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Category: Asia Pacific

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Public alerted to false claim

    Source: Hong Kong Information Services

    The Department of Health today alerted the public to a false claim from an unknown organisation alleging that it is assisting in the Government’s admission of qualified non-locally trained dentists to practise in Hong Kong.

    The department stressed that it has not authorised any organisation to assist with recruiting non-locally trained dentists to practise in Hong Kong, adding that the claim is false and suspected of being misleading.

    The organisation claimed that it was assisting the Government to admit qualified non-locally trained dentists to practise in Hong Kong as introduced under the Dentists Registration (Amendment) Ordinance 2024.

    In addition, the organisation untruthfully alleged that there was a specific quota set on the number of dentists, as well as on the number of years of experience and target age range.

    The department emphasised that applications for its recruitment of non-locally trained dentists already closed on September 23 this year, and it is going through the established recruitment procedures.

    Members of the public are urged not to fall for any claim of assisting the Government to recruit non-locally trained dentists to practise in Hong Kong, and they should not provide personal information to any suspicious people. Anyone who has fallen for such fraud should contact Police.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI China: China’s import expo attracts record-breaking participating countries, exhibitors

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    SHANGHAI, Nov. 4 — On Tuesday morning, the Chinese commercial hub of Shanghai will once again assume its role as the host for the newest edition of the globe’s first national-level exposition dedicated to imports.

    Now, the China International Import Expo (CIIE) stands as a telling example of China’s steadfast opening up and an unmissable opportunity for foreign enterprises to tap into the Chinese market.

    Despite challenges and uncertainties in the global economic landscape, over the past seven years, CIIE has steadily grown.

    The first six editions of CIIE have generated a total intended transaction amount exceeding 420 billion U.S. dollars. Additionally, over 1,130 foreign enterprises and investment promotion organizations have conducted targeted connections across the country.

    This year, the business exhibition will be held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), covering more than 360,000 square meters — equivalent to 50 standard soccer fields — and hosting 3,496 exhibitors from 129 countries and regions.

    Both the number of participating countries and exhibitors have surpassed previous records.

    Notably, 297 exhibitors from Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders will attend, marking a historic high. Among all participants, 186 enterprises and institutions have achieved full attendance across all seven editions of the expo.

    Besides, this year’s event is also commanding the attention of global journalism. More than 400 media outlets are participating in the coverage of this event, including 220 foreign media organizations.

    China’s vast market has become one of the most attractive destinations for global players, with the CIIE serving as the “golden gateway” to this opportunity.

    For the CIIE frequenter of Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido, the event serves as a second-to-none magnet.

    “Over the past years of participating in CIIE, we have seen firsthand just how influential the expo can be for our business,” said Toshinobu Umetsu, president and CEO of Shiseido China.

    According to the company, visitors will be able to see over 30 new product debuts from 12 different brands in their portfolio.

    Umetsu described the expo as a boon for their growth in China’s thriving market, noting that many new skincare technologies, brands, and products have gained substantial attention and recognition from consumers after being featured at CIIE.

    “CIIE successfully transformed our ‘exhibits’ to ‘products,’” Umetsu added.

    Seizing the opportunity, new participants are eager to try their luck. Among the trendsetters is Canadian sportswear magnate Lululemon.

    “A digital innovation here is leading the world, quite frankly, in terms of adoption and opportunities,” said Calvin McDonald, CEO of Lululemon during an interview with Xinhua.

    Impressed by the market’s speed, agility and resilience, McDonald said the opportunity to move fast and accomplish big initiatives in the market is incredibly exciting, seeing CIIE as a precious opportunity to bring awareness to the brand.

    “In the dynamic and healthy market, we are learning not just how we drive and see success here,” he said, adding that what Lululemon learned from the Chinese mainland consumers and innovation can help their business in other markets as well.

    After years of development, the CIIE has become a symbol of China’s new development pattern, a platform for high-level opening-up, and an international public good shared by the world.

    At its third plenum, the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China renewed the country’s commitment to the basic state policy of opening to the outside world and continuing to promote reform through opening up.

    Serving as another fine example, China removed all market access restrictions for foreign investors in the manufacturing sector on Nov. 1, a landmark move made by the world’s second-largest economy as it opens its doors wider.

    “Reflecting on the past six editions of the CIIE, ‘high-level opening up’ has been a consistent theme. The expo has continually showcased an image of an ‘open China’ that shares opportunities and future with the world,” said Wu Zhengping, deputy director general of the CIIE Bureau.

    MIL OSI China News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Europe: VATICAN/ANGELUS – All Saints Day: “How much hidden saintliness there is in the Church!”

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    VATICAN/ANGELUS – All Saints Day: “How much hidden saintliness there is in the Church!”Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The Beatitudes are “the Christian’s identity card” and “the way to holiness”. This was stated by Pope Francis during the Angelus prayer on the Solemnity of All Saints Day.Referring to the Gospel of the day, the Pope recalled that holiness is both “a gift from God” and “our response to God”.“It is a gift from God because, as Saint Paul says, it is He who sanctifies. With His grace, He heals us and frees us from all that prevents us from loving as He loves us, as Blessed Carlo Acutis used to say, there may always be ‘less of me to make room for God’”, stressed the Bishop of Rome, adding that God “offers us His holiness, but He does not impose it. He leaves us the freedom to engage in his plans”.All this, Pope Francis continued, “we see all of this in the life of the saints, even in our time”. In this context, the Pope recalled Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Saint Teresa of Calcutta and Saint Oscar Romero: “We we can make a list of many saints, many of them: those we venerate on the altars and others, that I like to call the saints “next door”, the everyday ones, hidden, who go forward in their daily Christian life”.“How much hidden saintliness there is in the Church!” said the Pope. “We recognize so many brothers and sisters formed by the Beatitudes: poor, meek, merciful, hungry and thirsty for justice, workers for peace. They are people “filled with God”, incapable of remaining indifferent to the needs of their neighbour; they are witnesses of shining paths, possible for us too”.After the Angelus, the Pope’s thoughts turned to the Holy Land and he warned: “War is always a defeat, always! And it is ignoble, because it is the triumph of the lie, of falsehood.” He recalled the suffering of the innocent: “I think of the 153 women and children massacred in Gaza in recent days,” said the Pope, who described the war not only as a triumph of lies, but also of falsehood, because “they seek the greatest self-interest and the greatest damage to the enemy, trampling on human lives, the environment, the infrastructure, everything; and all of this is disguised with lies,” said the Pope. He again called for prayer: “Let us pray for tormented Ukraine, let us pray for Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan, and for all the peoples who are suffering because of war.” Pope Francis also expressed his “closeness to the people of Chad, in particular the families of the victims of the grave terrorist attack a few days ago, as well as those who have been affected by floods. And in the face of these environmental disasters, let us pray for the populations of the Iberian Peninsula, especially the Valencian community: for the deceased and their loved ones, and for all the damaged families. May the Lord sustain those who are suffering, and those who are bringing relief”.Finally, thinking of tomorrow, Saturday 2 November, the day on which the deceased are commemorated, Pope Francis recalled: “Those who can, go in these days to pray at the tomb of your own loved ones. Let us not forget: the Eucharist is the greatest and most effective prayer for the soul of the departed”. (FB) (Agenzia Fides, 1/11/2024)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/INDIA – Indian edition of the encyclical ‘Dilexit nos’ presented, which inspires compassion

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) – The Indian edition of Pope Francis’ new encyclical “Dilexit Nos”, published on October 24, aims to bring the message of Christ closer to Catholics in India and “enrich the spiritual journey of the faithful thanks to the focus on the universal and intimate nature of divine love”, said the General Secretariat of the Indian Bishops’ Conference during the presentation of the encyclical, which has already been translated and published by the in-house publishing house, so that the Indian faithful “can appreciate its spiritual benefits and can be inspired with joy in their lives”.At the presentation, which took place yesterday, November 3, in New Delhi, the Secretary General of the Bishops’ Conference and Archbishop of Delhi, Anil Joseph Thomas Couto, also reminded the faithful of the 350th anniversary of the apparition of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, an event still celebrated by the Catholic Church today as a testimony to Christ’s perennial love for humanity. “The encyclical,” he stressed, “invites the baptized to immerse themselves in the heart of Christ, which Pope Francis describes as the incarnation of the tangible and transforming nature of God’s love, a love deeply rooted in the realities of daily life, both in moments of hardship and struggle and in those of silent contemplation.” Indian Christians, he hoped, “can draw inspiration from the heart of Christ.” The Archbishop also underlined the special importance of the message of Pope Francis’ encyclical for India: this message touches “the diverse social and cultural landscape of the country and nourishes a spirituality marked by mercy and compassion,” he said.An example of a person who has witnessed the merciful love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus throughout her life in India is Sister Marienie of the Congregation of the Apostolic Carmel (founded in India in 1870), who died of cancer in Kerala last October 21 at the age of 58. The nun, who was very devoted to the Sacred Heart, had become the ‘Amma’ (mother) of hundreds of mostly Muslim women in the Malappuram district of Kerala and dedicated herself to their social development, education, professional, human and spiritual support. The nun had been in charge of the ‘Fatimagiri Social Service Centre’ since 2010. She helped the women in the villages in their daily lives, both in emergency situations (after floods or natural disasters) and with regular educational programs that significantly improved the lives of women and their families. The Bishop of Calicut, Varghese Chakkalackal, remembered her as “a consecrated woman who, filled with the love that emanates from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, touched people with her love and brought compassion and healing to everyone she served”. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 4/11/2024)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: U.S. exports of ethane and ethane-based petrochemicals rose 135% from 2014 to 2023

    Source: US Energy Information Administration

    In-depth analysis

    November 4, 2024

    Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petroleum Supply Monthly; and the U.S. Census Bureau
    Note: Ethylene derivatives include high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), ethylene vinyl acetate, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and other polymers of ethylene not elsewhere specified or included.

    U.S. exports of ethane and ethane-based petrochemicals reached an all-time high of 21.6 million metric tons (MMmt) in 2023, up 135% since the United States began exporting ethane in 2014 and 17% more than in 2022, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The rapid expansion of U.S. ethane and ethane-based petrochemical exports has been fueled by the growth in domestic ethane production, which has increased with the country’s natural gas production and the buildout of export and production infrastructure.

    Ethane is a natural gas liquid that’s primarily extracted from raw natural gas during processing. It’s mainly used as a feedstock for ethylene production, one of the most important building blocks in the petrochemical industry. Ethylene is a gas used to produce a wide range of products, including plastics, resins, and synthetic rubber.

    All elements of the ethane value chain are produced in, consumed in, and exported from the United States, including ethane, ethylene, polyethylene, and other ethylene derivatives. We publish data on U.S. ethane production, exports, and product supplied (deliveries to domestic consumers); the U.S. Census Bureau publishes export data for ethane and ethane-derived products.

    The volume of exports of U.S. ethane, ethylene, and various ethylene derivatives is affected by:

    • U.S. demand
    • U.S. production capacity and production costs
    • Importing countries’ downstream processing capacity
    • Availability of infrastructure necessary to move these products, which in some cases may require special handling such as cryogenic refrigeration

    U.S. ethane exports

    The United States started exporting ethane in 2014 via pipeline to petrochemical plants in Canada. In 2016, the United States began exporting ethane to countries in Europe from marine export terminals. U.S. ethane export capacity has increased since 2016 with the completion of two new pipelines and three more marine export terminals—Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania; Morgan’s Point, Texas; and Nederland, Texas. In addition, the number of destination countries continued to grow along with the fleet of specially built tankers.

    Data source: U.S. Census Bureau

    U.S. ethane exports increased to a record high of 3.0 MMmt in 2023, up 12% from 2022. In 2023, U.S. ethane was mostly exported to China, which accounted for 45% (1.4 MMmt) of U.S. ethane exports, followed by India (16%), Canada (14%), Norway (9%), and the United Kingdom (7%).

    U.S. ethane exports to China increased fastest between 2022 and 2023, rising 35% last year. China’s Satellite Petrochemical has begun ethylene production at two new ethane crackers since 2021, which has increased domestic ethane demand in China. Ethane exports to Norway rose the second fastest, rising 32% to 288,000 metric tons in 2023. Other importers of U.S. ethane include Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and Sweden.

    Data source: Bloomberg L.P.
    Note: Ethylene feedstock margins account for coproduct credits, which mainly include propylene, butadiene, benzene, and xylene. Ethane feedstock advantage represents the relative profitability of ethane over naphtha.

    Ethane’s high ethylene yields and cost advantages over naphtha in ethylene production have driven export volumes of ethane higher since 2014. Most petrochemical crackers have some flexibility in switching between ethane and naphtha as a feedstock, depending on the relative profitability of each feedstock. In the United States, cracking ethane to produce ethylene has historically generated higher profit margins compared with the margins from cracking naphtha, the most common feedstock in Western Europe and East Asia. Global petrochemical manufacturers looking to secure low-cost ethane feedstock to produce ethylene are developing new petrochemical crackers and associated infrastructure.

    U.S. ethylene exports

    Data source: U.S. Census Bureau

    In the United States, ethane is heated in a steam cracker to break (crack) the ethane molecule to produce ethylene. Ethylene, like ethane, is exported in specialized tankers after being cryogenically cooled. The United States has two ethylene export terminals—Galena Park and Morgan’s Point—both located in Texas on the Houston Ship Channel.

    Ethylene export volumes fell 9% from 2022 to 2023 to 1.1 MMmt. In 2023, 36 nations imported U.S. ethylene. China was the largest importer of ethylene from the United States in 2023, accounting for 38% (419,000 metric tons) of all exports. Belgium (19%), Indonesia (16%), Taiwan (6%), and France (5%) rounded out the top five.

    As with ethane exports, China was also the fastest-growing destination for ethylene exports. In general, ethylene exports to Asia grew 77% from 2022 to 2023, while exports to Europe fell by more than 50% during the same period amid a weak macroeconomic environment.

    U.S. ethylene prices remain at a discount to international prices on average, providing U.S. ethylene producers with a long-term cost advantage and resulting in expanded manufacturing capacity along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

    U.S. ethylene-derivative exports

    After ethylene is processed by a polymerization reactor or another production unit, petrochemical manufacturers can develop intermediate products such as:

    • Low-density polyethylene (LDPE): a thermoplastic used for more flexible plastic products such as dispensing bottles, plastic bags, and trays
    • High-density polyethylene (HDPE): a thermoplastic used for more rigid plastic products such as piping, water gallon jugs, cutting boards, and motor oil jugs
    • Ethylene alpha olefins: used for products such as flexible packaging, molding, and car applications

    The United States exported ethylene derivatives to over 100 nations in 2023. Unlike ethane and ethylene, which require cryogenic cooling to turn them from a gas to a liquid, ethylene derivatives do not require special handling and can be exported or imported through any port or overland route capable of handling containerized traffic.

    Data source: U.S. Census Bureau

    Total U.S. ethylene-derivative exports grew 20% to 16.9 MMmt from 2022 to 2023, led by a 69% increase (2.2 MMmt) in exports to Asia. U.S. exports to Canada fell by 10% to 1.5 MMmt; exports to Mexico grew 3% to 2.4 MMmt in 2023. Until 2017, North American destinations, particularly Canada and Mexico, accounted for the largest share of U.S. polyethylene and other ethylene-derivative exports.

    Canada and Mexico do not impose tariffs on exports of U.S. ethane-derived chemicals because of reciprocal free-trade agreements. These countries also benefit from proximity and being able to import these products over land at lower cost compared with waterborne imports. However, exports to overseas destinations have also grown since 2017, with the exception of 2021 when the global pandemic led to lower demand.

    Principal contributors: Jordan Young, Josh Eiermann

    MIL OSI USA News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: authID Signs $10 Million Agreement to Deliver Next Generation Authentication Security in India

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    DENVER, Nov. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — authID Inc. (Nasdaq: AUID), a leading provider of biometric identity verification and authentication solutions, today announced a $10 million, multi-year agreement with a next-generation AI company specializing in custom solutions for global multi-national companies to enable authentication for a range of industries in India.

    The agreement represents a $10 million commitment over a three-year period, with a minimum of $3.33 million each year for licensing authID’s identity platform services.

    authID will deliver unprecedented biometric authentication accuracy and a frictionless user experience to a variety of the partner’s customers across the banking, financial services, emergency services, and transportation industries among others, powering use cases for onboarding, daily login, account recovery, and high-value transactions.

    authID will augment the partner’s existing solutions with their privacy-preserving next generation biometric identity verification and authentication, while complying with Indian privacy laws safeguarding user identities and other data. The Indian market’s sizable institutional and end-user base will highlight authID’s ability to not only deliver a best-in-class user experience but also demonstrate its 1:1B biometric identity verification accuracy.  With over 1.4B citizens to authenticate in the Indian market, only authID’s accuracy can deliver the level of assurance and scale needed by every institution to always “know who’s behind the device” for each transaction.

    “This partnership further demonstrates authID’s thought leadership and technical standing in the global markets, and we are incredibly excited to enter the Indian market where, over the next 10 years, the biometric authentication industry could see exponential growth in transaction volumes as the demand for secure, efficient digital identification continues to rise,” said Rhon Daguro, CEO of authID. “authID’s biometric identity platform delivers speed and accuracy while processing captured biometrics, and identifying users as legitimate or fraudulent, all within a market-leading 700 milliseconds. We look forward to working closely with our new partner to deliver the confidence that user onboarding and authentication are accurate and completed in record time.”

    About authID

    authID (Nasdaq: AUID) ensures enterprises “Know Who’s Behind the DeviceTM” for every customer or employee login and transaction through its easy-to-integrate, patented, biometric identity platform. authID quickly and accurately verifies a user’s identity and eliminates any assumption of ‘who’ is behind a device to prevent cybercriminals from compromising account openings or taking over accounts. Combining secure digital onboarding, and biometric authentication and account recovery, with a fast, accurate, user-friendly experience, authID delivers biometric identity processing in 700ms. Binding a biometric root of trust for each user to their account, authID stops fraud at onboarding, detects and stops deepfakes, eliminates password risks and costs, and provides the fastest, frictionless, and the more accurate user identity experience while preserving privacy demanded by today’s digital ecosystem. Contact us to discover how authID can help your organization secure your workforce or consumer applications against identity fraud, cyberattacks and account takeover.

    Investor Relations Contacts

    Gateway Group, Inc. 
    Cody Slach and Alex Thompson
    1-949-574-3860
    AUID@gateway-grp.com
    Investor-Relations@authid.ai  

    Media Contacts

    Walter Fowler
    1-631-334-3864
    wfowler@nexttechcomms.com

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This Press Release includes “forward-looking statements.” All statements other than statements of historical facts included herein, including, without limitation, those regarding the future business strategy, plans and objectives of management for future operations of both authID Inc. and its customers and business partners, are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions regarding authID’s present and future business strategies, and the environment in which authID expects to operate in the future, which assumptions may or may not be fulfilled in practice. Actual results may vary materially from the results anticipated by these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of risk factors, including the successful implementation and ramp of the services to be provided under the new technology partner agreement and their adoption by the partner’s customers and their respective users; changes in laws, regulations and practices; changes in domestic and international economic and political conditions, the as yet uncertain impact of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, inflationary pressures, changes in interest rates, and others. See the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year ended December 31, 2023 filed at www.sec.gov and other documents filed with the SEC for other risk factors which investors should consider. These forward-looking statements speak only as to the date of this release and cannot be relied upon as a guide to future performance. authID expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained in this release to reflect any changes in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any statement is based.

    The MIL Network –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: Magnite Gets Highest Score for ‘Current Offering’ in Leading SSP Report

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, Nov. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Magnite (NASDAQ: MGNI), the largest independent sell-side advertising company, was recognized with the highest score in the current offering category of the ten vendors evaluated in The Forrester Wave™: Sell-Side Platforms, Q4 2024 report. The report, authored by Forrester Senior Analyst Mo Allibhai, cites Magnite’s strength in streaming channels and demand facilitation expertise. In addition, Magnite received Forrester’s highest rating possible in 18 criteria, including Innovation, Desktop & Mobile Display, Open Standards & Transparency, Inventory Quality, and Deployment, Training & Ongoing Support.

    “More than ever, publishers need partners that have an eye to the future and whose every decision is geared to help them win,” said Adam Soroca, Chief Product Officer at Magnite. “We believe this recognition validates our leadership not just in streaming and our expertise in driving unique demand, but in a broad range of categories. In fact, we are honored to have been given the highest ratings possible in more categories than any other vendor evaluated. Thank you to the Magnite team for their hard work in building a series of offerings that are truly exceptional.”

    Read the full report here to see the detailed evaluation.

    Other key takeaways from The Forrester Wave™:

    • Magnite received more 5/5 ratings than any other vendor evaluated, and was the only vendor to receive a 5/5 rating in two criteria, User Interface and Supporting Services and Offerings.
    • Forrester noted Magnite’s technical competence in supporting monetization across online video, audio, mobile app, and complex media such as major event live streams.
    • The report also mentioned Magnite’s deep knowledge of how to leverage signal partnerships to build addressability solutions in new environments.

    About Magnite
    We’re Magnite (NASDAQ: MGNI), the world’s largest independent sell-side advertising company. Publishers use our technology to monetize their content across all screens and formats including CTV, online video, display, and audio. The world’s leading agencies and brands trust our platform to access brand-safe, high-quality ad inventory and execute billions of advertising transactions each month. Anchored in bustling New York City, sunny Los Angeles, mile high Denver, historic London, colorful Singapore, and down under in Sydney, Magnite has offices across North America, EMEA, LATAM, and APAC.

    Media Contact:
    Charlstie Veith
    cveith@magnite.com
    516-300-3569

    The MIL Network –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Leong Sing Chiong: Tokenisation in financial services – pathways to scale

    Source: Bank for International Settlements

    Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning.

    Introduction

    It gives me great pleasure to join you at the inaugural Layer One Summit. 

    In 2023, at the Singapore FinTech Festival, MAS held up a possible future state of financial services, where financial assets can be transacted seamlessly across multiple trading venues through digital assets, digital money and interoperable digital networks.  

    Benefits of tokenisation 

    We saw the potential for tokenisation in financial services, where tokenised financial assets, can be exchanged directly on a programmable platform without the need for intermediaries.

    In allowing for the simultaneous exchange of two assets in real-time, and enabling the exchange of information and value to happen in a single step, this can help eliminate settlement risk, duplicative reconciliation, and increase the efficiency of transaction processing. 

    With a programmable platform that allows for pre-determined conditions to be encoded with the tokenised asset(s), this can also facilitate greater straight-through processing in capital market transactions, and greater efficiency in asset servicing.  

    Industry showcase of benefits of asset tokenisation

    We are seeing greater momentum towards tokenisation in financial services. Let me provide some examples of industry pilots which have been progressing well under MAS’ asset tokenisation initiative, or Project Guardian. 

    First, on FX, 

    • Imagine a scenario where a corporate treasury can initiate and receive payments around the clock (24/7), seamlessly bridging across multiple locations in an increasingly global business landscape. This is precisely what Ant International is striving to achieve through tokenisation to serve their 1.2 billion buyers and 2 million sellers across 200 countries.
    • Ant International is leveraging tokenised deposits of its partner banks such as HSBC and DBS, for real-time payments, across various currencies.
    • The beneficiary within Ant International’s network can receive its funds in its domiciled currency, for instance US Dollar, in the form of a tokenised deposit.
    • This is made possible through an FX provider which provides a price quote and liquidity for the currency pair.
    • The originating currency, for instance Singapore dollar, is then swapped instantaneously through a smart contract to US Dollar. The smart contract also incorporates an automatic anti-money laundering check to meet regulatory compliance requirements.
    • This illustrates how tokenisation can transform how corporate treasuries manage multi-currency assets while offering the promise of faster, more seamless treasury position management, eliminating delays and significantly enhancing overall operational efficiency.

    For Funds, 

    • UBS and Swift, in partnership with Chainlink, are collaborating on an end-to-end payment orchestration capability to automate fund subscription and redemption processes.
    • This industry trial showcases that tokenisation can automate payment initiation and confirmation processes, provide real-time update on payment status, while riding on existing processes and standards for Fund Distributors and Fund Administrators. This can greatly reduce operational risks and costs. 

    Bringing both Funds and FX together, 

    • A solution developed by Citi and Fidelity International combined the properties of two distinct asset classes –  tokenised Money Market Funds (MMFs) and FX swaps. 
    • This solution seamlessly combined yield generation of tokenised MMF tokens with real-time digital currency risk hedging. Today, FX hedging is generally carried out separately from the money market fund investments. 

    Central banks have also been particularly active in exploring the use and development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Central bank pilots have ranged from multi-CBDC arrangements, programming compliance for cross-border use cases, and the use of wholesale CBDCs in the settlement of tokenised securities.

    All these efforts point to the fact that interest and investment in asset tokenisation is deepening across asset classes, jurisdictions and currencies. 

    However, my sense is that we have reached an inflexion point.  Notwithstanding the significant efforts of various players to push the boundaries of tokenisation in financial services, no one has really succeeded in achieving scale.  Many promising use cases have not yet gained industry wide traction.  Further, there is a need for supporting infrastructure to enable good use cases to scale beyond individual networks.

    Pathways to scale

    For tokenisation to scale and achieve industry wide adoption, we need to see tokenised activity span across assets, across key currencies, across networks, and also to interoperate with existing systems. 

    We think there are four jigsaw puzzle pieces that need to come together to support industry-wide deployment of tokenised assets: 1) Liquidity, 2) Foundational Infrastructure 3) Standardised Frameworks and Protocols 4) Common Settlement Assets.

    First, enhancing liquidity.

    When we survey the current digital and tokenisation landscape, we see a real dichotomy. On the one hand, there are good reasons to believe in the potential for leveraging this technology to reap efficiency benefits for wholesale markets. On the other hand, the proliferation of disparate tokenisation efforts has resulted in market fragmentation, and increased funding and opportunity costs. To ensure that tokenisation is viable, we need deeper liquidity across primary and secondary markets.

    To address this, MAS is facilitating industry’s efforts to establish commercial networks for payments, capital raising, and secondary trading of tokenised assets. 

    • An example of this is the formation of the Guardian Wholesale Network Industry Group by Citi, HSBC, Schroders, Standard Chartered and UOB. They are collaborating on the development of a multi-member network to scale their respective asset tokenisation trials. 
    • The involvement of multiple participants, support for multi-asset and multi-currency transactions can engender deeper liquidity across primary and secondary markets for tokenised asset transactions.

    We welcome more commercial networks to be set up to drive greater activity in tokenised assets and payments. 

    Second, developing foundational digital infrastructure.

    To support the formation of commercial networks, and to enable seamless transactions of tokenised assets across such networks, there is a need for a base layer foundational digital infrastructure that can meet the needs of regulated financial institutions. Today, such foundational digital infrastructures lie on a spectrum:

    • At one end, public permissionless blockchains have attracted many types of users and applications.  But the overall governance of such structures suffers from the lack of accountability, anonymity of service providers, and legal uncertainty over who’s responsible for the blockchain performance and resiliency. 
    • Some financial institutions have developed their own private permissioned blockchains to offer digital asset services to their customers. These set-ups are generally designed to meet the applicable legal and regulatory frameworks. But they suffer from a lack of interoperability, leading to fragmentation.
    • So, if not public blockchain, nor private permissioned networks, then what? We think the answer perhaps lies in between: public, permissioned networks. 
      • Public permissioned networks are built on similar principles of openness and accessibility as the public internet, but with robust built-in safeguards for its use as a network for value exchange. 
      • For example, while the network may be accessible to financial institutions that meet eligible criteria, the governing rule may restrict membership to regulated financial institutions only.  This means developing a public blockchain equivalent infrastructure, but serving regulated wholesale financial markets.

    With this objective in mind, MAS launched the Global Layer One (GL1) initiative last year, to foster the development of a public permissioned foundational digital infrastructure, upon which commercial networks could be deployed. 

    Since the launch, MAS and a core group of global banks, namely BNY, Citi, J.P. Morgan, MUFG and Societe Generale-FORGE, have been leading efforts to define the business, governance, risk, legal and technology requirements of the GL1 Platform. These 5 banks represent participation from the G3 currencies, for a start.  

    Beyond global banks, foundational digital infrastructures can also support today’s global market infrastructure players, including global exchanges and custodians, on which high volumes of financial assets are traded, settled and custodised.  This will enable a larger universe of tokenised assets to be traded seamlessly across borders.

    • In this regard, I would like to welcome Euroclear and HSBC as new industry participants to the GL1 initiative.  

    With these new participants, GL1 will also expand its scope of work in the coming year to encompass the following areas: 

    • Developing platform requirements to deploy financial applications such as cross-border payments and collateral management.  It will also design an appropriate business model to ensure that the GL1 platform can be financially sustainable. 
    • Ecosystem development, which includes (i) the development of risk and governance principles, and settlement arrangements on market infrastructures and (ii), asset lifecycle specifications and programmable compliance templates for tokenised assets. 

    As we make further progress on advancing the GL1, we welcome broader participation from other banks, custodians, financial market infrastructure service providers and policymakers who are able and keen to contribute to this endeavour.

    Third, there is a need for common industry standards to facilitate broad based industry adoption of tokenised assets. 

    The absence of globally accepted taxonomies and standards in relation to digital assets, increases the costs of adoption as financial institutions would need to invest and support different types of technologies.

    This can be addressed through industry frameworks.

    • For instance, in fixed Income, MAS has worked with global industry associations such as International Capital Market Association (ICMA), Capital Market and Technology Association (CMTA) and the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA), to develop a Guardian Fixed Income Framework which we are publishing today.
      • The framework integrates the bond data taxonomy, token standards and design principles for tokenised securities, allowing for a standardised approach towards tokenisation in the fixed income market. 
    • In Asset and Wealth Management, MAS is also publishing today a non-prescriptive set of standards and industry best practices for tokenised funds, or the Guardian Funds Framework. 
      • The report provides recommendations for establishing a framework for the tokenisation of the fund lifecycle and activities, including asset servicing, and on-chain share register archetypes and data. 
      • The framework also proposes a composable technical standard, which demonstrates how new tokenised assets, which are a composite of multiple asset classes, can be readily created. This gives fund managers the ability to provide investors with more customised investment options at lower cost and greater flexibility.

    The final piece of the jigsaw puzzle is developing common settlement assets. 

    To ensure settlement of tokenised assets in financial markets, regulated and credible forms of tokenised money is needed.

    • The cash leg of most tokenised asset transactions generally involves tokenised commercial bank money, or tokenised bank liabilities. These are issued by commercial banks and carry the credit risks of the issuing bank. 
    • Apart from tokenised bank liabilities, common settlement assets can also be used to settle tokenised asset transactions. A common settlement asset is one that is agreed by transacting parties, and can be credit-risk free such as a wholesale CBDC. The use of such common settlement assets can help to reduce settlement risk and market fragmentation.
    • Our view is that when asset tokenisation activity grows and eventually hits critical mass in key asset classes, this will drive demand for wholesale CBDCs as a common settlement asset.

    Hence, MAS will be launching a Singapore Dollar (SGD) Testnet, to enable financial institutions’ access to common settlement assets for market testing purposes.

    • The SGD Testnet will offer three features, namely 
      • A Settlement facility where wholesale CBDC can be issued, transferred and redeemed by financial institutions
      • Programmability to automate and programme conditional triggers for transactions involving tokenised assets 
      • Interoperability which facilitates linkages with existing financial market infrastructures 
    • The SGD Testnet will be made available to eligible financial institutions participating in MAS’ digital asset and digital money initiatives, including Project Guardian and Project Orchid. 
    • The first set of participating FIs to access the SGD Testnet includes DBS, OCBC, Standard Chartered and UOB.
    • We welcome more FIs to come forward with interesting use cases and utilise the SGD Testnet.

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, asset tokenisation can deliver significant efficiency gains to be reaped in the financial services industry, particularly in wholesale financial markets. 

    Increasingly, we are seeing more FIs which are keen to deploy asset tokenisation solutions commercially. This augurs well for future growth. 

    Given this growing interest, it is imperative that we develop pathways and tools to scale the adoption of asset tokenisation to reap network effects. 

    The initiatives that I have mentioned today are important steps that we see in helping the industry to achieve scale, namely 

    • Wholesale commercial networks 
    • Foundational digital infrastructure 
    • Common industry tokenisation standards and taxonomies 
    • Common settlement assets 

    These initiatives represent pathways to help to scale vertically, from an asset class perspective, as well as horizontally, at a digital foundational infrastructure level. 

    Viewed holistically, we see a possible future architecture of a globally scalable tokenised asset infrastructure that can enable interoperability across commercial networks, while powering tokenised asset transactions seamlessly across borders and markets. 

    This will not be an overnight phenomenon, and will require a whole-of-industry effort and commitment. It will also require close collaboration with policymakers: 

    • Through Guardian and GL1, we engaged early on central banks, regulatory bodies, international standards setting bodies, including the Banque de France, European Central Bank, Japan Financial Services Agency (FSA), Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and staff of the IMF early on to incorporate their insights and experience in this space. 
    • Today, I would like to take the opportunity to also welcome staff of the World Bank and Deutsche Bundesbank to the Project Guardian Policymaker Group.
    • The role of this policymaker group is important as they help provide inputs on governance arrangements, guidance on how GL1 infrastructures can be developed in line with global standards, and advice on appropriate regulatory guardrails for tokenised asset transactions. 

    While this conference is called the Layer One Summit, we are in some ways only really at Everest base camp. There is still some way to go before we get from base camp to the Summit.  But with these building blocks in place, we hope that they serve as the necessary tools for the industry achieve tokenisation at scale, and scale the Summit.

    I look forward to the sharing of great insights these two days, and wish you all a fantastic Singapore FinTech Festival week. Thanks very much!

    MIL OSI Economics –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Security: Defense News: U.S. 7th Fleet Attends Staff Talks with Indonesian Navy Leadership

    Source: United States Navy

    During the two-day visit, Kacher met with First Admiral I Gung Putu Alit Jaya, Head of Naval Operation and Exercise and other Indonesian counterparts to discuss current and future cooperation between the U.S. and Indonesian navies.

    “At the heart of our strategic partnership with Indonesia is our strong bilateral defense relationship,” said Kacher. “Staff talks like these strengthen those ties because they enable important dialogue on shared maritime challenges and they build trust between our teams at a fundamental, operational level.”

    “I hope we can strengthen our friendship and brotherhood,” said Jaya. “I am very confident that our meeting today will increase our mutual understanding and hopefully what we have done here will continue for years to come.”

    During the staff talks, discussions between the admirals were centered on deepening the relationship of the two nations through continued communication and coordination of future opportunities to operate together.

    “Our U.S. and Indonesian Navy partnership continues to flourish,” said Capt. Jennifer Barnes assistant chief of staff for plans and engagements at Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet. “Here in 7th Fleet, our motto is ‘One Team’ and I can confirm that our two nations have worked together as one solid team over the last two days.”

    U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

    MIL Security OSI –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: Mercuria and HNK Alpha Execute First Carbon Futures Block Trades on Abaxx Commodity Futures Exchange and Clearinghouse

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Nov. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Abaxx Technologies Inc. (NEO:ABXX)(OTCQX:ABXXF) (“Abaxx” or the “Company”), a financial software and market infrastructure company, majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore Pte Ltd. (“Abaxx Singapore”), the owner of Abaxx Commodity Exchange and Clearinghouse (individually, “Abaxx Exchange” and “Abaxx Clearing”), and producer of the SmarterMarkets™ Podcast, today announced the execution of the first two carbon futures block trades, traded between Mercuria and HNK Alpha on October 30, 2024.

    Mercuria and HNK Alpha traded 50 lots of December 2024 CORSIA¹ Phase 1 Carbon Offset Unit Futures at USD $24.00/tCO2e². Mercuria and HNK Alpha also traded 50 lots of December 2025 JREDD+³ Carbon Offset Unit Futures at USD $17.75/tCO2e.

    Abaxx’s carbon futures contracts are designed to enhance price discovery and equip market participants with improved risk management tools. These centrally-cleared, physically-deliverable contracts were launched in June to provide reliable price signals essential for pricing carbon emissions and advancing decarbonization efforts.

    “We’re proud that Mercuria has chosen to use Abaxx Exchange Environmental Futures to better manage their risk in global carbon markets,” said Abaxx Exchange’s Head of Environmental Markets, Alasdair Were. “We’ve built these contracts in collaboration with global market participants and to meet the needs of the commercial market, and we look forward to continue working with world-class trading firms like Mercuria to build liquidity in our carbon markets.”

    Abaxx’s suite of futures contracts for LNG and carbon are open for trading 14 hours a day, Monday through Friday. Visit abaxx.exchange/resources-directory for a full list of clearing firms and execution brokers.

    Notes:
    ¹ Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation
    ² Tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent
    ³ Jurisdictional Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation

    About Abaxx Technologies

    Abaxx is building Smarter Markets — markets empowered by better financial technology and market infrastructure to address our biggest challenges, including the energy transition. In addition to developing and deploying financial technologies that make communication, trade, and transactions easier and more secure, Abaxx is a majority-owner of Abaxx Exchange and Abaxx Clearing, subsidiaries recognized by MAS as an RMO and ACH, respectively.

    Abaxx Exchange and Abaxx Clearing are a Singapore-based commodity futures exchange and clearinghouse, introducing centrally cleared, physically deliverable commodities futures and derivatives to provide better price discovery and risk management tools for the commodities critical to our transition to a lower-carbon economy.

    For more information please visit abaxx.tech, abaxx.exchange and smartermarkets.media.

    For more information about this press release, please contact:
    Steve Fray, CFO
    Tel: +1 647 490 1590

    Media and investor inquiries:

    Abaxx Technologies Inc.
    Investor Relations Team
    Tel: +1 647 490 1590
    E-mail: ir@abaxx.tech

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release includes certain “forward-looking statements” which do not consist of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe Abaxx’s future plans, objectives, or goals, including words to the effect that Abaxx expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as “seeking”, “should”, “intend”, “predict”, “potential”, “believes”, “anticipates”, “expects”, “estimates”, “may”, “could”, “would”, “will”, “continue”, “plan” or the negative of these terms and similar expressions. Since forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to Abaxx, Abaxx does not provide any assurance that actual results will meet respective management expectations. Risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.

    Forward-looking information related to Abaxx in this press release includes, but is not limited to, Abaxx’s objectives, goals or future plans, the development and implementation of additional products and futures contracts, the ability to meet commercial demands for its products and to meet the needs of the commercial market, the ability to develop and maintain relationships with trading firms and build liquidity for its products. Such factors impacting forward-looking information include, among others: risks relating to the global economic climate; dilution; Abaxx’s limited operating history; future capital needs and uncertainty of additional financing; the competitive nature of the industry; currency exchange risks; the need for Abaxx to manage its planned growth and expansion; the effects of product development and need for continued technology change; protection of proprietary rights; the effect of government regulation and compliance on Abaxx and the industry; the ability to list Abaxx’s securities on stock exchanges in a timely fashion or at all; network security risks; the ability of Abaxx to maintain properly working systems; reliance on key personnel; global economic and financial market deterioration impeding access to capital or increasing the cost of capital; and volatile securities markets impacting security pricing unrelated to operating performance. In addition, particular factors which could impact future results of the business of Abaxx include but are not limited to: operations in foreign jurisdictions, protection of intellectual property rights, contractual risk, third-party risk; clearinghouse risk, malicious actor risks, third-party software license risk, system failure risk, risk of technological change; dependence of technical infrastructure; and changes in the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labor and international travel and supply chains. Abaxx has also assumed that no significant events occur outside of Abaxx’s normal course of business.

    Abaxx cautions that the foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive. In addition, although Abaxx has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. When relying on forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Abaxx has assumed that the material factors referred to in the previous paragraphs will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release represents the expectations of Abaxx as of the date of this press release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Abaxx undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements and information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and information. Cboe Canada does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

    The MIL Network –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: KVH and Pacific Basin Completing Hybrid Connectivity and Network Management Upgrade

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MIDDLETOWN, R.I., Nov. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — KVH Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: KVHI), today announced that it has substantially completed a 75-vessel connectivity upgrade for commercial dry bulk operator Pacific Basin Shipping, a longtime KVH customer. KVH is delivering worldwide communications to more than 75 Pacific Basin vessels using the KVH ONE® multi-orbit, multi-channel network, including the addition of Low Earth Orbit service via Starlink. These vessels are using KVH TracPhone® V7-HTS terminals, new Starlink Flat High Performance terminals, and KVH’s CommBox™ Edge Communications Gateway onboard. This upgrade was carried out under the terms of a new agreement signed in July 2024.

    “It’s been our pleasure to help Pacific Basin ships and crews remain always connected since 2016, and we are honored that they elected to continue their longstanding partnership with us,” says Ken Loke, KVH’s vice president of Asia-Pacific sales. “By choosing our global VSAT service, TracPhone V7-HTS, and Starlink, together with our advanced CommBox Edge, Pacific Basin once again illustrates its commitment to providing innovative world-class maritime connectivity for its vessels and seafarers by taking full advantage of KVH’s fully integrated hybrid solutions.”

    “Pacific Basin is focused on the highest possible quality operations and the promotion of the highest standards of welfare for our crews across our fleet,” said Harsh Bhave, Director of Fleet Management, Pacific Basin. “This installation recognizes the need to add smart bandwidth that can enable next level performance for our ships and our people.”

    KVH’s TracPhone V7-HTS terminals feature Ku-band satellite interconnectivity delivered by a global network of high-throughput satellites (HTS) powered by Intelsat and delivering connection speeds as fast as 10/2 Mbps (down/up). Starlink offers high-speed, low-latency Internet using a high-performance, electronically steered flat panel array. Thanks to plug-and-play integration with KVH’s CommBox Edge 6 belowdeck appliance, intelligent hybrid switching will ensure that customers take full advantage of KVH ONE network, including Starlink, for uninterrupted connectivity worldwide.

    CommBox Edge is an all-in-one management toolbox for maritime IT professionals who want to control the growing array of wide area network (WAN) options, such as the VSAT, low earth orbit (LEO) services, 5G cellular, and other services available through the KVH ONE global network. It employs dynamic network and bandwidth management over these networks with an extensive suite of data and user controls, real-time reporting, and more. It delivers outstanding performance for crew, guest, and vessel communications thanks to a versatile, secure, fast SD-WAN architecture with cloud-based management.

    Note to Editors: High-resolution images of KVH products are available at the KVH Press Room Image Library, https://www.kvh.com/imagelibrary

    About KVH Industries, Inc.

    KVH Industries, Inc. is a global leader in mobile connectivity and maritime VSAT delivered via the KVH ONE network. The company, founded in 1982, is based in Middletown, RI, with research, development, and manufacturing operations in Middletown, RI, and more than a dozen offices around the globe. KVH provides connectivity solutions for commercial maritime, leisure marine, military/government, and land mobile applications on vessels and vehicles, including the TracNet™, TracPhone, and TracVision® product lines, the KVH ONE OpenNet Program for non-KVH antennas, AgilePlans® Connectivity as a Service (CaaS), and the KVH Link crew wellbeing content service.

    This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. For example, forward-looking statements include statements regarding the success of our strategic evolution towards an integrated solution provider, competitive positioning and profitability, expected data speeds over our network, the expected level of coverage availability, and the services to be provided under agreement with Pacific Basin. These and other factors are discussed in more detail in KVH’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on August 1, 2024, and Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 15, 2024. Copies are available through its Investor Relations department and website: https://investors.kvh.com. KVH does not assume any obligation to update our forward-looking statements to reflect new information and developments.

    KVH Industries, Inc., has used, registered, or applied to register its trademarks in the USA and other countries around the world, including but not limited to the following marks: KVH, KVH ONE, CommBox, TracVision, TracPhone, TracNet, and AgilePlans. Other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.

    For further information, please contact:
    Chris Watson
    Vice President, Marketing & Communications
    KVH Industries, Inc.
    Tel: +1 401 845 2441
    cwatson@kvh.com

    The MIL Network –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: I research sexual perversions and paraphilias – here’s what we’ve learned about them

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Mark Griffiths, Director of the International Gaming Research Unit and Professor of Behavioural Addiction, Nottingham Trent University

    Hollywood actor Armie Hammer was accused of sending messages detailing cannibalistic fantasies in 2021. DFree/Shutterstock

    After allegedly sending messages detailing cannibalistic fetishes, Hollywood actor Armie Hammer hopes to relaunch his career with a new podcast and movie.

    Following the 2021 social media cannibal scandal, Hammer was also accused of rape and abuse by various women, but consistently denied any criminal behaviour and was not charged.

    Now, it seems, Hammer is laughing off the cannibalism allegations. Speaking to his first podcast guest, Tom Arnold, Hammer says, “I’m not gonna lie. I’m just like, Hey, I’m a cannibal!”

    But being sexually aroused by the fantasy – or reality – of cannibalism is real. I should know, as it’s one of the subjects I discuss in my latest book Sexual Perversions and Paraphilias: An A-Z

    Paraphilias are uncommon types of sexual expression often described as sexual deviations, sexual perversions or disorders of sexual preference.

    They are typically accompanied by intense sexual arousal to unconventional or non-sexual stimuli such as enemas (klismaphilia), statues (agalmatophilia), teeth (odontophilia) and vomit (emetophilia).

    To many people paraphilias may seem bizarre or socially unacceptable, representing the extreme end of the sexual continuum – and in some cases, such as zoophilia (having sex with animals) and necrophilia (having sex with dead people), may be illegal.

    Paraphilias may be laughed off, dismissed or leave some people disgusted, but there’s a pressing need for more research into uncommon sexual behaviour given how little we know.

    Sexual fantasies and behaviour are a fundamental part of the human experience. What is considered immoral or even illegal changes according to the social and temporal context. But whatever sexual desires are considered illicit or depraved in a particular time and place are also stigmatised.

    Researching paraphilias, even the most distasteful or criminal, is essential to help safeguard vulnerable groups. Research can also help minimise the discrimination faced by those with uncommon sexual interests, helping ensure their access to sexual health care and psychological support, which can be lacking.

    Vorarephilia

    Vorarephilia – or “vore” – refers to being sexually aroused by the idea of being eaten, eating another person or observing this process for sexual gratification.

    Most of the fantasies of vorarephiliacs involve being the ones eaten. Devouring someone could be viewed as the ultimate act of dominance by a predator and the ultimate act of submission by the prey.

    The most infamous vorarephiliac is arguably Armin Meiwes from Germany.

    Meiwes had allegedly been fantasising about cannibalism since his childhood and frequented cannibal fetish websites. He posted around 60 online adverts asking if anyone would like to be eaten by him.

    In March 2002, Bernd Jürgen Brandes responded to Meiwes. They met up only once. Meiwes bit off Brandes’ penis, which the two of them cooked and ate.

    Brandes was videotaped being stabbed to death by Meiwes in his bath. The body was then stored for Meiwes to eat.

    Meiwes was eventually convicted of murder and imprisoned for life. However, it’s worth nothing that although some paraphilias are illegal, most cause no psychological or behavioural problems when they are engaged by consenting adults.

    Dacryphilia

    Dacryphilia is getting sexual arousal from seeing someone cry.

    I have published a number of studies on dacryphilia. One involved interviews with eight dacryphiles: six women and two men, from the US, UK, Romania and Belgium.

    It showed there were sub-types of dacryphilia, even among such a small group. Based on the interviews, I identified three types of dacryphile.

    Compassionate dacryphiles are sexually aroused by the compassion of comforting a crier.

    Dominant or submissive dacryphiles are sexually aroused by either causing tears in a consenting submissive partner or by being made to cry by a consenting dominant partner.

    “Curled lip” dacryphiles are sexually aroused by the curling of a protruded bottom lip during crying.

    Eproctophilia

    Eproctophilia involves being sexually aroused by flatulence.

    In 2013, I published the first case study of an eproctophile. The case concerned a 22-year-old single man, Brad*, an American from Illinois.

    Brad recalled that in middle school he had a crush on a girl who had farted in the class. Brad said:

    This blew my mind [I] knew by simple biology that girls farted, but hearing that the girl I had been fawning over was capable of such a thing sparked a strange interest in me.

    Brad first engaged in an eproctophilic act with a male friend in his mid-teens. Up to that point he had considered himself heterosexual. However, this changed when he heard his male friend fart.

    Brad said it was “appealing in sound” and that he began fixating on it. He set up a bet with the wager being the right to fart in the loser’s face for a week. He continued to lose such bets once every few weeks for about two years.

    Apotemnophilia

    Apotemnophilia refers to being sexually aroused by the fantasy or reality of being an amputee.

    Some apotemnophiles may pretend to be amputees but, for a minority, the behaviour involves obsessive scheming to convince a surgeon to perform a medically unnecessary amputation.

    To most people, this might seem like a type of masochism, but case studies suggest that there is no erotisation of pain – only of the healed amputated stump.

    Salirophilia

    Salirophilia is sexual arousal from soiling or dishevelling someone attractive, which can include tearing or damaging the desired person’s clothing, covering them in mud or filth or messing up their hair or make-up.

    My 2019 case study involved Jeff*, a 58-year-old Australian heterosexual. Jeff recounted that when he was young he wanted to masturbate in strange places such as lying under a cabinet in a dirty garage.

    Jeff said that he engaged in solitary salirophilic practices regularly but very infrequently with female partners because it was difficult to find like-minded women.

    He was also a fan of the television show Fear Factor in which contestants perform revolting tasks for prize money, such as eating rotting food or being submerged in foul fluids. These were a source of sexual arousal for Jeff. He told me: “I just find the defilement of an attractive woman’s body erotic.”

    *The names of case study participants in this article have been changed.

    Dr. Mark Griffiths has received research funding from a wide range of organizations including the Economic and Social Research Council, the British Academy and the Responsibility in Gambling Trust. He has also carried out consultancy for numerous gambling companies in the area of player protection, social responsibility and responsible gaming.. Views expressed here are his own and not those of these funding bodies.

    – ref. I research sexual perversions and paraphilias – here’s what we’ve learned about them – https://theconversation.com/i-research-sexual-perversions-and-paraphilias-heres-what-weve-learned-about-them-238446

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI China: Chinese premier meets Kazakh PM, calling for enhanced cooperation

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    SHANGHAI, Nov. 4 — Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov in Shanghai on Monday, who is here to attend the 7th China International Import Expo.

    Li said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties more than 30 years ago, China and Kazakhstan have always respected each other and treated each other as equals, setting a good example of good-neighborly friendship and mutual benefits between neighboring countries.

    He said that China is ready to work with Kazakhstan to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, deepen political mutual trust, firmly support each other on issues concerning each other’s core interests, continue to expand mutually beneficial cooperation and bring more benefits to the two peoples.

    Li pointed out that China is willing to strengthen the docking of development strategies with Kazakhstan, take high-quality Belt and Road cooperation as the guide, continue to expand bilateral trade, consolidate production capacity and investment cooperation, create highlights in energy and mineral cooperation, enhance the level of connectivity and push for more practical results.

    He called on the two countries to jointly work for the success of the Year of Chinese Tourism in Kazakhstan next year, strengthen cooperation in culture, education, sub-national and other fields, and enhance mutual understanding and amity between the two peoples.

    China stands ready to coordinate closely with Kazakhstan within multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the China-Central Asia mechanism, actively implement the three global initiatives, practice genuine multilateralism, safeguard economic globalization and free trade, and promote the development of global governance toward a more just and equitable direction, Li said.

    Noting that in recent years, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, Kazakhstan-China relations have reached a record high, Bektenov said Kazakhstan attaches great importance to its relations with China and is willing to further strengthen high-level exchanges with China, deepen cooperation on trade, investment, agriculture, transportation, science and technology, culture and education, and strengthen connectivity under the framework of Belt and Road cooperation.

    Bektenov said Kazakhstan welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in Kazakhstan and is willing to strengthen communication and cooperation with China within multilateral frameworks such as the SCO and the China-Central Asia mechanism.

    MIL OSI China News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Legal Week opens

    Source: Hong Kong Information Services

    Hong Kong Legal Week 2024, an annual flagship event of the legal sector to showcase Hong Kong as an international legal and dispute resolution services centre, was launched today.

    Themed “Hong Kong Common Law System: World-Class Springboard to China & Beyond”, the five-day event provides an opportunity for participants from all corners of the world to engage in a series of insightful discussions and fruitful exchanges with prominent experts, practitioners and government officials on a wide spectrum of topics.

    The topics include international law, developments in alternative dispute resolution, opportunities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the rule of law in the region and beyond.

    The Asia-Pacific International Private Law Summit 2024, themed “Springboard to Opportunities: Utilising International Private Law & Technology to Facilitate Access to Credit, Investment, & Sustainable Development in the Asia-Pacific Region”, was held as the opening event of this year’s Legal Week.

    The biennial summit brought together preeminent legal academics and renowned practitioners worldwide to discuss how the unification and co-ordination of various areas of international private law can support economic growth and facilitate smoother cross-border interactions.

    More than 1,100 registrations from 46 jurisdictions have been received for this event.

    In his welcome remarks, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam said that the Department of Justice (DoJ) places great importance on nurturing legal talent and will provide professional development opportunities to legal talent with a view to strengthening Hong Kong’s position as a leading international legal and dispute resolution centre.

    To further the DoJ’s capacity building initiatives, Mr Lam announced that the Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy will be set up, with the launch ceremony taking place on the final day of Legal Week, which he invited everyone to join.

    In addition, an exhibition featuring the milestones and achievements in the construction of the rule of law by the country in the modern era, as well as the role played by Hong Kong in contributing to the developments, has been set up at the venue this year.

    Click here for the event details.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Security: British Prime Minister opens global police assembly in Glasgow

    Source: Interpol (news and events)

    The 92nd INTERPOL General Assembly takes place from 4-7 November in Glasgow, Scotland

    GLASGOW, Scotland: Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, opened the INTERPOL General Assembly, stressing the need for international police cooperation to combat pervasive organized crime.
    The General Assembly is INTERPOL’s supreme governing body, made up of representatives from its 196 member countries.
    With around 1,000 attendees, it is the largest global gathering of senior law enforcement officials, who collectively decide how INTERPOL operates.
    This year, the General Assembly will elect the new Secretary General, after Valdecy Urquiza of Brazil was put forward as the chosen candidate of INTERPOL’s Executive Committee.

    The Secretary General is INTERPOL’s chief full-time official and directs the 1,200 staff who work in the organization’s 15 duty stations around the world.
    The General Assembly will also elect nine new members to INTERPOL’s 13-member Executive Committee, which oversees the implementation of General Assembly decisions.

    UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:
    “This is the General Assembly of the world’s security experts. It’s your cooperation across borders that saves lives, time and again. It’s your collective efforts that bring organized criminals to justice, wherever they try to hide.”
    In his opening remarks, INTERPOL President Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi said:
    “From the rise of organized crime, drug trafficking and terrorism to climate change and migration challenges, our ability to adapt and innovate is crucial. This year’s General Assembly presents an opportunity for member countries to engage in fruitful conversations, share intelligence, and enhance collaborative strategies.”
    The Assembly will also consider a number of motions guiding the organization’s activities on terrorism, lawful access to digital evidence and child abuse, among other subjects.

    In his statement to delegates, INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock said:
    “INTERPOL was created to serve police by allowing the exchange of information across borders. This mission still drives our work today. We have made INTERPOL’s systems more connected, our products better and our response more coordinated than ever before.”
    UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also addressed delegates, saying:
    “International security and domestic security are two sides of the same coin. That is why INTERPOL remains integral to public safety.”
    The first day of the General Assembly saw the announcement of the INTERPOL Law Enforcement Academy, an educational centre hosting a range of professional development programmes and events.

    Housed within INTERPOL’s Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore, the Academy will notably offer an Executive Leadership Programme for senior police leaders from around the world. INTERPOL member countries will be invited to nominate candidates for the programme’s first cohort.
    “Some lessons can only be learned when fellow officers come together face to face. We must equip the next generation of police leaders with the right skills as they face a world that continues to evolve,” Secretary General Stock said.

    For news and developments from INTERPOL’s 92nd General Assembly, visit INTERPOL’s website or follow us on social media.

    MIL Security OSI –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: Primech Holdings and Primech AI Forge Strategic Partnerships with Unity Group for Advanced Energy and Robotics Solutions

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SINGAPORE, Nov. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Primech Holdings Limited (Nasdaq: PMEC) (“Primech” or the “Company”) and its subsidiary, Primech AI, are pleased to announce new strategic partnerships with Unity Group Holdings International Limited (1539.HK) (“Unity Group”), a renowned provider of energy solutions listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. These partnerships, formalized through separate Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), aim to harness Unity Group’s energy expertise and Primech AI’s robotic innovations to drive sustainability and technological advancements in their respective fields.

    Unity Group (https://www.unitygroup.eco) operates in over 20 countries, offering innovative energy solutions that significantly reduce carbon footprints and operational costs for numerous global clients. This collaboration aligns with Primech’s commitment to environmental stewardship and marks a significant step in integrating sustainable practices and advanced technologies across its operations.

    Details of the Partnerships:

    • Primech Holdings Ltd. will collaborate with Unity Group to explore and implement cutting-edge energy solutions in Singapore, focusing on enhancing energy efficiency within its extensive facilities management operations.
    • Primech AI and Unity Group will cooperate on the business development and trial deployment of the Hytron restroom cleaning robot into major properties in Dubai. This initiative aims to revolutionize facility maintenance with cutting-edge robotic technology, improving efficiency and reducing the environmental footprint of cleaning operations.

    They will expand Unity Group’s technological footprint in Singapore and beyond, setting new standards for international collaboration in energy and robotic solutions.

    Mr. Kin Wai Ho, CEO of Primech Holdings Limited, commented, “We are proud to partner with Unity Group to pioneer the integration of sustainable energy solutions and advanced robotics in our operations. These initiatives are pivotal as we continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in our industry, ensuring that we remain at the forefront of both environmental responsibility and technological innovation.”

    Mr. Mansfield Wong, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Unity Group, stated, “Our collaboration with Primech Holdings and Primech AI represents a significant opportunity to leverage our expertise in energy solutions alongside Primech’s innovations in robotic technologies. We are excited about the potential of our joint efforts to set benchmarks in sustainability and operational efficiency globally.”

    About Unity Group Holdings International Limited
    Founded in 2008, Unity Group became the first energy service company to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. At the core of its operations is the Energy Management Contract (EMC) business model, which implements customized solutions designed to achieve optimal energy efficiency and maximize returns for clients. Unity Group employs industry-leading, effective, and practical research methodologies. These methodologies span innovative green technologies, data analysis, and machine learning. The outcomes of its research and development efforts manifest in its uniquely versatile, appropriate, and actionable green technology solutions. Currently, Unity Group operates in Mainland China, Malaysia, and the Middle East.

    About Primech Holdings Limited
    Headquartered in Singapore, Primech Holdings Limited is a leading provider of comprehensive technology-driven facilities services, predominantly serving both public and private sectors throughout Singapore, with expanding operations in Malaysia. With a legacy of excellence and innovation in the facility services industry, Primech’s operating subsidiary, Primech A & P offers an extensive range of services tailored to meet the complex demands of its diverse clientele. Services include advanced general facility maintenance services, specialized cleaning solutions such as marble polishing and facade cleaning, meticulous stewarding services, and targeted cleaning services for offices and homes. Additionally, CSG Industries Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Primech Holdings, manufactures and supplies various high-quality cleaning products under its brand, extending its reach and capabilities within the industry. Known for its commitment to sustainability and cutting-edge technology, Primech integrates eco-friendly practices and smart technology solutions to enhance operational efficiency and client satisfaction. This strategic approach positions Primech Holdings as a leader in the industry and a proactive contributor to advancing industry standards and practices in Singapore and beyond. For more information, visit www.primechholdings.com.    

    About Primech AI
    Primech AI is a leading robotics company dedicated to pushing the boundaries of innovation in technology. With a team of passionate individuals and a commitment to collaboration, Primech AI is poised to revolutionize the robotics industry with groundbreaking solutions that make a meaningful impact on society. For more information, visit www.primech.ai.

    Forward-Looking Statements
    Certain statements in this announcement are forward-looking statements, including, for example, statements about completing the acquisition, anticipated revenues, growth, and expansion. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on the Company’s current expectations and projections about future events that the Company believes may affect its financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, and financial needs. These forward-looking statements are also based on assumptions regarding the Company’s present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future. Investors can find many (but not all) of these statements by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “likely to” or other similar expressions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure that such expectations will be correct. The Company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results and encourages investors to review other factors that may affect its future results in the Company’s registration statement and other filings with the SEC.

    Company Contact:
    Email: ir@primech.com.sg

    Investor Relations Contact:        
    Matthew Abenante, IRC
    President                                        
    Strategic Investor Relations, LLC                                         
    Tel: 347-947-2093
    Email: matthew@strategic-ir.com

    The MIL Network –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: Pineapple Energy to Host Virtual Fireside Chat

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    RONKONKOMA, N.Y., Nov. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Pineapple Energy Inc. (Nasdaq: PEGY) (“Pineapple” or the “Company”), a leading provider of sustainable solar energy and backup power to households, businesses, municipalities, and for servicing existing systems, today announced that Scott Maskin, Interim CEO, will host a virtual Fireside Chat on November 14th, 2024 at 10:00 AM ET. The event will be moderated by Julien Dumoulin-Smith, Managing Director, Power, Utilities, & Clean Energy Equity Research group at Jefferies.

    Mr. Maskin will discuss recent developments, provide an overview of Pineapple’s business and industry, outline strategies to enhance shareholder value, and answer questions from current and prospective shareholders.

    The fireside chat will be available for viewing at Pineapple’s website, www.pineappleenergy.com.

    Questions may be submitted in advance to ir@pineappleenergy.com with the subject line “Fireside Chat Questions.” The deadline for submitting questions is November 13that 5:00 PM ET.

    Julien Dumoulin-Smith is a perennially #1 double ranked Institutional Investor (II) magazine analyst in both Utilities & Alternative/Clean Energy and was recently inducted into the II Hall of Fame for his cumulative accomplishments.  

    About Pineapple Energy
    Pineapple is focused on growing leading local and regional solar, storage, and energy services companies nationwide. Our vision is to power the energy transition through grass-roots growth of solar electricity paired with battery storage. Our portfolio of brands (SUNation, Hawaii Energy Connection, E-Gear) provide homeowners and businesses of all sizes with an end-to-end product offering spanning solar, battery storage, and grid services.

    Forward Looking Statements 
    This press release includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the Company’s current expectations or beliefs and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances, including the Company’s expectations regarding its ability to effect the reverse stock split and regain compliance with Nasdaq’s continued listing standards. While the Company believes its plans, intentions, and expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, these plans, intentions, or expectations may not be achieved. For information about the factors that could cause such differences, please refer to the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, the statements made under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and in subsequent filings. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, except as required by law.

    Safe Harbor Statement
    Our prospects here at Pineapple Energy Inc. are subject to uncertainties and risks. This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbor provided by the foregoing Sections. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations or forecasts of future events, can be affected by inaccurate assumptions, and are subject to various business risks and known and unknown uncertainties, a number of which are beyond the control of management. Therefore, actual results could differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this presentation. The Company cannot predict or determine after the fact what factors would cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements or other statements. The reader should consider statements that include the words “believes”, “expects”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “estimates”, “plans”, “projects”, “should”, or other expressions that are predictions of or indicate future events or trends, to be uncertain and forward-looking. We caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional information respecting factors that could materially affect the Company and its operations are contained in the Company’s filings with the SEC which can be found on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

    Contacts:  

    Scott Maskin
    Interim Chief Executive Officer
    +1 (631) 823-7131
    scott.maskin@pineappleenergy.com

    Pineapple Investor Relations
    +1 (952) 996-1674
    IR@pineappleenergy.com

    The MIL Network –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: Insider Announces $500M Series E Led by General Atlantic to Accelerate AI Investments, Fuel U.S. Expansion, and Continue to Scale Global Operations

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, Nov. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Insider, a leading AI-native omnichannel experience and customer engagement platform, today announced a $500 million Series E funding round led by General Atlantic, a leading global growth investor.

    Insider plans to further develop its next-generation marketing software offering and invest heavily in research and development, focusing on expanding and evolving its AI solutions. The company also intends to scale its talent base and geographic footprint, leveraging General Atlantic’s global platform. With an established market position in 28 countries across five continents, including North America, EMEA, APAC, and Latin America, Insider plans to increase its regional investments on the back of strong demand in the U.S. market, where it has achieved significant growth. Additionally, the company will use the funds to explore strategic M&A opportunities.

    As a leading enterprise marketing software provider, Insider enables marketers and customer experience teams to create highly personalized omnichannel experiences and manage customer engagement from a single platform. With an integrated CDP that vertically integrates data and marketing application layers to fuel marketing automation and personalized customer journey orchestration across 12+ natively-supported channels – including WhatsApp, SMS, Email, Web, App, Site Search, and more – Insider helps marketers to efficiently collect, analyze, and predictively use first-party data in real-time. As a result, brands can accelerate growth, realize higher marketing efficiency, and create more valuable customer relationships.

    Hande Cilingir, Co-Founder and CEO at Insider, said, “Our mission is to empower marketing and CX teams to deliver a holistic omnichannel experience and deepen customer engagement. Unlike traditional technology companies that focus on a single area or product, our approach has always been to build multiple best-in-breed and industry-leading products, bringing them together in one complete platform that outperforms single-point solutions. As a pioneer of predictive models in customer experience, this funding positions us to further build upon that foundation to disrupt the MarTech industry. We believe that our differentiators, especially AI-enabled tools, will set Insider apart as the preferred choice for marketing and customer experience teams, and we look forward to leveraging General Atlantic’s deep experience backing growth companies to drive the marketing technology shift.”

    “Many brands are eager to move away from traditional marketing clouds that limit their growth. We are on a mission to help as many users as possible transition from legacy marketing clouds to Insider. We have developed a white-glove migration blueprint designed to make the transition seamless. In the last year, 150 brands have successfully made the switch to Insider using our automatic migrator and pre-built integrations, and achieved up to 5X faster time to value compared to their previous vendor,” said Serhat Soyuerel, Co-Founder and CRO at Insider.

    Insider launched patent-pending Sirius AI™, a comprehensive solution for end-to-end omnichannel experience creation. The technology combines the transformative power of generative, conversational, and predictive AI.

    “This funding will help accelerate our ambitious product roadmap and grow our 350+ in-house engineering team. Over the next two years, we plan to focus on realizing our vision to build an end-to-end AI-native omnichannel experience and customer engagement platform that compounds promotional, transactional, and support capabilities into a seamless solution powered by an extensive set of channels. Harnessing Generative AI to make user interactions more conversational at every level, we plan to further invest in Sirius AI™ Co-Pilot, which guides teams at every stage of customer journey creation,” said Muharrem Derinkok, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Insider.

    Sascha Guenther, Managing Director and Head of DACH at General Atlantic, commented, “The MarTech industry is benefitting from a secular shift levered to ongoing tailwinds, including the proliferation of data traffic and channels, the growing importance of first-party data, and evolving customer expectations regarding personalized experiences across channels. Insider has successfully positioned itself as a leading and dynamic innovator in the B2B SaaS space and delivers tangible ROI to its customers. We believe the company is well placed to capture a greater share of the $15+ billion total addressable market, as businesses race to upgrade their marketing strategies around the world in need of higher marketing efficiency and effectiveness.”

    Alex Crisses, Managing Director, Enterprise Technology, and Global Head of New Investment Sourcing at General Atlantic, continued, “Insider has disrupted traditional marketing cloud operators in the enterprise space by offering a differentiated and well-integrated suite of next-gen products. Insider’s success lies in consistently delivering unmatched value to their customers. Few platforms are capable of achieving this, setting Insider apart. We believe Hande and her team are talented product visionaries and entrepreneurs, and we’re excited to help them scale further.”

    As part of the transaction, Sascha Guenther, Alex Crisses, and Christopher Apfel, Vice President at General Atlantic, will join the Insider Board of Directors.

    Insider is hiring across 28 regions. Explore open positions at useinsider.com/careers. For more information about Insider, visit https://useinsider.com/.

    About Insider

    Insider is a leading AI-native Omnichannel Experience and Customer Engagement Platform – enabling marketing and customer experience teams to deliver a unique experience per person, from a single platform. Insider’s integrated CDP vertically integrates data and marketing application layers to fuel marketing automation and personalized customer journey orchestration across 12+ natively-supported channels, like WhatsApp, SMS, Email, Web, App, Site Search, and more. Insider helps marketers to efficiently collect, analyze, and predictively use first-party data in real-time. As a result, brands accelerate growth, realize higher productivity, maximize marketing ROI, increase customer lifetime value, and create more valuable customer relationships.

    Insider powers omnichannel experiences and customer engagement for 1,500+ global customers across retail, automotive, travel, and telecommunications, including Nike, Samsung, L’Oreal, Unilever, Allianz, Walt Disney, ING Group, Toyota, Singapore Airlines, and GAP.

    Loved by customers and recognized by analysts, Insider is recognized as a leader in the areas marketing and CX teams care most about, including Cross-Channel Campaign Management, Personalization, and Customer Data Platforms, offering brands unrivaled product excellence within a single consolidated platform. Insider was named a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Personalization Engines 2021, the Forrester Wave for Cross-Channel Campaign Management 2021, and Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Omnichannel Marketing Platforms for B2C Enterprises 2023 Assessment. The company was recently recognized in The Top 1% of all software companies worldwide in G2’s 2024 Software Awards and named the #5 Best Software Product with the most #1 rankings alongside other software legends like Google, Zoom, and Monday.com. According to G2’s Fall’24 reports, Insider is also the #1 G2 Leader in 9+ categories, including Customer Data Platforms (CDP), Personalization Engines, Personalization Software, Mobile Marketing, Customer Journey Analytics, SMS Marketing, WhatsApp Marketing, eCommerce Search, and eCommerce Personalization, with a 4.8/5.0 ranking for 21+ consecutive quarters.

    Today, Insider has more than 1,100 team members representing 51 nationalities across 28 countries worldwide. The company is woman-founded, with 70% of top executive roles, including the CEO, CMO, CHRO, and CFO, being held by women. With initiatives such as 100 cities, 100 projects, Young Engineers Club, shecodes, and sheleads, Insider is committed to scaling its impact across its communities. For more information about Insider, please visit: https://useinsider.com.

    About General Atlantic

    General Atlantic is a leading global growth investor with more than four decades of experience providing capital and strategic support for over 520 growth companies throughout its history. Established in 1980, General Atlantic continues to be a dedicated partner to visionary founders and investors seeking to build dynamic businesses and create long-term value. Guided by the conviction that entrepreneurs can be incredible agents of transformational change, the firm combines a collaborative global approach, sector-specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon, and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with and scale innovative businesses around the world. The firm leverages its patient capital, operational expertise, and global platform to support a diversified investment platform spanning Growth Equity, Credit, Climate, and Sustainable Infrastructure strategies. General Atlantic manages approximately $97 billion in assets under management, inclusive of all strategies, as of October 1, 2024 (based on valuations as of June 30, 2024), with more than 900 professionals in 20 countries across five regions. For more information on General Atlantic, please visit: www.generalatlantic.com.

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d23219b3-1e4a-4c8e-83dd-b8ad780dba13

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6d23d86b-d14e-4ddb-bf67-0d0d4ab87b04

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/26f93f38-9c6b-458a-8506-460a9a55e491

    The MIL Network –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: UConn Forum Draws Top Minds to Brainstorm Ways to Grow Connecticut’s Economy

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Scores of esteemed industry leaders, researchers, entrepreneurs, and public officials came together at UConn Storrs recently to share ideas on combining their organizations’ energy and expertise to grow a robust, sustainable Connecticut economy.

    “UConn Forum: Economic Engine of a Thriving Connecticut” featured discussions on driving the state’s economy through several key growth areas including advanced manufacturing, sustainable energy, fintech, biotech, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and other realms.

    Panelists and participants praised the Oct. 31 event as a unique opportunity to learn about innovations in various industry sectors and inspire ideas for collaboration, including by drawing on UConn expertise.

    With an annual impact of $8.5 billion on the state’s economy, UConn takes its responsibilities seriously to help drive Connecticut forward, President Radenka Maric told the crowd in welcoming remarks.

    That includes sharing its research expertise, helping foster startup businesses and technologies, ensuring its graduates are entrepreneurial and workforce ready, and doing all within its power to keep them in Connecticut to build their careers and lives.

    A common theme throughout the day’s discussions was Connecticut’s innovative spirit and enviable strengths, including a well-educated workforce, diverse population, strong schools, family-friendly quality of life, and innovation-oriented business ecosystem.

    Forum participants also agreed it’s a perfect time to accelerate the collaborations between industry and higher education – particularly as Connecticut is regaining population lost during the recession; has seen a noteworthy jump in business startups; and is developing new technologies in several fields.

    “What we’re seeing is that the trends have reversed in a pretty meaningful way. People are betting on Connecticut with both their wallets and their feet,” said keynote speaker Daniel O’Keefe, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD).

    He said the state had the 19th best-performing economy nationwide in the last two years. That’s a major turnaround from the 2000s-era recession in which Connecticut became one of only three states – including Wyoming and Mississippi – whose economies contracted and became smaller on an inflation-adjusted basis.

    As Connecticut’s manufacturing and national defense-related industries bounced back, so did the state – supplemented by growth in areas such as technology and software information, and other emerging industries such as those discussed at the UConn forum.

    “This is a state where innovation happens literally every day. You don’t hear about it as much as you do in places like Silicon Valley because the innovation is taking place not only in our startups, but also in our incredibly large companies,” O’Keefe said.

    Several new collaborations also have immense promise, such as the QuantumCT public-private partnership led by UConn and Yale.

    UConn President Radenka Maric hands a proclamation from Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont to Lee Langston, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at UConn, during the “UConn Forum: Economic Engine of a Thriving Connecticut” event in the Rowe Commons ballroom on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (Sydney Herdle/UConn Photo)

    That initiative aims to win federal funding to transform Connecticut into the nation’s leading accelerator of quantum technologies. The proposal recently advanced to the competition’s next stage, and marks the first time that UConn and Yale have partnered on an initiative of this scope.

    That kind of collaborative thinking underscored most of the forum’s panels, in which the speakers discussed the importance of addressing society’s emerging needs for sustainable clean energy, effective and affordable pharma products, innovative use of AI, or other topics.

    The forum’s guests also gained inspiration from the entrepreneurial history of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation as shared by its chairman, Rodney Butler ’99 (BUS).

    Having endured generations of forced assimilation and poverty, its members survived economically by selling timber, maple syrup, and other goods until the tribe gained federal recognition in 1983, he said.

    With the ability to diversify into more lucrative areas, the tribe opened a high-stakes bingo hall in 1986 and, in 1992, it opened Foxwoods Resort Casino – now the world’s largest such gaming and entertainment venue.

    Today, the tribe’s annual economic impact in the state is about $1 billion, and it has expanded into the hospitality business, golf courses, real estate holdings, hotel and golf course development, a pharmaceutical network, sports betting, internet gaming, and other ventures.

    It’s a far cry from the early days of selling handmade baskets, picking berries, and hunting snakes to survive economically. The Pequot tribe and UConn have also partnered on several projects, including the development of its hydroponic Meechooôk Farm; research into responsible gaming; and various academic and cultural endeavors.

    “The reason we do all of it, and the reason we’re in this room, is to create a thriving and sustainable community,” Butler told the forum’s attendees. “Ours is at Mashantucket. In this room, it’s about Connecticut and dare I say, all of southern New England.”

    Also as part of the forum, Maric presented a proclamation from Gov. Ned Lamont to UConn Professor Emeritus Lee Langston ’60 (ENG), one of UConn’s most accomplished engineering innovators.

    His career included helping to develop the fuel cells that powered Apollo 11 to the moon. He also was part of a team that helped install the first solar panels at the White House during the Carter Administration, and pioneered gas turbine technologies now used worldwide, including at UConn’s Cogeneration (CoGen) Central Utility Plant.

    Langston joined UConn in 1977 as a mechanical engineering professor after more than a decade at Pratt & Whitney. He also served a year as the interim dean of the School of Engineering (now a college), later retiring from UConn in 2003 but remaining active as a professor emeritus.

    “His contributions to science and society are immeasurable,” Maric said in presenting the proclamation, adding that she first learned of his expertise in sustainable energy when she was studying for her Ph.D. in Japan.

    Maric said the legacy of innovators such as Langston, along with the vision of people at the economic development forum and throughout the state, will be key to its future.

    “We make the impossible possible in Connecticut. We are leaders and will continue to lead, and anyone who says we can’t do it in Connecticut will be proven wrong,” she said.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Svalbard Global Seed Vault evokes epic imagery and controversy because of the symbolic value of seeds

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Adriana Craciun, Professor of English and Emma MacLachlan Metcalf Chair of Humanities, Boston University

    The entrance to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Martin Zwick/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    Two-thirds of the world’s food comes today from just nine plants: sugar cane, maize (corn), rice, wheat, potatoes, soybeans, oil-palm fruit, sugar beet and cassava. In the past, farmers grew tens of thousands of crop varieties around the world. This biodiversity protected agriculture from crop losses caused by plant diseases and climate change.

    Today, seed banks around the world are doing much of the work of saving crop varieties that could be essential resources under future growing conditions. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway supports them all. It is the world’s most famous backup site for seeds that are more precious than data.

    Tens of thousands of new seeds from around the world arrived at the seed vault on Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, in mid-October 2024. This was one of the largest deposits in the vault’s 16-year history.

    And on Oct. 31, crop scientists Cary Fowler and Geoffrey Hawtin, who played key roles in creating the Global Seed Vault, received the US$500,000 World Food Prize, which recognizes work that has helped increase the supply, quality or accessibility of food worldwide.

    The Global Seed Vault has been politically controversial since it opened in 2008. It is the most visible site in a global agricultural research network associated with the United Nations and funders such as the World Bank.

    These organizations supported the Green Revolution – a concerted effort to introduce high-yielding seeds to developing nations in the mid-20th century. This effort saved millions of people from starvation, but it shifted agriculture in a technology-intensive direction. The Global Seed Vault has become a lightning rod for critiques of that effort and its long-term impacts.

    I have visited the vault and am completing a book about connections between scientific research on seeds and ideas about immortality over centuries. My research shows that the Global Seed Vault’s controversies are in part inspired by religious associations that predate it. But these cultural beliefs also remain essential for the vault’s support and influence and thus for its goal of protecting biodiversity.

    The Global Seed Vault gives scientists the tools they may need to breed crops that can cope with a changing climate.

    Backup for a global network

    Several hundred million seeds from thousands of species of agricultural plants live inside the Global Seed Vault. They come from 80 nations and are tucked away in special metallic pouches that keep them dry.

    The vault is designed to prolong their dormancy at zero degrees Fahrenheit (-18 degrees Celsius) in three ice-covered caverns inside a sandstone mountain. The air is so cold inside that when I entered the vault, my eyelashes and the inside of my nose froze.

    The Global Seed Vault is owned by Norway and run by the Nordic Genetic Resources Centre. It was created under a U.N. treaty governing over 1,700 seed banks, where seeds are stored away from farms, to serve as what the U.N. calls “the ultimate insurance policy for the world’s food supply.”

    This network enables nations, nongovernmental organizations, scientists and farmers to save and exchange seeds for research, breeding and replanting. The vault is the backup collection for all of these seed banks, storing their duplicate seeds at no charge to them.

    The seed vault’s cultural meaning

    The vault’s Arctic location and striking appearance contribute to both its public appeal and its controversies.

    Svalbard is often described as a remote, frozen wasteland. For conspiracy theorists, early visits to the Global Seed Vault by billionaires such as Bill Gates and George Soros, and representatives from Google and Monsanto, signaled that the vault had a secret purpose or benefited global elites.

    In fact, however, the archipelago of Svalbard has daily flights to other Norwegian cities. Its cosmopolitan capital, Longyearbyen, is home to 2,700 people from 50 countries, drawn by ecotourism and scientific research – hardly a well-hidden site for covert activities.

    The vault’s entrance features a striking installation by Norwegian artist Dyveke Sanne. An illuminated kaleidoscope of mirrors, this iconic artwork glows in the long Arctic night and draws many tourists.

    Because of its mission to preserve seeds through potential disasters, media regularly describe the Global Seed Vault as the “doomsday vault,” or a “modern Noah’s Ark.” Singled out based on its location, appearance and associations with Biblical myths such as the Flood, the Garden of Eden and the apocalypse, the vault has acquired a public meaning unlike that of any other seed bank.

    The politics of seed conservation

    One consequence is that the vault often serves as a lightning rod for critics who view seed conservation as the latest stage in a long history of Europeans removing natural resources from developing nations. But these critiques don’t really reflect how the Global Seed Vault works.

    The vault and its sister seed banks don’t diminish cultivation of seeds grown by farmers in fields. The two methods complement one another, and seed depositors retain ownership of their seeds.

    Another misleading criticism argues that storing seeds at Svalbard prevents these plants from adapting to climate change and could render them useless in a warmer future. But storing seeds in a dormant state actually mirrors plants’ own survival strategy.

    Dormancy is the mysterious plant behavior that “protects against an unpredictable future,” according to biologist Anthony Trewavas. Plants are experts in coping with climate unpredictability by essentially hibernating.

    Seed dormancy allows plants to hedge their bets on the future; the Global Seed Vault extends this state for decades or longer. While varieties in the field may become extinct, their banked seeds live to fight another day.

    Storing more than seeds

    In 2017, a delegation of Quechua farmers from the Peruvian Andes traveled to Svalbard to deposit seeds of their sacred potato varieties in the vault. In songs and prayers, they said goodbye to the seeds as their “loved ones” and “endangered children.” “We’re not just leaving genes, but also a family,” one farmer told Svalbard officials.

    The farmers said the vault would protect what they called their “Indigenous biocultural heritage” – an interweaving of scientific and cultural value, and of plants and people, that for the farmers evoked the sacred.

    People from around the world have sought to attach their art to the Global Seed Vault for a similar reason. In 2018, the Svalbard Seed Cultures Ark began depositing artworks that attach stories to seeds in a nearby mine.

    Pope Francis sent an envoy with a handmade copy of a book reflecting on the pope’s message of hope to the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Japanese sculptor Mitsuaki Tanabe created a 9-meter-long steel grain of rice for the vault’s opening and was permitted to place a miniature version inside.

    Seeds sleeping in Svalbard are far from their home soil, but each one is enveloped in an invisible web of the microbes and fungi that traveled with it. These microbiomes are still interacting with each seed in ways scientists are just beginning to understand.

    I see the Global Seed Vault as a lively and fragile place, powered not by money or technology but by the strange power of seeds. The World Food Prize once again highlights their vital promise.

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

    – ref. Svalbard Global Seed Vault evokes epic imagery and controversy because of the symbolic value of seeds – https://theconversation.com/svalbard-global-seed-vault-evokes-epic-imagery-and-controversy-because-of-the-symbolic-value-of-seeds-240086

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: How can Jupiter have no surface? A dive into a planet so big, it could swallow 1,000 Earths

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Benjamin Roulston, Assistant Professor of Physics, Clarkson University

    A photo of Jupiter taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft in September 2023. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS, image processing by Tanya Oleksuik

    Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

    Why does Jupiter look like it has a surface – even though it doesn’t have one? – Sejal, age 7, Bangalore, India

    The planet Jupiter has no solid ground – no surface, like the grass or dirt you tread here on Earth. There’s nothing to walk on, and no place to land a spaceship.

    But how can that be? If Jupiter doesn’t have a surface, what does it have? How can it hold together?

    Even as a professor of physics who studies all kinds of unusual phenomena, I realize the concept of a world without a surface is difficult to fathom. Yet much about Jupiter remains a mystery, even as NASA’s robotic probe Juno begins its ninth year orbiting this strange planet.

    Jupiter’s mass is two-and-a-half times that of all the other planets in the solar system combined.

    First, some facts

    Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun, is between Mars and Saturn. It’s the largest planet in the solar system, big enough for more than 1,000 Earths to fit inside, with room to spare.

    While the four inner planets of the solar system – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars – are all made of solid, rocky material, Jupiter is a gas giant with a composition similar to the Sun; it’s a roiling, stormy, wildly turbulent ball of gas. Some places on Jupiter have winds of more than 400 mph (about 640 kilometers per hour), about three times faster than a Category 5 hurricane on Earth.

    A photo of the southern hemisphere of Jupiter, taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft in 2017.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstadt/Sean Doran

    Searching for solid ground

    Start from the top of Earth’s atmosphere, go down about 60 miles (roughly 100 kilometers), and the air pressure continuously increases. Ultimately you hit Earth’s surface, either land or water.

    Compare that with Jupiter: Start near the top of its mostly hydrogen and helium atmosphere, and like on Earth, the pressure increases the deeper you go. But on Jupiter, the pressure is immense.

    As the layers of gas above you push down more and more, it’s like being at the bottom of the ocean – but instead of water, you’re surrounded by gas. The pressure becomes so intense that the human body would implode; you would be squashed.

    Go down 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers), and the hot, dense gas begins to behave strangely. Eventually, the gas turns into a form of liquid hydrogen, creating what can be thought of as the largest ocean in the solar system, albeit an ocean without water.

    Go down another 20,000 miles (about 32,000 kilometers), and the hydrogen becomes more like flowing liquid metal, a material so exotic that only recently, and with great difficulty, have scientists reproduced it in the laboratory. The atoms in this liquid metallic hydrogen are squeezed so tightly that its electrons are free to roam.

    Keep in mind that these layer transitions are gradual, not abrupt; the transition from normal hydrogen gas to liquid hydrogen and then to metallic hydrogen happens slowly and smoothly. At no point is there a sharp boundary, solid material or surface.

    An illustration of Jupiter’s interior layers. One bar is approximately equal to the air pressure at sea level on Earth.
    NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Scary to the core

    Ultimately, you’d reach the core of Jupiter. This is the central region of Jupiter’s interior, and not to be confused with a surface.

    Scientists are still debating the exact nature of the core’s material. The most favored model: It’s not solid, like rock, but more like a hot, dense and possibly metallic mixture of liquid and solid.

    The pressure at Jupiter’s core is so immense that it would be like 100 million Earth atmospheres pressing down on you – or two Empire State buildings on top of each square inch of your body.

    But pressure wouldn’t be your only problem. A spacecraft trying to reach Jupiter’s core would be melted by the extreme heat – 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit (20,000 degrees Celsius). That’s three times hotter than the surface of the Sun.

    An image taken of Jupiter by Voyager 1. Note the Great Red Spot, a storm large enough to hold three Earths.
    NASA/JPL

    Jupiter helps Earth

    Jupiter is a weird and forbidding place. But if Jupiter weren’t around, it’s possible human beings might not exist.

    That’s because Jupiter acts as a shield for the inner planets of the solar system, including Earth. With its massive gravitational pull, Jupiter has altered the orbit of asteroids and comets for billions of years.

    Without Jupiter’s intervention, some of that space debris could have crashed into Earth; if one had been a cataclysmic collision, it could have caused an extinction-level event. Just look at what happened to the dinosaurs.

    Maybe Jupiter gave an assist to our existence, but the planet itself is extraordinarily inhospitable to life – at least, life as we know it.

    The same is not the case with a Jupiter moon, Europa, perhaps our best chance to find life elsewhere in the solar system.

    NASA’s Europa Clipper, a robotic probe launching in October 2024, is scheduled to do about 50 fly-bys over that moon to study its enormous underground ocean.

    Could something be living in Europa’s water? Scientists won’t know for a while. Because of Jupiter’s distance from Earth, the probe won’t arrive until April 2030.

    Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

    And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

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

    – ref. How can Jupiter have no surface? A dive into a planet so big, it could swallow 1,000 Earths – https://theconversation.com/how-can-jupiter-have-no-surface-a-dive-into-a-planet-so-big-it-could-swallow-1-000-earths-231901

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Speech to the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand

    Source: ACT Party

    Delivered by Hon David Seymour on 26 January 2025, hosted by the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand in Remuera.

    Thank you Gillian, and the Board of the Holocaust Centre for inviting me to give this address. I am humbled to speak the day before the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

    I have long feared that the horrors of World War Two would slip from living memory. As a nine year old, I had a teacher who talked often about her own schooling in fear of a Japanese invasion. It stuck with me that children had to practice evacuating and sit in trenches with cotton wool in their ears and corks between their teeth. That teacher retired at the end of that year, and I wondered how students in the next class would know about the war.

    Of course, I couldn’t have known about the Holocaust Centre, it was founded fifteen years later. The Centre could be seen as a response to the task of keeping these memories real when only a precious few, whom I acknowledge today, can remind us of the horrors first hand.

    It falls on each of us to make a conscious effort keep the lessons learned alive. One of the most helpful tools we have for doing that is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed at Paris in the aftermath of World War Two by our then Prime Minister Peter Fraser.

    World War Two and the Holocaust gave people clarity of thought. In those painful times it didn’t take much effort to think clearly about what was right, what was wrong, and what must be avoided at all costs.

    The preamble of the Declaration begins

    Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable
    rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice
    and peace in the world,
    Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous
    acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world
    in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom
    from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common
    people …

    The Declaration then lists Human Rights in a series of articles.

    Article One says:

    All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are
    endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a
    spirit of brotherhood.

    Article Two is more specific, saying:

    Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration,
    without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion,
    political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
    Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political,
    jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person
    belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other
    limitation of sovereignty.

    Reading these words, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the Holocaust weighed heavily on the minds of the drafters of and Parties to this declaration. It was far from the only evil of World War Two, but sadly its scale and inhumanity make it the singular act of evil not only in that War but all wars.

    Just as the Holocaust brought great clarity of thought in its aftermath, disordered thinking brings great danger that something like it will be repeated.

    The misuse of the word genocide, the casual blaming of victims after the October 7th attacks, and the excusal of the true perpetrator, Hamas, are all examples that no doubt weigh heavily on the minds of Auckland’s Jewish community.

    These are also part of a wider intellectual trend.

    Sir Karl Popper, a Jewish Philosopher who lost 16 members of his own family to the Holocaust and found refuge in New Zealand, was responsible for defining the scientific method.

    Through the early and mid-twentieth centuries, Popper won the argument about how science proceeds. His approach, testing falsifiable hypotheses against empirically verifiable facts, is wonderfully equalitarian and democratic.

    He showed, like Galileo before him, that no matter who you are, if your idea stacks up, plain for all to see, that you can make a breakthrough. It doesn’t just apply in science. As Popper himself said, all life is problem solving.

    In contrast to that liberal vision, we hear that people can have knowledge according to their identity. People say ‘speaking as a…’. There are different kinds of knowledge that always turn on identity. These are dangerous thoughts. They deny the ability of any individual to see truth according to an agreed method. They take you down the path to where might is right.

    I had an email from a much brighter and younger person than me over the summer, worried about the fate of liberalism. I said, perhaps we need a new book. His reply was brilliant. He said, perhaps, but first we should all reread Poppers Open Society and its Enemies. I’m taking his advice.

    My challenge in a YouTube world is that we should all read more. As the Holocaust’s Horrors slip from living memory, my challenge is to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and The Open Society, for lessons we must not forget.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: 30 Years Ago: STS-66, the ATLAS-3 Mission to Study the Earth’s Atmosphere

    Source: NASA

    On Nov. 3, 1994, space shuttle Atlantis took to the skies on its 13th trip into space. During the 11-day mission, the STS-66 crew of Commander Donald R. McMonagle, Pilot Curtis L. Brown, Payload Commander Ellen Ochoa, and Mission Specialists Joseph R. Tanner, Scott E. Parazynski, and French astronaut Jean-François Clervoy representing the European Space Agency (ESA) operated the third Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Sciences (ATLAS-3), and deployed and retrieved the U.S.-German Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere-Shuttle Pallet Satellite (CRISTA-SPAS), as part of NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth. The remote sensing instruments studied the Sun’s energy output, the atmosphere’s chemical composition, and how these affect global ozone levels, adding to the knowledge gained during the ATLAS-1 and ATLAS-2 missions.
    Left: Official photo of the STS-68 crew of Jean-François Clervoy, left, Scott E. Parazynski, Curtis L. Brown, Joseph R. Tanner, Donald R. McMonagle, and Ellen Ochoa. Middle: The STS-66 crew patch. Right: The ATLAS-3 payload patch.
    In August 1993, NASA named Ochoa as the ATLAS-3 payload commander, and in January 1994, named the rest of the STS-66 crew. For McMonagle, selected as an astronaut in 1987, ATLAS-3 marked his third trip into space, having flown on STS-39 and STS-54. Brown, also from the class of 1987, previously flew on STS 47, while Ochoa, selected in 1990, flew as a mission specialist on STS-56, the ATLAS-2 mission. For Tanner, Parazynski, and Clervoy, all from the Class of 1992 – the French space agency CNES previously selected Clervoy as one of its astronauts in 1985 before he joined the ESA astronaut cadre in 1992 – STS-66 marked their first spaceflight.
    Left: Schematic illustration of ATLAS-3 and its instruments. Right: Schematic illustration of CRISTA-SPAS retrievable satellite and its instruments.
    The ATLAS-3 payload consisted of six instruments on a Spacelab pallet and one mounted on the payload bay sidewall. The pallet mounted instruments included Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS), Millimeter-Wave Atmospheric Sounder (MAS), Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor (ACRIM), Measurement of the Solar Constant (SOLCON), Solar Spectrum Measurement from 1,800 to 3,200 nanometers (SOLSCAN), and Solar Ultraviolet Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM).
    The Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) instrument constituted the payload bay sidewall mounted experiment. While the instruments previously flew on the ATLAS-1 and ATLAS-2 missions, both those flights took place during the northern hemisphere spring. Data from the ATLAS-3’s mission in the fall complemented results from the earlier missions. The CRISTA-SPAS satellite included two instruments, the CRISTA and the Middle Atmosphere High Resolution Spectrograph Investigation (MAHRSI).
    Left: Space shuttle Atlantis at Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Middle: Liftoff of Atlantis on STS-66. Right: Atlantis rises into the sky.
    Following its previous flight, STS-46 in August 1992, Atlantis spent one and a half years at the Rockwell plant in Palmdale, California, undergoing major modifications before arriving back at KSC on May 29, 1994. During the modification period, workers installed cables and wiring for a docking system for Atlantis to use during the first Shuttle-Mir docking mission in 1995 and equipment to allow it to fly Extended Duration Orbiter missions of two weeks or longer. Atlantis also underwent structural inspections and systems upgrades including improved nose wheel steering and a new reusable drag chute. Workers in KSC’s Orbiter Processing Facility installed the ATLAS-3 and CRISTA-SPAS payloads and rolled Atlantis over to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Oct. 4 for mating with its External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters. Atlantis rolled out to Launch Pad 39B six days later. The six-person STS-66 crew traveled to KSC to participate in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, essentially a dress rehearsal for the launch countdown, on Oct. 18.
    They returned to KSC on Oct. 31, the same day the final countdown began. Following a smooth countdown leading to a planned 11:56 a.m. EST liftoff on Nov. 3, 1994, Atlantis took off three minutes late, the delay resulting from high winds at one of the Transatlantic Abort sites. The liftoff marked the third shuttle launch in 55 days, missing a record set in 1985 by one day. Eight and a half minutes later, Atlantis delivered its crew and payloads to space. Thirty minutes later, a firing of the shuttle’s Orbiter Maneuvering System (OMS) engines placed them in a 190-mile orbit inclined 57 degrees to the equator. The astronauts opened the payload bay doors, deploying the shuttle’s radiators, and removed their bulky launch and entry suits, stowing them for the remainder of the flight.
    Left: Atlantis’ payload bay, showing the ATLAS-3 payload and the CRISTA-SPAS deployable satellite behind it. Middle: European Space Agency astronaut Jean-François Clervoy uses the shuttle’s Remote Manipulator System (RMS) to grapple the CRISTA-SPAS prior to its release. Right: Clervoy about to release CRISTA-SPAS from the RMS.
    The astronauts began to convert their vehicle into a science platform, and that included breaking up into two teams to enable 24-hour-a-day operations. McMonagle, Ochoa, and Tanner made up the Red Team while Brown, Parazynski, and Clervoy made up the Blue Team. Within five hours of liftoff, the Blue Team began their sleep period while the Red Team started their first on orbit shift by activating the ATLAS-3 instruments, the CRISTA-SPAS deployable satellite, and the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) or robotic arm in the payload bay and some of the middeck experiments. The next day, Clervoy, operating the RMS, grappled CRISTA-SPAS, lifted it from its cradle in the payload bay, and while Atlantis flew over Germany, deployed it for its eight-day free flight. McMonagle fired Atlantis’ thrusters to separate from the satellite.
    Left: Ellen Ochoa and Donald R. McMonagle on the shuttle’s flight deck. Middle: European Space Agency astronaut Jean-François Clervoy in the commander’s seat during the mission. Right: Scott E. Parazynski operates a protein crystallization experiment in the shuttle middeck.
    Left: Joseph R. Tanner operates a protein crystallization experiment. Middle: Curtis L. Brown operates a microgravity acceleration measurement system. Right: Ellen Ochoa uses the shuttle’s Remote Manipulator System to grapple CRISTA-SPAS following its eight-day free flight.
    For the next eight days, the two teams of astronauts continued work with the ATLAS instruments and several middeck and payload bay experiments such as protein crystal growth, measuring the shuttle microgravity acceleration environment, evaluating heat pipe performance, and a student experiment to study the Sun that complemented the ATLAS instruments. On November 12, the mission’s 10th day, the astronauts prepared to retrieve the CRISTA-SPAS satellite. For the retrieval, McMonagle and Brown used a novel rendezvous profile unlike previous ones used in the shuttle program. Instead of making the final approach from in front of the satellite, called the V-bar approach, Atlantis approached from below in the so-called R-bar approach. This is the profile Atlantis planned to use on its next mission, the first rendezvous and docking with the Mir space station. It not only saved fuel but also prevented contamination of the station’s delicate sensors and solar arrays. Once within 40 feet of CRISTA-SPAS, Ochoa reached out with the RMS, grappled the satellite, and then berthed it back in the payload bay.
    A selection from the 6,000 STS-66 crew Earth observation photographs. Left: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Middle left: Hurricane Florence in the North Atlantic. Middle right: The Ganges River delta. Right: The Sakurajima Volcano in southern Japan.
    As a Mission to Planet Earth, the STS-66 astronauts spent considerable time looking out the window, capturing 6,000 images of their home world. Their high inclination orbit enabled views of parts of the planet not seen during typical shuttle missions.
    Left: The inflight STS-66 crew photo. Right: Donald R. McMonagle, left, and Curtis R. Brown prepare for Atlantis’ deorbit and reentry.
    On flight day 11, with most of the onboard film exposed and consumables running low, the astronauts prepared for their return to Earth the following day. McMonagle and Brown tested Atlantis’ reaction control system thrusters and aerodynamic surfaces in preparation for deorbit and descent through the atmosphere, while the rest of the crew busied themselves with shutting down experiments and stowing away unneeded equipment.
    Left: Atlantis makes a perfect touchdown at California’s Edwards Air Force Base. Middle: Atlantis deploys the first reusable space shuttle drag chute. Right: Mounted atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, Atlantis departs Edwards for the cross-country trip to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
    On Nov. 14, the astronauts closed Atlantis’ payload bay doors, donned their launch and entry suits, and strapped themselves into their seats for entry and landing. Tropical Storm Gordon near the KSC primary landing site forced a diversion to Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) in California. The crew fired Atlantis’ OMS engines to drop out of orbit. McMonagle piloted Atlantis to a smooth landing at Edwards, ending the 10-day 22-hour 34-minute flight, Atlantis’ longest flight up to that time. The crew had orbited the Earth 174 times. Workers at Edwards safed the vehicle and placed it atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for the ferry flight back to KSC. The duo left Edwards on Nov. 21, and after stops at Kelly Field in San Antonio and Eglin AFB in the Florida panhandle, arrived at KSC the next day. Workers there began preparing Atlantis for its next flight, STS-71 in June 1995, the first Shuttle-Mir docking mission. Meanwhile, a Gulfstream jet flew the astronauts back to Ellington Field in Houston for reunions with their families. As it turned out, STS-66 flew Atlantis’ last solo flight until STS-125 in 2009, the final Hubble Servicing Mission. The 16 intervening flights, and the three that followed, all docked with either Mir or the International Space Station.
    “The mission not only met all our expectations, but all our hopes and dreams as well,” said Mission Scientist Timothy L. Miller of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “One of its high points was our ability to receive and process so much data in real time, enhancing our ability to carry out some new and unprecedented cooperative experiments.” McMonagle said of STS-66, “We are very proud of the mission we have just accomplished. If there’s any one thing we all have an interest in, it’s the health of our planet.”
    Enjoy the crew narrate a video about the STS-66 mission.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: CHP investigates outbreak of acute gastroenteritis involving study tour of primary school

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

         The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) is today (November 4) investigating an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) involving a study tour organised by a primary school in Tuen Mun between November 1 and 2, and hence reminded the public and management of institutions to maintain personal and environmental hygiene against AGE.
         
         The outbreak involves 26 pupils, comprising 15 boys and 11 girls aged 10 to 11. They developed vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever since November 1. Two of the affected pupils sought medical attention and none required hospitalisation. All patients are in stable condition.

         The CHP’s epidemiological investigation revealed that one of the pupils in the outbreak had first vomited during their visiting activity on November 1. Other pupils exposed to the vomiting incident developed gastrointestinal symptoms subsequently. The CHP considers that the outbreak may be caused by person-to-person transmission or environmental contamination. Investigations are ongoing.

         A spokesman for the CHP reminded that alcohol-based handrub should not substitute hand hygiene with liquid soap and water, as alcohol does not effectively kill some viruses frequently causing AGE, e.g. norovirus. Members of the public are advised to take heed of the following preventive measures against gastroenteritis:
     

    Ensure proper personal hygiene;
    Wash hands thoroughly before handling food and eating, after using the toilet or after changing diapers;
    Wear gloves when disposing of vomitus or faecal matter, and wash hands afterwards;
    Clean and disinfect contaminated areas or items promptly and thoroughly with diluted household bleach (by adding one part of bleach containing 5.25 per cent sodium hypochlorite to 49 parts of water). Wash hands thoroughly afterwards;
    Maintain good indoor ventilation;
    Pay attention to food hygiene;
    Use separate utensils to handle raw and cooked food;
    Avoid food that is not thoroughly cooked;
    Drink boiled water; and
    Do not patronise unlicensed food premises or food stalls.

         
         The public may visit the CHP’s website (www.chp.gov.hk) or call the DH’s Health Education Infoline (2833 0111) for more information.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: FEHD highly concerned about illegal sale of food such as meat by unlicensed hawkers

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    FEHD highly concerned about illegal sale of food such as meat by unlicensed hawkers
    FEHD highly concerned about illegal sale of food such as meat by unlicensed hawkers
    ***********************************************************************************

         In response to a media report on the illegal sale of food items like meat by unlicensed hawkers on Tak Tai Path, Kwai Chung, a spokesman for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) today (November 4) said that the department has deep concern and has taken prompt action to combat these illegal acts in order to safeguard public health and food safety.     The FEHD spokesman said that during an enforcement operation in August this year, the FEHD staff arrested an unlicensed hawker for selling frozen meat and sushi illegally. In addition, they arrested three unlicensed hawkers for selling second-hand goods at the same location last week. To prevent similar irregularities, the FEHD has strengthened inspections at the location. Furthermore, the FEHD will organise special operations and conduct blitz inspections at locations across the territory that have frequent illegal hawking activities. The FEHD will take stringent enforcement actions against the illegal sale of food by hawkers. The FEHD also encourages members of the public to report hawkers selling suspicious food to the department.     The spokesman emphasised that under the Food Business Regulation (Cap. 132X), any person who sells restricted food (including frozen meat, sashimi and sushi) without permission commits an offence and is liable to a maximum fine of $50,000 and six months’ imprisonment upon conviction. No one should defy the law. The spokesman reminded members of the public that consuming food from unknown sources and expired food, particularly high-risk food like meat, sashimi and sushi, may pose serious food safety risks. Members of the public should refrain from patronising illegal hawkers when purchasing any food. 

     
    Ends/Monday, November 4, 2024Issued at HKT 22:26

    NNNN

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Visions of development have shifted in Africa over the past two decades: study explores how Rwanda and Ethiopia tried to shape the future

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Barnaby Joseph Dye, Lecturer, King’s College London

    Contemporary economic challenges in Africa appear to be shifting the continent into a new era of development. From COVID-19 to war-induced inflation, many countries in Africa are facing significant economic challenges. The crises of recent years come on top of longer-term increases in debt, especially after the 2014 commodity price shock.

    These circumstances have been the backdrop to recent conflicts, coups, and regime changes. But these contemporary crises follow a period of relatively successful state-led development in the first two decades of the 21st century, resulting in a hype about the new “African lions” and the emergence of an “Africa rising” narrative.

    Two cases stand out as emblematic of this era: Rwanda’s vision of a Dubai-style financial and service hub, and Ethiopia’s rapid manufacturing and infrastructure ambitions.

    Much has been written about the international factors behind this era of state-led development. The focus has been on the extension of private finance and the growth of “new” lenders such as China, India and Brazil. But these perspectives often overlook important questions. What has inspired ambitious African national plans over the last two decades? What assumptions were made about how development happens and how it should look?

    In new research published in a special issue of a journal, we analyse these modernising visions. We unpick their differences and commonalities using cases from multiple countries.

    Our emphasis is on understanding ideas, beliefs, and norms in shaping development plans. Such perspectives are often overlooked in the study of Africa. Scholars have often presumed that ruling elites are primarily interested in narrow material power or self-enrichment. We argue that ideas and beliefs underpin the goals and content of development plans.

    The research covered in the special issue covers Angola, Eritrea and Tanzania, but in this article we will unpack our analysis of Ethiopia and Rwanda.

    20th century modernist development

    Many of the elements of development this century look like resurgent 20th century “high modernism”. This is a term coined by scholar James Scott to describe top-down, state-led, authoritarian programmes of economic development. These programmes typically used infrastructure and technology to engineer supposedly “backward”, “traditional” people and landscapes into efficient, modern, rational alternatives.

    Perhaps the chief examples here are large dams. Historically, dams were viewed as the hallmark projects of modernisation. They could tame nature and deploy technology, whether electricity or irrigation, to found modern economies and workers. Ghana’s Akosombo Dam is one such project.

    But building dams paused from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s as the World Bank and other major funders withdrew. Dam projects were seen as having too-high social and economic costs and as not performing well. Such negative impacts also generated significant protests.

    Rwanda’s case

    Underpinning Rwanda’s model is a concentrated Leninist-style power structure. The president and associated elites chart the path to progress. The party, with its affiliated companies and investment funds, is all powerful – not solely the state. Rwanda also revived mid-century plans, from dams to an east African railway corridor. Electricity was deemed central, resulting in a rapid, but overambitious five-fold increase in over 15 years.

    This recent period was not just a reproduction of the 1960s, however. It had new elements. A Dubai-style aesthetic is central to the reinvented capital, Kigali, where the goal is to create a new corporate service hub, replete with skyscraper, conference centres, shopping malls and a new international airport. This replaces the 20th century obsession with industrial sites and brutalist concrete.

    Rather than the state-led programmes of the 20th century, pro-market reforms have been incorporated. There’s an embrace of private enterprise, a stock market and investment. The country’s electricity boom was largely enacted by private firms and Rwanda consistently ranks as one of the top countries in the Ease of Doing Business index. It takes hours, not weeks, to set up a company and there’s a speedy regulatory bureaucracy.

    Read more: Rwanda is creating shiny, modern cities after the genocide – but this won’t help communities heal from the past

    In some cases, “neoliberal” reforms have been brought in, with private enterprise and investment in previously state-controlled domains. Rwanda embraced corporate investment and ownership while making business-friendly, low-tax reforms. The private sector was given a big role in Rwanda’s boom to build over 40 microhydro plants in 15 years.

    New public management techniques, with individual incentives and civil service targets, were adopted.

    Ethiopia’s case

    Ethiopia focused on investments in large agricultural plantations and industrial parks. The result evoked 20th century modernisation drives. A broad-based infrastructure boom and an industrialisation strategy that moved agricultural produce up the value chain would transform the structure of the economy. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the Addis-Djibouti Railway and other megaprojects became symbols of this vision. The aim was to maintain state control of the commanding heights of the economy (electricity, water, telecommunications and aviation, among others), while building an industrial base that would absorb the surplus agricultural labour.

    This was coupled with investments in education and health. In 2016, Ethiopia had the third highest ratio of public investment to GDP, but also one of the fastest economic growth rates globally.

    Unlike Rwanda, this ideology has not survived. Progress in health, education and income was achieved but political tensions grew. By the mid 2010s, the material reality of people’s livelihoods could no longer keep up with the promises the ruling party had evoked. Dissent was not tolerated and led to mass protests, riots, and the eventual demise of the party. Since 2018, there has been a dramatic shift in ideology and vision with an openness to liberalisation, and a focus away from industrialisation to the service sector.

    Continuity and change

    Overall, our analysis reveals a combination of continuity and change during this period. It marks the triumph of an “African left”, with old titans like Tanzania’s Chama Cha Mapinduzi or Mozambique’s Frelimo joined by new revolutionary parties also inspired by Marxism.

    The language of communism or socialism is not used explicitly. But a belief endures that top-down schemes and mega-infrastructure can catapult people into an “enlightened” future. Structural economic barriers are surmountable through technology and engineering.

    Simultaneously, one cannot escape the language of the Davos establishment about the supremacy of markets, importance of foreign investment and pledges to tackle climate change and poverty. This illustrates the degree to which these illiberal modernisers are connected to international policymaking.

    Our publication conceptualises this pattern of continuity and change, as a 10-point “illiberal modernisers” manifesto. Although holding considerable variation between countries, we argue that these these hegemonic ruling parties shared common goals of transforming society through an elite-defined programme.

    Ultimately, the pattern of continuity and change demonstrates the importance of analysing ideas, beliefs, and values. Elites in Africa, just as elsewhere, are not only interested in power but are influenced by ideas about development.

    – Visions of development have shifted in Africa over the past two decades: study explores how Rwanda and Ethiopia tried to shape the future
    – https://theconversation.com/visions-of-development-have-shifted-in-africa-over-the-past-two-decades-study-explores-how-rwanda-and-ethiopia-tried-to-shape-the-future-224988

    MIL OSI Africa –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: One month after the tragic school bus crash in Khu Khot, UN Special Envoy for Road Safety to promote and launch the UN-JCDecaux campaign for road safety in Thailand

    Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

    The UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, is visiting Bangkok from 30 October to 6 November 2024. During his visit, he will meet with the Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, key government officials, representatives of the international community, private, and public sectors to promote road safety initiatives and advocate for enhanced measures, particularly on wearing quality helmets. His visit will be also the occasion to launch the UN-JCDecaux campaign #MakeASafetyStatement in the country.  The Special Envoy will also speak at the UNESCAP/Alliance française Road Safety Seminar on 4 November.  This aligns with the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030, aiming to halve road fatalities by 2030.

    The visit of the Special Envoy comes one month after the tragic bus road crash which caught fire while travelling on an outbound lane in Khu Khot in the Pathum Thani Province, resulting in 23 deaths of which were mainly school students.

    The silent pandemic

    Every year, the staggering toll of road-related fatalities claims the lives of 1.19 million people, leaving countless others with severe injuries. This silent pandemic overwhelmingly affects developing nations, where over 90% of the road traffic fatalities occur. Furthermore, road crashes are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5–29 years.  

    According to the World Health Organization, road crashes kill 18,218 people in Thailand each year, representing a road traffic fatality rate of 25/100,000 population, while the rate is in 15.7/100,000 in South-East Asia and 6.5/100,000 in Europe (WHO 2021). Despite the recent efforts of the country, Thailand is still ranked on the top worst countries in term of road fatalities.  This is therefore urgent to act for increasing road safety in the country.

    “Every life lost to preventable road accidents is a tragedy that reverberates through our communities and our country. This recent tragedy has reminded us of the urgent need for effective and sustained action. Road safety is not merely a matter of law enforcement but a shared societal responsibility. We owe it to our citizens, especially our children, to make our roads safer”, stated the new Prime Minister, H.E. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

    Road crashes have a significant social and economic burden, particularly in Thailand.  “In addition to the human tragedy, road crashes trap countries into a vicious circle of poverty, costing till 6% of the GDP. Given their social and economic cost, road crashes are jeopardizing the entire sustainable development agenda. Now is the time for change, and I am looking forward to working with the Government of Thailand to stop the carnage on the roads.” stressed the UNSG’s Special Envoy Todt.

    Wearing a safe helmet

    If the causes of road crashes are multiple such as the non-reliability of the vehicles and of the road’s infrastructure and design, the lack of post-crashes services, weaknesses in the road safety management, a dangerous road user’s behavior is still one of the main reasons costing lives on the road. On the mitigation of the risk factors for the road users, wearing a helmet responding to the UN standards is definitively a game changer. Wearing a quality helmet can reduce the risk of injuries by 69%.

    Knowing that Thailand has the highest rate of motorcycle-related deaths in the world, representing more than 70% of the road traffic fatalities in the country, wearing a safe helmet is an absolute emergency.              

    #MakeASafetyStatement

    During his visit in Thailand, the Special Envoy will launch the UN Global Road Safety Campaign, which aims to raise awareness of life-saving road safety measures. Launched globally in cooperation with JCDecaux Global under the motto #MakeASafetyStatement, it will run through 2025 in over 80 countries in the world.   

    The campaign seeks to reduce risk factors, especially in urban areas, enabling people to walk, live, and enjoy their environment safely.  Sixteen global, and dozens of national, celebrities have joined forces to advocate for simple and effective road safety rules.  Key messages include wearing a seat belt, driving safely, wearing a helmet, not texting and driving, not driving under the influence or while tired, and respecting pedestrians.

    Participating celebrities in the campaign include Football Legend Mr. Didier Drogba, F1 Driver Mr. Charles Leclerc, Oscar-winning actress and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Ms. Michelle Yeoh, Tennis Legend Mr. Novak Djokovic, Musician Ms. Kylie Minogue, Motorcycle racer Mr. Marc Marquez, Supermodel Ms. Naomi Campbell, Actor Mr. Patrick Dempsey, Musician and Inspirational leader Mr. Youssou N’Dour, Actress Ms. Julie Gayet, Actor Mr. Michael Fassbender, Football icon Mr. Ousmane Dembélé, Double Olympic Champion Ms. Faith Kipyegon, F1 Driver Mr. Mick Schumacher, Actor Jean Reno and Cyclist Champion Tadej Podacar.

    Risk factors that are too often neglected                                                                                                                 

    Only seven countries in the world (France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Sweden) have laws that comply with WHO best practices for all the risk factors – speeding, drink driving, UN-standard motorbike helmet use, seatbelts and child restraint systems.

    Media representatives are cordially invited to cover the launch of the campaign, mission and Memorandum of Agreement on Road Safety Cooperation between the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Health at the press conference on 6 November 2024 at 1.30 PM at the Ministry of Transport (Ratcharotsamosorn Assembly Hall) in Bangkok, with:

    • Mr. Suriya Jungroongruangkit, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport
    • Mr. Somsak Thepsutin, Minister of Public Health
    • Mr. Jean Todt, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for road safety,   
    • Ms. Michaela Friberg-Storey, UN Resident Coordinator to Thailand, presents the work of the UN in road safety in Thailand.
    • Mr. Arnaud de Ruffray, President of JCDecaux Thailand presents the UN-JCDecaux campaign for road safety in Thailand.
    • Ms. Saisunee Jana, Paralympic gold Medalist

     

    About the Special Envoy

    The former United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, appointed in 2015 Jean Todt as his Special Envoy for Road Safety. He was reconfirmed in this role by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, in 2017 and in 2021. In 2018, together with 14 UN organizations, the Special Envoy launched the UN Road Safety Fund (UNRSF). The Special Envoy contributes, among other things, to mobilize sustained political commitment to make road safety a priority; to advocate and raise awareness of UN legal instruments on road safety; to share established good practices in this area; to strive to generate adequate funding through strategic partnerships between the public, private and non-governmental sectors. Special Envoy brochure and X account.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: London ETO celebrates Hong Kong’s cinematic brilliance at London East Asia Film Festival 2024 (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    London ETO celebrates Hong Kong’s cinematic brilliance at London East Asia Film Festival 2024 (with photos)
    London ETO celebrates Hong Kong’s cinematic brilliance at London East Asia Film Festival 2024 (with photos)
    ******************************************************************************************

         The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London (London ETO), the Film Development Fund, and the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency under the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region supported the London East Asia Film Festival (LEAFF) from October 23 to November 3 (London time), which showcased six selected Hong Kong films and hosted three live question and answer sessions with creative talent from Hong Kong. A reception was held following the closing gala screening, bringing together creative talent from Hong Kong and over 50 guests from the local cultural and business sectors.     The Director-General of the London ETO, Mr Gilford Law, addressed the audience at the closing gala ceremony. “The London ETO is proud to partner with LEAFF for the ninth time to shine a spotlight on Hong Kong cinema. Known as the ‘Hollywood of the East’, Hong Kong boasts a vibrant community of creative and ambitious talent which shares the vision of establishing Hong Kong as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchanges, as supported by the National 14th Five-Year Plan,” he said.     Four creative talents from Hong Kong graced the festivities, with actor Simon Yam and actress Sandra Ng receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award and Honorary Award respectively. Director Vincent Chow joined Mr Yam for a Q&A session on November 3, while Ms Ng participated in her own Q&A session on November 2. Director and screenwriter Felix Chong also talked about directing and screenwriting in East Asia during a Q&A session on October 24. Further highlighting Hong Kong’s cinematic achievements, “Love Lies” was awarded the Best Film in Competition.     The 11-day festival featured the world premiere of “Little Red Sweet”, along with the United Kingdom premieres of “Out of the Shadow”, “High Forces” and “Love Lies”, as well as “Stuntman” and “Shanghai Blues”.

     
    Ends/Monday, November 4, 2024Issued at HKT 23:59

    NNNN

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Visions of development have shifted in Africa over the past two decades: study explores how Rwanda and Ethiopia tried to shape the future

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Barnaby Joseph Dye, Lecturer, King’s College London

    Contemporary economic challenges in Africa appear to be shifting the continent into a new era of development. From COVID-19 to war-induced inflation, many countries in Africa are facing significant economic challenges. The crises of recent years come on top of longer-term increases in debt, especially after the 2014 commodity price shock.

    These circumstances have been the backdrop to recent conflicts, coups, and regime changes. But these contemporary crises follow a period of relatively successful state-led development in the first two decades of the 21st century, resulting in a hype about the new “African lions” and the emergence of an “Africa rising” narrative.

    Two cases stand out as emblematic of this era: Rwanda’s vision of a Dubai-style financial and service hub, and Ethiopia’s rapid manufacturing and infrastructure ambitions.

    Much has been written about the international factors behind this era of state-led development. The focus has been on the extension of private finance and the growth of “new” lenders such as China, India and Brazil. But these perspectives often overlook important questions. What has inspired ambitious African national plans over the last two decades? What assumptions were made about how development happens and how it should look?

    In new research published in a special issue of a journal, we analyse these modernising visions. We unpick their differences and commonalities using cases from multiple countries.

    Our emphasis is on understanding ideas, beliefs, and norms in shaping development plans. Such perspectives are often overlooked in the study of Africa. Scholars have often presumed that ruling elites are primarily interested in narrow material power or self-enrichment. We argue that ideas and beliefs underpin the goals and content of development plans.

    The research covered in the special issue covers Angola, Eritrea and Tanzania, but in this article we will unpack our analysis of Ethiopia and Rwanda.

    20th century modernist development

    Many of the elements of development this century look like resurgent 20th century “high modernism”. This is a term coined by scholar James Scott to describe top-down, state-led, authoritarian programmes of economic development. These programmes typically used infrastructure and technology to engineer supposedly “backward”, “traditional” people and landscapes into efficient, modern, rational alternatives.

    Perhaps the chief examples here are large dams. Historically, dams were viewed as the hallmark projects of modernisation. They could tame nature and deploy technology, whether electricity or irrigation, to found modern economies and workers. Ghana’s Akosombo Dam is one such project.

    But building dams paused from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s as the World Bank and other major funders withdrew. Dam projects were seen as having too-high social and economic costs and as not performing well. Such negative impacts also generated significant protests.

    Rwanda’s case

    Underpinning Rwanda’s model is a concentrated Leninist-style power structure. The president and associated elites chart the path to progress. The party, with its affiliated companies and investment funds, is all powerful – not solely the state. Rwanda also revived mid-century plans, from dams to an east African railway corridor. Electricity was deemed central, resulting in a rapid, but overambitious five-fold increase in over 15 years.

    This recent period was not just a reproduction of the 1960s, however. It had new elements. A Dubai-style aesthetic is central to the reinvented capital, Kigali, where the goal is to create a new corporate service hub, replete with skyscraper, conference centres, shopping malls and a new international airport. This replaces the 20th century obsession with industrial sites and brutalist concrete.

    Rather than the state-led programmes of the 20th century, pro-market reforms have been incorporated. There’s an embrace of private enterprise, a stock market and investment. The country’s electricity boom was largely enacted by private firms and Rwanda consistently ranks as one of the top countries in the Ease of Doing Business index. It takes hours, not weeks, to set up a company and there’s a speedy regulatory bureaucracy.



    Read more:
    Rwanda is creating shiny, modern cities after the genocide – but this won’t help communities heal from the past

    In some cases, “neoliberal” reforms have been brought in, with private enterprise and investment in previously state-controlled domains. Rwanda embraced corporate investment and ownership while making business-friendly, low-tax reforms. The private sector was given a big role in Rwanda’s boom to build over 40 microhydro plants in 15 years.

    New public management techniques, with individual incentives and civil service targets, were adopted.

    Ethiopia’s case

    Ethiopia focused on investments in large agricultural plantations and industrial parks. The result evoked 20th century modernisation drives. A broad-based infrastructure boom and an industrialisation strategy that moved agricultural produce up the value chain would transform the structure of the economy. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the Addis-Djibouti Railway and other megaprojects became symbols of this vision. The aim was to maintain state control of the commanding heights of the economy (electricity, water, telecommunications and aviation, among others), while building an industrial base that would absorb the surplus agricultural labour.

    This was coupled with investments in education and health. In 2016, Ethiopia had the third highest ratio of public investment to GDP, but also one of the fastest economic growth rates globally.

    Unlike Rwanda, this ideology has not survived. Progress in health, education and income was achieved but political tensions grew. By the mid 2010s, the material reality of people’s livelihoods could no longer keep up with the promises the ruling party had evoked. Dissent was not tolerated and led to mass protests, riots, and the eventual demise of the party. Since 2018, there has been a dramatic shift in ideology and vision with an openness to liberalisation, and a focus away from industrialisation to the service sector.

    Continuity and change

    Overall, our analysis reveals a combination of continuity and change during this period. It marks the triumph of an “African left”, with old titans like Tanzania’s Chama Cha Mapinduzi or Mozambique’s Frelimo joined by new revolutionary parties also inspired by Marxism.

    The language of communism or socialism is not used explicitly. But a belief endures that top-down schemes and mega-infrastructure can catapult people into an “enlightened” future. Structural economic barriers are surmountable through technology and engineering.

    Simultaneously, one cannot escape the language of the Davos establishment about the supremacy of markets, importance of foreign investment and pledges to tackle climate change and poverty. This illustrates the degree to which these illiberal modernisers are connected to international policymaking.

    Our publication conceptualises this pattern of continuity and change, as a 10-point “illiberal modernisers” manifesto. Although holding considerable variation between countries, we argue that these these hegemonic ruling parties shared common goals of transforming society through an elite-defined programme.

    Ultimately, the pattern of continuity and change demonstrates the importance of analysing ideas, beliefs, and values. Elites in Africa, just as elsewhere, are not only interested in power but are influenced by ideas about development.

    Barnaby Joseph Dye receives funding from the Economic and Social Science Research Council (UK).

    Biruk Terrefe received funding from the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Germany).

    – ref. Visions of development have shifted in Africa over the past two decades: study explores how Rwanda and Ethiopia tried to shape the future – https://theconversation.com/visions-of-development-have-shifted-in-africa-over-the-past-two-decades-study-explores-how-rwanda-and-ethiopia-tried-to-shape-the-future-224988

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    January 26, 2025

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Government welcomes Official Partners for COP29 

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    The Official Partners sponsoring the UK’s Pavilion at COP29 are: AVEVA, Corporate Leaders Group, DP World, National Grid, Octopus Energy, SSE and Standard Chartered.

    This year’s COP29 UK Pavilion Official Partners represent UK industry’s outstanding reputation for addressing climate change through enterprise and innovation.

    Throughout the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, the UK Pavilion will host a series of events including panel talks, roundtable discussions and networking receptions. These will raise awareness of the best of British climate leadership and share insights on climate change from UK organisations, policy and business. 

    The funding by the UK Pavilion sponsors reduces cost to the taxpayer, while enabling official partners to demonstrate the vital role industry plays in progressing the climate agenda. 

    National Grid and SSE are returning as official partners from COP26 in Glasgow, COP27 in Sharm-El Sheikh and COP28 in Dubai, while Octopus Energy is returning from COP28 – showing the ongoing commitment of these companies to cutting emissions and accelerating towards net zero, and to working with the government on this important mission. 

    The UK government has also welcomed 4 new businesses to the COP29 sponsor portfolio: AVEVA, Corporate Leaders Group, DP World and Standard Chartered, resulting in the highest ever number of official partners at a COP summit.

    COP29 runs from 11-22 November and the UK Pavilion will be open for the duration of the conference. 

    The sponsors

    AVEVA 

    Headquartered in the UK, AVEVA is a global leader in industrial software, driving responsible use of the world’s resources. Over 25,000 enterprises in over 100 countries rely on AVEVA to help them deliver life’s essentials: safe and reliable energy, food, medicines, infrastructure and more. By connecting people with trusted information and AI-enriched insights, AVEVA enables teams to engineer efficiently and optimize operations, driving growth and sustainability.  AVEVA attends COP29 with a wholehearted commitment to ensure that COP29 remains the key mechanism for driving collaborative progress on net zero. With the industrial sector contributing to a quarter of global emissions, AVEVA aims to demonstrate digitalization’s critical role in decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors while enabling innovation in low-carbon paradigms that can support a just transition to a more sustainable future. Sponsoring the UK Pavilion is a key opportunity to collaborate with business, government and civil society leaders, supporting the transformation of UK economic interests to support COP objectives and accelerating the drive for net zero worldwide. 

    Caspar Herzberg, CEO, AVEVA:

    As a UK-headquartered global leader in industrial intelligence software, AVEVA is proud to support the UK Pavilion at COP29. With industry responsible for a quarter of global emissions, industrial digitalisation is revolutionising decarbonisation strategies. Our work with more than 20,000 enterprises worldwide shows how cross-sector collaboration and untapped industrial data are driving breakthrough sustainability solutions. The UK continues to demonstrate leadership in sustainable industrial innovation, and alongside our government and industry partners, we’re committed to accelerating measurable action on our path to net zero.

    Corporate Leaders Group UK 

    The UK Corporate Leaders Group (CLG UK) is a cross-sector, impact-driven business membership group that provides a strong corporate voice to support UK leadership for the transition to a climate neutral, nature positive and socially inclusive economy. CLG UK’s ongoing mission is to increase business and government leadership through a reinforcing virtuous cycle of increasing ambition and implementing action. It has convened and helped build consensus across the UK business community in support of the transition to competitive, climate-neutral, nature-positive and socially inclusive economies.

    Beverley Cornaby, Director, UK Corporate Leaders Group:

    The UK Corporate Leaders Group (CLG UK) is delighted to be sponsoring the UK Pavilion at COP29. The timing could not be more important, with the window of opportunity to transition to a clean future closing rapidly. CLG UK is urging governments to be decisive, provide clear policy frameworks and stay on course to meet net zero through strong delivery and implementation plans. To succeed, the UK government must bring business with it on its journey. That is where CLG UK is perfectly positioned to work with the UK Pavilion’s partners, businesses and change-makers to mobilise investment, technology and innovation to achieve our shared goals. We must work together to unlock the power of UK leadership, shift markets and economies, and maintain ambition for climate, nature and people.

    DP World  

    DP World exists to make the world’s trade flow better, changing what’s possible for the customers and communities it serves globally.  With a dedicated, diverse and professional team of more than 115,000 employees from 160 nationalities, spanning 78 countries on six continents, DP World is pushing trade further and faster towards a seamless supply chain that’s fit for the future. DP World is rapidly transforming and integrating its businesses – Ports and Terminals, Marine Services, Logistics and Technology – and uniting its global infrastructure with local expertise to create stronger, more efficient and sustainable end-to-end supply chain solutions that can change the way the world trades. 

    Rashid Abdulla, CEO & Managing Director, Europe:

    DP World’s ambition is to streamline and sustain global trade while building a resilient, lower-carbon supply chain. At COP29 with the UK government, we will champion sustainable end-to-end solutions that address climate challenges head-on, playing our part in connecting stakeholders across sectors, promoting collaboration and creating shared value.

    National Grid  

    National Grid plays a crucial role in connecting millions of people to the energy they use safely, reliably and efficiently.  National Grid is pioneering ways to decarbonise the energy system; from building interconnectors to allow the UK to share clean energy with Europe, to investing in renewable energy generation in the United States. 

    Rhian Kelly, Chief Sustainability Officer, National Grid:

    Collaboration across borders and the sharing of best practice is vital if the global ambition for a clean energy future is to be met. Energy networks are an important part of this, enabling clean, green energy to flow from where it’s generated to where it’s needed. National Grid is proud to support the UK Pavilion at COP29, and we look forward to sharing our experiences and learning more from the international community.

    Octopus Energy  

    As a British-born company, Octopus Energy showcases how the UK is leading the world in green innovation, investing billions in clean technologies to drive meaningful change globally.  With operations in 18 countries, and 54 million households running on its tech platform Kraken, Octopus is bringing cheaper power to millions of customers globally.  Launched just eight years ago, Octopus is now the largest electricity supplier in the UK and one of the largest investors in renewables in Europe, managing a portfolio worth £7 billion.  Its relentless focus on smart tech and innovations has unlocked the world’s largest virtual power plant and homes with zero energy bills, delivering clean solutions that save people money and power the world. 

    Zoisa North-Bond, CEO Octopus Energy Generation:

    The UK is the vanguard of green innovation, brimming with the talent and technology needed to accelerate the global energy revolution – and COP is a great opportunity to showcase this. From microgrids to wind farms and EVs – the solutions to empower global communities and stop climate change are available today.  By working with policymakers and industry leaders worldwide, we can make green energy accessible for all and drive the solutions that will power the world.

    SSE 

    SSE is the UK and Ireland’s clean energy champion, investing over £20 billion into homegrown energy.  Our purpose is to provide the energy needed today while building a better world of energy for tomorrow.  We do this by developing, building, operating and investing in world-class electricity infrastructure that is vital to the clean energy transition.  We were the first company in the world to develop a ‘just transition strategy’, aimed at ensuring the benefits of the clean energy transition are shared by workers and communities.  SSE has aligned its business strategy to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), providing a powerful framework to guide the creation of shared value for shareholders and society. 

    Martin Pibworth, SSE Chief Commercial Officer:

    At SSE, we’ve put delivering net zero at the heart of our strategy backed up with of a multi-billion-dollar investment programme focused on mission-critical clean energy infrastructure.  COP29 provides the opportunity to speed up the pace of the transition working with a range of international partners to collectively deliver a global just transition.

    Standard Chartered 

    Standard Chartered has an important role to play in supporting our clients, sectors and markets to accelerate the transition to a low carbon, climate resilient economy. We’re pleased to partner with the UK at COP29, creating a platform to bring together partners, stakeholders and decision makers to help deliver outcomes in support of the Paris Agreement. As a major financial hub, the UK has some of the deepest pools of internationally oriented capital and as a leading international cross-border bank, headquartered in the UK, Standard Chartered is uniquely positioned to mobilise this capital and investment towards our footprint markets across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.  

    Marissa Drew, Chief Sustainability Officer, Standard Chartered:

    We’re pleased to partner with the UK at COP29 and will use this platform, alongside the full breadth of our sustainable finance expertise, to help scale finance and innovative solutions in support of the Paris Agreement. The UK has some of the deepest pools of internationally oriented capital and as a leading international cross-border bank, headquartered in the UK, Standard Chartered is uniquely positioned to mobilise this capital towards sustainable and inclusive growth across our footprint markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

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    Published 4 November 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    January 26, 2025
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