing clients. Between June and August 2022, Barfield and others placed a commercial methomyl insecticide inside bait fish to feed to and poison the dolphins that surfaced near his boat.
While captaining another fishing trip in December 2022, Barfield saw dolphins eating snapper from fishing lines. This time, he used a 12-gauge shotgun to shoot and kill a dolphin that surfaced near his vessel. In the summer of 2023, while on a charter fishing trip, Barfield used the same shotgun to shoot a dolphin that surfaced near the lines of clients.
The National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation with assistance from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
United States v. James H. Spencer
No. 23-CR-00015 (Western District of Virginia)
AUSA Michael Baudinet
On February 21, 2025, James Howard Spencer, the Mayor of Glen Lyn, Virginia, pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) (33 U.S.C. § 1319(c)(2)(A)). Spencer admitted to directing employees of the Town of Glen Lyn to illegally discharge raw sewage and other pollutants into the East River, a tributary of the New River, on three occasions- in the summer of 2019, December 2020, and June 2021.
The discharges occurred at a pump station located behind the Glen Lyn Post Office, which was not an authorized discharge point of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the Glen Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. The East River, a perennial stream and a tributary of the New River, is a protected waterway under the CWA.
Spencer knowingly violated multiple conditions of the NPDES permit, including discharges from unauthorized locations and failing to report the discharges to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Virginia State Police conducted the investigation.
United States v. Liza Hash
No. 1:25-CR-20007 (Southern District of Florida)
AUSA Tom Watts-FitzGerald
On February 25, 2025, Liza Hash pleaded guilty to discharging oil into United States and contiguous zone waters, violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) (33 U.S.C. §§ 1319(c)(2), 1321(b)(3)). Sentencing is scheduled for May 21, 2025.
Hash was the owner and operator of the S/V Juliet, a sailing vessel used for multi-day scuba diving trips between Miami and the Bahamas. Over the course of approximately six years, Hash’s vessel carried up to 12 passengers per trip, along with the crew, between the U.S. and the Bahamas.
On June 16, 2023, U.S. Coast Guard investigators boarded the Juliet following its return from the Bahamas. After noticing an active oil sheen originating from the vessel, they conducted a safety examination.
During the inspection, they noted oily water in the bilge, and a pump connected to the vessel’s grey water tank, to facilitate illegal overboard discharges. Hash had used the vessel’s grey water tank (which is intended to hold liquid waste from the boat’s washer, dryer, sinks, and showers) to store oil-contaminated bilge water and discharge overboard.
Investigators estimate that Hash discharged approximately 26,000 gallons of oily water during the five-year period.
The United States Coast Guard conducted the investigation.
United States v. Old Dutch Mustard Company, Inc., d/b/a Pilgrim Foods Company, et al.
No. 1:25-CR-00002 (District of New Hampshire)
ECS Trial Attorney Ron Sarachan
AUSA Matthew Hunter
ECS Paralegal Tonia Sibblies
On February 24, 2025, The Old Dutch Mustard Company, d/b/a Pilgrim Foods Company (Old Dutch), and company owner and president Charles Santich, pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 1311(a), 1319(c)(2)(A)).
Old Dutch manufactured vinegar and mustard products, generating acidic wastewater during the process. Much of this wastewater consisted of spilled or leaked vinegar, or discarded vinegar that did not meet specifications. Old Dutch did not have a permit to discharge process wastewater. Instead, it stored the process wastewater in tanks and a trucking company hauled one or two truckloads of the wastewater off-site daily to the Rochester Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW). Old Dutch paid the trucking company for transporting each load. A second wastewater stream consisted of stormwater that became acidic after flowing through areas of the facility (especially the tank farm) where vinegar spilled. Old Dutch also paid the trucking company to haul the acidic stormwater to the POTW.
Santich decided to reduce costs by ordering workers to discharge some of the wastewater to a manmade ditch formed by an abandoned railroad bed at the top of a hill behind the facility, from which the wastewater would flow into the Souhegan River. In May 2017, Santich hired an excavation company to extend an underground pipe to the top of the hill behind the facility. He then directed an employee to repeatedly pump wastewater through the underground pipe to the abandoned railroad bed. Once the process wastewater or contaminated stormwater discharged at the top of the hill, it flowed to the river. Old Dutch did not have an NPDES or any other permit to discharge pollutants into the river.
In March 2021, Santich directed the same excavation company to install a sump at the corner of the tank farm area to collect the acidic stormwater and pump it directly up the hill through the buried pipe. Similarly, during the Fall of 2022, Santich hired the excavation company to clean out the undergrowth in the manmade ditch at the top of the hill and line it with riprap to create a better drainage ditch and facilitate the flow of wastewater to the river.
On August 2, 2023, EPA agents executed a search warrant at the Old Dutch facility and witnessed this illegal activity. Agents observed liquid that smelled like vinegar discharging from the end of the underground pipe into the riprap-lined ditch. The wastewater discharge had a pH of 3.6. The agents then conducted a dye test starting at the sump outside the corner of the tank farm area. The dye discharged from the underground pipe at the top of the hill and flowed along the riprap-lined drainage ditch and down to the river.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation, with assistance from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.
On February 26, 2025, Fabcon Precast LLC (Fabcon) pleaded guilty to willfully violating an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation (29 U.S.C. § 666(e)). The criminal charge is related to an incident where an employee was killed when a pneumatic door closed on his head.
Fabcon operates several facilities in the United States, including one in Grove City, Ohio, that manufactures precast concrete panels. At Fabcon, employees known as batch operators were responsible for the operation and cleaning of the facility’s only concrete mixer. Concrete was discharged from the bottom of the mixer through a pneumatic door. By design, the mixer had an exhaust valve that released the pneumatic energy powering the discharge door, rendering it inoperable. Some months prior to June 6, 2020, the handle that operated the valve broke off and was not replaced.
On June 6, 2020, Zachary Ledbetter, a batch operator since January 2020, was on duty when the discharge door failed to close after releasing a batch of concrete. Because the valve was broken, Ledbetter could not perform the proper procedure to make the door safe to work around. When he attempted to free the door it closed on his head, trapping him. Eventually, Ledbetter was freed and transported to a hospital where he died five days later.
The U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation.
No. 3:24-CR-00618 (Southern District of California)
ECS Assistant Chief Stephen DaPonte
On February 27, 2025, a court sentenced Vyacheslav I. Piglitsin to time served and to pay $4,355 in restitution. On March 2, 2024, Piglitsin drove over the border from Mexico with Mexican pesticides that he failed to present for inspection (19 U.S.C. §§ 1433 and 1436). Inspectors found seventy-two 1-liter bottles of “Bovitraz” in his vehicle.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.
Sentencings
United States v. Michael Hart
No. 3:24-CR-00383 (Southern District of California)
ECS Assistant Chief Stephen DaPonte
Former AUSA Melanie Pierson
AUSA Mark Pletcher
On February 3, 2025, a court sentenced Michael Hart to time served followed by one year of supervised release. Hart also will pay $1,500 in restitution. Hart pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally import hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) into the United States from Mexico and sell them in violation of law (18 U.S.C. § 371). In addition, Hart admitted to conspiring to illegally import hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), namely HCFC 22, which is banned under the Clean Air Act.
Between June and December 2022, Hart purchased refrigerants in Mexico and smuggled them into the United States in his vehicle, concealed under a tarp and tools. Hart posted the refrigerants for sale on OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, and other sites, and sold them for a profit.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division, Homeland Security Investigations, and Customs and Border Protection conducted the investigation.
United States v. Thalia Zambrano
No. 3:24-CR-01552 (Southern District of California)
ECS Assistant Chief Stephen DaPonte
On February 6, 2025, a court sentenced Thalia Zambrano to time served, after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 371).
On June 28, 2024, authorities apprehended Zambrano when she drove into the United States at the San Ysidro Port of Entry with 18 bottles of undeclared “Taktic” (Amitraz) concealed beneath a blanket on the back seat her car. Regulators in the United States canceled this pesticide due to the high concentration of amitraz.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division, Homeland Security Investigations, and Customs and Border Protection conducted the investigation.
United States v. Andrew Laughlin
No. 2:24-CR-00104 (Eastern District of California)
AUSA Kathryn Lydon
On February 10, 2025, a court sentenced Andrew Laughlin to pay a $5,000 fine, complete a two-year term of probation, and pay $4,209 in restitution into the Lacey Act Reward Fund. Laughlin pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling reptiles into the United States (18 U.S.C. § 545).
In 2017, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents identified Laughlin as part of a nationwide investigation into the smuggling of turtles from the United States to an individual in Hong Kong (Individual A). Individual A met and maintained contact with certain wildlife-smuggling associates via Facebook. Investigators identified Laughlin as a suspect in the wildlife smuggling ring from Individual A’s Facebook contacts and communications with covert agents. In addition to corresponding on Facebook, Laughlin also sent text messages to Individual A and co-conspirators.
Between March and April 2018, Laughlin acted as a “middleman” in an international amphibian smuggling ring. During a conversation with an undercover agent, Laughlin said that he participated in the ring in order to acquire hard-to-find newts. He shipped or received at least four packages of amphibians, including packages to or from individuals located in Hong Kong and Sweden. The packages were falsely labeled as items including a “toy car,” “rubber toys,” or “a ceramic art piece.” The boxes actually contained live animals, including eastern box turtles, spotted turtles, and a variety of newt species.
A search warrant executed at the defendant’s residence uncovered 80 live newts of various species. Some of them tested positive for a virulent fungus which originated in Asia and has spread throughout the illegal pet trade. The restitution covered expenses incurred to store and test the animals.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.
Photo of newts seized from Laughlin’s residence; photo included in case press release at time of guilty plea
Nos. 1:22-CR-00131, 00132 (Eastern District of California)
AUSA Karen Escobar
On February 10, 2025, a court sentenced Jose Angel Beltran-Chaidez to 24 months incarceration, followed by two years of supervised release. Beltran-Chaidez pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute heroin in this multi-defendant case involving drugs and animal welfare violations (21 U.S.C. §§ 841 (a)(1), (b)(1)(A)).
Between March and April 2021, Jorge Calderon-Campos (who calls himself “Americano”) supplied 26 pounds of methamphetamine to co-defendants Mark Garcia and Alberto Gomez-Santiago, and an additional 60 pounds to Francisco Javier Torres Mora. Between January and April 2022, Calderon-Campos also possessed roosters he used to participate in an animal fighting venture.
During a search of his residence on April 26, 2022, law enforcement officers found numerous hens and roosters, various cockfighting implements (including razors and spurs) and six cockfighting trophies, including several with plates inscribed with “Team Amkno” (shorthand for “Team Americano”). At Calderon-Campos’s “stash house,” law enforcement officers found 14 hens and 77 roosters, cockfighting leashes, a cockfighting trophy, and a variety of syringes and pill bottles containing substances related to cockfighting supplements.
Jorge Calderon-Campos was sentenced in November 2024 to eight years and one month of incarceration. Calderon-Campos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin and to violating the Animal Welfare Act (21 U.S.C. §§ 841 (a)(1), (b)(1)(A)); 7 U.S.C. § 2156(b); 18 U.S.C. § 49(a)).
On August 26, 2024, a court sentenced Antonio Beltran-Chaidez to 46 months’ incarceration, followed by 24 months’ supervised release, after he pleaded guilty to possessing heroin with the intent to distribute (21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1)).
In January 2024, co-defendant Gomez-Santiago was sentenced to four years and nine months incarceration, followed by 60 months supervised release. Mora was sentenced to four years and nine months incarceration. Horacio Ortega-Martinez, another associate of Calderon-Campos, was sentenced in April 2023 to 18 months incarceration, followed by 36 months supervised release, after pleading guilty to possessing gamecocks for an animal fighting venture (7 U.S.C § 2156 (b)).
Co-defendant Garcia pleaded guilty and was sentenced on March 3, 2025, to 24 months’ incarceration, followed by two years of supervised release. Byron Adilio Alfaro-Sandoval is scheduled for status conference June 18, 2025.
Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Kern County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, the California Highway Patrol, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, the Kern County Probation Department, and the Bakersfield Police Department.
On February 11, 2025, a court sentenced Christopher Lee Carroll to serve nine years of incarceration and to pay $3 million in restitution. A jury convicted Carroll in August 2024 of three counts of bank fraud, three counts of making false statements to a financial institution, one count of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act (CAA), 13 violations of the CAA, and two counts of threatening a witness (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 2, 1014, 1512 (b)(3), 1344; 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(2)(C)).
Carroll and his business partner, George Reed, owned a time share exit company called Square One Group LLC. In April of 2020, they submitted a false and fraudulent application for a $1.2 million Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan. The loan application falsely stated that the spouses of Reed and Carroll owned the company to conceal Carroll’s status as a paroled felon, which would have precluded his company from receiving PPP funds. Carroll also used his wife’s name to avoid any potential liability for the fraud.
The PPP loan was supposed to help save businesses and jobs, but Carroll did not use the money to pay dozens of employees who were out of work or keep paying for health insurance for 17 of those employees. Instead, he used it to start a trucking company, Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair LLC. Carroll and Reed then applied for loan forgiveness, falsely claiming that they’d spent the money on payroll and other permitted expenses. Additionally, Reed and Carroll later sought a second loan of more than $1.6 million, taking a total of $660,000 in “owner draws” from the company after the loan was approved.
From May 2020 through December 2021, Carroll and Whiskey Dix violated the CAA by unlawfully removing the emissions control systems from more than 30 diesel-fueled trucks. In January 2022, Carroll tried to pressure two employees to take responsibility for the emissions tampering. When one of the employees said he was going to talk to federal investigators, Carroll threatened to stop paying for the employee’s attorney.
The court sentenced Whiskey Dix to complete a three-year term of probation after the jury convicted the company on 16 CAA violations. Reed pleaded guilty to bank fraud in September of 2022 and was sentenced January 23, 2025, to time served, and five years of supervised release. Reed was held jointly liable for $3 million in restitution.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
On February 13, 2025, a court sentenced Jeffrey Radtke to 21 months’ incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. Radtke pleaded guilty to conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos (18 U.S.C.§§ 371, 48(a)(2), (a)(3)).
Between June 2021 and August 2022, Radtke sent more than 40 payments (ranging from $1 through $300) he received from co-conspirators to pay videographers in Indonesia and other locations outside of the United States to create videos depicting the torture and deaths of juvenile macaque monkeys.
During the execution of a search warrant in April 2023, law enforcement found more than 2,600 videos and 2,700 images depicting animal crushing on Radtke’s computer.
Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.
United States v. Jonathan Achtemeier
No. 3:24-CR-05072 (Western District of Washington)
AUSA Seth Wilkinson
AUSA Lauren Staniar
SAUSA Karla Perrin
On February 14, 2025, a court sentenced Jonathan Achtemeier to pay a $25,000 fine and serve four months’ incarceration, followed by one year of supervised release. Achtemeier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act (CAA) for his role in tampering with required monitoring devices on diesel trucks (18 U.S.C. § 371).
Between 2019 and 2022, Achtemeier modified the software on hundreds of trucks nationwide to prevent the monitoring devices from detecting the removal of emissions controls. Achtemeier conspired with mechanics and truck fleet operators, instructing them on how to remove or disable anti-pollution hardware on diesel trucks, a process known as “deleting.” Achtemeier tampered with the monitoring device on his clients’ trucks by connecting laptops to the trucks’ onboard computers and remotely “tuning” the vehicles’ computers, which rendered required monitoring devices inaccurate. This allowed the trucks to run without functioning emissions control systems and resulted in the trucks emitting significantly more pollution than legally allowed.
Achtemeier charged as much at $4,500 per truck for work that often took him two hours or less. He advertised his services on social media nationwide, doing business as Voided Warranty Tuning or Optimized Ag. Between 2019 and 2022 his company took in more than $4.3 million in gross profits.
The Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
Assistance from ECS Senior Counsel Elinor Colbourn
On February 18, 2025, a court sentenced Andres Alejandro Sanchez to complete a three-year term of probation to include six months’ home detention. Sanchez pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act for illegally importing a spider monkey into the United States (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(1), 3373(d)(2)).
On October 7, 2024, Sanchez travelled from Mexico to Laredo, Texas, and failed to declare a spider monkey he had in his vehicle to Customs and Border Protection officers as he attempted to cross the border.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.
Case photo of baby spider monkey rescued by authorities
United State v. Jose Carrillo
No. 8:23-CR-00222 (Middle District of Florida)
ECS Senior Trial Attorney Matt Morris
AUSA Erin Favorit
ECS Paralegal Jonah Fruchtman
On February 18, 2025, a court sentenced Jose Carrillo to 84 months’ incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. Carrillo pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Animal Welfare Act and knowingly possessing a firearm after a felony conviction (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 922(g)(1) and 924(d)).
On June 7, 2023, authorities executed a search warrant at Carrillo’s residence, seizing a total of 10 pit bull-type dogs. Several of the dogs exhibited scarring consistent with dogfighting. Authorities also discovered a .22 caliber rifle, a bloodstained wooden dogfighting “pit,” syringes, veterinary medications, a skin stapler, break sticks used to separate fighting dogs, and other suspected dogfighting paraphernalia.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation with assistance from the following agencies: Homeland Security Investigations; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Marshal Service; and the Pasco County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office.
Photo of dogs from Carillo’s home included in press release, link below.
Nos. 2:23-CR-00600, 2:24-CR-00890 (District of Arizona)
AUSA Glenn McCormick
On February 18, 2025, a court sentenced Eric T. Scionti to 47 months’ incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. Scionti pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon and Animal Crushing in two separate cases (18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(a)(8), 48(a)(1)).
In December 2022, federal authorities received an anonymous tip that Scionti, a convicted felon, possessed a number of handguns, as well as grenades and bullet-proof body armor. On January 18, 2023, agents executed a search warrant, seizing six firearms and 1,826 rounds of ammunition from areas of a residence controlled by the defendant. Scionti has multiple Arizona state felony convictions and was prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition.
While researching the defendant’s online activities, agents found video evidence depicting Scionti torturing pigeons. Agents executed a subsequent search warrant on September 29, 2023, for records and information associated with Scionti’s email account. During that search, agents seized approximately 168 videos and 89 digital photographs depicting Scionti torturing and mutilating live pigeons.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigations in these cases.
On February 19, 2025, a court sentenced Manuel Domingos Pita to 48 months’ incarceration and to pay more than $55 million in restitution. Also, Pita will forfeit real estate and cash/bank accounts. Pita pleaded guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and a willful violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act for causing the death of an employee (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1343; 29 U.S.C. § 666(e)).
Pita created and operated several shell construction companies, including one named Domingos 54 Construction, Inc. Pita used Domingos 54 to provide workers, including undocumented aliens, with construction jobs. However, Pita failed to secure the required workers compensation insurance coverage for these employees by falsifying the number of workers for which he sought coverage in worker’s compensation insurance applications. In addition, Pita failed to pay any federal employment taxes on the wages that these workers earned during the course of the scheme between 2018 and 2022.
Pita failed to disclose the number of workers he had. Had he properly disclosed the number of workers, he would have paid an additional $22.7 million+ in premiums. Additionally, Pita failed to pay to the IRS over $33.7 million in federal employment taxes on those workers’ wages.
Between February and July 2019, investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued six citations to Domingos 54 for failure to provide fall protection to workers. Even after being cited for these violations, Pita continued to ignore OSHA requirements. In March 2020, Pita assigned a worker and three other carpenters to install sheeting on the roof of a residential home in windy conditions without providing the required fall-protection gear or ensuring its use. As a result, one of the workers was blown off the roof and died from his injuries.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Florida Department of Financial Services’ Bureau of Insurance Fraud-Criminal Investigations, and the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation.
Nos. 3:24-CR-00101, 00116 (Northern District of Florida)
ECS Deputy Chief Joe Poux
ECS Paralegal Jonah Fruchtman
On February 20, 2025, a court sentenced Fernando Cruz Rubio to time served. Rubio pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) for failing to maintain an oil record book (ORB) (33 U.S.C. § 1908(a)).
Rubio worked as a chief engineer on the M/V Suhar, a Panamanian-flagged ocean-going bulk carrier that routinely hauled cement from Tampico, Mexico, to Pensacola, Florida. The ship was managed by Gremex Shipping S.A. de C.V., which was responsible for the ship’s day-to-day operations, including hiring all crew, and ensuring compliance with all environmental and international regulations.
The Coast Guard inspected the ship when it arrived in Pensacola on August 25, 2023. Inspectors determined that the vessel’s crew regularly discharged untreated oily bilge water overboard, bypassing onboard pollution control equipment, and falsified the ship’s ORB to conceal these discharges. On various trips, between March 2021 through August 25, 2023, Rubio, as the Suhar’s chief engineer, failed to accurately maintain the ORB and did not record overboard bilge water discharges.
Gremex was sentenced in October 2024 to pay a $1.75 million fine, serve a four-year term of probation, and implement an environmental compliance plan. The shipping corporation also pleaded guilty to violating APPS.
The U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service conducted the investigation.
United States v. Clancy Logistics, Inc., et al.
No. 3:24-CR-00344 (District of Oregon)
AUSA Andrew Ho
RCEC Gwendolyn Russell
On February 25, 2025, a court sentenced to Clancy Logistics, Inc., and owner Timothy C. Clancy, to each complete three-year terms of probation. They were also ordered to pay a fine of $101,510.00, jointly and severally. The defendants pleaded guilty to a felony count of tampering with a Clean Air Act monitoring device (42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(2)(C)).
Between October 2019 and July 2023, Timothy C. Clancy tampered with the onboard diagnostic systems (OBDs) and caused others to tamper with the OBDs, of at least 13 Class 8 diesel semi-trailer trucks owned or operated by his companies, Clancy Transport, Inc., and Clancy Logistics, Inc. The defendants’ actions prevented the OBDs from detecting malfunctions caused by the deletion of the vehicles’ emission control systems, in violation of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(2)(C)).
As part of this process, Clancy directed his employees to disable and remove the emissions hardware from his companies’ vehicles. This involved removing exhaust systems and their corresponding emissions control components from the vehicles, hollowing out the functioning portion of the devices so that only the casing remained, and re-installing the casing to create the appearance that the emissions controls were intact. The vehicles’ OBDs were then tuned so that they could no longer detect the removal of the control equipment.
Clancy and his companies tampered with the OBDs on their diesel semi-trailer trucks so that they could operate the vehicles with real or perceived increased performance and fuel efficiency and reduce or eliminate the cost and burden associated with maintaining the vehicles. As a result, a greater volume of pollutants was emitted from the vehicles.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
No. 5:24-CR-00028 (Western District of North Carolina)
AUSA Katherine T. Armstrong
On February 27, 2025, a court sentenced Robert G. Gambill to pay a $9,500 fine and to forfeit a rifle, scope, and ammunition for killing a bald eagle in violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (16 U.S.C. § 668(a)). As required under provisions of the Act, $2,500 of the fine will be apportioned equally between two witnesses who reported the shooting.
On June 5, 2024, Gambill set his firearm on a fencepost and targeted, shot, and killed a bald eagle that was perched in a tree near a bridge in Sparta, North Carolina. After killing the eagle, Gambill drove away from the scene, abandoning the carcass on the bank of the New River. Two witnesses recovered the carcass and turned it over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The U.S. FWS forensic laboratory determined that injuries suffered by the bald eagle were consistent with a gunshot wound from a high-powered rifle.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation, with assistance from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the Alleghany County Sheriff’s Office.
On February 28, 2025, a court sentenced Willie Russell to 24 months’ incarceration, followed by three years’ supervised release, after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and exhibiting dogs in an animal fighting venture (7 U.S.C. § 2156(a)(1); 18 U.S.C. § 371). Russell is the fourteenth and final defendant to plead guilty in this federal dog fighting case. The other co-defendants are: Tamichael Elijah; Marvin Pulley, III; Brandon Baker; Christopher Travis Beaumont; Herman Buggs, Jr.; Terrance Davis; Timothy Freeman; Terelle Ganzy; Gary Hopkins; Cornelious Johnson; Rodrecus Kimble; Donnametric Miller; Willie Russell; and, Fredricus White.
On April 24, 2022, the defendants converged on a property in Donalsonville, Georgia, where they held a large-scale dog fighting event. They brought a total of 24 pit bull-type dogs to fight in a series of matches over that weekend. Law enforcement personnel who disrupted the event found numerous dogs inside crates in cars on the property.
The participants used their cars to store dogs who had already fought, as well as those awaiting their turn in the fighting pit. Some dogs were kept on chains on the property. Law enforcement rescued a total of 27 dogs, including a badly injured dog that later perished from its injuries. Dogs in the cars also bore recent injuries and scars.
All defendants but Freeman pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to violate the animal fighting prohibition of the federal Animal Welfare Act. Defendants Beaumont and Miller also pleaded guilty to sponsoring or exhibiting (i.e., handling) a dog in a dog fight. Defendants Baker, Davis, Ganzy, Johnson, Pulley, and White further pleaded guilty to possessing and transporting a dog for purposes of using the dog in an animal fighting venture. Freeman pleaded guilty to spectating at an animal fight. Defendants Miller and Pulley also pleaded guilty to unlawfully possession of a firearm by a person with a prior felony conviction.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of the Inspector General; and the Seminole County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation, with assistance from the Bay County, Florda, Sheriff’s Office.
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden is welcoming the introduction of a new ‘hash’ database to counter digital violent extremism and protect the wellbeing of investigators. “One of the many roles of the Department of Internal Affairs is preventing the spread of illegal objectionable material that encourages violent extremism. This new database will increase the efficiency of this work and better safeguard the wellbeing of the staff who deal with this content,” says Ms van Velden. The database works by assigning a unique identifier, called a ‘hash’, to each piece of illegal content. These hashes can then be used to identify files that have already been classified as illegal, reducing the time required to individually identify material and preventing investigators from being repeatedly exposed to disturbing content. The Department has the authority to issue ‘take-down notices’ to have the illegal material removed from online sites, including social media. The Department reports that most platforms promptly comply with such requests to remove the content. The database is also a useful tool in investigations into individuals found in possession of illegal material. The database has been designed to be shared with the New Zealand Police, Customs Service, Security Intelligence Service, and international law enforcement agencies. The Department of Internal Affairs report that it has received positive feedback from partner agencies. “The investigators in the Digital Violent Extremism team do incredible work preventing the spread of illegal terrorist content. I’m pleased that this new hashing database will ease the burden on them, as well as increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the Department.”
New Plymouth, New Zealand – 5 March 2025: Family-owned equipment hire company, Kennards Hire, is expanding its footprint into New Plymouth, opening its first branch in the Taranaki region with the strategic acquisition of Kiwi Hire Group.
Following recent openings in Napier and Taupō, the move into New Plymouth marks Kennards Hire’s 31st branch in New Zealand, reinforcing the company’s ongoing commitment to building local communities and industries across the country.
The origins of Kiwi Hire Group go back to 2016 when the Potter family first started building up the business. Over the years, it grew into a trusted name in the Taranaki region, providing specialist gear to local businesses, construction professionals, and DIY customers.
Previously owned and operated by Brad and Christine Potter, the husband-and-wife team will now continue to manage the new Kennards Hire branch. The Potter duo was also delighted to have the majority of the Kiwi Hire Group decide to join the Kennards Hire family in this new chapter.
Brad Potter, Branch Manager of Kennards Hire New Plymouth, said: “Through this acquisition, our goal is to ensure that our customers, and staff, continue to be well looked after. Kennards Hire is a family-owned business with the same aligned values as Kiwi Hire Group – and this has made all the difference.
“Beyond that family connection, our combined expertise and an expanded range of quality equipment will allow us to provide the best possible service to the community for many more years.”
Speaking about the acquisition, Tom Kimber, General Manager of Kennards Hire New Zealand, said: “Following recent branch openings in Taupō and Napier, this new location establishes a key foothold on the west coast of the North Island. Its strategic positioning enhances connectivity between major regional centres, including Taupō, South Waikato, Palmerston North, and Whanganui, enabling us to better support local businesses and communities.
“What makes this expansion even more special is the strong family connection between our businesses. Like Kennards Hire, Kiwi Hire Group is a family-run company built on a foundation of trust, expertise, and customer-first service. We’re proud to continue their legacy and bring our shared values to the New Plymouth community.”
In partnership with KidsCan, Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading charity dedicated to helping children affected by poverty, Kennards Hire New Plymouth will be actively supporting the local community, including partnerships with 11 schools in the region through the KidsCan School Buddy Programme.
Talking to this community engagement, Brad Potter said: “Kiwi Hire Group has always championed our local community, and now, as part of the Kennards Hire family, those values will live on – whether through sponsoring local events like Americarna or supporting schools through the KidsCan partnership. We are immensely proud to contribute to this commitment.”
Christine Potter, Assistant Branch Manager of Kennards Hire New Plymouth, also added: “Becoming part of the Kennards Hire family marks an exciting new chapter in our journey. It will enable us to share our expertise, strengthen the team, broaden our offerings to the local community, and above all, continue delivering outstanding service to our customers.”
The new branch will offer a wide range of high-quality equipment hire products and services as well as access to specialty branches in the region, all made easier through Kennards Hire’s online booking platform.
About Kennards Hire – New Zealand Kennards Hire is a family-owned and operated company that has been in the hire industry for more than 75 years, with over 215 sites and branches across New Zealand and Australia. Since 1948, its diverse product range extends from general hire equipment for the home renovator and professional tradesperson to specialist equipment and heavy machinery used on some of the largest civil infrastructure and commercial construction projects in two countries. Eden Park Icon Partner, Forsyth Barr Stadium Partner, proud member of the Family Business Association, Member of Hire Industry Association New Zealand, major supporter of KidsCan and Springboard Community Works. Kennardshire.co.nz
Kennards Hire New Plymouth is now open at open at 643 Devon Rd,
About the KidsCan School Buddy Programme:
KidsCan is supported by Kennards Hire and the Kennards Hire Foundation.
Kennards Hire has been running the KidsCan School Buddy Programme since 2014, to help enhance learning environments by offering essential equipment, expert guidance, and volunteer support. Today, up to 367 KidsCan-affiliated schools across the country benefit from this Programme.
To find out more about the valuable work that KidsCan does, visit their website: https://www.kidscan.org.nz/