Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Energy Secretary travels to New Delhi to champion UK businesses, strengthen our partnership with India and accelerate work to tackle climate change.
UK and India agree action to accelerate economic growth from global clean energy transition
Energy Secretary travelled to New Delhi to champion for British interests; supporting UK businesses, increase clean energy investment opportunities and deliver on the government’s Plan for Change
closer working through fourth UK-India Energy Dialogue to boost renewables and cut emissions, protecting British families and businesses from the climate crisis
The UK and India joined forces this week to unlock economic growth from the clean energy transition, supporting new jobs, creating export opportunities and tackling the climate crisis.
During a visit to New Delhi, the Energy Secretary Ed Miliband backed British businesses at India Energy Week – a major international energy event. He met with UK companies who are using their expertise to speed up India’s transition from fossil fuels to clean power, including offshore wind, solar, battery storage and hydrogen.
He met a number of UK companies who are using the UK’s world leading technology to speed up the global clean energy transition, create job opportunities and protect the climate. These include:
Sherwood Power – Sherwood Power has developed energy storage technology that converts excess, low-cost, renewable energy into compressed air and heat. When demand is high, this stored energy is released to generate electricity, reducing grid load and customer costs. The company is based in Richmond, North Yorkshire.
Oomph EV – Oomph EV designs and manufacture a range of rapid, mobile, electric vehicle charging solutions. They are addressing the Indian market with a view to local manufacture. They offer hardware, software and data services to the global EV market and are based in Cambridge.
Flock Energy – London based Flock Energy is building the digital infrastructure for the global energy transition. Using advanced AI, Flock Energy enables energy providers to analyse customer energy data usage in detail, all on one digital platform, to improve demand forecasting, demand-side management and energy efficiency.
Venterra Group – Venterra Group, established in 2021, is a London based offshore wind services company. Venterra operates globally with over 700 employees and specialises in providing comprehensive technical services across the wind farm lifecycle to reduce project risks, time, and costs.
India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and one which is projected to be the fourth largest global importer by 2035. Delivering on the UK Government’s Plan for Change, the Energy Secretary used his visit to increase UK clean energy investment opportunities and place British businesses at the forefront of the global race for renewables.
As one of the world’s biggest emitters, working with India on clean energy and climate is crucial to protecting British families and businesses from the threat of climate change. Increasing investment in renewables and clean technology supports the government’s mission to become a clean energy superpower, protecting households from unstable fossil fuel markets and helping keep bills down for good.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said:
We are standing up for the British people by fighting for investment into our country, and setting the example for all countries play their part in protecting our planet for future generations.
The UK and India are strengthening our partnership under our Plan for Change to unlock investment and accelerate the global transition to clean, secure, affordable energy.
Both our countries are determined to address the climate emergency to protect our way of life, while reaping the rewards of the industrial and economic opportunity of our time.
The Energy Secretary took part in the fourth UK-India Energy Dialogue with India’s Minister of Power Manohar Lal Khattar, and met with G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant.
Both countries agreed:
a new shared ambition on offshore wind, including a UK-India Offshore Wind Taskforce to drive the progress needed across the offshore wind supply chains and financing models
funding to reform in India’s power sector to support decarbonisation through UKPACT, which aims to deliver grid transformation as part of India’s renewables rollout
an extension of the bilateral Accelerating Smart Power and Renewable Energy in India (ASPIRE) programme, which will work to deliver round-the-clock power supply, accelerate industrial decarbonisation and roll out renewables
This builds on the UK and India’s close collaboration to tackle climate change through innovation agreed as part of the Technology Security Initiative in 2024, from using AI to increase resilience, to bringing together experts to safeguard the critical minerals needed for renewable technologies like wind turbines and batteries.
Talks come ahead of expected negotiations with India on a Free Trade Agreement and Bilateral Investment Treaty, led by the Business and Trade Secretary, at the end of the month.
Striking a deal would increase economic growth across both countries, facilitating the trade of renewable technologies and sustainable materials, supporting the government’s mission to become a clean energy superpower.
There are over 950 Indian-owned companies in the UK and over 650 UK companies in India supporting over 600,000 jobs and driving innovation across both economies.
Engagement with India comes ahead of COP30, due to take place in Brazil later this year, where both countries will be pushing for ambitious outcomes to address the climate emergency.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today held a seminar on China’s 2024-2035 master plan to become a leading country in education, with Vice Minister of Education Wu Yan delivering a keynote speech to give representatives of various sectors a deeper understanding of the plan.
The seminar was attended by around 400 participants. Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki and Secretary for Education Choi Yuk-lin delivered the opening and closing addresses, respectively.
The master plan was issued following an important speech by President Xi Jinping at the National Conference on Education last September. It sets out a roadmap for national education development over the next 10 years.
The plan proposes a mechanism for co-ordinating and promoting the integration of education, technology and talent. It also outlines pathways for the development of an “innotech” hub in the Greater Bay Area, the establishment of a high-calibre talent hub, and systems for talent attraction and retention, in order to boost innovation.
Mr Chan highlighted that a resolution, adopted in the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), to deepen reforms advancing the nation’s modernisation proposed that Hong Kong be built into an international hub for high-calibre talent.
He elaborated that the Hong Kong SAR Government is committed to pursuing the development of talent from different backgrounds, fostering synergistic talent development, and supporting science and technology to draw talent to the city and contribute to high-quality development in Hong Kong and the country at large.
Mr Chan said that the Committee on Education, Technology & Talents – which he chairs and which was established at the end of last year – will strive to shape the development of systemic, holistic and synergistic policies that respond to the manpower needs of Hong Kong’s “eight centres” strategy. It will also promote the integration of education, technology and talent and the country’s invigoration through science and education, he added.
Stating that education in Hong Kong will thrive with its rapid development in the country overall in the coming 10 years, Ms Choi said the Education Bureau will deepen the city’s role as an international post-secondary education hub.
Besides boosting the comprehensive strengths of Hong Kong’s tertiary education sector and forging new competitive edges through digital education, the bureau will create multiple pathways for young generations, enhance students’ “whole-person” development, and raise teachers’ capacity to cultivate values and nurture people, she added.
Source: Nauru Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Program
The chief executive of the Nauru Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Program has echoed calls by Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Baron Waqa for private finance to play a greater role in supporting Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Edward Clark said SG Waqa’s comments, made at the 2025 OECD Conference on Private Finance for Sustainable Development last week where he pointed out that “Capital flows have reached unprecedented levels, yet far too little is reaching SIDS”, should be a wake-up call for vulnerable nations.
In his address Mr Waqa said climate-conscious investors should be “willing to look beyond traditional financial metrics.”
Mr Clark said Pacific Islands and other vulnerable island nations should no longer view themselves as passive recipients of climate funding, but think differently in their approach to climate resilience.
“Climate vulnerable countries must be viewed as the new incubators for climate innovation.
“We have both a need and a right to be prosperous in the face of a global climate emergency, and there is an urgent need to ensure we disproportionately benefit from climate innovation.
He labelled Nauru’s new citizenship program and Niue’s Ocean Wide Trust as examples of “innovative, cost-effective solutions to address these challenges.
“Our citizenship program is a way of opening Nauru to the world and enabling citizenship in a nation actively working towards climate resilience.
“It’s for those who want to support Nauru’s sustainable development initiatives.”
Pointing to Nauru’s ambitious ‘Higher Ground Initiative’ that will see the relocation of 90 per cent of the country’s population to the ‘topside’ of the island, pioneering an entirely new community, Mr Clark said the nation was “the world’s smallest republic with the world’s biggest climate resilience vision.”
“This is a monumental task and one well beyond the normal financial capability of Nauru.”
Mr Clark, who has a background in compliance and financial crime investigation, said Nauru’s program adheres to Financial Action Task Force standards and undergoes the strictest and most thorough due diligence procedures.
“Only individuals of the highest calibre who can participate in shaping Nauru’s future will be accepted.”
This program is about joining a community dedicated to pioneering solutions for global challenges, and is an example of the bold and transformative action vulnerable nations must take to survive.”
Gebrüder Weiss completes integration of air and sea freight forwarder B+A, acquired in 2023
Nuremberg / Lauterach, February 12, 2025. Gebrüder Weiss is simplifying global supply chains for industrial and commercial companies in the Nuremberg metropolitan region. At the beginning of the year, the international transport and logistics company completed the integration of the air and sea freight forwarder B+A, which it acquired in 2023. The new Air & Sea department is now integrated into the Nuremberg branch of Gebrüder Weiss, which previously focused primarily on land transport and logistics. Importing and exporting companies in the region will now benefit from a single point of contact for their international transport needs, thereby achieving greater stability for their supply chains.
“With this step, we have developed Nuremberg into an all-round logistics location in one of the country’s economically strongest metropolitan regions. An export quota of almost 50 percent shows that the goods produced here are in demand worldwide. It was therefore a logical step to combine all national and international transport services – including land transport, logistics solutions, air and sea freight – under one roof,” explains Glenn Gabler, Air & Sea Branch Manager Nuremberg at Gebrüder Weiss. The Nuremberg Metropolitan Region is an urban agglomeration in Bavaria that includes not only Nuremberg, but also cities such as Fürth, Erlangen, Bamberg, Bayreuth and Hof, as well as numerous rural districts in the region.
In the Air & Sea sector, Gebrüder Weiss in Nuremberg specializes in weekly container crossings by ship from Asia. Groupage freight containers (LCL) loaded with goods for several consignors or consignees are shipped from Asia to Hamburg and then transported by rail to Nuremberg, where they are picked and delivered to regional companies. The same process applies in reverse.
Gebrüder Weiss has been operating in Nuremberg since 2017, employing a total of around 200 people at the location. The company offers its air and sea freight services at central transhipment points throughout Germany: Hamburg, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Munich.
Team Nuremberg
GW Transport
About Gebrüder Weiss
Gebrüder Weiss Holding AG, based in Lauterach, Austria, is a globally operative full-service logistics provider with about 8,600 employees at 180 company-owned locations. The company generated revenues of 2.46 billion euros in 2023. Its portfolio encompasses transport and logistics solutions, digital services, and supply chain management. The twin strengths of digital and physical competence enable Gebrüder Weiss to respond swiftly and flexibly to customers’ needs. The family-run organization – with a history going back more than half a millennium – has implemented a wide variety of environmental, economic, and social initiatives. Today, it is also considered a pioneer in sustainable business practices. www.gw-world.com
Source: United Kingdom UK House of Lords (video statements)
Former top diplomat Simon McDonald, Lord McDonald of Salford, is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner.
Lord McDonald shares his views on a range of current international issues from President Trump and Greenland to the Chagos Islands and British soft power, plus changes to the global approach of the USA, China and Russia:
‘For most of my career, the reasons why the institutions of the late 1940s were fraying were because Russia and then China were not particularly happy with that post Second World War settlement. The surprise in recent years is the United States being a revisionist power, not liking the bill paid by the United States to underpin that settlement.’
Lord McDonald was previously Head of the Diplomatic Service, the most senior civil servant in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and has served as Ambassador to Israel and to Germany. In this episode, he speaks to Lord McFall about what drew him to public service both in the Foreign Office and the House of Lords:
‘I think British public service is part of what defines our country and helps us through crisis. And I think it is a fact that in this House there are a group of people who are here to help, to help other people, not to help themselves. They are here to bring their expertise to bear. They’re here to listen to other people. They are here to gather evidence before they make up their minds. And I think those are solid attributes of public service.’
Lord McDonald also talks about the role of the Civil Service and ministers, plus the challenges of planning for successive governments:
‘One reason why our projects across the board are worse than, say, similar projects in Japan or China or even France, is our planning regime, that every single road, bridge, railway has to go through a very protracted planning legal procedure. Every government I’ve worked for identified our planning laws as an obstacle, and every government so far has failed really to grip it. I note that the new Labour government is gearing up to attempt. I hope they succeed. But I note that every previous effort has failed.’
See more from the series https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/
The Government today announced that Jeanne Cheng will assume the post of District Officer (Central & Western) tomorrow, succeeding David Leung.
Since joining the Administrative Service in 2002, Miss Cheng has served in various bureaus and departments, including the Home Affairs Department, the then Economic Development & Labour Bureau, the Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Bureau, the Education Bureau, the then Food & Health Bureau and the Chief Executive’s Office.
She was the Principal Assistant Secretary for Labour & Welfare (Children) at the Labour & Welfare Bureau before taking up the new post.
While the ceasefire in Gaza, Palestine, was implemented on 19 January, after 15 months of all-out war on the people trapped there, all components of society have been destroyed making it almost uninhabitable. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are now able to reach the north of the Strip – which was previously besieged by Israeli forces – to assess the medical and humanitarian needs. The situation is appalling; there is nothing left.
Our colleagues no longer recognise their own neighbourhoods, hospitals have been razed, and people are settling in the rubble of their homes with no other shelter to face the winter conditions. Caroline Seguin, MSF’s emergency coordinator, shares insights and photos from the ground.
1. What is the situation in north Gaza?
In the North Governorate, the level of destruction is total, it’s a flat land. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Our Palestinian colleagues are no longer able to recognise their own neighbourhoods, some were in shock, others literally collapsed.
In Gaza City we were already shocked by the level of destruction, but then we went north to Jabalia, we couldn’t say a word. There is nothing there anymore. Only ruins and the smell of death everywhere because of the dead bodies still trapped under the rubble.
2. What is the state of the health system?
There is no health system anymore in the northern part of the Strip. Kamal Adwan hospital has been razed, while Al Shifa, Al Awda and Indonesian hospitals are seriously damaged and only partially functioning. We were utterly shocked to observe that in Indonesian hospital every medical machine seemed to have been deliberately destroyed; they were smashed to pieces, one by one, to make sure no medical care could be provided anymore. You have to ask, what is the motivation of such action? These machines are made to save people’s lives, mothers, fathers, children. It’s devastating to see the state of these hospitals.
The provision of medical care is largely insufficient compared to the needs of the hundreds of thousands of people living in the area. For example, between North Governorate and Gaza city, there are only six paediatric intensive care beds compared to 150 before the war and the number of patient hospital beds has plummeted from 2,000 to 350.
3. Can you move in supplies?
The flow of vital supplies has improved since the ceasefire, but the level of needs is so high that people are still lacking basic items. The need for food, water, tents and shelter materials in this area remains critical. Water shortages are a real challenge given the high level of damage to water facilities and because they are in inaccessible locations in the buffer zones.
Our teams have started water trucking activities in Jabalia and Beit Hanoun and they repair damaged boreholes, but this is a temporary solution and is not sufficient for the massive needs. The problem is that because of the war we have located our activities in the south and it now takes time to redeploy them to the north.
Since 1 February, MSF teams started supporting people in north Gaza with mobile clinics to provide medical care. Services include general consultations, treatment of non- communicable diseases, sexual and reproductive health consultations, wound and burn dressings, and health promotion and nutrition activities. Palestine, February 2025.MSF
After four weeks since the implementation of the ceasefire, we are still not seeing the massive scale up of humanitarian aid needed in northern Gaza. The humanitarian community is failing to provide vital services to a population in dire need of humanitarian and medical support. Both Israel and international actors need to urgently ensure the delivery of vital supplies such as shelter and food and to increase the capacities for its distribution.
4. What is the reality for people in northern Gaza today?
People are living in dire conditions. They try to settle as best they can on the ruins of their houses but it’s extremely difficult. The winter weather means people have to face very cold temperatures, heavy rains and strong winds, and they don’t even have walls around them to protect themselves. They don’t have access to healthcare, decent housing or water.
However, the conditions they had to face during the 15 months of war, being displaced and living in tents were even worse. After this hardship, people need to reunite with their loved ones and want to stay and rebuild their lives. Many of them have no intention of leaving. It is essential to ensure consistent, safe, and secure delivery of humanitarian assistance to people who have suffered unimaginable trauma.
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LOUISVILLE, Colo., Feb. 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Boulder Imaging, a leader in machine vision and artificial intelligence solutions, is proud to announce the world’s first Common Detector Interface 2 (CDI2)-compliant software. This pioneering software, combined with Authentix GemVision™ sensors and image processing and fitness algorithms, is designed to deliver unprecedented speed and accuracy in banknote authentication and quality assessment.
The Common Detector Interface 2 (CDI2) standard, developed by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, represents a significant advancement for central banks globally. This high-tech solution standardizes banknote inspection, reduces currency waste, optimizes quality, and lowers environmental impact by increasing the lifespan of notes in circulation.
Not only does Boulder Imaging’s software comply with the CDI2 standard, but it also exceeds the requirements in many areas. The software assesses the quality of each banknote at a rate of 40 notes per second—or more than 140,000 notes per hour—with an accuracy rate exceeding 99.99%. This commitment to excellence is validated by the company’s Intergraf certification, which ensures compliance with the highest international standards for the banknote and security industry.
“Through Boulder Imaging’s leadership, CDI2 has transitioned from a technical specification to an operational reality, increasing yield and reducing costs for central banks,” said Don Mills, president and chief operating officer at Boulder Imaging. “We remain committed to delivering innovative tools that ensure speed, accuracy, and scalability for years to come.”
The industry-wide adoption of CDI2 is expected to revolutionize currency management, enabling central banks to select the most suitable detection technologies from multiple suppliers. As the banknote industry embraces this new standard, Boulder Imaging is well-positioned to provide flexible and customizable solutions, allowing central banks to optimize their banknote management processes and accommodate future security features and materials for next-generation banknotes.
Founded in 1995, Boulder Imaging develops and delivers innovative machine vision and artificial intelligence solutions that transform quality assurance. With unprecedented speed, accuracy, and scalability, its inspection systems solve the toughest challenges in industries including architectural products, automotive, renewable energy, security paper, and banknotes. Headquartered in Colorado, USA, Boulder Imaging is committed to advancing machine vision technology to address complex inspection needs worldwide. For more information, visit www.boulderimaging.com.
About Authentix As the authority in authentication solutions, Authentix brings enhanced visibility and traceability to today’s complex global supply chains. For over 25 years, Authentix has provided clients with physical and software-enabled solutions to detect, mitigate, and prevent counterfeiting and other illicit trading activity for currency, excise taxable goods, and branded consumer products. The CDI2 sensors are the fifth generation of high-speed sensors that Authentix has sold to central banks. Through a proven partnership model and sector expertise, clients experience custom solution design, rapid implementation, consumer engagement, and complete program management to ensure product safety, revenue protection, and consumer trust for the best-known global brands on the market. Headquartered in Addison, Texas USA, Authentix, Inc. has offices in North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Africa serving clients worldwide. For more information, visit https://www.authentix.com. Authentix® is a registered trademark of Authentix, Inc.
PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Intapp (NASDAQ: INTA), a leading global provider of AI-powered solutions for professionals at advisory, capital markets, and legal firmstoday announced that it has opened a new office in Lisbon, Portugal. The Lisbon Research and Development (R&D) Centre will be an innovation hub for the Intapp R&D team based in western Europe. There they will help develop the Intapp vertical AI solutions that top global accounting, consulting, investment banking, legal, private capital, and real assets firms rely on for modernization and growth.
“We’re excited to open the Lisbon R&D Centre,” said Michele Murgel, Chief People and Places Officer at Intapp. “Our first priority is to build a world-class team that will develop new solutions that bring the power of automation and intelligence to professional and financial services firms. Lisbon’s tech ecosystem — including top engineering and tech talent –– along with its reputation for innovation and a vibrant community — make it the perfect location for our innovation hub.”
Intapp has more than 10 professionals already working in Portugal, and is currently recruiting for 15 additional roles. Many of these roles will focus on R&D, including front- and back-end developers, quality assurance specialists, application security professionals, and DevOps engineers. Support, services, and operational roles are also open.
Intapp’s Lisbon R&D Centre will also offer an internship program in 2025 to provide engineering and computer science students with hands-on project experience, and to develop a pipeline of entry-level talent.
“We’re thrilled to launch our internship program at Intapp’s Lisbon R&D Centre. It provides a unique opportunity for talented students to gain hands-on experience with the latest technology,” said Hugo Sampaio, Director of Product Development Operations and Strategy at Intapp. “This program allows us to mentor the next generation of innovators while benefiting from fresh perspectives that drive creativity and enhance our AI-powered solutions.”
“We are delighted with Intapp’s decision to locate its new R&D Centre in Lisbon. This new venture reflects confidence in Portugal and exemplifies the type of projects AICEP aims to attract — ventures that add value to our economy and leverage the exceptional quality of local talent,” said Ricardo Arroja, Chairman & CEO of AICEP – Portugal Trade & Invest. “In Lisbon, Intapp will find a local vibrant and multicultural ecosystem, where talent plays a strategic role in the success of ventures such as the new R&D Centre. We are confident that the services and products developed locally will have a global impact and contribute to further develop Intapp’s product portfolio. We wish all the best to Intapp’s Lisbon R&D Centre. Bem-vindos!”
Intapp’s Lisbon R&D Centre is located in Parque das Nações, a vibrant area in the heart of Lisbon’s tech corridor. Intapp chose Parque das Nações for its blend of modern infrastructure, accessibility, and technological innovation. Well located near Oriente Station, and surrounded by green spaces and a scenic riverside promenade, the area offers a perfect balance of convenience and leisure.
As a hub for tech companies and startups, Parque das Nações fosters a dynamic professional community, making it an ideal location for Intapp. The office’s open-concept design encourages collaboration, while modern meeting rooms and workspaces — equipped with advanced technology and ergonomic standing desks — reflect Intapp’s commitment to innovation and employee well-being.
Since going public in 2021, Intapp has expanded to over 1,200 employees globally across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Intapp’s culture emphasizes accountability, responsibility, and growth in a diverse, inclusive, and collaborative environment. Team members support each other in a positive, open atmosphere that fosters creativity, approachability, and teamwork. The company is committed to creating a modern work environment that’s connected yet flexible, supporting both professional success and work-life balance.
About Intapp Intapp software helps professionals unlock their teams’ knowledge, relationships, and operational insights to increase value for their firms. Using the power of Applied AI, we make firm and market intelligence easy to find, understand, and use. With Intapp’s portfolio of vertical SaaS solutions, professionals can apply their collective expertise to make smarter decisions, manage risk, and increase competitive advantage. The world’s top firms — across accounting, consulting, investment banking, legal, private capital, and real assets — trust Intapp’s industry-specific platform and solutions to modernize and drive new growth. For more information, visit intapp.com and LinkedIn.
Contact: Ali Robinson Global Media Relations Director press@intapp.com
The United States shares the pathologies of all dying empires with their mixture of buffoonery, rampant corruption, military fiascos, economic collapse and savage state repression.
ANALYSIS: By Chris Hedges
The billionaires, Christian fascists, grifters, psychopaths, imbeciles, narcissists and deviants who have seized control of Congress, the White House and the courts, are cannibalising the machinery of state. These self-inflicted wounds, characteristic of all late empires, will cripple and destroy the tentacles of power. And then, like a house of cards, the empire will collapse.
Blinded by hubris, unable to fathom the empire’s diminishing power, the mandarins in the Trump administration have retreated into a fantasy world where hard and unpleasant facts no longer intrude. They sputter incoherent absurdities while they usurp the Constitution and replace diplomacy, multilateralism and politics with threats and loyalty oaths.
Agencies and departments, created and funded by acts of Congress, are going up in smoke.
The rulers of all late empires, including the Roman emperors Caligula and Nero or Charles I, the last Habsburg ruler, are as incoherent as the Mad Hatter, uttering nonsensical remarks, posing unanswerable riddles and reciting word salads of inanities. They, like Donald Trump, are a reflection of the moral, intellectual and physical rot that plague a diseased society. Cartoon: Mr Fish/The Chris Hedges Report
They are removing government reports and data on climate change and withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement,. They are pulling out of the World Health Organisation.
They are sanctioning officials who work at the International Criminal Court — which issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes in Gaza.
They suggested Canada become the 51st state. They have formed a task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias.” They call for the annexation of Greenland and the seizure of the Panama Canal.
They propose the construction of luxury resorts on the coast of a depopulated Gaza under US control which, if it takes place, would bring down the Arab regimes propped up by the US.
Uttering nonsensical remarks The rulers of all late empires, including the Roman emperors Caligula and Nero or Charles I, the last Habsburg ruler, are as incoherent as the Mad Hatter, uttering nonsensical remarks, posing unanswerable riddles and reciting word salads of inanities. They, like Donald Trump, are a reflection of the moral, intellectual and physical rot that plague a diseased society.
These Christian fascists, who define the core ideology of the Trump administration, are unapologetic about their hatred for pluralistic, secular democracies. They seek, as they exhaustively detail in numerous “Christian” books and documents such as the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, to deform the judiciary and legislative branches of government, along with the media and academia, into appendages to a “Christianised” state led by a divinely anointed leader.
They openly admire Nazi apologists such as Rousas John Rushdoony, a supporter of eugenics who argues that education and social welfare should be handed over to the churches and Biblical law must replace the secular legal code, and Nazi party theorists such as Carl Schmitt.
They are avowed racists, misogynists and homophobes. They embrace bizarre conspiracy theories from the white replacement theory to a shadowy monster they call “the woke.” Suffice it to say, they are not grounded in a reality based universe.
Christian fascists come out of a theocratic sect called Dominionism. This sect teaches that American Christians have been mandated to make America a Christian state and an agent of God. Political and intellectual opponents of this militant Biblicalism are condemned as agents of Satan.
“Under Christian dominion, America will no longer be a sinful and fallen nation but one in which the 10 Commandments form the basis of our legal system, creationism and ‘Christian values’ form the basis of our educational system, and the media and the government proclaim the Good News to one and all,” I noted in my book.
“Labour unions, civil-rights laws and public schools will be abolished. Women will be removed from the workforce to stay at home, and all those deemed insufficiently Christian will be denied citizenship. Aside from its proselytising mandate, the federal government will be reduced to the protection of property rights and ‘homeland’ security.”
Chris Hedges talks to Marc Lamont Hill on Up Front on why “democracy doesn’t exist in the United States” today. Video: Al Jazeera
Comforting to most Americans The Christian fascists and their billionaire funders, I noted, “speak in terms and phrases that are familiar and comforting to most Americans, but they no longer use words to mean what they meant in the past.”
They commit logocide, killing old definitions and replacing them with new ones. Words — including truth, wisdom, death, liberty, life and love — are deconstructed and assigned diametrically opposed meanings.Life and death, for example, mean life in Christ or death to Christ, a signal of belief of unbelief. Wisdom refers to the level of commitment and obedience to the doctrine.
Liberty is not about freedom, but the liberty that comes from following Jesus Christ and being liberated from the dictates of secularism. Love is twisted to mean an unquestioned obedience to those, such as Trump, who claim to speak and act for God.As the death spiral accelerates, phantom enemies, domestic and foreign, will be blamed for the demise, persecuted and slated for obliteration.
Once the wreckage is complete, ensuring the immiseration of the citizenry, a breakdown in public services and engendering an inchoate rage, only the blunt instrument of state violence will remain. A lot of people will suffer, especially as the climate crisis inflicts with greater and greater intensity its lethal retribution.
The near-collapse of our constitutional system of checks and balances took place long before the arrival of Trump. Trump’s return to power represents the death rattle of the Pax Americana. The day is not far off when, like the Roman Senate in 27 BC, Congress will take its last significant vote and surrender power to a dictator. The Democratic Party, whose strategy seems to be to do nothing and hope Trump implodes, have already acquiesced to the inevitable.
The question is not whether we go down, but how many millions of innocents we will take with us. Given the industrial violence our empire wields, it could be a lot, especially if those in charge decide to reach for the nukes.
Foreign aid is not benevolent. It is weaponised to maintain primacy over the United Nations and remove governments the empire deems hostile. Those nations in the UN and other multilateral organisations who vote the way the empire demands, who surrender their sovereignty to global corporations and the US military, receive assistance. Those who don’t do not.
Foreign aid builds infrastructure projects so corporations can operate global sweatshops and extract resources. It funds “democracy promotion” and “judicial reform” that thwart the aspirations of political leaders and governments that seek to remain independent from the grip of the empire.
USAID, for example, paid for a “political party reform project” that was designed “as a counterweight” to the “radical” Movement Toward Socialism (Movimiento al Socialismo) and sought to prevent socialists like Evo Morales from being elected in Bolivia. It then funded organisations and initiatives, including training programmes so Bolivian youth could be taught the American business practices, once Morales assumed the presidency, to weaken his hold on power.
Kennard in his book, The Racket: A Rogue Reporter vs The American Empire, documents how US institutions such as the National Endowment for Democracy, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, USAID and the Drug Enforcement Administration, work in tandem with the Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency to subjugate and oppress the Global South.
Client states that receive aid must break unions, impose austerity measures, keep wages low and maintain puppet governments. The heavily funded aid programmes, designed to bring down Morales, eventually led the Bolivian president to throw USAID out of the country.
The lie peddled to the public is that this aid benefits both the needy overseas and us at home. But the inequality these programmes facilitate abroad replicates the inequality imposed domestically. The wealth extracted from the Global South is not equitably distributed. It ends up in the hands of the billionaire class, often stashed in overseas bank accounts to avoid taxation.
Our US tax dollars, meanwhile, disproportionately funds the military, which is the iron fist that sustains the system of exploitation. The 30 million Americans who were victims of mass layoffs and deindustrialisation lost their jobs to workers in sweatshops overseas. As Kennard notes, both home and abroad, it is a vast “transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich globally and domestically”.
Legitimises theft at home “The same people that devise the myths about what we do abroad have also built up a similar ideological system that legitimises theft at home; theft from the poorest, by the richest,” he writes. “The poor and working people of Harlem have more in common with the poor and working people of Haiti than they do with their elites, but this has to be obscured for the racket to work.”
Foreign aid maintains sweatshops or “special economic zones” in countries such as Haiti, where workers toil for pennies an hour and often in unsafe conditions for global corporations.
“One of the facets of special economic zones, and one of the incentives for corporations in the US, is that special economic zones have even less regulations than the national state on how you can treat labour and taxes and customs,” Kennard told me in an interview.
“You open these sweatshops in the special economic zones. You pay the workers a pittance. You get all the resources out without having to pay customs or tax. The state in Mexico or Haiti or wherever it is, where they’re offshoring this production, doesn’t benefit at all. That’s by design. The coffers of the state are always the ones that never get increased. It’s the corporations that benefit.”
These same US institutions and mechanisms of control, Kennard writes in his book, were employed to sabotage the electoral campaign of Jeremy Corbyn, a fierce critic of the US empire, for prime minister in Britain.
The US disbursed nearly $72 billion in foreign aid in fiscal year 2023. It funded clean water initiatives, HIV/Aids treatments, energy security and anti-corruption work. In 2024, it provided 42 percent of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations.
Humanitarian aid, often described as “soft power,” is designed to mask the theft of resources in the Global South by US corporations, the expansion of the footprint of the US military, the rigid control of foreign governments, the devastation caused by fossil fuel extraction, the systemic abuse of workers in global sweatshops and the poisoning of child labourers in places like the Congo, where they are used to mine lithium.
The demise of American power I doubt Musk and his army of young minions in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — which isn’t an official department within the federal government — have any idea about how the organisations they are destroying work, why they exist or what it will mean for the demise of American power.
The seizure of government personnel records and classified material, the effort to terminate hundreds of millions of dollars worth of government contracts — mostly those which relate to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), the offers of buyouts to “drain the swamp” including a buyout offer to the entire workforce of the Central Intelligence Agency — now temporarily blocked by a judge — the firing of 17 or 18 inspectors generals and federal prosecutors, the halting of government funding and grants, sees them cannibalise the leviathan they worship.
They plan to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education and the US Postal Service, part of the internal machinery of the empire. The more dysfunctional the state becomes, the more it creates a business opportunity for predatory corporations and private equity firms. These billionaires will make a fortune “harvesting” the remains of the empire. But they are ultimately slaying the beast that created American wealth and power.
Once the dollar is no longer the world’s reserve currency, something the dismantling of the empire guarantees, the US will be unable to pay for its huge deficits by selling Treasury bonds. The American economy will fall into a devastating depression. This will trigger a breakdown of civil society, soaring prices, especially for imported products, stagnant wages and high unemployment rates.
The funding of at least 750 overseas military bases and our bloated military will become impossible to sustain. The empire will instantly contract. It will become a shadow of itself. Hypernationalism, fueled by an inchoate rage and widespread despair, will morph into a hate-filled American fascism.
Despite the aura of omnipotence empires often project, most are surprisingly fragile, lacking the inherent strength of even a modest nation-state. Indeed, a glance at their history should remind us that the greatest of them are susceptible to collapse from diverse causes, with fiscal pressures usually a prime factor. For the better part of two centuries, the security and prosperity of the homeland has been the main objective for most stable states, making foreign or imperial adventures an expendable option, usually allocated no more than 5 percent of the domestic budget. Without the financing that arises almost organically inside a sovereign nation, empires are famously predatory in their relentless hunt for plunder or profit — witness the Atlantic slave trade, Belgium’s rubber lust in the Congo, British India’s opium commerce, the Third Reich’s rape of Europe, or the Soviet exploitation of Eastern Europe.
When revenues shrink or collapse, McCoy points out, “empires become brittle.”
“So delicate is their ecology of power that, when things start to go truly wrong, empires regularly unravel with unholy speed: just a year for Portugal, two years for the Soviet Union, eight years for France, 11 years for the Ottomans, 17 for Great Britain, and, in all likelihood, just 27 years for the United States, counting from the crucial year 2003 [when the US invaded Iraq],” he writes.
The array of tools used for global dominance — wholesale surveillance, the evisceration of civil liberties, including due process, torture, militarised police, the massive prison system, militarised drones and satellites — will be employed against a restive and enraged population.
The devouring of the carcass of the empire to feed the outsized greed and egos of these scavengers presages a new dark age.
Rich nations pledged to contribute at least $300 billion annually to the global fight against climate change as UN climate talks came to a contentious end early Sunday morning in Baku. Developing nations who had sought over $1 trillion in assistance called the agreement “insulting” and argued it did not give them the vital resources they required to truly address the complexities of the climate crisis.
After two weeks of intense negotiations, delegates at COP29, formally the 29th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), agreed to provide this funding annually, with an overall climate financing target to reach “at least $1.3 trillion by 2035”.
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Countries also agreed on the rules for a UN-backed global carbon market. This market will facilitate the trading of carbon credits, incentivizing countries to reduce emissions and invest in climate-friendly projects.
These were among the big-ticket issues decided upon as the summit, underway since 11 November in the enormous Baku Stadium in the Azerbaijan capital, ran into double overtime.
Other steps forward at COP29 included:
This summit had been dubbed the ‘climate finance COP’, and representatives from all countries were seeking to establish a new, higher climate finance goal.
The target, or new collective quantified goal (NCQG), will replace the existing $100 billion goal that is due to expire in 2025.
In the closing days at COP29, negotiating teams from the developed and developing worlds were deadlocked over a final deal, with reports that representatives for least developed countries and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOIS) had walked out of the talks.
But he continued, this agreement provides a base on which to build and added: It must be honoured in full and on time. Commitments must quickly become cash. All countries must come together to ensure the top-end of this new goal is met.”
For many vulnerable nations, it represents a glimmer of hope—but only if commitments translate into swift action. “Commitments must quickly become cash,” the Secretary-General stressed, urging all countries to work together to meet the upper end of the new financial goal.
Beyond finance, COP29 built on previous gains in emissions reduction targets, the acceleration of the energy transition, and a long-sought agreement on carbon markets. These achievements come despite an “uncertain and divided geopolitical landscape,” which threatened to derail negotiations.
The UN chief commended negotiators for finding common ground, noting, “You have shown that multilateralism – centred on the Paris Agreement – can find a path through the most difficult issues.”
‘An insurance policy for humanity’
UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell described the new finance goal agreed at COP29 as “an insurance policy for humanity.”
“This deal will keep the clean energy boom growing and protect billions of lives. It will help all countries to share in the huge benefits of bold climate action: more jobs, stronger growth, cheaper and cleaner energy for all. But like any insurance policy – it only works – if the premiums are paid in full, and on time.”
He acknowledged that no country got everything they wanted, and that the world leaves Baku with a mountain of work to do. “So, this is no time for victory laps. We need to set our sights and redouble our efforts on the road to Belém,” in the eastern Amazonian region of Brazil, which is set to host COP30 next year.
‘Weak, insulting deal’
While some delegations applauded the deal, many from the developing world, including Bolivia and Nigeria, expressed their deep disappointment at what they argued was an “insultingly low” financing target and that the agreed text failed to significantly build on an agreement last year at COP28 in Dubai calling for nations to “transition away from fossil fuels”.
India’s representative strongly denounced the new goal, calling it a “paltry sum” and emphasizing, “We seek a much higher ambition from the developed countries [and the amount agreed] does not inspire trust that we will come out of this grave problem of climate change.”
A representative from a group of small island nations said: “After this COP29 ends, we cannot just sail off into the sunset. We are literally sinking,” and the conference outcome highlighted “what a very different boat our vulnerable countries are in, compared to the developed countries”.
UNFCCC/Kiara Worth
Civil society actors at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, advocate for climate financing initiatives.
Sierra Leone’s representative said African nations were disappointed in the outcome, which “signals a lack of goodwill by developed countries.” Indeed, the $300 billion deal was “less than a quarter of what science shows is needed and barely enough to forestall a climate catastrophe”.
Striking a different tone, a representative from the delegation of the European Union said the new climate finance goal would “simply will bring much, much more private money on the table, and that is what we need. And with these funds, we are confident we will reach the 1.3 trillion objective.”
Want to know more? Check out our special events page, where you can find all our coverage of COP29, including stories and videos, explainers and our newsletter.
The Security Bureau’s dedicated task force will continue to follow up on cases in relation to Hong Kong residents alleged to have been detained in Southeast Asian countries and not being able to leave, Acting Secretary for Security Michael Cheuk said at the Legislative Council meeting today.
In response to lawmaker Yung Hoi-yan’s questions, Mr Cheuk explained that from 2023 to January 2025, law enforcement agencies received 28 such cases. Among them, 19 people have already returned to Hong Kong. For the remaining nine individuals, the Security Bureau believes that eight are in Myanmar while one is in Cambodia.
Last month, Mr Cheuk led the task force, comprising members from the Security Bureau, Police and Immigration Department, to Bangkok, Thailand, to meet Thai authorities.
The task force then established direct contacts with relevant Thai authorities to enhance future communication and exchange of intelligence, with a view to handling the cases more effectively, Mr Check highlighted.
Separately, he noted that from 2023 to January 2025, Police arrested 11 people in connection with job scam cases where victims were lured to Southeast Asian countries and detained to engage in illegal work. The suspects were involved in offences such as conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and obtaining property by deception.
During the same period, two individuals charged with conspiracy to defraud were convicted and sentenced to 36 months’ and 56 months’ imprisonment respectively.
In view of the recent scam cases, Mr Cheuk stressed that the Government will continue to strengthen publicity, including a promotion on social media platforms, distribution of anti-scam leaflets to travellers heading to Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, and making good use of media reports.
He added that in light of cases where suspects met victims in bars and entertainment venues, Police have also sent officers to hand out leaflets in such places across the city.
The latest round of UN climate negotiations, COP29, opened this past Monday in Baku, Azerbaijan, following a year that broke multiple extreme heat records and saw widespread climate-driven chaos – from wildfires to destructive floods and hurricanes – hit nearly every corner of the world. A major increase in financial commitments to assist vulnerable countries in mitigating and adapting to climate impacts is the main goal of this year’s conference, which has been dubbed the “climate finance COP.”
Can countries agree on a new climate finance target?
The UN’s main climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has issued increasingly dire warnings about the accelerating pace of global warming. To limit temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, substantial investments are needed in clean energy technologies, infrastructure, and adaptation measures.
Developing countries, particularly small island nations and least developed countries, are disproportionately vulnerable to climate impacts like sea level rise, extreme weather events, and droughts. They require significant financial support to build resilience, transition to low-carbon economies, and compensate for loss and damage.
Round-the-clock negotiations in Baku on the always thorny topic of money are reportedly moving slowly. Delegates from developing nations are calling for more and faster progress on new funding for loss and damage and accelerated clean energy goals.
Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which convenes the annual COP meetings, had a message for G20 leaders early on Saturday before they hopped on their planes for Rio de Janeiro:
“Climate finance progress outside of [the UNFCCC process] is equally crucial, and the G20’s role is mission-critical…the global climate crisis should beorder of business Number One, in Rio next week. The [G20] Summit must send crystal clear global signals. That more grant and concessional finance will be available; that further reform of multilateral development banks is a top priority, and G20 governments – as their shareholders and taskmasters – will keep pushing for more reforms.”
Finally, the UN climate chief said that “in turbulent times and a fracturing world, G20 leaders must signal loud and clear that international cooperation is still the best and only chance humanity has to survive global heating. There is no other way.”
Earlier in the week, Mr. Stiell gave a stark assessment of the stakes: Worsening climate change and the socioeconomic damage it inflicts mean “billions of people simply cannot afford for their government to leave COP29 without a global climate finance goal.”
“So, for leaders here and back in capitals – make it clear that you expect a strong set of outcomes. Tell your negotiators – skip the posturing – and move directly to finding common ground,” he said.
In his opening remarks on Tuesday to the World Leaders Climate Action Summit, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that 2024 has been “a masterclass in climate destruction.” He emphasized the critical role of climate finance in addressing the crisis: “The world must pay up, or humanity will pay the price…climate finance is not charity, it’s an investment. Climate action is not optional, it’s an imperative.”
Mr. Stiell later echoed this sentiment: “Let’s dispense with the idea that climate finance is charity. An ambitious new climate finance goal is entirely in the self-interest of every single nation, including the largest and wealthiest.”
Beyond the $100 billion pledge
In 2009 at the 15th Conference of UNFCCC Parties (COP15) in Copenhagen, developed countries committed to mobilizing $100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020. While this target was finally met in 2022, it has been criticized as insufficient and delayed.
At COP29, negotiators are aiming to set a new, more ambitious target for climate finance. Developing countries are pushing for a significantly higher figure, potentially in the trillions of dollars per year. However, discussions on the exact amount and the modalities for delivering the funds remain contentious.
An early breakthrough on carbon
A significant breakthrough on the opening day at COP29 was the adoption of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, paving the way for a UN-backed global carbon market. This market will facilitate the trading of carbon credits, incentivizing countries to reduce emissions and invest in climate-friendly projects.
James Grabert, head of the Mitigation Division at UN Climate Change, the shorthand by which the UNFCCC secretariat is known, said that this historic agreement will provide countries with a “valuable tool” to meet their climate targets and drive sustainable development.
With COP29 coming on the heels of presidential polls in the United States, impact of a new US Administration on global climate action has been on the minds of many in the corridors of Baku Centre.
At a press conference, President Hilda Heine of the Marshall Islands and Ireland’s Environment Minister Eamon Ryan stressed that despite worries about a US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the combat against climate change is a global effort that requires global cooperation towards a better economy for all. The two leaders also cited the ongoing progress by states and cities as reasons for hope.
UNFCCC/Kiara Worth
Around the clock negotiations are underway at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, on a new global climate finance deal.
A just transition, not a ‘stampede of greed’
Before heading to the G20 summit in Brazil, Mr. Guterres held several climate-related meetings, including one on critical minerals essential for renewable energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles.
These minerals, such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements, are crucial for the transition away from fossil fuels, with demand expected to triple by 2030.
Many of these minerals are found in Africa, which could benefit financially. However, there’s concern about a “resource curse,” where countries where these resources are located don’t benefit.
Mr. Guterres emphasized managing demand without triggering a “stampede of greed” that exploits and crushes the poor but instead ensures local communities benefit.
Dario Liguti from the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) also highlighted the need for “sustainable exploitation of these minerals”, especially in emerging markets, to protect the environment and support local communities. In April, the UN chief formed a High-Level Panel to ensure countries and communities with these resources benefit the most.
Young people around the world are increasingly demanding climate action and climate justice. They are calling on governments and businesses to take bold steps to reduce emissions, protect vulnerable communities, and create a sustainable future for all.
After meeting with youth representatives and climate advocates at COP29, the Secretary-General posted on social media that he understood their frustrations: “You have every right to be angry. I am angry too…because we are on the verge of the climate abyss, and I don’t see enough urgency or political will to address the emergency.”
Basmallah Rawash, a Climate Activist with Care About Climate, said, “We are not the ones that are supposed to carry the burden of mitigation. We are not the ones who have caused this, but we are the ones that will carry the burden of the biggest struggle at the moment.”
The decisions made in Baku will have far-reaching consequences for generations to come. It is imperative that negotiators reach an ambitious agreement that delivers the finance needed to build a resilient and low-carbon future for all.
Stay tuned to UN News! Our team in Baku will be following the action through the end of next week.
Want to know more? Check out our special events page, where you can find all our coverage of COP29, including stories and videos, explainers and our newsletter.
As negotiations over how to tackle climate change head into their fifth day in Baku, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed solidarity with young climate advocates at COP29, who told him they are frustrated by the lack of political action on the crisis.
“You have every right to be angry. I am angry too,” the UN chief posted on social media on Thursday following his meeting with youth representatives and young environmental activists. “I am angry because we are on the verge of the climate abyss, and I don’t see enough urgency or political will to address the emergency.”
While the opening days of this year’s COP have featured the expected speeches, report launches and expert interventions, today’s youth roundtable was something different.
Organized by the Youth Advisory Group and YOUNGO – the official youth community of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – the discussion was a candid departure from the usual formalities of the UN Secretary-General’s usual schedule.
Opting out of traditional speeches, young eco-activists from across the globe chose to present their visions on tackling climate change, engage in frank discussions about challenges they encounter, and even to solicit advice from the UN chief on how to take significant steps towards preventing a climate catastrophe.
An everyday reality
The participants spoke of their dreams and fears, proposing concrete steps to make the world more sustainable and secure for future generations. For many, climate issues are not abstract concepts but everyday realities they are determined to face head on.
“We discussed the role of youth in sustainable development and the fight against climate change. The fact that Mr. Guterres listens to young people’s opinions and values their ideas is very important to me,” said Aysel Azizova, a young environmental activist from Azerbaijan, who told UN News afterward that her meeting with the Secretary-General “was very productive and inspiring”.
“This dialogue helped me and my colleagues better understand the causes of climate change and potential solutions. He gave us practical advice,” Ms. Azizova said.
She said that during the discussion, she had suggested measures to stimulate investment in green technologies and tackle resource limitations, especially for developing countries. “Mr. Guterres kindly addressed my question and explained all the details,” she added.
Youth are central to climate action
Lamin Jawo, an 18-year-old child rights activist from the Gambia, shared his reflections with UN News: “I took two important points from his speech, one was about youth involvement. The voices of young people, especially marginalized groups like children and people with disabilities, are essential in climate action.”
The perspective of young people should be integral to climate initiatives, he said, and added: “The second point concerns climate finance. The Secretary-General mentioned that funding is available, so I want to say that it should be accessible to all nations, especially the most vulnerable to climate change.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres meets with young climate and environmental activists at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Urban resilience, indigenous knowledge
Architect and urban planner HY William Chan, who is also the youngest-ever Lord Mayoral City Councilor from Sydney, Australia, also spoke with UN News, highlighting the role of cities on the front lines of climate change.
“The UN Secretary-General’s remarks resonated with me, particularly since Australia has a deep Indigenous history that emphasizes a harmonious relationship with the environment,” he said.
“The Secretary-General also emphasized the need for global reform, which our generation has long called for,” Mr. Chan added. “Current governance systems are failing us, especially the vulnerable communities and developing nations on the front lines of the climate emergency. He reinforced the need for a more equitable approach to development and financing – one that ensures resources and policies are accessible and responsive to the most affected communities, including small island states, particularly in my backyard, the Pacific.”
According to Mr. Chan, young people should be decision-makers, not just participants in the process. He emphasized that the Mr. Guterres’ words serve as a powerful reminder of the collective moral responsibility to pursue systemic change for the sake of future generations.
UN Video | ‘You Can Count On Me’ UN Secretary-General Tells Youth Climate Activists at COP29
‘I count on you, you can count on me’
In a follow-up message to young people, the UN chief urged: “I ask you to be even more determined and imaginative in keeping up the pressure for climate action. We need a strong youth movement – now more than ever.”
The UN Secretary-General reaffirmed his commitment to supporting young climate advocates, calling the climate crisis “the most important battle of our time” and insisting, “we must win.”
“I count on you, and you can count on me,” he concluded.
Want to know more? Check out our special events page, where you can find all our coverage of COP29, including stories and videos, explainers and our newsletter.
An HRC grant of $1.4m will support research into a promising new oral medicine for childhood wheeze.
A Health Research Council grant of $1.4m will support research into a promising new oral medicine for childhood wheeze, a condition that sees more than 3,000 preschoolers admitted to hospitals in New Zealand each year.
Of children hospitalised with preschool wheeze, one-in-five will return to hospital within the next year for the same condition, typified by a shrill, coarse whistling or rattling sound when the child tries to breathe.
“Childhood wheeze is a disease for which our current treatments are not very effective,” says paediatrician and researcher at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland Professor Cameron Grant, also head of the Department of Paediatrics, Child, and Youth Health.
The research project is called ‘Assessing the Reduction of Recurrent admissions using OM-85 for the treatment of preschool Wheeze’, or ‘ARROW’.
Grant is co-leading the New Zealand arm of the Australasian project with nurse researcher Marisa van Arragon, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Paediatrics at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.
The trial of OM-85 will involve more than 1,000 children under five who have repeatedly visited a hospital in New Zealand or Australia with childhood wheeze, a condition where airways are partially blocked, usually triggered by a cold, flu, RSV, or other viruses.
“We treat childhood wheeze in preschool aged children with asthma medicines, even though the pathophysiology is different from asthma,” Grant says.
“Plus, asthma medicines have limitations, including environmental harms and side effects, which are particularly concerning in younger children.”
The medicine being used in this study, OM-85, can be taken as a drink. OM-85 contains several killed respiratory bacteria, which prime the immune system to fight respiratory viruses.
The pressing issue Grant sees in his clinical work is a tendency for these children to make repeated visits to hospital with wheeze, creating enormous stress for families.
“Some of the children who are involved in the project have already had over 20 admissions to hospital,” Grant says.
Two pilot research projects show Māori and Pacific families are over-represented in children being re-admitted to hospital with wheeze.
An audit of visits to Waitakere Hospital in Auckland showed Māori children were twice as likely to be admitted with wheeze, and 30 percent of Māori children came back to hospital with wheeze compared with 16 percent of non-Māori.
An audit in Waikato Hospital of patients aged one to five years admitted to the emergency department with wheeze, showed the rate of re-admission was twice as high for Māori and Pacific compared with ‘European and other’.
Funding from Te Niwha in 2024enabled Grant and van Arragon to take the project into the community and to develop relationships with primary care practices, kōhanga reo, pharmacies, and other healthcare providers in Auckland and Waikato.
Grant says developing relationships within the community and with Māori whānau has been a project highlight.
The study also creates opportunities for nurses and emerging researchers. As an example of this, Claudia Reid, a Māori medical student at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, is doing a project interviewing wāhine Māori, whose children attend kōhanga reo in the Waikato, around access to care when their tamaiti has a respiratory illness.
The ARROW study started in 2022 in Australia and a little later in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
So far, more than half of the more than 160 children enrolled in the study in New Zealand are Māori or Pacific. In Australia and New Zealand, about 600 children have already been enrolled in the trial. The trial uses a randomised, placebo-controlled and double-blinded design.
In addition to preventing hospital admissions and other healthcare visits, the research team hopes that OM-85 will reduce antibiotic prescribing and the use of propellant inhalers, which are highly polluting.
“The molecules in the propellants used in inhalers are 3,000 times more globally warming than carbon dioxide,” Grant says.
“The World Health Organization says we must reduce the use of propellant inhalers, but young children can’t use the alternative dry-powder inhalers, because the technique required to use them is too complicated for young children.
“So, the only way to reduce the use of propellant inhalers in young children is to reduce the number of wheezing episodes they get, through interventions such as OM-85.”
Data from the study will be used to create a cost-benefit analysis which will be submitted to Pharmac as an evidence base for potentially funding the OM-85 treatment.
The ARROW research team includes research nurses from Starship, KidzFirst, Waitakere, Waikato and Tauranga involved in the project.
Grant and van Arragon say the nurses’ professionalism, passionate approach and whānau-centred care are driving this promising research towards making a difference for whānau suffering from the frightening condition of childhood wheeze.
Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, today welcomed the Permanent Representative of Cambodia to ASEAN, H.E. Ambassador Heng Sarith, for a meeting at the ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat. The meeting discussed preparations for the visit of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN, President of the Senate of the Kingdom of Cambodia, to the ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat in the first quarter of 2025 and it also provided an opportunity to reaffirm the strong partnership between ASEAN and Cambodia as well as to exchange views on regional priorities to advance ASEAN Community-building efforts.
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CHICAGO and SYDNEY, Feb. 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GTreasury, the pioneer and global leader in Digital Treasury Solutions for the Office of the CFO, today announced that its customer, The Arnott’s Group, has been named a Highly Commended Winner in Treasury Today’s 2024 Adam Smith Awards Asia. The annual industry benchmark for corporate treasury achievement honors the most innovative and transformative treasury initiatives across the Asia-Pacific region.
The Arnott’s Group—one of Australia’s most iconic food manufacturers, with a portfolio of beloved brands including Arnott’s, Tim Tam & Shapes, V8, Messy Monkeys, Freedom Cereals, and 180degrees—was honored in Treasury Today’s Best Cash Flow Forecasting Solution category.
“Our separation from Campbell’s presented us with an immediate need to build an independent, modern treasury function from the ground up,” said Joanne Parnell, Treasurer, The Arnott’s Group. “GTreasury’s cloud-based platform eliminated our reliance on manual Excel processes and automated our entire treasury operations, from cash forecasting to FX deal capture. The results continue to speak for themselves: we’ve cut payment preparation time by 30% and reduced our monthly close cycle by a full day. We’re honored that Treasury Today has recognized our treasury team’s work, and the transformative advantages we’ve achieved.”
Among The Arnott’s Group’s measurable improvements across its treasury operations since implementing GTreasury:
Reduced daily cash reconciliation and payment preparation time by 30% through automation
Transformed month-end closing from a 1.5-day process to just half a day
Shifted from monthly to daily journal preparation, with entries now completed within hours
Streamlined team onboarding and training through intuitive cloud-based workflows
The automated platform has also enhanced The Arnott’s Group’s strategic capabilities, enabling real-time visibility into cash positions and more sophisticated FX risk management. These improvements have freed up the treasury team to focus on strategic initiatives rather than manual processes.
“The Arnott’s Group treasury team, working in collaboration with HSBC Australia as an implementation partner, was able to transform their entire operation in just six months,” said Jason Baldree, Chief Customer Officer, GTreasury. “It’s a remarkable achievement that we’re proud to have played a role in. Their success sets a blueprint for treasury modernization in the Asia-Pacific region, and we congratulate the team on this well-deserved recognition.”
About GTreasury
GTreasury provides CFOs and Treasurers with The Clarity to Act on strategic financial decisions with the world’s most adaptable treasury platform, empowering them to face the challenges of today and tomorrow. Our industry leading solutions are purposefully designed to support every stage of treasury complexity, from Cash Visibility and Forecasting to Payments, Risk, Debt, and Investments. With GTreasury, financial leaders gain comprehensive connectivity across all banks and ERPs to build an orchestrated data environment, enabling rapid value realization with implementations up and running in weeks. Plus, our unmatched industry expertise ensures clients’ continued success through dedicated guidance and top-tier support. Trusted by over 1,000 customers across 160 countries, GTreasury provides treasury and finance teams with the ability to connect, compile, and manage mission-critical data to optimize cash flows and capital structures. To learn more, visit GTreasury.com.
GTreasury is headquartered in Chicago, with locations serving EMEA (Dublin and London) and APAC (Sydney, Singapore, and Manila).
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
HARBIN, Feb. 12 — Harbin Ice-Snow World, the world’s largest ice-and-snow theme park, has welcomed over 3 million visits as of Tuesday, setting a new attendance record just 52 days into its 26th edition, organizers announced.
Located in Harbin, the capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province and often referred to as the “city of ice,” this year’s park was built with 300,000 cubic meters of ice and snow and features elaborate ice structures inspired by the 9th Asian Winter Games, which Harbin is hosting.
Beyond its artistic ice sculptures, the park offers a range of interactive winter attractions, including a snowflake ice maze, ice rinks, and a massive ice slide complemented by over 20 smaller ones.
“It’s freezing, but absolutely stunning! During the day, the ice sculptures glisten like crystals, and at night, dazzling lights transform the park into a winter wonderland,” said Mandizvidza Shalom Zivo, a visitor from Zimbabwe.
The park covers 1 million square meters, up from 800,000 square meters last year. This is the largest in its 26-year history.
As an established ice-and-snow theme park, Harbin Ice-Snow World stands out as one of China’s iconic winter attractions. It surged in popularity on Chinese social media last winter, becoming an internet sensation as passion for winter sports and tourism continues to rise across the country.
“Through this park, we aim to enhance the global reputation of Heilongjiang and Harbin as premier winter destinations,” said Sun Zemin, deputy director of the marketing department at Harbin Ice-Snow World Park Co., Ltd.
With its booming ice-and-snow tourism, northeast China has gained fresh appeal. Once known as the country’s rustbelt, the region has long struggled with a painful economic transition and talent outflows.
China aims to boost its ice-and-snow economy as a new source of growth, targeting an economic scale of 1.2 trillion yuan (about 167.34 billion U.S. dollars) by 2027 and 1.5 trillion yuan by 2030, according to guidelines released by the State Council last year.
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
Three capital projects received awards at the International Exhibition of Intellectual Property, Inventions, Innovations and Technologies IPITEX 2025, which was held in Bangkok. This was reported by Maria Bagreeva, Deputy Mayor of Moscow, Head of the Department of Economic Policy and City Development.
The gold medal in the category “Construction, civil engineering and architecture” was won by the collection of standards for assessing the costs of operating urban facilities (SN-2012). The organizers also awarded it a special prize for the high level of the product.
The electronic robotic system “Risk-Based Approach to Execution of Government Contracts” won the gold medal in the category “Robotics, Electronics, Automation, Internet of Things and Software”. In addition, the project was awarded a special prize by the Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA) as the best innovative IT development.
The investment program registry won a silver medal in the category “Environmental protection, energy, water supply, green technologies”. In addition, it was awarded a diploma by the World Association of Women Inventors and Entrepreneurs as the best development.
“The digital technologies that Moscow is implementing to improve the quality of life of the population and improve the business climate of the Russian capital are receiving recognition from the expert community at the international level. The SN-2012 collection contains prices for all types of work and services for the maintenance and repair of schools, clinics, parks, roads, bridges and other city facilities. This information helps the city avoid unjustified costs and provides businesses with equal conditions for participation in government procurement,” noted Maria Bagreeva.
She also emphasized that the robotic system “Risk-oriented approach to the execution of state contracts” allows organizations to control the timely payment of contracts and reduces the time for auditing subordinate institutions. The register of investment programs, in turn, simplifies the interaction between project initiators and potential investors, which accelerates the implementation of significant city initiatives.
In 2024, the main IPITEX awards were given to the Unified Data Warehouse database, as well as the digital mechanism for forming purchases in the healthcare system within the Expertise platform. The model for predicting citizens’ fees in the Tariff information and analytical system won a bronze medal.
The International Exhibition of Intellectual Property, Inventions, Innovations and Technologies IPITEX has been held in Bangkok since 1995 under the auspices of the National Research Council under the patronage of the King of Thailand and the International Federation of Inventors Associations. In 2025, 680 developers from 22 countries took part in it.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect
A new draft finance deal delivered to harried negotiators in Baku on Friday – the final scheduled day for the UN climate talks that have been under way for the past two weeks – proposes rich countries commit $250 billion a year to help vulnerable nations cope with our warming planet and to accelerate the global switch to renewable energy.
The new draft outcome text, which will surely push this round of talks into the weekend, called for the overall climate financing goal to reach “at least $1.3 trillion by 2035”, but left out specifics – grants, loans, or from the private sector – on how these funds will be raised.
Delegations in Baku are expected to keep negotiating on several key issues:
Specifics about the role of developed countries in providing this new finance.
A global goal on a just transition.
Clear way forward on both adaptation and mitigation.
The conference plenary is expected to reconvene on Saturday to work towards a final agreement.
‘A slap in the face’
Civil society climate and environment advocates were quick to react to this latest draft.
Some expressed their anger and disappointment at the draft by taping pieces of paper on their faces or foreheads with “Pay up!” written on them.
Kelly Stone from ActionAid International Foundation explained to UN News, “I am wearing this because we are calling on Global North countries to pay up for climate finance and the debt they owe to the Global South.”
Namrata Chowdhary from the 350.org, an international environmental organization, stated: “I can say it is disappointing [at] the very least.”
“It is a slap. It is an insult. It is shocking that we are at this state now. The rich countries are basically gambling with the lives of people in the developing nations and small islands,” she said.
Lidy Nacpil from Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development also expressed her disappointment. She also pointed out that “climate finance should not come in the form of loans because this will add to the debt burden”.
“One of the issues that is preventing the Global South from undertaking urgent climate actions and also from providing our people with the essential services we need is the debt burden,” she told UN News.
Jacobo Ocharan of Climate Action Network International said: “We urge all developing countries to have the courage in the negotiations to keep pushing, because this deal is terrible. We keep pushing on the idea that no deal is better than a bad deal.”
UNFCCC/Kiara Worth
Negotiating teams at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, pictured here during a break in the talks, are working to reach agreement on a new climate financing deal.
What’s at stake
COP29, formally the 29th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has been dubbed, the ‘climate finance COP’ because parties are expected to establish a new global climate finance target.
This target, or new collective quantified goal (NCQG), is seen as one of the summit’s main deliverables. It will replace the existing $100 billion goal that is due to expire in 2025.
Climate experts have pegged the new annual funding goal at between $1 trillion and $1.3 trillion, which would assist vulnerable nations to deal with loss and damage from climate change and to adapt to that change, including building out their own clean-energy systems.
Last week, in a move to support a new funding target, the World Bank Group and other multilateral development banks announced a significant boost in climate finance for low- and middle- income countries. This would reach $120 billion a year by 2030 with another $65 billion mobilised from the private sector, and a natural projection that would increase these values for 2035.
A significant breakthrough on the opening day at COP29 was the adoption of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, paving the way for a UN-backed global carbon market. This market will facilitate the trading of carbon credits, incentivizing countries to reduce emissions and invest in climate-friendly projects.
Want to know more? Check out our special events page, where you can find all our coverage of COP29, including stories and videos, explainers and our newsletter.
Source: Australia Government Statements – Agriculture
12 February 2025
Who does this notice affect?
Stakeholders in the import and shipping industries—including vessel masters, freight forwarders, offshore treatment providers, Biosecurity Industry Participants, importers, customs brokers, principal agents and master consolidators.
What has changed?
Following identification of critical non-compliance, we have suspended Inavab Fumigation & Pest Ctrl Mgt Pte Ltd (AEI: SG4003SB) from AusTreat.
Pretty big announcement from the federal government today. They’re going to let the banks, when they lend you money for a mortgage, they can relax the rules when it comes to the debt you owe for your university degree. So, you might say, woohoo, fantastic. You can borrow more or borrow sooner. Is it financially smart? Andrew Leigh joins us. He speaks for the Albanese government on this.
Andrew is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment. Andrew Leigh, good morning.
Andrew Leigh:
Good morning, Raf. Great to be with you.
Epstein:
Is it a good idea?
Leigh:
Certainly is. We need to make sure that more Australians get into housing and to the extent that lenders have been taking into account your HECS debt, that can sometimes hold young people back from home ownership. And the fact is HECS is not a debt like any other, it’s a debt whose repayments stop if you lose your job. It’s proportional to your income. It is a repayment that occurs through an income contingent loan. And so, taking that off the table when lenders are considering how to allocate funding and who to lend to is really important in terms of boosting home ownership rates.
Epstein:
So, I understand that it’ll allow more people to buy a home. That’s a good thing. I’m just not sure if it’s a smart thing financially. I mean, if I’m earning say $80 grand, I still have to, I’ve got to pay that HECS debt. So, if interest rates go up suddenly, it is an extra cost that I have to pay. Why should the banks not take that into consideration?
Leigh:
Well, the first thing to say, we’re reducing those HECS debts. A re‑elected Albanese government would cut all the HECS debts by 20 per cent. We’ve already changed indexation so that that’s operating off the lesser of wages or inflation and backdated that over a year, saving hundreds of dollars for the typical HECS debtor.
But more broadly to your question, Raf, this is an appropriate way of recognising that an income contingent loan isn’t like having a car loan, for example. It’s a fundamentally different kind of loan and we want to make sure that people don’t have to choose between getting an education or getting a house, that both of those are easily open to young Australians.
Epstein:
A slightly different issue. I know your time is short because parliament is sitting. Free trade is clearly something that Donald Trump supporters don’t like. And I think it’s worth noting the US Presidents kind of almost torn up the free trade agreement between America and Australia by even talking about tariffs. But is free trade, is it actually fair? Is it effective? Does it actually help all of us?
Leigh:
Well, Raf, the way I think about trade is it’s another form of comparative advantage. Just as most of us don’t fix our own car or cut our own hair or make our own wine, so too countries tend to specialise in what they do best. And this isn’t a zero‑sum game. Trade isn’t like the Eurovision Song Contest or the Olympics. Trade is a way in which each of us can benefit from specialising in what we do best. And just as your hairdresser doesn’t defeat you when you get a haircut, Japan doesn’t defeat you when you buy a Honda.
That is an example of comparative advantage in action. And Australia, with 0.3 per cent of the global population, benefits enormously from open markets. The tariff liberalisation in Australia saved the typical Australian household around $4,000 a year. And my party, the Labor Party, was in the thick of that with Whitlam, Hawke and Keating spearheading significant tariff cuts. So, of course we’ve been strong advocates of open markets on the global stage.
The conversation between Prime Minister Albanese and President Trump went well and the Americans are considering our request for an exemption.
Epstein:
I just wanted to give you one example. There’s a window maker in Melbourne called Oceania Glass in Dandenong. They’ve got 260 employees. Their problem, they say, is the dumping of cheap windows from Thailand. I did go on the default website.
We’ve had a free trade agreement with Thailand for 20 years, so we get lots of tariff‑free cars, trucks and air conditioners. So, that’s the good part of free trade with Thailand. The bad part of free trade with Thailand is they can sell really cheap windows.
And we’re going to lose our only domestic architectural window maker. Is that just a sort of a cost we have to put up with, so we get cheap air conditioners? Is that the trade off?
Leigh:
Well, the Australian Government takes anti‑dumping very seriously. Dumping is where an overseas exporter aims to drive down the price, temporarily knock out the local producers and then spike the price back up again. So, ultimately consumers suffer.
What we’ve seen over the course of, of the last couple of decades, Raf, is Australian manufacturers increasingly moving into higher and higher and more advanced manufacturing, more value added. We don’t produce kids’ pyjamas anymore, but we do well in high‑end fashion.
Epstein:
But we’re not going to have anybody making windows for houses at all in the country. Is that a cost? Are we just happy to lose that because we’re moving into more advanced manufacturing?
Leigh:
Not at all. The government strongly committed to advanced manufacturing and strongly committed to working with our manufacturing sector. We’re investing in the skills that are available. The Future Made in Australia plan provides resources to encourage a strong Australian manufacturing sector. But the trend throughout the advanced world is for manufacturers to steadily move up and up the value chain.
That means better jobs for the people working in those sectors, and it means more earnings for the firms in those sectors. So, I think there are great opportunities for Australian manufacturers to increasingly capture that high advanced manufacturing sector.
Epstein:
I appreciate your time this morning. Andrew Leigh, thank you.
Leigh:
Always a pleasure to chat, Raf.
Epstein:
Part of the Anthony Albanese Labor government. Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment.
A southern suburbs man faced court today charged with weapons and child sex offences after police searched his home yesterday.
Detectives from the SA Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (SA JACET), a partnership between SAPOL’s Public Protection Branch and the Australian Federal Police, arrested the 36-year-old man yesterday morning, Tuesday 11 February. It will be alleged that, acting on information received, police attended the man’s address and conducted a search. Digital evidence experts from SAPOL commenced a forensic review of electronic devices belonging to the man and he was subsequently charged with possession of child exploitation material offences. The search also uncovered two gel blasters, a crossbow, a slingshot, various knives and machetes and a ballistic vest. He was further charged with firearms (gel blaster) offences, possess prohibited weapon and possess body armour. He was refused police bail and appeared in the Christies Beach Magistrates Court today, Wednesday 12 February. Digital evidence specialists continue to analyse the electronic devices and further charges may result. Police remind the public that child exploitation material are not just images on a screen. Every image and every second of a video are a real child being abused and being subjected to a situation that no child should ever experience. Anyone with information about people involved in child abuse and exploitation are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online at www.crimestopperssa.com.au CO2500006115, CO2500006146
Issued for Mount Torrens, Charleston, and Woodside in the Adelaide Hills.
Mount Torrens Fire
The CFS is responding to a grass fire south of Mount Torrens in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia.
CFS volunteers, alongside Farm Fire Units and National Parks and Wildlife Service SA, are currently working on the fireground supported by aircraft, including firebombers and observational aircraft.
Smoke may be visible in the area for some time, and visibility may be reduced. To ensure your safety and that of firefighters and other emergency personnel who are working in the area, please do not enter the area unless necessary.
The Government announced that it has received a report and supplementary information submitted by Greater Bay Airlines (GBA) to the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) in relation to the cancellation of a number of flights in February and March.
The report revealed that the main causes of the failure in flight scheduling were due to a lack of internal communication and co-operation from customer service operations.
Also in the report, GBA indicated that it has conducted an in-depth review and taken necessary measures to contact all of the some-5,000 affected passengers and properly provide them with alternatives, including ticket refunds and transfers to alternative flights.
In addition, GBA reassured passengers that it is committed to providing them with stable and reliable services, and ensuring that similar incidents would not occur again in future.
The report proposed a number of improvement measures, including strengthening internal management procedures for flight scheduling arrangements, enhancing internal communication on changes to flight schedules and destinations, ensuring fleet and manpower stability and reliability, and enhancing customer service’s ability to cope with unforeseen incidents.
The Government noted that the Transport & Logistics Bureau and the CAD will closely follow up on the implementation progress of the various improvement measures proposed, with a view to preventing the recurrence of similar incidents.
The Government will also maintain close communication with GBA on its aviation network development, fleet and manpower situation, ensuring steady and orderly growth of local airlines while optimising the use of civil aviation resources.
As requested by the Government, GBA submitted the report and supplementary information on January 29 and February 7 respectively.
WithSecure Corporation, Financial Statement Release 1 January – 31 December 2024, 12 February 2025 at 8.00 EET
WithSecure Financial Statement Release 1 January – 31 December 2024: Strong growth in Cloud Protection for Salesforce, improving profitability and cash flow, divestment of Cyber security consulting
Highlights of October – December 2024 (“fourth quarter”)
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)1 for Elements Cloud products and services2 increased by 6% to EUR 83.3 million (EUR 78.4 million)
Elements Cloud ARR increase from previous quarter was 2%
Net Revenue Retention for Elements Cloud was 99%
Revenue for Elements Cloud increased by 9% to EUR 21.5 million (EUR 19.7 million)
ARR for Cloud Protection for Salesforce increased by 52% to EUR 12.8 million (EUR 8.4 million)
Cyber security consulting revenue declined by 15% to EUR 8.6 million (EUR 10.2 million). Cyber security consulting divestment agreement was signed in January 2025. Business is reported as Discontinued operations. A goodwill impairment of EUR 13 million was recognized in the fourth quarter to reflect the impact of the divestment
Adjusted EBITDA (Continuing and discontinued operations) for WithSecure was EUR 2.4 million (EUR 0.2 million)
Operative cash flow of the fourth quarter was EUR 7.7million (EUR 2.7 million)
Annual recurring revenue (ARR) of cloud products is calculated by multiplying monthly recurring revenue of last month of quarter by twelve. Monthly recurring revenue includes recognized revenue within the month excluding non-recurring revenue
Elements Cloud includes Elements Cloud portfolio software and services as well as the managed services
Highlights of January – December 2024
Revenue for Elements Cloud products and services increased by 9% to EUR 83.3 million (EUR 76.1 million)
CPSF revenue increased by 14% to EUR 9.4 million (EUR 8.3 million)
Cyber security consulting revenue declined by 3% to EUR 32.3 million (EUR 33.4 million)
Adjusted EBITDA (Continuing and discontinued operations) for WithSecure was EUR 3.1 million (EUR -16.1 million)
Outlook for 2025
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) for Elements Cloud products and services will grow by 10-20% from the end of 2024. At the end of 2024, Elements Cloud ARR was EUR 83.3 million.
Elements Company segment’s Adjusted EBITDA will be 3-7% of revenue.
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) for Cloud Protection for Salesforce (CPSF) will grow by 20-35% from the end of 2024. At the end of 2024, CPSF ARR was EUR 12.8 million.
Cyber security consulting business will be divested in 2025. Elements company and CPSF will have their own guidance going forward. Both are recurring, subscription-based businesses, which is reflected in the new guidance.
Medium-term financial target (for Elements Company segment)
Over the next three years (2025-2027), WithSecure will become a “Rule of 30+” company.
The components of the target are
Annual revenue growth as percentage
Adjusted EBITDA as percentage of revenue
WithSecure is targeting to reach a sum of the components that exceeds 30.
Figures in this release are unaudited. Figures in brackets refer to the corresponding period in the previous year, unless otherwise stated. Percentages and figures presented may include rounding differences and might therefore not add up precisely to the totals presented.
CEO Antti Koskela
In the last quarter of 2024, WithSecure Elements Cloud ARR grew by 6% from previous year to EUR 83.3 million (EUR 78.4 million). Elements Cloud revenue grew by 9% to EUR 21.5 million (EUR 19.7 million). Cloud Protection for Salesforce, reported as a separate segment, performance was strong, ARR grew by 52% to EUR 12.8 million (EUR 8.4 million).
In the Elements Company, Elements software continued to perform with a strong year-on-year growth. In the Managed services and Co-security, revenue declined slightly from the fourth quarter of 2023, due to the customer churns reported in the quarter and earlier in 2024. Of the geographic regions, Elements Cloud ARR and revenue decreased slightly in UK and North America, mainly impacted by the Managed services customer churns during the year 2024. In all other regions, a steady growth of cloud ARR and revenue continued. December revenue includes a higher than customary volume of discounts, timing of which is partly dependent on the customers. Due to the timing issues, the Cloud ARR growth was negatively impacted by approximately 3 percentage points. Our intention is to review and improve the recognition process to avoid ARR volatility caused by timing in the future.
In January 2025, our Elements Identity Security reached General Availability. It will increase protection of the users from business email compromise attacks and provide easy-to-use identity response features. Two significant product recognitions were received at the end of 2024. We were identified as one of 15 global vendors in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Endpoint Protection Platforms3, recognising our ability to execute and completeness of vision. In the 2024 MITRE ATT&CK® Evaluations, our Endpoint Detection and Response solution set new standards for detection-to-alert ratios, reinforcing our position as a European mid-market leader in cyber security.
Elements Company Adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter was EUR 1.5 million (EUR -1.0 million). Full WithSecure Adjusted EBITDA of EUR 2.4 million (EUR 0.2 million) in the fourth quarter shows that our continuous work on improving profitability is giving results despite some lower revenue in 2024 than planned.
In Cloud Protection for Salesforce (CPSF), systematic efforts in the past year to improve sales efficiency are generating strong results. ARR grew by 52% year-on-year to EUR 12.8 million (EUR 8.4 million). The growth is driven by both new customers and expansions to existing customers, while the customer churn remained at a controlled level. We continue to develop the CPSF as an independent business inside WithSecure, while keeping the strategic review options open.
On 23 January 2025, we signed an agreement intending to divest our Cyber security consulting business to Neqst, a Swedish investment firm focusing exclusively on technology and technology-enabled companies. In the segment reporting, consulting is presented according to the previously applied calculation principles. In other parts of the financial reporting, consulting result is included in the result of discontinued operations. Cyber security consulting revenue declined by 15% to EUR 8.6 million (EUR 10.2 million). Adjusted EBITDA of the fourth quarter was EUR 0.9 million (EUR 2.0 million).
After reaching some important milestones during the year, we are confidently heading for a new year of profitable growth. I would like to thank WithSecure personnel, partners, customers and other stakeholders for their great collaboration in the past year and going forward.
Financial performance
(mEUR)
10-12/2024
10-12/2023
Change %
1-12/2024
1-12/2023
Change %
Continuing operations
Revenue
29.9
28.0
7%
116.0
109.9
6%
Cost of revenue
-5.9
-5.7
3%
-23.4
-23.1
1%
Gross Margin
24.0
22.3
8%
92.6
86.8
7%
% of revenue
80.4 %
79.7 %
79.8 %
79.0 %
Other income, adjusted1
0.4
0.4
11%
2.0
1.4
41%
Operating expenses1
-23.0
-24.3
-5%
-92.6
-103.1
-10%
Sales & Marketing
-12.2
-13.1
-7%
-47.9
-57.2
-16%
Research & Development
-8.5
-8.8
-3%
-35.0
-36.3
-4%
Administration
-2.3
-2.4
-5%
-9.7
-9.5
2%
Adjusted EBITDA2
1.4
-1.6
188%
2.0
-14.8
113%
% of revenue
4.7 %
-5.7 %
1.7 %
-13.5 %
Items affecting comparability (IAC)
Other items
0.0
-1.0
99%
-1.0
-1.4
33%
Divestments
0.1
0.0
0%
1.2
1.4
10%
Restructuring
-0.1
-4.5
99%
-1.1
-8.9
87%
Costs under TSA
0.0
-1.4
100%
0.0
-6.9
100%
Income for costs under TSA
0.0
1.4
100%
0.0
6.9
100%
EBITDA
1.4
-7.2
120%
1.1
-23.8
105%
% of revenue
4.7 %
-25.6 %
1.0 %
-21.6 %
Depreciation & amortization, excluding PPA3
-2.0
-2.5
-19%
-9.0
-9.5
-6%
PPA amortization
-0.5
-0.6
-17%
-2.2
-2.4
-7%
EBIT
-1.1
-10.2
89%
-10.1
-35.7
72%
% of revenue
-3.7 %
-36.6 %
-8.7 %
-32.5 %
Adjusted EBIT2
-0.6
-4.1
85%
-7.0
-24.3
71%
% of revenue
-2.0 %
-14.5 %
-6.0 %
-22.1 %
Discontinued operations
Revenue
8.3
10.0
-17%
31.4
32.9
-5%
Adjusted EBITDA2
1.0
1.8
-45%
1.1
-1.3
187%
% of revenue
12.0 %
18.1 %
3.6 %
-4.0 %
Items affecting comparability (IAC)
Divestments
1.1
1.1
EBIT
-13.6
1.6
-927%
-29.3
-8.2
-258%
% of revenue
-164.1 %
16.5 %
-93.6 %
-24.9 %
Combined operations
Revenue
38.1
38.0
0%
147.4
142.8
3%
Adjusted EBITDA2
2.4
0.2
1070%
3.1
-16.1
119%
% of revenue
6.3 %
0.5 %
2.1 %
-11.3 %
Earnings per share, (EUR)4
-0.08
-0.07
-25%
-0.22
-0.23
5%
Deferred revenue
67.7
66.9
1%
Cash flow from operations before financial items and taxes
7.7
2.7
191%
2.1
-19.9
110%
Cash and cash equivalents
27.3
36.6
-25%
ROI, %
-52.3 %
-27.5 %
-90%
-34.1 %
-30.5 %
-12%
Equity ratio, %
59.1 %
73.3 %
-19%
Gearing, %
0.4 %
-22.2 %
102%
Personnel, end of period
961
1,087
-12%
1. Excluding Items Affecting Comparability (IAC) and depreciation and amortization. In 2023 excludes also costs of services provided to F-Secure under TSA and equivalent income charged for TSA services.
2. Adjustments are material items outside the normal course of business associated with acquisitions, integration, restructuring, gains or losses from sales of businesses and other items affecting comparability. For reconciliation and a breakdown of adjusted costs, see Note 6 (Reconciliation of alternative performance measures)
3. Amortization of intangible assets from business combinations (PPA, purchase price allocation, related amortizations).
4. Based on the weighted average number of outstanding shares during the period 175 986 422 (1-12/2024).
Events after period-end After the end of the financial year, on 23 January 2025, WithSecure announced the sale of its Cyber security consulting business to Swedish investment firm Neqst. The transaction is executed by the sale of shares of the parent company of a to-be-established WithSecure cyber security consulting group, to which the consulting business will be transferred prior to the completion of the transaction. As a result of the agreement, total of approximately 250 employees located in Finland, UK, Sweden, Denmark, Singapore, Italy, and US are expected to transfer to the buyer.
Additional information This is a summary of WithSecure’s Financial Statement Release 1 January – 31 December 2024. The full report is a PDF file attached to this stock exchange release. Full report is also available on the company website.
Webcast WithSecure’s CEO Antti Koskela and CFO Tom Jansson will present the results in a webcast on 12 February starting at 14.00 EET. The webcast will be held in English and can be accessed at
Questions in written format are requested in the webcast portal. Presentation material and the webcast recording will be available on the company website
Financial calendar During the year 2025, WithSecure Corporation will publish financial information as follows:
25 April 2025: Interim Report for January–March 2025
16 July 2025: Half-Year Report for January–June 2025
22 October 2025: Interim Report for January–September 2025
WithSecure observes at least a three-week (21 days) silent period prior to publication of financial reports, during which it refrains from engaging in discussions with capital market representatives or the media regarding WithSecure’s financial position or the factors affecting it.
The Annual General Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 18 March 2025. The Board of Directors will convene the meeting.
Contact information Tom Jansson, CFO WithSecure Corporation
Laura Viita VP, Controlling, investor relations and sustainability WithSecure Corporation +358 50 487 1044 investor-relations@withsecure.com
Ageing is a normal part of the life course. It doesn’t matter how many green smoothies you drink, or how many “anti-ageing” skin care products you use, you can’t stop the ageing process.
But while we’re all getting older, not everyone who ages will necessarily become frail. Ageing and frailty are closely related, but they’re not the same thing.
But what is it about ageing we are so afraid of? When it comes down to it, many people are probably less afraid of ageing, and more afraid of becoming frail.
Frailty is defined as a state of vulnerability characterised by a loss of reserve across multiple parts of the body.
Frailty is generally characterised by several physical symptoms, such as weakness, slow walking speed, exhaustion, unintentional weight loss, and low activity level.
Notably, someone who is frail is less able to “bounce back” (or recover) after a stressor event compared to someone who is not frail. A stressor event could be, for example, having a fall, getting a urinary infection, or even being admitted to hospital.
Frailty is more common in older people. But in some cases, frailty can affect younger people too. For example, people with advanced chronic diseases, such as heart failure, can develop frailty much younger.
Frailty is dynamic. While it can get worse over time, in some cases frailty can also be reversed or even prevented through health and lifestyle changes.
Exercise more, including resistance training (such as squats and lunges, or grab some stretchy resistance bands). Many of these sorts of exercises can be done at home. YouTube has some great resources.
You might also consider joining a gym, or asking your GP about seeing an accredited exercise physiologist or physiotherapist. Medicare subsidies may be available for these specialists.
The physical activity guidelines for older Australians recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on most days or preferably every day.
The guidelines also highlight the importance of incorporating different types of activities (such as resistance, balance or flexibility exercises) and reducing the time you spend sitting down.
2. Stay socially active
Social isolation and loneliness can contribute to the progression of frailty. Reach out to friends and family for support or contact local community groups that you may be able to join. This might include your local Zumba class or bridge club.
3. Ask your doctor or pharmacist to regularly check your medications
Always consult your doctor before making any changes to your current medications.
4. Eat a protein-rich diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables
Low nutrient intake can negatively impact physical function and may increase your risk of becoming frail. There’s some evidence to suggest eating more protein may delay the onset of frailty.
A food-first approach is best when looking to increase the protein in your diet. Protein is found in foods such as lean meats, poultry, seafood, eggs, dairy products, legumes and nuts.
Adults over 50 should aim to eat 64 grams of protein per day for men and 46g per day for women. Adults over 70 should aim for 81g per day for men and 57g per day for women.
Ask your GP for a referral to a dietitian who can provide advice on a dietary regime that is best for you.
Supplements may be recommended if you are struggling to meet your protein needs from diet alone.
Dr Julee McDonagh receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the NSW Office of Health and Medical Research. She is also a member of the executive committee of the Cardiovascular Nursing Council of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand and the Emerging Leaders Committee of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance.
Professor Caleb Ferguson receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Medical Research Future Fund, Heart Foundation (Australia) and Stroke Foundation (Australia). He is a Board Director of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand and Chair of the Cardiovascular Nursing Council. He is Associate Editor for European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing and Heart Lung and Circulation. He was a co-author of the Australian Heart Foundation & Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand clinical guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation. He is co-leads the Western Sydney Clinical Frailty Registry, a clinical quality registry of older adults.
With the election only months away, the Labor government finds itself suddenly battling with the Trump administration for an exemption from new US tariffs on steel and aluminium.
The opposition has supported the effort, but it also claims a Coalition government would be better place to deal with Donald Trump.
Joining us on this podcast, Nationals leader David Littleproud says if Labor fails to get an exemption on the tariffs, a Dutton government would try again:
Of course we will and I think that the relationship that Peter Dutton had and still has in Washington will play very much towards that. In fact, I was in Washington with Peter in July last year and so he can walk the halls of Washington with authority and confidence. And I think it’s important that we want this solved and it doesn’t matter who’s in power. This is team Australia, and we’ve got to have a bipartisan approach and I think Pete has shown that leadership.
On net zero, while Littleproud firmly backs the target as in Australai’s national interest, he also says if the world walked away from it, so would we.
What everyone’s trying to do is protect regional Australia. But, just so everyone appreciates, if we’re not signed up to net zero by 2050, the people are hurt the most are the people in regional Australia, our farmers and our miners, because if we don’t sign up to what the rest of the world has, the world gets to impose on us a border adjustment mechanism. That’s a tariff and that means we get less for what we produce in regional Australia.
Now if the world changes and walks away from net zero, then we walk away with it. But we’re not the United States, we’re not the biggest economy in the world. You got to understand your place in the world, and you’ve got to understand the unintended consequences.
The government this week announced it would be willing to take over Rex Airlines if it can’t be sold. Littleproud is sceptical:
Well, I think we’ve spent over $130 million of Australian taxpayer’s money and don’t have a lot to show for it. I think what we’ve got to also look at is that Rex was a viable regional airline before they had a dalliance into competing with Qantas and Virgin in the golden triangle between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. They couldn’t compete and instead of spending money on that, they should have upgraded their fleet.
The government has wasted enough time. They should open up conversation with the broader regional aviation sector, which they haven’t done, to find a solution, whether that be one in totality of a purchaser for Rex or whether that be a carve out of players and with policy levers is being pulled, rather than the Australian taxpayer having to cut the check in entirety. So I think we haven’t exhausted all the options.
On the coming election campaign, Littleproud stresses the closeness between the Nationals and the Liberals, rather than seeking to emphasise a separate Nationals’ pitch.
Peter and I, I think, have the tightest coalition that we’ve ever had. There’s not a piece of paper between us. We’re literally joined at the hip and our campaigns will complement one another and in fact, they’ll intertwine in many places. I think that’s important that the people of Australia understand that the only coalition that they can trust to form government is the Nationals and Liberals, not Labor, Greens and teals – that that is the only coalition that’ll give them stability, not chaos.
Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: United States Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV)
Watch Senator Rosen’s Full Remarks HERE.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) spoke on the Senate floor to oppose the confirmation of Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. In her remarks, Senator Rosen emphasized Gabbard’s lack of qualifications to lead the U.S. Intelligence Community. She also voiced her serious concerns about Gabbard’s connections to America’s adversaries, including Vladimir Putin and other brutal dictators.
Below are excerpts of Senator Rosen’s floor remarks:
Every member of this body is sworn to protect our national security and safety and the well-being of the American people. There is no more important responsibility for Congress to fulfill than this.
Senators take an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
And when the American people go to sleep at night, they rest assured that our homeland will be kept safe.
[…]
At a time of rising global threats, having Tulsi Gabbard serving in this role would make America less safe. And I want to say that again – would make us less safe. Full stop.
Our allies are dumbfounded, and our adversaries, well, in Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, and all over the world – they’re laughing at us.
They’re laughing at the idea that the United States of America would weaken its national security by placing someone so deeply unqualified in such a critical role for our safety, for our security.
Our adversaries, well, they are overjoyed that they’re going to have an ally leading the American Intelligence Community.
And my concerns, they’re not political. After all, Ms. Gabbard and I used to serve in Congress together in the same caucus when she represented a district from Hawaii as a Democrat.
My concerns are that she not only lacks the qualifications needed, but that she has also peddled talking points straight from the Kremlin.
Think about it. Tulsi Gabbard has never worked in intelligence before. As a member of the House of Representatives, she didn’t even serve on the House Intelligence Committee.
During her time in the House, Ms. Gabbard actually voted against – she voted against – critical national security-related legislation, like increased funding for preventing terrorism in high-density, high-threat level urban areas like my city of Las Vegas. She voted against all of that security for Nevada.
This funding was actually pursued by former Nevada congressman Joe Heck, who’s a Republican, and it’s something I’ve continued working to secure in the Senate.
And yet, Tulsi Gabbard, she voted against [the] bipartisan proposal to protect our cities from terrorism.
And she was the only member of [the] House Armed Services Committee to vote against the National Defense Authorization Act every year during markup.
As concerning as her lack of experience and tendency to vote against our security is, Ms. Gabbard’s history of cozying up to America’s adversaries is far, far more troubling.
Her actions and words suggest that she has been directly influenced by foreign propaganda, whether that comes from Russia, from Syria, or other brutal dictatorships.
[…]
Just look at her justification of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, which she did not blame [on] Vladimir Putin, who, let’s be clear, is entirely responsible for the invasion.
Instead, Ms. Gabbard has parroted Putin’s talking points and placed blame on the United States and on NATO for Russia’s vile assault upon the Ukrainian people.
We can also look at her attempts to give cover to Syria’s former dictator Bashar Al Assad, who used chemical weapons on his own people, killing kids, killing babies – killing babies in his own attempt to hold onto power.
Ms. Gabbard even went to Syria to buddy up with Assad and then came back to the U.S. to defend his killing of innocent men, women, and children. Those babies he killed to hang onto power.
It’s sickening actually.
It’s a betrayal of our country’s values.
Time and time again, Ms. Gabbard has rejected the findings and conclusions of our own intelligence officials, and has instead chosen to, well, cozy up to dictators and our adversaries.
[…]
I urge my colleagues to review Ms. Gabbard’s recent hearing before the Senate […] Select Committee on Intelligence. In response to almost every question, Tulsi Gabbard avoided providing any real answer. Whether it came from a Democrat or a Republican, she simply dodged the questions over and over and over.
And that’s not leadership; this is not an example of someone who is qualified; and this is not a candidate who will keep America safe.
I urge my Republican colleagues to join me in listening to common sense, to thinking about our men and women who serve, to think about folks around the globe, to think about everyone here in America to reject this clearly unqualified and dangerous nominee.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Let’s have President Trump nominate someone else who we can agree is qualified for this critical and consequential role who has our nation’s best interests in their heart.
Tulsi Gabbard is not that person.
The safety and well-being of our country depend on having a qualified nominee.
Again, I urge my Republican [colleagues] to join us, to reject Tulsi Gabbard and put someone up who has the heart and experience to do this important job.
Thank you.
